Birthday Month!

In Celebration of Birthday Month, I bought my first birthday present. Here is a picture of my crib put all together. :) I did it all by my self in about 45 minutes. It's a great crib, looks really sturdy and just freaking cute. I was very proud of myself to put it together and then I realized... no mattress. I forgot to buy one with the crib when I bought it online. So, we'll pick one up in the next few days. I'm so excited.

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. :)

Birthday Present Part 1

So I bought my birthday present. Here it is. :)It's actually in white and I only bought the crib. It's super cute and was a really great deal! :) I'm waiting until I can get a good price on the dresser and then I will get that too. Weird birthday present, I know. But I LOVE it! And I can't wait to see a little baby inside of it and have it all decked out in Classic Winnie the Pooh. Adoption application is taking forever but great things are worth the wait. :)

Why We Don't Eat Meat

Robby and I are Vegans. It's a fairly new development but we're pretty committed. There are a lot of health benefits to Veganism and we also believe in fair treatment of animals. Here's a sneak preview of a cute children's book that helps explain vegetarians and vegans and Why we don't eat meat. You may think I'm crazy, but this lifestyle change has done just that; change our lives. Enjoy this short movie and check out the book online here. :)

Adoption

This article just gave me more peace about the decision I feel to adopt.

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. :)

Disneyland... Again :)

We had such a fun time at Disneyland over the weekend. Here are some fun pictures...
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!

Baby Bunkins

My sister and her hubby up and left us to go to Texas for law school. And unfortunately they took their babies with them. We miss our nephews SOOOOOOOO much so I thought I would post a couple pictures from memory lane. :)


This is Erik eating his cupcake at his fake first birthday. They turn one later this month but we were going to miss it so we celebrated early. :)

David was a much neater eater. He didn't like digging in to the cake and ended up crying later because he got dirty. He seems to be a lot like his daddy.

Here's Robby holding David and me holding Erik. The boys definitely have their favorites. :)

This was their first doctor appointment. They weighed barely 5 pounds. David is on the left and Erik is on the right. The look so tiny in those carriers.

This was their last trip in their car seats. They got new ones in Texas and we get to keep these for when we bring home our baby/babies.

They keep getting older and older. Hopefully we'll give them some more cousins soon to play with (even though they are so far away).

Rappelling

At Girl's Camp, I had the opportunity to be over the 4th years. This group of girls was AMAZING. We went on an 8 mile overnight backpacking hike (which was not just walking for 8 miles, it was straight up or straight down or switch backs. My husband went on it without a pack, and wanted to die. I can't say I blame him). Before we went, as a little treat, we took the girls rappelling. I am TERRIFIED of heights, but one of the girls said she would not go unless I did. I tried to convince her that I went as a 4th year so that counted. That didn't fly bye her so I had to rappel. Here's some pictures of my adventure.


You can kind of see how far up I was. It was about 40 or 50 feet. You can't tell, but I was jumping about 5 feet off the wall, because it was actually kind of fun.

Safe back on the ground. My legs were shaking. But I would totally do it again, though next time I would want my own harness and my helmet. Those things just make me feel so much safer. :)

Lessons Learned

This past week, I was at Girl's camp. It was so wonderful to feel the spirit, to feel like I'm 15 again, and to be in the mountains and enjoy God's creations. I was over the 4th years who were going on an 8 mile overnight hike. We packed our 20 pound bags with food, water, sleeping bag, and tents. Once we set up camp, the winds started. It was threatening to rain so I said a prayer. Honestly, I prayed until about 3 in the morning. One girl was very sick, was throwing up everything. So I prayed for her. The storm was all around us but it never rained on us. The sweet, sick girl was able to sleep, at least for a couple hours. We all made it back in one piece and several of the girls even said it was fun. :)



While I was gone, my good friend Shellie's mom called to get her wedding pictures. I had the wonderful opportunity to take the pictures for the wedding. It was a lot of fun and I was so glad that I got to be apart of her special day. I should've gotten them to her months ago (her wedding was in April I believe), but my crazy life didn't slow down. So, I took them to her mom's house on Friday so that when she flew to Washington the next day (where Shellie is living now) she could take them with her. I could finally stop thinking about one more thing in my life that I had to take care of. Fast forward to Saturday night... I see that I have a message from Shellie. I'm thinking "Great! She got the pictures, she loved them. Awesome!" I listen to the frantic Shellie saying "Don't erase the pictures, the cd didn't work." Crap. So I get on to my computer, no pictures are there. I'm freaking out, bawling my eyes out. Poor Robby probably thought I was possessed. I had no idea what to do. This was her wedding. I knew I would be so devastated and could only imagine how she would feel. I began praying. Robby being the computer master he is, started working on a recovery of the files. After buying a Terabyte harddrive, and 5 hours later, we recovered 35 pictures out of 700. They were all the perfect ones though, eating the cake, dancing with her dad, guests, and decorations. I knew it would not make up for the 700 but it was better than nothing. I knew my prayer had been answered. I called up Shellie and left a message on her phone. That night, I said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for answering my prayers and for granting me peace. I also asked that He would bless Shellie to forgive me. At that very moment I heard my phone saying I had a text message. I finish my prayer and have this enormous amount of peace in my heart. I look at my phone, and it was Shellie. She wanted to tell me that the cds worked on a different computer and that she had all her pictures. ***Insert picture of me with mouth hanging wide open**** I immediately dropped to my knees to pray. I thought my prayers were answered before but I needed to learn a few lessons before He would really answer my prayer.

Lesson 1- Prayer works. Whether it is for comfort, peace, a problem, or any situation, He is listening, always.

Lesson 2- Prayers don't always get answered the way you want. I would've much rather just had the pictures work the first time and not have to buy a $120 terabyte hard drive and to be able to not have had that stress. But my faith has grown exceedingly and I know all my prayers are answered.

Lesson 3- I am a daughter of God who loves me and I love him deeply. Being at Girl's camp and remembering our theme, I am so glad that I have that knowledge. I am also grateful for my big brother, my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the chance I have to repent and to return to my Father in Heaven.

That was a long post. :)

How to help...

I was reading this blog and learned that they were just chosen by a birth mother from giving out pass along cards to her friends and family and they passed them along to their friends and family. Her friend had given one to her hairstylist who happened to have a roommate that was pregnant. And after meeting with them, decided to place her baby with this couple. I just thought it illustrated how all of you can help Robby and I. As soon as we are certified to adopt, we will be handing out pass along cards for all of you to help with too. I hope you are all doing well! :)

Disneyland!

These pictures are a little old, but I wanted to post them anyways. :) These are from the Disneyland Challenge in 2008. We went right before my birthday in September and had a blast.


Getting ready to spin on the teacups. Good thing neither of us get motion sickness.

Sneaking a kiss in line waiting to have a Mad Hatter Tea Party.
Out in front of the castle. It was my dream to get married here. Maybe for our 10 year anniversary we'll have a "vow" renewal. ;)
Die Zerg! Lol.
Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!

Only a couple more months and we will be back in the Happiest Place on Earth! :) Then only 1 more month until the Disneyland Challenge. If you want more info on the Challenge, email me. It's a BLAST! Then we're hopefully going to meet our goal of visiting another couple Disneyland castles in Florida, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. I love EVERYTHING Disney!

Oh and did you know that Walt Disney and his wife Lily adopted a little girl? Well now you do. :)