Heartbroken

Linda, Che'Lyn, and I on our Nauvoo trip in 2005. Love it.

My life was turned upside down this week with the sudden loss of my dear Aunt Linda. I have a million things floating around in my head but I will try to keep this short as I fear it will be mumbo jumbo if I don't.

I am grateful to know about the Plan of Salvation and that families are eternal. Death is not the end. We will see Linda and be with her again someday.

I am grateful for the time we were able to spend with Linda recently. It seemed it was more than normal. I am particularly grateful for the drive to Boise when we went to Wicked. That was a great time for Che' and I to talk to her the whole way there and the whole way back. We laughed a lot. I will treasure this time forever.

I am grateful for the person that Linda is. I am grateful that she felt it important to have a good relationship with her annoying little nieces. Starting at about age 10, my sister and two cousins and I would journey to Logan to spend a week with her each summer. This became the highlight of each summer. So many memories.

I am grateful for the time I was able to spend with Linda in the hospital right before her passing. Though it was traumatic, I am so grateful. I am grateful for the time I spent holding her hand and feeling the squeeze, verifying to me that somewhere deep in there, she was still there. She was still Linda.

I am grateful that my family is as close as we are and that we can help each other through this difficult time. This is the most personal loss I have ever felt and the most grief I have ever felt. I am so raw, so emotional, so up and down. But I am grateful that I have family who understands and wishes to be together at this time to help each other through.

I am grateful for Linda's husband Brad and the strength that he has. He is such a good husband and father. I am grateful that Linda's children have him.

I am especially grateful for the last gift that Linda gave: her sweet baby Charlie, who was born during this whole ordeal. What a beauty, right? She is in the NICU but things are looking up for her. She is the last piece of Linda that we have and believe me, we are clinging on to the hope that she brings.

Prayers for Brad, Carter, Ryen, Jack, and Charlie would be much appreciated. It is their loss that is the most important as Linda was their wife and mother. While I also grieve for myself, much of my grief is for them.

Please forgive me if I am MIA from the blog for a while or if all I feel like talking about is Linda. It may consume me for some time. Just a fair warning. I hope to at least create a memory post at some point, mostly for me to remember her and the contributions and influence she has had in my life.

Why yes, he is simply amazing

I married up. No question about that. I look back on myself from high school and the beginning of college and want to just go back and say "Just you wait! You have no idea the amazing-ness that is in store for you!"

As you well know, today is Father's Day. I intended to make the day as great as possible for Devin, so I planned ahead last night and started a family classic, Sticky Buns, for breakfast this morning. That's about as far as I got though on Devin's special day. He just took over from there.

When we got home from church, we got to Skype with his parents (on a mission in Estonia) for a few minutes and while we were getting Skype pulled up, he snuck into the kitchen and started lunch. I told him he wasn't supposed to be doing that and his response was, "I want to. I want to make you happy because when you are happy, that is when I am the happiest." Who in the world is he, right?

As if that isn't bad enough, I took a nap after lunch while he stayed up and took care of the kids. While I was sleeping, he also made a some brownies, complete with marshmallows and frosting "for a treat for me tonight" as he put it. I know this is making me look very, very bad, but that is just how he is. He is one who continually serves and gives without ever expecting anything in return.

Devin is a great father and I always say that my kids are so blessed to have such good relationship with their dad. He is home when I work and so he gets a lot of one-on-one time with them. Devin is a great leader in our home, patient, understanding, loving, and completely puts everyone before himself. Like I said, I have no idea how I got so lucky, but I count my blessings every day that he is mine.



Happy Father's Day, babe! I love you so much. Hallie, Jace, and I are so blessed to have you.

And to commemorate Father's Day- Jace has his first crush! Yes, I think it's official- at least in his little mind. Never mind that she is 35 (give or take a few) years older than he is. No, that certainly doesn't matter. During sunday school today, a woman in our ward sitting next to me was smiling at him and rubbing his head and he was just eating it up. He was cooing, smiling huge smiles, and trying to carry on an intelligent conversation in baby talk with her. He was smitten. Let's be honest, I don't blame him...she is a rather beautiful woman. At least we know he has good taste! What a little flirt.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day to all!

Making a Fool of One's Self

Believe me, I have LOTS of experience in this category.

