Once Upon A Time... Part 19

The next morning I wanted to look my very best. No one in my ward knew yet that I was engaged. Now I even had the ring to show off. I ran upstairs to show my parents my ring. Sparkly! They were happy that this was a good match. I chose an awesome black dress to wear. I was ready to take a shower. The power went out.

Why, oh, why, power gods?? Why this particular morning are you choosing ME to descend upon? Don't you know I need to wash my hair? I need to smell good? I need to look good? My hair doesn't work well without power to use my hair dryer! Please, give me some power!

I took a shower. I cried. I put my makeup on. I cried. I kinda got dressed. I cried. I whined to my parents. My dad, knowing this meant a lot, and perhaps knowing what my hair would look like if it air dried, offered a solution. "Hey, how about if I plug the hair dryer into the car?" Oh! Relief! I dried it. I tried plugging my curling iron in. It was still a little funny. But it would do.

Daniel came and got me. I looked as good as I possibly could considering the circumstances. My mom wanted a picture....
See how young we look? (What 10 years can do to a couple) On the very bottom of the page is the date...January 31, 1999. Our first date was January 2, 1999. But it was right and we were happy! (Still are!)

We left for church. I went up to sit on the stand to lead the music and the 2 guys that were speaking that day were on the stand already. The one, Dave, looked right at me and said, "Let me see the ring!" I was surprised! We hadn't told anyone there yet. Then the other one, Craig, yes, Craig, of "I'd marry Jennie if I had to" fame, looked at the ring and was a little taken aback. I was the proud momma of a fiance and ring!


When I started leading the opening hymn, I made sure my left hand was positioned just right so all could see. A friend of mine saw the sparkle and looked at me with a look of complete surprise on her face. I loved it.


We got through the rest of church explaining how quickly it had happened and when we were hoping to get married. There were congratulations from all quarters. We were the couple of the day. Of course, in a singles ward, you have only a short space of time before another couple claims the fame.


First of all, I don't know how it happened, but many people knew I was engaged and that I got the ring the night before. How in the world did that happen? To this day, I don't know how so many people knew. Second, I watched all the gals come in to church that Sunday, and not one of them looked put out that the power had been out. It was back on when we got home, but I never knew what had happened. It's all behind us now. Now we move on the the planning!

The Day After

Pumpkin pie for breakfast! A roll with turkey in it for lunch! Pizza for dinner!

That's my "day after" post!

But, of course, there there was much more going on in my life today besides pie for breakfast.

Mmmm.

Okay. Now I'm ready. Earlier this year our ward did a fundraiser for our youth. I donated 3 "cakes". That means 3 people can commission me to make a cake for them. I don't know what they paid because the moolah went straight into the fundraising pot! Anyhoo, Kale turned 8 and I was going to do a cake for his birthday/baptism. But dates changed and so I was asked to do a cake for the baptism day. He wanted a soccer theme.
I have to say, I'm kinda talented. But. I should have put the black one on top. Oh well. Did you know that the white and the black shapes on a soccer ball are actually different shapes from each other? They are. Luckily Daniel is pretty savvy with that kind of stuff. Not a soccer ball. Shapes. He likes mine. Do you see how I put the ball in the net?? I'm so good. Actually I just follow directions well.
So the cake is done. It's in the fridge in their garage. His grandma opened the lid to see the cake. I have to say here that I haven't used boxes for my cakes until just recently. The smaller boxes I used for the hat cakes were tall enough that I didn't need to worry about the top of the hat hitting the box top. The bigger box has a smaller clearance. You see where this is going...
So I left a message for the mom to call me and tell me when I can come over and fix the top of the ball. Did I mention I'm not a professional? Well, I'm not. But I did have fun making the soccer cake.

Happy Baptism Day, Kale!

I'm Cold!

As I was finishing some stuff in the kitchen, I hear a little voice say,

"I'm cold, mommy."

"Oh dear."

"I need something warm."

"What would you like to help you get warm?"

"I need something with brown hair, freckles, white skin, brown eyes, black pants and a sweatshirt!"

"You mean ME??"

"Yes, you! Will you watch a movie with me?"

So we sat and cuddled under a blanket with some popcorn and watched The Wizard of Oz. (Again) Frankly, I was a little cold, too. I found something nice and warm to warm me up. Inside and out!

