Help, Hope, and Healing

When Sam and I announced our struggle with infertility last year, my hope was that since the hard part of announcing it was over I would be able to be more open about it. But, because it's still so raw and personal for me, I still have a difficult time discussing it openly. Maybe it's because I want everyone to think that I'm always such a happy person that I really don't want people to see me so upset. But the reality is that I'm not always happy and these past 3 1/2 years have been extremely difficult for us. I think one of the things that is so difficult is that infertility only affects 10-15% of couples, so it gets very easy to feel all alone in this trial.

Well, last week I was going on one of my favorite websites, The R House. She is such a strength for those of us going through this because she has also gone through it and has since adopted 2 adorable boys.

Anyway, on her website she posted this video, which recommended the book "Infertility: Help, Hope, and Healing" by Kerstin Daynes. I bought the book and it just came in the mail yesterday. I've already read about a 1/3 of it and it is EXTREMELY good! It's obviously geared towards those of us who are going through it, but it also gives really good tips on how to help someone you know who is going through it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who knows someone who is going through the trial of infertility because I can tell you that the one thing that helps me is knowing that people love and support me, regardless if I can produce children. So, I just thought that I'd pass on the resource!

Twilight and My New Near Death Experience

Ok, so I'm a HUGE Twilight fan and so Sam sent me a "motivational" poster. I had a pretty good laugh about it so I decided to share this with you all! :)

I also have to tell you guys about my new "near death" experience. So for the past couple of days I've been sick with yet another cold (it's almost a monthly thing now!) and I was laying on the couch eating Hershey's kisses. I just put a kiss in my mouth when I had to cough. So I inhaled to cough and I swallowed the kiss whole. I panicked and ran into the bathroom where Sam was. I started screaming that I was choking!! I then started throwing up and coughing to try to get the kiss out of my airway!

Luckily, Sam and I had recently gotten first aid/CPR certified, so Sam knew exactly what to do . . . nothing! Sam knew that because I was screaming, the kiss wasn't completely blocking my airway and so he knew not to do the Heimlich Maneuver that my body would eventually remove it. He did get me a glass of water, which I devoured, and the kiss eventually dissolved. Thank goodness for the CPR training and that he knew what to do! So Sam is now my hero! :).

This is the Life!

Can you just picture this?! Me, laying on a floaty in the middle of the ocean (with a body like that) with Sam (a.k.a the man in the uniform) bringing me something cold to drink and our cruise ship floating in the background. Ahhh! What a life. Well, part of this is true. The whole me on the floaty and Sam bringing me a drink is totally false, but we are going on a cruise next month in celebration of our 5 year anniversary (it's actually in May, but this is the only week we could do it). This will be our first cruise and I'M SO EXCITED! It's a 5 day, 4 night cruise and we're going from Long Beach to Catalina. We'll spend a day in Catalina. Then we'll sail to Ensenada and hang out there for a day. The next day will be a ship day as we sail back, and then we'll be back to Long Beach the following day. We are going during spring break (cursed teacher schedule!), but we figure that all the college students will get so wasted in Ensenada that they'll have a hangover the rest of the trip. Heheh! I'm excited just to spend some quality time with Sam, since he won't let me go to Europe this year (what a meanie!). Since this is our first cruise and the first time we'll be in Catalina or Ensenada, does anyone have any suggestions on things to do?

A Bit of Randomness

Well, this will kind of random today. I'm home sick with yet another cold. In the past month I've had the stomach flu and 2 colds. I'm hoping my immune system will get better (cursed 1st graders giving me all their illnesses!).

So for my first bit of randomness, I wanted to share a recipe. One of the parents of one of my 1st graders brought these in on Friday and I DIED. . . they are SOOO good and so easy. All you need is square pretzels, Hershey's Hugs, and M&M's. Unwrap the Hugs and place each one on a pretzel. Put them in the oven for 350 for 2 minutes. Then, place an M&M on top of the melted Hug and voila! The parent who made these gave me a bag of them and I've been eating them NONSTOP! Yummy!

