Lots of fun stuff!

Dec 3, 4, 5-we were in Mountainair, NM for my brother Jorden's wed. Lots of snow and lots of cold!!!

It has been cold in T or C and we are enjoying using our fireplace. Spencer has a new engine and transmission for his El Camino and is having fun getting all installed. He serves as 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum and now as 11 year old scout co-leader.

Elisa is still the Branch Music director and has been called to be the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society. She still stays at home with Evalynn and they have tons of fun!

Evalynn is now 17 months old and will get to go to nursery starting next month! She loves to get into everything and climb on any available surface.

Evalynn and I attended the annual Mortensen Family Christmas party on Dec 19th and then uncle Jorden's reception. Stayed the night with Dess (THANKS!) and headed to Mesa for the Roberts Fam Tamale dinner. Had fun seeing everyone, but I was a little under the weather. THANKS HEAVENS for Lizzie Thomas who was with us and helped out so much with Evalynn!

We are headed home with one more person-Evalynn's brother Elijah is going to be visiting us for a few months. We are so excited!

Update

E FINALLY had a check up on Nov 17-she weighs almost 27 lbs and is 31 1/2 in tall! The doc called her a BIG GIRL! She is getting into everything & has to "help" all the time!

Mom & Dad Roberts were here for Thanksgiving and it was so nice to see them! It has turned COLD and rainy in the last few days so we are grateful they went home Friday so they aren't suffering along with us!

My brother Jorden is getting married on Dec 4th and most of my fam will be there so that will be fun. E and I are planning on attending the Roberts family Christmas dinner on Dec 21. Spencer has to work.

Giggles

Ok-so this is a video of Evalynn's bedroom door. But the video is sideways. Anyway we heard this banging and her giggling. She was shutting her door on some hangers and thought it was so funny!

Also-she likes to walk up to people and start laughing, hoping they will start laughing back. You should have seen her at the football game last friday-she had one boy rolling on the bleachers with laughter!

SUCH EXCITING GOING ONS!!!!

1. Evalynn was sealed to us on Oct 17th in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. What a wonderful experience-and she slept through it, waking up just in time to give everyone hugs. We then blessed her at Mom & Dad Roberts house and had some YUMMY lunch! A HUGE thank you to Mom & Dad Roberts for letting us use their home and providing most of the food! WE LOVE YOU!

2. Evalynn has a baby brother! Her birth mom, Jesse, had a baby boy on Oct 10th. His name is Elijah James and he is such a cutie!!!!

3. I heard through the grapevine that my brother Jorden and his girlfriend Kristie will be tying the knot by the end of the year-YEAH!

4. Spencer got to work security at a movie set in Las Cruces for a movie called Due Date that comes out next year. Sorry-no autographs from the stars-bummer!

Hope you are all doing well! We are getting excited around here for the Holidays!!!

HELLO!

We know you are still out there and someday we will have internet at home-when we find a company that does it at our new house!

E now has 8 teeth and is going to be 15 months old on the 7th. She loves to climb, run, and play in the yard, especially on her new swing.

Spencer is still working hard and helping put a new engine and transmission in one of his buddies cars.

Elisa is trying to get a Branch choir up and going and tries to keep up with E.

Hope to see you all on Oct 17th!

HELLO ALL!

In case you haven't heard, Evalynn's adoption was final on Aug 19th!!! YEA!!! We are going to have her sealed to us on Sat Oct 17th at noon in the Mesa, AZ Templ-double YEA!!!!

We have FINALLY moved into our house in Las Palomas and are going through boxes and getting stuff put away. E loves the new yard and has the skinned up knees to prove it! She loves the grass and being outside with the dogs!

Spencer's work is going great and Elisa is bored at home but hoping to find a few kids to watch. Our friend James sometimes comes to our house after school and we talk about EVERYTHING Star Wars!

The mornings and evenings here are finally cooling off and we like to go outside and sit on our porch.

Thanks to all of you for your love and prayers concerning the death of my aunt Norene-we all love her and will miss her.

4th of July Pics

Below are some pics of Elisa & E's trip up to Questa for the 4th. Sorry-still working on ones from 1st birthday and lab computers are SLOW!

Hello all!

Just a quick update-no interenet at home so have to use the computer lab!!!

