Thursday, July 21, 2011
A Journey with the Journeys
We were so excited to have Bryce Laura, and Luke come visit us for a few days. The first day we did the down-town stuff. Temple square, the Conference Center, ate lunch at the Lion House, and Let the kids play at the Church History museum. It was a long exhausting day, but we saw a lot. The next day we went up to Park City and played at the Olympic park, where we rode some zip lines, an alpine slide and I somehow convinced Bryce and Laura to ride the bob-sled with me. I loved what Laura said about it "Nothing anyone can tell you will prepare you for riding down an Olympic bobsled track for the first time. Dang, that was crazy!". It was quite the experience. We went 71 mph and experienced 3-4 G forces. I thought it was awesome. But glad it didn't last much longer than it did. The next day we went up to This is the Place park. The kids got to ride ponies. Which Mia couldn't wait to do, then got scared and wanted nothing to do with the horses, and then wanted to ride them some more. Such is life sometimes. We also saw my ancestors house. That afternoon we were going to go to the Museum at Thanksgiving point but opted for an afternoon of games. Which I'm glad we did. It was so fun to see Bryce and Laura again and to get to know Luke. It was fun to have our old game nights back. I even won two games against Bryce. That's saying something! Oh and how could I forget we watched Birdemic. The funniest bad movie I think I've ever seen. It was fun to have them here and sad to see them go. But I also know that we will be friends for a long time so it wasn't really good-bye.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Two Weddings
I had two nieces get married in two months. Its hard to believe that they are married now. Some of my earliest memories of Kent and I's courtship involve them, when they were just toddlers. I specifically remember Sonnett singing I like it I love it I want some more of it by Tim Magraw, when she was maybe 5. I'm excited for them to begin their lives as a married couple. I hope they enjoy all the ups and downs that come with marriage.
Sonnett got married in the Salt Lake Temple. The ceremony was beautiful. My mother-in-law made matching dresses for all the cousins. When she had extra material she made some extra dresses for the temple/play in. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.
Shannon got married in the Manti temple. I must admit that I grumbled and complained about them choosing the Manti temple because it was an inconvienance for me. (I know I'm so selfish sometimes, like they would have picked the most important day of their lives around my connivances. DUH). Anyway I debated till the last minute whether or not to go down, I did and was so glad I did. The temple was perfect for Shannon and BJ and completely fit their personalities and theme of the wedding which was cowboys and sunflowers. Plus I've never been to the Manti temple. Since its so old (even older than Salt Lake) yet not as busy as Salt Lake it retained a lot of the old pioneer feel to it. I was noticing how it seemed like the restrooms where stuffed in a corner, and were really tight and small. Maybe that is because back when the temple was built there wasn't in-door-plumbing. The layout was all werid compared to most temples. It was really fun to be there, almost like taking a step back in time.
Again Grandma made matching dresses. I LOVE dressing the girls alike. (She also made some Easter dresses for my girls that makes 4 home-made dresses in two months THANK YOU GRANDMA we are really blessed).
***Warning Warning Warning I will now wax philosophical and slightly religious (maybe more than slightly): All of this marring going on starting me thinking about; well marriage. More specifically I've been thinking a lot about the sealing covenant. The sealing covenant is the sacred ordinance that binds families together, it is the ordinance that we often refer to as "temple marriage". I have a special place in my heart for the power of the sealing covenant. As I witnessed these two beautiful girls be sealed to their husbands, the thought occurred to me that if you were to take all that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is, and focus it down to one moment, like focusing a beam of light into a Lazar, it would the sealing of families. If you were to try and compress all that the church works towards, is all about, is the reason behind everything we do and are, I think this would be it. It is pure power. I have felt it numerous times. And yet this fact has far reaching consequences not all of which positive. For example those that live in the Church and do not marry, or those like me that marry but struggle to conceive, or those that live in the church but are divorced, or the churches stand on social issues like gay marriage. I'm not really sure what my point is in all of this. Maybe it is to simple say that for me at least the sealing of families one to another for all of eternity, (as annoyingly cliché as the term families are forever has become), it is capstone of our religion. It is the crowing principal and purpose for the church as a whole. I am so thankful for it in my life and the lives of my family. And I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to be reminded of that and to be apart of it. ***End philosophical religious rambling.
Sonnett got married in the Salt Lake Temple. The ceremony was beautiful. My mother-in-law made matching dresses for all the cousins. When she had extra material she made some extra dresses for the temple/play in. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.
