Happy New Year - 2008

We hope you all have a fabulous and safe New Year!  It has been an adventurous and great year for us and we look forward to seeing what 2008 will bring us.  Thank you for following us along on our journey and for all the love and support every step of the way!  Ya'll are amazing!  It's been fun following you an your journeys as well.  I appreciate all the new friends that I have made as well as reconnecting with the old.  And of course, I love family!  

We hope all your wishes and dreams come true in 2008 (this goes for us too, hehe!)

See you Next Year!

this has been Dustyn and Kamie. . . . signing out.

2008 Photo Challenge!

A while back I mentioned starting a photo blog... well January 1st is coming SOON! I am super excited. We are going to assign a new composition, technique or treasure hunt each day. Friday will be your photo of choice day! I will post the list and schedule on my blog and you can transfer it to yours. :) My blog will be at 365daysofkamie.blogspot.com

Come join our journey of photos.

Good 'ole Cedar City!

This afternoon we drove down to Cedar City. Dad was here having surgery on his ankle and is coming home tomorrow (well today since it is 12:40AM). We just came down for the night to visit. By the way, in case you were wondering... he is doing well. Just hanging out waiting to go home.

Anyways, we went to IHOP! I love IHOP and I have no idea why. But it's so good! :)
Here is Dustyn thinking about the YUMMY salad he's about to eat... too bad it wasn't yummy. Wrong choice!!
My silverware waiting patiently to be used!
I LOVE green Tabasco! Dustyn was joking with me wondering if I needed a straw because I just love it that much! YUM!
And my coke.

Of course, I had to take pictures to entertain myself! Surprising, I know!

Then we noticed my friend Toni driving on the freeway heading to Cedar City as well... so we finally got her attention (by calling her!) and decided to meet up at our friend Nicole's house. We were all friends in high school many, many years ago! Ha ha!

Toni (refusing to look anywhere near my camera!)

We played games and just hung out. It was loads of fun and good to see everyone again.

Here's Toni and Nicole playing Apples to Apples! Fun, fun!
Chip and Dustyn. Of course I was taking the photos... so no pictures of me. Sorry. I know you are all hurt and sad about that.

Nicole and Chip's son was being so cute. He was chewing on an orange! YUM! Cute kid!



It was a good day! Now we get to drive home tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us!

Christmas Guitar Hero's

Yes, we need a life! But boy do we have fun!

Here are some of the pictures that we took while we were up at my mom and dad's house.
Mom, Jace and Chet are checking out the video of Grandpa Dotson opening his fish!
Dad opening his new trolling motor from everyone! He was pretty excited!
Dustyn reading a book that Grandpa Teeples gave us.
Tina just hanging out!

We had a fabulous Christmas. We were sad that Dad, Mom, Jace, and Tina had to leave early to go to Cedar for dad's surgery tomorrow.
We got some great gifts. Thanks Everyone! We LOVE you all!
Grandma Dotson made all the kids a collection of all her favorite recipes. I LOVE it! I am so excited to have it and use all the recipes that we grew up with. We also got a cool dish/candy puffs and a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Dotson. That made me happy too! I wanted a nice picture!! Thanks G&G Dotson.
Grandma and Grandpa Teeples gave all the kids an old book by Joseph Fielding Smith. He found one for each of us. Mine is from 1958 and belonged to my great-grandmother. I am excited to read it. We also got Chocolates! YUM! Who doesn't love those? Thanks!
Chet got Dustyn a 8GB jump drive and a knife and I got a 2GB jump drive! They will be so handy!! Thanks Chet!
Dustyn got a bow, arrows, camo, and a few accessories from Santa.
I got some perfume (Calvin Klein euphoria), some wedding picture (our first ones!! It's only taken 4 years to go pick them up, haha!!), pictures in some frames we bought for our wedding (again, only took 4 years!!), and three more picture frames with photos! I also got some See's candy! YUM! All from Santa of course!
Mom and Dad gave us some money to spend at Costco, and some cool vests!
JaKell gave us a game, Giant Spoons (Looks FUN! Wish someone was here to play it with us) and a picture frame. (Even when it wasn't our year. She spoils us!!)
Dustyn's mom gave us a Nativity Set and some goodies.
Ryial and Nicole gave us a game, Buzz Word, Dustyn some DVD's and me some Victoria Secret Lotion.
Yes, yes, I know, we are spoiled! Thanks for the great Christmas! Love ya!

