FOLLOW YOUR BLISS

2011-10-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

My little man giving me some attitude- i asked him too. lol!

Right before church on Sunday, he saw daddy's tie and HAD to wear it!

Tired of me taking pictures! He is so great at expressing how he feels!

One of my favorite picture! I even had a canvas print made.

This was his new hair cut and the one picture I could get with him smiling.

Wow! so it has been awhile! So pretty much updated almost a year ago, so there is too much to tell. Things are great. Gabe is growing fast and is in the terrible two phase. I am really hoping it will stop when he turns three.... I can dream! He is super smart and has such a funny sense of humor. He is very athletic- he can (and we have) play catch or soccer for hours. He is a bit of a chunk 35 pounds and super solid- he has no fat rolls. He has been called a future line backer. He is a sweet spirit and everyday I am lucky to have him. Yesterday we went to tacobell for lunch and he ate rice, which a lot got on the floor. When we were finished with lunch he was determined to clean up his mess. The manager thought that was pretty cool and brought him a special treat for doing a good job. I guess that is what you would call a proud mommy moment!

The Cookie Culprit

2010-10-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

So today I was in the living room watching some TV when all of a sudden Gabriel comes up to me with two Frosted sugar cookies (his favorite treat) in his hands. I immediately ran into the kitchen to find the cookies all over the floor and one bite taken out of each cookie. Now I should have been mad, but 1- I should of been watching him closer and 2- it was just too funny. All I could do was laugh. He was so quiet about the operation and when I was picking them up he stole another cookie and ran away laughing. The little stinker!!

Anyway the rest of these are just random picture I have taken with my phone. We went to visit my dad in South Dakota and Gabe had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa! It was such a nice visit, even though it was cut short due to an important homework assignment Aaron needed to complete. Gabe is getting bigger and smarter everyday and I am having a hard time keeping up with him, but he makes me and my like so much better.
This is one of my favorite pics! I asked Gabriel so say cheese and this is what I got.

Daddy and Gabe playing in the park in Rapid City.

Gabe and Cousin Garret playing in the leaves- Gabe had a blast!!

The giant pumpkin behind them weighed around 700 pounds or something like that. Huge!

Gabe and Grandpa Pickett Snoozing. Weird but Gabe would not sleep anywhere but with Grandpa. He cried when I layed him down in the playpin and when I brought him back upstairs he wanted Grandpa and fell right back asleep. Soooo Cute.

One of the favorite parts of the trip to Rapid for Gabe was the doggies at Grandma and Grandpas house. He loved Jazzy!

18 months old and counting....

2010-07-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

Gabriel Aaron Howe - 18 months old

A few weeks ago we took Gabe to get some pictures done. He did great and it was so much fun. He is a ball of fire as of lately and a true 18 month old tantrum thrower. He has me wrapped around his little finger and knows it! Some of his favorites are his Elmo toy, the Elmo in Grouchland movie ( I have now have that movie memorized), bubbles ( he is so dramatic saying it), dogs, any motorized vehicles, and dirt. He is a true blue little boy. His favorite foods are pizza, green beans, olives, tatertot casserole, and noodles. He hates getting his hairwashed, sitting in a cart at the store, getting his diaper changed, and washing his face. He is so smart and I love every bit of him. By the way I am always chasing him, which means I am always exhausted. I wouldn't change a thing.

One of my Favorite Childhood Books!

2010-04-29T19:47:00.001-07:00

Does anyone remember this book? I remember reading it over and over. I loved it! I definetly need to buy it for Gabriel, expecially after yesterdays bathroom episode.

So I was putting on my make-up and all of a sudden I realize Gabe was being very quiet. This usually means he is filling his pants or getting into something he knows he shouldn't be getting into. The pictures below prove he was getting into something. He was having so much fun and I just could not get mad at him. I immediately thought of this book and took pics! Enjoy!

From the phone of Sara

2010-04-26T13:24:00.001-07:00

So here a couple of cute cellphone pics of the last couple of weeks. Gabe is getting so big and cute sooo very fast. 16 months in about a week.

His recent vocabulary:

grandma (mam-ma)

Grandpa (dadaa)

yah!

uh-oh

mahnahmahna (muppet song)

elmo (melmo)

daddy

mama

tucker (matt and Leslies little boy)

Jenna (nena)

2010-02-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Gabe thought he was so cool in these sunglasses. It made me smile! He is now 13 months old and getting bigger everyday. He can walk between short distances, but still prefers to crawl. It is much faster you know! He has four teeth now! Two on top and two on bottom.

Aaron is doing so well in his classes. In once class he got the highest grade on the test they just took. I am so proud of my incredibly smart husband.

As for me.... not much going on, except being sick for a week or two. Yuck. Sinus infections suck.

My very own free meal ticket! LOL!

2010-02-03T13:07:00.001-08:00

This is Gabe last friday at Ihop. I love those big beautiful eyes. I have a hard time saying no that face. Well while we were at Ihop an older coupled ohhed and ahhed over him and then they left the restaurant. A few minutes later the waitress came up to me and told me that the couple had paid for our meal! I guess I have a pretty darn cute kid.

He is teething right now so he pretty miserable. We took him to the doc and he said it was just teeth and maybe the start of croup. So he got some steroids and he went home and slept for 3.5 hours. He has not been sleeping well at night so this was nice for him. Pray for his teeth to come in before I go insane!

Its all Gone!!!!

2010-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

BEFORE

After

I think I cried a little on the inside. LOL! My big boy!

September fun!

2009-10-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Gabe loving the car at storybook island!

Grandma and Grandpa with Gabe and the Cat in the Hat!

Not a great picture of me, but I could not resist having the picture taken!

storybook island

The cutest pic EVER! (aunt shanna took this)

My little wyoming fan! Isn't he sooo cute!

Well, I don't have a lot of time for blogging anymore so I am going to try to blog at least once a month. The month of September was sooooo busy. School started which meant I started back at work and long day and shorts nights have begun. So here are some of the howe happenings in september:

-We went to visit my Dad in South Dakota. We got to see all of my family (except nephews- boo!) down there and Aaron and I enjoyed our three day weekend. Gabe warmed right up to grandma and grandpa Pickett and seemed to love the puppies even though they were not to fond of him. We went to storybook island and it was really fun to walk around and take lots of picks. Gabe really was not partial until it came to a car he could sit in and then he was all about it. He loves cars just like his daddy!

-We have got to spend lots of time will all of our family which has been really nice. Gabe love spending time with his cousins and he has a lot who are his age.

-I was away from Gabe for the first time in September. One of bestest friends, Cambia, from college got married in the Billings Montana LDS Temple. I was invited to the ceremony, so I went. I rode tripped it up to Billings with the Grooms sister and got there the night before the BIG day. We stayed up wayyy tooo late and just visited with Cambias sister. I was lucky enough to see some of aaron and I's closest friends - Reuben and Stephanie- while I was there. The Ceremony was so beautiful and I got all choked up! The day of the ceremony we drove home or at least attempted a peaceful drive home. The van I was in broke down so I hitched a ride with cambias sisters and had a blast on the way home, hanging out with all the single girls. I got home wayyy to late and then the next morning went to the reception in Cheyenne. This was really special because all of my closest girlfriends from my freshman year of college came down and we spent some much needed time together. It was like we were never apart. I miss my girls.

-We went to Cheyenne to visit Aarons dad on his birthday. It was a nice visit! We went to Red Lobster and ate some amazing food. The waitress was kind of a ditz! She put a really hot plate right infront of Gabe. Of course Gabe grabbed it and got burnt. He cried so hard and the waitress did not even apologize. The service seemed to be pretty good after that, though!

- Gabe is growing and changing all the time! He is not crawling yet but is so close. He has been sick for the last couple of weeks and only wants to be held. It started out as teething (no teeth yet) and then a nasty cough. I took him to the doctor and he was perfectly fine. I took him to the doctor today again (october 7th) and he has a nasty ear infection. I know I am talking about September but today Gabe turned NINE months old. Besides the ear infection he is doing great and is right on target and the doc even said that he is doing things that he should be doing at a year. He is 19 pound and almost 29 inches long. He got his flu shot today and did not make a complain or cry. I was really impressed- he is a tough little guy. Some fun things he is doing is rolling a ball or throwing it (not very far but the effort is there). He tries to give me kisses- opened mouthed and kind of slobbery. He can get on all fours and rock back and forth- but no crawling. He is really picky about baby food but loves to self feed. He is using his pincher fingers to pick up things to feed himself. Some of his favorite food is blueberries, potatoes, cut up green beans, bread, and Gerber puffs and tonight i found out he really likes pumpkin pie.

- We learned very quickly that we need to baby proof fast. On one sunday Aaron and I were in the Kitchen talking and realized Gabe was really quiet. That is very strange because he is always jabbering. We walk into the living room to find him underneath our huge living room plant. He had pulled this plant on himself and was having a blast playing in the dirt. This happened right before church. He had dirt everywhere and when I picked him up I got dirt all over me. Aaron vacuumed us up (we were both laughing hysterically at the time) and went to church. 100% pure boy. i wish i would have taken a picture.

Well this really all I can say for now. I was a good month, but I am tired and I am ready for a little more stability. I will post lots of pictures this weekend.

Welcome!

2009-07-31T23:01:00.001-07:00

I have a new nephew! And he is soooo beautiful! His name is Ean (sounds like Ian) Benjamin Howe. He was 9lbs 12 oz. and just so adorable. Congrats to Mom (Krista) and Dad (Ben- Aarons Brother).

Amazing Weekend!!!

2009-07-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Six month pictures of Gabe that Aunt Shanna took. They are amazing! They are taken outside of our apartment 07/19/2009.

Daddy and Gabe!

GABE DRESSED IN WHITE! SO HANDSOME!

Mommy and Gabe!

I love my baby!

Mommy, Daddy, and Gabe. The photo Shoot outside the Temple.

Grandma and Grandpa Riddle

Grandma and Grandpa Howe

Everyone who was at the temple that day!

