Our Trial

I know I have been a horrible blogger lately.....life has been crazy! We had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year. My parents came out from Indiana and it was so nice to have them here. It was nice to have some time off work to spend with them! For family home evening right before Christmas we had a special visitor........

It was so much fun to see the kids faces when Santa walked through the front door! They were so cute....they all sat on Santa's lap and told him what they wanted him to bring them for Christmas. I even had a chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what I wanted most of all for Christmas.......

I asked for a baby! For those of you who know me, I am a very open person. That is putting it VERY lightly. If you want to know something......all you have to do is ask me. So here it goes. I am very open about how badly Steve and I want to have children. Here is our story, or as I like to say.....our trial.

Steve and I decided in January 2006 that we were ready to make your family a little bigger. We started trying in March. I found out I was pregnant in June 2006, but miscarried at 6 weeks. Then it took us almost a full year to get pregnant again. I found out this time in May 2007, and miscarried again at 6 weeks. Since then I switched doctors and have been diagnosed with Poly cystic ovarian disease (PCOS). I have been taking chlomid, a fertility drug, along with metformin (for my PCOS)for the last 3 months with no luck! It is rather exhausting physically and emotionally! No matter what we do, every month we are devastated to not be pregnant. I cry every month. I feel like we are on the right track with doctors who seem to know what they are doing. Every month I take chlomid on days 5-9 of my cycle, I go in for an ultrasound to check my ovaries(follicle study) on day 13 and then they give me two shots of the HCG hormone to make me ovulate! Then we get to wait for about 2 weeks to find out if I'm pregnant! Sounds fun huh?!?!

Anyway, this trial has helped me to become stronger and has made mine and Steve's relationship better! I just can't wait to be a mom someday! Hopefully soon! I hope that by sharing our struggle, we are able to help someone who may be having a similar trial in their life. Having faith in our Heavenly Fathers plan helps me when I am feeling hopeless. It helps to realize that everyone has trials......this is mine.

Christmas Here We Come.....

November was a busy month. I was getting used to a new work schedule, and Steve was SO exhausted from going through another fire academy! It made the month fly by! For Thanksgiving, we went to Steve's parents house and had a great day of food and naps! I'm not one of the crazy's that is willing to get up early and go shopping on Black Friday...I need my sleep. Instead my wonderful husband, who didn't think that we should put our tree up so early, decided to make me so happy and take me to pick out our tree.

Growing up in small town Indiana had it's perks around Christmas time. Every year we would drive for 5 minutes to the next town over and go to this Christmas Tree farm. They had a pony that we could ride and a tractor that would take us on a hayride to go pick out and cut down our own tree for only $10! That is a little harder to do here, but the tree we did get is really nice. I just love the way a real tree makes your house smell! We brought it home and immediately got out the tree stand and started decorating. This is the finished result.........

I bought most of these decorations the winter that Steve and I were married (3 years on the 16th of this month!). I figured that if I didn't buy most of my Christmas decorations then, it would be harder in the future. If you can't tell, the ribbon and the tree skirt match! My favorite new addition to the tree is a picture of my mom when she was 3 and my uncle when he was 2 sitting on Santa's lap. Mom and dad are coming out for Christmas this year, and I can't wait! I miss them so much! There is nothing that can compare to having your family here for the holidays!

California

Last weekend we were able to fly to California to be with Steve's sister Jamie and her husband when they were sealed in the San Diego temple. It was so beautiful and it was so nice to get away. With Steve in the academy again, we feel like we never get to spend any time together. We just started riding to work together, not only to save gas, but so that we could spend another hour and a half together. We were able to spend lots of time with family and my sister-in-law Amy was kind enough to take some great pictures of us, here are some from her and some from me! Enjoy.

At the beach

Steve 'Putting out the vibe'

At the temple

The Smith Family

Brothers

Bonfire at the beach

Amy the photographer took this of Steve and I....I love it! Thanks Amy!

Halloween

Here are some of our pictures from Halloween! We went to our ward party for chili, and then went to hang out with some friends. It was a blast to be able to relax and hang out with friends.


Steve as Michael Myers and I was a Firefighter

Steve being scary

The group

Isn't he cute!

To Spokane We Go!

