Mille's Wedding

And so it begins...just like it did back in high school. Three women (a drastically reduced number) in the bathroom. Ready to DO OUR HAIR!!!

Ann has enough skill that she can do her own. Me, not so much. Thats why I was taking pictures as everyone else is working. Fun enough.

Okay, so here are some pictures of the people you actually want to see, my forever friend, Camille and her new man, Buzz. Camille and I have been best friends since the age of 12. I won't even start to think about all the things we have been through, because then this blog would be miles long. I know no one wants that. Let's just say, we went to elementary, junior high, high school, and college together. Love her. Her wedding was held in Salt Lake. She was sealed in the SLC Temple and then had a dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Everything was gorgeous, but most especially, SHE was gorgeous.

Weddings are extra special because you get to spend time with the people you love most. I love Kylee and Seth....

And I love Annie and Jonny. I missed my other bf Haylee A LOT through the night.
Dev and I were also present, as seen here. Don't mind my face, I have no idea what that is.Camille and Buzz enjoying a toast given in their behalf. They were unprepared for what would come next...that is the toast from Kylee, Anneka, and myself. It was great.
Look at that gorgeous scenery. Oh and the table decorations are fantastic too.

She even had a little dancing. Buzz couldn't resist planting that kiss right on her.

Three of the most special and important friends I have ever had. I love them dearly.

I couldn't get over how gorgeous the view was from the 9th floor where we were for the dinner. SO PRETTY.

Let's also not talk about how much we ate. By the time the wedding cake rolled around, we had each been through at least 3 pieces of cheesecake (okay, maybe that was just me).
We were definitely not on top of our game as bridesmaids. NO ONE remembered about decorating the car until the last minute! We had to improvise. That meant, we got a plunger from Ryan, Camille's brother (part of his gift to her, you will have to ask him about that if you want details) and then filled it with leftover cake. We also had to steal the toilet paper from our very own gift to Camille (Do you see a theme here in her gifts?) Ryan also loaned us a diaper and that is all we had to work with. But, I'd say we did a pretty good job, considering.

Mille, I am so happy for you. I love you and appreciate your friendship more than you will ever know! You are an inspiration to me. I am so glad you are moving back to Ptown now so that we can be together! HAPPY NEW LIFE!!!

(Sorry for the lack of pictures of the bride and groom. I didn't have my camera at the temple. I wish I did. However, just trust me when I say that they both looked stunning.)

Why, Oh Why?

My day started out after an 7 am wakeup call, which may not seem that early to you, but it is earlier than I usually wake up. Don't judge. The problems began as I stumbled into the bathroom in the dark (considerate wife who tries not to wake up her husband) and put my hair into my daily hair-do, the trusty ponytail. In my attempt to push down on the hairspray top, I instead managed to pop it off and watched it fall all the way down, dooooown the drain in the sink so it was no longer accesible. I should have known it was going to be one of those days.

Today's task was to drive to Logan for a meeting with one of my birth parents there. Well, luckily, today was also the day of the first snow storm of the season. I also got to take Hallie since Devin had classes all morning and there was really no other option. Well, I'll let you guess how fun it was to drive in the nasty weather. I dropped Hallie off with Chris' sister Becky during the meeting (thanks so much!) and then dropped in to see my dear Auntie Linda at her credit union before heading back to Provo.

Hallie quickly fell asleep, but her nap turned out to be the shortest known to man, ever. She woke up shortly after and decided to scream. And by scream, I mean SCREAM. The girl has some lungs. I don't know what was wrong with her, she was fed, changed, napped (sort of), and entertained (I kindly gave her a plastic spoon to play with, so she can't even complain there.) I thought the screaming would die down, but it never did. No lie, I drove from just past Brigham City to approximately Lindon with a screaming-at-the-top-of-her-lungs child. SO. NOT. FUN. I almost lost my mind so many times. I tried turning up the radio way loud, singing patty-cakes to hals, ignoring her, giving her crackers, giving her my phone to play with, and calling devin to talk her out of the screaming, but to no avail. Nothing. Nada. She simply wanted to scream, so she did.

