So...um...yea

Soooo...its been a year since i posted on here...not that many read our blog...but if anyone did...i'm sure they'd be saying "uh hullo? did you dissapear?"...no, no we didnt...we're here....we're still kickin'.

well, a whole year has passed. where to begin?

First of all, Kelly and I were engaged on March 24, 2009 and had a busy summer of planning our wedding for August 8th, 2009. It was a whirlwind summer filled with planning and organizing our wedding. We weren't prepared at all for it, it was a spur of the moment decision and we both jumped into it with 2 feet (well 4 feet if its both of us right?). But all in all it turned out great, all of our family was able to make it up, except for my Grandmother, who due to her health decided it was best if she didn't travel.

In my previous posts I have mentioned our inability to start our family. Frustrating to say the least. After 6 failed Clomid cycles (Clomid = Fertility pills) our local gynecologist referred us to a Reproductive Endocrinologist in Edmonton for further treatments and diagnostic analysis. Basically what he came up with was that I am annovulatory, laymens terms...I don't ovulate. My first thoughts on this was "gee thanks genius...I had that one figured out". But putting my smartass remarks on the back burner, we looked for the reasons behind it. He couldn't give us any. He mentioned weight loss, again I had a smart ass remark for him...bit my lip and said ok. So we stopped the Clomid and took the summer off, not really off of trying...but just off of the medication. So inspite of all the wedding plans, I followed doctors orders and lost 60lbs by our next appointment. Apparently it wasn't enough for the him, without even waiting to see if another round of fertility drugs worked with the weight loss...he asked for more weight loss. Again I kept the remarks to myself (oh my... what will power I have), and we are still awaiting the results of our new mathematical equation 60lb weight loss + 200mg Clomid = ???

I am hoping to be a little more diligent in updating our blog, we have lots of fun upcoming events going on that I'd love to share with you....whoever you may be. Although Facebook is my true #1 love for daily WWW updates, I promise to try to get here more often too for those of you who (gasp!) don't use facebook.
Until then....adios!

September found us...

So, September has come and is halfway through already. It found us, it was inevitable I suppose. Our summer was fun but short lived, although we cant complain much, we did have great weather.
Our lives are still day to day, Kelly has switched to graveyard shifts for 8 months (by choice) to cover while a lady goes to college. Its been a nice change being able to see him every night but its taken me awhile to get used to sleeping alone at night.

I suppose its not really a secret anymore that we are trying to start our family. Its kind of hard to keep it to yourself when there are so many doctor appointments to go to and blood work to have done. We've been seeing a Gynecologist specializing in infertility in town here (GP) and he has been really great. We've both gone through some testing and while Kelly has come up with a fairly clean bill of health , I've been put on a few different medications to help us out.
**Graphic Girl Content**
In July I had a painful procedure done up at the hospital where they put dye into my uterus which goes through to my fallopian tubes to check them for blockages. Nothing like having your doctor put weird clear stuff up your hoo haa that can only be seen on a radioactive camera while you have an audience looking on....OK over reacting (only a little) but you get the gist of it right??
Thankfully they were clear, one roadblock overcome.
Last month we ( and when I say we I mean me...) started taking fertility drugs to assist in me ovulating. The first round didn't work and so they are doubling the dosage for the next round. As it stands my ovulation, or lack thereof, is basically our biggest issue at the moment. So our game plan is to work on that for the time being. Take some pills, draw some blood...rinse and repeat.

September also brought 2 of my long time dayhome boys to Kindergarten. They both started with me when they were only one. How time flies! I cant believe they are starting school already, makes me feel so old some days. But I enjoy seeing them succeed at school, and opening up new doors of opportunity, plus I still get to see them everyday (or every other day) and both of their younger siblings are here still too.

Some may want to flick my lips for this (or my fingers as it might be) but the snow will be coming soon, and although it happens every year we never are ready for it. Although I find myself anxiously planning my birthday (Nov. 10...don't forget) party for the kids already...excited much? We still have Thanksgiving and Halloween to get through first. I'm looking forward to home cooked turkey dinners and board games over coffee, and of course 3 day weekends!
Time moves on even if we aren't ready for it to do so.

Camping

What to do for holidays? Sometimes thats a really hard question. After our last effort trying to take an internation holiday fizzled (Vegas) we were leary trying to book somthing like that still. Ok, lets drive somewhere....Gas is at least $1.39 if not more.

We decided to go camping.

Pipestone Creek is about 10 minutes from Wembley or about 25 minutes from Grande Prairie. It was a favorite spot of mine as a teenager and it was where we would go camping when we wanted to get away. I took Kelly down there a couple years ago but we just spent the day and havent had a chance to go back. They are supposed to build a new dinosaur museum down there but we couldnt find anything regarding that so I guess we'll wait and see.

