A Halloween Birthday

What to do on a RAINY Halloween?  Well, I guess you could trick or treat all night but we decided to make that really quick.  Just 5 houses and we were all done!  It was pouring rain so we just took our tike around to the close neighbors. 
He was content with that, and

probably would have preferred going in to any one of them to sit and stay a while (he tried several times).  When kids came to our door he wondered why they didn't ever come in.  But he did see it as an opportunity to raid OUR candy bowl each time.  We also, we meaning Amy, decided to try making a haunted gingerbread house.  These little numbers are difficult!  Even though we had directions, all ingredients provided, and plenty of time I thought it was much harder than it looks.  I have never touched gingerbread before but it smelled great.  But black frosting?  Really?  It looks like tar and has about the same consistency.  It was very fitting to spread it on the roof.  To get the thing to stay together I ended up using frosting like caulking - that I can do.  This little house is air-tight and energy efficient!  Now, before you give me any credit, you must realize that I did follow the kit with only a few artistic modifications like the jellybean path, chocolate gravestone and blue eyes in the windows.

Our little 3 year and 2 day old had his birthday party on Friday.  Luckily Jared's sister has kids so it wouldn't be an adult only party!  It was fun to see 5 boys running around being boys.  Although our house isn't as quiet as it used to be, it's still a fairly calm place most of the time.  We had three soups to choose from and homemade rolls (thanks Grandmas) as well as chocolate birthday cake.  These cute owl cupcakes were made by our friend...perfect for a Halloween birthday party.  This was just the kind of thing I would have liked to have done but just didn't get to.  Thanks Jenifer!  And presents - because he had two parties I don't think we'll need Christmas presents.  He got some long pj's which he needed, some books on potty training (we needed) and lots of new toys to play with.  The new books are great too, he has read "Down by the Bay" several times and practically has it memorized.  Thanks to all of you who took time to celebrate with our special toddler.  He loved his party!

The Latest and Greatest

We had the BEST weekend ever.  Not just because we had a nice trip down south but because we were CHOSEN as the adoptive parents for a baby yet to be among us!  We met our birth mother who is exceptional in so many ways.  Fortunately we got to spend most of the weekend with her getting to know each other better.   She has a hilarious sense of humor.   She is very pretty, very kind, and very thoughtful.   It has been really fun to start learning more about her home country and her life before she came to the states.  Both of us are so impressed and found ourselves nervous to meet her...what if we didn't look as good in person as we did in the pictures she'd seen?  Worse yet, what if she changed her mind!  Luckily, that didn't happen haha.  We did some hiking together, played in sand, went out to eat, and looked at facebook family pics.  So that new baby counter you see is not a mistake, she is due in April and we can't wait!  Love you Jaylene!

Family Reunion

We had a fantastic time with Jared’s parents, all of his siblings and their spouses and kids last week at Bear Lake in Utah/Idaho.  A very generous family allowed us to stay in their beautiful, spacious home built perfectly for a large group.  This house was bright, welcoming,and secluded just enough to create a relaxing atmosphere.  We went on a hike to a beautiful lake (pictured) and toured a nearby cave.  In fact our group was so large we were the entire group for our tour time.  Some went to the beach around the lake and some took naps.  Some of us stayed up late talking, playing games, and looking at pictures.  All the kids make their own tie-dye like shirts with markers.  There is some real, albeit young, talent in the family!  Our family is blessed to get along so well, we really enjoy being in the company of each other.  I think most of us are already looking forward to the next one in two years!

Rancid Cookies?

Late last night I started making a batch of cookies to take to a family reunion.  I needed to make a rather large batch since we will be sharing them with all of my side of the family which seems to get bigger by the day.  Anyone else pregnant?  I pulled the butter out of the fridge and went to the pantry for shortening.  I noticed that there was a new container of shortening, so I opened it and could see that a couple of tablespoons had been used by Amy previously.  I proceeded to scoop out spoonfuls of shortening into a measuring cup when I noticed an odd smell.  I leaned closer to the shortening to take a wiff and it just didn't smell right.  I got a teaspoon and took a little taste, but then realized that I didn't know what plain shortening should taste like.  I asked Amy's opinion but she was not much help since she has been struggling with a cold.  She said it smelled like cardboard.  I decided to proceed with the cookies.  I mixed in all the ingredients and was getting ready to chill the dough when I had the thought.  These cookies will be consumed at Bear Lake by my entire family, what would happen if the shortening was rancid, would my entire family get sick?  I debated for a little while whether to cook the dough or to start over.  I really wanted a second opinion on the smell that the shortening was producing, so late at night I marched over to Amy's mother (they live close) to get her expert opinion.  In hand I have the container of shortening and a sample of the dough, which I wanted her to taste.  Once I got to her house, she took a wiff of the shortening and said that it didn't smell right.  She said shortening didn't have a smell.  I didn't dare ask her to taste the dough.  She gave me her shortening so I went home to make another batch of cookies with non smelling shortening.  I am still debating whether to cook up the "rancid" batch.  The Internet says that vegetable shortening cannot go rancid.  Maybe I can take them to work and see who calls in sick the next day.

