Spoiled Rotten?

Last night Jeff was giving me my shot and we realized that we used up the last of our progesterone.  We both thought we had another vial.  Oops!  I remember seeing a bottle at his office so this evening after church, we made a journey over to Forney.  While we were there.....I mean, the machine is just right there....what will it really hurt????  So I made him give me a quick abdominal sonogram... :)  He didn't print a picture, but that is ok because I have an "offical" visit tomorrow to get a sonogram.  I will have her print me a picture.  Jeff thinks I am spoiled cuz I have already had 5 sonograms (tomorrow will be 6) and I am only 8 weeks pregnant! :)

Baby is still there.  Yes, there is only 1.  Heartbeat looks good.  Jeff thinks he knows what the baby is going to be.  Now, I am only 8 1/2 weeks pregnant.  We will do a transnucal sono the Wednesday after I become 13 weeks (that is when the MFM they use is in the area apparently)  He is sooo good with the sex of the baby, Jeff said he has seen him wrong only once.  It will be interesting to see if Jeff is right as well.

To give y'all some info: 
I have had nausea to the point of not really wanting to eat only once. (week 6) 
I have actually thrown up only once (last Sunday 7 1/2 weeks)

So I have posted a poll...just to see what y'all think we are having.  The poll will be open until the sonogram - Feb 3rd....

Oh and for those keeping count... ONLY 12 more shots!  I cannot wait until January 8th - that will be the first night that I don't have a shot!  All in all, I will have had 58 shots!

7 Weeks

I went to the fertility doctor today.  They did a "level 1" sonogram...whatever that is.  They were just checking to see if they could actually see the baby and the heartbeat - they need to declare me pregnant and release me to my regular OB.  The sono tech that did it was the same sono tech that did the sono during the embryo transfer.  She was very quiet and looked and looked and looked, she kept shaking her head and looking....she was trying to find 2 babies...she only found 1. 
The doc came in and asked, "now how many embryos did we put in?" 
me: "1"
him: "hmmm, how many babies do we see?"
sono: "1"
him: "are you sure???? she sure did have some high levels." 
sono: "yep" 
him: "hmmm, that is what we get for second guessing...we were sure that there had to be 2 babies in there with those levels.  in fact, we had the lab check your results 3 times!"

So that is why I got such a late call back, they were running the numbers again!  I have been cleared for regular OB care.  He was very happy with what he saw in the sono.

The Whole Enchilada

Thursday night while Jeff went to YM/YW to teach the scouts first aid, I thought that I would be a nice wife and make Jeff some enchiladas.  I used my grandmother's enchilada receipe. 

This was the first time I had made them for Jeff.  It had been about 20+ yrs since I had made them with my Grannie.  Jeff was a little put out that I had waited 13 yrs to make them for him...oops!  I had to make 2 pans of them...I knew that the minute my Dad read this posting, he would be wondering why I hadn't invited him over, so one of the pans was for them.

All was going great until about 2am...the enchiladas started biting back!  All night/morning I was constantly being woken up by heartburn, Jeff's snoring, heartburn, heartburn, Jeff's alarm clock...it was not a good night to sleep.  It looks as though I hit 6 weeks and everything hit me back!  All day Friday I suffered from heartburn or nausea.  I needed to deliver the enchiladas to my parents and help them out a bit with their computers, so at 2pm I braved it and drove to Plano.  I was hungery, so I stopped by a Chick-Fil-A on the way.  As soon as the sandwich entered my car, I had an instant wave of nausea hit.  I then decided that eating some McD french fries probably wouldn't be bad, so I stopped and picked up some.  When I got to my parents' house, I offered my sandwich to my Dad and then after I had eaten just a handful of french fries, I gave him the rest of those too!

Friday night was ward temple night, Jeff & I had planned on going, but after the day I was having eating wise, I was begining to feel a little scared about going.  Jeff went without me.  I went home and found some noodles my Mom had dropped off a few weeks ago and ate those without any incidence. whew!  On his way home from the temple, Jeff stopped by and picked up a loaf of bread.  He started thinking about the way I was feeling and started asking himself what would he want to eat if he was in my shoes...it came to him, "Amy's Grilled Cheese Sandwiches".  Jeff has told me on countless occasions that anytime he wasn't feeling good, Amy would go into the kitchen and surprise him with a grilled cheese sandwich.  To this day he swears that hers are the best!  He didn't know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich, so he did the next best thing...he made me some cinnamon toast and surprised me with it!  How did I luck out with such a kind, thoughtful, wonderful man like Jeff?!?!?!

So I guess I need to be on my guard a little more with my food.  Today Jeff braved the grilled cheese sandwich.  I thought they were kind of soggy...apparently he buttered both sides of the toast, put cheese in the middle and stuck it in the oven until the cheese melted.  Oh well, it is the thought that counts!

I am off now to make some sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes for our ward Christmas party.  Hopefully I will feel better and will brave eating something, but we shall see.  I am now a little gun shy when it comes to food.  I guess I am not as bullet proof with the nausea/pregnancy stuff like I once thought I was!

Perks....

I am officially 5weeks 6 days today.  I decided that it might be good to go have lunch with Jeff today down in Forney.  Oh...and while I am here....get a sonogram? :)  With such a high repeat beta, one of the questions going through our mind was "twins?"  There is only a 3% chance of twins with one embryo, so we have been patiently waiting 2 weeks to see why the jump in my HCg level.

Here is the result:

As you can see we have one baby in there.  The levels just mean it is a really good pregnancy!  It was such a relief to see the "fetal pole", the yoke sac, and the heartbeat!  According to the sono, we are due on 08/05/2010.  I think the tech was a little surprised that we could see the heartbeats this early. - Usually that is something you don't see until week 7.  It doesn't look like much.  She said the baby is the size of an uncooked grain of rice and the gestational sac is the size of a grape.  But we could definately see the little flicker of the heart beating!  It was really special.

Jeff's whole office was waiting for the results.  When Jeff left the sono room I could hear the whoops and hollers!  I came out a min or two later with the pictures.  Jeff was seeing a patient when I came out, so I waited for him to come out before I said my goodbyes.  When he and the patient came out, the patient turned to me and gave me a congrats.  She said Jeff came into the room beaming and was so excited to tell her that he got to see his first baby for the first time today!  Jeff was all smiles and beaming like a proud papa!

To make this day complete, as I was driving home from Jeff's office, I got pulled over for speeding!  Nice way to bring me down out of the clouds! :)

Repeat Beta

I am going to give you a little lesson first... your "beta" or beta hcg is the hormone that tells your body that you are pregnant.  It should double every 2 days.  This indicates that the pregnancy is going along great.  So last Wednesday my beta was 75.  One would conclude that on Friday it would be 150, Sunday - 300, and today, Tuesday it would be 600.

By the time I am done with this pregnancy, Y'all are going to know more than you ever wanted about the whole process!

I went in this morning for the blood test and had to wait allllll day long for the results.  Last week I got the results back at 2 pm.  Today I had to wait until almost 4pm!  I just knew that this was a sign that they didnt want to talk to me, cuz something was wrong...of course based on the blessings I have had lately - I KNOW I am pregant.  So finally the nurse calls and tells me my number 1,968!  I had her repeat it a couple of times...I said, "Wow, I was only expecting 600."  She said, "Yeah, well, so were we!"  I asked her what it means and she said that it meant I was PREGNANT!  That this was a good pregnancy.  She also told me to talk to my husband, the OB for more details.....

I have a Level 1 sonogram set up for Dec 16th (@ 7 weeks)  We should be able to see heartbeats at this sono.  WOW!  I am reeling!  I am so overcome with happiness and joy that this is really happening!  Jeff and I are going to be parents!  CRAZY  Wonderful!