The time I was flying with my cousin and she got me laughing so hard, I spilled a bowl of cheerios all over the nice business man sitting next to me? Stupendous.

The time I kicked a really good looking lifeguard in the face (on accident) while swimming in his pool? Yes, it seems impossible, but I managed it.

The time I split my pants all the way down the back at EFY? Awesome.

The time I hit the dumpster then didn't tell my parents about it? Classic.

The time I fell asleep on some man's lap on a long flight? (What is with me and flights?) No good.

Today I had one of those experiences. It might not be as bad as the others mentioned above, but I look back on it and think, "what were you thinking?!"

We had a weekend training class for our adoptive couples, so I went all day today. During one break out session, the topic was "Raising Adopted Children." Three lovely ladies did a great job presenting the material, but there was time left over, so the floor was opened for questions. Someone asked about what it is like to have adopted children and biological children and how the relationships might differ.

Ensue awkward silence. No one had anything to say. Awkward enough, apparently, that I felt myself propelling out of my seat to say something. (oh man, laughing just typing this!)

I started crying before I even spoke. Then, my blubbering mess of a self talked about how I had fallen in love with MF before I ever had biological children and then something about how when I had Hallie I recognized that the love for each was the same. I was "ugly crying" pretty much the whole time I was up there- about two minutes- and the blank stares in the audience told me that they were unclear on what the heck I was talking about. I think I made sense, kind of. I think I explained that we are adopting this child from a foreign land and that I have biological children so it sort of was an answer to the question, but one can't be sure. I thought it tied back to the topic, but maybe not.

It's the crying that is embarrassing. Not just little sniffles, I was full on crying. Snot and all. Awww, man. And these people are supposed to think I am a professional. I bet those that are on my caseload are all feeling like the drew the short end of the stick with me- a worker who can't even hold herself together? Yikes.

At least I can (kind of) laugh now about it, right? I have had worse "I'm a fool!" experiences, afterall.

P.S. for those who read my Tales of an Adoption Caseworker blog, two new posts there tonight too! I know, it's been months, but I am on a roll! I've had a bit of a stressful week and blogging helps me de-stress and process things at the same time. Bonus.

Some more thoughts. AND an awesome video.

I love this video. I have watched in numerous times and feel the Spirit of Christ-like love that this young boy has for someone who may not be "like" him.

Watching this always reminds me of MF. She has cerebral palsy, although a milder version. In the latest pictures that I have received of her, she is in a wheelchair and has braces on her legs. While I knew that she did not walk well, it made it more real to see these pictures of her. I know she will need constant care, but as each day goes by, I get more and more anxious to bring her home.

I hope that she is blessed with people in her life that will be able to see past her differences and love her for who she is, like Spencer in this video.

I look back on my own life and hope and pray that I wasn't an additional burden to those around me who were suffering alone because they were different. There is one boy in particular I remember who went to Elementary School, Junior High, and High School with me who was developmentally delayed. Most kids just stayed away from him, though some were mean and teased him. I was one who just stayed away. I really regret this now. Why couldn't I have shown him more love? Why couldn't I have been his friend? The image I have of him in my mind's eye is him sitting in a corner, always alone. No one deserves that.

A few people have asked how I feel our children will do having a sister who is developmentally delayed and how it will affect them. I hope that they learn love, compassion, and service. I hope that MF will feel that she always has a friend in each of them. I hope that they will be the ones to stand up for her when others may be mean or tease her because she is different. I hope they will be her advocates, her champions, her support. I can only see having her in our family as a large positive for them and their outlook on others who are not like them, whether that be someone of a different race, someone who speaks another language, or someone who is disabled in some way. I don't want them to be like I was- ignoring others around them because they don't know what else to do. I want them to be friends to the loners. Friends to the disabled. Friends to those that no one else wants to befriend.

The world needs more people like Spencer. I want to be one of them. I want my children to be some of them as well.

Oh Summer, Summer

Hallie and Devin enjoying some Seven Peaks time

I finally feel like summer is in full swing around here! It is my favorite time of the year and it seems like this year it has been a long time in coming since the weather has been playing tricks with our minds.

Today, Hallie, Jace and I took a walk to the library and back (about a 4 mile journey- it took about an hour) and it was nice to just bask in the sun. Don't ask about my sunburned skin. That's just a staple of summer for me.

