Introducing Caly

She came to live with us on December 14th 2010.

She is the ultimate couch potato. She loves to sleep on the chairs and the couch. They are her territory, and if you want to sit there, you need her permission first.

This is how she sits part of the time. She doesn't like to get her bottom cold.

She has already made it through her first surgery. We had her 4 days when we had to take her in to get her "Cherry Eye" take care of. She is doing much better, now that she can see out of both eyes.

Mike has been working with her, and she likes to sit, stay, dance and play soccer. It is pretty cool. She is around 9 months old. She is very small for a bulldog. She is only about 37 pounds, and since we got her she has not gained much weight. She is loved by everyone around her.

Well..

There have been so many things that have changed within the past two months:

We did the IVF retrieval on Thanksgiving morning!! The retrieved 13 eggs. I don't remember much because I slept through it. Mike watched the procedure, so if you want specifics, give him a call. They called us on Saturday, and told us 2 of the eggs had fertilized. So, Sunday morning we went in for the transfer. I did not sleep through that procedure, but I did fall asleep on the table afterwards. We waited for a few hours before they would let us come home. Once home I spent the next 3 days in bed. It was so hard to stay down, and not do anything. I watched a lot of tv. Thanks to everyone who came to visit, and for the fun things that people sent to me, to play with. I love all the arts and crafts that I got to do during that 3 days time.

Mike went to NYC to give a workshop about travel photography. He had fun back there. The drive back and forth took the most time, and were the hardest, but he survived. He did get pulled over for being a drug runner!! Good thing he is such a good boy, and there is no way anyone would ever believe he would run drugs.

December 13th was Jamie & Dereks 1 year anniversary. They are such a wonderful couple, and I am so glad they have each other. They have taken the past year to really help each other grow and improve as individuals and as a couple. I love you both. I am so happy for you!

That is also the day we found out that IVF did not work. It was devistating, and maybe that is why it has taken me so long to finally post. I am ok(ish) now. It is still really hard. We are still talking about what to do next. We are not going to rush into any decisions.

Lacey came home for Christmas, and with us living here, Mike and I got to spend time with her. They had so much fun playing XBox 360 together. I am glad they did, because I am not a big video gamer.

I got a camera for Christmas, which is why there will actually be pictures from this point on in my blog. I am so excited. Thanks babe so much!!!

Playing White Elephant games and Dice Games for prizes with my family

Christmas was fun. We were able to tak to Quinn (see his blog for the call updates), after lots of trouble of course. I don't know why it is always so hard to talk to the missionaries that are out of the country. Luckily Trinidad is included on the North American calling plan, so it is not an international call, it is the same as a long distance pone call. We did not get to talk to Matt because he was in the MTC. It is too hard for the MTC to have them call home. We did get a letter on Christmas Eve, which was awesome.

Talking to Quinn on the speaker phone

New Years we spent with my family. We had steak, crab and shrimp at Grandma's House. We played Apples to Apples up until midnight. We almost missed it.

Yummy Food

Me and Jessie

You get the Turtle or the Rabbit with me, no middle..

So, by the title, you may all be a bit confused. Well, last time we tried IVF, I reacted too well to the medications, and had to cancel before we could actually get to a procedure. This time they cut the dose of one medication in half, and so now, things are progressing very slowly. My blood levels are lower than they expected which means my body is not springing into action like they thought it would. So tomorrow I go in for my 5th dr appointment day in a row. This has been quite the experience. And through all the frustration, the tears, and the anger, I would do it again in a heart beat. Mike gets this face, whenever we are talking about the next week (retrieval & transfer), that just makes my heart jump. He is so excited, and so ready to move to these next steps. We have really enjoyed getting to know each other all over again. And if this is the way we have to go to be parents, BRING IT ON!! We are ready

And it starts again

Mike and I were up at 530 Sunday morning to start the crazy process all over again. I took my first 10 unit shot of Lupron. I am not sure whether to be excited or scared. I choose excited because scared just makes me nervous.

Farewell Summer

The ice on my windshield has offically told the story..Summer is over. I am sad to see it go. It has been such a whirlwind. There has been so much going on. I will put it in a list, hopefully to make it easier for me to remember.

1. For Mothers day we planned a trip to Flaming Gorge with my family. We didn't end up going until June, but hey, at least we managed to get all of us in one place at one time. I can not remember ever going there so it was a lot of fun. Of course, because the water was so cold I was not allowed to get in. We are miles from a hospital, and we although we had an ample supply of Benadryll, I wasn't about to chance it.

Just waiting for the Dam tour to begin. Jessie is mid blink. What a great shot.

Wow, there sure are alot of us these days

I think this place is beautiful. This is from the Overlook station thing they have there.

Derek showed my brothers how to sucessfully jump off a very tall cliff into the cold water. Everyone jumped in but me and Mom. But, hey can you blame me, I could never do a ninja kick as well as Derek can.

Have I mentioned before that I am terrified of heights. Just another reason I didn't dare jump.

2. Matt received his mission call. He leaves to the MTC mid November. Poor kid will miss Thanksgiving, and because he will be in the MTC over Christmas he will not be able to call. That makes me sad.

Dad played a little joke on us all. We all laughed about it later, but at the time I think every person in that room wanted to kill him.

Mom had to call Michael and leave him a voicemail when Matt opened it because he was at debate camp. Of course the picture of her is crying, because thats what all good moms do, cry for their babies when they succeed.

So Matt, where are you going? You have been called to serve in the Santiago Chile North Mission!! Congrats kid. You will be a stellar missionary. Just hope you like rice and hot dogs.

3. Well as everyone knows, we tried IVF but had to cancel because my body wasn't playing along right. But to put it in perspective, these are the shots it took to get us as far as it did. The shot in the middle I took every day for 3 weeks, the other 2 I only had to do for a little over a week. Shots were at 5am every morning to make sure we had them at the same time. It took alot out of me, but it will be worth it. I am excited to do it again at the end of November.

4. Because the IVF got cancelled I was able to spend a lot of time with my family at the annual reunion at Bear Lake. Unfortunately I was sad the whole time, spent a lot of time in pain, and worst of all didn't get any pictures. Luckily I have awesome family members who have their cameras and posted for me to look at. You guys ROCK!!

5. The last thing is we moved out of our house. In order to finance M&M Photo Tours it means we need extra cash flow, so Mike and I left our beautiful, newly renovated home in the hands of some really awesome renters. We will be living with the in-laws for a year (at least). I miss you house. You were always so good to me.

Cancelled, for now

I am way behind on updating posts, and have so much to talk about, but I wanted to get a quick update out there for those of you who do not yet know. Mike and I attempted IVF during the 2nd week in August. Well my body responded a bit too well to the medications and the procedure had to be cancelled before they retrieved my eggs. My ovaries had gotten too big and I had too many eggs. Had they caught it a few days earlier we might have still proceeded, but that is not sure. We are hopefully going to try again in late October/early November. I will have to start all the shots again, which wasn't pleasant, but it will be worth it, I am sure. I am heartbroken and disappointed, but the time will come and I will be a mom someday somehow.

A little of my photography...

So lets give this bloging thing a whirl...
(ya this is a first for me. -Mike)

Here are a few of my pics from my trip to Yellowstone.