Johnny, Kindra, and Jasmine

My lady Tusken Raider

2009-09-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Kindra just completed her costume for the 501st and these are her application photos. She's a female Tusken Raider. You can see these characters very briefly in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones right after Schmi Skywalker dies.

Rob Rogers of http://www.mywickedarmor.com/ made the mask. The guy did an amazing job!!!

Jasmine counts!

2009-03-03T15:47:00.001-08:00

I've posted a new video of our beloved angel on YouTube.com. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNkkPjChfE

2009-02-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

This is Jasmine's new baby cousin, Andrew. He was born on January 15th.
Daddy and Jasmine.
This is my niece, Zoe, with her new brother, Andrew, and of course Jasmine and me!

2009-02-18T12:31:00.000-08:00

Me after my LASIK surgery. I had to wear those funky goggles for the first 24 hours. Now my vision is perfect! I love it. That was Johnny's birthday present to me for my 29th birthday.
Our little princess. Need I say more?
I guess she got too tired to finish her dinner! I had to take a picture. It was so darn cute!
Just chillin'! That couch is the perfect size for her. She loves it!

What's been going on in our little household.

2009-02-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

It has been far too long since we posted anything on here. I would post some pics, but unfortunately, they are all on Johnny's computer, not mine, so I'll just have to type instead.

We had a great Christmas and Jasmine got lots of neat presents. She loves her little couch that Santa got her and I had her help me in the kitchen making cookies for Santa. It was very fun. I got a karaoke machine, and I can't pull it out without Jasmine wanting to sing also. She loves to sing with mommy. It's very cute. We spent time with family and had a great old time.

She has lots of fun with her cousins and she loves her grandparents. She's always asking, "Mama, Papa?" (That's how she says Grandma and Grandpa. She calls me "Mommy" so it's not that confusing.) I think that's her way of asking if we are going to see them that day. My sister just had a baby and they named him Andrew. He is a cutie. Johnny has taken pictures of Jasmine holding him-which I will try to remember to post later. She loves to hold Andrew, which is another indication to me that she is ready for a sibling. I'm hoping news on that will be positive.

Johnny's parents have come home. They got home on January 22nd. The reunion was tearful for many. We met them at the airport, and later we had a huge family dinner. It was great. Jasmine took a little bit to reacquaint herself with them, but she sure enjoys them now. Just a reminder to everyone, this adoption would not have been possible had it not have been for them. They were the ones who found her for us, and they were even her foster parents for 7 months while we were finishing everything up to be able to go over there, and they helped in other ways as well. They were a very important factor in the whole thing. I appreciate them so very much.

My birthday was in January, and Johnny's main present to me was LASIK for my eyes! I cried when he told me that. I got the surgery done on January 5th. My vision has been very good since then! I love not needing my glasses or contacts anymore! It's great to wake up and see right off the bat! One other thing about that is Jasmine frequently looks at me and says, "Pretty eyes." I love that! It's so sweet! She has been such a great blessing in our lives. Everyone just loves her to pieces. She stops crowds because people can't believe that she's so tiny and can walk. (Not to mention her very cute factor.) People always want to hold her, and at first she would go to just about everyone-which was a bit scary for me-but she's now not quite so willing to go to strangers, which I have to admit, makes me feel a bit better!

She is a busy body and she is very mischievous. She loves to pull our movies out and they get strewn about our living room floor. She's so funny, because we will tell her "no, no, no" and she's now started saying that back. Now when I tell her to not play with the movies, she looks at me and shakes her finger-an action she came up with on her own!-and says, "No, no, no?" It's really hard to stay mad at her for very long when she is so darn cute!

I don't really have much else to say, I just thought I'd update our blog a bit, since we haven't posted anything for a while. I will post some pictures soon.

My Grandma Laing's Funeral

2008-11-30T14:06:00.000-08:00

Jasmine was the star of the show. Needless to say, it wore her out being such a social butterfly.
Here is my Great-Uncle Vincent Olson, the younger brother of my Grandma Laing. My Dad is particularly fond of him and has had a big influence in my Dad's life. I've always liked him, too. I had Kindra take this photo of Vincent and me mostly for my Dad's benefit.

