Happy Thanksgiving....

Our Thanksgiving weekend started out with going down to the Conference Center to see "Savior of the World." It is my favorite performance and Ron and I try to go every year. Ron actually proposed to me at Savior of the World so that is another reason why I love this performance. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
Thanksgiving was wonderful and I am so grateful for my amazing family and friends!

This picture started out with just Ron and Jackson...

Then Lincoln hurried and hopped in...

Then David hurried and hopped in also. It was a progressive picture and Brandon hopped in on the next one, but that picture didn't turn out so well so I didn't post it. But here is their family down below.

Stacey and Brandon's cute family!

"Baby it's cold outside...."

Our first big snow storm hit us and the dogs loved it! We are excited to have the dogs pull us on sleds! I was thinking of making a Christmas card this year with Ron pulling Sachi, Keiko, and I in a sled. I know, I am nerd!

Happy (early) Thanksgiving!!!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Mom's today and is was so much fun! The food was delicious and I love my family so much! We also celebrated Khloe's birthday, so we had cake, balloons, and some games. Sorry, I went a little picture happy today!!

Ron & Jessen just chillin in front of the TV

Most of the nieces and nephews

Casey started out making balloon dogs, swords, etc., for all the kids, but then it ended up in one big hat for Kennedy. I think he ended up using every balloon we had on that hat. She wore it the whole night:)

Khloe opening up her gifts

Isla has to be the most photogenic baby I know.

My brothers doing a little Karaoke

Khloe singing Karaoke

and Kelsey and Kennedy singing

I love my family so much and can't wait until we have a baby of our own to celebrate the holidays with!

Yes, We Were Chosen!!!!

5 Days Until Thanksgiving.....

I thought I would be able to blog everyday for the countdown, but it is a little bit more time consuming than I expected. To catch up with the past couple of days, we have been cleaning like crazy to get our house ready for an open house today. Our neighbors let us put our dogs in their backyard for the open house and it didn't work so well! We were gone for about 30 min. and Ron had this feeling to check on the dogs. So he went back and found them out of the neighbors yard and running laps around our house as fast as they could. I'm sure they were a great selling point for anyone looking at the house. Our realtor said that two families came and looked at the house and that they both really liked it and are meeting with her on Tuesday. Hopefully something will come from this!! I am really grateful that the weather was decent during the open house! The hail and snow started to come down about an hour after people left.
The really good news is that we have been chosen by a birth mother and will be adopting a baby in April! YEAH!!!! I have been hesitant to post this in case she changes her mind, but I guess if she changes her mind, you all will know. I have to admit that I am a little bit scared of getting attached, but I just can't help it. I guess I just hope for the best and if I fall, I fall hard! Anyway, We absolutely love the birth mother that chose us. Her name is Jessica and she lives in California. She is so cute and we love talking to her. We are excited to fly out in a couple of weeks to meet her and her family. I am also excited to find out the gender of the baby on Dec. 6th!!!!! Girl or Boy? Any guesses? I am grateful for Jessika and her selflessness!

8 days until Thanksgiving....

8 things to be thankful for today.....

Today has been a busy day, but much to be thankful for!

1. I am grateful for my nieces and nephews.... Kaiya was dancing at a Jazz game tonight so my Mom and I were able to take the 3 little ones and have some fun. We also picked up Isla a little while later so she could have fun with the girls.

Khloe & I
The picture didn't turn out so well, but these are some of my cute nieces

Kolby

Khloe and her stick horse!

This was their silly face picture!

(Other things I am grateful for today)

2. Parents- I am so grateful for our parents! They have taught us so much and continue to be great examples in our lives.

3. Missonaries- Tonight I had the opportunity to be a part of a discussion with the missionaries to one of my favorite families! I really felt the Spirit and had the opportunity to share my testimony. Thank you Missionaries everywhere!

4. My testimony- tonight as we talked about trials and the question came up of "why bad things happen to good people?", I realized how priceless a testimony is. I am not a huge fan of trials, but I am grateful for the testimony I have gained through them.

