Wednesday, December 30, 2009
A Whole Decade of Me
2000-
Rang in the New Year for Y2K at the Stake Dance
Finished my season of Winter Cheer where I cheered for the Boys Basketball team (we won state if I remember correctly)
Played the Witch in "Into the Woods" (a musical)
Graduated Junior High (lol)
Started High School
Did Freshman Cheer
Played the Sousaphone in the Marching Band
Sang in the Choir
Almost tore my knee at tumbling
2001-
Marched in the Rose Bowl Parade (8.5 miles with a 40 pound hunk of metal)
(not the right year but you get the picture)
Competed in the State Cheerleading Competition (we won 2nd place)
Got 4 stitches above my left eye (ran into a pole at the Cheer Competition minutes before performing-great story)
Got my wisdom teeth out
Got braces on
Started Coaching Gymnastics
Went on my first date to Golfland
(competition in flagstaff for band-worst uniforms EVER)
Went on my second date to Golfland (with a different boy)
Got my first kiss (2 weeks after I turned 16)
Went to my first high school dance (Homecoming)
Continued to play the Sousaphone in the Marching Band and sing in Choir
2002-
Made Regional Choir as a Soprano
Hiked the Grand Canyon with 60 girls - it rained, all night
Had a very uneventful closing to my Sophomore year (I really cannot think of anything)
(me and my friend Paige)
Decided to put my tuba away during marching band and joined Colorguard
(all of colorguard-don't you wish you had to wear teal eyeshadow and velvet outfits?)
Played Tuba in the concert band where I didn't have to carry it around all the time
Sang in the 2 top choirs at my school
Dumped by a "boyfriend" for the first time and cried about it
2003-
Got my braces off!!! (HURRAY!)
Went to Chicago to compete with the Choir
Was in Winterguard (a colorguard only competition i.e. flags, rifles, sabres, twirling them around and throwing them in the air and catching them - most of the time)
Went to Prom with one of my guy friends at my next door neighbors house (Best prom EVER!)
Made All State Choir
(winter formal)
Started my last year of High school
Still in band and choir
2004-
Competed in Gilbert Junior Miss and made finals
Made Regional Band as 2nd chair tuba
Made All State Choir as 7th Chair Soprano
Completed my Young Women recognition
Played the tuba in the Orchestra (the best musical group in high school)
Went to Prom with my "boyfriend"
Graduated High School
(me and my best friend Kristin on graduation night)
Made the Cheerleading team at Mesa Community College
Went to my first semester of College
Moved out of the house and into an apartment with roommates
(me, Paige, and Kristin going to our first Single's dance, yikes)
Tore my shoulder cheerleading
Twisted my ankle cheerleading
Realized I was too old to be doing that to my body
Failed all but 1 class my first semester of college (I rocked Italian!)
Met a boy
Fell in love
Had my last "first kiss"
2005-
Had my first proposal (I said "YES!")
Tried on wedding dresses
Bought a house
Got Married (yes, we bought the house first lol)
(our wedding day outside the Mesa Temple aka, the happiest day of my life)
Became a Nursery teacher
My first nephew was born
Went to the Disneyland Challenge (and won 2nd place)
Continued to teach gymnastics
Took a couple of college courses and got a 98% in Calculus
2006-
Went back to college to study Child development (aced all of my classes, thank you!)
Bought our first car (a brand new Corolla that we still have)
Decided that our family needed to grow
A nephew was born on Robby's side (on my birthday)
Still coaching gymnastics
2007-
Still trying to grow our family
Became a manager at the gymnastics studio and ran my own location
Took another semester of Italian (love the language but cannot speak it to save my life)
Took a few more classes in College
Taught Sunbeams and CTR 5
Bought annual passes to Disneyland and went a BUNCH!
(me and Baby Connor on our Birthdays)
(Robby's favorite ride)
2008-
Still trying to grow the family
Went to Girl's camp as a leader for the first time
Had 4 nephews all born within a month
(3 out of 4 nephews born that year, Erik, David, and Aaron)
Started working at University of Phoenix
2009-
Still trying to grow the family
Decided to pursue adoption
Researched adoption like CrAzY!
Went to Girl's camp again and hiked a crazy hard hike!
Got promoted at work to a Senior Rep
Went to another Disneyland Challenge and won 1st place!!!
Was Tinkerbell for Halloween
(Kristin, Joanna's sister in law, Joanna, and Me-Dallin in the background)
CERTIFIED TO ADOPT!!!
