Christmas...Finally

So, sorry I have been a slacker, but I left the battery charger for my camera in WA and just kind of forgot to post the pics from Christmas. I actually don't have any pics from Christmas day, but just of some activities during the holdiay. I also have been playing with my photoshop so that's why the pics look the way they do.

We went "sledding" for a bit. Actually we found a park with a tiny little hill, and we took these new sleds down it. It actually was about as much sledding as I wanted, (mainly for the walking back up the hill part). I was glad Brian opted to stay and play Wii w/ Drew though, cause it wouldn't have been enough action for him. Here's Emily showing some skill.

How cute does Ashley look in this hat? All of her action shots were fuzzy, I guess she must have been going too fast!

You wouldn't know it, but this picture was posed. We thought at least it needed to look like we were really doing some dangerous stunts.

The Jenne girls, braving the snow :)

This is actually what I did the most while home. Play with Darcy. She is just too cute. She is my new favorite BFF. Here she is waking up in the car. I just love her little just-waking-up smirk and rosy cheeks.

I have pretty much cropped myself out of these pics of me holding her, but I just had to show the many cute faces she makes.

It was so fun watching her learn new things, she was just learning to eat cereal, and man she looks super cute doing it!

This is a pic of myself. I feel bad for cropping me out of the other pics, so I thought I would at least get one in there. Love my new Christmas shirt from Brian that I got myself :)

This game is called Fox & Geese. We have played it since we were little, and were teaching Brian. Basically you make a circle in the snow w/ an x in the center and play tag on it. The middle of the x is base, but you only have a few seconds to stay on it, and it is exhausting (so they say). This is a good shot of Brian almost tagging Lindz. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to jump over the lines, but maybe you just can't land out of the path? Who knows the real rules.

A real action shot of Lindsey. I also like the snow falling in this pic. I opted to just take photos, since I am too out of shape, and my back still isn't fully better. (Lame excuse I know.)

Isn't this a cute shot of my Grandma playing w/ darcy?

One of my favorite times, watching Darcy have a bath. She isn't that exhuberant with the kicking, but she sure looks cute with all her chubby rolls in the bath. I just can't believe I don't get to see her more often.

Finally, this is my favorite picture. Brian playing with the babe. He was lifting her over his head, I was sure she would spit up on him, but she didn't. And I sure love how cute she is with her ponytail. Something about her face in this shot I love. She is so fun to watch, I just wish I could watch her all the time. Ahh, sigh. I miss Darcy.

The Latest

Well, I've been feeling like I should post something lately since it has been a while, but I just don't really have any pictures of anything, and I think that is what makes a Blog so fun. We went up to Rexburg for Thanksgiving, and it was awesome. We stayed w/ Aunt Laura's fam, and had a blast there. We hung out w/ Tommy & Tiff also, and realize how much we miss them here. Love their kids too, we always want to take them home with us, they are so hilarious.

Brian fried a turkey this year, finally. He has been wanting to do that for a while, and now was his chance. It was soooo delicious. Very juicy, and Very salty. I think less salt next time and it will be perfect. Pretty much it "tasted like chicken" and that was why I liked it. We did get a pic (and by we I mean Tiff did, and I stole this from her blog :)
I threw my back out, and it took forever this time to get better. I was down for weeks, or hobbling around like an old lady hunched over. I still feel sore in my lower back, but at least I walk normally. I haven't been able to exercise though, so I am feeling really Flabby. I also got sick, and that kept me feeling lousy for a couple weeks. I am finally feeling like maybe I am getting back to "normal"?