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| Collectively these girls are ages, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. If someone would have told that would happen 5 years ago I would have never in a million years believed you. |
Shannon got married in the Manti temple. I must admit that I grumbled and complained about them choosing the Manti temple because it was an inconvienance for me. (I know I'm so selfish sometimes, like they would have picked the most important day of their lives around my connivances. DUH). Anyway I debated till the last minute whether or not to go down, I did and was so glad I did. The temple was perfect for Shannon and BJ and completely fit their personalities and theme of the wedding which was cowboys and sunflowers. Plus I've never been to the Manti temple. Since its so old (even older than Salt Lake) yet not as busy as Salt Lake it retained a lot of the old pioneer feel to it. I was noticing how it seemed like the restrooms where stuffed in a corner, and were really tight and small. Maybe that is because back when the temple was built there wasn't in-door-plumbing. The layout was all werid compared to most temples. It was really fun to be there, almost like taking a step back in time.Again Grandma made matching dresses. I LOVE dressing the girls alike. (She also made some Easter dresses for my girls that makes 4 home-made dresses in two months THANK YOU GRANDMA we are really blessed).
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| When did these kids grow up? |
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| Stay there... |
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| Just stay there for one second.... |
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| At last the bribery works. |
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| Melissa and Alyssa |
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| This is a great wedding it has toys! |
***Warning Warning Warning I will now wax philosophical and slightly religious (maybe more than slightly): All of this marring going on starting me thinking about; well marriage. More specifically I've been thinking a lot about the sealing covenant. The sealing covenant is the sacred ordinance that binds families together, it is the ordinance that we often refer to as "temple marriage". I have a special place in my heart for the power of the sealing covenant. As I witnessed these two beautiful girls be sealed to their husbands, the thought occurred to me that if you were to take all that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is, and focus it down to one moment, like focusing a beam of light into a Lazar, it would the sealing of families. If you were to try and compress all that the church works towards, is all about, is the reason behind everything we do and are, I think this would be it. It is pure power. I have felt it numerous times. And yet this fact has far reaching consequences not all of which positive. For example those that live in the Church and do not marry, or those like me that marry but struggle to conceive, or those that live in the church but are divorced, or the churches stand on social issues like gay marriage. I'm not really sure what my point is in all of this. Maybe it is to simple say that for me at least the sealing of families one to another for all of eternity, (as annoyingly cliché as the term families are forever has become), it is capstone of our religion. It is the crowing principal and purpose for the church as a whole. I am so thankful for it in my life and the lives of my family. And I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to be reminded of that and to be apart of it. ***End philosophical religious rambling.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
My House
So You Want to Buy a House...
Thanks to Uncle Sam, a lot of adoption expenses, a change in tax laws, and a good accountant that knew or could figure out everything much easier and with a lot less screaming and pulling of hair than I could, Kent and I ended up with a VERY large tax return. Large enough that it was like try to answer if you won amount x on a game show or a lottery what would you do with it. (okay maybe not that much but it was a good amount). With a huge student loan debt, two dying cars, and a desire to buy a house what would you have done? Well we put some if it toward our student loan (the private loan that wont get paid off if Kent stays with his public interest job for 10 years). And then we decided to put the rest into a down payment on a home.
So began the process of buying a home. At first I was so excited I was giddy. Then we actually started looking at homes, and I went from frustrated to confused and back to frustrated. I we didn't even look that long. There was so much more to think about. What about the schools, are they good, how do you really know. Could we get them into a school outside the boundaries, what about charter schools. Is it a good neighborhood, and mostly how much could we really afford? Every spare moment we had was used to search and search the internet for houses, or to drive through neighborhoods. And then one day I'm talking with our realtor (who is awesome) we go to see a house that night and the next thing I know we are under contract. The excitement is still there but so is a lot of anxiety and a lot of work.
We closed on Thursday morning. Monday we began scrubbing walls.
Thanks to Uncle Sam, a lot of adoption expenses, a change in tax laws, and a good accountant that knew or could figure out everything much easier and with a lot less screaming and pulling of hair than I could, Kent and I ended up with a VERY large tax return. Large enough that it was like try to answer if you won amount x on a game show or a lottery what would you do with it. (okay maybe not that much but it was a good amount). With a huge student loan debt, two dying cars, and a desire to buy a house what would you have done? Well we put some if it toward our student loan (the private loan that wont get paid off if Kent stays with his public interest job for 10 years). And then we decided to put the rest into a down payment on a home.
