Just for fun. And no he will not be dressing up as frankenstein......

Pumpkins

For family home evening we carved ourselves some pumpkins. Max was super excited to get started but once he put his hand in the big orange ball for those seeds he was not as excited anymore. It seems like we forget all the fun details of carving pumpkins. He drew the face he wanted on it and with the help of mom and dad he cut out the pieces. He also wanted it to have a super hero mask!
Brandon did a thunder cats emblem on his. It turned out looking awesome!
Camille did a silly face and the dad of the group thought she had messed up and felt bad for her until she let him know that it was on purpose :-)
We did have a good time. The first thing Max said the next morning was "The pumpkins are all ready for Halloween!" He must have dreamed about them all night.

Summer Fun

Summer time is over but we had a great one. We went camping, swimming, horse-back riding, parade watching, we had water balloon fights and ran through the sprinklers. We also spent lots of time with friends and family. There were many family reunions and bbq's with friends.

This is a snake that was painted onto Max's face when we were at family camp this year. He thought it was so cool. We had a fun time camping. Brandon went river rafting, repelling, and enjoyed other fun activities. Camille hung out with the 3 and 4 year olds and got to make lots of crafts, nature walks, blow bubbles, play on the slides, and went to the nature lodge where they got to pet a bunny. Max learned all kinds of new things like swordplay with wooden swords, made a rocket and got to blast it off, learned about the food pyramid and first aid stuff, he also got to go swimming and went in a row boat. Lots of great fun.

Dentist visit

A visit to the dentist can be so fun! ;) Max needed some teeth pulled out so his adult teeth could grow in more evenly spaced. He was a good sport but mostly because he got to watch a movie.
He also wanted a mo-hawk and this is the best we could do. We are still waiting for some of the teeth to start showing themselves. Max says that right now he looks like Spongebob, and to him that is pretty cool.

Mmmmm brownies

This is Max helping make brownies! He gets the fun part and all the good stuff. Being a kid is the best......especially when you can eat as much of this stuff you want......of course after a good meal.

Horses are cool (May 22)

We decided to go horseback riding and Max was not very excited about this. He is really scared of them. They are too big. This horse in this picture is named Goliath. So of course he did not want to get on. (He has a hard time trying new things like: four wheelers, tractors, no training wheels, etc.) Camille is the same way, so he must have gotten it from her. Well we finally got him up on the horse in front of Camille and we started off on a slow walk. After about 2 seconds he was saying he wanted off! This went on for about 15 minutes and then we put him on the other horse with Brandon. This lasted about 15 minutes with him saying he wanted off as well. When we were putting the horses away Max got stung by a wasp, what a day he was having.
A few days ago Brandon mentioned that we were going to go riding again and Max said "I like riding horses they are fun!"
We shall see if this is true. :)

No training wheels

Max learned to ride his bike without training wheels recently and he gets better all the time. He was really scared at first but with dad helping him and mom cheering him on he soon got the hang of it. He loves to go on bike rides any time it is sunny outside. He was riding it around the house today while his cousin Conner was over. Max is getting better at getting on it and started out by himself.
Conner and Max played transformers, swung on the swings, and with the water guns. Conner lives in Alaska and is visiting for only a few weeks; we are glad that he was able to come over and play even for just a short time.

Fireman!

He is the fireman! Brandon is great at his job. He is an engineer firefighter, meaning that he is first an engineer and second a firefighter. Brandon first got hired on the fire department as a firefighter and then moved up in rank to engineer after more training and years on the department. He drives the engine or truck on the calls and sometimes he sits in the captains seat when he is in charge for the day. They go on all kinds of calls, yes including cats stuck up in trees! We visit him at the station sometimes and go on calls with him. We saw a building on fire and got to go lights and sirens on the way there. Brandon loves his job and he gets to see and do amazing things all the time.

IFly


The Venturing Crew in our area and I went and did some indoor surfing and then did the IFly! We had a lot of fun. I did try the surfing as well but that was not as much fun. My favorite activity was the IFly. You are instructed as to the rules and what you need to do, then they put you in a jumpsuit with helmet and goggles, also wear earplugs and lace up shoes, then you go into the chamber and they shut the door. The instructor with you helps you to get your posture right and then you may get some air time by yourself in the wind tunnel room. Was a great feeling. But as for real skydiving.....I think I'll keep my feet on the ground. :)

Max the soccer dude

This was Max's second year playing soccer and he loved it! He had the same coach and some of the same kids on his team. They all got along and his coach was so good with the kids. This picture is great because they are all standing there, arms folded, waiting for the game to start again. Max is already wanting soccer to start again. We do not know if his team won because it was more enjoyable to watch him have fun!