Last weekend, we also had a little family reunion with Sam's family. Some of his family had made plans to come into town and so we planned a little reunion. We had great dinners on Saturday and Sunday, and other than that, we all sat around Sam's parents', played the Wii and just hung out. It was pretty fun! I'm really glad that we took some pics because the last pics that Sam and I had of his family was at our wedding, and half of the family wasn't in it (and most of them weren't even born then). How the family has grown! What fun!

Back from the land of Mary

Get it. . . land of Mary. . . Maryland!! haha! I thought really hard to come up with that! :)

Gosh, the holidays always go by so fast! Now that I'm back to work, I guess it's time to update our blog! Haha! Sam and I did get to go to Maryland and we had a fabulous time. We got to Maryland late Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, we got up early and drove down with my parents to Williamsburg, Virginia. It was pretty cold, but we had a good time. We even got to put Sam in the stocks. . . right where he deserves to be. Heheh! j/k.

On Wednesday, aside from playing in the stocks, we also saw the Governor's Palace. It was pretty cool to see it because it reminded us of England with the decor, the gardens, and the maze (but like half the cost, huh Sam?! :) ). We also walked around and saw some of the cute little shops.

The gardens at the Governor's Palace.

We have a picture just like this that was taken at Hampton Court Palace outside London.

Some of the cute homes in Williamsburg. I was surprised to learn that there are people who actually live in these homes. . .they just have to make sure that the home looks true to the times. Interesting!

Sam and I in Williamsburg

On Thursday, we began our day by taking a Christmas decorations tour. Our tour guide looked like he was old enough to remember the original Williamsburg, and it was INCREDIBLY cold that day, but it was an interesting tour. All of the homes in Williamsburg had to put up decorations that would be authentic to the times. So we saw lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, etc in all the wreaths and garlands.

This is one of my favorite wreaths. It was made by a baker, and so the wreath is made out of gingerbread and orange slices. So cute!!

Sam and I found the most picturesque home ever in Williamsburg! We totally want to buy it, so Sam's going to have to work really hard to get us that home! Hahah! :)

They had this really cool outdoor nursery where they grew all their plants just like how the people in colonial Williamsburg would have. It was pretty interesting!

We headed back to my parents' place Thursday night. On Christmas, we did the normal opening gifts and staying in our jammies for half the day. That afternoon, Sam wanted to go for a "winter walk". So, Dad took us to one of his favorite running trails and had a good little walk. There was so much snow and everything was just so beautiful! (This pic is of Dad and I walking)

Sam was really excited because we saw a deer right off the trail. We're city folk. . .we never see any cool wildlife.

As we were returning home, it started to get really foggy. It just made for a really cool pic. Right when we got home, it started to rain really hard and it melted most of the snow.

On Saturday, Dad, Sam and I headed into Washington D.C. We began our tour by taking a quick peak at the White House (Sam was pretty underwhelmed, but Buckingham Palace is no better).

It was raining pretty hard that day, which made for an awesome pic of the Washington Monument. We did lots of museuming that day by visiting the American Heritage Museum as well as the Aero and Space Museum. Then we took a peak at all the monuments and the Capital Building.

The view of the Washington Monument from the Capital Building.

Sam and I in front of the Capital.

Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot. Then we headed back to my parents'.

Ok, Dad bought this puzzle of George Washington "to promote family togetherness" before Sam and I arrived (we would've talked him out of buying it). This puzzle was a nightmare. It seriously had like a million pieces, all of which looked the same. It took us 3 days to put it together (Dad gave up after day 2). We had slaved away for so long on this stinking puzzle, that we had a take a picture, because we'll never do that puzzle again! :) .

After church on Sunday we headed to the Washington D.C. temple to look at the temple lights. Inside the visitor's center, they had all these Christmas trees set up that had ornaments from all the different embassies in D.C. The trees were all so pretty, but this one was my favorite.



After the visitor's center we headed outside to look at the lights. There were so many lights that it was just incredible!



More of the awesome Christmas lights.

What a beautiful temple! The next day, Sam and I flew home. I had 2 more weeks off from work once we got back from Maryland. But, I caught a really nasty stomach bug for the last 4 days of my break (all those shopping trips I could have done!*sigh*). So, I guess that's it. Now Sam and I are back into the routine of work and grad school. I guess the next that we'll see each other will be during Spring Break! Haha!

