Silly kids

We are driving up north to take the kids home. Suddenly REL yells loud:
"My butt popped!"

More babysitting!

Dustyn and I picked up his brothers two youngest (Ages 1 and 2) kids on our way home from Flaming Gorge on Friday.  They are staying at our house for a few days while their family went to vacation.  They have been so good and a lot of fun!  They are such good kids.  

Tonight we went over to my parents house and lit all the fireworks that we bought for the 4th and never got around to using.  
We decided we better do it today to celebrate Jace's birthday or else we'd have to save them for next year.  Too bad he had to work.  :p  It was a fun show!  Thanks to Chet for lighting them all!  I am sure he didn't mind at all.

It has been a busy few days with the kids around.  I am hoping to actually get something posted about AI and Faming Gorge soon!  We'll see.

Guess who's birthday is was last Saturday?

My Dad

If you would like to know 100 things about my dad, you can visit my blog post from last year, HERE!

This year we were at Flaming Gorge to celebrate his birthday! We were hoping he'd catch a big fish for his birthday, but that just wasn't the case. Dang. One of these years we will get you a big Mac for your birthday!

I hope you had a good birthday dad! Love you!

Guess who's birthday it is today?

Jace

He is the best little brother anyone could ask for!

We always have so much fun with him. 

He is silly.

Goofy.

Fun.

Hard Working.

Thoughtful.

And Awesome.

Oh yah, and he's single. (don't you hate when sisters throw that in there?) 

Happy Birthday Jace!  Hope it is a good one!

Finally Back . . .

to blog world. It was so great to go on Vacation, but I am so not ready to be back to real life. (Although, we still have a little under a month of summer vacation left, then real life starts up again for real!)

Vacation was good, more on that later. I have a lot to post, but it may take me awhile. It is so hard for me to blog in the Summer time. :)

I have to apologize to all my favorite bloggers for my lack of comments. I think there were about 175 posts on my reader when I got home. So basically I am doing well just getting caught up on everyone! So I will get back to commenting soon! But I have read all your posts. Just too lazy to comment.

I came across some really exciting posts like this one, this one and this one. So many wonderful things happening!

But my heart broke when I came across Marc and Megan's blog. My thoughts and prayers have been with them. I wish I could be there. I wish I could hug them and cry with them. I wish I could help their hearts heal. I wish I knew the answers. But what an amazing reunion when we are all with our babies again. Love you guys.

My friend Kim wrote a post a week or so ago about Pregnancy Loss and Miscarriage. I have thought a lot about it since then. It seems like I have so many friends experiencing pregnancy/infant loss right now. It hurts me to know they are hurting. It also makes my heart yearn for my Hannah. Oh how I miss her. But I am thankful Kim posted this.  I am thankful for the Gospel and the knowledge that I have that Families Can be Together Forever!  This is what gets me through the tough times.  I am so excited to know and learn about my sweet baby.   

Finally Online!

Make sure you check them out and pass along their information to anyone considering adoption.

Can I tell you I love these people. Seriously. They are amazing examples to me!

Carrie and Rodney's profile on It's About Love.

Carrie and Rodney's Blog

Flaming Gorge

So we are at Flaming Gorge for our family vacation. We got here this afternoon and got our tent all set up and ready for a week of fun. Tonight Dustyn and I were in charge of dinner. We decided to make Hawaiian Haystacks and they were super yummy! Now we are out on the boat fishing. Of course Dustyn and I forgot our licenses so we are just chillin'. Apparently I get service up here so I thought I would post a blog telling ya'll why I am MIA. I haven't caught up on anyone's blog though. I mean afterall I am on vacation! But I'll talk to ya'll in about a week!

Completely random thoughts by:

~I take far too many picture of myself. Just trying to get that one good one. Oh well.

~I am so excited that I am in contact with Alice, Sonnie and Rachel again. They are all friends from when I lived in Mt. Pleasant. I moved from Mt. Pleasant the day after 6th grade started. It's been awhile since I have seen them. Wow. We are getting old. But they all have amazing beautiful families! I am so excited to watch them grow and learn!

~Why is it sometimes hard to talk to people about adoption? I mean I don't have a problem telling people that we are adopting or anything like that. But what about that pregnant teen that I see around town. How do you talk to her?

