Parent Profiles

It's been a long time in the making..and thinking...and putting together. BUT, now it's official! We have another profile, another way to be contacted, another avenue we are putting our hope into. We are LIVE on Parent Profiles.com!

Here's the link if you'd like to visit, but by all means, SHARE IT! Help us spread the word that we are looking to adopt another miracle into our hearts and home!

Our Parent Profiles Profile!

http://www.parentprofiles.com/profiles/db29885.html

Eagle Scouting

Supporting Family

Supporting our family and having their support is very important to us. We went together over to California to Joyce's sisters house to support her son, J while he received his Eagle Scout Award. J is the oldest of our nieces and nephews. He worked really hard to earn this award before he turned 18.

Joyce, Daisey, Grandma G, and nephew.

We helped get the refreshments ready, and chairs set up. Watching the nephews (there were four of them) and keeping Daisey out of trouble gave us all plenty to do. Doug was asked to read the Eagle Scout charge for J.

Doug reading the Eagle Scout Charge

Shortly after that, it was time to give J his Eagle Scout award. It was such a great experience to be a part of.

Nephew J pinning his Mother's pin on his mom.

J's Mom and Dad celebrating with a smile!

Daisey's favorite part was all the cousins to play with! She loves to make-up games, and imagine all sorts of things with her cousins. They had a great time and played really good together.

Daisey and cousin.

Even though we're a state away, our family is important to us! We love getting together to support each other in the triumphs and happenings in each family. We count ourselves truly blessed to have such a large, loving, and supporting family!

~Doug and Joyce

The Zoo

The Zoo

We decided to head to the zoo, so we took a few friends with us. It was great to be outside in the fresh air and spending time with family and friends. The kids like to see all the animals and the adults like to let them run!

Doug helped the kids look at the turtles in the pond.

Lil'miss L, Daisey, and Lil'mr K looking at the prairie dogs in the zoo. They were eating lettuce and other vegetables and making all sorts of noise!

Daisey  had a great time watching the Giraffes.

Lil'Mr. K, and his sister Lil' Miss L. 

They loved each other, and looking 

at the  animals! 

The kids had such a great time looking at all the animals! We brought a picnic lunch and sat to eat by the Giraffes. We walked around to see all the animals. The Lions and Tigers were out laying in the sun and the Otters were busy playing in their little pond. It was a great day with each other and we were glad to have been able to bring some good friends along too!

~Doug, Joyce, and Daisey

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning!
We love Christmas! We get together with our family here in Arizona on Christmas Eve and sing carols, eat good food, and then go see the Christmas Lights around town. Daisey always gets a new nightgown from her Grandma G to snuggle up tight with while she waits for Santa to come.

Daisey modeling her nightgown

 

In the morning, we all had a great time opening presents. Daisey loves everything she got from Santa, her parents, and all her grandparents!

Our Christmas Tree

 There's nothing like a decorated tree, filled with presents!

Daisey loving opening her presents.

 Doug got a K'Nex kit for a semi trailer of
his favorite Nascar driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Joyce got a new set of sheets. There's nothing 

better than a nice, soft, smooth set of sheets!

We loved spending the day together, and enjoying the Christmas Spirit with each other! We hope to have another piece of our family to enjoy Christmas with in 2014!

Merry Christmas!

~Doug, Joyce, and Daisey

ZooLights

ZooLights!

We got a pass to the Zoo this year, and after Thanksgiving they put animal lights up around the zoo! We thought we'd try it out. It turned out to be a lot of fun! There were all sorts of animals. It was cold, so we got some hot chocolate!

 

Daisey got all bundled up and 

ready to go look at the lights!

 The Giraffe lights were Joyce's favorite! The Momma moved down to touch the baby's head. It was sweet!

 This was a true Arizona display!

 Wild Pigs, or Javelina! 

It was fun to see all the things

 they put into lights!

 Daisey loved the peacocks!
All the colors were so bright.

These blue lights were wrapped 

around Saguaro cacti! Joyce thought it 

was pretty cool, and risky!