Girls Camp at Flaming Gorge

Last week our church took a group of young women to camp for four days at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.  I was lucky enough to go and discovered a great campsite for a larger group - one that would work for all of Jared's siblings and their little ones.  We had a theme at camp of "Be Strong".   The girls had sooo much fun rafting and even more fun cliff diving.  The day we ran the river we were waiting for the shuttled drivers before we launched and there were two unlucky groups of boys who put in before us.  They had three water guns compared to our 35+.  Ours were homemade water guns made from pvc pipe.  Simple, but very effective.  It was a losing battle. 

As far as cliff diving, no one really dove but nearly every person jumped off somewhere.  It was a great spot, we could all be close enough to see each other.  There may have been some peer pressure but there was plenty of support, I'll go with you or I'll go first kind of thing.  I hadn't planned on getting wet but decided to be brave and it was very refreshing.  Of course we all had life jackets on and the bishop was with us.  He eventually jumped off the tallest rock after we all urged him on. 

We had a testimony meeting overlooking the lake where we all had the chance to express our feelings about belonging to our church and how beautiful our site was.  It was great to be away from cell phones, ipods, and all other forms of technology.  I didn't hear a single complaint about it from any of the girls.  One night we had a beach dance with light ropes which turned out to be a lot of fun.  It all went really well until one girl got some kind of illness and then another, then another, and so on and eventually bishop was sick too.  It would come on strong and then be done in a day or two.  We were probably lucky more people didn't get ill.  Despite that, I would love to go again. 

Sad News

We received sad news that the young woman who chose us to adopt her baby had a miscarriage. It was a great honor that she chose us out of hundreds of other wonderful couples to adopt her baby. Our deepest condolences go out to you Kaitlin, and we will always love you! May you be blessed for your unselfishness and efforts to help us in our time of need. You will always have our greatest respect. Thanks for letting us be a part of your life, we look forward to hearing of your experiences and accomplishments to come.

We still want nothing more than to welcome a baby into our home. We know that our Heavenly Father has a baby in mind for us and that we need to be patient until he or she arrives. This process is teaching us so much. One thing that has stood out is that so much that happens in our lives is not about us but about helping others and learning compassion. It can be rough but we are strong in our testimonies of the joy this life has to offer.

On another note, we have had trouble with our computer and subsequently have not been posting - we'll get back to it again when possible!

The Best Birthday

We are extremely excited to announce that we have been chosen by a wonderful young woman named Kaitlin to be the adoptive parents of her baby.  We exchanged e-mail for a couple of weeks before we were able to meet in person.  We looked forward to each e-mail as if we were children waiting for Santa to come.  Yet, on the other hand we wanted our responses to be Pulitzer prize worthy so we were nervous too.  From the first e-mail we could tell that Kaitlin was a unique individual.  She was very articulate in her writing and easy to get to know.  When we met in person, we immediately felt welcomed by her and her entire family.  After getting to know each other a little better over lunch we returned home.  Amy was able to meet up with Kaitlin and her family again for some ice cream which was a lot of fun.  A couple of weeks later we were invited to meet with Kaitlin and her family at the LDS office.  They had requested to meet on the 20th (Amy's birthday) which was extremely thoughtful of them.  Unfortunately, I was out of town with work so we met the next day.  Amy is counting the 21st as her new "honorary" birthday.  When they came in the room they had what was basically a miniature hot air balloon.  It was so huge it wouldn't even fit in our car (okay, it's a Beetle so that doesn't mean much).  Tied to the bottom of the balloon was a box filled with baby stuff.  Before we opened that gift Kaitlin asked us to read a letter she had written us.  As Amy and I both read the letter, strong emotions came over the both of us as we read that Kaitlin had put "dibbs" on us to adopt her child.  The feeling in the room is one that I can't really explain, nor will ever forget.  For the next hour we talked and got to know each other better.  It was fun to hear what stood out about us and why Kaitlin picked us.  We look forward to getting to know Kaitlin even better as well as welcoming her and her family into our lives.  It's hard to describe this whole experience but we can say it has lifted our spirits and given us hope.  We are truly blessed.  We love you Kaitlin!!!