What Are You Thankful For?

Our own lists to come...

A Little Irreverent Christmas/Mental Health Humor

Schizophrenia:

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Multiple Personality Disorder:

We Three Queens Disoriented Are

Amnesia:

I Don't Know if I'll be Home for Christmas

Narcissistic:

Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

Manic:

Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and...

Paranoid:

Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me

Borderline Personality Disorder:

Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

Full Personality Disorder:

You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell You Why

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

Agoraphobia:

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn't Leave My House

Senile Dementia:

Walking in a Winter Wonderland Miles From My House in My Slippers and Robe

Oppositional Defiant Disorder:

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I Burned Down the House

Social Anxiety Disorder:

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas while I Sit Here and Hyperventilate

The next Van Gogh...seriously!

I posted this on my private blog, but I'm still so proud of it that I have to post it here too to share with everyone...

I have to tell you first of all how proud I am of my drawing. Not only does it actually look like a moose, but I DREW IT IN THE DARK!! I couldn't see a thing, so I'm honestly quite impressed with myself for how well I did. I don't even want to attempt to draw it again though, because I know I can't draw that well with my eyes open! Talk about kicking Pictionary butt!! Woot! Woot!

*Art by K.D., November 4, 2009*

P.S. I drew this picture as an object lesson in Institute to go along with D&C 111, talking about being led in the dark. And, my picture was actually one of the better ones!

Michael McLean and the Adoption Conference

The Adoption Conference went outstandingly well! I think that no matter what event you put on, there are always a few bumps, but I think everything was awesome. All of my anal efforts in organizing the volunteers paid off and things went very smoothly. I honestly had a blast during the conference, despite a few slight moments of stress. I even volunteered to help out again next year if they decide to do it again and if I'm available. I hope everyone who attended got something out of it...I know I did. (And, it was so great to see you, Tricia!) I was able to be a moderator for one of the sessions--a panel discussion of social workers that was extremely informative, and I had a blast doing it. But the biggest highlight of the day for me was being able to meet Michael McLean in person, and he even gave me a hug (and the pictures prove it)! :) He's such a genuine person and really cares about people and their stories. That's one of the things I love about the field I'm going into...I've learned and become more aware that every person has a story, and it's learning those stories that makes me want to make a difference. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the day, and a video I took of Michael performing his highlight song, "From God's Arms to My Arms to Yours." Sorry it's a bad recording and a little shaky, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Janice and Me
(She's my partner-in-crime at school...we have a blast together)

A couple of our volunteers at the sales table...selling Michael's book/cd combo

See the half hug? I told you!! ;)

Yeah--that's us with Michael McLean...Suh-weet!

Michael telling us awesome adoption stories in between playing and singing songs for us

Our Awesome Halloween

We must have been busy this year because we didn't get to do all of the fun things we usually do for Halloween. We usually carve pumpkins every weekend, we usually go to a pumpkin patch, we usually take the time to watch our Halloween movies, we usually go to a Halloween party, etc. You get the picture. Despite not being able to do all of the usual, fun Halloween things that we love, it was still awesome. D carved his first and only pumpkin the first weekend in October--it's his favorite keep-me-awake activity while we watch General Conference. I absolutely loved the pumpkin he carved though! It's an adorable mummy couple looking at each other...I don't know how well you can tell what it is in the picture:
D baked the seeds and made our scrumptious Halloween mix that we've enjoyed snacking on all month. Our good friends Courtney and Wayne had us over for dinner and we decorated some fun Halloween cookies, but didn't get any pictures of them. Then D dressed up for school on Thursday and his students and the other faculty members absolutely loved his costume! He had a blast with it too, and totally played the part of Jack Sparrow.

He was trying to get a picture, and I jumped in to join him :)

Then, yesterday, the weather was absolutely beautiful for Halloween!! We went to our ward trunk-or-treat, and several people came and told D he had the best costume there. Everyone loved that he played the part, and a member of our bishopric actually thanked us for our entertainment in Sacrament meeting today. Haha. People in the ward who weren't there last night, or missed coming by our car kept asking us throughout church what we did to entertain everyone. I just said I had nothing to do with it...it was all D. :) I seriously have the best husband ever. I'm glad he's such a people-person and everyone tends to like him. The rest of the pictures are from the trunk-or-treat:

Jack Sparrow handing out candy

Believe it or not, several of the kids were afraid of him and wouldn't take candy from him, so that's when I would take over and put candy in their bags. Poor kids...they didn't know what they were missing out on.
These adorable grape bundles belong to a couple of our friends.

