August Rush

This month was totally crazy! Between trips to the doctor, two new stay-at-home jobs I've started, a masters course I'm taking, and of course my #1 job--the kiddos--it has been hectic! I have been a slacker about blogging, but we've actually done some pretty fun things this month. I don't want this to turn into a travel log, but here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to and tons of pics. Warning: you don't have to look at all the pictures if you don't want to!!

Three weeks ago we made a really quick trip to Twin Falls to see the Wards and go to the temple open house. I thought this was a great experience for our kids (and us too). We had a fun time. The Wards, as always, were great hosts and took really good care of us. I was a slacker and took no pics. The next weekend we went with a huge group of our friends and their kids to Park City. It was one of those time share deals, so we had to listen to a presentation. We all showed up to the presentation with our kids, and I think the salespeople wanted to die. They had a room for the older kids to play in. We took Seth in with us to the meeting but that did not stop our guy from making a 90 minute pitch! It was so hot and I thought I might pass out. Needless to say we did not buy. The rest of the time was great, but I totally slacked on pics and only took a few.


We had a barbeque by the pool with the whole group one of the nights. The kids had so much fun. There was a giant checker and chess set there. They just threw the pieces around and no one got knocked out so it was all good.


Luke is into dressing up lately. He likes to choose his own clothes (those red shorts are a fav), and he puts on all sorts of other stuff too. He also gets in his Dash suit from last Halloween all the time. He also always has a ton of weird, little toys with him. Wherever we go his hands and carseat are full of "treasures."


This is Luke and our neighbor Blake. We see him numerous times per day. I'm not sure how Luke was going to see with this one.


Seth can get into trouble faster than I can blink. He is the messiest kid! He needs several new outfits per day, and he is constantly taking stuff from drawers, cabinets...and leaving it all over the house. When I took the garbage out I came back in and he was helping himself to the cleaners (I forgot to put the child lock back on)--not my best parenting.


Seth got a litte more than he bargained for on this one. Our friend was testing our sprinklers and as soon as Seth heard the water he went booking around the house. I followed him to watch the sprinkler start up and shoot him directly in the face. He turned around and was just letting it hit him in the back of the head before I could rescue him. The look on his face was priceless. I don't think it was exactly what he expected.


This is my cute boy, affectionately known as "Big Baby." Sad thing is he's not much of a baby anymore, so we might need a new nickname.


Sunday afternoon we went up to Tony Grove and had such a great time. We didn't get there until evening, but the kids were so good on the drive and it was so fun. I'll admit it--there are days when being a mom is frustrating and I struggle with patience and wonder what I am doing wrong. Days like this totally make up for those. I could not stop looking at my cute kids and feeling so grateful for them. Their pure joy at being kids and being outside with their mom and dad was awesome. It was just one of those magical mom times when I couldn't get enough of squeezing my kids. Now I'm a realist--the magic didn't necessarily stretch into the next week, but it was a great time. Times like these make up for the sometimes frustrating, monotonous days--nothing makes me happy like my kids do!

Last but not least--the kids have had lots of fun swimming different places this summer, and they really like our little backyard pool. All of the water on Seth's head is from Luke dumping it on him, but he is a great sport about it. Luke was so excited to find this tiny caterpillar.

This was our best effort at a picture "together." Neither of them are super cooperative.

That's all for now. I guess summer is basically over. Crazy!

The Results Are In...

We are pregnant! I'm so excited I've got to just get right to the point. It's crazy to be announcing this when I'm 4 weeks along but when you do IVF you can't exactly withold the results from people. I feel so grateful that this worked. I still am finding it hard to believe. I've only been this excited twice before and their names are Luke and Seth! It's just hard to believe it's true after over three years of trying this second time around that I really am.

I have a confession to make. Despite my initial resolve not to--I have been doing home pregnancy tests this week. I wanted to try and prepare myself for a negative if that's how it turned out. The first test I did was faintly positive. I was annoyed I even did it because I knew it could still be the hcg trigger shot, so it didn't really tell me much. I waited a few more days and tested again and it was much darker. A BFP (Big Fat Positive) in infertility lingo. That gave me some hope, but I've been really scared to get too excited. I tested every day leading up to my blood test today with straight positives, but I still wasn't sure. I was worried they would call back with questionable numbers or something.

Jer and I headed down this morning for our test. I was a nervous wreck. Then we had to wait almost three hours for them to call with the results. I thought I might go crazy, but then the nurse called. She said it was good news! They want your hcg to be over 100 at this point and mine was 646, so it was a definite positive. My due date is April 23rd--I know that's forever away--again crazy that so many people will know so soon. We called Jer's parents on the way home and then went back to my parent's house and broke the news to them. Needless to say, they are all so excited! They have been on pins and needles just like us. I have had a permagrin on all day!

I am definitely still a little cautious about this whole thing because it's so early. This is now basically a normal pregnancy other than I continue my shots through September. We will have an ultrasound in 2 1/2 weeks to make sure it's a viable pregnancy, and they should be able to tell if it's one or two babies. I will feel much better once everything checks out okay. I am just so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that answers prayers even though sometimes the answers come in unexpected ways and time frames. I think each of my kids are such a gift, and I feel incredibly blessed that we are going to be trusted with another sweet baby. Thanks so much for all of your prayers on our behalf. Keep them up. We are so lucky to have such great friends and family! Thanks again!! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 Years Baby!!!

Well, it's officially been 10 years since Jer and I tied the knot! Our anniversary was on Monday. The pictures below are bad quality, but they are the only two I have scanned in. I did it when I was working on our adoption profile stuff. People really didn't have digital cameras back in the day!

