Today I wore my favorite necklace. I don't wear jewelry often other than earrings and my wedding ring so when I do people at work tend to compliment me on it (maybe in a subtle encouraging sort of way as though I should dress up more often even though the only thing I did different was to wear a necklace). And when the pro bono partner admired my necklace while walking past my open office door, I had to stop myself from launching into the story behind it. I tend to do that - have a story behind things that I love to share (obviously since I am blogging about this), but I restrained myself because it is weird to open up your life to a partner like that (even a super cool one like this particular partner).
But I got my necklace right at the end of law school, 2 weeks after the swine flu broke out. This was back when my littlest sister Jessica was set to start study abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico that summer. Only it got canceled because of the 'epidemic'. Paul and I had already planned to go to the Yucatan Peninsula in May, and we decided that if we were going to get swine flu, we were as likely to get it in Utah as in Mexico (maybe not true, but we really wanted to go to Mexico and didn't want to cancel our plans). So we invited Jessica to exchange her no longer necessary plane ticket to Guadalajara for one to Cancun and join us.
It was the best trip. Seriously, I feel amazing and happy and wonderful just thinking about it while I am typing this. We didn't get sick and there was NOBODY in Mexico. It is like that dream you may have had (as I have) that you go to Disneyland and you are the only people in the park so there is no waiting in line for any rides, ever, but the whole place is still open and running. Except it was Mexico, not Disneyland. And it was Jessica's first time out of the country.
She is the one who bartered with the necklace seller, entirely in spanish, to talk him down a few pesos so I could get the necklace. She had been a little hesistant to use her spanish when we first got there, but when the transaction concluded and I owned my orange necklace, I could tell she was so pleased with herself and what she had done with the language she had put a lot of effort in to learning. Now she is in Uruguay and is fluent in Spanish. I miss her a lot today I guess.
I don't know why, but I think about this experience in Mexico a lot. Maybe because it is a lot like one of my greatest fantasies, which is this: If I had unlimited resources, one of my biggest dreams would be to take each member of my family on their very own trip to someplace amazing.
Since I already got to do this with Jessica in Mexico (even if we didn't pay for everything), I think that I would now take her either to Peru to visit Macchu Piccu or to Thailand and Cambodia. I would take my mom to visit Scotland and Denmark, where her ancestors come from. We would see castles and listen to bagpipe music. My dream trip for my dad is to go to Africa and go on a safari, then go hike Mt. Kilamanjaro together. I would take Jennie to England and we would go see Stratford-upon-Avon and Shakespeare's Globe theater and the crown jewels and all of the palaces - maybe with a trip to Bath and Stonehenge thrown in just because they both sound interesting. I would take my brother Ryan somewhere where he could be really, really warm since he doesn't like the cold very much - maybe someplace like Morrocco. And if my brother Seth, who we haven't heard from in a long time but who I still love and think about a lot, ever decided to talk to me again, I would love to take him to India so that he could see the extremes of what life is like elsewhere and maybe realize how wonderful he had it growing up with parents who not only loved us, but were able to provide so much for us. I would take my Aunt Judy to Disneyland Paris (it wouldn't be a dream trip for her without something Disney but I think she would love the amazing food and seeing the Eiffel tower) and I would take my Aunt Renita to do the Germany, Austria, Switzerland trip that Paul and I did while we were living in Europe for a summer since she took German in school and still remembers a word or two and would probably be fun to take anywhere.
Paul is a whole other story since there are so many places we want to go together. But if I was doing a trip just for him, it would probably have to involve fishing. Even one of the National Geographic photography expedition trips would still be just as much for me as for him. So I think his trip would either be to Montana or Alaska (preferably Alaska).
I'm not very sentimental over many objects, but I'm sentimental over this necklace because it means all these things to me.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Warrior Dash
A while back our friends invited us to run the Warrior Dash with them. It is a 5k with a bunch of obstacles along the way. We climbed over cars and haybales, scaled cargo nets, crawled through a tunnel, went down a soapy slip-n'-slide, jumped over fire, and slogged through mud. It was a perfect way to spend a Saturday.
Here is Paul pre-race staring down the fire and the mud.
Jason (the Ironman), Ben (in the warrior hat) and Jeff running down the final stretch. Paul stayed with me so we came in a little later.
Paul about to leap over the final set of flames with me hot on his tail.