In the infertility news, we went in to see Dr. Heiner, and he told us we could start our drugs and trying to get prego immediately. Yeah! I thought maybe I would have to wait to heal longer after the surgery. So I took Femara for 5 days, then I was supposed to test for Ovulation (abbreviated as O). All tests were negative which was getting me pretty down, so I called and he told me to go get an ultrasound. I went in and got a peek at my ovaries, and there were 4 large follicles, almost large enough for O. So he told me to take an O-test the next day @ noon and if it was negative, to get the HCG shot and give it to myself (ahh) that night. So I ended up doing that.
A little freaky? Yes. But then the next day @ Noon... Positive O test.My first ever! Awesome. Finally something is going right. So now we are just waiting to see if it worked. It feels like quite a long wait, especially since we feel like there are many things going right this time, and there is real hope. But at least if this one doesn't take we feel like we are getting closer. So, I guess you can all be nervous for me now :)

And lastly, here is our X-mas Tree that we brought home... on the car. Christmas is the best. Can't you tell by that look?!

Surgery

Mom came down Tue night to stay w/ me through it all, and that was the best. Thanks Mom! Went in Wed morning @ 10:30. They took my blood (that nurse did it quickly, which is unusual for me) then they took us in a room to get the sweet gown on and wait.
The awesome Hospital Socks

We waited about 1/2 hr then a nurse came in and he told us that the room we were waiting for was still being used, and it would be about another 1/2 hr. We did a crossword for a while, and I talked to Brian on the phone. Then he came and got me and put me on the stretcher and we drove away. I was a little scared, but glad to finally get going w/ the project.

He took me through a maze, it's hard to tell where you are when looking at the ceiling, but then he just parked me out in the hallway, and said they still weren't quite done w/ the room. The anesthesiologist came over, introduced himself and said we were going to get going, and he pulled a stool over and set his stuff on the bed. He was great, he gave me a little numbing shot in my forearm, and then tried to get the IV in there. He couldn't... but I couldn't feel it so who cares how much he was digging. Then he did the numbing shot in my hand and got that vein right away. I don't remember him making me count backwards like they show on TV. I think we talked a sec, but I was pretty much asleep quickly.

The surgery was twice as long as they expected it to be. They told us 1 - 1 1/2 hrs, and it took 3. Dr. Heiner talked to my mom afterwards, but I still haven't spoken to him so this is all 2nd hand. They weren't able to take out as much of the Septum as they had hoped (because the bicornuate was more pronounced that they thought) so that is a little dissapointing. I'm not sure how much less, but I guess we just hope that it is enough to be able to get pregnant.

They did Hystereoscopy (up through the cervix) to actually take out the septum, but also did Laporoscopy to look at the outside of the uterus to make sure they didn't take out too much tissue and go all the way through. While doing the Lap they looked around at things and saw that there is scar tissue connecting part of the Bowel to one fallopian tube, and on the other side I think it connects to the bottom of the uterus. He wasn't exactly sure what this is from, he said it could have been an infection, or possibly endometriosis, although he didn't see any other signs of endo. Also he said that this doesn't seem to be hurting anything and the ovaries and fallopian tubes look good.

When they were done I was trying to wake up and was shaking & my teeth were chattering, and I remember putting my hand on my stomach from cramps. They asked me if I was cold, and the hand w/ my IV in it was, but I told them I didn't think I was cold, and they told me to go back to sleep cause sometimes when you wake up too soon you shake, so I did. The next time I woke up I was in the room w/ my Mom. She told me that surgery had been 3 hrs, and that I had the 3 holes in my stomach (I thought it was just going to be 1 on my bellybutton) and they just glued them, no stitches. I didn't ever feel sick which I thought I would. They put an ice pack on my stomach for a while and a blanket, but I was in and out of sleep. I do remember everything we talked about though, and even remember things that were said while my eyes were closed. They took out my IV somewhere in there. I don't know how long we were there, but it sure didn't feel like long. They made me get up and go to the bathroom, and I felt like that was very soon for me to be standing. I went, and then they told me to get dressed and we could go.

