Museum of Natural Curiosity and The Drowsy Chaperone

This last week was a lot of fun! After interviewing the week before for my dream job, and then spending the next week trying really really hard to not sweat over whether or not I got the job, I got the offer and accepted! Totally great.

Other than that I took my nieces for the afternoon while my sister-in-law had a doctors appointment. We decided to go to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. It was SO MUCH FUN! First we went to lunch, and the girls wanted hot dogs, so we went to J-Dawgs:

They were happy! Don't know where the grump faces came from.

And then it was off to the museum. It was SO CROWDED! We had wandered for awhile trying to find it (and getting two little girls in and out of their car seats multiple times is no fun, just saying), and once we got there we had to stand in line for probably 30-45 minutes. But then we got it and it was fantastic. Kate (the little one on the right) is incredibly brave and independent, and wandered off on her own two times. Karli (on the left) was a really good sport about it though and would walk around holding my hand quietly while we looked for Kate. We had a great time especially in the water section, and Kate LOVED the little rubber beads you can build hills and landscape with in this picture:

A little blurry, but getting a picture of them in action is hard.

I kept having to stop her from throwing them. But how can you resist when they laugh with so much glee and smile so big. It really was so much fun. I would recommend going with two adults though, would have made the seeking I had to do a lot easier with more eyes since it was so crowded. When we got back to our house their Mom and Dad brought pizza, and we watched Aladdin.

We also had the great privilege of seeing The Drowsy Chaperone at the Ziegfeld Theater in Ogden. Scott's friend was in it and his wife had assistant directed/choreographed the show. It was so funny! I know they said that the crowd was kinda dead, but I was laughing my head off. We stayed the night (they invited us, how nice!), and in the morning they made us breakfast:

Kacee in the front and Kevin in the back

Kacee was nice enough to make a separate pan of eggs for Scott because he absolutely hates cheese in eggs. Mine were fantastic.

Last, we had a lot of fun at church. Here is Scott after being chosen by our class to wear the funny hat as a reward to our class because they were singing so loud:

It's just so fantastic!

And that was our week. Lots of fun!!

3,012 miles, 45 hrs. 46 min. driving, 3 time zones, and 10 states

This trip we took involved A LOT of driving (if you couldn't tell from the title). The number of states are states that we stopped in for some reason or another. Some to stay for a little bit, some to just get gas, and others to see sights or visit people.

We started out by going to Las Vegas, NV. We stayed in this super fancy hotel, which was surprising because it wasn't that expensive at all. I have wanted to go to a Cirque Du Solei show for a very very long time, and I finally got to go! We went to La Reve The Dream (a cross between gymnastics, contortion, dance, comedy, and synchronized swimming). It was pretty cool. We were sitting in the "splash zone" in the front row. Got a little wet, but we were dry by the time it ended. This picture was taken before the show started. Sorry it's so dark. We were surrounded by people that didn't speak English (or Spanish in my case), so we did a lot of gesturing and this is what we got. Didn't want to go through that again. My favorite part: when they took the guy up past were we could see (at least 4 stories) and then dropped him into the pool. Absolutely crazy!

Then we stopped at the Hoover Dam on our way to the Grand Canyon. We went on the tour through the bottom, which was pretty cool.

I totally love Scott's hat.

Then finally on to the Grand Canyon! It was mind blowing, seriously. Simultaneously Scott and I both said, "Oh my gosh," upon our first glance of the canyon. Pictures do not do it justice! It really looks like something painted on the sky.

Our first outlook. So pretty!

We went on a hike of the Kaibab Trail. Lots of great views, and Scott was brave and climbed to the top of this rock (yes, he made me do it too).

Then this big guy wandered into our camp. 

We were at the Grand Canyon for two days. Then we went on to Mesa Verde. Stopped at four corners monument, where I had the best fry bread I have ever tasted. It was fantastic. At Mesa Verde National Park (it's kinda small, in Colorado) we went on tours of the cliff dwellings there. It was really really cool! People actually lived in these about 800 years ago, and abandoned them after about 80 years being there. Seems like a lot of work for such a sort period of time. There are around 600 dwellings in the cliffs in the area. You can see most of them from the roads on outlooks, and there are a few you can walk through.

Getting into balcony house. It's about a three story ladder.

Crawling through a hole to see part of the dwelling.