~Which reminds me. If you know anyone who is pregnant and considering adoption . . . look at these amazing couples! Feel free to pass along their information. So many amazing couples out there hoping to adopt.
Ron and Jessica
Greg and Arianne
Flavio and Kim
Brian and Leisha
Ben and Amanda
Mike and Erin
Josh and Lindsey
Carrie and Jon
Rodney and Carrie
There are so many more, but here are a couple!
And of course us! Dustyn and Kamie

~We so need to get our pass-a-long cards made and send them out! That will be my goal for August (hopefully before, but we'll see)

~Did you know that we are more likely to adopt through a designated adoption? Here is LDSFS information about Designated Adoption.

Designated Adoption

In designated adoption, the birth parent(s) and adoptive family find each other through someone outside LDS Family Services. This person is referred to as a third party. The third party tells the birth parent(s) and adoptive family only nonidentifying information about each other. Once the birth parent(s) and adoptive family decide to pursue an adoption, the birth parents, adoptive family, or third party may contact LDS Family Services for more information and services, including adoption planning.

Who can participate?
Any family or birth parent interested in adoption can participate.

Who can act as a third party?
Adoptive families may tell family members, friends, and personal and professional acquaintances of their interest in adopting and how they can help the family make an adoption happen.

What information can be shared by the third party?
The third party may share such information as the physical description of the adoptive family and birth parent(s), personality traits, educational background, talents, hobbies, interests, values, goals, church activity, and involvement with extended family.

Can the birth parent(s) and the adoptive family share information with each other?
Yes! Within agency guidelines, the birth parent(s) and adoptive family can create a plan for communication. This plan may include exchanging letters, pictures, and small gifts, and even meeting in person if they desire.

What does LDS Family Services do for a family once they have found a child to adopt?

Completes the required adoptive family home study.
Provides professional support and counseling to birth parents, their families, and adoptive families.
Gathers and shares available nonidentifying background information about the child and birth parent(s).
Coordinates legal and medical services for the birth parent(s).
Provides the required supervisory visits after placement.
Completes any additional paperwork required for out-of-state adoptions.

~We went to American Idol last night. It was so fun! We met up with Jenny and Daniel, Sheri, Janell and Jenny's mom and went to eat at Chili's. It was good! The concert was a little slow at first. But the longer it went, the better it got. David Archuleta was amazing! He is such a good singer, but David Cook is truly an American Idol. He was awesome. I loved every minute of it! (but more on that later)

~I have so much to post, but sometimes it seems overwhelming and I put it off and do silly posts like this, but I promise they will come soon. Although, it is a lot harder for me to post in the summer. I am so busy having fun (meaning more to post about) and I just wanna be outside and out and about. Who wants to sit home in front of a computer? lol

~Dustyn and I got new phones. Our "New Every Two" came up, so we upgraded. We got Motorola Q's. They are nice and I am totally enjoying it, but it's not an iPhone. So sad. Dang AT&T. :P

~I love watching Big Brother. Love it. (Actually I hated BB9 - I watched it maybe twice and then quit) But Big Brother 10 is currently going. There have been two episodes. Tomorrow someone gets evicted. I still have no idea who I like and don't like yet. (Not Jessie or Renny for sure. Gag)

~Which brings me to the point of totally missing my DVR. We have 13 channels or something like that (the basic locals). We don't really watch TV that often, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. But I miss it so much. I am almost ready to break down and get one. I like watching my favorite show when I want to watch them. Not when they want to be watched.

~One year ago today, we were looking at these fabulous sunsets in Pennsylvania. Man, I miss that state. I so want to go back. That was one of the best months of my life. I love traveling and discovering.

~It is so hot today. I guess you could say it's summer. Duh, Kamie! We have yet to get AC in out house. It is so, so, so warm there. Tonight we are over at my Aunt's babysitting and it is hot here. Although I am sure that it is MUCH cooler than our house. It's been a hot one.

~On Friday we are going on vacation with my family. I am excited. We are going to Flaming Gorge to go boating, fishing and camping. It is suppose to be in the lower 80's. I am so excited! We get to use our fancy tent. It is so nice!

~Next week Dustyn and I are babysitting (yes, we do a LOT of that) Dustyn's brothers two youngest. I am excited and nervous. I know they will be fun, but I am nervous to see how they will react being away from their mom with two strangers that they really don't know. I hope they like us and have a good time. They are one and three. We'll have lots of fun and play a lot!