We stopped on the way home to get some slurpees, which (along with sno-cones) are also a big must for summer. Hallie didn't quite get what it was...but that was basically my fault because I told her that we would get something like ice cream after the library. After she finished her slurpee, she said "Where is my ice cream?" and then when I put her down for Quiet Time, she said, "And I will get my ice cream when I wake up from quiet time??" Haha, poor thing.

We also have season passes to Seven Peaks, a local water park. We have decided that we will go every Tuesday evening. We have been the last two from about 6:30 pm until 8 when they close and that has been perfect. The crowds die down by that point and its not boiling hot anymore. Hals is a super dare devil in the water, which scares me a bit, but hey, she has fun! She was going down a slide tube with Devin and then decided she wanted to go on her own. Yikes. She did fine, but I about had a heart attack when she got shot out and went under the water for a bit. I'm just a paranoid mom, what can I say?

Swimming, Slurpees, long walks in the sun. Oh summer. It's about time!

What are your favorite things about summer?

Hallie-isms

It's high time for another Hallie-isms post, right? She says and does so many funny things, it is hard to keep up, but here are some of the most recent ones:

*During "quiet time", she kept yelling from behind her door "Mom, get me out of here! Mom, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" When I did go to open the door for her, she had locked it from the inside so that I couldn't. But my attempt to open it sent her into a fit of laughter, so all I could hear from the other side of the door was this cackling, "I got you" laughter. Good one, Hals, good one.

*Also a frequent "quiet time" and bedtime refrain is "I need to go potty!" so that we will get her out of her room. I usually ask, "Do you really need to go, or are you just saying that?" And she will respond, "I just saying that." At least she is honest, right?

*One day, we had the following conversation:

Hallie: What are you doing?
Me: Mopping the floor.

Hallie: I'll sit on the couch then.

Me: How come?

Hallie: Because I'm scared of the mopper! (like, duh)

Me: Why?

Hallie: Because it will get me! (I guess it is time I stop allowing the "mopper" to "get her", eh?)

*Since she has seen three of her cousins get baptized recently, she is really on the theme of baptism. She asks every day if she can get baptized. Then I explain to her that she will when she turns eight. This makes her really excited, though she doesn't get that she won't be eight for six more years. haha. She likes to say that her daddy will baptize her and that she will have bare feet.

*One night I was trying to get her to brush her teeth before bed. Her response? "I just brushed my teeth yesterday!" My point exactly.

*One night at dinner:

Me: Do you want some more green beans?

Hallie: No, I already got some tons. No, TWO tons.

*When talking about MF one day: "I will carry her around the house! She can wear the circle dress and I can wear the flower dress!"

*I was wearing my Relay for Life t-shirt one day, which has a picture of Chris. Hallie looked at it and said, "mom! it's Uncle Chris. He's not scared!" (Can you tell a 'scared' theme going on??)

*One morning she was twirling around and pretending, so I asked her what she was doing. She responded, "making oatmeal for the Beast!" then, "I'll bring Belle upstairs. She is downstairs picking flowers." (love the imagination going on in that head!)

*One day, pretending to talk on my phone, I asked her who she was talking to. She replied, "Jen. She is asking me if I want presents."

Me: "What did you say?"

Hallie: "I said, Thanks for the presents!" then, "Let's call Steve, too."

Run, Kim, Run!

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." -Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

I can definitely say I will never come first in running. My question is...how do people enjoy this so much!?

I am up to running 2 miles at a time. Now, I know that most of you are probably scoffing at that, but let me tell you- I finish beet red, panting, and feeling as if I am going to die. Not pretty sight, for sure.

I am starting to like running a little bit better, but that's usually only after I am done. While I am running is a different story. While I run, I am usually cursing Camille and Kylee with everything I have. :) Just kidding...sort of.

I have a handy dandy app on my phone that tells me how far I am going, shows the gps map, tells my speed, and counts calories. That has been fun because it motivates me to do better than I did the last time. However, I am still not good by any means. One mile usually takes me 10-11 minutes. Maybe one day I will get faster, but right now I am just concentrating on the achievement of making it!

