Bingo Bonanza and other party games.

It was the annual family Christmas Bingo on Sunday. I had a great time. Daniel is such a sport and he does the calling and facilitating for it. We play for fun prizes like reachy-stick-grabbers and chocolate bars. We also got a $2 bill in an envelope. Fun fun! I saw some cousins I haven't seen in a long time. Fun was had by all and stuffed ourselves silly with too much food.

The whole room! We had such a good time.

Then Monday we went to Daniel's dad's family party. His dad loves to play games and he had a pretty silly one for us. They had to stuff a pair of panty hose with 10 small balloons and then put it on their head. It was pretty funny. Daniel was with his brother, Eric, for the first round and they won. The little kids had fun being silly with all the balloons.

Christmas is fun when we get to spend time with family. We are playing more games on Christmas Eve so I will post about those and our other Christmas festivities!

Cold Days and Warm Beds

With the weather getting colder (finally!) we have been sleeping in and going to bed early where possible. We have also broken one of my rules (gasp!) and have allowed the dogs on the bed. We snuggle down under the comforter with the puppies on top. Saturday turned into a literal dog pile.

I also decided i needed to snuggle a baby, but since we don't have one, I snuggled my baby dog instead. Unfortunately he smells. But he's a sweet cuddler.

Saturday morning I decided to officially  name the second bedroom the "craft cave" until such time as it needs to become a bedroom.

This is my latest thing. I saw shoes like this on pinterest, so I copied it. I love them and I can't wait until the wet weather dries up a bit so I can wear them and keep them clean.

We're doing our best to enjoy the winter days and keep ourselves active. What do you do to combat the winter blues?

Want to know more? email us at danielashleyadopt @ gmail . com

Another shirt

I'm excited about this shirt. It uses the beautiful bird that Cady Driver drew for us and a quote from my favorite author, Jane Austen.

http://teespring.com/flightoffancy

It's available in a couple different colors, long or short sleeve. 

This effort is helping me keep up hope. The holidays are harder when there are no children to share it with.. Fortunately, we have some amazing nieces and nephews. It's been a long time that we have been hoping to adopt and feeling the support of our friends, family, and strangers helps me keep my spirits up. Someday I be a mother and there is some amazing woman who will become our birth mother and hopefully be counted among our best friends. 

Will you indulge in a flight of fancy?

I love to sew

It's no secret that I love to sew. I love making things with fabric, be it quilts, costumes, or decorations. A good friend of mine from college invited us to a Renaissance Christmas dinner. In costume. I know that makes us kind of geeky, but hey, being a geek is fun. Just ask the geeks. So a few weeks ago we went to the store and got fabric to make our costumes. I have spend countless hours cutting out and sewing together our costumes. Here is a glimpse of mine. I will post more as I get further along, as well as pictures of us when they all done.

 The loops for the lacing.

 The embroidered edge lacing.

The color and invite.

Do you like to do things like this? If you could be any character ever, who would you be? I would want to be Cinderella and wear the dress that is from the March 2015 movie. How beautiful is that!!

Halloween!

This year I was feeling kind of scroogey about decorating. I didn't want to make a mess only to have to clean it up again a few weeks later, so I didn't decorate. But I did make costumes. Halloween is much more fun with children. It gets kind of hard to keep putting forth effort. But the costume part was worth it this year.


Daniel already owned shiny pants, so we went with it. 

 

I already owned the red shoes (not seen). Winston already is Toto so then we just made a lion costume (cape) for Lacy. What do you think?

 

Here's a better view of Lacy's lion cape.

What did you dress up as? Do you like Halloween? Normally it's my favorite, but this year seems to require more energy. I will save it up for next year.

Want to know more? email us at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com

Sometimes you just need to spruce things up a bit

So we did. We went to Ikea on Friday night with friends and got ourselves some new cabinets. We've been contemplating this for a little while and finally did it. I'm so excited about the change.

I painted the room yellow - as it used to be a red sandstone color. Yellow matches my kitchen. It's such a happy yellow. Then we started putting cabinets in. Took us most of Saturday, along with a few other things. We just have to the knobs on, put the toe-kick up, and then decide how we want to put our stuff away. It's exciting!

We put the doors on, I just didn't take a picture after that. It makes the room so much more useful as a storage/pantry/laundry room.

Do you have dreams of a super organized house? I do! I'll get there someday.