~So Guitar Hero is coming out with a game called "Guitar Hero: World Tour". So fun! It's going to have DRUMS and a microphone! How fun is that. We really need to get over our obsession with video games. We are such geeks.

~Speaking of video games... I haven't played Dr. Mario forever. Sad.

~I am so not good at staying home with nothing to do. I so want to adopt and stay at home. I am excited for school to start so I will have something to keep me busy, but I don't really want it to. I love having all this free time to do what I want (as long as I am not staying home). At this point this summer is so busy. I have no idea how we have time to work! :)

~I know it's a little late, but remember back when I posted all those random things on my birthday about July 7th?  All the facts that Dustyn read to me?  Well I found the full version. Kinda fun. Here it is.

7 July 1979

Your date of conception was on or about 14 October 1978 which was a Saturday.

You were born on a Saturday
under the astrological sign Cancer.
Your Life path number is 4.

Your fortune cookie reads:
The first step to better times is to imagine them.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 6 & 7.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 3, 5 & 9.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2444061.5.
The golden number for 1979 is 4.
The epact number for 1979 is 2.
The year 1979 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 1/28/1979 and ending 2/15/1980.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Goat.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Woodpecker; your plant is Wild Rose.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paopy, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 12 Tammuz 5739.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 13 Tammuz 5739.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.18.6.0.17 which is
12 baktun 18 katun 6 tun 0 uinal 17 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Saturday, 11 Sha'ban 1399 (1399-8-11).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 15 April 1979.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 22 April 1979.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 28 February 1979.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 3 June 1979.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 10 June 1979.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Saturday, 22 September 1979.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Thursday, 12 April 1979.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 27 February 1979.

As of 7/16/2008 12:14:56 AM EDT
You are 29 years old.
You are 348 months old.
You are 1,515 weeks old.
You are 10,602 days old.
You are 254,448 hours old.
You are 15,266,894 minutes old.
You are 916,013,696 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Michelle Kwan (1980) Cree Summer (1969) Shelley Duvall (1949)
Ringo Starr (1940) Doc Severinsen (1927) Pierre Cardin (1922)
Robert Heinlein (1907)

Top songs of 1979
My Sharona by The Knack Bad Girls by Donna Summer
Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? by Rod Stewart Reunited by Peaches & Herb
Hot Stuff by Donna Summer I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
Escape (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes Ring My Bell by Anita Ward
Babe by Styx Too Much Heaven by Bee Gees

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.14951076320939 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

Your lucky day is Monday.
Your lucky number is 2 & 7.
Your ruling planet(s) is Moon.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Capricorn.
Your opposition number(s) is 8.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 356 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 30 candles.

Those 30 candles produce 30 BTUs,
or 7,560 calories of heat (that's only 7.5600 food Calories!) .
You can boil 3.43 US ounces of water with that many candles.
In 1979 there were approximately 3.1 million births in the US.
In 1979 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1979 in the US there were approximately 2,152,662 marriages (10.1%) and 1,036,000 divorces (4.9%)
In 1979 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1979 the population of Australia was approximately 14,602,481.
In 1979 there were approximately 223,129 births in Australia.
In 1979 in Australia there were approximately 104,396 marriages and 37,854 divorces.
In 1979 in Australia there were approximately 106,568 deaths.

Your birthstone is Ruby
The Mystical properties of Ruby
Ruby is said to open one's heart to love.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Carnelian

Your birth tree is
Fir Tree, the Mysterious
Extraordinary taste, dignity, cultivated airs, loves anything beautiful, moody, stubborn, tends to egoism but cares for those close to it,rather modest, very ambitious, talented, industrious uncontent lover, many friends, many foes, very reliable.

There are 162 days till Christmas 2008!
There are 175 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waxing gibbous.

~I know I said we don't watch too much TV, but can I just tell you that I LOVE The Office and I miss it. Again - a DVR would be nice.

~This song - or rather sayings - are ALWAYS in my head. Ha ha Love George Lopez. (Okay apparently my random thoughts are about TV today. TV that I don't watch much... Ha ha. Doesn't sound like it, Aye?


