His hand in all things

When I was little, the thought of being a mom was ever present. In helping care for my other siblings and babysitting younger children in my neighborhood allowed me to form my view and excitement for the day when that would be my role. In Young Women’s you learn and prepare for that as well. Every aspect of growing up as a girl and as young women, in the church, is in preparation for and in helping rear the next generation as a married adult. When that day never came I questioned my worth and all my faults. Year after year and doctor after doctor I was getting tired and weary. Scott, I’m sure, was getting tired of my fanatical melt downs, although he was ever sweet and comforting. I knew I needed to keep my faith and knew that the Lord has His hands in all things. I had seen the evidence of that in my life in the past and I knew in the back of my mind that it was sill true now. I remember getting a call from a brother in law announcing the anticipated arrival of their fourth child, a call from a friend later that week who was expecting her third, and paperwork left and right from our agency letting us know we had forgotten a few things to fill out here and there. I was through! I was spent and past weary. I had a broken spirit and asked the Lord to take this burden away from me; I couldn’t carry it any longer. It was affecting my attitude and my daily life. I pleaded more for that relief then for anything else in my life. This was in June.

August 28th was our first email from our birth mom. You cannot believe the utter excitement we experienced as we continued our correspondence back and forth with this beautiful young woman, our Angel! The Lord had heard my prayer for relief and was granting me a season of joy. On the days we didn’t hear back from our Angel was agony. Not knowing her thoughts or how she felt about us ate me up. At times it was more agonizing then at other times. These were the times that the Lord allowed me to reflect on how hard this must be for our birth mom! She was making some very important and difficult decisions in her life at that moment and I needed to be aware and sensitive to her situation. At this time we weren’t even sure if she was going to pick us to be her baby’s parents. We continued our correspondence……

September 23rd was life changing for us. We received a beautiful email from our Angel asking us if we would be her baby’s parents. She wanted to make sure her baby had both a mom and a dad who would rear him in the Gospel and she knew we were the ones to take on that task…Forever! Again, tears flowed freely but this time these were tears of joy! We continued our correspondence. …

On December 26th we take off to Chicago for the arrival of our baby boy! Throughout this new, exciting, agonizing, terrifying, and most anticipated life changing ordeal we have seen the Lords hand guiding us through. We know He will continue to do so and throughout the rest of our life.

Merry Christmas!

I've been photo tagged!

Rules of this tag are you have to take a picture of these seven things, no cleaning or straightening, just click and take a pic right then and there! So here I go.....

1. My favorite Room: I love my Kitchen! I love to cook, watch tv, and entertain family and friends in this room.

I also included another room that I'm sure I'll spend a lot of time in and love!

2. My Bedroom:
Pretty pathetic huh. Since Scott and I are usually the ones who frequent this room it's been the one neglected the most! Nothing matches and oh, look.....I haven't even had time to fold the laundry. The Superman blanket is to keep me warm at night. Scott thinks keeping the house cold helps us sleep better. He's right. I sleep like a baby every night!!! Anyway, here's my bedroom.


3. My Bathroom sink:Can you guess which one I really use? Yes,...it's the old, non remolded, brown, old, crusty one. I had to include our nice one to prove that I keep one of them clean.


4. My favorite shoes:My hiking shoes, my slippers, and my favorite flips from my favorite place in the world! I can't live without these babies.


5. My side of the closet:
Again, my room is pathetic. The closet space is really terrible....look at those shoes. If you notice some of my clothes have creeped slowly into Scott's side of the closet.


6. My child and what he/she is doing:
Just waiting to be born.

7. Picture of me:

I really couldn't bring myself to take a picture of myself at this moment

so Scott picked this one out.

If you want to play...I'd love to see your quick click pic's!!!

Soon to be......

You'll have to wait for details!

