Happy Birthday Mr. Matt

 

This blog post is dedicated to my amazing husband, Matt, without whom I would not be the person I am today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to you my wonderful husband!

 

There aren't enough words I could say to describe how wonderful you truly are.

 

He is the first one to offer to help friends and family when they need it. He is kind, generous, extremely hardworking, loving, understanding, and absolutely brilliant with an incredible sense of humor. Oh does that man make me laugh. Friends & family, you know what I exactly mean.

 

So today I want to tell a couple short stories about the generosity of this man because he has never wanted credit for doing things for others. He has always said that's like celebrities donating to a cause and then telling the world how wonderful they are for doing that. He doesn't do things to selfishly make himself look good. He does them because he is genuinely a generous person who loves to help... however secretly it is.

 

When I first moved up here, I was having a hard time being away from friends and family. I was completely homesick. Matt, not even thinking twice, asked me what friend did I need to see to help with homesickness and he quickly booked a plane ticket for them to come up and visit. Just for me. Now that the years have gone by, there have been several more plane tickets bought for family/friends to visit us, but it was really his way of bringing home up to me. I can never really express how much that meant to me during those times. It just made me love him even more.

 

I will also never forget a few years ago, when there was a dark period in my family and my baby sister was supposed to head off to school in Maryland. Because of the things going on, no one knew how she was going to get there all the way from Indiana. Matt, not even budging, started pricing out rental cars for us (because we didn't trust my little car at that time) and we started to map out how we were going to swing this because we weren't going to let the things going on in our family stop my little sis from going to university. So we, or Matt actually, drove from Canada to Indiana to Maryland and back. Which is a very, very long trek, but in the end my sister made it to school and that's what mattered. Fortunately, by the time we reached Indiana, my parents decided to help too, so it all worked out. The fact that he was so quick to jump in to help make sure my little sister got to university is just a prime example of what a great guy he is. I can't thank him enough.

 

Lastly, I cannot even explain the depth of how supportive he has been throughout our very long and emotional journey to start our family. He has been my rock and pillar of strength. Always keeping his wonderful humor throughout the process and ready to do whatever it takes. He is going to be the best dad and our future children hit the jackpot for the father and role model they will have in their life. I can't express how much your love & support means to me. I love you to the moon babe!

 

He is probably going to kill me for posting some of the wonderful things he's done because he likes to do them secretly and selflessly without telling the world. But I think the world deserves to know what an amazing guy he is and just a few of the many generous things he does. It's just the tip of the iceberg in the great things he's done.

 

I love you and Happy Birthday Handsome!

 

Don't kill me for posting some goofy pictures hahaha!

 

 

Beautiful smile :)

Cute as a button.

 

Shower cap to protect all that hair.

 

Merry Christmas. Santa likes BBQ & Beer.

Ice skating with Tobey

 

 

Love you! Have a great day!

 

 

Matt and Krista's Epic Adventure Part 3: New Brunswick & PEI

 

Ok, bear with me. This is going to be a really long post. So go grab a cup of coffee, tea, whatever you like and then come back and join me.

 

After Salem, we knew we had a big of a trek to Prince Edward Island. So we planned to take 2 days to get there so that it wasn't crazy stressful to get there. We drove 8 hours through Vermont and Maine all the way to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. A few hours after we left Salem, the scenery started to change. It looked more northern, more woodsy and green. Once we were into Maine, we started to see signs on the highway to beware of moose! Which, I must admit, got me a little excited! Then, once we crossed back into Canada into New Brunswick we noticed all the fences along the highway to keep the moose away from traffic. There must be a lot of them. I was hoping to spot one sometime while we were driving, but we never did get to see one unfortunately. We did spot a baby black bear though running along the highway all cute and bouncy-like. He was almost waving at traffic like "Welcome to Canada."  Momma bear must have been nearby.

 

 

Smallest border crossing ever. Only one lane. The other
was Nexus. It was great, no lineup!

