Looking forward to 2009

This coming year I have decided to make the one and only New Year's Resolution that I know I can follow through on and keep.

This coming year I resolve to make NO resolutions!

Yay, I'm already done!

Seriously, have you ever been able to keep a single resolution? Can you even remember what they were going to be last year? So instead of setting myself up for some hard work (well okay, some hard thinking) this year I think I will make a list of things I would like to see happen.

*As with every year, I hope that this is the year we become parents. And since that is really out of our hands I really can't make that a goal anyways. We have been approved to adopt for almost a year now and we started the process back in 2007, so it is high time that someone took notice of us and saw what wonderful parents we would make.

*While we are handing out babies to awesome parents, there is some relatives and friends of mine who I also believe would make great parents and I hope that this next year they will finally be blessed with the children they are yearning for. I don't view these people as competition; rather we are all traveling the same long journey and I have come to love them so much that if a birthmom said it was between me and them I would tell the birthmom to choose them because I think they have fought a harder battle and deserve to be parents before myself. Note - that does not included the entire world (my mom is probably freaking out thinking I am trying to give up her grandchildren). What I simply mean is that I have met some awesome people who ache to hold a baby and I want that as badly for them as I do for myself.

*I also think it is time for another niece or nephew, so I hope that this year Josh's sister has another baby. Wouldn't that be great if she had a baby and we were placed with a baby right around the same time? Our babies would have so much fun together! And even if she has a baby and we still aren't placed with one, I know I will have a great time being an aunt. I'm also hoping that I will get some chances to babysit my nephew this year (was that hint subtle enough?).

*Josh's brother will be coming home from him mission in October (he won't extend because that is hunting season!). I am so excited to see him again. I never realized just how truly hard it was to have a family member serve a mission. I always thought it was a sacrifice on the young man's part, but I didn't realize how much we would have to sacrifice to have him go away for so long. I also hope that Misty will still be a part of the family and while I don't exactly expect an engagement before the end of the year next year, I do hope that she will someday join our family permanently.

*I know we aren't to the point where we can be excited about Josh finishing school, but I am hoping that he will make some good progress this year.

*I can't wait to really figure my camera out and I hope that I can use it on several occasions, maybe even do some semi-professional work for friends and family.

*Josh says that he hopes to kill a big elk & deer this year and that he also hopes someone in the family finally draws a Book Cliffs tag.

Zipper, the cat who gives scaredy cat a whole new meaning

*This blog entry is brought to you by Josh*
I got home from work and noticed the house was cold. So I decided to go downstairs and gathered some wood. I came back upstairs and set the wood down by the fireplace...which scared Zipper.
Zipper was contently napping by the fireplace when I set the wood down. He awoke with a start and stuck his head through the handle of a holiday gift bag laying next to him; this scared him more. So he started to run. He jumped through the legs of the TV table which snagged the bag and scared him again. By now he was in about 6th gear, the bag still connected to his neck.

A small piece tore off and he rocketed behind the recliner where the bag smacked the wall, which scared him more. Like a bullet he shot across the front room, bag still partially in tow, toward the bedroom and the safety of the bed, bits of bag bouncing behind him, which of course, scared him more. All I saw as he came past me, was a white missile rocketing toward the bedroom and apparently one more piece of the bag couldn't hang on anymore and it stopped at my feet.As the Zipp-Zipp rocket speed toward the bedroom I lost sight of him as he dove under the bed, I looked up to see just exactly what happened and saw Pyro sitting calmly in the window with a look on her face like, "Daddy, what's his problem?"

Only when Savannah got home could we catch the startled Zip and remove what was left of the bag from around his neck. He still looks like he may be traumatized.

Christmas for the kittens

This is what my kittens did all day on Christmas, big surprise, that's what they do everyday.

Christmas with my mom

My mom is super cool. We usually end up spending holidays with Josh's family, but my mom is always awesome to arrange a different time for her family to get together so we can all be there. So today we went to her house for the traditional Christmas Fondue dinner. We've been doing that for as long as I can remember. A few years ago she tried to do something else and we all got after her because we always do fondue on Christmas. We have cheese dip with bread, broccoli and cauliflower and caramel dip with apples & bananas and then some kind of meat. This year she did prime rib. It was a ton of fun. We usually choose our own presents so there isn't usually any surprises, but that way we get exactly want we want. I had her pay for some scrap booking stuff I wanted (and needed to finish my cookbooks!) and Josh had her get him some stuff for his hides so he can better get them ready to sell. We had a great time.

