The desire to be better.....

Probably for the past month or so, I have just had these promptings to be better. Truly live closer to my Savior and be better than I ever have been before. It came with the feelings of responsibility and love. I know I have had these promptings many times in my life that help me to just live above the world and to truly follow all of the promptings of the Holy Ghost. These promptings reminded me of a quote from my favorite book, To Draw Closer To God..."Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some period of his life everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the Infinite... There is something within him which urges him to rise above himself, to control his environment, to master the body and all things physical and live in a higher and more beautiful world." I absolutely love this quote and I know that it is these irresistible urges that I am feeling. As I have felt these promptings, I realize that the baby that we will be blessed with deserves this life. To live in that higher and more beautiful world. He is such a precious child and Heavenly Father and his mother will be entrusting him to my care. I am grateful for a Heavenly Father that helps prepare us spiritually for the responsibilities and blessings that come into our life.

Painting with Lincoln and Jackson...

Today, Lincoln, Jackson, and Stacy came over to paint and we had a fun time. They are quite the artists! They are so cute and Stacy is such an amazing Mom. The boys are so polite and thoughtful! They painted a dinosaur and an airplane and then we made them into magnets. Jackson was very excited about the magnet part. Keiko also loved all the attention they were giving her. I am grateful for family that is so close and who we love very much!

It's A Boy....

We are so excited and filled with much love and gratitude for our Heavenly Father and also for the birthmom (Cassie) who is planning on placing her baby boy with us! On Saturday night, Ron and I went to the movies and while we were waiting at the end of the movie, Ron checked his email and found out that Cassie had contacted us. We were so excited that we both started crying. I was so excited to talk to her on Sunday that I really didn't sleep that night. I actually had a dream that she had chosen to place her baby with us, but then I woke up and realized it was a dream. We prayed before calling her because we both were so nervous and excited. I was so nervous, but it was amazing that I just felt the spirit so strong as soon as she started speaking and an overwhelming peace just settled over me. We were both overwhelmed with how selfless Cassie is. She is truly a chosen daughter of our Father in Heaven who he loves so much! I have felt the love he has for her and her precious child many times. Like I said before, Ron and I were just amazed at how selfless Cassie is. I was asking her if she wanted to be involved in picking out the crib and bedding and all that stuff and she said, "I have had the chance to do all that before and you have not. Think of it as if you were 7 months pregnant and you and your husband get to share the excitement of picking out the crib together and doing all of these things together. Honestly, I can't think of a more Christlike individual. I have learned so much about Christlike love in the first time I spoke to her. (wow, I am crying right now)
We can't believe that we actually might be parents. Monday morning I went straight to Carters, Babys R Us, online shopping at Baby Gap, etc. It was so much fun!
We are grateful that Cassie is considering us and our thoughts and prayers are with her.

The weekend...

This weekend was really good, besides having a little cold. Saturday morning, the primary had an activity called the "Pathway to Palestine." I taught the part in the sea of Galilee. I wish I would have taken a picture of the sea and boat I made, because the kids loved it! Well, at least they loved the Swedish Fish I gave them afterward. Anyway, I think we had almost 80 kids come, which is a really good turnout. Later that evening, Ron and I went to a movie and were surprised with an email that made us very very happy. We then walked over to our car and we passed the flowrider and saw all of our cousins inside. It was fun watching all the little kids taking turns on their parents backs. The first picture is of our cousin Jason's little boy Jackson on Jason's back. He was absolutely loving it! Then, beautiful cousin Katie, Sara, and Aunt Brenda! Love you guys!!

Finally published..

YEAH, today our adoption profile was finally published! I am so excited just to keep moving forward. Please check out our profile at itsaboutlove.org and our profileID is 24618073.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would share our information with anyone you know. Thanks again for all of your love and support!

A great weekend...

