my beautiful family

A few weeks ago Liz, Soleil and I all prettied ourselves up for a family photo shoot. The setting was a field behind Liz's home in Fruit Heights, UT. The photographer was Jen Herem (possibly misspelled) and she did a great job. There were a few things that really stand out to me as part of the memory of this. First, it was the first organized family photo shoot my little family has ever done with each other. Second, Liz looked so pretty and beautiful. And last, Soleil just had a really hard...

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fowlers vs. lake tahoe

This weekend was the 2nd Fowler family reunion where all siblings were able to make it to play together. We started the trip out on a high after Soleil officially became ours, legally and fully documented. She's our bonafide daughter now. We left Orange County around 6 pm on Thursday and rode the rush hour traffic wave north until about 10:30 PM. We stopped at some podunk gas station oasis on the 5 North and made camp at a Best Western Plus. The "Plus" seemed to be applied to the price of the room....

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a baby named soleil - part 2

This past Wednesday, August 15, was a day that I will surely remember, if not very clearly. It was all kind of a blur. But here’s what I remember. Today was the day where Liz and I took Soleil to court for her to become officially ours. If what I heard was correct, the judge said “you now have the same relationship to Soleil as biological parents do.” It was around this point that Liz completely lost it to mom tears. I just remember her shaking on my shoulder with her face buried there. Soleil stood...

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canyon boys vs. wind rivers mountain range

This year was about our 7th annual backpacking trip. Michael and I try to do these get togethers once a year, but sometimes we skip one or two years because of busy schedules. This year, we were able to pull it off. The approximate mileage was 53-56+ miles. The guys who went were myself, Michael, Bruce Larson, and Dan Smith. No dog this year. Typically, we take my dog but this year Simba became ill and just wasn’t strong enough to do it.  I’m mostly going to let the pics tell the story this...

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