Luke and Bobbi Simkins

The Dark Side

2011-01-31T16:16:00.002-07:00

So, I decided to be brave and try out being a brunette :) Not sure if I will stay this way for long or enjoy the gray looking regrowth. We will see how it goes. A good change I guess

Finally caught up!

2011-01-31T14:59:00.003-07:00

Thanks to work being slow today, my shift got canceled. I must admit I have been hoping for this day for quite sometime now :) So I decided to spend the day getting caught up on my blog! Yay! It only took a few hours and about 6 posts or so haha. Now my goal is to stay caught up and not get 6 months behind again! So if you have been missing us the last 6 months, now you can see why I have been too busy to blog!

Scott and Josie's Wedding!

2011-01-31T14:34:00.006-07:00

We are so excited Luke's baby sister got married! Introducing....Mr. and Mrs. Finch!

Josie with both of her cute brothers!

All the Girls in the fam

All the boys

And us... aren't we festive in our color coordinating outfits?

Ugly Club Christmas Reunion

2011-01-31T14:23:00.002-07:00

I only get to see all of these girls about once a year anymore now that we live in different cities/states. It's always good to see each other and catch up a little. Denell is living in Arizona so she is the hardest to keep in touch with. Mik'L and Rakel are both in St. George so it shouldn't be that hard, but for some reason it is. Life is just busy I guess. We got together for a little lunch at Mik'L's house. It's always good to see them!

White Elephant Christmas Party

2011-01-31T13:41:00.007-07:00

Lots of yummy treats to eat of course!

Yes! the shake weight! Luke's ingenious idea. Thank you Tim for demonstrating how to use it!

The twighlight gift....comes with both Jacob and Edward faces depending on who you prefer and massage oils of course (I have to admit I was really sore from working out and I did have to steal this gift from them)

And of course...the Buddha statue that Luke Geddes just had to have, along with the shot glasses!

Some of the other great gifts included the bump it to give volume to your hair and the padded underwear to give volume to your booty! We all know I didn't need those!

Vegas Baby!

2011-01-31T13:18:00.003-07:00

We went to Vegas with our friends in November. It was a blast! We went down on Friday night and went to Hard Rock Cafe since some of them had never been there. We did lots of eating, shopping, and just had a blast hanging out. The weather wasn't as good as we were hoping, but we did get to enjoy the hot tubs at least :) We ate so much we were literally sick. We tried a new place called Hash House A Go Go. We will definitely be going back to that one.

Chris is into pawn shops and that show "pawnstars" so we went to the shop where that show is filmed. It was pretty cool.

We wanted to go see a show. Tickets for Mystere by Cirque De Solei were on sale so we decided to go to that. It was pretty cool with all the tricks that they do. I don't think I would go see it again though. Maybe one of their other shows would be cool to see. It was pretty weird.

After that we came home refreshed and rejuvinated and felt like would could survive life after all :) well at least I did. Thanks guys! I definitely needed a getaway!

October...the gather, deer hunt, and beautiful colors

2011-01-31T12:18:00.002-07:00

This month is always a busy one for Luke. My family gathers our cows up on Cedar Mountain to bring them down for the winter before it snows and then the deer hunt is Luke's family's official holiday.

I went up with Luke to our Cabin while he was helping gather cows so I could see him a little. There were a ton of deer that would just walk right in front of the trailer. Kinda fun to watch. Tora came up with us too. All the animals freaked her out though. Don't think we will do that again. Our horse got injured this year. Got spooked and jumped into a stack of branches on the ground. One of them got jammed up into her leg. So we got to take a visit to the vet. They had to knock her out to get the stick out of her leg. Lots of fun. 400 bucks later, antibiotics, and daily dressing changes and she is as good as new now :)

Some of the beautiful colors up at deer camp. Love the fall colors. The weather was bad this year. It rained and got really muddy :( I lasted a couple of days and then came home

September...Antimony, bowling, & Cedar Half

2011-01-31T11:19:00.007-07:00

We went to Antimony with Chris and Katye and stayed at their cabin. It was nice to see a part of Southern Utah that I had never been to before.

We went bowling with our friends for Carly's birthday...Good times!

Anna, Carly, Katye, Me

I ran the Cedar Half Marathon. Finished in 2 hrs 3 min. Was hoping to finish a little faster than that but I was pretty happy with my time I guess. The race started up Cedar Canyon and ended at Main street park. It was mostly downhill, usually my fav, but my leg started hurting about mile 6 or so.....so the last half was kinda rough

Sitting down after the race for a little snack and rejuvinating!

My BFF's that I trained with. We are all in the same ward. Spent many hours together training for this race. Couldn't have done it without them!

Me, Anna, Katye, and Shauna

Shauna, Anna, and I also served in the Primary Presidency in our ward for 2.5 yrs. We got released shortly after this. Bitter sweet moment. We were ready for change, but would miss each other :( Then I got put on the Relief Society Committee with Anna and was asked to continue to help with girls camp. Anna was put in as camp director :) Then I got released from RS Committee after 1 whole month and was asked to be Cubmaster! Ahhhh! Luckily Luke and Shauna are in there with me...then Shauna got released to play the piano in RS :(

10 Year Class Reunion PVHS

2011-01-29T11:26:00.002-07:00

Yes I am still like 6 months behind but I am determined to get caught up on all the fun things we did since August :) My 10 year class reunion was this August in St. George. It was 2 days and I think there was a pretty good turnout. I still keep in touch with most people through blogs and facebook, but it was still good to see some of the people I don't and meet some of my friends spouses and kids.

Friday night we met at a park and had a BBQ with the families. Kids and all. We took Shelby. The kids loved her of course. Then again, who doesn't love Shelby?

Saturday night we met at the high school in the commons area where we used to have our Friday night stomps after the games. We took a tour of the high school since a lot has changed since we were there. Ate a little. Took pics. Watched a video of memories of our senior yr. Mingled and caught up with everyone. It was a great time.

Thanks Becky for making these cute scrapbook pages and letting me steal them for my blog since I didn't do so well taking pics!

Pioneer Day weekend in Enterprise

2010-11-13T23:22:00.005-07:00

Yes I am still playing catch up :) One of my New Years resolutions to get caught up. It seems as though I skipped over the 24th of July! We usually go to Enterprise every year for the festivities. I think Austin was pretty bored during the summer so he decided to join us this year and decided it was a lot of fun. Luke and Austin ran the 5k that morning and Katye and I ran the 10k since we were training for our half marathon in September.

Clyde ran the 10k as well so I got to see Mik'L!

Luke and Reuben decided they wanted to do the donkey/watermelon ride this year. They had to both ride their donkey down to the watermelon then pick the watermelon up and make it back to the starting line without breaking the watermelon. They did really good and were very entertaining!

Girls trip to Park City!

