Nikki has been so excited about our new blog. So I decided to write a few of the Nikkisms and post a cute picture of her for postarity,

1. "Mommy my heart is Beeping" (she meant beating)

2. "Boys have Peanuts and Girls have a China" (self explanatory)

3. "Aunt D.J. lives up in the sky in waii" (pronounced y-e she means Hawaii)

4. "Jessica and Jasmine are in flordia" (she means Florida)

5. She says all these things BUT she KNows Who the Prophet and 1st and 2nd councelor are and can say Uchtdorf.

By the way as far as she is concerned this is a "Puter"

Jessica's Pageant

In case you were unaware there are very talented branches stemming from the Cathcart Tree. In particular today I am speaking of the very talented Jessica Reed (from the Joe Reed and Darla (Cathcart) Reed Branch). This weekend we were privileged to attend the talent competition of the National American Miss Pageant. All I have to say is where is Simon Cowell when you need him. Of course there was no doubt that Jessica would get first place in the talent competition. She was the only one with any real talent. The rest of the competitors were somewhere between dog calls and weird tribal dances. There were maybe a couple of them that at least were tolerable. There was even one girl who marveled the crowed with how long she could hold a note, however she would have been a lot better if she were holding the right note. Topping that the contestant who sang "Jeremiah was a bull frog" A Capella. The only thing I can say about that is after she sang, Jeremiah stop being a good friend of hers. Advice to the Judges for next year: Install a GONG!!!! Anyway we are very proud of our Jessica. Here is a list of the awards she walked away with: Trophy for Miss Spirit 1st runner up, She received a Trophy and a Tiara for Outstanding Program Participation, She received a State Finalist Trophy, She received a trophy for Art Contest Winner, and our Jessica received a Trophy and $250.00 for winning the Talent competition. We did not get to video Jessica's talent number but we did have her do a little of it for us so here it is.

Of course not to be out Done Jasmine shows off a bit of her own

And last but not least here are some pictures of the family at the pageant

Diana and Adalyn

Proud Grandma

Thanks For EVERYTHING

Doug and I would like to thank you all for your support during this whole thing about Aralynne. WE know that having family has made it that much easier to endure. I'm not used to having that many people care about me and some times it can be a bit daunting, but I thank you for it just the same. Just so everyone can see the lovely flowers that were sent by Mom and the "D's" Here are the pictures:

Sad day for us

As some of you may have heard by now, we found out today that we are not going to get Aralynne now. We found out this morning that Tracy (Aralynne's mother) had decided to let the foster parents have her now. Jenn and I are both down in the dumps right now with this news. We've been told a lot today that there is still hope to get another baby later down the road and we know that well could be another one, but that's not something we are really wanting to think about right now. Part of us wants to take down the room we had for her and sell the stuff and part of us wants to keep it the way it is. I know things we get better for us sooner of later but I have to say this really sucks right now. We are both pretty sick over it. We tried to go out to eat just to get out but neither of us felt like eating all that much. It made me sick and I lost all I ate. I'm sure the Lord has is reasons why this happened this way but it's sure hard for us to see it right now. But we will do our best to trust in Him and do a lot of praying for now until we can see that point in all of this mess.

Aralynne's Room

Doug and I (mostly I) have been working really hard on Aralynne's and we wanted to share it with you so here are a few pictures.

A new day has begun

Well It's been awhile since Doug has posted anything on "Our" blog, So I have officially fired him (sorry honey). As of now I will try to keep things up to date.

As you may or may not know (if you don't know you have been under a rock because Doug and I can not stop talking about it) We are adopting a little girl whom we will name Aralynne Jo-Lee Cathcart. We are very excited to be bringing her into our lives, And can not waith until she gets to come home (soon we hope).

I think now we are finally settled into our house. We all have are places to hang out. The amazing thing is is that when we moved in we had all this room and now it's just enough. Things happen for a reason. If we had stuck to our original plan of moving into Diana and Evans house, we wouldn't have a room for Aralynne. So here we are happy and content and a room for Aralynne.

I am also happy to announce that Doug and I got our new calling in the Santa Fe ward in the Peoria stake. Doug is now the Elders Quorum Secretary and I am now the Young Woman's Secretary. I'm not quite sure yet what I get to do because I have never been in young woman's or a part of young woman's but I will learn.

I just wanted to again steel this moment to thank all of you for accepting me as part of the Cathcart's. I love each and every one of you and I am happy to be able to call you my family.