We're off to Utah!

We are so excited to be heading to Utah tomorrow. We have been looking forward to this trip all summer long. It's been since December that we've seen most of our family, so we are really looking forward to our trip. We will be in Utah for 3 weeks. What a nice long break! Jon is really excited, because tomorrow is his last day of classes, so he will have 3 weeks off until he has to be back for fall semester. I am really looking forward to getting away, just to take my mind off of things. I know many of you are always thinking of us and wondering how things are going in regards to having kids. Well, I just found out yesterday that our third attempt, while living here in Mankato, at IUI was unsuccessful. I am doing okay today, but I was having a tough time yesterday. Once I initially find out that I'm not pregnant, I grieve quite a bit, and I try real hard to not feel bitter or frustrated, but it's hard. Yesterday I asked myself, how many more times can I put myself through this. The next step we take will be seeing an infertility doctor in Minneapolis. I've been working with an infertility nurse practioner, who has been wonderful, but now she would like his imput on what to do next. I was feeling much more positive yesterday about adoption. I've never been opposed to adoption, but I wanted to exhaust all of my resources on trying to have our own first, but after yesterday, adoption sounded like a great way to go. We don't know what we'll do next, but I thought I'd let you know where we're at right now. Please keep praying for us, that someday we will be given the chance to be parents. We can't wait to see all of you in Utah.

4th of July

Tanner Jeffrey, my little buddy.

The kids love watching the fireworks that Aaron bought.
Look how intently they are watching.

Jon & Tanner

We had such a great 4th of July weekend. Friday Jon and I spent the day together. We had our traditional 4th of July breakfast. Every year we have waffles for breakfast on the 4th and then we have strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream or we just have strawberry and blueberry flavored syrups with whipped cream. It's a fun tradition that my family started over 10 years ago. After breakfast, we just hung out at home for a while, until we decided to go to the pool. Unfortunately for me, the pool wasn't open yet, so we came home and washed the car instead. By the time we finished washing the car, we decided to see a movie instead of going back to the pool. We went and saw Kit Kittredge, An American Girl. I know it's a movie for young girls, but I knew it would be clean, and I really like Abigail Breslin, besides the movie was worth seeing. I really liked it, and Jon didn't mind it too much either. We invited a bunch of friends and neighbors over for a BBQ and fireworks. The city sets off their fireworks at the stadium, which is 600 yards from our backyard. We had the perfect spot to watch. It was really nice once the fireworks were over, because we didn't have to drive in traffic to get home. Our friends the Jeffreys had bought some fireworks also, so Aaron kept the kids entertained for a while before the big show started. Thanks Aaron for the fireworks!

Saturday was another fun day. We slept in which was wonderful. We stayed up until 2:00 the night before visiting with our neighbor and her boyfriend. It was the first time we'd really gotten to know them, and they are great neighbors. Anyway, Jon and I went up to St. Paul with our friends Aaron and Carrie Jeffrey to the Taste of Minnesota. If any of you have been to Taste of Bozeman, I don't think this was quite the same. We never went in Bozeman, but this was basically a free concert, which we didn't care for the band and food you'd buy at a fair. We thought they would have some good restaurants but they didn't. Since nothing appealed to any of us, we decided we'd rather go out to dinner for the price we would have paid. We went to PF Changs and it was Aaron and Carrie's first time eating there. Carrie was in heaven, she wanted to try so many different things. Aaron is a vegetarian, so there weren't too many things that really appealed to him, but he liked it. When we got back to the Jeffreys, we roasted marshmallows and made S'mores for dessert. What a great evening. Aaron and Carrie have four kids, so it was fun for them to get away for the evening and go on a double date.



Sunday was very relaxing. We had such a an enjoyable weekend. We talked with our parents on Sunday and it sounds like our families had a great weekend too. I was having a tough time on Friday knowing that our families were getting together. Jon's niece and nephew were baptized on Saturday, so the whole family was together for a couple of days having fun since Grandma and Grandpa were in town. We wish we could have been there. We like Mankato, but there are times that we really wish we lived closer to our families. I sure miss all of them. I can't wait to see everyone in a few weeks when we go to Utah. We love all of you and miss you lots! We'll see you in three weeks. Yeah!!!