We always have a good time together as a family, but this was one of our favorites. It's certainly something that we'll be doing again. As we walked around, there was Christmas music playing, and cheer in the air. Nothing better to get us in the Christmas mood. 

~ Doug, Joyce, and Daisey

Decorating the Tree

The Tree

Our Christmas Tree has a small story. We bought it our first year married. So it's getting kinda old, we've been married 11 years in June. At first, we disagreed with the color that the lights should be. I wanted white ones, Doug wanted colored. I thought colored was kind of childish, and I have to admit, it wasn't my favorite until Daisey came along. Once she came along it seemed to fit. Then we started adding her "kid" ornaments on it. That even made it better.

Decorating the tree has always been something that we've done together. It hasn't always been Doug's favorite thing about the holidays...putting ornaments on the tree. But for me, it kicks off the season. We get an ornament at every place we go, every vacation, every new adventure. So we have quite a few. Some from the Space Center in Houston when we went on vacation to my sisters house 7 or 8 years ago. Quite a few ornaments are from Disneyland or DisneyWorld. We've been there quite a few times. One ornament is from the Grand Canyon, which was Daisey's first time staying at a hotel. There are so many memories and they all get to be put on our Christmas Tree.

Daisey putting on her very first ornament, from 2010. "Baby's first Christmas"

Doug and Daisey decorating the tree

Doug putting on the Star, the last touch.

 The star always goes on last, and Doug has to do it. I'm just not tall enough! Those few inches in height difference really make it easier for him to get it up there.

Nothing sets off the Christmas Season better than Christmas jammies and a decorated Christmas Tree. Unfortunately, there are quite a few strands of lights on our pre-lit tree that have gone out. I'm sure by the time we take it down there will be more lights out. I guess we need to start thinking about getting another tree.. I think this one will be colored lights too. Our Family Tree needs to be as colorful as our Family is.

Always,

Doug and Joyce

The Phoenix Zoo

What a Zoo!

So after Thanksgiving we decided to go to the Zoo. We had bought a year pass and were able to get in the cousins for free, so we thought it would be a good thing to get the kids out of the house and out to see something new. They had a blast running from animal to animal and wondering what they were going to see next.

Joyce's Sisters Family looking for the turtles

First stop, the turtles and snakes! 

Some of them were hard for the kids to see. Thank heavens for benches!

The littlest checking out the Gophers!

Doug and Daisey looking for the Wolves

Daisey and her cousins trying to find the Bobcat

Daisey is always concerned with where we're headed. So naturally, she had to check out the map with Daddy!

Joyce, Daisey and the oldest cousin checking out the giraffes from the Safari hut!

Joyce and Daisey in the monkey experience.

We didn't get to see the whole zoo, it's a big one! But we had a great time and got to see some tiny monkeys up close inside the enclosure. Best of all we spent time together with our family and Daisey got to make memories with her cousins. Family is such an important part of our journey here on earth. We're glad to have been together! Until next time at the Zoo!

Love Always,

Doug and Joyce

Thankgiving

Thank-ful Time!

This year Thanksgiving was going to be spent in town. There were no plans to travel, it was a good thing too, because both Doug and I were suffering from a silly cold! We had planned on Doug's parents coming to town, and because they were sick, they cancelled too. Not that we blame them! No fun to get on an airplane while you're sick! So, it ended up that we had all the fixins' for dinner, but just us three to share it with. Not to mention the 11lb prime rib roast that Joyce bought accidentally way too large!

Naturally, we called Joyce's sister that lives in Cali and they decided to come over with three of their four boys. So we ended up with a full house once again! It was fun. We put down air mattresses, set up the pack-n-play for the baby, and let the wildness begin!

 

 

Daisey and her two cousins playing outside!

 The kids loved to play outside and Daisey enjoyed being able to play with other kids. While they were playing outside, or inside, or anywhere, our brother-in-law took a nap.

While he napped and the kids played games, Joyce and her sister were in the kitchen getting Thanksgiving dinner ready.