The Gorgeous Young Man

Today I went to the bank on my lunch break. I wanted to cash a few checks I received from doing hair. I pulled up to the drive thru and noticed that all the registers were full. I pulled up behind the closest line and waited for the cars in front of me to finish there transactions. I was parked far enough away from the suburban in front of me so I could move into the next line just in case the car to the right moved from their register first.
I sat there for almost 15 min. WAITING. Then I thought, “Just move behind the next car, he looks like he’s winding down with his transaction…..No, just wait here. If you move then the suburban in front of you will then be the one that moves first.” (It always happens that way)
So I stayed put, and just as the car to my left was about to pick up his money from the register a silver sports car pulled up to the side of me just as he was about to leave and then pulled into his spot. “DANG IT!!! I should have moved!” I was getting pretty antsy, even mad! The suburban in front of me was obviously having some issues with some money thing and so I moved into the next spot behind the silver sports car. Just as I moved from behind the suburban a silver van pulled into my previous spot. That’s when the suburban in front of the van finally moved and the silver van moved freely into the space I SHOULD'VE HAD!!!! AAAAAHHHHH! Then the words just came rolling off my tongue…“Son of a BIT*#!!!! I was furious!
It finally became my turn. I pulled up to the register, ripped the canister from the register and shoved my checks and ID into it. A few minutes later a nice, manly voice came over the speaker and asked if I wanted these checks cashed. “Yes, PLEASE.” (DUH) as I looked at him through the window with my eyes a blaze with fury. It didn’t matter that he was drop dead gorgeous. He worked for the bank and I was mad at the bank and everyone around me for coming to the bank!
“No problem that will be out in a minute for you.”
I half heartedly snipped out the word; “Thanks”
About 30 seconds later I could hear the canister coming back through the tube to my register. As I pulled out the canister I counted my money, made sure my ID was in check and then noticed a receipt with the phrase, “GO COUGARS!” written in blue marker. The gorgeous young man noticed my BYU hat I was wearing. I looked up at him and he was smiling at me with that beautiful smile giving me the thumbs up.
And that was it! My demeanor toward all those who had un-fairly finished their transactions before me there in the drive thru, and those who worked at the bank was gone! That small, insignificant gesture on his part was huge for me…..and I started to cry! (I guess that can give you a clue to how crazy this week has been…I mean, to cry over that, COME ON!!)
It’s been times like these that make me aware that I have the same obligation to treat others the same way this gorgeous young man did me. He totally affected the rest of my day (and not because he was gorgeous, ok, maybe a little) and with just a simple gesture. Thanks gorgeous young man for that wonderful lesson!!!!

It’s a good thing Scott wasn’t with me when this all took place. He wouldn’t have been too pleased with my foul mouth. ;)

October in a nutshell

The month of October came and went! It's amazing to think that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner...no wait, the way time is flying they are at the corner. Oh, wait....I can see it coming closer then where the corner is..... THE HOLIDAY'S ARE COMING!
Anyway, I thought since I haven't posted in a while I thought I would post some pics of our October events. Here it goes.

We celebrated my mother-in-laws Birthday! It was a momentous occasion and so thanks to Tom (my father in law) we celebrated in style. Happy Birthday Karen!

Limo ride for a night out on the town.

We enjoyed the view from the Garden Restaurant.

They even opened the roof for a few minutes.

The dining was yummy and stylish.Scott mixing the drinks. Martinelli with Martinelli. We called the mix, "The Martinelli"! Taking one last pose in front of the Limo. It was a great night out!Our ward Halloween carnival this year was a HIT!!! It was sponsored by the youth and everyone had a great time!If you don't know who this is then you need to go out and buy Guitar Hero! Cam won for best child costume! Gotta love this kid!Carving pumpkins with our favorite neighbors!The executives hamming it up at work! Anyone remember the movie Nacho Libre?Ghostbusters!

This was by far the best. Go Cody!

Hope October was as good a month for you as it was for us!

