Sitting, waiting, wishing...

Dave did such a good job telling the events of this weekend that I don't really even have to say anything! (Truthfully I made him blog about it so it wouldn't just be me ranting about the rudeness and incompetence of one scheduling girl who shall remain nameless mostly because she never mentioned her name!)

And now we wait... If you think I am impatient at Christmas time (ahem...) you ain't seen nothing yet! We have to wait at least 2 weeks to find out if the IUI was a success and it is slowly driving me mad. I say slowly because I have been able to function better than I thought I would have. Luckily we also get to look forward to Amanda's wedding which is June 9th so that is keeping my mind slightly occupied. But pretty much every third thought is regarding what's going on in my body right now.

Other than that life is rolling along. Dave has the week off work and has been doing a fabulous job of cleaning our house even though he's been sick for about a week. Our 2 year anniversary is coming up next Monday and no, not the anniversary of our first kiss, the first time he called me on the phone or anything lame like that, this is the real deal! 2 whole years since we got married. It does not seem like it at all, but it has been great and everyday I think I am luckier and luckier for having such a great guy.

Well, anyone is welcome to send good thoughts our way and hopefully we will get good news in the near future but until then, enjoy Google's how to of the day: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Office-Darts

I know I did!

Another busy weekend for the Menn

Friday: Today was the day that Brook and I had been waiting for. IUI is all about timing, from figuring out the day of ovulation, making the appointment for the doctors, making a "deposit/withdrawal" at the lab, and going through with the procedure, all in a matter of two days. Sound fun? Brook was able to talk to a wonderful lady and scheduled the appointment without any problems...wait...reverse that. Brook actually had to beg and plead for us to get an appointment that would work with our tight schedule, while at the same time she was treated like gum on the bottom of the appointment scheduler's shoe. I was fortunate to be able to do my part with a minimal amount of problems or humiliation. When the appointment drew near, we picked up the sample and went to the doctors, only to find that our doctor was in surgery until the afternoon. They tried to call and inform us in every way except by calling Brook's cellphone, which would have been the most helpful. So, once again, we were reduced to groveling in order for the IUI process to continue. We were lucky to get the doctor in between surgeries and get the whole stressful ordeal over with. I guess trials can be looked at as blessings, so I hope these "blessings" will translate into a different kind of blessing.

Saturday: Graduation day!!! Dressed in my black robes and cute, little hat, I participated in the 88th graduation of Santa Rosa Junior College. I was one of over 1100 graduates ranging in age from 16 to 73. It didn't feel real and it still doesn't, but hopefully that will change when i get my actual diploma in the mail. The real fun was the party afterwards, with lots of family and friends. I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to the graduation, the party, those that made food, and for all the great presents. A special thank you goes out to Nancy and Vince and their willingness to come over the night before and help clean the apartment. Anyone else who would like to clean our apartment another time can call us and schedule an appointment. Here is a picture of the wonderful event.

Sunday: We were sick, so we took it easy. I guess that part isn't too busy.

Monday: Brook and I went down to San Jose to visit some friends that Brook grew up with. We spent most of the day with Becca and her boyfriend Fernando in Santa Cruz at the boardwalk. We all kinda forgot that it was Memorial Day and that the place would be super crowded. The weather was pretty nice for the beach in May and overall we had a good time. Once again, pictures speak louder than words, so enjoy the optical display.

It's time.

Well, looks like tomorrow is the big day! We have our appointment with the doctor at 11:50 so please have us in your prayers. I will write more about the stress of making the appointment later I just wanted to let everyone know the news.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Yesterday I went to baby Emanuel's first birthday party. I cannot believe he is already a year old!!!! Random picture of the Pele. He was not at the party, but I had to post it.
Me and Kaisa.
Baby E enjoying his cake! Very much.
Looking happy.

Laughing so hard I could cry...

Have you ever laughed so hard that your eyes started to tear up? I have. On Friday night we were at John and Noelle's just sitting around talking and David decides to spit out a bit of his nerdy anthropology talk and says the word "brachiate." All of the sudden I start laughing hysterically (keep in mind that I'm not a laugher so this story is even better!!!) and I can barely get out the lamest joke in the world "Will brachiate for animals." Why was this so funny? No one including myself really knows... but it was. I just could NOT stop laughing and I'm sure everyone was looking at me like some sort of freak. Then all of the sudden I realized I was no longer laughing but instead was sobbing uncontrollably! It still felt like I was laughing and I still thought my dumb joke was the funniest thing ever, but I was actually sitting there crying on the couch!!! At least I was able to laugh at myself, but it was definitly a strange experience and I'm going to make sure not to laugh at all at work today.
Gotta love that Clomid!