They wheeled me out to the car, and I got in. We have a very comfortable car I am glad :) I didn't even get sick in the car. I did take a pic of myself though. Very sleepy! This was me in the Walmart Parking lot. I pretty much slept the rest of the day. The only thing I felt like I could eat was a plain waffle, so I had mom make one, but I could only eat 1 bite at a time, and then chew for a while and it was hard to swallow (maybe cause it was dry? :). It took me all night to eat. I didn't really have pain though, just kind of layed around, and dozed in and out and took my drugs on time. I think that was the key.

The next day I woke up around 7:30 or 8? Mom will have to confirm. I felt pretty good, except my shoulder started hurting more. They told me this would happen. They pump the abdomen w/ air to look around, and it presses up on the bottom of the Diaphragm, which has the Phrenic nerve that connects to your right shoulder. One of the nurses called to see how I was doing, and I told her that I had the shoulder pain, and she said to drink hot clear liquid, and get on hands and knees (w/ bum in the air) and rock slowly back and forth to get the air to move lower (off the nerve). So I did, and when I would rock I would burp a ton, and then have relief in my shoulder. It was weird. But definately worked. I was trying not to take the meds that day, but I think I had one in the morning, and one at night, when my shoulder was starting to hurt way more and rocking wouldn't ease it enough.

I got flowers this day (I thought from Brian) from work, they were so beautiful, and fun to get when you don't feel your best!

I slept very well that night, and didn't even wake up until 10:30, and mom came to check on me to make sure I was alive. From then on I felt pretty good. The best part was that day I got to shower! We went out shopping, even though my shoulder hurt. I would just raise my arm over my head and get some relief from that, but it was good to go out, and the weather has been so beautiful we just couldn't resist. Overall, I would say it's been a successful surgery, and I am feeling great now. Thanks for all the prayers, and get well wishes, I certainly feel loved.

Talk

Well, I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing about infertility, but you have come to MY blog :) I was looking stuff up on BYU TV's website, and found this amazing talk.

PDF

VIDEO

This lady is a counselor w/ LDS Family Services, and she explains how it feels to have infertility so accurately (for me anyway) that I thought it was worth posting. The first 4 pages were mainly about that, and then she goes on to talk about Adoption, which I also thought was interesting and very good. I pretty much cried all the way through reading it, mainly because finally I felt like someone understands and can express what I am going through, and also she quotes scripture that brings peace and hope. I was also listening to another talk that had this quote in it that I loved!

"If you are helpless, He is not. If you are lost, He is not. If you don't know what to do next, He knows. It would take a miracle, you say? Well, if it takes a miracle, Why Not." Pres. Packer

Saline Sonogram

Warning: Long post about medical issues :)

I have started going to a Reproductive Endocrinologist because I felt like I wasn't moving forward with anything baby wise. So he took a look at my MRI & HSG films (of my Uterus) and decided that he needed to get an even better picture. When I first started going to the doctor in 2004 they told me that I had a Bicornuate Uterus, and said that there was nothing you can do, but this Dr. (Dr. Heiner) said that it looks to him like I could have both a Bicornuate & a Septate Uterus. So I went in on Thurs for a Saline Sonogram. Basically they put a balloon in and shoot saline in the Uterus for a 3D sonogram picture.

The worst part of this procedure is putting the balloon in. Ouch!! But once that is in then it is relitavely painless. It was funny because since it doesn't happen often that a person has both, they brought in the other Doctor to consult, and some Medical Students came in to see. How lovely for me. Actually I kind of liked that because then they were talking about it, and I think I wouldn't have gotten as much info otherwise. And since it is so interesting it took twice as long to check out... and the balloon fell out so I got to go through that wonderful experience twice in one day.

So here is the Ultrasound picture he gave me. I have highlighted things. The top line is showing that the outside of my Uterus has a bit of a heart shape (the Bicornuate) but the huge mass in the middle is the Septum that they are going to cut out. The two black sections are the open cavities of my uterus (I didn't realize how tiny they were).