Evalynn is now 1 year old!!!!! Her bday was July 7th. She had a party on the 5th while she and mommy were in northern NM for the 4th. We got to see Amber, Junior, Elva, Lea, Ben, Rachel, Nick, Adrian, Angelica and Nevaeh! We had so much fun watching fireworks at the lake!

Then E had a party on the 6th at the park in T or C. The Elders were there along with the Armijo family and the Rojos. Lots of fun toys and cake! Have some pics and video but will have to post them later.

Then we all went camping with the Wright family and E got to see her cousins and all her aunts and uncles.

Our friend James just turned 8 and got baptized and we are excited to be going with him and his family on the 25th when they will be sealed in the Albuquerque Temple. YEA!!!!!!!!! That means we will not be at the Animas Ward Reunion. :(

That's about all!

Love you!

Happy & Sad

We found out that we will not be adopting Donavan-the judge ruled that each kid should be adopted by their current foster placement.

But we do have a finalization date for E's adoption: Aug 19!!!!! Yea!!! We were so worried that it would take MUCH longer to get a court date set up! Still waiting on our certification to come through but should hear something soon.

E's sealing will be on Aug 22nd at the Mesa, AZ temple at 4:30 pm. The temple has limited us to 35 people so we will be letting you know if you are invited. Please let us know ASAP if you will be able to attend.

We love you all and are so thankful for all of your prayers!!!!!

14 days =

*Flight to El Paso from Phoenix (delayed cause the pilot was late).
*Two hour drive from El Paso to T or C (Thanks to the Armijo's for picking E and I up-YOU ROCK!)
*Five minutes with Spencer once we arrived which really put E in a mood so she had to stay up until he got off shift-at 2 AM!
*Lunch with Amber and Junior-they were on their way home to Wyoming.
*Attended a Memorial Day Celebration at the Veteran's park in T or C-there is a copy of the Vietman War Memorial there. got to see Christopher in his ROTC uniform.
*One offer on a house that has been accepted and we hope to close sometime in the middle of July. Mortgage payment should be less than the rent we are paying-YEA!
*One brand new baby female mule colt born to Big Mama on June 4th (SO CUTE!). Sale of both Big Mama and baby so we can afford our house in T or C.
*Lots of time with Spencer and lots of time with the Armijo's (we LOVE YOU!)
*One soak at a hot spring.
*Dinner out with friends which includes the Elders.
*One trip to see Night at the Musuem 2 but had to leave about 20 minutes in since E didn't want to be quiet.
*Cleaning at the house we rent AND the one we are buying (THANKS ELDERS!)
*Fundraising with the Armijo's for Lizzie's trip to NYC-I am so jealous!!!!!
*Watching E take more and more steps on her own.
*One MAJOR thunderstorm with lots of lightning and loud thunder-Spence and E slept through it!
*One flight from El Paso to Phoenix.

In Mesa now and off to court again tomorrow for stuff with Donavan. Adoption petition for E has been submitted to the courts. Home study is complete-just waiting on our AC # from the court. E is now 11 months old-I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE WILL BE ONE NEXT MONTH!

Blah, blah blah....

that's what I feel I listened to at court last week!!!!! Anyway-everything has been moved to June 11th. E and D still have court ordered visits once a week and this last Thurs was their bonding assessment with the psych doc. Big load of whoopy that was.

Spencer is off to honor guard duty again next week in Santa Fe. We got to see him last weekend for about 3 days. Don't know when we will next see him!!!!

Hope everyone is doing great!!!! Lots of fun stuff planned for the summer-here we come!!!

I want to send a HUGE SHOUT OUT to EDDIE MORTENSEN and TIFF MILLETT!!!! They both graduated from EAC on 8th!!!! CONGRATS GUYS!!!!!! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!

Hello All!!!

Just a quick update - E is now pulling herself up to a standing position on anything she can get her hands one-legs, the vacuum cleaner, couches, tables, etc. We have seen her free standing a couple of times and she walks herself along the furniture. She will be doing it all by herself soon!

Spencer and I had our last meeting with the home study worker yesterday! Yea! So now she just has to finish typing up our home study and get some other paperwork from LDS Family Services. Now comes the waiting to see if we get certified again.

Off to court (again) on Thurs about Donavan-keep your fingers crossed and keep praying! We will let you know. E did get to see him 3 times during April and I got to see and talk to him twice-he is such a cutie!

Gotta go 4 now! Check out E's 9 month pick on the left side bar-in two days she will be 10 months old! TIME FLIES!!!!