Sooner than expected!

Well, it looks like the IUI process is going to be sooner than expected! I start Clomid on Saturday!!!! I'm very nervous just because I don't know what it will do to me, but I know it will be fine and we will look back at this time and laugh. Life is just stressful when you are actually living it!
More on this topic to come I'm sure...

I've outsmarted the human race!

For the past 2 years on the Saturday before Mother's day we have been trapped in our apartment by the thousands of participants of the Human Race, a race to benefit non profit organizations in Sonoma County. While I do realize this is a very worthy cause and a great benefit to our community you can imagine my frustration to not be able to exit our apartment when we have to get to work or various other places for HOURS! They do not even give us a warning! It was not until last year's race that I even figured out the fact that it was always held on the Saturday before Mother's day (thank you Nancy for that information.)
This year we will be taking steps to ensure that this will not interfere with our lives by informing our neighbors and parking our cars elsewhere in order to escape.
Fool me once, shame on you...
Fool me twice, shame on me...
Fool me three times, not a chance sucker!

In other news: I got really sick all the sudden yesterday. I left work at 3:45 and went home and slept, waking only to take a bath and get a blessing. I took my temperature and it was 101.9 so I'm thinking it wasn't allergies. I slept through the night and woke up all the sudden covered it sweat and really hot and uncomfortable at what felt like about 1am and the weird thing was... I felt amazingly better! My nose isn't running half as much as it was yesterday and I'm not as drowsy. I still don't feel 100%, but I'm getting there and I feel a heck of a lot better than I did yesterday!

If any of you are interested in learning more about the Human Race besides the fact that they trap me in my apartment here is a link for you: http://humanrace.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=187170

I'd love to remove my nose right about now!

Oh my gosh if my nose doesn't stop running I'm am going in to get a nose job (Yes I do know this won't stop the problem... but it will at least punish my stupid nose for all the trouble it is causing me.) I don't know if it is a cold or allergies, but I have taken medication for both and nothing helps! I CANNOT get sick right now! I need to be healthy. This blows... no pun intended.

NO MORE FREEZE TAG!!!!! I give up!

I'm sure all of you have figured out by now that this has not been the most exciting week for us. I really haven't had anything to write about. Let's see... Monday David and I went to Windsor hoping to have dinner on the "Green" but everything was closed for some reason. So we ended up driving to Johnny Garlics and having dinner there. On Tuesday we drove out to Healdsburg so Hailey and Alexa could bring cookies to their friend and we drove around town to give them a little time to hang out before we took them home and then I went to Sherry's for American Idol. On Wednesday we had the relief society service auction and while I didn't have enough points to win anything that I wanted, I did donate a home made apron and some home made cards that both went for a good amount of points. Thursday we didn't have anything planned except cleaning the house but at the last minute got called to babysit the Sullivans. I regret to inform all of you (and if I don't inform you someone else will) that I am still amazingly horrible at freeze tag. Not only that... but I also am no good at duck duck goose. I hope to improve these important skills in the coming year. And today is Friday. We will be attending the SRHS choir concert to support our own little Milli Vanilli, Hailey, who is not feeling well enough to sing but will be mouthing all the words!
We don't really have anything thrilling going on this weekend. Both of us have to work tomorrow and then the missionaries will be coming over for dinner. Sunday I have to teach in Young Women's, but I am actually really looking forward to it because it is a great lesson.

In other news... Dave's coworker may be staying with us for a few weeks, but I will let Dave blog about that.

Twins??

So I've been doing a little research on IUI and what could possibly happen as a result... Turns out it increases our chances of multiples by a whole lot. Someone Noelle knows did IUI (they did it 2 days in a row and we are starting with 1) and are now pregnant with triplets! What if we did have more than one baby? Would it be so bad? I think I would be extremely happy considering we've been having so much trouble.
Now here's the funny thing, it's most likely just coincidence, but it's fun to think it could be a sign. Yesterday I sat next to 2 pregnant women, one was having twins. And today (this is really a stretch... but just humor me) I did a submission at work for a business called "Twins Auto Repair." Yes, I know I am absolutely just looking for things to be signs, but it is a possibility and it would be great if it happened.
For now maybe I will just hope for 1 baby because even that's not guaranteed.