These boys loved D's costume so much they were throwing candy to him! It really was hilarious to watch...I couldn't resist getting a picture of them!
Some of our friends dressed up as characters from one of our all-time favorite movies. We loved their costumes!
We tried to be a little creative with my costume since we didn't have time or money to get one for me to match D's, so I dressed up as Jack Sparrow's love: "the black pearl." Cheesy, I know, but it was fun anyway :)
Our favorite picture

Then, last night we only had about 4 or 5 trick-or-treaters after the trunk-or-treat, we got an unexpected but welcome phone call from an old family friend--it was great to talk to you for a minute, Bill!! And finally, we had our friends Jaime-Lyn and Buckley over for dinner and to play some Wii. It was super fun as usual. Halloween was pretty laid back, but very enjoyable.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

My husband rocks!!

This is how he went to school today....

Love you, babe!
(More Halloween pics to come)

And, they're off!!

Remember these guys....?
Well, you won't be seeing them around in any of our pictures for a while (who knows how long, really). They've up and left us and MOVED TO AUSTRALIA!!! Honestly?! Why not American Fork or even Brigham City, or St. George? Maybe even Florida, or California? I could handle them being out of the state, maybe....But out of the country? And half way across the world for that matter!! *Sigh*

We're definitely going to miss them. In fact, we miss them already!! Luckily we just downloaded Skype so we can see and talk to them over the internet. The problem will probably be the time difference. They're pretty much 16ish hours ahead of us time-wise, so it may be a challenge to line up times so we can chat. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, here are some pics of them leaving us....

J left first, on September 25th, to get things ready for T & R to follow

J's farewell crew

More of the crew

The boys

Then, T & R left today. T's mom and brother went with them to help with the travel & visit Aussieland for a few days before coming back.

R and her cousin

Me and R
(We had to bribe her with using my chap-stick in order to get this picture of us. She's a chap-stick maniac thanks to me. Sorry T!)

R & some more of her cousins

Last sight of them, and Mike showing off his cute pink luggage ;)

Have a safe flight, you guys!! We love you!! Come back to us as soon as you can!

P.S. If any of you faithful readers feel compelled to donate to the "D & K Australian Vacation Fund," we'll gladly accept donations of any amount :)

T'was a blustery morning!!

This is no joke. This morning just as I was leaving my house heading towards the freeway on my way to school, I was completely startled when I saw something HUGE coming towards my car. A tumbleweed that was at least half the size of my car was headed straight towards me!! The thing was ginormous!!!! No kidding! I think it missed my car by only about 3 inches. It didn't help that it was still pitch black outside, so I didn't see it until it was about 5 feet away. The wind was blowing so hard the tumbleweed was coming fast! Thank goodness for those close encounters that don't actually become encounters :) I swear...this only happens in Utah!!

Have a great day!!

2009 Conference on Adoption

I've been privileged to sit on the planning committee at UVU for the 2009 Conference on Adoption. It's going to be AWESOME!!! Seriously. It's a yearly conference, but we're hosting it this year.

I'm positing this because it's a free conference open to the public, and will be held on November 2nd from 9am-4pm in the Student Center on UVU Campus. I know several of you who read my blog are social workers, or you have adopted children for yourselves, or you have been involved with adoption in some way, so this conference would be great for you to attend! (Every one else is invited too, no worries.) Here's the most exciting part about the conference...are you ready? Michael McLean is the keynote!! Woot! Woot! And...of course Michael McLean can't come talk about adoption without singing his amazing song "From God's Arms, to My Arms, to Yours." You have no idea how excited I am for that! (Also, as a little side note, if you do decide to attend, make sure you bring some cash or your check book because he's going to be selling CDs and stuff too.)

If you're interested in attending, click on this link for more information. At that link you can print the program and pre-register for the conference as well. You can also ask me if you have any questions...I know quite a bit about this conference, so I should be able to answer your questions. I hope some of you are able to come attend! I'll be there all day starting at 7:30, so let me know if you're going to come, and make sure you come say hi to me!!

He's a genius!

I just want to say how proud I am of my genius husband. About a month ago he had to take a couple of Praxis tests for his teaching job, and we just found out that he scored in the top 15% of everyone who has ever taken it! Great job, babe! I'm so proud of you!! Not only that though, he is also in the top 10% of his Masters program, he has a 4.0 gpa for his entire program so far. Woot! Woot! Keep up the hard work, my love. You rock!

P.S. For those of you who don't get the picture of Sid the Sloth being put up with this post, Sid claims "I'm a genius" in the movie Ice Age. If you haven't seen it, repent and sin no more ;)

Monster Mash, anyone?

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Truly blessed!!

Despite my crazy, busy schedule it seems like things are really going my way, and I can't help but smile and be happy. First off, I have a wonderful life, with the most amazing husband in the world who loves me more than life itself. What more could you ask for after that, right? I honestly don't know what I've done to deserve the incredible life, husband, family, in-laws, and friends that I have been blessed with, but Heavenly Father continues to pour down blessings upon me, and I thank Him every day for it because I know how truly blessed I am!

