4-Wheeling in the Snow

The day after Christmas we went to my Dad's house and rode the 4-wheelers in the snow. Justin loved it! He loved riding on the 4-wheeler with Tyler and he really liked riding in the sled behind the 4-wheeler with Mom (until we crashed). The crash wasnt bad just a little cold!

Justin got new snow clothes for Christmas. He looks so big in them! My dad had a little heater in the garage for the kids to sit in-front of to warm up.

We rode with my sister and her family. This is my brother-in-law, John with his two kids Emmiline and William.

Christmas At Our House

Well, Justin wasn't a bit interested in anything that we got him nor what Santa brought him. All he wanted was the remote...or all of them.

ok, after breakfast he was a little interested in his 'big-foot' truck from Dad.

None the less, we had a good day.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Meeting Santa . . .

Well, what can I say other than Justin didn't really like Santa!

Such a Slacker

I am such a slacker! I have not been very good at blogging this month. I promise with the new year I will be changing my ways.....Kellie I might need your help with the google reader thing. I read about it on your blog but I am missing something somewhere.....HELP

Homemade Jam

This post is for my friend Michelle. I forgot to mention that she made HOMEMADE jam for us to go with the JOY blocks. Thanks Michelle. We loved the jam - ok Justin loved the jam so much that he ate half of it and me and Tyler had the other half!!

Girlfriends Christmas Party

My girlfriends and I are so much fun! Every year we make homemade Christmas gifts for each other. This is what this year produced.......

-

Michelle cheated and bought these joy blocks

Me and Heather went in together and made the turkey.

Mandy (ok really Cody) made the bird house.

Trisha did her "favoritve things" and gave us a micro fiber cleaning cloth, homemade snicker doodle cookies, a paper pad, gum and hand sanitizer!

Natalie made the aprons. I am so proud of her...this was her first sewing project...and what a project it was (she made 6 of them).

Liz mad the treat jar. I had this out ont he counter but had to put it away because Justin only wanted treats and no real food!

I cant wait until next year!! It is so much fun every year!

I about went crazy.....

I about went crazy last week becuase our computer bit the dust and I was without a computer for a few days but we finally got a new one!! I felt like my connection to the outside world was lost without the internet! Thankfully, all of my photos were backed up on an external hard drive so I didnt loose any of those. Also, today Tyler borrowed a cool contraption from a guy at his work that allows us to hook into our old computer's hard drive and retrive the information on it even though the old computer wont even turn on! So we didnt loose anything. So I am back and will hopefully be checking up on everyone's blog again!

Halloween ... Finally

So I am finally getting around to posting the Halloween Pictures. Sorry, life gets so hectic.

Justin was a puppy dog ... well for about 2 minutes. Wyatt (Justin's buddy from across the street) came over for pictures. Wyatt was a happy, mellow dragon and Justin got out his puppy dog eyes and pouty lip and cried for the whole 2 minutes that he had his costume on. I finally gave up when he laid on the floor and cried until he hit his face on the tile and cut his lip. I decided that I wouldnt fight him the whole day. Poor kid, he has to go through so much so Mom can have fun on Halloween! Anyway, he ended up being a Deer Hunter for the rest of the day. What a cute Deer Hunter he was!

On the day that mattered the most he refused to take a nap. I even tried taking him for a ride in the car to get him to fall asleep...nope...not even after 1 1/2 hours.

We went to the ward Chili Dinner and then on the way to Grandma Clark's he feel asleep. And you all know what happens when you wake up a child who didnt take a nap who didnt want to be a puppy dog! He was a bit grumpy but we still had fun!!

Oh, this was Justin and Wyatt last year... it doesnt look like Justin was too happy to be a hotdog either. Maybe I should give up on the dog theme.

More Deer Hunt Photos

I decided to post a few more pictures of the deer hunt. Josh Peck took these pictures.

From left to right: Shay, Austin, Tyler, and Lee.

Here's a picture of Austin.

Huntin Report

Well, we're back from the hunt. It was a good hunting trip for me. I shot a four point. It is the biggest deer that I have shot. Thank goodness for a family that will help even if you are the idiot that shot a deer at the furthest point possible from any road. Really, it took us about 3 hours to drag it to the road.

