Happy 1st Birthday!

One year ago I was in the delivery room for the birth of our son. It was the most miraculous day of my life. Ray and I stood by the bedside of the most beautiful and strongest girl I know as she gave birth to the most perfect little boy. I will never forget the hours leading up to that moment. So many emotions and thoughts of nervousness and excitement running through my head. The baby we have been waiting for was finally here! I feel so blessed that Jacob's birth mom chose us to be his parents and that we have a good relationship his birth family.
In this one short year he has brought so much joy into our lives. Jacob is such a funny little boy and has the cutest smile and laugh. He is walking a little when he wants to. His favorite toy is his stuffed dog that he got for Christmas and his favorite person (besides mom and dad) is his cousin Kaitlynn. He loves being outside and exploring new things. He jabbers a lot and makes lots of fun sounds but doesn't really say any words yet (still not sure if he is actually saying "Dada" or if that is just one of his many sounds). He can crawl up and down the stairs like a champ. He loves being chased and tickled. He has a mischievous little smile when he knows he is doing something he shouldn't. He can be a little stinker sometimes and can throw a good little tantrum when he gets told "no". We love this little guy so much and he is loved by so many.
Happy 1st Birthday Jacob!

We're Back!

It has been a looooong time since we have posted on our blog but we are back and will be filling you in on the last year and a half of our lives and what we are doing now. Check back for updates :)

Fit to Fat to Fit

Fit to Fat to Fit has been a huge part of our lives in 2015. Ray applied for the reality TV show in late 2014 and after some skype interviews and psych evaluations he was selected to be part of the show. He was teamed up with an amazing trainer, JJ, and knew instantly that they would be really good friends. But what Ray didn't know was that for the first half of this journey JJ would be gaining 60 pounds as an experiment to better understand overweight clients. This was a shocker to Ray and was pretty disappointing that  he was not able to see JJ and get training or advise from him, or even start changing his life the way he was ready to for 4 months.
Well Ray did it anyway and started working out on his own and eating healthier foods. He changed his life for the better! By the time he was able to meet up with JJ he had already lost 54 lbs. He has now lost over 150 lbs and is active and loves life!
Here is some behind the scenes footage that was produced by Haugen Creative who is a friend of ours and not affiliated with A&E so this footage did not make it to the show. 

Here are some of the media spots JJ and Ray were able to do in New York!
Inside Edition
Good Day NY
Entertainment Tonight
Nightline
KSL.com article
Fit to Fat to Fit experience podcast

I am so proud of Ray and his determination to make this change and become a better version of himself. I will forever be grateful for JJ and his amazing wife Erika who taught us so much about health and fitness and provided a way for us to be healthier and happier.
~Julie

Happy Halloween 2015

Halloween kicks off the holiday season for me. It's a good excuse to get together with family and just have a fun time together.

Stewart family Indoor Trick-or-Treat party

 

 

Captain America and Super Girl

 

Julie's nieces trick-or-treating at Grandpa's house

Do It Anyway

My life has changed so much these last 9 months it's difficult to properly articulate. I began this year knowing I wasn't the future father I wanted to be. In spite of desperately wanting to become a father I was not in a position to help that happen. I had to face the fact that at nearly 400lbs I wasn't necessarily an ideal prospect for some looking to place a child for adoption. That wasn't easy to face or admit but I did. I received the chance of a lifetime and started working with a trainer. I put up signs in my house to remind myself of what I was working for. Julie decided to join me in my weight loss goals and we began to eat healthier and follow a meal plan from my trainer. It turns out eating healthy and exercising work! No magic pills or miracle apparatus was used; just a decision to start taking advantage of life and a whole lot of sweat! You can see the difference in some of the pictures here in the blog. To over-simplify I've learned so much about myself and my own abilities. I've learned the magic in pushing myself beyond what I thought I could do. There is a power in deciding to keep going when we think our tank is empty. I feel like I'm becoming not just a good person, which I was before losing weight. I'm becoming the person God would have me be. It's exciting, intimidating, empowering, humbling, and all sorts of other things all at once. I'm learning to put long-term goals in front of short-term wants as the phrase, "do it anyway" has become my daily mantra. I'm not quite done with this transformational journey of mine but I'm over-the-moon happy with how far I've come so far. Life is better this way!