So began the process of buying a home. At first I was so excited I was giddy. Then we actually started looking at homes, and I went from frustrated to confused and back to frustrated. I we didn't even look that long. There was so much more to think about. What about the schools, are they good, how do you really know. Could we get them into a school outside the boundaries, what about charter schools. Is it a good neighborhood, and mostly how much could we really afford? Every spare moment we had was used to search and search the internet for houses, or to drive through neighborhoods. And then one day I'm talking with our realtor (who is awesome) we go to see a house that night and the next thing I know we are under contract. The excitement is still there but so is a lot of anxiety and a lot of work.
We closed on Thursday morning. Monday we began scrubbing walls.
Monday, July 4, 2011
My M&Ms: The Princess Instict is Strong
Big M loves clothes. She was picking out her clothes and trying to dress herself by the time she was 18 mo old. Little M (although I can't really call her that anymore since she's not so little anymore) would rather run around buck naked. Getting her dressed in the morning is always a battle. I'll give her the choice between two shirts and she'll look at me, look at the clothes, throw them on the floor and take off running down the hallway, and if not caught and forced dressed in a timely manner will shimmy out of her diaper, thus accomplishing the task of complete nakedness. So I was a little surprised this morning when I put this dress on her...
And she refused to take it off. Then she started prancing around the house patty her pretty dress.
The princess instinct runs strong.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Little M
They say kids grow up over night, but sometimes I swear its true. In the last week Mia has learned to say and the meaning of:
- Cake
- Root Beer
- Elmo
- Einsteins (a tv show)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
April is Infertility Month
I wanted to write something about April being Infertility Awareness month. To say that dealing with infertility is a tough thing is like say the ocean is big. I a stumbled on this blog and this one and thought they were way better than anything I could ever say. But I'll share with you a story. I hesitate a little in the telling I think because it's kind of personal, but also because I don't believe the story is at an end yet, and I hate to tell a half written story, but nonetheless here it is.
We had recently moved. Dutifully the Relief Society president came over to introduce herself and get to know me. She asked how long we had been married (a pretty standard question in a get to know you section). When I told her, her response surprised me. She proceeded to tell me that her first son was adopted and how long they waited and hoped to be parents, and how wonderful it was to have her son through adoption (he was 19 at the time). Well at that I basically broke down and bawled. Something I never do especially in front of people I just barely met. And I told her that we were thinking about starting the adoption process. She told me several time that I could call her anytime to cry on her shoulder. That comment alone let me know that she understood what I was going through. From then on she was so sweet to me. It wasn't anything really big. She was never over bearing, or pushing. But would on occasion quietly ask how things were going. I remember her asking me after we were on the 'pick us list' how long we had been waiting. It had been about a year. She got so excited because we were a whole year closer to becoming parents. I was feeling depressed about having waited a whole year, with nothing to show for it, but her enthusiasm gave me a new perspective.
She was one of the first people I called when we were placed, and the first one to bring us dinner. As she sat in my living room holding our new born baby I told her how grateful I had been for having known her. And I will never forget what she said next. She looked me right in the eye and told me, now YOU can be a support to someone else, and you can be there for them. Her comment has always stayed with me. Maybe because her kindness and quiet manner was just what I needed at the time. Maybe there is something so important about seeing a light at the end of a dark tunnel. To have the perspective of someone who has been there, done that, and lived to tell the tell.
But I feel a great responsibility from her admonition. I have been amazed at the people who have come into my life that I have been able to talk with about infertility and adoption. From total strangers, to close friends, to family. Her words have become a prophesy being fulfilled. I have tried to live up to her words and to be there for them the way she was for me. But I worry that maybe I could have or should have done more, or maybe I have done too much.
I will always be gratefully for that wonderfully lady, and I pray that I will be able to pass on the love and encouragement I felt from her to others. That I, like she, will be a comforting ear to bend and shoulder to cry on, to anyone faced with the challenge of infertility.
We had recently moved. Dutifully the Relief Society president came over to introduce herself and get to know me. She asked how long we had been married (a pretty standard question in a get to know you section). When I told her, her response surprised me. She proceeded to tell me that her first son was adopted and how long they waited and hoped to be parents, and how wonderful it was to have her son through adoption (he was 19 at the time). Well at that I basically broke down and bawled. Something I never do especially in front of people I just barely met. And I told her that we were thinking about starting the adoption process. She told me several time that I could call her anytime to cry on her shoulder. That comment alone let me know that she understood what I was going through. From then on she was so sweet to me. It wasn't anything really big. She was never over bearing, or pushing. But would on occasion quietly ask how things were going. I remember her asking me after we were on the 'pick us list' how long we had been waiting. It had been about a year. She got so excited because we were a whole year closer to becoming parents. I was feeling depressed about having waited a whole year, with nothing to show for it, but her enthusiasm gave me a new perspective.
