Foster parenting

I announced to the Instagram/Facebook world last week that we are preparing to become Foster Parents.  By doing so, I knew there would be a lot of questions that couldn't be answered on a simple Instagram post, so I thought I'd take some time to go through possible questions that we have received/will be getting.
As a little background, we've been thinking about and wanting to do foster parenting for a while now.  It all started when we lived in Portland and met Peyton.  She was the most adorable baby that just instantly loved me, and she was a foster child.  It broke my heart that there are these children who have gone through so much trauma and all they need is a little bit of normal, a little peek into what a regular family looks like and functions like, a lotta bit of love, and what a difference that can make in their lives.  I loved the thought of being that person for these children and knew that at some point, we'd be doing foster care.  Fast forward to now, we were getting ready to move into our house with plenty of room, and a friend let me know that foster classes were coming to HEBER in May on WEEKENDS when it will be easiest for us to attend.  I couldn't say no or put it off any longer, not with timing like that!  So we're on the path to becoming licensed foster parents and could potentially be ready to house children as early as August of this year.
Now on to the question part. :)  

1.  Q. Does this mean you've given up on trying to have biological children?
A.  No.  We still want to continue trying to have biological children but I've come to the very real realization that to achieve our dream of becoming pregnant, the next step is IVF.  Which we don't have the money for.  So while we are saving up for that, we will be doing what we can to help children in need and offer all our love.
2. Q. I thought you didn't want to adopt.
A. First off, I never said that. I said adoption wasn't right for us right now.  Secondly, foster parenting is not adopting.  Yes, it can lead to adoption in some cases, but the main goal of fostering is to have the children returned to their parents.  In our last foster class, we were told that the percentage of children in this region who end up being adopted is close to around 20%.  So it's not super common.
3. Q. If the child/children we were fostering became available for adoption, would you adopt them?
A. Most likely yes.  Adopting through Utah Foster Care costs nothing.  That's right, it's basically free.  Adoption through a private agency costs around $40,000.  So if we were to ever adopt children, this would be the way we'd go (at least at this point in our lives).
4. Q. Does this mean you're quitting your job?
A. No.  To be honest, I am the primary breadwinner in our home.  I'm not trying to discredit my husband or shame him, he has worked very hard to get where he is and I am so proud of him.  The truth is that I do make more money that him, and I have company provided benefits that we can't do without.  Without both of us working, we'd be in big trouble.  I'm trying to work out a situation with my work to make it easier for me to be a foster parent, but I also am searching for daycares in this area that aren't super expensive.  While foster parents are reimbursed for children's needs, it's only around $15 a day and one day care that I've heard of charges $25 a day.  We're definitely not doing foster care for the money and will probably be spending more out of pocket than what we will be getting, another reason we will need both of us to be working.
5. Q. Isn't foster parenting hard?
A. Yes. I'm sure it is.  Isn't normal parenting hard? I'm sure it will be hard to take these children into our homes and our hearts and love them unconditionally and then see them go.  They can come with so much trauma in their young lives and could be very difficult to handle.  But if we can make just a little difference in their lives, it's worth it. 
6. Q. What age group do you want?
A. With foster parenting, you can specify what age group you are willing to take.  For us, we have said 0-4 but are willing to go up to age 8 if there was a sibling group situation.
7. Q. How can I help?
A. Great Question! ;) Because we don't know what ages we'll be parenting, and there is such a big range in supplies for a baby vs an 8 year old, if you have any old children furniture that you're not using anymore and would like to donate, we would appreciate it! Cribs, car seats, high chairs, toys, we have nothing! Most parents have 9 months (and a baby shower) to prepare for their children and they know they'll be babies.  We only have a few months until we'll be licensed and don't know the size of child we'll be getting. So if you feel the desire to help and have anything you're not using (or could sell to us for cheap), let me know.

Any other questions? I'm an open book people. :)

Welcome home Sister Jack!

Dustin and I spent a whirlwind weekend in July with our families.  We originally planned for just me to fly in for Ginelle's homecoming, but then decided a few weeks before that Dustin should come too.  And I'm so glad that he did! I'm also super glad that we booked our tickets on Southwest so we could sit together! Southwest for the win.
Dustin and I flew in to Salt Lake City on Friday July 11th just 20 minutes before Sister Ginelle Jack's flight was scheduled to land.

We got off our flight, checked an board for arrivals and saw that her plan had landed!  We rushed over to the Delta section of SLC and called my mom to make sure it was ok that we see Ginelle first, right as she got off her flight. My mom said she would be jealous but that she knew Ginelle would love to see us there.
We waited patiently as everyone got off the flight and there was no Ginelle yet. I was getting worried that I had looked at the wrong flight so I asked a passenger who had just gotten off and she said it was correct. Finally, Sister Jack walked out of the jetway and I ran up to her and gave her a hug. She was so surprised and so happy to see us! It was awesome to be able to spend a few minutes with her before everyone else.