I'll give you the readers digest version of what went down. Me, Lee, Shay, Austin, and Josh Peck went out Monday morning. I had hiked quite a ways from where we parked, and had spotted a buck one canyon over. I hiked over to get a better look at him. When I got closer I could see a spike and two point. It was about 9:00 am and I was checking them out when I glanced down below them and spotted a four point that had just come out of a group of pines. I got one shot off at him, and thought I hit him (this turned out not to be the case). He ran back in the pines. Lee was closest to me, so he hauled the mail over to where I was sitting. We checked out the hillside for about 30 minutes to see if the buck would come back out. Since I thought I hit him, Lee offered to go over and rummage through the pines to see if he could kick him out, or hopefully find him dead. I've got to hand it to Lee, this was no little hike. The group of pines was two very steep canyons over. It took him about 45 minutes to work his way over there. As Lee worked his way through the pines the four point came out. I shot again, and this time I really hit him. This was about 10:30 am I really would have been in trouble if I hadn't been hunting with Lee, Shay, Aust, and Josh. It was really steep, rocky, and thick. I would have never gotten him out without their help. Anyway, I have posted some pictures below for you to check out.

Here's a picture of the buck.

Me, Hillary and Justin. Gotta get a picture with Justin and his first buck.

Here's Lee. He did all the hard work. If you look real hard, you can see a road down there. That is where we had to drag the deer.

You have got to start the training early. Here I am with Justin and his toy gun that makes real gun noises that Hillary just had to buy at Walmart.

IVF Results

Ok, so it's not so good news. The pregnancy test was negative. I know the next question you are going to ask is "What now?" Well, we don't know.

A little bit of everything

This post is going to be a little bit of every thing.

So when I was on bedrest last week Tyler decided to round up some blaze orange for Justin for our hunting trip this coming weekend. He couldn't find an orange vest small enough to fit Justin at Walmart so he decided to buy some orange fleece and make one or two vests himself!! Tyler has been waiting for years to have a little boy to wear orange around camp on a hunting trip!Tyler is quiet handy. I did have to help him just a little with the sewing machine! Thanks Tyler! They will be awesome!

Grandma Sing (my mom) gave Justin a grocery cart the other day. Tyler put all of our extra tomatoes in the basket and they delivered them around the neighborhood. It was so cute. Justin thought he was so big pushing his cart up and down the side walks.

Last but not least, yesterday when Tyler checked on Justin during nap time this is what we found.... sound asleep

Poor little guy, Mom just had to get a picture before Dad could lay him on his back.

Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who has wished us good luck! I it is wonderful to have all of the support and prayers.

A recap of today... 3 of 3 embryos survived the unfreezing process and were viable for the transfer. AMAZING!! They say that it is about 50% chance that a given embryo will be viable after unfreezing and all 3 of ours survived! We put all 3 back in!! Now that doesn't guarantee anything, so don't get too excited. With Justin we put 2 embryos back in and got one awesome little boy. We will take anything and will be happy.

I do know that Heavenly Father is in control and that things will work out how they should. I have faith in that.

Thank you again for all of the prayers and support.

PS
Diet update...I am proud to say that this morning I was .2 lbs below my goal weight to do In-Vitro!! What a great day! That makes it a total loss of 61 lbs since February and 100 lbs since Justin's birth last June. :) I will try to get some before & after shots posted soon.

Transfer Day

Transfer day is finally here. We have survived a week of progestrone shots! Tyler has become quite the good little shot giver. I think I will have to start calling him Tyler-the-RN. Anyway, today is the day. This is how it will go - Transfer, 2 days bed rest, back to normal routine. We have to wait 2 long weeks before we can do a pregnancy test!

Liz, I have meant to call you (sorry I am a slacker) and wish you luck with the last days of your pregnancy! I hope you have a baby soon but not until Dave gets home, of course. Good Luck!

IVF Update - 1 week to transfer

Ok, so we have 1 week until the embryo transfer. We go in next Tuesday. I am scared, nervous, excited, ready, and almost anything else you can think of. Today we went to the U and had an ultrasound and saw that things are ready to rock-n-roll. I am always so nervous the night before appointments and then when they are over I get giggly and hyper. Tyler laughs at me every time. I just love the U. I am always impressed when I go there. They are so personable and the whole staff is just so awesome.

