The beard

Most everyone who knows me knows that I DO NOT like facial hair. Yuck. I do not like looking at it. Or touching it. And DEFINITELY not kissing it. So why, then, did my wonderful husband decided to randomly grow a beard?

He said he wanted to try it out. He has talked about it for years. I kind of thought it would be one of those things he would try when he was forty or fifty. But he decided to try now. And no, he did not consult me on this decision (he didn't need to, he already knew what I was going to say).

I think part of this desire came with a recent visit with my family. Both of my brothers were there (very rare, btw). Matt, the younger of them, had some very sporadic growth around his chin and face. It looked awful. But when he told us it was TWO WEEKS of growing, I couldn't help but laugh! Bill, the older, has much the same problem, though I think his "beard" might be slightly better. But only slightly.

We have always known Craig could easily grow a full beard without much trouble. We have been a little curious about how long it would actually take to grow one. So for the last week he has been trying to grow a beard.

And I hate it. I mean, I REALLY hate it. Cameron isn't too fond of it, either. And it turns out, Craig himself doesn't like it either! He says he is constantly aware of it, but it never ceases to shock him when he looks in the mirror, or puts his hand on his face. So, the beard is coming off tonight. Hooray!!

I have to say that I am impressed with the growth he was able to achieve in only one week. It is not a full beard, but probably would be within another week if he continued to let it grow. I am hoping that he won't try this again for a long time. Or ever. Maybe now I can convince him to do laser hair removal on his facial hair:-)

A few shots of the beard:

Fostering

I have a new found respect for foster parents. It is HARD WORK!

Craig and I have been searching for ways to "grow" our family. We recently took a serious look at becoming foster parents. Because the state helps quite a bit, we felt this would be a great idea for us. We already had a spare room, a bed and a crib, plenty of toys, etc. Only the child was missing.

So we started going to the classes that they require as part of the licensing procedure. We learned a lot. We learned things we didn't want to know. We learned that people do terrible things, and a lot of time they do these terrible things to their own children. So sad! Heartbreaking, in fact.

We thought, "We could give these children a safe home. We could give them love. We could give them hope." But then we were told that the state ALWAYS wants to send these children back to their bio parents whenever possible. Even if we feel that is just not cool.

Some of these kids have been through way too much in their short lives. They need A LOT of attention. Which is, of course, a problem for us, since we both work full time. I even work most weekends.

Putting it all together, we decided that fostering is probably not such a good fit for us after all. It would be very difficult to spend the time with them that they really need. And we know that we will probably become attached to them, and it would be very difficult to give some of them back to their parents. I think I could handle it a little better than Craig. He is an all or nothing kind of guy. But it would still be hard.

So, here we are back at square one again. I find we are here A LOT. I don't think I like square one very much. It means there is no progress. We want more than anything to have more children, but nothing has worked out for us. In fact, fostering was pretty much the last step for us. Now that that has fallen through, we are pretty much thinking Cameron is going to be our one and only. It kills me to think that. I always wanted a big family. Never thought I would only have one. I love him like crazy, but I would give anything for him to have a brother or sister. Perhaps it is just not meant to be.

I guess she's not so bad, afterall

Many eons ago, I lived in a hole-in-the-wall place south of BYU campus. Total ghettosville. But I made a lot of friends and some good memories. But there was one person I did NOT want to make friends with. We called her the "Cookie Slut". I know. Awful. She had this name because whenever any of us tried to visit with any of the guys, invariably she was there. With cookies. And not just any cookies. These were always her best homemade, melt-in-your-mouth, died-and-gone-to-heaven cookies. Us plain girls didn't have a chance. So naturally, we hated her. Okay, hate is much to strong a word. But we didn't like her much, at any rate.

Well, as fate would have it, I ended up actually moving in with her the next year in a new apartment complex. Yes, I did know she was going to be there, and yes, I did cry a few times before the big move-in day. I was certain I was making a big mistake, but something kept telling me I needed to do this. Besides, if I lived in the same apartment as her, I was bound to get some of those cookies, right?

Turns out, Alicia (yes, she does have a name), was an awesome cook in general. Really, I think her homemade Chicken Noodle soup is impossible to beat. And those chocolate bon-bons? Yes, please.

Then here cookies made something magical happen. One night she made a batch of fabulous cookies and invited a bunch of guys a few doors down to come sample them. Too bad she forgot to tell me. So there I was in my jammies, no make-up on, hair not done, and in walks an entire apartment full of guys. Yikes! No where to run, no where to hide. So I just curled myself up on the couch, hoping I looked invisible.