 

Matt was super excited to get his Timmies again once we got back into Canada haha :)

 

 

Watch out for Moose!

 

 

 

A cool video of the scenery in New Brunswick. Watch until the end, there's a cool view :) This is one of my favorite videos of the trip.

 

 

For my Game of Thrones fans, we saw signs for Kings Landing in New Brunswick ;)

 

 

We didn't get to do a lot in New Brunswick because we were only there for the night, but I would love to have seen the Bay of Fundy where they have the massive tides come and go. We did do Magnetic Hill though, where your car goes up a hill all by itself. It was pretty cool!

 

We grabbed a hotel for the night in Moncton, NB and the next day, we were only a few hours from Prince Edward Island!

 

To get to PEI, you either need to take a ferry or cross on Confederation Bridge, which is huge. It's almost 13km long.  We took the bridge. Not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous crossing this bad boy because of its sheer size. It was a pretty cool experience though! Once we got high up on the bridge you could get a good look at PEI and see what it's known for, that gorgeous red dirt. It's also known for the potatoes. In Canada, everyone knows that PEI is famous for growing potatoes.



Confederation Bridge



Finally driving onto PEI and seeing the red sandy beaches.



My husband is a lobster. Good lord, I just love him.

 

When we first crossed onto PEI, there was this sort of welcome village that was so clean, colorful, and almost resembled something out of Pleasantville. It was so stinking cute! So we had lunch and shopped. Matt had his first lobster roll there and was in heaven.

 

Here is a video of driving into our hotel. It was called The Rodd Crowbush Beach Resort. The hotel was awesome and I would highly recommend to anyone going to PEI. Matt surprised me with a cottage when I thought we had a hotel room. Heck, I was just as excited for a hotel room at a beach resort let alone a small cottage! What am I going to do with him? What a sweetheart.

 

 

 

 Here is a picture of the beach at the resort.

 

 

Here is a video of the beach at the hotel that I'm sure most of our friends and family have seen because we sent it to them when we got there to show them where we were on our trip! The resort was so neat that you could just call down to the front desk, then they will come pick you up in this 6 person golf cart and drive you down to the beach because it was a bit of a hike. Then, they will come back for you whenever you tell them too. I felt so spoiled like we were some fancy schmancy couple. It was great! They also told us that they would set up a fire on the beach at night at our request if we wanted too. How awesome.

 

 

 

Matt barbequing a pizza at our cottage.

Matt's fancy lobster dinner at the resort. They gave him a bib and all. I can't eat it because I'm allergic, but I must say I think I had just as much fun watching him devour it as he did eating it. It was whole lobster, shrimp, clams, mussels, potatoes, and corn on the cob all boiled together. It looked freaking awesome!

I don't know why but we got a kick out of this sign.

 

Driving around PEI. You can see the potato fields in the background. They were everywhere.

 

Lighthouse

Basin Head Beach - Where you can leap off that bridge into the water and it's know for it's singing sands.

Basin Head Beach

The bridge at Basin Head Beach that you can jump off of.

Here are a few short videos I took at Basin Head Beach. It was gorgeous there. Water was too cold to swim when we were there, but I guess it does get warmer in July and August. Also, I had heard about the "singing sands" there and when we first got there the sand was a bit wet because of the rain the night before so it wasn't making any noise. I was thinking the "singing sands" were a joke, but sure enough once the sun came out for a few hours, just walking on them you could hear more like a squeak sound that sounded really funny. Someone told Matt that I guess when it's really windy you can hear the "singing sands" from a distance. It was so cool. I could have stayed at that beach a long time.

 

Pretty Beach

 

Gorgeous Red Rocks on the Beach

 

 

 Singing Sands :)

 

 

 We loved Prince Edward Island. It's a place where you don't have to drive far to find a beach access. They are everywhere. The island is absolutely beautiful with the almost neon green landscape, the vibrant red dirt, rolling hills, the endless potato fields, and the deep blue ocean. Pictures and videos really don't do it justice.  I know we will go back one day.

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos and videos from our trip!