(so in love)
It's been a LONG decade. I can't believe how far I have come and how much I have grown. From a measley 14 year old who knew nothing about the world or life, to a 24 year old woman who still hardly knows anything about the world or life. Lol. I am learning and I have grown so much. I'm so grateful that for the better half of this decade, I have been with the love of my life. I am so grateful for Robby. He is my best friend. I thank my lucky stars every day that I found him. I don't know how I got so lucky. I was not making the best choices when it came to boys at that time and was a pretty shallow person (not gonna lie). But I found him and just knew he was supposed to be mine forever. And somehow, I ended up getting the best guy in the world! :)
Here's to another great decade. Filled with joy, love, BABIES, birth families, more nephews (and maybe a niece or 2), and happiness. CHEERS!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
HURRAY!
WE ARE CERTIFIED!
I can't believe it. We were thinking that it would be another month at least. Robby and I bounced around a bit, I may have cried a little. We are so thrilled. This means that we can now bring a baby home at any time... Just got to find our birthmom. :) So we are working hard on our profile and hope to have it up and running soon. We're still struggling at writing the letter to the Birthmom/birth parents. I just don't know what to say to the woman who will provide us with the greatest gift possible. How do you start a letter to the most magnificent person in the world? Hopefully I'll figure it out soon. I know that many prayers were answered for this to happen so quickly and I am truly grateful for this experience.
Funny little thing, our anniversary of our first date was on the 17th so Robby bought me a necklace. It says I (heart) adoption. The day before was our official certified date. I truly love adoption and all the wonderful things that it has brought in to my life.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Could it really be?
5 years since we sat up all night watching movies like John Q, Cutting Edge, Minority Report, Beauty and the Beast, and Lord of the Rings 2 and ate orange rolls on the love sack.
5 years since we shared our first kiss (though it was technically on the 18th).
5 years of ups and downs.
5 years of never doubting my love for him and his love for me. :)
Happy 5 years from our very first date.
Exactly 4 and a half years of being married.
From now to Eternity... I love you Robby!
Monday, December 7, 2009
No Good, very bad week
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thanksgiving
Sweet little Aaron. He LOVES camera flashes so he was just giving me smile after smile. He should so be a baby model. He's just the darlingest little thing.
This is the best picture of the 3 of them together. After this, Erik started pushing David in the head. While funny, not very post worthy. :) It's funny to think that these boys are only 10 days apart.
The night before Thanksgiving, we had a pizza night. We LOVED our veggie pizza and Robby and I ate the whole thing (quickly). My dad made a Brick Oven to make pizza in his backyard. He even made the Turkey in it for Thanksgiving. He spent a long time on that thing and it's so fun to see him reap the benefits. (and tasty for us too!)
My brother John and baby Aaron. We just LOVE his curly hair. It's so funny how much Aaron looks like John when he was a baby.
Our table setting at Thanksgiving. We had so much fun putting all this together. It looked like a very fancy dinner before we all sat down. We had a great time with my cousins who were able to come (those who didn't missed out on a great time!)
Me and Davey boy. He is such a cutie pie. Poor guy was sick almost the whole time we were there so he was a little bit of a momma's boy and between trying to steal him from Robby, this is the only good picture I have of me and him.
My dad and the twins. Erik walked over with the book and David was quick to sit down too. Then we all ran to get a camera to capture the sweet moment. (gotta love the reading glasses. He's such a grandpa now! lol)
CHEESE! Erik was being so funny. We were giving him Grapefruit juice and watching his expression. We would all laugh so he started smiling and making us laugh more. He reminds me a lot of Jimmy. Always ready to make anyone laugh.
Me and the boys reading "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boyton. Her books are so much fun and are usually songs. We love snuggling up with those boys and reading.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Us at Disneyland. Because we would live there if they let us. Disney is huge in our family. We go there all the time. Last time we went, for my birthday, we came home with Baby's First Mickey and a Mickey Onesie. I was Tinkerbell for Halloween and a Princess all year long. ;) Disney is life in the Colvin home.
This is us with 2 of our favorite nephews. Not a second goes by that we aren't missing these little guys. We got a lot of experience taking care of brand new babies. I was there every second I didn't have to be at work. I learned a TON from my sister about being a great mommy.
Probably my favorite picture I have ever taken. Robby was playing with Connor and Connor was just eating it up. Robby is going to be the most amazing Daddy, as evident by this picture.
I thought I would include some of our activities we like to do. Robby loves to race go karts and he is pretty dang good at it. It was so much fun to watch him do this. He is so competitive but luckily, is also very good. :)
I can't believe I would show this picture, but I am. We went rappelling for girl's camp and I was a leader. One of the girls refused to go unless I did, so I went. I HATE heights with a passion but I put on a brave face and jumped down the cliff. I was faster than all the girls. It was awesome. :) This is me happy to be on the ground again (and not wearing any make up which is SO not like me.)