Nope, not invisible. Apparently I caught the eye of one of those fellers, and he sat right down next to me and started up a conversation. And he was smart. Real smart. And I liked him. A week later he asked me out on a date, and I decided I like him even more. And he liked me, too. We've been together almost eight years now:-)

And what about Alicia? Well, turns out she wasn't so bad after all. In fact, she was downright great! I have had many roommates over the years, but she is one of the few that I have actually kept in touch with (thank goodness for blogs and facebook!). She found her Captain Awesome a few years back, and now they are expecting their first baby!

Even though she now lives in Kansas, I still keep up with her. She has been in town because her hubby Brian is an AMAZING organist (I think he played a little for MoTab), and is doing some kind of organ thing at BYU, so Alicia's mom threw her a baby shower.

It was great seeing her again (even though I was reminded how very short I am). Alicia, you are awesome. I am soo excited for you and Brian! And I envy the new little one because he will get to eat your amazing food every day. Thanks for the cookies:-)

The Great Outdoors

I have always been the outdoorsy type. Despite my cuteness and chic style, I grew up as a tomboy. I was the one climbing trees, digging in the dirt, and bringing home the local wildlife (I still do not understand why my mom would not let me keep the tadpoles).

Craig is not so much an outdoors kind of guy. He is happiest behind a computer. He says he doesn't like fishing (but he has only been once, so how can he really know?), except in the occasional video game. He mostly refuses to help me in the garden (though for our anniversary he did help with some weeding).

We always assumed Cameron took more after his dad. He is ALWAYS playing video games. Or watching youtube videos about playing video games. Or talking about things that happened in games he is playing. It never really occurred to us that hidden somewhere inside him he had the Outdoorsman gene.

A few months ago my dad offered to take Cameron for a night. My dad is a very outdoorsy kind of guy. He loves camping and fishing, and he took us out frequently when we were all kids. So when Cameron went to visit, of course he took him fishing. We weren't sure how Cameron would like it. Fishing is something that requires a lot of patience. What five year old has any of that?

Turns out, Cameron loves fishing! They stayed out all day, and Cameron caught THREE fish!! This was one proud mamma! I let my dad have the fish, though. Cameron, like me, loves to fish, but hates to eat them.
So this past weekend we planned a short camping trip with Craig's cousin Clin and his family. We have been planning this for quite some time. We decided to head up to Echo Lake in the Uintah's. For anyone that has been up that way, you know that the ONLY way up is a on a rocky road (more like small boulder road), using 4 wheel drive. It was very slow going. But so worth it! We were pretty high up (10,000ft), so it was pleasantly cool. There were no towns or highways anywhere around us, so the stars at night were spectacular. We even saw the ribbon of the Milky Way!

We roughed it for the weekend. We could not park the cars at the campsite, so we had to make a small hike, which we did several times to get everything from the cars. There were also no bathrooms, but we brought some shovels;-) Dinner was hot dogs roasted over the fire, and I made breakfast tacos in the morning.

I regret that I did not get a fishing license. Their were some small trout in the lake that would have been fun to go after. Clin brought his fishing gear and was able to catch a couple. By the time Cameron got out to the lake the fish had already gone to deeper water. Also, little Madison was so loud that she scared off all the fish. We don't really blame her, though. She's only two. I did catch a little snake though. That was kind of cool:-)

My biggest regret? No pictures. I know, sad. I brought my "big" camera, but I didn't have my tripod (it broke), so I didn't feel like getting it out. For snapshots I brought my little P&S, but Craig packed it away somewhere and I couldn't find it. Craig should know better than to touch my cameras.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, and we are hoping to do it again. BTW, Cameron's favorite part was sleeping outside in a tent. He looked so cute in his sleeping bag, and said he was "so cozy". Craig and I were not. Our air mattress sprung a small leak. And I had Orion (the dog) with me because he was freezing, so it was a little cramped in my sleeping bag.

On a final note, I am starting to harvest some of my garden vegetables. I have already had a pint or two of strawberries, which I am hoping to jam. And yesterday I harvested my first bell peppers ever! They are puney, but I am happy to have them. I left one on the bush for a little longer, and it turned red, the other is still green.

I also noticed that I have one tomato that is starting to turn red, and a whole bunch more that are starting to come out. I love fresh garden tomatoes!

Well, this post has certainly gone on long enough. But since I am not the greatest at keeping my blog regularly updated, y'all get a an extra portion:-)