 



Matt & Krista's Epic Adventure Part 2: SALEM

 

I've been really excited to write these blog posts about our trip because we really did have such a great time and I wanted to share it with everyone and while seeing pictures posted on Facebook is neat, there is something more personal about sharing the stories and experiences in a blog post. So here we go!

 

Our first major stop on our roadtrip was Salem, MA.

 

I was always fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials, so this was a place I had wanted to go for a very long time. So much history is here.

 

Now getting to Salem was not so straight forward. Being so close to Boston, traffic was horrendous about an hour from it. (I'm a country girl, traffic is not my favorite.) Also, we were lucky to have GPS with us because  since Salem is such an old town and streets were built pretty narrow (I'm talking our side mirrors were a few inches from the parked cars on the side of the street), everything is one-way. So it got interesting, but I just took it all in and loved every minute.

 

 I googled the best places to stay in Salem and the hotels were booked seeing as it was last minute and all (well there weren't many hotels in Salem), but there were several B&Bs. The top rated one on Trip Advisor was Morning Glory so we decided to give it a try.  It was such a charming place to stay. The owner who ran it put so much work and effort into the place and you could really tell. From the  Ferrero Rocher chocolates left on our table, the amazing breakfast with pancakes, berries, walnuts, & maple syrup (which were delicious), to the way the host printed us off directions when we left for the easiest way out of town (still complicated haha.) He really thought of everything to make your stay memorable. The location was great too! There were lots of places within walking distance, which is great! There was even a rooftop deck to  sit on that had an amazing view. We sat up there at night during the sunsets with a  few drinks and watched as the night sky came.

 

Salem was certainly a magical place. The waterfront town was filled with so many old New England style houses, buildings, history, and yes, even real modern day witches. Driving through the small downtown area, some people were dressed in spooky costumes and you could see people from all walks of life. Several museums were there, and by museum I mean reinactment more like a theatre show. We made that mistake thinking "The Witch Museum" was an artifact type museum. 

 

 

Here are some pictures of Morning Glory.

 

 

 

Rooftop deck

 

Here is a quick video of the rooftop deck. You can see how close together the old houses are and how cool they look. Also how rooftop decks are a bit of a thing which is neat. Don't mind my camera skills, I never promised I  had talent in the video department! Also love Matt's nice reaction; you can really tell I had been taking pictures all day haha!

 

 

 

 

This is the Friendship of Salem - 5 minute walk from our B&B. Tours were free I believe.

 

 

Right around the corner from our B&B was a few bars, restaurant, and ice cream shop. This was the "Pig's Eye" which was a bar/restaurant that had anything pig related decorated everywhere. It was next door to the "Witch's Brew" which was an awesome restaurant that sadly I didn't get any pics of! Cool name though and great food though.

 

 

Matt was super excited to get his chocolate ice cream cones both days at Captain Dusty's while we were there because it was conveniently located around the corner from the B&B.

 

Essex Street Pedestrian Mall which was loaded with gift shops, restaurants, reinactments of the witch trials, and even real witch stores to buy magic candles & spells (which I totally did because "when in Salem..")

 

Here is a picture of a magic pregnancy candle I bought at a witch shop called Omen. Sounds spooky! I figured it wouldn't hurt to try magic candle at this point. The witch shops were really interesting and smelled like really strong incense.

 

 

 

This was the liquor store in Salem. Awesome name. And yes we did have to buy liquor from a store called Bunghole Liquors. It totally happened.

 

This is the Witch House. This is the only building in Salem with actual ties to the witch trials. It was the house of one of the judges, Jonathan Corwin, and we were told that he took depositions for the trial in the house. We took a tour. It was so neat to see everything. The house is from the 1600s and was considered a mansion in those days.

 

 

Copies of documents from the Witch Trials.

 

Fireplace in the house. There were two huge walk in fireplaces on each level.

 

Here is a quick video of some of the neat architecture on a side street in Salem. One of the few wide streets in Salem. I loved how the houses looked! I wish I took more pictures of it and again I apologize for my camera skills  - I was too busy looking myself!