Wow! What an amazing weekend. To start off with on Thursday the 16th of July at 1:30 P.M. our adoption was finalized. Aaron and I met our attorney Jared Cressillius at the District court. We went into the Judges room. I believe the Judge was Jeffrey Donnell. Anyway we sat down with him and he asked us a few simple questions and then reviewed our paperwork. That was it! He signed the papers and Gabe became our son ----Legally. Yippee! Gabe was all smiles and charmed the Judge. He said he had never seen a happier baby and then joked that it looked like we were starving the kid (we had a polo shirt on that was a little on the snug side so it showed off his belly). We took pictures of us with the judge and then with us and then with Gabe and our attorney. It was a great day! I was perfectly fine -no tears- until we pulled up into the drive-thru at the bank and i just got choked up. Did I ever tell anyone that I hate crying in public places?

On Friday we left with my brother Eric and drove to Denver to stay the night in a hotel before our temple Sealing. For those of you who do not know what I mean by "Sealing" I will explain. In our church we believe that to be together as a family FOREVER even after death, we need to be Sealed together in a Temple. For most members of the church they get sealed together as husband and wife in the temple when they get married. That is why it is so important for us to be married in the temple. When parents are sealed in the temple, the children born to them are born in the covenant of their parents’ sealing and do not need to be sealed to their parents. Children that are adopted are not born in the covenant, but can still be sealed in temple after the adoption is legalized by the state. So that is what we did. Aaron and I had our son sealed to us so that we can be a family forever. The former president of our church, Gordon B. Hinkley has this to share about Sealings: “Was there ever a man who truly loved a woman, or a woman who truly loved a man, who did not pray that their relationship might continue beyond the grave? Has a child ever been buried by parents who did not long for the assurance that their loved one would again be theirs in a world to come? Can anyone believing in eternal life doubt that the God of heaven would grant his sons and daughters that most precious attribute of life, the love that finds its most meaningful expression in family relationships? No, reason demands that the family relationship shall continue after death. The human heart longs for it, and the God of heaven has revealed a way whereby it may be secured. The sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord provide for it”. Perfect thought. Needless to say we know that this one act is so important to us and that is why we did what we did. Anyway...... That night some of my family met up (we all stayed in the same hotel) and ate some dinner and just visited. The next morning we went swimming at the hotel pool. Gabe had fun but the water was a little cold- okay it was freezing! And then Aaron and I got ready to go. We had to be to the temple at noon and at a 20 till noon aaron realized he does not have a dress shirt to go with his suit. After a short freak out, our friend Tim Hancock called to say he was in Denver and to see if we needed anything. What an inspired phone call. Aaron told him what happened and that we needed to go to be at the temple by noon and he didn't know what to do. Tim said that he could be to the hotel in five minutes and he would let Aaron use his shirt and he would go get a shirt somewhere. So Tim literally gave Aaron the shirt off his back. Amazingly, the shirt was a perfect fit! What a blessing great friends are. So we went to the temple and got sealed to Gabe at 1:00 P.M. It was beautiful and everyone was bawling. When they brought Gabe to us all dressed in white, I almost lost it. He was so beautiful and he just smiled up at us like he was excited too. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had. I felt so good and we had so many amazing people around to celebrate this day with us. The people who joined us were: Grandma and Grandpa Riddle, Grandma and Grandpa Howe, Pat and Ed Pennington (Aarons aunt and uncle), Shanna and Justin Combs, Eric Riddle, Heather and Ben Updike, David and Julie Gough, Mike and Lanae Goates, Tim and Kara Hancock, Kirk and Kris Dory, Drew and Camille Howe, and Jamie and Jeremy Wilkey. Waiting for us outside was my brother Kort and my two nieces. We also had Mike and Lanae's little ones Isabella and Jackson and Tim and Kara's little one R.J. was waiting outside as well. Luckily for us The Hamblins babysat for us.

After the Ceremony we took lots of pictures and then ate at Dickies BBQ. Yummy! We all got really full and then some of my family went to the aquarium in Denver before we left for home. Gabe really enjoyed looking at the fish and would get upset when I moved to the next room. It was fun to seem him enjoy it. It had been a long day so he started to get tired and cranky and he slept on the way home. The next day we blessed Gabriel in our church and enjoyed lunch with family and friends at Aarons Parents house.

So it was a great weekend, but very busy. I am tired this week! Enjoy the pictures from this weekend that my sister took! I loved them.

July 4th Fun!

2009-07-07T23:34:00.000-07:00

Aaron reading to Gabe. Gabe loves this book. He coos and laughs and cries when we take it away.

Sweatsuits are so cute on him. He looks so chubby. This is one layer of clothing for our fireworks outing.

Gabe can barely move in this outfit. He stayed warm though. It was pretty cold in Laramie on the 4th.

Our 4th of July was great! I think that this holiday has to be one of the best because it is pretty relaxed. Gabe let Aaron and I sleep in till past nine (well aaron got up earlier to play ultimate frisbee, but not too much earlier) and we lazed around the house for most of the morning. At about 2 we met up with the family at the park. We took Gabe in the stroller and just walked around for awhile. It was nice. Later that evening we got together for a BBQ with Aaron's family. About an hour or so before the fireworks, Laramie got hit with a lot of rain and flash flooding. Luckily our apartment did not flood this time. The rain stopped long enough for us to go out to watch the fireworks. It was freezing, so Gabriel was bundled up to stay warm. He looked like a little state puff marshmallow. He was cute. He loved the fireworks. He stared and never made a peep except for one Awe noise after a big firework went off. He was entranced. The fireworks were okay, but the day was a blast.

This next tidbit I want to share is a article written on the families supporting adoption blog. I just thought it was perfect to share with my friends and family. In a little over a week Gabe will be legally our child as if he was born to us (that is was the court documents says- cool). The process has not been easy and it is hard to explain my feelings about the whole process. I read this article to Aaron and we both felt it was a perfect way to describe our feelings. I would encourage everyone to visit this blog. There are a lot of wonderful article thay might give some insight to how people with infertility feel as well as great articles about adoption. I think it would be helpful if you needed some insight or are just curious. The blog is http://familiessupportingadoption.blogspot.com/. Please visit it. Here is the article:

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You've heard it's a wonderful place, you've read many guidebooks and feel certain you're ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you'll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait--and wait--and wait.
Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, "Relax. You'll get on a flight soon." Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, "It's not fair!"

After a long time the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."
"By BOAT!" you say. "Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane." So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with other who also traveled by sea rather then by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are about to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy."

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.

I love my Gabriel so much!

Busy Month

2009-07-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

The best picture EVER! LOL. I think he wanted me to stop taking pictures.

Loving all the attention from Grandma and Grandpa Pickett.

Hey, I am cute. Look at me!!!

I have the best Daddy in the World! You can see the love.

My Niece Evelyn who is two days younger than Gabriel. She is so Gorgeous.

Well it has been a very busy month for us. The month of June was fun and frustrating. I finished up work for the summer and I am not looking forward to going back so soon. Aaron is working longer hours at work, playing softball, and trying to keep sane. We had a weekend visit from my dad and step-mom. It was sooooo good to visit with them. It was the second time they have seen Gabe and he was a lot more interactive this time around. It was a lot of fun and Gabe just loves all of his Grandparents. After that visit was when the frustrations kicked in. We hired a lawyer several months ago (we went through a firm in cheyenne). We thought they understood that we wanted finalization to happen on July 9th (six month after relinquishment). Well as of the second week of June, we had not heard anything from the lawyers. We called the lawyer that we were told would be handling our case (lance something) and left messages after messages with no return phone call. I finally called up the office and asked for him and his secretary said he was not in the office. I think she could tell I was frustrated because she asked if there was anything she could help me with, so I explained (calmly) what was happening with our adoption case. She then tells me that Lance does not handle adoption cases and she will find my paperwork and give it to the right guy. Now, Jared, our new lawyer calls us up and says that he just got our paperwork and he gets on the ball with the paperwork right away. He said that the paperwork was just floating around the office and no one had touched our case. Very frustrating. So Jared starts working hard right away, but calls and tells me that we have less then a forty percent chance of getting into the court to finalize before the 18th of July. Now the 18th is a very important date because we planned to go to the temple as a family and also recieve his blessing in our church on the 19th. Both of these ceremonies require the adoption to be finalized beforehand. So to simply put it, I was freaking out. I have friends and family who were taking time off of work and making hotel reservations to come that weekend and I might have to cancel the whole ordeal. I had a small mental breakdown. Any way to sum it up we have finalization on July 16th or 17th. We barely squeezed that one in. I have to give props to my lawyer who worked really hard to get this taken care of so fast.

Okay so inbetween this giant mess, we did manage to have some fun. We took Gabe to the movie theatre for the first time and we watched Monsters vs. Aliens. Gabe stared at the screen, not making a peep, for the first half of the movie and then fell asleep. How cool is that! We also went down to Utah to visit my sister and her hubby. Okay so it was not so much visiting for aaron. He helped scrape, calk, stain, and prime the out side of my sisters home. Aaron really worked his tail off. He did manage to have some fun while we were there. Gabe really enjoy spending time with his cousins and I loved visiting with my sister. It was a good long weekend. I did do some work while were there. I was supposed to teach a workshop for the state of wyoming. I had it all planned out and I stayed up late typing up an outline and emailing it to the cordinator (like I was instructed to in an email). Anyway the next day they send me an email saying that they gave my workshop to someone else. But..... they assigned me another workshop and i would be presenting about condom use. LOL! Ummmmm......first of all they didnt ask if I wanted to do that and since they told about the second workshop several days later, I had already made other plans. In Short I called up and said I would not be doing the presentation, mainly because I was mad, but also because the activity that they wanted me to present was pretty graphic (i would have to explain things in great detail) and I also had other plans. I mean it is pretty comical if you think about it. Can you image me trying to explain to a group of teens how to step by step use a condom---- I don't think so. LOL!

Well a little update on Gabe. He is getting big. Growing way to fast. He is rolling from front to back but not the other way around yet. He is really close though, he rolls most of the way and then cannot quite figure out how to get his head pulled over. He has been trying to crawl a little. he moves his little feet and gets his butt in the air and scoots forward, but has not made the connection to move his arms too. He is talking a lot more and can say Mama, but i dont think he knows what it means. It still makes me feel good. Again sorry for the grammar and long run on sentences, but you will just have to live with it.