She was one of the first people I called when we were placed, and the first one to bring us dinner. As she sat in my living room holding our new born baby I told her how grateful I had been for having known her. And I will never forget what she said next. She looked me right in the eye and told me, now YOU can be a support to someone else, and you can be there for them. Her comment has always stayed with me. Maybe because her kindness and quiet manner was just what I needed at the time. Maybe there is something so important about seeing a light at the end of a dark tunnel. To have the perspective of someone who has been there, done that, and lived to tell the tell.
But I feel a great responsibility from her admonition. I have been amazed at the people who have come into my life that I have been able to talk with about infertility and adoption. From total strangers, to close friends, to family. Her words have become a prophesy being fulfilled. I have tried to live up to her words and to be there for them the way she was for me. But I worry that maybe I could have or should have done more, or maybe I have done too much.
I will always be gratefully for that wonderfully lady, and I pray that I will be able to pass on the love and encouragement I felt from her to others. That I, like she, will be a comforting ear to bend and shoulder to cry on, to anyone faced with the challenge of infertility.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Awesome Weekend
Last Weekend:
It started on Friday with a day at the Zoo. The weather was gorgeous. We talked Grandma Kathy into coming with us. It was fun to have her along and a lot easier for me with an extra set of eyes and hands. The kids had a good time and it was fun but I miss the Zoo in Omaha.
Saturday we went recreating with my Family. My sister and her family came down from Wyoming, and we all went ATVing out on the West Desert. It was fun to ride the ATVs and we did some Geo-caching. This is where people hide stuff and other people look up where they hide it and using a GPS and a compass go and find it. Some of them have little trinkets in them. If you leave something then you can take something. Well the 4 yr olds LOVED this idea. Real life treasure hunting. They had a blast. And the babies were pretty good too. Afterward before the storm hit, we did some target practice. We all had a great time.
After we got home and had some dinner my sister invited us over to the hotel they were staying at to go swimming. It was crowded but we had a good time anyway. And I let Melissa stay up way too late. A mistake we paid for on Sunday afternoon. But she was so cute in the pool.
Sunday we played in the snow, and as everyone else in Utah marveled at the weather whip-lash from Friday when it was 70. (You would think we would get use to it). Then we tried not to fall asleep during conference (which I failed at) and then it was the day of the Dominion Championship tournament. In other words we played Dominion all day.
Monday I my sister and I went sking. I really wanted to go one last time this season. And since Big Cottonwood was closed we headed to Alta. I haven't skied there in well over a decade. It was a perfect day sking. We loved it. I even got a little sunburned.
And then I went to work for 10 hours. Okay well I attempted to go to work for 10 hours, but I was really tired. I managed to stay for 8 but not sure I accomplished that much. Yes I think I did go to work to recover from the weekend.
It started on Friday with a day at the Zoo. The weather was gorgeous. We talked Grandma Kathy into coming with us. It was fun to have her along and a lot easier for me with an extra set of eyes and hands. The kids had a good time and it was fun but I miss the Zoo in Omaha.
Saturday we went recreating with my Family. My sister and her family came down from Wyoming, and we all went ATVing out on the West Desert. It was fun to ride the ATVs and we did some Geo-caching. This is where people hide stuff and other people look up where they hide it and using a GPS and a compass go and find it. Some of them have little trinkets in them. If you leave something then you can take something. Well the 4 yr olds LOVED this idea. Real life treasure hunting. They had a blast. And the babies were pretty good too. Afterward before the storm hit, we did some target practice. We all had a great time.
After we got home and had some dinner my sister invited us over to the hotel they were staying at to go swimming. It was crowded but we had a good time anyway. And I let Melissa stay up way too late. A mistake we paid for on Sunday afternoon. But she was so cute in the pool.
Sunday we played in the snow, and as everyone else in Utah marveled at the weather whip-lash from Friday when it was 70. (You would think we would get use to it). Then we tried not to fall asleep during conference (which I failed at) and then it was the day of the Dominion Championship tournament. In other words we played Dominion all day.
Monday I my sister and I went sking. I really wanted to go one last time this season. And since Big Cottonwood was closed we headed to Alta. I haven't skied there in well over a decade. It was a perfect day sking. We loved it. I even got a little sunburned.
And then I went to work for 10 hours. Okay well I attempted to go to work for 10 hours, but I was really tired. I managed to stay for 8 but not sure I accomplished that much. Yes I think I did go to work to recover from the weekend.
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