Here is the coffin of my Grandma Laing. Already buried next to her is my Grandpa Laing's remains. I know they're in a better place, but I sure miss them.

My Grandma Laing

2008-11-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

My Grandma, Dagney Olson Laing passed away earlier tonight (2008-11-24) at about 7:35 pm. To me, she was always very sweet and respectful. Her parents and siblings became the first generation of members of the Church so many years ago. I am grateful for her faithfulness. I know that she is finally reunited with my beloved Grandpa John Franklin Laing.

I love you, Grandma. May your reunion to your loved ones who have gone before be sweeter than description. May your rest be truly peaceful.

Random Pics

2008-11-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

These are just some random pictures of Jasmine since her homecoming in July.

Jasmine's B-Day at Eric & Nancy's

2008-11-17T20:12:00.000-08:00

I've posted a new video on my Facebook page. It's Jasmine's birthday celebration at my brother Eric's home. There's a 360 degree pan of all there. Eric, Polly, Dan, and us, including all our respective families. It was a great night.

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/#/video/video.php?v=109941205696

Sleeping Little One

2008-11-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

Is there anything sweeter than a baby sleeping on your lap? I don't think so! Especially this baby. Being a mom is so great! I couldn't be happier.

In fact, I'm so happy with it, we are trying again! I went to a doctor yesterday to see about getting pregnant again. I have high hopes. He sounds like he knows what he's doing, so I'm excited about it. Jasmine is very well adjusted and so I think she could handle a sibling, and if there is succes, there will be nine months for her to get used to it!

Isn't that cute? She is the sweetest little one. I couldn't have got a better kid. Everyone loves her. She really draws a crowd! Everywhere I go someone stops me to ask how old she is. They can't believe that someone so little is walking, and when I tell them she's 2, they are amazed. People think she should only be about 6 months! We've had her home for 4 months now and so we are 2 months away from getting the adoption finalized. I am really looking forward to that. That will be a great day. We're going to wait for Mom & Dad Laing to get back from Thailand first, so that they can be a part of that. (It's only fair, since they are the one's that found her.) Luckily they will be back toward the end of January, so we won't have to wait long. Plus, it will give us time to finish with the preliminary stuff after the 6 month post placement. It will be good.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

Jasmine in her Halloween costume. Doesn't she make a cute black kitty? She picked this costume herself.

Jasmine with her makeup on. She sat surprisingly still for Kindra as she put the makeup on her little face.

Here's a beautiful witch and her black kitty.

Here's my Jawa costume. Not sure what a Jawa is? Watch Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope. And they are NOT the same as the Sand People. :)

The beautiful Witch, the Black Kitty, and the Jawa. This is my desk at work.

Jaz Video

2008-10-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

I posted a video of Jasmine at my Facebook site:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=103309140696

My Complete Scanned Artworks

2008-10-22T21:34:00.001-07:00

I have a Facebook profile now. I've posted all my artwork to this site:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167633&id=904680696

Due Credit

2008-10-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

We adopted Jasmine in Thailand. However, it should be known that her discovery was made by my wonderful parents who are currently serving an LDS mission in Bangkok, Thailand. Only a month and a half after arriving in Thailand, they met the Burkes, who were the foster family of Jasmine (then, she was known as Tara or Tararath). When the Burkes needed to leave Thailand in December 2007, my parents were allowed to care for Jasmine until we were able to arrive in June 2008. Their Mission President was very gracious in allowing this unprecedented event to happen

Here we are at a Mexican-style restaurant with President and Sister Dodge on the left, Kindra, Jasmine, me, and my parents on the right.

Here's a photo of us and my Mom and Dad, JoAnn and Richard Laing. (I don't think my folks ever got accustomed to Thai food).

This was the day of our Orientation at the Amari Hotel in Bangkok. There was a Norwegian family there, too, that was meeting their little boy for the first time.