We planned how she would make her entrance- Dustin and I would be standing in front hiding her, we'd count to three and then lean to the side so she could pop out the middle! Our family saw Dustin and I coming down the escalators and looked so disappointed. Then she popped out and they all cheered (scaring poor baby Audrey). But because it was a surprise, no one really caught it on camera.  Haha.

 

 We left the airport and gathered at The Cheesecake Factory for Ginelle's welcome home meal.  We loved having Elliott sit next to us.  Look at the adorable bread and banana plate they give kids!

 

 

Unfortunately, Elliott was not entertained for long.

 

 It was so fun being there with so much family and sharing meals, sharing cheesecakes, and being loud and crazy together.  I miss being with family so so much!

Friday night Ginelle was released as a missionary and we spent the evening catching her up on all the YouTube videos she missed while she was away.
Saturday morning I worked on finishing the Dino quilt for Dallin and Becky's baby.  I hadn't done binding in a while and I am not used to my mom's machine so it was harder than it should have been.  But I finished it and I think it turned out adorable!

 We missed the Blendfresh launch party at Thanksgiving Point that morning (and our chance to win a Blendtec), but it was good to be able to finish the quilt and help prep for the couples baby shower that afternoon. We had fun games and prizes and enjoyed getting ready for baby Rex (not his real name, just what I called him).

I like how my dino themed presents for baby turned out and I think they really liked them!

 

 Saturday night we spent with the Creers enjoying Texas Roadhouse and hanging out together. It's always a good time at the Creers!
Sunday was Ginelle's mission homecoming talk and we enjoyed visiting Salem 4th ward.  That afternoon I started to feel sick so I took a long long nap.  Like 3 hours I think.  When I woke up it was time for Frozen with the family followed by old family movies.  Nathan, Dustin, and I stayed up way to late trying to find an old home movie we made but we found it!  It was fun to see the endless dance parties we had growing up and how Evan was completely adored as a baby.

 

 Monday morning I woke up still feeling sick, but worse because I was nauseous.  We had an early morning temple trip scheduled for Spencer to receive his endowment because he has his mission call and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it.  I got ready and asked Nathan and Dustin for a blessing.  We were a little late to the temple but made it in time for the session and I am so glad I was there! I love being in the Celestial Room with my family.  And Spencer was so happy.

 

 

 I was feeling a little better so we all went to IHOP for breakfast, but then I started feeling sick again so we rushed home.
Monday afternoon Dustin had an appointment to shadow a chiropractor up in West Jordan who is hiring.  We packed up our stuff and headed up with my mom, Ginelle, Becky, and Reimi. Dustin was dropped off at the office and then the girls had a lovely afternoon of shopping and Cold Stone.  We picked up Dustin a few hours later and headed to the airport for our flight home. I was afraid that I'd have another barfing on the plane experience like when we came home for Dallin's wedding, but I was feeling much better and there was no barfing.  :)
Right after we checked our bags in for our flight, we got the text that our flight was delayed by an hour.  It would have been nice if they could have sent that 20 mins earlier! We hung out at the airport and talked about how Dustin's shadowing went.  The doctor is definitely hiring (which is a definite plus!) but his philosophy of practice is a lot different than Dustin's, which means he wouldn't be a good fit for us and we won't be a good fit for him.  So we're still looking.
One thing we learned from this trip is that Utah is DEFINITELY where we want to be and feel like we should be.  We are still unclear on the details, but we are excited to be going back home.
It was a fast and furious weekend but I'm so glad we went! Even if it meant coming back to mounds of work.

For the love

This year's Valentine's Day was the best one. EVER.  Usually Valentine's isn't a big deal for us and our first Valentine's when we were dating was a disaster.  So glad that good memories are replacing bad ones! :)

Dustin spoiled me with the trifecta of Valentine's gifts:
Jewelry (ShaneCo pearl necklace and bracelet), chocolate (See's Truffles), and flowers (long stem red roses and lilies- my favorite!)

Valentines Day new jewelry selfie? you betcha!

I gave Dustin a nice new watch that I had him pick out, and then I decorated his car with a basket of goodies while he was in clinic.  They had cutesy sayings.  Thanks Pinterest :)

 

Once upon a time we decided that we would have candle lit pizza dinners for Valentine's Day and then go out on the weekend, but that was when we thought we'd have kids some time soon and would want to spend the night with all our loves.  Seeing as we still don't have kids and VDay was on a Friday, we figured we might as well go out.

We enjoyed dinner at Panera, which was perfect because there was no line, no waiter to tip, and the food was delish.  Then we watched The Lego Movie at the Clackamas Town Center.  It was so funny!