Family Fun!

2009-06-02T20:47:00.001-07:00

Gabe at the zoo. He was really into it! LOL!
Gabe still snoozing at the zoo.

Big Smiles!

Holding hands with Evelyn. Totally not set up. So cute!

Best friends!

Shopping is so boring mom!

Chillin'! Look at those fat wrists!

Ahhh!

This was the cutest sad picture ever! Isn't she cute!

Gosh it has been so long since I have posted. Oh, Well! To sum the month of May up- things have been GREAT. I had a wonderful mothers day. Aaron and I went to Denver that weekend with some terrific friends, Brandon and Dot. We stayed at the Hyatt Place, went swimming with Gabe, and at out at the Rumbi Grill (I found one in Denver!!!!). We also stayed up late playing games with Brandon and Dot, while the kids slept in the adjoining room. Saturday, Aaron and I got up early to go to the temple and then we all went to the zoo. It was a great day. For the actual mothers day Aaron bought me a dozen roses and a bouquet of tulips (my favorite flower) and he actually cooked me a really yummy dinner.

Gabe is almost five months old now! At his four month appointment he was 15 lbs 4 oz and 25 inches long. I wonder how big he is now? He grows so fast. He had all of his shots and was a little cranky that day but was back to normal the next day. He can roll over, which is way fun, and his new kick (haha) is to kick is left leg really high to hit the toys that hang above him. It is such a hoot to watch. He also is back to screaming his excitment. It really grabs your attention.

So the other exciting event was to visit my niece Evelyn's baby blessing. Her and Gabe are just two days apart and I have not seen her since they were born. It was a great weekend filled with family, fun, and some shopping. We stayed a day longer because the blessing was later in the day and we did not want to travel so late. The blessing was beautiful and it made me so excited for the day we get to bless Gabriel. It is pure torture to wait. Anyway, here a few pictures of the last month. Enjoy!

Bumbo Chair

2009-04-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend we bought Gabe a Bumbo chair. He loves it! I had to share a few pictures, he is just so darn cute that I could not resist. Not much new news. I am sick again (for the third time in about months time). We bought a new bed. It is great, but I am up all night coughing. Yuck. We bought a freezer on craigslist and love it! It was barely used and only cost us 80 bucks! And thats about it! Enjoy the pics!

Okay, so this is not the chair, but daddy is sure fun to sit on!

Privacy

2009-04-20T21:15:00.001-07:00

Hey folks! I am going to make my blog private. I really still would like everyone to be able to see my blog, so I need emails from everyone so that I can give you access to my blog! I am hoping to make it private very soon! Please leave a comment or give me a call to let me know your email. Thanks and sorry if this makes it more difficult for you to view my blog.

Our Adoption story

2009-04-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is like three months late, but when you have a little one things get put on the back burner. Okay, I also have a really difficult time sharing this story because it brings up so much emotion, both good and bad. I am going to share with you my whole adoption story. Now I left out some details, but I think you will get the jist. I needed to write this more for me than any one else. It is kind of theraputic. Anyway here goes:

Well, Aaron and I have been married almost seven years (in June). About a year after we got married we knew we wanted to add children to our family. I have never had a normal cycle so right away I went to a fertility specialist. I was told that I have polycystic Ovarian syndrome. Which, in my case, means that I dont ovulate and then mean that I can not get pregnant. Well I was told that I have a very classic case of polycystic and that it should not be very hard to get me pregnant. well Several test, several maxium doses of clomid, Several thousands of dollars spent, and about three years later we were still not pregnant. By this time I was emotionally spent. I couldnt get poked or proded any longer. Aaron and I prayed very hard and felt that we could love any child that comes into our home and so we decided to adopt.

This has been the best and most trying descision of my life. Aaron and got all of our paperwork in and got approved in several months. As soon as we were approved, some missionaries in our church found a couple that wanted to give up thier baby for adoption. Her name was Darlene and she had cheated on her husband and did not feel that the baby would be a good thing in thier marriage. She decided right away that she wanted us to adopt her baby. We lived just a few blocks away from her so we were able to help them out a lot. We became very good friends. On November 17th they called us to pick them up. Darlene was going into Labor. We were at the hospital the whole time- not in the room but waiting outside. Little Logan (that is what I named him) was born that evening. I got to hear his first cry and hold him while he got his first shots. I got to help bathe him and calm him when he was sad. We called our family and friends to give them the news. We were so excited. We spent some time with the birth family and headed home to get some sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I just felt that something was not right. You know that gut feeling, well I had it. I tried everything to ignore it but I felt horrid. We knew we had to wait 24 hours for the birthmom to sign relinquishment papers and out case manager said that he would like to visit with the birthparent before we went to the hospital to visit again. I think he must have had a feeling too. A few hours later we got the call to say that the birthmom had changed her mind. And that is when I think i broke down. I have never cried so hard in my entire life. I lost my baby. I had made my connection with this child before he was born and I even held him in my arms. My heart was broken. I called up my mom and told her the news. She dropped everything she was doing and drove an hour to come to see me. She held me in her arms and let me cry as much as I needed. I hope she knows how much I needed her at that point. Wow! I am crying as I writing this. This was so difficult for me and I know Aaron struggled as well, but I truly believe that our faith, our family, and our friends were what helped us through the grief.

So in result of that, we took some time off of activly trying to adopt (we were still on the waiting list) and just spent time with each other to heal. About a year later we got a phone call from our adoption agency saying we needed to renew our paperwork so we did and then another six months passed and we started to actively get involved in the adoption process again. We met up with our new case manager and just visited and talked about our history.

In late September 2008 we recieved an email from a birthmom, asking us some questions. We were very excited and replied back immediately. Weeks later we had gotten no reply and we just figured it was another dead end. But...In late October 2008 we recieved a phone call from our case manager saying we had been selected and in a short few months we would be able to have a new baby boy. We exchanged emails with the birth mom for two and half months. We even met in person (she lived in Utah). The meeting was wonderful and confirmed the wonderful feelings I was having. But because of what I had experienced, I was terrified of what could happen. I have never prayed so hard in my entire life and know that my family and friends were praying too. I was so scared and sad sometimes that it was hard to leave home. I was so afraid of getting my heart broken again, but I had to take the risk. God has a plan for all of us and I knew that he would not give me more than I could handle. I was handling it but sometimes not so good. On January 6th I recieved a phone call from the birthmoms mom saying that she was going into labor and we needed to drive to Utah right away. I called Aaron and Packed up the car and drove to Utah that night. We had Horrible weather. We left Laramie at three and got to Utah at eleven that night. I was expecting a baby to be born by the time we arrived, but the birth mom had not gone into labor yet. So we stayed and visited till two in the morning and then found a hotel and crashed expecting to get a phone call anytime. We woke up the next morning at nine and threw clothes on as quick as we could and drove to the hospital. She had not had the baby yet and they were thinking of sending her home. Aaron and I decided to go to lunch and visit my sister, who lived 30 minutes away. My sister was not there but my mom was there(my sister was having a baby the same time- she came down for the both of us). We were there for 15 minutes when we got a phone call saying to get to the hospital because the baby was coming and soon. We got to the hospital and 30 minutes later Gabriel Aaron Howe was born. We got to be in the room and experience the whole birth. It was amazing. I was the first to hold him and I was there when he got his first bath. The nurses were great and so was the birthmom. We were able to spend as much time with Gabriel as we wanted and even got a special room to spend time alone with him, but we had to go back to my sisters and stay the night. And then the waiting game. We had to wait 24 hours from the time Gabriel was born to have the birthmom sign the relinquishment papers. So we went to my sisters and slept (I slept really well). The next day we shopped for gifts for the birthmom (I have to say she is an amazing person) and then went to sign our part of the papers. And then we all headed to the hospital to wait and see if the birthmom would sign the papers. We had to wait in the waiting room while she signed papers. It took 30 minutes and they were the longest minutes of my life, but when her case manager came in the waiting room with a smile on her face, I was the happiest woman in the world. We went and had a small relinquishment ceremony, where the birthmom handed us our son for the very first time. We spent a lot of time in that room and it is a memory I will always cherish. The next day we got to take Gabriel from the hospital and the rest is history. In three more months the adoption will be finalized and I cannot wait!

What a Week!!!

2009-04-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

First of all I had to get this picture on this blog. This is Gabriel with Grandma and Grandpa Howe! If Gabe and Grandma have thier ways- he will be spoiled for life. LOL! She loves to hold and cuddle our little boy and Gabriel love the attention. Sometimes I think he may understand how powerful the word Grandma is.

Anyway! Our week started off great! I went to see my friend Kara in the Hospital. She had a huge baby boy (over nine pounds- birthed completely naturally- props to Kara- cause I couldn't do it). He was named Royce James (sorry if the spelling is wrong) and he is such a doll. Gabe seems so huge compared to him and it was fun to hold a somewhat tiny baby again. Well Aaron and I went home that Sunday night and I woke the next day- SICK! UHHH! and to top it off Gabe wasnt feeling great either. He had a terrible cough and snotty nose. Despite being sick, I went to work last week and survived. I don't know if it was because I was sick, but my paranoid mother monster came out. Gabes cough got so bad that he was choking on the snot that was running down his throat. Now I have to mention that Gabriel was still really happy and content. He coughed all of Tuesday night, bothered me but Gabe slept right through it. He coughed all the next day and I finally decided to get an appointment. He went to see the doc and they check breathing, pulse, ears (all probablly to calm my worries) and he was completely okay. The conclusion: He probablly has a little head cold or irritated allergys. The solution: Booger sucking and lots of moisture. The Doc suggested having Gabriel be in the bathroom with us when we take showers and better yet have in be in the shower with us and to use a humidfier every night and give him warm baths every night. The first night we did all three and found out Gabes like showers. He took a shower with daddy (no pictures were taken as proof- not really too appropriate) and was completely content with it. The thing he liked the best about the shower was the water that went in his mouth- he tried to drink every last drop. It was very entertaining. Well all three methods worked and his cough is almost gone. He still has a snotty nose, but he has had those booger since I brought him to Laramie. Maybe it is allergys. I am now feeling better and so is Gabe (much to my relief, I can hang up the parinoid mother monster in the back of my closet- until next time).

