Showing posts with label family fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family fun. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

The Lord Giveth....a DNA story with a happy beginning

A picture from the first day we met in
person, with the heart rock she gifted me
I've been wanting to write about this for a few months now. I've had to give myself some time to wrap my head around it all first. It's not anything I really expected to happen, but maybe in the back of my mind I hoped for it without allowing myself to dwell on it.

Most everyone who's been here knows that I lost my little sister 4 years ago. It's been a struggle since then to be an only child. Lonely. Funny to say that, you wouldn't think it, since I have such a large family with my husband and children. But it's true. I lost the person who grew up with me. Someone I spoke to often, even when we didn't always agree. National sibling day on social media only made it worse,  and holidays were a sore reminder of what was missing.

I knew that there was a possibility of having other siblings out there from my biological father. I didn't know him well. Visitation stopped when I was 4, likely because he was a severe alcoholic and ended up homeless now and then. I met him once when I was 11, while in foster-care, when he came to court to help my mom try to regain custody of me. The visit lasted maybe an hour, and I vaguely remember he mentioned 2 younger sisters. I didn't have any other information though. I did try to track him down once I was an adult, but wasn't successful and he passed away in 2005, which stopped me finding out anymore. I figured that door was closed permanently.

Our father in about 1980
Fast-forward to this past summer, when on a whim, I decided to jump on the DNA testing bandwagon with my husband for Amazon Prime Day and ordered tests for each of us from both Ancestry DNA and from 23andme. Once the tests came, I figured I'd learn some health info on the 23andme and maybe track down some relatives and learn about my heritage. Ancestry.com didn't pan out on tracking anyone who knew my father down, and that was the one I pinned most of my hopes on, since it was the one I'd heard most about.

By the end of August, I finally got my results from 23andme. There, at the top of my DNA relatives, caught my attention and made me catch my breath. Half Sibling. I don't know how long I stared at it before it fully registered. WHAT?! Was this real? Could this be real? A sister. I had a sister. Her name was right there. Dayna. It gave her last name too, and it wasn't a common one.

I don't know how other people would've handled this, but I did the most stalker-y thing I've ever done and looked her up on Facebook. There was only one person who came up with her name, and she lived in the same state as me! I went through pictures, looked for a resemblance, looked at her family members, pictures of her life, and then when that checked out as being a normal, non-psycho looking person, I sent her a message on 23andme.com and I waited. And I waited. And I waited. A few days later, when talking to my aunt about my discovery, and my hurt and embarrassment that I hadn't gotten a response, she encouraged me to send a message on Facebook, saying maybe my newfound sibling hadn't seen my message. So I gathered up my courage, set aside my pride and did exactly that.

"I hope this isn't uncomfortable or weird, but I'm wondering if you're the same Dayna..... who came up on my 23andme DNA relation match. I won't bother you again, but if you're open to a conversation, I'm here. 🙂"

And then I waited some more. I got a response the next day:

Dayna.... accepted your request.
Dayna Kinzel
That's me 🙂
Who are your parents?
Nellie
(Information removed for privacy)
Dayna Kinzel
Omg!!
Seriously!
We are sisters!!!
Are you serious?
Nellie
I am very serious
Dayna Kinzel

Nellie








We spent a lot of time over the next several days messaging, then talking on the phone and then eventually setting up a visit. I was excited, terrified, hopeful, fearful.....We learned we'd grown up in much the same way. Both of us had been in foster-care. Both had difficult childhoods we'd overcome. Both were married with children. The more we learned, the more we wanted to know. And we very quickly came to love one another.

She's better at expressing her emotions, I think. I can do that in writing, but when my emotions are that caught up and strong, I have a harder time, due to fear of being hurt. But when she went with me to a procedure I had in September, the anesthesia took out my inhibitions and opened the floodgates as I came out of it.

I woke up crying and apparently told her how happy I was that I wasn't alone anymore and how much I loved her, as well as how excited I was to be an aunt to her children and how scared I was they wouldn't like me. I did this all while clutching her hand.......Yeah....I put it all out there. Which she said she loved and appreciated because it made her feel more secure that she wasn't the only one invested.

