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finally…something scrappy

It’s finally come…my friends fly in tomorrow. I can’t wait to bask in a bit of scrapper’s delight. The best part of a scrap day is the company, of course. Mmmm…I can taste the peanut m&m’s already.

 Brian is taking Adam  and  Robert snowmobiling on Saturday. Rob has never been so they are way excited. And Brian will actually get to enjoy his equipment (it’s a rare occasion). The best part is that they will be ‘out of our hair’ for the day. Jaimee arranged for a babysitter and for two massage ladies to come in toward the end of the day. How great is that?

Okay, enough already. I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about my birthday. We didn’t intentionally plan the scrap weekend on my birthday, it just sort of happened. And it has been a huge blessing because I haven’t thought about actually turning 32 until just now. I do have three more days of 31 left and I intend to enjoy every bit of it.

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fat to skinny, week 4

Has it really been four weeks since I started my fitness plan? Wow!!!! I can honestly say I have been dilligent in my exercise and my calorie counting. I am keeping up on my food log and my training schedule. I know I’ve lost some weight….not exactly sure how much because I was too chicken to get on the scale at the beginning.

I finally braved the scale last week and was disheartened, but not detoured. I cried on Adam’s shoulder about how much fatter I was than I thought….but it gave me the resolve to work harder. I dropped 1.5 lbs between then and Saturday so I know it’s working. Jaimee, Randi, and I keep working out together as much as we can. That helps with motivation… so do emails from Jena and walks with my husband. Preparing for our Spring Break excursion also motivates me. We plan to walk this evening with our backpacks on.

No crash dieters in this house!!! Hopefully the next four weeks will bring even more success as the 1/2 marathon is only eight weeks away, and Colombia is only about three months away. Here are week 1 and week 4 photos. I can only muster headshots at this point. And That’s Okay, right?

WEEK ONE

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WEEK FOUR

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Well, here they are. I can tell a bit of a difference. Slow and Steady wins the race, right? Thanks everyone for your encouragement.

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my poor future children :)

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This is what happens when I Leave My Husband in Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brooklynn heard me tell Uncle Adam to put Spencer in the sink to rinse off his bum (he’s had a terrible rash) when his feeding was finished. I disappeared downstairs to a stimulating shift of grading papers. After I went downstairs, Brookie asked Uncle Adam if she could get her swimsuit on and get in the kitchen sink too. You all know my cute easy-going husband so you can picture the sly smile on his face and shrug in his shoulders as he says, “sure.” Since bathtime is both Brooke and Spence’s favorite thing, they had a blast. By the time I came up for a break, Brooklynn was still in the sink as pruny as could be and still playing gleefully. Mind you, she has both a huge bathtub and hottub at her disposal. It just goes to show what fun we can create in our homes if we are a little slower to say ‘NO’…especially as moms.

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moab and beyond

Adam’s spring break is quickly approaching. We decided to do something outdoorsey. Both Yellowstone and Yosemite are still snowed in so to Southern Utah we go!!! Here’s our itinerary:

March 6–drive to Monticello, prepare backpacks etc…

March 7-10–Grand Gulch (Bullet Canyon), 22 miles; this backpacking trip is full of Anasazi ruins and beautiful canyons.

March 11-13–Moab/Arches National Park; we plan to hike Devil’s Garden and Delicate Arch, and just relax. Of course, we had to pick a campground that has wireless internet. :)

March 14-15–Chesler Park (Canyonlands National Park), 17 miles; this is a one-nighter and my choice for the trip. It is located in The Needles District and looks like a blast.

March 16–drive back to Logan and relax.

Doesn’t this look fun? It’s also a way for us to go on vacation and for me to get my mileage in for SLC. I can’t wait to see the ruins. I can’t wait to beat my husband at cards by headlamp. I can’t wait to bask in the warmth of Southern Utah.

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are you crazy too?

