Not such a Manic Monday

Hello Everyone,

A little more rested. I am avoiding going to the grocery store right now. I thought it would be a great time to write on the blog.

Some exciting things have happened today. I must give back story for this to be impressive. At the end of  November my show Guys and Dolls closed. I sent back all of the materials in a box that weighed 38 lbs and 11 oz. at the beginning of December. When I returned to work from the holiday break I received an e-mail from the publishers that said the box showed up to the publishers empty. ALL of the materials were missing. The condition of the box was EMPTY. That is about 3 grand worth of scripts and orchestrations. Well, I filed my complaint with the US Postal Service, and today I found out that all but 8 librettos and 6 of the orchestra books were returned. I hope they find the rest, but 8 is better than 25 and 6 is better than 20, so things are better than they were.

Another happy thing was the scripts for the one act my theatre 4 class is doing came today. It is the little things that make me happy. Last Wednesday I got a new chair mat for my desk chair, and I did the happy dance in front of my English class. (They already think I am crazy, so I didn't care).

I also finished blocking my show. Now the real work begins. It opens in a month! Yikes!

Justin came home early with the Creeping Crud. He has been hacking up the most disgusting wads of grossness that ever existed. He was trying all weekend while chaperoning to get sick, and finally, he did. Okay, maybe he wasn't trying to get sick; he was trying to avoid getting sick. (Justin objected to the phrase "trying to get sick") :P

I am finding I have the intense need to read a really great book. I haven't really read anything for a while. I am suffering from withdrawls. I guess I better stop playing on the blog and go to the store. Ugh.

Good night!

UTA Update

Home from UTA (Utah Theatre Association) Conference. It was a great experience again this year. Except for the hotel, everything was great. Justin helped with the conference chaperoning. I got a new  BYU sweatshirt and a new pair of Comedy and Tragedy earrings. The workshops were good too. There were some really amazing performances. Next year if they ask, I will have my students perform some of their work. I am trying to recover from the weekend's adventure, so I am not so eloquent with my writing tonight. Maybe I will be all caught up with my sleep tomorrow and can blog about it a little more coherently.

My Siblings and Their Spouses

Justin and me. I am much more tan in this picture than I am right now.
Oh, Florida, how I miss you.

We have such a great time in Florida with my side of the family. We go once a year usually. We don't have very many pictures of this past year's summer trip. I spent too much time in the water, and Justin spent too much time in the shade reading a book or in the pool throwing the kids up in the air to have them come splashing down. I am hoping to add more to the blog before long. I will be asking my family to send me some that they took. I have three siblings and 9 nieces and nephews and another niece on the way. They are bound to have pictures I can add.

This is my older sister, Crista and her husband, Matt.
We had a couples' night out while Grandma watched
all the grand-kids back at the beach house five of which are theirs

I am so very lucky to have a sister-in-law and two brothers-in-law that are so amazing. I love them so dearly. It is like they have always been part of our family. Justin and I love their kids so much. We have to spoil them at Christmas. They are the most loving group of children anyone could ever meet. Some may say I am being biased. Well, I have to admit. . .I only tell the truth and nothing but, and I never exaggerate.

My little brother, Robert, and his wife, Hayley.
They have three kids joining the group Grandma is watching

Laughter is a huge part of our trips together. I hear horror stories from my friends of the obnoxious family trips they have to take with their different families. I honestly cannot imagine ever experiencing that kind of drama with my brother and sisters. True, I am a Theatre teacher, but I don't do drama!

The background of Katie's picture just really cracks me up. Temporary Body Art booth and the artist in the background really completes this picture of a loving couple.

 

My baby sister, Katie, and her husband, Bryan.
They only have one at the beach house with Grandma, but one is on the way

Getting ready for a Theatrical Adventure

Justin and I are getting ready to chaperone my students on an overnight theatre conference. We did it last year and the students were so well behaved that I was not opposed to doing it again. It is much easier than driving back and forth from home to school then to the conference then back to school then back home early every morning and late each night. The first two years I took the students to the conference we did not stay overnight and that was a mistake. Last year it was in St. George and we had to stay overnight. It was amazing. I got more sleep than I do when I am just going to school. I loved it. So we are doing it again this year.

Justin likes to go to the set design and construction classes while I do all the teacher stuff. Sometimes I am able to catch a class with him. I absolutely love that Justin is so willing to support me like he does. I am truly blessed with a wonderful husband. I will have lots to say tomorrow night I am sure. I am hoping things go well for our little trip.

Sunday, what can you say?

