The Crabtree Family

Adoption Update!

2011-06-26T20:06:00.000-06:00

We are so excited about our adoption journey. It has taken us a little time to get all of our paperwork submitted, but we are excited to finally have our paperwork submitted and our home study approved! You can view our family adoption profile by clicking on the picture of Brandon and me on the right side bar! So now the real waiting begins for us, but we have prayed about this and we know that this is how we are supposed to grow our family.

Thanks for all your thoughts, ,prayers, and support!

Love, Brandon Shannell & Erika

My Grandmother

2010-11-20T20:35:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking about my grandma a lot this week. What an amazing woman she is. She was married to my grandpa at a very young age and after having six children, my grandpa died when her youngest child was in his early teenage years and 3 of her children were still in the home. This was a time when most women didn't work outside of the home. I never knew my grandpa in this life - he passed away before I was born. Grandma never remarried.

My grandma has an amazing testimony of the Savior and the gospel. I never questioned this. She shared her feelings with her children, grandchildren, and friends often. She is an amazing example - she served others and served in the temple for many many years.

She is an amazing mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She came to every one of my choir concerts, soccer games, birthday parties, and other events. I was wrapping birthday gifts for Erika on Tuesday and I remembered a Christmas I spent with my grandma when she taught me to wrap gifts. I remember sleep overs at her house, going to movies, seeing the Phantom of the Opera together, traveling to Missouri to visit family, she visited when I was sick or in the hospital, and we shared so many wonderful visits with each other. One time while visiting Missouri, we went to six-flags and Grandma went with me on the Bat ride - WOW! She was so afraid. She never learned to swim and she never pierced her ears - I think she was afraid of those things.

Grandma is very smart with her money. She never buys extravagant things and uses things until they wear out. I walked through her house this week and noticed that most of her wall hangings are the same ones that she had when I was little - and probably well before that. She has toys in the play room that he children played with when they were kids and my daughter loves to go to "Grams' to play with the toys! She loved to travel and always would bring all the grand kids home a spoon as a souvenir. When she traveled she would visit nearby temples and she had a wall where she would hang pictures of all the temples she visited - there are many. She also has her whole life documented in scrapbooks and journals all of her life experiences.

As I thought about my grandma this past week I first thought that I must have been her favorite grandchild, then I thought about all the other grandchildren and I know she was there for all of their events too - I am sure that each one of her 20 grandchildren each know that they are her favorite grandchild. It takes a very special person to make everyone feel that important.

I was able to visit my grandma on Wednesday - hopefully I will get to go see her again tomorrow. Possibly for the last time as she just had a massive stroke and we were told she will only have about a week with us here on earth. What a blessing it is to be able to tell her I love her and tell her good-bye.

Grandma, I love you! Thank you for the memories, for the example, for the friendship, and for the love you shared with me. You are my hero! I am so thankful for the time that we had together here and I know that I will see you again on the other side. I am thankful that Erika was able to know you and share experiences with you - she will remember your example throughout her life. I am proud to call you grandma and I will miss you and look forward to the day that we will meet again!

Adoption

2010-11-13T22:45:00.001-07:00

Brandon are working on our paperwork and classes so that we can adopt and grow our family. We are super excited! The couple that teaches our adoption classes have adopted two kids and it has been fun to talk with them and discuss and learn about all the aspects of adoption.

Two weeks ago we had a panel of birth mothers come and talk with us about their experiences placing their babies for adoption. It was interesting to hear from them - they bore a strong testimony of how they knew that they did the right thing and that they knew that the families that they placed with were the right families for their babies. I enjoyed talking with them and learning about how they finally came to the realization that they were going to place their baby and how they picked the family and finally how they had the strength and courage to place. What amazing people they are!

It is strange, once you decide to adopt and you think about everyone you know there are a ton of people that I know who have adopted, have been adopted, or have placed a child for adoption.