Hunting with my Dad

I’ve had the opportunity to spend the last two weekends with my dad. Since the hunting season has approached the weekends have been full of hiking, four wheeling and looking for the right “one”. I can remember back when I was young how excited I would get to go out hunting with my dad. We would stop off at my Grandma’s for a nice warm breakfast and then we would head out and wait for the sun to rise. He would always have a pocket full of pine nuts, an apple and a snickers bar to take along with us when we hiked around looking for deer. And the lunch he would bring would be amazing (thanks mom). He always made it a point to make me feel welcome, loved, and most of all he enjoyed sharing the beauty of the outdoors with me. He would always tell me to respect the wildlife and its surroundings. I have learned a lot from him just from these excursions. When I finally turned 14 it was my turn to be the hunter. We would go out to the Lee Kay center for some target practice and he would always quiz me on hunter safety scenarios that might arise. When I got into high school other things kept me from going but when I could, I would go. My brother filled in my shoes for a while and after my brother passed away it took about two years for him to get out again. But since then I have made it out with him for every opening day. Be it Antelope, deer, turkey, duck, or sage hen there’s always a story to tell.
This last opening day was no different. We sat in the truck perched in the saddle of two mountains as we watched the sun rise. The sun rise was particularly spectacular that morning. We took off on foot as soon as we could see. You see some pretty neat things that early in the morning. We made our way around two mountains before we headed back to the truck so we could pull out the four wheeler. As we were hiking back I realized my dad was having a hard time walking. It was his knees. It hit me at this moment how precious life really is. My dad, even though he’s still fairly young, won’t be here forever to take me hunting. It just made me sit back and think about how thankful I was for making the effort to spend these precious moments with him. Not only was it good for me, but I know he was thankful I was there with him too. My dad has lot of hunting years ahead of him and I can’t wait when he’s a grandpa teaching his grandchildren what he’s taught me. I’m just thankful I’ve been blessed with the gift of time. I know time is limited and that's why I need to make it count now! Thanks dad, I love you!

Appreciated

The other night, before bed, we were sitting down to some homemade bread and some hot chocolate. I pulled out a tub of butter for Scott to use on his toast. When he opened it up, it was empty. He looked up at me and said, “Babe, when you go to the store again will you make sure to get some more ….” Before he was able to finish his sentence I whipped out a new tub of butter and handed it to him. “Wow”, he said, “You just keep this house running don’t you!” That little comment was like giving me a huge high five. Then, last night we were folding some bedding together. As Scott went for the fitted sheet he immediately realized that he really didn’t want to fold it. (No one wants to fold a fitted sheet) In about 30 seconds I had the fitted sheet folded. I looked up from what I was doing when I heard Scott say, “That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.”
Again, another Thank you slapped me across the face. Scott has always been good at complimenting my homemaking skills but there are times when they still come as a shock to him. While sometimes his compliments still come as a shock to me, it’s nice. It’s nice to be appreciated and to know my efforts don’t go unnoticed in our home!

I've been tagged

Ok Em, my west side sista. I’m doing this for you! It’s actually been a long time since I’ve done one of these.

3 names you go by:
- Shawna - nawna (Edith, you come to mind)
- Smelly
- Babe

3 things I’m wearing right now:
- A necklace that I made
- My favorite brown shirt
- A Bra

3 Restaurants that I love:
- Thai Chili Garden
- Normandy Cafe
- Bistro 201 (Newport beach, CA)


3 things I have to do today:
- Get all my Medicare denials in, here at work
- Call a friend
- E-mail someone special

3 trips to plan this year:
- Planned a trip to Vegas over the 4th of July
- Planned a trip to the yurt
- Planning a trip up the canyon to see the leaves (Can you tell this year has been rather exciting for us when it comes to trips.)