So when my amazing husband found out that he would be starting with SLC Fire Department on Oct. 20th, his first thought wasn't 'lets go on vacation'......it was 'lets go to Spokane and finish a basement'! Steve's sister and her family live there and he loves helping his family, which I LOVE! Did I mention that my husband is amazing?!?! We were there for about a week and a half, and we had so much fun hanging out with Paula, Ben and kids. It was really fun getting to know our nieces and nephews, and seeing their little personalities! We didn't get very many pictures of the boys because they were at school.....Paula I need to get those pics from you.......but because the girls were home during the day we have a few of them. We made so many trips to Home Depot that I lost track, but we had a blast!

Steve unloading drywall! I helped too!

Hard at work.

One of my cute nieces ;)

She wanted to take a picture of Auntie Crystal

Me and the baby......no! If you have met this little one

you know what that means!

If you haven't met her, this should explain a little.........I think her favorite word in her vocabulary so far is NO!

[video to come]

This was a highlight of the trip! I still watch this video and crack up! Sorry about the shaking....I couldn't keep from laughing.

Me Llamo Jonas

Wow, a whole month behind. I feel bad for making all of you blog addicts have to wait so long to read about the best concert of the year! September 7 2008.



WEEZER

Without a doubt the best show I've been to in years. Even my friend Mark came up from Vegas to see it with us. We had wicked good seats too. Dead center and about a dozen or so rows up, just high enough to see over the sound and light board guys equipment.

I listened to my first Weezer album in 97' after borrowing, and yes... never getting around to returning it, from my sister in law Amy. (sorry Amy, I owe you a blue album) I was hooked, from "surf wax America" to "my name is Jonas". That was the summer we moved from Hawaii to Utah and it just felt like home to me. I think I even wore that disc out before Andrew and Amy moved out.

Anywho, Weezer has come to Utah before, in fact, they have come a few times. Twice while I was on my mission. But its ok, Dave went to those shows for me, and then told me about them in letter. He didn't even leave out the part about seeing my then girlfriend at the show.

Well, after a decade of loving their music, album after album, it was finally time to get to their show. I even kept track of the play list. And if anyone I don't know is reading this, and happened to be at the show, feel free to let me know what the "unknown" song was. I know it wasn't one of theirs, but that's about it.

I'll set the stage for you. Before they came out, they had a little exercise trampoline and a rubber ball placed on stage. Throughout the show Rivers (lead singer) would just head over to it and jump around for a little while then hop off and get back to rockin'. And the ball, best described as the kind of ball that's in those big tall cages at wall-mart, was played with on stage for a song or two and then kicked into the audience.

(if you don't know/like Weezeer, this next paragraph can be skipped)

They opened with "My name is Jonas" One of my absolute favorites, and threw in some of that es-pan-yole. Then it was "pink triangle" (a song about being in love with a lesbian who does not share the same feelings with him. Oddly enough, the lesbian couple a few rows in front were barely moving for that song. ODD) "perfect situation" "Say it aint so" EXCELLENT! "Suzanne" Off of a rare tracks album, i think "Waste my Days" and then the song I do not know... It said "I'm king" in the chorus a lot. go figure. "Undone, the sweater song" "pork and beans" "Dreaming" "Dope Nose" "Trouble Maker" "Automatic" "Hash Pipe" "El Scorcho" then they covered "Morning Glory" by Oasis. Then they hit my new personal anthem, "I am the greatest man that ever lived" ;) "hip hip" "Beverly hills" "heart songs" then a Nirvana cover of "grandma take me home" "Buddy Holly" (soo good) And then they brought out a bunch of local people, about thirty different contest winners who each played an instrument. They called it the Weezer hoot-n-nanny. They played "island in the sun" and one other.

All in all it was a phenomenal show and I'd do it again if I had the chance.

My Turn to Brag

HE DID IT! You are looking at one of Salt Lake City's newest firefighters!

For those of you who don't know this already.....my husband is amazing! Not only does he work hard around the house fixing it up for me, but he works hard ALL the time! When he sets his mind to do something, he works hard to accomplish his goal. This being said, last September he decided he wanted to change his career. He had been going to school for construction management, and decided he wanted to be a firefighter. That caught me a little off guard to say the least. By April he had graduated from the fire academy and started testing for fire departments, which is VERY competitive! We just found out that he is going to be hired by Salt Lake City and we couldn't be more excited, and I couldn't be more proud!

I feel so lucky to be married to such a wonderful guy!

Check out other posts about Steve:

Guess who has two thumbs.....

Shout Out to Captain Steve!

One of our new favorites!