Grateful for the Preisthood...and GUESS WHAT!!!!!

Saturday night/Sunday morning at about 2 am I woke up with the most aweful cramping.  I woke Jeff up sobbing about the pain.  I have felt this pain every month for the past umpteen years.  I was devistated.  I asked Jeff for a blessing.  He gave me one of the most wonderful blessings.  I calmed down, the pain subsided and I was able to sleep.  This pain reassured him that I needed to be taking it easy - sitting or laying down.  He (and my Mom & Dad) have taken great care of me.

Well, today it all paid off!  I went into the doctor's office for a blood test and the results have come in... I'm PREGNANT!  The beta HCG came back as a 75!  To put this in perspective - the very first time we did this and they put 2 embryos in - it came back an 18.  To officially be pregnant you have to be at least a 10, to get a positive "pee" on a stick thing you have to be at least a 30.  I am a 75!!!!!  Today I am officially 4 weeks pregnant (you start counting from the first day of your last cycle. - in my case I had a 5 day embryo + 9 days = 14 days + the fake 2 weeks before)

So what's next?  Next Tuesday, Dec 1st (5 weeks) we do a repeat HCG test to make sure that the number is climbing and climbing appropriately.  It should double ever 2 days.  I believe it is week 6 or 7 that we will hear the first heartbeats...I have never made it this far yet...so please keep those prayers coming!

Jeff was so cute - we had decided long ago that we were going to tell everyone on Dec 1st the results - just to be sure... So I called him today told them to drag him out of the patients room, and gave him the positive result and the number... here is the conversation:

Jeff: "Ok...so can I tell my office now?"

Me: "No, we talked about it and we decided to wait until Dec 1st."

Jeff: "But they have been asking everyday and really want to know."

Me: "So does everyone else."

Jeff: "But what if they promise not to post anything on your facebook."

Me: "We cannot tell your office staff before we tell our families...If you want to tell them today, then we have to call our parents first...but we said we were going to wait for Dec 1st."

Jeff: "Go call everyone!"

I am so grateful for Jeff and his worthiness to hold the Priesthood.  I am grateful that him and my dad could give me a blessing before the procedure and Jeff could give me a comfort blessing when I was scared and in pain.  I am grateful for all of y'alls prayers and fasting!  I know this child for us is wanted by all!  Now don't y'all go spoiling the baby! :) 

We love y'all and again are grateful for everything!

A Most Joyous Day!

Monday night I received a mysterious text....It said to look out on my front porch before we left for the hospital Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning, Jeff opened the door and this is what we found:

A beautiful boquet of flowers from the Shirleys.  They are the former Bishop and his wife.  It was a wonderful way to start a wonderful day!

We got to the hospital - the ARTS department (Artificial Reproductive Technology Services) - and they checked us in.  The embryologist came around and talked to us about the thawing process.  We had a day 5 (ideal) and a day 6 (an ok..but....) embryo to thaw.  Unfortunately, the day 6 embryo didn't make it.  They thaw the embryo and watch for growth, instead the day 6 one crumpled.  All this means is that we are definately not having quads or trips and the chances of twins is like everyone else...3%.

Jeff and I are very sad about the loss of the embryo, but we do remember when they were freezing them one of the embryologists said that they had frozen a day 6 that was not in the best quality, but she did it anyway on the off chance that it could be used.  We appreciate the efforts of that embryologist for giving us any and all chances to have a baby. 

Here is a picture of the embryo that was put inside of me - sorry that it is a picture of a picture - Jeff won't let me go sit at the big computer and scan it in and he has no idea how to scan something in.

This is baby's first photo!  How cool is that?  (It is fuzzy because of all the cells, not my photography skills.)

I now have the baby in me.  We came home, Jeff immediately set me up in bed.  He brought me some lunch, kissed me goodbye and went to work.  Now some of you might think this is heartless, but it was my idea for him to only take a half day.  I was fortunate enough to have my Dad come and stay with me yesterday.  We watched movies and he did his duties as watcher and scolded me if I sat up or got up too much.  We did get a knock on the door sometime in the afternoon.  It was a flower delivery man.

Mike and Jenn sent them!  Beautiful roses!  What a surprise!  I love them.

Jeff had some bishopric meetings last night, so Dad and I ordered a pizza and continued our videofest!  It was a very Joyous day!  Many people have called and shared some wonderful touching stories that happened to them yesterday too.  Jeff and I are so blessed to have such loving and faithful families and friends.  We are excited for what the next 9 months are going to bring!

Thank y'all for all your prayers and fasting.  I know that the Lord has heard all of our pleas and I know he will answer them!  We love y'all!

Tuesday, Nov 17th at 8:30 am

This is the time of our procedure tomorrow.  By 9:00am, we should have 2 babies inside of me.  I plan on going home, laying down and not moving for a very long time.  I will be concentrating on making at least one of the babies stick!  Just for precaution on Jeff & my part, I will be down for at least a week.  Then after a week, I can get up and walk around just a bit, not much, but mostly laying down or sitting.  No strainuous activities.  No chores for me....thankfully I have a husband who is awesome at helping out around the house!

So Sticky thoughts everyone!  This time it is going to work!!!!! (3rd time's the charm!)

We love y'all and are greatful for all the prayers and fasting. 

Mysterious ways...

I started my nice (said sarcastically) progesterone shots on Wednesday.  The shot is an IM shot, or a butt shot for short.  Needless to say it hurts!  When Thursday came around and it was time to do the 2nd shot, I couldnt handle it.  This is a necessary evil.  My body needs these shots so that we can be pregnant.  I will be taking these shots up until about week 10.  This would mean that I would have to have about 58 shots in all.  I had only taken 1.  It hurt and I couldn't imagine having to do this again.  This is the 3rd time I have had to put my body through this.  The first one I took shots until week 7 (about 35 shots) that amounted to a miscarriage and the 2nd time I ended up not pregnant at all so I took about 14 shots.  Here I was starting all over again.  It was more than I could take.  The pain of 57 more shots.  I started weeping, sobbing.  I was mad because I was having to go through this AGAIN - I was mad because my body was being tortured.  I yelled at Jeff - He doesnt have to go through anything.  Jeff was the good husband and said, "If I could take these shots for you I would."  -I am sure he would, but not something I wanted to hear or believed at the time. I eventually calmed down, got my painful shot, and crawled into bed.

It is amazing how the Lord works.  Jeff got a little sick on Thursday and worse on Friday.  He ended up having one of his nurses give him a shot of antibiotics...you guessed it, in the butt.  This is the text I received:

Jeff:  "I got a shot in the butt"  "I think I must suck at shots"

Me:  "That's good to hear!"

Jeff:  "Didn't really feel it."

Jeff was able to get some tips on butt shots and Friday night when it was time for my shot again, I was a bit calmer and then amazed because I could hardly feel it.  Thinking it might be a fluke, I held my breath on Saturday night, and I could barely feel it then too. 

I am grateful that Heavenly Father not only answers tradtional prayers, but He hears us when we are sad and upset and crying and he answers those prayers too.  I am still not looking forward to the rest of the shots, but I know that somehow He has guided Jeff to help lessen the pain and make it a more bearable task.



In case you are wondering what the tip is....you make your left hand into an upside down "L" shape and put as much pressure around the area that the needle is going into.  This confuses the nerve receptors and you don't feel the needle as much...so if anyone has to take their little ones in for a shot, you can pass the tip onto the nurse giving the shot to help lessen the trauma for you kid.

And the verdict is....

I had another doctor's appointment today.  Today was a sonogram to measure the thickness of the uterine lining.  I have been on a form of estrogen for the past 2 weeks to "thicken" the lining and make it condusive for embryos to attach.  It needs to be at least 8 mm.  If it is not, they up my dosage and we try again the next week.