Sadie

Our Sadie is now over a year old. She is a good dog. She is great at playing fetch and likes to give you kisses, even though the licks are not our favorite because they are slobbery. She has a pack that she wears when we go on bike rides, these are one of her favorite activities as well. She does not like water but if we are watering the flowers she tries to get the water by jumping at it and biting it. That is hilarious to watch, Max busts up every time.

The Coop

This is our coop that we made as a family and with the help of a great friend! Max did a great job on staining. Of course he was wearing his batman pajamas the whole time! Such a fun boy! We later built a fence around it and a ramp for them to come out the little side door.

New CHICKS!!

We added to our family yesterday! 4 new members who will in 6 months lay us some eggs. You guessed it...we bought some baby chicks. They are pretty cute and we have started holding them to get them to know us a little more. Max says he could hold them all day. Hopefully he will be just as excited about them when they are older. Easter will be here in a few weeks and Max is looking forward to of course finding eggs in the clever places that the Easter bunny leaves them. And most importantly we love to have a special day set aside to celebrate the the Savior, Jesus Christ and His resurrection. He is amazing!
Also my brother and sister in law are expecting their second child! So excited for them and for our family to welcome in a new member in 7 months. We love all of those little ones that come into our family. So far we have 12 nieces and 8 nepehws on Camille's side and 2 nephews on Brandon's side. Big party when we all get together. Families are very important and we love every one of them.
We are continuing to hope that we will grow our little family through adoption.

Jazz Game!

Brandon and I got to go to the Jazz game last weekend with some friends of ours. Max went and stayed at his grandparents house, he had a great time! They have Mario Brothers on their wii. He is pretty good at it and enjoyed showing us how well he plays. The game was fun and especially so with the friends we went with. We had a ticket for their daughter who is in the Young Women in our ward. Camille is the Beehive leader and gets to spend time with the great girls there. The Jazz Bear was great to watch, he's pretty goofy. He stuck a light on top of a bald man's head and then put a basketball hoop on his head and tried to make some baskets. Of course the man was a good sport. We went out to eat before the game at a Mexican restaurant and we ate the chimichungas (we found out from our friends that chunga in Spanish means female monkey behind, gross). Anyway the evening was great. And we are going over to their house tomorrow night and having dinner and game night. We always have a great time with them. Good friends make life even more great.

Max and his friend Sadie



Max and Sadie have some great times together. Sadie loves to catch snowballs in her mouth and will jump up really high to catch them. Max has shown her how to dig and when they are playing he will say "dig, Sadie dig" and she will. She is also very protective of him and wants to be with him. She is still a puppy and very hiper but she is learning to calm down some. We are looking forward to summer time for bike riding, camping, gardening, etc. Summertime is very much needed :)

Max's Birthday



Happy Birthday to Max!!! He turned 6 today! Yesterday he had a Transformer party with his friends. They played all kinds of games. It sounded like a stampede of elephants with all that energy running around. The party was sure fun. He also picked out some balloons that are all kinds of colors, some have polka dots, one with tiger stripes, some that say happy birthday, and one that is multicolored. We did not know they came with so many designs. His cake was a transformer cake, of course. Later we went bowling with some family members and had pizza. Max likes to go bowling and this is the activity he chose for us to do. Then met back at our house for cake and ice cream. He got lots of fun presents but the ones he seems to like the most are the art portfolios his grandparents gave him. This morning he wanted a "special breakfast". When mom asked him what he wanted he said "It will be a surprise and that will make it special" what a great boy. We went to church and the Primary gave him a little gift with his picture and a picture of the Savior. They also sang happy birthday to him. He opened more presents today and wanted to have some brownies. He likes those too. It is amazing how time flies....it seems like we were at the hospital with him a short time ago. He surely is our greatest blessing and we are grateful to all those who made it possible for us to be his parents. We love him more than words can fully express and we thank our Heavenly Father for him every day.

