No thanks!

On Thursday at the playgroup we were wearing short sleeves and sweating (and I even got a stupid sunburn)! Now this...

To this I say, "No thanks!" I'm ready to get off this roller-coaster ride we've been on all spring!

Playgroup

After some persistence and being a tad bit nosy, I was able to find a playgroup in our area for Miles and I to attend. I've been thinking for a while that it would be nice to find or create a group where the parents and the children are different races like our little family is. Good thing I didn't have to create this group because it probably never would've happened! I am so excited about this new opportunity! I want to provide Miles as many experiences in life that I can and I think providing him time with other families that look like his can't hurt at all.

I did a little blog hopping or stalking as some people call it and ran across this blog of a lady who is involved in this playgroup. I made a comment on her blog about wanting to get involved. She emailed me back and pointed me in the right direction. This group meets on Thursday mornings. I'm hoping Miles and I can make it a weekly thing!

This morning was our first time. Everyone was very welcoming! Because the weather didn't cooperate last week, they decided to move their Easter egg hunt to today. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We met at a park. The kids played on the jungle gym and ate lunch together and then went on an egg hunt. Miles LOVED every minute of it. He isn't quite at the age of playing with others yet, but he enjoyed watching the other kids and moms and also "borrowing" all of their stuff including their leftover food!

Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Group shot that was NOT easy to capture!

He loves climbing up slides

Hunting for eggs

Enjoying the goodies

Our little parrot!

The time has come for us to start watching what we say around Miles! He is learning so many new words on a daily basis and loves to mimic everything we say. I do not have a "bad" vocabulary by any means, but I do have at least one bad habit that I would've rather Miles not pick up, but of course he did. Apparently I say, "Oh shoot!" a lot. For the last couple of weeks he has been walking around the house saying, "Oh shoot!" He doesn't always use it in the right context, but he sure loves saying it! I do have to admit though that I chuckle just a little bit when I hear him using it. He is a cute kid even if he is picking up his mom's bad habits!

Also, the other day I had a sneezing attack and at the end of it I said, "Oh man!" A few days later I noticed every time after he sneezed he said, "Oh man!" He even would say it if dad or I sneezed. It was like he was using it instead of the common "bless you" phrase that most people use after you sneeze. The funny moment came while we were at church last Sunday. In our religion, after someone says a prayer the congregation follows the prayer by saying "amen" in unison. Shortly after one of the prayers and the congregation said "amen" in unison, Miles perked up and said, "Oh man!" Dave and I both had to control our laughter! Amen and oh man sound so similar!

And on the subject of Miles being so darn cute, here are some pictures of him doing one of his favorite activities these days.

Happy Easter!

Holidays are so much more fun with children around! Pre-Miles our Easter holidays were pretty low key, but this year we did a few extra fun things to celebrate the day. Here is a recap of our festivities.

We had Miles' pictures taken in his Easter outfit.
He is at such a tough age to photograph!

Last night I decided to get creative and made a bunny cake.
I think it turned out okay.
Dave requested a spice cake, which I'm not normally a fan of, but it actually tastes pretty darn good!

Miles & momma all ready for church.
He is always a pill just in time for church.
It doesn't help that church is during his nap time!

Easter basket goodies!
Because of Miles' age we had to get creative with the things we put in his Easter basket. We got him a set of plastic golf clubs (which wouldn't fit in his basket), some bubbles, and a couple of hardback books that talk about the Savior and what Easter really means.

Easter egg hunt in the backyard

He was even able to find them in our jungle!

He had so much fun finding the eggs



Golfing for bubbles

Dad had fun too!

Eager to eat the bunny

When eating just isn't enough

Lately Miles hasn't been so cooperative in the eating department. On this particular night we (mainly Dave) decided that it would just be easier to let Miles do what he wanted at dinner instead of fighting with him to eat. This is what he came up with...

See if this works...

On the ride home Miles apparently thought it would be fun to empty his entire sippy cup of water down the front of his shirt. Boy did he have fun!

*I finally had to resort to You Tube after trying for hours and hours to get Blogger to upload this video. Frustrating!

Spring break

After the boys got back from their trip to Tremonton we were able to squeeze in a few more fun things together as a family before spring break was over. Provo has a new indoor activity center called the Provo Beach Resort. They have a toddler area that I thought Miles would LOVE so we decided to check it out. I forgot the camera though, so no pictures. He did enjoy the toddler area, but he enjoyed the arcade with all of the lights and music more. Seems we didn't need to spend the money for him to play in the toddler area (good thing it is only $1).

We wanted to take Miles to the zoo, but the weather and the timing of it all just didn't work out. Instead we decided to take him to the Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. He loved running around and seeing all of the farm animals. He especially liked the cows and the goats. The goats got very vocal begging for food when people came by and Miles would "yell" right back at them. It was funny!

"If I could just get this open I could go play with the baby cow!"