Tomorrow is a milestone - day 1 of progrestrone shots. Hopefully, we will do them for 10 weeks. (Hopefully means that this cycle of IVF will be successful.)

This is what the needle and the meds look like. Do you see the size of that needle? and it goes all the way in my hip/backside. That is why I am so nervous. I am sure that after the first shot I will relax a little.

Anyway, wish us luck!!

PS I just found out that a friend of mine is pregnant with TRIPLETS on their 7th IVF cycle. This is their 1st successful cycle. Wish them luck too!!

Random Hillary

Ok, so I got tagged twice in the last week.... this time it is the 6 Random Things about me (Kris, I will do the Crazy 8's soon....)

6 Random things about me

1. I love construction zones! ah, yes, you read it right. Whenever I drive up on orange barrels I wonder things like, what are they building, who is the contractor, what is the schedule for completion, who is that subcontractor, is there a penalty on this job, is this a federally or state funded project, blablabla.... you can chock this up to all the years I worked for my Dad's company (Gerber Construction). I started working in the field as a construction worker and then I moved into the office. I quit when I was put on bedrest with Justin but am back working a few hours a week on special projects. This is me and my cousin, Racheal, eating lunch. We were working on I-80 Bridge Rehabilitation in 2000.
This is me, my Dad, and my sister, Kristal. We were working in Ely Nevada at a Sewer Treatment Plant in 2000. I have great stories of working with my family.


2. I have a few OCD behaviors: I cant stand water spots in the kitchen sink; you've gotta love stainless. My closet is color coordinated; and I only use WHITE PLASTIC hangers (somehow when I got married all of Tyler's metal hangers turned into white plastic...imagine that). I have to (I mean have to) make my bed every morning no matter if I am late to wherever I am going. I cant stand a dirty fridge. I dont like water spots on my kitchen floor (or drool spots from Justin). My shoes have a specific spot in the closet.



3. I love to sew. I mostly like to sew baby blankets and other quilts. My neighbor just taught me how to hand bind a quilt. It is very addicting but very time consuming. I like to crochet baby blankets and bibs too.



4. Some of the things on my wish list are... a bookcase for Justin, a picture of the Jordan River Temple that they sell at Costco sometimes, a new wardrobe that fits me, a successful attempt at IVF in 2 weeks, new carpet (dont tell Tyler I said that), Lasik so I dont have to put glasses on at night to see my baby's face.



5. I've thought about quitting scrapbooking (Marci, dont fall off your chair). I havent worked on mine in years...like 7 years. I am so far behind and it will cost me a fortune to get my pictures printed that are just saved on my computer. I am thinking about doing slideshow DVD's for each year. ??????



6. I am so scared of spiders its not funny. I had the biggest spider I have ever seen in my garage about a month ago. I took a picture of it so Tyler would believe me how big it was. I was so scared of this enormous spider that I couldnt even kill it and I waited for 3 hours for Tyler to come home to kill it. No, I didnt just stand and watch it, I went to my sisters house until Tyler got home. When he got home it was still in the same spot!! When he knocked it off the garage door and it hit the cement babies went everywhere. The spider was so big because it was packing its babies all over itself. I was sick. I was safe though becuase I was in the car watching when he killed it.

So, I am not going to tag anyone but if you think this is fun then share some random things about yourself.

IVF Update - Medicine Change

Tomorrow is Wednesday and that means a change in the meds. Tomorrow I triple my estrogen intake. Yeah, I have been experiencing bad headaches and am hoping that its not from the estrogen cause I have to up-the-annie tomorrow. Wish me luck.

We have 2 weeks to transfer. Tuesday I go in for an ultra-sound to make sure things are looking good. That also means that I start progestrone shots in 1 week(ok, 6 days but who is counting). I would love to say that I am not getting nervous but that would be a lie. If you want a sneek peek at what the Progestrone shot looks like check out this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGjZm5uXwy4 and no, I don't give it to myself, that's what Tyler is for.

