November 2013 In like a lamb, out like a lion.

The month of November in our home reminds me of the old saying about the month of March,  "in like a lamb, out like a lion". This past month started out with new beginnings and great joy.

 

 I am feeling old when my "baby" cousin, Drey (whom I used to babysit) gets married. I feel so blessed to have been present for her sealing. We hosted grandparents, aunts and uncles, and my mom at our house for the event. We are the only other family that live here in Arizona so we were in a perfect position to meet them at the Mesa temple. It was lovely. Isn't she the most beautiful bride?

That is us on the far right. Then from right to left: Larry and Wendy (Larry is my mom's brother), my Uncle Jay (Mom's brother), his daughter and new husband, Travis. David and Mary Lou (David is Mom's oldest brother), my grandparents, and my Mom on the left.

 

The rest of the month was spent working and keeping busy as usual. We have both been exceptionally busy at work which is always good for the pocketbook. We've also been happily busy collecting, gathering, and organizing the nursery. I think it is coming along rather nicely:

We were fortunate enough to get this nice rocker/recliner at a clearance price during a Columbus Day deal. We went shopping at Ikea for some decorative flair.








Also, we have been fortunate enough to have some friends give us hand-me-down clothes (boys and girls) and this nice changing table.
We still need a few essentials, but I'm glad to have a few things to get us started.









Another great event I believe is worth noting: We got to Google Video Chat with some very good friends. Joshua Eckert has been my friend and hero since we were both tots in Kindergarten. Even after all this time, we've stayed in touch. I was so happy to finally meet his girlfriend, Lori. I look forward to many more video chat dates in the future.

Although we hadn't planned or expected to go home to Utah for Thanksgiving, we had to make sudden arrangements to fly home. On Sunday, November 24th, we got the news that Matt's Uncle Jeff had passed away. He had been having health problems for years since his first heart attack. We debated whether we should try to go home for the funeral planned for the next Saturday. We had decided to just wait until our December visit home to see the family.

That is, until the next day when we got news that Matt's sister had passed away from heart failure.
For those of you who may not know, Matt is the last surviving child of four siblings. His oldest brother, Jason, left this world at age 15 when Matt was just 6. His older brother, Shawn, was 19 when he was in an accident. Matt was 18. Our family is heartbroken to see Aimee leave this world leaving her son, Michael, behind. For me, it is comfort that I got the chance to know Aimee and appreciate the sweet person she could be. I know Aimee will be with Mikee and I hope I can find ways to remind him of that as he grows up.
Needless to say, we hopped on a plane to be home for Thanksgiving and for the services. It was one of the best visits we've had. It was a beautiful sentiment to see Aimee and Jeff honored together since they were such close spirits.
Here are some of my favorites when going through the family pictures:

This is a picture of Matt (left), Aimee, and Shawn.

This is the Earl and Barber family vacation to Disney. I love how they dressed all the boys all the same so they'd be easier to find in crowds. From left to right: Shawn, BJ, Matt, Chris, Jeremy, and Aimee (and Chip or Dale?)






Jena Barber took the last picture

October 2013 This is just the beginning.

Still no baby? No bites on the lines yet, but we are still casting the line out in as many different ways and directions as possible. We have still had many great friends who've posted our links and helped spread the word about us their friends and relatives. Meanwhile, we've been busy preparing and also being distracted and getting ready for the beginning of the upcoming holiday season.


The month started out with some big changes. I got my hair cut dramatically short. It turned out, I could donate the hair to Locks of Love!



October is always a busy month for me at school and this year we had a pleasant Fall Break week off which allowed me to completely forget and ignore all that there is to do and stay in my pajamas for 3 days watching Glee (or some other TV addiction that Matt will refuse to watch with me).

So, as my Fall Break week came to a close, I got dressed and spent some useful time shopping and getting out of town for a day or two. I wanted something special for Matt since his birthday was coming up so I took him to a tiny little town about 3 or 4 hours South of us called Wilcox. I had heard about the orchards and vineyards there and it sounded like a lovely way to welcome Fall. We picked apples and pumpkins and enjoyed the cooler weather.

As I worked hard at school trying to arrange Parent Teacher Conferences, a field trip, a Fall Program performance, the costume parade, and help prepare for the Fall Festival, I was also working at home to get a few things for the nursery and Matt's Birthday. I worked hard to make it a "knife" birthday for him:









He got a new set of kitchen knives, Swiss army knife key chain, and a Man vs. Wild worthy hunting knife. "Knife" birthday, get it?

