We love Mommy

Written by Spencer

Wendy is the best mom ever!

Even before Roman was born I could tell that Wendy would be a good mom because of how much she loved being around all of our nieces and nephews and playing with them. However, I could not have known how great a mom she would be. She takes such good care of Roman at all times. Even when she is tired from running around with him all day she finds joy in just holding him.

When I come home from work I get a chance to spend some time with Roman playing and feeding him dinner. While I love being with him, it is hard for me to imagine that I would be in as good a mood as Wendy is if I were to take care of all his needs every day. As I said before, Wendy is the best mom ever!

Roman is such a mama’s boy. Whenever Roman falls, gets hurt or is just in a grumpy mood he always wants his mom. And even though she is usually tired because he wants her most of the day she loves to have him come to her and be the mama’s boy. I will admit that some times it is a little heart breaking to me because that he wants her and not me at these times. Again Wendy is the best mom ever!

Even as I am writing this we are in the San Francisco Airport and she is taking care of him while we wait for our flight back to Salt Lake City. She is talking to him and playing with him as he tries to destroy the entire airport. Wendy is the best mom ever!

Wendy is also the best wife ever! I love her so much. I certainly do want to be with Wendy for eternity. She is the only person I can see myself spending all of time and eternity with. She is so great and there are so many wonderful things about her. I am so grateful for Wendy and that she is willing to put up with me.

We love Daddy

Written by Wendy

We really do love daddy! Spencer is such a great dad. More than that he is a great husband we just love to be with him.

Spencer is a quiet (until you get to know him) person but he is a daredevil. He loves riding roller coaster, skydiving, cliff diving.

He is always thinking of others. He is so passionate about the things that he does. He loves teaching Sunday school because he has formed a relationship with these youth and he truly wants the best for them. He even talks about teaching at a college level after he retires. He loves teaching.

He is a fish out of water. He especially loves to be in the ocean but he will settle for a lake or a pool, whatever he can find. He loves swimming, snorkeling, body surfing, boogie boarding. I don't think you can wipe the smile off his face when he is at the ocean.

He is a big kid at heart! I can always count on him to make me smile.

(If the slide has stopped playing you can push the X in the top right corner and it will begin again)

We are a happy Family

Spencer and I have always enjoyed spending time together. Whether it is on a trip, a day up the canyon, or just spending a little time together at home. We love long weekends where we can just relax together.

Every year we go to California for the 4th of July for Spencer's family reunion. It is something we both look forward to every year. Last year as we were driving to his Grandma's house we were almost to her house and I realized how much I loved his family. I felt like I was going home.
Some of our favorite trips have been just weekend trips. We love to take a long weekend and go to Moab, Mesa Verde, Flaming Gorge, or even just up the canyons for an afternoon.

We love playing with our Dachshund/Terrier dog Brodie. She has been a part of our family for 6 years and we love her so much. Most days as Roman wakes up from his nap, she is excitedly waiting at the door to greet him.

Since Roman was born we have continued doing all our favorite things with him. We hike, snowshoe, and most importantly just love spending time together as a family. We look forward to doing many other things as a family.

Roman

Roman is such an amazing little boy. He is so happy and fun and full of energy. He has the greatest laugh, and for the most part he is really easy going. He loves to be outside.

His all time favorite movie used to be Cars, but over the past 6 months he has realized there are other movies that he loves. He now also enjoys Kung Fu Panda, Then Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Leapfrog Letter Factory and of course he still loves Cars.

He loves reading books, frequently we will find him sitting in the chair in his bedroom with a pile of books, he can't read yet, but he just sits and gabbers. When he sees us he will ask us to read them to him. We read 5-10 books at bedtime every night and he would be happy to read more. He has also started coloring in coloring books, which he really likes, and he loves pointing out letters.

He is so active. He loves walking, running, crawling, climbing, playing the piano, going on walks, and anything where is can be on the move.

He loves playing with his cousins. They love him too.

My hobbies, talents, what I like to do (Wendy)

My parents were so supportive of whatever we wanted to do when we were growing up. They made us feel that we could do anything, so I tried many things. I played the Piano, Flute, and the Bassoon. In high school, I was on the swim team. I always felt like anything I wanted to do, I should at least try, because I knew I could do anything that I put my mind to.

I do a lot of crafts such as: scrapbooks, sewing, quilting, and crocheting. I feels such a sense of accomplishment when I can look at something that I have made with my own hands. I also love blogging to keep up with our friends.

My favorite thing though is just spending time with my family.

My hobbies, talents, what I like to do (Spencer)

I used to be somewhat of a daredevil. When I turned 18 I had the goal to get certified as a skydiver. I completed 5 of the 7 jumps required for certification. However, I had to move away before I was finished and was not able to complete the certification. Since then I have not had the time or money to finish the certification.

I also am a avid lover of rollercoasters. I think that Roman will love also rollercoasters when he is a little older because of how much he loves being thrown in the air. He laughs so hard. It brings me so much joy to hear him laugh.

Wendy and I love to hike during the summer and snowshoe during the winter. We spend most or our time hiking and snowshoeing in Millcreek Canyon. Wendy’s grandparents used to have a cabin in Millcreek Canyon and so we love spending time in that canyon.

I also love to throw (create) pottery. This has to be one of the most relaxing things for me to do. Being able to create something that looks appealing from something that looks not so appealing always makes me feel great.

Now to the boring part of my life, I really do love my career. I am an accountant and specialize in international tax. Most people will believe that this is the most boring and possibly tormenting thing to do on earth. However, I find my job fascinating.

Growing up - Wendy

I am the second of six children in my family. I have four sisters and one brother. With so many siblings we always had someone to play with (or pick-on as the case may be). The best part about having so many sisters and a brother is that I have so many friends that I have had all my life. My sisters are some of my best friends. We love doing things together.

