15th Anniversary!

Somewhere in all the busy-ness of the last couple of weeks, Eric and I celebrated our 15th anniversary (on August 20th). It came and went and my good intentions amounted to nothing. I had visions of snapping a picture of Eric and me and posting it on the blog documenting this milestone but somehow life had other plans for us (we were busy preparing for the arrival of Destiny and Raivyn). Nevertheless, I have a whole year to celebrate our 15 years together so I figured...better late than never, right?

Over the years we have grown as a couple and individually. I always thought it was so sweet to hear other "much older" couples say that they love each other more now than the day they met. Now I truly understand what they mean and it makes me look forward to the future because I love what we have now! To think it could get better than this amazes me!

15 random things I love about us:
1. Anything said after 10 pm doesn't count.
2. How when we're dealing with unruly kids, we step in to relieve the other when we see their stress levels rising.
3. That we serve the Lord with all our might, mind, might and strength and support each other in our callings.
4. That we both know sign language! I never thought it would be so crucial in our communication with each other. We mostly speak but there are some pretty hilarious moments whenI repeat what I hear back and realize I heard something completely different. Sign language sure helps clarify what I didn't hear.
5. We are never afraid to say "I love you" often- to each other and to our children.
6. We laugh often. That is so important in a healthy relationship and it helps to keep us sane. Though I do wish it would burn more calories- we'd both be pretty skinny by now!
7. He laughs and gently teases me about my crazy, semi-OCD compulsions (light switches, purses, cleaning, etc.). If I use middle school translation for this kind of behavior, I know it means he likes me. ;-)
8. That we're quick to forgive each other.
9. We support each other in our hobbies and interests. He supports and encourages me in scrapbooking and in other hobbies I enjoy- including blogging. (Though reading books does sometime annoy him because it doesn't include him... and I tend to be glued to the books once I really get into it.)
10. He sends me sweet text messages during the day. It lets me know he still remembers me when I'm not in his sight. :o)
11. We both help to keep the house clean (though there's only so much we can do with 5 kids underfoot). I'm so glad he's not one of those men that believes that only women do the dishes and cleaning.
12. We set goals and work to achieve them.
13. That we are there for each other- through the heartache, joy, frustration, disappointments, excitements, etc. We've had our fair share of them!
14. That we'd rather be together rather than off doing things alone. It sure makes grocery shopping more enjoyable! (I remember we couldn't wait until Caleb turned 12! Whoo-hoo!)
15. And last but not least- we make such a great team. Nothing is done without consulting each other and discussing the pros and cons of a decision. We respect each other's opinions.

RazzBerryPie Boutique: Giveaway! (UPDATE!)#links

RazzBerryPie Boutique: Giveaway! (UPDATE!)#links

I just happened to discover yesterday that my cousin has this cute online store called RazzBerryPie Boutique. What a cute name! And the blog is way cute too! Check out the giveaway link. I think the necklace and earring set is pretty cute! There's also other cute things like baby leggings. I wonder if this is the same thing my SIL had on her son when I saw him in April. She said it works wonderful for long car trips- keeps the legs warm without the hassle of pants over onesies (makes changing diapers a pain while traveling). So cute- wish I had a little one to put these on.

Where's the time gone??

Wow! Time seems to be flying by so fast! It seems like I just got back from girls camp and youth conference and now my kids are already in school! We also welcomed two new additions to our family. Destiny and Raivyn will be staying with us for a little while. So now we have a 4 year old, 5 year old, 7 year old, 9 1/2 year old and 13 1/2 year old in our house. And I discovered a schedule/routine is important! I know I always say this, but I'll post pictures tomorrow. At this ungodly hour, it's amazing that I'm even typing up this post!

I've been reading the Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" series. I thought the first book was ok but the rest of the books made up for it! I'm on book 4 and Caleb reports to me that one of his friends is reading it! And he wants to read the series now! I never figured a guy would like reading it. Go figure!

Anyone have any fun plans for Labor Day weekend? I'm thinking of heading down to Utah. In March, we purchased a membership pass to the Hogle Zoo thinking we'd be back at least once during the summer but the increase in gas prices prohibited us from traveling this summer. I figured we might as well "bite the bullet" and go down and enjoy a fun weekend with the fam. One last hurrah!

