Shout out to Isaac and Camber!!

Dear Friends in Iowa,

Today I was listening to Ingrid Michaelson. Particularly her song "Everybody." It brought back some really fun memories. Here are a couple.

First, you guys introduced us to that song on our trip back from hiking around Nephi, which was a few weeks after Dave and I got married. I loved everything about love (such a newly wed!) and I also really liked Ingrid Michaelson, so I started singing this song all the time after that.

Second, Dave really likes to change the words to songs. I'm sure you've experienced this before. Well, soon the beautiful Ingrid Michaelson words "Everybody, everybody wants to love; everybody, everybody wants to be loved," became the somewhat morbid "Everybody, everybody likes to eat; everybody, everybody likes to be eaten." I don't know if you ever heard this version, but it has brought us a lot of laughs during the past year of marriage.

I guess the point is, we miss you, and can't wait to see you!

Love,
Your Friends in Utah (a.k.a. Your REAL Best Friends!)

Adoption

I have two family members and one friend who are trying to adopt.  And I just realized how extremely hard it must be to wait for someone to choose you as the parent of their child.

So, in order to help with that process, I'm going to post about my friend Rachel and how she's trying to adopt.  If you know someone who is giving their baby up for adoption, please read on!

Rachel was one of the girls I lived with as a freshman at BYU.  She liked to have a lot of fun, and made life in our dorm very exciting!  I haven't really seen her much since that time, 8 years ago, but I've kept myself updated through her blog and a few mutual friends that we have.

Rachel is married and living in Buffalo, NY.  She and her husband Ryan both love kids, and they have volunteered in an orphanage in El Salvador every summer since they got married.  They are unable to have children of their own, and would love to adopt.

They just recently had their profile put up on LDS Family Services' website, which is the organization that they are adopting through.  The adoption agency is affiliated with their church, but the birth parents do not need to share their religion, nor do they need to live in New York.  And they would love a child of any race or background.

Check out their profile and pass it on to your friends if you think that they may know someone who needs this information.

Here is the link to the profile: https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24585097/ourMessage.jsf

I hope that sometime soon, Rachel and Ryan are connected with the right people so that they can adopt.

Birthday!

Dave is such a trickster. He and I are both really busy during the week, and he has a brief that is due next week that is keeping him extra busy working on it. So we decided that we would celebrate my birthday on the weekend instead of on the actual day.

Well, despite our plans, on my birthday he made me breakfast in bed, gave me my present anyway (even though he told me it wouldn't be ready until the weekend), had lots of his friends text me happy birthday, and surprised me with a quick ice cream break with some family and friends! He is also such a sweet heart!

Another Weekend

I always feel SO happy when it is Friday. It means that I can go home, relax for a couple of days, take several uninterrupted hours to work on homework, see a lot of Dave, and not ride the bus for at least 48 hours...And sometimes Dave and I even go out on a date! Oh, and one more thing, either Dave or I gets paid every Friday, so it's always payday!

This weekend, we are hanging out with some friends. Isaac and Camber are coming over tonight, and we've been invited to Stacy and Mikey's house on Saturday. On Saturday I'll be doing quite a bit of planning for my last week teaching my TTTC class. Today Chan and I planned out our lesson plans and decided on what we were going to do for the test, so now I need to prepare my parts of the lessons and test. And I think this week I'll go to ward choir on Sunday morning. I won't have a primary lesson to prepare since my co-teacher will be teaching this Sunday, and I have really been missing being in a choir. So, all in all, I think it will be a great weekend!

What I've been up to

Dave has been posting a lot frequently. And I like that!

But, to prevent this blog from becoming "Just Life by Dave" I'm going to start posting again!

Life has been a little busy lately. I'm still working and going to school, which really is enough to fill up almost all of my time. I occasionally do things with my husband! :D

And I've also been spending two hours a week watching this cute little guy!


This is Emily's cute little babe, Joshua. They're in Provo for a few weeks so that Emily can finish up her work for her master's, and I get to spend a couple hours a week with him while Emily works with her clients. Here we are together. Joshua looks like he's looking away from the camera in disgust. But actually, he's just waking up, and trying to resist.


And I actually think that Joshua likes me quite well. I just rocked him to sleep!

Two Good Things - Motherhood

We finally had TGT again! It was fun to get together with the girls, especially because of two new developments. Sara had her baby boy Joshua! And she brought him with her to the meeting, so I got to hold him. Adorable! And Chelsea told us that she's pregnant! Yay! So our prompt last night was to write whether we thought Chelsea would make a better mom to a boy or a girl. I kind of twisted that prompt, and here's the result:



Chelsea, your motherhood is long overdue! Hopefully that has given you time to prepared for this blessed event. "How might I have prepared?" you ask? Well, let me tell you!

For the boy that your baby may be, I hope you have desensitized yourself to slimy things.

For the girl that you may be delivering in July, I hope you have learned how to make tutus and flowered headbands.

For the boy that may have Kevin's looks, I hope you have reviewed your imagining and pirating skills.

For the girl that may have your passion for Chinese, I hope you have practiced controlling your emotions for when hers are uncontrollable.

