Aaron and I went to a Halloween party last Saturday, so to me it feels like Halloween is already over. Why is everyone talking about costumes and parties and whatnot?? Oh, right. The rest of the world isn't necessarily on my schedule. That actually explains a lot...
This weekend we're invited to three parties. It started off as two and a concert, and we just received the third invite the other day. We couldn't decide what we wanted to do BEFORE we started losing count of our options, so I don't know how we're going to make our minds up now. What we definitely will not be doing is staying home and passing out candy. I thought it would be fun last year, but since 50% of the kids that showed up didn't even bother dressing up, much less saying "Trick or Treat" or "Thank you," much less waiting until I opened the front door all the way before plunging their grubby hands into the bowl in my arms and retrieving fistfuls of candy (and no, I am not exaggerating), I think we'll pass on that this year... and pretty much every year from now on.
There's also a costume contest at work tomorrow. Somehow I don't think the "Zombie Pinup" costume I made for last week's party is entirely work-appropriate. And since my absolutely INGENIOUS and HILARIOUS costume that I made last year got the short shrift, and a boring, store-bought "Twister" (like the game) costume won for "funniest," I'm not really feeling the work contest either. (If you're wondering, I was "Static Cling" - I wore black yoga pants and a black t-shirt with socks, underwear and pantyhose sewn all over both, and I know I got more laughs than "Twister!" It was rigged I tell you!)
So yeah, I'm pretty much over Halloween. Aaron's excited to go party again this weekend, so we'll most likely end up doing something festive, though. By that time I'm sure I'll have caught the Halloween bug again. And if not, I'll just drink!
10.29.2009
10.23.2009
Still alive!
Well, I have been seriously neglecting this blog!
Not that there's been too terribly much going on in our little world. We went to a Dodgers playoff game a couple weeks ago, which is now pretty much a moot point since they got destroyed by the Phillies. But the game was great (even though they lost). I was amazed at the cameraderie - everyone in our section was chatting with each other, giving high-fives every time the team got a hit, it was really fun.
Other than that, we're just cruising along. I had my doctor's appointment last week and will be scheduling my laparoscopy as soon as we get approval from the insurance company. Should be no problem since we already verified that the surgery would be covered. I'm a little nervous because medical things, especially incisions, tools going inside the body, and stitches really freak me out. But if it leads to that elusive second line it will make this whole long journey worthwhile!
That's it for now, I'm off to sit in traffic for about an hour or so. It's looking pretty wretched out there!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Not that there's been too terribly much going on in our little world. We went to a Dodgers playoff game a couple weeks ago, which is now pretty much a moot point since they got destroyed by the Phillies. But the game was great (even though they lost). I was amazed at the cameraderie - everyone in our section was chatting with each other, giving high-fives every time the team got a hit, it was really fun.
Other than that, we're just cruising along. I had my doctor's appointment last week and will be scheduling my laparoscopy as soon as we get approval from the insurance company. Should be no problem since we already verified that the surgery would be covered. I'm a little nervous because medical things, especially incisions, tools going inside the body, and stitches really freak me out. But if it leads to that elusive second line it will make this whole long journey worthwhile!
That's it for now, I'm off to sit in traffic for about an hour or so. It's looking pretty wretched out there!
Have a wonderful weekend.
10.05.2009
What's New
Well hello there!
It's been a few days since my last post... Hmmm actually more like a couple weeks! Things are going swimmingly with Aaron and I. We spent the weekend cleaning the house and garage, and we have a friend coming over today to get started on re-wiring the garage. We can finally get rid of the SUPER efficient ball-and-tube wiring and get some electrical technology from the later half of the 20th century in there. Aaron will finally have his very own man cave soon. He's really excited. And I'm excited that there will finally be room to park my car!
In other news, I want to share some information about our journey to expand our little family. It has been really frustrating (not to say a tad heartbreaking) not knowing why we haven't had any luck in doing so yet. All of our initial testing has come back all clear, but there are still some other things to look into. Unfortunately, we've been kind of at a standstill until we can get better health insurance (which we'll have starting in January). There is one thing we have decided to try, though. I have some signs of endometriosis, which runs in my family and can cause infertility. The only way to find out if you have it is for the doctor to actually see it, which requires surgery. If the doctor finds endometriosis during the surgery, usually they can also remove some/most/all of it, increasing your chances of getting pregnant. Luckily, our current insurance covers this procedure 100%!
I have an appointment with my doctor to discuss it in two weeks. We're hoping to be able to schedule the surgery before the end of the year, and as odd as it sounds, we're hoping that the doctor does find endo, is able to remove it, and that we'll be on our way to parenthood soon after. Of course there is no guarantee that it'll work, but we feel confident in our decision to pursue the treatment. Okay, and a little nervous. We'd appreciate your prayers and support as we take this first big step in overcoming infertility, and we'll update you again in a few weeks.
Have a great week!
It's been a few days since my last post... Hmmm actually more like a couple weeks! Things are going swimmingly with Aaron and I. We spent the weekend cleaning the house and garage, and we have a friend coming over today to get started on re-wiring the garage. We can finally get rid of the SUPER efficient ball-and-tube wiring and get some electrical technology from the later half of the 20th century in there. Aaron will finally have his very own man cave soon. He's really excited. And I'm excited that there will finally be room to park my car!
In other news, I want to share some information about our journey to expand our little family. It has been really frustrating (not to say a tad heartbreaking) not knowing why we haven't had any luck in doing so yet. All of our initial testing has come back all clear, but there are still some other things to look into. Unfortunately, we've been kind of at a standstill until we can get better health insurance (which we'll have starting in January). There is one thing we have decided to try, though. I have some signs of endometriosis, which runs in my family and can cause infertility. The only way to find out if you have it is for the doctor to actually see it, which requires surgery. If the doctor finds endometriosis during the surgery, usually they can also remove some/most/all of it, increasing your chances of getting pregnant. Luckily, our current insurance covers this procedure 100%!