3 things I want badly:
- Enough money to sustain me and my family for our life time
- To loose weight, to look great (yes, that is one not two things because in order for me to look great I need to loose weight… it just feakn’ won’t come off!)
- To be a mom

3 Pets I have/had:
- Sam, our Jack Russell
- Hermie, my Ginny pig (she froze to death after I had given her too many baths….I loved the way she looked when she was wet. I was 12)
- Josey and Henry (The two hound dogs we had growing up. I know that makes four pets but I consider these two to be one. They were great dogs)


3 things I did yesterday:
- Went to work (as always)
- Flushed someone else’s bowel movement since they didn’t have the courtesy to do it when they were in the bathroom to begin with. (This has happened twice since. I swear someone here at work is out to get me.It’s disgusting.)
- Watched the season premiere of the Office. (Have you seen the commercials they have out lately? I haven’t watched TV in months and it seems like the commercials are getting funnier and more risqué, ha ha and yikes!)

3 things I ate today:
- A granola bar
- A black forest sandwich from the Dutch store
- String cheese (gotta love the string cheese)

3 goals I have:
- To have all my Christmas gift buying done by the end of October. (I’m almost there.)
- Build my home Salon.
- Get my crown molding up before next weekend (It’s been sitting in my garage forever.)

3 Fears that I have:
- Spiders (They always seem to creep around when I’m in the shower. Once I stepped out of the shower and one was dangling from a web and landed on my breast. My breast hurt for a while after that. )
- Obama as President
- Dying an ignominious death (In the scriptures they sat it wasn’t pretty)

3 things I plan on doing today:
- Getting my PPR report to my supervisor before I leave for work today.
- Calling my sister’s
- Going to dinner and a movie

3 things I’m doing tomorrow:
- Going to a Volleyball game
- Painting my crown molding
- Going with my mom to the Women’s Conference

3 of my favorite holidays:
- Christmas (Especially this year)
- Thanksgiving
- July 4th….IF I’m in Oregon

Collide

As I was going through some pictures today I came across this music video Scott made for me for our 5th wedding anniversary. In this video you will see scenes from our trip to San Fran, our Cruise to the Bahamas, Scott trying to water ski, our trip to Orlando, our trip to Nauvoo, the 2002 Olympics, the Alaskan Inn, and some old footage of our wedding. It was fun to watch the footage of our wedding. Scott is a little hard to recognize...oh, wait, so am I. Anyway, enjoy. When I was rendering the video over to the blog the music was a little off . The original is perfect.

The Mexican lawn edge cutter man!

So I’m sitting at me desk here at work and the most hysterical thing just happened. (At least I thought it was.) I sit next to a big window that’s at ground level. It's a little after three in the afternoon as I watch the maintenance crew roll in with all their lawn equipment, weed wakers, and leaf/grass blowers, you name it.(As you can tell, I was really into my work at this moment.) Most of these guys are Mexican, I assume, and they are talking a million miles away in spanish while flicking their cigarettes and smelling their armpits as they work. (It’s true, all of this happened.). Anyway, there was this one guy who was checking out one of the employees here who was walking by. (Her name is Lisa, she’s pretty hot) He was trimming up the edge of the lawn here near my window when I watched him, while he was checking Lisa out; literally walk right into my window -“THUD!”….. It was the funniest thing EVER! I laughed right out loud and I laughed hard. Tears were streaming down my face within a matter of seconds. There’s still a cheek mark left on the window as evidence from where this guy hit. It’s been quite a while since I’ve laughed this hard. I think I may have lost a little weight. My co-workers had to wait out my hysterical moment until I was able to finally compose myself. Thanks random Mexican lawn edge cutter man for making my day!

NKOTB!!!

If you know what the acronym NKOTB stands for and if you loved these guys in the 90's then you need to get in contact with me immediately!!! I really want to make my dream come true. Who wants to go with me to this concert coming to the E-Center on Nov.15th? Any takers? Don't be making fun....I'm totally serious! Let me know!!!!