~My cute cousin who was at the American Idol concert last night, just texted me and said the concert was a lot better tonight. Dang! Too bad we didn't go tonight, but it was still so much fun last night! :)

~Enough randomness for the moment, maybe I will think of something else later. Or maybe I will work on actually posting on my blog. Or my picture blog where I am a month behind. All the pictures are pretty much ready to be posted, I just haven't gotten around to it.

Memories

This was posted on my friend Rachel's blog and I thought I would post it and see what everyone would come up with. This could be interesting! :) Here is the challenge:

The Memory Post

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends, write about a post that is the most memorable for you.

2. Next, if you feel so inclined, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you...!

3. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. ☺ And please do this on your page, too, so we can all share in the fun times together. :)

Adoption Blog

Our new adoption blog.  We will probably be making changes and of course are always accepting suggestions.  But I hope ya'll like it.  

Calling all picture of me!

I have been working on an adoption blog (cause I figured one more couldn't hurt, right? LOL) and I hardly have any pictures of me at all. I guess I am always the one with the camera in my hand, so the pictures I do get of me are ones that I take with Dustyn in them. So if anyone has any good pictures, I'd love to steal a few. (not the fat, bad hair day ones!! :)

Our Adoption Journey Theme Song!

I have wanted to make this the song for my blog ( I am sure everyone is getting sick of Blue October. Everyone but me! :) But I have yet to find it, so I thought I would post it here.

This is totally the song that I like to listen to when we go on our roller coaster called Adoption. I know Dustyn is always by my side and I am by his. We are totally in this together with the Lord. And together, we make a great team! We can get through anything.

(And it doesn't hurt that Tim McGraw sings it. I know!)

Fat Jacks....er... I mean Roy's

Last Saturday, Dustyn and I went to Ephraim to visit Carrie and Rodney.  They were down for the 4th visiting.  Of course we went to Roy's.  (It will always be Fat Jack's to me!)  It was so good.  I think I could eat breadsticks with mozzarella (aka Fat Sticks) everyday and never get sick of them.  Mmm...  makes me hungry.  After we went and got a shake at Rodger's Dairy Freeze!  Of course I had Strawberry Oreo!  Yum!  My favorite!

After we went to her parents house and played games.  It was so good to see them and visit.  Of course I never actually pulled out the camera that was in my pocket, so no pictures.  Sad, huh?  

If you know of anyone considering adoption, please pass along their information (I will have a link for a website soon!).  They are an amazing couple!  Carrie has been on of my best friends for over ten years.  Crazy I tell you!  Time flies!  They are both teachers and love teaching.  They love to have fun and go camping and up on the mountain.  They are just a super fun couple to be around and would be awesome parents!  

Thanks Carrie and Rodney for letting us come visit and taking us to Fat Jacks!  Miss you guys!

Can you believe it?

I can't. The big 29? No way.

But it has been a really good day!  Dustyn woke me up and brought me some yummy fruit for breakfast.  At that point, we decided that we would take a trip to Lagoon for the day (more pictures of that to come).   When I got in the car, he had a card and a CD waiting.  Then he read these facts.  

You are 29 years old.
You are 10,585 days old.
You are 254,061 hours old.
You are 15,243,700 minutes old.
You are 914,622,044 seconds old.

This makes you 29 years, 0 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes, and 43 seconds old
Your Birthday

You were born in 1979.

You were conceived around
10-15-1978.

You were not born on a leap year.

You were born 171 days from Christmas and 178 days from New Years.

Your Julian Calendar Birthdate is 2444061.5.

Your Birthstone- Ruby

Your Sign- Cancer

Your Tree- Fir

Your Life Path Number- 6

BIRTHS ON (JULY 7TH)
1901 - "Vittorio de Sica, Italian film director"
1922 - "Pierre Cardin, French fashion designer"
1929 - "Jon Pertwee, Former 'Dr Who' actor"
1940 - "Ringo Starr, Beatles drummer"
1941 - "Michael Howard, Conservative cabinet minister"
1941 - "Bill Oddie, Comedian and bird watcher"
1944 - "Tony Jacklin, English golfer"