This was the reaction that I expected from my cookbooks!

Thanks mom!

Josh with some of his new hide stretching stuff.

This is the blanket that my brother gave us for Christmas. It is so warm.

Me playing around with my new camera. Somehow I hit a button that is a self timer, but now I can't find it again. I need to read the book!

Good food and good times!

Showoff Time

Okay, so I may just be bragging here, but I am so proud of this project. This year for Christmas I decided to make some ABC cookbooks to give away. I have been working on them since October and I finished them just in time. I was up on Christmas Eve until 2:00 Christmas morning trying to get them finished and put together. I could have finished them sooner, but Santa ended up going to 24 different parties in 12 days. It was so hectic! So because I am so proud of myself I decided to post a picture of every page. If a recipe looks good, but you can't quite read it, let me know and I will post it. This book included all of our favorites so I was very excited to share this book with our families.

Happy Birthday Josh

Today is Josh's birthday. He is now 27. He thinks that is old, but I won't let him talk that way because I am a year younger and I refuse to think of myself as old.
In honor of Josh's birthday, here is 27 things I love about him (in no particular order):
1- He is so handsome. Let face it girls, I married the best catch out there. I love his smile, his eyes, his broad shoulders, his "hind quarters". I just love to look at him.
2- I love how he was so quick to embrace adoption. I was a little scared about how he would react when he saw his test results, but he just said oh well, how would you like to adopt? He is so excited that our family is going to grow that way. He can hardly wait to meet our birth parents and he prayers for their health, strength, and courage every night.
3- He has such a calm temperament. Not much upsets him and even when he gets mad he keeps it under control.
4- He is so passionate about hunting. When we first married I had a hard time with that, but now I get excited with him. He is always so excited after a successful hunt and I know he takes great pride that it helps provide food for his family.
5- I love how Josh works so hard even at jobs that he doesn't care for.
6- I am so proud of Josh for going back to school. I know that because of that we will have to sacrifice money and also our time together, but I know that when he is done it will be well worth it.
7- I love how Josh loves my cooking. Just this week he said that he wouldn't be gaining weight if I didn't cook so well. I offered to start burning his portion of the meal (I'm not going to ruin my food too!) so that he wouldn't want to eat so much, but he told me to keep the good food coming.
8- I love that he is a cowboy and that he brought me to live this wonderful country life.
9- I love how all he seems to care about is my happiness. He would let me have ANYTHING I want if I would just ask.
10- I love how he spoils me and will do anything I ask.
11- Let's just say that he makes the bedroom very exciting....
12- I love that when I married him, I became a part of his family. I love his family so much.
13- I'm so glad that Josh has learned to like cats. Oh, he has always likes animals but when we married I insisted on having a cat, in the house, that never went outside. If nothing we have since reversed roles. I think the cats should now live outside and he thinks they should stay in.
14- I love cuddling with Josh. He is just the most comfortable thing to lay against.
15- I love how he holds me when I cry and tries to convince me that everything will be alright.
16- I love him for marrying me for time & eternity in my favorite temple, the Jordan River Temple, even though it was a couple hours away from where both our families live.
17- I love to watch him play with his nephew and his little cousins. He loves to be around children and I know he will make a great father someday.
18- I love how he is so willing to help around the house - sometimes he will even surprise me if he beats me home and has a chance to do dishes and make the bed (that's right, we don't always make the bed in the morning).
19- I love how he works so hard to keep our house warm. We could heat it with propane, but he insists on building a fire and on really cold nights he will get up at 2:00 in the morning to build it back up.
20- I love how excited he gets over Twilight. We usually read books that are way different, but he is a huge Twilight fan and I think it is just cute. He told me a few weeks ago that he now drinks Coke because that is what Bella drinks.
21- I love how he only wants the best and how sometimes he has to save up for it. He has taught me there is a difference between quantity & quality.
22- I love that he is such a great kisser. He still makes my knees go weak.
23- I love how he doesn't let a public place stop him from showing affection. There has been many times while in a store that he has let me know that he still thinks I am good lookin'.
24- I love that he will put up with my decorating the house for Halloween about 6 weeks before the holiday. He always tells me to wait until at least October, but when he comes home to find the house all decked out he just lets me know how good it looks.
25- I love how humble he is. He doesn't think he is much, but I think the world of him.
26- I love that he lets me wear his shirts when I am working around the house.
27- I love that he still kisses me good night every night when we go to bed and everyday when we leave to go to work.
Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I love you so much.