Sunday Gratitude

I am so thankful today for Daniel's care of our family. He is a worthy priesthood holder and guides our family in righteousness. He is an excellent example to our boys of how to treat a woman and he is an excellent example to our daughter of what to expect in a husband. Daniel has always worked hard to take care of our family.

When I was in Young Women, I remember leaders always having us write lists of what we wanted in a husband one day. My list was like other girls' lists...handsome, funny, caring, tall, loves children, makes a lot of money, etc, etc. When I met Daniel my list was completely null and void. What I thought I wanted was insignificant compared to what I had right in front of me. Don't get me wrong...He's handsome, funny, loves children, etc. But there are some things that take a back seat when you realize what is more important than anything else in a husband. That his family comes first and that his priority is to care for his family. I am the luckiest girl in the world. I love you Daniel and am so glad you're mine!!

Where is she?

The cleaning lady hasn't come for the last several weeks. It's not like there isn't any work to do! So I finally mustered the guts and cleaned the bathrooms myself. It's a dirty job. If you see my cleaning lady, please tell her to come back to me! I need her!

Freckles

When I was young, I remember asking my mom when my freckles would disappear. She said, "When you have kids." Very enlightening. So I suffered through the taunts of Freckle Face, Angel Kisses, Sun Spots, What Is That On Your Arms?? I've had them all my life.

Fast forward to 2000!

I can see that my baby Isaac is going to be one of the angel kissed people in the world. Freckles. But wait! I still have mine. What the heck?! Wait. It's okay. I kinda like mine.

Fast forward to 2008!

Sam has only a freckle or 2. Ruthie, well, Ruthie, doesn't. So she asks me 2 days ago, "Mom, when are me and Sam going to get freckles?"

I love that my girl thinks they should all have freckles like their mom. I love that she wants them. I don't know if I love it when she presses her finger into my arm so there will be a white dot and it makes her giggle hysterically. Mom's skin is so weird.

Oodles of Noodles

I bought Kung Fu Panda for my kids right before I left town last week. When I got home Sunday night, all they talked about was Po and all the kung fu stuff and....noodles. There is a special feature that shows you how they make the noodles for noodle soup that Po and his dad sell.

So yesterday Isaac says he knows what he wants to do when he grows up....

"I want to move to China and make noodles and then sell them."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. And I'll get really rich."

"Okay."

"But I might get really bored after a while."

"Oh, well, you could go to an orphanage and help all the babies."

Isaac's eyes got really big...

"I could go in and teach the babies how to make noodles and then they can help me!"

"Umm. Okay. I was thinking more along the lines of playing with them and seeing what you could do to help them be healthy and strong so that they can be adopted and will be ready for their moms and dads."

"Well, maybe I won't go to China. Maybe I'll just be a dad."

So there you go. My son. What else can I say.


And on a separate note...Did my Once Upon a Time post leave you all speechless?? Or typeless? I know you are reading my blog. I know it! I feel it in my bones. Or whatever. Leave me a comment. That's all I ask. Just let me know you came by, liked what you read, like me. Boost my withering self esteem and COMMENT!!! Sheesh.

Just kidding about my self esteem. I love myself dearly and think I'm the best thing ever. But I'm not kidding about commenting. C'mon. Let me know you've been here!!!

Once Upon A Time... Part 18

All week we talked to each other every day. During lunch. In the evening. That is if he didn't come down to see me. We were so happy and so ready to get on with it. We just needed that ring!

On Saturday, I drove up to Dan's house and we left for our day of meeting his family. We started with his sister Jennifer. She was very nice and didn't say anything about thinking I was pregnant! I met her family, too. Then we drove up to Logan to meet Lisa. She's Dan's oldest sister. We stayed and chatted for a while then had to move on. These were all quick meets. We then drove up to Idaho. Malad is where Dan's parents grew up and met. Dan had spent all his childhood summers there working on his grandpa's farm. I met his grandma Shelba. She was so sweet. She had made a roast and potatoes and lots of other food for lunch.

Now I feel the need to insert something here. I was taking a medication for my kidneys that made me gag. It was nice to be losing weight, especially now that I would be getting married, but I gagged all the time. I love food. I love to eat. But I gagged when I tried eating anything. Plus I was nervous.

So his grandma served me some food and I mostly picked at it. Normally that wouldn't be the case. But I tried to eat what I could. She noticed. She said to Dan, "She doesn't like my food!" I said, "Oh no, It's wonderful. I just am not that hungry!" She tsk tsk'd me. What else could I do? I gave Dan a look of "help" and he said we needed to get back on the road anyway.

