My good news

So today was my day back to work after a nice three day weekend. It is so hard to go back to work after a long weekend. But my good news is that I got my grades and I got A's in both classes. I was so glad. I was worried about my final paper that I had to write for my International Relations class. So apparently I did well, or my professor took pity on me and gave me a good grade. So my first semester back to school was not a disaster, which makes me glad. I have two more weeks of break and then back to school. I am hoping I don't have to write as many essays as I did last semester.

Well hopefully everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did. My sister and her husband came over. We had Elizabeth McMuffins for breakfast and chicken pillows for dinner. I know not the typical holiday dinner but we forgot to get the roast out of the freezer in time. Everyone liked their presents. We had fun opening presents with Jason's family and it was funny when our nephew, who is two, got bored opening presents and decide to read. Jason got me a MP3 player so I have to figure out how to get music on it. We also got 3 giftcards to the Olive Garden, so we don't need to worry about where we will go on date nights for a little bit. So it was a nice holiday and I would be lying if I did not say I was a little glad that it was over. This year it seemed more stressful then usual. Now I need to start planning Jason's birthday in May.

Good-bye school, hello bronchitis

Last week was my last week of school. I know it seems like I just started. Well it was a hard first semester back, but it was worth it. I learned a lot and I was glad to be back to school. I know that I got an A in my ethnic studies. I am still not sure about my international studies class yet. I am hoping for a B, I am not sure how well I did on my final paper. It will be nice to have a few weeks off, although right now I am not sure what to do when I get home and have no homework.

So the last week of school was the first week that I got sick with another stupid cold that is turning into bronchitis. It is my yearly friend bronchitis. As much as try and prevent it I still get it. I am fairly annoyed. I thought maybe I would miss it this year, but nope it found me. Last year I was sick for a month. I hope that does not happen.

But because of school and the bronchitis I have not been able to put up my Christmas trees this year. I was going to this weekend, but decided that the dust that the tree has been collecting the last year would not be good for my lungs. But we do have a stuffed santa on the floor to put our presents around. I know funny huh. I don't know why but Christmas came like 4 times faster then normal. It seems like we were just celebrating Thanksgiving. But Christmas should still be fun we are spending Christmas Eve with Jason's family and Christmas with mine.

Merry Christmas from Link, Yzma, and Misty

Yesturday Jason and I tried to get a few Christmas things done. We went to a couple different stores and were out for hours. Our last stop was Target and I found this a reindeer outfit for cats. It was only $4 and I thought it would be funny to dress the cats up. Yeah it was I could not stop laughing. So since I am not sending out Christmas cards here are some pictures of the animals wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.

Link Misty Yzma

How it went somewhere

I owe the title all to Julia. So I guess I need to talk about how a date with Jason that was suppose to be our only date, evolved to us getting married. Well after our first date, I told Jason I would see him in class on Thursday. Wednesday night I got a call from Jason just to talk. We talked for like 2 hours about everything. Jason said that he would like to go out again and I thought what the heck. We decided to go to an Indian resturant called the Bombay House (if you live in Salt Lake or Provo you have to go there it is fantastic).

So that Saturday we went to dinner at the Bombay House. We talked about a lot of different things, but there is only one thing that I remember. Jason said that before his mission that he wanted like 12 kids, he wanted a big family. A little bit before that he said that his mom really wanted grandkids. So there must have been some sort of divine intervention that kept me from telling Jason never to call me again, because if I had gone out with anyother guy who wanted 12 kids I would have never gone out with them again. In Jason's defense he did say later that his sister did tell him that the woman is the one that has kids so Jason had decided to let his wife decide how many kids to have. But I did go out with him again, although right now I can not remember what our third date was. I think that it had something to do with the University of Utah football game. Oh well.

So after that third date was Thanksgiving. Jason wanted to come down and visit me at my parents house in Orem the day after Thanksgiving. He came down and we went shopping and he spent the whole day with me. So I guess it was getting serious before I even knew that it was. The complication was that I sort of still liked this other guy that I had dated before Jason. So I was confused about how I felt about Jason. But I really liked Jason.