We had lunch together on Valentine's Day and Dustin told me some shocking facts.  Of all the married couples who started this Chiropractic program with Dustin, 50% of them are now divorced.  Of the married couples that are doing the Sports and Exercise Science Master's Program as well, 2/3 of them are now divorced. Grad school is HARD.  We hardly see each other, especially true the further he gets into the program, and it's hard not being able to spend much time together.
A few people have asked how we're able to do all our fun dates or outings.  I'm not sure if they meant financially, or how we find such cool stuff to do or whatever, but I honestly don't know how we'd survive these couple years WITHOUT the quality time together.  I literally get so cranky when I can't see Dustin for more than a few minutes a day. We need time together. And some days we see each other when we wake up, and then for maybe an hour before we go to bed.  I know we should get more sleep, but I like those few hours that we have to spend together.
Financially we are fortunate to be able to easily prioritize fun dates.  My job has been excellent and I have increased my hourly pay rate by almost $3 more an hour since I started 2 years ago.  We're also still taking out max student loans.  Starting grad school I was FREAKED OUT by the financial side, but we have been very blessed.  We use Groupon often and usually spend at least one weekend night (Friday or Saturday) at home.  We use our credit cards to our advantage to receive rewards like cash back or Thank You points that get us gift cards.  We pay them off in full each month and never pay interest.  Sure, we could have a lot more in savings or could take out less student loans, but we are making memories and taking time to be together. I'm happy to be in that 1/3 that are still married and even happier that our love for each other has grown during the past 2 1/2 years in grad school. We're in this together FOREVER and I'm so glad I have Dustin with me to go through this hard time in our lives.

 

thank you

I want to thank everyone who read my last post and sent such sweet comments or messages.  I really do appreciate all of you and your words of hope, prayers, and encouragement!!

Talking about infertility has not always been easy for me.  For a long time I was so mad at myself and my body for not working the way it is "suppose" to.  It made me feel like I have a huge flaw that I can't fix on my own.  And asking for help is not my strong point.  I'm very independent and like to do things on my own.  I even wear the pants in my marriage, there's no doubt about that. So going to a doctor for something that was supposed to be so easy was a huge struggle for me.  And for a long time I was very angry at EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.

When we lived in Utah, I didn't tell many people of our struggles.  Only our parents knew about our first pregnancy until I miscarried and then the rest of our families and a few friends were told.  The second pregnancy went a little longer so by 8 weeks after my first doctor appointment, we told more people and then had to tell them that I had miscarried a few weeks later.

I hated telling people. I hated the sympathy.  I felt like people just felt sorry for me.  They probably did.  They probably still do.   But I'm ok.  Things aren't always roses and rainbows, but I have worked through the anger and disappointment and have learned to be happy.  Sometimes I have bad days and I let myself be sad or angry or whatever, because I'm HUMAN and we all feel that way sometimes.  Opposition in all things, right?

When we moved to Portland I guess I figured I had a fresh start.  We weren't trying to have kids right away since we had zero health insurance and as I talked to the sisters in my new ward, I was able to find a lot of support and similar experiences.  There are a TON of women in my ward who have gone through infertility-- I don't feel so alone!  In Utah all you see are millions of women having babies all the time.  In Portland, people think it's crazy to have a baby so young.   And most of the dear sisters in my ward who have younger kids had a battle with infertility.

Finding support through these sisters and others who have gone through infertility really gave me comfort.  That's one of the main reasons I took my blog off from being private.  I don't imagine I'll ever be able to have a blog as amazing as Kenna's (let's face it, I'm just not as amazing as Kenna with all she's gone through and is STILL going through!), but I want to be a means of support to others who are going through hard times.  We all have a lot we can share and learn from each other.

Hopefully all my posts aren't depressing, but I hope that you can feel my sincerity and openness as I post about ALL the things that go on in our good life.  That's right, this is still a good life!  We have trials and opposition that come our way, but we can make it through them! I have no idea how fertility treatments will end for us.  We might never be able to get pregnant!  But we are hoping and praying and exercising faith that things will work out for the best.

And in the mean time, we'll enjoy this crazy adventure as best as we can. :)

So from the bottom of my heart,

THANK YOU.  

I hope you stay tuned.  I know I'm going to have to post about how this month goes now that I've explained opened it all up for discussion.

Fingers crossed it's good news. 

Giving Thanks

Things are in full swing Christmas here at the Creers as we are excited to celebrate Christmas #1 in just about 2 weeks before flying home for the holidays. But I can't forget writing a post about Thanksgiving!

The Jack family (my mom, dad, Ginelle, Spencer, and Evan) got here Wednesday afternoon. We surprised Evan by picking up The Limited Edition of Zelda Skyward Sword for Wii and he was so excited. He had been looking for it at every place in Utah County, but as he didn't reserve it, everyone had sold out. So I did a little calling at the local Targets at was able to reserve it at the Cascade Station location. We made a little boy very happy by having it ready for him to play as soon as he got here, and that's exactly what the boys did while the girls were working away in the kitchen making pies and rolls. We had some yummy pumpkin pancakes for dinner and then spent the night swimming at the hotel pool and hot tub.

