The Green Thumb

I wanted to write to share our excitement of our garden. This is the first year that Brett and I have been able to actually plant a garden because we have the room and know that we will be here when it is time to harvest! It's so exciting and something that I have been anxious to do since we got married! Over the last several weeks we have planted our little garden, watered and waited. On Memorial Day we finished planting everything and did some more landscaping in our yard adding flowers and bushes! In my excitement I took several pictures of my garden and the things that are growing in it (as well as a few of Brett working in the yard, I'm sure he loved that)! It's so exciting and even now, a week later, we have SO much more growing!
Our garden! We've got onions, peas, carrots, beans, red and russet potatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, green and jalapeno peppers, and tomatoes.


This is our supposed to be "herb garden," but when we brought our herbs outside they didn't do very well. They grow much better in the window sill, so we've got lavender, daisies, cilantro, chives, and a couple of tomatoes here instead.











TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!! YUM!


Brett pulling up the lawn so I can put a plant under our water meter (much easier to mow!!)


The plant under the water meter.




And last, but definitely not least, my bushes and flowers. This was a BIG project for me! This side of the house doesn't get a lot of sun and stays pretty moist, so I had to do some research on what would grow here. Luckily I found some good candidates and they are thriving! Yeah!

After finishing our yard work on Memorial Day, we drove out to Raft River and spent the afternoon with Brett's family. His sister, her husband, brother, his fiance, and single brother were all there. We drove around the farm sifting through trash piles looking for something to make a fire pit out of, found a tire rim, brought it home to his parents house and put it in the ground. It turned out looking pretty good, but unfortunately after we got it all done the weather turned and it was overcast and WINDY and we couldn't try it out! Oh well, I guess that's our adventure for next time. After Brett's parents came home we grilled some hamburgers and had a delicious dinner, hung out for awhile and came home.

Brett finished school on Friday and is now ready to enjoy his summer. He has no job for the summer, but is going to a couple of conferences. I have just under a week left (I'll be done with kids Wednesday afternoon and finished with work Thursday) then will have a bit of time to enjoy my summer before teaching part of summer school. Wednesday we have our final adoption interview!!! YAHOO!!! Then we just have our home study which hopefully we'll be able to schedule soon! Then we wait. . . Well, that's all for tonight. Time to go to bed so I can get up for work in the morning! I'll let you all know how our adoption interviews go on Wednesday!

Joining the Blogging World!

Hello blogging world! Well, I've decided to join the blogging community. . . and when I do things I don't do them just half way, so I have started 2 blogs rather than just one! I guess before I confuse you all or make you think I'm absolutely nuts, I will clarify. As some of you already know, Brett and I are working on adopting through LDS family services. We have been married for 5 years (as of May 7th) and have not been able to have children. We have undergone years of tests, cycle charting, temperature monitoring, fertility treatments, and more to no avail! We have both always wanted to be parents and since we have been unsuccessful in having our own biological children we are on the search to find our children through adoption! I have always thought about blogging, but have always thought. . . 'what in the world could I write about that anyone would care to read, maybe I'll blog when we have children.' Well, as part of one of our adoption classes we learned about using the internet to help us find our child, but we also learned about protecting ourselves by not using identifying information. SO, I decided that I would do 2 blogs. One (this blog) will be our family blog where I can share our happenings, our adoption progress, vent, and everything and anything else that I may want to. And the other will be our adoption blog where we can share who we are to perspective birth parents in hopes of building our eternal family.

Well, I guess since this is my first family post I will update you on what we are up to in our lives. After Brett graduated in May 2007 we took jobs in Vernal, UT, where we lived and taught for a year. Because of the cost of living there and distance from our families, we decided to pursue new jobs after one year in Vernal. Brett and I moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, in August. We both got teaching jobs here (me teaching a K-2 Severe Special Education class in Twin Falls and Brett teaching English and History in Kimberly) and we bought our first home! Brett also got a position coaching 7th grade basketball which he really enjoyed doing this last winter. This coming year he has committed to also coaching 7th grade football and hopes to secure a position helping coach the track & field team as this has always been his first love. I have stayed busy with my special education job and students, but have decided to teach part-time summer school to keep my feet wet, keep in a schedule, and stay in touch with my cute students! I have also been nominated for the Southern Idaho Learning Center "Teacher of the Year" by one of my students and his parents. I am VERY honored just to recieve the nomination, but will learn tomorrow whether I have earned the honor of "Teacher of the Year."

Also, we have been VERY busy in the application process to adopt through LDS family services. On Mother's Day (May 10th) we finished the last of our paperwork (YEAH!!!) and now just have our joint and individual interviews and homestudy left to complete! We have scheduled our interviews for June 3rd and are very excited and anxious to complete the approval process so that we can more actively search for our child as well as be viewed by prospective birth parents through the LDS adoption website. We are also asking our family and friends to help keep their eyes and ears open for young women who may be interested in placing their child up for adoption. We know that we need a large support group and many people actively helping us in order for us to build our family and are VERY grateful to any and all people willing to help us in our search. If you are interested in following our adoption or happen to know a potential birth parent you may visit or have them visit our adoption blog http://brettandvanessaadoption.blogspot.com or email us at brett.vanessa@gmail.com. We ask that all adoption correspondence be done through our special set up blog and email address as to protect our family from any unnecessary heart ache or fraud. We know there are many honest people in the world, but there are also people who for whatever reason hurt many families who have already struggled with infertility and heart ache that has lead them to the option of adoption.

Well, I guess I've gone on long enough for one day, but I am excited and look forward to continuing my blogging experience!