EVENTS ON (JULY 7TH)
1890 - The electric chair was used for the first time in the United States
1929 - "The Vatican City State, with the Pope as leader, was created"
1941 - United States armed forces arrived in Iceland
1955 - The television classic 'Dixon of Dock Green' was first shown
1967 - "Francis Chichester, the yachtsman, was knighted by the Queen"
1971 - The US Apollo 15 spacecraft returned from its lunar landing mission
1976 - The Queen arrived in the United States for the bicentenial celebrations
1985 - Robert Mugabe became the first President of the newly named Zimbabwe
1986 - The South African banning order on Winnie Mandella was lifted
(and a whole bunch more, but I don't know where he found the info so I can copy and paste - but it was the top 10 list, etc)

The CD that he made me started off with "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins.  A favorite, of course.  Then the rest of the CD are all songs that were on the top 10 and popular in 1979.  It was cool!  

He also got me this, except in black.  I love it.  I have wanted it for a long time, so I was super excited!

He also got me a few levi skirts. They aren't here yet though.

It's been a fun birthday and Dustyn has made it a special day for me! Thanks babe! I love you!

We are going to go to dinner here soon, but I can't decide where I want to go.  Somewhere good!  

4th of July!

So many pictures!  Where to begin.  (This isn't even the tip of the iceberg, but it's all I will bore you with!  :)  

We had an awesome Holiday weekend!  Our hometown has the best 4th of July ever.  There are so many fun traditions that we get to participate in every year.  And that we have participated in for nearly 29 years (for me anyways)!  So much fun!  

On the 3rd, we went to the Children's Parade.  My mom had a Jewelry booth, so we helped her set up and chilled there for the afternoon.  

Tryen and Hadi

We also went to the Diaper Derby.

Here is Mattie in the race.

Everyone had lots of fun at the Climbing Wall.
Chelle and CindyKenz

And just chillin' and visiting.  The kids had fun running around.

Afterwards we went to my Grandma D's house and had a double birthday party for two of my cute cousins, Carly and Mattie!  It so fun to get together with everyone at least once a year.

The 4th was awesome, as usual.  I totally love the 4th of July.  First off we had the 21 (i think) cannon salute at 6:00AM.  A tradition that I have LOVED since I was a child.  At that moment at 6:00AM, it is officially the 4th of July.  When we were kids (up until I got married-sleeping outside on the tramp does not excite Dustyn when there is a nice comfy bed inside!) we always slept outside so we could hear the cannons better.  Of course it is so loud you can hear it anywhere in the valley.  I am sure most people don't want to be woke up at 6AM on a holiday, but it's my most favorite alarm clock of the entire year.

Next we have the Parade!  This year Dustyn and I rode with my Grandpa D in the Parade.  It was so much fun to see everyone.  Of course no one recognized me, so it was funny!  Here I am yelling their names and they are looking at me going - ME?  By the time we were almost past most of them realized who I was.  We were pretty bummed we weren't able to throw candy this year.   But it was fun to ride in the new diesel.  There were so many people there this year!  Crazy! (Of course I didn't even take any pictures.  Sad.)

On to all the festivities of the park.  There is a lot of food and kids games and lots of visiting friends who you haven't seen for-ev-er!  My family always has a spot on the west side of the park, but this year we hung out at my mom's booth.  It was a little weird not being over there.  :)  No one knew where to find me!  :)  

Of course we have the kid races and the Fish Grab.  Fun times.  

Here is the pools before the fish:

With fish (500 pounds):

And with kids:

There were some seriously big fish!

Yum - Cotton Candy!

Some more random pictures.
Trying to stay COOL!My Grandparents.CamRee tried out the Mechanical Bull. Good Job CamRee! You are so brave!

After the park, we went to my Grandparents house for dinner and fireworks.  This is my "See, I am smiling" picture.We ate some yummy food and had lots of fun.  The kids ran through the sprinklers and played on the swing set and went on 4-wheeler rides.  We didn't take too many pictures during the day.  Weird, I know.  But we did get a few for you to enjoy.
Getting ready for the AMAZING fireworks! It was a great show this year. We always have the best fireworks!We stopped by to see Dustyn's sis Jer and R'dell. They were getting ready for the fireworks too. Best seats in town!

Dustyn and I tried to get a good picture so we could make some pass-along cards.  Jace is quite the photographer, huh?  (okay, so we were goofing off too much.  I am not sure if it is possible for us to have serious faces.) Yes, we are dorks.