 

 

 

We had a pretty nice time in Salem and I would love to go back in the fall sometime because I bet its beautiful. Side note : I had the best Mexican food in Salem at a place called The Howling Wolf. If you ever go it's a must!

 

After 2 nights in Salem, we were back on the road! Next stop, Moncton, New Brunswick, then PEI!

Matt and Krista's Epic Adventure Part 1 : Planning

So Matt and I went on a little trip.. okay not so little trip. Before I dive into the actual trip, let me tell you all about our crazy vacation planning. We had said for years we wanted to do a big vacation, like national lampoon style, before we had kids. Now years came and went, no huge vacation or kids either, but now that we know we could be adopting anytime, it's crunch time. Also, everything I've read about adopting, and believe me when I say I've read A LOT, says to take that one last vacation just the two of you because your life is about to get crazy and you will wish you had. So we decided that was something we really wanted to make an effort to do.

Well, now that we own & operate our own company (it's still relatively new), summer is definitely our busiest time and you know that old saying "you gotta bail hay while the sun shines?" So needless to say, we've been working really hard and been very busy this summer so far and that's great for business! However, it leaves little time for downtime. I know I know, first world problems, but this was something really important to us to do before our next epic adventure, having kids.

One day, Matt came to me and said that he had a week that might be free at the end of June for a possible trip. The only problem? That week he mentioned was the following week. How do I plan an epic adventure in a week.. last minute?!? This might be a bit of a challenge, but you better believe I was going to find us something great!

So off I went hunting for a vacation. Last minute deals, last minute cruises, pretty much anything I could find within a reasonable budget.  After several days of hunting, calling places, and I was pretty well defeated so we had to think outside the box. We wanted to do something we had never done before and go places we had never seen before. Why not take an epic roadtrip? We decided to head out to the east coast. Neither of us had been there before. We wanted to drive as far as Prince Edward Island, which is pretty dang far and it's supposed to be absolutely beautiful. I had always wanted to see Salem, MA as I was just fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials so that became a stop as well. So we booked a few places, packed up our minivan and away we went!


Matt and Krista's Roadtrip 2014: Off to PEI!

Story Of Our Playset

A few months ago, Matt was on a job doing some excavating for a nice family in town and they got talking about us and how we were going through the adoption process. He said that they were so interested, supportive of adoption, and explained how they had one child who was getting too old for the playset that they had in their yard. So, after hearing about our plans to adopt they kindly offered to give us the playset for free if we would like it.

Now, funny thing was, that week I was hunting high and low for something similar to put in our backyard just to be ready for when we have kids and Matt knew it. He told them, "Wow, thank you! You just made my wife's day!" He text me a picture of this cute playset and I was ecstatic!

So a few weeks later, a group of friends helped us take apart and move this playset to our house. Matt put it back together and I ended up giving the nice family that so sweetly gave us the playset  a discount on the work we did there because those kind acts don't go unnoticed by us and I wanted to do a little something in return.

It's kind acts like this that really move me. When we first started the process, classes educated us on how some people don't understand adoption, may tell your children that we aren't their "real" parents, and that there would be obstacles. And while I'm sure that there will be hurdles and times that people will get under my skin, throughout this whole process so far we've been met with nothing but love and support for adoption.  From our customers donating a beautiful playset to even the regular lady at the grocery store checkout asking us if we've heard anything yet, we have only received kindness and for that I am extremely grateful.  You guys melt my heart!

So I just wanted to share this lovely story with everyone because it makes me so happy and thankful for all the support we have received!! I have nothing but gratitude :)

Here are some pictures of the awesome playset :) (Taken a few months ago.)

 

 Matt putting it back together

 

 

Tobey was curious too!

 

Matt trying out the rock wall haha.

 

 

 I was really trying to get Tobey to go down the slide and this was his look like "Mom, you won't be happy until I go down this silly slide will you?"