So the thing that changed everything happened two days later on Sunday. Jason invited me to meet his family and help them set up their Christmas tree. So I said that was fine, he had met my parents. On the way there Jason wanted to know if we were boyfriend and girlfriend or what we were. I said I did not know, lets just say that we are dating. So I met his family, which was a little overwhelming, because they are more boisterous then my family. But everyone was very nice. The thing that I noticed though was that Jason was so nice to his family. So loving and respectful. I started to think about the kind of man that he was and that he had so many qualities that I wanted in a boyfriend and later on a husband. Jason was just different from other guys that I had dated. On the way back to my dorm I told Jason I thought we were probably girlfriend and boyfriend.

So that is how my first date that I did not think Jason would be anything more then a friend, turned into a relationship. So I guess in another post I will talk about how we got engaged.

How we met

So I thought that I would write about how Jason and I first met. I had just transfered to the University of Utah from Creighton University where I had gone to school for two years. I had registered for 5 classes, three of them being science classes and I had a full schedule. It seemed like everytime I went around campus there was someone asking if I wanted to take a class at the LDS Institute. I kept saying that I had too busy of a schedule and tried to avoid the Institute booth on campus.

One Sunday I went to my singles ward and someone got up in sacrament meeting and talked about what a wonderful experience Institute was. I felt prompt like I have several other times that I needed to take an Institute class. I finally relented and decided that I should take a class. The only class that interested me was the Preparing for Celestial Marriage class. Much to my dismay most of the people that were in the class were engaged. I quickly decided that there were no available guys in that class.

A couple of months before the class was over this guy was sitting in front of me every class period. I thought he was a guy whose girlfriend had stopped coming to class. One day he asked me for a pen. I said sure and after the class he gave it back. A couple of weeks later the teacher wanted us to pair up for a discussion on communication. I thought well I will just see if this guy in front of me will pair up with me. Well our teacher paired us up and he paired me up with the guy in front of me. We introduced ourselves and he said that his name was Jason. We quickly went over what we were going to say in class and started to talk about ourselves. I told Jason that I grew up in Oregon and had just transfered from a school in Nebraska. We did our little presentation and class was over. I turned to Jason and politely told him that it was nice to meet him. He said,"It seems like you have lived an interesting life. Would you like to go out this weekend?" Well I was surprised. I said yes and gave him my number.

I waited for 2 days for him to call and he did not. I thought well what a jerk. Finally on Friday I got a call from Jason wanting to know if I wanted to go to the new Gateway mall and see the new movie Monsters Inc. I was excited to go. He picked me up and we went to the Gateway. We went the the food court and walked around the mall looking at the stores. We went to the Build a Bear Workshop, and I had never seen one. Jason offered to buy me one but I thought it was way too expensive for a first date. We then went to the fountain and Jason dared me to walk through the water. It was November and freezing and I was wearing a wool sweater. I did not want to smell like a wet dog. Jason started to walk through the fountains and I was following him until he walked into a big stream of water and got soaked. Poor Jason was freezing and we could not find a store where he could get a towel. Well he was freezing through the whole movie. After the movie he took me back to my dorm and I told him I had a nice time and would see him in class. I remember getting back to my room and my roommate asking how my date was. I told her that he was really nice and would make a nice friend. But I did not see it going anywhere.

My infertility rant

So I am trying to convince myself that I really have to get homework done, but I just need to rant a little bit. Disclaimer: I am not trying to offend anyone with my rant, it is just a way for me to kind of get stuff out. I have been thinking a lot lately about how much infertility sucks. But even with as much as infertility sucks the things that people say to you are even worse. So my little rant is about stupid things that people say to you. I am not sure why if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant people think that they can say things to you that they would normally. For example my friend who is pregnant has been told several times how huge she is. I don't understand it because if she was not pregnant people would not say that to her, it is insulting. Okay so back to my original rant, people saying things to me about having a baby. So this list is long, sorry.

Please don't tell me how you saw on t.v. how this person took a supplement and they got pregnant, and that I should do it too. I am not mixing together a bunch of stuff that Suzanne Somers thinks is good and ingesting it. If there was some miracle cure I am sure that my doctor would have told me by now.

Another pet peeve is having people who have been trying for like 2 months come and talk to me about how hard it has been for them to wait 2 months. Then when you try and help them they tell you that you don't know what they are going through and that they have it harder then you.