Update on stuff

We had court again on April 6-long story short, visitations between E and Donavan are now court ordered. Once a week for the month of April, to have started last week. But the Williams were "unable" to cooperate with last weeks visit. AHHHHHHH! Anyway, still waiting to hear when this weeks will be.

E is now pulling herself up next to furniture and crawling everywhere! Soon she will be walking-mom is NOT ready for that!!!!! Still only two bottom teeth but chews on her pacifier like crazy!!! We are going to the zoo today with some of her cousins-I am so excited! I love the zoo!

Last week was crazy fun with 21 people including us staying at my in laws house. Lots of aunt, uncles and cousins to have crazy fun times with! We love you all!

Spencer is back in T or C. The adoption worker from CPS said the process should take about 4 months so I will have to be in Mesa most of that time for home study visits and stuff. :-( we don't like being away from our daddy.

We love you all! Gotta go-E is ready for a NAP!!!!!!

Update

So my sister Rachel got married on March 14th in the Mesa Temple. Evalynn and I got to hang out with all her Wright cousins and Nick's family. We even went bowling which was so much fun!

I tried to post a slideshow of pics from the wedding fun, but it didn't work. Will try again another time.

It is Spring Break here in T or C and Spencer is gone for three days. He is at Honor Guard training in Santa Fe. So my friend Davonna's kids are keeping me company. James is 7 and Lizzy will be 13 on the 30th.

Evalynn and I will be heading back to Mesa about the 30th. The bonding assessment for Donavan and Evalynn is on April 2nd and then we have court again on the 6th.

Evalynn and Spencer have both been sick. Spencer's was a 24 hour thing-Evalynn keeps gagging when she coughs so if there is anything in her tummy, up it comes! YUCK! She is having lots of fun with James and Lizzy.

Moving, Fiesta, and the Crib.

We are still moving stuff out of one house and into the other here. I think it is time for a yard sell.

One of Spencer's buddies from the academy invited us to a fiesta last weekend in a little town not far from here. We attended a short Catholic Mass (Evalynn bonked her head and screamed through most of it) and then we had all kinds of delicious Mexican foods and yummy desserts while we listened to a band play. Then Evalynn and Mom took a nap in the car while Daddy went to play with horses.

The Crib. Yes that is its name. Evalynn is way to big for a bassinet now so we are trying to transition her to her crib in her own room. At night I rock her to sleep and then put her in there and then she is fine until she wakes up and realizes she is alone. I give her a bottle and then comes the mad screaming and crying until she falls back to sleep herself (if you get her out of the crib she thinks it is time to be up). Last night she did VERY well after the 9:30 bought of crying. Right now she just fell asleep in her high chair.

Oh yea-Spencer is now the 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum and he has officially been permanately assigned to honor guard duty-which means he should get a lot of singing in.

Anutie Rachel gets married in two weeks in Mesa so we are looking for someone who would be willing to watch Evalynn on Friday, March 13th while I go to her endowment session and then on Sat March 15th for the wedding.

Any takers? There may be one other VERY cute little baby boy who will need a sitter to. You can see him in The 3 Amigos picture in the slideshow below.

Introducing...Sidney Jean!

This is our new neice-Miss Sidney Jean!!! She so cute and tiny (I think she weighed 5 lb 14 oz). We got to see her and love on her on our way back home from Mesa. Evalynn and I will be able to see her again in a week! YEA!!!!

The new arrival.

Bath Time

YEA!!! WAHOO!!! YIPPEE!!!

Yesterday (Feb 12) we had a court date for Evalynn to see if the judge would grant severance of her birth parents rights SEPERATE from CPS (in other words we wouldn't have to wait for CPS to finish up all their junk).

THE JUDGE GRANTED IT!!!!!!

This means that we can start the adoption proccess for Evalynn now. Hopefully we can get on the ball and be done in about 6 months.

Since Donavan's birth dad can't be contacted, we have to wait for a notice to be published in the paper that Jessie is wanting us to adopt him. The notice has to run once a week for 4 weeks and then we have to wait 30 days to see if there is any response. So the judge set a date of April 6 for another court date to address Donavan's birth parent rights (this date is before CPS date of May 9th-that is when they are "supposed" to make a final decision on all this but they seem to like to continue things).

