Evanston...... By Accident

Okay, so last Saturday was a day that Brandon and I had the ability to be together so we decided to head up to Causey Reservoir up Ogden Canyon. It's a little ways beyond Pine View Reservoir. It is a really nice change from Pine View because Pine View is always SO VERY crowded with boats and jet skiers and it's really obnoxious. But this new place only allowed non-motor kayaks and paddle boats. The water was really high and cold to swim in, but it was fun nonetheless. We brought Lexi with us, though she has quite the aversion to water. We thought it would be a little cooler up there when we went, but it was warmer! We swam for a little while, then got in the car and drove up over the mountain a little ways. We saw a sign that said that Woodruff, Utah - 3 miles. We thought we would stop by for a look-see! Well we drove, and we drove and we drove and we drove. While the drive was beautiful, we really ended up in the middle of nowhere, arriving finally to Woodruff. The size of the town was just about 10 people smaller than Cambridge, Idaho where Brandon is from. At least Cambridge has a stop sign, and a service station, and signs of intelligent life! There was NO ONE out and about in Woodruff, so it was hard to believe that 350 people lived there. We saw another sign that said that Evanston was only 20 miles away, so we thought, "Why the heck not??" so we drove on through to Evanston. On the way, there was a nature reserve where we saw an absolute TON of antelope! It was really cool, and the babies were adorable! In Evanston, we stopped to get gas, change our clothes, ate and Arbys, and then drove home.

Although it was COMPLETELY unintentional, we had a good time taking another mini road trip!

My Newest Great Find! LOVE IT!

For those of you that know me impossibly well, y'all all know that I am an avid laundry doer. While in college and even afterwards, I had to do laundry in commercial washers and dryers. I tried cheap detergents and fabric softeners and ended up ruining some of my favorite clothes, or even clothes I had just bought! I have decided that with all the things I use to clean, do my hair, or whatever, I usually try to find the cheapest things that will do the job. But I have found a new detergent that I LOVE and it smells wonderful! It takes the smell out of the clothes that I run in. I have seen those fruity smelling detergents, but I just like a fresh clean smell. This picture might make it difficult to read which scent it is, but it's the Lavender Lilac Moment. It is a middle of the market price, but it really does the job! I highly recommend this detergent!

Just for Fun : The Marriage Tag

What are your names? Brandon Tyler Dopf and Lisa Renee (Voorhees) Dopf

How long have you been together? Married 4 years in August!

How long did you date? Here's the funny part and also what we use as our disclaimer is that we knew each other for nearly 6 months before we started dating. We dated 3 weeks before we got engaged, and then were engaged for 3 and a half months.

How old are you? He is almost 26 (next month) and I am almost 25 (next month)

Who eats more? With out a doubt and especially now that I am behaving myself; Brandon.

Who said I love you first? Brandon

Who is taller? Brandon is 6 feet and I am 5 feet 10 inches.

Who is smarter? I think we are pretty tied on that one. We both know quite a bunch of neat things, as well as lots of useless information!

Who does the laundry? Me. I am pretty particular. But he is great and helps to fold the clothes.

Who does the dishes? Both of us really. We both don't like to see the sink full of dirty dishes, but we both slip up every now and then.

Who pays the bills? He does. I don't like to see how much I am spending. ;)

Who mows the lawn? We have only ever rented, but he has told me he enjoys it! I guess that takes care of that one for the future!

Who cooks dinner? Usually me, with his help. He always offers, and he never complains about having to cook dinner on occasion.

Who drives when you are together? Almost always him, since my job requires SO much driving.

Who is more stubborn? I just might take the cake on that one, but it really can depend on the reason for being stubborn.

Who kissed who first? We can both take the blame for that one.

Who asked who out first? Interesting, but I told him I thought we could go out for some fun, and then he asked me out not too long after that.