The past few weeks have been a rollercoaster to say the least so our anniversary was pretty low key. We did go out to a nice dinner and had the chance to talk about something besides our kids or IVF which was really nice. And I am proud to announce that we are planning a trip in the fall with some friends of ours who are also celebrating their 10th--with no kids--to some place warm!

It is hard for me to believe that 10 years has gone by. I hate to sound sappy, but I do love Jer a lot more now than I did back then. We've been through a lot together. Particularly with our struggles with infertility, he has been my rock. I would never claim to be one of those married couples that never argue (who are those people anyway). Jer and I argue all the time over the little things, but we totally agree about everything that counts...the importance of the gospel, our plans for our family, our goal to be together forever. I could write pages about what I love about Jer, but here are just a few:

**Jer is funny. He can always make me laugh even when I want to resist.
**Jer is honest. We tell each other the truth about the big stuff and the little--like bad breath, etc. He's not one to sugarcoat, but I like that--neither am I.
**Jer still thinks I'm cute after 10 years and is very affectionate. He makes me feel loved.
**Jer and I like to do a lot of the same things. Some couples like to go their own way a lot, but Jer is my best friend and there is no one I'd rather be with. We have been so many amazing places in the backcountry and made memories that will last.
**Jer is incredibly hard working. He is a great provider.
**Jer can make/fix just about anything.
**Jer is a great dad and watching him with our kids is the best.

So that's it. Jer will probably never read this because he thinks blogging is lame, but there's my little tribute to him. Ten years down and many more to come.


August 11, 1998

Rodeo Weekend

I just wanted to post a few pics quickly of the fun we had in Preston last weekend. It was rodeo weekend, and we were there for it all. Jer had his 15th class reunion (ugh..we're old), we went to the parade, ate rodeo burgers, and of course attended "That Famous Preston Night Rodeo." We had lots of fun. Seth did not enjoy sitting in the stands for the rodeo much, but we made it through. To prevent his binky from falling through the bleachers Jer tied it to the string on his shorts. He had to kind of lean down to get it in his mouth...have I mentioned we need to get rid of that thing???


Luke, Carter, and Jace at the parade. There was not one pic where they were all three looking in the same direction!


K'Lee, Luke, and Uncle TJ--shooting marshmallows.


Seth and Addison giving hugs.

The Waiting Begins

Hi! This should be my last post about IVF for a while. Jer and I went in Tuesday morning for the much anticipated embryo transfer. It's kind of fun because all the nurses are so excited for you and congratulating you. Of course, I'm not pregnant yet but there's a 60% chance I will be, and they are by far the best odds I've ever had--except that one time I actually was! The doc discussed our embryos and discussed the procedure with us. We had Dr. Hahmoud this week who I really like. He did a lot of our IUIs two years ago when we were going down there a lot. He's one of those docs that actually seems to care about you. In fact, he's so sympathetic that I somehow ended up in tears before our discussion was over. He said I should take some Valium. I honestly thought he was kidding, but he came back in the room like 2 seconds later with 2 pills and a cup of water. I could just picture him out in the hall saying, "We've got a crier in here--valium STAT!" Oh well, I guess it's fairly standard practice for the embryo transfer day because it makes you nice and relaxed.

The procedure itself is no big deal. We did get a pic of our embryos and got to see them on a TV screen before they transferred them. One of them is to the blastocyst stage which is where it should be by day 5 and the other was a bit behind but still growing well. One of the others had arrested its development and the remaining two didn't sound too promising as far as future use, so we made the decision not to freeze them. After it's over they have you lay there for a while--I fell asleep in like a second thanks to the Valium. They take you out to a wheelchair and instruct you to rest, practically bed rest, for the next few days and then take it very easy until your pregnancy test. We go down for our blood test on August 17th! Jer had to practically haul me around for the next few hours and I was about comatose on the drive home. Apparently that stuff really affects me. Thanks to Jer and my mom I have been taking it very easy. They have been helping out with the around the house stuff and doing all the heavy lifting with the boys. By the weekend I should be back to normal other than I can't run or do anything else too crazy. I know you've all been praying for us, and I am so grateful. Keep it up. We really need these little guys (or girls) to implant.
Realistically optimistic, Jen

We Have Embryos!

Saturday morning we got the call from the embryologist, and it was pretty good news. He said some of my eggs were immature, some were abnormal, but four fertilized and were developing into good embryos. He scheduled our transfer for Sunday morning but said he would call us back if he changed his mind. For IVF they either do 3-day transfers when the embryo is about 8 cells or 5 day transfers when the embryo is called a blastocyst which is a hollow ball of hundreds of cells. I was hoping for a day 5 transfer because if your embryos are making it until then that's a good sign plus they can establish which ones are best and transfer those.

We got home really late Saturday night from a fun day in Preston at Jer's class reunion, the parade, and rodeo. It was after midnight when we got everyone in bed, and we were all exhausted. I got up early to shower and get some stuff together for the kids but then the embryologist called back around 6 am and said all of our embryos were looking great, and we were going to wait until Tuesday for the transfer. I was really excited! In fact, one of the immature eggs matured and then fertilized, so now we have five. It is so amazing to me that embryos with DNA from Jer and I are sitting in a lab waiting to be transferred to me. I just hope those litte embies hang on! Being a biology person/teacher I've learned and taught about all of this stuff, but it is still totally amazing especially when it's happening to you.

After Tuesday we will have the dreaded two-week-wait until we go back for a pregnancy test. That's the part I'm looking forward to least. I am so glad we did this though. Regardless of the outcome it was worth it to try. I am just hoping and praying we have success. The whole process really hasn't been that bad. No physical pain can really match how bad it feels to be disappointed when you are not pregnant month after month. After 3+ years of trying it's worth it to go big. Thanks again for all the support. Keep praying that these little embies will like it in me and stay put! That's all for now.