Life Is Good!

Eight years! I can't believe we've been married for eight years! Well... in our eight years we have learned:

-He's a morning person and I definitely am not.

-I still can't load the dishwasher correctly. And I don't care.

-I'm the better driver whether he wants to admit it or not.

-He's the master and my teacher at forgiving, forgetting, and letting things go.

-He still uses the one liners that he used in the ninth grade. And they still crack him up.

-My boobs looked a lot better eight years ago.

-I can always count on him to give me a cold, hard dish of reality.

-He can always count on me to dream big and cheerlead the way.

-Somehow we just fit together.

Love you, baby. Happy Anniversary.

Thanksgiving this year we stayed home. It was kind of sad because we missed out on some family time in Idaho and hanging out with the cousins, but honestly I actually loved being at home. Jon's sister, Jessica, came up for a few days and so it was just the four of us. I cooked a kick-butt Thanksgiving meal, we played lots of games, did lots of shopping, relaxed and just had a chilled-out Thanksgiving. Honestly, I'm so surprised how much I enjoyed something so low-key like that. Sorry mom, I know you missed us.

Aren't they so cute? Good idea Jess!

Making memories with Aunt Jessie.

Then on Black Friday we bought Isaac a much needed bed, headboard, and nightstand. He's very proud of his new pad. Poor kid needed it. He's been sleeping on a mattress on the floor!

The day after Thanksgiving we also decorated the house and put up a live Christmas Tree. We're hoping the tree will stay alive until Christmas. It's been four years since we've had a Christmas Tree. I can't believe it. In law school I always left Jon alone with his finals for the whole month of December and so it wasn't worth it, and then last year our apartment was just too crappy to get one. This year it's been so nice to have a fresh, live tree and I'm never going without again!

This is what we came up with. A topiary! I love it. This thing cost me $11 to make, mainly because I went to Joanne's the day after Thanksgiving and got all the berries for 70% off. They're the nice berries too, not the styrofoam ones that break easily. Anyway, I LOVE my topiary and love even more that I didn't have to spend $30 for one.


Apparently one stocking is not enough for Isaac. Yesterday I started noticing an unusually high number of socks hanging around the place neatly laid out in random places. He informed us they're for Santa to fill.
What a nut.

I'm looking for a dress. I just want a nice Sunday dress that is cute and classy. It's sad to say I don't own a dress, just a bunch of skirts and that is because whenever I go dress shopping I can't seem to find anything modest or flattering or cute. I've come to the conclusion I'm shopping at the wrong places. I've decided there is this secret store out there that all of you shop at and I am not in the know. Help me out! Where do you shop for dresses? Online or otherwise. Seriously...I expect a comment from each of you telling me your secret spot!

Last Monday for FHE we talked about our blessings in lieu of Thanksgiving. We started a Gratitude Notebook and have been contributing to it for the last week. Here are some of Isaac's recognized blessings:

-Windows so you can close them on cold days
-Our car so we don't have to walk anywhere
-Fish, so if we don't have any food, we can catch some fish.
-Ceiling, so if it rains we won't get wet.
-That he doesn't have to wear glasses or contacts
-Mailboxes, so we don't have to walk to give our packages to people.
-The Weather Channel (It's so funny to me he wrote that)
-Moon and Stars
-That he doesn't lose any friends (because some people lose their friends, you know)
-Trees so we can breathe
-Mountains that we can camp in
-Jellybeans to eat when we go camping
-Paper so we can draw pictures
-Commercials
-Grinder Skateboards (huh? He probably got that idea from the dumb commercials he's so thankful for)
-Nets for Trampolines so you don't fall off
-Dogs to play with so if your mom and dad are busy, you can play with your dog (Mmm...I'm thinking this is a hint)
-Walls so no one can sneak into our house
-Plugs for things that don't have batteries
-Streets for our car so we know where we're driving
-Shoes so we don't get our socks dirty

Thanks to my smart little boy for reminding our family how blessed we are by the simple things. So what about you? Play with us...what is one simple thing that makes your life better, happier, and/or easier?

