Scrapbooking galore

Three years ago this July, Logan and I went on an amazing trip through Yellowstone and ever since we got back I have been trying and trying to make a scrapbook. I printed pictures, papers, stickers, and tried to lay them all out to make a scrapbook. Finally four months ago I gave up on the idea of ever finishing that scrapbook (which only had maybe three completed pages) and started a scrapbook using Heritage Makers. I finished the book in April and you can see a preview here:

http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectID=1380383&productId=11&sponsorID=346919



My neice and nephew were both baptized over the past few months (one in March and the other May) and I took it upon myself to make books for them as their baptism gift from me. I realized it was a lot harder than I thought it would be trying to gather information from family members, recording and transcribing the talks given during their baptism, writing down everyone that attended, and taking lots and lots of pictures! I have finally finished both the books and I cannot wait to see the look on my neice and nephew's faces when they get their book.

http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectID=1795874&productId=5&sponsorID=346919



http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectID=1797942&productId=5&sponsorID=346919

Backyard Makeover

I have always wanted a nice flower garden with a swing, or hammock, or some type of chairs to make a relaxing retreat in my backyard. I dream of sitting outside reading books, feeling the breeze and sun on my face while the children play in the yard. As of right now I cannot have the children part (except for the dogs and they LOVE the yard) but since we now live in a house, I decided I was ready to start working toward that dream.

This is what our yard looked like shortly after we moved in. It is winter so pardon the dead grass. And the black thing you see is a fire pit.

I started by designing and deciding on where to put the flower beds.

Then I removed all the grass from those areas.Next came the flowers and mulch.

I am lucky enough to work at a construction office and have a large selection of rocks on property. I picked out a few and had someone load them into a truck for me. I think they look pretty good!

There are still some plants that need to be placed, so excuse the containers in the pictures, but you get the general idea. I think it makes a huge difference and didn't take that much work. We have enjoyed relaxing in the yard while the boys play. And we are excited about, and look forward to having barbeques with friends and family, and spending time in our beautiful backyard.

Kelsey's Kreations

I have recently become an open book of creativity and have created more things. With a mostly failed attempt in the hooter hider business I can't believe I am actually looking into selling something else. That would just be stupid, right?

Since I have become so into reading recently with things at work slowing down, allowing me to more time to read (and my husband stealing my cheap bookmark because he didn't have one), I decided I would make my own bookmark, or what I like to call book thong!!! And it turned out so cute I made myself a second one. I posted pictures on facebook of my book thongs and instantly got someone who was interested in purchasing two, YAHOO!!! Then a week later, five more sold. I also gave some to my family members hoping they would pass the word along and enjoy them at the same time. So I am selling them already, but I am so hesitant to go any further and get excited about selling them just to have the whole thing flop in a month. For those of you who don't know my husband lost his job in January. We have been trying to get by on my salary, which isn't enough to pay the bills but we have managed to get by. He finally got a job but it is only part time on weekends and still not enough money. Selling these could help with the income, but supplies cost so I don't want to get in to it and have stock sitting in my closet (I still have hooter hiders sitting in my closet waiting to be purchased) and lose that money. So I am asking my loyal followers (all 2 of you) your opinion. I thought about coming up with something about "Kelsey's Kreations" or "Kelsey's Krafty Kreations" and selling Book Thongs and Hooter Hiders, and anything else I come up with in the next little bit but I am seriously torn. So... sell or hobby? Try to promote, push the products, post, website, sell, etc., or just do it because I like them, if they sell they sell. What do you think?

Decorated???

I had a request to put up some pictures of the house decorated so here they are. Sorry for the mess, I took the pictures before making sure everything was cleaned and put away....but you get the idea!

Living room...
View from the kitchen.

Kitchen...

Office...
These are the bookshelves Logan made.
They are not finished being decorated but you get the idea.

Master Suite...

(Calling it a "suite" makes me feel super special!)

(The boys really wanted to be in the pictures!)

Guest bath...

Guest Room...

This is my work in progress room. Chelsey, the home owner, made it into a nursery before they moved and I decided it would be our nursery when we one day get a baby. I already have my nursery stuff picked out and will be a jungle theme (thus the stuffed animals). I am trying to incorporate jungle into an adult guest room so that it can easily be changed to a nursery in case we don't have a lot of notice about an adoptive baby, but I am struggling a bit on it. So, this is just thrown together for now.


There is your sneak peak into our new place. If you would like to see more, come on over!!! We LOVE having guests and visitors!

Long over due

Many people have wanted to ask but have yet to do so, except for the occasional few. I guess this post is at least a month over due. I have kept everyone waiting long enough. We did not get the baby as the mother decided to keep him, which is wonderful and great that she chose to do so. We are now trying to finish our home study and get all of our paperwork completed and then we wait for our special little one.

In the mean time, while waiting to be chosen to raise a beautiful baby I have managed to keep myself fairly busy. With work, school and a busy church calling I typically stay pretty busy but I decided to take on more, not necessarily all my choice though. Early to mid November we were presented an opportunity to help out some friends, and help ourselves at the same time, by renting their home that they have been unable to sell. So within a matter of a few days, we packed and moved into OUR FIRST HOME. I know, technically it is not "our home" but I can still dream.



I have been busy unpacking and decorating, which everyone knows I love to do (the decorating part, not the unpacking part). Logan has decided that his new favorite store is Lowe's, sorry Best Buy. He has purchsed new tools and made a workbench for the garage. Then he made me a new bookshelf for our office. I am telling you, this man has talent, and I am not saying that just because he is my husband...although it helps! ;-) I like my bookshelf so much Logan is letting me help him make a second one to go next to it.