We spent 5 days there and it was beautiful. Almost NO mosquitoes, only a little rain, and lots of local wildlife (squirrels) to keep us entertained.

The first morning we woke up to the sound of a squirrel trying to get into the cooler, he chewed a nice corner off the cooler. So the second night I ripped up a few pieces of bread and left them on the table for him so he'd leave the cooler alone, it worked.

The squirrels were so tame that once they realized you had food, they would come right up and eat it out of your hand.

We wandered up and down the river bed, skipping rocks and wading. Theres one point in the river that it cuts inland and the water is still and you can swim safely without being swept away by the water.

These are some of the pictures we took down by the river, I've been playing with this new photo editting program lately and this is what I came up with.

Patio Party

So I made this post once and inadvertently deleted it when trying to post it....so here goes again...with less details a few less pictures but you get the idea.

I had called in and won a Patio Party from one of the local radio stations, I know I seem to have good luck with stuff like this, although that luck doesnt seem to come when needed most. Kelly was working nights and unable to switch shifts to come, and if I were to invite our friends (as couples) we had way more than the 8 person limit. What To Do!?

Ashley came up with a great idea, Girls Night Out!
It was a blast, with a $300 tab and a very sunny day it was the perfect kick off to my week of holidays.

Dave the radio guy did a clip on air about Kelly not being able to come that was really funny, I got him to send it to me so I could put it on here but I havent figured out how just yet...thats what deleted the first posting of this blog entry actually. I will keep looking on how to do it

Karyl, Kim, Tara, Myself, Jemima, Shan, Ashley, and Annalee....plus the radio crew.

Canada Day & Fireworks

Canada Day Fireworks in Muskoseepi Park, lots of people...lots of crowds...lots of TRAFFIC! Originally we weren't going to go due to all those things, but when the time came we couldn't resist. We piled in the Tahoe with some friends and made our way down to the core of the city, braved stupid drivers and uninhibited pedestrians with thier children. Finally finding a parking spot at the college and walking into the park we settled down by the college residences and watched the show. It was fun, loud and worth it. The pictures were taken with my cell phone so thier not the best, but I think they look pretty cool.

After we braved the traffic home again, we decided to go set off our own fireworks that we've had in the garage for the last year. So again we piled into the Tahoe for places unknown (I think it was the Wapati Gravel Pit we ended up at) and had some fun setting off our own. Not quite as elaborate as the ones in Muskoseepi, but they were alot of fun.

Happy Birthay Canada!

Test and Tune Weekend May 10 & 11, 2008

This past weekend was Test and Tune at the track. The first weekend of the season for all the guys to test our thier toys...I mean cars... from all the alterations they had done over the winter. Just 2 days of time trials, no spectators, class calls, ladders, king of the hill or any "official racing". Just a bunch of guys doing what they love without the stress of competition...besides the regular friendly rivalry, of course. Its fun to see the young kids from town bring out thier cars that they claim are 13 second cars...and when they get thier time slip, they actually run a 16 somthing...I suppose thats why they call it the "Reality Booth". It was sunny both days, which is amazing as we usually get some sort of drizzle, I even got a little burnt this weekend. Kelly ran his new personal best time of 12.675 seconds. The time slip is blurry but here it is :

Kellys Dad and his brother Kayle were up as well which was nice to see, they were able to stop by and help a little at the track too.
My Sister and her family came out as well, it was thier first time at our track and they had lots of fun . Todd (my brother in law) got to race one of our friends trucks too...wont be long until he finds a race car to bring out too I'm sure :). It was a great kick off to the season across the board.

On a side note, I thought i'd add a few pictures of the drive from Fairview. The scenery is amazing through Dunvegan and with them doing (forever doing...) upgrades on the bridge it is a nice opportunity to snap a few pictures.

Heres the link to all our pictures from the weekend : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114818&l=f146d&id=624095117

They're on Facebook, again you dont need a facebook account to see them....

Kelly's 30th Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated Kelly's 30th birthday. I had planned a suprise party for him at our house in the evening. It was a little tricky getting him back to the house, I had to cook up a story about an upset tummy and not wanting to use the bathroom at Canadian Tire where he wanted to go. We had a great time with and seen some people we hadnt seen in a really long time. My friend Tara made his cake and it was AMAZING! It looked so good we didnt want to cut him.


All the pictures are on Facebook, heres the link to them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112509&l=a15d7&id=624095117
You don't have to have a Facebook account to see them. It was alot of fun and definatly very memorable, and he was totally suprised which was the best part.