Cat Scratch Fever!!!!

Ok, so everyone knows I love my cats (in fact many people mock me for my "obsession" with them) well one of them has finally made it to my naughty list! I was having trouble sleeping last night so I decided to watch a movie in bed and of course the cats decided to join me. So Pele took his normal spot laying on my mid section and Atticus was, as usual, up by my head. The movie was ending so I called David (he was in the other room doing homework) and he was going to come in and turn off the movie and such. Well, when he walked in the cats freaked! Atticus ran away but not before scratching the heck out of my face. I quickly put my hand up to it because it hurt and that's just what you do when something hurts and then when I turned to Dave and took my hand down he exclaimed "Oh my Gosh!!" or something like unto it and totally freaked me out. Well I could see that my hand was completely covered in blood, but I had no idea of the condition of my face. So Dave ran and got a towel and put it over my face and when he took that off it was also covered in blood. I was just sitting there thinking I must be scarred for life or at least hideously ugly at that moment in time. We couldn't get the bleeding to stop for a little while and then I had to put an ice pack on it to get the swelling to go down and I was dead tired because it was midnight and I haven't gotten much sleep lately. Needless to say it was not a fun experience. I did however think to grab the camera amidst all of the crying and screaming so we were able to document this lovely occasion. We will be adding pictures this weekend so if you want to see my face come check it out. I look awful and it still hurts.

Yuck.

Love grandma.

This picture is from the next day and it is covered with make up. I will put better ones on here.

Countdown to Pottermaina!!

Prom

Us chaperoning the prom. I figured it was an opportunity to get all dressed up and for Dave to wear his choir tux that he spent a bunch of money on and only wore like twice...

I got these flowers from a florist in railroad square and thought they were really pretty. The great thing is they are still good so I am wearing them in my hair right now. I hope to wear them tomorrow too, but we'll see.

Me and pretty little Hailey goofing off as usual.

One of my Young women, Catie, looking amazingly beautiful. Hair and makeup courtesy of moi.

Catie, Alexa and Hailey... The 3 most beautiful girls at the prom! (Yes. I am biased.)

Well, It ended up being a great day/evening. I was totally ahead of schedule the whole day and I ended up ready by like 11:00 which is insane. I ended up doing Catie's hair and all three girls' make up so that was fun. Apparently I did a good enough job because I am doing Catie's hair and makeup for her school prom next Saturday AND I'm also doing Amee's (another of my Young Women.) It looks like I will have to continue practicing this week.

During the dance we stuck ourselves at the end of 2 hallways and set up our portable DVD player. We watched all of "Singing in the Rain" (which was very fitting considering the weather that evening) and part of "The Emperor's New Groove". Throughout the evening we had several visitors in our little corner; both fellow chaperons and some of the youth who were looking over our shoulder at the movie or just handing me there shoes to keep an eye on. It was another fun evening and it was nice to see all the kids cleaned up and looking good, and speaking of looking good check out the "pimpmeister" Jonathan.

Dollar store fun!

Happy Anniversary!

No, it's not our wedding anniversary, but today marks exactly 5 years of our first time holding hands in public! We went and saw E.T. in the theatre and I was completely terrified (yes. I have the scare tolerance of a 4 year old) so Dave was loving every minute of it. I know this makes me sound like a stupid sappy sentimental weirdo... and maybe I am, but is there really anything wrong with that? It was a big day for us!
So at lunch today I went and got Dave an "anniversary" present. You guessed it... E.T. on DVD!

Tonight we are going to be making corsages and boutineers (sp?) for the priest and laurel prom. It is definitely going to be a crazy day tomorrow because I am doing one of girl's hair and 2 of the girls' make up, plus my own. It will be fun though and for any of you that have seen me all this week you know that I have been practicing my updos for the occasion (except today... had to rock the "poof".) It should be a good day and I'm sure that we will be posting lots of good pictures on Sunday.

yet another project.