And this is one of our engagement pictures. It won the contest for favorite picture for our profile so you can bet it will be on there. I love how young we look almost 5 years ago. I'm more in love with him every day. He is the best husband ever!
We are currently working on our profile and it is a LOT more fun than all the paperwork, but it is still so time consuming. I have a note in my cube that says we will find our Birth Mother by Christmas of 2009. I'm a total believer of positive thoughts coming true so I put that little message out into the Universe and I'm confident that we will find her soon. :) In the mean time, we are going to be sending out passalong cards with our Christmas cards so if you want one, email me your address at angeecolvin(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Another Great Story
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Birth Mothers
This is from Andee, probably my favorite birth mom so far. I got these straight from her blog. This is what NOT to say.
1. Don't say things like: "Why didn't/don't you just give me the baby? Obviously you don't want 'it'"
There is little that someone could say to me that would offend me more than this statement. The funniest part about this, is that the first girl that said this to me was 18 years old and still senior in high school at the time. I was so angry with her that I let her know how much she offended me and was quite blunt. Usually I don't tell someone when I've been offended by them... She hasnt' talked to me since.
2. Don't say "Well I had my child out of wedlock and parented as a single parent...and they turned out just fine."
in other words you might as well say, "I can't belive you placed your child for adoption in a home with BOTH parents. That was seriously the wrong decision and I have less respect for you because of it." If you do not agree with my decision to place, either ASK QUESTIONS about why I placed...nicely...instead of being downright rude, or keep your opinions to yourself. If you ask me questions, I will be more than happy to honestly answer. I want more than anything to educate those people that are not aware of the miracle of adoption on THE MIRACLE OF ADOPTION.
Anyone that knows the truth about adoption, can't have negative feelings towards it. I don't see how that is possible. However, there is opposition in all things so I guess you never know.
3. don't say: "I can't believe you gave your baby away"
First off, I didn't 'give Avery away' I placed her for adoption. There is a difference. A huge difference. and Second, giving something away means giving it to someone that you (most likely) don't know and never wanting anything to do with it again. That's not the case. I knew Dustin and Andrea well before I placed Avery into their arms, to be adopted by them, so that she could have a family to be sealed to and two parents in the same home that love each other. AND I definitely want A LOT to do with Avery. That is why this is an open adoption. I love her more than anything and I always ALWAYS want to know how she is doing.
4. If you are married, pregnant and parenting this baby, do NOT complain to a birthmother OR an infertile couple, about your pregnancy.
Don't complain about how long you have to wait or how uncomfortable you are because I can GUARANTEE that when you DO complain to these people, you are causing much grief emotionally on their end. When I was pregnant, I complained about how long it was taking because I knew I wasn't getting anything in the end except more pain and heartache. I want more than anything to be able to create my own child and carry him/her for nine months and THEN parent him/her after he/she is born. It's hard to explain, but it's very hard to hear an expectant mother complain to me about how miserable she is. I just want to strangle her when she does and I'm sure infertile mothers feels the same way. I just want to say to her "At least this is YOUR child and you're not going to be dealing with incredible emotional pain after she is born."
5. Don't complain about being a mother
I'm sure this goes for adoptive parents too. I know that when the time is right for me to have my own kids, I will be so eternally grateful that I can be their mother. I will cherish every moment with them. So don't complain to me about how hard motherhood is. It's harder to give birth to your child and then willingly relinquish your rights as a mother. Until you have done that, don't complain.
6. Don't say "There are people out there who have it worse than you"
Frankly, this shouldn't be said about ANY trial a person is going through regardless of what it is. Saying that does NOT make the pain any easier. Saying that to someone is completely belittling their trial and that is SO wrong to do. I'm sure the person going through it doesn't think they have it worse than everyone else in this world, I know I don't. But it still hurts. Belittling it does not make them feel any better in fact for me, it makes me feel worse.
7. Don't treat someone placing their child for adoption as 'not that big of a deal'
I heard a story the other day. A good friend of mine had just BARELY placed and she was showing her coworkers pictures of her. One of them walked up to her and said "Cute baby, too bad you gave her away." and then walked away. WOW. That's SOO insensitive. Apparantly this person has NO idea what she had just gone through.
***********************************************************************************
Now this next one is from this site. Just another few things of what NOT to say.
I. "I could never place my baby for adoption."
This one used to make me cringe each time I heard it. I felt like I had failed at motherhood and the person making the comment has succeeded. That I must have been heartless to be able to do such an act. I felt inferior, like I need to prove something to them.
