This last week....

Last Monday was the last day that I worked with my best friend Sharon.
Don't worry we will still get together to hang out and go to dinners.

This Darling lady had a birthday.  We got together and
 kidnapped her and took her out to dinner.

Texas Roadhouse was a little to dark for good pictures but the
food and the company was amazing.

Kimber and My Mom.  Great friends.  Thanks for the fun night ladies.
I have not laughed so hard in a long time.

My Mother-In-Law Carol made this amazing DI find for me.
With a little work this will turn into a great changing table for the nursery.
Modeled by Katie and Jake (two of the grandkids.

Lazy Day

After three very long, stressful, and emotional days of work today I get a day off.  Even better it has rained ALL DAY!  I am not usually a big fan of rain, I would much rather have a day long snow storm but I will take what I can get. 
Today I am being lazy.  Nathan is at work and so Jasper and I are just lounging around.  There is nothing better then curling up on the couch with a new book and relaxing all day listening to the rain fall. 

 

Today is exactly what I needed.

Thank you rain. 

Field of Dreams

As the saying goes, Faith without works is dead. Well my faith needs a bit of a boost. It is time to add some work into the equation.
Have you seen the movie Field of Dreams? A man builds a baseball field with the faith that "if he builds it they will come." My turn. No I'm not planning on building a baseball field I am going to build a nursery. It is time to show more faith and make a room for our 'someday' baby.
Over the next few weeks we will be working hard to clean out my office and set up the nursery. 

Theme: Polar Bear/Arctic

I am so excited to see how cute it will turn out!

A few things that have happened recently

  

My super cub scouts practicing a flag ceremony at den meeting.

  They are great at keeping things interesting.

I have written a few letters to missionaries.

And this great man in right in the middle of his many hunts this season.  Every weekend (his four days off work) he is up in the mountains either filling his own hunt tag or guiding a family member on their hunts.
 

 

 

 

 

So far during the last month and a half he has:

• Shot his archery bull elk(spike)         
• Guided his cousin Adam on his bull elk tag.
• He is currently guiding his sister Jennifer for her first ever bull elk
• Later this month he has his general deer tag to fill
• And last but not least in November we will both be hunting cow elk.  I cant wait.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am already in the middle of planning next years girls camp.  I was able to attend the fall open-house at Heber Valley girls camp where we will be attending next year and begin organizing devotionals and crafts.

 

And sadly on Monday I will say goodbye to working with one of my best friends Sharon.  She has to stop working to be able to care for her mother who has fallen several times in the last few months. 

 

A picture of us from Halloween two years ago when everyone dressed up as a witch.  I will miss working with her very much but we have plans to get together every month to go to dinner or knit.  So hopefully the separation is not too long.

I love you Sharon.

Disclaimer: *My sister has told me that I need to dig a little deeper and be more open in my blog.  I tend to protect/hide my feelings and not share them very frequently in such an open place as the world wide web.  It is hard for me to share my inner-most thoughts with strangers.  Today I will give it a try.