Christmas 2008

Here is a few pictures I took yesterday while we were visiting with Dallon who is on his mission in South Africa.

My nephew Preston

This is my little nephew Preston. He will be 2 next month. He is so much fun and so cute. He loves to do dishes. He can be anywhere in the house and if he hears the sink start to fill with water he will run in, push the stool over to the sink, and start washing dishes.

Oh, I think he wants to be nudest

My favorite Christmas picture

I took this picture in 2004 at Josh's family Christmas party. I think it is my favorite picture ever. This is Josh's dad's parents and I love them so much. Grandma was the first person to welcome me as a part of the family when Josh and I started to get serious. I will never forget the summer that Josh left to fight a forest fire and grandma hugged me as we were leaving (I was taking him to the meeting place). There was so much love and acceptance in the hug. I was so sad when grandma passed away. I loved her so much. At times I am jealous of Josh that he got to spend so much time with her growing up.

The Magic of Christmas (and the gifts!)

Last Christmas I didn't get much into the spirit because I was having such a hard time. We were trying to save for the adoption and decided we wouldn't spend much. We only put up a tree because that is when our caseworker wanted to come to our home study.

This year I was determined to enjoy Christmas despite the fact it is still only the two of us. I found three ways to make this Christmas better. First, I kept Josh so busy as Santa that we didn't have time to stop and think. It was so much fun. On Christmas Eve we went to 6 different homes. In between those homes I started thinking about the magic of Christmas. I had almost forgotten what is was like. But to watch the children's faces light up when Santa walked it helped me remember that this is a magical time of year and it needs to be enjoyed. I was also reminded of that yesterday as we watched our nephew Preston open all the presents. I watched him start to open his grandpa's present (from grandma to grandpa) and his mom tried to tell him that was grandpa's present. But I knew grandpa wouldn't mind because he loves his grandchild so much. And so we watched Preston open ALL the presents.

The second thing I tried to do this year was to be more giving. Something about the season seems to bring out a kinder person in me and I want to make sure that everyone around me can enjoy the season too. I donated to the local angel tree and another family in the area and I even left a bigger tip than normal when we went to dinner during the week.

The last thing we did was to spend on ourselves. That's the plus side to having no kids, we can spend all the money on ourselves. Earlier this month I posted about my new camera. I loved it, but earlier this week I took it back and upgraded to a better one. I am very happy with that decision. This should be the only camera I will need for years and years to come. As we were driving to Josh's families I saw this hawk sitting on a power pole and decided to try out my new camera.

Josh also had a great Christmas. This summer he started looking at some gun stocks he wanted to buy, but I wouldn't let him because it seemed like so much money to me (I only think that way because we are still trying to save for the adoption). But I finally broke down and let him order two; one for Christmas and one for his birthday (that's tomorrow!) They are so pretty! I think my husband has the sexiest guns now!

Santa is BUSY

Last year when we bought the Santa suit I think we only did 6 jobs. We thought that was pretty good...

This year I put an ad in the paper and our phone has rung non-stop! As of right now we have booked 22 parties and all but one of those has been within a 10 day period. Today we went to 3 different family parties and on Christmas Eve we are going to 4 different homes. Every time the phone rings I think there is no way we can fit in another one, but somehow they always want him to come when he isn't already busy.

I usually sit in the car and wait for Santa while he does his visiting. I figure it helps keep the magic alive. That way so Santa doesn't have to explain why he has a chauffeur and why she keeps blowing kisses at him. But I have so much fun when I go in with Santa that next year I think Mrs. Claus will be joining him.

Oh, and in case you can't tell (from all the pictures I have posted), I am having lots of fun with my Christmas present!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

This week we went to a preschool/daycare center and the kids acted out 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was the cutest thing EVER! Santa met the kids in the hallway as they were getting in place for their play. They were so excited! It was so much fun to watch and the kids did a great job.

Caroling at the Care Centers

This year we went Christmas Caroling to the local Care Centers. We did it last year and had a great time. I took several pictures, but I didn't think to ask permission if I could use them. There was a few kids that were "Santa's Helpers." They were so cute! I told Santa that I would love to have a child like them someday. They were so fun to watch in the care center. I miss the innocence of youth. They still believe in Santa and they weren't scared of the residents of the care center. I don't know who the residents enjoyed seeing more, Santa or the little children. In both cases it seemed to bring a smile to their faces and it warmed our hearts.