P.S. Julie has lost a bunch of weight too! Just look at that gorgeous wife of mine!!!

Ray

Labor Day 2015

It seams like this year is flying by! It is already Labor Day and we were both lucky enough to have the day off. We spent the day enjoying the beautiful weather and great outdoors of Utah. We started the day by driving to Park City to join some friends for a hike. Then lunch and since we were close we had to stop by the outlet mall and visit the Nike store for some new shoes. Our plan was to go to Soldier Hollow and hike around there but we didn't know that a sheep dog competition was happening that day. So plan B was to go hike Stewart Falls. We did Stewart Falls last year and it was pretty difficult for us. We stopped to rest a lot and it took us a lot longer than expected. We did it again in the spring and it was easier but we still took a few breaks. This time despite the crowded trail, we cruised through it. When no one was in our way we ran the trail and made it to the falls faster than we ever have. It was so exhilarating to see how much stronger and healthier we are. (The new shoes are pretty great too!)

 

Best Grandparents Ever!

Ray's parents brought their old beat up car to the family reunion and let the kids paint it with their own designs. The kids had a blast and it was fun to see their different personalities represented on the car. It is quite a sight to see this car driving around town! 

Changing Our Lives

Our hike to "Potato Chip Rock"

One of our amazing meals at PFC

Ray finishing up "Double Peaks" hike

Lunch at our new favorite place in San Diego, True Food

We had an amazing time with these two wonderful people at Premier Fitness Camp in Carlsbad CA. JJ (@hiittrainer) is Ray's personal trainer and he has an adorable wife Erika (@cleansimpleeats) who is a nutritionist . They are two of the greatest people I know and they love what they do. (Follow them on Instagram to see how awesome they are).

We are in the process of becoming healthy, active people and with their help we are already seeing some pretty cool changes in our lives. 

-Julie

I'm a transformer

So there's something huge happening in our lives that we haven't really talked about here. I'm a transformer, and by that I mean that I'm shrinking. By that I mean I'm getting smaller. By that I mean I've lost 64 pounds! In February I started a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be on a weight-loss reality show. We're still filming so I don't think I can divulge all the details of it but it will likely air in December or January. Anyway, it has been an amazing couple months in working so hard with diet and exercise, committing to doing every little thing my trainer asks of me, learning to own my successes along with my failures, all while having a camera in my face and knowing a million people may be along for the ride. In spite of the awkwardness of the cameras, I am so unbelievably grateful I'm a part of this. The day I met my trainer I knew we'd be friends for a very long time, tv show or not. I'm learning to push myself by myself, and when surrounded by those cheering me on. Julie has been amazing through all of this! She has done the workouts at home and is 100 percent committed to the meal plan and standing by my side at every step. I don't think  I would have the success I have without Julie being such a powerful partner at my side. I've still got quite a way to go to reach my goals (which have gone from simple weight-loss to much deeper, truly healthy goals) but life is so much better than it was 64lbs ago! Next weekend I'm doing a Spartan race (8-10 miles with 26 major obstacles along the way) and I'm excited for it. Not too long ago I would have been nothing but terrified at the thought of doing this. I'm not scared or worried. I'm just really excited because I know I can do it though I've never done anything close to this before! Like I said I'm shrinking. I'm also growing in other ways at the same time. I'm shrinking and growing at the same time. Like I said, I'm a transformer.

Ray

It's Not Just A Stroller

Because we don't know when our baby will come to us, we thought it would be a good idea to have a few things ready. So we did some research and picked out which car seat and stroller we want. The stroller was delivered the Tuesday after Mother's Day.

I know it might look like just another stroller to the average eye but it's not. This stroller is different. It is the first "big" baby item we purchased. This stroller is a symbol of hope. It is putting our faith in God that we will get our baby. This stroller represents parenthood.  I know some days when I look at the stroller in our future nursery I will be filled with excitement at what our life will be like when we have a baby in our home. There will also be days I know when I see the empty stroller in the empty room, I will be filled with sadness that our dream of having children has not come true yet. As it is with the adoption waiting game, emotions are like a roller coaster. But for right now I am excited and hopeful that we will find our baby.

~Julie

I love my church calling!

