It's Christmas time!

One of our traditions, is to put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Jon and I bought a new tree this year, so it was a lot of fun to put it up. It didn't look to big at the store, but we got it put up and realized it's a little bit bigger than we had thought. Oh well, it still looks great. We need to buy a new tree skirt for it, because we threw our old one away last year, it was just a piece of red felt. We also put Christmas lights on our house, for the first time and I was the lucky one who got to get on the roof to put them up. I was a little scared at first, but once I realized I wasn't going to slip right off I was okay, especially if I didn't look directly at the ground. Here are some pictures of our Christmas decorating. We hope all of you have as much fun decorating your homes for the Christmas holiday, as we did. Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm so grateful for a loving husband.

I'm especially grateful for his patience and understanding.

Thanks for all you do for me.

I just wanted to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope all of you had a wonderful day. We spent our Thanksgiving with friends from our ward. Our friends the Jeffreys were kind enough to host us and three other families for the yummy feast. We had excellent food and great company. It was quite a relaxing day for all. I also wanted to mention a few of the things that I am most grateful for. There are many, but here are some of the important ones: a loving Savior, the gospel, my wonderful husband Jon, my family and Jon's family, good friends who have blessed our lives so much, good health, good jobs, and a beautiful comfortable home. I have so much to be thankful for and I know that it all comes from the Lord. I am so grateful that we have this wonderful holiday to give our thanks to our Heavenly Father for all that He has blessed us with.

News Update!

I wasn't sure what to call this post. I thought of calling it baby update, but then everyone would think that I'm pregnant, when in fact it's just the opposite. I am writing this entry for myself and to let all of you know what has been going on with us in the "trying to get pregnant" world. We tried IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) four different times this year, with no success. The last month we tried, was September, after our fun summer trip to Utah. I went in for an ultrasound the end of September and found out that I had a large cyst on my right ovary, so IUI wouldn't be possible for the month of October. I have had a few medical issues that I've wanted to have checked out so I dedicated October as the month to get all those appointments done. First I ended up getting laryngitis and found out that it was caused by reflux, which I had no idea I had. I ended up having a CT of my sinuses to find that my cheek sinuses are a little small and my nasal septum is crooked, nothing serious. I also saw a Gastrointestinal doctor for a check up. The end of September, I ended up having a partial or full bowel obstruction and ended up in the ER. I haven't had a GI doctor for several years, and I haven't had any tests to make sure that things are okay, so I made an appointment. I ended up having an endoscopy scope and found out that everything is just fine. When I went in for my appointment last Friday to discuss the results of the scope, my doctor gave me an article about infertility in women who have had the same surgery that I had when I was 15, due to ulcerative colitis. As I read it, I learned that women who have had this sugery have a higher rate of infertility, about 38% to 44%. You would think that after reading this, I would be even more discouraged, but I wasn't. I was actually quite relieved. Jon and I have been trying for several years to have children and have been unsuccessful. The doctors always tell us that our reports come back normal, so it's been quite frustrating not to know why, until now. We met with Sue, the nurse practitioner we've been working with and the decision was made to completely stop trying IUI. I am at peace with this decision. Jon and I have been praying for guidance and we've definitely been guided. Jon told me yesterday, it's apparent that there is a Master planner who has a specific plan for us. I can attest to that. We have been blessed so much. The Lord has guided us these past several years, and at times, the next step has just fallen in place. We feel that has happened again recently. We have the opportunity to put some money aside pre-tax that could be used for IVF, if that is the decision we choose. Receiving all this information that has lead us to the realization that we probably will never be able to have kids on our own has been a blessing. My mom related a personal story to me yesterday that was another confirmation that our situation is all part of the Lord's plan. He has always known the plan and has been guiding and blessing us along the way. Just recently I have been able to truly accept the idea of adoption or IVF. I feel good about either and I'm finally ready to go which ever route the Lord knows we should take. A year ago I wasn't ready to accept this, I had to go through all the experiences that we've had this year, and the past four years to get to this point. So many things and people have prepared both of us for this day. This weekend, Jon and I are going to fast and take a trip to the temple, to receive some guidance on the next step to take. Both of us feel very good about IVF or adoption. Jon has recently been thinking about adoption a lot. I have thought about both equally, although twice this week I've had experiences that have reassured me about adoption. I know I could be happy with either decision. I truly feel that our turn to have a baby is getting closer. I told my mom, I feel it so close, almost like I could reach out and grab it. I am full of hope and joy! I know the Lord will bless us and guide us until we are blessed to have a baby. Jon has been so strong and has never doubted that we'd ever have children. It took me a while to get to that point too, but I know we will have kids someday, and hopefully that day is coming soon.

Halloween

Jack Parker, the little blue monster.
Kaylee Jeffrey, the snow princess.
Ada Anderson, a cute orange fairy.

Emma Jeffrey, a 70's girl.

Tanner Jeffrey, my buddy as a cute cowboy.

It's hard to see, but he had a beard and mustache painted on him.

It was so cute!

We had a fun week this week. We carved pumpkins with our friends the Jeffreys on Monday. It was a little messy, but we sure had fun. I appreciated the help we got on drawing a face for our pumpkin. I haven't been very good about taking pictures this year, so I don't have a picture of our cute Jack-o-lantern. Wednesday evening was our wards Trunk-or-Treat. Jon and I decided we'd go for the first time. We usually don't go, because we don't have kids, but we thought it might be fun this year, plus it wasn't very cold. Jon handed out candy and I took my little buddy Tanner, who is the cute cowboy up above, around to get candy while his mom handed out candy. I don't know where his dad was, but I had fun with Tanner. Friday, we were invited to a Halloween party. We dressed up as a king and queen. Thanks Carrie for letting us borrow costumes. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of us. I wanted to wait until after we took the kids trick-or-treating and by the time I got in the house, Jon had already changed. There were four other families, who all have kids and all of us went out with the kids trick-or-treating. It was kind of fun. Again, I had Tanner and by the last house, I kind of got him to say trick-or-treat. He's just learning to talk and it sounded close enough for me. We had a fun Halloween week. We hope all of you had a fun holiday also. I didn't get pictures of all the kids. I'm sure all of you know what it's like to get kids to cooperate for pictures, especially when they have a sack full of candy.