We had been out all day. It was getting close to dinner time. Dan had said that morning that the ring was ready and we needed to get back down to Layton to get it before they closed. All day I was willing him and daring him to drive faster. "Can't we just go meet the rest of them tomorrow?" "No, they have been waiting all week to meet you!" But I had been waiting almost 28 years for this ring!!

We got to the next to last stop. I knew it was too late. Dinner was over and the store would be closing. I tried not to cry. We walked up to the door. We were at the house of his other brother, Richard. Also, Deanna and her family were there. So we had introductions all around. Then the doorbell rang. Someone went to open it and I hear, "Special delivery for Jennie.." I turned and went to the door. There in the doorway was Clark, Deanna's hubby, with a huge bouquet of red roses. I went to get them and then turned around to Dan. He was on his knee with a little black box in his hand. I started to cry! He said, "Jennie, I love you and want to spend eternity with you. Will you marry me?" I cried more and said, "Yes!!" I handed the roses to someone and gave my future husband a kiss. Or two. Or three...

He put the ring on my finger. It was perfect! I showed it to everyone and we stayed just a bit longer. We still had one more sister to visit. The last visit of the day went well, too. It was late and they got their kids out of bed to come meet me. His family was just wonderful. I liked them already.

At Dan's house, we said goodnight. He wanted to come to church with me again in the morning. We would be showing off the ring there, too. I drove home and watched all the freeway lights hit my ring, making it glisten! I was happy, we were official, and this was the best time of my life.

The Sarajune Project

I mentioned that our agency got Hague Accreditation in a previous post. I'm not really sure how to expound on that to make this an interesting post. I'll do my best.

We have been waiting now "officially" for 26 months. The last batch of referrals only covered 1 1/2 days of LIDs. That means it's a really bad batch. But don't get me wrong. Families got their babies. They are finally seeing their sweet babies faces for the first time. But it doesn't move the line along much. Since we figure we still have a couple of years to wait, we have put off renewing our expired paperwork. The paperwork that costs upward of $1000 to do. The paperwork that would still expire after 18 months. The paperwork that, in April, changed quite a bit.

With the Hague in place, if paperwork is expired, no matter when your LID is, you fall under the Hague rules and must do Hague paperwork. A friend of mine went in to renew her paperwork in April, right after the Hague went into affect, and is still waiting for her renewal. It's Crrazy! (that's my Nacho Libre impression) So we figured we would put off renewing our expired paperwork until after things settle down and the INS can tell us exactly what they want from us so we can just get the paperwork we need, fill it out, get other things they require and hand it in with a very large chunk o change and get our renewal.

Now that our agency has been Hague Accredited, we will be able to work directly with them in getting the necessary foot work done...homestudy updates, medical updates, etc, etc. So it's a relief that we don't have to go with an agency we don't know and work with people we've never met and share all the personal and intimate details of our life to new people.

We still aren't ready to start renewing. I figure if we wait another year, we will only have to do it once more and will hopefully go to China before it expires. But you just never know! I hope that was interesting enough to read. I don't share adoption stuff often because of the intricate details that don't make much sense if you're not doing it, but do mean the world to me in this process. I suppose it's like being pregnant and feeling the need to decompress about how much of your hair is falling out and what the doctor said about your weight and just where the baby kicks and what it's now doing to your skin, and how much your back hurts and your arches are falling and you can't eat Mexican anymore, etc. It's okay to hear once in a while, but then it gets a little old if it's repeated with every visit. So just smile and wave, girls. I really need some chocolate!

Only 75%???

There is a website out there that analyzes your blog to determine whether it's you are a man or a woman.

http://www.genderanalyzer.com/

By putting in my blog, it has determined that it is only 75% sure I am a woman. Funny, I always considered myself 100% woman! Hear me roar!

Try it. You'll like it.

Sunday (Monday) Gratitude/ Park City

I know. It's Monday and I said I would do Sunday Gratitude posts. Sue me! I got back from Park City yesterday afternoon to 3 kids running to me for hugs and kisses (and prizes). I love it when my kids give me hugs and kisses. And I love it when they love what I bring back for them. Then I had stuff to get caught up on so I never blogged.

Here is my Sunday (Monday) Gratitude post...