Want to know more? email us at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com

A Fall Tradition From Daniel

Growing up I had the opportunity to visit my Grandparents often. Often this would be a Sunday visit with my parents and siblings. However, I often would ride my bike to my Dad's parents house in the summer. Or in the fall after junior high school football practice.  Regardless of when I visited my Grandma she would offer me a sandwich. This was always a special sandwich because it would include homemade Chili Sauce. This is one thing that will always remind me of my Grandmother.

Grandma's Chili Sauce is a slightly sweet tangy tomato based relish. We use the recipe from the 1954 Better Homes and Garden recipe.

Now Ashley and I still visit my Grandma's but I no longer rely on her for Chili Sauce. This weekend we had enough fresh tomatoes from our garden that I was able to make the Chili Sauce.  It is one of the ways I know fall is really here.

It all starts with fresh tomatoes. We usually grow two or three varieties each year. Here are some of the yellow ones from our garden. I didn't get picture of the red ones.

















Here is the sauce simmering down. It makes the house smell wonderful.

Do you have a favorite fall tradition? What is your favorite season?
Want to know more? email us at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com

Check out what Ashley has been up to lately on our other blog.

Ashley posted about her most recent sewing project on our family blog. Check it out here!

"Felicity"

I am super duper excited to announce our next opportunity. The talented Cady Driver has matched us with her Birds for Babies Campaign. Anytime this print is ordered, we get a large portion of the royalties.

It's  just beautiful. I'm very excited about this. It can be ordered in various sizes and just about any frame option you can imagine, on paper or canvas. Please go the link and get yours today. It's good for 6 months as a way to help us. 

Thank you for all the love and support as we journey to find our babies. 

*The beautiful thing about "Felicity" is it's definition: "the state of being happy, especially in a high degree; bliss". This opportunity will bring us closer to the high degree of happiness in being able welcome a baby into our home. 

Order here.

Such a fantastic week last week!

This week has been so good. I spent time with friends from China. I got to go with them to see the Ogden Temple open house. It was very neat for me to be able to share the gospel with them, since it was illegal in their country. I hope seeds were planted that will lead them to the gospel some day.

Me with Molly.

They were all awed by how beautiful it was. I talked to them about how it has to be perfect, because it the house of the Lord, a perfect person. And he teaches us how to be perfect and walk in his ways. The Ogden Temple will forever hold a special place in my heart because of that.

I took them to Sonora Grill for lunch and they loved it. I got a few tacos and fajitas and it was so yummy. Love their food. I'm sorry they're kind of pricey.

Eva, Ciindy, Frank, Me, Molly.

Then Wednesday we had our final dinner with them and said goodbye as we sent them to Southern California where they did Disneyland and Universal Studios. They gave us this beautiful gift as a thank you for spending time with them. I'm so excited to display it. Now I  have to decide what get's put away to make room for it. (I need a bigger house!)

The rest of the week was quiet for us. I love the quiet after the chaos. I got a lot of quilting done on my epic project. I'm so excited. I'm on the final step and it's coming together perfectly!


This week has been quiet. but we are headed to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City on Friday afternoon. I'm excited. Daniel is apathetic. He's very good to humor me like this. We are looking into audio books for the drive, because we don't really like much of the same kinds of music.


Snapshot: Winston and Daniel had a little talk. Daniel was telling him to stop peeing on stuff. I'm not sure if he took it to heart or not.

the T-Shirt Funded!!

Thanks to those who supported this effort! We feel blessed that people are supporting us with our adoption efforts.

Up next on the t-shirt journey: GET A FREE SHIRT!! That's right. Suggest a new shirt for us to sell and if your design gets picked and funded (25 shirt minimum) you get one for free!

So submit your ideas here in a comment section or on facebook or to our email at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com

It can be a picture, a phrase, or both. It just can't be proprietary. We can't afford to pay copyrights!! We will wait until we have 5-7 designs and then do a poll to see which one is most popular, then we'll launch it on teespring.com

Ready...Set...GO!

This weekend

Was a busy one! We have been doing so much and we have been able to participate in some special experiences this weekend. Friday night was quiet. I sewed on a quilt I'm working on and Daniel had a work thing. Then we had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Sometimes, you just need good ol' comfort food. Also, we tried buffalo mac'n cheese this last week. It was much better than we thought it would be.


Give it a try if you like buffalo flavored stuff.

Then Saturday we started busy and early. It was our turn to help clean the ward house. So we got up at 7:30 and rode the motorcycle half way around the block to the ward house and helped clean for an hour. I spend my time cleaning the organ, because the icky keyboard has bugged me every Sunday for quite a while now.