Meanwhile, Matt had a record-breaking month at work by hitting all of his store's budget numbers making everyone happy.

A few other fun pictures from this month:

September 2013- Making room for baby

Matt and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary on Sept. 4th. We gave some thoughts about what we really wanted to do to celebrate. This year, we were just so excited to be approved for adoption and we didn't really need anything for ourselves. We believe that the best way to attract positive things into our lives is to keep a positive attitude. We want to keep the idea of a baby coming soon in our minds and hearts. So we decided to spend our anniversary shopping for our first big baby purchase. We headed to Babies R Us (only because they had a good price on what we wanted) and they had a free giveaway for spending a certain amount! We were so excited to bring home and set up our new infant seat and stroller set.

 We got a free video monitor with our purchase. We spent about an hour watching the animals in the hallway to see what they would do.

Matt got to set up the stroller/jogger with instructions.




It was hilarious, if only you could have seen us trying out different strollers in the store. We snapped and unsnapped every button and clamp, walked up and down the aisle with two hands, one hand, picked it up, collapsed it and set each one up. New parents, pshshshsh.

 





 After our anniversary, we got a special visit from Matt's cousin's wife and daughter. It's much easier and more accurate description to just call them our close friends. We are always so excited to have visitors. We took them to the Children's Museum for an hour or two. I so wish the visit could have been longer! Here is Jordis scooping up ice cream for us:


After Jena's visit, she and Jordis flew home on the same flight we took to Utah. Matt and I took an extra long weekend off from work and got out of town. We try to make it home to our hometown of Brigham City at least every other year at Peach Days time. Of course, we make it back for visits a few times a year, but Peach Days is always a special treat. It is the 2nd weekend in September and it is a tradition that only a Brigham City-ite could understand. Matt hates flying so he had to get some prescription anti-anxiety medicine for the 1 hour flights. It made him a little loopy but he seemed normal until later he admitted that he lost his memory of almost the entire flight.
Well we had a great time visiting with our good friends, family, watching the parade, visiting booths, riding rides with our nephew, and trying some peach cobbler. The weather was beautiful (even despite a little rain) and the company was even better. Enjoy these pictures from our visit:

 The Reeder family tradition is to sit on Main street close to our old family home and watch the parade on Saturday morning. My aunt Julene, Linda, Uncle Clark and his family, and there is my Grandma and Mom in the background. My Dad is making quite a reputation for wearing his pharaoh hat around town.

 The Peach Days car show is the largest in the northwester US. (Yes, bigger than the Cache Valley Crusin!) We always take a walk down to see the cars and hopefully run into more friends. As luck would have it, we ran into our friends Ashton and Megan Young and their cute kiddos!

 My sister and her honey-bunny, Jared are enjoying some dinner at 'the wall.' We always get together at the wall in front of the courthouse since it was the hangout for Matt and his friends in High School.

We are so lucky to have such great friends that can all get together from different parts of the country at Peach Days. When we were hanging out with other friends at my High School reunion and Matt got off the phone to say "Braden's going to meet us at The Wall.", it blew them away like a flashback from the old days!
Here is Chris, Braden, and Matt sharing brotherly love.


Our view from The Wall on Main Street is looking down Forest Street at the carnival. Everyone comes home for Peach Days!




We had so much fun we didn't want to say goodbye. One of the best things about going home was to hand out a lot of contact cards to everyone we came in contact with. With a lot of hard work, faith, hope, and getting the word out there, our baby will find its way to us soon. Even if it means bugging everyone we know for a little while longer.

Pre-Nesting

School has started for another year and I am pleased to say I have a very good class this year. I find myself smiling all the time and just enjoying how cute their little 5-year-old-selves are. During August I am usually so caught in the whirlwind of a new class that I hardly have time for anything else. This year, I've been struggling to keep up with work, church callings, and the adoption stuff. Still, I have been successful in getting contact cards printed and passed out, ordering the profile book and delivering it to the LDS Family services office, and creating a profile on Adoptimist.com.

While we plan, prepare, work, and wait, I've been thinking about small changes I'd like to do to the house in preparations for the pitter patter of little feet. I am FULLY aware that a placement could take years, but I have also heard stories when it only took a few months. Matt and I are of the belief that if you focus on something, you will attract it to yourself. Preparing for a baby in the house is a sure way to focus on it. So. . .I have some ideas.