On Friday, Aaron celebrated his 29th birthday! I had him open presents after work (he got a hugemongeous bath towel, two wii games, a movie, a maglite, and external harddrive). Sorry to brag, but I think I did good this year. I am a horrible gift giver. Anyway, we went over to Brandon and Dots house for dinner and games and I created a fun cake for Aaron. it was Oreo cakesters (thats what he wanted- I swear!) stacked up high. It was easy and fun to eat. On sunday we went over to his brothers house and had a small birthday with his family.

Okay i am almost done. Gabe is growing so fast and it is so much fun for us to see the process. Over the weekend he discovered himself in the mirror and talked to himself for 15 minutes. It was a blast to watch! And today he rolled on his side. Will he do it again soon? Who know! But it sure made us proud parents.
This is the BEST shirt EVER!

Aaron birthday cake! Yummy! By the way trick candle smoke a lot and we were worried the sprinkler system in our friends apartment my get triggered. It was really funny!

Gabe tollerated yet another photo! Dad looks good! Yum! hehe!

Gabe thinks dad is the best! He is so funny!

Funny Face

2009-03-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

I will pose for one Picture and one Picture ONLY!

Take this darn hat off of me!

Fine! I'll do it myself!

If I act really cute will you remove the hat?

Elmo Butt!

So I got a really cute outfit from some friends (James and Sarah-Aaron works with James) and it has become my favorite outfit (the blue one) I just love it and it is so supercute on Gabriel. The outfit has an adorable matching hat, which Gabriel just hates to wear. He doesnt cry but he pullsthe funniest faces because it makes his eyebrows all scrunch up. Anyway, being a mean mommy, I had to put the hat on and take pictures. I know I say this all the time, but my kid is so cute. He loves to get compliments! He just smiles and coos and laughs everytime someone tells him how handsome he is.

Nothing too exciting is going on, Aaron and I are just working and trying to get some sleep. I did get a cheesecake sent to me in the mail from my friend Cambia. The best part was it was from the Cheesecake Factory- only the best cheesecake ever! A whole keylime cheesecake, but I was instructed to share with Kara! The reason for the cheesecake must remain a secret, but I was really excited for it! P.S.- I really am going to send out thank you cards and announcements one of these days. It for me is really hard to find time with working and taking care of Gabe. I am not the best multi-tasker. I do really appreciate all the things we recieved!

CUTE VIDEO

2009-03-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

Finally! It took three trys, but I finally got this video posted. This was taken on March 17th and I love it because he was so talkative. I was originally holding the camera in my hands but he would pay attention to me if the camera was in front of my face. So I set the camera down, so I could have a little conversation. So it starts off slow and then gets better so give it a few seconds. We have a video of him laughing but we need to edit it because it is really long. There are some parts that are just aaron making funny noises (which is somewhat entertaining). Anyway we are happy and having a really good week, so far. Aaron bought me twighlight (he is so great, it was a surprise gift) and we are watching it, so I better get back to the teenage drama! LOL!

Two months old!

2009-03-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hehe! I love this picture above! He really was not happy with me. Check out the bib! So true!

Well Gabe is now over two months old and getting so big!

11 1/2 lbs.

23 inches long

Head: 39 inches

I had to work, so Aaron took Gabriel to this appointment. Which I was okay with, because I was not quite sure how I would handle the whole shot thing. Gabe did great considering all the shots. Aaron said he cried for ten seconds and then sucked on his paci. He is developing right on track! He has a really good strong neck, tracks, smiles, laughs, and this week he just started to hold on to toys and he discovered his hands. Luckily his shot did not cause too many problems. He did NOT get a fever (that was a big relief for me) and only woke up twice (usually sleeps through the night) that first night and then went back to normal.

Two day late Gabe had a developmental screening and turned on the charm for the ladies. The developmental preschool goes to all the daycares in town to do a screening for free. I did not realize that they can screen so young. He passed with flying colors and we found out we can do a free vision screening when he is six months old.

It is spring break this week and I am spending time at home with Gabe. This weekend we did surprise my mom with a visit-just for sunday afternoon. It was great. We showed up at church and Aaron and I sat in the pew that my parents typically occupy. My parents came in (Dale knew we were coming- good job keeping the secret!) and my mom saw someone sitting in the pew they normal sit at. She finally realized it was us and she just got the biggest smile on her face. Of course Gabe made sure to distract us all during the meeting with smiles and coos for grandma! We hung out till pretty late in the evening and then headed home to laramie. It was a short visit but fun.

I tried posting the cutest video of Gabriel cooing and smiling but the video did not want to upload, so I will try it later with Aarons help. I dont know what I am doing wrong. But here are some cute pictures in the meantime.

Tired of tummy time.

My hair is growing back!!!

Mom you are soooo FUNNY!

Happy St. Patricks day!

Seven weeks old and a visit with family.

2009-02-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

I love this picture!
Say cheese!

Snoozing with daddy!

Sian, Jackie, Calvin, and Gabriel

All the Girls + Gabe. Carol, Lucinda, me, Jackie, and Christy.

All of the boys. Dad, Jeremy, Aaron, Sheridan, and Sian.

Sian, Gabe, and Jackie.

Gabe Hanging out with Uncle Sheridan!

The Cake (very yummy)!

Lucinda and Jeremy!

Chillin with Grandpa!

Snuggling with Grandma!

Gabe playing with his cousin Katelyn!

Today Gabe is seven weeks old and getting bigger everyday. He is getting more interactive everyday as well. He smiles and coos and is just so darn adorable. We spent the weekend in Rapid City visiting my dad and stepmom. It was such a great weekend. I got to see my brother Sian, his wife christy,thier two kids Jackie and Calvin. I also saw my other brother sheridan. I saw my sister Lucinda and Her husband Jeremy. I got to see my niece Katelyn but my three nephews were not around that weekend. Carol threw me a surprise baby shower. It was with just my family and it was great. She and my dad told us to get out of the house while they babysat Gabe and they decorated the basement. We had a nice turkey dinner and had fun spending time with everyone. Gabe loved being held by everyone, but seemed to think his Uncle Jeremy was really funny! I think I heard him giggle. It was a really short trip but it was worth it to have gabe finally meet all of his family. Well i guess he has not met uncle Chris, but we will forgive him since he is brazil for the next two years on his mission. Anyway, I here are a ridiculus amount of pictures! Enjoy.

My baby shower and some cute pics!

2009-02-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I had my first baby shower! My really good friends Kara and Dot and my mom organized the event. My mom did such amazing decorations. She is so good at this kind of stuff and the extra little touches made the shower so much more special. Dot made awesome invitations -they were way cute. She also ordered the cake and cupcakes. Kara -with the help of Dantzel- her sister-in-law made some of the food. I had fun making chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate dip pretzel rods, and mini dessert pizzas. We had lots of friends and family show up. Of course we got lots of great gifts too. Thanks to everyone! It was a perfect!

Gabriel is now 5 weeks old! last week he was 8 1/2 lbs and 21 inches long. I am sure he is a little bigger now. He grows so fast. he had his first social smile this week which just made my heart melt. he is such a good baby and rarely cries! what can I say! We're in love!

I DONT KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS STUPID SPACE!

Pay it forward

2009-02-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

I am joining in the pay it forward fun! I got this from my friend Carissas blog. It sounds like it will be very fun. So I am going to copy and paste the message about the pay it forward task.

Pay it Forward
SO--Here's how it works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me.
What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise!
The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Please submit in an e-mail or on the comment, your address, if I don't already have it :)
Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!

My Kid is sooooo Cute!

2009-01-31T18:39:00.000-08:00

Gabriel's Birth announcement (THAT MY SISTER MADE!)
Look at these cheeks!

So, I am sitting in Dads chair! You got a problem with that?

Okay, this last picture was kindo of set up. My mom gave me this cute bear/blanket. I wanted to get a picture of him with it and I set it next to him and when I did he grabbed it and started to fall asleep. Do we have the start of a new favorite toy.

Before I Was a Mom

2009-01-30T21:01:00.000-08:00

Okay. So I know some of you may think this is cheesey, but you will live. I saw this poem and I really liked and put into words how I feel.

Before I was a Mom

Author: Unknown

Before I was a Mom-

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom -

I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom-

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put them down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

Before I was a Mom -

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

MY BOYS!

2009-01-27T22:42:00.000-08:00

Gabriel is now three weeks old. Time Flies by so fast. He is such a good baby! He is doing really well and is giving us a fair amount of sleep. We think he is growing, because he seems to demand a lot more food in the last few days. These pics are with my new camera. The camera that I got for my birthday broke and walmart did not have one to replace it. We bought a new and better one at staples. I love it and now I can be obsessive about taking pictures. Dad and Gabriel taking a snooze. Aaron looks a little more sleepy than Gabriel.

Gabriel showing mommy where his eye is. lol!

I love this picture! It was taken right after he sneezed. So funny!

Just plain cute! He is awake!

The Pacifier is still way big!

How Rude!

2009-01-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

So I really didnt know if I should be angry or if I should take it as a compliment for my sister. Let me explain........

While we were in Utah, my sister took some really cute pictures of Gabriel. Then we picked out some pictures that we like from those that she took and one from the hospital and my sister designed some baby announcements for us on Photoshop. They turned out great. Maybe a little too great. Well i finally got around to printing them at walmart. Originally I had planned to use the kodak kiosk and print them myself. It is more expensive, but a whole lot quicker. That plan failed because my SD card was too big and the kiosk was not equipt to handle or at least that is what the associate said. Anyway so I used the other kiosk thing and set it up to have my announcements printed in an hour. So I went and finished my shopping and came back. I came back in an hour and they were not printed. The associate said the machine was not working right and to come back in thirty minutes. She said she would give the pictures to me for free, because of the trouble. I was not bothered by that at all (i was wishing that I had printed more announcements). I came back a half an hour later and the associate, without saying anything to me, handed me the envelope with all the pictures on it. As I was walking away I saw, in big red letters, written on the envelope the word- COPYRIGHT- with a big question mark behind it. Really!? I am assuming they thought I was making illegal copies of the announcements. What I don't get is why they did not ask me about it. One of my biggest pet peeves is being accused of something I did not do. Ahhh! I was so mad and I wanted to complain to someone, but I thought to myself that I got the pictures for free and should I really push my luck. I should just walk away and be content with the gift I got. Well it obviously still bothers me a little that someone out there thinks I am that dishonest. Pooh! Well I guess my sister did a better job than we both anticipated. She is great!