Busy, busy!

Whew! July was spent getting ready for Girls Camp which was held the last week of July. Eric and I went and stayed the whole time (Tuesday-Friday). We loved being up there at the beautiful new campgrounds! Of course it helped that we had our pop up camper with heater. Cozy nights (shhh...don't tell the girls!). We were constantly on "bear alert" since a young women group, just a few weeks earlier, had a bear visit (it tore into a leaders tent because it smelled the chocolate doughnuts and Dr. Pepper in their tent) . Their camp was only a few miles away from we were so they strongly emphasized bear safety. We were praying that we wouldn't have a bear encounter! Wednesday morning we saw a guy dressed in military fatigues with a bear hound on a leash, walking through camp to make sure there were no bears. It was pretty comforting to have them accompany us on our hike that morning! Especially when it ended up in a hiker needing to be escorted back to camp for health reasons (he used his GPS to get the girl, leader and another hiker back to camp). I'll post some pictures of camp later.

The next weekend was Youth Conference and we both went to that, with Caleb. We went to Willow Bay in American Falls (25 miles away) and spent Friday night-Saturday evening boating. Our bishop loves to have any excuse to go boating so he took the youth up to share in his favorite activity. We all had a blast and came home with some pretty good sunburns. I even went on the tubes with some of the young women. I was so sore the next 2 days! Now if I can just get the sunburn on my thighs to go away!

This week we're busy getting the kids registered for school and buying back to school supplies. I love that time of year! Jared will be going to preschool 3 days a week. He is so looking forward to it! I'm so excited for him.

Oh, we got a call the other day from the mother who has Lakota in her care. She asked us to do respite care (babysit) while she goes out of town for a few days. Kaitlyn, Jared and I just can't wait until she gets here!! We're so excited to be able to have her in our home again for a few days!

Baby update...

I promised pictures in my last post of sweet baby L. It's been a while since I last posted. So much has happened. A few of you already know what happened but this post is for those that don't know.
We picked up baby from the hospital on Monday. She was a very sweet, gentle baby and she loves to be held. She rarely cried (just when getting her diaper changed or during her sponge bath, or if I took too long getting her bottle ready). She has such a sweet spirit and we just fell in love with her. Wednesday we had a court appointment for baby to be officially placed into foster care with us, even though the social worker was working hard to find another home for baby. Thursday we got the sad news that baby would be going to a different family. Kaitlyn and Jared cried when they heard the news.

I forgot to mention in my last post that baby is part Native American. It is because of this reason alone that we couldn't keep her with us. The federal government signed an Act that protects children of Indian descent. This act says that if a child is part Native American Indian (it can be as little as 1/8) they must find suitable a suitable home from this list: 1- immediate family (brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles, grandparents, etc.). 2- Native American family of the same tribe as the child. 3- Native American family of a different tribe. 4- licensed foster family that is Native American. 5- foster family licensed with the local Indian Reservation which in our case is the Fort Hall Reservation and finally 6- state licensed foster family. If they can't find anyone available from number 1-5, then they go to the state foster family which is what Eric and I are. Even if the child doesn't look like they're Indian, if it is mentioned/documented at all, the state must follow these guidelines mentioned.

When the social worker came to pick up baby, we asked about what it would take to keep her (we really wanted her to stay with us). She said that unless we have Indian heritage, it won't be possible. That's when Eric mentioned that his father was 1/4 Cherokee Indian. That would put us at number 4 on the list (which is the same as the family Lakota went to). Since we can't prove it, baby went to another family who is Native American. (That's a good motivator to us to finally do Eric's family history!) This Act stems from years of government interfering with the Indian culture. They just want to keep their children close and make sure they know of their noble heritage. We met the foster mom who baby went to (the father was away on business at the time). We had a chance to visit a couple of times so I know she's in good hands. It still doesn't make me miss her less though.

My only regret is that I didn't spend enough time holding her. She was almost never put down, she was held all the time by Kaitlyn, Jared, my friends, and SIL. I tried to hold her as much as possible during the day but I had some serious competetion (from Kaitlyn). At least I had her to myself at night (and those were the sweetest times). 

We're smitten...