We know that the best resource we have to adopt is our network of friends and family. If anyone knows someone who is looking to place a baby or child, please keep our family in mind. I started an adoption blog (it is almost finished - I am going to try and finish it up tomorrow!) You are welcome to refer people to it if you know of any adoption opportunities. The address is http://www.brandonandshannelladopting.blogspot.com/

Thanks for all your help and prayers!

GPS...in my leg?

2010-05-27T21:56:00.005-06:00

So, I saw this article about a week ago talking about Obama's health care bill and how some say (I am not saying it does or it doesn't, but some say it does...) that it will require Americans to get a micro-chip in order to track medical treatment. (I was however surprised to learn that some people have already had them put in their kids - REALLY??) Anyway, I have been doing some homework and looking in to this to see if there is truth to it. (Those of you who know me know that I would not be for this at all!)

So I go to the doctor yesterday and he is telling me about this new service that they offer where you can send a text to your doctor to get prescriptions refilled or ask questions - stuff like that. He asked me if I wanted to sign up. (Have you ever left a message for a doctor? Of course I wanted to sign up!) Then he cautions me to be careful about what I text as this information will be added to my file and kept on record FOREVER! I make a comment (in my joking tone) about oh is this so the government can track when I need a refill? And he replies (in a serious tone) about how they don't need to read my text messages because of the GPS chip that they put in my leg during my surgery in December....didn't they tell you? Oh, they must have...it's pretty standard now...you had to sign a form agreeing to it...

My face must have been worth a thousand words. I say "WHAT?? That needs to come out NOW!" Then he starts laughing and says I can't believe that you believed me. Seriously, he got me good! I love my doctor and I am sure he is still laughing!

Now I am left wondering how soon it is before it is standard procedure...and I am thinking that it is sad that I actually did believe him - this should be unbelievable. Unfortunately, it isn't!

This is me planning sharing time....

2010-04-30T22:08:00.002-06:00

I am struggling with planning sharing time so I am in the mode where you do anything but plan sharing time...sigh! I even did the dishes...and mopped the floors....well you get the picture.

Our family went to see "How to Train a Dragon" tonight. It was pretty cute. The first ten minutes were challenging for Erika. She kept saying, "This isn't a kids show - it's too scary!" In the end she loved it. I thought it was good and it had a couple of really good messages. That is about the best review that movies get from me anymore. I know that we were a little slow to go see it, but I have started waiting until I know that the movie gets some good reviews by friends and family.

Last night the primary presidency went to the temple together. I really enjoyed going as a group. I am going to say that it wasn't the most spiritual visit I have ever had at the temple, but it was nice to go as a presidency. I learned a lot about the women in the presidency. My favorite part was cute Carrie Hanni she picked a name that was like 28 letters long and challenging to pronounce (we have all been there.) Carrie saw the name and said, "She needs her work done too!" Then she traded the name she had for this name. Now if I had the name I would have spelled it, but Carrie pronounced it every time. She is amazing! I had some great learning moments. I am glad we went. I was so surprised by how busy the temple was. What a blessing! I went to the Washington DC temple in February and when I pulled in the parking lot I wondered if I should have called ahead and made an apointment. I know that there are temples where you have to do that. We really are blessed in Utah to have so many temples. I hear that the Ogden temple is the busiest temple in the world - it sure felt like it last night.

Work is going great, but I am so busy!! It is almost overwhelming. I enjoy the new challenges and opportunities, but I feel like I have a whole new job and I don't know what I am doing most of the time. Good thing I have an amazing boss and a great team to help me out with everything.

One other good news is that my sister Hilary is off chemo and cancer free!! What great news. She had her graduation appointment the week and they told her that she can stop taking her chemo pill and she doesn't have to go to the doctor again unitl August. I know that our family has learned so much through this experience. In so many ways we have been able to see the blessings of Heavenly Father.

So I guess I should get to work on sharing time and get to bed!

Certainly I will be with thee!