Dori vs. Kosmo

Jace and Tina went to Cedar City with mom and dad. Dad is getting his ankle fused tomorrow and Jace and Tina offered to go and help drive them home. So we are watching Kosmo for the night. Dori and Kosmo are pretty funny to watch! Dori wants to play and I think Kosmo is more concerned about surviving. But they had fun wrestling for hours.

Dustyn the Hunter!

Just what he's always wanted!! Now if he could just get that archery antelope tag, life would be perfect! :)

Grandpa's Christmas Present

To see the video of him opening it... goes to Grandpa Rick's Blog. Good times, good times!!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a special wonderful day! A time to reflect and think about our Savior Jesus Christ and his birth! For the atonement and for opportunity he provided for us to have eternal life and eternal families!

Luke 2: 1-14

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the binn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Ornaments

Every year we have the tradition of getting a new Christmas Tree Ornament for our tree that represents our year. We found quite a few that we really liked and wanted to get, but they were always out of stock.
Here is what we finally decided on. I LOVE them. They aren't your traditional "yearly" ornaments. There no year on it or a specific event that it represents, but I think it pretty much covers our year.




There has been a lot of wishing and praying for a baby to come into our home. A baby to share our love and happiness with. There has been a lot of hoping as we hope for the chance to become parents with each opportunity and contact that we receive. And we have experienced a lot of Joy this year as we spend time together. Our lives are full of joy and happiness even in the small little family that we have. We are so thankful for this year and all that we have accomplished and experienced. We wouldn't change anything about it! It was a wonderful year!

Some of our favorite group games!

Here are some of the games that we are going to play at our Party! Dustyn and I LOVE games! But here are our favorites for 2007!!

What?

Boxers or Briefs

Christmas Eve Par-ta!

I was trying to decide what to make for our Christmas Eve party.

I am a HUGE fan of Nutella!

YUM!! So I decided to make Nutella Rolls and decided I'd share the recipe!

NUTELLA ROLLS
(these amounts will make 16)

2 pkg. crescent rolls
13 oz. container Nutella (it's a hazelnut spread; found near the peanut butter)
1-2 bananas (optional)
powdered sugar

Spread out a crescent roll triangle, drop a spoonful of Nutella in the middle, add a slice of banana if that sounds good to you, and then wrap it up. Place these on a baking sheet (I'm a big fan of the Pampered Chef baking stones). Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and put them in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes, or whenever they are golden.

And I decided to make a Cheese Ball! Here is the recipe for it!

CHEESE BALL

1 jar of Roka Blue Cheese
1 jar of New English Cheese
1 pkg of Cream Cheese

Mix all ingredients and put in the fridge to set. On some saran wrap, spread some crushed nuts (almonds are good, but today I am using pecans.) Scoop cheese onto nuts and from a ball.

Adoption

I came across the lyrics to this song on another adoption blog and thought I would share them. They made me stop and think. My heart is full this Holiday Season. Lots of love and emotion in our journey of adoption. It has been a learning and faith promoting experience and I am thankful for the opportunity we have had to grow and learn.

Cherie Call

"Delivery"

She was only seventeen and she knew she couldn't keep him

But at that very moment she wished that she could try

He was sleeping in her arms with his hand around her finger

When a woman came and told her it was time to say goodbye

So she wrapped him in a blanket as her tears fell on his head

And she sent him with a letter, and this is what it said;

"I delivered you from Heaven, from God's gentle loving care

And I've entrusted you to mortals who have wished and prayed you there

They will be your earthly parents

Listen well to what they say

So they can deliver you back to Heaven

And I'll meet you there someday"

