Big Changes....Small Spaces

Things are changing in the Daniel household.

We are officially moving this weekend.  Bradley and I have so enjoyed living in Queen Creek for the past 4 1/2 years.  We originally moved here on the day we were married.  Since that time, we have had many opportunies to meet wonderful people.  How grateful I am for the blogging world and that ability I will have to keep up with so many great friends.

We are also very blessed to be able to move closer to Dental School (only 5 miles away) and closer to work (only a 30 minute commute).  It will be an adjustment living in a space about half of the square feet that we currently live in now.  But, we feel that if we sacrifice now we will be able to live more abundantly in the future. 

There is been so much going on in our lives in the last six months.  And the lack of posts is mainly due to the many hours in our attempts to sell our home and get everything finalized with our buyer and banks.  The good news is, we were able to sell our home.  And, like most people, we chose to do a short sale.  It was touch and go a couple of times, but the Lord knew what was best for us in this circumstance and His guiding hand was with us each step of the way.  We understand these are merely the consequences of our choices 4 1/2 years ago.  Not easy to live with, but we live and we learn.

We hope to keep in contact with our Queen Creek friends over the years.  Please continue to view our blog for updates regarding our adoption process.

This month is adoption month.  I wish I was doing more on a day to day basis to make people more aware of this wonderful, miraculous process.  I have read so many uplifting stories about adoption and the amazing process of birth families and adoptive families.  I am excited, yet uncertain about our future experiences for adoption but know that we will find our forever family soon.

Update on {OUR} Adoption Journey

Saturday we received an unexpected call from our case worker who informed us that she had some time set aside to do our joint and personal interviews.  Within an hour, we had to complete our online questionnaire (from family background to our feelings of our level of marital intimacy), get ready and provide enough travel time to make it into Mesa.

We were (kind of) on time.

It was a pretty nerve wracking experience and I attempted to do my best at not projecting my Relief Society voice.

Some highlights of the joint and personal interviews were:

• Talking about how we first met (to come with another post shortly)
• Brad mentioning that he actually saw me before our "first meeting" at an Institute Class to which I arrived late....with a boy.
• Getting to know our awesome case worker
• Sweaty armpits while Brad had his personal interview
• Sweat-stache (slightly damp upper lip) during my personal interview
• Learning and understanding some good tips for our online profile
• Leaving feeling as though we accomplished something and our paperwork is on its way to completion/approval/certification

I am still anxious with this whole process.  I have been reading more and more blogs with those engrossed in custody battles with their adopted child.  I hope and pray that our experiences will be spiritually wonderful and uplifting and that we will be prepared for the long journey ahead of us.

Happy Birthday to Brad - He's 27!!!

Bradley is not a typical birthday celebrator. He is very practical and wishes that no one would spend unnecessary money on him. Me included.

His birthday was on a Saturday this year. I thought it was a perfect day to prepare his favorite breakfast and go out for the day. Nope. He just wanted a regular old breakfast sans specialness and we didn't do anything. Not anything!

Luckily, Brad has a wonderful brother who, like him, is also {somewhat} practical in his expenditures. Jared and Alisa invited us to go to Black Angus because they had a couple of coupons for some birthday deal. Jared's birthday is also in September. So, we celebrated the evening together. It was great and the conversation was even better.

Here are a couple of pictures from the evening. 

{don't tell Brad, but I've got something "up my sleeve" for next year...he won't know what hit him}

Weekend Camping - Bear Lake

What else can poor, dental students do for vacation? Camping, of course!

This trip was pretty spur-of-the-moment, but it was fun. We left Friday afternoon. Brad was in charge of packing for the trip. I wish, I wish I would have taken a picture of his packing. He was able to pack all of our camping supplies in our 1996 Toyota Camry, plus a two tables and a camping stove. Brad felt the need to impress the others in our group with his/our amazing camping skills. Our skills include being able to eat pretty well and snappy tent set up.

Here are some pictures of the event.


Getting dinner done by propane light and preparing for a marshmallow roast. (pictured: S. Buehler, T. Buehler, A. Adam, E. Albertson)


(pictured: S. Adam, S. Prince, A. Prince, S. Buehler, T. Buehler)


(pictured: The Sadams)


Posing for posterity (The Buehlers)


Random smile...me!


Trying to fuel the flame. (pictured: S. Adam)


Albertsons, they are just experienced, if not more, at camping like we are. Troopers!


Good dentist, brushing his pearlies before breakfast. (pictured: The Sadams)


Look at the cute couple in all our camping, morning glory.


Three words: Best. Sausages. Ever. Good job Princes!


The gals - we are looking SOOOOO good after only one day of camping.


We camped only minutes from Bear Lake on the Rim. The picture above is our little hike to the lake below (you can see the lake behind the people on the picture).


Bear Lake - isn't it gorgeous. It was a beautiful day. The trail wraps around the entire lake.