2010-11-13T22:56:00.005-07:00

This year was our 10 year class reunion. We decided we needed a girls trip and reunion with our friends from high school. Mik'L suggested a condo in Park City that had 2 rooms, family room, and kitchen. Mik'L and Rachel picked me up in Cedar and onward we went! I about threw up in the car going up provo canyon! Finally we arrived and did a little walking around on the streets. Tons of cute little resteraunts and shops everywhere

We stayed up pretty late of course getting caught up, looking at blogs, skyping other people in our class that were finishing up the final plans for the class reunion

We decided to hit up the outlet stores both days and spent a small fortune! Got some good deals though too!

Ate plenty of yummy food!

Hung out in the jacuzzi while it sprinkled

Posing for a few pics the last morning we were there

Bobsledding is pretty scary :)

It was a blast! hopefully we will do it more often than every 10 years! I want to go back to Park City. It was beautiful in the summer and a nice break from the heat.

The Big 3 0 !!

2010-11-07T18:09:00.003-07:00

We are officially old! Luke turned 30 in August! We went up to the ranch the weekend before his birthday. He decided like 2 months before his birthday that was what he wanted to do. His birthday was on a Tuesday this year so Monday night we went out to dinner with our friends Chris and Katye and then we went back to their house for some icecream cake

A weekend at the Ranch this summer

2010-10-24T19:29:00.007-06:00

One of Luke's most fav places is my family's ranch up on Cedar Mountain. We went up there the weekend before his birthday because that was what he wanted to do. We went on a little horse ride. The horses up there are pretty wild. The only ones Austin and I are allowed to ride are the old fat ones that don't want to go anywhere :)

Austin and Shelby all snuggled up in bed

Swimming in the creek. It had rained so the water was pretty muddy

Whitney and I just relaxing while the boys fished and shelby swam for sticks

Austin had a blast catching fish at Kearn's Pond

Sold our truck

2010-10-24T18:14:00.003-06:00

We had this truck for almost 4 years and it has been a good truck, but Luke's friend was very convincing that we needed to buy their truck. It was a good deal and we knew that they had taken good care of it. It also had 4 real doors and a normal size back seat instead of one for midgets where your knees are in your chin :) It's nice too. Leather seats, and 2 of my fav features...seat warmers and dual climate control. Thats right. 60 for luke, 80 for me :) It's a 2006 Silver Chevy Duramax. So now we have matching vehicles. Both 2006 and silver. Aren't we cute. Haha. The only reason Luke was able to talk me into it is because he said we could take the money we make from the Dodge and put it into our savings for our "baby fund." What can I say...I'm a woman. The baby fund won.

July 17th....My day

2010-10-24T17:41:00.003-06:00

This year for my birthday I just wanted to stay home and relax. It had been a crazy summer and I was tired of being gone

My mom and Austin came up from St. George and we went to lunch

Grandma Zina and Pat came as well

Luke surprised me with a new camera. He had a little help from my mom. After lunch we went back to my grandmas house and had an exciting game of monopoly card game!

Later that evening we went to dinner with some friends at the Garden House. It was a nice relaxing weekend

saying goodbye....again :(

2010-10-24T17:30:00.003-06:00

In July we had to say goodbye to yet another family pet. Sadie, my mom's golden retriever got an infection and had to be put to sleep. She was only about 7 years old. They did surgery on her and did a hysterectomy, but it was too late. The infection had gotten too bad and she had peritonitis. 2 different vets tried to help her, but eventually they recommended she be put to sleep. Bryce sent me a text at about midnight letting me know they had to put her down. So sad. I cried. My mom has been a mess until just recently she got a new puppy to help cheer her up.

Sadie was a very sweet, loving dog. She loved to be loved. We will miss her.

Simkins family reuinion in pinevalley

2010-10-23T23:45:00.002-06:00

Luke's mom wanted to have a reunion for just our family since Marsha, Ben, and Cassidy would be moving to New York at the end of the summer. It was nice to get out of the heat and just hang out. We attempted to go to gunlock reservoir with some waverunners we borrowed but that didn't work out so well. So we played games, hung out, and camped in tents

4th of July!!

2010-10-23T23:12:00.002-06:00

We went to my mom's for some illegal fireworks...I mean legal

This is the best pic I could get of Luke and I. Sad I know. We took several. Just wasn't happening

Bryce and Nummers

The whole fam damily lined up in front of the house for the exciting show!

Girls Camp....again

2010-10-23T23:05:00.004-06:00

I wasn't the assistant camp director this year, but they didn't have enough leaders that could go up, so they asked me if I could so I went up for the first day and night until some of the other leaders could come up. We were the rodeo queens this year. There was a fireside that night that was really good.

June...family and friend reunions and 7 yr anniversary!

2010-10-23T21:37:00.003-06:00

Luke's family reunion this year was at Quail Lake. It was hot!

I can still wakeboard but jumping didn't go so well. About killed myself. I forget I'm getting old and not so talented

Grandpa Singleton, Cassidy, and Marsha trying not to melt in the sun. I couldn't get enough of it

After that we met up with Luke's highschool and college buddies in Enterprise for a little get together since Brett was in town from Indiana

And the wives and kiddos

Then on Sunday Luke and I celebrated our 7 yr anniversary. We were pretty busy with our friends and family that weekend so we really didn't do anything exciting :( just took the day off and hung out. This pic was at our Luncheon.

June 12...Beefs wedding....Las Vegas Temple

2010-10-21T10:53:00.000-06:00

Making their entrance out of the temple as husband and wife!

So Happy!

The old married farts :)

It was a beautiful day. It ended up being overcast and the perfect weather for a wedding

Both sides of the family

Silly Bridesmaids...Me, Whitneys 3 sisters, and her cousin

Taking Pics outside the Temple

The wedding party

More Bridesmaid pics

Me and my brothers...aren't they adorable?

Hanging out at the reception

Catching up! May

2010-10-04T21:13:00.007-06:00

Yes it has been a long, busy, crazy, fun summer and yes im 5 months behind on blogging. Now that fall and the cooler weather and shorter days are moving in I might just get caught up!

May=cycle 2 of in-vitro. Lots of shots, traveling to L.A. and back. Loads of fun.

Before I started shots I started going to an acupuncturist in Cedar. Studies have shown that acupuncture can help outcomes with IVF. I think I had to try and get 8 in before they took the eggs out. I also tried to eat as much organic food as I could. Definitely not easy. It's harder to find and more expensive. I also do an acupuncture treatment right before and after the embryo transfer. I think doing these things did help too. Our embryo quality seemed better this round.
I started Lupron shots around May 5 or so. Just 1 shot a day.
5/12 Day 2 of my cycle. Ultrasound. 5 follicles on each side.
5/13 Start stimulation meds. 225 iu follistim and 75 iu menopur. Now doing 2 shots a day.
5/17 ultrasound after 5 days stimulation. 13 follicles on right. 8 0n left. 21 total. Estrogen level 405 (follicles create estrogen)
5/19 ultrasound after 7 days stimulation. 13 on right. 12 on left. 25 total. estrogen level 1539 (starting to get nauseated and bloated at this point)
5/20 travel to L.A. with my grandma Pat. Luke was really busy at work and didn't really need to be there for my labs and ultrasounds.