Then, we went to the Ogden Temple to help usher as the Open House. It was hard, but wonderful. Our shift was from 11-4. We were on our feet the whole time. Just standing. I got the rotate through the Baptismal font area and Daniel helped people who did not have advance tickets sign in and then go through. To be able to quietly stand in the House of the Lord for most of my day and watch people as they felt the spirit, reacted to my smiles, taught their children about what they were seeing, and saw people who knew almost nothing about Mormons experience the majesty of that amazing building was a beautiful way to spend my time. I'm so grateful I got to participate in that, even if I was standing in dressing rooms and hallways for most of it! The House of the Lord is a magnificent place to be.


Then after we got home, we had our good friends, the Kleins, come over for the evening to cook Chinese food and play games. We ended up preparing and eating food for most of the time. We played a couple rounds of Banana-grams and then had ice cream for dessert. They lived in China with us for six months of our time over there. I am so glad we were able to have friends there and for the friendship we will be able to share with them for years to come. It was a good day.

Then, Sunday, Daniel had to get up for ward council meeting at 7:00 am! bummer. After that we got dressed, put the cover on the truck and headed down to the Salt Lake Airport to meet our friends from China. Five of the workers from the factory in China were able to come. Four of them are native Chinese and they got here by winner a company sponsored English competition. They pick one person from each level. They have to have good scores good attendance, show much improvement over the last year, and have a good report from their boss at work. One of my best friends, Molly, is among the group this time. We then took them to Temple Square and had an appointment for Mandarin speaking missionaries to come and talk to them. I have no idea of what was said, but I hope it was good! Daniel and I got to share some of our experiences as members with them and a little about our Temple marriage. It was a good thing. Then we went with them to lunch at Market Street Grill.



It was fun.

Then we went home and the Chinese went to Park City to shop with another company executive.

Then we had the August family birthday dinner with Daniel's family. Amelia turned 12! Ahh! I met her when she turned 4! She's grown into a lovely young lady who is very excited to join Young Women's.  She's also enamored of Elsa. This is one of the super soft cuddly blankets.

Then little Naomi turns 5 today. She's a hoot. She has so much spunk and personality. It's been so fun to watch her grow. She requested white leggings to wear with her dresses, an electric toothbrush, and strawberry toothpaste. She got it all. She was so excited that right after this she went and brushed her teeth with her new brush and strawberry toothpaste. I don't think I've ever been that excited about brushing my teeth.

Whew. What a weekend. It was wonderful. Today I get to take the Chinese around for the afternoon. We are going to do lunch at Sonora Grill because they want to try Mexican food. Then we are going to go through the Ogden Temple Open House. My wonderful mother-in-law went down this morning and got us a reservation time for this afternoon. I was able to find Chinese Book of Mormons for them (YAY!) that I am going to pick up before I meet with them. Then we are going to drive up Ogden Canyon and over Trapper's loop. We will stop at Snowbasin and take a short walk. I may drive them up to Devil's slide then back down Weber Canyon. Then for dinner, we are having a turkey dinner at Daniel's parents house. For dessert I am taking them to Farr's Fresh. I am excited for today. Then I will need a break! haha! Sometimes I love being busy. Then I appreciate the quiet times more. Hopefully this next weekend will be a quiet one. I love life!

What do you love about life these days?

Want to know more? email us at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com

Bill Cosby! Wicked!! Friends!!!

This last week has been busy and fun! We launched a t-shirt sale to help with money for the agency costs. That took courage! It's slow going, but we hope it will work.


On Tuesday Daniel called me at work and asked if I wanted to go see Bill Cosby live. Of course! I love Bill Cosby! His company had helped sponsor a second night for the event and had a few tickets. We got to go for Free! We had a good time. We picked up BBQ and ate it on the grass while waiting for it to start.

(you can only kind of see that it's him)

Then on Wednesday night my  mom and I went and saw Wicked! I loved it. I love the music, the costumes were wild and creative and I love seeing things live. We really enjoyed ourselves. We grabbed dinner at Blue Lemon in City Creek then walked to the theater.

Then, on Saturday we went with a group of friends up to the Brigham City Temple and did a session followed by dinner at Maddox. We were too busy enjoying dinner to grab a picture, but we got one at the temple. We have such great friends.

(kind of blurry...but, old people, what can you do?)

Did you do anything fun this week?

