fall festivities

Here are a few of the fun things we've been doing this fall.

• Cornbelly's: S had reaaaally wanted to go to HeeHaw's, but finally settled for Cornbelly's. We went on a very windy, chilly evening, but still had a fun time. There's a lot to see there, but I still kinda like HeeHaw's better (plus it's not as pricey).

I love her silly, wide-eyed face in this one. :p
This was while we waited to go on the wagon ride.

Daddy and his girl in a carriage. So sweet!

Another silly face. Her favorite part was the bouncing pillow.
It was fun watching her run and bounce on it.

• Spudnuts: For the second year in a row my mom and 2 sisters and I rolled out and fried our favorite fall doughnut. It goes much faster with all of us helping and it's fun doing it together.

• Pumpkin carving...er...decorating: I actually carved mine, but Daddy and S used the Mr Potato Head and Darth Tater parts for theirs.

• Halloween party: We had some of Nathan's high school friends who live in the area over for a simple Halloween party. I didn't have the greatest time at the party, but I enjoyed making some Halloween themed foods such as bones and blood (breadsticks and marinara sauce) and witch's hat cookies.

• Trick or treating: not once, not twice, but 3 times! The ward trunk-or-treat, Daddy's work, and Halloween night. We didn't go to too many houses on Halloween, but she still has candy. And with going to Mickey's Halloween party in Disneyland it kinda feels like we did Halloween twice this year. Oh well. Multiple trick or treating opportunities gave S the chance to dress up in different costumes. First she was Ariel. She LOVES Ariel!! I think she would give up her legs to have a fin in a heartbeat. :) It's just too bad that she can't swim! When I reminded her she'd been planning to dress up as Elsa for a long time, she decided to be Elsa later. So, including Disneyland, she got to be Anna, Ariel, and Elsa! Nathan and I dressed up as Darth Vader and Princess Leia again for the ward party and even won a prize. It is fun to dress up, it's just kind of a pain to come up with an idea and then put together a costume sometimes. I'm glad we did this year, though.

• Mums: not a fall activity, but they made my fall a little brighter. I watered them alllll summer long and asked myself why I was bothering to, but when they finally bloomed again in the fall I was glad I kept them alive. They were a cheerful sight to see outside my back door.

just had to share

My brother and his family have been a foster family to a young boy. He came from horrible circumstances (that's all I will say about that!). They've had him for about a year and have been working to adopt him over the last few months. This week the adoption was finalized! Even the judge, with the many cases that he sees, remembered this one and remarked at what a difference he saw in this little boy. It makes me so happy to think how much better his life is and will continue to be as part of my brother's family! It's rather amazing to me. And it makes me think more seriously about looking into being foster parents. =)

And to make the story EVEN sweeter, we were able to see him sealed to my brother and his wife! It was really a special experience to witness a new member being sealed to their family forever. I'm so glad I could be there.

She's 4!!

Our little girl just had her 4th birthday! We decided to let her have a small birthday party with friends. She's been wanting a pinata for months and that ended up being her favorite part. It was crazy, but lots of fun. Then we had grandparents, my sister, and Jeff and Cherie over for cake and ice cream (and plenty of presents). She had a good day. She kept telling us that on her birthday she was going to get up early and jump on our bed and tell us that it's her birthday. Well, Daddy was already gone to work, but she managed to get up before me and tell me. =) We visited my mom that day and played at the curiosity museum for a little while. I'm sure grateful to have this smart, kind, gentle soul in my life.

Love her sweet smile.
She wanted a Little Mermaid theme.

some of the cuties

pinata time! I think all the kids loved it.

all of the cuties

My older sisters would squeeze frosting for
decorating on my fingernails for "polish."
The tradition continues..

Her Ariel birthday cake

S and her new Elsa doll.
She got lots of fun presents.

We're SOOO happy to have her in our family!