Also don't become my friend so you can complain to me about infertility and once you get pregnant never talk to me again. I have had that happen too.

Okay things not to say to me or anyone else who is trying to get pregnant...

-If you pray harder maybe you will get a baby.
-Maybe you are not trying hard enough.
-Maybe if you are around kids more you will get pregnant. (not joking someone said this to me)
-If you just relax you will get pregnant.
-Maybe God does not want you to have kids. (again something someone said to me)
-Maybe you need to gain weight, or lose weight.
-Are you sure that you have problems? (I love that one)
-Be glad that you don't have kids, I do and it is not that great. (So someone did not say that to me, but they did say it to a friend of mine that was trying to get pregnant.)
-Maybe you need to fix things in your life before you can have kids.
-You don't have kids, does that mean that you don't like them.
-Didn't you get married in the temple. You should have kids by now.

Probably my "favorite" thing that has been said to me was about our adoption. I knew a girl who was desperate to have a baby. So she came to me about adoption. I like sharing with people what the process is and what we have learned so far. I told her that I would bring her the books and stuff that we had gotten so she could see what the process was if it was something that she was considering. The next day I brought our book and everything and she said thanks. But then said that she had talked it over with her husband and they had decided not to take the "easy way out" of adoption and keep trying to have their own child. I did not say anything but her comments still leave me steaming. I felt like she was judging Jason's and mine's decision, which we prayed about. I fully believe that people have to take their own path with infertility and do what they think is best for them. I don't think that anyone involved would say that adoption was the easy way out, that we were just giving up. First for the couple it is difficult to go through the adopton process, do all the paperwork, wait, and wait some more. But more importantly for the wonderful birthparents who make maybe the most difficult decision of their lives, and selflessly do what is best for their child. How could anyone think that was the easy way out. I found that to be the most offensive thing anyone had said to me. Mostly because I think that it really devalues the wonderful gift and blessing that adoption is and devalues the sacrifice and selflessness of birth parents.

Okay I am done ranting. Hopefully if someone else read this that is going through infertility they will feel better that they are not the only ones that has these things said and maybe can laugh at the absurdity of people's comments.

Black Friday

So after a wonderful Thanksgiving, with a super juicy turkey, games, and lots of laughs, I decided to get up at 3 in the morning to wait outside of Best Buy for Black Friday. If you don't know me I love Black Friday. I wait outside of stores every year to get some big thing that I think that I need that year. Usually I do it so I can buy more with the money I have for Christmas. This year was no exception. We need a new washer and dryer and had decided on a price range. We found a nice pair that we liked, until the ads came out and Best Buy had a steam washer and dryer 50% off. So the $2400 set was now $1200 and it was a deal we could not pass up. My dad, mom, sister, and I all got up at 3 and headed over to Jordan Landing. My parents went to Wal-Mart and my sister and I stood outside of Best Buy. Everyone there was getting computers, tv's, Ipods, or other electronics, I was getting a washer and dryer. So we stood outside for an hour in 25 degree and finally got into Best Buy. Getting the washer and dryer was no problem. It was hard to get to the section because there were like a billion people, but no one was rushing to buy appliances they were waiting in line to get their computers. So the guy filled out my form and told me I had to go over where the green balloons were to pay for it. I thought no problem, this was easy. So the green line happened to be where everyone was buying their tv's. I was standing in line another 2 hours just to pay for it. My parents were done with Walmart, where they saw a fight break out, and I still had an hour to go. So they went to Target, where the line wrapped around the whole store. We ended shopping until 3 pm. I know crazy. But I also got a glidder rocker 50% off and a bunch of other stuff. I am wondering if I will do it next year. When I was standing outside and my toes were freezing, I started to wonder how much longer I can be crazy and stand in the cold. But I was not crazy enough to bring a baby with me. I could not believe this lady had her infant out in that weather. But I figure if there is something that is on a really good sale next year that we can not live without and we don't have a baby you will probably see me outside of a store hoping that I don't get trampled by some crazy person pushing me in the back to go faster . (That happened at Target 2 years ago.)

