Taming Thanksgiving

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun for Allan and I.  We babysat for a couple so that they could go to the Temple.  It was a lot of fun to babysit with Allan.  The little boy just loved him and didn't want anything to do with me unless I was near the computer.  I really enjoyed watching Allan interact with the baby.  They had a ball together.

We went to the Taming of the Shrew at the local college.  That was a lot of fun.  The actors did a really good job.  The only thing was that they talked really quickly so some of the lines were hard to understand.  It was really funny though.  I think my favorite part was when Petruchio comes on stage in his "wedding clothes".  He is extremely pleased with himself and his clothes but he looks absolutely ridiculous.  His clothing is more suited to a court jester than a groom!  So funny!  Allan love it.  I kept looking over at him to watch his face and he was totally enthralled.  I'm so glad that I don't have to drag him to plays and concerts.  He always goes very willingly and enjoys himself a lot.

This last week we spent getting ready for Thanksgiving.  My mom and step-dad, and one of my sisters came to visit us and had Thanksgiving with us.  It was my first time cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner.  I was really nervous but it turned out great!

 

I also made my very first pie.  I made apple because it's my mom's favorite.  It turned out pretty good too!



 Allan made two delicious banana squash pies.  Sorry, I can't show you those, we already ate them.  We really enjoyed spending time with our family and showing them around our little town.  Allan got to give us a tour of the mine.  It was a ton of fun.  Here we are in all our glory!


He took us to a look out on the top of the pit and showed us some of the things he's been working on.  Then he took us to the bottom of the pit and we got out and watched the machinery for a while.  They sound like dinosaurs. 


He showed us the crusher, the processor, and the leach pad as well.  It's quite the process to get to the copper.  I really enjoyed getting to see everything that Allan is doing.  It had rained earlier in the day so the pit was really muddy.  The haul trucks kept sliding around on the roads.  Seeing these things that are as big as a house sliding almost sideways down the road was pretty cool.  We wanted to see one do a full cookie, but no such luck.

The biggest news though is that we had our home-study!  It went really well.  It was mostly a long interview.  We were interviewed together first and then separately.  And I am happy to say that we passed, just in case anyone was worried.  Now we are just waiting to be certified.  It should happen by the end of the year for sure.  We are taking pictures (today actually) for our pass-along cards so that we can start distributing them by Christmas.  Woohoo!  Adoption here we come!

Another Day in Paradise

We went to the Dentist this week to get my cavity filled.  Last time they told us that I only had 1 cavity and a filling that needed to be replaced and that there were a couple of spots they wanted to watch.  You can imagine my surprise when the Dentist walked in and said he would be fixing two cavities and replacing a filling.  Then he said that I had 3 more cavities and another filling that need to be done!  I thought "Did I come in with the same mouth as last time?!"  I officially have a cavity for every year that Allan didn't go to the Dentist.  That's better than the 7 I would have for the years I didn't go.  But, don't be surprised if you leave the dentist with more cavities than when you came.  The moral of the story is: "watching" becomes "filling" in the blink of an eye.

We are done baby proofing our house!  Another check off of the adoption list.  We haven't quite gotten used to the latches though and we're constantly yanking on the cupboards.  I'm surprised none of them have broken off yet.  We had to do a little bit of rearranging in our house but not too much, and we have plenty of space for a baby and all the toys that inevitably come with babies so bring them on!  We're ready.  Our landlord finally came and fixed some things in our apartment that have been broken since we moved in 6 months ago.  He and his wife adopted so he has a soft spot for adoptive couples.  When he found out we needed stuff done for our home-study he finally came and fixed everything.

Allan and I were tested for allergies this week.  Neither of us had been tested before so we had no idea what to expect.  We definitely didn't expect to be poked 104 times each!  The doctors poked us on the back first but that didn't really show anything so then they tested us again on our arms.  That test hurt quite a bit and both of us ended up with blood running  down our arms.  We found out that I am allergic to at least one thing in the environment in every month except December (when nearly everything is dead anyway).  We were hoping that we would find out something that would help Allan's headaches go away completely but he is only mildly allergic to one thing that is around for 2 months out of the year.  It's ironic that I usually only have mild symptoms showing that something is wrong and the doctors can always find plenty wrong with me, but poor Allan has horrible symptoms and the doctors always tell him there isn't really anything wrong with him.  Go figure. 

