Fort Building

Everyone has memories from childhood of blankets, tables and chairs haphazardly stacked together and named a "fort." Emma has lived and slept in this latest architectural success story for three days. It is going away today so I can have my Living Room Back, but Emma and Nathan have loved it.

Star Light, Star Bright

Star Light, Star Bright
First Star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I make tonight

On Monday Emma's preschool teacher told the class that if they looked at the first star they saw at night and made a wish their wish would come true. She also reminded the kids that they shouldn't reveal their wish or it wouldn't happen. That night Emma asked if she could go outside and look at the stars as soon as it started getting dark. We let her and she made her wish. No matter how many times I asked she would not tell me her wish. This morning (2 days later) at the breakfast table she asked if her magic wand had arrived yet.

Yes, she wished for a magic wand. She went on to tell me that the first thing she is going to do with her wand is to turn my eyes brown like hers so I don't have to wear contacts or glasses to see clearly anymore. I got a lump in my throat.

She has complete trust in her teacher and fully believes that her wand is on it's way. I suggested we make a magic wand, but she said it wouldn't have real magic if we make it. Emma than revealed that she had made a second wish. If the magic wand does not come soon than she expects that she will be getting a real horse.

It must be brown and white. And....if she does not get a horse than wish number three will kick in and she will get wings. What am I going to do? I love Emma to pieces and even though disappointment is part of life my wish is that I could prevent it.

New Adoption Website

LDS Family Services has been working hard to create a new adoption website with features that will make searching for couples easier. It is still in the Beta stage, but it is live! I really like it. It seems a lot more user friendly and we have the ability to show more pictures of our family. We recently changed some of our information and put it in the new format. The new address is https://www.beta.itsaboutlove.org/ial/search.jsf if you want to check it out. At the bottom of the search page type in our names, Dave and Tanya from Utah. You have to say Dave rather than David because there is another David and Tanya from Utah.

I just like this picture. Doesn't Dave look cute?! It is the one we used for our contact page.

Adorable Hair Dos

Great Clips should offer family package deals. I am a fan of Great Clips. You can walk right in and they can even accomodate a whole family at the same time. Plus, there is the added bonus of only $13 for adults and $11 for kids. Last Saturday Emma, Nathan and I sat in snazzy adjustable chairs all within arms reach of eath other and got our new looks in less than 45 minutes of walking through the door. Considering the fact that it was no easy feat to get these pictures of Nathan, it is quite miraculous that Nathan's hair looks so evenly cut. He didn't exactly come with a "stand still" button. His hairdresser is brilliant. She handed him a dum-dum sucker before beginning her work. He was an angel. We hadn't planned on getting Emma's hair cut, but she wanted it done. She had to go short in order to make it worthwhile since she just got her hair cut three weeks before. Her a-line bob looks so sweet. Emma is going through a stage where she doesn't want me to fix her hair so this little do is nothing less than marvelous.

Theft of a Name

Someone wants to be me. Well, really they just want my money so they stole my name to get it.

I got a surprise when I updated the finances this week - a $40 charge to our bank account that neither Dave or I could recollect. I started the detective work and quickly discovered some odd doings. First, the expense was connected to a check number that was about 100,000 numbers higher than our current check number. Second, that money was paid to a...well, lets just say less than reputable organization. Third, the less than reputable organization had our bank routing information including our account number. The unthinkable had happended. Somone had stolen my identity despite what Dave and I thought were adequate efforts to secure our good names.

With that confirmed I headed to the bank to close our account and open a new one. I felt like the heroine from one of those movies where the good guy and the bad guy are both rushing to the same end. The one who arrives first wins. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I went through the motions of getting a babysitter and driving the 10 minutes to our bank. I needed to win this race. Each red light added to the pressure and created further incentive for my imagination to run wild. The guy at the bank didn't seem as rushed as I felt like he should have been. After all it was in his hands to make sure the bad guy had no chance of getting my money.

Fixing this problem turned out to be a lot harder than I would have expected. It seems that even though most of the bills we pay through our account were set up over the phone with relative ease they all require signatures and proof of ID to make any changes. I'll have signed enough papers to have refinanced a house by the time I get everything changed over. I should be grateful except it makes me wonder how someone got our account information in the first place. Scary, really.

Time

I've always believed that I can make time for the things that are most important to me. Following the great excitement of the holidays, time seems to slow down. We suddenly have a moment to refresh ourselves and become reaquainted with each other.

For My Own Sake - Holiday Memories

I want to hold these holiday moments in my mind forever. Next year we probably won't put bananas on the tree, but thanks, Nathan, for helping! We love you.Santa and Emma are good buds. Emma was so excited for him to visit that she woke up at 1:19 AM on Christmas morning. Santa and Nathan are still getting to know each other. All cozy on a winter carriage ride. Catching our first glimpse of Santa at the local Santa parade. Ohhh, the Festival of Trees. What more can I say? It's a feast for the eyes. Of Course Santa's reindeer are real... And we had to put out food for them on Christmas Eve.