Oh, wait. That is until we got to Lindon, which is about 2 exits from where I needed to be. Then, and only then, did she decide that the screaming wasn't any fun anymore. Instead, she sat chit chatting in her happy voice to herself for the rest of the 8 minute trip. So generous of her.

All I have to say is, I hope I am not the only person who has a child they don't understand. Please tell me I am not alone. Oh and any good suggestions for what may help in the future will be greatly appreciated. I figure there has to be something glaring I am missing, right, right???

*Just so you know, I don't love the Halsters any less. I am sure one day I will laugh about this. Probably even tomorrow. However, at the time, it was terribly not funny.

So Proud

Recently, the Coach's Trophy (The BCS Championship Trophy for 2010) came to Smith's. As you can see, Dr. Pepper sponsored it. Well, Devin (in his strapping Smith's uniform) took the opportunity to have his picture taken with it. I think its pretty funny. It looks like he has been superimposed into it, but it is definitely real. Awwwwwww. What a proud moment. When asked about it, Devin took the time to comment, "It was cool." Wow. We will leave it at that with those inspiring words from the man himself.

Remembering

Despite my busy day today, I have been thinking a lot about my Uncle Charlie and remembering him. It was 2 years ago today that he passed away. There are few people in life who leave an impression of greatness like my Uncle Charlie did. Though he was quite powerful in the state of Idaho, more important to him was his family. I learned manners from him, how to eat escargot, the necessity of sending thank you notes, and how to compromise on music (Eric Clapton is okay to mix in with all the boy bands that we 14 year old girls liked to listen to the WHOLE WAY to Lake Powell while driving with Uncle Charlie). Most importantly, I learned from Uncle Charlie the value of spending time as a family and just being together. Every year he had a bash at his ranch, Trestle, for his birthday. He was Santa for Christmas at Grandma's. He took us to dinner whenever he was in town. He made sure that we were invited when he had tickets to the Folk Dance Festival. It didn't matter what we were doing, as long as we were together as a family. I hope the lessons that he taught us can continue to live on.

Sometimes it is hard to believe that death can take people we love so quickly. I miss Uncle Charlie a lot, especially as we approach holiday times. However, I am grateful for the person that he was because he truly has shaped the person that I have become. I hope he is as proud to call me his niece as I am to call him my uncle.

#99

Remember last year's event? eeeehhh. I can't believe I looked like that. Oh yeah, I had an excuse. I gave birth to a 7 lb. 8 oz child named Hallie about a week later.

Well this year was a bit more fun for me since I wasn't so nasty uncomfortable. Oh and, with this #99, I have accomplished half of the things on my list!!! (Well a little more than half, since 51+51=102. Good math, eh?).

My family is just so fun, I love being with them. I am glad we do things together and try to stay close, even though we don't all live in close proximity. Enjoy the night of pictures. Though of course, none can compare to the one in the post below. Too hilarious.The whole crew, minus Linda. We also stepped up our outfits this year, if you can't tell. Love it.

Mari, Lisa, Grandma, and Sue. All the sisters, minus Linda.

Check out our amazing tights. Gotta love them! Don't worry, I will be using them again for Halloween, with the exact same costume. :)


Good ol' Weston the Warlock. He pretended that he remembered us from last year, but really he had done himself a favor and blocked us out.

Most of us, minus Grandma and Linda. Do you see a theme here? Someone hates pictures.

At the dinner. The only bummer about this year is that they stuck is in a corner! Rude. Jen, my mom, and Sue.

Cortney and Grandma up and dancing. Go Grandma!

There she is!!! The elusive Linda. She was really in her element during the Mamma Mia songs. Gotta love them. Oh also, love Carlie's face.
Hailie got to come this year (don't get that confused with Hallie...yeah, we weren't too smart with our spelling. Different names, one letter off.)
I love my Grandma. She is one of my heroes. (also, do you love my green eyebrows? I do.) Bustin' some moves.