I am proud to say that my lining was a 9.5!  (No, not a perfect "10" but I don't need 10...I just needed at least an 8.)  The sonographer started the ultrasound and without measuring - just looking - knew that I was ready.

So tonight I start the fun progesterone shots....the "butt" shot.  eeeek!  If all goes well, I get to have them for the next 10 weeks...I am looking forward to it!  (This will mean of course that I am pregnant...that is the only reason I am excited about them!!!!)

Tuesday, November 17th will be the big day!  We will know the time on Monday.  I am cutting myself off from everyone after the ward temple night on Friday. - We are trying to limit the opportunities for me to get sick.  We want my body to be in the best possible shape for Tuesday.

I have my stack of books by my bedside already.  I am getting my dvd's ready....laptop ready.  What more could a girl want?  ... oh yeah a "Sonic Diet Coke".... but don't worry - I am cut off from those as well!

For the past two weeks or so, I have been "concentrating" on a thickened uterine lining, the sonographer said it worked, so now I will be "concentrating" on the embryos attaching.  I am too excited, nervous, everything.  In just 5 days Jeff & my lives will change!   9 months after that we will be "parents"...what a weird concept.  Our very quiet home will not be quiet for 20 years or so.... Right now we have people come over and they bring their kids and it is great, and it is loud, but then after a few hours they go home and our house is quiet again...."Quoth the Raven, nevermore.."

Always check your coat pockets....

Jeff wears "pajamas" everyday to work.  When he gets home, he gets into his "comfy" clothes - t-shirt and shorts.  He dresses up for work maybe once a month, but it is usually a nice dress shirt, no tie, and slacks.

Jeff has lost about 45 lbs since the beginning of the year.  He no longer fits into his suit - it falls off him.  He equates his suit with his mission - he has been home for 14 years, but hates wearing a suit or white shirt & tie cuz he thinks he looks like a missionary.  I dont think anyone has told him that he is "old" and he will not be mistaken for a missionary anymore.

So Jeff decided to wear his suit today to church.  He put his coat on and felt a lump in the coat pocket.  It was a banana...from Mike & Jenn's wedding...  GRROOSSSS!!!! (not Mike & Jenn's wedding..just the fact that they got married July 25th and it is now Nov 8th.)

Moral of the story:  Always check your pockets before you hang it up...you never know when you will wear it again.

I think I will be buying Jeff a new suit.  Not just cuz of the disgusting banana in the pocket, but also because he will now get to wear one every Sunday.  He has just been called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopbric.  He was sustained today and set apart as a High Priest.  My Dad was able to set him apart as a High Priest.  It was a really nice blessing.  Jeff will be joining a wonderful Bishopbric.  Our Bishop was released today after 5 1/2 years of service.  The rest of the Bishopbric was moved up one spot and Jeff was moved from the Exec. Secretary spot to the 2nd C.  Jeff is really excited for the new calling and new challenge and to be working with the other bretheren.

And so it begins....

I just had my first ultrasound to see if I was ready to start taking some of the heavy duty medicine to get my utereus all ready for the FET.  The doctor said everything looks good and I can start the medicine.  I have my next appointment on November 11th.  The second ultrasound will be to see if the lining is thick enough for the embryos to attach to.  If this goes well, the will be doing the embryo transfer on November 17th.  Then we cross our fingers, our toes, our eyes, and anything else to see if I am pregnant.  They will do that test on Dec. 1st.  If we get a positive there, I will officially be 4 weeks pregnant.  At 7 weeks (right before Christmas) they will do another ultrasound to find the heartbeat(s).

CRAZY!!!!

If all goes as planned - which we know in Jeff & my case never happens, but ... I am going to play the optimist - the official due date will be August 5, 2010.  Now if only I could deliver on August 2nd...then I will never forget Gary's birthday again!

Just for Susan!

This post is just for Susan.  She is tired of my title "I broke a stirrup" showing up on her blog page, so she texted me asking/begging for another post so she didnt have to look at it.

:)  Love you Susan!  This is just for you!

I broke a stirrup!

This is going to be an interesting change....I am not going to take you back in time to give you back story for this post!

So today I had the hysterescopy - camera in utereus.  I, of course, was very nervous.  The doctor had perscribed me 5 mg of Valium for my stress and anxiety.  Valium is also suppose to have a "forgetting" effect to it.  I was to take it an hour before the procedure.  Jeff was a little leary, so he had me take it about 20 min before hand - you know how doctors are at keeping their schedule!  So by the time I was to do it, it had been about 40 min after the medicine.

Ok - so Valium doesnt work on me!  I felt everything and then some!  The doctor was really nice about it all.  I think everyone was hyper aware of my stress.  He tries to tell a joke - he says I remind him of a woman who goes into a pyschologist office saying, "doc, one minute I think I am a wigwam, and the next a teepee.  what's wrong with me?"  the doctor replys, " oh that's easy, your 2 tents"....yeah I didnt laugh either! He kept apologizing for the pain and saying I'm almost there.  Give me a minute....  So of course I, in human nature, keep pushing back, arching, etc.  Whew...it is done - I am still cramping crying the nurse is patting my arm telling me I did good.  He now wants to do a quick ultrasound.  He needs to change something so could I raise my bottom up again so he could do who knows what...and BOOM!  I put a little more pressure on the stirrup and it falls off!  How embarrassing!!!!  He is apologizing to me - dumb broken bed - I am profusely apologizing to him...

So on to the "calendar".  I get to wait for my next period...and then give him a call.  Love specifics! :)

We get out to the car, and boom the drugs hit!  I crawled into bed and apparently have been asleep for the past 5 hours.  Jeff woke me up about dinner, but I apparently just rolled over.  Angie called to ask if they could come up this weekend!  Yeah!  We love visitors and this will be their first trip!  Oh I need to tell them to bring their swimsuits if they want to "hot tub".  I think if she hadnt called, I would still be asleep.

Jeff is attributing everything to high levels of adreneline.  The minute I was in a relaxed situation - the car  and home - I fell asleep.  Oh and the "forgetting effect"  Yeah - I didnt experience it as you can tell by my blog, I remember everything!

Hopefully everything will be successful!

It is times like these that I am glad Jeff is a Doctor!

I got a phone call last Friday from my fertility doctor's office.  They want to do a hysteroscopy (blow up my utereus with air and stick a camera in... & take a tissue sample) in office - no anaesthesia! - on Tuesday, October 13th at 11:30 am and then the following Thursday at 10:30 am have a "class" on all the drugs and the calendar.  I really want Jeff to be there, but the times they put things are right in the middle of his clinic.  I asked the nurse - Melinda - if we could change the times.  She said "No".  I told her that my husband was an OB and the times wouldnt work for him and please, is there any other time that we could do any of this?  Her response, "No."  I told her that his half day was Thursdays and he would be available anytime after noon.  She told me that they read lab reports on Thursday afternoons and that it was impossible to change the time. 

One of the feelings I experience with the whole infertility thing is a "loss of control".  Not that I am sure a lot of people feel like they have "control" over their fertility, but I have to totally give away any small amount of control to the doctors.  The only "control" I have really is picking the doctor and setting the appointment.  Not being able to have Jeff with me for these "scary" things was more that I could take!  I was in Utah when I got the call at Aaron & Rebecca's house. (luckily not Susan's cuz I have NO cell coverage there!)  When I tried to use the little control I had, it was immediately taken away from me.  I went into a big time panic attack/anxiety attack.  I called Jeff really upset about the whole situation and asked if he could call and talk to them - if nothing was going to change, we haven't given them any money and moving to another doctor would only set us back for the amount of time to set up the appointment.  I was trying to get my "control" back!