Updated Blog


Sooo it has taken all day...sad to say...but our blog has been updated! Yay! The header still needs some work but I (Camille) think that the rest looks cute. Will change the header when the right one has been found or if I can make one myself then that is what I'll do. Let us know what you think.

Movie night

We went to see The Princess and The Frog this afternoon with some friends. It was a good movie! We wanted to see Alvin and The Chipmunks but it was sold out. We will go see that one some other time. Max enjoyed the princess one even though it was a girl movie..... And Camille of course loves them :)

More about us!

It is our hope that you will be comforted at this important and difficult time in your life. We feel that you are incredibly courageous for looking into adoption. We pray for you and hope this letter will help in bringing you peace. Adoption is so dear to our hearts as we have experienced it with our precious son. We imagine you must be doing some searching in your life right now; trying to decide what is best for you and your unborn child. There is no way that we can know the emotions you are going through but you are already a hero to us for weathering this stormy and uncertain time in your life. You are a daughter of God with limitless potential and whatever choice you make will be one that He will support you in. However, if your heart's desire leads you to choose us as adoptive parents here is a little bit about us to help you decide.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and although we believe this to be true, all the pictures and the words on these pages cannot fully express the love and history that lies within our hearts. Through the experiences we have had we have gained a strong testimony that adoption is part of the plan for us. We are not perfect, but we strive always to be prayerful about our decisions and follow the promptings of the spirit. We hope that our children will have strong testimonies of the gospel and come to understand the importance of it in their lives, just as we have.

Our Story:
We met in a Mexican restaurant where Camille worked. When our eyes met time seemed for us to stand still. We knew that we should be together and are to this day, grateful for the decision we made. After a lengthy six month courtship we were married on a beautiful June morning in a LDS Temple. As we knelt across from each other at that alter we knew that we were beginning a relationship that would have great blessings, hardships, and above all else a love for each other that would stand firm if we put our trust in each other and our Heavenly Father.
Brandon was born in a small farming community in Utah. He learned to enjoy work growing up on the farm. He loved being outdoors. There were cattle to move, fence to fix, hay to haul, and afternoon trips with his dad and grandpa to the swimming pool to cool off after a hard days work in the sun.
Every year he would watch the 4th of July fireworks at the stadium, enjoyed learning how to ride horses, playing with friends, cub scouts, and placing chewing gum under the desk in grade school. Second grade began the first year of Brandon’s big dream of being a fire fighter; one day his class visited the local fire department and the fire fighters let them slide down the fire pole. He still lives and carries that dream to this day.
Months turned into years, a cub scout turned into a boy scout who shared father and son overnighters with dad. Brandon was ordained to the priesthood, given priesthood responsibilities; he joined the military, he served a faithful mission in the southern states. He has attended College; where he received his EMT and a degree as a fire officer. He beat over 2,000 other applicants to work on the fire department of his dreams. Brandon enjoys working on the fire department, has a love for all sports, he has started his own business, and is a real estate investor. He serves as the Assistant Scout Master in our ward and loves home teaching.
Camille was born and raised in a tiny town in Idaho. She enjoyed playing basketball with her brothers and playing dress-up with her sisters. Her family would have cookouts and go camping often. They spent many warm summer days out on the lake playing swim tag. They enjoyed going on family vacations as often as they could. There were many family reunions that ended up in water fights, usually the big kids against the younger kids, but grandma was always there to save the day. Grandma always got everyone wetter than anyone else could possibly get her. They would play games late into the night. Her grandparents always had Fat Boyz and Casco ice cream to help the hot summer days simmer down, and grandma had the best home made wheat bread; it seemed to just melt in your mouth.
Camille’s family would work hard out in the yard, have family home evening, and make taffy or chocolate chip cookies together. They have holiday parties where the whole family gets together and have white elephant games and reminisce about the good ole’ days.
Camille was in dancing from the age of six. She enjoyed the competitions and performing in the end of the year finale for her parents. She enjoyed the drill team in High School and loved every minute of it. She still hasn’t grown out of her love for dancing. She worked on her friends’ farm feeding horses, shoveling stalls, and moving pipe. She has a love for the outdoors and enjoys gardening and working in the yard. Camille enjoys camping, quilting, scrap booking, playing volleyball and futsol, reading the scriptures and many other books, and serving in the Young Women in our ward.