Too fun. I can't wait to do it again next year, everyone! Devin was nice enough to stay home and watch Hallie and Sadie. He loved sitting on the coutch watching football all night while cuddling Sadie. So, we all won!

Worth Its Own Post

Yesterday was our 2nd annual visit to Witchapalooza. As you can see, we had a great time. I will post more pictures later, but I just couldn't resist posting this one now. It makes me laugh so hard. Who knows what posessed my Aunt Mari Ann and my mom to bust out these moves, but whatever it was, I am deeply indebted because without it, we wouldn't have this beaut.

Blog Stalking

I totally admit it. I am a massive blog stalker.

One thing leads to another and soon I have linked from one blog to another blog to another blog...and well, you know. (Don't deny it, you do it too). My blog stalking preference is (oddly enough) for people I don't even know. I am just so fascinated by people that I can't help but look at their blogs and want to know more about them. I have a special preference for blogs of people who are adopting or facing infertility. I guess that's natural since it is my line of work. I have been really inspired lately too from some of the stories I have read. I am impressed with the strength and character that people have through terrible tests of their faith. It inspires me to be better and above all to show more gratitude for my blessings, which are many.

Here's the problem. I am often even tempted to leave comments on these blogs! Is this weird? It would be like I am pointing at myself and saying, "yes, I have found your blog and I know all about you, yet you have no idea I even exist!" Weird. Yet, I want to just tell them how amazing they are and tell them to keep going; its worth it.

Really, I wouldn't be weirded out if someone I didn't know left me a nice comment. I would be flattered. I wouldn't think they were creepy at all. But when its me, its totally a different story.

What a problem.

You know you are getting old when...

...shelves are your favorite birthday present. I told my mom that all I wanted for my birthday was for Dave, her husband, to come build me some shelves. Well, they came yesterday and I got my shelves! We have two storage room areas downstairs in our house and one of them had one flimsy shelf before that we were using for all of our food storage. It just wasn't pretty. Now... I know this next picture is not the best, but you get the idea of what the room looked like before.New Shelves!

Doesn't that just look so much better? I realize that this is probably a terribly boring post, but I am posting it due to my extreme happiness. I seriously haven't been so excited about something in a long time!!! Thanks mom and Dave for these beauties!

Now, who wants to donate to our food storage so we can fill these shelves right up?

Older (& Wiser?)

We have had a slew of birthdays in the past little while. First was mine on the 18th of Sept. Jennifer and Sadie came down on the day of and went to dinner with Devin and I at Red Lobster. It was delicious. Devin picked to go there because he knows that I love seafood and he hates it, so we never eat it.

Here we are at dinner. What a happy family. Though I have no idea what face Hallie is making.
The next day, my mom and Dave came to town. While Dave helped his son move, my mom hung out with Jennifer and I. We took the babies swimming at their hotel pool, which they loved. That night, we went to dinner again, this time to Mimi's Cafe with whoever else wanted to come, namely my Uncle Lynn & Barb, Che', Carlie, Natassia and her boyfriend, Emilee and her friend. It was great. The best part was these cupcakes (see above) that my mom brought from this cupcake shop in Rexburg. They were to die for!!! I am sure the 3 I consumed over the next few days really did me well. Yeah....

2nd was my sister Jennifer's birthday, a week and a day after mine, on teh 26th. She came down to go to the Relief Society General Broadcast, so I got to see her on her birthday too. I got to go to the broadcast too, which was awesome (oh and also accomplishes #87 on my list). Chris's sister Stephanie was invited to sing in the multi stake choir, so that is why we all went. Above is Wendy, Becky, Jen, and I in front of the conference center, though you can't tell.

After that, we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM YUM. I love Chris's family. They involve me just as if I am one of them. They are hilarious and so awesome to be around. (hint hint, keep inviting me, I love it!). We had a great time at dinner and were definitely a spectacle there. Here is our self photo, which took a few tries, but looks rather good if I do say so myself.