I am grateful for my family. No relationship in the world can compare to your family. And I think it can go for both bad and good relationships. I love my family.

I am grateful that Daniel took the job as my honey pie and that he loves our kids and loves me enough to let me go away for a weekend every year. I love that he cleaned the carpets while I was gone to surprise me!! I love that while I was gone there wasn't a problem so big that he said "Please come home!" He took the reigns and didn't fail! Love you!

I am grateful that my kids had a bit of a hard time because they missed me. They had fun, but they did miss me and I love that. I love that they wanted to show me everything they did over the weekend and they their faces lighted up when I reacted like it was the greatest thing in the world. I missed them and am glad I'm home.

I am grateful for a blip in the universe that allowed our adoption agency to get Hague Accreditation. Who Knew?? I am so glad I didn't get hooked into another agency to get the renewal paperwork done. For some reason it comes as a pleasant surprise and I am relieved that we can continue working with our own agency for the duration of our adoption of Sarajune.

So there you go!

Here is my post about my trip to Park City...

I brought my camera to Park City, but didn't take any pictures. I looked awesome except for the fact that my flat iron wouldn't turn on in the hotel. So I had frizzy hair. I got over it with a cold caffeinated beverage! We had a great time and tried to solve as many of the world's problems as we could in the short time we had. We ate so much so often that I don't think I could ever eat again. We watched an incredible movie called Cranford and now I need to buy it. In short, it was a great trip and I'm so glad we got to go! Thanks mom and Katie! And thanks, Annie for coming to have dinner with us!

I'm Leavin'

But not on a jet plane. It's become a tradition for all the women in my family to go to St George together in the Fall. We eat, we shop, we watch great movies all night. This year would be no different until....people started dropping like flies! Sheesh! The final blow was the sister with access to the house we stay in dropping out. Bummer. So my last sister standing and my mom and I made an executive decision. We're going to Park City. I haven't been to Park City since I was first pregnant with Isaac. So...it's been a while. We are all meeting there tomorrow and won't get home till Sunday afternoon. And yes, I did strategically plan this for the weekend after the Primary program!

Part of the prep is to design my weekend wardrobe. So, all this week I have been looking at the possibilities. At one point I was very disappointed. But I got over it and put together this:

My Friday, my Saturday, and my Sunday outfits. I have to make sure I have enough warmth to not wear a jacket. Cause I hate wearing jackets. And enough cool comfort to be going in and out of stores, etc. I think these will work. I'll let you know for sure when I get back.

So yesterday I told Daniel-the love of my life, my daily dose of joy, my hunk o burnin' love, etc, etc-all the wardrobe choices I had made. He didn't say much. So last night after we got into bed, I asked him what he thought of my clothing repertoire. He just hemmed and hawed. Then he says,

"I just pick a pair of pants, a shirt that's clean and a pair of socks and some shoes."

"I'm not talking about YOU!"

"I don't care what you wear, I won't see you."

"But other people will."

"What people?"

"The people I see in Park City."

"You won't even know them."

"Doesn't matter, I need to know that I look nice. That way if I do see someone I know, like, someone I haven't seen for years, I will look good. They'll walk away going, wow she looked great!"

"Women are weird. You only dress to please other women who don't really care, but you think they care, so you dress in what you think they'll like."

"So?"

"So just pick some pants, a shirt and some socks and shoes."

"You don't understand. This is very important. Just answer my question! In the clothes that I picked, will I look good?"

"Yes. You'll look good. You'll look good naked. I don't care what you wear. You always look good."

"Hmmm. I'm not going naked! Will. I. Look. Good. In. What. I've. Chosen. It's a simple question. Just answer it!"

"I plead the 5th."

"The 5th what?? For cryin out loud! The 5th Ammendment doesn't have any hold in this house!"

"I'm tired and want to go to sleep."

Silence....

"You will look good in what you've chosen. Because you always look good no matter what!"

"Thanks. I love you."

"I love you, too"

"So, are you going to miss me?"

"GO TO SLEEP!"

So there you have it. Late night conversations. I feel good about my choices. I'm excited to go dress nice for other women who don't care what I wear, but I think they do, so I arrange my wardrobe around them, but no one will even remember the hot girl in the bright blue, awesome vest who looks awesome in it. Doesn't it sound like fun?? Have a great weekend. And if you go to the same place I do on Sunday and you notice no one's hair is combed and teeth haven't been brushed, don't blame me. I'll be on vacation!

