Flashback Friday - Spring Break Road Trip

Our spring break was a month ago, so I figured it's finally time to post about our trip to Mesquite.

We had a fun week spending time with my mom. She had to go to work during the daytime hours, so we stayed busy doing lots of cooking, odd jobs around the house, and yard work while she was gone.

One day while working in the yard, Katelee picked up the hose and somehow sprayed herself in the face. We didn't see it happen. (Dang!) We only knew it happened when she walked up and announced, "But I don't WANT to change my clothes." Ha ha ha! Kids are so funny!

In the evenings we had a lot of fun hanging out with my mom. One day she gave Katelee a little cash and took her shopping at the dollar store. Katelee thought it was great fun!

We also went to see a 3-D movie together. Gotta love the glasses!And we played games, including Grandma's new Wii Dance Party game. Katelee loves to boogie! I know the picture is blurry, but these girls were really getting their moves on!
One evening we drove to St. George to meet up with Melissa, JD, and their kids and Tyler and Taylor. We met at a park to let the kids play for awhile. We had only been there for a few minutes when Wyatt somehow bit through his lip. The other grown-ups took him to the urgent care while Madi stayed with us. The girls had a fun time playing, and I got a few pictures:

Luckily, Wyatt was fine and we were starting to get cold, so we went to the mall. The kids had fun playing on the little quarter rides.

We made it out to dinner, and also to visit with the Grandma Thurston and Grandma and Grandpa Klingler before the night ended.

I made this for my mom and we hung it up while I was in town. Although we really had a fabulous time with my mom, it was the first time I had ever visited home without my dad there. Inevitably, there were some sad moments.

A trip or two to the cemetery will be part of the routine now whenever we are in town. I love the Mesquite cemetery. I always have. It's a very peaceful place where I feel (literally) surrounded by family. We bought these cheerful yellow daffodils to put on dad's grave.

Katelee has her little stuffed bulldog that was grandpa's tucked into her coat.

___

There are few things more beautiful in this world than an evening sky in Mesquite. When I first moved away to college I desperately missed the skies of home; it's still one of the things I miss most. Every time I return home, I find time to sit still for a bit and watch the sky. I soak it all in and wonder how I've lived without it since the last time I was in town. I really love it that much.

It's hard to describe the way I feel when I look at the view from my parent's front porch as the sun is beginning to set. It evokes thoughts of my growing up years and whisperings of my ancestors who probably enjoyed the same view. It's profoundly peaceful, and filled somehow with feelings of family, safety, home, joy and contentment.

One evening I unexpectedly found myself alone, weeding the front yard. Katelee was playing with a neighbor friend and Gerald and mom ran to the hardware store to buy a new doorbell. It was my absolute favorite time of day, that magical time before dark when the whole world seems to get heavy with the quiet peace of a day ending. There was a warm breeze and in the distance I could hear the shouts and cheers of a baseball game being played at the high school. And suddenly I missed my dad so much I could hardly breath. It was exactly the kind of evening that he would have loved. I finished weeding, curled up in dad's lawn chair, watched the sun set and cried. Oddly, this moment brought me a lot of peace, even in the midst of the sadness.

Yes, there were some sad moments. But mostly I felt blessed to have the amazing family I have; for my wonderful parents, siblings, grandparents, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, and in-laws. I'm grateful for my siblings and the aunts and uncles who live nearby, and for all they've done for my mom. I love my mom more than ever. She is amazing. I love my dad, and I know that he is still close. Even though there are some days I wish I could just pick up the phone and hear his voice, I know that he is nearby and he is aware of us.

And I know that someday we'll all be together again, with no more separation.

That day will be amazing.

I imagine it will feel like sitting on the front porch watching the sky at dusk.

Only better.

Dancing Queen

Last week Katelee started dancing lessons. She has an adorable teacher, with the adorable name of Miss Muffie. At dance class, Katelee is learning ballet and tap.

Katelee LOVES dance class.

She is so excited to go, and both weeks she has grinned the entire hour long. At home, she loves to practice, especially with her tap shoes on the tile near the front door; she loves the way it sounds.

Ballerina Katelee

At Miss Muffie's dance studio, every student gets to trace and color their hand on the wall. Katelee's colorful hand is right behind her head, slightly to the left in this picture.

Gerald and Katelee were having fun practicing some tap steps together, and I couldn't resist a picture.

And a sweet movie of them practicing together. I love my dancers!

Sticker Face

What can I say?

Katelee's Testimony

Katelee wanted to share her testimony today in sacrament meeting.

She went up all by herself and said the following, loud and clear:

"I know that Jesus died and that He was resurrected. I know that we can all love. We all know that Jesus is alive now. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

So. Sweet.

Her testimony today strengthened mine. I had several people come out of their way to tell me that her testimony strengthened them today, too.

I know that Katelee knows these truths with all her heart. I also know that our Savior lives. I love Him, and I love Katelee.

FSA Regional Conference

Yesterday was the Colorado Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) Regional Conference. It was a really great day. We attended classes and panels taught by birth mothers, individuals who have been adopted, and parents of adopted children. We laughed, we cried, and we learned a lot. We met some wonderful new friends and enjoyed seeing old friends once again. But most of all we came away filled with appreciation for the blessing that is adoption and hopeful that we will adopt when the time is right.

I try to be positive about the adoption process, but the truth is some days are hard. Some days I don't want to wait any longer. Some days I feel angry or sad or just impatient. But then we have an experience, like we did yesterday, that reminds us that everything is going to be okay. Better than that - everything is going to be amazing. If we just wait. And remember.