2010-04-26T19:24:00.003-06:00

I have been reading in Exodus the last couple of weeks. I came across some scriptures that I LOVE and wanted to share. Exodus 3:10-12. In these verses Jesus tells Moses that he will send him unto Pharaoh that "he mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt." And Moses said unto God "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharoah...?" And he said, "Certainly I will be with thee;"

It is always humbling to me to find a scripture that reflects just how I often feel. I found it humbling that a prophet such as Moses had doubts about his calling - even as he was in the presence of the Savior. I could use the line that Moses used in a thousand different circumstances...Who am I that I should...be a mother, be the primary president, set an example, share my testimony. And I love the answer that the Savior gives to Moses. "Certainly I will be with thee." What a blessing it is to know that when we are doing the Lords work the Lord is with us. It is nice to know that the Lord is in control of all things and he is aware of our needs and desires and he is able to bless us with what we need most.

The Year in Photos - more to come!

2010-04-20T00:16:00.016-06:00

So, just because I am not writing about it doesn't mean we are not doing anything fun...

Brandon's brother and his wife, Brady and Kristy invited us to go to Disneyland with them in September. This was both mine and Erika's first trip to Disneyland. Erika was so afraid to fly on the airplane, but once we got in the air she decided that it wasn't so bad. Erika Loved Disneyland. We all had a fun family vacation. We went right after school started so there were not a lot of people or long lines. It was still hot, but the weather was nice. At Disneyland, Erika got to meet all of her favorite princesses - this is a picture of Cinderella showing Katie and Erika how to pose like a princess!

Our family went to Seaworld. This is a picture of Erika at Seaworld with the ocean in the background. This was the first time Erika saw the ocean. One cool thing about our trip to Seaworld...Brandon decided to buy an oyster and open it to see if it had a pearl inside. He let Erika pick the oyster. When the lady opened it up she found two pink pearls that were the same size. I guess it is very rare to find two pearls in one oyster. LUCKY GIRL! I believe we paid $15 for the oyster and went home with $80 in pearls.

This is a picture from our ward campout. This is Erika and her friend while they were out exploring the camp area! Although you can't really tell from this picture, Erika is 5 and Jacquline is 8 -
For Pioneer day, we went with my sister and her kids to Fort Buenaventura and got to learn about how the early settlers of Utah lived and did things. The kids got to dip candles and watch a sheep get sheered. Erika made a corn husk doll, but the highlight of the trip was going out on the row boat. All the kids took a turn rowing. Good thing the Eagle Scout (Brandon) was with us or we may still be out there on the lake somewhere!

In Other News...

2010-04-20T00:03:00.005-06:00

So a couple people have asked me to update the blog…here you go. This should be long! First, I learned that blogging is not really my thing - obviously! I am going to try harder and do better.

Things are good for us. We are still living with grandma and enjoying that for the most part. It has been a rough couple of months for Grandma – she has fallen twice this year – one of the times she got to take a trip to the ER. Sweet Brandon picked her up and carried her to the car – this may be an image that I remember forever! I am very surprised that she hasn’t broken anything she is so frail, but she is a fighter and she is pretty tough! One of my favorite things about living here is that Grandma has great dirt to plant a garden in! I got part of the garden planted a couple weeks ago - the veggies that grow well in the colder weather like peas, broccoli, and lettuce. A couple weeks from now I will be ready to plant the tomatoes and the green beans and all that yummy stuff! I am really looking forward to garden fresh tomatoes! I think I should move someplace warm where I can grow a garden year round. Last year I got a little behind on weeding and it was a constant problem...so this year I did some homework on growing a weed free garden. I put down some newspaper and then covered that with weed guard stuff. Hopefully I can enjoy the benefits of the garden without having to pull the weeds in the garden. That would be wonderful!