Being Thankful

I realized that Thanksgiving is coming up really fast so I decided to make a list of things that I am grateful for. These are in no particular order.
1. My wonderful husband and marriage: I am not sure what I would do without Jason. He is a wonderful husband and treats me really good.
2. The gospel and more specifically the Atonement: Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of the wonderful gift of the Atonement and how it has affected my life.
3. Family: I have a wonderful family who is supportive and loving. I would not be the person that I am today without my parents.
4. Our Jobs: So I know that I have done my fair share of venting about my job, but I am grateful that we both have jobs when there are so many people who are out of work and can not find another job.
5. Friends: I love my friends. They accept me for who I am.
6. My house: We love our house and we live in a nice neighborhood. I am just glad that we are not still living in our apartment.
7. Shoes: When your clothes don't fit exactly the way that they should your shoes are always there to make you feel good. Especially sexy strappy high-heel shoes.
8. Shopping: Even if I can not buy something it is nice to walk around, look at stuff I can't afford and socialize with my husband or friends.
9. School: Although it is not easy I am thankful for the chance to learn and also the opportunity that I have had to go back to school.
10. Books: I love good books, especially anything by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, The Moonstone, and anything else that I decide to read.

Well here is a short list. I could go on for pages and pages. Luckily there are holidays and times of the year for us to reflect on the thing that we have to be thankful for, because I know that sometimes I am guilty of forgetting all the things I should be grateful for.

Our Adoption Journey So Far

I realized that we set up this blog as sort of an adoption blog and so far I have not really talked about our adoption or our pathway to adoption. After 4 1/2 years of doctors and pills we had hit a crossroad in our infertility treatments. We could try some more pills and see what happened, or go out of state for a surgery that we were not sure would work. Both of us were very conflicted. Neither option seemed to be right. For weeks Jason and I talked about the pros and cons of each option, whether or not we thought they were right and what we should do. This was very hard as we both really wanted a family. The previous 5 years had been hard going to doctors appointments, living with insensitve comments that we were not trying hard enough, and unsolicited advice from people who thought they knew more then our doctor.


I complained to a friend of mine that we were not getting any answers and that we were confused about what to do. I told her that neither option seemed right and that I was frustrated. She told me maybe that neither option was right and the reason we could not make a decision was because we needed to look at a different option. She reminded me of the scripture that says that if something is right that you will feel a burning in you chest and if it is not right that you will have a stupor of thought. (That is me paraphasing the scripture) I am so thankful for her insight because that night I went home and told Jason I thought we should consider adoption. We had thought about it before but decided not to do it, but we decided to think about it again.


We both prayed about adoption and both felt it was the right thing for us to do. The confusion and the uncertainty disappeared and we both knew that it was the right thing. Sometimes the frustration is still there. Just because we made the right decision does not mean that it has been easy. We have now been waiting for a year and a half to adopt, but I still feel the peace that I did when we decided to adopt that it is the right decision. Sometimes other feelings of frustration, impatience, and worry get in there too, but I know this is what we are supposed to do.

Gardner Village

So I bet you weren't expecting a picture of me cooking. Ha Ha. Last week I went to Gardner Village to see the witches with two friends of mine from work. It was fun. We went to Archibald's to eat. They have the best articoke dip. I just get that and a small bowl of soup. Of course we had to get fudge and I had to get some for Jason. He loved the fudge there. Well and we had to go to the christmas store and I had to get a couple of smores ornaments to add to my collection.
Arn't they cute. A nice addition to the other 50 smores ornaments I have for my tree. I think that in a year or two I will have to buy a bigger tree for the living room to hold all of my smores ornaments. I did not see it while I was there but I was thinking about getting a little smores nativity set too. It is cute, and I can't really afford the Willow Tree on that I want. It is really expensive. Well I had a lot of fun at Gardner Village, I always do with my friends.

Okay just some other random stuff that has been going on since I have not written for awhile. Jason and I are doing good. Jason has picked up some more work, so he is coming home later. Between my homework and his schedule it is getting harder to see each other. That is okay, because it is just for a short time and we still make an effort to spend as much time as we can.

We found out that the pool liner has a hole in it and so next spring we have to get a new liner. I am not super happy it is kind of expensive, but the only thing that makes me happy is that the liner will last for 20 years. In 20 years you will not be able to pay me to be in a swimsuit so in 20 years I will not care if the pool works right.