We did so many fun things together as a family. My Grandpa had a cabin up Millcreek Canyon. They (my dad, his brothers and sisters and my grandparents) built it when my dad was young. We would go up to the cabin every summer and spend time with our cousins. I remember so make hikes to the waterfall, the meadow, and so many times we would run down the canyon with all our cousins to try to beat our parents (who were driving the cars of course) to the gate out of the fork.

We also took family road trips every year. We went all over the west coast, then started working on the central states. Some of my fondest memories come from these trips. We still have so many inside jokes that stem from these trips just spending a week or two as a family.

Growing up - Spencer

I grew up in one of the best families. It has taken me many years to realize how great my family is. Every year we have a family reunion on the property that my grandparents bought over 40 years ago in Northern California, specifically the area known as the wine country. All of my aunts, uncles, cousins and their children gather around the 4th of July each year. We play games, visit with each other, go to the beach, light off fireworks, etc. Although we see each other at other times during the year, this is the time when everyone is together as a big family.

I was born in Orem, Utah and moved to Michigan when I was three weeks old. I can not personally verify this since I was only three weeks old but I trust that my parents would not lie to me. Even so I consider myself a native of Michigan. I spent most all of my childhood growing up in Michigan. I have great memories with my two brothers and sister from this time. In my teenage years we moved back to Utah. I went to high school and college in Utah. I also met my wonderful wife Wendy here. So, I am glad we moved back to Utah.

As a child, every August we would go on a road trip from Michigan to upstate New York. My great uncle owns a farm there and we would play on the farm for about a week. I loved to help him every morning with milking the cows. Although I probably was really more of a hindrance than a help. We would also play in the hay loft. We built forts and tunnels with the bails of hay. I have some of my fondest memories from these times. We also would attend our family reunion while on this trip. This family reunion consisted of members of my family from all over the country. Many of whom I never saw at any other time. It is from this reunion that the reunion in California was established.

Our story - How we met and our life together

Two weeks before we graduated from high school we were introduced through mutual friends. Right after graduation Spencer moved to California for the summer to work. He came back at the end of the summer and we ran into each other again at a dance. I thought he was a nice guy, fun to be with, so I set him up with one of my friends. They didn't hit it off very well that night, but we did. Three days later we went on our first date.

We first became really good friends before we started seriously dating. I think that's what has made our relationship so much better. We have always been best friends. We dated for about 9 months before Spencer left on a mission to McAllen Texas for the LDS church. We wrote to each other the two years that he was gone.

When he came home from his mission we had two weeks that we spent together with family. Spencer went on family vacation with Wendy's family, then in turn Wendy went to California with Spencer to meet his family. After those two weeks together we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We were married 3 1/2 months later.

What it means to be part of our family

Being a part of our family is:

Bedtime stories
Playing with our Dachshaund (Brodie)
Evening Walks
Hiking
Snowshoeing
Summer Vacations with Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents
Spending time with Cousins
Camping
Boating

And tons of giggles, tickles and loves!

Our Adoption Experience

Written by Wendy

When we were first starting the adoption process they told us that we would gain a testimony of adoption. It sounded so funny to me, I didn't know how that was possible. I thought about it a lot, but really didn't understand it. I can now say that I have truly gained a testimony of adoption.

LDS family Services encourages adoptive couples to find their birthmother. In our case she found us. I was part of an online bulletin board that Katie also posted on. She had seen that we were trying to adopt. Katie sent me an e-mail asking to see our profile. I didn't know what it was about her, but she had such an amazing spirit. After that first e-mail we didn't hear back from Katie for another 2 weeks. When we did she was going through some really hard things, but we started e-mailing. It felt like we were old friends. It was so easy to e-mail with her, but so scary at the same time. I told Spencer so many times that no matter what happened I wanted to support her because she was such an amazing person.

About a month later Katie sent us the cutest e-card. She told us that she had been praying and she knew that he was supposed to be part of our family. She was 28 weeks pregnant at that point, and we continued to e-mailed regularly. Katie was coming to Utah a few weeks later to see family, so we were able to meet her. We met for dinner. I was so scared what if we didn't recognize each other, what if she didn't like us? What if she decided she was wrong? Fortunately we recognized her right off. We had no problems talking. It was like seeing an old friend. We sat and talked and looked at pictures and laughed, and just had such a fun and easy time.

Katie had things set up for a scheduled induction, she was going to be induced on a Monday, but didn't make it, she called 5 days earlier to say her water had broken. She lived a state away, Spencer and I were both at work, we didn't have bags packed. I didn't even have a car at work. I had carpooled to work that day. Thankfully my friend had just happened to stop by the office to drop off a baby gift. She was nice enough to take me home. I was on the phone the entire time. We somehow made it home, packed bags, booked plane tickets, hotel, and a rental car, and made it to the airport in about 2 1/2 hours. We were to the hospital 800 some odd miles away within about 5 1/2 hours from the time we got the call that her water had broken, and I was able to be in the room when Roman was born.

What a sweet special experience. Roman was so small and sweet. I was so worried I had never been a mother before, what if I didn't know what to do? As soon as I saw him I loved him and knew that I would do whatever I needed to to protect this sweet boy.

Since he was born we have been able to see Katie several times (so far) and we love her so much. She is such an important part of our lives. She made it all possible. She has blessed our lives beyond anything we could ever imagine.

If you want to read more about our adoption, I have written about it on this other blog. Katie has also begun telling her story there too. Feel free to read and comment.

We would Love to hear from You

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us a little. We would love to get to know you. If you have any questions or would like to contact us, you can e-mail us at spencerandwendy@yahoo.com

We look forward to getting to know you!