Funny Bones and Veterans

I grew up having watched the Wizard of Oz. I remember it being terribly long. When given the opportunity to see Wicked next year, I thought it might be nice to see the old Wiz again. So we borrowed my in-laws copy. My kiddos have been watching it tirelessly since we had a movie night with it on Sunday. They giggle, they sing along, they giggle more. I love it. It's not 3 hours long either. I always thought it was 3 hours long. It's less than 2. I love singing along and hearing the quotes that are used by people who probably don't even know they're quoting the Oz movie. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" "We're not in Kansas anymore" "And your little dog, too" "Put em up, put em up" "Lions and Tiger and Bears, Oh my!" I could go on and on...

Anyway, yesterday Ruthie was watching...Again...and when the lion is scared of the Wizard she starts this giggling. The giggling starts getting more and more bubbly and seriously bubbles out of her. Then the lion jumps out the window. It's all over. She is giggling so uncontrollably that she's on the floor and can't breath. Then, when she does catch her breath, she says, "That touched my funny bone!" So then I start laughing! Then towards the end, she starts the giggling all over again and says, "That hit my funny bone!!" Oh just shoot me now. She just slays me with the things she says!

On to more serious matters. Today is Veteran's Day. My flag is out in front and waving in the cold November breeze. I love our flag! I also am so grateful to thousands of men and women who serve and have served our country. My dad is one of them. He served in combat in Vietnam and has only recently shared memories and experiences from his service to our country in what was a very troubled time. I am grateful for his experience and willingness to serve.

War sucks. It's awful and horrible. I love freedom. And I love the fact that we can protect those who can't protect themselves from tyrany. There are things that are worth fighting a war for...freedom, family, religion. Our country is indebted to tireless men and women who have served so valiantly for those things.

Thank You!

Make A Meal Monday

My sister Laurie does Make a Meal Monday. At least she did. Then she had a baby. Baby #5. She doesn't do it anymore. When I did the tagged post with the 4th picture, etc, I came to this picture...

I figure I could do a Make A Meal so you don't have to drool at the computer. Now you'll have the recipe and can drool right over your dinner plate!

Spicy Chicken Enchiladas

2 Chicken breasts

2 C grated Cheddar cheese (or Colby Jack)

1 can diced green chilies

8-10 flour tortillas

10 oz. can of mild red enchilada sauce

Bake chicken and chop or shred them. You can add salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken to the cheese and chilies. Place that mixture in the flour tortillas and roll them up. Place them in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. The mixture will make about 8-10 enchiladas if you use it sparingly. Pour the enchilada sauce over the rolled enchiladas and sprinkle cheese over the top.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and the edges of the tortillas barely start to brown. (Or until they look like mine!) Mmmmmm.

This recipe came from my sister Emilie. We do a recipe exchange every Christmas and this is one of many and one of our favorites!

Sunday Gratitude

I have seen a few blogs with gratitude posts because of the time of year. I love reading others' posts, but didn't even think about doing it. I feel very inspired, though, to share with you today some things that I am extremely grateful for.

First, today I am grateful for a wonderful calling at church to be with the children each week. We had our Primary Program today and they were amazing. I wish all of you who read this could have been there. They were reverent. They sang awesomely. They said their parts clearly and loudly. There is not one thing I would change about today! WOW!! We have the best Primary kids in the world and they showed us today what magnificent spirits they are!

Second, I am grateful for my own children. They are the most terrific kids in the world. I wouldn't change who they are or what makes them tick for anything. They love each other and they support each other. They are my life and heart. My kids are the greatest and bestest of all the kids there are!! And they are so dang cute!

Third, and finally, I am grateful today for my husband. When I asked him to step in if a teacher couldn't come up to sit with the kids, he replied, as he always does, with, "Of course. I will be happy to." And he did. That goes for everything he does here at home, too. He always steps up and gives me the most tremendous support and help. Thank you, Daniel. I love you and am so grateful for you!!

My new goal is to do a Sunday Gratitude post. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Tagged

I was tagged by Tiffany...

This is the 4th picture in my 4th folder. Now say 4 things about it.

1. Yummy Spicy Chicken Enchiladas
2. I was in the process of taking pictures of all our dinners for a dinner choosing book.
3. This recipe is from my sister Emilie.
4. I love cooking!

I tag 4 people...