About 2 1/2 years ago I was stuck in a rut. I needed something new in my life; something for me to make a difference in the world. We had recently experienced our miscarriage and I was in a funk. I couldn't figure out my purpose in life. Work was okay and I enjoyed the people I worked with but I needed something more. I thought about going to school and getting a degree that I could use to help people, but I couldn't decide what that would be and I didn't want to waste time and money on something and then change my mind later. I was frustrated and confused. Finally one night I was laying in my bed with my face in my pillow asking God what he wanted me to do. I didn't get an answer right away but a few weeks later Ray and I were called into our bishop's office where he asked me to be the new Primary President. I was shocked but I accepted the calling. I love it! I don't know how much of a difference I am making but if at the end of church the children leave knowing they are loved by our Heavenly Father then I am doing okay. I love it when they sing the primary songs and learn gospel principals through them. I love it when they know the answers during lessons. I love when they can relate the scriptures to their lives. I love feeling the spirit when they are actively listening to the lessons being taught. I love watching their testimonies grow and feeling the huge spirits of these little kids. I have an amazing group of kids, teachers, counselors, and music leaders that help me love my calling. Sometimes it can be a little stressful but this calling has kept me busy and helped me fill the void that I felt before. I have been forced out of my comfort zone and learned a lot about myself in the process.
~Julie
P.S.
To learn more about our church visit lds.org or morman.org

We Are Approved!

"Ray and Julie are recommended by Utah Adoption Specialists for domestic placement of a child(ren)..."
After federal & state background checks, child abuse background check, medical reports, financial reports, questionnaires, home inspection, and more we are now approved to adopt!
Now that our home study is complete we can start creating profiles on adoption sites. Thanks to this awesome announcement, adoption.com is where we will create our first profile. Now it's time to find our baby! We know it may take some time or it may happen quickly. We understand we're not trying to just find a baby. We're searching for our baby and when it's right it will work out.
Lets do this!
~Ray & Julie~

Last Minute Adventure

In my family you need to be ready for an adventure at the drop of a hat. What usually happens is we are sitting around with nothing to do and the next thing you know we are on our way to the canyon for picnic or on a road trip to Las Vegas. You just never know what the lazy weekend will turn into. Well Saturday was this type of occasion. Ray was working and I was running some errands. I got my hair cut, prepared some things for Sunday primary etc. On my list of things to do was drop some quilting stuff off to my sister then meet up with my sister-in-law so she could hook me up with some Mary Kay makeup. Well as I was dropping off the quilt stuff to my sister they were getting ready to hike to the "Y" on the mountain in Provo. I had never done that before and it was a beautiful day so it didn't take much convincing to get me to go with them. My uncle, his 2 grand-kids, my sister, 2 nieces, my dad, his dog Penny and I hiked to the "Y". It was harder than it looks but we had a fun time. We left a mirror with someone at home so we could signal to them with the mirror we took with us. The weather was perfect and it was fun to do something with family.

I love my job!

I'm training a new person at work. Training is difficult and can seem to slow the clock down sometimes. It's also a chance to reflect on my training and how intimidated I was at being a dispatcher in the beginning. I managed restaurants for much of my life and I was pretty good at it. I didn't like it so much after a few years but I was good at it. In my mid 30's I found dispatch and it just felt right. I don't think most people understand what a 911 and police dispatcher does in the course of a day at work and frankly we make it look easy. But I will never forget my days of training; being terrified of answering that first call; being incredibly intimidated by having to talk over the police radio; and knowing that a 911 call was coming at any moment and I might be the one to make a difference between life and death on the other end of that call. It was all so daunting but I loved it. I wanted to reach the point where I was ready to put those weights on my shoulders and carry someone through disaster. As difficult as it was to absorb the impossible amount of knowledge and the endlessly evolving skills needed, I knew I had found what I should have been doing my whole life. After working a decade in the wrong places it's amazing to know I'm at the right one. Now despite the difficulties in training, it's great to see that realization in someone else that this is where they belong and the determination to master the mountain of skills and knowledge to join our ranks. I love my job!

Ray

What's Your Favorite Christmas Movie?

