2014 Ornaments

One of our favorite holiday traditions is picking out a new ornament for our tree. We have done it each year since we've been married. It's fun to decorate the tree and look back at all the ornaments we've collected over the years. Last night was date night and as part of our date we hit up the Hallmark store and picked out our 2014 ornaments. Nate chose a cowboy snowman and I chose a gingerbread man cookie and milk. Two of my favorite guys love milk and cookies, my awesome husband and my sweet Grandpa Olson who passed away earlier this year. So my ornament has some sentimental value this year. I love holiday date nights. Next week we will need to pick out our annual Christmas book, another tradition of ours.

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving holiday. The best part was all the time I got to spend with Nate. It was a nice long weekend and I'm already looking forward to the time Nate has off around Christmas. This year it was our year to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family. So we made the trek up to Idaho and had Thanksgiving there. My sister Kelley came up too. We went and saw my cute grandma at the stroke rehabilitation center on Thanksgiving day before we had dinner and we had a great visit with her. Hopefully she'll have her strength back soon and be able to come home. Unfortunately, I was still getting over my darn cold during Thanksgiving. On Wednesday, I was getting ready and I coughed and totally threw out my back. I spent a good portion of the holiday in pain, so I wasn't much help in getting dinner prepared and on the table. Cute Nate made the mashed potatoes and carved the turkey. Dinner was great, everyone ate their fill and we enjoyed ourselves. Of course with my mom and Nate there we had to watch some football after dinner. Nate and I drove home early Friday morning and spent the rest of the weekend trying to relax. All in all a good holiday. Now if we can just get my back to feel better! Sorry about the picture quality. I wasn't feeling so great, so I didn't take too much of an interest in photos, but some are better than none I guess.

Mid November

We've been having a busy month! It's seems like we've had something going on most every night. Nate had an awesome birthday. We had his family over for some ice cream on his actual birthday and later that weekend we had date night. Nate chose Mexican food for date night and then we hit up a new donut shop. Nate told me he was going in for two donuts and came out with a half dozen. He said that there were too many good choices.

Nate's best birthday present was our adoption approval and we were so excited. This photo was taken that night, we were so excited. You can check out our adoption profile here.

The week after Nate's birthday, he had to travel for work. He only travels for work like a twice a year, which is nice for me. This trip was another one to Texas. He flew back in on Wednesday and we went straight from the airport to Park City to spend some time with Nate's family. Nate's dad has a time share up there and we had fun just hanging out with family. However, I failed to take a single picture!

Since it's an off year for Thanksgiving with Nate's family, they decided to do a Pre-Thanksgiving this past Sunday. Nate and I were in charge of a pie and stuffing. I was grateful for an easier food assignment since I've got this darn cold. I made a white chocolate cream pie per Nate's request and he really seemed to enjoy it. The dinner turned out so nice. Everyone pitched in and made it a good night, we missed Zak, Domonique, and Clementine though!

Well that's what we've been up to so far this month, and we've got more plans still to come!

It's Live

Our adoption profile is live! Please take a moment to visit our profile here:

Nate and Kim Profile

You can click on the left hand side to see our photos or to read our answers to the getting to know you questions. And spread the word! The more people that know we're adopting, the better chance we have of finding a match for our family! The link to our profile can also be found on the right hand side of the blog. So take a minute and check us out.

We're Approved!!!

We just heard that we are officially approved to adopt with LDS Family Services! As soon as our profile is up on the website I'll post a link. We are so ecstatic! Now we just need everyone to spread the word so we can find a match and start our family!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Happy Birthday to my handsome husband! Yes, today is Nate's birthday and we've been celebrating for 12 days. We kept tradition alive and had the 12 Days of Nate, where he gets a small gift or treat each day for the 12 days leading up to his birthday. He loves it. Tonight we're celebrating some more and having some family over for dessert. I hope Nate has a wonderful day today and that he feels super loved!

Mustache Dache

Yesterday morning Nate ran in the annual Mustache Dache at Thanksgiving Point. He had a great time and was able to run with some friends and family. I did have to offer him $150 to shave his mustache off before church today though. After seeing his crazy mustache I think you'll agree it was money well spent! Good job Nate!

Happy Digital Scrapbook Day!

Yay, it's digital scrapbook day! It's always the first Saturday in November. My favorite hobby is digital scrapbooking and I love it! To celebrate, my favorite digital scrapbooking store is having a sale. Check them out at Sweet Shoppe Designs. I also highly recommend Photoshop Elements which you can find here. You can check out my digital scrapbooking pages by clicking on the link on my sidebar.

It's also the first day of Nate! Since Nate's birthday falls on the 12th, we always celebrate the 12 days of Nate. He gets a small gift or treat each day for the 12 days leading up to his birthday. It's tradition.

Carving Pumpkins

This year it was my turn to choose our pumpkin theme. Every year we carve coordinating pumpkins and for this year's theme I chose beauty and the beast. Nate was good and found templates for us online and I went and bought pumpkins early yesterday morning. Then last night we carved. I think we get faster every year. This year took us just over an hour from start to finish. We're pleased with how they turned out and I hope everyone likes them when they come trick-or-treating.

Adoption Update

We are getting so close! Both Nate and I had our individual interviews on Monday afternoon. We both feel like they went pretty well. Now we are writing our adoption profile. Once that is done (our goal is to be done by Monday) we will schedule our home study. Then after the home study, the agency has a meeting about whether they will approve us. Hopefully that meeting goes well and then once approved, our profile goes live and we just wait for that special baby to join our family! Ahh! It's super exciting. As soon as we get approved we'll be posting a link to our profile on the blog and we'll make some pass along cards and everyone can start spreading the word!