Laurie

Lori

Leanne

Kim H. (this is something to blog about!!!)

Thursday's Thoughts...

Have you ever seen antelope? I have. Have you ever eaten antelope? I have. Yes. I have. Daniel brought in a wrapped frozen roast from our good friends next door and said it was a roast. An antelope roast. So we thawed it and put it in the crock pot and had it for dinner on Tuesday. It was good. My kids ate it even though they looked a little worried that it was antelope. Thanks, Jeff and Amie!

Ruthie has successfully turned 5. She is suddenly much more mature and ready to take on the real struggles of life. Well, you know, the 5 year old struggles...which pink shirt do I wear? Should I have my hair down or up in a bun? Do I sleep with a baby doll or a stuffed animal? And so on. My baby is growing up!
Then there is my castless Sam. He was so excited to get it off. Then he wants it back on. So he fashioned himself a cast out of a water bottle. He wore it for a little while. Then it disappeared and I haven't heard anymore about a cast.
Isaac made some really funny movies last night. I just can't upload them. Or download them. Whatever. Yay for Thursday...my shows are on tonight!

Anything??

I can't think of anything to say today. So many things going on in my mind that I can't focus on just one. So here is the next part of Once Upon A Time. Enjoy!

Once Upon A Time... Part 17

Monday morning. Dan and I had agreed that we would look for a ring this week and when we got the ring we would tell people. I guess when I sat down to eat breakfast, my mom could tell something was going on. She sat down and said, "You and Dan seem to really like each other. What are you going to do?" Hmmm. For about 2 seconds I thought. Then I said, "We're gonna get married." Then I couldn't stop giggling. She asked what happened and what our plans were. I said I didn't even know what happened and I only knew we would get a ring the next night and then get married. I went to work and knew this was going to be a hard secret to hold on to. And I didn't know how long it was going to take to get a ring. I could be bustin' at the seams for weeks. Months.

When I got to work and saw the two guys I worked with, I had to work hard to keep a straight face. In the short time I had been working there, 2 weeks, I had made it known that I was in this for the long haul. Well, I think that's about to change. I blurted out to the guys that I was engaged! They were so happy for me and asked if we had set a date and then they wanted to see a picture. Ummm. First of all, this just happened late last night. Second, I have only known this guy for less than a month. Were we supposed to have pictures already?? I told the guys that I didn't want to say anything to Dave, our boss, yet. They agreed to keep quiet. They understood the position I was in.

Meanwhile, Dan had no idea where to even start looking for a ring! So he, too, broke the "don't say anything yet" law. He called his sister, Deanna. "Where do I get a ring?" She went out with him that night to look around different jewelry stores for an idea. That night we talked on the phone and I said that I had told my mom and the 2 guys at work. He said that he'd told his sister and a gal at work. So we decided it would be better to just say we are engaged and show off the ring when we get it. So we started making the rounds of calls to the most important people. I called my sisters and my grandparents and some of my friends. Daniel told his brother and his family who were living in his parent's house with him. They were so excited! They had Daniel's name for Christmas just a month earlier and had given him Realm cologne. The kind with human pheramones. So he could get a girl. Apparently it worked.

Then he called his mom and dad. They were in Vietnam and were a little cautious about his announcement. They had no idea who I was or who my family were or anything. This was quite a turn from the Christmas phone call when he wasn't dating anyone. It was now January 22. They asked lots of questions and gave Dan their blessing as long as he kept them up to date on everything. They said they would talk to their Mission President about being able to come home for the wedding. This was it! He was ready and I was the one. Daniel then called all of his sisters and other brother. One sister was silent for a minute, then blurted out, "What did you do? Is she pregnant?" I know, it's a little out there. But Dan hadn't been dating anyone at all. And now he was engaged?? I'm not sure how that means I could be pregnant, but it was a quick assesment of the situation. He quickly said that I wasn't and that we had met at Christmas time and were going to get married.

So now that people knew, I needed to tell my boss, Dave. On Tuesday, I told him I needed to talk to him. When I told him, he was excited and then wanted to know when and how it would affect my job. I said we hadn't set a date, but I would keep working there for as long as I could. I'm pretty sure he started right then to make arrangements for a replacement.