The second one is getting stained tonight so I should have up pictures of the completed, decorated and in use bookshelves very soon!

I apologize for keeping the adoption news a suspense. Life is busy and hectic but that is one thing I will not keep to myself. When we get a baby, I will shout it to the world!!!

Our most recent update...

As many of you know, Logan and I are unable to have children. After four years of unsuccessfully trying to conceive, I finally gave into the idea of not being able to have my own children. Okay, I haven't completely given in cause its a hard thing to accept, but I am okay with it. We met with LDS Family Services (Adoption agency through our church) back in April to start the process for adoption. We were so excited an anxious to meet with our caseworker, but we came out of the meeting a little overwhelmed at the thought of costs for the adoption. Still, we went home and filled out all our paperwork... And then we thought, because I was unemployed for over 9 months and burnt through most of our savings, we were afraid to turn in our paperwork. Yes, typically it takes months to years to get a baby, but knowing our luck, because we weren't prepared for it, we would turn in our paperwork and get a baby a few weeks later. So we put the signed paperwork aside and went on our way, trying to save up money for our future child.

Fast forward five months. It is now September, things are going really well and I am feeling truly blessed. I am sitting in Primary assisting the children, teachers, and leaders and Logan walks in and mentions something to me. Due to the noise and chaos as well as a few children pulling on my dress asking me questions, I didn't quite hear what he said. Once things calmed down a little I turned to him and asked him to finish what he was saying, although I didn't hear what he said the first time. "... She knows someone who is pregnant", we got interrupted again. I remember thinking, so what, there are pregnant women everywhere! He continued once our conversation could resume again, "She is looking for someone to adopt her baby!" I got chills and was instantly excited but I didn't fully hear everything he said so I patiently waited, finished dismissing the children, answered everyones questions, grabbed my things in a hurry and ran out the door. The minute the car doors closed I turned to Logan and asked him to explain, from the beginning. I was so thankful for the peace and quiet in the car at that moment.

Logan was approached by our Bishop (thats what we call our Preacher for all of you who do not go to our church). A member of our church approached him and said she needed help. She had a dear friend whose daughter is pregnant. She had an adoptive family in place for her baby, but that adoptive family had changed their minds and no longer wants the baby. This friend turned to this sister in our church and asked her to take the baby. She said she is unable to do that but that she would find someone to take the baby. The bishop gave her our information as well as the information to LDS Family Services.

The minute we walked in the house I ran to find our signed paperwork so we could ensure it was filled out and get it sent in as soon as possible. It takes some time to get home studies done and interviews completed. Shortly after we looked through our paperwork we received a call from my mother. She needed to come over to sit and talk with us. UH OH! Either we did something wrong or she has the same information we did. My mother came and sat in the chair, holding a little card and began to tell the same story to us, but straight from the sister from our church. PHEW, we weren't in trouble! ;-) This sister spoke with my mother after church and gave her some information and her business card so we could talk with her. Shortly after my mom left we called her and got some information. We found out that the birth mother is expecting a little boy, and that he is due Nov. 7th!!! HOLY COW, that is soon! I dont know about my husband but I was instantly overwhelmed with excitement and fear. Can we get the money together in one month? Can we get all the things we need to bring a baby home? What about finishing our home study and interviews? OH MY!!!

The next day I was completely out of it. So out of it that when I went to get in the car to drive to work I got in the passenger side of the car and sat there for a moment. I realized my husband was not getting into the car to take me to work, as he had to work himself, so I decided I better crawl across the seat and get on my way before I was late to work. I couldn't think all day. There were things that needed to be done, paperwork that needed to be mailed, appointments to be made, etc., and I was stuck at work. Finally, time to go home. We had a voicemail from the sister from our church so I called her the minute I got in my car. There was an update. The birth mother is currently sitting on the fence and is unsure if she still wants to place the baby up for adoption. Both her mother and grandmother are trying to convence her to give the baby up. Grandma, who was adopted, said that the best thing her biological parents could do was to love her enough to give her up for adoption, to have a better life. We are still waiting to hear more updates.

We contacted our caseworker and she informed us that it may be possible to complete all the interviews and the home study in the month we have remaining, but that it would be like a 2nd full time job for both of us. So we are off.... The race to beat the clock has already started. All of our paperwork has been completed and turned in and doctors appointments have been set. Now we wait for the next steps and we continue to pray. Pray that the birth mother will choose the decision that is best for her baby. And pray that everything will work out how it is suppose to. Whether we get this baby or not, it will be nice to have everything done and complete so that when the next adoption opportunity arises, we will be ready. And our last task, get $5,500 over the next month to ensure we are ready for this baby!

Here it is...

After four years of trying to conceive, and no doctor being able to tell me why it is that I don't ovulate, Logan and I decided we needed to make some decisions. In just a couple weeks, I will be sent to a fertility specialist if we do not become pregnant before then (it's negative so don't get your hopes up....it hurts when those hopes get shattered). We have an option to seek out fertility, to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on treatments that aren't guaranteed to work. Logan and I both want to have a child so bad but don't want to go into debt trying to have a child and then not get one. I don't know how much more of an emotional roller coaster I can go on before I feel like I am going to explode!!!

After much praying and crying, we have decided that we are going to adopt! Thats right, we are going to be adopting a little baby. Be a boy or girl, we dont care. Now, don't get too excited, we are scheduled in the end of April to go meet with LDS Family Services and start our application process. Then we have to go through interviews and home studies. Then its a waiting game.... waiting for a baby.

Waiting for OUR baby!

We are so excited and are looking forward to the day that we get the call saying we have a baby. I hope that its sooner rather than later, but either way, I cant wait.