Nathan's Weekend Adventures in Pictures

He got lots of funny looks driving down the road wearing these glasses.

A 'get well soon' gift Nathan gave his father after surgery this week.

Deep in thought.......



Getting a haircut from his sister Jennifer.

She has such a cute salon.



His very favorite part.

Jennifer (his sister) will do anything for Nathan. Even make him
guacamole, shrimp salad, and hamburgers for dinner.

He loves him some guacamole.

Payden says that she is Nate's girlfriend.  They do have
 a very special bond.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Kennecott Landslide

On April 10th at approximately 9:30 pm (while Nathan was at work) the Kennecott Copper Mine where Nathan works as a driller experienced what they call a geotechnical land movement.  In essence a landslide.  Being that Kennecott mine is the largest man made open pit mine they are no strangers to earth movements episodes that they usually call 'slips.'  They experiance many of these small slips each year.  Greatfully becuase of technology, mine officialls had been monitering the ground movement for several months prior to the actuall slide and were able to relocate all employees and many pieces of equipment away from the area days before the slip actually happened.

Here is a great news article from KSL about the slip: 

 

 Kennecott slide moved more than 165M tons of dirt.

 

I am so grateful that Nathan works for a company that values its workforce and has such a strong commitment to safety.  No one was injured and Nathan still has a job. 

 

 

This is just another reminder that life is always changing and all we can do is plan the best that we can and adjust our course as needed. 

 

Happy Friday!!

The Power of Technology

Our little blog reached 1000 views today!  I find this amazing!

I started this blog a year ago at the suggestion of our adoption agency as a way that prospective birth-families could better get to know us when choosing a couple to adopt their baby.  We send it out to the universe as a little seed of faith, hoping a praying that through it our hopes and dreams my come true.  Over the last year we have shared many things here, mostly about our day to day activities or special things we do.  It is not always easy for me to sit and write and share with you some of my innermost thoughts and feelings with no feedback or comment.  But I do it anyway.  I like to think that I am writing to a special friend who is faraway.  I am writing to YOU.

Up until this last week this blog has been mostly read by only our families and close friends; but that all changed on Wednesday.  That is because on Wednesday morning I shared a digital copy of our adoption networking card on my Facebook page and invited everyone to pass-it-along and share it with everyone they knew.   Again sending out our message and hoping it crosses the path of as many people as possible that we are hoping to adopt.   Because of that simple act on Facebook our little blog has experienced tremendous growth with almost 400 new views in just the last five days.  We are so grateful to our many friends and family members who have helped us in sharing our information; through Facebook, handing out our cards, and by word of mouth.  We couldn't do it without any of you. 

Happy Sunday

Nathan's Bow

Nathan recently purchased a bow so that he could archery hunt this year.  After having it tuned-up and adjusted for his draw-length it is finally ready for him to start practicing.   In addition his birthday is next week and for his gift I got him a large target cube he can use in the backyard.
With the wonderful spring weather we are enjoying today he just couldn't wait to get started.

Looking good.

As you can see there are no houses behind ours so he's safe aiming in that direction.

He is hoping that he will be able to use his bow on his upcoming black bear hunt next month and his elk hunt this fall.




Jasper is right in the middle of the excitement as well.

Check out this grouping.

We would like to say thank you to the guys at Humphries's Archery in American Fork for doing all the work to get Nathan's bow in tip-top shooting shape. 

Happy Friday!!! 

I have got to try this

Chocolate Lasagna!

INGREDIENTS

1 package regular Oreo cookies (Not Double Stuff)- about 36 cookies
6 Tablespoons butter, melted
1- 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cold milk
1- 12oz tub Cool Whip, divided
2- 3.9oz packages Chocolate Instant Pudding
3 1/4 cups cold milk
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by crushing 36 Oreo cookies. I used my food processor for this, but you could also place them in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.  When the Oreos have turned into fine crumbs, you are done.
2. Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl.  Stir in 6 Tablespoons melted butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the cookie crumbs.  When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9 X 13 inch baking dish.  Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan.  Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layers.
3. mix the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy.  Add in 2 Tablespoons of milk, and sugar, and mix well.  Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups Cool Whip.  Spread this mixture over the crust.
4. In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 and 1/4 cups cold milk.  Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken.  Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer.  Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further. 
5.  Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top.  Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top.  Place in the freezer for 1 hour, or refrigerator for 4 hours before serving.