Today was a rough day for me at work.  Nothing horrible or catastrophic happened, it was actually a mellow day as for as the work load went.  What was hard was listening to the conversations going on around me.  My job requires me to stay at my desk as much as possible.  I must be there to answer phone, great visitors and answer patients call-lights.  Sometimes I call my desk my cage, I only tell you this to explain why I could not just get up and move or distance myself from the situation. 
Back to the conversation(s), as they kept restarting throughout the day.  The charge nurse today happens to be six months pregnant.  I am happy for her and all other woman who are currently pregnant around me.  But she usually spends most of the day complaining about the side-effects of pregnancy.  OK, I know that not all aspects of creating a child are pleasant and enjoyable.  And I know that every woman handles each pregnancy differently. I am used to hearing this.  But it doesn't mean that you have to whine and complain about it for the entire nine months.  (This particular person, was dreading it at the same time she was openly telling us she was trying to conceive.)
For one stretch of 30 minutes today this nurse and two other co-workers were only five feet away from my desk discussing all the horrible, uncomfortable, exhausting aspects of each of their past pregnancies.  This is not the first time I have silently sat inwardly hurting as they complain about the miracle that is happening within their bodies, and the experience that I can only dream of. 
I know that the time will come when Nathan and I are able to be part of our own miracle.  Adoption is its own horrible, uncomfortable, exhausting experience.  We have be 'paper-pregnant' (the adoption equivalent) for much longer than the 'natural pregnancies nine month timetable.'  It has been over nine months of just waiting for the right woman to choose us to be parents. Before that it was two and a half years of trying to conceive and medical tests before beginning the year of work it took to become certified to adopt.  It has been a long journey.  I do not regret it.  We have grown and become stronger because of it.  But I do not wish it on anyone.  It is hard.  I'm sure it is just as hard as pregnancy, but sometimes it just hurts to hear others degrade and complain and have to hold my feeling in.  It is not these girls fault, I do not blame them.  It is a natural thing for women to talk about.  I know they did not mean to hurt me or be intensive to my situation.  I just need to acknowledge my own feelings. 
I know that the time will come when I will become a mother and it will happen because of a woman like this who is willing to endure the hardship and joys of carrying a child and giving birth.  I know that it will happen.  I have a quote that sits in my front room too keep me from getting discouraged.  It says "Even miracles take a little time" -Cinderella.  We will continue to be patient and hope and pray for our own little miracle.

A good friend posted this to my Facebook wall this week,
she said that it made her think of me.

Chocolate!

Throughout the day today at work I asked eight different people if they had brought me any chocolate.  The answer was always - no.  Now it is not a common practice of mine to ask everyone for chocolate nor was I suffering from an extreme case of chocolate deficiency but as the day wore on it became kind of a joke/experiment to see if I could actually obtain a piece of chocolate. 
Sadly my experiment failed, and I left work without closure.
That's when I was forced to take matters into my own hands.  If the chocolate wouldn't come to me, I would go to the chocolate. 
Now, I don't know about you, but when I think about chocolate there is only one place to go:

Hatch Family Chocolate

A big thanks to the boys at Hatch Family Chocolate tonight for finally accepting my challenge and giving me chocolate when I asked for it.

 

Now its a Happy Thursday!

Nate's Nightshift Room

A few weeks ago, in order to fight the summer heat and to help Nathan sleep better while he works the two weeks of night shifts every month we (or should I say 'I') built him his own 'night-shift room.

 

Step 1. Clean out half of the storage room in the basement to make room.

Step 2. Pick up his old twin bed from his parents home (with their consent of course).

Step 3. Go shopping for a new mattress for said bed.

 

Nathan testing out all the options.

Step 4.  Me assembling said bed frame and box spring in the basement.
Step 5. Blowing up the air mattress that substituted the real mattress while we waited the week for delivery from the furniture store.

Step 6. Decorating said night-shift room.  Ha-ha, I had a lot of fun setting up his room while he was at work.  ex. stuffed goat on the pillow, picture of us in the window, squirrel picture from his sister on the wall.
Step 7.  Re-inflating the air mattress daily.

Even Jasper helped.  He was a great supervisor.

Step 8.  'Real' mattress arrives and is finally put in place. 
Step 9.  Nathan able to sleep in his very own cool and dark night-shift room. (but only when sleeping during the day.)

Added bonus: Night shift room doubles as a guest room when company come over.  Congratulations to my best-friend M who was the first to use our new guest room (even if it was while we were still using the air mattress substitute).  Please feel free to come again and this time test out the real bed.

Funny side story.  While we were at the furniture store shopping for the mattress, we found this table that is a perfect example of what we would like to do to our kitchen floor i.e. tile surrounded by wood, so we had to take a picture.  But check out Nathans winning smile. He could sell this table to anyone using that smile.  I'm glad I caught it.  I love this man.

Happy Sunday