Graceful, I know. I look huge in this photo, but I'm going to say it is just because my shirt was waterlogged and flapping around. I'm loving Paul's huge smile.
See Paul run. Run, Paul, run.
Amy crawling through the mud. It was COLD.
Warriors.
Paul doesn't look so comfortable walking around post-race.
Lots of people dressed in costume. I wish we had. Here are the ghostbusters.
After going through the Warrior Wash (a fire hose).
This penguin team was hilarious.
A tiny warrior.
Not so tiny warriors.
Eating a warrior meal - Turkey legs and pulled pork sandwiches.
After we finished the race, we went home and cleaned up, then headed over to the ward Trunk-or-Treat. There was an old woman from Germany there and she came over and said how much she loved our costumes and talked with us for a long time. It was really cute.
Our friend Ginny with her baby Max.
One of the kids from our Primary class. His whole family dressed as Alice In Wonderland characters.
The little kids were adorable in their costumes. I had so much fun passing out candy.
Somebody was giving out these freaky colored vampire teeth and all the kids were going around wearing them. It was hilarious.
Candy anyone? We took about 8 apples just because we had them at home and thought they looked cute in our candy bucket, and surprisingly enough they were a huge hit (and most everybody there knew us we figure so it's not so bad that we gave out apples).
Two of our favorite little girls from our former ward. The older one was also in our primary class (she's the one whose foot accidentally got jammed in the door and required stitches).
This little monkey cleaned all the Milk Duds out of our candy supply. It was hilarious to watch him picking through to find the little yellow boxes.
Here is Paul pre-race staring down the fire and the mud.
Jason (the Ironman), Ben (in the warrior hat) and Jeff running down the final stretch. Paul stayed with me so we came in a little later.
Paul about to leap over the final set of flames with me hot on his tail.
Graceful, I know. I look huge in this photo, but I'm going to say it is just because my shirt was waterlogged and flapping around. I'm loving Paul's huge smile.
See Paul run. Run, Paul, run.
Amy crawling through the mud. It was COLD.
Warriors.
Paul doesn't look so comfortable walking around post-race.
Lots of people dressed in costume. I wish we had. Here are the ghostbusters.
After going through the Warrior Wash (a fire hose).
This penguin team was hilarious.
A tiny warrior.
Not so tiny warriors.
Eating a warrior meal - Turkey legs and pulled pork sandwiches.
After we finished the race, we went home and cleaned up, then headed over to the ward Trunk-or-Treat. There was an old woman from Germany there and she came over and said how much she loved our costumes and talked with us for a long time. It was really cute.
Our friend Ginny with her baby Max.
One of the kids from our Primary class. His whole family dressed as Alice In Wonderland characters.
The little kids were adorable in their costumes. I had so much fun passing out candy.
Somebody was giving out these freaky colored vampire teeth and all the kids were going around wearing them. It was hilarious.
Candy anyone? We took about 8 apples just because we had them at home and thought they looked cute in our candy bucket, and surprisingly enough they were a huge hit (and most everybody there knew us we figure so it's not so bad that we gave out apples).
Two of our favorite little girls from our former ward. The older one was also in our primary class (she's the one whose foot accidentally got jammed in the door and required stitches).
This little monkey cleaned all the Milk Duds out of our candy supply. It was hilarious to watch him picking through to find the little yellow boxes.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Adoption Questionnaire
We have been moving along with the adoption process - at least as much as we can at this point. Right now it is actually kind of nice because it feels like there is so much to do. I would much rather have things I can be active about rather than sit around and wait for something to happen, which I am already not looking forward to.
So far we have been gathering documents to prove that we were born, that we are married, that we pay taxes, etc. All of those go into a little file to be sent to our caseworker. We have also both had our physicals, which unfortunately included a ridiculous number of shots in both arms to vaccinate us against whooping cough and the flue, check for tuberculosis, draw blood for analysis (turns out I need to lay off sugar - big surprise), and boost previous vaccinations like tetanus. I got all those shots in one fell swoop and didn't even pass out, which is a bigger accomplishment than you might think since I have actually fainted from shots in the past.
