My Two Reasons

Today I read the adoption story of Losiah and was prompted to share my heart on adoption. I have two reason's for believing in adoption...

1.)

2.)

In 2003, my sister and her husband adopted Lily and in 2005, they adopted Matthew from Chine. My sister was the first person to have the passion for adoption and I have now caught the bug. When I am around Lily and Matthew, I can't imagine them not having a family, not knowing the Lord, not knowing what a home feels like. I can't imagine them not apart of our family and they are such opposites. Lily is delicate, proper, quiet, sensitive and smart. Matthew is rough, expressive, witty and a daredevil. They both fit so well into our family (my sister also has two other children).

When I was in college I remember I having a very vivid dream where I was holding a baby, my daughter, but she was not mine by natural birth. At that time I felt as if this were the Lord telling me that one day I would adopt. I am not certain that is the case...time will tell. However, David and I did talk about it before we were married. We both agree that if the time were right and the calling of the Lord completely sure, we wouldn't hesitate for a moment.

I know this, I am very thankful for my Savior that chose to adopt me when I couldn't do anything to help myself...why wouldn't I do the same for another?

David's Graduation Party

A week ago I threw David a graduation party to celebrate him completing his Masters in Sports Administration!!! I couldn't be prouder as I am a huge proponent of higher education. I now will have to live with the fact that our future children will see him as smarter than me since I only have a bachelors. Oh well, I guess I am ok with that! :)

Here are some pics from the party at out town-home clubhouse. A lot of our friends and even more of our family showed up to celebrate David.

Thank you everyone for coming!

The theme for the party was "David's Favorites!"

We had Louis Pizza, chocolate chip cookies, sweet tea from Chic-Fil-A, peaches, snickers, peanut butter filled pretzels, peanut m&m's, 7-layer dip, and some veggies to make it healthy. All things that David loves to eat (minus the veggies)

I love you babe and I am so proud of you!

Fun with the Todd's, Harding's, and Farmer's

Every summer my niece, Kayla (14), and I take a day and spend it together doing something fun. We have been doing this for about 4 years now and we always have a blast. We use to go to Elitches (much like Six Flags) and ended up spending most of the day at the water park. Elitches is pretty expensive (40 something per person to get in and 15 for parking) so we decided to give Water World a try last year. We were hooked

This year we decided it would be fun to invite David (hubby) and my nephew, Andrew (almost 13). Then we ended up inviting the Todd's (Kim and Eric) along as well. It was a blast. I wanted to bring my camera for blogging purposes but didn't want anyone to steal it so the web pictures will have to do.

Above is my FAVORITE ride. It is called "revolution" but I prefer to call it the "toilet bowl." 3 people ride in a raft down a steep slide. Then you are spit out into this bowl looking thing and revolve around until you reach the center. Then it is straight down...just like the toilet!

Second fvorite, called Turbo Racer. Everyone in the group raced against each other (each lane is timed). Eric took first (which is very typical)...David took 2nd, Me 3rd, Kim 4th, Kayla 5th and Andrew last. That ride is well worth the long line!

A Great Workout!

Lately I have been running less and hiking the incline more. You could say I am semi-addicted to it. I love it because it doesn't take much thought to get my heart rate going, it makes me sweat, I love being in the mountains, I love being around other people and I know it is a challenge each and every time. My personal best time is 35:41 and my goal is to hike it in 35 minutes or less. Lately, no matter how hard I try, I keep getting in the 39-40 minute range. I will post a picture when I finally reach my goal! :)

(Here is the view from the bottom up...)

(Here is the view from the top down...)

If you haven't ever hiked it before you definiately should put that on your "to-do" list!

Check out this website for more pictures and information: http://www.stevegarufi.com/manitouincline.htm