Let the Games Begin!

Tomorrow we start once again on that wonderful journey of IVF. I am not quite sure how I feel about it. I am physically in the best shape I have been in a long time. Emotionally I feel pretty stable. Can it really be that bad? I am still nervous and scared about beginning the process and being on the emotional roller coaster. We haven't done a fresh cycle (which involves a lot more shots!) since we got Anna. I don't know how I feel about being a human pin cushion again.
I feel very confident in our Dr. He is a great man and we feel very comfortable with him. But, this is our last shot. And, unfortunately, our stats have started to decline due to my age. We just hope and pray that Heavenly Father has another little angel up there to join our family.
So, let the games begin...We're ready!

Easter Egg Hunt

We were invited along with nine other families to an Easter dinner at one of our friends house. It was so nice to be with others that were missing their families as well. The weather kind of cooperated with us. It rained up until the egg hunt and then started raining after we had finished. The girls had a blast in the mud. I just wish that I had changed their clothes. Oh well...Nothing a little Oxy clean couldn't fix!
Sara was a pro! She knew where to find the eggs.The gang! There were a lot of us!

Anna gathered all of her allotted eggs and then came back to help Sara. What a good big sister!
Checking out the loot with her friends.
Sara was so excited to see the horse. She loves them!
We had a lot of fun. We missed our families greatly, but enjoyed spending time with our ward family and friends.

Easter Dresses

I had to do a separate post about the dresses. My mom made them and they turned out so cute. The girls loved how far they flared out when they twirled. I tried to get a decent picture of both of them. This is the best I could do.
With Dad. Gotta love Anna's face!
With mom.

Easter Sunday

The girls were really cooperative in getting ready for church on Easter Sunday. Since we have church so early we told them that they had to get ready really fast if they wanted to see what the Easter Bunny brought them.
Here they are, completely ready with about 20 minutes to spare. My mom made their dresses. Aren't they so cute!

Finding their baskets.
Everything in Sara's basket was purple.
Everything in Anna's was pink. My girls sure love their girlie colors!
They got to go on a little Easter egg hunt. That silly bunny sure had a lot of fun hiding the eggs.



Church that day was interesting. The power had knocked out the power to certain parts of the chapel, including the organ and the pulpit. It was a little hard to keep the kids quiet so that everyone could hear.

Why I Don't Nap

I wasn't feeling too great, so I went to lay down for a minute. Rob was home so I thought I would be okay. Guess not. Sara licked all the frosting off of four cupcakes in the matter of seconds. My fault, really, for not putting them up higher.

Cupcakes

Grandpa and Grandma sent a package the other day that included a bunch of sprinkles. So when we decided to do Easter eggs, we made cupcakes as well. The girls had a blast. But I think they got a little carried away with the sprinkles!


The finished product...Don't they look delicious!
How Sara eats a cupcake...Never mind the rest, she prefers the frosting!

Dying Eggs

I hate dying Easter eggs. I don't understand the tradition. It's messy and no one ever eats the boiled eggs. But, I remember doing it as a kid, so I wanted the girls to be able to enjoy it as well. So I decided that we could each do one egg. The girls had a blast and it didn't end up being too messy. I think my fingers were the only ones dyed different colors.

Wishing Flowers

Someone told my girls that these dandelions were called wishing flowers. Our lawn is full of them. Sara loves to collect them and bring them into the house to make wishes. Our house is now full of them. Whoever named them wishing flowers...my broom thanks you!

Chicago Pizza

How could we go to Chicago without eating deep dish pizza. Rob had been to Chicago before and said that the best place to go was a place called Gino's East.It was well off the magnificent mile. We took a couple of buses in order to get there. Once we got there it was about 3 and their pizzas took about 45 minutes to an hour to cook. Are you kidding me?! But Rob swore that it was worth it, so we waited it out. The girls were such troopers. They were tired, but didn't do too much complaining. I think that they really enjoyed writing all over the walls with sharpies. The waitress reminded them several times that they were only able to do this at the restaurant.

The pizza finally arrived and it was pretty good. It was very, very cheesy!

After we finished it was time to head home. It was a great way to end our trip. We'll definitely do Chicago again!

American Girl Doll

When we decided to head to Chicago we promised the girls we would take them to the American Doll store. We had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into. Anna insisted on carrying her doll on the way there.

Sara did as well.
Standing in line to get their dolls hair done. Yes, there is a beauty salon there.
Sara wanted her dolls hair done as well.
Anna really wanted hers and Sara's picture in front of this sign. So, I happily obliged.
We had to wait an hour and a half to get their dolls hair done. It was crazy busy. The girls were so excited when it was finally their turn. They got to choose what style they wanted. Anna chose the half pony tail. She asks for that for her own hair now.
Sara chose two braids. Here her doll is getting the gold star treatment. I thought it was hilarious that they raised the dolls by putting towels underneath them and they also strapped them in, like they would to a real child at a real salon.

Sara waiting patiently for her doll to be finished.
Anna's doll getting her half pony tail.
All done and in front of the American Girl star.
With her new outfit.
Sara's dolls new outfit. She only had the outfit on for about ten minutes before she lost one of her new shoes. Nice!
The store front.
We also saw the Hancock building. We were not able to go to the top because we didn't want to pay money to see how high we were when you couldn't even see below the clouds.
I think one of the greatest parts of the doll store, other than watching my girls faces light up, was watching Rob's facial expression. It was a mixture between horror and impression. He said that he was horrified as a consumer but impressed as a businessman. It really was impressive to see how many bags people were leaving with, especially with the prices that they were selling for. I'm just glad the girls had a great time.

I Love to See the Temple

As we were driving around looking for somewhere to eat the night before, I noticed a sign that said LDS Bookstore. I told Rob that we must be nearby the temple. When we got back to the hotel we discovered that we were only two blocks away. So we made the small trek to the temple to see what it looks like. I love seeing all of the different temples. All of them are unique and beautiful!