My Annie

Annie at 6 months

Annie at 1 year

11 month old Annie

9 month old Annie

11 month old Annie

1 year old and on the boat with Big Sister, Gloria. 

Boat Baby

Cuddling with Daddy

So peaceful and content.

Our little peaceful girl

Her "bear bed"

Cuddly

Princess

Annie and Maxton

This morning I received some mail from the state with the name "Annie Jean Kendall" and my heart was just overfilled with gratitude.  Everything with Annie has been so easy, and I think it has been so easy to take everything for granted. I don't think I have been as thankful as I should have been because I have felt like it was so easy. Don't get me wrong, there were times when I stressed because of little things, but really, mostly I was confident the entire time that she would be ours forever. I don't know that I ever fully took the time to appreciate the little miracle that she is. I love this little angel so much and couldn't, for a second, imaging my life without her. I wouldn't want to imagine life without her, it would be so much less. This little girl has filled up the spaces in my heart.  But I have always- from the moment she was placed in my arms-  had the feeling that she was ours and knew that Heavenly Father would help us keep her in our family forever. I never really felt the stress of wondering if someone would come and take her away from us. I knew that someone COULD come and take her away, but I never really believed anyone would. I have taken it for granted that she would eventually be our daughter, forever. But this morning, I feel so much gratitude for how easy everything was and that she is ours. I know that things could have (and should have) been a lot more difficult than they were with her (I still find it hard to believe that the social workers in a city 8 hours away let me walk out of the hospital with just a piece of paper telling me to come back in a week- it was a miracle- as any social worker who knows our story will attest to). I know that I had a loving Heavenly Father who watched over us and helped the judges, attorney's and social workers every step of the way. He helped them find all the right laws that pertain to us and our case. Heavenly Father knew that my stress was at the limit, adjusting to 6 kids and a live-in nanny and trying to coordinate our life. He knew what I could handle, and he made this easy baby easily a part of our family. I am so thankful that we didn't have to go through ANY of the stress that we went through with our little Maxton. I am thankful that Heavenly Father is aware of my limits. I am so thankful that we were able to adopt our daughter, virtually stress free. It took a lot of time and a lot of work, a lot of patience, but never the stress of "what if's, and maybe's".  This adoption and her sealing took place only 10 months after we adopted Max. So, we were able to use a lot of the same paperwork and doctors notes and a few other things to make this a little less stressful. I would have gone through the stress and and the craziness for Annie, but I am so thankful that we didn't have to. I am so in love with this precious little girl. She's my baby. 

Gilroy Gardens

When we first got to Gilroy Gardens Cami and Olivia got to spend 10 minutes in time-out for arguing in the car.... they didn't seem to mind too much!

The boys found a little boxed in area and let the babies play while they chatted!

Ready for a roller coaster!

Can you spot Jenny and Mo?

Gray and I rode a ton of the rides together... I cherish this time in his life when he still wants to hang out with me!

Waiting in line.... again- just waiting for the rollercoaster to get back up.

Ready to go!!!  Love hanging out with these kiddo's!

This ride was fun- the first 2 times, after that I just started feeling nauseous! 

Still on the ride.....

Still on the ride...... 

Would it ever end?  I think my face says it all!!!

Banana ride- ugh. I got off after one ride and watched the kids the rest of the time.

Me and my boy!

These 2 cuties loved the rattlesnake roller coaster!!

Olivia was big enough for this coaster, so I went and stole her from dad and ran her to the coaster. She loved it!!

The little ones loved the rides too!!  

At 5:55 we decided to try to make it to this coaster before the park closed at 6:00.  We left the dad at the front of the park and RAN (we were at the front, this ride was at the back of the park). We ran and ran.... we made it to the ride and 6:01- just as they were putting up the chain to not allow anymore people in. We were pretty sad. 

These kiddo's were great!!  They did pretty well and I think they had a great time. Max loves to go on rides and had a permanent smile on his cute little face! As we were walking out of the park they both fell asleep... first naps of the day!

Yesterday we had plans... we had errands we needed to run, Olivia had a friends birthday party to go to, I needed to finish up preparations for my singing time today. We had plans. But at 8:00 in the morning, my husband looked at me and said "let's go to Gilroy Gardens with our friends".  Our friends the "P's" had invited us to go with them the night before and we told them we had too much to do. But on Saturday morning, we decided to ditch all the boring and grown up stuff we needed to do and go play with our kids and friends in Gilroy. It is Father's Day Weekend, after all.  So, we piled our kids in the car and off we went. It was a lot of fun! Gilroy is great for the kids because all the rides are geared for kids ages 12 and under.  There was plenty for the little ones (babies included) and plenty for the bigger kids. We enjoyed spending time with our kids and just playing with them. The dad's took the little kids to the little rides while the mom's took the older kids- the lines are never long and so we went on each ride over and over and over again. I finally started getting sick from all the rides. But some great memories were made!

Lazy, wonderful Summer days!

This is the life!!