I also just got my first pair of running shoes, EVER. Yeah, they are a big help. I was just running in my old tennis shoes before and I could certainly feel it. These make it a lot easier to run. Funny how that works, right?

Well, if anything, at least these two look cute when we go for runs....

So- you runners out there, how do you do it!? What keeps you motivated? What do you think about/do when you run? Music? I haven't tried that yet, though maybe I will!

Send your help my way! Heaven knows I certainly need it!

friends, zoos, and lots of babies

Last weekend I got to spend some quality time with two of my best friends from high school-Kylee and Heidi, along with their families. Friday night we chatted from like 3 pm until midnight. Sometimes you just need some girl time and let me tell you, it was amazing.

We were some funny funny children back in the day (maybe still are?) and we had a ton of random adventures in high school that it was fun to reminisce and laugh about. Hey, when you don't drink or party and you live in a small area, you make your own fun. Believe me, we did. One of our other friends started an email chain this week about some of our random adventures and reliving some of the memories- and let me just tell you, I have not laughed so hard in a LONG, LONG time. I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face at times. I would share some memories here, but I don't want anyone to think less of me... haha, no really no one would get our inside jokes and would probably think we are rather stupid. Oh well. Another time.

Saturday, Hides, Ky, and I loaded up the families and went to the Zoo. Whoever thought that was a good idea on Memorial Day Weekend (cough. cough. Kylee. Okay, me) wasn't the most brilliant. It was packed! Oh well, it turned out to be a really fun time. The weather was perfect most of the day, which was extra great.

Here is the whole crew of us- Seth, Jayda, Kylee, Devin, (Jace in the stroller), Hallie, me, Jerika, Vance, Heidi, (Cosette in the stroller).

Fake ponies. Awesome. Also awesome were the fake dinosaurs around the park- apparently the theme this year? Some even spit water and growled at us. Rude.

Hallie is kind of scared of animals generally, but she liked most of the ones at the zoo because they are caged and kept their distance. Looks like she is about the size of a small chimp, according to this chart.
My favorite animals were the elephants, especially cute baby Zuri.
Little Miss Cosette. She is so squishy and adorable! She and Jace are about one month apart. It looks like the trend continues for us to have abnormally large children, eh?

These two are about two months apart. They were really funny to watch and to listen to. They enjoyed watching some people feed a giraffe (apparently they paid $40 to feed them a few pieces of bread. Totally not worth it if you ask me!). Jerika also loved pushing Hallie around in her stroller. Good times for two year olds!

Nothing beats good times with old friends and that weekend was much needed for me!

Oh for handsome- he's 3 months old!

Jace is 3 months old today! Since 3 monthers don't do all that much, here are a lot of pictures, plus a few facts about him. I am glad I kept these posts for Hallie so that I can go back and see what she was up to and what she looked like at the same age. It has been fun for me. So, without further ado, enjoy some Jacer:
*No stats this month since we don't go back to the doctor until 4 months. But, I am guessing he is around 13 pounds and SUPER long. Is that even a question?

*Hallie still believes herself to be his little mother. When he cries, she always yells, "Oh Jacer, it's okay buddy!!" or something like that.
*His favorite toy is still the bouncy chair (what would be do without that thing?!) but he does also like the swing for a minute. He is starting to really enjoy his play mat- pictures below of that.
*Jace is a good sleeper and a good eater. He has been sleeping from 7 pm until 7 or 8 am the last little while. He sometimes wakes up about 2 am but we just put his binky back in his mouth and he goes back to sleep. He eats 7-8 ounces at a time and has had that much since he was about a month old. I am excited to start solids in a month or so, I think he will be more than ready.

*Jace is starting to love to kick like a mad man. Lay him on the floor, on his mat, or on a bed, and he kicks like crazy. It is fun to watch.
*He also is pro at grabbing items now. He used to just stare at his toys, then bat at them, and now he just grabs them like its no big deal. Amazing to watch babies develop!
*He is not a cuddler. I wish he was, but he prefers to hold his head up and look around versus giving hugs and cuddles. Poo.

* We just busted out the 3-6 month clothes, though he does still fit into some 3 month stuff as well. It's mostly a length problem versus a weight problem.


