Mayhem May

May was a crazy chaotic month for me. It was filled with many blessings, as well as tested my organization skills, time management skills and really pushed my patience levels some days.

Many of you probably remembering reading about our sweet baby Jackson that was placed for adoption without my brother in laws consent back in January of 2011. Throughout the past 18 months my life has had many ups and downs throughout this journey and process. We have learned so much and have become very involved in the adoption community and legislation. I am PRO adoption, when there is a child that needs a home. For more information about Jackson go to getbabyjackback.com I am NOT pro baby selling, which is what occurred in my brother in laws case. Jackson had a very loving father and loving home who wanted him and was so excited to meet him.

In January of 2012, I went up to Capitol Hill and testified in support of HB308 which would require legal notice to any potential father that an adoption proceeding could be taking place in the state of Utah. I also joined the Utah Adoption Council in February of 2012, which unfortunately has been a whirlwind of a journey in itself. Throughout our journey we have met wonderful people who unfortunately have been living in our shoes as well as met a wonderful attorney, Wes Hutchins who has become our attorney. He was the Utah Adoption Council President until May 2012 where he resigned his position due to unethical behaviors occurring with adoption attorneys, adoption agencies and social workers. We conducted an undercover investigation into 5 different adoption agencies to see what they were truly telling these birth mothers. It was HORRIFYING. The were telling these mothers that they would give them an envelope full of money after the birth, they could tell the father that the baby was killed in a car accident if they didn't want to tell them they placed the baby for adoption, and they even said that the laws were unethical and immoral, but a law is a law. You can see the news coverage here! It is very disheartening to know that many people are unaware of all of the corruption, lies and fraud going on with the adoption industry. Unfortunately, money talks as it's a $6 billion dollar a year industry.

With that being said, Wes Hutchins, past president of the Utah Adoption Council decided to start his own council known as the Utah Council for Ethical Adoption Practices (UCEAP... pronounced "You Keep"). He took Jenny(mother in law) and I along for the ride with him. I am currently the secretary on this council. Our mission is to make all adoption proceedings ethical. Any and all parties interested in adoption can join this council. Our very first meeting was held in June and has had tremendous support. If anyone is interested in getting more information you can join our face book group here and can get your questions answered.

Also, in May, my manager and amazing friend Jenny Paulson decided to continue her education and move to Maryland. She is going to grad school for Broadcast Journalism, which she has a strong passion for. In lieu of her leaving, her position opened up for the Wellness Director.  

Which after 4 years working for Corporate Wellness by Gold's Gym, I can now proudly say I am the Wellness Director. There have been many ups and downs of working with this company, but I can truly say I love my job. Every day is so rewarding! I have seen our company grow, change and become an amazing company, with amazing people and an amazing product. I know that I wouldn't be where I am today without the support of Jenny over the past year and half. We worked so well together and she taught me so much. I also, wouldn't have been able to progress in my job after having Boston without having the huge support of my husband and especially my mom for taking care of Boston while I am at work.

It's exciting to see where our company is headed. Currently, we are affiliated with 17 Gold's Gyms in Utah and offer comprehensive wellness programs to hundreds of corporations throughout the state of Utah. Ancestry.com, Overstock.com, CLEARLINK, Orange Soda, and US Synthetic are just a few of our clients. If everything goes as planned, we hope to be servicing clients outside of the state of Utah within a year. This will be a huge task, but I feel like we are capable of having a dominant product outside of Utah. To learn more about what I do, visit utcorporatewellness.com.

Along with this news, May was filled with Josh graduating, Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum, and Las Vegas for Tara's Bachelorette Party. More posts to come!

Josh's Graduation

Josh graduated from MATC in May of 2012, with his electrical license. I am super proud of him, and all of his hard work and accomplishments. Josh has been working in the electrical field for 5 1/2 years and has worked for Taylor Electric for 4 1/2 years. He has managed different floors on job sites and has been a team leader to many in the job field. He has worked on some very prestigious job sites such as IHC Riverton Hospital, BYU broadcasting center, UVU Pope Science building and is currently working on the shopping outlets at Traverse Mountain.

Josh is such a hard worker and just adore him <3

Easter 2012

Easter 2012 started out with an Easter egg hunt out in Eagle Mountain. The age group he was in was actually 3-4, so I figured he would be fine. His buddy Easton and Zoe came out to go with us and they were too excited to go grab the eggs, but when the whistle blew both kids were pouting and were scared to go out and grab the eggs. By the time the fit throwing was done all the eggs were picked up. 

Easter morning began with Boston checkin' out his easter goods from the Easter bunny. He loved seeing all of the eggs lined up from the stairs to the couch where his Easter basket was waiting for him.

After breakfast at our house, we headed over to Grandma Graham's and dyed Easter eggs and did an Easter egg hunt over there where they actually got some eggs. Eggs with money in them to be exact. Boston enjoyed the Easter festivities for about 2.5 minutes. Each year holidays get funner and funner.

Painting projects

In January of this year, I got the painting bug. My mother in law, mom and I decided to tackle a HUGE project. We decided to paint a mural on Boston's toy room wall. Boston has been obsessed with cars since he was 9 months old, so we thought that would be pretty fitting. My mother in law completed two other mural projects, one in her toy room, Dr.Seuss and one in Jackson's Nursery. The room took us 4 months to complete. It was a lot of work, but it is amazing. We can't give ourselves too much credit for the artistic drawing since we used a projector, but nonetheless it was hard work.

I also decided that I don't like white walls. My bathroom has been pretty boring and I had a small obsession with stripes from seeing all of the pins on Pinterest. I decided to give it ago in my bathroom and let me tell you what... STRIPES suck. I love love love the aftermath, but in the process I was hating life. My mom helped me with this and she gets credit for getting the lines straight. I am still in need of a cream shaggy rug and accenting my mirror with tiffany blue wood trim, but I love the finished product. What do you think?

I have so many other rooms I want to paint, maybe this Fall.  


Master Bathroom