Thursday morning I had my individual interview with our caseworker. She's really nice and we bonded over a shared love of Italy and its many beautiful cities. The interview was super basic - mostly a getting to know you session that meets a state requirement that the caseworker meet with the potential parent "X" number of times. We went over a lot of questions that I had already answered as part of the adoption questionnaire that Paul and I each have to fill out online. Because I had no idea how many or what kind of questions would be asked of us, here are questions from the adoption questionnaire (sans answers):
Background Information
There wasn't a limit to the number of characters that could go into each response and I may have gotten a little carried away on some of them. I wrote about the traumatic experience of going to high school in North Platte, Nebraska and how that affected my life. I wrote about my mom staying up with me late at night all summer long doing puzzles or working on scrapbooks. I told the story about the time when I scraped my knee so badly as a five-year-old and how when my brothers came running back with my dad he scooped me up, carried me home, and laid me on the kitchen table while I screamed about all the blood and how he turned to my brothers and said "Boys, this is bad. Looks like we might have to amputate. You had better get the saw." I still have a four inch scar on my right knee from that that I see every time I look at that leg and so I think about that experience a lot. If that is not a special experience, I don't know what is.
Next steps for us include getting the 12 hours of required parenting education completed, getting fingerprinted, and getting certified in adult, child, and infant CPR and first aid.
So far we have been gathering documents to prove that we were born, that we are married, that we pay taxes, etc. All of those go into a little file to be sent to our caseworker. We have also both had our physicals, which unfortunately included a ridiculous number of shots in both arms to vaccinate us against whooping cough and the flue, check for tuberculosis, draw blood for analysis (turns out I need to lay off sugar - big surprise), and boost previous vaccinations like tetanus. I got all those shots in one fell swoop and didn't even pass out, which is a bigger accomplishment than you might think since I have actually fainted from shots in the past.
Thursday morning I had my individual interview with our caseworker. She's really nice and we bonded over a shared love of Italy and its many beautiful cities. The interview was super basic - mostly a getting to know you session that meets a state requirement that the caseworker meet with the potential parent "X" number of times. We went over a lot of questions that I had already answered as part of the adoption questionnaire that Paul and I each have to fill out online. Because I had no idea how many or what kind of questions would be asked of us, here are questions from the adoption questionnaire (sans answers):
Background Information
- Describe your personality, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Describe your hopes, goals, and aspirations.
- Describe your spouse's personality, strengths, and weaknesses.
- Describe your parents, including education, occupation, personality, interests, etc.
- Explain your parent's method of discipline.
- What is your present relationship with your parents and siblings?
- Relate any special experiences or memories.
- Share any traumatic events that have impacted your life.
- List significant activities, group involvements, or accomplishments during your years of education.
- What leisure activities do you share with your spouse and your family?
- How do you express love and affection?
- How do you feel about intimacy in your marriage?
- What are the strengths and challenges of your marriage?
- How do you resolve disagreements? What do you do? What does your spouse do?
- If you have been divorced, describe your feelings surrounding your divorce.
- Describe each child including education, personality, health, interests, strengths, talent, etc.
- Describe how each child feels about adoption.
- Describe health issues you have. List current medications and any hospitalizations.
- How do you feel about your infertility?
- Explain counseling you have received.
- Have you ever experienced any form of addiction? (i.e., substance, sexual, etc.)
- List health issues in your extended family.
- Describe your education, current employment, and career goals.
- How do you handle family finances and major purchases?
- Describe major financial difficulties you may have experienced. How did you resolve those difficulties?
- List past and present church callings.
- List past and present involvement with community organizations.
- Describe your methods to teach and discipline children.
- Describe your parenting experience.
- What is your plan for childcare?
- What do you know about adoption?
- How do you think adopting a child will change your life?
- What does your extended family think about your adoption plans?
- How do you plan to discuss adoption with your children?
- How would you feel if your child wanted to meet his or her birth parents?
- What do you know about birth parents?
- Describe your feelings about birth parents.
- How do you feel about meeting the birth parents and exchanging gifts, letters and pictures?
- Can you love and be loved by a child born to someone else?
- Provide a physical description of your house.
- List possible hazards in your home and how you manage them for safety (e.g. firearms, medication, etc.)
- Describe your neighborhood including proximity to other children and access to schools, parks, and other community facilities.
- Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor, felony, child abuse or neglect?
- Please make additional comments that would help us better know your family.