One day a few weeks later someone gave her a letter

And as she read the words she had to wipe the tears away

It said, "We don't know how to thank you

There are things that words can't say

He's the sunshine and the happiness that brightens all our days

And we couldn't live without him, and we love him as our own

He has filled the empty spaces in our family and our home

You delivered him from Heaven, something only you could do

And you have trusted us to love him and to teach him what is true

You have been our earthly angel

And I hope you know we pray

That we can deliver him back to Heaven

And that we'll meet you there someday

And even though you may not get to hold him for a while

A piece of you will be with him

Every time he smiles

And when he looks at his reflection, he'll see traces of the face

Of the one who made the sacrifice to send him to this place

Last night we read a story of a man who had a son

Who was from a different father, but he loved him as his own

And as he laid Him in a manger there were angels that were singing

And he knew that as a father he would never be alone

There are times we feel like Joseph

We need help from up above

And when you gave your son, you showed that father's kind of love

When you delivered him from Heaven

From God's gentle loving care

And you entrusted him to mortals who had wished and prayed him there

And when this life's laid out before us

I hope we all can say

That we delivered this child together

When we meet again someday

We'll deliver him back to heaven

And we'll meet you there someday

If you would like to listen to the sample on her website... you can click here!

p.s.

My floor doesn't look like it's been mopped for a long time.  Grrr....   dang snow, mud, shoes, and paws!  But at least it looked clean for one day!  Yay!

Another shout out to JaKell and Brandon!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

(It's a busy month/week for the Meckley Family! LOVE you guys!!)

Welcome to the World little Eric.

I have decided that this year... December is the baby month! There have been so many of my friends have babies this month! It's so fun! And there are quite a few of them that are yet to deliver, but are expecting soon! It's just all so exciting! Yay for babies!!

CONGRATS Charles and Mitsy on your cute little boy! (He arrived December 20th) I am so excited and happy for you! :) Here is the link for a picture!! YAY!

Happy Birthday

JaKell

hope you have a fabulous day!

Love you!

Library

The past few days (since last Thursday) I have been subbing in the Library.  It has been. . . I won't lie. . . Boring!!  Really I have been sitting around for a week with nothing to do.  I have been so bored that when I try to read I just fall asleep!  It is so hard not to fall asleep when I have nothing to do.  I did however decide to jump on the band wagon and read "Twilight". It was actually good. I didn't know how much I would like it and with all the hype, there were some high expectation placed on it!! But I finished it in one school day. Yesterday and today I tried to start reading "New Moon" but after about 100 pages I kept falling asleep (well close anyways).  It wasn't that I was bored of the book, just bored of the library and of course staying up all night making suckers.  I was quite upset because I am actually excited to read it.  I was quite surprised.

It has been a long exhausting week and I have no idea why.  I think it is just because I am not use to sitting and doing nothing for so long.  It take a lot to do nothing.  But I have been so tired this week and that doesn't help the trying not to fall asleep part!  But it has been fun too.  Occasionally I have a student come in so I have someone to talk to or just something to do.  I am sure if I were a real Librarian I would have a TON to do.  But I'm not.  I am only a sub!  

Imaginary Friends.

I think Dori has imaginary friends.  She is always jumping and snapping at...  nothing.  Kinda weird.  Kinda funny.  Silly dog.

Dustyn is loving Dori.  I am still not 100% sold on a house dog, but she is doing really well and I am sure that eventually I will get use to having a pet inside.  But Dustyn is having a lot of fun!  It is so funny the way he talks to her and has conversations with her.  Explaining what is right and wrong.  It makes me excited to have kids and listening to him explain to them right/wrong and choices.  I know he will be a super good dad that will take the time to explain why they are in trouble or are in time out.  It so funny to listen to him talk to Dori for 10 minutes about not obeying him and doing what she is suppose to.  Cute, cute.  Much better at training a pet than I am! 

She is doing so much better.  She doesn't go out at night as much.  Dustyn only took her out twice last night...  which is really good.  She only cries for 5 minutes or so when she gets kenneled.  And she has only had two accidents in our house...  and that is when we first got home and she had no clue what was going on.  Yesterday we weren't able to get home until late after school, which we weren't really expecting.  She was in her kennel for a long time.  About 12 hours.  Poor dog.  But she didn't have an accident!  So far so good.  She is also really good at staying on her pillow in the Living Room.  We didn't even have to try too hard to make her do that. :)  I figure that way I can keep my carpet cleaner.  It is nice though that our Living Room is really the only place in the house that has carpet, so that makes it easier.   Mostly Dustyn takes care of her and does all the training.  :)  

Dustyn. The Guitar Hero!

He cracks-a-me up!  TOO funny!  There were better moments, but this is the one that I caught on video (kinda).  Sorry about the sideways format (and the darkness!!).  Don't ask me what I was thinking.  :)  But enjoy anyways.  