Tuesday night came!! So exciting!! I drove straight from work in Provo up to Kaysville in 1 hour. Maybe I shouldn't broadcast that, but I was in a hurry. I met Stephen and Nicole and their cute kids. I had already talked to them and their oldest daughter on the phone after Dan told them. Jessiqa was so excited to meet me and had a little note for me. All she wanted for her uncle Dan was that he get married and be happy. He was!

We got in Dan's car and drove to a jewelry store near the mall. He had looked there with Deanna the night before. We looked at all the settings and I found a couple that I loved. Dan said to just pick which setting I wanted and so I did. The big gold band with a spot for a diamond and little diamonds to border the gold. I fell in love with it. Then we got to look at diamonds. Wow. I had never seen so much sparkle! We picked a size together that we thought would look terrific in the setting. Then it was just a matter of sizing and setting and picking up and making our engagement official!

All week I kept asking Dan if the ring was ready. No. Not yet. They will call me and I will call you. Okay. But I was antsy! Dan made arrangements with all his siblings and grandma to bring me around on Saturday to meet them all. Oh wow! It would involve a drive from Layton to the Ogden area to Logan to Malad, Idaho back to Layton. I was ready to meet them all. I just wished I would have my ring by then...

WOW! Do I Have Some Catching Up To Do!

It's been a tornado weekend. And so far I am letting so many things just go this morning so I can catch up!! I will tell our tale with pictures...

Yikes!! Who is that masked man?? Oh, it's just Sam. Goofball Sam.

Eek!! Look at those teeth! She's always had such beautiful teeth. Now they're just bigger! And sharper!
Halloween night we had a jack-o-lantern pizza. Yum!
For dessert, we had Twinkie coffins. Mmmm...
Tick or Treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat.
This is my son the martian and my daughter the princess.
Ready for action!!
Isaac thought he'd stay home and help pass out treats. He set up camp on the broken bench on the front porch and passed out pretzels to our 9 trick or treaters.

Saturday was full of cake making. November is filled with birthdays...Ruthie and cousins Nick and Maddie.

For 11 year old Nick, I delighted with the lava fight scene from Star Wars. It's been so long since I've seen the movie that I don't know what to call it. I also couldn't get Anakin to stand up.

Nick thought the cake was Awesome!! Thanks, Nick.

His mom apparently did get Anakin to stand up!

We interrupt this blog for a special announcement...

When Daniel went to my sister Laurie and took the new baby John, I knew it was time to make it known..

Yep! We are both baby hungry!

But when I said, "Should I go and see if we can reverse my ligation?" Daniel quickly said, "NO!" I guess the idea of his second wife raising my kids stifled his baby appetite.

Next we have Madelyn. She turns 6. Her favorite color is green. So I fashioned a nice green hat for her.

She's not a demon. I forgot the red eye button. By the time I got it pushed, her turn was over. Darn. She liked her cake, too.

Then comes my birthday girl. Because Ruthie is a Strawberry Shortcake kinda girl, I made a Strawberry Shortcake hat. YAY! MOM!

She loved it and is so happy I'm her mom. I'm awesome!

Every time I tried to take a picture, she would pose, then the flash would do all the fancy red eye stuff, then finally snap the picture. By the time the thing snapped, she had moved on to totally bored! This picture was supposed to be Ruthie blowing out her candles!

Notice they are all blown out and she's ready to go home. Whew! That was fun.

Monday morning brought lots of work. 4 of us went to the church to get all the seating arranged for the Primary Program this Sunday. That was a lot of work and my friend Lori had to basically tell me to chill and that the seating is okay. I know! I need to take a chill pill.

After school, we hightailed it over to the Insta-care to get Sam's cast off. 4 weeks down! It took the doctor quite a while to get it off. Apparently it was the thickest cast he's ever seen. Good job last doctor! He finally got it off and Sam said. "Throw it away!" Then he changed his mind and went and got it from the trash!

Um! Gross! So he threw it away again and went to get another x-ray.

When he got back, we waited for the doctor to come tell us the verdict. We all tried to offer our thoughts for the new cast color. You know, just in case he hadn't healed up yet. Red, green, orange, blue again, yellow, and my personal favorite, pink!

Luckily his bone is pretty much healed. He has to be careful for the next month. If he falls on it, we have to bring him right back for another cast. It will be easily broken. So we won't be jumping off swings or hanging from monkey bars. He even gets to take a real shower again!!

And, of course, my kids were angels through it all. They just sat and read books during the 2 hours we were in that stuffy building!

Alright! No they weren't. But they are dang cute!