I would usually post this sort of thing on our adoption blog, but thought it more fittingly placed here. Adam and I had a four hour psychological evaluation last week. Colombians place psychologists and their adoption evaluations in high importance. As part of our evaluation, we took the MMPI II personality test per Colombia’s request. This is a long true/false 567 question test. The main purpose of this test is to detect which, if any, personal, social, or behavioral problems an individual who is troubled may posess.

Here are a few of our favorites (remember they are t/f statements):

1. I have felt posessed by evil spirits at times.

2.  At times I feel like swearing.

3. Parts of my body often have feelings like burning, tingling, crawling, or like “going to sleep”.

4. I’ve never vomitted blood or coughed up blood.

5. Once a week or oftener I suddenly feel hot all over, for no reason.

6. Someone has been trying to influence my mind.

7. At one or more times in my life, I felt that someone was making me do things by hypnotizing me.

We will get our personal results back at our follow-up consult. The psychologist said not to expect much out of it though (which is supposed to be good). That shows how well he knows us, right? Oh yeah, he also said that we both appear to have strong egos! Maybe he does know us better than we thought. :)

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a week with spencer

Adam and I have been babysitting Brooklynn and Spencer this past week. Their mommy and daddy are due back on Friday. *choirs of angels singing joyously* We’ve really only had Spencer most of the time because Brooke went with Daddy Taber to Arizona for four days. Anyway, here are a few pics for Jaimee and Brian’s sake.  

spencer talking on my phone to mommy and daddy in Tahiti…he loves to hear their voices.

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spencer loves his uncle adam, especially during bath time…

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spencer, aunt rach, and uncle adam on a monday bike ride…it was beautiful and spencer LOVED it. Oh yeah, we did get attacked by a nasty white dog. I talked to Animal Control…I hate that dog.

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spencer and uncle adam “driving” the truck…

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All in all, it’s been a great week. I think these can count for at least four more tiny moments on your blog, Jaimee. Brooklynn doesn’t like pictures and she hasn’t been around. I promise, she’s not locked up in the cold storage room. Hmmm, come to think of it, that’s not a bad idea. :) Cheers!

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two weeks and counting

I can’t believe Scrapfest 2008 is only two weeks away. We’ve been talking about doing one for so long. My sisters and a few friends are coming to Logan for an all day Saturday ScrapFest. The Hirschi family is so kind to open their home (once again) so I can celebrate my 32nd birthday doing what I love…scrapping, gabbing, and munching on peanut m&m’s. I have so many girlfriends who are either too pregnant or too new at mommying to make it. I didn’t want to burden them. But I wish they could come.

A special thanks to Jaime (Rob), Lindsey, and Jessica for spending the money and time off work to fly in. A double special thanks to Seth for watching he and Lindsey’s boys so she could come. Yes Seth, it’s still a baby free Saturday! :) And a triple special thanks to Brian who will have to put up with constant woman speak, if he dares to stick around. Maybe he’ll opt to stay at Bear Lake that day. (haha)

All I wanted for my birthday was this (and maybe a massage). I’m already daydreaming about every little detail.

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Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says (Anglican) Bishop

Here’s a great story I read on Time a few days ago. It is from an interview with N.T. “Tom” Wright, the Bishop of Durham (fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England) regarding the false idea that heaven is a place to play harps and hop across clouds.

In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, “Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven.” It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.

Now, read Alma 40 (from the Book of Mormon)

and…

What the New Testament really says is God wants you to be a renewed human being helping him to renew his creation, and his resurrection was the opening bell. And when he returns to fulfil the plan, you won’t be going up there to him, he’ll be coming down here.

Hmm, sounds an awful lot like this:

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

While these are things we in the LDS Church are taught from a very young age, it’s good to see that others who read the scriptures closely come away with the same ideas. I’m glad that heaven is a place where we can be actively involved in good things. Seems it would be kind of boring after an eternity or two otherwise. :)