Ok, well the weekend didn't start out all that great. My birthday was on Friday and Ron got food poisoning all Thursday and Friday. Ron never misses work, but he had to take a sick day. In the morning, Keiko got out and started running down the street. Let me just add that this was right after I had got out of the shower. Oh yeah, my flip flop had also broken, so I was running down the street with wet hair and a broken flip flop that made me look like I was limping. Great Birthday!!! I actually was laughing at myself because I knew I looked ridiculous. We decided to celebrate my birthday on Saturday instead, but Ron still got me flowers which was sweet of him. I got the funniest card from my sister that I feel is blog worthy. It said, "Lots of laughing, maybe a tiny bit of pee, then lots more laughing." This card represents what happens when my Mom, sister, and I try to hit golf balls at a driving range. It is the funniest thing you will ever see.

Saturday, was a lot of fun. Ron and I took Keiko for a long walk in the morning and it was so nice.

Later in the afternoon, we went down to the Cheesecake Factory and ate and then stopped at the Gateway on our way home. I loved spending the day with Ron! He really is the best husband. Yesterday, we had my family over for dinner and I love it when they come up here. Also, I get excited when Isla comes up. She is so stinkin cute and is growing like crazy. After my family went home, we ended up going on a walk with our neighbors and it was so funny. Their kids kept fighting over who got to walk Keiko. I guess she is the neighborhood pet now. I had an amazing weekend and thank you to everyone for all of my birthday wishes.

Keiko....

Well, last weekend we ended up adopting the cutest dog in the world. I wrote about the dog showing up when the young men were helping out in our yard, but anyway, we decided to keep her. The owner left a note that said she is an Alaskan Malamute, she is 2 years old, and she is up to date on all of her shots. Our neighbor did all of these tests with her to see if she was aggressive and safe around kids and said she was not aggressive at all. All of our neighbor kids love her and she has been so good with them. Her favorite thing is to get her belly rubbed. I guess that is a sign of submission, so that is good. She really has been so much fun so far and really is the perfect dog. She is so funny, she hides where she goes in the bathroom in the little spot which is perfect for us, she loves being brushed, and she loves her dental sticks (which means she has clean teeth and good breath), she doesn't bark, and she won't take your food. I have loved running with her and am thinking we can train for a marathon together. Other dogs will bark at her and she never barks or pays attention to them. Our nephews have loved it when we bring Keiko over. She is an outdoor dog because we don't want to have her inside if we adopt a baby soon, but she loves it out there. It's kind of funny because we are getting a dog trainer so she will be a perfect dog. (Ha ha) She really is so good already, but we are the one's that need the help. Anyway, she has been so much fun and Ron and I have had fun taking her on walks!

Mother's Day

Today was a really good day! Ron spoke in church and he did such an amazing job. The only thing that made the day better was that one of my young women and her family who has been taking the missionary discussions came to church today. Ron started his talk by talking about our neighbor Brooke who is 2 and how she loves her babies, everywhere she goes she has a baby on her hip and is feeding her babies and getting them dressed. He then talked about his sister who has had endometriosis and has not been able to get pregnant and how she is starting to foster care so that she can be a mother. He then spoke about me which I started bawling. To say the least, I love my husband. He also spoke about our neighbor who lives across the street who comes and snow blows the driveway when I am shoveling and is a mother like figure to me. He spoke about women with Mother hearts and how they nurture and sacrifice for those around them even from a very young age. From their primary classes, to their nieces and nephews, and their neighbors, they are mothers. I loved this quote that he used from Les Miserables, " She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children who ate with eagerness. "She hath kept none for herself." grumbled the sergeant. "Because she is not hungry?" said a soldier.
'No", said the sergeant, "because she is a mother."
Anyway, He did a great job!

A full days work! Seriously!!