Of course, while things were cooking, there was plenty of time to snack and read a good book. (Joyce was usually behind the camera, but really, she ate and snacked most of the day!)

Joyce's sister reading a good book.. her family loves to read!

Dinner was ready, and we had great food. Turkey and Prime Rib, it was a feast for just about everyone! The only thing that would have made it better was if the rest of Joyce's family would have been closer to come and enjoy it too.

This year we had a lot to be thankful for. First and foremost is always our daughter, Daisey. She came into our lives so tiny, and ready to be loved, and she's had us wrapped around her little fingers ever since. She's the joy in our lives. Doug completed his first year as a Resident and was halfway through his second year. He had gotten into a groove and was loving being a Doctor. Joyce was able to go to school and start on her Associates Degree from BYU Idaho and was close to finishing her first preliminary year. It was a good year, and there were a lot of things to be thankful for. Our health, our family, and of course the chance at a bright future!

All our love,

Doug and Joyce

Va-Room!

Nascar!

Doug is a huge Nascar fan. Every place that we've lived, except Utah, has had a Nascar track. So he decided it would be a travesty if we didn't go. So, after moving to Arizona, we went and took Daisey. But this time, he convinced his parent's to come and go with us. We got Daisey a babysitter- she didn't stay entertained very well the first time. 

Doug and Joyce standing on the track!

 We had a great time walking around all the pit-stalls, looking at all the cars, and meeting the drivers. Daiseys favorite driver is Danica Patrick, so of course we had to stop and get a picture with her car.

Joyce and Danica Patricks car! Just for Daisey!

Doug and his Mom. 

Doug and his Dad

Doug's parents had a blast just watching Doug get so excited about everything! It wasn't too long and we found Doug's favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. I don't think that he's been more excited in his life, except maybe for the time that he got to be a Dad!

Doug at Dale's car.

Doug meeting Daisey for the first time.

It's amazing how similar the faces are! 

Once we got to see all the cars, we went over to the announcers to wait for all the drivers to be introduced. We got to see the UFC fighter Benson Henderson.

Then we were there when all the drivers were introduced. We saw Danica Patrick, and of course Doug's favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Danica Patrick

There's Dale!

The start/finish line

Doug was standing on the start finish line, it was cool to see all the people that had signed the line. Lots of "good-lucks" and well wishes. Then it was off to the stands to our seats!

Joyce and Doug ready for the race to start!

It was a great race. Dale even led a few laps and came in 4th in the end. It was a good chance to spend some time with each other, make memories, and enjoy the unseasonably warm Arizona November. It was 85, and that was a little warm to be outside in the full sunshine. We had a blast, and can't wait for Nascar next year! Maybe next time, Daisey will have some company at the babysitters. ;)

We are still hoping to adopt our second baby, and would love to add not only a baby to our family, but a birth family as well.

All our love,

Doug and Joyce

Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween happens to be one of Joyce's favorite times of year. It's cool outside, the colors on leaves are pretty (unless you live in the desert, then it's still green), you get to dress up and pretend to be something-or someone- else. It's magical! 

This year, our house was not decorated as it usually is. But that didn't stop Daisey from having fun! She enjoyed getting dressed up for the church's Trunk-or-Treat!

She even got to make pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with Grandma G. Oh how she loves to help and be in the kitchen. This girl is a big helper all around..

Helping Grandma G cut out cookies.

It was her turn to roll out some dough! The rolling pin weighs as much as she does...

There's nothing like adding frosting to any cookie.. She got to frost her own!

The next week, she got to get dressed up again for her preschool's Halloween Party...

 

Such a bewitching little witch!

That night was Halloween! Doug was on the night shift and went into work late so he could take her around the neighborhood Trick-or-Treating. Joyce stayed home and handed out candy. It was gone by 8:00!

Once Daisey and Doug got home, we had a little visit from two very dressed up friends! Little Princess Sophia the First, and Batman!

Daisey had such a great time, it wasn't all about the candy, it was about friends, spending time with her Dad, and getting to do one of the things she enjoys best, dressing up!

Happy Halloween!
Doug and Joyce