I found a nice apartment complex in Marina Del Rey, right on the coast and close to my Dr.'s office in west L.A. Wouldn't mind going back there again for a vacation :)

There was a cheesecake factory right across the street on the beach of the marina. It was beautiful. Needless to say we ate most of our meals there!

the marina had a playground, volleyball nets, and looked like a fun place to swim when the weather is warm. Unfortunately it was not the weather I had longed for. Temps in the 60's instead of 80's. I think I layed out once by the pool the whole time we were there

5/21 ultrasound and labs in L.A. Dr. Marrs said things looked good and ready to go! So I was instructed to do my HCG trigger shot that night so I would ovulate and the egg would detach from the side of the follicle wall so it could be retrieved. Estrogen level up to 4500. Lots of follicles means more estrogen and nausea!
5/22 lab draw in the morning then off to the L.A. temple with grandma! Luke and I went last time and she had never been. We ended up picking a session that was spanish so we got to wear the fun translator headsets :)

Lukes friends from work drove him to vegas that night and he caught a flight to L.A. and then just got a taxi from the airport to the apartment.

5/23 Egg retrieval. 24 eggs total. everything looked good and went well. Back to the apartment for some R&R.
5/24 call from the embryologist letting us know 18 were mature enough to fertilize and 13 successfully fertilized. Not as good as we had hoped but not bad. We decided to head home since now all we had to do was wait 5 days for them to grow before the best 2 could go back in.
5/26 another call from embryologist to let us know how they were doing. This was day 3 of growth in the culture. The best they can be on this day is 8 cells. we had 5 that were 8 cells, 2 that were 7 cells, 2 that were 6 cells, 3 that were 5 cells, and 1 4 cell embryo. So things were looking pretty good.
5/27 back on the road again for our 7 hour drive to L.A. We stayed in Hollywood this time. Luke's fav brazilian resteraunt and in n out burger are within walking distance of this hotel. very important :)
5/28 embryologist called us to let us know that we had 2 embryos ready to transfer and 4 that he was going to freeze. So we had 6 make it to day 5. We were very pleased with how well they did. All 5 of our 8 cell embryos and 1 7 cell embryo were the ones that made it to blastocyst or day 5. So we went to the office @ 11 and 2 embryos were transferred in then back to the hotel for some bedrest for the rest of the day!
5/29 traveled back to Utah. Bryce, Blaire, and Summer were sealed in the temple for time and all eternity, so we stopped in St. George on our way home for that. It was great. Summer was so happy.
6/1 labs to check my hormone levels. Estrogen down a bit to 2700. progesterone 75
6/3 Getting impatient. took a home pregnancy test. It was positive! hopefully its right! After I got out of the shower I noticed my stomach was really bloated and tight. Realized I had probably hyperstimulated my ovaries and thats what was causing the bloating. I called my nurse to let her know I was bloated and hurting and that I think my ovaries had hyperstimulated (usually they return to normal size after a week, but mine stayed enlarged-the size of an orange or lemon). She said as long as I could pee it wasn't anything too serious and that I could take my pain pills prescribed if I needed and that it was probably actually a good sign. I guess when you get pregnant the hormone levels increase and so this causes the ovaries to stay enlarged. Another good sign. But painful. I was supposed to eat small meals and rest to help keep the bloating and pain in check.
6/5 took the other home pregnancy test in my kit. Positive again! yay!

6/7 finally the day of my blood test! My HCG level was 124. Not as high as I thought it would be with 2 positive home tests but my Dr. said anything over 100 is a good solid number so we would check it again in a week.
6/8 Had to go back to work or call in sick so I went to work. Tried to be really careful and did good until 5 pm. started cramping horribly. had to walk out of my patients room and sit down. not good. no bleeding though. Dr. Heath happened to be there so I talked to him and he said it was probably from my ovaries still being enlarged and said we could do another blood test tomorrow and an ultrasound to see how big my ovaries were.
6/9 HCG level dropped to 66 :( and my ovaries were still huge. the size of a lemon and an orange. Both of my Dr.'s said the cramping didn't cause my HCG level to go down though
6/11 HCG level dropped again to 22. The pregnancy was yet again not progressing like it was supposed to.

I think I knew from the beginning it would be too good to be true if I did get pregnant so I guess I wasn't shocked when this happened. It was still hard. It's still hard some days. We just do the best we can I guess. My Dr. is pretty stumped on why this has happened twice now. He wasn't surprised the first time, but he was this second time. He has seen it happen before but only in older couples or in people with bigger problems than ours. He has since ran several blood tests for clotting factors and immune system antibodies that have all come back normal. I just had a endometrial biopsy last week to see if the timing for implantation is off in my body or something. The results on that aren't back yet.

So the joy of infertility continues for us. My Doctor wants to try again after these test results come back with some of our 4 frozen embryos. But I have a really strong feeling we need a surrogate. I know it seems crazy since they can't find anything wrong with me, but it's just a feeling I have. If a surrogacy would work. I would do it. My doctor doesn't think we are too that point yet, but I don't know how much time, energy, money, and embryos I want to waste to keep trying if they don't progress in my body. We are still also trying to decide if it's time to start the adoption process too. I'm just torn with my 4 frozen babies waiting for me to go there I guess. Decisions, decisions.

So this is one of the many reasons I have not had time to blog for months and maybe I just needed time to get over it. Who knows. But just so everybody knows we are still alive!

Saying goodbye to part of the family

2010-04-06T21:17:00.008-06:00

Today was not a fun day. We had to say goodbye to our family Dog of 20 years (105 in doggy years). She has hung in strong, but we just couldn't stand to see her suffer anymore. It was hard taking her to the vet and having her put to sleep, but I'm glad we got to say goodbye and end her pain and suffering. We were so young when we got her (I think I was around 8 or 9), Brandon was still in diapers, and Austin wasn't even born. She was a great dog. She kept track of us like a babysitter and would go crazy when she couldn't find us. She really was a part of our family and will always hold a special place in our heart.

Chance in her younger years about 6 years ago

She really loved Luke. My Mom said even lately when he would come around she would perk up a little more.

This was her last Christmas. She mostly just slept all day and wasn't able to do much anymore. We knew she would be going soon and just hoped she would do it on her own in her sleep.

We buried her in the backyard of my Mom's house, where she lived her entire life. My little brother Austin made a little cement plaque with her paw print and the inscriptions: Chance 1990-2010. We love you.

Baseball Tournament in Las Vegas

2010-04-06T21:02:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday and Friday I went down to Vegas with my family for my little brothers baseball Tournament. It was a short trip because I had to come back and work Saturday, but it was a pretty fun little get away. His coach had a hook up and got us a sweet deal on a room at Treasure Island. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to do anything other than baseball, eating at cheesecake factory, and getting Summer's ears pierced :)

Mom and "nummer" in her sexy glasses

This stadium was called "Field of Dreams" I believe. Nicest little league field I had ever seen. It was fenced and cost a whopping $3 to get in. The infield was astroturf and pretty sweet.