So Jeff called on Monday morning and left a message for Melinda - he didn't say "Dr. Nelson" he just said "Jeff Nelson, husband of Jill Nelson" and gave his office number as the call back number.  WOW!  It is amazing how she responded to that!  Miraculously they were able to reschedule!  Now, we have both appointments scheduled for Thursday, October 15th at 2:30 pm - Oh & yes, I will have in-office anaesthesia!

Still not looking forward to the hysteroscopy - I have had 2 done previously - in an OR - not an office, but at least now I won't be awake for it - or so loopy I could really give a care! :)

Once we have that calendar in hand, it will make our lives a little easier.  It is really hard for us to plan anything down the road, whether it is for next weekend or next month, we just have no idea what state I will be in.  Well we know that the "state" will be Texas ... ( hahaha Dad!) and the city will be Rowlett for that matter! :)  Once we have the embryos transferred, Jeff & I are planning on me "resting" quite a bit.  I am going to be stockpiling books and DVDs for the fun 2 weeks following the transfer.  Even before the transfer, I will be limited on travel - the medicines they put me on make me ..... well, let's just say "moody" - we want to keep the rating on this blog at a "G"!

We will keep you updated once we have our appointment next Thursday.

Funny thing happened on my way back to Texas....

It seems like everytime I make a post, it is this long drawn out thing that I have to go back a few days or a week to get the whole story.  Well, this post is no different! :)

I was at Angie's house from September 21st until October 1st.  During that time, Angie and I got a lot accomplished (with the help of Gideon and Scott & a few of her ward friends - who happen to both know Greg & Allison Bair - one cuz she use to live in my current ward & the other cuz Greg & her hubby went to law school together - how weird is that?).  Jeff has been a trouper, but started missing me & asked me when I think everything would be wrapped up so I could come home - Thursday afternoon.  I decided that I would leave Thursday noonish and drive back down to Circleville - run over to St. George to go shopping for Bunko gifts - then head home and be home by Sunday night.....
Angie & I got up early on Thursday and hit the ground running!  She had gotten a new vacuum cleaner, a Dyson, and boy did that speed things up! It did the blinds, the baseboards, and the carpet!  We were so productive that I just knew at noon that we only had 30 min or so left....so 2 hours later, I left.  It was a nice visit.  I got to know Andrew and JT.  JT was introduced to "Scooby Doo" and I don't think Angie & Scott's life will be the same!  hahaha!  I even got JT asking for a "Coke" instead of some "Pop"!  I tried to school him in the finer Texas things! :)  Now I just need to teach him "Gig 'em" and that t.u. stinks!  Oh by the way..."dumb" is a bad word in their household, so if you are trying to open a smoke detector (that apparently has no battery and can't be opened) - don't say that it is "dumb" - JT picked up on that word right away!  Scott trying to distract him asked what they should call the fruit smoothie he made..."Yummy Tummy?"  JT just looked at him and with a straight face said, "No, I think we should call it 'Dumb'."  Oops!

On my way out of town, I called Aaron & Rebecca to tell the goodbye and that I was glad that I could go to Daniel's 4th Birthday dinner the night before.  Aaron told me that Rebecca was on her way to IKEA to look at some bedding for the room.  I have never been to IKEA and heard it was cool.  I thought, "Oh, what is one more hour..." Ummmm....have you ever been to IKEA?  It is huge!  And we know how decisive Rebecca is from my previous posts...So we ended up shutting IKEA down!  I wouldn't let her settle on just anything.  Nothing seemed to fit her room or the colors she wanted.  I spent the night at their house and we went internet window shopping.  I felt that I now had a stake in Rebecca and Aaron's room and I was going to help her find her bedding and she wasn't going to settle for anything!  So after 5 hours of mall shopping for this "perfect" bed set, with all 4 kids - thank you UEA, Rebecca settled for a "champagne" bed set.  She calls it "mmm...brown", but it is "champagne".  Now for the paint color and some Euro pillows.  Funny thing happened on the way to get all of that....we were at Kohl's for the Euro pillows and there it was....the perfect bed set, in Full size.  Thanks to the iphone we were able to look up Kohl's online and see that they had the King set online.  We bought a single decorative pillow and we were off to Home Depot to color match.  Saturday morning painted the walls - silver (or light gray, depending on how creative you want to be with the name) while listening to conference on the radio...how cool is that?  You can listen to conference on the radio in UT?!?!?!  After the painting, Aaron wanted to drive up a canyon on the way to Logan to look at the cool foliage.  Everyone but Rebecca, Matthew, and I fell asleep so they missed the cool color changes in the leaves that had already fallen off the trees, but we got to listen to conference again on the radio and take a drive! Fascinating!  I left Sunday morning after my work there had been done.  I enjoyed the quick visit again.  I got to watch Sarah take one of her first "strolls". (more than one step)  She definately doesn't want a sippy cup if she sees any Sonic drinks anywhere around.  She signs "more" and then gets upset if you don't give her a sip - I mean she did sign "more" so she should automatically get her reward! :)  Matthew and I had fun playing with my car and driving to Sonic to get drinks.  I think I had about 2 a day!  (That is another good thing about Angie moving out of North Salt Lake - the closest Sonic was in Layton!  How can anyone live in those conditions?)  Matthew loved talking on the phone to me over my bluetooth and having me put it in reverse so he could be on camera.  Our last Sonic run, I got Sarah her own Route 44 Sprite, that way whoever could actually drink their own drink in peace, although I think she would just look at hers and then yours and would beg some drink anyway, I mean, what if you were holding out?

So Sunday I was in Circleville.  Monday morning, Susan & I woke up, got the kids to school and then headed out to St. George for a "Girls Day".  We went to Krumpits, where I unfortunately bought a lot of stuff!  Then had to wait cuz my credit card got flagged by Citibank as "unusual" activity - how embarrassing!  We did lunch, went here, went there...pretty soon it was 9 pm!  Driving to Circleville, at night, in the fall - not recommended - there are deer everywhere.  Susan was driving, Jeff's new car, so slow with the high beams on - we saw some many deer in the ditches - it was really freakin' me out!  Luckily we got home safe!  Tuesday, I was able to go help out at the school's "reading store".  The PTA puts this together every month.  The students get reading medallions for the amount of time they read each month.  At the end of the month, the PTA opens the store and the kids get to shop.  They have 6 tables set up ranging from 10 pts to 120 pts.  The prizes on each table are according to price.  So the table with 10 pts might have a lot of cheap candy.  Prizes on the 40 pt table (that is the one I was at) had prizes like lipgloss, pom poms, stop watch, big monster truck.  The 80 pt and the 120 pt table had the big prizes, lava lamps, necklaces, footballs, etc.  They started this program last year and have seen a jump in the amount of reading the students do.  They get a max of 40 pts each month, so they got to drool over the 80 & 120 tables this month - if they save their pts they can shop there next month or the month after.  The little kids wanted to spend all their pts.  Some of the older ones saved them so they could get the bigger prizes.  Each one of my nieces came up and gave me a big hug.  It was fun to see them in school.  Kari bought lipgloss (I actually told her it was nail polish...oops!), Kate got some eyeshadow, and Emily got a cute pair of sunglasses.  Later that night while Susan went to YW and Gary was at a cattle auction, the girls and I had a pajama party girl's night - I did the girls' nails and makeup and then Emily did my nails while the Kate & Kari did my makeup.  Poor Jason, he just sat watched a movie.  Although I think he was relieved that I wasn't going to do his nails and makeup!  :)  It was a lot of fun!  Luckily Susan is "easy" - all I had to do for her was make a connection from her laptop to TV so they could enjoy instant Netflix.  No cleaning, no moving furniture, no painting.... although I think she has some plans brewing in that head of hers....  When it is her turn for a project though it will be a bit harder - Home Depot isn't 10 min away roundtrip, it is more like 1 1/2 hours away!  We had better make sure we have everything in one stop!