I have an appointment with my doctor to discuss it in two weeks. We're hoping to be able to schedule the surgery before the end of the year, and as odd as it sounds, we're hoping that the doctor does find endo, is able to remove it, and that we'll be on our way to parenthood soon after. Of course there is no guarantee that it'll work, but we feel confident in our decision to pursue the treatment. Okay, and a little nervous. We'd appreciate your prayers and support as we take this first big step in overcoming infertility, and we'll update you again in a few weeks.
Have a great week!
9.22.2009
Save the Honeybees!
A fellow blogger recently posted about her weekend visiting some cider mills in her state. It sounded like such a good time, and got me thinking about what kind of fun Fall activities Aaron and I could do locally on the cheap.
And I remembered - there's a honey farm and honey tasting room out in Fillmore. Every time we pass it one of us says to the other, "We should go there sometime." So I googled it: www.bennetthoney.com.
Not only does this family-run business make award-winning varieties of honey, but they're also doing what they can to address Colony Collapse Disorder among the honeybee population. I've heard that honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing for the past few years but I didn't know much more than that. The Bennett's site has a short article briefly describing the various theories behind the honebees' disappearance, then it explains the most accepted theory and what the Bennetts are doing to eliminate the cause. It's pretty interesting!
I am terrified of bees (we have a bad history!), but I do know that they're an extremely important and irreplacable factor in creating much of our food supply, and I think it's important that everyone is at least a little educated on this issue.
***Steps off soapbox***
So anyway, I think we might be taking a trip out to Bennett's Honey Farm in the near future, if anyone feels like coming along!
And I remembered - there's a honey farm and honey tasting room out in Fillmore. Every time we pass it one of us says to the other, "We should go there sometime." So I googled it: www.bennetthoney.com.
Not only does this family-run business make award-winning varieties of honey, but they're also doing what they can to address Colony Collapse Disorder among the honeybee population. I've heard that honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing for the past few years but I didn't know much more than that. The Bennett's site has a short article briefly describing the various theories behind the honebees' disappearance, then it explains the most accepted theory and what the Bennetts are doing to eliminate the cause. It's pretty interesting!
I am terrified of bees (we have a bad history!), but I do know that they're an extremely important and irreplacable factor in creating much of our food supply, and I think it's important that everyone is at least a little educated on this issue.
***Steps off soapbox***
So anyway, I think we might be taking a trip out to Bennett's Honey Farm in the near future, if anyone feels like coming along!
9.20.2009
The End: Zion to Vegas
Today is the most glorious day! I'm sitting on my own couch, drinking fresh-brewed coffee in my PJ's. Football's on TV and Atticus is lounging on the window sill. And we have no intentions of doing anything more strenuous than laundry all day! It's good to be home!
Now I present to you the final installment of our Epic Road Trip Extravaganza! (If you haven't figured it out yet, all of the photos here and on previous posts do absolutely zero justice to the cool stuff we saw. So just imagine everything to be 10 times cooler and bigger than how they seem here!)
This is the Virgin River at Zion National Park. It's a big part of what made the park look so dang amazing. Pretty impressive for such a small river!
The rocks/mountains at Zion were formed millions of years ago. The area used to be a desert with sand dunes up to 3,000 feet high! An ancient sea deposited minerals into the sand that eventually turned it into the sandstone mountains that are there now. Amazing!
Starting our hike up to the Emerald Pools.
On our way to the first pool! Aaron loves climbing on top of rocks. (Who am I kidding? I do, too!)
Almost to the lower pool. You can see how the water just trickles down the rock.
(Try clicking on the photo to see it larger.) This was taken from the path just past the lower pool, so we're up a little higher. You can see the drops of water coming right down the center of the photo, and the rail/path on the lower right side gives you an idea of how huge this rock is.
On our way to the next pool! This was a harder (much harder!) hike than up to the lower pool. We somehow skipped past the middle pool and went right on to the upper one. (We saw the middle pool on our way back down.)
The Upper Emerald Pool. The rocks go up much higher than what my chintzy little camera can capture! That's Aaron by the water, and some random chick getting in the way of my shot!
Not a bad view on the way back down!
Our second hike was supposed to be a short walk to the Grotto. Unfortunately, nature had other plans! A thunder storm passed through Zion when we got about halfway there, despite the shuttle driver's claim that there was a 0% chance of rain! We found a handy rock to hide under while we waited for the worst of the storm to pass, and got to listen to the thunder echoing off the rocks for about 10 minutes.
Here's a pic we took from our rock shelter. It rained hard! In the lower left there is the path we were on... now muddy and riddled with huge puddles. Not the best hiking weather, especially since I was wearing Converse! Once the heaviest rain passed we climbed down to the street and walked back to the lodge. We decided to head on to Vegas at that point since we were both wet and I certainly wasn't wearing the best shoes for hiking in the mud. We'll just have to go back some day!
Now, we've been to Vegas MANY times, but we drive out from the opposite direction of course, which is the most boring, ugly drive known to man. So we had no idea that just an hour or so on the other side of the city was this cool drive through the mountains!
The "beautiful" Vegas skyline! Once we got there we almost felt like we were already home, being only one short 5 hour drive away. We didn't do a whole lot, just had a nice dinner at a restaurant in our hotel, and did a little gambling and drinking. It was a fun, relaxing way to end our trip.Thanks for following along!!
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