Brianhead

2010-03-09T17:29:00.004-07:00

My little brother Austin called and wanted to go up to brianhead since it's his spring break. We hadn't been for about 3 years and had been wanting to go since we had some 50% off coupons that made it a little more affordable. After this trip I have finally decided I am OLD! Luke and I could hardly move last night and were so worn out yesterday! We decided a full day is too much for us old, fat people!

This is a pic of me thinking that I was young again. Hey if a 13 year old boy can do it so can I right? He thought so. Wrong! I chickened out the first time and should have stuck with that plan! I ate it pretty hard!

2.27.10

2010-02-28T21:04:00.003-07:00

This saturday started out a little scary for us. My grandma called early around 7:15 to inform us there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in chile and that they figured a Tsunami was headed to the Hawaiian islands. Of course this is bad news, but especially since Luke's parents, aunts & uncles, and grandparents are currently in Hawaii at the moment. So we were really worried at first and I was watching the news most of the day, but they evacuated everyone from the coast to higher ground and it didn't end up being as bad as we thought. It only ended up being 3 feet on the main island and smaller on Oahu where they were at. So that was a relief. I guess when you hear the word Tsunami I just automatically thought of the 45 foot Tsunami in indonesia that killed so many.

On a happier note. As I was watching the news I realized what the date was, and that 8 years ago Luke and I had our first date and have been inseperable since. I mentioned it to him and he said how old we are and that he can't believe I have put up with him that long. I agreed :) 8 years ago I got a phone call from Luke and Brett Jones (because Luke was too scared to call me himself. He has this weird fear of calling people on the phone) inviting me to come and hang out and go to a movie. So I figured it was just a bunch of us hanging out. When I got there I realized every guy was paired up with a girl so it was more like a group date. I didn't care. I thought he was cute. So we went and got ice cream I think that we shared and then went to a movie "The Counte of Monte Cristo" it was good and of course we bought it for memories sake. Ever since then the 27th has kinda been our date. That was actually why we chose to get married on June 27th even thought it was a friday and inconvenienced everybody else. We didn't care.

For Valentines Day this year we mostly celebrated on Saturday. We went down to St. George with our friends Nate and Carly Merrill. He wanted to go to a gun show to try and sell a gun so of course Luke was fine with that. Carly and I went and ran some errands and then we met up with them after and went to Olive Garden. So Yummy. We wanted to go to the movie Valentine's Day but it was sold out so we drove home and watched twilight because neither Nate or Carly had seen it yet. Luke surprised me with some roses and let me buy a couple cute necklaces I found. We bought a light for our dining room and I told him that could be my present. I gave Luke some money to put towards his new saddle that he already got. So it was a good love day I guess :)

Beautiful Blogger Award

2010-02-21T19:08:00.002-07:00

I would like to thank Amber DeMaria for nominating me for the beautiful blogger award :) We grew up in the same home ward in St. George and have gotten to know each other because we have both gone through In Vitro in order to have a family. She was lucky enough to be blessed with 4 babies on her first try! Check out her blog at http://4demarias.blogspot.com/

The Rules

1. thank the person that nominated you and leave a link to their blog

2. pass the award to 5 other bloggers you have recently discovered and think are great!

3. contact the other bloggers and let them know they have been nominated for the award

4. Say 7 things about yourself

I would like to nominate the following bloggers for this award

1. The Perkins
2. Ryan and Anji Stephens
3. Ogden Fam
4. BRYCE & BLAIRE
5. The Lindley Family

7 things about me

1. I hate being cold
2. I enjoy exercising
3. I love chocolate and pretty much any kind of food
4. I have been a nurse for almost 5 years now
5. I'm kinda a clean freak
6. I love being outside when its warm
7. One of my most favorite places is Lake Powell

The latest happenings. . .new table, niece, future sis in law, & snowmobiling

2010-02-09T16:35:00.003-07:00

It was on sale. I couldn't resist. It was time. Our old table was handed down to us and the chairs were getting wobbly. I'm sure the newlyweds will enjoy it!

My little brother Bryce and his wife Blaire had their baby. Summer Alyse. She is adorable! all 9 lbs 8 oz of her!

My other little brother Brandon is engaged to Whitney! They met 2 months before he left for his mission, wrote the entire 2 years, and got engaged 2 months after he got home! The date is set for June 12 in the Las Vegas temple, where she is from.

We went snowmobiling this last weekend up on Cedar Mountain. I was nervous. We drove in Friday night in the dark, I was sure we would get lost and freeze to death, luckily I am married to a mountain man with GPS installed in his head :) We got to the cabin only to find a leak in the gas line so we warmed our dinner up on a wood-burning stove and played card games by candle light and flashlights! Quite the adventure!

It was so beautiful up there with all the fresh snow. It snowed that night about 5 inches.

I know I look like a bank robber, but at least I stayed warm!

Brent and Whittney playing in the snow

A beautiful view

Finally...an update....the last couple months

2010-01-28T13:50:00.007-07:00

My great grandma Zina turned 89 in November. We went to the Gun Barrell for dinner to celebrate

I love her so much! She has always been there for me!

4 generations. I was hoping to make it 5 soon. This was the night I told my family I was pregnant. Unfortunately I miscarried a week and a half later

Brandon is home! He flew in from Missouri on December 17. Yahoo!

His cute girlfriend Whitney. They met 2 months before he left and wrote the whole time. We love her!

So happy to have him back!

The whole fam (my mom's side anyway)

Every year on Christmas Eve day we go bowling with my mom's side of the family in Cedar

Learning how to play our new favorite card game...Bang!

Eating our delicious prime rib dinner that grandma works so hard on

Our Christmas Tree. We cut down like a 30 foot tree on Cedar Mountain in order to try and find the perfect tree :)

We went down to St. George for a Christmas party with our friends at Jake and Wendy Bulkley's house

Tora got a new toy for Christmas. A bird on the end of a stick with a string. She loves it! Drags it around the house so we will play with her. Hopefully this will help keep her from bringing real ones in the house anymore!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at my mom's this year and then headed up to Enterprise. Shelby and Shep (Bryce's puppy) playing tug tug with their new toy. They are such cute cousins. haha.

Sadie and Chance. This will probably be Chance's last Christmas. She is just getting so old and miserable it is time to put her down, but none of us are brave enough to do it :(

Luke playing with his remote control helicopter in enterprise. Who says I don't have any children?

November

2009-11-27T17:16:00.003-07:00

Just because I haven't posted in a while doesn't mean nothing has been going on. It has been a pretty eventful month. November 1st we were on our way back to L.A. again for another attempt at getting pregnant. November 2 we got a call early that morning from our embryologist letting us know that 6 of our embryos weren't good enough to transfer. So at the last minute our last frozen embryo was thawed and it made it! We were so greatful we didn't drive all the way down there for nothing! So they transferred our last embryo in that day. I also had my first experience with accupuncture. Studies have shown that it can help with success rates with in vitro. I must admit I felt very relaxed and would do it again.

8 days later I had a blood HCG test. It wasn't supposed to be that early, but I felt like I had PMS and just wanted to know! My OB here let me order it early. To my surprise it came back at 107! Which meant I was pregnant! 2 days later my OB checked it again and it went up to 198 which is good. It is supposed to double every 48 hours.