During our hike around the lake we found a trail of rocks leading about 6 - 8 feet out to the lake. This was an opportunity to take some pictures. You can see more of the rocks in the pictures listed below.


Brad decided to jump in the lake and test the waters. I was too chicken to jump in. Not too chicken to make a fool of myself...it just looked too cold.


All the wives - Me, Anne, Emily, Ashlie, Sarah


Our camping location was right on the Rim so as we drove out we realized another photo opportunity! This is a view off the main road standing out on a cliff.  I believe this is overlooking Highway 260.


Brad's picturesque moment on the cliff. He really wanted to sit out on the point but I refused to let him be a daredevil. It was pretty windy up there and I was certain he would fall.


My glamour shot. I am not a fan of heights. I think I have vertigo because I start getting dizzy looking down at such a large drop off. Therefore, I crawled out to my sitting spot. Brad really wished he would have recorded me doing it. He thought it would have been funny for the blog. Now, you can just picture me doing it. Even better.

Brad and I had a really fun time camping with the group. It was a quick trip, but it as super fun and well worth the time to be away from all the noise and business of the city. We hope to do it again real soon with the same group.

He's All That

My husband is practically famous. Famous in a way that only people in Arizona, who might also attend A.T. Still University and want additional insight into their IT department sort of way.

Whilst working towards his graduate degree in dentistry, Bradley also finds spare time to model. And what a model he is!

I can honestly say I am more intrigued about what services might be offered by the photos alone. Plus, I had to give him a hard time where he is pictures with exotic women. Hmmmph!

See if you can find him!
Actually, Bradley was asked by a photographer, with several other students, to pose for upcoming brochures. He wasn't sure his photo(s) would even be used or what they potentially would be used for. But, nevertheless, pretty exciting....in a brochure picture kind of way.

An Educational Journey

You thought this would be about Brad, didnt you?

Well, it's not.

I am actually going to school now. Knowing that I have been out of highschool for 12 years makes me think I could be a doctor by now.

I have been attending school off and on for the past...forever. Now that I am working at the University of Phoenix, and since school is virtually free, I'm giving it a shot. I wasn't too excited about my current course for the main reason being the name: Critical Thinking. Plus, I also had a chance to thoroughly reviewed the syllabus and realized the depth of commitment needed over the next five weeks and I wasn't sure I was up to the challenge. However, that has all changed...and I have only been in class for 3 days.

There is a lot of reading material that I must go over weekly. And I am pleasantly surprised by what I have read already. Of course, it's a lot of mumbo-jumbo over deep thinking but it also goes over many topics that affect our thinking. This particular section is devoted to stress. I found the following quote fascinating:

Sometimes we can extend our perspective still wider to show how small our stressors really are. If we stop to think about how short our lives are and how small we are in this huge universe, certain concerns and worries dissolve away in insignificance. When we think about our Milky Way galaxy sitting in obscurity in the vastness of space among 130 billion others like it, with an average of 100 billion stars in each galaxy, with the total number of stars in these galaxies possibly exceeding the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on our planet, we can understand why the astronomer Carl Sagan referred to our home as only a speck in the cosmic dark, “a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”. And when we think about how old our universe is (about 14 billion years), and how in comparison our life is shorter than that of a fruit fly, then maybe it does not matter any more that we are trapped behind a car going 34 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone, that our spouse doesn't get the garbage out on time, that we are five minutes late for our meeting, or that our hair doesn't look just right.

I extremely enjoyed this little snipet of helpful advice from my online school. While, I don't always learn as much as I can with each and every class - so far it's going okay.

Projected graduation: Next Summer 2010!!!!

{I love my husband because...}

...he remember things. Well, most of the time. He's not so good at remembering to take an exit on the freeway if we happen to be too chatty in the car. But, in other things he's like a freakin' elephant. You know, because an elephant never forgets.

For example, I happened to put some clothes in the wash last night. To prevent spoilage, I asked a half-alert Bradley (still in bed, by the way) if he could put them in dryer when he got up. And, guess what? He remembered.

However, he forgot to include a dryer sheet. Result? Static cling. But, at least he was thoughtful to make his wife happy with the laundry. It really requires very little to make a wife semi-happy.

Fashion is Frustrating: Flip-Flops

Obviously, this blog is about all the things that bother me. And, obviously, I get bothered a lot by things. Of course, there are also things people do that bother me, but since this is a public blog and I don't want to lose any friends I'll have to keep those bothering things to myself. But, really, you don't bother me blogging friends. You don't. Honest.

I like flip flops. And since I live in Arizona, which coincidentally is the capital of flip flops, they are pretty easy to come by. (do you love my overexcessive use of commas? wonderful) Brad likes flip flops too. Wait. Scratch that. Brad likes my flip flops. There is a particular pair of flip flops that we literally fight over. This could become a real issue in our marriage. But, I've decided to be the better person and let him air out his hairy feet with my flip flops. But, enough is enough. I need to buy another pair.