Thursday was turkey day! We enjoyed sleeping in and then relaxing all morning. We headed up to Battle Ground for Thanksgiving dinner and festivities with my Uncle Art, Aunt Sheri, and their 3 boys (the Gaileys). Sheri brined the turkey and it was AWESOME. So moist and tasty. In fact, if you go to allrecipes.com and search for "turkey brine," hers is the first recipe to come up. We stuffed ourselves silly and then relaxed/watched football/chatted. We watched the movie (from the BBC? You can find it on Netflix) The Nativity and it was so funny. It's a British movie about a church school putting on a Nativity play. Just watch it. We finished the night with pie, pie, and more pie! And then a food coma. :)

Friday we did NOT go black friday early morning shopping. Instead, we slept in to our hearts content. We headed up to Cascade Station and hit up some lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, then got lost in Ikea. I love that store. I love playing house in all the different set ups. We also scoped out Sports Authority for Dustin to pick out some Christmas presents from my parents, and then explored HomeGoods, which was cool! Utah doesn't have that store and they had a lot of good stuff. Good thing I contained myself and didn't buy anything. Cuz we don't have any money. :( After our adventures at Cascade Station, we made our way north to Vancouver and stopped at Old Navy for some Holiday shopping. We met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousins for dinner at the House of Beijing. I was expecting a restaurant similar to PF Changs based on the awesome reviews my aunt gave it. It was a totally dive. Looked so ghetto. But the food was awesome. I'm still craving the crab puffs right now. We will definitely be going back! We then headed up to Battle Ground for game night. The adults played Frustration and I am so happy to say that I WON! And Dustin came in second! It was a good game with victory for the Creers! To top the night off, we all headed down to Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland for a midnight doughnut run. I have seriously been waiting for weeks for this. I kept wanting to go to Voodoo Doughnuts but kept telling myself that when my family came, we would go. And it was worth the wait. Now I know that Voodoo Doughnuts has a lot of hype and I do have to say that they are not always amazing. They have some doughnuts that are to die for such as the Voodoo doll (chocolate bar doughnut with raspberry filling), Mango Tango (Mango jelly filled doughnut with vanilla frosting and tang sprinkled on top. SOOO good), I've heard the apple fritters are fantastic but haven't tried one yet, and the bavarian cremes. BUT, all their other doughnuts are just kinda so so. There, I said it. But for those excellent selections, they are freaking awesome.

Saturday we didn't sleep in quite as long, but we started the morning with early morning bowling at Big Al's in Vancouver with the Gaileys. After bowling we went to 5 Guys for lunch and then to Sheridan's for frozen custard. (can you tell how much my family likes to eat?!? Kinda the highlight of every trip....) Dustin and I shared a Candy Cane pothole (vanilla custard mixed with crushed candy cane and chocolate shavings with a hot fudge pool in the middle) and it was SO good! My aunt had to leave for work so we headed back to Big Al's for some arcades, and then to Trader Joes. My mom picked up some snacks for their drive home and they all looked so good! Eggnog flavored chocolate covered almonds! Seriously genius. I'm going to have to go pick some up for myself. Saturday night we were SO full from all the previous eating that day that we just kinda chilled at my house, watched Elf to kick off the Christmas season, and ended with Thanksgiving leftovers and pie.

My family left Sunday morning for their long drive back and while it was sad to say goodbye, we are excited that we will be seeing them again soon in Utah! It was such a great Thanksgiving holiday and we are so grateful that my family was able to come out and visit us. Dustin and I are so blessed with everything that we have in our lives! Sometimes we get frustrated thinking about the things we don't have, but we do have so much and are thankful for it every day!

I'll be home for Christmas

You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents by the tree!!!!

And no, it's not only in my dreams. Although the original plan was to not go home until March when my lil brother Dallin gets home from his mission, we decided to go home for Christmas!

The reasoning:

Dallin will be getting home the end of March, when Dustin's 2 week quarter break will be happening. Kinda. That's what we originally thought. Now that we have schedules planned for release dates and quarter schedules, Dallin will actually be coming home during Dustin's finals week, and then possibly not even giving his homecoming talk until April when we'll need to be back in Portland.

Nathan, Adrienne, and Elliott's spring break will come before Dallin's return as well, so they changed plans to come home for Christmas instead of March. Thanks guys, you're what got us thinking about changing our plans. We just miss that little Elliott of yours too much. And you too. Both of you :)

Dustin will actually have a THREE week break after this first quarter for Christmas and New Years instead of the usual 2 weeks. An extra week to party!

I currently don't have a job, so it's not an issue to take off holiday vacation time right now. Will I possibly get a job before moving? Maybe. But remember how I decided to stop living my life on maybes and just enjoy come what may? :) I remember.

We will get to be in Utah for Christmas, New Years, my momma's birthday, Evan's 12th birthday (how did he get so old?!), and East Canyon with the Creers!!! Basically, an all around win win win situation with lots of partying.

During Christmas break, I can see if Pandy at Wymount will hire me on for Christmas break help. That alone would pay for the plane tickets! And since my lil sister Ginelle works there, I'd still get to play with her while working. And since we'll be there for 3 weeks, I'll still have lots of evenings and weekends for family and friends!!

Doesn't coming home for Christmas just make sense? We're excited!

I didn't know there was sunshine in this city!

