Awwww.........

I got on the computer tonight to pay some bills and found the following as the desktop background:

How much do I love my sweet husband? He told me he was just playing around with the paint program as we've never used it before, but I thought it was so sweet!

My husband is the man!

Let's face it people, for anyone who has ever had to go through fertility or it has taken them a long time to get pregnant, it sucks. But, not only does it suck for you, it sucks for your men as well. I personally don't think men get enough props in the whole fertility world. Case in point - Tuesday we went in for what I thought was just going to be another follicle check, but ended up having an insemination done. After the follicle check, our doctor told me to get dressed and gave Alan a "specimen" jar and told him where the bathroom was. He kind of looked at me, I looked at him and then just started laughing. I mean, here we are in the middle of one of the busiest women's clinics around. There are doctors, nurses, pregnant women, crying kids and pharmaceutical reps just walking around doing their thing. In the middle of all that, my poor husband had to go into the bathroom and well, ya know. I got dressed and went out to the waiting room, laughing the whole time - talk about under pressure. Poor guy, but he's been such a trooper through this whole thing(especially as some of the drugs I have to take, well, let's just say sometimes it seems like I have a multi-personality disorder!) Also, not only have I made life style changes, he has too. We're eating better, exercising and he has almost completely cut out caffeine, which for him is huge. He's not a big soda or energy drink drinker, but a lot of the products he works with have natural caffeine which he gladly partakes of. So, next time your commiserating with a women about how horrible fertility is for her, give props to her man, too.

March Moustache Madness

As you might have read in a previous blog, March was officially the moustache month for Alan and a bunch of the guys he works with. We were finally able to get a card reader for my camera, so I thought I would post the final results. Don't mind how nasty they look, we went to take pictures as the end of a busy day. Oh, and check out the hair, even better:




Believe me, I was SOOOOOO happy the day he shaved that gross thing off of his face. Ugh! Someone was saying they should do it again in May, how 'bout no?

Conference weekend

For the Priesthood session of conference, the girls held their 2nd annual girls movie/food/craft night. Although things ended up being kind of crazy, I think the kids had fun decorating their "crafts." I got the kids foam glasses they could decorate and then had to get pictures. Of course I really couldn't get a good one of Tagers (the little stinker never holds still for me) but Ellie and Reecers were more than happy to oblige (don't ya just love how sassy Ellie is?)

Puppy Pics

I haven't posted any puppy (well, he's not so much a puppy anymore) pictures in a while.

One of his favorite things to do is sit behind you if you're eating anything on the couch. It cracks me up how he just sits there....

Alan calls him "the rat," but I think he's adorable!

Happy Easter

This past week has been one of the usual-kind of crazy and extremely busy. I decided (last minute, of course) to put together Easter baskets for work. As an activity this month we went yesterday to go see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D (if you haven't seen it yet, you really should. It's the cutest show and kids LOVE it! We should know....I forgot when I scheduled the activity it was spring break here. The theater was PACKED with kids, but they all really seemed to like the show). But, I thought it would be nice for the adults I work with to get a little Easter treat as we always are getting things for our kids or others, but nothing usually for ourselves. I ordered the majority of the baskets from Oriental Trade, but they didn't come until Wednesday, which meant I had to hurry and throw everything together. On top of that, I decided to put together Easter baskets for siblings/friends/grandparents/parents, so it was kind of hectic. As I sit here reflecting and thinking of all I still need to get done today, I realize how ironic it is. Easter is just like Christmas in a way, extremely commercialized. And of course, I'm totally buying into it! So, before I start my day of fighting with traffic and running a million errands, I'd like to start my Easter off right and remember what it's really about. At our house we celebrate Easter on Saturday with the baskets and then on Sunday really focus in on what Easter is about. I am so very thankful for the true meaning of Easter and for my Savior. Recently our ward was split and we were released from our calling as Sunbeam teachers. Although the calling was hard (it's hard to entertain 4-5 year olds for an hour or so) I actually was almost crying our last day in class. I had grown to love our kids so much, they had so much life in them. They enjoyed everything we did in class and were so great about participating. Our Easter lesson was supposed to be the Sunday before General Conference as tomorrow is our Stake Conference. I was so excited to talk about Jesus and Heavenly Father and the sacrifice they made for us. We were going to do an Easter egg hunt and in each egg was a topic we would discuss about Easter. Their little minds were so great about soaking things up in class. I told Alan several times that it didn't seem like we would even talk about the actual topic we were supposed to because some of it was hard for little minds to absorb. But, as we were taking around a goodbye gift to all our kids (I had already purchased all of the Easter stuff for class and didn't want it to go to waste) we had several parents tell us their kids were so excited to talk about what they had learned in class and show their parents the crafts they made. It made me feel so good to know that the kids WERE paying attention and enjoyed coming to our class. It also made me feel good to know that we were just a small stepping stone to help them learn the teachings of the gospel. I am so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and for my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I'm grateful we were able to listen to General Conference last weekend and for the wonderful prophet. I'm so grateful for this Easter season and for what it truly means for me and my family and for the sacrifice Jesus made so that I can live again. I truly love the Savior and the gospel and know that Christ knows and loves me too. Happy Easter everyone and I hope we can remember what this weekend is truly about.

