Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today was my Grandpa Hansen's birthday. My Mom and my sisters all went over on our lunch break to have lunch with him. He is so special to me and I love him so much. I have such great memories growing up with him in my life and am so grateful for that. I am honored to share his name as my middle name. I remember when I got my middle name for my 13th birthday, I took my new birth certificate over to his house. I remember how proud he was of that and it's a moment I will never forget. I love you Grandpa!

The Tulip Festival

We went to Thanksgiving Point over the weekend and walked through the beautiful gardens. I wish so bad my yard could be as gorgeous as this! It's always fun to hang out with my Mom and sisters. We always have such a good time. (We miss you Ali!)

We're adopting!

Well, after 6 1/2 years of trying to have a baby, we have finally decided to go through the adoption process. We got the application in the mail the other day, and our orientation meeting is scheduled for May 7th. This will be a long and emotional process, but we are very excited about it. We want to thank everyone for all of the love and support you have given us. We will keep you all up to date as we go through this incredible journey.

What should I do?

O.K this isn't the best picture, It's kind of dark, but I am trying to decide what to do when it comes to painting my house. I'm thinking maybe a tan color with the doors and trim in black. My house is kind of small and I don't know if that would be to bold. Place your vote off to the right and tell me what you think!

The best family in the world!

I just have to let the world know about my wonderful family. Lee and I, as most of you know, have been struggling with having a child. We decided to try artificial insemination and both times it failed. That was very frustrating for us, and I was really bummed out the other day about it. I had stayed home from work one day last week, and Shelly e-mailed me some wonderful advice and encouraging words. We met for lunch and that lifted my spirits. The next day I went into work and was just going about my normal day. All of a sudden, Lindsay walked in with these beautiful lilies! I almost started crying. It was so sweet of her to do that and it totally made my day. I am constantly being told by Alison and my sister-in-law Becky, that we are in their prayers. Mom and Dad are always giving us their support and words of advice. This whole ordeal in our lives would be so much harder if we didn't have such wonderful family support. We love you all so much and appreciate you all for everything you do for us. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives. We thank you all for your continued support in our efforts to move forward and pursue adoption.

Doggie Friends

This is our neighbors little dog Ramsey. I thought it was so cute how Syd and Maggie wanted to play with him. I just had to get a couple pictures.

Oh, the smells of Spring.

I can officially say that it feels like Spring. According the the calender Spring began almost a month ago. With the scattered snow storms and other cold rainy days, it just hasn't felt like it....until today. I went up to my mom's for lunch, like I usually do. After we ate, we went out and sat on the deck because it was so nice and sunny. All of a sudden there was the best smell in the air. It was burning ditches! My mom and I both took in a deep whiff because we just love that smell. It felt so nice to sit there with the warm sun and the light breeze, and just having a nice relaxing moment. Smells like that bring back such great memories. I just love it!

Another great smell is that of BBQ. It will be fun to get together with friends and family this summer to BBQ. I just love this time of year because it feels so good to be outside after being cooped up all winter long. It's so nice to be outside mingling with family and neighbors and enjoying the beautiful weather. I'm even looking forward to doing some yard work. I'm sure I'll change my mind once I get started, but right now I just want to be outside. It's even time to pull my hair back and get the bike out to go for some fun rides.

These are my ABC'S

A - Arachnophobia. Spiders are very scary. Even though nobody believes me, there was one that reared up at me once!

B - The Beatles. They are the best band ever!

C - Cruise. I hope to be able to go on one someday. They sound amazing.

D - Dogs. My dogs are the best. I love how happy they always are to see me, and I love cuddling with them while I watch T.V.

E - Extra is my favorite brand of gum.

F - Family. It's the most important thing to me. I've been blessed with a wonderful family.

G - Games. One of my favorite things to do is get together and play games.

H - Home. It's the best place to be.

I - Ice Cream. You gotta love cold ice cream on a hot summer day.

J - Jeeps. I think this one explains itself.

K - Knowledge. Although I'm not the smartest person, I'm grateful for the knowledge I do have.

L - Live, Laugh, Love. This is one of my favorite sayings.

M - Mountains. They are so beautiful. I love going for rides up the canyon. It's always so peaceful.

N - New York City! I fell in love with New York and would love to go back many times.

O - Off Road. This goes back to the jeep thing. It's so much fun!

P - Princess Bride. What an awesome movie!

Q - Quiet time. It's good to have quiet time to gather your thoughts.

R - Riding. I love the adventure of riding a motorcycle. Ironically, I've been given a biker name of "Spider".

S - Sing. This is something I wish I could do better. Playing the guitar without singing is kind-of pointless, so I would love to improve on that.

T - Travel. There are so many places in the world I would love to visit.

U - Utah. I am so grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

V - Vacation. It's always nice to go on vacation. What can I say....I'm a big fan.

W - Work. Although sometimes it's hard to get up and go to work everyday, When I'd rather be out playing, I'm thankful to my parents who taught me good work ethic.

X - X-ray. I would love to go back to school to be an X-ray technician.

Y - Y can't I think of anything for this letter?

Z - Zoey. I love this name. It is one of many on my list if I ever have a little girl. Nobody steal it o.k.?

Reflections of Christ

This is a video called Reflections of Christ. It's very moving. Just click on the link below...

http://www.eastvalleyproductions.com/blog.cfm?postID=31

What does every dog owner need? A dry-clean only Bedspread... NOT!

So, how many times have you gone to Walmart to buy something, and you come home with something totally different? This is not new for Lee and I, who once went to Walmart for something so simple like Toilet paper and came home with a T.V. I wish I could say I was lying.

So this is how our evening began. Lee and I were talking after having our dinner. We were trying to decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the evening. Since we have no kids, we are usually out and about going different places. When we are home we are relaxing around the house with our dogs, both thinking that they need our undivided attention. Each night before we go to bed, we watch an episode or two of friends. Since we have watched the series four or five times and have every episode memorized, we decided to go to Walmart and buy a season of King of Queens. So, off to Walmart we went.

When we got there we found that they didn't have what we were looking for. Lee started looking at other things, so I decided to mosey on over to the bedding. I was just looking, and somehow a bedding set ended up in my cart! I do have a good excuse though. A few years ago, Lee and I found a bedding set we really liked. We didn't buy it when we saw it and when we went back it was gone. We ended up going to 3 or 4 different stores to locate it and we ended up with just the comforter instead of the whole set. That's why I decided I should just go ahead and get it to avoid spending who knows how much in gas and wasting time trying to track it down. So we checked out, and went home.

When we got home we got the bed all made up, and then climbed in the freshly starched sheets. What a great feeling. Well as we are laying there, I said...."I hope this isn't a dry-clean only bedspread." Soon after that thought I fell asleep. This morning I woke up and looked at the tag and of course it reads "dry clean only". It wasn't 2 minutes later I could hear Syd doing his daily run down the stairs, through the family room, and the infamous leap onto the bed. He runs in circles before he plops down and makes himself right at home. This is a daily routine for Syd. If Lee isn't out of bed when Syd thinks he should be, then he starts growling at him. It's actually pretty funny.

So, I guess the moral to this whole story is......If you own a dog who loves to take over your bed, then it's probably not the best idea to buy a dry-clean only bedspread. As for me, I will just have to deal with it.