Today was one of the neatest days of my life, and definitely one to remember!! You ready for this?! Today I got to shake the hand of not one, not TWO, but THREE Apostles of God. Honestly. I even have a witness! ;)

Today was the inauguration of UVU's new President, Matthew S. Holland, son of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As my friend, Janice, and I were standing by our seats waiting for all of the "important people" to walk in and take their seats, I was spotted by Jack R. Christiansen, an amazing member of the Church, previous president of the Orem Institute, and newly made VP of Student Engagement on campus. He is such a great man, and such an amazing example to D and I, and the many, many others who have been privileged to know him. Shortly after Jack walked by and shook my hand, a tall man came walking down the isle in an extremely bright pick graduation gown. That tall man was none other than President Henry B. Eyring of the 1st Presidency. Janice and I looked at each other, smiled our beautiful smiles at President Eyring, and he took the time to smile back and shake both of our hands. That totally made our day, and we would have been satisfied with that, honestly. :) The inauguration was amazing, and we were both glad we decided to skip our classes today to attend this once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity. Following the inauguration, we wanted to see if we could find Elder Holland to shake his hand and thank him for his amazing talk he just gave in General Conference this past weekend. As we were walking toward the front where he was standing with his wife and grandchildren, I spotted Elder Neil L. Anderson, the most recently called Apostle. His wife shook Janice and my hands first, and then we were able to shake the hand of our second Apostle of the day :) This was almost too much for us to handle. Just kidding. We finally made our way up to where Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was standing and greeting everyone who wanted to talk to him. He was seriously so genuine and so happy. He asked me how I was doing, and when I replied, "I'm great, thank you," he responded back after looking in my eyes, "Yes, you are great, aren't you?" It was seriously one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. To be able to look into the eyes of a true Apostle of God, and have him tell you "you're great" gave me a feeling I can't describe. I even got close enough to see that he has amazingly crystal blue eyes, and on top of being privileged to shake his hand and speak with him, he also gave me a half-hug as he talked to us for a second and said he's totally okay with adopting Wolverine Green over the BYU Blue he's been used to. Haha. He told Janice and I that were completely justified in skipping our classes for this wonderful event when we told him we missed class to attend. What an amazing day. It's not very often anyone has the privilege of shaking the hand of one Apostle, let alone be in the same room as them. Being able to shake the hands of three living and true Apostles of God is surely a day and an event to remember.

We are extremely excited to have Matthew Holland as our new UVU President, and he has been doing amazing things on campus already. He is super funny and so down to earth. It has been a privilege to meet him in person as well. Welcome to UVU President Holland!!






P.S. Last week I won one of these little beauties at school....
All I did was dress up for the career fair, put my name in the drawing, and finally won something!! But not just something...an iPod! Yeah, it's just 1GB, and only an iPod shuffle, but since we're slow on the technology updates, and we didn't have an iPod yet, this is a good start for us. I swear I never win anything! Maybe my luck is changing ;)

"No time to say 'hello', goodbye!!"

That is totally how I feel most days right now. D and I have just been running from one thing to the next, and taking one day at a time. School is going well, but is keeping me crazy busy and I'm already counting down the weeks until the end of the semester (11 weeks left of classes, and 12 until the end of the semester). I have SO much going on between now and then that it seems so stinkin' far away, but I am trying to enjoy the moment and savor this time in my life. I am super excited to finally graduate next April, but I can guarantee that I'll miss school when I'm no longer here. UVU is currently my second home. In fact, I'll be here longer than at my own house today (14 hours on campus today)! And then I'll be spending half of my Saturday here again too. Whoo! Bring it on, baby!!

I have come to REALLY LOVE check marks!! It's so nice to be able to cross a "to-do" off my list, and to put a slash through every day that goes by. Don't get me wrong, I really do love having the opportunity to be so involved on campus this semester, but I'm also really looking foward to not having so much on my plate. Right now my life pretty much consists of being at school all day, going home and working on homework, making dinner, spending a few minutes of "down-time" with D, and then we're off to bed and ready to do it again the next day. It's hard enough to find time to get everything done that I need to, let alone make my visiting teaching appointments and prepare our Sunday school lessons. Who ever decided that 24 hours in a day would be enough? When somebody figures that out, would you let me know?

P.S. I substituted a class for one of my professors yesterday and I'll be doing it again today and tomorrow...I have officially decided I could NEVER be a teacher. Honey and Pappy J, you are my heros. Thanks for having the patience to teach other people's kids. I don't even have the patience to teach/instruct college students!