* I still can't get over how handsome he is sometimes. Particularly since his parents aren't all that attractive, except for Devin. He sure is a cute boy.
* I love when I go get him in the morning or after a nap and he is grinning like crazy. I tried to get a picture, but of course as soon as the camera comes out, he stops smiling. How do kids learn that this early???
*He is overall a more serious child than Hallie ever was. I can tell that already. He has a more calm and easy going temperament, which is great. Two Hallie's would be a little out of control, let's be honest!

Happy 3 months to us, since we are the blessed ones for being able to have such a sweet and loving boy in our lives. It's amazing how much fun these babies are and how much joy they bring.

Videos

It's been a while since I have posted videos of the kiddos. So here are a few. Hallie has been very good to help with Jace. She constantly wants to hold him and take care of him as these videos show.

A sweet story: The other day, we were talking about MF with Hallie. I told her where she lives now, but that we would be going to pick her up and that she would be coming to live with us (we have this conversation from time to time). Hallie then said that she would share her dresses, her toys, and her bed with MF. Then she said, "And my mommy will be her mommy? And my daddy will be her daddy?" She comprehends a lot more than we give her credit for sometimes.

*PS. Recognize the outfit in the second video? Yeah, its one of her chosen outfits from her fashionista week. Clearly we had not gotten her ready for the day yet. Also forgive the hair. She is in a phase where she doesn't want "anything in it!"

Changes

So---after discussing it with Devin, I have decided to make the blog unprivate. Wahoo! The main reason is that there are more people wanting to read it than I have invites for. Darn blogger for limiting it to 100.

I joined an Ecuador Adoptions yahoo group about a week ago after scouring the web for adoption stories from Ecuador. Nothing like reading real life stories to prepare yourself, right? I couldn't find ANY, but finally found this group, which has opened up a whole new world of stories for me. It has been fabulous. Not only that, but many of the people know our sweet MF from their trips to pick up their children. So amazing what a small world it can be.

If you are wondering who in the world MF is, well, that's the little girl we are adopting. Don't worry. I still care about privacy and not jeapordizing anything with the adoption, so until things are final, I have taken down all pictures of her and have also removed her name from all previous posts. She is now known as MF all over and from here on out. Most of you know her name, but if you are a newcomer at some point and want to know, just email me. I have also taken out some details in the back story posts as I again want to be cautious. I will put everything back up when all is said and done.

Fashionista

So I have mentioned before that Hallie is very conscious of what she wears. She changes her clothes so many times a day that we put one of those safety locks on the outside of her door so that she can't go into her room without our help. Because, well, when she does, she comes out wearing something new. (One reason I looked forward to having a boy is I am pretty sure he will not have this habit. Maybe...but hopefully not!)

The best surprise of every night is when I go to check on Hallie before I go to bed because inevitably, she is wearing something really fantastic. I honestly don't know why I even put pajamas on her before bed, because as soon as I shut the door, I know her creative juices get flowing as she tries to come up with the "cutest" outfit she can.

About a week ago, I decided I ought to take a picture of her every morning right when she gets out of bed to document the outfits she comes up with. I am sure she will want to know about this when she is a teenager. So, without further ado, a really incredible week in fashion, according to Hallie. (Sorry about the bad pictures-- she isn't really that cooperative first thing in the morning. Wonder why? Crazy woman chasing her around with a camera before she can even get a bite to eat? That's not even understandable.)

Morning 1: A long sleeve, polka dot top with a pair of brown, polka dot shorts. Polka on Polka. Good choice.
Morning 2: This happy girl is sporting a pair of pink stretch pants (no childhood is complete without stretch pants) and a green, polka dot used-to-be-a-dress-but-now-serves-as-a-shirt top. I sense a polka dot theme, yes?
Morning 3: a long, red, flowing dress up skirt (we won't mention that it is not actually ours and that it was removed from the poor, unsuspecting neighbors' house...aka stolen) paired with a brown and turquoise gem up top.
Morning 4: ("Mom, I am getting sick of this game!") Leopard print dress. Always a classy choice.
Morning 5: The return of the brown and turquoise top, this time paired with a brown, animal print skirt. Can't forget the pink fluffy dog purse, proclaiming that she is a "Princess". Now, whether or not she slept with the purse on her arm as a part of her outfit... I don't know. But, I wouldn't rule it out.
Morning 6: AH! A pair of pajamas! Not the ones she went to bed wearing, mind you, but pajamas none the less. Oh, let's not forget about the one black shoe and one white shoe. Definitely interesting. Hopefully not a new fashion trend.
And the best part of all:
Hallie came out wearing this one day after her middle of the day "quiet time" (read: nap time- though she doesn't actually nap):::::

A Pair of Pajamas! Go figure.