I have since learned I am not inferior, and I do not have to prove my mothering abilities to anyone. I believe now that comment has more to do with the person making it, than myself. Never has a woman secure in her role as a mother said that to me. Only the doubting, struggling-to-get-by mothers who feel that they must make such a declaration.
II. "What a wonderful gift you have given to a
childless couple"
Try to see this one from the Birthmother's point of view. Now, I love my daughter's adoptive parents, but by no means did I place my first born child as a 'gift' to a childless couple. I am not that nice, not that giving. When I clutched my nine month pregnant belly with tears in my eyes, I did not recite the phrase, "Just think how I am giving a special gift to people I do not know".
When it comes down to the day when you hold your child for the first time, all thoughts of anyone else but your child and yourself fade away. There has to a higher reason for placement.
I gave Emily's parents as a gift to my daughter. That was my plan. That was my intention. Now, as an added benefit, I see her parents lives enriched by Emily's existence. Together, we celebrate the gift of knowing our daughter, Emily.
III. "You can have other children"
This speaker means well, I am sure, but this comment can strike the very heart of a Birthmother. Other children? You can never replace another child with another! To try and do so is to dishonor the child you have placed for adoption and the child you use to fill the void.
Let us remember our children. Let us celebrate them. We hold a special place in our hearts where their names will be etched forever.
No matter how many babies you carry out of the hospital with you, you never will forget the one you did not.
IV. A lady once said to me, "That sure is 'nice' of her parents to let you see Emily."
My quick reply was, "That sure was nice of me to give them my baby!"
Needless to say she said nothing more. I try to educate people by telling them my story, even on days I do not feel like doing so. Some, I have learned, are not able to be very teachable on the subject.
Her attitude was that I should be grateful, as a dog is grateful to get scraps from the dinner table. I will not put myself in such a position. I refuse to be the silent shadow in the corner with my eyes downcast.
Aside from the fact my daughter's parents would never treat me in such a fashion, I am grateful to God. The open adoption I have with my daughter is like a gift from Him-a gift that I get to open each time I see her smiling face.
V. The fifth response a Birthmother does not want to hear is an akward silence.
We want to talk about our children. We want to remember them. We know when you are avoiding it, and it hurts.
I love it when others ask me how Emily is doing and to ask to see the pictures from my recent visit. I enjoy swapping my labor and delivery tales with other mothers. By the way, I was in labor for forty-two hours with my Emily! Ouch!
It is okay to talk about the children we placed. We placed them for adoption. We did not place them out of our thoughts and hearts.
**********************************************************************************We are just so excited to find OUR birthmother. I know she is out there and we can't wait to meet her! I am in awe at the strength that these women have. They place the needs of their baby above their own happiness. I just know that our birthmom will become my best friend. :)
For National Adoption Month, I'm going to try to post as often as possible about adoption. If you have a story, I would LOVE to hear it. If you want to do a post on my blog about adoption, I would be tickled pink!!! :) Adoption is so wonderful and I want the whole world to know (because not everyone thinks as I do).
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
National Adoption Month
The first story is Andee's. She changed my whole perspective on Birth Moms. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what a Birth Mother was like. I thought they were usually young and made a mistake but ultimately did love this baby but had to place their baby for adoption. I knew they were selfless and wonderful. But, as a potential parent, I didn't think I wanted them in my life after they placed the baby. Andee completely changed my mind. She is the most wonderful woman and I hope we meet someone exactly like her. If you have a chance, you should read her adoption story. It can be found here, here, here, and here. Yes, it's 4 parts and very long, but I can tell you, I was bawling in my chair at work and couldn't stop reading it. I knew I wanted to adopt from the second I started reading this. (It also happened to coincide almost to the day of when we found out our options were slim on getting pregnant, it was truly an answer to a thousand prayers). She is one amazing woman and the relationship she has with Andrea (the adoptive mom) is what I can only hope to have. They truly have been so inspiring to me. :)
The next is Mrs. R. She is pretty much an idol in the adoption world. Everyone knows her or knows of her. She has been doing adoption/infertility inspired jewelry and now adoption inspired children's clothing on etsy. Some of my favorites are here, here, and here. She recently was fighting to keep her baby Gavin in their family. The heartaches that her family went through, I cannot even imagine and I hope never to experience. But the joy they have now, celebrating that Gavin is one step closer to being part of their forever family is so amazing to me. I look forward to the day when I see them all in white (in a picture on her blog) to go inside the temple together and become an eternal family. She has changed my opinion so much on adoption. She too has 2 great Birth Mothers who she has VERY close relationships with. She is such an inspiration to me. I look forward to reading about her every day. She's posting all month about Adoption, including my favorite segment, AABM (Ask a Birth Mom). You can read all the segments here.