Well, today we had a bunch of the young men come over and help us in our yard and I am exhausted. We have been trying to sell our house and there is a lot of landscaping we want to get done and not enough hands to do the work. We told the young men we would help them pay for their scouting trips this summer if they came and helped us. It really was fun having them over. They are a great group of kids and they make me laugh. The boys came over around 9:00am and spent the whole day working. It was funny watching two and three boys fit into a wheel barrow on the way back from hawling rocks Ron spent a lot of time grinding down a huge stump and our little neighbor boy told me, "Darc, I think Ron is going to be sore after that." I just started laughing because he knows Ron too well. We got so much done today and I am so grateful for all that the boys did. Also, today the boys found a mascot that helped them with the yard work. This huge Alaskan Malamuit that they named Raja (from Aladdin) followed them around everywhere. We couldn't find the owner so the cops came and found its home and the owner didn't want her anymore. So now our neighbors or one of the boys has a new dog. That was pretty exciting. Anyway, the boys were troopers and we are very grateful for all their help and a fun day!

Faith building experience..

Ya know.... I usually would just write this in my personal journal, but just felt the need to share it on my blog. My sister who adopted a little baby girl 5 months ago, said that the adoption process for her was an emotional roller coaster. I can totally see it truly as an emotional roller coaster, but I also have to say that it has been an amazing faith building experience. Honestly, I have come to know in such an intimate way how much our Father in Heaven loves each of us. How he is keenly aware of the struggles we are going through and that we are not in the families that we are in by chance. He loves each of us so much and I am grateful for this experience that has helped me to feel of His love more in my life and help me to increase my faith in Him. I know sometimes with trials or just uncertainty that we find our prayers being more heartfelt and meaningful or finding more guidance and application in our scripture study and I know that has been the case for me. I keep thinking of the scriptures in Romans 8:26-28. I know many times that I find myself not exactly knowing what I need to pray for, but that as I kneel, the thoughts come and it has been an amazing experience. I know our Heavenly Father is involved in our lives if we just look for Him.

Happy (early) Mother's Day!!

So I know this is a few days early, but I was just thinking about Mothers Day and how amazing my Mom is. She really is incredible. Now as I look forward to being a mom, I look back on all that my mom has done for me and it really is overwhelming. I never really thought about all the time she spent driving me everywhere for soccer until just recently. I remember that she would get done with work as soon as she could so she could pick me up from school so I could make it to one soccer practice for a couple of hours, and then she would drive me to another practice after that and of course she had a snack for me in the car that I could eat between practices. Then she would wait another 2 hours for practice and finally drive the hour long car ride home just so we could get home around 8:00 so she could hurry and make dinner for the family. The sad part was that this was the daily schedule. I look back now and see how much she loved me and was always my biggest support in everything I did. I am grateful for all of our car time that we were able to spend together and talk.

Now that the soccer days are over, my mom is still busier than ever. She really is the hardest worker in the world. If I ever had a project that I needed to get done, I would always ask my mom because she was able to get done twice as much as I could in the same amount of time. I always describe her as this cute energizer bunny. She has so much energy, she puts me to shame. She wakes up every morning at about 5:00 am and runs around 6 miles and then the whole day she just goes non-stop. She is so funny to watch with all of the grandkids because I think she makes them tired:) I love going on walks with my mom and talking. It is kind of funny because the faster we talk, the faster we end up walking. I love my mom so much and am so grateful for all that she has done for me and all that she has taught me and continues to teach me. Love you mom, Happy early Mother's Day!!

25 Ahhhhh!!!!!

Well I was talking to Ron and I always ask him what his favorite food, dessert, etc. is and he always tells me that he doesn't have favorites. Well, I definitely have my favorites and thought I would jot some of them down.....
-family
-Applesbees
-temples
-Chuck
-scriptures
-Dancing with the Stars
-Ron
-laughing
-running
-oceans
-running shoes
-patriarchal blessings
-pilates
-Kenra hair products
-going on walks
-photography
-swimming
-Twilight series
-H20
-fudgsicles
-berries (blackberries, raspberries, marionberries)
- boating
-shopping
-learning
-the GAP
-Anthropology
-Anne Taylor Loft
-remodeling
-Banana Republic
-baby shopping
-children
I would suggest these to anybody!!!!!

