A big decision

Jason and I have made an important decision for us. We have decided to try another adoption agency in the hopes that we will be placed with a child. We will still be going through LDS Family Services in case a situation presents itself through that agency, but we will be on the list of the other agency too. We are hoping that going through two agencies will result in being chosen by birthparents for adoption. We are also keeping our license of Foster Care, but we are not actively trying to foster. We talked about it a lot and decided that we could not handle another situation like we went through last year. Especially when the child will be in our home and if the child left it would be even more difficult.
Going though another agency was a big decision because their fees are a lot more than LDSFS, however, we feel like this is the path to take right now so I guess we will see what happens. It will be a few months before we apply because we are trying to get a few things together and we have to construct a new profile. But I am hoping by the summer we will be approved and on their waiting list. We are both cautiously optimistic about going through another agency and it is a little scary, but I guess if it is right it will all turn out okay in the end. It is also giving me something to do because I have the profile book to work on and I am hoping that we can have two home studies done in the next couple of months so I have to get ready for those.
Well that is our latest adoption update. I can't believe that we have been trying to adopt for almost four years now, it seems like forever. Hopefully going through this new agency will result in a placement or the closure for us to move on to other things in our lives.

The cookie told me to

Last week Jason and I got chinese from P.F. Chang's. My fortune cookie said, "A new pair of shoes will do you a world of good." Well not to go against a cookie, to quote Homer Simpson, "They are so sweet.", I decided to buy some new shoes. So last week I bought these black shoes. I was skeptical of them at first because I don't normally like the shoes that have platforms on the toe area, but when I put them on they were so freaking cute I could not pass them up. In addition they make me quite a bit taller since the heels are four inches. While I was at the store my friend showed me these really cute wedge sandals that were tourqouise, which is usually not a color I buy. I tend to stick with black and red. I tried them on and loved them, but thought that I could not buy two pairs of shoes. But this week I could not stop thinking about them so today I went back and bought them. They are super cute and look good with the new pair of crop pants I just bought. They make me taller too. So I think that I am done buying shoes for a little bit. But the cookie was right buying new shoes did make me happier.

Valentines Day

Usually Jason and I don't do a lot to celebrate Valentines. We try and do things throughout the rest of the year, so we don't put a lot of stock into one day. This year however we did quite a bit for each other. It started with Jason sending me roses last week. They came in an Oregon box which I though was weird, but then I opened the box and saw these green and yellow roses. I could not believe that he found Oregon Ducks colored roses. They made me laugh. I think that it is funny that most husbands get their wives red roses for Valentines, but I get football roses. I love it.

So I guess in retaliation for the roses I made Jason a candy bar bouquet. I got the idea at Smith's and decided to make one for him. It turned out pretty good, but after a day or two some of the candy bars fell off. I gave it to him before Valentines for two reasons: I was excited for him to have it and I was too lazy to try and find a place to hide it.
For Valentines day I decided to make Jason a special romantic dinner. We never go out to dinner on Valentines because it is crazy and I prefer to have to rush through my dinner because the restaurant is so busy. I had a couple of ideas and after deciding it would be too hard to find duck, I decided to make rack of lamb. I had never made it before and I was sort of nervous. It was not that easy to find the rack of lamb, but finally I did. So I made roasted rack of lamb with a mustard sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, and a salad. Not to brag, but it came out pretty yummy. I tried to make it look fancy like a restaurant, which it sort of does.

For dessert I made panna cotta, another new recipe for me. I decided to make vanilla panna cotta, with raspberry syrup and berries. It turned out really good and Jason really liked it.

So that was our Valentines day. I was excited that the food turned out good, since it I spent hours cooking.

Well that is about all that is going on with us. Jason is still working a lot of hours and I am just working on projects. I will have to post some of them soon.

Da, da, da, da

Last Saturday Jason and I went to Beethoven's 5th symphony presented by the Utah Symphony. We bought the tickets back in September or October and I had been looking forward to it since. I decided to buy a new dress and my sister helped me find a very cute black Calvin Klein dress. It was kind of expensive, but when Jason saw it his first reaction was, "Holy Crap!" so I figured it was worth the money. Every time I think of Calvin Klein dresses I think of the movie Clueless, so the dress makes me laugh. Well, on to the symphony which was really lovely. Listening to the 5th symphony live was really great. They also preformed a new cello piece, written by a Swiss composer, that was really interesting. I don't really know how to describe music in technical terms, but I know how music makes me feel and I found this piece really interesting and different. I thought they were going to play a peice by Mendolsen and when I found out that they wern't I was disappointed, but after hearing the cello peice I was glad I got to hear something as interesting as it was. It was also interesting to see the man who played the cello because he was so passionate about the music and I love to see people who are so passionate about what they do. In April we are going to another Beethoven piece, which I am looking forward too. Since we went to two symphony preformances this year maybe next year we will go to the opera.

A week of good and bad

Last week was a mixture of good and bad. My grandmother had to go to the ICU because of heart problems and I was concerned that she was not going to make it. She broke her shoulder a couple of weeks ago and had to have surgery to repair it. She was in a rehab facility when her heart started to beat irregularly. I did not know until Saturday when we went to visit her that she told the nurses at the rehab center and they did nothing for hours. My uncle had to get after them for them to finally send her to the hospital. Luckily she is doing better, but I was very concerned about her and I still worry. I am really close to my grandma, she is one of my best friends. When I was little she taught me so much: how to cook, garden, crochet, sew (although I am not good at it), and so many other things. Now she is someone I can call and talk to and she always cares about what is going on in my life. I can't imagine not being able to talk to her or visit with her.

