Jonathan's good news

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this. Jonathan was offered as spot in the ALL (accelerated learning labs) program. He'd been on the wait list so we just found out last week that they had a spot for him. I hope this will be a good thing for him. He is very smart, but also kind of the class clown. Wish us luck!

Jedi Training

Jonathan's favorite thing at Disneyland was Jedi Training. He was lucky to get chosen to participate. They mostly took younger kids, but Jonathan just wanted it so bad.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

We took Jonathan to meet Spongebob Squarepants at a local furniture store in June.

Driving School

Jonathan's favorite thing about Legoland was driving the little Lego cars and getting his Legoland Drivers License.

One picture a day. I think I can handle that.

I got the idea from a friend. I have a hard time getting Blogger to upload multiple pictures and then I get all frustrated and give up. So I will try to post a picture a day until I am caught up on all that has happened this summer. If I get really motivated I might even post 2 pictures.

This picture is from our trip to Legoland in June. Jonathan's cousin Caden came with us to both Disneyland and Legoland so you will see a lot of Caden in our pictures. He is the one under the dog in this pic.

Saying Goodbye

This really has nothing to do with adoption, well pet adoption I guess, but it is about our family. I have many fun photos from summer vacation to post if Blogger ever lets me upload them all.

Saying Goodbye

Early in the morning of Friday, July 9th our sweet dog Pumpkin Pie passed away. We knew something was wrong Thursday night, but we thought it could wait until the morning and we would take her to the vet. We were wrong. Pumpkin passed away in my car on the way to the emergency vet. They think it was heart failure. Even if we had gotten her there in time, it is unlikely they would have been able to save her and we would have had to make the heart wrenching decision to put her down.

Pumpkin was our first baby. We adopted her in July of 1999 to keep me company while Russ worked. We were newlyweds and I was not used to being home alone overnight. I needed a dog not only to keep me company, but to make me feel safe. We found her through a newspaper ad for Cockapoos. Since we lived in an apartment at the time we needed a small dog. I think I knew right away that Pumpkin was not a cockapoo, or at least not all cockapoo. She was the most unusual dog I had ever seen, mostly black with a white topcoat and brown speckles on her legs. The white topcoat eventually disappeared leaving her mostly black with some white speckles. We fell in love with her instantly. There was no way I was leaving without her no matter what kind of dog she was.

Fortunately, before Pumpkin was too big to live in our apartment, we bought a house with a big backyard. At our apartment complex there were a lot of tenants with dogs and we would all meet out in the courtyard after work to let them potty and play. When we moved, I worried that Pumpkin would be lonely so we adopted an Australian Shepherd named Dollie. Everyone we asked had a different opinion on Pie's breeding, but one that we heard often was Australian Shepherd. We wanted to get another dog similar in size so they could play together. We later learned that Pumpkin was definitely part Heeler. It wasn't until after her death that we did more research and decided she was probably a Heeler / Cocker Spaniel mix. Dollie ended up being just the right size to play with Pumpkin. Those two never could decide who was the alpha. In the end they compromised; Pie was the alpha when it came to toys and balls, Dollie was the alpha when it came to food.

Pumpkin's great love in life was tennis balls. She would have played ball for hours if we'd let her. We often took her and Dollie to the park by our house to chase balls in the field. Dollie tried to keep up, but I have yet to see a dog who could run like Pie. When I was very pregnant with Jonathan I spent a lot of time lying on the couch. Pie would bring me a ball to throw. I couldn't throw it far inside, so Pumpkin invented a new game. She would catch the ball in the air. Eventually, we perfected this trick so that she could catch a ball thrown all the way across the field.

to be continued...

Pinewood Derby

This was Jonathan's first Pinewood Derby. He and Grandma D. made his car and it was definitely one of the most popular cars there. Unfortunately, this being our first derby, we made a little mistake. Grandma glued small pieces of wood under the car to keep the wheels from falling off. This made the car rub against the track and stop about halfway down. Once we realized the problem we quickly pried the wood off the bottom and the car ran much better. The wheels did fall off, but not until the race was over.

