It's not so bad...really

I hate being impetuous. Usually after a couple of hours, I feel awesome ag

Another Lazy Post

I want to share how awesome and sweet my boy's are. Dylan celebrated his 8th birthday. It was a little bitter sweet for me because his friend birthday party was boycotted by all but one of the kids we invited because we are Mormon. Lame for me but Dylan was okay with it. He loved the present that Owen picked out (Owen is really good at picking out toys. Surprised? I bet not.) Then two weeks later, Dylan made his first covenant by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. This was on of the lamest lame mommy moments that I've ever had because I neglected to invite anyone but family (who for various and reasonable reasons were largely unable to come) Again, I realized that the most important people were there (the witnesses, Owen and of course Dylan) so that was cool. The Spirit attended the whole thing very strongly. Dylan has taken his new accountability for himself quite seriously and last Sunday even woke early, got dressed in his church clothes and studied his new scriptures all on his own. Thank you for those new scriptures M&D Spencer. He loves them. It may take me two months to get the thank you cards out (because I'm awesome that way...yes, more sarcasm)so I want to take a moment to put the 'thank you' out there.

It's been a while

This is a lazy post meant to only just give our f&f a quick update. This 6 week block I am REALLY busy with two very long classes that have more that their share of homework and projects. It's good but tiring and leaves me with not much initiative to to much else. Owen continues to be the house husband with great success. He's been struggling more than usual with severe symptoms and has developed a need to sleep.... a lot. He's been really interested in studying the 2012 phenomenon and continues to study the writings of Carl Jung.
Dylan has started school and for the first time is able to augment his behavior somewhat to fit into the boundaries set by his teacher. He still struggles but is making great progress. He seems to be making lots of friends and enjoys recess which is something that they didn't have at all in Texas. He likes to read out loud to me and has begun reading monologues for kids. That kid does have a flair for the dramatic!
While we were at the Scottsdale Library, we checked out a Maurice Sendak exhibit which included certain interactive displays that allowed you to dress up like a wild thing, slide down into a big bowl of chicken soup with rice and other fun things. I got a couple of pictures to work out on my phone. Alas, my phone camera is trickier to use than my SLR is so most of the pictures didn't turn out well. Oh well.
School is going well for me. At the beginning of the month I entered a iron chef style competition called titanium pastry chef. My partner and I won second place despite my dessert being totally messed up. We didn't think we would even place and were surprised when we won second. We will be competing again in two weeks and we're hoping that this time we can win first place and make it to the finals in November.
Right now I'm in a class all about artisan breads and viennoserie. It's really cool that we have an instructor who is an expert in the field and has graciously taken it upon himself to teach us how to formulate original artisan bread recipes. It's tricky work but also super fun, I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm also taking a food safety course that is completely involved with memorizing several illnesses by both their common and medical name, their primary and secondary symptoms, what causes it, what the origin of the illness is and how to treat it. It's boring work for me but also totally necessary.
I continue to look for employment that will work with my schedule giving me enough time to both see my family and study. It's a difficult task. I will soon be looking for an externship site and I've been hoping to find something that I can start as a full time employee that can transform into externship and then transfer back to full time employment but with much better pay after my externship has ended. I have a few options right now and I continue to take every opportunity that comes up to network with the local chefs but I'm going to wait until this block is over to really aggressively start to look. Okay, that's all I'm going to say for now. I hope all is doing well and that maybe sometime I'll have enough initiative to share some of the more beautiful nuances of our lives.

Titanium Chef, The Twig and Other Things.

Because I'm the punk big sister and I have a genetic obligation to bust my younger siblings chops sometimes that's why...

Okay, I've been debating on whether or not to post a picture collage because it may upset the primary subject. I've decided that it's too funny to NOT share so if you are the subject and would like me to remove this post, text me and it will be done in a flash. Having said that, here's one of my siblings pulling some classic faces instead of smiling at my camera like a good man should.

P.S. If you click on the picture, you can see it MUCH bigger. He he he.

And So Life Takes Another Turn

We are back from Korea. It was a very valuable learning experience for us all. We are now living in Arizona. Owen and I have decided to do some roll reversal and I will be the full-time student/ wage earner and he will be the full-time stay at home parent. This was a decision that came directly from our experience in Korea.

As you might guess from the above picture, I am in training to become a chef. Today is the end of my first week of classes and I will say that each day as I return from school, I feel as if the stars have aligned and I have found the huge missing piece in my life.

That sounds dramatic I know, but for the past 8 years I've tried to take what I thought was the most righteous path for a woman and force that idea into my gaping hole with disastrous results. I love being a mother, but when you are a mother through adoption things tend to be quite different for you. You can pretend to be like all of the other mothers at play group, but aside from the fact that you also have a child to hold and care for, you are quite a different breed of woman. I won't go on about this but I'm sure that most of you know a lady like me and can empathise.
Anyway, flash forward to right now. Dylan loves that his mommy is training to be a chef and loves to be my "chef's assistant" in the kitchen at home. I let him wear some of my gear and I think that I will get him his own hat and apron with his name on it just to make his honorary position more official.
Owen has been nothing but accommodating and supportive and has graciously put his own career on hold until I am finished with school and my externship. As for me, I won't lie, although the training is riggerous and the classes are challanging, I absolutely love every minute of class and the hours of study that follows.

We are currently getting things together for Dylan to enter 2nd grade. He's a bit nervous but we are certain that he will do just fine. Owen is adjusting pretty well as well and we will se how he likes house work, cooking and dealing with the PTA and all things elementary in the following weeks. I plan to take over my rightful place as head homemaker once I'm done with school but I am so grateful that he is willing to allow me to focus fully on my studies right now.


We have become a non-traditional family but I think that the long-term results will be positive.

Thou Shalt Not...

The Set-up: We are all in the family car, driving down the street and I (the mommy) am singing a hip, upbeat song heartily.
Dylan: Aaaah! Mom! Please stop singing that song, I HATE that song!
Becky: What? I thought you said the other day that it was one of your favorite songs.
Dylan: Well, I decided to employ one of my special skills...and also one of my hobbies....LIEING!
Owen and Becky: HA HA HA HA...ha ha ha...uh...(nervous and concerned chuckling).
1. And so it was established, being the day called Uhm in the month called June that Owen and Becky felt to sing the song of ill-parenting in that they had failed to teach young Dylan, the true meaning of an essential judeo-christian value of honesty. 2. Lamentation heaped heartily upon their minds and a long lecture crossed their lips. 3.Dylan, being perfectly reprimanded, assured the parentage that he would, in fact, try his best to not lie and to also to tell the full truth.