There wasn't a limit to the number of characters that could go into each response and I may have gotten a little carried away on some of them. I wrote about the traumatic experience of going to high school in North Platte, Nebraska and how that affected my life. I wrote about my mom staying up with me late at night all summer long doing puzzles or working on scrapbooks. I told the story about the time when I scraped my knee so badly as a five-year-old and how when my brothers came running back with my dad he scooped me up, carried me home, and laid me on the kitchen table while I screamed about all the blood and how he turned to my brothers and said "Boys, this is bad. Looks like we might have to amputate. You had better get the saw." I still have a four inch scar on my right knee from that that I see every time I look at that leg and so I think about that experience a lot. If that is not a special experience, I don't know what is.
Next steps for us include getting the 12 hours of required parenting education completed, getting fingerprinted, and getting certified in adult, child, and infant CPR and first aid.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monster Mash & Birthday Bash at the House of Nash
This past Saturday we threw a Halloween party at our house. We were so glad that pretty much everybody dressed up. There were lots of little kids and babies. We had mermaids and witches and tigers and wizards.
Oh yeah, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Isn't this little girl the cutest thing ever?
A witch, a mermaid, Gretel, and Juno.
Juno and Paulie Bleeker.
I made Paul's lederhosen so that we could be Hansel & Gretel.
Decorations in the backyard.
Our dentist with his family. He is actually really fun to hang out when I am not sitting in the dentist's chair.
Black Forest cake - my favorite. Those are cherries on top.
The entertainment consisted of Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey for the kids and the Giants game for the adults. Even I watched baseball for a little bit.
It was such a fun party and we enjoyed having everybody over. Time to start working on our costumes for next year I guess.
Oh yeah, and turns out I (Amy) have reached my limit posting photos through Blogger, so I am now using Paul's account so that I can keep putting pictures into the blogposts. Has anybody else run into that problem before? Do you know a better solution?
Oh yeah, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Isn't this little girl the cutest thing ever?
A witch, a mermaid, Gretel, and Juno.
Juno and Paulie Bleeker.
I made Paul's lederhosen so that we could be Hansel & Gretel.
Decorations in the backyard.
Our dentist with his family. He is actually really fun to hang out when I am not sitting in the dentist's chair.
Black Forest cake - my favorite. Those are cherries on top.
The entertainment consisted of Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey for the kids and the Giants game for the adults. Even I watched baseball for a little bit.
It was such a fun party and we enjoyed having everybody over. Time to start working on our costumes for next year I guess.
Oh yeah, and turns out I (Amy) have reached my limit posting photos through Blogger, so I am now using Paul's account so that I can keep putting pictures into the blogposts. Has anybody else run into that problem before? Do you know a better solution?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Book Review
So, photos from our Yosemite vacation are coming - hopefully soon - but I wanted to do a quick post about a book I just finished. It has been freaking me out in thirty minute increments as I listen to it while driving to and from work. The book is called "Life As We Knew It" and it is by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
Basically it is a story about a 16 year old girl (Miranda), her two brothers and their mom and what happens to them after an asteroid hits the moon which knocks it closer to the earth. The moon's closer distance affects tides and weather and before they know it everybody is storming grocery stores trying to stock up on food, electricity stops working, and diseases like West Nile Virus start hitting the human race reallly hard. The story is told through Miranda's journal entries.
The main problem with this book is that it is really affecting my intentions to stick to a list or a budget when I go to the store. Instead, I end up throwing this and that into the cart and thinking "I must stock up, I must stock up" like a mantra repeated over and over in my head.
I even told Paul that I was okay with him buying a gun. And I am so not okay with that. But that is how much this book freaked me out. I did the same thing when I read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (which I do not recommend). I just started the second book in this series - "The Dead and the Gone" which is the story of a kid in New York City and his experiences going through the same event but in a different location. I just finished listening to the first few days of panic all over again and found myself wandering through Target tonight telling myself that our cupboards are full and our fridge is full and we don't need anything. It was sort of traumatic.
The main problem with this book is that it is really affecting my intentions to stick to a list or a budget when I go to the store. Instead, I end up throwing this and that into the cart and thinking "I must stock up, I must stock up" like a mantra repeated over and over in my head.
I even told Paul that I was okay with him buying a gun. And I am so not okay with that. But that is how much this book freaked me out. I did the same thing when I read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (which I do not recommend). I just started the second book in this series - "The Dead and the Gone" which is the story of a kid in New York City and his experiences going through the same event but in a different location. I just finished listening to the first few days of panic all over again and found myself wandering through Target tonight telling myself that our cupboards are full and our fridge is full and we don't need anything. It was sort of traumatic.
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