We LOVE Guitar Heros!!  :)

. . . and MORE suckers!

So you know how we made those suckers for "Taste of Christmas" and then not too many people showed up?  Well we decided to just let them sell the remaining suckers in the office to the students to raise more money.  Well they sold out. . . fast.  So the Student Council came up to me yesterday and asked me to make more suckers.  Really?  Do I have to?  Of course, I can't say no.  I mean it's for a good cause and it's the least I can do.  But that didn't make me anymore excited to make more.  I am kinda suckered out!

So last night Dustyn and I made a little over 400 suckers.  We made them for almost 6 hours.  We had two pots going and were cooking them as fast as possible with the amount of molds that we had.  It was. . . fun.   We finally gave up at 1:00AM and decided that was enough.  We were done.  I am hoping this isn't becoming a routine.  Maybe if I were able to take a month long break or something.  LOL!  

I am happy that it was all for a good cause and that it is helping a family raise enough money for a bone-marrow transplant.  That part makes me happy.

My most hated chore... DONE!

Today I decided enough with the lame excuse of mopping the floor! I know exactly why I hated doing it. So I decided enough was enough and I went out and bought REAL supplies. I lapsed back into my Arby's/Hogi Yogi/Fast Food days and decided to start mopping the real way. I bought a DECK SCRUBBER

(but mine is wood, like the real ones!! he he!), and a MOP!!

And...  some SPIC-N-SPAN!!  ( I LOVE this stuff!!)

And guess what I did? I MOPPED THE FLOOR! It was so nice! Just maybe now I can mop the floor on a more regular, less painful basis! Yay!!

Another fun house with Christmas Lights!!

I Love this song!! And of course, I love Faith Hill too!

Dori

Dustyn's brother and sister-in-law gave Dustyn this puppy. He loves it. It is a Pyrenees and Akbash mix. I don't know much about dogs... but I know these two breeds are from Turkey. :) That's all I know, you'ld have to ask Dustyn for the specifics! :)

We decided to name her Dori. You know we had to stick with the theme. Bruce. . .Dori. We love Finding Nemo!

She is going to be a really good dog and we are exited to have her!!

Dustyn's Family Christmas Party

On Sunday evening, the Dsutyn's family had their family Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun!

Dustyn's mom made little poodle skirts for the girls! They were so cute. We were able to get a few unorganized picture, but I thought that we would share anyways!

Oops! CAUGHT!

Suckers, Suckers and more Suckers.

Every year during the Christmas Season, SSHS has a fundraiser for a family in the area. It's called "Giving it Back". They have an auction and auction off "slaves for a day" and "principle for the day", etc. They also make an "elixir of death" and you can add ingredients for $5.00 each. In the end they blend it all up and the Student Council drinks it. I am pretty sure you could not get me in the same room as that concoction! YUCK! They raise quite a bit of money though. On the last day of school before Christmas Break, they have the "Principle for a day". They set up X-Box, Wii, Playstation, and different game systems in the Library and then they have some movies playing in the Auditorium and lots of other activities going on through out the day. Each event costs money and all the money goes to the family that they are raising money for. If they want to get out of school all day... they can pay $10.00 and play all day (but of course they have to stay on campus). It is fun for the kids and it is for a great cause. I think that the principle for a day went for $800.00 or so this year. Usually a few students combine all their money and buy it together. In the end if they earn so much money, the teachers agree to do something. Usually Dustyn has to dress up in a costume/outfit that the students choose and sing a song. Some teachers shave their legs and heads or pierce their ears. One teacher usually gets duck taped to the wall for the assembly. It is quite the fundraiser.

They always have a "Taste of Christmas" night where all the teachers submit a recipe and then bring a sample for everyone to try. It costs $5.00 (recipe book and samples) and of course, it all goes to giving it back. Well for our recipe... we submitted a yummy Chocolate Cream Pie and Suckers. We only made suckers because pie would just be too much. But we made around 225 suckers. It was quite the process, but a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of us making suckers!

This is just me playing around with my camera! :)

This is Dustyn's "Do we have to make more??" look.

Dustyn begged and begged me to make Clove suckers for him! YUCK! But I made them for him anyways.

They were pretty . . .

But I made him pour the STINKY strong things! Eww....

And this was just one of my favorite suckers! I thought it looked cool!