Hay rack ride

Too busy "flirting" to stop for a picture with mom

"Look mom, it's a horse!"

Babies!

Noisy goats

On the ride home Miles apparently thought it would be fun to empty his entire sippy cup of water down the front of his shirt. Boy did he have fun!

(I have a video of him doing this, but it won't let me upload it right now)

Trip with dad

Dave and Miles are currently on a father/son get-a-way. Dave is on spring break this week so we decided that it would be nice for those two to spend some quality time together while I stayed home and worked on a few things around the house. They are in Tremonton visiting Dave's brother and are scheduled to come home Thursday morning. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet and I miss both of them TONS although it is nice to have a little break from being mom and wife. I took today and tomorrow off of work so that I could tackle our laundry room. When we got new carpet a few months ago everything (aka junk) in our closet and Miles' closet ended up in our tiny laundry room and there it has sit. I decided it would be good to devote some time to going through it all and organizing it. Spring cleaning! Gotta love it!

Dave has sent me a couple of pictures from their trip so far.

Golfing with Dad and Uncle Zach

"Say cheese!"

Government Shutdown

I have to say that I'm very glad that we avoided a government shutdown! Normally this kind of thing wouldn't affect me too much, but this year it would've really irritated me because of other events that have happened in our life related to our tax return and the adoption tax credit we are eligible for this year. Am I being selfish? Probably so. I know a government shutdown would've been a bigger deal to lots of other people, but let me feel sorry for myself for one moment...after all, this is my blog. Hahaha!

The story begins back on February 16th when we mailed in our tax return. We would've sent it in earlier than that had the final draft of the adoption tax credit form been complete. Within a couple of weeks the "where's my refund" option on the IRS website said that due to a processing delay it would be April 12th before we could expect our return. We were a little confused about what this processing delay might be, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. A little more time passed and then one glorious Friday we had a nice deposit in our checking account from the IRS, but it was missing the adoption tax credit and was just our regular refund money. We checked the "where's my refund" option online again and it now said that we would be receiving a letter to explain what further information was needed from us to complete our refund. It took a couple of weeks, but our letter finally came. This letter said that our return had been picked for review since we were claiming the adoption tax credit and that we should expect to hear something from them regarding their decision on our return within 45 days. The end of that 45 day period was scheduled for May 12th.

Yesterday we received yet another letter. This letter informed us that our return was being reviewed and that now we needed to submit our adoption finalization forms, receipts from adoption related expenses, etc. etc. This is all information that was required to be submitted with our original tax return. Dave immediately got on the phone to find out what had happened to all of this information we already submitted. Some lady at the IRS told Dave that the office that we mailed our return to is a completely different office then where the actual review is taking place and that we need to fax the same information we had already sent in to this new office. They could send our information between offices, but it would take at least six to eight weeks. So on Monday we'll resubmit our information and hope that they don't delay this any longer and just give us our tax credit!

I have to keep reminding myself that there are people out there that do fraudulent things which leads to these kind of measures needing to be taken so that only those who truly do qualify get the money, but...it is so frustrating to have to jump through all of these hoops to prove we are telling the truth. Ugh!

I am thankful though that our country values adoption and wants to financially help out families who adopt because of the high cost of adoption.

No different

Unfortunately this spring is no different than every other spring we've experienced since living in Utah. This state really likes to tease us! We get nice beautiful spring-like weather and our spring flowers start to pop up out of the ground and then we wake up one morning with this view out our window (pictures taken yesterday morning).

My bleeding hearts

Apparently the wind was blowing rather fierce with this storm (I slept through it all) and snow was blown back behind things that normally never get any moisture on them. The snow stuck to the side of the shed and also on to the siding on the townhouse. It is all pretty much gone today though so hopefully we can start to warm up again!

It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes!

My mom made the long journey from Kansas to Utah this last week to visit us. It was a short visit (or the time went by too quickly), but I'm glad she made the effort 'cause I know making that drive is a real effort, especially with storms along the way. We all had a great time. Miles really enjoyed having Grandma around. He hadn't seen her in almost three months, but he acted like it was just yesterday. I'm so glad that his little brain remembered her! I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

While she was here towards the end of the week the weather was beautiful so we were able to get out and enjoy it together. A few of the highlights of her trip were our visit to Cabelas, story time at the library, and playing at a local park. Below are some pictures of our week with Grandma.

Looking at the fish at Cabelas

Cheesy Miles with the moose at Cabelas

Giving Dad "loves" at one of Mom's favorite burrito places

Mesmerized by the entertainment at story time

Watching with Grandma

Looking at the ducks at the park

Slide time

Dad is too big for the slide

Swinging with Grandma

Any time Miles hears a plane fly over he points to the sky
He loves airplanes!

Forced to stop for a quick picture with Grandma

On the big swing
He loved swinging and looked as if he could fall asleep!

It's a little hard to hear Miles, but if you listen closely you can hear him saying, "Weeee!"