Sunday, April 29, 2012


Well, I haven't posted in FOREVER!!!!!  This is our family this last week at Tiffany's college graduation (all except Michael who couldn't make it because of a soccer game).  

Tiffany graduated from UVU with her third degree, this time a bachelors in Nursing.  She is doing amazing!  She has been officially single for a while now and doing fantastic.  She currently has a boyfriend and is very active with friends and fun.  She is an accomplished ballroom dancer and loves to go country dancing with her good friends.  We are proud of all of her accomplishments...she has been through a lot in her 23 years but she always comes out on top!



Michael also just graduated from UVU with his Associates in Science while at the same time completing his senior year in High School.  Yup, you heard me right.  He is the second in our family to get his Associates while still in high school and Tyler will do the same next year.  Michael is currently very busy with school and soccer.  He is the keeper for the varsity team at school.  This year he was also awarded first place at the Regional Science Fair for his project on Nitrogen Fixation.  He also received some honors and scholarships for his project.

Tyler has been working hard with school and at his job at a local hardware store (which he totally loves).  He is still amazing at juggling and will be in his school's talent show this year.  He has also taken a huge liking to the rubiks cube in all it's many, many varieties.  He can solve a 2x2, 3x3, 5x5 and a 7x7.  He is currently making his own custom cube.  He is amazingly creative.  


Vitaliy is currently on a soccer team of his own and plays midfield.  He is doing great in school and his English is awesome.  He still loves to ride his bike and is currently working on his scouting.  We informed him that he needed his Eagle before he can get his driver's license.  He wasn't too thrilled about that but he enjoys scouting.  He will be spending a lot of time this summer working in scouting.  
I had to throw this one in.  This is typical Vitaliy and Jason.  They can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies.  Makes life really fun.


Jason earned his Eagle Scout in December.  He is also doing very well in school and will follow in his brothers and sister's footsteps next year as his school schedule will be filled with college classes.  Jason is still a complete clown and adds a lot of fun to the house.  I'd say that one of his favorite pass times, though, is as a "student" in parenting as he loves to get on all the younger kids and keep them in line.

Beautiful Jenae...still an amazing gymnast and doing fabulous in school.  She is so outgoing and happy all the time.  Well, almost, she is a preteen now and the mood swings have begun.  Jenae has really enjoyed spending extra time with her sister, Tiffany, these days.  Jenae loves to babysit but her favorite place in the world to be is at the gym.  She turned 12 in January and is now in Young Women's which she loves, loves, loves.

Sasha is learning to read!!!! We are so excited for him.  We have been working on his enunciation lately because he tends to get lazy when speaking.  He still understands Russian but can't speak it.  He loves going to school and has a knack for coming home with things that don't belong to him.  He doesn't steal them....he is great at bartering for things.  We just have to be careful of the things that he is trading away.  He is still very happy and loves to be loved.  He is full of "I love you mom".  He also loves, loves, loves scouting!  


Dusty is as happy as he looks.  Dusty also loves scouting.  He is doing good in school and loves to play with his friends.  He loves to walk to school regardless of bad weather.  It would have to be sleeting and hailing for him not to walk to school.  Dusty got a bike for his birthday and loves to ride it whenever he can.  He is an active, outdoor kind of guy!


Cali Ann....she would love to be a scout if she could.  She is such a sweet heart and loads of spunk to go along with that.  Cali is doing well in first grade and loves her teacher.  She loves to play with friends and her, Sasha and Jackson always have fun playing together.  This is a girl that doesn't mind getting dirty.  She is loads of fun and then some!

My sweet Jackson!!!  He is so cute.  he is going to start school in the fall and mom is so, so sad about it.  Jackson is still the most fun loving kid!  He loves to play with his best friends, Sadie and Jake.  He also loves to follow me around and talk with me.  He always has the cutest things to say.  He tells me he loves me at 30,000 times a day and I love to hear it!

This is the newest member of our family.  This is Lizzy.  She was born on November 17, 2011 and we got her in February of this year.  She is a cute little boxer and we love her soooooooooooooo much!  She is so spoiled.  Our other dog, Oreo, died of cancer this year and everyone was sad without him.  So here comes Lizzy and she is such a great dog!  (like we really needed another mouth to feed....I know.... but she is great)

This is the most recent pic of Andy and I, just taken on Friday at Tiffany's graduation.  How are we???? Well, I think we are a bit tired most of the time.  Life is crazy busy.  

For Andy, work is finally picking up.  It has been a challenging five years with the troubled economy but he has hung in there all along.  Work is busier and we hope and pray it gets better and better.  As usual, Andy is very busy with scouting as the Varsity Scout Coach and he loves all those boys.  The boys in our troop are his second family and he is great with them.  Andy's work creativity gets better and better with each year.  You should just see the amazing finish carpentry he does for people.  He is a very talented man!  I might add that he is a great father and the world's greatest husband (and best friend)!

As for me....I just completed my first semester in pre-nursing with all A's.  I was sooooo excited about that. I have spent the majority of my time since January doing homework...especially math.  I love school and if all goes well I will be applying for the nursing program in the Spring of 2013.  The rest of my time is spent keeping things in order and taking people here and there.

It has been an amazing year since we adopted our boys.  Oh how the time has flown by.  It has been a year of adjustment and association.  Yes there has been downs but the ups outweigh the downs.  Everyone is settling in and things are going as good as they can.  I am glad the first year is behind us.  Looking back, I would do it all over again....in a heartbeat!  (not saying I would do it again, but we wouldn't change a thing!)