Scott climbing out of the dwelling.

We even went on a twilight tour of Cliff Palace, the really big one, with a guy acting like the original explorer of these ruins.

Then it was on to Kansas. We always stay with the Ross family when we go to Kansas, and I totally forgot to take a picture with them. The Ross' are this awesome awesome family that took me in after my house burned down. We got together with my brother's family while we were there of course and tried a new BBQ place (K&M). I thought it was pretty good (the onion rings, mmmm), but Scott likes Oklahoma Joe's better. BBQ is a required stop in Kansas City. So good. 

Salena on the left, Nathan in front, and Justin next to me.

I normally try to take my nephew on some sort of date when I'm in town. He remembered from last time I was there (a year and a half ago, seriously!) that I told him we could go to Lego Land. They only let you in if you have a child with you, and Scott wanted to go too, so we went. This is from the section where you make cars on race them or see how far they'll fly on a ramp. Nathan just wanted to take one and make it go over and over again. Scott wanted to make a cool looking car (he built the engine). I didn't make one until the very end so that I could race Nathan. We had a lot of fun.

I even put a spoiler on the back.

And then was the excuse we had to go to Kansas (which we didn't really need one, but grad school got in the way) was Megan Duffy Field's wedding! It was totally beautiful, had the most fantastic cake that I've had since my wedding, and great food. She looked absolutely beautiful and I'm really happy for the new couple (her husband's name is Jamie Field). Megan, Jen and I were connected at the hip in high school. We did everything together, so it was great to get together again at her wedding.

Jen on the left, Megan in the middle, and me on the right.

So that was our vacation. It was really great, and I was super sad to leave Kansas. Cried as we pulled away from the Ross' house, but we're happy to be home. Sorry this post has so many pictures in it, but it was worth it!

26 for Scott

So it was Scott's birthday the week before we left on vacation. I'm a little late, but between leaving for vacation, being on vacation, and then coming home and getting a bunch of phone calls for interviews (yay!) I've been trying to keep up with life (and honestly I've been a little lazy).

On Scott's birthday we had dinner with his family. So the night before we went out to dinner. He got to pick, and decided to go to this Hibachi place we were told about (thanks Wendy!) in Lehi. They're kinda a faster version of Hibachi where they don't do all the tricks. You just order, they make it, and then you pick it up. Their noodles are AMAZING, and they serve a lot of food. Scott always wants steak, and I always want tempura vegetables (mmmmm, I'm salivating just thinking about it!).

I said, "Look happy," and this is what I get!

So on his actual birthday we went to his parents, grilled some burgers and hot dogs, and hung out with the gang. Scott's family get together all of the time, which is just fine by me. So everyone was there except his brother who is on a mission in Texas. His Grandpa even came down for it.

Just having a good 'ole time chatting.

Earlier that day Scott's Mom asked me to make a cake for him. I asked Scott what he wanted and he said, "Make something nerdy." What they heck does that mean? So I thought and thought and thought until I decided that I could make a scrabble cake! Scott loves scrabble, but no one will play with him because he's so good at it.

Yes I measured the lines. And the squares are butter mints that I put letters on. They were a little small to also put the score on too, otherwise I would have. Scott said that he forgot to calculate the score on it. I even looked up a picture of it so I would put all the colors in the right spots for bonus places.

A genuine Scott smile, kinda hard to get!

And of course, I got these cools candles that glowed in different colors and they didn't want to light. In true Huff fashion, Scott's Dad decides to get out his torch and light them. I thought it was so funny I just had to immortalize it in a picture.

The arm in Scott's Mom.

So that was Scott's birthday. Lots of fun, and concluded by us going home and packing all of our camping gear into our car for our trip. Post on that to come.

Sewing!

I really enjoy sewing. I learned from my Mom and my Grandma when I was little, and now that I finally have room (and honestly time...looking at you grad school) I am sewing again.

Over the weekend I got a frantic phone call from a friend that makes movies and videos and stuff, and they desperately needed me to fix a "small tear" in a jacket for a shoot that night. Well, that "small tear" was actually the shoulder and front pocket being almost entirely torn off.

Needless to say, I spent like 3 hours fixing it. Hey, I got paid to do it. I'll take it!

Yes, I also love to read, and need another bookcase bad.