5. Little People:) By this, I mean little kids! They say the cutest words and I love how excited they get over the littlest things.

6. Our Siblings- Both Ron and I have the greatest siblings and they are such amazing examples. I love that our siblings that have children absolutely love being parents. They never complain of being up at night with a crying baby, dirty diapers, or the messes. They sacrifice so much for their children and teach them so well!

7. The quiet whisperings of the Spirit

8. My Bed ( I'm so tired)

An attitude of gratitude....

9 Days Until Thanksgiving

9 new things I am thankful for today....

1. Laughter -After what happened this morning and then watching the dogs jump through the leaves right after I raked them up..... I am grateful for a sense of humor. (even if I am the only one that laughs)

2. Beautiful Fall Weather- It's amazing how you can go from having heart attack this morning to enjoying being outside because of the beautiful leaves.

3. Work- there is something satisfying from a hard days work.

4. Ability to Write- I love writing in my journals each day

5. Sight/Ability to Read- (what would I do right now without my Book of Mormon or the Hunger Games?)

6. Indoor plumbing- it's cold outside and my kitchen was a mess

7. Our ward- it's the best!

8. Berries- can't live without them

9. I know I said this before but I love my Hubby!! Grateful for Ron!

I think I just had a HEART ATTACK!!!!!

Maybe more like an anxiety attack, not quite sure:) So about an hour ago was definitely not the proudest moment in my life. I was running on the treadmill this morning and realized I had a voicemail on my phone. It was our realtor and asked if a couple could look at our home in about an hour. I have to add real quick that we are planning to have an open house for our home on Saturday and so we have been trying to pull everything out of the cupboards and closets and really organize. Last night Ron was trying to put in a new disposal and faucet and missed a part and so we couldn't finish it last night. We had everything under the sink on the counter and I couldn't start the dishwasher last night. Back to this morning....So I called Ron and said there was no way we could make our house look presentable without the faucet working in the kitchen and with it just being dirty. He asks our realtor if we could plan for them a little later today or another day and she was going to call us back. Anyway, I went up to change and I hear a couple knocks on the door. AHHHHHH! I hurry and change! Chucking my clothes in the laundry basket, throwing everything in the closet, I give up on the kitchen, and hurry and answer the door. Throw on a sweatshirt and with a sweaty face, "Hello, sorry I didn't know you were coming." Oh yeah, forgot to put the dog outside, here comes Sachi wanting to lick their whole family. Good thing they are dog people! So I lead them downstairs to look downstairs and then I race upstairs and put Sachi outside. Oh yeah, Keiko, she's still in her kennel. Put her outside and rush to make my bed. Oh, there is their realtor asking me a question that I don't know, then throwing folded laundry in baskets and putting them somewhere I will have to go find later. Hurry and turn on my candle warmer so it at least smells good. Maybe they won't notice all of the cleaning supplies and paper towels on the counters because of the pumpkin pie smell:) I kept telling them how embarrassed I was and that our house usually does not look this way. Anyway, this is another one of my moments when I am can use the phrase by Pres. Eyring, "learning to laugh at the incongruity of your own predicament!" After they left, I immediately called Ron and my Mom so they could laugh at me. My mom would react the exact same way I would so she laughed real hard with me. The real funny thing would be if these people actually bought the house! Our realtor tried calling to reschedule, but couldn't get anyone to answer. Anyway, this is my good laugh for the morning:)

10 Things to Be Grateful For....

10 Days Until Thanksgiving!!!!
10 Things that I was really grateful for today....
(in addition to everything I wrote yesterday)
1. Transportation (I did not want to walk to work in the rain this morning)
2. Cellular Technology (makes life so much simpler! or hectic depending on what you use it for)
3. My cute dogs (This was Sachi sleeping yesterday)

4. Running (especially now that I no longer have a broken foot
5. Water (Ron had the water turned off to fix the sink while I was making dinner and that did not go to well. Grateful for H20!)
6. Shoes ( running shoes, my boots, sandals, slippers, these are all of the shoes I have worn today)
7. Internet (still boggles my mind)
8. Electricity (how else would my treadmill work? Ok, and a few other things)
9. washer/dryer ( for some reason, I love washing/drying clothes)
10. Prophet/Apostles (I read an old talk this morning by Neil A. Maxwell that just brightened up my day) "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet"

Thankful countdown....