And for yourself, I hope you have laughed and loved and are prepared to laugh and love some more. You'll make a wonderful mother.

Getting to Know Your Friends, Christmas Style

I'll try not to be a SCROOGE and pass on this tag that I got (via email) from Alisha Weston. I tag Erin, Annie, and Laura

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper - I like to use the comics for wrapping paper!

2. When do you put up the tree? Between Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas. I've never personally put up a tree; it's always been done by my mom or roommates. But when I am putting up my own tree I think I will do it right after Thanksgiving.

3. When do you take the tree down? A little after the New Year

4. Favorite gift received as a child? Two mice, with a cage, sawdust, food bowl, running wheel, and some other stuff for them. Everyone's gift to me that year was for my mice!

5. Hardest person to buy for? Everyone! I have such a hard time deciding what a good, meaningful gift would be for people. I've tried to start thinking of gift ideas way earlier in the year, otherwise I end up getting really dumb gifts for people. (I don't mind spending the money, though. You give me a good idea, and I'll buy it!)

6. Easiest person to buy for? Nicole Cordon. We just tell each other exactly what we want from each other!

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I do have one, a rubber ducky set!

8. Mail or email Christmas cards? I've never sent out Christmas letters or cards! But I think it's a tradition I'd like to start. I'd probably do half and half emailing and mailing.

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Glow in the dark plastic dolphins...when I was at least 20 years old!

10. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas

11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I'm willing to admit!

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Eggnog!

13. Lights on the tree? Lots of white lights

14. Favorite Christmas song? Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains

15. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Traveling home from school

16. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen

17. Angel on the tree top or a star? An angel

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Our family opens one present on Christmas Eve, and then the rest of them on Christmas Morning.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Having to come up with gift ideas (again).

20. What theme or color are you using? Christmas!

21. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Clam chowder. Yum!

HELP!!!

I've realized that my life has become a little wrapped around the blogs I read. You wouldn't think so, with how infrequently I post on my blog, but that's because all of the time that I spend in the blogging world is spent reading and not writing! And when I do post, it's usually a tag, or posting my writing from Two Good Things. Things have GOT to change!

I want to consider this blog as my journal that I don't mind people reading...and pretty much my only journal right now. I haven't written in my journal since August. So that means that I need to start including my feelings and thoughts about events in my life, or I'm really going to start feeling like this blog is pointless.

So, first on the menu: cutting down on the blogs I read. That's the only answer. And I'm afraid that it's going to have to come from those blogs that I blog stalk first, which are kind of my "candy" blogs. I really like reading Seriously, So Blessed, and It's Complicated, but if I have to give up one of them it's going to be It's Complicated. It's an interesting blog about a divorcee's return to single life, but she's a complete stranger, and it's not as interesting as Seriously, So Blessed. I can easily give up The Sartorialist, but that's one that takes very little time to read (It's mostly just artsy photographs). I have decided that I won't give up Three Beautiful Things because it also takes very little time to read, and it brightens my day. And the rest of the random blogs I follow post so infrequently that it doesn't seem worth it to unsubscribe from them to save time.

So, then it comes down to choosing between my friends' and families' blogs. You guys are so good! You post things all the time, and they're interesting things! I don't want to have to cut anyone out! (And when I say "cut someone out" I mean unsubscribing to their blog on Google Reader. I'll still have the links to all the blogs on my blog so that I can visit whenever I want. And I could even resubscribe once this semester is over, probably. I'm just too busy right now!) What this all basically comes down to is this: I might not be reading your blog. And even if I am reading your blog, I probably will not be doing much commenting or responding to tags. You may think this is lame, but I have to do a revamp of my blog to survive (Hence the new look!).

Hmmmm...Yeah, it feels good to have decided that.

Shopping Spree

This is my new pair of shoes! Cute, huh? I have decided that it's time for me to start wearing heals. I have worn flats for many, many, many years, and I have never really been tempted by heals. My only experiences with heals involved pain, balance problems, and shoes that I didn't consider cute at all. But I have been fortunate enough to have roommates this past year that have shown me some of the ups of the style, and I was also fortunate to have some time to go shopping with a sister from my mission this last Saturday. Erin Roundy helped me pick out some nice shoes...and a couple outfits to go along with them! I haven't spent that much money on myself at one time in a long time! But it was nice, and I'm going to enjoy this new addition to my wardrobe. Now I can finally get rid of some of my old mission clothes that I had a hard time letting go of.

This weekend was kind of a roller coaster because I was in such a good mood all day yesterday. I went to the wedding and reception for Annie Miller, one of the sisters from Nauvoo, and all us sisters got to spend quite a bit of time together. But later that night we received some bad news about another of our sisters. Nicole Rich was in Georgia for a wedding out there, and she was in a car accident. Her leg was broken and she had some bleeding on the brain. I've found out that she's doing well, still in an induced coma, but that they expect her to fully recover. It was shocking to hear, but I'm glad that she wasn't injured worse than she was. I'm so grateful for all of the sisters that I served with and the way that they've shaped my life, and I want ALL of them to continue shaping my life for many years to come! And not just about what shoes to wear! I feel so blessed that Richy is going to pull through.