And really, whomever put that jacket together needs some sewing lessons. Some serious sewing lessons. I called the person that assembled it some mean words in my head, and some of the cleaner ones out loud, many many times.

A lot has happened...

Sorry that I haven't posted in awhile. A lot has happened in the last few weeks, most of which includes Scott and I spending most of our free time trying to finish all of the adoption paperwork. We went to our doctor last week to get our physicals done for the paperwork and I decided to make a day of it. Check it out...

I went to the eye doctor and they dilated my eyes. My left eye went back to normal really quick. My right eye took close to 8 hours to go back to normal. So I looked a little odd. Took myself to lunch and was one of those creepy people wearing my sunglasses inside.

I also graduated with my Master's of Social Work degree from BYU! Oh my gosh, so excited about it!

The hood kinda chokes you. Yay for husbands and mother's-in-law that come up with ways to attach it so it stops choking you!

Other than that we have actually been spending a lot of time with little kids. We LOVE it! We babysit this little squeeker, Alec, most Saturdays and he's so much fun.

Cheesy excitement for getting his own flowers!

He likes to run, evidenced by the blurry picture.

Alec really likes the horses across the street from our home and calls them "doh" (dog). He asks to go see them constantly. Scott is really really allergic to them, but will brave it (thank you benadryl) because Alec loves it so much.

Scott had pulled out some weeds from the garden to feed the horses. Alec won't touch them, but loves watching everyone else do it for him.

And then we spent a weekend watching our nieces Karly and Kate ("A sleepover at Kami and Scott's!"). They LOVE anything princess so we told them we could watch Sleeping Beauty (their pick) on our "big tv" before going to bed. They wanted to cuddle with Scott all night.

Can you see Kate cuddled into Scott's side by the chair?

We took them to a big park the next day. Kate is incredibly brave and went on and through everything. We kept trading off which kid we were following so we could switch off who was the most tired chasing her around. Karly likes having someone there to reassure her more, but we talked her into crawling in the hive to take a picture.

It is so sweet for me to see Scott with these kids and just get so excited for what's coming for us. He really is fantastic with all of the kids in our life, and they absolutely love him (I mean seriously, the girls cuddle and play with him all the time). So wish us luck trying to finish all this paperwork!

I passed!

I apologize for the messiness of this blog currently. We're trying to make it look the way we want it to look!

These last two weeks have been fairly eventful for me and Scott.

First this happened:

Which pretty much made my whole week! I had to go to a conference and present some research I did for the VA Hospital right after taking the test, man was I tired!

Scott and I finally got to go in and meet with the caseworker at LDS Family Services, meaning we can get started on the rest of our paperwork. Daunting, but exciting!

And I just have to say that Scott is a rockstar. He hates programming, but he's using the skills he has and finding new ones by making this blog look pretty. I just love him.

Introducing...

Hi, my name is Kami. I'm married to Scott. We're pretty happy people, and we really like each other.

We've been married two years and in that time a lot has happened. I got to go to Scott's favorite place in the world, Yellowstone National Park.

I had died my hair brown for a few months.

We went on a honeymoon (after six month's of marriage, so still newlyweds, it counts!) to Alaska.

And I got bit by a salmon fish on that trip.

See the terror that a fish induces!

I went back to graduate school to get a Master's Degree in Social Work at Brigham Young University. Scott graduated from BYU with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering!

After seriously injuring my back lifting a television I had to have back surgery. But I am pretty much 100% back to normal.

We went to Disney World as Scott's graduation present.

Epcot Center

And Scott started a great job with a lighting company as an engineer. I'm also just about to graduate with my Master's degree (taking the licensing exam tomorrow, eek!).

But after all of that we are on our way to start the best adventure we've had yet! See, we started trying to get pregnant shortly after we got married. I had a diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and we knew that it was going to be hard, so we wanted to get started early. Well after two years (with a small break so I could have surgery and then be cleared by my doctor), we found out that I never had PCOS and actually have something called Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (or Premature Ovarian Failure). All that means is that I have so few eggs that they can't count them. After praying and pondering over our options with infertility, we've decided to forgo the less than 5% chance of getting pregnant on our own and go towards...

We legitimately have this on our fridge.

We're just getting started, but if you want to point us in the right direction let us know! We're super excited to expand our little family!!!

We believe!