make glemonade

p.s. sorry about the small text, blogger will not let me change it! Zoom in, old friends! We did in vitro for the third time this last summer.  We started the process back at the beginning of the year, we had to find a new doctor because ours picked up and left the state (with our sperm!) and went back to California to stay. We got a letter in the mail saying they were gone and that was that.  We were incensed at the time, first because that is some pretty valuable sperm to us, and knowing that it was no longer near us we went from 0 to 100 real quick; and two, we had just done a consult with him a few weeks before and paid for it, only to get a letter saying he was peacing out.  As with everything, there was a back story and it wasn't as personal as it seemed at first. The two doctors we had severed their relationship, and frankly, the doctor in CA is the one that I do trust and am glad that he took our future with him.  We made arrange...

When we first looked at our house, before we even purchased it, I started dreaming of what to do with the front room. Not the living room, but the one I vacillate between calling "the visiting teaching room" and "the reading room". I prefer the latter, but somehow keep calling it the former. I've daydreamed and pinned many things for this room, although it's the smallest in the house. It's coming together very slowly, but I wanted to show off my coffee table. I commissioned my brother-in-law to make me the table. He made a kitchen table for my sister (his wife), and I hoped he would build it if I asked. He said yes, so I sent him pictures of what I wanted and he created my perfect table. These were my inspiration: First, this table for the pattern. This one is made from pallet wood, I wanted the pattern, but not the same wood. I wanted a grayish stain to keep it a little more neutral and not too brown. Everything my house is made of is brown, so ...

I feel like I've had nothing to tell you for a long time. I want to say that we are just not experiencing a lot of adversity, and adversity is, ironically, easier to write about. That's the weird truth of it, and the weirder thing is most people seem to prefer to read about the stuff that's going wrong. Maybe it's not you, maybe it's me. If I tell you things are really good, how do I make it sound like I'm not trying to present a perfect life? Online it's so easy to project an image of only the best moments, the pinterest-worthy things. But what if things just are pretty good? Sometimes I'm so afraid of being judged it drives me insane. I'm so afraid I'll offend someone, I over-apologize, I over-explain when people give me compliments. I feel like I've ended up with an independent struggle. A lot of people deal with infertility, but there are two problems. The first is it's not common to talk about it, so you end up feeling really alo...

Here are the pics of our house when we had dirt, then the day the sod was laid, then a few weeks later. We added the concrete in the back and extended the driveway as well, and the curbing to create a bed lining the sidewalk and front of the house. So give me tips, what shrubs should I put in front of the house, and what ones to line the center walkway? What trees should we put in the backyard? I'm debating some type of small evergreen for the front, 2-4 of them. Whaddya think, kids?

This winter in Utah was mild, to put it mildly. It snowed, what, three times? I missed the snow. We did have a White Christmas, which was wonderful. Eric and I always say that by the time winter is actually here (i.e. January), we are ready for spring, but I guess it's a "be careful what you wish for" situation, because I sure did miss the snow. I didn't miss it being freezing, as it has been (brutally so) for the last couple winters before this. One thing that I have decided to just enjoy is the warmth and the lengthy spring. I usually have terrible allergies, but this year they haven't been bad. Not sure why, but not gonna complain! So I've been able to enjoy the blossoming trees and bipolar weather much more than I usually do this time of year. The pink and white blossoms in this area are so beautiful. We are getting ready to put in our yard! We (and by we I mean our buddy Juan and his crew) poured concrete this weekend, extending our driveway to the ba...

This is where we went this year:  -DENVER- Broncos playoff game against the Chargers.* I had two favorite things about this trip, one was the Broncos played an awesome game and it was the first time I've seen them live, the second was the hat that I bought. It's adorbs.  The game was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G. Like one of the coldest times in my life. But the company and entertainment were top notch.  -LAS VEGAS- Eric went to Vegas in March with his dad. Neither of us can remember why I didn't go. I guess probably work. He went for the WCC tournament, which we do go to (almost for me) every year. We've done Vegas so many times, it's kind of old hat, if it's an old hat that you really like and will never give up on even when it's out of style.  -MOAB, UT- Eric went to Moab, which is actually on my short list of places I need to go, but he went with the Boy Scouts and I was not invited! They rafted, camped, did all that good stuff. I'm glad he w...

I'm playing catch up. We are in DIA right now, waiting to fly back to SLC from our Thanksgiving holiday, and I'm thinking about the trip. I was talking with A and K and mentioned that I felt like we didn't really travel this year, Eric and I. But we did, and I haven't documented it. So lest I forget, let's talk about our trip to Mt. Rushmore. I had Mt. Rushmore on my bucket list, who knows why. There was just some unexplainable allure to it for me. We decided to road trip up over the Fourth of July. They actually stopped doing fireworks there a few years back, due to some bug infestation in the forest that leaves the trees more flammable. But I didn't mind at all. We left on Thursday, the 3rd, after work, and drove to Casper, WY. We got to Evanston quick and picked some fireworks, then didn't stop until we got to Martin's Cove, which is an LDS Pioneer landmark. The handcart companies that left really late in the season (Willy and Martin Companies) hi...