Well, we made it! We have now been here for a week and while it still feels like we're on vacation, we love it! When we got here last Thursday, the temperatures were SO HOT all weekend! We finally saw a little rain Sunday morning, but it quickly went back to blue skies and has been BEAUTIFUL all week. Everyone kept trying to tell me about how depressed we'd be with the over cast skies and rain, but, man, this is heaven. I look forward to the rain that is coming soon too :)

BIG thanks to my wonderful parents, awesome sister in law Nicole, and fantastic aunt and uncle for helping us move!!! We hope more family and friends can come visit us soon!

It has been SO great not working and having Dustin at home too before he starts classes. We were able to put our house all together, including most decorating done by Wednesday! Which is seriously record time for us. In our last two places, pretty sure we NEVER were fully moved in. I love love love our little apartment. It is the perfect size for us and I feel like we have tons of space for storage and everything. This complex is so amazingly quiet that sometimes I wonder if we even have neighbors.

We met our ward on Sunday and when the bishop found out we were from Utah he said, "Oh good! You're active!" Which we laughed pretty hard about cuz being from Utah definitely does NOT make you active. Our ward is pretty small, but after feeding the missionaries on Wednesday (we have missionaries just for our ward! How weird is that?! Okay, it's not weird, it's actually really normal outside of Utah!), we found out that the activity percentage is 25%.... so that's why it seems so small. We'll see how long it is before we have to give talks in sacrament meeting... and yes, I said HAVE to give talks cuz I hate giving talks....

We made some new friends called the Stanfords--Yolanda (yo-land-a) and Nate. And their 5 kids. The invited us over for lunch on Sunday and we had a great afternoon with them. Nate goes to Western States University like Dustin so he gave us a whole bunch of great advice. We had them over for a fondue and games last night too and it's nice to have friends here already!

Today was a fantastic day. Dustin got to go to new student orientation, and I got to work on application stuff. I am now trying to work with Robert Half Accounting and ExpressPros Jobs to find something to do out here. I did some more testing for Express Pros for Excel, Word, 10 key, and typing, and I feel really good about my scores so hopefully they have something for me when I go meet with them on Monday.

After I was happy with my test scores, I treated myself to a couple episodes of Desperate Housewives before Dustin got home. Hahahaha. Tonight we are heading over to my aunt and uncle's house in Battle Ground for they BYU vs Utah State game.

Pictures and more Portland happenings to come!

September

Man, time keeps flying by and our move date gets closer and closer.

Update on our Portland move: We are scheduled to move Wednesday September 21st at 6:00 PM, drive to Jerome, spend the night, drive the remaining 8 hours on Thursday September 22nd and check in to our new home at STAR CREST MANOR in Portland around 3-4 PM. That's fine, everything is finalized with the apartment. But boy, was it drama. I guess this management group has had a hard time with students in the past and wanted us to pay a huge deposit and THREE MONTHS rent in advance. Which I was definitely not happy about. Shouldn't the background check, rental history check, and credit check verify that we are responsible adults that are the ideal tenants and therefore they should be begging us to live there?! I told them that was unreasonable that they should discriminate against us but would be willing to compromise with a lower deposit and first and last month's rent in advance, to which they agreed. Man, I don't remember it being so hard to get an apartment, but this whole deal has been quite the experience.

This means we have 2 weeks and 2 days left in good old Utah and we plan on living it up. Today we went bowling in the good old Jack family Labor Day tradition and I am sorry to announce that I failed miserably. Actually, my last frame I started with a STRIKE, but then proceeded with 2 gutter balls, sealing my fate in last place. If I would have hit ONE single pin after that strike, I would have beat Dustin. But nope, fail. Dustin was able to go fishing with his dad and brother and the other men in the family (uncle, cousin, brother in law) this morning and they had a great time catching stinky fish. We ended the night with a Jack family BBQ complete with homemade Butterfinger ice cream (yum!), and a trip to the Creers to visit for a little bit.

The packing process is coming along. I feel like we have SO MUCH STUFF that just needs to get packed, but then we have 2 weeks left so I don't want to pack up everything and not be able to use it all... Hmm..... good thing I'll have a couple of days before we move that I will be done with StoresOnline and focusing on getting everything together.

I look forward to the time I'll have in Portland while I'm job searching and will be able to set up the apartment, blog, recipe blog, and work on some projects! It will be nice to relax a little bit. Because job searching is so relaxing. Hahahaha.

Good times to come in September!

Graduation

Our countdown chain to graduation is DONE! Dustin's graduation was on April 29th and it was great! Best moment of the graduation was when President Holland (UVU's president) at commencement told the graduates, "please be seated.... and please get a job." It was funny. I got a little emotional during convocation because I was just so excited and happy that this part is DONE and that my husband is now a college GRAD! :) Only four years of schooling left to go before Dustin can be making the big bucks! And we can be paying back the bigger bucks. Hahaha. I am afraid for the future price of grad school and how extremely poor we'll be, but I'm also very excited for that next stage. We've definitely been blessed and have never had to really feel "poor." That will be coming oh so soon and I look forward to the new adventures it will bring.

