A convertible, a cave, and a cafe

Last weekend we took some time out of our normal Saturday house projects to have a bit of fun.  I've been wanting to go to Minnetonka cave this year and it's only open for a few more weeks, so we decided to put some chores aside and take Doug's new convertible up there.  It was the first time we drove it with the top off.  I may or may not be hooked on convertibles now :).  The wind in our hair, the summer sun shining, and the mountains and bright blue sky instead of a roof -  seriously, what's not to love?

The cave was an awesome adventure.  It was 888 stairs round trip, so we got a little workout.  But we loved it.  

We worked up quite an appetite by the time we were done (especially considering we had to take a later tour of the cave than expected), so we stopped at Cafe Sabor in Garden City for some dinner.  Yum!!  It was an awesome day all around.  I love that we live so close to nature that it doesn't take much to get away and have some fun.

A Mother Heart

Mother's Day can be a tough and heartbreaking time for women who long to be mothers but can't.  I've gone through my fair share of those Mother's Days, and at times it has been hard, but as the years have gone by my view of celebrating Mother's Day has changed.  I've come to see Mother's Day as a celebration of womanhood and nurturing, not just about bearing children.

Even though I am not a mother, I can have a mother heart.  I can love and nurture my nieces and nephews.  I can set a good example for my primary kids and teach them about Jesus.  I can comfort one of my friend's kids when her hands are already full taking care of her other little ones.  I love to find these small moments when I can teach, nurture and just be there for the children in my life.  I savor every opportunity I get to be around children.  It brings such a joy to my heart.

Of course I'd love nothing more than to have a child that depends on me and calls me Mommy (oh, how I long for that!).  But in this period of my life when I can't have that, I am grateful for the mothering influence I can be in the lives of the children around me.

Eight Waite Updates

Here are eight things we've been up to lately:

1.  My office does a Valentine exchange every year, as well as a Valentine box decoration contest.  I usually just cover a box in cute paper and call it good.  This year I decided to have a little fun with it and make a cupcake box.  I didn't have any instructions, just a rough idea in my head.  At times I thought it wouldn't work, but it actually turned out pretty cute.  Here I am making the top of the cupcake out of paper mache.  I thought this part of the process was pretty fun.  I think the last time I did this was in elementary school!

I used a plastic container for the base, lots of tissue paper for the frosting, and heart stickers for the sprinkles.  I knew I wouldn't win the contest (there are some really creative people in my office), but I did get a prize for the reddest box :).  

I ended up with some yummy treats and fun Valentines!

2.  One night I was feeling under the weather and Doug decided to cheer me up with a game of Scrabble.  It turned out be lots of fun and it did cheer me up.  Doug scored some major points with his consonants, while I was cursed with tons of vowels.  I almost caught up to him, but he ended up winning.  I think we may need a re-match sometime soon.

3.  I came across a recipe for cookies and cream muddy buddies on Pinterest and knew I had to try it out.  We love muddy buddies and Oreos, so I figured this couldn't go wrong.  It was scrumptious!  We did miss the peanut butter flavor a little bit that you get with regular muddy buddies, so I might try to incorporate that next time I make this.

4.  I've been saving old jeans for years and years so I could make a denim quilt someday.  My stack was getting pretty high, so I decided to pull them out to take stock of what I have.  19 pairs of jeans!  I think that might make two quilts (if what I've read online is any indication).  Getting these out made me want to start working on it right away, but I'm trying to restrain myself from starting another new project when I have several others that are in progress.  I wonder how long I can wait...

5.  Doug and I took advantage of the beautiful weather a couple weeks ago and headed up to Spring Hollow in Logan Canyon.  The views were gorgeous as always.  We walked along the river and watched the fish for a while.  

I'm not great at taking selfies.  I usually don't get one of us fully in the picture the first time.  This was the second attempt, and I figured that was as good as it was going to get.  It works :).

I loved how the moss in the water was the only greenery around.  It was really striking against the still-wintry landscape!

I always enjoy visiting this little waterfall by the campground.  We usually see it in the summer when there's a lot more water flowing through it, so it seemed more like a trickle than a roaring waterfall.  Still pretty, though!  

6.  To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make green Rice Krispie treats.  Apparently I wasn't paying close attention when pouring the food coloring - we ended up with very green Rice Krispie treats!  My tongue was pretty green after eating one of these (and licking the bowl!).  Still, it was fun and festive, and they were tasty :).

7.  I finally bought a phone app I've been eyeing for a while, and I love it!  It's called Waterlogue - it turns your photos into watercolors.  I've had so much fun with this.  I'm not an artist, but I like to take photos (just on my iphone), so it's really fun to watch my photos turn into works of art.  Totally worth $3!