He is Home!

2009-01-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

Okay so my brother is back from his mission and there is a photo right below, but here is My mom holding Gabriel. I love this picture because they both look like they are completely loving this moment together. So cute!

My little brother, Eric, got off of his mission today! He is a pretty good catch for all those single ladies out there! LOL! He is no longer the annoying little brother who threw rocks at me (he was six!). Hehe! Well we met him at the Laramie Airport and later we ate pizza, cake, and ice cream. I ate too much! It was fun. He has grown so much spiritually! But he is the same old Icky (an old nickname).

This is a fuzzy picture of Gabriel, but I loved his smile. I just love him!!!

Grandpa holding Gabriel. I really think he is miserable in this picture! J/K

Finally Home!

2009-01-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

So I have been officially home for a little less than two days with my son (son! I love saying that!). It was a very long trip to Utah for us and if it had not been for my sister and her husband it would have been even longer. We were lucky enough to stay at thier house while we waited for the okay to take Gabriel home. Thanks! It was also nice to be there because my mom was there to help us both out! I think when I have gotten a little more sleep I will write about the whole process.

Gabriel is doing great and is growing out of his premie clothes. Most of his Premie PJs dont fit and his onies are being stretched to the limit. He is however getting more adorable everyday. He is making lot of noise - He sounds like a kitten meowing (my sister actually thought is was her cat stuck in the closet!!! LOL!) He rarely cries. He hates is diaper being changed and getting his armpits washed. He does love his little round head to be washed. He will just stare up at his mom and dad with a look of bliss every time we wash is head. I couldnt have asked for a cuter baby!!!

Well it is feeding time! I promise to write more later!

The New Baby

2009-01-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

Name: Gabriel Aaron Howe

DOB: 01/07/09

Time: 3:14 P.M.

Place: Provo, UT - Utah Valley Medical Center

Weight: 7 lbs. 1 oz.

Height: 19 inches

Status: Absolutely Adorable and Healthy!

FOR MORE PICTURES GO TO THIS LINK: http://s422.photobucket.com/albums/pp305/aaronsaragabriel/

The Holidays in Review

2009-01-03T21:57:00.001-08:00

Wow! The holidays were great this year! I felt like I got really spoiled over this holiday break. My favorite part was that I got to spend a lot of extra time with my hubby! Yeah! Well.... here we go!

CHRISTMAS: Yipee! I love my job because I got two weeks off and still get paid the same amount of money. Christmas Eve we traveled to my mom's house. Such a long journey..... a whole hour! lol! We were blessed to have good roads and short traveling distance. It was quite a crowded house (it makes the holidays better) but fun. Lot of good food- thanks to my wonderful mom! My brother Sheridan and his girlfriend Jess came down, which was really nice because I had not seen either in quite a while. For Christmas Aaron bought me an awesome video camera! Love it! It has a 60 GB hard drive and a mini sd slot. Serious! Totally sweet! He also got me tons (lots!) of wonder tees from Down East Basics. Coolest store ever! I love the shirts because they are super long and light and fit pretty snug so that they can go under lot of different shirts. and they are cheap (in price)! I got lots of gifts from my family too. and a few gift for our little one to be!

Birthday: My birthday was really fun this year as well! Aaron again spoiled me with a new camera (we needed some new picture taking equipment for the soon to be). My parents sent me wonderful gifts! I even got a really cool book about adoption that I am already reading (thanks mom!) I went to lunch with my sister Heather and her Husband Ben. I am so thankful for their sweet spirits in my life. They bring me so much joy! I love them. I then went to dinner with Aarons parents at a Thia food restaurant-Anongs- MY FAVORITE! And then my wonderful friend Dot made me a cake! How awesome- and it was WAY good too! I totally am blown away by her generosity! Let me tell you! I could not ask for better friends. I had so many people call or write to wish me a happy birthday. It was so much fun to check my email or facebook all day long and find so many happy wishes. My family and friends rock!!!!! Oh yeah! My friend, Kara, made me some of her homemade bread- which I crave constantly. It is so good. She has made it for me the last few years for my birthday. I just love her!

New years: Well we had a lot of fun playing games at Brandon and Dots house (we spent quite a few days playing games and hanging out over the break). We stayed up way too late and ate way too much junk food. We got home at about three in the morning and I was up the rest of the night sick. But once I threw up I was much better. Yuck! I honestly cannot remember the last time I threw up but it has been about 20 years and I think I will wait another 20 before I throw up again. EWWWW! On a positive note: Our babys birthmom is going to get induced on sunday the 1th or monday the 12th. Holy Crap! She also sent us Ultrasound pictures (thanks Dot for reminding me to ask). So neat! Sureal. Anyway it makes it a week or less tell we get our baby boy (I am calling him Gabriel- Aaron likes Myles-what do you think). So everyone start praying really hard. We need this miracle.

In the third picture he was ready to tell everyone that he is a BOY!

The next Few pics are after my birthday with the new camera!

TJ (Tim and kara's little boy) getting a piggy back ride from Aaron. They were supposed to be getting ready for bed.

TJ's new hair cut!

Charlie and Vanessa and Katelyn!

Joben (Brandon and Dots first little one) sitting long enough to get on snap shot with me!

Tavian (Brandon and Dots 2nd little one) in his Jumperoo! He loves it!

Kat (Tim and Karas little girl) deciding if she should risk opening my birthday present!

My birthday cake! A amazing jello cake made by dot! I just gotta love her!

We're Famous!

2008-12-29T22:38:00.001-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Aaron is going to kill me for posting this (Wahaha)

2008-12-05T15:47:00.000-08:00

This is Aaron and I at Brandon and Dots house, Wednesday night! I stole this picture from Dot blog because I had to torture Aaron with it (Wahaha- my evil laugh). I actually love these goofy pictures that my husband takes- it makes me fall in love with him over and over again. He reminds me that life should not be taken so seriously-have some fun-make people question your sanity. I love him!

So I thought I would add another picture to show his not so goofy side. I need to share with everyone what an incredible husband he is. I have been having a hard week. Worries and doubts creep in to my mind. I think too much! Anyway, aaron shared something with me which really showed how much this man loves me. We were talking with the bishop about the adoption and aaron gets kind of choked up and said that the most difficult thing about the infertility struggles that we have, has been seeing me not being able to be a mother. He said that one of the most important gifts (given by our father in heaven) for men that belong to our church is that they are given is the ability to hold the priesthood and that if he lost the ability to have the priesthood (by not living the standards of the church), he would be devistated. It is so important to have that priesthood. He then proceeded to say that one the most important gifts given to women is to be a mother and that for me not to be able to fulfill that roles hurts him because he knows i am hurting. How freakin amazing and selfless is he. I seriously get down on my knees every night and thank my Heavenly Father for Aaron.

Last night we had our weekly (for the most part) Office party. I alway look foward to getting together with some of our friends to watch the best TV show in the world. thats right! I said it was the best show in the world. We had chocolate milk, Oreo cookies and hot fudge brownies (or down in the dumps pudding). We then watched one of my favorite movie John Q. Love it. If you havent seen, you can borrow it from me.

So for the girls here in Laramie- I am in desperate need of a girls night out! If you have any suggestion let me know!

Baby Mama!

2008-11-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

Aaron, Me, and Lavinia (Our Babys Birth Mom)

Wow! What an emotional weekend! But it was great! Aaron and I went to Utah to have a face to face meeting with the birth mom of our baby and it was such a wonderful meeting! We were so nervous. What would we say? Should I hug her or shake her hand when I meet her? Ahhh! Well when I first saw her there was an immediate connection we gave each other a big hug. We were so worried about what to say and it turned our Lavinia (birth mom) loves to talk (an answer to my prayers). A case worker From LDSFS was there and she help facilitate the meeting and we even found out that the caseworkers husband (elder christensen) served part of his mission in laramie-somewhere between 2002-2004. Small world. We saw a picture and I totally remembered him. Anyway-back to the meeting- Lavinia showed us lots of pictures and we gave her pictures of our family. We found out a little bit about the birth father and even saw a picture (he has really blue eyes- if you have seen the new james bond movie- his eyes are the same blue as James bond- Very pretty blue). He is also very musically talented. Lavinia told us how she searched through over 3000 profiles and half way through she stopped on us and Knew that we were the couple, but thought she should look through the rest of the profiles. She kept coming back to our profile. WoW! All I can say is that prayers work and everyone has to promise to keep on praying for this adoption to go through this time. I cannot even express how much love I feel from my family and friends. And also my second family-my ward (church) family. It has truly been a blessing to be in this ward, because most of you know what we have gone through and I know that you will be there for us no matter what happens. Thank you! okay I am off track again. Lets see.....We all decided that we will get a phone call from Lavinia when she goes into labor. She has fast deliverys and the baby will probabbly be born before we get there. But we will go directly to the hospital to spend a few hours with Lavinia and the baby and then off to my sisters house to anxiously await the next twenty four hours. This is the time she gets with just her and the baby and by law 24 hours has to be given before she can sign any papers. Stressful. Maybe I will just have the drs. just give me something that will knock me out for the next 24 hours. lol! My sister and her husband have so graciously offered their basement as a place of residence while this whole thing is going through. We actually have to stay in utah for 5 to 10 days until all the paperwork get approved.