Finally, a week and a day after Jennifer's birthday, was Devin's birthday. This past Sunday, Conference Sunday, was Devin's big day. Since his birthday fell on a Sunday, we went to dinner the night before at Tucanos (which also accomplishes #37 on my list. See here for the entire list if you are curious how I am doing.) Devin loved it and Hallie loved the limeade.
On Sunday, his actual birthday, we didn't even get out of our pajamas all day, which we agreed amounts to a great day!
Devin's favorite gift was this i-pod/cd/radio player that my mom got him. He loves it. Can you tell?

Hallie's birthday is next!!! Yay!! Happy birthday to Dev and Jen. I love birthdays and I can't wait to celebrate Hallie's next month.

Memo to IFers

All you people who live in Idaho Falls or the surrounding area:
Check out this blog for information about a fireside that will be given this Sunday. The topic is hope through infertility and adoption.
http://www.therhouse.blogspot.com/

The author, Mrs. R., is definitely an expert on this topic. She has adopted two little boys and her husband is a caseworker at LDSFS. They are currently fighting to keep their second little boy. (Read her blog for more details on that too and how you can help). Her blog is always uplifting and encouraging and I know that there are some people out there within the sound of my voice (er, blog) who can benefit from this. If its not you, pass the word on to whoever you know in the Idaho Falls area. I gaurantee this will be a great fireside. See her blog for more details.

The Power of Thanks

Image from here

Seriously, it is amazing to me how powerful a simple "thank you" can be.

I have been crazy busy at work lately. Swamped. Overwhelmed. On the verge of dying. (ok, maybe not that bad). But really busy (which is a good thing because it means more families are getting babies, but still overwhelming for us workers sometimes).

So today I met with my first client(s) at 11. The father in this family is the type of person that likes control, a lot of control, and you can tell he just thrives on power. Anyway, it was very draining to listen to him for an hour tell me basically how I need to do my job when I feel like I have been doing all I can for the case in question. I left said appointment feeling quite crappy due to the onslaught of negativity that had just happened.

My next appointment came at 1:30 and it was a birth mom that placed her baby 3 weeks ago. She is on the recovery and healing road. It was my last time meeting with her as she will be moving out of state. As we concluded the session, she and her boyfriend both proceeded to tell me how grateful they were for all the help and caring that I had given them. He even started crying. This is a girl who was transferred to me from another caseworker as a "difficult client". I worked hard to make sure she was happy and that her needs were met. And let me tell you, all that work was WELL WORTH IT for the simple thanks that I got from them. I didn't need any fancy gifts or flowers or anything else, but that thanks was enough to keep a smile glued to my face the rest of the time I was at work.

Oh, the power of a simple "thank you". So, why don't we do it more?

It is nice to feel appreciated every once in a while. This reminds me of the grand old days at LA Weightloss, where I was a manager for about a year. When our higher ups tried to motivate us, it usually went one of two ways:
1- "You make x amount of dollars today and we will give you a bonus!"
or (more often)
2- "you didn't make your goal today. You did this this this this this this this and this wrong. You are not making me happy. You need to do better. You need to set higher goals for yourself and there are no excuses if you do not achieve them...blah blah blah." You get the idea.

However, my co-workers there and I often talked about how nice it felt when someone actually said, "Hey, you did a good job and I appreciate all your hard work!" This rarely happened in the later days, but in the earlier days with a different boss, it happened a lot. And you know what? We were much more successful and driven to work a lot harder when we were told that we were appreciated.

I don't know why I felt the urge to write this. Probably just as a reminder to myself and whoever else reads this the power of showing gratitude.

Wild Thing

This is my friend Cassie singing Hallie a song. I love how she is so enthralled and then gets so into with her "leading" along. (Ps. Please don't mind the attire. She only shortly before this peed through her skirt and leggings she was wearing. I don't normally take her out in only a onesie and jacket.)

What a gem. On another happy note, it is finally time to wear the leapord coat that those lovely ladies provided for Hallie when she was tiny. Isn't that the cutest thing you have ever seen?