Allan took me to a Jane Austen time period dance this weekend.  It was a lot of fun.  We were expecting it to be ballroom dance so we were very surprised when we walked in to find people in renaissance costumes!  We felt a little out of place in our jeans and shirts.  We had a lot of fun though and recognized some of the dances from Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

During our Sunbeam class today, a little boy needed to go to the bathroom, so Allan took him out.  The last time that particular little boy needed to go to the bathroom, Allan just handed him off to the Primary President and went back to help me with some rowdy kids.  This time, the little boy anxiously looked up at Allan and asked, "Will you take me to the bathroom this time?"  That was already the plan, so off they went.  As they walked by the ladies' bathroom, the boy started pulling Allan towards it saying, "This one! This one!" Needless to say, Allan wasn't going in there.  It took some explaining that while he goes in that bathroom with his mom, they were going to a different bathroom today.  The people sitting in the hallway got a good laugh.  The Nursery children that are turning 3 came in to sharing time this week to try and get used to where they will be next year.  When they came in, the Primary President asked all of the primary children to be extra reverent so the Nursery kids would know how they should act.  Half way through singing time our kids were head banging, twirling, sprawling out on chairs and making loud noises.  Basically doing everything except being reverent.  I looked over at the Nursery kids and they were all sitting calmly in their seats.  Three of them were watching our class with looks of horror on their faces.  I can only imagine what they were thinking.  We feel that this is really preparing us for parenthood.  We try really hard every week to help the children be reverent but sometimes they just don't respond.  We still love them though.  In fact, I think we love them more because of it.  Last week week they were little angels.  We only had a couple of "Kids Say the Darnedest Things" moments.  For example, in our class we sang the song, "Book of Mormon Stories."  At the end of the song, one of our little boys said in the deepest voice he could muster, "That's a MAN song."  So in case you weren't quite sure, now you know that "Book of Mormon Stories" is a man song.  Women beware.:)  Between stories like this and the usual three-year old antics, Primary is a very entertaining time for us.

A note from Allan

Kami wants me to write about the adoption conference from my perspective. I am glad that she does because our learning experiences were somewhat different. There was an adoption panel just for men that sounded kinda goofy to me, but the Spirit told me to go, so I went while Kami went to a different class. It's tough to split us up when we could be together, so I must've been feeling strongly about it.:) Since our first adoption orientation with our caseworker, it seems that all we have heard about is open adoptions and how open of a relationship we are comfortable having with a birthmother. This was a new idea for me that seemed strange, and that I was struggling with. The men on the panel were all big fans of open adoption, with two of them having extremely open relationships with their children's' birthmothers, so I asked them some questions. One of the two men with very open adoptions said that he was very opposed to an open adoption when he started the adoption process. He said though that when you see how much love a birthmother has for her child, you will want an open adoption. The other men also were able to say a lot of other things that has helped my heart to accept the idea of an open adoption.
The conference was a great experience that helped us learn a lot about adoption and that prepared our hearts for adoption. We learned a lot about special needs adoption and foster care and are opening our hearts to those two experiences as well. The biggest truth that I learned from the conference is that Heavenly Father is extremely involved in adoption as He supports and guides the birthmothers and the adoptive parents. He loves His children very much and works very hard to take care of them.

FSA Conference

This week we went on a mini vacation to a near by city so that Allan could take a class on computer software for his job. We had so much fun. The company put us up in a Marriott and that was absolutely fabulous. While Allan was in class I went shopping for some Christmas presents. J.C. Penney sent out some coupons so I went there first and found success! The things I bought totaled about $150.00 but I only spent $15.00, saving $139.00 total! Thank goodness for coupons and clearance racks.

We had a lot of fun playing mini golf the first night there. Allan and I don't keep score, instead we like to see how many different ways we can create to hit the golf ball. We like to hit it as if we're playing pool, spinning in a circle, closing our eyes, backwards, and left-handed. We also like to race to see who can get it into the hole first, blocking each other along the way. It was a lot of fun. We forgot our camera that night though so there's no pictures. Sorry.