Well anyway we stayed with our wonderful friends Mike and Lanae (we stayed up way too late). It was great to joke around and visit. I also got to visit with my sister and her husband and adorible little Abi! We went to dinner at a restaurant-that a very unusual name (lol), and then when to look at the new house they are buying. It was so great to just spend time with them. I miss them all so much. And my niece-who couldnt love her? She is just so darn cute. I just always hope she knows how special she is to me. I think that when you dont have kids, Heavenly father puts special children in your lives, that you can love and take care of (and spoil). I have been really lucky to have so many nieces and nephews to love. anyway i did find out that i may be kind of a paranoid mother. When shanna and justin where showing us the house Abi kept wanting to go down the stairs (and she can do a pretty good job by herself) and the whole time I was nervous that she would lose her balance and fall. paranoid or normal??? lol! That may be the question of my life! Abi is also so cute when she gets mad (I am sure mom and dad dont think it is cute all of the time) . Being close to two and not have all the right words to describe frustration is difficult for any little one. But she makes me laugh when makes fists, scrunches up her face, shakes a little, and yells in frustration. LOL! I wish i had a video of it!

Okay so its been a few days....

2008-11-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

I guess it has been a while since my last posting, but I have been so busy. We are getting things ready for the baby and we are still really excited. I, personally, have been some ups and some downs. Satan really knows how to hit ya where it hurts. Most days I have been really excited about this adoption and things are looking really good. We are emailing the birth mom and we even get to meet her on the 22nd of this month. So that has been great, but then in strolls Satan putting these awful thoughts into my head. At moments I have been so scared that this adoption wont work out. That the birth mom will change her mind at the last minute. I have been there before and it sucks!!! I really dont know if my heart could handle that again. I start thinking that with my luck it will probablly fall through again. BAD, BAD, BAD Satan. Someone needs to ground him. anyway I am also more afraid of disapointing everyone else, I know it hurt my family a lot too and I dont want them to be sad. AGGHHHH! I think I really need everyones prayers. I did have aaron give me a blessing and I know heavenly father is ready to bless me, but i just cant help being scared and I wonder if I am just human and this is normal or if I need some more faith. sorry I needed to vent!

On to more enjoyable things. Halloween was fun. Aaron and I created a costume. We made a vending machine costume. I will add some pics that I stole from other friends blogs (sorry-my pics turned out just awful). The costume was a hit! Aaron wore the costume and I was the vendor that stocked the candy. It actually despensed candy. The kids loved it. On halloween there was a party at the school and was fun a really fun work day. The kids at school are great. We went to the trunk or treat (where we had lots of random people take pictures of our costume) and then we played video games with my little brother kort and his friend and then we bowling. It was really fun.

Like I said, before we have been emailing the birthmom and I really enjoying the emails. I feel like I am really starting to get to know her. She seems like such a neat person. I can not wait to meet her on the 22nd. I hope the weather is good for travel. My boss has been amazing about the adoption. I am getting maternity leave (6 to 8 weeks) and when I come back to work I get to bring the baby to the school nursery. What a weight off of my shoulders. I will be able to still work but be close enough to my baby that I can see him any time during the day. How, Cool!!!! This job has been such a blessing. One thing is that I actually enjoy my job and the people I work with are so great! Anyway enjoy the random pictures and hopefully you will hear from me sooner next time.

FINALLY!

2008-10-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who may not know......We are adopting! Yipee!!!!! Aaron was dropping me off at school after my lunch break and we recieved the much anticipated phone call. So on 10/24/2008 at 12:36 Aaron and I found out we are adopting a baby boy in January. January 18th to be more specific, but who knows if it will be a little sooner. I am so excited. I had to go back to work after I found out and told all of my coworkers. They were so thrilled for me. Of course I called my parents and my sisters first. I haven't called everyone in my family yet but it has been kind of a crazy day. When I ended the phone call with our case worker I just started bawling. Tears of joy of course! My sister is having a baby in early January so the two babies will be very close in age. How cool. I always thought it would be cool to have a baby the same time as one of my siblings and now it may actually happen. WOW! As always there is a risk with adoption. But my wonderful friends (thanks Dot and Kara) and family reminded me that there is a risk with regular pregnancy too. I really feel that I deserve to be excited and also nervous that everything will go okay (just like a mom who is having her own baby biologically). Anyway we have less than three months to get ready! CRAZY. Luckily we have lots of infant and 0-3 months baby boy clothes, a crib, stroller, car seat, toys, blankets, and some other random stuff already. Well I guess we will see if I can patiently for three months. Yah Right!

Busy, Busy, BUSY!

2008-10-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have these moments when you seem to be busy every night and yet nothing ever seems to get accomplished? My week was so busy and I didn't get anything done, but it was really fun.

Last weekend: I went to Rawlins to watch my little brother play some football and of course his team won. It was really fun but really cold. Laramie was pretty warm and so Aaron and I left with out any warm clothes. Luckily Aaron's sister Jenna and her Husband let us borrow their jackets. After the game we visited Jenna and her two little ones and then we visit Camille and Leah (this is aarons brothers wife and daughter). I was so good to see everyone. We went back to Laramie and just chilled the rest of the week. Sunday I went over to some friends house and had some really good desserts and just chatted.

During the week: Well I had to work. I still like my job! Afterwork on monday i had to attend a blood borne pathagens training and then went home and cleaned. Aaron Has been working like mad painting our apartment complex (for a little extra dough) and so he was busy with that all week. He did take Thursday off to go to my sister heathers special olympic Dinner. Kind of a tradition now. It has been the third year in a row that we have got to attend. So Thursday was really busy. Before the dinner I had a relief society meeting and then the dinner and then home to prepare for our new weekly "Office Party" a few friends from our ward came over to watch "The Office". Last sunday we all started talking about how much we loved the show and we made plans to have goodies and watch the show together. It was a blast and we hung out way past our bedtimes. Just to show how much we like the show Monday aaron and I watched season one of the office for our Family Home Evening. Friday was date night for us and we went to eat at the best Thai food restaurant - Anongs. I had Pad Thai and Aaron had a Yellow curry. We shared poststickers for and appetizer and fried bananas for dessert( is this with one s or two?). Anyway, I know we did some other stuff in between but not much worth mentioning.

This weekend: Saturday Aaron went to the Utah vs. Wyoming game and..... we lost but he still enjoys going to the games. I stayed home (no way do I want to freeze my butt off to watch a sport I dont typically enjoy). I actually had to prepare a Relief Society lesson. I stayed home to do that and just watched a movie. Later that night we went to visit our good friends Brandon and Dot and thier two adorable boys. We had not seen them in a while and it was fun to visit and then play some games. I was wide awake when I came home at 11 pm and thought it would be fun to watch a newly purchased dvd (short circuit 2). Some movies are funnier late at night. I had not seen that movie in years. I went to bed at 1:30 thinking -I am going to regret this. Luckily sunday(today) I went to sacrament meeting and the rest of the meetings were canceled after sacrament meeting. Our Gym floor just got refinished the varnish smell was so strong that several people were not feeling well. I really didnt notice it until they opened the overflow and the smell just flooded in. It didnt give me a headache, But I did notice it bothered some of the pregnant moms and older people- so I think it was a wise choice. I didnt have to give my lesson in relief society- I guess I will save it for January. So I went home at nine sunday morning (yes we have 8 am church) and took a long nap! and I loved every minute of it. This evening I got together and Tim and Karas home, with them and Charlie and Vanessa, Robert and Lindsey, Dot and Brandon, and Spencer and Brittney to have a little pot luck dinner and some games. It was really fun and a great stress relief for me. Now I am home typing this insanely long blog while aaron is doing laundry and cleaning the second bedroom. Life couldnt get any better! LOL. Enjoy the pictures of Korts football game. He is such and awesome brother.

More funny photos

2008-10-05T00:36:00.000-07:00

I created more funny photos of us. I think these photos are of the same decade. We make a cute couple now but I think we would have made an even cuter couple then. lol! ENJOY!

Blast from the past!

2008-10-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Okay don't miss the blog below, but I could not resist putting these pictures up. They are styles from different decades that I cropped aaron and I's faces into the picture. I hope that everyone enjoys a good laugh.

Family Fun

2008-10-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

Grandpa, Abi, and Grandma

This last weekend Aaron and I went to visit my family in Wheatland. It was so much fun! My sister, shanna, came down from Utah and so we got to see her and my Niece. We just hung out and visited most of the time. Dale, Heather, Ben, Kort and Aaron played some football, while the rest of us watched. The most enjoyable part of watching them play was watching Abi trying to figure out what in the heck these growns up were doing and how she could get in the middle of the fun. She is such a fun little girl and so smart. She has such a good sense of humor. One of my favorite things she does is Meow really loud when she sees a picture of a cat (which is her most favorite animal). She gets so excited. It is kind of contagious. Anyway here are a few pictures of the weekend.

I am not ready to go to bed yet!

Aaron getting pumped up to play some football!

Hey Guys, I want to play too!

Kort running for a touchdown!

My sister and Abi- mother-daughter bonding or Abi just looking really adorable.

Abi giving the team a pep talk.

Well if you can beat 'em- JOIN 'EM!

Adoption profile

2008-09-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

Okay this is a short blog to let everyone know that Aaron and I are still trying to adopt. Okay so I am sure most of you know this already but I just thought I would give a reminder to everyone. We even have an online profile. To look at it or to pass the info on to someone else go to www.itsaboutlove.org/profile . When you get to this page click on the link that say SEARCH ADOPTION PROFILES. When that page comes up, under adoptive profile name type aaronandsara . Next hit the view profile button and you can get our profile. Make sure you type in our profile name exactly how I wrote it or otherwise the website can find us. Anyway our caseworker says the more people know the more our chances increase of being able to adopt. This has been a long and difficult process for us but we have faith that our Father in Heaven will bless us one day and we are looking forward to that day.

Eating jelly beans in the dark!

2008-09-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Okay! I know the title sound a little funny, but this is an activity everyone should try- eating jelly beans (jelly belly brand in particular) in the dark. Let me explain. I went to the Dollar Tree to buy some paper and bought some jelly belly brand jelly bean called belly flops (I really got them because the name made me laugh). They are called belly flops because the color or size was not up to normal jelly belly standards. LOL! And that is why I could buy them for only a dollar. Anyways it was about 8:30 in the evening and dark outside. Once I got in the car I opened the bag and started eating. Well you just never know what flavor you will get when you can't see what color it is. Aaron hates cinnamon ones and i really thought it was funny that it was the only ones he seemed to get. I know it is not too cool to laugh at someone elses discomfort but aaron really was dramatic and would get more mad every time he got a cinnamon flavored one. The simple things in Life! Maybe i was just really tired and loopey- I did have a long day.