Our Son :
The love that we have for our son Max is endless. He makes us smile and when we look at him we know that he is our most precious gift. We adopted him almost eight years ago; and having him in our lives has been a wonderful experience. We, and those who know him, describe him as a bright, happy, loving, and energetic boy. He loves playing soccor, basketball, and football. Max enjoys reading books, playing with his toy trucks and cars, he likes to help around the house; helping dad fix things and mom do the laundry and the dishes. He is a fast learner and amazes us with the new things he can do every day.
He loves popcorn and enjoys watching his favorite shows, "Transformers (animated series)". Max even knows all of the Transformers names. He likes to play with his trains and tracks and you can hear him using his imagination. He also loves being outside, in fact he could be out there all day and not get bored. A born explorer. He loves his grandparents and follows them around when he visits. We have a puppy named Sadie and she is one of his best friends. He often calls her his sister. Max is very loving and kind. He will make an excellent big brother. He loves babies and helps Camille when she babysits for her brothers and sisters. We love Max very much, we know he loves us. He is very good at giving hugs and kisses. We are truly grateful for him.
Max is a joy in our lives and we are very excited about adopting another child who we know will bless our family, bringing us more joy. We have a large extended family who is excited and awaiting the arrival of the children who will come to bless our home.

Closing:
We enjoy attending the Temple, watching sports together, going to the movies, taking Max to the park, camping, vacationing, riding bikes, spending time together wherever we are, making memories and creating traditions that Max will carry with him as we have with our families.
We love children and pray for the opportunity that we will have in blessing, guiding, and directing the lives of those who may come to bless our home. We have a love of the gospel and our Savior. We know the desire of our heart's is to raise our children with the knowledge that their Heavenly Father loves them always and to love the Lord and trust Him.

Thank you again for reading about us. Regardless of what decision you make we hope you find your heart's desire and peace. Our love and prayers are with you.

Brandon, Camille & Max

Age: Brandon is 32 Camille is 29 Max is 6
Profession: Brandon:Engineer/Firefighter, Camille:Homemaker
Religion: LDS / Mormon
Smoking: No
State: Utah
Married: 10 years
Residency: House
Neighborhood: Urban
Family Structure: Married, with only adopted children
Pet(s): Blue Healer named Sadie
Preferences For a Child Age: Newborn - Newborn
Gender: Either
Ethnicity: Open to discussion, Caucasian, Caucasian/Asian, Caucasian/African American, Caucasian/Hispanic, Caucasian/Native American, Multi-Racial,
Special Needs: Open to discussion, Premature birth, Multiple birth, Conceived through rape, Nothing known about father,

Favorites :)
Brandon
Book: "Rich Dad Poor Dad" I loved this book because it gave me the courage to change my thinking about money and business. It helped me gain the courage to start my own business and buy our first real estate investment.
Childhood Memory: My grandparents usually took me to see the 4th of July fireworks at the College football stadium, I love being with them very much.
Color: Blue - not sure why but it seems to fit me.
Day of Week: Monday, because most other people complain about them, besides my schedule at the fire department often leaves monday feeling like a Friday. We also have family home evening activities on Monday which is usually fun.
Dessert: Cherry Cheese Cake, my mom makes it for me every year for my birthday.
Disney Movie: Robin Hood as a child, National Treasure as of late.
Dream Job: I have been very fortunate to have my dream job. Since I was in the 3rd grade and given the opportunity to slide down a fire pole, I have wanted to be a fireman. My main responsibilty is to drive the fire engine.
Dream Vacation: We very much enjoyed Disney World Spring of 2006. We went to SeaWorld because as a military family we got in free, I thought it was going to be boring; however, turned out to be my favorite.
Fast Food Restaurant: Wendy's and I always order a biggie #6 combo (spicy chicken) ranch dressing for my fries, and sprite.
Fruit: Raspberries are my favorite sweet fruit, and grapefruit my favorite sour fruit (with a dash of salt).
Leisure Activity: As a child my Grandpa Max usually took me horseback riding in the mountains, now that he doesn't ride we love to go Jeeping. Anything to do with the mountains.
Memory with a Child: First time he rode the fire engine to help wash the Elephants that were in town for the circus. Max was only 6 months, but it meant a lot to me to have him ride on the fire engine.
Movie Munchie: Popcorn with lots of butter.
Music Group: Growing up it was Chris LeDoux, lately it has been a toss up between Neil Diamond and Billy Joel. Weird taste according to my wife.
Perfume/Cologne: Obsession
Play: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (because it is the only play I was in, Freshman year of High School)
Quality About My Spouse: Besides her ability to laugh hysterically when watching "America's Funniest Home Videos", her unwaivering support and love for Max and I (not to mention people in general).
Quote: "Whatever you are thinking and feeling is a perfect reflection of what is becoming"
Song: Lately it has been Josh Groban's "To Where You Are" and for a long time it was Billy Joel's "Goodnight My Angel"
TV Show: MacGyver and Star Trek
Thing to Cook: Jalepeno Pork Roast, mashed potatos, with grilled asparagus.
Vegetable: No question about it, a fresh garden tomato with the right amount of salt and pepper.

