Fun filled weekend…

So we had a really fun weekend! Friday, while Malachi was at work mom and I planned to go to garage sales!

We were hitting some good sales but the Chappell's had a community sale in thier development so we needed to swing by and scope it out!

We kinda spent the rest of the day there eating lunchie and playing with the girls! (too bad this picture is so dark, it was a really cute picture!)
Another fun thing that happend this weekend is that Oliver came to visit us! He is such a cute baby and smiles all the time! I think he brought his mom and aunt with him but I can't find any pictures to prove it....

Oh look there is his mom's arm! Glad you guys came too! Visit again soon!

Oliver and Natilie were buds! Except when she was clobbering his head!

Since they were in town we got the whole family together and had a big dinner at Grandma's house! Thanks for doing that Grandma, it was really fun!

While the adults were visiting all the girls were playing dress up and hiding "Easter Eggs" (pine cones) all over Grandpa's yard!

It was a really fun weekend, I LOVE the hot weather!

PS. I do not take pictures that tell a story! I have never claimed to be a good picture taker...I take pictures of cute things, which are normaly cute children! Sparatic at best! You all will just have to imagine the gaps!

Three years and counting…

I cannot believe we have been married for three years…Most of the time I feel like I know Malachi inside and out, and he knows me backwards and forwards. However there are lots of things that we are still learning about each other! If you would have told me three years ago that I would still be learning new things about Malachi this far into our marriage I would have laughed in your face, but I do. And Malachi is always full of surprises! Just when I think I know exactly what he is going to do he does something completely amazing and makes me fall in love with him all over again!
There are times when he catches me staring at him and asks “what?” and honestly I am just amazed at how much I love him sometimes! He must get tired of me telling him I love him 50 times a day, Oh well!
I am so glad that Malachi and I got married! We are a perfect fit in every way! We encourage the other to grow, sometimes in ways we don’t want to….but know that we will be better for it in the end, and I am grateful that I get to spend the eternities with this wonderful man!
There have been LOTS of articles and books written on the depression and grief associated with Infertility and most authors liken it unto being diagnosed with cancer or losing a close relative every month…. We have endured though much sorrow together and I am so grateful for Malachi’s companionship, strength, and support throughout everything! I know that our marriage is strong and can endure anything!
I love you Malachi, Happy Anniversary!



ps. Happy Anniversary to the other Happy couples out there who share this great day with us!

Happy (Early) Anniversary!

So Malachi and I have been married for 3 years tomorrow… can you believe it? Stay tuned for some mushy LOVE stuff about us tomorrow! We have to work tomorrow, so today we had a fun ALL day date!
We needed to run up to LDS family services for some stuff so we took a little road trip!


While we were in Renton we went to see that movie I wanted to see (The Back-up plan) It was a pretty good movie…Good characters, thoughtful story line and certainly entertaining. However the plot seemed scattered and out of order and there were some unnecessary gruesome scenes! I liked it but was glad we only spent $3 to watch it! Maybe if you want to see it Redbox it! Its certainly worth a $1!


While we were at the movie theater Malachi had to play a game…you know he is a gamer!
We went shopping a little and then went out to dinner…We went to this restaurant called Bj’s oh my heck, it was so amazingly good!

At BJ’s they brew their own Root beer, Cream Soda, and Orange Cream soda… It is SO GOOD! The root beer is regular good root beer, but the cream soda TASTE amazing! It is what I imagine “Hogwarts Butter beer” (Harry Potter) tastes like! And the Orange cream was like liquid orange sorbet, I know that description sounds yuck, but it was really good!


And our food…Oh man it was so good! Malachi and I kept commenting on how good it was, and it was not like really fancy good, because there are lots of restaurants that are “fancy” and they put and lot of CRAP in their food…this was simple and tasty!


AND desert! THE BEST EVER! They make these gooey, warm, delicious, cookies and put ice cream on them! Who would have ever thought such a simple desert could be so scrumptious! So if you would like to try this amazing restaurant I would be happy to show you where it is…but I am staying for dinner!

Our evening was rounded out by a quite night at home! We played some Mario Cart (Thanks Talitha) ate some of our left-overs from dinner (SO good) and playing with our Brucie! Happy Anniversary to US!

Good things happen to good people

Yesterday Malachi and I had a really fun experience….
Thursday night we were getting ready for our garage sale and walking around putting up signs. We were walking next to sprinker and noticed a bunch of cards on the sidewalk…They were an Drivers licence, Military ID, Student ID and such, we picked them up and took them home. Now I have to be honest and say that I am often hesitant to try to help a random stranger. I would like to help, however often it seems that those who do good deeds get burned….I mean you hear all these stories about people who pick up hitch hikers and get murdered, they were just trying to help. So, I was hesitant, however I did look him up on the internet, found a phone number and called…
….he lived in Yelm (40 minutes away) however since didn’t think he should be driving (seeing as we had his driver’s license) we met him in the Yelm Walmart parking lot…. He was the nicest young man and his mother was so appreciative, they even bought us flowers! AND they were LDS! I was so excited; because that means nice things do happen to nice people!
( I have NO idea why my picture is sideways- you will just have to tilt your head to look at it!)