P.S. Here's an adoption update. This week Jon and I went in for our individual interviews. Our caseworker said we're the most amazing people he's ever met. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. The homestudy will be Dec.11th and that's pretty much our last step to being approved. Next step is finding our baby!-yay!

And this is my sweet, adorable Isaac wearing a Bounce box as a hat-taken three years ago.

Can you tell they're related?

Now I tag Denise, Judy, Amy S., and Janelle.

I have no idea. I don't know why I took an extended blogging hiatus. Every time I started to blog I got distracted and pretty soon I lost all desire mess with it. Crazy. Anyway, I'm back and ready to get caught up on all of your lives.

October was pretty good to us. We took a few trips to Idaho to see the fam, watched my deathly ill grandma make an amazing turn around, Isaac played with his cousins, I crafted with my sister, Jon had a weekend get away with some of his law school buddies, I read three books, finally wrote our birth letter, screamed through the Haunted Forest, played at the Pumpkin Patch, and finished out the month with five pounds of candy on Halloween Night. Seriously..Isaac scored so much candy his arms were shaking just holding his candy bag.
Anyway, this is what he was for Halloween:

Bumblebee Transformer!

It's no surprise he was some sort of superhero for Halloween since the kid lives, breathes, and thinks superheroes 24/7. See Below:

Well, we're already in the middle of November, but I still have a few things to blog about from August! I don't care what you say, I'm blogging about them anyway.

First up...Isaac's T-Ball!

My big boy tried his hand at T-Ball this year and I have to say, he's pretty good! He has an awesome throwing arm and really paid attention to the plays of the game-yes, even for a 4-5 yr-old T-Ball League. He caught his coach's eye and I have to say, I was a proud momma watching the coach put a lot of focus on my son and encouraging him to be better and better. We'll definitely have to continue with this sport.

I love his focused face.

And here are some pictures of Jon and his brothers. They had a Guy's Only Backpacking Excursion. No girls allowed, they said. So lame...

Last night we went to Midnight Madness at "The Kennel" (a.k.a. Gonzaga Basketball Stadium...or whatever you call it). It was the kick off of college basketball and Gonzaga celebrated it with style. We got free glow sticks, free fake tattoos, free GU sweat towels, and watched the players shake their groove thang (a.k.a. dancing. They choreographed a funny dance for everyone) Also, ESPN was there filming because everyone knows Gonzaga basketball can kick some serious A--.
Sorry there aren't some cute pictures of our family rocking the glow sticks and tattoos, but you know...it's kind of awkward to do family self portraits when you're in stadium seating. You know all the people behind you are just watching you take and retake your own picture until you get a cute one. So we bypassed that part, but here's some footage of Isaac going loco. He had a great time and is probably their cutest fan ever.