Trip to Disneyland

We took a fun trip with our friends, Jeff and Cherie, to California to go to Disneyland. We also made it to the beach a couple times, which I loved. I'm a chicken in the water, but I still love to play in it and the crashing waves at the beach are very soothing to me. It was S's first time to the beach (at least while she was not in utero :) She liked it, too, but was pretty unhappy when she got caught unawares by a wave and when she found out afterwards that she was covered in sand (strange how that happens when you get buried in it ;)

Disneyland was non-stop fun. We went on tons of rides, met lots of characters, and saw quite a few shows and parades. S loved it all. During the parades she would yell and yell really loudly at her favorite characters, which cracked me up. She wasn't afraid to talk to the princesses this time and they were so sweet to her. I love how they would kneel down to her level and talk to her and give her hugs. So sweet. She really liked the Little Mermaid ride, the carousels, the kiddie roller coasters, and the teacups. She wasn't scared by any of the rides. She said her favorite was the teacups, and that was certainly the one we rode on the most! She also liked the seagulls by the Nemo ride that would periodically say, "mine, mine, mine, mine." :) We all rode the ferris wheel together and S was the only one of us completely unaffected by it! Cherie and I were both nervous when it really started rocking and we found out later that both Jeff and Nathan felt a little nauseous on it (but they had also just gone on California Screamin'!). S just thought it was great fun!

I really like the Grizzly Bear Run ride in California Adventure. I think it's fun to be sitting in a circle with a bunch of people anticipating the drops and turns. I also really like Thunder Mountain. Nathan got to ride it for the first time and said it's probably his favorite ride.

Having Jeff and Cherie there was also so, so great. They absolutely love S and totally spoiled her. They were so flexible and were always willing to take S here and there. We made sure they had time on their own to go on rides, too. They are wonderful people: so kind and patient and christ-like. We had a great time being together.

It was a really good time of year to go as far as how many people were there. The most we ever waited in line was 30 minutes, and that didn't happen many times. Waiting in line gets really old! So, thankfully, that wasn't a big deal. It was, however, unseasonably hot. The afternoons became pretty uncomfortable, but when we made the effort to go to shows and sit or be inside during that time of day it helped a lot. There was obviously lots of walking and we were all beat at the end of every day. S would hit a wall every day about noon and desperately needed a nap.

Here's a peek at all we saw and did...

S's first time at the beach

Nathan and Jeff playing with S

Sand is so much fun!

Ariel

Aurora

Snow White

Belle

Cinderella 

Elsa

Jeff, Minnie in her Halloween dress, Cherie, S

I love this one

My cutie pie on the ferris wheel

Riding on the teacups

Me and my unbounded enthusiasm on the Dumbo ride =)

fun, new toys

We love Roz from Monsters, Inc.
"Your stunned silence is very reassuring."

This night-time parade was really cool.

"To infinity and beyond!"

Carsland at night. Nathan got some great pictures.

That's the plan ;-)

Dark Vader (as S says)

We also went to Mickey's Halloween Party
while we were there. I somehow forgot S's
Elsa dress but, thankfully, she was willing
to be Anna (and we had brought that
dress to give to her on the trip).

She made a cute Anna

Cherie (a Dutch girl), Jeff (Merlin),
and little Anna

What a great trip!

Risk and Adoption

Adoption is a risky process. It’s risky for prospective adoptive parents, it’s risky for birth parents, and it’s risky for the children being adopted. It’s risky for all of these people and it’s risky for their families. So many things can go wrong that it would be ridiculous to try to make a complete list.

It’s been about 2 years since my wife and I made the decision to look into adoption. We didn’t know much about it; we just knew that we were out of other options. The agency that we chose has since stopped providing adoption services for couples, and the agency that we decided we liked stopped accepting new couples into their pool of adoptive parents. Maybe the waiting is the worst part, but it’s not the riskiest part.

In this long process we’ve also had a lot of opportunities to learn about adoption. What adoption looked like in our minds when we first began the process is very different from what we see now, and we only have the experience of others to inform that view.

