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A friend and I (Jarrett) are taking a photo class (hopefully it will help me when we adopt to be able to take me the great pictures to share).
We have learned a lot. We have had some interesting assignments including the old and “ugly”, people in movement, and this one which is a portrait in the evening. Benton and Kelsey have been great models. I have great pictures of them in a water gun “battle”, in a variety of lights in color and in black and white.
I will be sorry when the class is done next week.

We all went over to Jacksonville to visit Christina and Greg. Yesterday Greg showed us around the ship he is serving on “The Sullivans”. It was a fantastic tour, I thought for sure I would get bored but it was fun. At one point Greg dressed Benton in the firefighters equipment. Firefighters on a ship are very important.
This picture is from all of us on the deck of “The Sullivans”
Later, we all (except Greg – he had duty) went downtown to their condo and to eat. We all went crazy taking pictures. There was this one blue bridge that was reflecting in the water that was so cool.
At dinner we had s’mores for dessert, they were yummy – best Christina and I had ever had.

Misty, our oldest cat died yesterday. I know this isn’t the usual happy news we tried to post, but it does affect all of us. She was a very sweet kitty, and we all miss her.
This picture was taken the day before she died.

Greg and Christina (Jarrett’s sister) had a party for their 8th anniversary here in 2008. Yes, my sister and I got married just 5 months apart! Yes, you can feel sorry for my parents.
We went back to where they had their wedding at a nearby resort. We had so much fun. It was great because we got to see old friends and even some family from California. It was great fun to catch up with all of them and dance. Christina even wore her Wedding dress!
This picture was taken at the end of the evening after much dancing in front of the grand fireplace.

Benton and Kelsey had their 1st New Year’s Eve Party. They prepared most the food including this Les Paul Strat brownie cake. They cooked brownies on a cookie sheet, cut them out and then decorated. I was very impressed.
We were thrilled that they had so much fun. We want them and their friends to feel that our home is a fun hang out. We love have their joyful noise here. We all got “drunk” on sugar from the Sparkling Apple Cider.
We are all recovering pretty well today, we went out with the missionaries to pick up trash in the park. What a great way to start the year.

We had our Annual Pumpkin Carving Party again this year with lots of fun. I wish we could put more pictures up because we had so much fun. This picture has both Roark and I in it which is why I picked it. We were helping a guest with her pumpkin. After cutting into the pumpkin it needed band-aids so we went to town with tape.

Benton and Kelsey had lots of fun too carving pumpkins, playing football and other games.

Roark made is gumbo and I made pumpkin soup, both were a hit.

We sure are looking forward to having an additional pumpkin next year.

We celebrated our 8th anniversary together yesterday. We always spend this day together and we think of it as our "family anniversary", being that we came together as a family then.
We spent it together on our last day of vacation. We have had the perfect vacation up here in North Carolina. We have been lucky to stay at Uncle Rob's (Roark's brother) cabin, it has an incredible view. We spent some nice time on the deck outside. We are certainly not outside much in Florida right now, so it is very enjoyable.
Grandma Jayne (Roark's mother) has been here with us and really that is what has made it perfect. We have a had so much fun playing scrabble, rummicube, card games and ping pong.
Well, it has been a wonderfully relaxing vacation, a great way to celebrate an anniversary. Today we head back home, school starts next week. We are all recharged!

Today we went down the "Mighty Nantahala". We had all been rafting before except Kelsey. Grandma Jayne has a great deal of experience rafting in the west on some pretty "gnarly" trips. Name a big rapid on the Green and Colorado and Grandma's done it--likely several times. The trip was really fantastic, the weather was just right and the boatman (guide) was a lot of fun.

No one got dumped in the river, we did get sprayed with some cold water several times and Benton and Kelsey swam a rapid (by choice). The scenery was quite lovely and the kids loved it. The trip is highly recommended, especially for beginning rafters. If you prefer, you can take down small inflatables called "Funyaks" which handle more like a Kayak, one person per craft. You can guide your own trip as well but it's not recommended for inexperienced folks.

Sorry, no picture here, but our computer got hit by lightening about a month ago, so our picture ability is limited. That day I was so excited that it was raining, because we have had a serious lack of rain this year.

Well, we have had a fun busy summer. Both kids have gone to camps and had a blast. Both Benton and Kelsey's birthdays are in the summer so we have had a great time celebrating with them. It is nice in the summer because we have them both 50% of the time, while during the school year we only have Benton that often. It is so nice having them here more, the house is so quiet and lonely when they are gone.

We are going to North Carolina for our family vacation this year. We are picking up Grandma in Atlanta (she is flying in there) on the way. We are staying in Roark's brother's cabin and he will come up and join us as well. We might even go down the "mighty" Nantahala river, that would be fun.

Well that is all for now, maybe we will be able to upload pictures of the vacation by the time we get back.

Today is Father's Day. We got to have the kids here even though it is there mother's weekend.
We all made brunch together. The kids love to learn about cooking and Roark is so good at it. We had Eggs Benedict and French Toast. Kelsey wanted french toast and Roark wanted eggs benedict, so we had both. We learned how to make Hollandaise Sauce from scratch (lots of butter!) and how to poach eggs. (Kelsey said she thought poaching was illegal).
It was really great to have the kids, we really miss them when they aren't here. The house just feels more joyful with children here.
Anyway the picture is from a New Year's Eve 2004, but my sister just sent it too me. We wanted to put it up because it has Roark in a kilt. He wears his Kilt every Christmas and other special occasions.

We had a fun weekend. The kids got out of school this week, so no homework! We combined relaxing with fun. We saw two movies (Pirates 3 and Shrek 3) in the theaters and we saw "A Night with the King" on DVD.
We went out and looked a used pool table, but none of us liked it, so we went to look at new ones. We liked several of those, but we will need to save more before we can buy one.
Sunday, we celebrated Benton's "graduation" from Middle School with steak and mousse. Uncle Rob and Brenda joined us for the celebration.
Monday for Memorial Day we did cook out. Kelsey said this was a very unusual day, because she made the hamburgers (everyone grilled out, but Kelsey made the burgers taste good with the goodies she mixed into the ground beef), and Benton made dessert (yummy creme brulee - he loves the stuff and for Christmas he got a torch). Benton usefully helps cook the dinner and Kelsey usually makes dessert.
Otherwise we played games (chess, statego, spy alley, croquet and computer games) and read to relax!
It was a great weekend.

We sent in our paperwork a couple of days ago, so this site should be live soon. Working on getting more pictures in and figuring out which instant messenger is best to use. We are excited.

Just found out today that everything has been cleared and we are now approved. After several months of paperwork and interviews, I am glad to hear it.

I am also happy to have this profile to work on to keep me busy. I am looking forward to getting it done and up.

Well, our individual interviews were supposed to be yesterday, but as we were driving there our car died. Really died, bad died. It looks like Toyota is going to fix it, which is good because a new engine is quite pricey. But we are very disappointed that we missed the interviews. We are working on rescheduling now.

Kevin and Stacey (Roark's brother and wife) rented a cabin in the mountains. We went up there to hang out with them and play in the snow. Roark, Benton and Kelsey all drove and rode on the snowmobiles. Maja is a Florida girl and thought that seem very chilly so she hung out with Stacey and the girls in the cabin. It was great to have fun with the cousins!

Benton, Kelsey and Maja (Jarrett) flew out to Utah to surprise Grandma. Roark was already out there, but she didn't know we were coming too.
It was great to have a to see all the family. Some are leaving tomorrow so we are sure glad we arrived today to see them.

We met with the Social worker this week about starting the adoption process. Boy did we get a stack of paperwork, but I know it is worth it.