My next HCG test was scheduled a week after my first one. This was when the disappointment started. It was only 257. It wasn't doubling at this point. So 2 days later we checked it again and I had an ultrasound. It didn't go up much and my Dr. couldn't really see anything on the ultrasound. He suspected an ectopic pregnancy. My dr. in L.A. called friday morning and told me to stop my estrogen and progesterone that I was on to help maintain the pregnancy. I started bleeding pretty heavy on Tuesday and started cramping really bad around noon. I passed a clot and my Dr. figured that I had passed it on my own. About 4 hours after that we checked my HCG level and it had finally started going down. I guess this was a good thing because I was supposed to get a shot of methotrexate that same day in case it was an ectopic pregnancy. So at least I didn't have to go through that as well.

It has been hard, but I guess your trials do make you stronger because I have dealt with this a lot better than I thought I would.

We went to Enterprise for thanksgiving this year. Although it has been hard for me to be greatful right now, I have realized what I am greatful for. I have the greatest family and friends anyone could ever ask for that have been there for me through all of this. Especially my husband.

Carvin Punkins and Snow!

2009-10-30T11:07:00.003-06:00

Monday night we had some friends over (Nate and Carly Merrill, Jeff and Gina Perkins, and Wes and Ashlee Dotson) to carve pumpkins and eat cookies! Good times.

Parker and Kye had fun too (Ashlee and Gina's babies). Kye was mad because we were trying to get them to hold still for a pic.

The finished product :)

It started snowing Tuesday around noon and stopped Wednesday during the night sometime. Most of it has melted. I'm just glad we made it to the last week in October this year instead of the first week of October! Kinda fun the first time and during the holidays, but gets old by February. This is in front of our house.

Our backyard

We babysat Kye on Tuesday night. So cute!

He had fun with Shelby. She was a good sport :)

I Would Die For That

2009-10-12T15:56:00.001-06:00

A great video for any woman really.

Touching Videos

2009-10-01T16:15:00.004-06:00

Sorry I'm not sure how to post the actual videos! if anyone knows how do tell! Just copy and paste :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfGqOx2iDQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8EEYQdfRZ8

A trip to the vet :(

2009-09-21T16:14:00.003-06:00

Last week Shelby was acting funny. Shaking her head and scratching at her ear. So Luke looked inside and thought there was a stick in there. So we got the flashlight and the tweezers and played Dr. Turned out to be a Tick. Very nasty little things. She stopped acting funny other than she acted like she couldn't hear very good and Luke kinda lost her a couple of times. So I decided I better take her into the vet to see if there were more ticks in there. Sure enough. 1 in each ear. So deep he had to sedate her to get them out. At first he thought 1 was just a wax plug and that was why she couldn't hear. Come to find out it was a huge tick! Blocking her whole ear canal. Poor thing. I didn't think she would ever forgive me for taking her in and making her get poked and proded, but she did. She kinda scared me after I took her home. She was still so sleepy and could not walk very well. This is a picture of her sleeping it off on her bed. She was back to normal the next day though. Although we spent about 200 dollars for everything, it was worth it. She is such a good Dog!

Update

2009-09-15T14:29:00.002-06:00

Last Friday, September 11, we got the news. . . . that we weren't pregnant :( It was hard and a really crappy day. Things are getting easier though and I am trying to stay positive that it will work next time when we try with our frozen embryos. It feels more like a loss this time. It didn't just feel like I didn't get pregnant. It felt more like a miscarriage or a death because they were alive for 3 days. They were only 8 cells, but still alive. So I guess that has made it a little harder than just not getting pregnant.

I have felt very comforted the past few days and know that is the only reason I am doing as well as I am. Sometimes it is hard, and you want to give up, and you start to lose hope. But, sometimes that is just how life goes and we don't know why we have to go through the trials we have, but we make it through them anyways and hopefully they make us stronger. I guess we will see.

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and concern. We are doing pretty good. The best that we can anyways, and are trying to stay positive for the future.

In Vitro in L.A.!

2009-09-02T19:42:00.009-06:00

Last week we went to California to do In Vitro. Yes we could have gone to Vegas or Salt Lake, but this Dr. in L.A. is supposed to be better and was a little more affordable. Our little adventure started around the end of July while I was up at girls camp. I had to do ovulation tests up there so I could start my medication a week after that. It was kind of a pain, but it worked out. So I started my Lupron shots on August 6. This medicine is used to suppress my own system so I wouldn't ovulate and to get all of my eggs lined up ready to grow. Most women have many eggs every cycle, but usually only 1 or maybe 2 mature and ovulate. Pretty interesting huh.

Before all of this both Luke and I had to have labs drawn to check for infectious diseases (Aids, Hepatitis, etc.) luckily we passed :) Once I started my period, the fun began! I had to have an ultrasound and labs drawn to make sure everything looked good before I started my stimulation shots to make my eggs grow. So I started my shots on Aug. 17. At this point I was doing 2 different shots every night into my stomach. The needles weren't very big luckily, but it still wasn't very fun. I had another Ultrasound and more labs on Friday Aug. 21 here in Cedar and then Dr. Marrs in California decided I was gettting close and needed to be there monday morning for another ultrasound by him. At this point Dr. Heath (my Dr. here) could see about 13 eggs. I was a little discouraged at this point. Although it sounds like a lot, not all of them survive this process, so I was hoping for a little more.

Sunday August 23- went to the temple dedication in the morning, came home and took a nap before the long drive, packed, and off we went! It took forever! The traffic was horrible! We got there about 1 a.m. our time.

Monday August 24- Dr. appointment in L.A. at 9 a.m. labs drawn, ultrasound done by Dr. Beck and Dr. Marrs. I'm not sure how many eggs there were at this point, but he thought 8 would be mature on Thursday when they took all of them out. This was our home Sunday and Monday night. We got 3 free nights by signing up for a marriott rewards card. Helped save a little money :)

Tuesday August 25 - we decided to check out of this hotel and stay at a little bit nicer one in Beverly Hills for our 3rd free night, so to help pass some time, we decided to go and do a session at the L.A. temple. After that we checked into our hotel and just relaxed. I didn't feel up to doing much. After my ultrasound on Monday I could tell my ovaries were getting big and it was kind of painful. I had to give myself my HCG shot at exactly 8:30 that night. This is the shot that triggers ovulation. Here is a picture of the L.A. temple.

Wednesday August 25 - Had to go to Dr.'s office in am to get labs drawn and someone screwed up so I had to be poked twice! so much fun! Then we drove to Santa Monica where we were going to stay until Sunday with my Dad, his wife Sally, and my little bro Austin. We rented a condo right on the beach. It was awesome! Other than the no air conditioning part and the heat wave they were experiencing at the time. This is a pic from our balcony on the 11th floor. It was nice to just be able to walk to the beach.