Now that the graduation countdown chain is gone, we are now left with the countdown to
Cancun which is SO SOON! 9 days from today, which is almost over so really only 8 days! Definitely getting beach fever! Life is good :)

It's a Love Story?

Dustin and I met in 8th grade drama class. When most people hear this, they automatically assume that we were high school sweethearts, but I'll start out with saying that we were NOT high school sweethearts. In 8th grade one of my best friends had a huge crush on Dustin but I never knew him until they called roll the first day of class and I heard his name. "Oh THAT'S Dustin Creer!" is what I thought. We became friends that year and were friends all through high school. I actually took Dustin on his first date our sophomore year, though I did not know it was his first date. Junior year, Dustin started dating my best friend Laken while I was dating Mike and Mike (not at the same time, just one right after the other.)

After high school, I left for BYU and Dustin left for his mission in Brazil. I wrote him, he wrote me back, and I wrote him back, but never sent it. So we exchanged letters once. 2 years later, Dustin came home to discover that Laken was engaged to another man, and I was recently dumped by high school interest Drew. I moved home for the summer (2007) and this is where our story really starts.

Dustin and I first met up post mission/high school at a mutual friend's mission homecoming. We were at said mutual friend's house after the homecoming for lunch just chatting with friends. Conversation somehow turned to how I had dated two Michaels and two red heads and therefore needed to find a red headed Michael to have "third time's the charm" for both. Dustin piped up, "Well, my middle name is Michael and my dad has red hair." I said, "close enough!" He got my number that day... and then I didn't hear from him for a really long time. Good friend Andrea and Mike decided that we'd get together to hang out and thought Dustin should come too. So Mike gave me Dustin's number and I called to him to invite him to hang out with old high school friends. This outing started a summer with the 4 of us together.

Fighting for my man even before I knew he would be my man.

Somewhere in the middle of the summer, maybe June-ish, I started thinking that Dustin was actually kinda cute. This was weird for me because I had never thought of him that way. It seemed like he might be a little interested as well... one night Andrea and Mike couldn't hang with us so we decided we should hang by ourselves. We went to a park and just talked and talked and talked. Then when the park was closed, we went to an abandoned baseball diamond turned corn field and looked at the stars while talking and talking and talking some more. It was really great. A week or so later, while making up stories looking at stars, we held hands... And not everyone in his family was happy about this. Dustin's sister Nicole, his "twin" couldn't see us together and wasn't very happy with our budding relationship. Needless to say, this put a slight damper on how Dustin was feeling and was very conflicting to him. He's really really close with his family which is a super great thing, but in the beginning, it made our relationship hard.

Dustin's crazy/awesome family.

A few weeks after our first holding hands, we kissed. After watching Eragon. So romantic. We continued to hang out. Then the midnight showing for Harry Potter came out. And that was the night that Dustin said he didn't think we should continue dating, or whatever it was we were doing (we hadn't actually gone on dates). I was fine with this as I was counting this as the annual summer fling that would end at the end of summer, so this was just a little sooner. We agreed that we should still be friends and continue to hang out.

After this, Dustin started asking me to come to even more things. Our "not dating" last for a week... til it was the night of Harry Potter 7 coming out. (don't know why Harry Potter influenced our relationship so much). We went to a star show at the BYU planetarium, then got ice cream at the Creamery, then went to a park to talk... and snuggle... and then he kissed me. I said to Dustin, "I thought we weren't doing that!" And he said, "Well maybe we can." We decided that we should actually date (by going on actual dates!), but not date exclusively. I was down with that because I had lots of fun with him!

A few weeks later, we took a trip with Andrea and Lacie (Mike was supposed to come too but bailed) to California. It was amazing. Dustin fell hard on this trip and my feelings for him grew immensely as well.

Dodger's game in California.

Then school started. And though we said that we would still not be exclusive, we were. We spent all our free time together, spent every weekend together. And our relationship grew. I decided that I was sick of telling all my other friends that I loved them (I said that to everyone), but not telling Dustin. So after a Def Leppard concert with his family, I told him that I loved him. He didn't say it back that night. I was concerned that I had ruined us. I had never told a boy that I loved him before, and I was the first one to say it. So I was nervous. It wasn't until October, a whole month later, that he said that he loved me. It was the best night of my life.

BYU Homecoming Dance

October was kinda a big month for us... I asked Dustin to go to the BYU Homecoming dance with me on the Heber Creeper. It was such a great night. Homecoming week we also went on a late night walk around BYU campus and talked for the first time about marriage. Now when Drew dumped me at the beginning of the year, I received a father's blessing that gave me a lot of comfort. In it, I was given the promise that I would KNOW with assurance who I should marry. In mid October, Dustin and I took a trip to the temple and while I was waiting for Dustin to finish, I felt that I could marry this man. I knew that he was a man I would be very happy with.