What a Day!

Well, Sam and I are suppose to be here:

Instead, we are here:

All because of a little:

Yes, it's true. Sam and I were suppose to fly to Maryland to visit my parents for Christmas, but Mother Nature had a change of plans for us. We arrived on Saturday at the airport 2 hours before our flight was suppose to leave, only to find out that it had been delayed an hour. So, we checked into our flight, dropped off our luggage, went through security, had a bit of lunch, and then waited in our terminal.

15 minutes before we were suppose to board, there was a message over the intercom that stated that our flight had been cancelled because of the massive snow storm. By the time that we were able actually able to talk to someone from the airline, all of the flights in the next few days had been booked. The next flight that they could get us on was on Tuesday (mind you, this was Saturday when this all happened). So we booked that flight.

Then came the dilemma of getting home. Sam's parents had dropped us off at the airport. They had JUST gotten home when we found out our flight had been cancelled and it's a 2 hour drive just to this airport. So, we decided to just rent a car until Tuesday and drop it off at the airport when we flew out. We waited an hour for the shuttle to take us from the airport to the rental car company. We got our car, headed home, and arrived 2 hours later. We were SOO exhausted when we got home and then we realized that we had thrown out all of our food before we left that morning because we didn't want it to spoil while we were on the trip. So, we had to take a trip to Target, pick up some food, and then head home. By the time that we actually got home, it had already been a 10-hour day!

So, we're unexpectedly home this weekend, and we'll TRY to fly out (again) on Tuesday. Hopefully it'll work this time! :). Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh Where oh where have Sam and Marcie Gone?

You can always tell how busy things are for us judging by how clean our house is. And right now, our house looks like a tornado blew through it! Hahah! We've both had finals this past week. I've had report cards, Christmas programs at our school, and everything else in the world! It's been a VERY busy month! I've been waiting to do this post because I wanted my house to look clean so that I could take pictures of all our Christmas decorations. But, I don't know when our house will look clean again! So I'll just post about what pics I do have.

Well, the past few weeks have been very cold and stormy! This just puts me in the mood to cook! A few weeks ago I made Sam's favorite recipe, my Pumpkin Swirl Bread. Yummy! You can see a pic of it here!



It's SOOO yummy and it makes our house smell SOO good! It just puts me in the Christmas spirit. It's kinda a lot of work, but it's WELL worth it! Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Swirl Bread

1 (8oz) cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 3/4 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. nutmeg

1 t. cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

1/3 c. water

1 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 c. margarine melted

Combine cream cheese, sugar and egg, mixing until well blended. Set aside. In a second bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a third bowl, combined pumpkin, margarine, egg, and water, mixing just until moistened. Add this bowl to the dry ingredients. Reserve 2 cups pumpkin batter; pour remaining batter into greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Pour cream cheese mixture over pumpkin batter; top with reserved pumpkin batter. Cut through batter with knife several times for swirl effect. Bake 350 for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Makes 1 loaf

A few Saturdays ago I not only made my Pumpkin Swirl bread, but I also made homemade potato soup. (You can see Sam, as he's modeling his soup. And you can see our Christmas tree in the background! So cute!) This is my sister-in-law, Valerie's recipe. HOLY COW IS IT GOOD! It makes A LOT, so I cut the recipe into 4ths, and it made about 4 servings. Here's the original recipe:

Cheese-N-Potato Soup

4 c. water 4 chicken boullion cubes

1 c. celery, finely chopped 1 c. carrots, finely chopped

3 large potatoes, cubed 1 small onion, diced

6-8 strips bacon, cooked

Cook all these ingredients (minus bacon) 20-30 minutes until vegetables are tender. While the veggies are cooking, cook bacon and set aside. Then add to the vegetables:

2 small cans cream of chicken soup

1 lb. Velveeta cheese (cubed) then stir until melted

Crumble the bacon and add to soup.

The finished product! SOO yummy! Especially when you dip bread into it! It's even good cold or reheated! Enjoy! Merry Christmas everyone and happy cooking! :)