Wednesday morning I headed out back to Texas.  I made it to Santa Rosa where Jeff got me a very nice room!  It even had free internet! :)  I crashed (in bed, not in the car)!  I think I drove for 11 hours.  Thursday's drive was hard, but only 8 hours since I pushed myself the day before.  The past 3 weeks caught up with me then.  All I could think of was getting home to see Jeff!  I gased up in Tucumcari and didn't have to stop once for gas.  I think I took maybe 2 potty breaks, and decided that if I didn't eat or drink, the potty breaks wouldn't be needed....so I skipped lunch and sped home!  Now we did go eat Mongolian when I came home...I was starving!

It is good to be back.  Weird and surreal almost.  Jeff has kept the house in good order.  He put the swimming mats away - summer is over.  All his laundry is done, no dishes in the sink, bed made....he is awesome!  Of course I get home, unload the car and BLAM! the house is a wreck!  Bed isnt made - I am still in my PJs even though it is almost noon.  Nice to be lazy (for at least one day.)  On a weird side note - when I left Circleville Wednesday morning it was about 36 degrees, when I arrived in Rowlett Thursday afternoon it was 86 degrees and humid!  I had to change out of my jeans into capris!

Back in Utah?

I'm back in Utah, I know some of you maybe thinking, "Wow, time sure has flown!  Seems like you were there just a week ago!"  Well, I was here just a week ago!  I got back to Texas on Sunday the 13th and then began driving back on Saturday the 19th.  All in all, I will have spent about 8 days in my own home and with Jeff, for that matter, in the month of September! Hmmm....I wonder why we haven't gotten pregnant yet?!?!?!  :)

So here is the story:

Jeff's littlest sister, Angie, and her family are going to be moving to Texas!  This will bring the tally up to 6 out of 7 kids in Texas, plus Jeff's Mom, Cami.  Ok, so Wendy???? when are you coming down?  This means that Wendy has to start visiting Texas more often!  The totals are: 1 in Dallas, 2 in Austin, and in a little bit there will be 4 in Houston.

I called Angie on Tuesday, September 15th to congratulate her on the good news, asked her about the plans for selling the house, when do they have to be in Texas, are there movers, is she doing it, how is she going to stage the house, getting it ready to put on the market...the basics.  Angie tells me that they are going to be driving down on October 5th, when the house sells - they are going to be "moved" by the Church, and she will start cleaning and staging (um, what is staging?) the house about 2 weeks before they leave, right now she is doing a few things here and there to get ready....."Ummmm, Angie, you do realize that it is about 2 1/2 weeks before you have to report down to Texas right now, right?" I replied.  Dead silence and then a little panic!  I asked if she needed/wanted my help, that I had a doctor's appointment the next day, but knowing the process, I had about 2-3 weeks before I would start anything with the doctor and I think that Jeff would spare me so that I could help his baby sister.  So my new adventure began!

I got here Monday night, I made a detour in Cirlceville & Clinton to drop things off to them - since I had a car to bring them up.

Tueday, Angie & I made a list and headed out to Lowe's!  Ahhh Lowe's I have now made I am not sure how many trips.  It seems as if when you have a big project, and you make your list of every possible thing that you will need, you always forget 3/4 of the things to put on the list.  And those things on your list don't fit and you have to return it at least 3 times before getting the right one.  I have now perfected Angie's signature for her credit card.  It is easier for me to run and leave her with cleaning a closet, etc.

Let's see what have we done?..... Scott replaced their dishwasher - it had been broken for about 4-5 months - moral of the story? if your dishwasher breaks, cut the water off to it and remove the drain line, otherwise whatever was left in there when the dishwasher breaks, stays in the line for months (mmm, good) and then spills everywhere when you move the line.

Here is picture of Angie clearing the line before we try moving it again.  I had to stay far away from the mess, I have a very sensitive gag reflex and the smell....just think Ghost Town! :)

Instead of calling a locksmith out to rekey all the locks in the house (all the doors had different locks and they only had a key to one of them) we went to Lowe's and bought new locks and hardware and had Lowe's rekey the new locks to the only key they had of the house.  Well, this would've been a brillant and easy job, except the backdoor to the garage is a very old door and the placement of the doorknob hole was right inbetween the two settings on the lock.  I tried drilling the door, but that didn't go over to well - the door is wood, with metal on the outside.  So Angie & Scott had to buy a new door.  Scott measured it 32" x 79", but Angie and I opted to try one other type of lock just to be sure .... nope it didn't work.  So we were going to have to buy a new door.  Putting the old hardware back on wasn't even an option for 1 thing, we didn't have the key to it, and the other, I messed up the door pretty good when I was trying to get the other lock to fit it.  Angie and I measured the door again and we measured 31 3/4 x 80 - whoo hoo, that was the measurement of the cheaper door!  So we bought it, brought it into the home, put it next to the other door and you guessed it...it was too narrow and too tall!  So I had to return it and buy a new door.

Angie & I have hooked up the washer/dryer - first time for both of us...and they actually work and don't leak! 

Angie took an exacto knife, cut a piece of the wall off so she could color match the paint.  We didn't realize until after her friends had painted the rest of the huge laundry room (using 1/2 of the gallon) that the color didn't match exactly.  In fact the texture of the paint was different even though both of them were supposedly satin.  So after taking the paint back 3 times to have them "lighten" it for us and it not working, we did an experiment - I mean the paint is too dark, we can't use it to touch up the walls, so why not experiment with it.... The new color had a more "flat" feel to it even though the can says satin.  The walls look shinier than the walls with the new color on it, so I began to think - luckily it wasn't friday (I had terrible ideas on friday that didnt seem to work like they were suppose to!)  So if we want it to be lighter, add white.  If we have a "satin" that seems "flat" so we need a little more gloss to it...why not add more gloss and more white by adding "semi-gloss ultra white" to the mix!  Angie got a pallet and paint brush and went to work mixing them together, and whaa laaa!  we have a perfect match!  We were even able to duplicate it in the big can - after much testing and mixing!

We have moved furniture, soooo much furniture around.  Scott and Angie have been kind enough for many years to store pieces of furniture, bedding, clothes, tools, you name it, and they have probably stored it for their family.  With Scott's family staying in Utah, and Scott and Angie moving to Texas, we had to go through the house, storage room, mud room and separate all their stuff from the families stuff.  Once that was all done, we started rearranging the furniture that is left and "staging" the rooms. 

All we have left now is the detail work - we have been trying to wipe down baseboards and blinds as we go into each room and purge/stage it.  We have a few rooms left - bathrooms to clean - showers to regrout... DI is coming on Wednesday to take a bunch of stuff.  Then it will be a matter of packing for Texas and then sell the house!  Whew!

I know Scott and Angie have been questioning me on "how many doors have you hung before?" - none, theirs was my first one! "how do you know this, how about that?"  I must say that I am grateful for my parents in that department.  I have sat many a day out in the garage watching my Dad do different things, talking with him, troubleshooting with him - I think I actually learned some problems solving skills that way!  See, I was listening Dad and not just looking at the bugs!  And I cheated when it came to "how do you get hard water stains out of the toilet?"  I called my Mom!  She said very simply, "pumice stone".  And sure enough!  She did teach me how to clean house and the importance of the details - wiping down the blinds (use a swifter duster) getting the gunk out of the window sills, toothbrush around the faucets to get the grime.  It has all come in handy at my house and now that I am able to help others.  I will say that I think when I get home I need to look at my blinds, window sills, and window tracks......I may have been neglecting them!

