One of the Best Days of my life!!!!

This is two months late, but December 5, 2018 was one of the most wonderful days of my life. Let me give you a short background first:
Two summers ago our daughter Becky told us that she wanted to become a foster parent! 

We were stunned and excited for her. She did all that was required and became a licensed Foster Care mom. Her first placement was a brother and sister, ages 2 and 3. Happily, their mother worked really, really hard and was able to get them back.

Becky's second placement was a little 2-year-old boy that we called Bugsy or B because his mother didn't want him to go by his given name. Unlike Becky's first placement, this family did not make any effort to prepare for reunification. So, last December Becky became an actual Mom, not just a Foster Care mom!! Israel Jeffrey Jackson is legally hers - and ours.

Now I'll share that wonderful day. Actually, first I need to acknowledge and give a HUGE thank you to our awesome niece, Trisha Terry. She took all of the pictures at the adoption. If you need a great photographer, check out crookedpinkie photography.

The adoption took place at the Mattheson Courthouse in down town Salt Lake.

When Kent and I arrived we were greeted by almost all of our children and grandchildren:

Not only was most of our family there, but a lot of Becky's friends were there as well:

It seemed like waiting forever [actually just a few minutes] but finally the most important people arrived:

Now Izzy [short for Israel] gets greeted by everybody:

Finally, it was time to go into the courtroom for the adoption.

Kent and I were sitting right behind Becky and Izzy. Izzy turned around and saw us and said "Grandma, Grandpa! Hugs!" So, Becky got him down from the chair and he came around and gave us hugs and then made his way through the court room hugging everybody else!

During the whole procedure Izzy ran around the courtroom, playing with his car and entertaining the Judge. In the background was the testimonies of the Foster care lawyer, Becky and Izzy's foster care reps, and Izzy's lawyer. The judge was so cute with him. It was really fun to watch. And each time Izzy picked up the phone there would be a loud dial tone throughout the room!

After the testimonies of all the legal people, the judge asked Becky why she thought she should be allowed to adopt Izzy. This is when the tears started. She said, "I didn't give birth to him, but I love him as much as if I had. He loves me. I am his mommy. We have a bond." The judge then said, "Well, when I sign these papers, it will be exactly like you gave birth to him, and no one can undo it. Now, you may wish you could when he's a teenager, but this is final!" 

The judge showed Izzy how to pound the gavel and then had to move his hands out of the way to save his fingers! It was official.

Lots of pictures and hugs all around:

These people have a special place in this whole process. Their son, Jeff, was a good friend of Becky's. He died a couple of years ago in a climbing accident. Becky gave Izzy Jeff's name as HIS middle name - Israel Jeffrey Jackson.

We had to wait for the papers to get processed so we moved the party down to the rotunda:

And here they come, mom and son:

Official papers:

How much I love this beautiful girl and her sweet new son!!
Thanks for giving me one of the best days ever!!!!

Our last 2 days

Our first stop today was at the Four Corners. It was fun to be there again. 

I bought some fun souvenirs - some to hang on our Christmas tree:

Our next stop was Blanding, Utah. We visited the Edge of the Cedars state park and museum. Behind the museum was a prehistoric pueblo and the museum contained the artifacts found there and in other places. These are a just a few of the things we saw.

Turkey feather blanket:

Turkey feather blanket missing the feathers:

Insect-leg necklace -- I don't think I could

put insect-anything around my neck!!

Macaw [from the Purple Macaw of  Mexico] Feather Sash:

This is Yucca Fiber. I look at a yucca plant, and I don't see this!

These unfinished sandals were made between 550 & 700 A.D. Made out of yucca fiber!!

Plates and knives:

 Behind the museum - Kent going down in a kiva

Will he come back up?

We saw lots of other things in the museum - pottery, baskets, etc. but these were some of my favorites.

We drove on to Moab where we found a picnic table and played games - which I lost abysmally!! But that's ok - we had dinner in a fun place and then wandered a bit around down town Moab before calling it a night!

Saturday morning we checked out of our motel, bought lunch and drove to Arches, where we spent a few hours before driving home.

This was another wonderful trip, thanks to all of Kent's careful planning! And even though we have been to Arches many times, it never gets boring!!! We hope you enjoyed "traveling" with us!!

Chaco Canyon

Today was a lot of driving - and a lot of it on unpaved roads. We went from Gallup, New Mexico to Chaco Culture National Historical Park. We stopped at this shopping center to get some food. We were the only non-Navajos there. 

 The last 20 miles of the drive, looked like this. It was slow going but we finally made it:

Chaco Canyon contains several prehistoric big houses, or pueblos. We took pictures of a few small ones.

 

The white circles in the beams are where they took a core sample to date the wood. They refilled the holes with numbered cork.

These are kivas:

Our favorite place here was the Pueblo Bonito. It was built in stages from CE 850 to 1150 by ancestral Puebloan people. It was a special place where clans stopped and lived during their sacred migrations. Here's one migrating now!

This shows the original back wall [to the left of the door]and then a later wall that was added and created more small rooms accessed from the back only:

Here you can see the beams that would have held up the roof:

This is one of several kivas. It is a round ceremonial room used for ceremonies. Some were large enough for hundreds of people.

If you were standing inside the kiva looking up - this is what the roof would have looked like:

They, apparently, were very short people!

Kent called this the "Nancy door":

Archeologists think it was used as an astronomical marker. It was built in the eastern part of the pueblo and when the sun rises on the morning of the winter solstice [my birthday], sunlight goes through the opening and hits the opposite room behind it. Who knew I had my own door!!

Here is a close up of the rails and beams used to support the roof. Plus, I thought this guy was really cute!!

We really loved this place and probably would have stayed longer, but we had that 20 miles of dirt road to travel, before dark. Fortunately, the road out wasn't quite as bad as the road in!! Happy ancient ruins!