 

 

 

 

 

Tobey giving the slide a go!

 

 

 

 

Tobey and his "cousin" Andy trying out the slide :)

 

 

 

We love and it and can't wait to share it with our future family! But until then, Tobey is making good use of the slide :)

 

 

XO

 

 

Am I Nesting?

So lately I've been getting the feeling that we might get THE CALL soon. That call that will change our lives forever. It make me excited, anxious, and feeling as though I have a major to-do list growing to get done before our kiddos are here!

For days, I've been obsessing a little about buying stuff for our future kids, getting the house in order (we need to put a fence around the pool and finish trim in the bedrooms), and some weird urges to just gut everything out of the rooms so they can really get cleaned. Now, I am not a clean freak by any means, lord knows. So these constant, almost obsessive, urges caught me off guard. Like what is wrong with me??  Why am I this crazy person? The only conclusion I have come to is that I must be nesting.

Now, I didn't really know how nesting worked for adoptive parents. I think I was just always under the assumption that it was more for pregnant women like some hormonal thing. I mean, surely even though I was adopting I would want to get my house in order and get things ready for our kids, which I guess you could call nesting, but I really didn't know it would effect me on this level. Seriously, this week it has just taken over my life. Any and all of my down time has been focused on this and anything to do with it.

For months, years too, the adoption just feels as though its never going to happen. Like it's in the far off distance somewhere. We know it's coming and it will happen, but it never felt real. Until lately. Somehow, someway I just got this feeling like oh boy you better ready because it could happen anytime. And it could. It could be next week. It could still be months from now. We have no control over it. And if it is still months from now, I feel sorry for my hubby and the crazy lady he has to put up with until then.

Now, the only problem is that since we don't know the ages, gender, or if we will have one or multiples it is extremely hard to buy things in advance. Our adoption criteria is siblings under 4 years old. So we can't buy a crib yet unless we know we even need one or maybe two. We have two twin beds already though. We can't buy clothing, bottles, or most toys until we know what ages they are. So it's so hard. Yesterday however, I did go a little overboard buying children's books. One of my very best friends told me the best places to buy children's books were at second hand stores because not only are they cheap but there were lots in excellent condition. So off I went. I was like a madwoman on a mission. I hit a few stores and stocked up on books. These books were in pristine condition as well! That was the only thing I could think of that would cover all the bases of age and gender. Children's books. 

I also called my mother and asked her if she would be willing to make a couple blankets for the kids because I want the blankets to be my first gift to them during the transition process (when they are still living at the foster home, but we are visiting daily.) That way they can sleep with them at night. I read somewhere that it was good for adoptive parents to sleep with the blanket you plan to give your child for a couple nights before you give it to them, that way the child becomes familiar with your scent. So that is something I want to do. Anything to make the transition easier for them. And bonus, the blanket will be made from their grandmother and it's something they can keep forever.

So my dear friends, if you have any suggestions at all of what I could do in advance please please feel free to tell me. I am all ears!

 

 

Here is a photo of my book collection so far. Side note : I bought 80% of them yesterday and only spent $16! What a steal! So at least now I have a small library for my future kids!

 

 

 

 

Our Journey Through the Adoption Process

As most of you probably know, my husband and I are currently going through the adoption process. We tried for years with and without help of doctors to get pregnant and didn't have any luck. It was tough. Every month spent counting the days, taking tests, taking medication, and hoping for that little test to be positive was completely heartbreaking. So we decided that we would begin the adoption process because we knew it could take years and we would still try in the mean time.

Now, for those of my friends who have no idea what the adoption process entails, let me just say it's a long process. There are different kinds of adoption ; private, public, international, etc.  My husband and I opted for public adoption through our local Children's Aid Society rather than spend tens of thousands of dollars for private adoption. To be honest, we were always open to adoption even before we were trying to get  pregnant. We had hoped to have a birth child and an adopted child. I remember being a little girl and wanting to adopt as well. So for us, it wasn't a huge decision we had to make because we were always open to adoption. That is not the case for everyone. I still grieved my struggles with infertility, but I was happy to start the adoption process.