8.  Doug and I have seen the movie Oblivion a few times, and after the last time we watched it I decided that I HAD to find some sheet music for the soundtrack.  I looked and looked and looked online and couldn't find anything. I was pretty bummed about it.  But that didn't stop me.  I found a video on YouTube of someone playing their cover of one of the songs.  I definitely can't play by ear, but I decided that I could write out the music by watching the pianist's hands.  It took a couple hours of watching and listening and (re-watching and re-listening) to get it, but I actually did it!  I have yet to finish writing it out properly, but I love that I can now play this beautiful song.  I did find another video of a cover to another song from the movie.  I'm sure I'll be doing the same thing with that one!

Highlights from January

Doug's grandpa passed away a few weeks ago, and Doug drove out to California with his sisters to attend the funeral. Even though the death of a loved one is sad, it was such a great opportunity to bond with family. He had such a great time traveling with his sisters - sharing stories, talking about their grandpa, and just being together. It was a miracle that everyone was able to adjust their lives for a few days to travel to California. It was such a special experience for everyone.

Doug loved making friends with his nieces and nephew that were there!

Being alone for three days was a little lonely (we haven't spent many nights apart from each other in a while), but thankfully most of the time I was busy working, and I did find some time to bake some scrumptious brownie cookies. This was my best batch yet!

Doug's parents drove the casket to Cache Valley for the burial. Doug's dad got "one last road trip" with his dad. It was a special and hard experience. The burial services were wonderful. I'm glad I was able to be attend a part of the services and to hear some tender memories of grandpa Rod shared by his children.

A few more random highlights from the last month:

Our adoption books are finished! One of my talented sisters offered to help us make books about us to keep at our local LDS Family Services. She did such a wonderful job designing it and representing us well. We are so grateful for the awesome support that we've received from our family members as we pursue adoption.

Here we are enjoying an Aggie basketball game. The game was held so late that we almost didn't go since we had work the next morning, but it was pretty fun (even though we didn't win).

I got a bread maker for Christmas, and I've gotten to try a couple loaves. I've wanted a bread maker for a few years, so needless to say I am excited about having one. The tops of the loaves have sunk, so I'll need to tweak the recipe a bit. Regardless of the shape, though, they've still turned out yummy.

Enjoying a fresh slice of bread with huckleberry jam. Yum!

Doug has been trying to get me to try sushi for a couple years. I wasn't too excited about it, but I finally decided to be brave and try it. I really liked the things that were already cooked, but I think it's going to take me a while to get used to raw seafood! It was a memorable experience :)

I've spent a lot of time playing the piano lately. I accompany for the primary and ward choir. It's fun and I love to lend my talents to help serve, but it's been quite a bit of work. I've gotten better with accompanying, which is good since I'm used to doing solos. I've also been getting more comfortable playing in front of people and glossing over my mistakes more gracefully. It's such a good learning experience for me.

I love a good sunset. I was able to catch this short-lived sunset one evening after work. This was taken from our deck in our backyard. I'll admit that winter can seem gloomy at times, but for the most part I think it's beautiful.

2013

I've been meaning to start writing blog posts for about a month, but we got wrapped up in holiday celebrations (see below) and nasty colds (I won't elaborate).  So, here are all of my posts in one ginormous post about this last year.

Looking back at 2013, we had a great year filled with many wonderful things...

Adoption

This last year we made great strides with figuring out how we will grow our family.  Much of our nine years of marriage has been spent trying to get pregnant, and we have experienced some truly tough and heartbreaking times. After years of medications, surgeries, tests, and lots of waiting, we were left with one option. We started out the year thinking we would try in vitro, but our hearts never felt truly at ease.  We decided to consider adoption again (as we had done a few times over the years), and as we did we felt great peace and comfort. We knew it was what the Lord had planned for us all along. 

We spent much of the year working on the adoption process.  It was difficult and overwhelming at times, but mostly we have been so excited that we found our path to becoming parents. Through the process we have developed a great love and admiration for birth mothers. What strong and special women they are!  We feel truly humbled to be part of the miracle of adoption. We can't wait to see where the next year takes us on the road to parenthood. 

Home

We did a lot of work on our home this year - certainly more work than any of the other five years we have lived in this house. The biggest and most exciting project was getting our house painted. While we did get it professionally done, it required a lot of prep work on our part. We took down an old chimney that wasn't being used anymore, removed various wires on the outside of the house, and replaced some trim pieces.  It also was a little nerve-wracking to pick the paint colors, but it turned out pretty good. On top of that, we also got new rain gutters and got new shingles on the front half of the roof.  I'm so happy we got all of that done - our house looks so much better now!

We also replaced our old '70s brown interior doors with beautiful new white ones. It has done a lot to make our home more updated, and it especially brightens our hallway that has six doors!

As our birthday and Christmas presents from Doug's parents, they built shelves underneath our stairs -  the only real storage space we have in the house. It's so much more functional now (and a lot less creepy!).