A week or so ago at work my co-workers and I were having a discussion on Christmas Movies and the question going around was "What is your all-time favorite Christmas movie?". I didn't have an answer. So later that night I asked Ray what his favorite is. He didn't have an answer either. So as an effort to do something "Christmassy" we set out to solve this very important mystery.
How do you figure something like this out? Well you have to watch a bunch of Christmas movies. We made a list of 16 movies then ranked them and put them in a bracket (you know like in the March Madness playoffs).

Here is our list of Christmas Movie match-ups
The Santa Clause vs Jack Frost
The Grinch vs It's a Wonderful Life
The Christmas Carol vs Babes in Toy land
Elf vs The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation vs Miracle on 34th Street
The Nightmare Before Christmas vs Holiday Inn
Santa Claus The Movie vs A Christmas Story
White Christmas vs Fred Claus

The ones in red are winners so far and will compete in the final 8.
Rules: We don't have to watch the same movie more than once unless we can't agree on the winner. The winner of each match-up is decided by the quality/ quantity of Christmas content & Christmas Spirit. (Holiday Inn is a great classic movie but The Nightmare Before Christmas was overall more Christmassy). Winners will be decided by a unanimous decision by Ray and Julie which may require a re-watch of more than one movie.

It has been fun so far and hopefully by Christmas we will know what our favorite Christmas Movie is.

National Adoption Month

Among many other things, November is National Adoption Month.
For the fourth straight year, in honor of November being National Adoption Awareness Month, Portrait of an Adoption is running a special series called 30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days. Designed to give a voice to the many different perspectives of adoption, this series will feature guest posts by adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, waiting adoptive parents, and foster parents-turned-adoptive parents. Painful and beautiful, these stories will bring you a deeper understanding of what adoption looks like, allowing you to appreciate the many brushstrokes that comprise a family portrait. (copied from their site)http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2014-30-adoption-portraits/
I have read through a few of the stories and love this one written by an adoptee.  
http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2014/11/i-was-never-bothered-by-questions-about-my-adoption-it-was-just-my-story/
My favorite quote from her story is "Is adoption all black and white?  No.  There is so much gray.  But am I Happy? Grateful? Thankful?  Yes, I am.  Because, though many parts of adoption can be bittersweet what I have known in my life is LOVE."

I look forward to adoption being part of our child(ren)'s story. " A story I don’t ever remember not knowing"

Crazy, Busy, Fun Weekend / Halloween Parties

This is the story of Julie's crazy, busy fun weekend. In primary at church the kids have been practicing their songs and speaking parts to prepare for our sacrament meeting presentation where we show the rest of the ward what we have been learning in primary. The presentation is coming up and we have one final practice on Saturday before the main event. We decided to reward the kids with a treat of "dirt cups" (pudding with crushed Oreos and gummy worms) to celebrate getting the bugs out of the songs. So Friday night Julie and Ray made dirt cups.

Saturday morning is the final practice and decisions made for the presentation. It went pretty well and the kids enjoyed the treat. Saturday evening is the church Halloween party that we were asked to bring cut up apples as part of the dinner. Thanks to some neighbor boys for picking a big box of apples for us we didn't have to worry about getting them just cutting them. (this required some research of how to keep cut apples from turning brown. Thanks Pinterest!) We also volunteered to take a pot of chili to the party. So after the presentation practice Julie finished up some details on our Halloween costumes, made some chili, made peanut butter cookies, and started cutting apples. The trick is to put the cut apples directly into a big bowl of water with a little bit of lemon juice, when the bowl got full we put the apples into zip-lock bags and put them in the fridge. Our niece Kaitlynn was there to help and when Ray got home from work we were an apple cutting/bagging machine. 

The Halloween party was fun. Julie and Kaitlynn helped out with some games for the kids and Kaitlynn ended up with a bowl full of candy from the trick-or-treating parade. 

Sunday is the big day we have been preparing for. The kids are excited and leaders are nervous. The best parts of the presentation were that the kids wrote their own speaking parts and the special musical numbers involving sibling groups. The spirit was so strong and I was so proud of my primary kids! And because of the excitement and nervousness we decided as a presidency not to try to teach a lesson during primary and have a movie & cookie party instead (thus the peanut butter cookies mentioned earlier).

Sunday evening is the family Halloween party at Ray's parents home. Julie was asked to bring donuts, invite her sister Jennifer and Kaitlynn and plan some games. Where am I going to find time to plan games? So sometime last week Julie calls her sister, 

Julie: What are you doing Sunday evening?

