belated birthday posts

Goodness - I have I really not posted on here since March? Shameful. Well, a lot has happened in our lives since then, some of which is posted on my other blog. One of those things is was my birthday back in May. The big 2-7 for me! It was fun to have friends over to play bocce ball and have a little celebration with ice cream and cake.

A couple of my gifts were either in the works or Jeff wanted me to pick them out for myself, so he made little paper representations of them. Oh, how I love when Jeff draws pictures. :)

What do you do when you don't have birthday candles? Strike a match and ask your friends to sing the Happy Birthday song quickly before your fingers get burned.

Our wonderful friends who joined in the festivities. Please note that I did not ask anyone to make a funny face, but it just kind of turned out that way anyway - haha.

Jeff entertaining the kids with a snow globe (did we really still have that out in May? Yikes!).

While we're on the topic of birthdays, Jeff just had his 28th birthday this past Sunday. I posted about it on my other blog, along with some awesome pictures of him blowing his candles out. Check them out here. I espcially like the one below. :)

We're Hoping to Adopt!

We are very excited to let you know that we are hoping to adopt! Some of you may have already known about this, as it's something that's been in the works for a while. We just recently had our profile published on the LDS Family Services website, so we figured it was time to announce it on our lovely blogs. You can view our profile by clicking here.

The journey that has brought us to where we are today has been a rollercoaster ride filled with lots of ups and downs. With challenges in life come great blessings from the Lord, and we have faith that adoption will be a miracle in our lives from Him. We are sincerly excited to adopt and have faith that this is the Lord's plan for us to bring children into our home.

As mentioned, we are going through LDS Family Services, which allows birth mothers to choose the couple their child will be placed with. As a result, we don't know how long it will be until a mother chooses to place with us. If you know of an individual who is considering placing their child for adoption, we would love for you to direct them to our profile and get in touch with us!

The greatest strength we have found in this journey is the peace and comfort that comes from the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have faith that He is ever mindful of us and that His plan for us is greater than any plan we had for ourselves!

Halloween

Halloween? In February?

Well, Jeff's costume last year was just too good not to post. Although it did make for some difficulty in eating chili at the ward party. :) What do you think of Little Red and our happy gumball machine?

Christmas

Jeff and I had a wonderful Christmas vacation spending time with both of our families - it helps that they live just a few miles from each other!

If I had to choose one way to describe the way Jeff's family does Christmas it would be TRADITION. Now my family had traditions (i.e. eating pizza by candlelight and opening one gift on Christmas Eve), but not like Jeff's family. There is a definite order to the numerous festivities that are going on, starting with the video camera session in the sewing room, to preparing bagged goodies for the neighbors, to Christmas dinner, etc.

One of the main events of the evening is reading the story of the Nativity and acting it out. Although most of the siblings switch roles from year to year, Jeff has been Joseph every single year they have done it. And he does a good job, if I do say so. :)

Having a laugh before dinner

Me and my parents before the feast

Me and Jeff - Mary and Joseph

Shallie the sheep and her shepherd, Jesse

Rob and Jolie - our angel and heavenly host!

My parents as the wise men

After the Nativity is singing Christmas songs, opening your gift, and getting your piggy back ride upstairs. Christmas morning begins promptly at 6am, lining up by age order to go down and see your Santa gifts, then taking turns opening each gift. Next comes the big Christmas breakfast - yum! And there you go - it's 9am and you have the whole rest of the day to nap, play with your gifts, nap, etc.

Last year my family started a new tradition of having dinner on Christmas night at my sister's house. Shannon and Ted helped us keep the tradition alive this year by having us over and we had a great time.

Me and my nephew, Porter

My whole family - not the best quality, but you do what you can with the self timer.

OUTTAKE!

And one more thing - something I love about Jeff is the creative way he wraps my Christmas gifts. It makes me happy. :)

that's Capitol!

Since moving to Boise, we have been stuck admiring the State Capitol from a distance, as it has been under construction for rennovations. A few weeks ago we were finally able to set foot in the beautiful building. First I went with my coworkers...

then Jeff and I were able to get tickets to the VIP Reception the night before the dedication! We invited our friends Buzz, Hannah, and little L'eah to join us. It was so fun to tour the new Capitol and see how lovely it is. We also enjoyed rubbing shoulders with our state legislators who were in attendance. And what's not to love about tasty cheese and fruit trays - yum!

cute little L'eah - she always steals the show!

Jeff, preparing for his floor speech

the attendees milling and socializing

Buzz, Hannah, L'eah, and Jeff

Ah - so pretty

and having a little fun at the end of the evening!

Later that weekend Jeff and I got all gussied up to attend the Governor's Ball. Our neighbor Curtis was kind enough to take our picture before we stepped out for the evening.

where we're at

Perhaps I should give a brief update on what we are up to these days.

As you probably know, we have been living in Boise since July 2008. Jeff graduated from BYU in April 2008 (WOW! was that really almost 2 years ago?!) with a Bachelor's and Master's degree, then took his first job here with a regional accounting firm. Of course he is excelling and making his way up the corporate ladder. I posted about it on my other blog, but he passed the CPA exams on his first try and achieved the 4th highest score in the state - oh so impressive!

As for Church invovlement, after being the ward mission leader for a year Jeff is now serving in the Bishopric as the Second Counselor. He has a great ability to reach out to people in the ward and make them feel welcome. Everyone loves Jeff! In his spare time he loves to read and stay up to date on politics and current events. Oh yeah, and he likes to take me out on dates. :)

As for me, I am still working for the U.S. Senate, helping people who are having problems with federal agencies. It's fun to know what is going on with our government and have a firsthand account from those I work with about what is going on in DC. I was recently promoted to be the State Constituent Services Director, which is defnitely enough to keep me busy!

On the Church front, after serving for a year as the Sunday School teacher for 16-17 year olds and as the Ward Camp Director, I was recently called to the Young Women's Presidency as the 2nd Counselor. I love my calling - the girls in our ward are fabulous and it is privilege to serve them. The leaders I serve with are so much fun, as well. I have also been the Ward Choir Director for the past year, which has been amazing. I have truly felt the blessings of the Lord as I have served in this calling, even though it made me very nervous at first. As for spare time, you can catch a glimpse at my other blog to see what I keep busy with - photography, planning weddings, crafts, and cooking.

So there you go, a little background on where we're at. And don't worry, there are plenty more updates to come!

now presenting...

A long time coming, but we finally have a "family" blog! We still have our other blogs, but we will be using this one to keep more up to date on our day to day lives and what is happening in our neck of the woods.

Enjoy!