We went to Joann Fabrics last night with the Young Women and as usual I found another project to start and mess up the house with. Hailey found a really cute shrug pattern and I really hope I end up doing this one because you can never have too many shrugs. I got the pattern and this greenish curtainy looking fabric and now I have to go back to get lining fabric. Loke told me and Hailey she would help us so hopefully they will turn out cute. If so I may even post pictures on here!

I have a stake meeting tonight, but I'm actually looking forward to it because it is my bi-annual (or however often it is) date with Karen. Hi Karen! You will probably be the first person to read this! See you tonight!
Other than that... well, I will post more this weekend. It's another busy one.

nothing new

Not much is going on here. Last night I had my weekly American Idol/dinner date with Sherry Moore and it proved to be all that I could hope for... Sanjaya stunk it up and Phil my favorite may have done a good enough job to keep him around one more week (even though I know he's going home soon.)
I have Young Women's tonight and we are taking a little trip to the fabric store which is the worst place for me to go when I'm trying not to spend money. Oh well, it will be fun.

Not much else to report. Sorry but this is what we are normally like. Concerts and exploding toilets are actually a rare occurrence.

A seriously crappy evening.

So much for spring cleaning! We spent all night cleaning up our bathroom after our toilet and our shower regurgitated all over the place with the same brown smelly "water." The plumber came and as soon as he detached our toilet from the ground and brought a very large dirty machine into our apartment I had to leave because I was going to start hyperventilating so I went and got dinner. By the time I got back the plumber (who coincidentally was named John) was gone and the house smelled remarkably like sewer. So we went to target and bought new towels (since ours were soaked through with the nasty "crap" that was coming out of our toilet) and while we were there we got a new shower curtain (also destroyed and smelly) and a new bath mat and rug. At least now our bathroom is clean and we needed new towels anyway, it just literally stinks that we had that big of a reason to do it!

We really aren't this interesting!

Don't let our blog fool you, normally we just sit around and do nothing! But as Dave said it was another fun weekend. I cannot believe he let me cut his hair, I was so nervous I was almost crying! I guess he let me because he isn't afraid to shave his head if he ever needs to... He is far too nice to me! Saturday was supposed to be "get things done day" for me, but that didn't happen so now tonight is another night of spring cleaning. Hopefully we get farther tonight than we normally do.
Well, so far we have been unable to sell David's explorer and if we do not sell it by the end of May we probably won't be able to go on a vacation to Monterey which is a bummer, but there are more important things in life than whale watching and the aquarium and I'm sure that we will be able to go someday. We will just keep our fingers crossed that we can sell that car soon. If anybody knows anyone who might be interested in a 2 door Explorer give us a holler!
Dave already mentioned our doctor's appointment so I won't b0re you with another account, I just have to say that I am very relieved. I am probably more scared now than I was then, but also much more excited. It will most likely be a slightly difficult process for us, with all the extra hormones and the crazy time constraints I have no idea how it wouldn't be, but like Dave said it will be worth it.

Let me just summarize...

Hey there, it's your old pal David. It has been another busy weekend for the Menn, so for me to give a detailed account would be a little overwhelming. So let me sum up...


After a good couple of months, I finally got a much needed haircut. But that is not the noteworthy part...Brook was the one with the clippers in her hand. As you can tell by the photo, I'm well pleased with the result. I guess she is a natural.


Later that evening, I got to show off my new look at the wedding reception for Becca "Davis" and her new hubbie. It was held at the Santa Rosa Country Club, featuring a nice reception hall and good food. Becca is yet another one of Brook's friends from her young women's group that has gotten married recently, or is about to. It was much fun!


Saturday was "Girls Nite", involving chick flicks and face masks. We ate tuna melts and pasta salad, watched "Bridget Jones' Diary" and "A Cinderella Story", and applied Mary Kay products to our facial area. The sad part was that I had to show Brook how to put the face mask on (i learned on the mission, part of the beautification process). If you ask me, it takes a real mann to enjoy this kind of activity!


This is what I call the "I hate computers, but I want mine back now!" face. Here I am talking to my computer guru Jim Jones about the "patient". At first, he said we might have to back up all our files onto DVDs and start with a clean slate. After tinkering around, he called back with better news that didn't require the original plan, but instead involved us simply reinstalling our Internet provider software (a much easier process). My face then changed to the "Computers are man's best friend" face and all was right with the world.