Summer 2008

I know that summer isn't officially over until September 22nd but I'm so excited for Fall that I thought I would post my summer pics now. There's a few pictures I can't find, but all and all I got the "jist" of our summer packaged together in this one post.

Our 8 mile hike to Dry Lake w/the family

Kelly and Andrew moved out of our basement and to Alabama for school. Andrew didn't want to throw his back again. ( he he)

Memorial weekend was spent doing Sydney's and Chads wedding. Scott took the pictures and I did hair.

Mom and Dad went to Hawaii and we took care of their yard and their dog for a week.

Holly and Mike's wedding. I did the hair and Scott took the pics

Girls Camp for a whole week. I had a blast. Being in YW's is so awesome!

Fourth of July in Las Vegas visiting the Ty & Kim clan

Ally & Jacob's wedding. Again, I did hair and Scott took pics (we love the whole duo thing we've got going on)

The next weekend, Kristy and Wes's Wedding. I got up at 4 am to do hair. As you can see below it was quite the wedding party! Scott took the pics

The Polynesian wedding cake... I mean cakes.

Kris and Ryan moved to Cleveland for Dental school we helped them pack on up

Our Neighborhood Pioneer Day breakfast. This year it was held in our circle.

The Harmon family reunion.

Grandpa Sanderson's funeral

Shooting clay pigeons. No one could beat me. Can any of you?

Wayne Longhurst came into town. Had to have a BBQ. Everyone all squeezed well into our home. Our basement and backyard was the playground. It was good to see you Wayne and Charie'!

Youth Conference

Labor Day weekend at the Lily Lake Yurt

We also baby sat nieces and nephews, went swimming with the youth, went to Lagoon, rode our bikes, took Sam for evening walks, landscaped the yard, did hair, and more hair, and went and visited grandma. It was a great summer, now bring on the crisp fall weather. Yahoo!

The last three weekends

We started out our first weekend celebrating our 9th anniversary. Scott knows me well and he knows exactly what I need and when I need it. So this year, like last, we spent it outdoors 4 wheeln'. This time we stayed in a Yurt. (Next year we're planning a trip to Hawaii - I told you, he knows exactly what I need when I need it!)

Here I am following the directions on the GPS. We're looking for

our first Geocache.

Scott found a coupon to a local car wash in one of the geocache's we found.Scott was bummed when he found out the car wash had expired in Dec. 2006Playing cards in the Yurt.

The second weekend was spent attending Youth Conference. This year we went and did some service at the Humanitarian Center all Friday. We took a really cool tour of the facility (The church really has it togther when it comes to humanitarian stuff, what am I saying, they ALWAYS have it together!) We had a really yummy lunch, and then we made newborn beanies. We made over 300 beanies. From there we rewarded the kids with an overnighter up in the Uintas at Washington Lake. We stayed up till 2:30 am playing night games. It really was a ton of fun!
My beautiful Young Women

And our handsome Young MenPutting together the newborn beaniesPlay time!

Getting crazy with the smores.

This is Jon, our resident fireman and Young Men's President.

I love these ladies. As you can see there really wasn't a lot of fishing.

The whole group
Our third weekend in a row to be in the Uintas. If you have never been you need to try out the beauty that exsists in the Unitas. Most of my childhood was camping in these mountains. Anyway, we loved our stay in the Yurt so much that for Labor Day weekend we decided to take my parents up there. We did some more 4 wheeln', some fly fishn', and some major relaxing. We really did have a great time. I really missed having my sister's and their husbands with us though.

Me and Ma in front of the Yurt at Lily Lake. Cant' go without the chapstick!
Letting the frog go that we caught Scott enjoying some fly fishingThe inside of the Yurt. (The bunks are where the camera is)We loved the stove. It kept us toasty warm when it started to snow....
....that's right, it snowed. We loved it. We had a great time.

And that's been my last three weekends. Next weekend we're hiking Timp! That's right baby, all the way to the top!