So the first year of home schooling is coming to an end. Looking back at lessons learned I will have to say that of all the decisions that I have made in my entire life, the decision that I am most happy with is my decision to home school Erika. I thank Heavenly Father every day for teaching me and for leading me and Brandon down this path for our family. What a blessing it is! Brandon and I have agreed to continue to home school next year. Erika is learning and growing so fast. She is working on learning multiplication – I tell Brandon that she is moving way too far ahead, and he says she can’t be too far ahead with math. She is a smart kid that is for sure! She is enjoying her home school swimming group and the book group. This month the book group is reading and learning about the Amazon Rainforest. Erika is also loving piano lessons – although the other day when she didn’t want to practice she said, “Mom, piano just isn’t my instrument! I want to play a string instrument.” I enjoyed opening the piano up and teaching her that the piano was indeed a string instrument. Sometimes kids think they know so much! Another lesson learned on home school is that I want to start taking more pictures and letting Erika scrapbook them so she can reflect on what she is learning. At first it was hard for me to have Brandon stay home with Erika and do the teaching, but I have enjoyed watching the two of them grow together. My favorite thing in the world is days when I am home from work in the morning and I get to participate in or listen to them in the morning devotional read scriptures, say the pledge of allegiance, and sing primary songs.

Brandon is wrapping up his final week of spring semester. I am not sure if he is planning on going this summer or not. I hope he does, but I have learned to let him make up his mind - he does better when he decides and puts his mind to it! Brandon just had his 32nd birthday! That is old (until September of course when I turn 32.) He is enjoying home schooling Erika and he is doing an amazing job with her. Brandon is also coaching Erika’s soccer team “The Blue Dragons!” He loves this...although he may never admit it. I think that he is really good at it and the girls and the parents LOVE him! At our game this past Saturday Erika surprised him with his favorite cookies and all the girls on the team sang to him. They don’t keep score at Erika’s age, but you know the competitive Crabtree’s? Brandon always keeps score and we are happy to report that our team is 2-0 so far this season! I am ok with the score keeping – I am not an “every kid gets a trophy kind of mom!”
Things are going well for me.

I am still working at ATK. I have some new opportunities with my job – nothing too drastic, but just a change to what I have been doing for the past couple years. A couple of new assignments and projects – most of them are things that don’t have a lot of structure and I get to be creative a little so I think I will enjoy them. I also get to do a little mentoring and I always love that and I still get to do recruiting on campus which lets me travel a little so, like always I enjoy my job! I have been thinking about going back to school in the fall to get my MBA…I am about 85% sure I will, but I don’t want to register and take the GMAT and all that so…there is the extra 15%...

If you didn’t hear – I somehow got a really nasty blood clot in December. I ended up having to have surgery and I spent about three weeks in bed unable to walk and another week trying to get to the point that I could walk far enough to get from the parking lot at work to my office so I could go back to work. It was interesting and I am still feeling the effects and taking the blood thinners. However, I am so glad that I can walk again!! I wear compression socks (the thigh high ones) every day (ok – most days.) For the record, I HATE them! I am going to really hate them during the summer – they are closed toe so no flip flops or sandals and no capris…we will see if I wear them most days still. I am for sure going to be taking blood thinner until the end of June. In May I am suppose to have some testing done so they can figure out why I got the clots this time (it is a mystery!) and if things come back indicating genetics and a high risk for me in the future I will most likely be on blood thinner for the rest of my life! The positive to all of this is that during the surgery to fix the clot problem they discovered that I had some webbing in my vein where they put the filter in during my last clot episode in 2003. The vein webbing was causing some problems with my heart pressure so they put a stent in my vein and amazingly I think that my migraines are gone forever (knock on wood!)So in summary, no migraines and I can walk so I am happy!

In other non-medical news, they called me as the primary president in our ward. After getting over the initial shock (I didn’t even realize that I was a candidate for this calling) I am ok with it and actually really enjoying the calling. They sustained me in December – however, I was in the hospital when they did that so I think I officially took the reins the first week in January. Being the primary president has been a humbling and amazing experience. The thing that I have gained a testimony of more than anything else is that my Heavenly Father knows me and he is aware of me and he answers my prayers no matter how insignificant my humble request may be. I love that I have had a chance to learn this in such a drastic way. I truly have been surprised by how busy the calling keeps me, but I am also surprised by the blessings that I feel every day. We have amazing teachers in our ward and I have amazing counselors working with me.