Below is a picture that really made me smile. It may be sick and twisted but I really needed a good laugh.

2008-09-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

So it is not the best picture, but it is not the worst. The picture was taken by the kids at my school. The journalism class has a newspaper that they publish online. An article in the "Wizard Press" was even published on the national addition of the National High School Journal. They are such talented kids. Anyway if you want to see the article they wrote about me please visit the following website: http://my.highschooljournalism.org/wy/laramie/whs/

I really recomend you take a look at it. Impressive!

Anyway I am feeling better this week, but Aaron caught whatever I had and was sick all this week. We both still have a little bit of junk let over from being sick, but for the most part we are feeling much better.

For those of you who do not live in Laramie. We have been having a very wet week. The last few days we have had all day drizzle with occasional downpours. I am excited however to report that our apartment did not flood. I did have a few panic attacks when it started hailing, but to my relief Aaron left work and checked on the apartment to see if it was okay. Kudos to Aaron boss Kirk for being so flexible with aarons schedule.

Work is still going great and this week we had school picture! And yes I had to get my picture taken as well. I thought I was done with school pictures when I graduated high school, but I guess not! boo! Well the picture was okay. I sat there as they told me to bend your head this way and lean this way and no thats too far. After they were done they asked if the picture was okay and I said it had to be because I was not going to sit and do that again. Ugh! The week flew by and I having been working my butt off trying to get the school ready for open house next week. Cleaning, decorating bulliten boards, organizing......

As for this weekend....well Aarons cousin Matt and his wife leslie (also my really good friends) are in town and hopefully we will be able to visit with them a little. I am sure Aaron will go to the Football game and then spend some time with Chris. We have been trying to spend as much time as possible with him. He leaves in less then two weeks for his Mission in Brazil. Crazy.

Why do they have to leave/My husband is Wonderful

2008-09-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

So Sunday we had to say goodbye to one our closest sets of friends, Jane and Garrett. They moved to Ohio because Garrett got excepted to optometry school. We will miss them a lot and I think we will have some spare time on our hand now that they are gone. Poor Aaron doesnt know what to do. Its only been a week, but he is already missing Garrett a lot. poor guy he kind of reminds me of a kid who just dropped his icecream cone on the ground (i have had that happen and it is very disapointing!). Anyway he has been moping around this week and I have got him to promise that we can go to ohio for spring break this year to visit. YAH!

On to the next subject: Aaron is wonderful. He has been really busy at work the last few days and said that we should go on a date. So he showed up after work with a dozen roses for me and then we went to dinner. It was such a nice and thoughtful surprise. I am just so lucky. He also has been taking care of me this week since I have a cold. I think it is just a basic cold, but it still sucks. Aaron also called our landlord this week. We lost all of the food in our fridge (not freezer) because the fridge part stopped working. Well our landlord is buying us a new fridge and aaron is taking me out to dinner again since we dont have any food in the fridge. Well I think he is terribly wonderfull and I dont know what I would do with out him.

Kids are back in school!!!!

2008-08-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

Things are going pretty good in laramie this week, just keeping busy. I started my new job at the alternative high school as a secretary and registar, in August as many of you may already know. All the kids started school this week and I am really enjoying it so far. I have decided that i definetely like working with teens better than younger kids. I always thought I would but it has been confirmed this last week. Dont get me wrong, they are definetly not easy children by any means but i really love their different personalities and I think that Heavenly Father is blessing me with the ability to see them as His children and I am able to see that some of their difficulties in their personalities are not because they are bad but because they have not always been treated like children of our Heavenly Father. I just want to mother them all. My heart aches for them. Sorry i just kind of went on a tangent! The weekend forecast of my social life is proving to be too busy for my liking. I think I may have to cut out an activity or two, to make my life more sane. I have found that I really like be social but when i over do it, I either get really sick or really crabby or both (really sick is generally followed by really crabby). I am sure glad that my most adorable hubby is ever forgiving my extreme moodiness. Okay I am not as bad as I say I am but I do have my moments. Well despite being busy I will be happy because my family will be in town. They will be going to the University of Wyoming football game and I will be watching chic flicks and then we will spend some time together. Yipee! Friday Aarons boss is going to throw a end of the summer food bash-aka..bbq- and they never skimp on good eats. I am hungry just thinking about it. drooling actually. lol! Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that I have been off and on sick - like I was at the beginning of the summer- so it has sucked physically the last couple of weeks- but my sister heather baked me cookies and her and ben came over to visit for awhile. It was so sweet. I couldnt really eat the cookies, but aaron sure enjoyed them for me. Ha! I just though it was wonderful and I really do need to thank Heavenly Father for my awesome family. Well I better head off to bed. Excuse all the grammer mistakes. I honestly dont really care whether I forgot a punctuation mark or spelled something wrong. I am too tired to spell check.

Too cute!

2008-08-27T15:45:00.001-07:00

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

COOL

2008-08-27T15:39:00.001-07:00

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

The month of August

2008-08-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

My Niece Abi, having a blast on the chair. AHH! the simple things in life.

So it has been a pretty busy month. It started out with me starting a new job. It was definately a little overwhelming at first but I think I am really going to be happy. For those of you who dont know, I am working at an alternative high school in Laramie as a Secretary. When i worked at my last job, the days seemed to drag and I woke up each morning really not wanting to go to work. The days seem to just fly by at my new job and I am happy when I come home. Less stress is quite nice. So that has kept me pretty occupied. when i havent been working I been hanging out with friends. I hosted a girls night a couple weeks ago and it was so needed. I invited tons of girls and we just sat and talked and ate tons of junk food. Several of the girls told me that they really appreciated a girls night out, so I think I will make it a monthly thing. On the 9th I went to my bestfriend , from high school, wedding. It was a very nice ceremony and I really enjoyed myself. I got to see a lot of people that I had not seen in years and it was good to visit. On the 13th I was invited to dinner and a game night with a few friends. I had a blast but it was a short night because my good friend, Julie, from texas was in town and wanted to visit as well. Well I really could not say no and I am really glad that I did not. Aaron and I stayed up fairly late to visit and it just wasnt a long enough visit. I really do miss my friends that have moved so far away. Sometimes it is hard being in Laramie, when so many people come and go. On the one hand I have made so many lifetime friends, but I always have say goodbye. Anyways I drove to Rapid City to attend my sister, Lucinda's, wedding this last weekend. It was a very beautiful event and my sister looked stunning. It was also wonderful to get to know her husband and his children a little bit better. I also got to see a lot of my other family members and it was just a great weekend. I got back on sunday and yesterday I spent the evening going to dinner with my best friend from college, Bobbi, who was visiting from Evanston. We went to dinner and just visited for quite awhile. I love how you can not see someone for such a long period of time and then when you get together it doesnt seem like you have spent anytime apart. So in short that was my month so far. Enjoy the pictures!

My dad and Carol!

WE MATCH!!!

Aaron playing with all the nieces and nephews (hes behind the toy)

Jackie looking cute!

She has Grandpa wrapped around her little finger!!

ME AND MY DAD!

I KINDA LIKE THIS GUY! WOW! HE'S CUTE!

MY NIECE TAYLIN

ME, MY SIS- SHANNA, AND ABI

SAY CHEESE!

THE CEREMONY
LUCINDA, JEREMY, AND THE KIDS!! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!
MY BROTHER SIAN AND PART OF HIS FAMILY!
SHE LOOKS SO HAPPY!

Weekend at Dads!

2008-07-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

Smile!

Well this weekend Aaron and I took off and visited my Dad and Carol in Rapid City. My sister Lucinda is having her Wedding in August and I really wanted to meet Jeremy before the wedding. He is a really nice guy and I really think that they will be happy. I also got to meet his three boys. Garret, Camren, and Zachary (sorry if I spelled the names wrong). The boys were just so nice and I am glad to have new members of our family. I also got to see Jacki my niece and brother Sian. Its was so fun to see how much she has grown and she is such sweet little girl. I missed seeing my other two nieces but hopefully will get to see them when I go down for the wedding. Anyways we just hung out and had BBQ. Of course my Dad overfed me, but I kept eating (I cant help it when the food is so good).

Lucinda and Jeremy Having fun Taking Pictures. I forced them into it! LOL!

Really?! Aarons attempts at making her laugh.

Hmmm?? Deep in thought.

Dad. Just Chilling!
Carol- What a beautiful smile!!!
We are always goofy! Does aarons head seem to take up most of the picture? hehe!
They are such a cute couple!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

2008-07-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

I told Aaron and Kort to take a goofy pic.

Well for the fourth of July weekend Aaron and I went camping with my Mom, Dale, Kort, Heather, and Ben. Vedawoo (pronounced veda"Voo") is where we camped and it was just perfect. On Thursday Aaron got off of work early and we went to Sierra Trading post to see if we could find a tent. We got a two room, eight person tent for 55 dollars. It is really nice and we were excited to get a good deal. Well we went up Thursday and stayed the night. We just hung out and played some badmitten, sat around the fire, roasted marshmallows. On Friday we went hiking. We orginally thought we were going to go on a ten minute hike, but hiked around turtle mountain which took about two hours. I really enjoyed the hike, but ended up getting sunburned. Oh well! I do enjoy the natural glow. LOL! The fireworks were great on friday but I was so tired when we got back to the campsite, that I just fell asleep so quick. I think the best part of the whole weekend was the Breakfast the Dale cooked each morning. YUMMM!!!!!!! well here are some picture of us playing badmitten and a few more thrown in there.
Kort and Aaron Trying to win at Badmitten.
Archery (don't make me explain what Aaron is doing- lol!)
Kort catching a baseball! I think he got it.
Dale Enjoying a Doughnut!
AHHHHH!
Aren't they the cutest team!

Get it Aaron!
He Missed!
So cute even when playing games.
I am too short for this Game!

Denver Temple

2008-07-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Look at all of the Freckles. I had an outbreak of them this summer! lol!