Chronicles of a busy household......

Well, here it is April and it's been a while since I've posted. March was a busy, but fun month. First off, I'll answer the question I've been getting quite a lot lately. Nope, not pregnant. For some reason it didn't take in March, but as I keep telling Alan, my birthday is coming up and I can't think of a better present! We have another appointment this week to see where I'm at and when we can do another insemination. So, we'll just keep plugging along and see where it gets us. On a plus note, not being pregnant has really motivated me. Forever ago I posted about starting to work out and eat better. Well, that was in February and well, nothing had really changed (yeah motivation!) Our gym membership had come up for renewal and we decided to cancel it as the one we were going to (sporadically) was closing down. Once I found out I wasn't preggers, I decided to join Lady Fitness and go to morning classes with my very awesome sister-in-laws. Although I didn't make it every day this past week (yes Tara, I am officially a slacker!) it felt so good to go on the days that I did go. I also forgot how hard that first week is......extremely tired (I have to be up between 4:30-4:45am to get to class by 5:20) and so freakin' sore it looks like you have a stick up your bum when you walk. But, other than that, I'm ready for a new week. Add on top of that weight-watchers, and hey, it equals out to some fun times! The gym is a lady only gym, so while I miss working out with Alan, it has been so much fun to catch up with Tara & Misty and have some fun friends to work out with.

Alan had the opportunity to fly out to Sacramento last week and help a friend ordain his son a deacon. The friend is the only LDS member in his family, so he was kind of nervous about the ordination and asked Alan if he would come out to help. Alan went by himself, so while I missed him like crazy, he was doing a good thing. He was able to catch up with his family and see some good friends again while I worked and spent some quality time with my mom and little sister. I'm really glad he was able to go out and help, but even more glad when I was able to go to the airport on Monday and pick him up. While Alan was on his way to Sacramento, his brother and cute family were on their way out here to Utah. Our sister-in-law is originally from Utah, so while they were out here (after Alan had gotten home) we were able to go to dinner with them and their adorable kids. Do I have any pictures to post? Um, no. Me, who usually always carries the camera completely forgot it. So, although there aren't pictures, we did have a great time with Kenton & Bree and it was fun to see you guys again. Hopefully next time we see you it can be for a little longer! Hope your trip back wasn't too bad and you didn't run into too much snow.

Last night we were able to go to Alan's mission reunion and I was able to meet his very cute Mission President and his wife. To be honest I was kind of bored, but it was fun to see Alan light up when he saw people he hasn't seen in ten years. Yep, ten years, my baby is getting old (and so am I!) I was able to meet some companions and a second cousin, so it was worth it. There are actually a lot of old mission friends who have made their way back to Utah to live, so hopefully Alan can stay in touch with them better and see them more often. Again, I forgot my camera which I really regret because it would have been nice to get a picture with Alan & Pres. & Sister Jones. Hopefully they'll be another reunion so I can do so.

On a final note (because this post isn't big enough already) with the end of March comes the end of the beloved moustache. In a previous post I explained how March was the moustache month and Alan and a bunch of friends all took the pledge and didn't shave for a whole looooooonnnnnggggg month! The very last day of the month I went to Alan's work with a friend so we could get a picture of all the guys rocking their staches. Hooray, a picture! But, we have to get a card reader as the dog chewed the cord that uploads the pictures. So, until then, you'll have to be content with the following picture that was courtesy of Uncle Rob:

Thanks Rob! When I saw this I started laughing so hard! Unfortunately for Alan, his stach wasn't quite as good as this, but it was close! Hope everyone has a wonderful conference weekend! Enjoy!