Thursday August 27 - The big day! This was the day of my egg retrieval. It is kind of like minor surgery. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before. We had to be there at 6:30 am so they could get me ready by 7:30. I changed into my gown and put my lovely cap on (should've taken a pic) and then she started my IV and I was pretty much set and then they kicked Luke out to go and take care of his part :). They took me back, gave me a little medicine in the IV, and I took a nap. Next thing I knew I was out in recovery. I think it took 15 min. Piece of cake. We were out of there by 9:30. This is a picture in front of the Dr. office before my procedure.

After we got back to the condo, we had some breakfast and then everyone wanted to go to the beach! Well I wasn't going to miss a day on the beach! Even though I couldn't swim or really do anything but lay around, it was still fun! A little bleeding and pain wasn't even enough to stop me!

The tall building on the right is our condo

Our little campout on the beach

Luke and Austin had way too much fun on the boogie boards. They played so hard they broke them!

Later that night we went to the Santa Monica Pier. It was really cool. Had a roller coaster, ferris wheel, resturaunts, and lots of other cool stuff. I didn't get any pictures though. We ate dinner at a place called bubba gump shrimp. It was yummy :)

Friday August 28 - The embryologist called in the morning with great news! I had 18 total eggs. 16 were mature enough to fertilize, and 12 actually fertilized. So he froze 6 of them and put the other 6 into a petri dish to culture (grow for 3 days) to see which ones would be best to put back in. I had to start more medication today. Progesterone 4 times a day (up you know where), an antibiotic twice a day, a baby aspirin, and a steroid. Luckily the steroid and antibiotic is only for 5 days!

Saturday August 29 - The embryologist called again in the morning to let me know the kids were doing good and the plan was to put them back in Sunday morning (not all of them) the two best ones. There were 2 that were doing better than the others. They can tell by how well they divide. They had divided into 6 cells at this point.

After that we decided to go to an Auquarium in Long Beach. It was pretty cool.

Sunday August 30 - embryo transfer. We had to be to the office at 7:30 that morning. I was suppossed to come with a full bladder. I tried, but the nurse made me drink more. I had to drink 32 oz to get full. I had to take a Valium on the way to the office as well to help me relax for the procedure. We had 3 Dr.'s in the room and a nurse. They brought an inquibator with the embryos inside. We got to look at them through a microscope. There were two that had both divided into 8 cells and looked really good so those were the winners! So they drew them up into some type of catheter and put them in while doing an ultrasound. This is a picture of me drugged up on valium trying to get my bladder full :)

After that we drove home. Now we just wait. I hate this part. It is really dragging! Hopefully it will work and we can finally have a family! Other than our pets of course. I get to start wearing an estrogen patch tomorrow and have more blood drawn on Friday. I'm taking some time off of work this week to relax so hopefully that will help! We won't know if it worked until the end of next week! They let the other embryos continue to grow for a couple more days to see if they would get any better and only 1 was good enough to freeze. So we have a total of 7 frozen embryos for next time which is pretty good!

I just want to say thanks to all of our family and friends for all of your love, support, and prayers on our behalf! I know they have helped us!

Summer Fun!

2009-08-19T16:31:00.006-06:00

Yes I have been a slacker when it comes to posting! It has been a very busy, fun summer! We have been spending lots of time outdoors and with family. Here are a bunch of pictures of what we have been up to!

Swimming at my grandparents pool in St. George

Learning how to surf with Luke's uncle at Sand Hollow

Still trying to figure it out. I didn't last very long once I let go of the rope

Luke's family reuinion on Cedar Mountain. They rented a cabin up by Duck Creek. We went on a sight seeing 4-wheeling ride down where the narrows hike starts

The boys played Risk until the wee hours of the night!

Playing sand volleyball. I'm not a fan so I sat this one out :)

Making watches with my sister-in-laws

Surfing again at sand hollow on my birthday

Luke screwing around on the surf board

The newest member of our family. AKA squeakers. She is very friendly and loving (annoying), has the worst gas I have ever smelled, and still tries to nurse us occasionally :) Oh and she has thumbs on her front paws. They are actually kind of cute :) She might be going to live with my mom soon. We will see. 2 cats under 1 roof isn't the best idea :) Tora isn't a big fan.

And soon to come. . . We are going to California next week and staying on the Santa Monica Beach with my Dad, his wife, and my little brother Austin. This is the view from where we are staying! I will post more pics when I return!

6 years!

2009-06-30T18:04:00.002-06:00

We celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on Saturday! I'm starting to feel old! We had a little getaway down to mesquite and it was fun! We had a free room at the virgin river so we went down friday night after work. It was nice just to relax and hang out. We went over to the casablanca most of the time we were there. We went swimming over there because they had a much cooler pool! It was way hot though! About 110! It brought back memories since we stayed down there at the Eureka in a suite on our wedding night!

May

2009-06-16T15:52:00.003-06:00

So I guess things have been a little crazy for us this past month or so and I haven't had much time to blog. Luke got a new job that has been keeping him busy. He is working for IFA now. Things got pretty slow for my grandpa in December so even though it's less money, we are greatful for a job! I have been busy with 2 church callings (primary secretary & Assistant camp director), working extra, and looking into In Vitro. Anyways life has been busy! So here is a post to sum up May.

Just a picture of my pretty flowers that bloomed in April that are gone now :(

Mothers Day: My mom, Me, Whittney (Brandon's GF), Blaire (Bryce's wife)

Austin's 13th birthday was also on mother's day

The fam (except for Elder Bladen and Luke)

Bryce's wedding May 23. It was beautiful!

Luke and I at the reception

THANK YOU!

2009-04-28T11:21:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to say thanks to all of our friends and family for your love, support, and prayers on our behalf. We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives and we appreciate all that you do and love you all very much!

Surgery

2009-04-25T20:21:00.002-06:00

I finally decided to have a scope done to see if I had endometriosis on Tuesday. Everything went well. I remember moving onto the operating table and asking them if they had already given me something. He said yes. The next thing I knew it I was back in my room very tired and my body felt so heavy. You would think as a nurse this whole experience wouldn't be that scary or new but it was. Other than getting my tonsils out when I was 2 and my wisdom teeth out when I was 16 or so, this was my first true experience with surgery. Kinda weird to be on the other end. The good news is that I don't have any endometriosis and everything else looked great in there. He could even tell I had just ovulated. Weird. The bad news is that we are finally facing the fact that In Vitro is going to be our last chance of having a family. I was worried that maybe I had endometriosis because we have been trying to get pregnant for over 3 years now with no luck and my mom and my grandma both had it. At least we know now. I just wish there was a better way to diagnose it other than surgery. It's kinda expensive and I don't really like my scar :( Oh well. Life goes on right?

Easter Weekend

2009-04-25T19:50:00.004-06:00

Every year for Easter, we usually go to Snow Canyon Park with Luke's family and have a picnic on Saturday. Unfortunately the weather was bad so we went to his grandma's house instead. Our nephew Halen is a pretty good little ball player.

Just Hangin out in the backyard.

Later that evening we went to my mom's house for a cake/easter egg decorating extravaganza. It was actually a lot of fun.