The next evening we went to a mini museum. It it incredible how small people can make things and still be so intricate. They had three different rooms but the fantasy room was my favorite. I loved all of the little fairies and the music boxes. Allan didn't really have a favorite room but he really enjoyed learning about how the silversmiths created their tiny worlds, and the tiny castles. Here are a couple of pictures.


We ate at Applebees, Cheesecake Factory, and Texas Roadhouse on the company. Woohoo. I haven't been that full in a while and Allan and I both agreed we need to go on a diet until Thanksgiving. But, I just want to say that I love cheesecake especially when there is also chocolate involved.

We also attended our first Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) Conference. The company wasn't paying for that so we stayed at a really cheap hotel, and boy was it a disappointment after the Marriott. It looked like a dorm room, the sink had obviously been broken off of the wall once before and was currently hanging on for dear life. I was a little worried that it might fall off while I was washing my hands or something. The bed and pillows left something to be desired as well. But it was only for one night so we survived.

We really enjoyed the conference. We attended several classes that were really helpful in explaining what to expect. I really enjoyed the birth mothers panel. It really puts a new perspective on adoption when you hear what they go through in placing their babies. I know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out month after month and then to loose the hopes and dreams of ever having a baby, and what it is like to grieve for the children you were never able to have. But, I don't know what if feels like to know that you have a baby on the way and you won't have the opportunity to raise it. To know that someone else will be bringing the baby home with them. I really appreciated the openness of the women on the panel in explaining the heartache that they experienced. They also talked about that even though it was heart-wrenching, they knew that what they were doing was the right thing for their babies. They each talked about how much peace they felt when they finally made the decision to place their child with an adoptive family. I am very grateful for their courage and self-sacrifice, and for the atonement of Jesus Christ that makes it possible for all of us to go through trials that we don't have the strength to face on our own.

a-MAZE-ing!

Allan and I are officially done with the 2nd phase of paperwork!  Next ... the home-study.  That should happen in a couple of weeks.  We are really excited to be done with the majority of the paperwork and moving on to finding our child, where ever he or she may be.

Allan and I had a lot of fun this week in lieu of Halloween tomorrow.  We carved a pumpkin for Family Home Evening.  I think it turned out pretty good.

Allan cleaning out the pumpkin

                                                      

Kami drawing the face

                                                               

The finished product

                                                                   

We also went to the Temple which is always wonderful.  We feel really blessed to live only 5 minutes away.  And we went to the Dentist.  Most people probably wouldn't include this in their "fun" week but Allan hadn't been in 5 years and I hadn't been in 7 years so we were pretty excited to go.  We walked away with only one cavity between us, and I was the lucky winner.  That's okay though, I was thrilled that I only had 1.  I thought for sure I would have one for every year I hadn't gone to the dentist.  That would have been a mess!

On Friday we went to a Halloween party thrown by our awesome neighbors.  They dressed up their little girl as Godzilla!  He was the Empire State Building and she was the Damsel in Distress.  What a cute idea!  Allan was a miner and I was a hippie.

We had a lot of fun and learned a new party game called Three on the Couch.

On Saturday we went to a corn maze.  I was so excited!  I've been wanting to go to a corn maze since we were dating but we never had enough money to do it.  We had a blast.  The corn maze was pretty easy but we took our time and tried to go down every path.  We covered a good amount of the maze but there was one large area that we never got to.  We saw a lot of cute fuzzy caterpillars of all sorts of colors.  Allan helped me move them off of the paths so they wouldn't get squished.

Here is a view from the bottom

There was a bridge towards the end of the maze that gave a great view of the corn field.  Here we are on the bridge.

                                                   

What a great view!

We also saw this crazy looking spider!  Yuck!  He was the perfect colors for Halloween though.

This is the roots of the corn stalks.  I think they look like little fairy huts!

Here we are in the pumpkins.  The lady who was taking the pictures asked if we wanted to "hug a pumpkin" like she makes all of the little kids do.  I told her I already had a pumpkin to hold.

They also had sunflower fields, pepper fields and of course a pumpkin patch, that we walked through.  Here is one of their gorgeous sunflowers.