Stuff

I know I just had a post called "shmorgasboard", so I am going to call this one "stuff". I know it's lame, but it's a done deal.

Stuff. Yeah, we have stuff going on. Since I know you are all dying to know everything that goes on with us, here are the top ten newest new and exciting/not so exciting things going on in our lives.


10) Hallie had her eye checked out finally. She has had a bump on her eyelid for like 3 months. We thought it was pretty harmless but decided to check it out anyway. After our doctor announced that he had never seen such a large thing on a child's eyelid (comforting), he sent her to a pediatric eye doctor to get it checked out further. It is a cyst, as we thought. The eye dr. said that it would go away on its own. Let's hope sometime in the next 5 years, since its been there for months already. Oh well. The best part is that her eyes had to be dilated and they stayed that way for like two days. Kind of freaky.

9) Jace is rolling over. Only from stomach to back, but it's still fun to watch him learn new things all the time. What a handsome boy. (Not that being handsome has anything to do with it, but I just can't resist saying that. I am, afterall, his mother and I am supposed to say things like that about him).

8) After much struggle, tears, and protesting, my friends Camille and Kylee have convinced me to do the 10k Dirty Dash with them in September in SLC. I know, I know- pick yourself up and get back into your chair and then you may proceed reading for a thorough explanation. If you know me at all, you know that I detest running. I am not an exerciser in general, in fact. I only agreed to do it because a) the baby chub isn't coming off quite as quickly (or at all) this time around b) it supports some good causes and c) its running through mud with slip and slides and fun things like that! Fun, right? We will see. Wish me luck. Before I agreed to do it, I made Devin go out running with me just to see how far I could go before I died. I went 1.5 miles, which I was rather proud of, particularly since we live in a hilly neighborhood and Devin (that sly dog) started us off by running directly up one of those said hills. He had to drag me back home, along with the two children, at the end- but hey, I ran 1.5 miles!

7) On that same note (I don't know if I can really come up with ten things to talk about here...so, continuing on from the last one), Camille sent me a training schedule for the race. Devin and I have been 100% following it so far. This is really saying something people, just so you know. Each Thursday is stretch/strength day. Well. Let me just tell you that Devin takes things seriously when it comes to stretching and strengthening. We did wall sits, lunges, sit ups, push ups, weights, and more weights. Rounds of three on each one. Just when I thought I was done, he would announce another round. (I think he was re-living the glory days of his high school basketball days). Oh. MY. GOSH. My legs were immediately like jello and have not returned to their normal consistency since. Yeah, I am walking like I am 90 years old. Hopefully I stop being so weak and it doesn't hurt so bad after a while!

6) Loving Bountiful baskets still. We have been getting one every week for the past few months and we love them. Love the variety, love that it saves money, and love that we get to try new recipes with things we have never had before (jicama for example. Tried a few things with that. I loved it, Devin hated it.)

5) A few exciting adoptions this past week. They are all exciting, but these past two just left me feeling extra great for some reason. One was with one of my adoptive couples that I adore and another was my birth mother that placed with a couple from another office. That one was fun- the baby was supposed to be a girl and came out a boy. Never hear of that happening anymore, but that made it extra exciting. Also fun was listening to the birth mother talk about how hot she thinks her doctor is and how flustered she gets just mentioning him. haha, so funny. I personally don't think I would pick a doctor that I think is hot to be my down-there doc, if you know what I mean. But to each their own!

4) We are really not that exciting and I don't have anything to say here.