This last weekend was a blast! Aarons little brother Christopher will be going on a mission to Brazil in September and so as a family we went to the Denver Temple. All of Aarons family was able to get together. It has been awhile since they have all been together so it was very special. Expecially for Trudy (Aarons Mom), because it was her birthday. After we had all gone to the temple we went to eat at the Olive Garden and just got to visit for awhile. Anyway I got lots of pictures. Enjoy!

This is Christopher!

Bryan and Leah Being Super Cute! (Some of nephews and Nieces)

What a grin!

Grandpa and Grandma with all of thier Grandchildren!

Jenna's boyfriend Jesus holding Daughter Julia.

Top row is all of the Howe kids oldest to youngest: Drew, Ben, Aaron, Jenna, Chris. Tom and Trudy sitting.

2008-06-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

Okay so here are some of my most favorite pics. They are from various times through out the year and I just have to smile everytime I see them. Anyway, I didn't do anything really exciting this week. I watched Aaron play some softball (I will takes pics of that next week). I love watching him. He plays on a team that has several players over 50 and they beat a lot of the younger teams. Aaron is pretty good, expecially in the outfield. I spent several days cleaning the house and then decided I would read a few books. I thinks reading is one of my favorite things to do and I have been neglecting it lately. I only run into one problem ... I read them too fast. I spent last saturday going to Loveland to the outlet malls with a girlfriend. We went shopping and out to lunch. It was really fun. I didn't buy much but just had fun visiting. On Thursday my sister heather and I went to our enrichment activity togther. We made journal jars(ideas of what to write about folded up in a jar) and had a few uplifting talks. I got to thinking that I really need to start journaling- I have never been able to commit myself to it very well and then I got to thinking that this is kind of like a journal. Interesting. Well thats all that my exciting life has to offer this week. Hopefully I can entertain more next week.

Happy Anniversary

2008-06-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a fun weekend. Aaron and I celebrated our six year anniversary yesterday the 15th of June. So to celebrate we went to denver (by the way the traffic was insane-a normal 2 1/2 hour trip took us 4 hours). We stayed at the Sheraton hotel (very nice) on Friday and on Saturday we did a lot. Of course we slept in and then headed to a hammonds candy factory for a tour of the factory (i love anything about baking) and that was really neat. After the tour we headed to the Natural Science and History museum to watch and IMAX film and to go to the Planetarium. After all of that we went to Casabonitas restuarant for dinner. okay so the food was good it was the environment. Inside the restuarant they make it look like a minature mexican village. It was really cute. While there we got a picture drawn of us which is was my favorite part of the whole weekend. Well after dinner we faced more annoying traffic to make it home. But since it is traditon to play mini golf on our anniversary we stopped off in Fort Collins to play some golf and just so everyone knows I won (by one point, but I won). So above is a not so good picture of the the drawing and some fun pictures. Enjoy!

Heathers and Bens Special Olympics

2008-06-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Okay so inbetween feeling very ill, I had the most amazing opportunity to watch my sister and her husband in the wyoming chapter of the special olympics. It was so much fun! Heather and Ben played Basketball and won the gold medal. Heather competed in three different swimming races won a ribbon and two medal- one of which was a gold medal. I had such an amazing time. I really sat and had an opportunity to think about these individuals and was absolutely impressed by the way they treat people around them. They really just love each person as much as they can, which is a lot. I sat there and got kind of teary eyed thinking about how beautiful these children of our Heavenly Father are. I know, I am a sap! Anyway, here are some pics of Heather and Ben and some of their friends.

So it's been a few days...

2008-06-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Okay! I know, I know! It seems that time really flys by when you are feeling sick and visiting family. So, last time I wrote I was really sick and when I thought I was feeling better, I got sick again. Sick enough to send me to the emergency room. I was sick for about two weeks. Anyway I went the emergency room on a sunday because I was having extreme stomach pain. Well I got there and they found out I was dehydrated. So they started me out on an IV and then on to an Ultrasound to find out if it was my gallbladder that was causing my extreme pains. Well they couldn't find anything on the ultrasound, so in short they drugged me up and sent me home with orders for another test. Well when I came home from visiting my sister I had a test called a HIDA test. Pretty much I had to stay still for an hour while I was injected with a radioactive liquid. All I am going to say is for a small amount of time I felt worse than the day I went to the emergency room. Yuck! So after that test, I had the pleasure of waiting another day to see if my gallbladder is working or not. Well I found out that my gallbladder is working just fine and I don't have to have an expensive surgery (even though the hida test will put our budget to the test) to get it removed. All the doctor could say is that he "thinks" I "may" have had a really bad stomach flu. Who knows. I am feeling better now. And hopefully it will stay that way.

sick and tired- literally

2008-05-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

I don't really have one word to describe it, but I guess if I was forced I would have to say UHHHGGGG!!!! I was so sick on Tuesday. I think I ate some bad food or something. I don't think I have felt this sick in a long time. Well I woke up sick on tuesday and had a job interview a little bit later. I don't think it went to well. The interview itself went fairly well but i had dumb skills test I had to take and I really wasn't that with it. I guess we will find out. I am not to worried about it and I don't know if I will even take the job (if I get it) because I have job interview on Monday for I job that I will like a lot better. It is a Child Support Advocate for kind of a consulting firm. I think I might be more interested in that, than a secretarial postition.

A little background on the Pic: It is Aaron and I on the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland. I love the picture. We look so serious for a kid ride. It was a blast.

A litte info on aaron. He is looking at going back to school and hopes to take a few classes in GIS. I guess it really all depends if the classes are full or not. If they are full we might be on the way to another school. Who knows!!!

What's for dinner tonight??

2008-05-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

So I created a really yummy, easy and cheap dinner tonight. I got the idea from the Rachel Ray show and the back of a can of soup. I kinda mixed em' up a little! Anyway I call them chicken pot pie pockets.

Ingredients
-Refrigerated pie crust (you can get two rolled up in a box in by the refrigerated cookie dough)
-one can of condensed cream of potatoe soup
-1/4 of a cup of milk
-one cup of frozen mixed veggies - thawed
-two five ounce cans of chicken- drained

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix soup, milk, veggies, and chicken in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste (i didnt use any and thought it was very flavorful). Set aside. Take first pie crust out of package and on a floured surface take a rolling pin and roll the dough thinner. Next take a bowl about three to four inches in diameter (or whatever size you want). Dip the rim of the bowl in flour and cut out as many circles as you can. Repeat with the second pie crust. Fill each circle with a litte bit of the chicken mixture. Fold the circle in half and crimp the edges with a fork dipped in flour to close the edges. Cut two small slits in the top of each pocket and brush the tops with wisked egg (I dont really have a tool to do this so I take a paper towel - crunch it up and dip it in the egg and then dab on top of pockets). Bake the pockets between 15 and 20 minutes. Pockets will be done when pie crusts are golden brown. Hint: I lined a cookie sheet with foil so if the pockets leaked any thing, it would be an easier clean up.

If you want a visual the pockets kind of look like mini calzones. And they really easy to make and tasted really good.

So there is not much more going on, except that I went to the doctor today and got my customized foot insoles. Hopefully my feet will start feeling better. I have a good arch in my foot but when I stand up the arch flattens. which pulls and tears muscles near the heel of my foot. The only way to describe how it feel is to imagine that there are shards of glass inbetween my muscle and bone in my heel. Oh it hurts so bad sometimes and then not so bad other times. But like I said hopefully it will get better.

2008-05-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

Okay! So this is my first blog ever. I dont know how many people will read this but ya know it gives me something to do. On the advise of my sister I will start out with the 8 list because I really dont know what to say. You may read all of my blogs at your own risk. I can not claim to be overly interesting or to have something to say each day. Anyway enjoy the list and you will here from me later.

8 things I’m passionate about
1) My faith
2) Being a wife
3) My family

4) Friends
5) Helping people
6) Working with children

7) Trying new things
8) Cooking

8 Songs I can listen to over and over again and never get sick of
1) Only you- By Red
2) Hotel California- Eagles
3) Twentysomething- Jamie Cullum
4) Most Christmas songs

5) If your going through hell- country song (cannot remember the artist)
6) Friends- Garth Brooks -Seven CD

7) Lost and Everything- Michael Buble (You need to listen to these two songs or all of them)

8) Starry starry night- Josh Groben

8 books I’ve read
1. Eclipse, New Moon, Twilight- Stephenie Meyer
2. Eragon Series

3. Despereaux
4. The Hiding Place
5. All of the Harry Potter's
6.Chronicle of Narnia

7.Was God on Vaction- A book about keeping faith in consentration camps

8.Book of Mormon

8 Things I say often
1) Aaron
2) I love you
3) Oh you know

4) fiddle stix (my favorite cuss word! lol)
5 ) Hey

6) sooo.....
7) why
8) UMMM

8 Things that attract me to a friend
1) truthfull

2) the good way that they treat other people
3) kind
4) Just fun to be around
5) someone who i can joke around with

6) Spiritual
7) Someone who can be themselves around me and
8) I can be myself around them.

8 Random things about me
1) I have been married for almost six years now.
2) I just learned how to solve the rubiks cube - i am a nerd.
3) My dream vacation is going to New York City

4) I am an amusement park junkie
5) I was on a theatre scholarship my freshman year of college
6) Goonies, back to the future, and Indian Jones are my all time favorite movies

7) I am going whitewater rafting this summer.
8) I love to bake treats and give them to people who are not expecting them. It is really a selfish thing, because I like to see people enjoy my food.

8 Things I want to do before I die
1) Be a mother
2) Travel the world.
3) Go to Culinary school

4) Write a childrens books

5) Go to Navoo
6) Adopt a child from a foriegn country
7) Be on television- lol!
8) Learn to be completely happy with who I am and where I am in my life

8 Things I’ve learned this past year
1) That I have the most amazing husband and so lucky I found him.

2) Its okay to be happy when sad things happen
3) You find out who your friends are when you go through some sort of crisis
4) My family is awesome.
5) I have learned to be true to myself and sometimes that means you are not going be able to make everyone happy with you.
6) Its okay to be alone sometimes.
7) I have learned that i am very stubburn and aaron has a way to get around my stubborness.
8)Sometimes I need to be selfish