As we started attending some of the classes required by our adoption agency, we learned about different levels of openness between the adoptive parents and the birth families. We learned that higher levels of openness and contact with the child’s birth parents usually contribute positively to the long-term health and identity of that child.

I had only heard a horror story from an adoptive couple who had to cut off contact with the birth mother of their adopted child because she and her friends began making threats that they would kidnap the child, so my opinion of openness colored by that bad experience. I also made a new friend who had an 18 year old daughter who became pregnant and decided to place her child with an adoptive couple. She found a family that not only welcomed her into their lives, but also welcomed her parents (including my friend) to be a regular part of this child’s life going forward. He spoke of what an amazing thing that was and how wonderful he felt about that solution.

I attended panel discussions where adoptive children spoke about how they wished they could meet their birth parents, or simply have pictures of them; they would simply love to know more about them. I also attended panel discussions with birth parents both mothers and fathers. I could see the very real pain of separation from their children. I learned about the risks they take when they agree to place their child.

I can only attempt to imagine the devastation that a new mother feels when the adoptive couple breaks their commitment to openness and cuts off contact after the relinquishment papers are signed. I can only attempt to imagine the pain of an adoptive couple who has formed a bond with a birth mother who ultimately decides she can’t place her child with them when the child arrives. These are real risks and real pain that have happened all too often.

I also recently met a girl who was adopted internationally, and after those parents decided they could not continue to raise and care for her, she was adopted again. I know words can really do nothing to describe her insecurities as she tries to make sense of her experiences and do her best to form trusting relationships when her life experiences tell her that it’s just a fairy-tale.

So adoption is risky for everyone involved. I believe that with all of my heart. I know there is still plenty of potential for heartache and heartbreak as we continue to pursue this course, but I still believe that there is also plenty of potential for something wonderful to happen. My friend whose daughter found a good family for her child knows that adoption can be wonderful. Circumstances aren’t always ideal, but that doesn’t prevent us from pursuing the ideal. I believe and hope that adoption will be wonderful for my family.

Weekend at...Capitol Reef

We have a friend in our ward who is a high school geology teacher and one Sunday he was telling me about Capitol Reef National Park and the beautiful rock formations and geology there. He said our families should go visit it together sometime. I heartily agreed. I'd never been and I like going to see new places, especially if there's some hiking involved. I didn't know if it would actually happen (how many times do you talk about going on trips with people and it's just talk??), but it did!! I was pleased :)

First at the park we visited Hickman Bridge, a huge natural rock bridge. It was about a mile hike to get there. There were a couple other very cool rock bridges on the way there as well. S loved playing in the sand on the trail.

Hickman Bridge--trust me, it's huge

Our group on the last leg of the hike back from Hickman
Bridge. S fell asleep as I was carrying her and we both
got super sweaty.

We were all pretty hot and tired after the hike. So, in the park there are lots of orchards, I think mostly apple, where you can pick your own fruit, eat as much as you'd like while you're there, and pay for what you take with you. The orchard where we stopped had lots of wormy apples, but we still found a few good ones. I've always wanted to pick my own fruit at a place like that.

Nathan brought our nice camera and had fun taking lots of pictures. Here are a few:

This is my all-time favorite of the ones he took.
It's of Castle rock. I love the vibrant
colors, the blossoming sagebrush in the foreground, and
the blue sky!

On Sunday we went to church in Bicknell, then visited the Goosenecks and the petroglyphs in the park. The Goosenecks refer to the winding river at the bottom of the mini-Grand Canyon. It definitely reminded me of the Grand Canyon--so beautiful!

Me and my sweetie pie

Goosenecks

A fun black-and-white Nathan took near the Goosenecks

Anyway, we had a great trip. We even managed to see the amazing end of the BYU/Nebraska football game--WOW, is all I can say about that. It was fun getting to know our friends better and seeing more of the breathtaking beauty of the red rock country of southern Utah. I loved it. The only national park I haven't been to in Utah now is Canyonlands! Maybe next summer...:)