Tomorrow morning my step-sister is placing her newborn baby girl with a family in Utah. How ironic that within the same family you have two daughters-one wanting to adopt and the other placing her baby, and somehow the two aren’t connected at all.
Fortunately, Jon and I have thought about the possibility of adopting my stepsister’s baby and knew that this baby girl was not meant for our family. I’m happy she’s going to a good home and a better life. I’m happy to know that tomorrow morning a family is going to be changed forever. The moment they’ve prayed for and imagined is about to happen, thanks to my stepsister. I’m sad for my stepsister and that she really doesn’t understand the gift she’s giving this family. I’m sad that her life is so messed up and that she’s so quick to step back into the chaos and the desperation she’s created for herself. I’m sad for my mom and stepdad, that they’ll never see their granddaughter again-that in just a few short hours she’ll be someone else’s granddaughter. I’m intrigued at this unique perspective I have….feeling the excitement and celebration of adoption, and now this new feeling of loss…loss of a family member we’ll never get to know.
Adoption is such a complex thing. How interesting that the series of life choices my stepsister made that brought her such misery ultimately led her to this point where she is giving another family extreme joy.
I don’t really know where I’m going with this… Just lots of thoughts going on inside my head. I wish I could see things from Heavenly Father’s perspective. Everyone keeps telling me that the baby that is meant for our family will come to our family. So now I'm wondering-was this little girl meant for that family and my stepsister was just the vehicle to get her there? Is that how this works? What about free agency? What if my stepsister had opted to keep her baby? If she had kept her baby, does this mean that the baby really wasn't meant for that family or that my stepsister's free agency got in the way? I know Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us, but I wonder how many times our free agency has gotten in the way and so then does He have to just readjust that plan? How come a birthmom gets to decide who the next member of our family will be? Will she be guided by the spirit or will she just randomly choose us for some random reason...like my stepsister seemed to do. Even so, will that all be apart of The Plan or just a result of her agency? WILL IT ALL REALLY WORK OUT THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO?
Whew! Sorry for all that. Any thoughts of yours will be appreciated. Just trying to work through some stuff, obviously. I do, however, know that we're here to teach each other things. I know obstacles arrive in our lives to give us an opportunity to learn something. I really hope my stepsister’s learning all she’s supposed to. And most definitely, I hope I’m grasping all that’s intended for me with this huge obstacle in my life right now.
Happier post next time, I promise.

Senate bill #1738 passed today! Yes! With all that's been going on with the economy these last few days I was kind of nervous it would have been passed over, but it was voted for and passed! Woo-hoo!

I saw Oprah's show several days ago on "Protecting Our Children" and I can't seem to shake the disturbing facts and visuals I saw.

This map shows how quickly one pornographic image of a child being molested can spread. It starts with the large red dot from a computer in Washington, D.C. Within 24 hours, it has spread all across the United States—from coast to coast and north to south. "This is just an average day in America—24 hours,"

Apparently because of lack of adequate funding, law officials are only able to investigate just 2% of their leads. 2%!! And apparently the demand for new video and photos is so high that perverts are molesting younger and younger victims. Infants! She got pretty explicit on her show on what exactly these evil people are doing to our children. It was so disturbing-the 'things' they use, the age of these kids (months old only-this is so they can't talk and accuse), and there is even an animated "fun" video out showing an animated child enjoying getting molested so children can become desensitized to it and think it's normal. It's truly so disgusting/disturbing/evil. Hundreds of Thousands of children are being molested in the U.S Each Year.

Anyway...On September 26, 2008 there is an act that is going to Senate. It's called the "Protect Our Children Act" Senate Bill #1738. If passed, this bill will:

* Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
*Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
*Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.

So we need this bill passed. We need to let the Senators in our State know that we support this bill! So..it's REALLY easy to find out who your Senators are. Go to http://www.senate.gov/ and type in your State and up will pop your two Senators. If you go to this website: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators , you can find an letter already created for you to email to your Senators. It's really easy, it takes like two minutes.

Anyway, sorry to be so preachy-preachy, but emailing our Senators is a way to really take some action. It's a chance to actually DO something rather than hear a news story or watch Dateline and think "how awful". Please, please email your senators and tell them to pass Bill #1738. Please! You have only six more days before this bill goes to the Senate!

Honeycrisp Apples are here! I'm SOOOO excited! Honeycrisp are the BEST apples. I'm not even kidding. They have like an explosive crispness and a really sweet taste. They're expensive though-fair warning, but SO worth it. I was trying to explain how great they are to my in-laws yesterday, but they just weren't buying it. Finally I went down and bought them a small case, paying nearly $9 for 8 apples. My father-in-law thought I was the biggest idiot for paying over a dollar an apple.......until he tried one. It totally stopped him dead in his tracks and he couldn't stop saying how GOOOOOD they were. They're worth the money, go buy them. They come and go very quickly, so stock up.

