Out of My Comfort Zone

I'm about to post about two things that are totally out of my comfort zone, so take a seat and a deep breath. Okay, okay I know there are a total of maybe four people who read our blog, so this is probably old news!

The first thing is Craig and I are VERY excited to have our adoption profile transferred and up in Nebraska! You can check it out here. We haven't told many people that we are trying to adopt because it can be an awkward conversation.

Example of awkward conversation:

Me: "My name is Erin and this is my amazing husband Craig. It's nice meeting you."

Other Person: "It's nice meeting you Erin and Craig. Do you have children?"

Me: "Not yet, we are actually trying to adopt."

Other Person: "Oh... How 'bout them Yankees?"

So, this isn't really how it goes, but it is hard to bring up the subject because you never know how the other person will react, if they'll wonder why or ask about infertility, or if they will feel bad about asking about having children in the first place. We don't mind talking about our situation if the subject comes up and it's actually nice to know others are excited for us too!

The next part (that's still uncomfortable) is the (shortened) story of our adoption journey. Craig and I have always wanted to have a family and talked about how many kids we wanted since before we were married.

After a couple years of marriage I started nagging Craig that it was the "right" time for us to start a family. After one year of no success I made the dreaded infertility visit to my doctor. We were lucky to learn the reason of our infertility very quickly, which also meant we knew the only possibility of becoming pregnant would be through in-vitro fertilization (IVF). We were sad, but relieved to know we didn't have to spend lots of time and money on procedures that wouldn't work. We started our adoption profile right away and had it up in Utah within a few months.

After another few months, we were blessed with the opportunity to do a cycle of IVF at the University of Utah (Spring 2011). I won't go into detail, but basically I had an excessive amount of hormones for several weeks, bloated ovaries, sore behind from intramuscular shots (which yes, I gave myself), and lots of mood swings. We were ecstatic when the pregnancy tests were positive and a fetal heartbeat was heard at my 7 week appointment. Sadly, we lost the pregnancy after only ten short weeks and found out the day before moving to Nebraska. I sent Craig off the next morning and my mom took me to have a D and C that afternoon. Needless to say, our first summer in Lincoln was hard.

We are now focusing on adoption and hope this is the Lord's "right" time, but will try to be patient as long as we can. I made it past my due date in January, which I thought would be awful. It wasn't, though.

Craig and I have learned a lot during the past few years and have been able to work on OUR relationship, which has been wonderful. I love being married to such an awesome man!

Well that's it. I shared my feelings. More to come? I'll think about it...

It's about time I post about Christmas

I can't believe Christmas was two weeks ago! We celebrated Christmas in Nebraska a few days early and then headed to Utah to spend the holiday. We were only there for 5 days because I had to get back to work - I'm pretty sure most of my vacation time from this job will be spent in Utah.

Craig got me a new camera for Christmas - I love it! Our tree after all the gifts were opened.

Some highlights from the trip:

Craig waiting for the worst flight ever. Long story short, we sat by a very, very angry mom and her two kids. By the end of the flight she didn't want them to call her 'mom' anymore... Big storm in Denver = running to our next flight and only making it because the flight crew had been late. We were the last ones to board and got lots of dirty looks.

This restaurant made up for the flight. Thaifoon at the Gateway was delicious - you should try it!

Weber State beat the Utes in basketball! I thought the best part of the game was the halftime show - Quick Change!

Lots of time with nieces and nephews! This little guy never cuddles - Craig must have the magical touch!

Christmas Eve with the Hodgdon's. We spent the afternoon swimming (no pictures, though) and then headed over for dinner, Christmas PJ's and reading of the Christmas story.

Craig and I drove around to look at lights. Surprisingly, Lincoln has no light displays. This is our favorite Happy House on Cherry Lane in Layton. I wonder how much their electric bill is during the winter!?

Christmas morning in our church clothes and Christmas aprons...

Utah Museum of Natural History - with everyone else in Salt Lake City.

Utah sunsets and smog.

Turkey Day

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving and were happy to have my parents here to share it with us.

We ate out, cooked, ate in, shopped, bowled, and just had fun spending time together. We also found some things to do around town, but Lincoln, well, isn't known for having much to do!

Mom and me prepping the night before the feast...

Craig and I ready for the feast - Craig was very happy for NO turkey. Yes... the title of the post was deceiving.

Self timers are the best!

Mmmm...

My mom helped me start and finish a couple of sewing projects.

Bowling was fun - Craig won both games which was unfortunate for me because I actually broke 100 both games, which is rare!

The end result. I lost the first game. by. one. point. Great news is that my lefty dad broke 100 too!!

Now we're ready for Christmas with our leaning tree!

Happy Halloween!

I know, it's not quite Halloween yet, but I thought I should document proof that BOTH Craig and I dressed up this year for a before Halloween party. I can't remember the last time I dressed up and I don't think Craig has dressed up since before we were married. I've never been a big fan of Halloween or costumes, so this was a big moment!

Here are our wonderful costumes - I was a bag of Jelly Bellys and Craig was a Rubik's cube. I couldn't find a huge garbage bag at Wal-Mart (who knew, I thought they had everything), so as I was checking out, I decided to ask the cashier if I could have one they use and after explaining it was for a Halloween costume, he was glad to help. Thank you cashier man who loves Halloween!

Craig in his Nebraska gear with our pumpkin!

It's an 'N' for Nebraska. Go Huskers!

"Everything's up to date in Kansas City...

...they've gone about as fer as they can go..." When I told my mom we were going to Kansas City, she sang me this (beautiful) song from Oklahoma the Musical, so I had to youtube it and now I want to see it! It's always fun to get away for a weekend. Friday after I got off work, Craig picked me up and we headed on our way to Kansas City. We had originally planned to see Mamma Mia! that evening, but because of the flooding/road closures we had to detour through the country and couldn't make it.

We were both starving by the time we drove in, so we found some chain restaurant that's apparently famous for hot wings. Craig loves spicy foods, so he decided to try the habanero and mango wings while I played it safe with a grilled chicken sandwich. After waiting for what seemed like hours, our meal finally comes out and looks delicious, so we dig in. Craig took one bite and right away, his eyes start watering and nose starts running like crazy - it was hilarious! In the end, he ended up only eating two pieces of chicken, asking for a box, then throwing the box away in the parking lot. Stupid hot wings.

Saturday, we went to an amazing farmers market - there was so much produce and of course my favorite were all the free samples. I forgot my camera, but this was the entrance to the market and you can see all the tent tops if you look really hard.

There are several Romanesque fountains in Kansas City. This is Craig in front of the J.C. Nichols Fountain. We also like a fountain that had water squirting out of horses' noses.

We had some pretty ridiculous pictures - both of us sitting in front of Buddha (not sure if this is actually him) at the museum.

This picture makes it look like I'm not wearing any pants.

Trying to make it look like Craig was pushing this giant birdie over. I could not stop laughing though - he was just standing in the middle of this grassy area with his hands in the air asking if his hands were perfectly placed.

We also met up with Craig's brother, Curtis and had some delicious BBQ at a gas station called Oklahoma Joe's. The line was wrapped through the store and along the outside of the building - definitely worth the wait. No pictures though.

Saturday night, we headed to the Royals game. It was sooooo hot, but we had fun! We were glad to get away and spend time together before Craig starts living at the school!