National Adoption Month 2010

November is National Adoption Month and, as you should know by now, adoption is near and dear to my heart. Our adoption isn't yet final, due to some unforeseen circumstances, which is common when adopting from foster care. Knowing that, however, doesn't make it any easier. I'm writing an update to be posted by the end of this week on what's been going on with our adoption journey over the past two months.

In the meantime, I have some things I want to share in honor of National Adoption Month. First is this post by a fellow blogger and someone I'm honored to call a friend, though we've never met outside of cyberspace. She has two sons she adopted through foster care (with her husband) and is going through the process again to add another son or daughter (or two!) to her family. She writes about questions that all of us adoptive parents are faced with at one point or another and I just think it's good information and education to have out there. So please, go read her post.

I love the Ad Council's PSA's, "You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent." My all-time favorite is this one about the hamster... I still get that giggle down deep in my gut when I watch it!

Cool Riders (as in "brrr")

One Friday in early September, we had a couple of friends who wanted to rent a Har.ley and go for a ride with us, so Gil took the day off and we left after my work shift was over in the morning. M & O are looking to purchase their bike or two and are trying out different models to see which ones they want to make their own. I think O was liking the Fatboy they rode this day until he rode my King home!

We bundled up as it was pretty chilly that day and we were going to be riding over a couple of passes. However, we were lucky enough to stay out of the path of rain (and snow) all day and it was a most fabulous day to ride! We rode through the southwestern part of the state and over roads and through valleys I've never actually been on before. We had a great ride and an even better day of hanging out with our friends. We continued the great fellowship by warming up from the mostly chilly ride with beer and pizza at their house with all six of our kids running crazy around us!

We've never had pictures of ourselves actually riding because I'm usually the one taking pictures and, uh, I haven't been brave enough to snap pictures while riding (very often!).

Me and my (soon-to-be-green) Road King.

Gil and his (slowly customizing) Fatboy.

Halfway to Seventy

Now that I've updated the events of August, a month of just being "present" and doing a bunch of fun things, I can start September, an emotional month with many high and lows and much more serious content.

The month began with my birthday which, for the past 4 years, has increasingly become more difficult. I don't mind aging, in and of itself, but it is still a reminder to me of so many things in our lives. This past year of my life brought about my first cavities and receding gumlines, my first pair of reading glasses, and my doctor's serious recommendation for a baseline mammogram. Yay! Can a person be any more excited to have any of those issues to deal with and then have them all come up the same year?! So... I have to heat my soft-bristle toothbrush with hot water prior to brushing, I have to wear my glasses as I look at a computer all day, and I got the girls squished.

But the real difficulty on my birthday is in realizing yet another year of potential fertility has passed us by. It's been over five and a half years of trying to get pregnant. I'm now in the "high risk" and "advanced maternal age" categories if I do, miraculously, become pregnant. My birthday brings with it another year of loved and cherished moments but also takes away another year of availability to try and achieve what most people take for granted. It's always a very bittersweet day and I was so thankful my husband respects my feelings and keeps things relatively subdued for me. I had a great dinner the night before my actual birthday with my parents and some really good friends... a GREAT dinner! But when I awoke the next morning, all I wanted to do was lay in bed and cry. And I did, for a bit. But then I had to wake up and make breakfast, clean, make lunch, clean, make dinner, clean... all in a day's work!

Bring on the Celts!

Towards the end of August, we went to our local Celtic Festival, where both the Scottish and Irish heritages were honored. I've never been to a fest where both were combined; it's usually one or the other and, beings as I'm both, I was really excited to go.

I was a little scared about how the kids would react to the bagpipes. They're not fans of anything really loud and Miss B kind of freaks out in really noisy, crowded situations. But our youngest, Lugnut, absolutely loved them! Miss B liked the Irish dancing and Bubba liked the kettle corn. I'm not gonna lie... that kid loves his food!

It was extra enjoyable as we spent the weekend with my parents and brother, who came and stayed overnight so we could partake in two days at the festival. My brother was upset he couldn't find a food vendor that sold haggis, as he really wanted to try it. I think he just really wanted to gross the rest of us out! But he and Gil enjoyed the whiskey, at least.

This festival was apparently the first one of its kind here. Gil and I went to the inaugural Hig.hland Games in my last place of residence, too, and though it was good, it was not near as large as this was. It had more and larger pipe bands, but the vendors were much more numerous at this one. Granted, it was both Irish and Scottish, not just Scottish, so that added to it a bit. But I think with some scheduling help, they can have quite the annual festival on their hands! It was so hard to choose what to do because they had the Irish dancing at the same time as the piping competitions which were going on at the same time as some of the Highland games. They didn't have a good program detailing the where and when and down-times were down for everything, so it wasn't possible to see all that we wanted... which was everything! As it was, I got small snippets of everything... just enough to make me frustrated I couldn't see more!

All in all, it was a great weekend and excellent family time. Totally worth it. And I cannot wait until next year's festival!