Enter in my trip to Payless Shoe Source yesterday afternoon. I decided to take my lunch hour and make a trip to the closest Payless (24th Street/Baseline). For those of you in Queen Creek or not from this state, it's practically ghettoville. On more than one occasion, I have had people approach me to ask for money. That's how I distinguish whether a place is ghetto or upscale, of how many people actually ask me for money or what kind of people shop in the local Fry's Food and how many working teeth they have left. I drop by the ghetto Payless and enter the store to find, they have the flip flops. But, where's my size? There is a 6, 8 and 12 in black. This is ridiculous. Even for flip flops!

I ask the Payless clerk, "Do you have any additional sizes in the back of this store for this particular flip flop?
Clerk, "Sorry, no."
Me, "Well, this just get's really annoying since everytime I visit this store, they never have my size in this flip flop."
Clerk, "What size are you looking for again?"
Me, "A size 9."
Clerk, "Oh, well, I think with these particular flip flops only come in certain sizes, like 6, 8, 10, 12...."
Me, "Oh, I get it. Like all even sizes."
Clerk, "No, like 6, 8, 10, 12...."
Me, "Yeah, like I said even sizes. Well, okay, thanks for your help."

Fortunately, there was a brown color in size 10 that I decided to buy. When I get up the register, the clerk (the same one that had difficulty understanding even sizes) informs me that they only accept cash and points to an inconspicuous sign posted to the left of the register written in Spanglish. Oh okay. So, this is how you're going to play it, huh? Well, who carries cash around these days what with the homeless people attacking us outside for spare change? Not me! She kindly asked if I wanted to hold the pair of shoes so I could come back and purchase them. Uhhhh....no thanks. Too much trouble for stupid pair of flip flops.

I leave the store severely and extremely frustrated. Like my last post about frustrating fashion, I now understand that I seem to be pretty average regarding the size of my buns and the size of my feet. Once again, I pose a question: If there seems to be a certain market for size 10 flip flops, wouldn't a store be more apt to actually carry that size, especially in the summer months? And, why am I not in fashion marketing? I'm obviously an expert.

Until then, farewell lovely Airwalks. We were never meant to be.

All Alone with My Pal Wendy

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Brad decided to be a helpful, selfless, priesthood holder and go camping with the boy scouts from our ward. And, you know what that means for me? Eating whatever I want and doing whatever I want. Initially, I had some grand illusions in my mind that consisted of a pedicure, shopping for a makeover wardrobe and a movie. The night actually ended up getting a Wendy Meal #6 and a free Redbox movie. See, this is what grown up women do with little money. We gorge on fast food in the solitude of our homes and watch a chick flick without snide remarks from our spouse.


You cannot imagine the kind of freedom I engaged in when eating my Spicy Chicken sandwich and knowing that nobody would be asking for a sip from my soda. I ended up watching He's Just Not That Into You - which was fairly decent. Of course, movies today seem to go to the edge with PG-13 ratings where the f-word can be said once. Which doesn't even make sense? Don't Hollywood producers know that not everyone uses vulgarity as part of their normal everyday language? Maybe not. I guess it's not real and gritty and true-to-life unless there is some natural vulgarity. And it is natural. It is.


The only part I hate about Bradley being gone is that I am alone. In my house. And then it gets dark. Of course, I miss him for maybe the smallest split-second. But the worst part is being alone in bed and it's dark. I actually put off bed last night until about 11:00 since I was so freaked out. For some paranoid reason, I feel like the night that Brad isn't home there will be some psyhco killer outside my house waiting to pounce at the right time. Plus, our house has the usual house noises which naturally leads me to believe that someone is walking around my house when in fact the house is locked down like Alcatraz. So, I check the windows and doors. And then I check again. I'd swear that as soon as I turn my back to the dark someone will be right behind me. Stupid, I know. But, I finally fell asleep after reading some Twilight and woke up feeling rather silly.


Today, I almost didn't go into work. I would have loved to take my GNO (or would it be GNOBH (Girls Night Out By Herself?)) and extend it to the morning hours which would have consisted of sleeping in and thinking about spending money. But, just basically being lazy.


Brad called me before leaving for the mountains and said (with a smirk), "So, what are you going to do while I am gone?"


"Oh, I'll probably have a party."


Did I ever.

Still feel like I am in High School

While the first Twilight movie was cheesy with the effects and acting, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed it because it brought a pretty good book to life. When I first read Twilight I was overcome with the giddines of a teenager when Edward professed his love to Bella. Didn't we all want someone so dreamy in high school? Although, probably using the word dreamy dates me a little bit. I was excited to see the movie and remember watching it with my sisters (who are not too far in age from me) and being so ecstaticly happy when Edward was on screen. It's like, he's really there?

So, when this picture was released from the set of the New Moon movie....I become a little jealous of Kristin Stewart because she get to lock lips with Edward. Stupid, I know. Immature, I know.