Both problems are congenital, and I will explain what the doc told me. Bicornuate: When forming, there are 2 bands of tissue (picture your fingers coming together) that fuse into 1 big mass. In this problem they didn't fuse all the way together, and that is why the heart shape, cause they didn't fuse at the top. Some can be really bad and barely be fused at the bottom at all. (picture your fingers only fused at the knuckle). In this case I think all the tissue in the Uterus is still fertile, and the main problem is that a baby would grow only on one side, so usually you have a Cesarean birth because there isn't enough room for a baby to turn.
Septate: Once the tissue is fused into one, then it hollows itself out forming the cavity. Some can be so bad that there are 2 Uteri. Mine isn't that bad, the balloon just blocks the part that is open together. This tissue is bad however, and usually can't support a baby. Also, Dr. Heiner told me that since mine is so large, even if a Baby implants on some of the good tissue, the septum could rub on it and I would miscarry.

So, I have both. However, Dr. Heiner is going to cut out the septum (the part in Blue) October 14th. I think that the top tissue will have scars on it, and won't be good tissue, but there will be a ton more room and way less chance of miscarriage.

I have been reading Forums of people that have had this surgery, and it seems relitavely painless. They will put me under, and will do it w/ Hysteroscopy & Laporoscopy, and about 2 days for recovery. Also, on one site I read that the miscarriage rate for someone w/ a Septate Uterus is about 80% and after the surgery it flip flops to about 25%. I dont' know how accurate that is, but it is definatel giving me hope. I just don't know if I could bear another loss like that.

After the surgery I have to wait about 1 month to try and get prego again. My other main problem is that I don't ovulate (the Doc thinks hardly at all) so he will put me on meds, and we will do Ultrasounds of my ovaries to see if I am ovulating. I think the main cause of my anovulation is my insulin, so that is my main focus, diet and exercise. Any help in that area is appreciated. Any boosts of dedication, or helpful tips on how to keep motivated or what works for you would be great. I don't know if I can do it myself or if I need someone else to be accountible to, (although I do know that person Can't be Brian :) Anyway, I am excited for the surgery, and just trying to keep my focus on what is really important. Sorry this was so long. Thanks for Caring if you continued to the end!!!

Sewing

Well, Brian has gone up to Washington and is staying with my family while he does Onion and Potato harvest, and I am stuck here alone for a couple months. I have been trying to think of things to do and last weekend decided I would give sewing a try. I made this purse with a sort of a pattern, but I modified it so much that I wouldn't say I really had a pattern. I love the colors, but I just can't get it to stand up right, the top is kind of heavy.
I love the pockets, and I added the magnet closure (which is another reason the top is heavy). Also, I didn't want the strap to just tie on, but the metal loops didn't hold it properly, and I kind of like the knot anyway.
I had left over fabric, and I found this pattern and it seemed so easy and cute that I had to give it a try.
I just think they are super cute, and it took me about 2 1/2 hrs to finish.
So far, I have enjoyed my sewing experience. Now I just need to find more cute fabric, because I have been looking at other crafty blogs, and have few ideas that seem relatively easy (at least easy enough for a novice like I am), so we will see what I can come up with. Enjoy!

8th Anniversary

It's hard to believe it has been that long. This wasn't our typical anniversary date. It was so fun to do something different for our anniversary, we usually just eat pizza and see a movie, and we have done that a lot lately. We went down to Spanish Fork and spent the day w/ family. We played softball at the park, watched movies and went Skating. I have always loved rollerblading, but never go 'cause Brian says he can't, then we get there and he is a natural!

The pics are all fuzzy but you can kind of see Dale, Julia and Logan all in a line.
I made Brian pose for this shot, Luke had no idea he was in a race, but it makes me laugh because they were hardly moving, but it looks like Brian is just blasting by.
The Proof. Finally, he has come around. This is what happens after 8 years of marriage, he just caves to whatever I want :) Haha. Just kidding. Love you Brian!