Dayna knew of my existence, though didn't know my name or much else. She had more time getting to know our father, though not a whole lot. She took the test before I did, hoping that after 10 years of searching, hoping and waiting, that something might turn up. She said she lost hope after a while of getting nowhere and finally set it aside. Until the day I messaged her.

First family gathering together for one of my daughter's birthdays
We want to find out more together, and maybe there's a possibility of us finding the other siblings out there. She says she's pretty sure we have 2 brothers and one other sister. But we don't have much info to go off of, and they haven't come up on the DNA tests we took.

We've spent time with our families together, gone to each other's children's birthday's, started a new Christmas tradition in painting ornaments together, and even had Christmas dinner together! I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for this major blessing in my life. I have wonderful friends, and amazing family. But to have a sister, to have that relationship possible again after I thought it was gone forever.....I'm so humbled. I'm so looking forward to building this relationship with her and her family. We've had a great beginning and I'm hopeful of our future!



Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Working to Move on

My main purpose of starting this blog was to help people, and yes, to journal my family's journey as we go along. I still want to do this, and I hope that sharing what's been going on in my life now has been okay. This was a shock to me (understatement!) and writing is how I vent.

Anyway, I will always love my little sister and I'll miss her until the day we meet again. I don't want to drag anyone down with that. I just wanted to share her with you. She was an amazing person.

On a different note, we've had some other things going on during all of this. We've taken advantage of our Pass of all Passes a week ago for the first time this summer and I have some concerns about how it's going. It's our third year with the pass and I'm not sure I like it as much as we used to.

I'm thinking they've oversold them. To say the venues are crowded doesn't begin to paint an accurate picture. We're going to try going on a weeknight and see if that's any better. Also, a heads up on the Sandy Seven Peaks Fun Center location: it's for bowling only, and they really should change the name to reflect that. Not only that, but they charge $3.50 shoe rental, so it's not quite free with your pass (which is only valid Mon-Thurs).

There's some other things I wanted to share, but am gathering more info before I do. So hopefully I won't fall off the horse again and will be better about updating here. The kids go back to school in less than two weeks and I can't decide if that's going to give me more or less time! :)

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Awesome Deal on the Pass of All Passes

I've talked about the Pass of All Passes before, and at that time it was a really good deal. Today though, until 8pm, it's an AWESOME deal! We love this pass. You not only get a season pass for Seven Peaks Water Park (both locations), but you also get access to various sporting events for free, as well as Fun Centers. Right now you can get these passes for under $20! If you live in Northern Utah, you can't pass this deal up.