The big question we get from everyone is how many embryos will you put back in??? Well, with Justin we put 2 back in and only 1 took. This time we will "defrost" the 3 remaining embryos we have left and we will see on how many we put back. We will not know until the transfer day. We are hoping that we have at least one (and hopefully 2) to put back. It is only about a 50% chance that an embryo will be viable for transfer after "defrost mode". Then there is a grading stage to see how strong the embryos are and lalalalalalala...... I'll explain it all later.

You always want to keep the Binky close

Hillary and I checked on Justin last night before going to bed, and what a sight it was. Somehow he had fallen asleep with his binky balanced on his head, and one foot sticking out of the crib. I guess if he can sleep when he is kicking me in the back, he can sleep like this.

IVF Update - 3 Weeks to Transfer

In 3 weeks from today I will be at the U doing the embryo transfer. Yippee!!
I have been taking Lupron for 10 days now and will start an Estrogen pill tomorrow. The Lupron basically turns off all of my hormones and the estrogen will start to build the uterine lining to prepare for a pregnancy. I feel a little lousy since my hormones are all messed up. Every Wednesday from here on out will mean a change in my medications. Tyler and Justin have been very supportive and have done well "dealing with mom". Last night Tyler gave me a much needed blessing - it was awesome!! Here is a picture of the Lupron med and shot needle (I take this in my stomach).

I was thinking back to our 1st round of IVF and what an experience it was to go through the procedures for the very first time. It is definately an amazing experience and all of the timing that goes into it is absolutely crazy. This is a picture of me and Tyler on the 1st round of IVF at harvest time. This was by far the most painful thing I had ever done up to that point in my life(the only thing worse is actually having a baby).

At harvest time they give you medication to make you a little loopy so you dont notice the pain so much. Tyler still laughs at me because he said that I was so funny when they gave it to me. I kept saying I didnt think that it was working but the whole time I was talking I was slurring my words together so much that he could barely understand me. He just kept telling me not to worry and it would kick in soon enough. All I remember was people counting the eggs but that is about it.

This go around we dont have to do the harvest because we are doing a cryopreservation IVF meaning we will be using frozen embryos from our first cycle. I know, it is crazy. We have 3 embryos that they will "defrost". Each one has about 50% chance of surviving - we are hoping for at least 2 to be viable for the transfer. Once we do the transfer on October 7th I will be on bedrest for 2 days. And 2 days is nothing compared to the 72 days I was on bedrest with Justin. The only twist is that this time I have a running, breathing child to attend to. Thank goodness for a great husband and lots of family.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Our favorite "play activity"

Justin is a great little eater. In fact, he loves to eat. My sister always laughs and calls Justin's meals a "play activity" because he will just sit in his high chair for a good 30 minutes and eat. uh oh, he got his appetite from me and from Tyler - he's really in trouble.

He can eat with a fork now. He concentrates really hard and stabs whatever he is trying to eat and then barely gets the fork to his mouth before it falls off. His favorite thing right now to stab is watermellon!

This morning I made him oatmeal for the first time. I think that he liked it. It was Strawberries and Cream. It was a good thing he had a bath right after breakfast!

And one of mine and Justin's most favorite meal is our lunch date with Tyler. We meet Tyler once a week for lunch. Me and Justin go to LA Weight Loss to weigh in and then we meet Tyler for an awesome salad somewhere. Our favorites are Zupa's and JCW's. Of course we go to JCW's the most because we get one of those just-have-to-have raspberry shakes!! Here we are today with Tyler at Zupa's. On the menu today: salads for me and Tyler and pickles, cheese,a nd a hotdog for Justin.

Oh, I found that nifty disposable sticky placemat at target. They have a sticky strip on the back of it all the way around the edge and you just stick it right to the table for a "sanitary meal". I love it! Go ahead Dad, laugh at me all you want - its the germ-a-phobe in me.

Here is the link for the stick on placemets: http://www.target.com/Sesame-Street-Stick-Place-Mats/dp/B000R7L80C/qid=1221079536/ref=br_1_5/602-3649974-7298246?ie=UTF8&node=162694011&frombrowse=1&rh=&page=1
I bought them in the store and bought a 25 pack for $9.00.