I decided to read the Bible this year…so I have been working on that and actually enjoying it very much. I am going to blog throughout the year about some of my favorite scriptures as I find them. The interesting thing about reading the Bible is that by reading it my testimony of the Book of Mormon has increased and been strengthened. I don’t know that I was expecting that! I am also finishing (finally) the Infinite Atonement by Tad Callister. I think I am down to the final two chapters – but I am already thinking about starting it again wondering what I missed the first time. What an amazing book! I have really enjoyed reading and learning about the atonement during the past year. The great thing about the atonement is that there is always more to learn about and understand and that no matter how little you know about it you realize that you need it! I am so grateful for the atonement. It blesses every aspect of my life. I want to one day summarize my learning’s from the past year and my favorite scriptures about the atonement so that I can reference them – one day! I have lots of big plans. This year I am focusing on learning more about “Zion.” This is something that I have thought about a lot in the past few months. As our government continues to “socialize” so much of our economy and take so much control of the freedoms I wonder how we can ever get to the Zion that the Lord expects of us. This is probably a good discussion for another time after I learn and study more.

So I guess I will end there for now. Brandon and Erika and I are happy, healthy, blessed, and taken care of! Here are some pictures of the past year to enjoy!

The 4th of July

2009-07-03T19:40:00.005-06:00

The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday. I think because nobody has big expectations so no matter what happens it is a success and we have fun. I am not sure what we are doing this year - I am not a planner - more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. That works for us though. I took today off work and tomorrow is our work holiday - so I get 4 days home with our family and I am just enjoying spending time with my family.

Today we had a picnic and then we took my sister's boys and Erika bowling and minature golfing. For the record, I won Brandon at bowling - he says it can't be done, but it can. He really had a bad game - Erika, Carson, and Aidan all beat him! We had dinner with my mom and my sister and Carson and Aidan are now trying to teach Erika how to ride a bike without training wheels (ya right!) at least they are busy playing and enjoying the sunshine while it is here.

Over the past two years I have really l have been doing some homework on politics...there is so much to learn and understand and our government is such a mess right now. I have learned to appreciate the freedoms that we enjoy and the sacrifices that many have taken in order for me to have the freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I love the founding fathers and the constitution in a whole new way. I love that I live in a country that was founded and set-up on Christian values and principles. I love our soldiers and I appreciate all that they do to help maintain our freedom here in the United States. I hope that everyone takes some time this 4th of July to reflect on the importance of the freedoms that they enjoy and I pray that we will all do all that we can to preserve our freedoms.

A bit about us...

2009-04-29T20:47:00.003-06:00

So, I thought I would try out blogging. I have been writing in my journal and trying to capture everything from my past and I thought it would be fun to have a blog to share our lives with our friends and family! We will see how it goes...

So where are we today???

Brandon and I both work full time. Brandon works at a small manufacturing place called Thompson Manufacturing. He is the quality manager. I work at ATK Space Systems in the Human Resource department. I do college recruiting and entry level and intern hiring. Brandon is also going to school at Weber State University. He is working on his BS in Finance. He might graduate in May 2010 (we can hope right!)

Brandon and I are living in South Ogden with Brandon's cute Grandma. We live in her basement and help her out with her yard and cooking and simple things like that. The thing that we do the most is thread needles for the sewing that Grandma does. Maybe she can teach me a thing or two about sewing! It has been wonderful for our family to be here and to get to know Grandma better. Erika and Grandma have really developed a special relationship. It is important to me to teach Erika how to love other people and serve and care for others. This has been such a positive experience for our family.

Erika is in kindergarten this year. She loves learning and she loves school! She is starting to read and spell really well and she is enjoying math and writing. She is so smart and independent. She will be starting piano lessons soon and she plays soccer. We love her so much she is the center of our world!