Want to know more? email us at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com

Raising Funds

Adoption is expensive. People ask how they can help with our adoption. This is a way for you to help us and get something in return. Spread the word, let's sell some shirts and find us a baby!!

http://teespring.com/insidejokesforadoption

Open Adoption

My cousin wrote this beautiful post about her feelings towards Breanna, their daughter's birth momma. The feelings she express are so tender and all that we hope to feel in an adoption of our own.

Adoption.com has so many wonderful stories and resources and connections that can help all sides. As it grows and improves those things only get better. Check it out!

Please feel free to contact us at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com. We would love to learn more about you and get to know you better.



Thanks, Jessie, for such a wonderful contribution!

Pioneer Day/Birthday Weekend

This was another busy weekend for us. We are actually looking forward to having a quiet home weekend coming up.

First, Thursday was a holiday, so I had the day off. Daniel worked part of the day. I watched some favorite movies and then made meatloaf for Daniel's birthday. His birthday was Friday and we went out to eat with his parents, some of his siblings, and his two grandmas. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of any of that. Except my dessert.

We went to Maddox. Daniel go the Prime Rib and I had the Petite Filet Mignon. 

Then for dessert he had raspberry cream pie and I had Snickers ice cream pie. It was delicious.

For his birthday present I gave Daniel tickets to the Alton Brown Food and Science show in February. It is a long time to wait, but I'm excited for it and so is he. We love Alton Brown cooking. You can find episodes on YouTube. He's done late night TV with food experiments. We are both excited.

Then Saturday we went 4 wheeling again. This time with his Dad and brother. His dad drove the truck, Daniel rode the motorcycle, and Eric and I drove the 4 wheelers. It was fun. We went up to the top of Willard Basin, north of us. You can hike to the peak, but it was noon and we were hot and tired. We did go looking for the mountain goats though. We spotted about 13 of them. Kind of cool. The view was spectacular.

 The view of the Basin on our way up.

 The view of Ogden at the top. My father-in-law is pointing out mountain goats on the far left.

 If you look closely, you can see three white spots in the shadow of that first outcropping of rock. That's three mountain goats.

 Me driving on our way up.

 Daniel rocking it on the Honda Trail 90. The coolest "not-cool" motorcycle around.

 At the top. Apparently at this point Daniel had lost his glasses. Good thing we have back ups!

 The wildflowers were wonderful. They were in full bloom with lots of color. I love wildflowers and I think I will plant some when we move to a new house.

Such a pleasant day.

Then, Saturday evening we headed south to have dinner and games with some good friends of ours.  We ate at Red Iguana in Salt Lake. It was yummy. Then we went back to their place and played Ticket to Ride. That was a fun game. We may need to buy our own version!

Then Sunday I napped. Daniel has meetings and home teaching. For dinner we went up to my mom's to celebrate Daniel and Caitlin's (my sister) birthdays. We had lasagna and then our family's famous cinnamon cake for dessert. Such a weekend. We are exhausted!


Do you do fun things over the summer? What's your favorite activity for those hot dog days of summer?
We can't wait to get to know you better! Want to know more? email us at danielashleyadopt@gmail.com

A busy weekend

This last weekend was kind of busy for us. I had a great girls night out Friday with two of my best friends and we talked for hours! It was so good for me! No pictures, but trust me, it was good for the soul and a great time was had!

Saturday I spent most of the day cutting fabric for a new quilt I'm working on. It has 30 fabrics in a rainbow of colors.

First I had to cut it into strips

 

Then I cut it into squares that are 5" and 10".

 

Next I will sew the 5" squares into patches of 4. I have to mark each color and square for where it goes. It's a complicated pattern. I'm keeping the end result a surprise because I love doing things like that. Since I don't work on Thursday, I hope to spend all day working on this project. I had to order a couple new supplies that will come in the mail tomorrow to help with it. This is going to be EPIC! I'm so excited.

Then Sunday evening, after my regular Sunday nap (which I try to get every week!) we went to my grandparent's house and talked with cousins before they head off on new adventures.

April and Jared, on the left, are headed to dental school for him at VCU in Richmond, Virginia. I''m so excited for them. This has been a long time dream and a long time coming. Good luck to them and their family! Then Celeste and Sean, right, are headed down to the Phoenix area for him to go to medical school. They pull out Tuesday for a 4 year adventure. I will miss them dearly. Celeste has been such a good addition to our family and I have loved getting to know her the last few years. Good luck to all of them!

What a fun weekend! Are summer evenings fun for you? What's your favorite weekend activity?

Want to know more? email us as danielashleyadopt@gmail.com. I can't wait to get to know you better!