But that is not the end of the story! Since we were in Yelm we decided to find somewhere to eat, we looked at all the 5-6 options and decided on Teriyaki. Nice little restaurant- great Katsu! And guess what? They were playing Hymns.
Moral of the Story….Yelm is our new Zion!

Spread the Word....

Everyone should check out our Website....It is so cool... and hopefully will be a great tool in our adoption journey! Thanks Rickster! Please bookmark it on your browser and share the link with everyone you know! Also if you would like to contribute to the "references" page (on the website) feel free to E-mail me your thoughts....This section is for friends and family to share their thoughts on us (Malachi and Layne) and express if they think we will be good parents (or not) I think it would be nice for somone reading the website (like a bithmother) to see another perspective on us as a couple...It may also be nice to show our great support system!! So you could say somthing like.."It would be really fun to have another little cousin to play with" You can write 2 sentences or 6 pages- whatever you would like!
Also, if you still have not recived pass along cards (and would like to) please e-mail me at Laynie13@Juno.com!

www.mlswiftfamily.com

Something to ponder

I barrowed a season of Joan of Arcadia from my Dad. This is a really great show and I am REALLY sad it is not on anymore... Anyways, the basic premise of the story is that Joan (a 16 year old girl) talks to God. She physically talks to a person who "embodies" God. He instructs her to do certain tasks, however is VERY vague on the details. So through her trials and lessons she tries to see the bigger picture and deeper meaning of his instruction! One such instruction was this great quote:

“Most miracles occur in hindsight”

I have been thinking about that a lot the past couple of days... and trying to see the purpose in my trials and learn my lessons....Just something to think about!

When left to my own devices…

So Malachi has been at scout camp for almost 5 days and I have to say at first I was DREADING him leaving, the first day or two, I was lonely and sad. I really didn’t want him to leave me because I would miss him too much…however I have learned to appreciate this time of independent living.

Malachi and I have been married for almost three years (somewhat of a short time) and in this time I we have merged our schedules and habits together, we know about what time he gets home from work and when we like to eat, and our sleeping habits. However, I have now learned that when he is gone, I have a strange lifestyle. I have been staying up until all hours of the night, and wake up Really early (normally I am the one to sleep 12 hours a day) I have having my meals at completely sporadic times, and I have gotten SO MANY PRODJECTS done….I love Malachi, but when he comes home from work whatever progress I have made during the day is slowed down, and often reversed.
I miss Malachi terribly and I am Extremely excited for him to come home….nevertheless I think next time he has to go on a vacation alone I will look forward to it with anticipation, and appreciate my time!
Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

Happy Birthday Malachi!

It’s Malachi’s Birthday today! I wish I could say we spent the whole day celebrating it…but he is not here. He went to scout camp, but it’s his birthday, he should be able to do whatever makes him happy right??


Malachi is a great husband, but he is getting kinda old…I was thinking about trading him in for a younger version- just kidding! He really is great, the more time we spend together the more I like him! Don’t get me wrong he annoys me to death, but I love him so much it doesn’t matter much! I am glad he chose to spend his eternities with me…I cannot wait until he comes home!

Movies

Whenever I enter a new “Phase of life” I always find a new favorite movie to go with it. I like movies that I can relate to and characters who feel the way I feel or that give me a new perspective! I have been watching 16 and pregnant, I love it! So OFTEN when I find this movie I watch it over and over and over again….. My movie of choice...
JUNO


Juno is a movie about a 16 year old girl who is pregnant and give her baby up for adoption…now it’s not a Perfect adoption story, however it does have a happily ever after! There are not very many movies about adoption out there, this helps to normalize the process, If you haven’t seen it rent it, or I’ll let you barrow it!

By the way….”The Back-up Plan” with Jenifer Lopez came out a few months ago, and apparently is was Horrible because it was only in the theaters for a month, and got really bad reviews! However I fully plan on Red-boxing it when I comes out because I think it looks really good…
Basic plot- J Lo wants a baby, dates, dates, dates, cannot find a guy to marry…tried of waiting around does IVF..Finds a guy, falls in love, but guess what? She is pregnant already…That is going to make things really serious really fast!
Looks like a good movie to me!
It's refreshing to find movies about Adoption/fertility/miscarrige and such...do you know of any good movies?