Here's what's included:
The Utah Pass of all Passes includes the following per person:
- Admission to Seven Peaks Salt Lake Waterpark on normal days (and hours) of operation
- Admission to Seven Peaks Provo Waterpark on normal days (and hours) of operation
- Unlimited use of the following attractions at Trafalga Fun Center in Orem: Mini Golf, Blacklight Mini Golf, Slick Track, XD Theater, and Batting Cages.
- Unlimited use of the following attractions at Trafalga Fun Center in Lehi: Mini golf, Blacklight Mini Golf, Laser Tag, Rock Climbing, Slick Track, Bumper Boats, Rush Coaster, Carousel, Kiddie Area, Pirate Ship Ride, Plane Ride, and Lighthouse Ride.
- Unlimited bowling Monday - Thursday at new the new Seven Peaks Fun Center (formerly Karen Pullman's) in Sandy, UT - Now Open!
- One Lift Ticket per person per day to Wolf Mountain Ski Resort from 9 am-4 pm on certain dates (see details below)
- General Admission seating to select Utah Blaze Home Games (Dates to be announced)
- General Admission seating to select Utah Grizzlies Home Games (see details below)
- Unlimited general admission tickets to all Orem Owlz Home Baseball games (see details below)
- Unlimited general admission tickets to all Ogden Raptors Home Baseball games (see details below)
- Unlimited general admission to all Utah Valley University sporting events
- General admission to the Peaks Ice Arena on certain dates (see details below)
Terms and Conditions
*Seven Peaks Waterpark, Salt Lake (formerly Raging Waters):
Grants admission on normal days (and hours) of operation
Also includes exclusive hours for all Pass of All Pass holders from 9:30 – 11:00 AM before the park opens to the public at 11:00 AM!
*Seven Peaks Waterpark, Provo:
Grants admission on normal days (and hours) of operation
Also includes exclusive hours for all Pass of All Pass holders from 9:30 – 11:00 AM before the park opens to the public at 11:00 AM!
*Trafalga Fun Center, Orem:
Grants unlimited use of the following attractions:
-Unlimited Mini Golf
-Unlimited Blacklight Mini Golf
-Unlimited Slick Track
-Unlimited XD Theater
-Unlimited Batting Cages
-Does not include arcade tokens
*Trafalga Fun Center, Lehi:
Grants unlimited use of the following attractions:
-Unlimited Mini Golf
-Unlimited Laser Tag
-Unlimited Rock Climbing
-Unlimited Blacklight Mini Golf
-Unlimited Slick Track
-Unlimited Bumper Boats
-Unlimited Rush Coaster
-Unlimited Carousel
-Unlimited Kiddie Area
-Unlimited Pirate Ship Ride
-Unlimited Plane Ride
-Unlimited Lighthouse Ride
-Does not include game cards or arcade tokens
*Wolf Mountain Resort (Skiing/snowboarding):
Grants one lift ticket per person per day to the resort from 9 AM – 4 PM, Monday-Wednesday on dates below (pending snow conditions):
- February 6-15, 2012
- March 5-21, 2012
*Utah Blaze (Football):
Grants general admission seating to (3) home games (one ticket per home game per pass, game dates to be announced):
Location: Energy Solutions Arena, 301 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah
*Utah Grizzlies (Hockey):
Grants general admission seating to (4) home games
- February 15, 2012
Location: 3200 Decker Lake Drive, West Valley City, UT 84119
*Orem Owlz (Baseball):
Grants unlimited general admission tickets (one per home game per pass)
Location: Brent Brown Ballpark, University Parkway at I-15, Orem, UT
*Ogden Raptors (Baseball):
Grants unlimited general admission tickets (one per home game per pass)
Location: Lindquist Field on Lincoln Avenue, Ogden, UT
*Utah Valley University Sports:
Grants unlimited general admission tickets to all UVU sporting events (one per home game per pass)
*Peaks Ice Arena:
Grants general admission for ice skating during normal public hours on the following dates:
- March 26 - May 26, 2012
*Seven Peaks Fun Center Bowling:
Grants unlimited admission for bowling Monday - Thursday
7984 South 1300 East, Sandy, UT
(formerly Karen Pullman's)
*Seating to all sporting events is first-come, first-served.*
We've gotten our money's worth out of our passes and jumped on the opportunity to renew them when they offered this deal a few months ago. This is only the second time I've seen it this cheap, so I'd grab it while it's available! You can find it here.

Friday, March 4, 2011

We're Going to Watch Hockey Tonight!

Our kids are so excited, and I have to admit I'm looking forward to it too. Tonight we're going to watch the Grizzlies as a family with our good friends and neighbors. The best part is we don't have to pay a cent for any of our tickets, though we do have to get there early to make sure we get them.

We got free entrance to a few Griz games, Real Salt Lake soccer Games, Utah Blaze football games and Rocky Mountain Raceway too. We also got a season pass for each of us for Seven Peaks Water Resort. Normally we don't do things like this because it's too expensive for all of us. But we decided to go ahead and jump on the deal when it came up on Groupon for the Salt Lake County Pass of All Passes for about $40 each.

I'm not telling you this to rub it in. I just found out that City Deals is offering it too! So if you want to get in on the family fun for a great price, I'd jump on this deal before it's gone.

Utah county has a similar deal going too. You can find it here.

As for us, we're going to go enjoy some good fighting...er, I mean playing tonight. I've only been once before, but I really had a great time. It was exciting, interesting and very entertaining. So if you haven't gotten your passes yet, jump on it now before they're gone!