The last one I'll share with you today is a little closer to home... Well not really seeing as they live so far away, but it's Robby's cousin and their dear family. They recently sealed their baby girl to them for Eternity. I was so excited to get to know them and ask them all sorts of random questions on the adoption process. You can see their sweet baby all in white here. We are so excited to have another sweet spirit in our family.
Adoption is seriously so wonderful and has touched my life in so many ways. I have become a much stronger, humble, and better person because of adoption. I am so excited to continue to grow in this process. Next week, we are taking pictures with this awesome lady and we will be able to have some adoption pass along cards that have more recent pictures on them. Feel free to email me your address and I will send them out to you shortly. :)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Adoption Garage Sale
Princess
Daughter of a Heavenly King
Sweet Prince
Choose the Right
Scatter Sunshine
I love you to the Moon and Back
Family
Once Upon a Time...
Christ is the Reason for the season
A brand new baby boy to fill our hearts with love and joy
I hope they call me on a mission
And More!
We are hoping to have some pass-along cards so that every one that comes can continue to help with our adoption by handing out these cards to people they know and we can further spread the word that we are adopting. :)
On the adoption front, we are meeting with our case worker for our one on one interviews this weekend. We are still waiting on some stuff back from the court and then we will submit all our paper work back to the court and after a couple months (or hopefully less), we will be certified. We are so super excited! Hopefully the certification process will be done soon so we can go out and find our baby!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Birthday Month!
Another celebration of birthday month, I made raw cupcakes. I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. These things were so delicious! I'll post the recipe another time, but the frosting on top was SOOOOOO good. This may sound weird/gross but they are made from Bananas and Avocado with chocolate powder, maple syrup, and vanilla. The frosting was so good I licked the bowl of the extras. :) I think I'll make just the frosting next time. :)
We are still planning our garage sale. It keeps getting pushed back because let's face it, Arizona in September is still really hot. So right now we are looking at early to mid October. So if you have any donations, please let me know. You can drop them off at our house, or I can come by and pick them up. We are going to have a lot of awesome stuff so you'll want to make sure to stop by and buy something too! :) It's going to a great cause, our future munchkins. :)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Birthday Present Part 1
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Why We Don't Eat Meat
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Adoption
Read the article if you get a chance, or just skim it. :)
We submitted Phase 1 of our application for adoption! HURRAY! Now we are working on Phase 2. Phase 2 is all the questions you never thought about and more.
For Example:
What eye colors are in your immediate family?
-Really? I know this one, but Robby doesn't.
Explain your parents form of discipline.
-ummm.. They were awesome?...
Do you think you can love a child that is not biologically yours?
-How do you answer that in the tiny little box they provide?
The questions continue...
We are also currently waiting on our fingerprint clearance. After we have that, and verification from our employers, and our reference letters returned, and our finances checked, THEN we can do our Homestudy. We have a caseworker come and look at our house to make sure it's fit for babies/children and that we are going to be good parents.
It's a LONG process. But I honestly feel so much peace in this decision that completing those questions is actually kind of fun. And it's nice to think about this beforehand. I love all the self-evaluation (Robby would say it's because I love myself so much!). :)
OH! And I almost forgot... It's Birthday Month! Celebrate with me! :) We will be having our Adoption Garage Sale during Birthday month! Donate any items that may be another man's treasure to help with our adoption! We are looking at September 12th as the day of the sale so if you can have all items to me by the 11th, that would be great! Come check out all the good stuff that I'll have for sale! It's gonna be AWESOME! :)
And because no post would be complete without a picture...
My Nephews David (left) and Erik (right) Celebrating their birthday, a month before mine. :)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Disneyland... Again :)
On the Tea Cups. Getting SUPER dizzy!
Waiting for the Fireworks to start. It was magical! Tinkerbell and Dumbo flew over the castle!
Getting off splash mountain. We got SOAKED!
Getting ready to play the whole day at Disneyland! Woohoo!
It's a HUGE celebration at Disneyland. We got buttons that said "I'm celebrating"
Taking a nice picture in front of the castle. We love Disneyland!
Right over Pirate's of the Carribean on the stair case up to the Magical Suite.
In the back of New Orleans Square.
Our future house... Just kidding! Us in front of the The Haunted Mansion.
In Pooh's Corner.
In front of the Rivers of America. The sun was BLINDING me!
Trying to get in to visit the White Rabbit!
Trying to get the sword out of the anvil.
Sneaking a kiss in front of the castle.
The mouse that started it all with the man that started it all. Walt is so amazing! We had such a fun time and can't wait to go back!