I call this the "Grand Entry" but I that's what we call it at a powwow... how about the Opening Ceremony?! I love seeing both the Scottish and Irish flags being carried.

There's few things more beautiful to me than respect shown to Old Glory... and a line of pipers wearing kilts!

I like how all the men are standing around watching this gal toss her caber. She did better than a lot of the men I watched.

Even a bit of modern Scots-Rock! Awesome.

And a pic of me... I actually think I look really good in this picture. "Good" is definitely not how I've been feeling about my physical self lately so it must be a testament to how great it is for a Celtic soul to enjoy some traditional time!!

Birthday Girl

We had Miss B's birthday while we were out camping because, well, definitely NOT because of the gorgeous weather that day! It turned out kind of cloudy and cool. And our poor little girl... she's blessed with a birthday right during back-to-school time and we had her party on a weekend when people were still shopping, getting in last-of-the-summer outings, reunions, etc., etc. So she had a pretty small turn-out for her "pony party" but it was good and she had fun. We had Italian sodas and cupcake cones (cupcakes baked in ice cream cones), which were a huge hit with the kids and one of my younger cousins who crashed the party.


Even Mommy liked baking the cupcakes... no cake to slice and serve, and no messy cupcake wrappers to peel and throw away. The whole thing was edible! And no comments on the pink party hat... I love my daughter enough to look silly and wear my most-hated color... which my home now has entirely too much of but thankfully most is confined to Miss B's bedroom!

I think D-man ate about 10 cupcakes!! Growing, basketball-playing college boys and their appetites... and talk about skinny! Dang him and his metabolism all to heck, anyway!

Even my parents' dog got in on the festivities... bless her good-natured heart. Such a good dog.

Miss B got some new clothes, some local university-themed gear from her uncle (who is actually a fan of the rival university!), a brand new play kitchen and a bunch of dishes and food to stock it, a new baby doll (who's dark-skinned, just like her), a Mr. Pot.ato Head and Family, in addition to other little toys. She absolutely loves her kitchen and plays with it every day.

And best of all? She gets to be the same age as her older brother for two months!

Another Mud Rig

As a "sort of" anniversary present to ourselves (like the bike trip wasn't enough!!) as well as having a bit of extra cash to be able to buy what we've been talking about for a few years now, we spent our one day back in town between the bike trip and our camping weekend purchasing a 2-up ATV. Yes, it's yellow and black just like my Jeep... and my Ste.elers! And, of course, my helmet is yellow and black, too, but I feel like a space invader or something with that big ol' guard across the lower half of my face.

We took it out that very first night and totally initiated it! We met up with a friend of ours and her kids on their dirt bikes and rode up in the hills behind our house. I may complain about the inconvenience of living in the country again but I sure do love it for the very reason of being so close to our favorite playground - the forested hills and mountains... not to mention the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets God gifts us with here.

Idaho's Hot Curves

Hot Curves = Long and windy roads in the one week of sweltering temps this summer! Gil and I sent the kids camping with my parents and took a little get-away bike trip to celebrate our anniversary. We packed up the bikes - okay, packed up my bike! - and rode through a good portion of central Idaho to experience a piece of the country I've never seen before. Most of the posted speed limits never went above 55 mph, for which, I have to say, I was very grateful! I think we only had about 10 miles of straight or even somewhat curvy road as we followed twisty rivers for most of our 3 days... it was testing my still-amateur riding skills but it was so totally awesome! And besides... my amateur skills took me over the Bea.rtooth Highway and then to Stu.rgis the very first summer I had my bike!!

The best way to ride... The sign like this on a portion of our trip was for 77 miles and completely surrounded by forest but I didn't turn back to get a picture so this one will have to do:

Here's Gil at one of the overlooks we stopped at:

And at another road-side pull-out, we saw this little thing... an Inuksuk! We first saw Inuksuks (of Inuit origin) on our honeymoon in Canada so it was very fitting we see one on our wedding anniversary! Granted, it was a bit out of its cultural locale but we were excited to see it.

This is another portion of the trip... an old highway where the speed limit is only about 35, but it's so twisty and the switchbacks are so sharp, I was maybe only going 20-25. This is a "retired" highway as a new highway was built that went straight up the mountain (you can see it in the top left of the picture). We had stopped at one of the higher spots on this road and looked over... we both thought of the movie Cars because of the new bypass. We might've taken the longer route but it was by far more interesting.

The hotel we stayed in our 2nd night... we followed rivers for the majority of our 3-day ride, there were about 3 main ones, and this hotel was right on the edge of 1 of them.

We had an absolute blast getting away and spending some time on the bikes. We treasure every moment on 2 wheels now. We knew we were losing a majority of riding season when we moved to a different climate last summer but we lost even more when we brought the kids home this winter. Not that we regret either the move or the kids (!!) but we sure enjoy our bike time all the more now. And we seem to be getting in the habit of making a bike trip during our anniversary time... what better way to celebrate!