GEORGIA: MEETING MY BIOLOGICAL FAMILY FOR THE FIRST TIME

Our trip to Georgia was a busy one!  But so much fun.  I was so scared to fly with both girls because with two when it gets bad...it is epic.  Thankfully they were really good!  Paisley loved the airplane and thought it was so cool to fly in the sky like Rainbow Dash (my little pony).  Speaking of which, we bought a new pony for both the trip there and the trip back and that seemed to help.  It gave her a reason to keep up with us because she knew when we got on the plane and all settled and took off that she would get her new pony (which she helped pick out before).  I also invested in lots of stickers and new fun treats and she actually stayed awake the entire drive to Vegas, the entire flight and almost the whole way!  We started off visiting my sister and her husband and 2 boys.  She loved their backyard and playing and running around with them!  They have a cute little house out in the middle of what looks like a forest!  It was really pretty!

She loved the swings!!  They went SOO high and she thought it was great.  She could not to be happier having 2 cousins to play with!

These are my 2 bio-sisters.  One is my half sister and one is my full sister and only 11 months older than me.  (And she looks like Pocahontas...apparently we've got some native in the family).

 I am now that much more curious about what my children will look like!  After being there we all traveled to visit my biological father and his wife.  They have a gorgeous house and backyard and he's built this darling little train for the kids.  They loved it!  It was great because there was so much room for them to run around and play and chase each other and they have so many fun toys inside for all the grandkids too! Everywhere we went everyone was feeding us delicious food and we were completely spoiled.

Paisley just wanted to GO FAST!!

We also went to this cute pumpkin patch-I've never seen so many pumpkins all in one place and so huge!  The kids had such a fun time running around and the pumpkins were plenty big for Paisley to lay on them!

We also met my other bio-sister up at my biological father's house.  She is my other half sister and I just love her.  I still can't believe we both walked out of the house wearing the same shirt and didn't realize it until well into the day!

All the similiarites with all my sisters was crazy!

My biological father was really excited to have all of his girls all together.  We were pretty excited to be all together too ;)  Before we left we were able to meet my biological grandmother and she looks identical to Stella!!  It was crazy!  We figured we would probably meet who she is (she's not me or Jon!) on our trip and we did!

Finally, at the end of the trip I met my biological mother.  We brought the camera crews for that part so meeting up at a park seemed like the easiest thing to do (instead of bringing that racket to someones house).  I actually feel like I had the most one on one time with her.  We spent most of the day at her parents house (my biological grandparents) and it was wonderful to meet them.

The next day we traveled home.  It was so nice sleeping in our own bed and getting resettled before going out and filming the next day with The Buried Life.  I've heard from the camera crew and such that the episode turned out really well.  I wasn't too worried considering they're only a few minutes long, but I'm glad to have some documentation of all the madness!
They kept asking me if meeting your biological family is something I would recommend.  Honestly, I feel like one in a million with the positive experience that I've had.  I don't feel like it's often that things go so well-we truly were surrounded by so much love and I'm grateful to have met them and to continue a relationship with all of them.
We are continually so very blessed.

THE BURIED LIFE

It's nice being back in reality.  It's been a crazy week...good crazy but still crazy.

Back in February I spoke with my biological family for the first time.  I found out I have not only a Biological Mother (obviously) but a Father, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and siblings all interested in talking to me and getting to know me.  These people spent their entire lives wondering about me, praying for me and even celebrating my birthday.  It was an overwhelming feeling finding out that I was loved by so many people I didn't even knew existed.

Sometime last year I was introduced to a TV show on MTV called The Buried Life (we missed it on air and watched all the episodes on netflix).  I fell in love with the idea of the show and it's mission to accomplish things in your life and help people.  A few months ago they teamed up with Subaru with a contest to accomplish "The America List" and asked their fans to write in ideas that were unique to do in their town.  I wrote them a short note on a whim listing off a couple of fun things we love to do here in St. George...

A few weeks ago MTV called me and said they were interested in coming to visit and play with us. I was blown away.  I talked to them about everything and they spoke with them again, submitted some video chatting and then found out that the time they wanted to be filming was when I was going to be in Georgia meeting my biological family for the first time.  I explained that to them wanting them to understand the weight of the situation (and hoping that they would adjust filming timing seeing that I was doing something kind of huge).  Instead they asked if they could come with us!! (honestly not what I was expecting).  So they did.

We met up with my biological sisters, my biological father and finally met my mother (cameras in tow for that one on Monday), flew back Tuesday and spent all day yesterday filming with them.  They are a crazy bunch of boys and we really do just love them.  The production crew they brought was so kind and wonderful to work with...waking up this morning back in reality was so quiet compared to everything we've been through in the last week!!

I'll be posting more with pictures here in the next couple of days...but here's what yesterday looked like:

If you're not familiar with the show, watch this.  You'll love them too.  

Oh the stories...there will be more of them...

But often, in the world's most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;

—Matthew Arnold, 1852

BIG NEWS

I've been debating whether or not to blog about this but I feel like it's easier to write it all down and send people here to read it than to tell the story over and over again...

I got a call yesterday from LDS social services explaining that my biological mother was trying to get a hold of me, and if I filled out some paperwork and turned it in, she would have my information and I would have hers.  I was quite overwhelmed getting off the phone with them-particularly because all I had to do was print off a couple of papers from my e-mail, sign them, and suddenly I would be given the information about this person that made me.  whoa.

So I did, and ran down to LDS services here to have them notarize and fax everything.  After waiting a couple of minutes, I was handed the paperwork-with a name, address and phone number.  holy cow.  Unfortunately I left my cell phone at home, and when I returned I had already missed a phone call.  So I put Paisley down for her nap, and called her back.

My first impression is that she has the most darling southern drawl.  I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and she still lives there-amongst most of my biological extended family.  I have siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins...and I was finally able to hear the stories of how I came to be, why I was put up for adoption, and how things are now.  super interesting.  I'm still just reviewing it all, and so grateful I started taking notes.  There is still so much to learn about and I have yet to see pictures!! (my biggest curiosity) So I'm sure I'll be updating here and such as this story unfolds...