3) It's time for Relay for Life fundraising again! Wahoo! Since I have sort of saturated this audience for donations, we have decided to do things a bit differently this year and I am super excited. I mentioned Sarah has gotten me into garage sale-ing. Well, I decided that we should hold a garage sale of our own and donate 100% of the profits to our Relay for Life fundraiser. I am so excited about this! I think we can do pretty well. I am going to ask our ward members to just bring us things that they are going to give to the DI anyway or that they want to get rid of during spring cleaning, etc. so that we can have a variety of things to sell. I think people will be pretty supportive since it is a fundraiser and all the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. I think this is a good way for people to help too, since it is hard to always donate money to different causes, particularly when money is tight for a lot of people. I think we will hold it the second Saturday in June so that I have time to gather things and get organized. If you want to help me out-- here are some ways. If you live nearby, you can donate items for us to sell at the garage sale. OR- you can stop by the garage sale to see if anything strikes your fancy to purchase (I will post details later on). As always, you can also just donate directly to my Relay for Life page if you would rather. HERE is the link.

2) I got a new calling. Relief Society secretary in my ward. I really am getting old, I guess.

1) Devin is starting his new job this week! Can I get a hallelujah from the audience? He has a job with a grounds crew at a golf course. This is super exciting for him because it is a step in the right direction for career jobs in his chosen field. The hours are great (for him): 5:30 am to 1:30 pm, allowing me to work from 2-6 each afternoon still. The down side is that it is a seasonal job and does not offer benefits, so poor Dev is staying at Smiths as well. He will work there on weekends to maintain our benefits and such there. I know he detests that place, but even having a few less shifts there per week makes him extremely happy. Next year, after we have a little bit more leeway (we need to stay in our house for another year since we bought it with the tax credit), he can use the golf course job as experience to look for jobs elsewhere, besides just our little area, which doesn't offer much in the way of what he would like to do (sports turf). Anyway, that's that. Exciting and kind of fun to be moving forward a bit.

Play-doh scripture stories

My cousin Sarah and her husband Daniel live really close to us and we are lucky enough to see them a few times a week, generally. Nothing like having family close by--automatic/built in friends. The rules of family are such that they have to like us and they can't rid themselves of us, even if they wanted to. Ha.

This week, we had FHE together, which consisted of building our favorite scripture story out of play-doh. As we all know, my artistic skills are lacking. If you need further evidence, see this post or this post to remind you.

Anyway, it probably won't be hard to guess which scene is mine (and Hallie's. We were on a team. She was quite the help, let me tell you. My work is about the level of a 2 year old's, so lets just go ahead and say that she built it. That makes me feel better).

The building process:



The finished products:





Some people in this family are highly artistic! Can you see the detail on some of those things? Alright- any guesses as to what the stories are and which one belongs to who? I am almost certain no one can guess 100%. If you can, you might just deserve a prize!

Another great thing about Sarah and Daniel- completely unrelated to this- is that they are teaching me the art of garage selling. Stay tuned for possible adventures in that. I am on the hunt for a bike. Wish me luck.

shmorgasboard

So- we have been up to a few things lately and since Blogger was being dumb for a few days, I got behind and now you are going to have to deal with an all-in-one post. First and foremost, I promised a recap of

WICKED:
Well now, this was an exciting Clark family event if there ever was one. We don't even really need to be doing anything exciting to have fun together, but when you throw in something as awesome as Wicked, the time is extraordinarily fun. Yes, I know i just said extraordinarily. That's a big word for me. Anyway, it's true.

I left P-town at 9 am in time to pick up Che' by 10 and then our dear Aunty Linda (that makes her sound old and decrepit. She is actually young and hip) by 11am. When planning this event, Che' and I sent out an email stating that we Utah folks would be due to arrive in Boise at about 3:14 pm if our planning was correct. Those driving from Idaho made fun and said that we would never make it by 3:14 because we had two babies with us who would need to be fed and a Linda who is pregnant and needs multiple bathroom breaks. WELL- we sure showed them. We arrived in Boise long before they did and just barely missed our 3:14 pm mark. We only had to stop once and in fact could have been on the road quicker after that stop were it not for a one woman bathroom in the gas station where an unknown woman was already occupying the stall and taking her sweet time. Anyway...

By the time we all got to Boise and settled into our rooms at the hotel, it was time to get ready and head to dinner. We met my friend Kylee (why in the world did we not get a picture woman?) at a restaurant. She was kind and loving enough to take on the task of both Hudson and Jace (not to mention her own child) during the show. We owe her big time!