Once we met with the agency, we were educated on the process. Every couple must complete a homestudy, PRIDE training, background checks, etc. Our agency put us on the waitlist for everything. After almost 2 years, we began our classes and the homestudy. The classes were basically to educate us on children's behavior as a result of their environment and how to parent them properly.  Matt and I found the process almost therapeutic at times because, as some of our close friends know, both of our families have fallen apart and it's been rough. So when we went to class, there were so many times we had "aha" moments that we could relate to. Every week after our 3-hour class we would spend the 20 minute drive home talking about not only parenting but ourselves and how we became the people we are. It definitely put things into perspective on how parenting shapes the people your children grow up to be to more of an extent than I realized. I feel the pressure already. I have to be the best parent I can possibly be!

While we took classes, we were also having our homestudy done. A homestudy is when you meet with your adoption worker in your home several times and talk about EVERYTHING. They want to get to know us, what our family dynamic is like, your life experiences, make sure our house is safe for children, etc.  Some people find this part of the process incredibly invasive, but we were fortunate to have a great worker that we felt comfortable with. We were honest about everything and yes, I do mean everything. Again, we found this process therapeutic because our worker helped put things into perspective for us and reassured us that we weren't the only ones with messed up families and that yes, we did have our heads on straight.

I was so worried about some things in my family possibly messing up my chances of adopting so I was upfront and honest from the very beginning. She told us that she felt Matt and I held a lot of insight, meaning we both sort of sit back and assess the situation/person before acting instinctively. Which is so true. We are thinkers. Our evaluation said that we have had a LOT to deal with as a couple over the years between both of our family's dysfunction, the relationships between them as a result, and that we were a "strong, supportive couple, who are committed to each other." Our highest marks on the homestudy were on our emotional support for one another and our communication between us. Which I must say that I am quite proud of! If there is one thing I'm sure of in this world, it's my Matt.

So after all that, our worker sends our homestudy in for approval by the agency. Our homestudy was approved a few weeks later and we are now adoption ready! So now comes the real waiting process. This could take weeks, months, or longer. They are trying to find the perfect match for our family. During the homestudy we had said we were looking for 2 siblings under the age of four and this was our first choice even if it meant we must wait a few months longer. I know what you must be thinking. 2 kids?!?! Well, for Matt and I, we felt that it was important to adopt siblings that way they would have someone that they were biologically related to and they would grow up together. Also, as it turns out, if we were to adopt again we would have to wait years to do that. So we decided it was best for us to just go for it and try for 2 siblings. I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home so that helps us look good for adopting siblings. Having an at-home parent is so important to us. I know most people aren't able to do this so I am extremely grateful that I will be able to that.

So now, here we are waiting. Waiting for that special phone call. The phone call that will change our lives forever. I can't wait to go paint the bedrooms, buy cribs and toys, and do all that stuff.  It's hard to plan because we don't know what age, gender, or if we will have 1 or 2 children. How can I prepare?! Shamefully, I've already bought several children's books for my future children! Does this make me crazy? Books were the only thing that I could think of that was gender/age neutral and I picture myself reading to my kids at bedtime.

But really, I don't think there is any real way to be prepared for that moment that changes our lives forever. When we get that phone call, things are going to get crazy and our whole world will never be the same. Between Matt and I, we know how to handle a little chaos so I'm confident that not only can we do this but we are excited to grow our family! Not only that, but there has been tremendous love sent our way through the process. Friends and people who I hardly know always ask "Any news on the adoption?" It's truly touching that so many people we've met are so supportive of adoption because I know that this is not always the case.

This process has been long, tough, insightful, thought-provoking, exciting, and it's not even over yet, but to have the love and support from everyone means so much to both of us. So I just want to say a big thank you to those who have sent us love! We are excited to see where this journey will take us!

LOVE - The thought that we will have a family one day.

HONESTY - This process has been super long.