Weekend Celebration Pics

So, since we have such a big weekend, my son is 6 months old, and my daughter is turning 3 on Sunday....I had to do a photo session of the two. Check them out on my photog blog....http://www.paulakphotography.blogspot.com. I know, I know....totally bragging about my kids...can you blame me. They are too stinkin' cute.

Big Week....and it all begins with this!

This week is a big one for us. Today we went to court at 9:00 this morning to finalize our adoption with Zander. It is always an emotional moment for me when the judge says, "Let it be known, on the record, that Carl L. Weeks and Paula K. Weeks are legally the parents of Zander J. Weeks."

When the attorney is asking all kinds of questions to make everything official, sometimes I get nervous, but in the end, what a neat experience. We wanted to take a picture (like we did with Kya). It was quiet and we were all smiling waiting for the picture and Kya said really loud.."CHEESE". The judge commented with, "this girl must have had a lot of pictures taken"....if you only knew your honor.

One of the questions our attorney asked us was, "tell the judge why you think it is in the best interest of the child that you adopt him" and then he asks, "are you under any influence that would impair your judgement?"....my response was "emotions, does that qualify as an impairment?" (me...balling like a baby...you know)

In this picture from left to right.

Attorney Browning, the Judge, me and the sleeping star, Carl and Kya, and our LDSFS case worker Jason.

Zander fell asleep on my shoulder just as I sat down in court...what a good little boy.

Now we have the temple to look forward to on Saturday and we will finally bless Zander on Sunday, plus celebrating Kya's third birthday on Sunday. I love this time in our lives...we are so blessed.

Paul and Carol Morgan Family Reunion

My parents had their "every other summer" family reunion. We went to Bear Lake again, but this year Rachel and Matt were in charge of organizing it. They did an awesome job. We were in a lodge by the lake. 15 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, 7 TV's, hot tub, fire pit, yard, volleyball and beach within walking distance....2 grandparents, 7 children, 6 in-laws, 1 soon to be sister-in-law, 7 grandsons, 8 granddaughters, 1 more grandchild (gender not yet determined) on the way, and loads of fun.

We spent a couple days on the beach, sun bathing, trying to keep the little ones out of the sun, making sand castles, jet skiing, swimming, eating and all that jazz.

Bear Lake, view from the top.

Zander loves being outside....except when he tried to eat the sand....yuck!

And of course, little sun beauty.
All she talked about for a week and all weekend was "playing with my cousins"

Daddy bought Kya a kite, and with the wind we were experiencing this weekend, she had a blast.

Gma and Gpa Morgan with all the grandkids...so far. They are all wearing their Alaska shirts that Gma and Gpa got them from their recent cruise to....guess where, Alaska.

Gma and Gpa with the latest additions.

Carl and Zander were enjoying a movie in the theater room, sunday afternoon. Well, Carl's enjoying the movie, Zander just wanted to chew on his toes.

All the Morgan girls. We will be adding another Morgan gal (can you hardly believe it?) in September with EJ's soon-to-be wife, Ashley.

Ethan (born on the 4th of July)

Trevyn, #5 for Carrie

Zander is not feeling well...he's working on another tooth. He loves cuddling with mommy.

Aunt Jacque rocks, she was entertaining the little gals sunday evening. This is the "princess train".

She must have been telling a really great story in their little "hiding place". This Papa Bear Lodge was awesome.

We finished our weekend at a park in Logan on Monday. Played volleyball, had some lunch and of course ice cream cones.

Happy 6 months old today to Zander. Man, the time sure flies by.

He cracks us up!

We were just sitting around having FHE when we told Kya to say goodnight to Zander. It was his bedtime...he has kind of been a fussy beast tonight. So Kya said, "Goodnight, I love you", in a scary voice and this was the result. We tried it, and he didn't laugh at us.

Backpacking with the Young Women

Last weekend Carl and I went backpacking up past Smiley Creek...far up into the White Cloud mountains. We packed into the Borne Lakes. It was such a great experience. I loved having Carl with me...the majority of the time. He ended up hiking back out of the mountains with one other guy to gather search and rescue....story later.

So we hiked in about 5 1/2 miles over pretty intense terraine. An avalanche took out part of our trail so we were scaling large, sharp rocks that had fallen and snow from the avalanche. Once we got to camp we pitched tarps as lean-tos and claimed our spots of dirt for sleeping for two nights.

My camera battery died half way up the mountain, so I am waiting for more pics from the other camera that was there. Another post later....

Carl is helping me adjust my waist strap.

Seriously...suck it in.

The gang just before heading in. My young women rock!

So, Carl and a couple other men went to a little lake to filter some water for us all. We went ahead...up the steap mountain trail and then waited near the top. Here comes Carl, not only packing his 50 or so lbs....but another pack with almost all 19 water bottles full of fresh water. He hauled! What a stud.

Well deserved break!

In front of some of the mountains. I think Fourth of July.

Fourth of July Lake

What troopers.

I love this guy!
He was helping me up the rock for a little lookout break. As I said...I plan to do another post when I get more pics...but for your true enjoyment, here are some pics of the kids spending the weekend with Ma and Pa Weeks. Thanks for your help.

"Don't mess with me and my carrot"

Just because he's cute!

Picture Overload....4th of July

Fun picture post. We had a great 4th weekend. Except for the fact that I had to work some of it...it was still full of fun. Saturday morning we went to our ward breakfast at the park. Yummy food, great company and Kya made a couple pinwheels. Zander just loved being held by mommy all morning, of course. (mama's boy)

If you know me, you know that I am as cheesy and corny as they come when it come to color-coordinating our outfits for all holidays. Even Zander was in on it. I love dressing for holidays. I made Kya's skirt from red bandanas, its a ruffle skirt. I didn't get a good picture on here of it though, silly me.

After I worked half a shift, we went out to Hazelton. Carl's brother and his wife and three boys moved out to an elk ranch to manage it for the summer. (Robin, you are a better woman than I am) Kya loves going out there because there are so many animals for her to hold and be around. She even got to help gather pheasant eggs.
Just a cute picture of Z talking to daddy.

This mama elk was coming close to the fence to investigate and of course Kya was saying, "come here elk", with her arms out.

One of the hatched pheasant eggs that was gathered a couple weeks ago.

Kya was really in heaven when we found some baby kitty's on the ranch. She just wanted to hold this little kitten all night.

Awwwwwww!

Isn't he the cutest?

Dinner was great...barbequed elk steaks, corn on the cob and an assortment of salads. Yummo! We all liked the corn the best!

FIREWORKS! Who doesn't love them. The kids got to play with a lot of sparklers.

Another cheesy...Awwwwwww!

Triple Awwwwww!

"Look at the pretty fire, mom"

Carl got in on the action with the really big sparklers and I thought this picture was fun "big C".

Then there was Zander, poor guy missed out on all the fireworks, doing what he does best....My final Awwwwwwww!