I am a little late on my thankful countdown, but here it goes......
11 Days until THANKSGIVING!!!!
11 Things I am thankful for...

1. The gospel (prayer,scriptures, etc)

2. My sweet hubby Ron!

3. Temples

4. Family

5. Future children
6. Friends
7. Adoption
8. Good Health
9. Education/good jobs
10. A warm home
11. Clothing
There are many more things I am thankful for, but these are just the basics everyday that I am thankful for!!

This dang pink line....

So I cannot figure out how to remove this pink line that divides the header picture from the posts. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know:) Thanks!!!

My sweet hubby...

So last week, Ron went to Texas to look at a dental instrument. I asked him to pick me up a Texas Longhorns sweatshirt because I love college sweatshirts. I am sure everyone knows just how much Ron loves USC. Anyway, he came home and said, "I got something for you, but it makes me sick that I actually bought it." I said, "What is it, did it cost a lot?" he said "No, it's a Texas sweatshirt! They weren't even good this year." I just started laughing and put it on. Then I proceeded to show all of our friends my sovenier from Ron. He just shook his head in shame:) Isn't he the best!

Not a failed adoption....

I have been meaning to write this for about a week and it just has not happened. I hope I am able to write this in a way that makes sense:) First of all, I have to write that I am not writing this post in a self righteous way at all. Moreover, it's something I am learning and am truly grateful for.
For the past little while I have really been trying to figure out what I am supposed to be learning from our adoption journey so far. Don't get me wrong, from our past misfortune, I have learned much about forgiveness, what it means to love unconditionally,how grateful I am for my husband, and many other things. I have just felt that I have not completely learned what I am supposed to. Last week, I feel like I am starting to get my answers.
I admit that when we first started trying to adopt, I was just so excited to adopt our baby and that was that. As we had our "failed adoption" in July, all Ron and I could do was try to be the best examples of a loving marriage, a couple that loves the gospel, and hopefully Cassie might work for that in her marriage one day. It's difficult sometimes to feel that my eternal family is dependent upon somebody elses agency, but I realized that there were things that I can control and it makes all the difference. I have been blessed to be able to come into contact with a few birthmothers and I realize that although I do not have any control whether the birthmom chooses to place her baby with us, I can hopefully help her to see how much Heavenly Father is aware of her individually and loves her. Ron and I can hopefully be examples of a loving marriage and the blessings of the temple. Hopefully she can feel how much we love her. I feel that if we do this, whether she chooses to place or parent,she might have felt our Heavenly Father's love and might draw nearer to Him. Becoming the best mom she can be for her baby. I can then say that it wasn't a "failed adoption" because we hopefully helped them some way find their way back to our Savior.
I have to admit that I have cried countless nights over not having children over the past 3 years. Ron truly is amazing and knows how to make me laugh, which seems to make everything better. We were reading our scriptures a couple nights ago and we were in 1 Nephi 11. I know in this verse it is talking about Nephi desiring to see what his father saw, but I always ask myself the same question:) In Verse 2 it says, "...what desirest thou?" Whenever I have read the word desire in the scriptures, I always think, "The Lord wants my heart." By this I mean, my greatest desires. He wants me to put Him first above all things that I desire most. I admit, I have not always been able to do this and have been quite selfish. As I read this, I noticed I had written motherhood on the side from sometime past. I then felt the Spirit whisper, "you have put caring for these birthmothers above your desire to be a mother. You have given me your heart." The things I am learning from this trial is truly changing me. I know if I love these birthmothers, Heavenly Father will take care of the rest. I am truly grateful for the simple whisperings of the Holy Ghost.