Jennifer: I have to work until 6.

Julie: Dang it!

Jennifer: Why?

Julie: Because I was going to ask if you could plan some Halloween party games for Ray's family party Sunday.

Jennifer: Why is this my problem?

Julie: Well you and Kaitlynn are invited...

Jennifer: Oh! well you could have told me that first.

Julie: Right, I will still take Kaitlynn if you can't come.

Jennifer: I can see if I can change my schedule so we can go.

Julie: Yay! Thanks!

So Jennifer planned some games and changed her schedule so they could come to the party!

 

Julie as the Queen of Hearts and Ray as the Mad Hatter

Our nieces and Nephews.
A pirate, Pikachu, teenager and baby no costume, a Newsie,
 Elsa and Anna from "Frozen", a Grannie,
a Butterfly (forgot wings) and Sacajawea 

 We all had a lot of fun with the games and costumes. The indoor trick-or-treat is always a big hit at grandma's house on Halloween.
I am so glad everything turned out well and thankful for the people that helped me get my crazy, busy, fun to-do list done.

The End Of Summer

Today is the official first day of autumn which means summer is now over. I do enjoy the cooler weather and fall colors but I don't like that the sun goes down so early.
Let's take a minute to review our summer bucket list:

• Go camping (at least twice)- Done 3 times- once to Strawberry, once to Schofield, and once to Yuba. Julie also spent one night at Young Women's camp with our church.
• Finish painting the deck- not done
• Plant flowers- Done- With the help of our niece we planted our front flower bed.
• Go on a bike ride- not done
• Catch a fish- Done- At Schofeild on our camping trip. Julie ended up cleaning and cooking 8 fish for dinner.
• BBQ with neighbors- not done
• Go to a rodeo- Done twice- once to the Lehi Round-up with Ray's mom & dad and nieces & nephew from Colorado. And once with Julie's sister on Pioneer day.
• Take a road trip- Done- We drove our nieces and nephew back to Colorado after they spent 2 weeks in Utah with cousins and grandparents.
• Girls day out- Done- Ray's sisters and I went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, Bowling, and shopping.
• Have a water fight- Done- At the park on Pioneer Day we got free water guns and had a water fight.
• Go on a hike- Done- We went on a beautiful hike to Stewart Falls near Sundance. 

We did get a lot of our list complete and we had a great summer. There is still time to do the rest before it snows.

Pioneer Day

Pioneer day is a state holiday in Utah when we celebrate Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers entering the Salt Lake City valley in 1847. We were both lucky enough to have the day off of work to celebrate together.

We started our day off with a parade!

The weather was a nice overcast that kept the heat away.

After the parade we walked around the craft fair and festivities at the carnival. We got some lunch and lemonade at the food vendors there. They had entertainment by local theater companies and we were able to watch some of our neighbors preform. A business was giving away squirt guns so of course we had a little water fight. 

We finished off our Pioneer Day at the rodeo with my sister. We had a lot of fun spending time with each other and the festivities of the day. 

Camping 2014

We went up to mud creek above Strawberry Reservoir last weekend and had a great time camping for a couple nights. These camp spots are rugged spots with no services (that's right....none.) Julie said she would rather not have a bathroom than have neighbors while camping and we all agreed. What's the point of camping if you're just paying for a designated spot with neighbors 30 feet away? We could stay home and have neighbors farther away than some camping sites!

 

Julie's dad, Julie's sister, and her daughter joined us. It was beautiful the whole weekend and we were so proud of our dog Toby! We took a leap of faith and allowed him to roam free with no leash or tether. He stayed close to the campsite the entire time and came when we called him. The only time he tried to run off is when I took our niece up the mountain for a 4WD adventure in my truck and he tried to follow. Also on this trip we learned the awesome power of s'mores made with Reese's peanut butter cups. Try it!

 

-Ray

 

Reese's s'more. Try it! 

Toby is such a good boy as he reminds us what camping is about.

 

 

Julie's dad and our niece making s'mores. 

 

Toby and I being lazy.

Julie's sister

Julie's dad's camp trailer.

Julie fishing.

Us down at the reservoir.



Our niece caught a butterfly.