Jonathan's car is the one with Spongebob. He made it to look like a boatmobile.

I don't know who made the Ferb car, but it was one of my favorites.

Easter in Arizona

Jonathan and I spent Easter in Arizona with Grandma & Grandpa D. and Aunts Kerri & Kristen. The Easter Bunny and Aunt Kerri made up a scavenger hunt for Jonathan and me to find our easter baskets. Jonathan's hunt ended at the garage refrigerator where he found 2 overflowing baskets.

The Easter bunny was especially generous this year and left me an iPod touch. It's my new best friend. I can watch movies, play games, and I even downloaded all of General Conference to listen to on the drive home to Utah.

Jon Schmidt concert

Jonathan and I went to a Jon Schmidt concert in March. If you don't know who he is, you really should.
http://www.jonschmidt.com/catalog/index.php

Jonathan says Jon Schmidt is better than Spongebob. That is high praise from an 8 year old boy.

Jonathan's baptism

I am really, late posting about this, but Jonathan was baptized on March 6. It was such a fun day. Family came from all over Utah and Grandma and Grandpa from California. We had a fun lunch at our home afterward. Thanks to everyone who came to the baptism and made it such a special day for Jonathan.

View our profile on itsaboutlove.org

Here's the link.

https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/21717029/ourMessage.jsf

There are still some things we need to get updated, but it's mostly there.

Getting to know us...

We are Russ and Kim A. We have been married for over 11 years now. When we were first married we just took it for granted that we would have children. After 3 years of marriage we were blessed with our son Jonathan, who is not adopted. He is our miracle and has been such a blessing in our lives. We tried for several years to have another baby with no success.

Russ is the youngest of six siblings (3 boys and 3 girls) and has always had a good relationship with his brothers and sisters. Russ and his siblings continue to have close friendships as adults. The love and support of family is something we have always wanted for our own children. Russ enjoys spending time with his family, and especially playing with Jonathan. He is a big kid. Some of their favorite things to do are bowling, laser tag, video games and playing ball with our two dogs.

Kim is the oldest of 3 sisters and has a good relationship with her family. One of their favorite things to do when they get together is play board games. Kim's sisters always find something extra fun to do with Jonathan when they visit. Kim's mom, Grandma D., has a workshop in her garage and always makes something fun with Jonathan. Just this month they made Jonathan's pinewood derby car. Kim also has a large extended family here in Utah that gets together as often as possible.

We met online in a Christian chat room`and corresponded with each other for about a year before Kim moved from Arizona to Utah to go to school. We decided to get together to see Star Wars when it was re-released in the theaters. We dated for several months and then were married in November 1998. We bought our home a year after we married and have lived here for the last 10 years. Kim is currently a part time daycare employee and full time mom to Jonathan. Russ works as a Med Tech at a local hospital.

We live in a great area with lots of children, including a large family next door who consider Jonathan part of the family and let him know what it is like to have brothers and sisters. We have been very blessed to have good neighbors and friends for our son to grow up with.

Jonathan is now 8 years old and in the second grade. He is a good student who enjoys writing and math. He loves to play with his friends, create something new with his Legos and write his own stories. For family activities he almost always chooses to play a board game. Recently Jonathan became a cub scout and is loving every minute of it. Jonathan started taking piano lessons this year and has also taken Karate for almost 3 years.

Another important part of our family is our two dogs, Pumpkin Pie and Dollie. We brought Pumpkin home not long after we got married. Russ works nights and Kim liked having the dog for company. When we moved into our home we decided Pumpkin needed a friend and so we brought home Dollie. They are good dogs who are protective of our family and enjoy playing even in their older years.

Thanks for taking the time to read about us. We welcome any questions or comments on our blog or through email.