This is the room across the hall from our own bedroom. This is more or less what it looks like right now. I've moved my art materials to the downstairs. Hmmmm. What do we do with the drum set that Matt has waited all these years before we bought our house so he could play, but coincidentally he doesn't play them at all anymore? Don't ask me, I'm just the wife. I would love to keep them, I just don't know how to motivate Matt to use it more. We have the TOTAL GYM in the next bedroom so I tried asking  him the choice. Why do men have hobbies that take up so much space? "Why do women have to use up all the space in the bathroom?" (I am arguing his side since he's not here to represent).
So, we have to turn this room into a nursery. Not just any nursery, a GENDER NUETRAL nursery.
My idea is to go vintage and also incorporate any and all fabric patterns so just about anything will match. Kind of like the rest of my house, I guess.

I am hoping to turn it into something that resembles this. The bedding will be different, but I'm going with orange and grey colors. I can make the fabric designs as swirly and girly as I need to but I can keep the color scheme neutral. Heaven knows I've got enough ideas pinned on my pinterest.

As far as baby items go, I've actually collected a few outfits and I am taking anything for a girl or boy. I don't want my baby to be subjected to wearing yellow all the time, and I expect to have more children so why not?

The Big Announcement!

Click here to view this photo book larger



We would like to take this opportunity to announce to friends and family that we are adding a human baby to add to our little family (in addition to furry babies we care for).
Our next step? Find the baby! We are officially approved for adoption through LDS Family Services, see itsaboutlove.org Profile number 28924822.

https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/28924822/ourMessage.jsf

 We would like all of our family's support and help if anyone you know might be considering adoption, to pass our information along.

In relation to this announcement, we would also like to let everyone know we are stocking up on baby hand-me-downs and getting a nursery ready. Adoption may take years, but no one can say I don't plan ahead! If anyone is looking to get rid of baby items in good condition, we would be so happy and grateful to take it off your hands for you. We have the storage space available, so why not?

We love and appreciate everyone for supporting us in our journey. Best wishes, and keep in touch.

June of 2013

Happy Anniversary to Matt's parents, Mike and Becky!

One of crowning achievements will be pulling off a fantastic successful surprise party for Matt's parent's 40th wedding anniversary. They were married June of 1973. We felt responsible for congratulating them in a big way, so we organized a big to-do. With the help of our dear friends and family, we planned a fantastic event. We held it at their church, on a Monday evening. I knew Mike worked the swing shift at that time, so I had to arrange that he had the night off without him knowing about it. I called the human resource department at his work and got the cell phone number for his supervisor. She was extremely helpful. She told me she would make sure he wasn't scheduled to work that evening.

Then, I ordered a cake to be made similar to their wedding cake and be delivered that night.
Then, I divvied up the food responsibilities between Matt's aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Then, I got Matt's wonderful cousin and Grandma to sneak into his parent's house while they were out of town and collect photos to scan and make a slideshow.
Then, I got our friend and cousin to gather decorations and rehearse a few songs to perform with her husband and darling 3 year old daughter.

We did not tell Mike and Becky, or Matt's sister that we were coming into town. We made them believe we wouldn't make it until Peach Days. We arrived in town a few days early and spent some time with my cousins who were visiting from my family from California. We spent those days traveling by back roads and ducking under the dashboard for fear we'd be discovered by them before the night of the party. We even spent Sunday night at the camp grounds, even after we found out they were going to be at the same campgrounds having dinner! We wore hoodies and made members of my family escort us around like secret service agents so we wouldn't blow the whole surprise.

Well, it was a lot of work and we were extremely nervous, but we all pulled it off!  Here are some pics, so beautifully taken by Jena.

 We were soooooo nervous before they arrived! Here is our cute little "niece", Jordis, helping us relax while we wait.

 Mike got the call earlier that day that he didn't have to come to work. He showed up at the church thinking that he was going to a special Family Home Evening. This is the moment they walked in the door and saw all their family yelling surprise.

 Tears, laughs, and hugs.

 Family photo of us, Mom and Dad, Aimee and our nephew, Michael.

 
 


Their special cake, a close replica of their wedding cake, and their re-enactment of cutting the cake.










Carrisa made a beautiful slideshow DVD with music. It was so sweet and there was a little dancing. Beautiful.