Happy Heart Day

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy valentine's day. I wanted to hand out valentines to some neighbors who are health conscious so I thought it was an awesome idea if we got little bags of carrots and said something like I car- rot about you happy valentines day. Dan giggled so hard about the idea, and I couldn't find the mini carrots at Costco so I decided not to do it. Plus Dawson has been sick with some hefty cold and I decided it wouldn't be good to hand out valentines just in case the germ decides to travel. Back to the carrot idea i thought it was an awesome idea but Dan just keeps laughing about it. Plus what if someone was inundated with sweets today don't you think they would enjoy something fresh??

 happy Valentine's day 

We're doing the DASH You can come too

We are doing it again! The dirty Dash

You can join in, just let us know. Come one come all.

Here is our post from last year:

Here are some tips for doing the dash and yes we are doing it two more times this year! 

 The only part of your body that stays clean is your mouth, you hope!

 Doing the dash makes you closer as a couple

 Dawson doesn't like to get his hands dirty!

 Consider wearing sunglasses from the dollar store to protect your eyes and of course use Chums!( as demonstrated in the next picture of Dan, below).

 You will loose  your shoes so don't wear ones that you intend to keep!

 in fact, at the end of the race, donate them!

 After donating your shoes, you walk back to the parking lot in your socks!

Stay tethered to your child, the whole time, THE WHOLE TIME!

There are thousands of people and many children were waiting at the customer service desk to be picked up by their parents, because they had been lost. Keep your children close, we used THE LEASH and it was worth it!!

 Lucky you! You get a FREE shower after the race. It comes from the melting mountain snow, but its free! OR  bring 5 bucks and before the race pay for a heated shower and avoid the lines, and the arctic freezing temperatures! And really the shower does NOTHING to get you CLEAN!!

 Put putty plugs in your child's ear, you don't want anything going in there if they have ear tubes!!

If anything, make this a family event!!!

 I did not get as dirty because I worked the camera!

Your children will thank you for this experience after they have recovered from their arctic shower!

After the race, Head over to The Dairy Keen

 Don't worry about washing your face before you eat!

 Asses the damage, but don't worry about it, it will all wash off in the end!

 No matter how many times you wash your hands, it stays on, embrace it, for once...

Everyone attending the Dash, even if you are watching from the bleachers, you will get dirty regardless of any precaution that you may take, so be prepared to enjoy mother earth and all of her mud an glory and next time, don't watch from the bleachers!

And next time, Don't roll down the hill to make your friends laugh, sometimes you can not calculate the slope you are on the the speed that is inevitable that you will pick up as you continue to roll down the mountainside!

 Although Dan's injuries do not look very deep, they are filled with mud and took a month to heal!

Wear your lucky socks while doing the dash!

And when it is all said and done, do it again!

He's had an awesome day! 

Courage

From President Monson:

"Face Challenges with Courage

C is for courage. Courage becomes a worthwhile and meaningful virtue when it is regarded not so much as a willingness to die manfully but as a determination to live decently.

Said the American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide on, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”⁵

There will be times when you will be frightened and discouraged. You may feel that you are defeated. The odds of obtaining victory may appear overwhelming. At times you may feel like David trying to fight Goliath. But remember—David did win!

Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve."

The rest of this article can be found here: Click Me

My Amazing Wife

So what do you do when you forget to bring your lunch to work, and need to take a few minutes break? You sneak into your family blog and talk about how amazing your wife is, hoping that she will read it later on, along with our followers and maybe even a few complete strangers.

Seriously, I wanted to take a few minutes to explain why I am the luckiest man in the world to be married to Emily. She is an amazing wife, mother, cook, dance partner, animal lover, and friend. We have been through a lot of highs and lows over the past month and she has been such a strong foundation for our family as we went through a lot of change, some expected and some unexpected.

I love you sweetheart. Thank you for being you and for being by my side at all times.

- Dan

I think I have diarrhea

In our new house we got a new fridge and it has a lot bigger freezer than our rental woo whoo! I was at the store and thought that I would pick up a box of Pedialite Popsicles now that we have room, just in case Dawson needs them one night and it is late and he has a tummy ache.

I failed to bury them deep into the freezer so that Dawson would not want to eat them. Too late, he saw them and we have been discussing that they are for diarrhea or when he has the throw ups. Now he has me checking his poop to see if per chance he has indeed created something messy and has been telling me he definitely has the throw ups on their way!

Today after church Dawson come up to us in hopes that what he created passed the test so that he can have a Popsicle. Trying not to laugh Dan, trying to be as serious as possible checks everything out and suggests we give the kid a Popsicle. Reminds me of the time Dawson figured out what our computer password is. Oh wait that was also today. He is oh so proud of his computer mastery and now just as he sates he can, "go to the movie store when ever he wants" meaning Netflix. Don't worry we have it on G rated movies only but now we have to come up with a new computer password and put a door on Dan's office. This kid is so stink'n smart! He prides himself at being smarter than us.

