today

Today was such a happy day. And you know what? Nothing great or special happened. It was just happy. I've actually had lots of happy, blessed moments in the past week (and a few sad ones too, of course!) but today, the whole day was perfectly happy. A caring and helpful husband, sweet students, a great morning workout and, even though I didn't see or hear them, lots of prayers on my behalf. All of it made for a perfectly wonderful day.

This unexpected part of our journey towards parenthood has been pretty emotional, but so many of the emotions and tears have come because of the gratitude I have, an understanding of a perfect plan for our family, and the overwhelming love that I've felt. Blessed and grateful can only begin to describe.

So thanks. Thank you for all of your sweet messages, kind and encouraging words and the many, many prayers you have offered for us. It's those things, particularly the divine, heavenly help, that have already healed my heart and made today a truly happy day. I can't wait for tomorrow!

an update

There's no perfect way to say it really, so here it goes:

Yesterday at my doctor's appointment we learned that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. The news is truly sad and disappointing for us, but we are grateful to have made it as far as we did on this journey. That alone is a sweet miracle.

We're using this time to practice our patience, flex our faith and count the many, many other sweet blessings that are ours. We have overcome hard things before and this is no different. Life as a whole really is so good. After a procedure tomorrow we'll regroup and, when the time is right, start this process again. Hopefully it won't be long before there's good news to be shared again.

Something is in the oven!

I bake a lot, but this was my first attempt at cinnamon rolls. Good. Really good, but not quite perfection...so I'll keep trying. I used to have a fear of yeast. Lame as that may sound, I simply didn't like the idea of using an ingredient that I could 'kill' if I messed up and got the water too hot. I just didn't need that kind of trouble! But, since I'm over that, I decided to use yeast to create one of life's finest treats. Ah, cinnamon rolls.


Truth be told, this isn't the only new thing I've been baking lately. You see, these 'buns in the oven' were actually inspired by something just a little different, but of the same name.



That's right.


Nate and I are so excited to share with you that we are expecting a little one in December! I'm almost ten weeks. The journey to get to this point was a lot more difficult and invasive than I ever imagined it would be. Lots of medications, experimenting, nightly injections, ultrasounds and blood draws every few days, failed attempts...it's been a lot. But through the last year and a half of it we both have really learned about new aspects of faith and divine timing. It has been an amazing, challenging and blessed journey.
Just getting to this point feels like a huge success. Oh, and we're SO excited that there's just one little 'bun' baking in there, because this time around there was a possibility of three!
So far no throwing up, but lots of all day nausea and just feeling totally exhausted. 8:30 is my new favorite bed time! But it's those miserable symptoms that our little 'bun' is 'rising' and growing. So I say bring it on exhaustion and nausea. I can handle you, even if it's for nine whole months. Our sweet treat at the end of all of this will be SO, so worth it!

Oh, and the cinnamon roll recipe is on Sweet Sista.

Feeling Appreciated

I've had a few rough weeks, and these (along with a few little gifts) are SO what I needed to start out this dreary Monday.
Such a nice surprise to receive these little love notes!
It's teacher appreciation week and a few of my kids are really making me feel special. I have a feeling a little more love might be coming my way as the week goes on! I think it's amazing how personally powerful a simple expression of thanks can be.
(Just an aside: The creator of this artistic wonder has a little speech issue, as you can see by the 'arward.' It wasn't long ago that she asked me if Wussia was near the Pilippines. Kind of a 'had to be there moment,' but it was a cute, memorable one.)

So, if you've got a school-aged kid, just have them write a sweet note to their teacher some time this week. It really DOES mean a lot! (Of course, throwing in a Jamba Juice gift card wouldn't be bad either!)

Oh, and I never followed up on a previous post, but my job is safe. What grade I'm teaching is still a mystery. Stay away 5/6 combination class. I don't want you! Life is so relatively pleasant and sweet down here in third grade!

HE is the Champion!

Last week as March Madness came to a close (in April) Joey awarded the Boyce/Biron Mad to the Max trophy to Nate. For the past two years, Joey's mom, Jackie, has had the winning picks and beat EVERYONE, so we were all looking to snatch that trophy away from her!
Joey came in a close second and, surprisingly, out of the twelve of us, I was third. Those darn bonus points really made a difference this year. It looks like taking less than three minutes to complete the bracket and doing absolutely no research was a good strategy for me. Next year I'm aiming for two minutes and more oblivion to basketball and maybe I'll be the champion. Max loves being on our mantle. I think he wants to stay.

'Hoppy' Easter!

Easter might not be the most festive holiday, but I'm now convinced it's definitely the cutest! Bunnies and baby chicks and colored eggs...it practically screams cute. Just when I thought I had finished Easter's sweet treats, I put my beloved Kitchenaid to work one more time and came out with these:


Cute, right? Just like the rest of Easter. It was definitely more time consuming than the cupcakes, but, actually, pretty relaxing. I'm no pro. In fact I've never made bunnies before, but maybe if I really do lose my job I'll take up cookie decorating. Not quite as lucrative, but creative and fun for sure!

So now that I've got all of the 'Hallmark' parts of Easter taken care of, tomorrow we'll focus on the real reason to celebrate this day. I think we'll start with a message by Jeffrey R. Holland.

HAPPY EASTER!

* And, of course, if you want the recipe for my new favorite sugar cookies go HERE. *

Just a little more Easter...

Have I mentioned before that my family is packed full of holiday traditions? I honestly can't remember an Easter when I haven't made these. Even in college I called my mom and had her talk me through making frosting. (Because I didn't know you could buy frosting!) They're fun to assemble, especially with friends or kids, but I was on my own this year because Nate's out of town. And, they're also a great memory each year of one way we got ready for Easter in my younger years. Oh, and they're really fun treats to deliver to friends! Thanks Mom, for being so creative all those years ago! This is one tradition that will definitely keep going.

(oh, and you can get the exact instructions, not that it's super complicated or anything, HERE.)