The love of 2 mothers

What can I say about the woman who has given me the opportunity to do what I have waited for, for so long.

Just moments after our son was born we shared this incredible moment!  Some may never understand how much she loves him, but I do.  I seen the tears she shed as she placed this sweet baby in our arms and our family.

We will share this tender moment, and hopefully someday the world will see open adoption as a beautiful thing!!  We love you M!!

SEVEN YEARS!!!

    
 On May 15, 2011 we celebrated SEVEN years of marriage.  To celebrate we went to Steamboat Springs Colorado for the night.  We have pets at home so we didn't want to leave them for too long!! 

Out exploring the town.  It was so beautiful outside, and we walked around the town for a couple of hours!! 

Seven years of marriage!!!! 

I always liked to play dress up when I was a kid, and I still do.  This scarf was super cute however it was like 50 bucks!! Way too much money.

Paul and Einstein!!!! Catching some rays.

Good old Honest Abraham Lincoln and myself!  

I love you this much!!! 

There's a reason they call this God's country!! 

We had an amazing time in Steamboat Springs!!!

Love, April

Date Night!!

Cory & Elena  

                                
                 Dominic & Amber

"Us".  What a fun night with probably our closest friends from church.  We had a blast that night.  Dinner (not so good) followed by a movie Thor.  We had a blast.  Did I mentioned pre dinner shopping, just us gals!  

Family Reunion V Style

Joseph's Family:
That's us!!  13 and counting.  Michelle and Ryan have a "bun in the oven".  Baby H is going to be joining us in September.

                                                       Percy's Family

Liz's Family:
Liz is Paul's "Nina" or Godmother.  

                                                          Anita's Family

Sam's Family!

            

                                                           Bea's Family!

Silvia's Family!

There was 170+ people in attendance at this family reunion.  It was a lot of fun.  We also celebrated Easter while at the reunion.  

All because two people fell in LOVE!!!!  That was the theme of the reunion.

      

Love,  April

Updates!

Happy Sunday,
I thought I'd do a little catching up on the blog tonight.  It's quite possible there will be a few posts, as to keep them not so long....

Paul's family is primarily Lutheran's.  We had the pleasure of going to help them celebrate their faith, while three family members were baptized into their faith.

Jennifer, Caitlyn and Demetrius were all baptized.  John was raised Lutheran so was baptized when he was a baby.  What a perfect little family.

What a beautiful family.  Love being part of the "V" clan. 

Catching up!

Life seems to get busy, and somethings get set to the wayside.  Our blog has suffered because of how busy we have been.  It's a good busy!  We have been very babysitting for friends, preparing for races and getting our house painted.  All fun stuff, if you ask me.

Paul had become quite the babysitter.  Always available to lend a hand to our friends.  We just love having children in our home.  Running around, playing with what little toys we have.  Making a mess!!  That's my favorite.  Besides, it's easy to clean up when you only have one little bin of toys.  We can't wait for the day that we can go to Toys R Us and stock up on all the fun toys out there.

I have been busy getting in shape, preparing for the Ragnar Relay.  Can you say Run, Eat, Drive, Sleep, Repeat?  That's the motto for the race.  It is a 12 person relay race and we did the one in Southern California.  Huntington Beach to Coronado Island 200.9 miles.

16.0 miles, that was my portion of the mileage!!!  4.3 on leg one
5.6 on leg two
6.1 on the last leg!!!

I was lucky enough to share Van #1 with these 5 amazing women.  Gabby runner #3, myself runner #4, Erin runner #1, Mallory runner #2, Nikki runner #6 and Lynette runner #5.  What an awesome group.  Our van really got along well and it was a memory that I will cherish forever.  Thanks Ladies!!

My favorite show ever!!! The Biggest Loser... this is us with 2 of past season contestants.  Season #1 winner Eric, and season #9 Sione.  Yea, for meeting "famous people".

This is all 12 of us after runner #12 crossed the finish line!!!  200.9 miles completed, where is the next race?

Oh yes, it's the FSA Adoption 5K.  There's still time to sign up:  www.redlineraces.com





We got our master bedroom and bath painted.  We painted the bedroom green and the bath purple.  It looks really nice.  While I was in California Paul put up the pictures and candle holders.  Pictures to come.