1st Series of Shots

We started the 1st series of shots today on Round #2 of In-vitro. It is the Lupron shot. I take it every morning for 23 days. It is given in the stomach with a small insulin needle. It's no big deal really, only that I can not forget to take it. I just want to say that I think my 7-year-old nephew, Cole, who has diabetes and has to have one of those shots every time he eats is a brave little boy. I think he is so awesome for having a positive attitude about it! Wish us luck on trying for baby #2. Keep checking the blog for updates on the process......

Oh, if I get a little moody or crazy, just ignore me and blame all the medication! I know, Excuses Excuses! haha

American Fork Canyon Camp Trip

We went camping up American Fork Canyon near Cascade Springs over Labor Day Weekend. Can you say a WET camp trip. We had fun even if we did have an inside day.

Justin got so dirty. Look at his hands and his 'black' eye.

Camp -

John & Kristal's trailer on the left, Dad and Mom's motor home in the center,

me and Tyler on the right!

Boy, do we look like we need showers!!

My brother, Kjell, Mom & Dad

John, Kristal (My sister), Jason, Emmie, & Will

Tagged...Now you're it!

I've been tagged and I tag... Lindsey, Tiffany, Emily, and Katye

Rules: responde to each question using only one word.
Tag 4 other people.

1. Where is your cell phone? Kitchen
2. Your significant other? Tyler
3. Your hair? Crazy
4. Your mother? Pretty
5. Your father? Strong
6. Your favorite thing? Treats
7. Your dream last night? Long
8. Your favorite drink? Water
9. Your dream/goal? Kids
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your hobby? cleaning
12. Your fear? spiders
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? debtless
14. What you’re not? funny
15. Muffins? restricted
16. One of your wish list items? kids
17. Where you grew up? Lehi
18. The last thing you did? clean
19. What are you wearing? grubbies
20. Favorite gadget? camera
21. Your pets? Never
22. Your computer? slow
23. Your mood? tired
24. Missing someone? no
25. Your car? dirty
26. Something you’re not wearing? jewlery
27. Favorite store? Walmart?? (not really, but I am there all the time)
28. Like someone? Tyler
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? church

In-Vitro Round #2

We are starting round #2 up to the U. Yep, we are ready for more chillins! I've started the birth control pills. Yeah, its crazy but I do start with those and take them until September 13th. On September 7th I will start my first injection hormone, Lupron. Our target transfer day is October 7th! Keep your fingers crossed for us!! Then we start the nasty progestorone shots, and hopefully will be doing those for 12 weeks... meaning the procedure worked!

PS
if you or anyone you know is struggling to get pregnant, I strongly recommend UCRM at the U. That is Utah Center For Reproductive Medicine. Check it out http://www.utahfertilitycenter.com/

Soldier Creek

This last weekend we went camping up to Soldier Creek. We stayed at the Aspen Grove Camp Ground. Susan (thats Tyler's mom) went with us. Justin wanted to explore, explore, explore!! He is growing up so fast! If anyone ever wants to go camping give us a holler - we are always looking for volunteers to join us!

Slides!!

We went to Liberty Park and played with the cousins. This was Justin's first time on the slide all by himself and he thought he was so BIG!

I promise these use to be my pants

Well, this is what about 70 pounds looks like!! I can't believe it! When I tried these pants on I about died. Then when I got over my amazement I patted myself on the back! I promise, these really are my pants (I bought them brand new last summer)! I'm trying for 10 more pounds!!

Can You Say Goose Egg

Justin didnt have such a good day. This was Monday (2 days ago). That morning we went to Haylie's house to help her weed her backyard. Justin feel right on his nose on the corner of the wooden flower box and cut his nose and forehead. Then later that day I was at a friend's house and he tried to take down the couch and got the enormous goose egg. I couldnt believe how fast it bumped out! I was a little worried about a concusion but after about 30 seconds he was crying more to get down than from the pain. All I know is that he didnt want Mom to hold that cold rag on his head or try to cuddle him. Now he has this enormous bump and green bruise on his forehead. Oh, the bumps and bruises of walking toddlers!