Also..speaking of in-laws. Jon's parents left us this morning, on their way to the MTC! Their mission will be in Monterrey, Mexico and they're going to ROCK it! We love you guys and are so proud of you!!!!!

This is Isaac at the beginning of the summer--lifejacket, timid, hated getting splashed and don't even mention the idea of going underwater. No way!
I knew his swimming would probably progress this year, but I had no idea the answer lay in a snorkle. It was actually Isaac's idea to get one. He saw the Backyardigans snorkeling and he told me that if he could get the "mask thing that covers your nose, and a breather", then he would like to go underwater. Couldn't hurt to try, and so we bought it.
It was an immediate transformation. He refused his life jacket and snorkled throughout the pool on the first time out with the new snorkle--even the deep end without any worries of not touching. Snorkeling looked like so much fun that pretty soon we invested in another mask and "breather".... I'm the hottest mom at the pool.


I can't believe how much his swimming has changed this summer. Yesterday we headed down to the pool and this is how he decided to jump in. Amazing! I love those moments when he does something completely out of the ordinary.

And of course I made him do it again...

And again...
So this is a shoutout for how miraculous a snorkle can be for a timid swimmer. One of my favorite moments this summer was our family heading down to the pool just as the sun was setting. No one was around and we had the whole pool to ourselves. We swam and snorkled and dived for stuff with only the pool lights and the moon lighting the way. It was so much fun. I think we called it quits sometime after ten o'clock.

Here's another cute video of him being a dolphin in case you're interested.

Oh yeah...Isaac just reminded me of the best part from yesterday. After numerous flips and some wrestling time, he climbed on my back for a piggy back ride and threw up. Yep...throw up clear down neck and back. So gross.

So this post is a little out of order. We went to Oregon for Labor Day Weekend and I'll have to post about that next time.

It's my little sister's birthday this weekend and we're heading out of town, so I had to post her birthday post a little early.

I could write a million reasons why Bonnie's the best ...but a picture is worth a thousand words. ...and so here you go-Bonnie's Birthday Video!

Step 1: Mid morning, still in PJ's, see a commercial for the Fair.

Step 2: Rush to get dressed and head out for the fair. Jon says I'm every sales person's dream because if they tell me I should buy something, I buy it. I have NO idea what he's talking about.

Step 3: Grumble to myself when I realize the fair people charge you for parking.

Step 4: Regret not bringing a friend to split parking fee.

Step 5: Make note to self to make some friends before next year's fair.

Step 6: Admire the carnival rides with Isaac.

Step 7: Listen to him beg and plead to ride some.

Step 8: Justify paying too much for ride tickets because it's "Mommy & Isaac time"

Step 9: Realize I use this justification way too much. Everyday is Mommy & Isaac time.

Step 10: Walk around to see what rides Isaac is tall enough to ride.

Step 11: Make note that very few rides he is tall enough to ride. Poor kid.

Step 12: Ride what we can and have a good time.

Step 13: Use up all our ride tokens and then walk a little ways to find a whole 'nother mini carnival geared toward kids Isaac's size. ...Figures.

Step 14: Stumble upon a cow milking contest and join in, along with trying our hand at roping some fake cows. Now that's crazy fun.

Step 15: Check out all the livestock.

Step 16: Notice that an unusually high number of animals go by the names of Bella, Edward, Jacob, and Twilight.

Step 17: Chuckle to myself when Isaac insists on leaving a comment in the comment box. "Thanks for letting me pet your sheep". So sweet.

Step 18: Decide to split an Elephant Ear and a snow cone.

Step 19: Pig out on Elephant Ear and snow cone.

Step 20: Wonder why I chose to waste so many calories on bread covered in sugar and cinnamon.

Step 21: Walk around a little more and then exit the fair.

Step 22: Tour the parking lot for 20 minutes looking for our car.

Step 23: Vow to myself for the millionth time that I will start paying attention to where I park.

Step 24: Enjoy a silent drive home while my little guy crashes.

I Love Isaac and Mommy Time.