The best part about 1:00 church is the sleeping in. I love to sleep in. Justin made breakfast of french toast. I love french toast. Then we had a short meeting at 11:00 and then we finished getting ready for church. Church was pretty normal. One of the talks really seemed to resonate with me. Yes, I actually paid attention to one. The quote about the Lord being aware of me. I sometimes forget that He is aware of me too. I have no doubt he is aware of everyone else, but ME? Well, it is part of that pity party I expressed before. I have to be reminded occasionally that I have worth too, and that I am not on my own in this vast world. I get caught up in the day-to-day things. Justin will do some reminding. He is a bit more blunt about telling me to stop wallowing.

I know the best way to do that is to serve others. I stay busy, but I don't know that I am selflessly serving others. My career choice forces me to serve my students, but it is the spirit of the service that brings the joy. Don't get me wrong; I do have rewarding days, and I genuinely care about my students and whether or not they are successful. I do, however, get wrapped up in the expected responsibilities.

I am going to work on being positive with my blog here. I don't want to leave a trail of tears in the wake of my woes. Well, I don't want to depress anyone if not make them cry.  For those that know me, I am all about the laughter.

So what was it today that made me laugh? Well, there was some rather funny posts on Facebook. Some cannot be repeated though. Yes, I am guilty of laughing at potty humor. I did teach junior high for ten years. It rubs off, okay?

Okay, my friends make me laugh. Justin was standing by one of our friends at church while she was struggling to control the wiggly little boy in her lap. She finally just handed him to Justin, and the look on Justin's face was priceless, but he did his job. He was great for Justin and settled down. Maybe not funny, but cute.

Justin's two cents:

Church was good, but oh man, the Patriots won today, yuck!  Oh well, being a Steelers fan I really don't care for Baltimore either.  I am still holding out hope for the 49rs and a fellow Ute, Alex Smith.  Right now they are stuck in OT with the Giants.  Nice day overall however, I love the Sabbath because you are encouraged to rest and resting I have been doing.  

Justin isn't a man of many words, but when he gets going . . . there's no stopping him.

Feelings on My Sleeve

No new news on the adoption front, but I did announce to my family and friends on facebook that we have started this blog to help the adoption process along. I am absolutely moved by the out pouring love and support. It was a truly hard decision to file the paperwork. It felt like I was giving up on all possibilities of having our own biological child. I have often daydreamed of having a baby that looks like my husband, and accepting the fact that it isn't going to happen for us in the conventional way breaks my heart. It feels as if I am not exercising enough faith and that maybe if I did have enough faith then we would be able to have our own children. I know I am not the only one that has felt this way and that I am not unique in the struggles that I am personally dealing with, and it is for this reason I have kept quiet about our situation and my feelings on it. I think, "Who wants to listen to the same old story and pity party?" so I just haven't said much to anyone on the subject and have had my own personal pity party in my private-corked bottle of emotion. I watch those that have adopted and admire their strength. I feel as if they are handling things much better than I am, and I want to be like them.

I am sure those of my friends that have gone through the adoption process for the same reasons Justin and I are going through have had very similar feelings facing their decisions to adopt. I haven't always dealt with my feelings the in most healthy way I am sure, but I am trying to now, Most of the time I am really okay and gung-ho, but the waiting game is a new struggle in the process. Once the decision is made, as difficult as it is, waiting has its own challenges. I struggle to talk about it without tearing up. I HATE tearing up. The worst part of that is the tightness in my throat. The streaming tears I can deal with, but not being able to talk makes it unbearable. ( I am a talker)

Facing the reality publicly kind of started with Christmas Eve.

Halloween, Easter, and Christmas are hard holidays to fully enjoy just because the activities and events center around the laughter and happiness of children. Mother's Day and Father's Day. . . well that goes without saying. This Christmas Eve, Justin and I were at our friends' house and managed to be there for the midnight activities for their children. As I was chatting with my friend while the men were in the kitchen talking about tools (I am sure it was tools), I happened to mention that setting up for Christmas morning is a side of Christmas I never get to see, and it makes me a little sad. This set off a domino effect. A few days later my friend asked me if it would be okay if she and another friend helped me with our profile on itsaboutlove.org and helped me set up a blog. She said she is determined to get us a baby in 2012.

I cannot express the love that I have felt in making these things come to fruition. The Its About Love profile is completed and looks so much better and much more reflective of who Justin and I are. This blog is a work in progress. I don't really know much about what I am doing.  We wanted birth mothers and fathers to check out our blog to really get to know us because  we are only able to put a little bit of information on the profile on the agency site.  I hope we are successful.

I asked Justin if he had anything to add, and he said, "In the words of Patrick Swazye in Ghost, 'Ditto.'