See, and here again, I have a wonderful husband who is understanding and caring and has been supportive of me leaving him again to come help out another family member.  He even decided to help out around the house and pay our bills....so now we have credits on a lot of our bills cuz he ended up double paying after me!  Ahh well.  I love him!  Thank you Jeff you are a wonderful husband!  What is nice is that I know when I get home the house will be clean and the laundry done, not because he will scurry around the night before I get home to make it look presentable, but because he helps keep the house up on a daily basis.  Whether it is taking his dishes to the sink and even putting them in the dishwasher to vacuuming while I am out swimming with friends cuz he knows it needs to be done.  He knows the importance of a clean house and is willing to pitch in a do his part to keep the house looking nice all the time.  He does this without me asking.  He is truely a wonderful husband!  How lucky am I?!?!?!  I can't believe sometimes that he chose me!  I am blessed!

Doctor's Visit

So here is my delima, I want to have a "normal" get pregnant experience or as close to "normal" as possible.  Everyone else in the world gets to get pregnant, wait (in theory) until the first trimester is done and announce to the rest of the world in some crazy unique way that they are prengant.  I have such wonderful caring family and friends who are constantly asking - and I really don't mind...sorta - what is going on with us in the fertility department, that it is hard to keep it a secret.  I would have to lie to their face and say we are doing nothing and then after the first trimester say "surprise I am pregnant & oh by the way, I have been lying to you this whole time...yeah me!"  I just can't do it.  I have to accept the fact that I am not "normal"!  I love the prayers and the support of everyone, so I have decided that I would "blog" my appointments.  This way, if someone really wants to know what is going on, it will be here.  No secrets, no lies.  It will also save my voice from having to tell umpteen number of people all the specifics - it is hard to know who really cares and who is just asking to be nice or how much detail they really care to know for that matter.

That being said, please still ask me questions, about my own fertility, about general fertility questions, about whatever.  I really don't mind.  I don't know if my advice will work though - I would trust my own advice more if I actually had been successful at any of the umpteen ways to get pregant....but anyways, on to the good stuff:

Everything really started for us back in July. I knew that the fees for the embryo storage would be due to the old place on August 1st, we weren't happy with the old place, and we needed to find a new place. I looked at the calendar and called the new doc - Dr. X - and scheduled the appointment. They told me where to find the new patient forms to fill out and return to their office and they told me to have my old doc send over my file. So I had about 2 months to do this...and when do you think I did it? That's right - the day before. On my defense, while I was in Utah, I did try to contact Parkland to have them send a form for me to sign to release my medical records over to the new place - they never did. So Tuesday I went in the office with Jeff to fill out all the new patient forms and to have Jeff's office put in a request for my records - this way I could bring them with me. Jeff's office staff was wonderful - they helped me put the request in. DeeDee even called and harrassed them to make sure we had my records before the end of the day. Parkland apparently called and started complaining about having to fax everything over - they said it was a lot, so Jeff & I decided that the most important things would be the last 2 embryo transfers - we gave them a 2 year window to fax over to us. So, 113 pages later we had those 2 years. EEEK! That is only 2 of the 10 years of our treatments! DeeDee kept having to field phone calls - people were complaining because the fax machine was busy for a long time. Parkland sent the entire file by mail. I don't know if their is a box big enough for my medical record....


So, Wednesdy, September 16th, Jeff & I had our first doctor's visit with the new fertility doc.  Jeff was wonderful - he rearranged his morning schedule so that he could be there with me.  I really appreciate him doing that.  It wasn's something I had asked him to do.  I told him when the appointment was, and knowing that he is getting rather busy at work, and now that the group has hired a new doctor to work at Forney with him, he is under a little more stress - direct competition - I didn't expect him to be able to come.  I am glad he did - I have a tendency to shut down sometimes when someone jumps to conclusions without knowing all the facts.  Unfortunately I did shut down a little at the doctor's office.  If I had been alone, I probably would've come home and told Jeff that we were switching docs.  With Jeff there, I was able to snap back a little, and give the new doc a little more patients (get it? patients? hehehe) and allow him to catch up to our 10 years of personal infertility experience.

The doctor's visit:  It was very typical for us at least - he sat behind his desk, took one look at the records we gave him, and then he asked us to sum it all up for him! :)  As we sat there telling him all the different things we have been through, he just kept looking at us and asking "are you sure there isn't anything wrong with you?  this doesn't make sense...you should be pregnant by now."  He decided that he was going to figure out what was wrong....at this point you kinda have to humor them and let them figure out that I have "unexplained infertility".  It is very hard for some people to not have a "reason".  I have learned long ago not to worry about the "reason" and just have faith in the Lord that their is a "reason" for this trial and be ok with not knowing what it is now.  Jeff has learned a lot that has helped him in his practice - I am grateful for that.  He has a compassion and an understanding that I think his patients who struggle with infertility can see and they love him for it.  He uses me in a lot of examples - so much for HIPPA - but that is ok - if my struggles can help others then so be it.  Anyways, back to the doctor's appointment.  He did do some blood test, because he knew that I had a thyroid problem or an insulin resistence problem - BUT, that is not the case.  Everything came back normal.  Yeah! At least I am normal in one aspect of my life!  I guess it is back to the drawing board for this guy.  The thing is about me now is that it really doesn't matter if I ovulate or not, or if this or if that - I have 2 frozen babies....just get my uterus ready and stick them in!  So that is what we are going to be doing.  We have to wait until my next cycle begins - just to insure that for some odd reason that I am not actually pregnant right now.  Wouldn't that be funny!  Going through all of this and then spontaneously getting pregnant on my own...I know it can happen - a friend of mine's 3rd cousin's brother's aunt on his father's side had that happen to them you know.....

So for now, I guess we wait until my next period and then I get to go on birth control....hmmm how ironic....

Labor Day Weekend of Love

So Labor Day Weekend, our little nephew, Matthew, was baptized.  He was so excited!  He did an amazing job being reverant during the talks.  In between the prayer, the song, the first talk, Matthew would turn to one of his parents and whisper in a "quiet" voice, "Is it time for me to get baptized yet?"  It was refreshing to see the excitement of being baptized.

Originally, back in July when Jeff's brother got married, I was planning on staying a couple of weeks after the event to visit with my family, one week with Susan and one week with Aaron.  But, Susan had to mess up my plans be actually being in Texas during that same time frame.  I didn't think Circleville would be very fun by myself - (they have no fast food, I might actually have had to cook for myself...shocking!) So I had a change of plans, Jeff & I did a quick trip to Utah for the wedding and when we returned for Matthew's baptism I did an extended stay with Aaron & fam. 

The plan was great until I got a phone call from Rebecca.  It went something like this, "So Jill, I was wondering.......Do you Like to paint?"  (what a loaded question if I ever heard one!)  Technically no, but I told her that I would love to help her - so if that meant I had to paint one room and a bathroom, then YES I like to paint.  I will say that I am totally to blame for what happened next on my trip.  Rebecca and I went to Home Depot and took a lot of paint swatches to look at at home.  Well, Behr paint was on sale - $5 off a gallon - that puts a girl's mind to thinkin'.....Well, the family room - that had some lovely country blue walls :) - had a wall that carried up to the breakfast area and kitchen.....and if we do that, then we might as well do the rest of the kitchen too...and if we do that, then there is a wall in the kitchen that goes up and over and is a wall in the formal living room and one of the walls in the kitchen has a rounded corner and turns a couple of times and ends up in the formal living room too....so if we do the formal living room, then we might as well go up stairs and do the hall, and if we do that then.....So poor Rebecca's one gallon of paint for the family room, one gallon and one quart of paint for the bathroom (the original project) ended up being - one gallon accent paint, five gallons of base paint, one gallon paint for the kitchen cabinet (yes we sanded and painted the cabinets as well), one gallon and quart for the bathroom, kitchen knobs and drawer pulls, 2 ceiling fans, 1 new light fixture in the bathroom, towel & tp holder, brushed nickel trash can, soap dispenser, and toilet brush holder, curtains - kitchen, dining, family room (2 windows), bathroom rug and towels, and a various amount of little pieces to decorate...Whew! Literally she is "POOR" Rebecca now!  :)  Her house looks wonderful.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time at their house.  Laughing hysterically at .... well I don't remember cuz at the time I hadn't had much sleep ....  I can now not look at a brown wall without putting a smile on my face - "mmmm...brown"  Check out all our hard work here.