Some of our festiveness

Our lovely egg cake. It didn't exactly turn out how we'd planned.

We had a contest and gave the eggs awards

I got most creative and most colorful :)

Some of the other awards

Some other exciting news. Bryce and his girlfriend got engaged that night too! Yeah! They are getting married May 23rd I believe. I snapped a pic while they were taking their engagement photos.

Spring Break

2009-03-19T20:21:00.003-06:00

So we didn't go anywhere really exciting for my "spring break" but it was still fun to me! We just went down to St. George and Mesquite to enjoy the warm weather for a few days. My mom wanted us to come down and stay and it just so happened that she had 4 free nights down in mesquite that were going to expire this month.

I got to meet Mik'L's baby Myler for the first time. He is so cute!

We went swimming a couple times down in mesquite. It was so nice! I'm so ready for spring. We also did a little bowling, gambling (we only lost 3 bucks), and a lot of eating! The buffet kicked my butt. Needless to say I'm ready for a diet! It was fun and hard to come back home!

...More snowmobiling fun (our overnight trip)

2009-03-06T21:47:00.002-07:00

The Cabin - quite a bit more snow this trip! Luke packed dinner (cheeseburgers) and then he spent a while getting it warm in there, then we enjoyed watching a movie on our little portable DVD player in bed (no electricity). Pretty fun date night!

All of the snow fell off the roof and made it slightly difficult to get in.

Lukey Poo in his cute goggles :)

I would have taken more pictures, but there was lots of powder and we (meaning me) got really stuck, and then stuck again. I spent my time swearing instead of taking pics :) I might go again sometime, but not anytime soon. At least I got a good workout in that day!

Luke in the outhouse (hee hee) he didn't know I was taking this at the time :)

Shelby loves my uncle Ross & his toothpicks!

SuperBowl Weekend!

2009-02-02T17:52:00.006-07:00

On Saturday we went snowmobiling on Cedar Mountain up to my family's cabin. Brent and Whittney came and spent the whole weekend. The snow was powdery and the sun was out and it was warm! It was so much fun! We went a total of 50 miles round trip!

Me and Whittney

Still quite a bit of snow up there!

Our Cabin that we took a pit-stop at for some hot cocoa. Mmmm. It was actually warmer outside than it was inside the cabin.

A pretty view. The back right hand corner is Zion. Kind of hard to see in a picture though.

Luke being a crazy man flying through the air!

Me not so daring :)

Just a pretty picture of a stream running through the snow

Luke bailed on that one! Every once in a while he gets scared, but not very often. Luckily he has only broken 2 bones in the 6 1/2 years I have known him :)

All of Luke's family came to our house on Sunday for a SuperBowl party. We had lots of yummy food and fun!

Watching the commercials in 3-D. Silly boys!

The Eventful Holidays!

2009-01-05T20:03:00.014-07:00

We spent Christmas Eve in Enterprise this year

Our little boys all dressed up so they could go play on the four-wheelers in the snow

Our tradition of Christmas Eve P.J.'s. Basketball shorts is the closest we can get Luke and Brent to resembling pajamas. Luke, Me, our niece Cassidy, our sister-in law Whittney, and Luke's bro Brent.

Christmas morning in Enterprise with all 14 of us!

Our Nephew Halen on his new trike!

Me and my sister-in-laws all got cute decorations for our houses that my mother-in-law made for us.

It was a very cold, white Christmas morning! Luckily I got lots of warm clothes for christmas!

We left Enterprise at about 10:30 to go to my Dad's. It had been snowing all night so of course the roads were awesome and it took longer than we would hope. We opened gifts and then had an amazing, low-calorie breakfast with just about every kind of breakfast food you can think of. We look forward to it every year :) this is one of the many reasons we have to go on a diet in January.

Grandpa Boyd, Austin, and Luke diggin in.

And finally that afternoon we went to my mom's for christmas. Smile everyone :) We gave Austin a Rock band game that we spent way too much time playing. Luke isn't a big fan though. He was ready to come home! We also got to talk to my little brother Brandon who called from his mission in Missouri. He is doing well and is halfway done!

My mom mentioned that she wanted a matching nativity set. So, after searching and searching I finally found this one on sale for a decent price. I love the little animals.

New Years Eve was pretty quiet for us this year. After I got done working my 12 hour shift, we went to my grandmas for a delicious prime rib dinner followed by going to Marley and Me and then watching everyone celebrate on TV in bed in our P.J.'s :) It was nice to spend some time together and to just stay home. We were tired of sleeping in somebody else's bed. We didn't see each other much when we were with our families.

New Years Day at Red Robin with Mik'L, Denell, and Rakel my high school buds! It was good to see them. Our lives are so busy we don't see each other as often as we used to!

Thanksgiving weekend in Cedar

2008-12-01T16:53:00.004-07:00

This year was my mom's turn for Thanksgiving. I was scheduled to work, but luckily nobody wanted to be at the hospital this year (the staff, the patients, or the Dr.'s) so enough people were discharged and I was able to get off at noon just in time for my grandma's delicious Thanksgiving dinner (yes I am in my scrubs :). I am very thankful for my family this year. I would be sad and lost without them.

On Saturday, Luke and I decided to take a drive up Cedar Mountain to look for a Christmas tree. It had stormed during Thanksgiving, so I was prepared and bundled up :) It was a pretty nice day and we found a really cute tree. The mountain was beautiful. Part of Navajo Lake was iced over and there was about 4-6 inches of snow. Shelby loves playing in snow. She jumps around in it like a rabbit. It's hilarious.

P.S. we cut down 2 trees while we were up there. The extra one we have is kind of a thin tree, but if anybody wants it, let me know!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2008-10-29T20:37:00.004-06:00

We had some of our friends over last night to carve pumpkins. It was a lot of fun. Luke disapeared for a while and I just thought he was being antisocial as usual, so I went looking for him and found him on the computer downloading a texas longhorns symbol to carve on his pumpkin. He is so obsessed! I must admit that was pretty creative though. I carved the one to the right of Luke's cow all by myself. I think I was scaring everyone with my giant knife trying to break into the dang thing. I must admit I am quite proud of my mad skills :)

Luke, Ashlee Elster holding her baby Irelyn, Jeff, Gina, and Gina's little sister Tori. Gina and I work at the hospital together and Ashlee is married to Luke's good friend Rob who was home sleeping so he could go to work at 11. We also had lots of fun eating candy (my contribution) and Ashlee's yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. thanks Ash!

Cute little madi (Ashlee's daughter). She wasn't too excited about the pumpkins, but she had fun chasing our pets around.

Crazy weekend weather

2008-10-12T11:01:00.004-06:00

It started snowing yesteray afternoon! I checked the weather though and it is supposed to warm back up to 75 by Saturday so that makes it a little more enjoyable! I don't think I could handle it if winter was going to start now.

This is what it looked like this morning.