That's enough for one post I think.  There is more to post, and hopefully I can get it done in a timely fashion.

Love Always,
April!!

Dogs and Cat

Our pets are so much a part of our family.  Kokoa and Aspen are playing with "daddy",  trying to get as much loving as they possibly can.  We were actually trying to assemble the Christmas tree.  Can you tell they missed us while we were in Kansas?

Buddy!!!

Buddy loves to lie in Paul's chair as soon as he goes to bed!! NOT SOILED?

Nursery

My little buddies in the nursery.  We love to sing songs, and play cars.













Some Sundays we had as many at twelve 2 year olds.
It can be a challenge sometimes, but I am grateful for each and every hug and high five I got from them.










I loved this calling.  But we were upgraded to Primary.  January 2, 2011 we started teaching the SUNBEAMS!!!

Christmas 2010

The 12 Days of Christmas
Did you know the meaning of the 12 days of Christmas?  I sure didn't.  My true love is  "God,"  and the partridge in a pair tree is "Christ."  Each day has a symbol and a meaning that all leads back to the "Reason of the Season"
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  (John 3:16)
Christmas this past year has been like non other than we have had before.  The strangest part was that my parents were not here to spend Christmas with us for the first year in my life.  So here is what went down.  Christmas Eve we spent alone... I cooked a prime rib, potatoes, and corn.  Christmas morning we went to my sister Amy's house for breakfast.  She made this really yummy French toast casserole, and bacon.  Bacon is probably my favorite breakfast food, even though it is not good for you or me I should say!!  We then went to spend Christmas afternoon with the V's.  We started some new traditions that we intend on carrying on for a very long time.  Instead of giving gifts we all decided we would take nine different aspects of the traditional "Mexican Christmas," and share with each other what each one means.  I learned so much that night.

"The Nativity"
Each family member received a part of the scene.  Each year when we gather together we will bring our part.  When the Nativity is complete so will our family be.  Baby Jesus will be passed throughout the family to the newest member.

"The Poinsettia"
It is said that on Christmas Eve, a little girl made the trek from her home to the nativity where the baby Jesus lies.  Being poor she had nothing to give the Christ child, she gathered some weeds into a bouquet.  As she go closer to the child the weeds turned to beautiful red flowers now know as the poinsettia.  Also known as Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night.

Ornament
This ornament holds the story!  Made by Tim.

Luminaries
Lit on Christmas eve to light the path to homes and church services!

The Pinata
Filled with candy and other yummy treats.  This part of the night started with a Christmas Carol sing off with the neighbors.  It was so fun.

We also enjoyed a feast of enchiladas, chip n salsa, guacamole, homemade egg nog, tamales, and sweet rice.

Merry Christmas 2010,
love, april & paul

Why I love Kansas

Most people know that Kansas is the "right to live state."  As you drive through the state, there are signs everywhere.   There were way too many to stop and photograph, but worth mentioning.  One said "smile your mom chose life!"  I just loved that.  But as we drove past these two, I could not help but stop the car and snap a shot. 

Priceless!!

Thanksgiving 2010

I have been really bad about keeping this blog updated.  It's been a little crazy with the holidays.  I thought I'd catch up on the happenings of the past 3 months.  We took a trip to Kansas for Thanksgiving.  We had so much fun, and it was so nice to spend some time with my parents.  We took Kylie with us, because she really misses grandma and grandpa.  We drove to their house and we could not have asked for better weather for that drive.

Us and mom.  We spent Thanksgiving Day at my Aunt Linda's house.  We had lots of food to share.

My Aunt Linda on the right and my Aunt Denise on the left.  Me and Aunt Denise have an amazing bond.  I really have looked up to her my whole life.

We played Mad Gab.  First time I ever played.  Let me tell you it was super fun.  It was great.   When we were kids, my grandpa always had M&Ms when we would come to visit.  Now my parents have this little guy filled with M&Ms waiting for grandkids to come and eat them.

Just before we left for home Dad made us homemade cinnamon rolls.  They are/were so yummy.