And as a side note for those of you wanting a little motivation to paint your house - You burn 195 calories/hour by painting - this of course means actually using roller and brush, not spraying it on...

I enjoyed visiting with the boys and Sarah.  I got to witness a few firsts with Sarah - drinking through a straw, a first step, her going not only up, but down the steps, her learning to sign "more" - although at first I think she thought that "more" meant Sonic Diet Coke - and she actually knew that a Sonic drink and McDonald's drink were different.  It was neat to see a change in her - the weekend of Matthew's baptism, Jeff was trying to "walk" with Sarah - her holding his fingers and he guided her, but after about 2 steps she would lift up her legs or get jelly legged and she was done "walking".  The very next weekend, all she wanted to do was to hold your finger and "walk" around.  Sarah isn't going to eat anything, drink anything, or do anything until she is darn good and ready!  Sounds like someone I know....

I was able to hang out with Daniel - he "helped" me paint.  I went with Daniel to his allergist appointment and the subsequent blood draw - it was then and there that I decided that if Jeff & I have kids and they need a shot or blood drawn - that is going to be a Jeff job!

Daniel and Josh are cute at Karate - oh I guess I should use a more manly rough gruff term than cute since it is about Karate, but I can't think of any better term than that!

I think Josh just loves me for my instant Netflix on my computer... :)

Matthew and I played Mario Kart and I got to go to his very first Pack Meeting.  It was very cool to see him welcomed to the Pack.

I am very gratefuly to have been included in all of these wonderful experiences and I am very grateful for a husband who allows me to run off and be with family and who comes to important family events!

Visitors....We LOVE them!

Last week, Aug 11th, Greg & Allison, Jeff's cousins, went out of town for their 15th wedding anniversary. We had the pleasure of watching their children for the week. We were honored that they would entrust their prize possessions with us! We had a fun week of little outtings and swimming - everyday! They were so well behaved! Their 2 oldest - Elizabeth (12) and Phoebe (9) - were awesome at helping out and taking care of their little brothers - Will (5) and Henry (3)! It was an eye opening experience for both Jeff & I to see what our lives would be like with kids! Luckily they were so well behaved that they didn't scare us out of wanting kids! :)

When the weekend came, we were able to have Cami, Amy, Dave, Summer, Jenna, and Thomas come for a visit. We had a very fun and relaxing weekend. We had no plans and no schedule. It was nice. We stayed at home, grilled, and went swimming in the pool until we had exhausted the kids! The second cousins played very well together. In fact, Henry was very insistant on Sunday morning when I changed his pull-up that I was not going to change his Superman PJs - he wanted to match Thomas, who was also wearing his Superman PJs. It was fun to see Cami, Amy, Dave, and their kids! I had a lot of fun swimming and playing with them - throwing Summer & Jenna around in the pool - watching Thomas gain some independance in the pool by wearing water wings and a ring float. Boy did he catch on fast! He was pumpin' those little legs and swimming all around the pool so fast, it was hard for me to swim fast enough backwards to stay out of his way! And I know, I know....I still can't remember which one has the blue eyes and which one doesn't - which one looks more like Amy & which one is more like Dave... Just when I think I remember which one is which, I flip it to correct myself and I am wrong again! I mean, they are only 6 yrs old now..... Although when they are wearing the exact same swim suit, hair in a ponytail, and have goggles on....hopefully I have some leeway there!

This weekend we had visitors again! We love it! Mike & Jen - THE NEWLYWEDS - came to visit. They came up Friday night - got here at about 11pm. At 12:30am, Jeff went to bed, and Mike, Jen, & I stayed up til 4:30am! Well, Mike was in the room, on the couch, asleep for the most part. So Jen & I talked & talked & talked til 4:30am! She shared some of their funny stories and adventures as newlyweds...It was fun to hear about it. Made me laugh and think...gosh 13 years....some things have changed and some things haven't!

8:30 am on Saturday came awefully quickly! We had lunch at Spring Creek BBQ. Did a little celebrating - Saturday was Mike & Jen's "one month" anniversary. The girls were dropped off at the fabric store and the guys went to the "manly" store - Home Depot. Jen found some cute Bronco fleece fabric and made a little throw blanket for Mike. I looked for some material for curtains for our bedroom, but nothing really caught my eye. Mike & Jen got to go with her sister, Janet, on a dinner date. When they got back we played a few rounds "Settlers of Catan" - I don't remember who won all of them - and watched the Denver Bronco preseason game.....until 1:30 am - Boy did Sunday come awefully quickly too! We went to Church, came home, cooked, and ate chicken tacos out by the pool. All I have to say is...I thought Jeff could put away food, child's play compared to Mike! :) Glad you enjoyed my cooking!

We have a quiet house again....who will be joining us next weekend?????

Latest Project

Years ago, Susan and I made me a chenille blanket shaped like the Texas Flag. Since then, we made her one and then Rebecca joined in and made one as well. They are very fun! I decided to modify the pattern just a little bit. I made the Texas Flag as my base layer, then chenilled the other side. This change hides the seams of the flag better than the original design.

I had started this project a few years ago with the intent of giving it to Jeff's younger brother Mike for a Christmas present. I started it and never finished it because I started thinking that a young single guy isn't really going to appreciate all the time and work that went into it. I would take it out every so often and stitch a few more lines, but eventualy put it away again knowing that I wouldn't be giving it to Mike any time soon.

This past week I took it out again, but this time I finished it! I can now give it to a married Mike! This was our wedding gift to Mike & Jen. Jen is forever cold (even in hot, humid Texas!) and has made a great move from Utah to Texas. It couldn't be a more perfect gift for them!

The reactions were classic. Mike said, "Oh cool a blanket that has the Texas flag." Jen said, "Oh wow!!! How did you do it? That was a lot of work! I love it!" and gave me a hug. Just another example of how boys and girls see the same thing in different ways!

Special Delivery

Susan & I made a special trip today. We went to Bedford, TX and picked up Jeff & my embryos! We are going to be using a different doctor for our next frozen embryo transfer. I have a doctor's appointment in late September with our new doctor, but the old place was wanting us to pay them another storage fee of $400 if we kept our embryos at their place past August 1st.

I had filled out some paperwork prior to us going, so it made the trip really easy. We went to Bedford and told them that I was here to pick up my embryos. The embryologist came out with this contraption and said for us to be careful and bring it back before 5pm. We seatbelted the precious cargo in and Susan was nice enough to sit in the backseat next to it and hold it as an extra precaution. We then drove across town to Presby Dallas (where I was born...many years ago) and dropped them off. The embyologist there asked to see my ID to make sure that the name on the paperwork and my name were the same....that got me to thinking.... I just picked up these embryos from the other place, I just told them that I was Lila Nelson, they never checked my ID!!!! When I relayed this information to the embryologist, he kinda looked up from the paperwork with a blank expression and said, "Oh, are you expecting me to be shocked by that behavior by this other place?" That helped me feel that maybe we are making the correct decision to try a different place for our embryo transfers....