And then there's the wonderful first foster family for Jasmine, Claudean Burke and her family. Claudean wanted to adopt a little girl, but felt prompted by the Spirit that our little Jasmine was meant for another family. She lovingly took care of Jasmine from when she was just a month old until just after her first birthday when my parents took over the foster care of Jasmine. We have a lot of love and respect for the Burkes in being instrumental in bringing Jasmine into our lives.

We thank Heavenly Father for all the wonderful and instrumental people that have been involved in helping us adopt our little girl. There are many more people that have been there along the way to help us.

More Pics to Share

2008-10-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Kindra's sister, Lisa Fawcett and her daughter Zoe came up to visit last night. I snapped a shot of Jasmine and Zoe sitting on a banana chair together. Zoe's 3 years old.

Here's another shot of the two.

Jasmine sure loves to play with phones, especially our cell phones. I have a bad premonition of the future when she's 16. Yikes! :)

Jasmine sure loves watching her favorite, Elmo.

Some pics of our favorite little one!

2008-10-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

My Artwork (Part 2)

2008-10-16T12:09:00.001-07:00

Here are some more of my favorites.

/sigh/ I have more, but I think this will all I will post for now. (Again, respect my copyright, please!)

Dan (my brother) & Sharee

Grandpa Joe during WWI
Eric (my brother) & Nancy
My Folks - Richard & JoAnn
Glass Slipper

My Artwork

2008-10-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Einstein
My Grandma & Grandpa Laing
Darth Vader
My Granpa & Grandma Logan
My wife, Kindra

This is some of my best artwork I've drawn. I have many others that I'm proud of, but this is all for now. :)

- Please note this is my personal work and I own the copyright. Be smart in how you use it. Thanks.

Just an update

2008-10-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I don't have much time to write, but I just thought I'd write you all a quick update. I have Jasmine's Halloween costume. I haven't put it on her yet, but when I do, I will take lots of pics and put them on here. It was so cute when we got it because I held up two: a tigger and a black kitty with a pink belly and pink ears. She picked the kitty costume. I've come to the conclusion that her favorite color is pink. Whenever she has a choice that involves pink, that is what she picks. She's our girly-girl! It's kind of ironic for me, because, personally, I hate pink. It's just not my color. That's alright though. She is so cute, no matter what she is wearing. She loves to scribble on any surface! She finds pens and things and I have to constantly watch her with them, or she will draw on the furniture! (I'm sure you've all been there, done that!) She will be 2 in less than 3 weeks! (She is still about the size of a 6 month old!) She is healthy though. That's what matters. She is starting to ask "Why?" but not very often yet. I expect that will get more frequent soon. She is very curious and likes to know what we are doing at all times. She loves to get into things and then she comes and tattles on herself. It's rather funny. She will do something and come up to me and say, "Oh No!" One time it was because she found a bottle of lotion and poured at least half the bottle onto the floor and all down her dress! That was a mess to clean up, unfortunately, I didn't have the mind to take a picture of it. I was too upset to think of that! I laugh now about it though. I got her a book a few weeks ago. The pages are magnetic and it came with 15 animal magnets. She has maybe 4 now. She's stuffed the rest of them into a diskette drive on Johnny's computer! (Fortunately, he has it disabled, so it's not ruining anything.) Usually when she comes to me and says, "Oh No!" I tell her to show me "Oh No." Sometimes it's not obvious. Sometimes she does it to get attention. There have been a couple of times that she's done that and when she shows me, it's just a sippy cup set on the floor. She's a funny girl. Well, I'd better go and tend to her before she turns my house upside down. Talk to you all later!

First Snow

2008-10-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday (10-11-08), we had our first snow for the season, and the first ever for Jasmine. It was hilarious! She stood at the threshold of our door and had a very apprehensive look on her face as if to say, "What the heck is this??!!!" It took a lot of coaxing for Kindra and me to get her out of the apartment. When she finally did, she frantically batted her little arm at the flakes falling around her trying to keep them off. She also exclaimed, "Oh, no!!" when she saw them resting on me and Kindra. Kindra and I had a good laugh on this.

In the beginning...

2008-10-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to create a way that anyone can view pictures of us, particularly of Jasmine. I'll keep this posted of any other news and items of interest as we see fit.