The show itself?? A-MA-ZING. I honestly thought I was going to be disappointed because everyone talks it up so much, but I can tell you that I was super impressed. My first order of business when I came home was to order the soundtrack and I have listened to it at least once per day since. Yeah, I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

The trip was super short as we woke up the next morning and hit the road by 8 am. Che' graduated that evening from the U's nursing program so we wanted to be back for the big celebration. Though it was a short journey, it was an excellent adventure, as usual.

Now some pictures....

Carlie, Grandma, and Jen at dinner
Suey and Jace
Che', Mari Ann, and Hailie (who turned the big 14 the next day! Happy birthday to her!)
Suey and Me
Che', me, and Grandma at the show. Poor grandma's eyes are closed.
Jen and Nort
We weren't supposed to be taking pictures, but hey it was intermission and you can't see anything anyway.
Well, don't we look all washed out? I seriously need a new camera. You get what you pay for...:)

Event Number Two...

Birth Mother/Adoption Celebration Walk:

Yesterday was the annual walk sponsored by Families Supporting Adoption at the Provo High track. Usually it is held on the Saturday before Mother's Day, which is Birth Mother's Day, but this year the track was booked so we had to push it back a week. I have been three years in a row and this year the event definitely was at its biggest and best.

There were fire trucks from the local department there, Cosmo from BYU, tons of balloons for the kids, donuts, a candy toss, a parachute, and of course roses for the birth mothers in attendance. I know people think open adoption is weird (mostly when they don't know much about it), but I think it is a beautiful thing. It was so fun for me to see a lot of my current adoptive couples, some I have worked with in the past with their adopted children, and many of my former and current birth mothers all there together. It is totally normal for the birth parents to arrive with the adoptive family and everyone has a great time together. I just love it.

About Cosmo: Hallie has an infatuation with him as long as he is over 20 feet away. If he got any closer than that, she would scream bloody murder, but if he was over that distance, she would ask about him incessantly: "Where's Cosmo? I want to see Cosmo!" I can't figure that kid out sometimes...

Anyway, I failed miserably at taking any good pictures, but I did get a few and here they are.



I actually took this one from my co-worker Paige's blog (thanks Paige) because my husband chopped half of Krystal out of the picture on our camera. Lovely. These are all my fantastic co-workers. I appreciate each of them so much and couldn't ask for a better team. From the left: Lauren, Koleen, Margaret, me (Hallie refused to let me put her down, thus, she is in the picture), Sandy (our trusty and faithful boss), Paige, and Krystal.

Margaret and Jace. Cute. Apparently the little guy in the background was born just one day after Jace. How fun, they can be buddies.
Hallie was most likely freaking out about Cosmo right here. Devin wants to toughen her a up a bit.
Finally, the next event...

Cleaning Linda's house:

Remember how I mentioned that my aunt Linda is pregnant? She is pregnant with her fourth child and has had real problems with her back/nerves during the pregnancy. She has been in a lot of pain and hasn't been able to do as much as she normally does. She still manages to work full time and take care of her husband and kids though. This weekend was her and Brad's anniversary, so they called Che' and Landon to come watch their kids so that they could go for a little getaway.

Che' and Sue started brainstorming about ways we could help Linda and decided that it would be nice if we could congregate while they were gone to deep clean their house. We all thought it was a great idea and a bunch of us came to help. We waited until they left and then arrived in masses. Che' and Landon had to keep up a pretty elaborate lie each time Linda and Brad called to check on the kids about what was going on and keeping the whole lot of us hushed was also a project, but it worked. We got the carpets cleaned, cleaned walls, cleaned out the fridge and cupboards, scrubbed baseboards with a toothbrush, organized closets, swept, mopped, did laundry, cleaned windows/blinds, etc. It was a BIG project, but with as many people as we had, it didn't take too terribly long. We had a great time. I should have taken more pictures of our faces and such...but well... these will have to do.

Grandma and the big mess. Getting things cleaned always involves a larger mess first.
A portion of the mess in the kitchen
Hudson loved hanging in the bumbo with his baby. Isn't that adorable??
Piles of stuff on the bed during the carpet cleaning.
Cleaning walls, closets, baseboards, etc.

We had such a great time and Che' said that Linda and Brad's reaction was priceless. I wish I could have been there to see it- but hearing about it was pretty awesome too.

Well there ya have it....all caught up on the shmorgasboard of happenings!