The only problem was.... every time we started getting serious, Dustin would not be sure. We'd have 3 really really good weeks, then one really bad week, then 3 really really really good weeks, then one really really bad week. It was so frustrating. Many of the confusions came from Dustin's previous relationship that he had not fully processed. Also, as mentioned before, Dustin's family was not completely on board with him being in a serious relationship. He had only dated on girl in high school, and then me after the mission. They felt he needed more experience to really find what he wanted.

November Thanksgiving time was fantastic. Things were looking so great and we were talking a little about marriage. Then the week after was the really really bad week. And the first hard breakup. Dustin needed some time to back off and figure out what he was doing. My family had bought him a ticket to the Holiday Dinner in December and I didn't want them to know until after the event because I still wanted him to go with me. In fact, even though we "broke up", we were still together a lot of the time. Dustin's family took a trip for a cruise to Mexico and came back Christmas Eve. On Christmas day, Dustin had me come to his house to give me my Christmas present. And it was a ring... and opal ring from Mexico. It was beautiful! I didn't know why in the world he would get me a ring when we were "broken up".

By January, we were officially back together and in love. This lasted until the day before Valentine's Day when we had another big fall. It was bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Worst Valentine's day of all time. I won't go into detail though, but my friends were very upset and I was very upset.

In March I found a job ad for a nanny position in California. It seemed to pay well, have good benefits, and nothing was keeping me in Utah after graduation. Dustin seemed to be okay with this too. In April, he drove me to my interview in Salt Lake for the position and afterward, even though they hadn't offered me the position, I knew I was going to get it and Dustin knew I was going to get it, and we cried together. Even though we weren't "together", we missed each other. And I hadn't even left yet.

BYU Graduation.

Graduation came in April and I left the week after I left for California. The night before I left, we spent it crying together. Well, Dustin cried a lot more than I did. It was kinda frustrating because in all of this, Dustin was the one to cool things down and here he was, bawling his face off because I was leaving. (hopefully he doesn't hate me for writing that!) We both knew that this was the right thing and that time physically away from each other was the only way for him to figure out what he wanted and what he was going to do.

California was hard. The job was not what I expected at all. It was horrible. My only saving grace was Jon. Dustin and I continued to stay in touch and talked every night. Then we decided he really needed to do something to make up his mind about what he wanted. We took two weeks off without talking to each other at all. I'm pretty sure I went on more dates during those two weeks than he did, but it was still good. After the two weeks, I came home to Utah for my brother's homecoming and we spent lots of time together. At this point, I realized that I was done with California and needed to quit. Dustin agreed that he would do anything to get me out of that hell-hole. He flew out to Santa Barbara and we spent a great day at Six Flags, stopped in Vegas, and made it back in time for Pioneer day celebration. We were dating again and more serious than ever. A lot more talk of marriage was going on.....

Visiting the beach in Santa Barbara when Dustin flew in to drive back with me.

Then August things started getting tough. Everyone was waiting for him to ask me to marry him.... my dad was ready to pull him aside and ask him what his intentions with me were. It was so stressful. And I know he was feeling the pressure. So I took him aside myself and and asked him what his intentions were. He still wasn't ready, still didn't know. Remember how the OCTOBER before (almost a year before!) I KNEW that I wanted to marry this man?! Um, talk about patience! I think I actually had this inspiration so it would hold me through this entire relationship with all the ups and downs and "breakups". August was the final straw though. I told him that this was the final breakup because I couldn't keep doing this.

The next week was hard. I couldn't believe that everything I thought I knew was somehow not true. Dustin was having a hard time too. We took a walk and he told me how hard it had been for him. I wasn't going to cave though. I moved out to Pleasant Grove in September and dated casually. Dustin tried dating, but nothing really was working out. We stayed in touch, but I wouldn't say we were dating unless there was a ring on my finger.

In October, we started getting serious, but I wasn't going to say it was anything. We had had way too many really good and then really bad weeks for me to get my hopes up at all. Beginning of November, we were having a really good week, and then it hit again, the really bad week. This time I wasn't going to let it end like that. We talked. And talked. And Dustin realized that even though I am an emotional girl, very unlike the women in his family, he was doing everything that I needed him to do, when was feeling like he was inadequate. He was actually perfect. And it was talking about our communication that got us over this hurdle. From there on out, he decided that we would be great together and that he would be very happy with me. We started talking marriage and looking at rings, but didn't tell either of our families. (remember, i wasn't 'dating' him until there was a ring on my finger!)

Thanksgiving break we found the perfect ring. He bought it (without me knowing for sure). On his birthday (December 10th), his mom asked him what these Zales letters in the mail addressed to him were for... so he showed her. And she cried. Happy tears of course. He told me about this and said that she said, "I hope I will be a good mother in law!" How adorable. I love his family. So by this point I knew he had the ring. So I was waiting for it... and waiting... and it wasn't coming yet. So I gave him the ultimatum. He had to propose by Christmas but not ON Christmas because that is so cliche. And if he didn't propose by then, I would say no. I had been waiting for so long and I hadn't told any body we were getting married until I had the ring so.... I needed the ring!