One of the presenters that I listened to yesterday shared a beautiful essay. The essay was written to express what life is like raising a child with a disability, but it can also apply to what life feels like when you are trying to build a family through adoption. It really touched my heart. The title of the essay is "Welcome to Holland" and it was written by Emily Perl Kingsley.

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

I also made a cake for the FSA Conference yesterday. Here's a picture:

I Can Fly! I Can Fly! I Can Fly!

The other day I heard Katelee excitedly and urgently calling my name. I went to see what it was all about. Katelee enthusiastically told me that as she was flapping her arms and jumping around that she actually flew a little bit! Real flying!

She believed it with all her heart.

I love this age. Being five-years-old is such a magical time.

8-Week Challenge

Some cousins and friends of mine invited me to take part in a 8-week challenge, to develop healthier habits.

You can do anything for 8 weeks right?

You get one free day each week. There is a possibility to earn 10 points a day, by accomplishing any of the following activities:

1. Get 8 hours of sleep
2. Don't eat sugar
3. Don't eat any white flour foods
4. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity/exercise
5. Read some kind of uplifting material for 15 minutes (scriptures, magazines, articles, etc.)
6. Drink 8 glasses of water (8 oz glasses)
7. Eat 2 fruits and 2 veggies
8. No eating after 8:30pm

9. Floss once a day

10. Give service to someone outside of your immediate family

I love that the categories are varied enough to help me have a balance in my self-improvement efforts! I didn't do as well as I hoped last week (only 47 points our of a possible 60) but I'm hoping to step it up this week, as there are cash prizes associated with winning! :)

Wish me luck. And don't bring me any treats. :)

General Conference Weekend!

I LOVE general conference weekend.

I love that for two whole days the voices of the prophets are heard within the walls of our home, we are together as a family, and our house is overflowing with feelings of peace and happiness. We always make it a priority to be home to watch each session of conference live, which makes for a wonderful weekend of being together.

This past weekend was wonderful. As Katelee gets older she is better and better at listening to some of the talks. I'm actually amazed at what she picks up and absorbs. She'd be coloring or cutting paper and then suddenly make an intelligent comment that let me know she was actually taking some of it in. She even had her doll watch some of the talks. :)

We found some cute projects online (sugardoodle.com) to keep her hands busy while watching conference. Above she is showing off her general authority paper chain. I think this was such a cute idea! She also made some 1st presidency paper dolls (shown below) and loved to stack them into a "prophet tower."

Between conference sessions on Saturday, we kept our usual tradition of emptying the soon-to-be-expired food from our 72-hour kits and taking it all out for a picnic. It was 80 degrees here Saturday afternoon, so we enjoyed the time playing outside together! Sunday morning, Geoff & Bonnie joined us for a delicious potluck breakfast and then stayed for the morning session of conference, followed by lunch. It began to snow between Sunday sessions, so they went home before the weather got worse. It continued to snow for the rest of the day. Talk about crazy spring weather!

I loved all the talks. They made me think, laugh, cry, and want to be a better person. The talks that touched me the most were President Monson's talk about temples, Elder Scott's tender talk about his sweet wife and womanhood, Elder Bednar's talk about receiving personal revelation, and Elder Holland's amazing talk that summed up why general conference is, simply put, life changing-ly wonderful.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Today is my dad's birthday. 53 years ago today he was born into this world.

My gift to him in celebration of his birthday is a donation to the American Kidney Foundation. Thanks to generous donations and a few cake orders during my Cake for a Cause month, I am able to donate $300. Thank you to everyone who helped!

I miss him everyday. My dad loved to celebrate someone's birthday on his own blog with a bunch of photos of them. I've decided it's only fitting to do the same thing for him today. :)

My dad knows I love him. Still, I wish I could call him up tonight and tell him so.

If your loved ones are only a phone call away, call them up and tell them how much you love them. You won't regret it.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

I love you.

April Fools!

Today was one of those days when nothing seemed to go as planned.

I woke up with a pretty exact plan in my head of how the day was going to go.

When everything seemed to go wrong, I felt like the universe was conspiring against me and I was living one big April Fool's Joke!

We had plans to go to the zoo with friends. Katelee and I were both really excited! We packed a lunch, picked up our friends, made the drive to the zoo only to find it so overwhelmingly crowded that it seemed impossible to find a place to park. We searched for a parking space anywhere within trekking distance for an hour before giving up - the competition for the available spaces was only getting greater.

So you thought you were going to the zoo today? APRIL FOOLS!

Then we went in search of a park as an alternative. We got lost. We found a park, but it was lame. We drove more. We fed the kids lunch in the car.

So you thought you were going to spend the day outside rather than driving around in a car? APRIL FOOLS!

In the end we did find a park, but we couldn't stay long because we had to get back before our friends' other kids got out of school. To make up for the morning, we took ourselves out for some frozen yogurt. Katelee and I went for a fun walk/bike ride. We played a few rounds of Katelee's new favorite game - dribble ball. We took silly pictures.

This evening, Gerald had to work late at school, so I invited a friend over to watch a movie. I thought I had plenty of time to get my other responsibilities done before 8, when she showed up. I was wrong. So, instead of watching a movie, I worked on making cupcakes all evening while we talked.

So, you thought you were going to relax this evening? APRIL FOOLS!

You know what? My day really didn't go as planned, but in hindsight, I'm glad.

I would have missed out on having some unexpectedly fun experiences with Katelee, learning more about the roads in the Denver Tech Center, finding a new park, and having some great conversation with a friend.

So, it's all good.

April Fools to you all!

P.S. Katelee REALLY wanted to play an April Fools joke on Gerald. She thought and thought and came up with the great idea of taking his pillow out of his pillow case and replacing it with a large ball. She giggled and giggled about the thought of him laying down on his 'pillow' tonight. :) What a funny girl!