Just another day

Becky's Big Dollar Day

Today was a long day at school. We had an improv show after rehearsal. It as the first one since October. I was happy with it.The students were really amazing. I really think they needed the time off. Now we are going full throttle. It has been a while since I have had a GOOD day at work. English was . . . do I dare say it? I enjoyed it. I hope the students did.  Of course, I would be the one to find the humor in one of Shakespeare's tragedies. Good day but I am tired.

A happy thing: when I got home, Justin had made some cookies. I exercised self control and only ate two. I will be taking some to work tomorrow for my dessert. Nothing like having a husband who is multi talented. He cooks, cleans, builds, and fixes. The list really could go on and on.

Justin's Big Dollar Day:

Because of the top secret nature of my work for the State, I am unfortunatly unable to divulge what happened today, but lets just say epic things occured today. . .Ok not really.  Pretty average day, thank goodness I was abled to survive the coming onslaught of snow today.  It is true I did make cookies, but don't let that get out, I have a reputation to uphold.

Trying something new

Blogging is a new thing we are trying. As many of our friends and family already know, we have filed for adoption. Justin and I have been married for thirteen and a half years, and we have been trying to start our family for eleven and a half. It has been a long road for us, but we are staying positive.

We love spending time with our nieces and nephews; we don't get to see them too often, but when we do, Justin is the instigator of the horse play. We have had the opportunity to tend our neices and nephews overnight for several days through the years. It was always a bit sad for us when we had to send the kiddos home with their parents. Even if one did lock us out of the house on accident. :)

 And without sounding too creepy, we also enjoy the company of our neighbors' children. We go to visit and while I am chatting it up with the ladies, Justin is again playing with the kids.

We appreciate all the opportunities we have to be around children. It makes us happy to hear all of their laughter and sounds of playing.

Becky is a High School Teacher and I am a government lacky working for the State of Utah doing top secret work as a paper pusher. In my spare time I putter around in my garage working on my jeep or doing any sundry of projects around the house.  The Neighbors like to joke that I have every power tool known to man, which they are clearly wrong because the garage is too small for that and I am always looking for the newest tool at the hardware store.  I am very good at starting projects that are a bit to big for my own good, however amazingly Becky takes it all in stride and as of this writing has not banished me to sleeping on the couch.  My current big project is trying to build up a replacment jeep to ride the back country trails in as my current Jeep is a bit tired and beat up.  Four wheeling is big passion for us and we love to travel to Moab to ride on trails.  We would probably have a few more pictures and videos of the jeep on the trail but Becky doesn't like getting out of the Jeep and when she does she seems to take more pictures of the ground than of the actual Jeep....Just nervous about scratching the "wonderful" paint job I guess.....

Playing in Moab

Climbing to the arch trying to get rid of a farmer's tan .

Squealing tires? Not here. All skill in driving.

Starting down White Knuckle Hill.

Almost there!

Balance Rock. We sure hoped it wasn't going
to pick that moment to fall.



Heading down High Dive

This certainly is a Wedgie!



Don't get stuck in the crack!



I clearly don't believe the rules apply to me.



Justin and I hanging outside a collapsed mine.

Utahns' Exudous to Anaheim

Justin and I at the entrance to Disneyland. It is all decked out in Halloween decor. It looked amazing. We joined the other Utahians over the UEA weekend to enjoy ourselves with Justin's side of the family.

So many Utahns! Holy Cow!!



Happy Birthday to ME! Disneyland on my Birthday

Niece Taylor after her princess make over

Aurora is my favorite princess and I got to

meet her after our dinner at Ariel's Gratto. She said

I am her best friend.Okay, I made that up,

but a girl can dream. It was even my Birthday!

Aaron is really the scared one,

I am just there for support . . .

This picture is entitled Toy Story's Newest Action Figures.

I am very precariously balanced.

You could find us in the clearance bin . . . 99 cents!

Hey, there was a sign that said Photo Op.

We took it. Actually Aaron took the photo;

we just posed. I love me some photo op . . .

Ariel's Gratto: Matthew, Justin's brother; Justin; Cassie, Justin's sister,
Me and my birthday button; Taylor, our neice.

Pirate Island was a fun place for exploring and hunting for treasure.

Mary Poppins, Justin, Me, Burt were just hanging out. Mary
kept correcting Justin's posture! It was hilarious, then we
went out for sushi.
Okay, we didn't go out for sushi . . . Ihate sushi.

Justin and I riding Space Mountain for the millionth time.

Tower of Terror
We were so happy to be dropped from a height over looking
all of Disney California and Disneyland.

After the parade. Cassie and I were posing for the camera.
Justin was taking forever to snap the shot. Our arms were getting
tired. Very tired.

Aaron is keeping the rock from crushing me. Okay, he is just
pretending. BUT wouldn't be cool if he could?

Repunzel, Justin, ME, and Flint we were on a double date and
someone wanted to take our picture.