80's Party

Brandon & Jen invited us over for a sweet 80's party, so we did the best we could w/ our costumes. I always thought I was an 80's girl, but decided I was more 90's, and the outfit I came up w/ was more teenagerish, (I really thought this mostly because of my braces and because the oldest I was in the 80's was 7 :). But the party was awesome, it was so fun to see everyone dressed up. I just can't wait till Halloween now, I love dressing up.

Brian grew out a sweet mustache, but you can't see it as well in these pics.
I really was happy to be going, I don't know why the face... maybe cause I'm never really excited about getting my pic taken. Love the 80's hair though. I did have bright Green eyeshadow on ( I didn't have any blue) but I faded it into pink and my lids are small so you couldn't see it. I wish I had splurged and found some blue and pink lipstick to finish the outfit.
We were playing Charades. This is Brian doing Kiss, could you tell?
Pretty much I decided that this outfit was the absolute least flattering thing I could have come up with. Brian is rocking the tight roll though.

Cirque & Birthday

I won tickets for Cirque De Soleil off the radio, and it just so happened that it was the night before Brian's birthday, so it was kind of for that (although I was way more excited than he was). As we were leaving the house I asked Brian if he had the tickets, and said that I wanted to make sure because I had a dream that we forgot them and couldn't go. He said Yeah, then we drove 1 hour, got out, started walking in and he reaches in his pockets and doesn't have the tickets. Nice huh. So we had to drive back home, and made it there and back in 1 hour at intermission. So we watched the 2nd half of the show. It was still amazing.

This was a huge swing and they would fly up and do tons of flips.
We weren't supposed to take pictures, so that is why everything is fuzzy, cause I had the flash off, but this was a guy doing crazy tricks on his bike.
This was the best part, the strong men. I can't even imagine having that much strenght and control of my muscles. And balance. Amazing. Sorry it is sideways, I never think of that when I take a video with my camera.

We took a pic of us at the show, but you couldn't hardly see it. It looks like I have finally forgiven him for missing 1/2 the show :)
Brian's birthday "party"? I was pretty lame, and had to work, so he got pastry for a birthday cake. Hey, sweets are sweets, and these were pretty good.
Brian kept telling me not to get him any presents, but I just couldn't handle it, so I stopped by Costco and they had the Bourne Trilogy for $12! And I got him some meat. I was feeling like it was a weird gift, but I think that was his favorite thing. He also got a gift card from his parents to Home Depot and can't wait to use it. He ended up getting himself a smoker a couple days later from KSL and cooked his meat on it. I guess I was on the right track getting him steak. Happy Birthday Brian. Love you!

Random Pics

Finally some sun on my face. I am not a ghost.
Grandma Hardy, Janice & Don at dinner. Brian loves the seafood at Captain Anderson's.
One of the many things we get to do at the beach... Shuffleboard. It's not just for the old folks.
Playing some Texas Hold 'em. I am so proud.
Those brownies were delicious, but I don't think I enjoyed them as much as these 3. I am even more proud. I believe the Webb boys have a little redneck in them :)
Brian the BBQ King.
Golfing in Florida.
What good form!

Beach

Finally, the best part. The Beach. Here is one of all the cousins in Florida. Pretend I don't look foolish :)
Kay let me wear her hat. I loved it!! Don't I look beachy?
Football on the beach. Isn't the sand beautiful?
Kind of cheesy, but it makes me smile. This is Chris, Brian's brother.
Lance & his girlfriend Heather. We come to the pool when we are tired of the ocean. The salt gets to be too much after a while, and you just want to be in the shade without sand in your drawers :)
This was the last day, you can't tell by this picture, but the waves were huge. We were in them for a while, and they would just knock us over and take us back 20 feet. They were coming in sideways and practically pushed us down the beach. It was so fun, but made me sooo tired. I felt like I had been in a fight, but it did make me forget about being eaten by sharks and stung by jellyfish. Just a few more things I am afraid of in the water.

Seminoles, etc...