Today I planted like 40 tulips. I will not have to go to the Tulip Festival because it will be in my backyard. It will look really pretty hopefully and I am exicted for Spring to see what they look like and if they come up. Some of the tulips were in a mixed bag so it will be a surprise. Even Jaosn helped to pick out some of the tulips, miracles do happen. His are going to go in the front yard, because he picked some really prety red ones.

Okay and here is the last thing. This is this huge bug that flew by me the other day onto the screen of one of our windows. I thought that a bird flew by it was so big. The picture makes it look small. I did not know that there were bugs like this in Utah, but this one almost hit me. I just thought it was a neat huge bug.

The car

So today I got to experience something that I have never had happen to me before. I did not win a million dollars, wouldn't that be nice. I also did not pet a monkey. No my car battery died right at work. I swear I did not leave my lights on this morning but I was sort of in a hurry so maybe I did. But I got done with work and turned on my car, nothing. I thought oh crap and went back into work to see if someone had jumper cables. Thankfully someone did. So they jumped my car and eventually it started. I learned something. I need to learn more about cars because I have no idea how to use jumper cables and I should probably know how to do that. I don't even know how to put windsheild cleaner in my car. So I drove home scared that my car was going to die on the way home. I got home, but my airbag light kept coming on which I thought was probably not good. I got home and tried my lights and my car died. Well not to bore you with car maintance, but my battery was dead. We had to get a new battery. Well it was a pain but thankfully it got fixed and I did not get stranded on the road blocking traffic and having people honk at me. Also I have school stuff to do tomorrow and it would be hard getting to Murray without a car.

The Zoo

Saturday we went to the zoo. I wanted to go see the baby animals that were born this year. There were actually more then I thought there were going to be. We did not get to see the baby tigers really. They were hiding so we just got to see their fur in the trees. We also did not get to see any of the baby monkeys. They were hiding under their moms so it was really difficult to see. We did get to see the baby giraffe that I did not know was there. We sort of saw the baby snow leopard. It woke up enough for me to get a picture of it. We saw these other baby kittens that I really wanted to take home. They were so cute and spotted. We also got to see the baby elephant. Which was our friend's kids favorite. They kept talking to her and were mesmorized by the little elephant. She was pretty cute and she played with her ball.

Afterwards we went to the Gateway that I had not been to in awhile. It was just a nice start to my week off of school. It is Fall break and I am glad. I can use this week to get stuff done that I have not been able to because I have been studying. Also it will get me ready for midterms. I can't believe that the semester is already half over. I feel like I just started school.

My mini roses

Monday I got a wonderful surprise at work. The FedEx woman brought me a wonderful package from ProFlowers. Inside was a pretty clear vase and 100 mini roses. There was a card that said "Someone is thinking of you. Hope your day gets better." The flowers were so beautiful and they smell wonderful. Jason sent them to me because he knows that most Mondays are hard at work for me. That is just like Jason to send me flowers on a day that he knows will be hard for me or when I am having a bad week. It is just one of the many reasons that I love Jason. He is very sweet and he thinks of me. Usually when Jason sends me flowers people will always ask what he did wrong. I always say nothing and that he sent me flowers just because. I am glad that they are not I am sorry flowers and are instead Thinking of you flowers. They mean more that way.

Trip into the canyon

This weekend we finally went up into the mountains and looked at the fall leaves. We decided to go into American Fork Canyon. It was beautiful. We went with my parents. We got to see a lot of trees and all the yellow, red, and orange leaves. We even saw a squirrel run across the road and a deer. I kind of wanted to see a bear. We did find out that the Civic does not do well on dirt roads and that maybe next year when we go it will be good to have something that handles hills and stuff better. It was really so fun to go. On the way back my dad kept asking if were were there yet and acting like a kid. I guess to get me back for all the road trips that we used to take So Jason and I have decided that when we have kids and we go on roadtrips that we need a portable DVD player.

Fall is coming

Fall is here and it is my second favorite season of the year. My favorite is spring. I don't like summer and winter as much. I don't like the heat and I don't like driving in the snow. I love the weather of fall and the colors of the leaves. I also love the smells. In the fall stores smell like cinnamon and cloves. Oh and football starts in the fall too so I got to love that. This year hopefully Jason and I will take a Saturday to go driving up the canyons to see the leaves. We talk about doing it every year but we never do.