A gift I would recommend...

Well, I should have posted this a long time ago, but I have to tell everyone about my new/not so new favorite present from Ron. For our anniversary, he got me a new treadmill and I love it. So here is the picture of my new Nordic Track Reflex SR. Some people think that I am crazy, but I would prefer running on a treadmill to running outside anyday. Especially on one of my long runs. My mom and sister are running in the Ogden Marathon next week and I am feeling a little left behind because I didn't sign up, but hopefully next year we can all run it together. Anyway, thanks Ron for my present.

On our way to getting approved....

Well the past couple weeks have been really awesome! Last weekend we went to our adoption classes and it was so neat to listen to the different panels. There was an adoptive parent panel, a birth parent panel, and an adoptee panel. I really learned so much learning from each of their experiences with adoption as well as shed a lot of tears. When the adoptive couples spoke, it was neat to hear about each miracle that occurs with the placement of each baby. I know our Heavenly Father loves each of us and is in every integral step of the adoption process. From the birth parent receiving certain promptings to which couple their baby should go to and from the promptings the adoptive couples receive that they know which baby is supposed to be in their home. Truly miracles have not ceased and I have felt our Heavenly Father's love with each adoption. As the birth moms spoke, I started bawling as soon as the first girl started speaking. Truly, they are chosen women to be able to sacrifice their own feelings for their love of their baby. All of these women were amazing and admire their strength and courage for speaking to us about their experience. One girl said she had gotten pregnant at 16 and she had remembered learning in seminary about the proclamtion to the world and in class they talked about how a baby deserves to be born to a family with a mother and a father and she knew she needed to place her baby for adoption, because she could not give her baby that. I wanted to give her a huge hug because of her love for her child. I feel so much love already for the birth mom I have not yet met who will give me the opportunity to be a mom. One of the questions that was asked to the birth moms was "what did your adoptive couple do to help you through the adoption process?" One girl said that her and the adoptive mom would email and text everyday and that when the adoptive mom would go shopping, she would take a picture and text it to the birth mom and help her decide what bedding and so forth she should get. I know that each adoption will be different in how open it will be and I know I will need the guidance of the spirit to know what will be best for the child, but I could totally see myself getting attached to the birth mom as well and loving her as much as this adoptive mother loved her birth mother. Well, I am going on and on, but the classes were amazing and I loved them.

MY CUTE HUSBAND....

To anyone who has not met my husband yet, he truly is amazing!! I love him more and more each day. Here are a few reasons why I love Ron...
First of all, he is So cute and the nicest guy in the world.
Second, he is the greatest uncle and is so amazing with kids.
He treats me amazing and I couldn't have dreamed of having a better husband.
He loves his family
He doesn't try to conform to the world,but is happy with who he is.
He loves to learn new things like remodeling our house.
These are just a few of the reasons why I love my husband.....


This is Ron at our family cabin with our brother in law.

Ron and his beautful sister at our wedding!


I love this picture of our nephew Landon and Ron. It is one of my favorites!

Things we love.....

I am not the greatest blogger in the world so I figured I could catch everyone up by posting all of the things I have enjoyed doing in the past year. Ron and I both loved going to the flowrider with Ron's brother and sisters. We are not very good, but we laughed a lot. We are lucky Brandon is a Chriropractor because I think we all had major whiplash.



Another thing I have loved doing is going to L.A. with Ron each summer. Ron teaches a IV sedation course at USC (GO TROJANS) each summer and I have been able to go with him. The first summer Ron's family went and we went to Disneyland and the broadway musical "Wicked", and we went bodyboarding in the ocean.

Another thing that was a lot of fun was Linda's (Ron's mom) surprise disco birthday party. Ron and I laughed so hard in our disco attire.Ron always laughs at this video of me while we were walking by the ocean cause he just says that I am like a little kid and his quote is...."Some things don't change":)