Another bad thing is that my paper that I submitted to publication was not accepted. They sent me a letter saying that they recieved 60 papers and that only 6 were selected. Although I know statistically my chances were not good, but I hoped that my paper would be good enough to get selected. This makes me worried about what my marketablity for grad school will be. I guess I won't know until I apply.

Ok so on to the positive, Jason was able to get the two weeks off that we wanted for vacation. I am so excited we are going to Oregon again, which is my favoirte place to go. I won't say when we are going on here, since working at the credit union I am sort of paranoid about what information people can get online, but I am very excited. We are planning on going to Lincoln City again for a few days and possibly hiking at Golden and Silver Falls. The hike is suppose to pass by 10 waterfalls, which is so great because Jason loves waterfalls. Mostly I am so excited to be by the ocean again, smell the fresh misty air, and to visit with my other grandma. I only get to see her every couple of years and so when we get to see her it is a treat. Oh yeah and we are going to the cheese factory because Tillamook cheese is the best and their cheese curds are really good. In addition they have really good jerky.

Just Because

So I know there is not really an award for this, but I would like to nominate Jason for "Husband of the Month". Last week I woke up to a call from the Sanctuary day spa telling me that I had an appointment for a spa treatment. I did not make an appointment so I told the girl she was mistaken, but after thinking about it for a second I told her I would talk to my husband and call her back. I called Jason to see if he had made a surprise appointment for me. Jason at first said he did not and that he was unloading boxes and would need to call me back. When he called me back he admitted that he had made the appointment and had not given them his phone number. I was feeling embarrassed that I had told the girl the appointment was not mine and excited that Jason would set us a surprise for me.

The next day I had lunch with a friend, in which I learned that goat cheese and pears together are really good. I then went to the spa and had a very relaxing time. When I was leaving, Jason was sitting on a chair in the lobby. I was surprised because he was suppose to be at work. I found out then that Jason had taken the day off weeks before and had planned a surprise dinner date with me. I was stunned. We both drove home so we could change because Jason said we were going someplace fancy. I went downstairs to change and this is what I found on the dry bar.
I was so surprised to have all of those flowers. They were so beautiful. Jason got home and I asked him what all the flowers were for and he said that he knows that sometimes a wife needs to feel like they are being pursued. He then took me to dinner to Tuscany, which is this really fancy restaurant in Cottonwood Heights. At the table I had these waiting for me.

I could not believe that he got me more flowers. The dinner at the restaurant was really good. Jason got the duck and I had a double cut pork chop, but I think that I actually liked his duck better and we tried prickly pear sorbet. It was interesting.

I am so grateful to have Jason. Since we got married he has always tried so hard to make me feel love and respected. He does not take our marriage for granted. Although sometimes I have to remind him that he still has to date his wife, he takes the advice to heart and tries to come up with special things for us to do together. I am just so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man.

End of Year

I have finally finished school and can actually do things again. The last couple of months have been busy. Jason's sister moved to Idaho and for about three weeks her, her husband, and her two kids stayed with us. It was nice that they were able to stay with us and that we got to spend time with them before they moved. Having the two kids here made me admire mothers who go to school, because I saw a little bit how hard it is to do homework with kids around. I don't mean that kids are pests, but that they need attention and you can't ignore their needs. A few weeks after they left it was Thanksgiving which was a nice day, but the next day we got a call that my grandfather had fallen, hit his head and was not going to make it. Unfortunately I had the flu and I could not go to the hospital to see him before he passed away. Not being able to say goodbye to my grandfather was hard, but his funeral was beautiful. The speakers talked about how wonderful it was that we had the gospel and that we knew about eternal families, and that we could see my grandfather again. That is such a comfort when things happen and when we lose people that we love

After my grandfather's death I had just a couple of weeks to get ready for finals and everything was such a blur. Thankfully I lived through it and was able to get A's in all of my classes which was a relief to me. I think that I have have decided to go to grad school and I was really stressing about my grades because I wanted them to be as good as possible when I apply for schools. If I decide to not go to grad school I want it to be my decision not because my grades are not good enough. So I put a lot of pressure on myself, but it all paid off in the end.

So now that school it over I need to start studying for the GRE. I am not sure what else I am going to do. I might do some volunteer work or something like that. I guess Jason and I can also decide what we want to do about our adoption plans. We still don't know what to do. We are licensed through foster care, but are feeling reluctant to take the leap and tell them that we are willing to have a child placed in our home. We are afraid of getting hurt again. I also have doubts that we will adopt through LDSFS. I saw a blog today of a couple who was approved in September and was picked by December. So after three months they got picked and we have been on there for three years with noone being interested in us. I just think that there must be something about us that people don't like and I don't really know what it is. But whatever it is, I just don't think that we will be chosen. Three years is a long time for noone to be interested. So we have to decide if we are willing to put ourselves out there to get hurt again or if it is time to say enough is enough and move on. So I guess with my free time I can decide what I think we should do. I am sure we will figure out the best thing, even if it is not what we had always envisioned.