So Jason and I went to a couple of stores today and they had Christmas displays up. Now I understand why Michael's does because it is a craft store. But we went to Kohl's and they had Christmas trees up and Christmas ornamnets. I love Christmas as much as the othe person but I just find something unsettling when there are Christmas ornaments in a store that is still selling swimsuits. So I think that I would like Halloween to be over before stores start to put up Christmas trees.

Football

So this was the first week of college football. I forgot how much I love the football season. It is not good for my homework though. I love watching it. I used to watch it with my dad every Saturday and Sunday. It was a way for me to spend time with him and I look fondly look back on that time. It was something I got to share with him. Now I get to share it with my husband. The funny thing is that I get into it more then him. I yell at the t.v like the players can hear me. And when the game goes down to the last minute I cover my eyes and can't watch. Jason and I do fantasy football with some friends and it is something fun to joke around about and tease each other. I know some people think that it is funny and silly, but we love it.

This weekend

So I survived my first week of school. It was nerve racking and my classes are sort of homework heavy but I think that I will enjoy my classes and what I will get to learn.

I want to write about our weekend and how again I am reminded how much I love Jason. Sometimes during the everyday things that keep us busy I forget to step back and look at Jason and the person that he is. It is easy to get caught up in the everyday annoyances and think of those instead of the big important things that make you love somebody. This weekend again I was reminded over and over why Jason is so wonderful.
This weekend we spent time with our wonderful friends and their kids. We love their kids and they also loved Jason. I could not help but love Jason more when he played with them for hours letting them crawl over him like a human jungle gym. Giving them horsey and piggy back rides over and over. I could not help notice how excited they were to see him and how they raced up to him to give him hugs and kisses when we came in.
It made me think of what a wonderful father Jason will be and made me more excited for when we adopt a baby and we become parents. I could not help but think about Jason playing with our kids. Dancing with them like he did this weekend with our friend's kids and having them crawl all over him like a big playground. It was hard not to imagine them running up to him and giving him hugs and kisses telling him that they love him. And I imagined the pride that Jason would feel the first time he hears our child calling him daddy and the first time they say I love you. Thinking of that just made me look at Jason in a different light and love him even more this weekend.

First day of school

Tomorrow is my first day back to school after 7 years of being away. I would be lying if I said I was not nervous and anxious. After 7 years I wonder if I can pass my classes and if I will remember the things that I learned years ago. But my new first day of school reminds me of when I was a kid and how anxious I was for the first day of school. I remember the night before school started that I would carefully lay out my new school outfit that I was going to wear. I would pick the outfit that I thought was the coolest. I would then carefully pack my backpack with all of the supplies that I needed. I would organize my pencils, pens, and paper. I would worry if my Trapper Keeper was cool enough. I know I am old if I remembr having a Trapper Keeper. I don't even think they have them anymore. Then that night I would barely sleep too nervous about the next day. All of that worry was for nothing because by the end of the year my pencils were all over in my locker and backpack. There was some new style of clothes that I decided that I needed to have and I was just too cool for a Trapper Keeper.

Now my worries are different and looking back on my first days of school years ago I think about how silly it was to worry about my clothes or my Trapper Keeper. Now I worry about wasting my tuition money by not passing my classes or sounding stupid in the dreaded group discussions that I found out one of my classes requires. But there is also an excitement of finally being able to finish what I started years ago and get my degree that I have longed to have. So here is hoping that I will not sound stupid, I will remember what I learned years ago, and that my laptop, my more high-tech Trapper Keeper, is cool enough.

My first post

So this is my first blog post. I never thought that I would have a blog, but I finally decided to try it. Jason and I just got back from Washington D.C a month ago. We had so much fun. We were there for 5 days and we could have been there for another 10 and still not seen everything. We tried to get as much done as we could. We were able to do a lot and we walked a lot. I think that some of my favorite things that we did were the unplanned ones. Like when we just stopped by a museum because it was the only one that was open and it turned out to be an Asian Art museum. We saw art that was 3500 years old. It was amazing. Jason loved the Native American Smithsonian that we went to. It was just so nice to go on a trip that we had been thinking about doing since we got engaged.