While we were there, we couldn't miss the chance to go see the Seminole's Stadium. I thought we got some of all of us in front of this statue, but maybe w/ someone else's camera.
Close up.
We just watched them practice for a little while. I wish we could have seen a game, that would have been a blast.
This was a game of Family Jeopardy, it was really fun, I lightened the pic so the colors are a little weird, but everyone was laughing so hard, it was good times!
There were hives outside somewhere, and they got disturbed, and these 3 all got stung within a minute or so of each other. I thought it was a perfect photo opp.

Florida River

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from Florida. These are from when we went canoing up the river near Tallahassee. I was scared to death. Things getting me in the water is my greatest fear, and there are pleanty to be terrified of in the South. People kept telling me that the Alligators weren't going to get me, and that the water was clear so I could see if the water moccasins were coming and just get in the boat (how comforting). But I braved it, and it was beautiful. Here is a pic of some others in the group, I just like the shot to show this one to see how green everything is there.
There were so many turtles there, aren't they cute. They were my favorite, a lot less dangerous.
This was the strangest thing, they had Manatees in this river, and we came across a mother and her baby. They were huge. The mom was as long as our canoe, and we just stayed with them for a while, watching them and taking pictures.
Brian kept trying to take a picture of this. They would dive down and swim for a minute or two, then come up and blow. Shockingly I was afraid they would come up and we would be on top of them, and they would tip our canoe, but they didn't. I don't know how many tries he had, but Brian was frustrated (our camera is slow and it is hard to judge when it will actually take the photo) so he gave it to me, and this was my first try... not to brag or anything :)
One last shot of the wildlife.

4th of July

My family came down on the 4th, and we went to watch fireworks. We thought we had missed them at first because we were late and they weren't going, but they must have had a break because they started up again, so we got to see a few.

Here is the group ALL watching the show. Actually I think we were posing after the show, and Mom originally took the picture, but I photoshopped her in. You HAVE to zoom in to take a look at Brian's face. It is one of a kind :)
I was really working on wearing red white & blue, but I didn't have any red, so I just put in a red clip, and when we got there we met up w/ Aunt Elaine, Lainey & Shay, and I found out we were Matchey Matchey. So we had to have a group shot.
Brian was the one with the camera, obviously.
Here we all are doing patriotic actions. I love Shay's Fireworks. I was waving my hand furiously so that hopefully it could come up fuzzy in the picture (since it was a flag) but it just turned out dumb. Although not as bad as Aunt Elaine. I think she was trying to be a scout, but it just looks like she might be a little slow :) Thanks for the fun times guys!

Idaho Camping

We went camping on the 4th of July weekend up in Idaho with our BFF's the Walkes, and here are some shots of how much fun we had.
Another typical shot of me by Brian.
This is a shot of Brian realing in his BIG fish. Haha. He hooked him 4 times, pulled him out of the water twice, and the fish took his favorite lure. This sucker always got away, but we got some good glimpses of it, and it was tiny. Brian thinks it was maybe 7 inches. Heart of a Lion though.
It rained on us after fishing, and we were glad to have a fire to warm up with. Cameron was definately a fan of roasting marshmallows. We had a bunch of sticks w/ branches coming off them, and he wanted to stick a mallow on each branch and try and cook them. It was funny.
Brian made some great food. We had tin foil dinners that were soooo good, and for desert he made this chocolate cherry cake. Mmmm Delicious!
We camped by this little creek, and I kept wanting to go in. Brian braved it first, and took the camping chairs out so he could basically be as much out of the water as possible while actually being in it. We eventually all went in except Tommy (the only sane one), it was freezing!!!
It doesn't get cooler than this folks. We were all in our tent to ride out the rain for a while, and Cameron Faux-Hawked Calebs hair. He also liked Brians glasses. These kids are true campers. Dirt and all.
This shot was on the way home. Sometimes I just love the wide open spaces. Ahh nature.