It was also decided yesterday that Evalynn and Donavan should start having contact immediately (they were supposed to start having contact back in Oct). To make this happen CPS is going to set up meeting for just the two of them at their office in Mesa. That way the schedules of us foster moms won't be an issue (except I still have to drive to Mesa). We are so excited that these meetings might actually start happening!!!!!

Sorry for the long post!!! We are EXCITED-it feels like we are finally getting somewhere!!!!!

Thankful

While writing the previous blog, I was just remembering how thankful I am for Spencer. He works hard at his job (which he is loving) so that I can stay home and be with Evalynn. He was the one that told me that I "had" to go to Amber's wedding when we found out it as in Vegas and he stayed in Virden with Evalynn with no complaints while I was gone for 3 days. I love that he is such a handy man and can fix just about everything I break when I try to do things myself. He always supports me in the things I want to do, even if he thinks they are a little crazy!!! Plus, he always knows when I have had enough of everthing and just need hugs.

A BIG HUGE thank you to my DAD and MOM ROBERTS for this great guy they raised. I love him so much!!!

Anyone still reading this thing?!?!?!

I bet you are all wondering where the lady is that keeps this thing updated. Well she has been moving and traveling and moving!

We found a bigger place to rent so we have been MOVING again. We had some great help from the Elders. So now I just have to start finding places for everything and I LOVE the huge kitchen in this place. It is a 3 bed, 2 bath with a HUGE master tub and is SO MUCH roomier than the last place. Have had to deal with a leaky kitchen sink and then when I did the first batch of laundry the kitchen decided it was a pool (one of the pipes in the wall came loose). Luckily the plumber was here today and all is well now!!! Yea!!! Oh yea-we even have a dishwasher, a deck and an amazing view! Lots of room-come visit!

See below for a slideshow of pics from our Christmas at my parents house.

As for traveling, I went to Las Vegas to see my sister Amber get married. It was on Jan 24th and I had such a blast there with her, Junior, his parents, Jullia and Lyle and Tronnie. Fast trip, but it was worth it!!! We are throwing them a party this Sat so we will be heading to Virden and we will also pick up the rest of our stuff out of storage since we have the space for it now!! Evalynn stayed in Virden with her VERY SPECIAL daddy while mommy was in Vegas. Spencer is so great with her and she totally loves him!!!

Evalynn is almost 7 months old. She loves her walker unless she is tired-then she throws a fit until someone picks her up and rocks her to sleep. Still not sleeping through the night. She says something that sounds like "Dada" and the other day it sounded like she was saying "I love dada." I think she knows what she is talking about-she says it when Spencer is around or if he has left to go somewhere and didn't kiss her goodbye. She is sitting up well by herself and and turn a whole circle is she is laying on the floor. She gets mad sometimes that she can't get anywhere else. No signs of crawling and I am grateful!!!! Soon she will outgrow her carseat. At her 6 month appointment, she weighed 18 pounds 8 oz and was 26 inches long.

I am still selling Avon. Check out my website: http://elisaroberts.avonrepresentative.com/

Oh yea-did I mention that I am 30?!?!?!?!?!?

Hello all!

Well, Evalynn is now 6 months old! Time seems to be flying by. We are getting all moved in and internet should be up next week. Spencer is working hard and learning lots!

Evalynn and I are off to Safford tomorrow-she has several appointments on Friday. Then on Sat we get to go to our Grandma Ruth's 90th birthday party! Yea!!! When I asked my dad what the dress code for the party was he said, "Birthday suits-what do you think!" I said, "Yea right, no way!"

I (Elisa) am now 30 years old! What a hard b-day it has been for me!!!! Thanks to all of you for your cards and calls. Here is one of my funny conversations-this one with my nephew Norman:

N: Happy Birthday Essie!
E: Thanks Normie, do you know how old I am?
N: Mmmmmm, like 7?
E: No, I am now 30 years old:
N: (Silence and then)...Oh.

I have been called to be the Branch Music Director so I get to find our who in our branch likes to sing and plan special numbers and eventually form a choir. I first project is the young men-the are singing in Sacrament Meeting on the 25th!

Gotta go for now!

PS-Spencer has officially been assigned his own car!!!!!!

Quick update

Hey everyone! We don't have internet at our house in T or C yet, so be patient! I will try to get it soon. We are moving in and getting settled and Spencer has started his job and is loving it! It sure is cold here! We miss and love you all!

PS-Spencer has been asked to sing The National Anthem at a Homeland Security meeting here in New Mexico in March!!!!! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!