Today in church the teachers of the other sunbeam class weren't there.  Usually when this happens Allan and I just take them, so when Allan asked me if we could take them all my first instinct was to say yes.  Then I looked around and realized that there were 11 three year olds there that day!  Our room is not nearly big enough to fit 11 children in no matter how small they are.  I was relieved when they found substitutes and we only had to take six.  It would have been quite the adventure!  We only had one mishap when a little boy fell through two chairs that he was trying to sit on at the same time.  He was very reverent after that though.  We asked them all about their Halloween costumes.  We had two cowboys, superman, Thomas the Train, a glow-in-the-dark skeleton, and a little girl who was going to be Tinkerbell and a witch.  We are still wondering how she is going to be both of those at the same time.  Happy Halloween!  

The Tickle Monster

I forgot to mention that the little boy who was sitting next to me in the Primary Program was just the right height for my hair to tickle his cheek.  Every time I looked over at him my hair was touching his face.  No wonder he was so wiggly!

60 + and 3 Year Olds

This week has been filled with more paperwork, but we're happy to say that our next phase of paperwork should be completed by the end of the week!  Woohoo!  Here's hoping!

Allan and I attended the Gila Valley Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering for our date this weekend.  Just me, and Allan, and ... all the seniors in our community.  We often go to events where the majority of people are over 60.  I guess this tells you a bit about our tastes in entertainment!  Haha!  We do really enjoy spending time with older generations.  They are very good conversationalists and we love to hear all of the great stories they have to tell.  We always learn so much from them.  The show was a blast.  Our favorite was a woman poet named "Sam" DeLeeuw.  She told three or four of her poems about her life as a ranchers wife, her mother, and her alter-ego HILDA.  My favorite was the one that was inspired by her mother, however her alter-ego HILDA (a 6'4", 300 lb plus, trail drive camp cook) was hilarious!  If you're interested you can check out some of her poems at www.cowboypoetry.com/samdDeLeeuw.htm.  It was Allan's first time to hear cowboy poetry and he really enjoyed it.    

I babysat one of my primary kids and her little brother on Friday.  I had them from 8-5 and we had a blast!  I brought over my favorite game, Strawberry Shortcake's Strawberry Land, and she fell in love with it.  We ended up playing it about 10 times!  Then when her siblings came home we played it two more times!  I have had my fill of Strawberry Land for a while.  Allan will be glad!  She is a really sweet girl though.  She played really well with her brother.  We played outside, danced, sang, played Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, and she showed me her tricks on the trampoline.  She also showed me her doll and her teddy bear and told me about how they didn't come from a store, they came from her belly!  What a cutie!  She was disappointed to learn that my doll, Elva, just came from Santa Claus.  When her older siblings got home from school the first thing they asked was "When will Allan be here?"  Allan came over when he got off of work and played football with them.  They loved that.  I think it's safe to say that we all had a lot of fun that day.

It was the Primary program this week at church.  In our ward they have all of the primary children, excluding the Sunbeams, sit on the stand for the entire sacrament meeting.  The Sunbeams sit with their teachers while the sacrament is passed and then go up to the stand.  So, Allan and I  had three, 3 year old boys sitting with us while the sacrament was passed (our two other children wanted to stay with their parents until the program began, thank goodness).  We ended up having a lot of fun with them and they did really well, even without any toys or coloring books.  They sat on the bench the whole time and Allan and I only had to tell them to be quiet a couple of times.  All of the kids did a great job during the program.  They sang all of the songs that they could remember the words to, and said their parts perfectly.  All but one of them even had their part memorized!  There is another Sunbeam class in our ward that also has 5 kids and they sat on the other side of the podium.  Their kids are like statues compared to ours.  Every time I looked over at them they were all sitting almost still in their chairs, looking straight forward, with smiles on their faces.  Our side of the podium however was a constant sea of moving, talking, and chair pushing!  I can only imagine what it looked like from the congregation!  Even though they talked the entire program, picked their noses, kicked the podium, stood up when they were supposed to sit down, and sat down when they were supposed to stand up, I was really proud of them!  They were pretty well-behaved ... for them.