On the way home, Susan & I just seatbelted the container in and she sat in the front with me. No need for me to chaufer her all around...We got about 2 blocks away from the Bedford place to return the container when I turned a corner and the container went flying, the lid fell off and liquid nitrogen spilled. Luckily I had actually read the instructions and warnings about liquid nitrogen and immediately unrolled the windows to air out the car - or nitrogen out in this case. (I thought that up right now, all by myself! :) I know that at least Dad is laughing at that joke!) The temperature in the car dropped dramatically and the leather seats turned white and had crystals on it! Susan & I were kinda freakin out a bit, but luckily we were just a few blocks away. We got there, put the container back together, and returned it. The seats thawed and look normal again. We drove for some time with the windows down, just in case. I had the windows down seconds after the spill, but both of us still got massive headaches from lack of oxygen! I am so grateful that Susan went with me and held onto my little ones while I drove them, and that the spill came after they were safely at the new place. Hopefully the new doctor's office won't be there home for long!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

I have married a wonderful husband! I am so grateful for him! He has just enough patience to deal with me....although he could always use more patients in his practice! :) He took me on a wonderful trip to Hawaii for our 13th wedding anniversary - which is next week.

He is goofy & funny!

He is my protector.

(notice the Fiji tattoo from the Polynesian Cultural Center)

He is a great brother.

He is a great friend! He is my best friend!

I am so glad he picked me!

It's a guy thing!

Jeff found a turtle in our backyard the other day. There is a family in our ward who has a turtle/frog pond. Anytime we find a turtle/frog, we call them up and Patrick comes to our house to pick it up. So Jeff found the turtle and put it in a gladware container to keep for Patrick until he could come pick it up. Well, we have a little family living with us temporarily - they are an LDS family - the oldest girl, LeAndra goes to my school. Her mom died a few weeks ago leaving behind her and her little sister, Paris. They can't live with their stepdad, and they really wanted to finish the last few weeks of school at their school. Their grandmother has been either driving them back and forth from Grand Prairie (where they will eventually will live with their aunt) or getting a motel room or sleeping on some other member's couch for a night. It just wasn't a very stable situation - especially after just losing your mom to stomach cancer. Well, Jeff & I decided to offer them a place to stay for a few weeks until school was out. So what does this have to do with a turtle??? Paris saw the turtle and fell in love! She asked Jeff if she could keep it - bought turtle food for it and everything. This past week they haven't been here much - they have been staying in Grand Prairie with their aunt working on a program for YW camp fundraiser. (I know..kinda defeats the purpose of us giving them a place to stay if the don't end up staying here...) So she leaves the turtle here. We look after it as best we can...but....I know, it is horrible...the turtle died. So I told Jeff that he needed to get rid of it before they come back. So he threw the turtle away. As I was cleaning the kitchen, I noticed a gladware container in the sink. So I ask Jeff what he did with the container the turtle was in...you know...dead....He said, "I put it in the sink after I threw the turtle away." GROSS!!!! Yes, I did grab it out of the sink and throw it away!

It's Official

Well, it's official...as of June 5, 2009, I will no longer be an 8th grade math teacher. It was a very hard decision to come to, I work with wonderful people - this is the best school that I have worked at. It is bittersweet to say the least.

Jeff & I just felt like the time was right for me not to work anymore. I really don't need to work anymore. I will hopefully be stress free - no work to worry about - no hormonal students - and no worrying about having enough money to pay the bills.

We just both feel like now is the time to dedicate ourselves to trying to build our family - no holds barred.

We shall see what the future holds.

Landscaping

Here are our pictures of our landscaping...everything is still kinda young. We have 3 palm trees with a couple of banana trees behind the waterfall...and another kind of plant that starts with an "a" - aspirlia? something like that...

We have a small sago palm tree in the flower bed beside the table. There are also a couple of day lilies.

Jeff's orange tree is planted...yes you heard it right...it is in the ground to stay...no more carting it in and out if it gets a little cold! HALLELUJAH! Beside his tree are some more day lilies and lamb's ear. The lamb's ear is really soft.

We have a walkway coming from our gate to our decking. It goes through the flowerbed to give everyone a nice experience. The first thing they have to walk through is the 2 trees (dormant right now) - which are vitecs and then a Japenese Yew (it is the green bush).

The fence post is lined with jasmine. Jeff's blackberry and raspberry plants are in there somewhere too.

We have a spot for our future garden. I want to plant tomatoes and bell peppers. In front of the garden, the landscapers put Jeff's strawberry plants....I dont think they will make it there. We might be making another trip to the nursery for more of those.

Everyday Jeff wants to go to the nursery to see what plants they have in. He is itchin to buy, buy, buy...I am trying to hold him off till it is a bit warmer and we don't have to worry about a flash freeze to kill the plants.

The landscapers also bricked our front flower garden, replanted 3 new trees and fixed our sprinkler system. WHEW!

I am sure in the summertime it will all be worth it.

It was fun to sit outside Thursday night. It was warm, we had the lights on and we ate dinner in the chaise lounges. Can't wait until summer!

Adventures in Babysitting

So as a YW group, we are doing a babysitting fundraiser for girl's camp. We did this last year and had a lot of success with it. Things went great last year. We had no fights, no crying...it was awesome. We had 3 different dates. We had about 20-26 kids...$12/kid...you do the math...

So of course this year we were pretty psyched about doing it again. Our first day was Valentine's day and thought that would give us a great turn out. Well we had 29 little kiddos....something we overlooked - Laurels want to have a Valentine's date. So we didn't have as many YW as we would've liked...

All was going well until I heard..."Sister Nelson...someone peed on your couch." Not words you want to hear.... but as parents were dropping off their kids a couple of them said..."by the way, we are potty training." - Why they wouldn't they just bring them with pullups on - I just don't understand... So I grabbed the spray and headed upstairs. Once up there I was informed that it wasnt on the couch (whew!) Someone went into a closet and peed. - Luckily the kid sat on a bunch of sheets & blankets. When I asked who the culpret was so I could get one of the girls to change them, they informed me that it was a 10 yr old girl. ....She is the sister of one of the beehives. The beehive was mortified. I felt so bad for her. She called her parents to get clothes etc. Unfortunately, they went ahead and picked up the beehive too. She wasn't able to go hottubbing after babysitting.

All in all, it was a good money. Hopefully next babysitting we will have more girls to make sure noone pees in my closets.....

You'd be surprised!

So we are doing the landscaping, finally! We had several people come out and make bids and show us designs, etc. We decided to go with the guy, Mark, that was recommended by our pool guy, Brandon. So Mark puts the bid together and tells us to do the sprinklers in the backyard he estimates about $1600 - probably less. He put a cap on the job of $2000 - so if, by chance, it did cost more than $2000, he would cover the cost. Jeff & I both told him ok, but that it would probably be closer to $2000 and to put that in the bid so we could have an idea of how much it would be at the most expensive end, and if it was less, then we would be happy. Mark kept assuring us though this was not necessary - that we would be surprised at how much was still intact. Jeff & I exchanged looks and said, "OK.".....

So the landscapers started yesterday and the first thing they needed to do was to test a cut wire that led from the front yard to the back. They tested it, found the 5 zones in the front of the house that were still intact. - this wasn't a surprise since noone touched the sprinklers in the front. They then were going to "jump" it to the valve box on the other side of the backyard closest to the control box. This would show them what was working in the front yard .... So they found the valve box and dug it up - all three valves were busted. They dug on the other side of the box to find the wire - dead.... they dug a little more & found were it was severed....after an afternoon of digging, and finding this line severed in 6 different spots, they "jumped" to right outside the box. This is were I found them yesterday afternoon when I came home from running a few errands. Mark looked at me and said, "Your sprinkler system back here is a mess!" He told me about the job of finding the wire and how many times it had been cut. I said, "You know how you kept telling us that we would be surprised at how intact this all was, and we kept telling you that no, you'd be surprised!" Well, he was.