Right after the proposal

Dustin proposed December 23rd (he was pushing it, don't you think?), but it was perfect! The ring was perfect, he is perfect! :) For the engagement story, please see this post: http://dustinandbrianne.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-love-story-baby-just-say-yes.html

We were married on March 14, 2009 and 2 years later, we are still in love and are so happy we are married! It was a long and hard process to get where we are now, and our love story is not a typical BYU love story..... but I am so happy with everything that we went through! We have a really good relationship and I appreciate all the time we spent getting to know each other as good friends before tying the knot.

Dustin is the man of my dreams. He is my prince charming and I love him so very much!

Take me out to the ballgame!

30 days. The Countdown begins. We are super excited for our Baja Mexico cruise!!! Seriously can't wait.

I've also been able to decorate the house a little more. Wahoo.

And now we must go to the last Owlz game of the season.

Life is good.

It's been a long time coming...

It's been a while since I've written and there is a lot to update on!
A couple weeks ago I was told to make a list of everything I did at work... I was a little nervous, but my boss said not to be worried. The next week an email from our controller went out saying that they had the Preview Express Accounts Receivable Manager position available as Kareena, the previous manager, was recruited to work with another StoresOnline, Imergent company.
Have you ever had those realizations hit you in the face that you were meant to do something? I had that feeling with the Santa Barbara job and I had that feeling with this one as well. I knew they had intended for me to take it, hence the listing what I currently did so they could dish it out to everyone else in my little group. Well, after some coaxing from a few select individuals, I applied for the position, knowing that I would most likely get it. You see, I started in the Preview Express department, I know what I'm doing, and I'm a born leader. Those all equal Manager. I talked with Yvonne, my boss at Art City Music Academy and let her know what this might mean... not as flexible of a schedule for teaching.
The interview was the next day. And within a half hour of my interview, I was told that I got the position... which meant a salary raise, deduction of health benefit costs, and a new job. I was really excited, a little nervous, but it felt good!
The next week I started training and then this week I am been in command. It's been a crazy busy week, but time goes by fast when you're busy! We've had some previews up in Canada which has created a little mess in our end with making sure everything is right as we process the orders. Oh what an adventure! But I have a feeling I will survive!
As far as piano teaching goes, StoresOnline can be somewhat flexible with my schedule for now, but this might be my last semester teaching if we can find a teacher to take my place.
Life is moving onward and upward and continues to be super busy for me and Dustin. We've now been married for 5 months and yes, we're still working on Thank You cards... so don't feel bad if you haven't gotten one yet!
Dustin has completed a great summer semester at UVU and fall classes will start next Wednesday. He will have an over-full schedule and he's looking forward to being on the racquetball team! We're so excited for our cruise in less than two months! Life for the Creers is going well. :)

We are a happy family!

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

For some reason some of my little gadgets i add on get cut off... probably because I have a "minima" template like most backgrounds fit with, but oh well... The addition of Harry Potter to our family is not an announcement... I just thought it was really funny that they had a Harry Potter type little boy. Ha ha ha. I'll adopt him as my son. :)

Oh they say when you marry in June...

SO glad that it's July now! June was a really busy month with lots of weddings going on...

Started out with Dustin's sister Kendra's wedding on June 6th!

Kendra Creer and Adam Hill were married in the Jordan River temple. It took them a while to finally come into the sealing room and we thought that maybe one of them backed out at the last minute? But then we found out that their sealer had taken them into another sealing room to talk with them for a minute and let them spend some time in there. They looked really happy and Adam said he felt like a "married man" (not sure what he meant by that ha ha ha). The reception was beautiful after all the amazing Momma Creer did with it and with the help of her amazing sisters as well. We helped set up the night before and I swear, it took FOREVER. I don't think, i mean, i KNOW that it didn't take that long to set up mine... but I guess ours was just... different. In many aspects. I'll just stop there. Anyway, yay, they're married, happy day!

Me and Dustin at the reception... Her colors were purple, green, and white.

Then came my brother's wedding on June 26th. Nathan Jack and Adrienne Francisco were married June 26th in the Vernal, Utah temple.

This one we helped a LOT with! Between coming up with the theme for the luncheon, throwing her a bridal shower, doing the bride and bridesmaid's flowers, decorating the car, helping with the cake, and then serving all the food at the reception in Salem, I am SO ready for weddings to be done for just a little while! I'm sure I'll recover soon, but it was such a busy month! I love my brother and am so glad he married a fabulous girl! They are so cute and so happy!

Here are the flowers I did for Adrienne's bouquet....

A close up of the flowers.... pink, yellow, and orange gerbers, green button mums, and white alstromeria. Dustin helped string pearls onto wire which i weaved through the flowers.


This was a bridesmaid bouqet, which I made 4 of them... Pretty simple... same as the bride's but much smaller and no pearls.

Here's the cake that I helped put the flowers on. Matt Clyde made the cake, I helped with the decor. :)


And now family weddings are done for a while! But when they come back, I'll be rested and ready to help out again! I used to want to be a wedding planner until I found out that really, I would hate working with brides. Ha ha ha. So now I'll just help out... but next time, I'm charging for my services. :)