Somehow Steve and I have gotten really out of shape! Our friends Alan and Kara mentioned that they had been hiking the Y a few times a week for exercise, so we decided that we would tag along. One of our goals as a couple was to be in good enough shape to do a much harder hike by the end of the summer. We hiked with Alan and Kara a few times, Dave and Logan, and then when Steve's sister Jamie and her husband Andy came out to visit they also came along. We like to start right around 7:30pm so that we will be at the Y for the sunset. Needless to say, we have some really amazing photos of Utah Valley that I thought I'd share.

When Jamie and Andy hiked with us.

One of my favorites!

I mentioned before that one of mine and Steve's goals was to be in good enough shape to do a much bigger hike, but this is not just any hike! We wanted to hike to the summit of Mt. Timponogos, the 2nd highest peak in the Wasatch Front. This is approx a 16 mile hike round trip, and the best time to make this trek is at night. Our good friends Alan and Kara, who I've posted about before, came along and made this journey with us. We started at about 2:30am from the trail head that is just above Sundance. After about 4 hours of hiking, we made it to the Saddle.

Just as the sun was rising.

Just being ourselves.

One of the most breath-taking views I have ever seen.

After watching the sun rise and resting for a while, we continued on to the summit. About another hour later we were there! In one direction we could see all of Utah Valley including he Great Salt Lake, and in the other direction we could see all of Heber Valley. It was amazing!

At the summit!

There is a glacier on the back side of Timp that you can sometimes slide down, saving a lot of walking down some really rough terrain. We thought that we would give it a shot, and we were pleased to find out that it was a perfect time for us to safely slide down. It was soft enough that we were in complete control, and it was a blast!

At the top of the glacier.

We slid down from the very top!

Since we hiked up in the dark, coming back down was fun because we were able to see just how beautiful the trail was. At a few points during the hike you walk through meadows of wild flowers that are absolutely gorgeous! And I lost count of how many waterfalls we passed. As hard as this hike was, it was absolutely worth it!

One of the meadows.

Look how happy we are to be hiking down and not up!

This picture does not do this waterfall justice! It is the one that is near the beginning of the trail, and we are planning on hiking to it again within the next few weeks and I will try to get some better pictures. Steve grew up in Hawaii and we both agreed that this waterfall looked like it could be in Hawaii. It was covered in beautiful green moss and was breath taking! It was an adventure that we will never forget!

PS-It took us about 9.5 hours round trip!

4th of July

For the 4th of July Steve and I had a few BBQ's with family and friends, and then went up on the side of the mountain and watched the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. They were beautiful, but we were far away. It just wasn't the same as being close enough to smell the fireworks. I love that smell! Good show, but it just didn't feel like the 4th. We had made plans to go to the Salt Lake Bees game the next day with our friends Alan and Kara. Little did I know that there would be a fireworks show after the game! So we sat in the grass seats and enjoyed the game.

Kara and I

It was sooooo hot outside!

After the game, they announced that everyone who was seated in the grass area would need to go down onto the field because they were going to be launching the fireworks off behind where we were sitting. So we were able to take our blankets onto the field and watch the show from there! We were so close that when we laid down, the fireworks were right over us! I had to put on my sunglasses because ashes were falling on my face and I didn't want them to get into my eyes! It was so much fun and I think that this may become a tradition for us!

All of us in left field before the show

Fun in May

In May I turned 25, so to celebrate we had some friends over to have a fire and play Rock Band. It was so much fun! I can't believe I'm 25. Sometimes I feel like I am still in high school, but then I remember that I am in far worse shape now than I was back then! Here are some pics from my party. I was the photographer and got some good ones of Steve rocking out!

One of the things that Steve and I love about living in Utah are the mountains! We love going for rides up into canyons. One weekend we decided to go up to Sundance and walk around. We like to watch the glass blowers. Steve always says that that is something that he wants to learn how to do someday. Sundance is a beautiful place to go, and there are fun little shops to walk through. It is such a beautiful setting.

Catching up......

So while Steve was finishing up at the fire academy, I decided it was time to get a new job. Now, I had been considering this for a while, but I hadn't come across anything that I felt was right. So I stopped looking. Then I got a call from a friend who said that she knew of someone who was looking for an office manager, and I knew that this was the right move for me! I started the end of April, and I love what I do and the people I work with.


So....new job, Steve done with the academy, and what do you think we do to celebrate? Go camping of course! We love to go camping....actually Steve proposed to me where we would always go camping and off-roading in Wallsburg. This time we went with a group of friends to Five Mile Pass. It was really cold, but we had so much fun! With Steve being gone so much while he was in the academy we didn't get to spent much time together, and so now we enjoy being together even more than before! I love my hubby!

Aren't we cute!