I won't turn into a woman

This morning Dan and I were taking some vitamins and Dawson felt really left out that he didn't get one. He started whining and said, "mommy pwease, pwease mommy let me take one, I won't turn into a woman."

 

Read Me

"If there's something special you want to do, now is the time... if you
want to make a difference in the world, now is the time. Don't be fooled
into thinking you should wait until you are older or wiser or more 'secure'
- because it doesn't work that way. The wisdom will come. The security will
come. But first you must begin your adventure". Ron Atchison

A little romantic

Today Dawson and I played with dinosaurs. We had the dinosaurs battle each other. Once most of the dinosaurs died a horrible death by being eaten, there were two T- Rex dinosaurs left. I was ready for the next battle and all of the sudden Dawson, said... Hi whats your name, so I answered, speaking for my dinosaur. All of the sudden his dinosaur starts kissing my dinosaur on the lips. He said that my dinosaur was pregnant with an elephant and that the two T-Rex dinosaurs were going to have a baby!

WOW!

The struggle with play dough

Dan and I closed out of our rental on the 7th of January. When I was dusting the banister I saw this little beauty. I have seen it before and It made me laugh. Every time I passed it on the stairs I would think... I really need to get that dried play dough out. Dawson hasn't been the crazy kid that has drawn on the walls with marker or played in his poop while "napping" but he did do this one and I think its funny. He snuck ( not a real word I know) play dough up the stairs to feed all of his super hero's. 

When Dawson was a toddler, he'd eat cardboard boxes including cardboard tampons that he would find in my bag . And two nights ago he emptied half of a 25 pound bag of kitty food all over his room. We got him a cat a week ago and we left the big bag of food in his room, I just had not carried it out yet. Dan and I were talking while Dawson was supposed to be going to bed and then it happened. We heard the sound of the big bag and food being flicked everywhere, he fed her they way we feed the ducks at the park.

We looked at each other, Dan and I. At first we couldn't tell what "that" sound was??? So we started guessing. Then we laughed before going into his room. We told Dawson that it was very nice of him to feed his kitty, she must have been very hungry.

I would have taken a picture, but Dawson has brown carpet in his room and he really spread that bag pretty thin through out his huge room....

 But for the sake of pictures here is one of  "Ruby the mouse" its a collective family name between us and the 4 year old.  And Louie the meatball.

Wrapping it up

I wanted to do one more post about all of the adoption things going on around our house lately. I still have a blanket the girl's mom had made for the baby that she gave us and some ultrasound pics that I am going to send back to her. It's something we talked about so she knows to expect them soon.

 I have gone to the store and loaded up with cute little things in my grocery cart, over and over again just to put it back in the isles. I ended up with this little toy and put it in her package yesterday.

I put some little comfy socks in there for her. 

She seemed to like the last movie we sent her so I thought I would send one more. It was meant to be sent to her for Christmas.

Then lastly, there was a book that her parents read to her as a baby and she read to her baby everyday while she was pregnant. We ordered a copy online for the baby so that if she was placed with us then we could read it to her and talk about her birth mom. 

Now they can have two copies in case the first gets worn. I am so grateful to be doing this. I am glad this is wrapping up, coming to an end and now we can move forward. 

I am not on  facebook but I did see the picture she posted with her baby, She looks very content and peaceful.

Box of donuts

I wanted to explain the way I feel using a box of donuts.

I feel that when I think about my hopeful future with more children I think of specifics. I think about gender. I think about race ( it doesn't matter), age ( sometimes I think about adopting a toddler) and I think about the family that they came from. 

And I dream, about the perfect donut.

( Perfect for us)

When I think about all that has happened for us with adoption and loss, something surprises me. 

When someone hears that we had an adoption not work out, most people don't say anything. When people do say something they seem to either victimize the situation by going on and on about the drama of it all with out realizing that we are not the first and we are not the last to have this happen (and life, it has a way of moving forward with or with out us).Or on  the opposite end of things, people turn the other way and either say nothing or minimize the situation. Please don't make me give an example of this, because that is mostly what we have gotten. Minimization.

This feels like I went out and bought a box of pretty iced donuts and upon walking toward my car absolutely giddy, the bottom of the box falls out and all the pretty donuts fall onto the pavement.  

People treat the loss as if you can go out and get another donut. Oh there are donuts everywhere, just go out and get another one. 

Sometimes it can be hard to know what to say.

 Be careful when someone hurts. Don't minimize it and don't make it seem that the one with loss will never dig out of this one because "its so hard". 

Sometimes, its okay to say, sorry. or I don't know what to say (sometimes that is just nice to hear that someone acknowledges that you are in pain and feel some loss, but they are not sure exactly what to say). The best one, I AM HERE.

When you pursue adoption you are hoping to find that right one. And sometimes, one falls. 

And it breaks your heart.