Love is Everything

Some friends of ours are trying to adopt a child, and are spreading the word to anyone who can help them hopefully find a new baby to bring into their home. They are a great couple who have one son of their own and want to add another child to their family through adoption. Please keep this couple in mind and contact them if you know of a baby in need of adoption.

Please read the letter below from the couple, and you can find out more about them on their blog by clicking here.

Thanks!

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Dear Family and Friends,

Many of you know of our desire to adopt a baby. We have been in the adoption application process for the past eight months. Within the next three to six weeks, we should be approved. So all that's left is to find a baby! We are seeking your help in spreading the word. We have created a blog to help prospective birth parents get acquainted with our family. If you hear of someone facing an unplanned pregnancy who is considering adoption, will you please give them our blog and/or email address? Feel free to forward this email to your friends and family if you feel so inclined.

Our blog: DanBrittany.blogspot.com

Our email: DanandBrittany@gmail.com

It feels awkward "advertising" for a baby. We certainly didn't plan on being in this situation, but we have felt the influence of God's hand in our life and feel driven to the adoption process. We are anxious to love and care for another child.

We appreciate your help. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support.

Love,

Brittany and Dan

A Pirate's Life for Me

Some friends of ours had a party on Saturday for their little boy's 3rd birthday. The theme was pirates, and we were asked to dress up. And so we did!

Here is Sara in her costume, all ready to go to the party.


And all of us at the party. Sara was more interested in Mommy's sword than she was in looking at the camera.


Sara enjoyed digging for treasure in the pirate chest,


Keeping the lookout with the spyglass,


and practicing her new "scrunchy nose" smile.



The decorations at the party were superb. This cute pirate ship on the fence,



flags hanging above the yard,



and a detailed treasure map to guide the kids toward the treasure chest.


And, most importantly. . .

THE CAKE!

We had a great time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!

Sew Fun

A few of my gal-pals and I met at IKEA yesterday for some yummy Swedish lunch and to get fabric to reupholster an old rocking chair. First of all, did anybody else know that IKEA has fabrics? I mean, not just bedding and curtains and stuff, but actual bolts of fabric that you can purchase by the yard to sew anything you can dream of? Well they do, and after looking at them to help Brittany pick one for her new chair cover, I wanted to purchase a whole bunch and redo our whole condo with new drapes, pillows, bedspread, etc. Their fabrics are so fun and colorful!

After we found the perfect fabrics (the middle one in the stack above and some lime-green accent fabric) we proceeded to recover the chair. I just realized that I don't think we took any "before" pictures, but hopefully my friend will take some "after" photos because I think it turned out pretty darn cute! But that cuteness came at a price; we all worked on it from the time we got back from IKEA (about 1:00 maybe?) until 8:00 at night! It was a crazy insane all-day project! When Brittany's husband came home from work, we were still sewing away! But he was kind enough to stop at Little Caesar’s to get us all a yummy Hot-n-Ready pizza and cheese sticks. Yum! And the kiddos were kind enough to take nice long naps for most of the time, which was very convenient.

JoAnna did most of the work on her handy-dandy sewing machine while Brittany and I did our best to add impossible to work with green fabric that kept fraying all over the place to the buttons (that we later “tufted” onto the cushions), and also hand-sewing the tops of the cushions that the sewing machine had trouble with. So, my friend Brittany now has a new (and much hipper) cover for her rocking chair. Yay for IKEA fabrics and JoAnna’s sewing abilities! It was a fun day. I’m glad I could help out and spend the day hanging with my chicas!

Race for the Cure!

I ran a 5k on Saturday with a group of people from church. We all got together to run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure! A girl in our ward who is only 28 was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, so this year's race was even more meaningful. She was hoping to be able to join us for the race, but she was in the hospital with a high fever. :( Those of us who could went to visit her afterwards. We had a group of 13 runners/walkers at the race, and here's the group of us that were able to visit Brittany. She's such a trooper! I've been so impressed with her faith during this whole thing. We love you Brittany! Hope you're out of the hospital soon!!


This race is always so amazing to participate in. This year there were reportedly 18,000 attendees! I believe it too. The crowd was so big, we didn't even cross the official start line until 5-10 minutes after the start gun went off, and by the time we crossed it, we could see about a mile of people ahead of us, and just as many behind us! I ran with two other girls from my ward, and we almost ran the whole 3.1 miles....I had to stop and walk for about a minute at mile 2 because I had a cramp. But then we ran the rest of the way to the finish line!! A few of us have been "training" for this race for about a month or so now. We would go running every Tuesday night and Saturday morning, and the occasional Thursday night as well. I need to keep it up because I am in such bad shape right now!! Running is not fun at first, but now that I've been doing it for a little bit, I'm starting to like it again. And now that the weather is maybe deciding to warm up a little, I can keep running outside instead of on a yucky treadmill. I always joke that I feel like I have to force myself to like running to fit in with my family. My Dad has run tons of Marathons, maybe 20? He runs the St. George almost every year, and has done Boston a few times. And my sister and older brother both ran the St. George one year too! Plus, tons of my aunts, uncles, and cousins have also ran marathons. Sounds like a bunch of crazies if you ask me! But actually it must feel like such a great accomplishment to finish. I think it would be cool to run one someday, just to say I did it. Then I'd probably never run one again! One of the girls I ran this 5k with is signed up for a half-marathon later this year, and she asked me if I want to sign up too! I'm still deciding. :) We're going to a running workshop given by Jeff Galloway, a "legendary marathon coach" at Salt Lake Running Company tomorrow, so maybe that will inspire me! I'll keep you posted.