A long story...

Once upon a time, back in the summer of 2008 Benjamin and I had been married for 3 1/2 years and we decided that it was finally time to start a family. Much to my excitement, fear, and surprise, the first month trying I got a positive pregnancy test. Unfortunately at 5 1/2 weeks I had a natural miscarriage. I was so sad. After being told that the rate of miscarriage is 1 in every 4 pregnancies, I figured I had my one so I should be able to have 3 healthy babies now.

Then I lost my job. Which is how we had insurance.

A few months later I got an amazing job! it was literally 3 blocks from our house, paid well, and had full benefits. In October of 2009 much to my surprise afte

r a very irregular cycle I had another positive pregnancy test. I was once again ecstatic, until 2 weeks later when I started bleeding. After an ultrasound to confirm, I was told I had miscarried again. 2 months later it happened again. Positive test, bleeding, miscarriage.

I was devastated.

After a ton of blood work and other tests on both Benjamin and I, we were told that there was nothing wrong with either of us, and that if we kept trying we should eventually be able to have a baby. So we kept trying, and Benjamin graduated from college, we moved to St Louis, he got a new job and we moved back to Utah.

I finally decided it was time to go to the doctor a

nd find out why after 18 months I hadn't been able to get pregnant again. My doctor diagnosed me with unexplained infertility and recommended we try 3 cycles with a medication that would ensure I ovulated. If that didn't work we would have to go see a Specialist and possibly pursue other options.

June was a big fat NEGATIVE

July NEGATIVE

August I was sure was also a Negative and I even took a test a few days early. Sure enough it was NEGATIVE. I told Benjamin I was done trying and maybe we weren't meant to have children. A few days later I felt like I should take another test (because I'm crazy) and after waiting a few minutes I looked down and saw 2 lines! It was POSITIVE! To make sure I wasn't h

allucinating I made Benjamin confirm it was positive.

I'm Pregnant!!!!

Because of my history and the aforementioned insanity, my doctor did a few early ultrasounds to confirm it wasn't ectopic and we finally got to see a precious heartbeat!

At 7 weeks I had another ultrasound. Everything looked perfect...I asked my doctor if he was sure there was only one because the medicine I was taking can increase the chance of multiples. He said "yep there's just one, (moved the wand around) oh nope...there's two".

I am pregnant with TWINS!!

We are so excited!

Our twins are officially due May 14, 2012

We are not going to find out their genders.

(Ultrasound from 13 weeks, the last time we could see them both at the same time)

(Here I am at about 21 weeks)

In October:

We were able to spend a week in Oregon, it was Amazing!

We started our trip inPortland and spent 3 days there:

We stayed in the historic Mark Spencer Hotel.

Benjamin's must see was the Japanese Garden. It was beautiful.

We also walked through the Rose Garden (not the best time of year for roses but there were still a few blooms).

I love going to the zoo, so we went there next.

We went to the Chinese Garden, which is this little garden right in the middle of the city.

We rode a tram up to the OHSU Hospital so we could see Mt. Hood and Mt St. Helens

While were were in the city we also went to Powell's Bookstore, which takes up a whole city block.

After Portland we rented a car and drove to the coast for a few days.

We had to stop at the Tillamook Cheese factory:

We stayed in a town called Depoe Bay and our hotel was on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was stunning. Benjamin kept the window open all night so he could listen to the waves crashing...luckily the weather was really nice so I didn't freeze!

I insisted that we go whale watching...probably not the best idea in hindsight but we did see some whales and it was totally worth it!

We enjoyed driving up and down the coast checking out state parks and beaches as well as a few lighthouses.

The reason we decided to visit Oregon was to celebrate my Great Grandma's 90th birthday. So after our few days on the coast we drove over to central Oregon for the birthday bash.

Oregon is beautiful, and will remain on our list of places we'd like to move!

In August:

I ran my very first 5K:

I didn't finish with a very good time but I did finish so that's good, right?

We went to a Real Salt Lake game:

And went river rafting down the green river:

We also went backpacking and I went to St Louis for a quick visit...see the posts below for more on those adventures!

In August: Backpacking to Farmer's Lake

Benjamin, his brother Jon, and I went on a backpacking trip up Swift Creek to Farmer's Lake.

(Jon, Kadee, Benjamin, and Bella)

(Jon and I showing off the High Uintah Wilderness sign!)

It ended up being stormy the day we left so it slowed us down a ton! We kept having to take cover because of thunder and lightening. We did end up seeing a beautiful sunset as we were getting near the spot where we planned to camp. I was absolutely exhausted!

(Benjamin and I at Farmer's Lake)

(Benjamin cooking dinner)

Benjamin and Jon enjoyed the fishing...there were quite a few lakes within a couple of miles of our camp so they went fishing while I read a book.

HIking back down took longer as well, because we had to stop so they could fish at every opportunity.

It was really beautiful up there and nice to get away for a few days.