Nursery

Up until now I have not let myself even think about how I would decorate a nursery or what furniture we would buy. Infertility has been one of the hardest things I have ever dealt with and my best way of keeping my emotions under control was to not get too excited.
Now that we are adopting and we really feel like there is a baby out there for us, we have gotten so excited about getting things ready. We have realistic expectations about the adoption and know that it could take years, but we are having so much fun preparing!
I have been looking for a nursery idea that is gender neutral so that we can set it up and start buying. I had a lot of ideas from our friends, but I love this one I found on pinterest.

I think it is so stinkin' cute! Kyle, my mom and sister and I went shopping to see what we could find and I couldn't see anything like it so I will just have to keep looking, I have plenty of time. 

While we were shopping we did get a pack n' play that we will use as the bassinet for when the baby is a newborn. It was our first baby purchase!!!! YAY!

Busy Busy

Sorry for the lack of posting lately! We have been crazy busy with Kyle's finals coming up, and babysitting for Kyle's cousins while they are in Europe.

Also we have been doing all of our paperwork for the adoption! We are excited to hurry and finish and to take our upcoming adoption classes through the agency. I will fill you in on those as soon as we attend them!

The main thing I missed blogging about was our anniversary. We usually spend a weekend away, but due to saving every extra penny for our adoption we went inexpensive. It was still just as great. We checked out the new City Creak Center and had dinner at the yummy cheesecake factory! It was great to spend the whole day with each other! Four years has flown by and we are so excited to see what year five has in store!!!!!

EASTER

Sorry for the delay in posting our Easter festivities, but here it is!

We were excited to be able to spend time with ALL of our families on Easter Sunday. We spent most of the weekend with Kyle's mom Charlene. We threw a shower for Amanda's baby boy, coming later this month, on Saturday and then went to a dollar movie with Charlene that night. We slept over and went to church with her that morning. It was a lot of fun visiting with her! We took some pictures that morning before walking to church.

We then went to Kyle's Dad(Dan) and Step-mom (Karen)'s house were we had the annual Easter egg hunt with everyone. We started this hunt before there were grand-kids involved. We all put in some money and we go hunting for eggs. It's fun to see who comes out on top in the end! Now that there are some grand-kids too there is a little hunt for them too. It is always a ton of fun! Most of these pictures are of our nieces and nephew... are they not the cutest kids ever???!!!

After we went over to my Grandma's to visit with my family for a while before we drove home. I love that my mom's family still gathers everyone together for holidays. We love seeing our cousins and aunt and uncles too! I feel bad because I meant to take pictures of us there, but the only one I have is of me and my cousin Melissa comparing hair color so here you go!

It begins!

We Met with our case worker today!! Finally we get to start the process. She talked to us about what to expect and answered all the questions that we had. Kyle and I got to spend some time together after the appointment and we talked about how excited we are. When we first decided to adopt I was so nervous, but now I am just super excited! I decided I will just have to embrace whatever happens. Good or bad. I know whatever happens will happen for a reason. 

Sara, our case worker, said that the fastest she has seen someone approved was 2 1/2 months. Our goal is to beat that! 

Kyle

Warning this post is purely sentimental!
In light of our upcoming  FOURTH year anniversary I have been thinking about my awesome hubby a lot lately (more than usual... so A LOT). I remember older couples always saying that your love grows even more through your marriage. I remember thinking that it wasn't possible for me to love Kyle more because I loved him so much already. Well ladies and gentleman it is true! In our four years together we have been through a lot of things that could have driven us apart, but through Kyle's love and care for me we have become even closer. Kyle is different from any man I have ever known. He isn't even a lot like any one person in his own family, I really feel like Kyle got all the awesome qualities from everyone. Here are just a few of the reasons I love him so much.
He cares so much about the people he loves.
He will drop anything to help anyone with anything.
He works harder and longer than anyone I know.
He is not afraid of what people think so he is always Kyle no matter who is around.
He knows exactly when I need him to be really kind loving.
He hugs me tight, kisses me, and tells me he loves me every morning before we leave each other (even if we   had a fight the night before).
He loves the Gospel and takes me to the temple every week.
He is such a goof and makes me laugh more and more.

I brag about him all the time and I'm sure people get sick of hearing how amazing he is, but I just can't get over what a man I have! I'm so grateful that he chose me and loves me for who I am even with all my flaws.

Adoptive Couples Retreat 2012: Finding, not waiting!

As soon as we decided to adopt I became obsessed with all things ADOPTION! So naturally I have been looking for any way to become involved with the adoption community. A friend of a friend invited Kyle and I to the Adoptive couples retreat hosted by birth mothers 4 adoption. It was super late notice so Kyle wasn't able to get the day off so I invited my mom to come along. It was great and pretty informative.
 I learned a lot about open adoption, many birth mom's and adoptive parents talked about their experiences with open adoption. I'm not going to lie... open adoption just sounded so scary before I knew much about it. My opinion now is that if everyone is in the right state of mind it can be a beautiful thing that adds love and understanding for the child and everyone involved. After talking to Kyle about what I learned open adoption has become a definite option for us!
This adoptive couple that founded The R House spoke about their experiences. Mrs. R said something that I LOVE. She said that we need to be proactive about adoption. "We are FINDING, not waiting." I seriously needed this because the hardest thing about adoption for me is the wait... how long will our wait be? We are not going to wait around, we are going to FIND our child!!!! She gave some great ideas about how to get your name out there and we are super excited to get things going!
The more I learn the more I love adoption and what it can bring into our lives!