God's Green Earth

Wow, has anyone noticed lately how beautiful this earth is? No, seriously!! Not to sound really cheesy, but I have felt soooo thankful for the beauty around me, that I normally take for granted. It's easy to get used to the amazing mountains that we are surrounded by here, when you see them every day. But honestly, what a GREAT place to live!! And it really doesn't matter where you live, there are always so many beautiful things to see and experience! On Saturday we had such a fun day!! We went out to Jessika's house and spent the day 4-wheeling and spending time together. My brother, Jason, came with us and brought his 4-wheelers, which was sooo fun! And I was so happy that he could meet Jessika and her family. Anyway, Jessika's parents, Melanie and Paul, took us on the most amazing ride that wound all through the mountains. We saw so many different and beautiful kinds of wild flowers and waterfalls and lush green hillsides. It was just gorgeous!! I really was humbled, as I have been many times before, at what a wonderful world we have that was created for us. There is just so much to appreciate!


We then were treated to a delicious dinner of burgers and salads and got to just sit around and talk and hang out. It was such a nice day with Jessika and her family and we are so thankful that they treat us to such fun times! And today we have another doctor's appointment to see how our little girl is growing!! The weeks are just flying by and little Kaiya is going to be here before we know it!!

I just have to say (again) how thankful I am for Jessika and for her whole family. I realize that it's not just Jessika (though it ultimately is her who is making such a difficult decision) who is sacrificing sooo much for us. Her whole family is. And the more we have gotten to know them, the more special they all become to us and the more we love them. Chris and I often talk about how lucky we feel, not only to have a child coming into our lives and our family finally, but that the whole process has been so blessed and that we have been so priveledged to have such a great relationship with Jessika and her family. We just feel so fortunate with how everything has worked out and we count our many blessings every day.

I need to just get this picture out of the way first, because my face looks like this in all the rest of these pictures! So, go ahead, laugh it up! Yes, somehow the dust gods were out to get me on this day! If you notice in the following pictures, everyone else looks clean and nice and I look like I wore camoflauge, which I actually did not! I don't know what happened, but each time we stopped and I took my helmet off, I had a little more dirt on me and our group had a little bit more difficult of a time controlling their laughter! I don't know why, but this is the only picture I took with Jessika (how dumb of me), but you can see how her cute belly is growing away!

Chris, me, Paul, Melanie
Poor, poor Chase. He LOVES going out to see his friend, Bear, but let's face it, he's a pampered city dog! Every time we go out there, he goes crazy running and playing, and then pays for it later. This time around, he tore the pad off of one of his paws, so it is raw and he is limping around like he broke his leg. He has pretty much crashed for the last 2 days and hasn't done much moving! This is what he has looked like since we left their house!