Who proposed? He asked me! He fooled me in to walking up Old Main Hill and under a tree say 3 roses. He explained that one rose represented our past, the next our present, and the last as our future. The last rose had a white satin ribbon around it with the ring tied to it. He knelt down and asked me.

Who has more siblings? We are equally yolked on that one. We are both the youngest of 3.

Who wears the pants in the family? Funny thing is, we are pretty good at the give and take in our relationship. I think that is the only way to go.

Just for the fun of it I now tag Tammie, Shelly, Rachel, and Tanya!

Great Week, on ALL Accounts!

This week was a little busy for me!

Monday was our home study. Tuesday was work and more work. Wednesday was work and driving to SLC for the kick off of the UTRID conference for interpreters. Instead of driving back and forth with the crazy gas prices, I stayed with my wonderful friend/3rd sister Amber. She lives fairly close to the Deaf Center where the workshops and conference were taking place, so I took full advantage of being able to see her, and attend the conference as well! It was a blast! I learned so many new things, and saw so many people that I hadn't crossed paths with for a while. While I was gone, I am sure that Brandon was able to enjoy being a "bachelor" again, and to come and go as he pleased. I sure enjoyed having my own bed for a few days! I often would check in with Brandon through text messages or what have you and I got a VERY pleasant and happy surprise that we ALREADY had received our foster parenting license in the mail! I was thrilled!

In other news, I haven't said much of anything, but with some recent developments in jumping through the hoops of dealing with foster care, and everything else, there is a list of possible things that could happen as a result of trying to get Taylor. We have been prepared emotionally and mentally almost from the beginning of it all, but we have really tried to remain positive and just hope for the best for everything to work out. We have done everything we could possibly think of to do. Now it is up to the courts to decide Taylor's future. I am glad that months or even years after all this is done and over with, that I won't have to look back and regret or second guess anything that we have done.

Stamp of Approval!!

After what has seemed a long process with working to get our license we passed the health and safety inspection for our duplex, and the home study as well! We will officially be licensed as foster parents by the middle of next week! We couldn't be more excited about this! Thank you for your support and prayers, because we are going to need more in the weeks to come! Love all y'all!

Playing Cinderella... with OCD

I have seriously spent more than 3/4 of my weekend cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors, scrubbing walls, moving furniture, vacuuming, dusting, organizing, shampooing my carpets, and running around like a chicken with my head cut off! I have paid more attention to how I clean which really means something if you know my family and how most of us are germaphobes! I can't stand having a dirty house. It does happen from time to time that it gets cluttered when I work long hours but it quickly puts me into what I like to call "Cinderella" mode and I clean the house from top to bottom.

But with this home study tomorrow it's been more like Cinderella with OCD/on crack mode when it comes to getting everything done. I stayed up until 2 am Friday night (can you tell I have no life?) cleaning house. I wiped down the inside of my kitchen drawers, organized my medicine cabinet that now has to be locked to meet Utah's Foster Care guidelines, I shampooed the same area of carpet probably 5 times (the area where Lexi has messed the carpet a few more times than I would like to admit), and organized out the yin-yang closets and cabinets. Then I went back and re-vacuumed the house today, and used a rag to get all the hair from me getting ready this morning in the bathroom. It's been interesting to say the least.

I just hope that all this work will be to our benefit. I don't really think it's possible that we will fail this inspection because we have had to jump through so many hoops just to get to this point. But you never know what could happen!

This week is going to be busy, I have a UTRID (Utah Registry of Interpreter's for the Deaf) conference from Wednesday to Saturday! I am excited for it!

Finalizing Our To Do List...

Excitedly since next Monday is our home study/health and safety check from the state office of licensing, we have a to do list of things to make sure that we get done!

Installing necessary magnetic safety locks
Making sure all chemicals, knives, and scissors are locked up
Covering all exposed electrical outlets
Cleaning house
Screwing in the baby gate at the top of the stairs

We are thrilled that this day is finally so near! Brandon is coming home with a friend tonight with power tools to make sure things are installed correctly!