Throughout the year, we went through each room of the house and got rid of a lot of stuff we didn't need or use anymore. It took a lot of work, but it's so nice to have less possessions to worry about and to have everything organized. We ended up taking a whole truckload of stuff to the DI. That was such a good feeling!

We hope to tackle more projects this year, but for right now it's nice to take break :).

Family

Each summer we have family vacations with both sides of our families. We had so much fun this year!

On my side of the family, we went to Bryce Canyon. This was by far my most favorite vacation with my family!  Doug and I had never been there before, so it was a great adventure. Awesome highlights include:

Watching 4th of July fireworks from our cabin

Hiking in Bryce Canyon

Driving to the top of Brian Head - 11,300 feet!

Riding the ski lift at Brian Head

Hiking at the peak of the wildflower season

With Doug's side of the family, we stayed at a cabin near Park City. The cabin had lots of fun entertainment - pool table, ping pong table, arcade games, hot tub.  We had so much fun, I didn't take any pictures. 

On the last day we had a fun family activity in downtown Salt Lake. We visited This is the Place monument.  I hadn't been there in so many years. It was fun to go back.

Doug's mom's family has lots of history in downtown Salt Lake, so we visited all of the houses that family members lived in. It was fun to hear Doug's mom tell stories at each place. We even got to take a family picture at the house she grew up in.

We ended the activity with going to the cemetery to find the graves of some prophets and apostles. While we were there we were able to find my grandparents' grave. I'm so glad we were able to find it, considering I hadn't been there in a long time.

Each year we look forward to the fun vacations we have with our families. I'm already excited for our adventures in 2014!

Holidays

I absolutely love the last few months of the year that we get to spend celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  It's such a joyous time full of family get-togethers, yummy food, and pretty decorations. 

It has become a tradition of ours to go to our local pumpkin walk each year in October.  This year many of my family members came along with us.  It's so fun to see the creative scenes community members make out of pumpkins.  I especially loved the intricately carved Star Wars pumpkins.

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Salt Lake. My brother-in-law's parents invited all of us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them.  It was scrumptious!  I could eat turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing all year round (but it's probably a good thing that I don't).

Baking rolls for dinner - from Texas Roadhouse.  Yum!

The kids toasting before dinner

We made our traditional turkey, filled with feathers that everyone writes what they are thankful on.  I love reading what everyone writes.

The weather was so great that we got to spend a bit of time outside.  We played my favorite yard game - a Finnish throwing game called Molkky.  First one to 50 points wins.  I don't think I've won before, but it's a bunch of fun all the same.

I spent lots of time playing with my sister's new dog, Deets. I must admit that I'm completely smitten with him.  He is such a fun dog!

One of my sisters that lives near us has a tradition each year to celebrate Advent.  She invited us over and we had a great time eating food (yay for more turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing!), lighting candles, and writing down what each of us would give to Jesus for Christmas.

Ready to eat!

Roasting dough boys in the fireplace

Much of the Christmas season was spent on the last few steps of getting approved for adoption, but I did manage to put the decorations up and make a few treats.

Our cozy living room.  I love to sit on the couch with
a mug of hot chocolate and look at the pretty lights.

Peppermint Bark Rice Krispie Treats

White chocolate covered mini Oreos - Doug's favorite!

We spent Christmas in Idaho Falls with Doug's family. We played many rounds of Rummikub, saw Frozen at the theater, did some shopping, and ate some delicious food.

We got the sweetest Christmas gift from Doug's mom - a crocheted baby blanket. She had made it two years ago, hoping that we would be able start a family soon. She felt it was a fitting time to give it to us, as a gift of hope. It touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes.  It's the first baby item we have gotten, and it does serve as a reminder of hope that one day we will have a little one in our arms.  I keep it out in the future nursery where I can see it a lot.  It's so precious to me.

We finished out the year with our traditional New Year's Eve party at my sister's house. My sister decorated her Christmas tree with a New Years theme. The balloons on the tree had jokes in them, and the kids had fun popping them and telling the jokes.

We did a jigsaw puzzle (I love puzzles!), the girls did pedicures while the boys watched football, and had lots of yummy treats.

 And we took an awkward selfie of us after midnight!

We also rang in the new year with our Finnish tradition of each person melting tin in a fire and dropping it in cold water. The metal hardens and forms a unique shape.  Then, we make a shadow of the tin on the wall with a flashlight and try to determine what it looks like.  That shape is supposed to tell your fortune for the coming year.  

Melting the tin

Looking at the shadow.  I think Anna's was a rabbit.

Mine was a duck.  Not sure what that means...

Doug's was a turtle.  We decided that if Doug ran a
race against Anna (like The Tortoise and the Hare), he would win.

The fortunes are usually silly and don't mean anything, but it is so fun - definitely one of my favorite traditions.


2013 was such a great year filled with lots of hard work and lots of play.  We're excited to see what 2014 brings!