Finally...some new furniture

2008-10-11T16:09:00.002-06:00

We have only been married for 5 years now and we finally decided (well I did) that it is time to break down and buy some furniture. Don't get me wrong, the hand-me-downs are much appreciated, but you can only handle them for so long right? Luke and I have been sharing my old dresser that I got when I was 14. We were long overdue. I'm also really excited to have a footboard now so when Luke kicks the comforter off in the middle of the night and I wake up at 2 a.m. cold, I don't have to go searching for it anymore. Very exciting. Ha ha. It's just nice to have matching. new furniture in at least one room of our house. Next room in line, the family room.

Enjoying the fall

2008-10-06T18:22:00.003-06:00

I was informed that I needed to post something, and yes I agree since it has been almost a month since my last post. What can I say. My life has been pretty boring this past month. So I decided to post our little pumpkins growing in our backyard to our surprise. Aren't they cute? This fall has been quite nice in Cedar, however I think it is starting to get cold. I had to turn the heat on this weekend :( well i guess i didn't have to, but it sure felt nice :) the high on saturday was in the 50's! i felt so bad for all the marathon runners that day when i woke up. I'm hoping that it was just a cold front and we will get to enjoy fall a little more before the freezing comes!

Nursing school dropout

2008-09-10T17:21:00.002-06:00

So..... I decided not to go back to school after all. After that first day back I had a really bad day and was feeling stressed and overwhelmed about my life. My dad called later that evening and we had a good chat about life and he told me that he has learned that we can't control everything in life. It was then that I realized school was something in my life that I could control and eliminate if it would make my life easier. So...after sleeping on it and praying about it, I felt like not going to school was the right thing to do. So I withdrew from fall semester, called and told them I wouldn't be needing my scholarship after all and that was that. I know that any extra stress could prevent me from getting pregnant and that is not something I want to do right now. Starting a family is more important to me than getting another degree that I don't even really need right now. Just thought I would clear that up since my last post was about going back to school. I didn't want to mislead any of you to thinking that I was being scholarly anymore. ha ha. Although I have been reading a lot. I'm almost done with Eclipse. Only 3 more chapters to go! I've been pretty worthless the past couple of days because the book has gotten really good towards the end!

Back to the grind

2008-08-24T19:59:00.004-06:00

I'm starting fall semester this week at SUU. Not looking forward to it too much. I'm taking 12 credits. Luckily the program is set up so I can still work full-time. I have to go all day on tuesdays (8-5), and then I will have one class that is online. Hopefully it won't be too bad. That is what I have heard from previous students. It will still probably keep me busier than I would like anyways. I'm not too motivated to get it done other than the fact that I should before we have kids and while my work will pay for it, just in case I might need it in the future. So if you don't see me posting much. That is why! Farewell summer! This last month I have had off of school has been very nice. I can already feel the fall air moving in. I'm not looking forward to the cold already. I love summertime!

The newest addition to the family

2008-08-13T20:07:00.000-06:00

Luke's sister Marsha had her baby 2 weeks ago. Her name is Cassidy. Not sure if I spelled that right. She is a cutie pie! And our first niece! Congrats Ben and Marsh! She is adorable!

Cassidy with her cheesy uncle Luke!

Time to post

2008-08-13T19:50:00.001-06:00

Pretty much every year we celebrate the 24th of July in Enterprise. We start the day out early doing the fun run. Either a 5k or 10k. This year we did the 5k. We weren't feeling too ambitous.

Luke and Reuben even placed in their age group.

After the race we hurry home for breakfast and a shower and then it's time for the parade. woo hoo! After that we go to his grandparents for lunch (hamburgers and dutch oven potatoes.)

Later that evening its time for the rodeo. Not my favorite part of the day. This is a picture of my cute little nephew on our horse. Yes we have a horse. I really didn't think I married a hick. Wrong!

Ahhh. . . Memories

2008-07-31T21:16:00.000-06:00

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty fun to see the responses.

Singleton Reunion

2008-07-20T21:31:00.000-06:00

Every year luke's mom's side of the family does a reunion. We usually do pretty fun things. We have rented a houseboat on Lake Powell, rented a bus for the whole family to go to California, and rented cabins on Cedar Mountain. This year we went to Cedar Mountain again. This is a picture of the cabin that his family rented. It was so nice inside. We just kind of hung out, played the Wii, ate lots of junk, played volleyball, and enjoyed the cool weather. Unfortunately we only got to stay for 1 day because his grandpa Simkins passed away that week also and the viewing and funeral was that weekend. It was a pretty crazy week. We will definitely miss grandpa Simkins. He always knew how to make us laugh. He would have been 88 on July 24.

My new do

2008-07-06T19:09:00.001-06:00

So I decided to cut my hair on wednesday. I think it's been about 2 or 3 years since I have cut it. I just decided it was time for something new. I usually go through this cycle where I get sick of having long hair. It was pretty fried too since I color, blow-dry, and flat iron it. It's a good change. I think I might want to go a little shorter though. It was pretty long so I might just keep working my way up. Luke is one of those guys that loves long hair but he was ok with the idea of me cutting it.

5 years!

2008-06-29T21:22:00.001-06:00

Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary. Time really does fly by. Luke sent me these roses at work. He is such a sweetie! That's one of the reasons I married him. I knew he would always be good to me. We went to dinner and a movie after I got off work. Then we went to St. George on Saturday and had some more fun swimming at my grandparents, hanging out with our family, a little shopping, and of course dinner at one of our fav's-olive garden, and another movie. It was a fun weekend.

Life in Cedar

2008-06-18T14:36:00.000-06:00

OUR HOUSE
BACKYARD
KITCHEN FAMILY ROOM
OUR BEDROOM BATHROOM

We moved to Cedar in October. We bought our house around the end of January. It's 3 years old, about 1500 Sq. ft. with an unfinished basement. 3 bed/2 bath. 2 car garage. pretty basic. but then again so are we! It's on a big lot about .27 acres so we have a big back yard now. When we bought it,the entire house was yellow, inside and out. Yuck! So we decided to paint before we moved in. Not only was the entire house yellow, so were a lot of the lights, so we are still currently in the process of changing out some of the lights for canned lights. It's been a little work, but we are enjoying it. Here are some pics.

Our trip to the bahamas!

2008-06-09T13:13:00.000-06:00

We just went on a cruise to the Bahamas in May. It was so much fun. We went with Luke's brother Brent and his wife Whittney. We stopped at one of the islands and hung out at the beach and snorkeled all day. It was a ton of fun. We were sad to come home. Well at least I was.

These are some pictures from the formal night. It was fun to get a little dressed up. The guys weren't too excited about it, but they were good sports and looked really nice.

One of our favorite things to do on the cruise was watch movies on their outdoor big screen tv. They played movies during the day, so we could watch a movie while we were laying out and swimming. They would also play movies at night and had blankets to snuggle up in.

The pools were nice. It wasn't full of nasty saltwater like other cruises I have been on. There was this giant chess game that Luke and Brent had fun playing.

My New Blog!

2008-06-08T21:23:00.000-06:00

Ok so I fought it forever and I finally decided to start a blog! I am sort of computer retarded and couldn't have gotten it started without Kim's help. Thanks Kim! So I will try and keep it updated, but no promises!