Max
Actor: Optimus Prime a Tranformer or Mr. Incredible
Beverage/Drink: Chocolate Milk
Disney Movie: Toy Story 1 and 2. His first sentance had to be "To Infiniti and Beyond"
Fruit: Apples and Bananas
Sandwich: Peanut Butter and Jelly
Song: You are my Sunshine
Sport to Watch: Basketball
Color: Blue
Animal or Pet: puppies
Candy Bar: Twix
Dessert: Bubblegum and chocolate ice cream, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies
Flower: Marigolds
Food: Chicken Nuggets
TV Show: tranformers
Restaurant: Sizzlers and Wendy's
Family Activity: camping
Quality about dad: we have fun playing games together
Quality about mom: she takes care of me and will snuggle with me

Camille
Actress: not really one in particular, but I do like Drew Barrymore in Ever After
Animal or Pet: puppies, they are so cute and cuddly when they are little
Author: Gerald N. Lund, Stephenie Meyer, Jane Austen
Bedtime Story: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, my father always had a special version of the story that would make us laugh instead of being ready for bed.
Beverage/Drink: Water or Milk, quite dull but good
Book: I like to read all kinds of books so I really don't have a certain favorite
Candy Bar: kit kats, twix, or really anything that's chocolate!
Childhood Memory: water fights with grandma she would always win, they would also be in her house.
Childhood Toy: a brown stuffed bunny that my grandma and grandpa gave me for my birthday
Classic Movie: My Fair Lady
Color: I love quilting so it is really difficult to pick a favorite but I like pale green and cream
Day of Week: Sunday, a day of rest and relaxation
Dessert: chocolate dipped ice cream cone, I crave these all the time
Disney Movie: The Little Mermaid, my favorite ever since I was a little girl
Dream Job: I have it, I get to stay home with my son
Dream Vacation: there are many places that I have always wanted to go to; Hawaii, London, Cancun, Nauvoo ILL
Family Activity: taking Max to the park and going down the slides with him
Fast Food Restaurant: Wendy's I really like their spicy chicken sandwich, and of course I order it in the meal #6, substitute drink for frosty!
Flower: lillies, they are beautiful
Food: Pizza and cheesy garlic bread
Form of Exercise: aerobics, kick boxing, belly dancing, yoga, zumba
Fruit: pears, they are so tasty
Hero: my grandfather has always been my hero, we named our son after him
Hobby: crafts; quilting; scrapbooking
Holiday: Christmas time, my whole family gets together and we have dinner and do white elephant presents and play games.
Ice cream: cookies n' cream or cookie dough
Leisure Activity: laying in the grass during fall time or reading a book
Magazine: Parents, it helps me to get fun ideas to do with Max
Memory with Spouse: the first time I ever saw him time seemed to stand still and it seemed that we were the only ones in the room, right then I knew that we were to be together.
Memory with a Child: when Max was only about 8 months he would crawl into our closet and just throw our shoes out, silly yes, but he so enjoyed himself that I just laugh everytime I think about it
Movie: Pride and Prejudice - the most recent one
Musical: The Music Man - most recent
Plant: anything that is green and pretty, well I like plants that flower, I love flowers
Quality About My Spouse: he's spontaneous and brings me flowers when it is unexpected, hardworking and is a great dad.
Restaurant: Olive Garden - I like their Pasta Figioli soup
Sport to Play: volleyball, especially with the young women in the ward, and futsol.
TV Show: Chuck and So You Think You Can Dance
Type of Music: I really like all kinds, but mostly the ones that make you feel good and happy about yourself
Vegetable: tomatos!! yummy!