...by foster baby that is. On Monday at 10:30, Eric calls me at work and asks "Do you want a baby?" I had to have him repeat that question 3 times because I wasn't sure what he meant by that question. After he said it the third time, he explained that he got a call asking if we would accept an infant for temporary foster care. We both said yes then they said to go right over to the hospital so the baby could be discharged. After watching the mandatory CPR video, being briefed on the baby's health, and stocking up on formula and diapers, we finally left for home at 12:45 with a 3-day old baby in our hands. Needless to say, it was quite an eventful day! Ever since then, Kaitlyn and Jared have been snuggling with her and holding her constantly! I just get her at nights!! Right now I'm going to be a smart mom and go to bed while the baby is sleeping!

Huh?

The other day Jared came into my office and said, "Mom, can I have a P-T-O-R-S?" I looked at him with a puzzled look, racking my brain trying to figure out what he might be spelling out. He must have thought I didn't hear him well because he repeated the question, this time fingerspelling "P-T-O-R-S" for further clarification. After I bust out laughing, I asked him what "P-T-O-R-S" is and he clapped his hands together and squealed- "Candy!" Of course! Why didn't I know that?!

I just had to laugh at that experience. Around here, we try to avoid saying the name of sweet things out loud if it isn't a good time to have it (like dinner is in 30 minutes or Jared didn't finish his dinner, etc.). So we try to spell it out so everyone who can spell knows what we're talking about but it goes right over Jared's head. Now Jared goes around saying things and once in a while he'll plug in a weird spelling. Anyone want some "o-t-a-e-e-p-s-o-r-e?"

When life as you know it ends

As these last couple of weeks have unfolded, I pondered on the events that happened and the line from P.S. I Love You comes to mind..."when life as you know it ends." In the movie, it's talking about falling in love. For me, these last few weeks, it has come to mean something different.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a scrapbook conference as a "table helper". I was one of those 'Vanna White's', going around the row with the finished project, helping the attendees as needed, etc. The owner puts a lot of work into planning this event- getting a celebrity speaker, planning projects, door prizes, detail planning, working with vendors, etc. Friday night as we were setting up for the conference the next morning, we learned of our first setback: the celebrity speaker, Melody Ross, had to cancel at the last minute because her daughter injured her foot pretty badly. She needed to be a mother and stay home with her. Totally understandable. We all left around midnight to get some sleep and be back bright and early in the morning. The next morning, we table helpers found out that the owner had a very rough night. Shortly after she went to bed, her best friend called her and hysterically informed them that she had found her own 14 year old son, dead, in his room. He had killed himself. The owner had been friends with the mother since their boys were two. The owners own sons (twin boys) didn't know about the news yet since her and her husband left before the boys woke up. She carried out the responsibilities as the host of the conference, already having to deal with the loss of a main speaker. So she filled up that time with sharing feelings of importance of families, taking the time to scrapbook/journal the memories as they happen because LIFE IS SO PRECIOUS! We all experience things in life and for some of us, we experience something so life changing (such as losing a friend to suicide) that "life as you know it ends."

On my way home from the conference, I was reflecting on the things that happened and how it would affect the lives of those involved. I realized that they will not look at life the same way again- they had lost a certain innocence. Eric had also informed me that while we were both out of town (Eric went camping with the kids- out of cell phone range, I went to Idaho Falls), we received a call from the Department of Health and Welfare to place a child in our home. Since neither of us were home to receive the call, the child was placed in another home. All I could think about was for that child, "life as he knows it, ended." He was removed from his home and sent to live (temporarily) with a family he doesn't even know. My heart broke for that child- just thinking about the changes and adjustments he has to go through now because of his life experiences.

Sometimes we face challenges that are so profound and life-altering. We put all our focus, energy and strength into getting through that trial. We rely on our Heavenly Father to get us through the storm. Hopefully, through all the "molding and changing," we come out better for having endured that trial.

I saw a quote today I wanted to share: "Life isn't about getting through the storm but how to dance in the rain." This was a bit of an eye opener for me. I realized that instead of getting stressed and being narrow-focused on the trials that are going on in our lives, I should step back and see all the things that I have to be grateful for: my husband, 3 children, a job to provide for my family and shelter over my head. How grateful I am for those things!