As for the event that was not documented with pictures, Brook's doctors appointment went very well. We are going to begin the process of IUI ("artificial insemination") in a month and it looks very encouraging. Brook was worried that her gluten allergies would prevent us from going through with IUI for a while, but her doctor said she had never read anything that confirmed what Brook read about high gluten levels causing miscarriages. So instead of Brook getting blood work done to check her levels, I get to have blood work done to check for STD's (according to state law concerning IUI). YEA! It's a good thing that all this is worth the end result.

My appointment today

OK, this may sound stupid, but I am really scared about my appointment today. It seems like every time one of us goes to the doctor all we get is more and more bad news and I don't think I can take more bad news right now. I've finally started thinking this is going to happen and I will just fall apart if they say something to the contrary. This process is so emotionally taxing... I feel like I'm on a freaking roller coaster...

Not to be.

We decided that now is not the right time for the added stress, So I will not be a personal shopper anytime in the near future.

To be or not to be....?

I'm slightly torn right now because I have the opportunity to apply to be a personal shopper for Shade clothing (a cute, modest clothing company) and I was really excited about but now I'm not so sure. I mean I still might want to do it, but there are certain things that I am worried about. Mostly, I'm afraid that I will inconvenience my friends or others by trying to get them to host parties. The thing is though, that it is a good product, relatively inexpensive and people would get a discount going through me so it could be really good for my friends. I think I am going to weigh the pros and cons and see what I want to do. It could be a great opportunity for me, but then again it could be added stress that I don't really need.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I am going a bit nuts today because I am once again the only underwriter in the auto department! Seriously... I've had idiots calling me all day and not just any idiots, but 2 idiots have been calling me ALL DAY! Non stop! One of them kept calling harassing me for a quote even though I told her I was the only one here and that there were several quotes in front of hers. I told her I hadn't gotten her the quote yet because people kept calling me.... Meaning her! Then when I finally got her the quote it was like $3,000 higher than the other quote the insured had gotten from the same company so she called me, again, to ask why and when I told her that I had only entered the information I was given she thought I was accusing her of fraud and THEN she started accusing the other agent of fraud saying that they put in the wrong zip code ON PURPOSE! I swear this woman is crazy and she is driving me there too. AND to top it all off... I have to endure an extra hour of this since we won't have any coverage! This stinks. Well, my only break of the day is over so I better get my head glued back to my phone.


Think happy thoughts... think happy thoughts...

Sleep easy

I cannot even begin to tell you how nice it is to be comfortable! I used to think I could sleep on anything, but now I know I am seriously like the Princess and the pea. I've been having trouble sleeping in our bed lately and having problems with my hips hurting so yesterday we went and got a memory foam mattress topper and I have not slept that good in ages! The best part is... Dave didn't snore because he was able to sleep on his side comfortably. I can't even believe the difference it makes! We still have to work on getting the cats not to wake us up all night, but even so quality of sleep is more important than quantity!

Goin' on a picnic is loads of fun!

Brook and I had a great time on our hike/picnic up above spring lake. Not only was the scenery beautiful, it was also beneficial for us to get some exercise and fresh air. We packed a nice spread and went to the same location Brook went to on her sunrise fireside on Saturday. We played some cribbage and I did a little exploring in the surrounding area (Brook was sure that i was going to fall down and break the camera...which was very possible). Enjoy the pictures of our great time out!

Reader of the week

Dave and I just wanted to recognize our most avid blog reader the beautiful, talented
KAREN PIERCE
Thanks for taking a break from Harry Potter to read about us! We love you!

Holy cow!

Did Dave actually post?????? I'm shocked! Looks like nagging does work after all! :)

So as he said the concert was amazing. The funny part was we were totally not ourselves there! We were screaming and singing at the top of our lungs and we even danced... in front of everyone. Luckily, no one was hurt this time! I was so glad that Dave's first concert experience was a good one because now it will be easier to convince him to go next time! And... I can now finally hear out of my left ear again.

So, my weekend actually wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. We weren't out nearly as late as I thought we would be either night which was nice, although the 6am Sunrise fireside did still seem very early. It was actually really fun except it was quite a hike up to where we were going which I wasn't expecting so I wore crappy shoes that were practically slippers and sweats that were WAY too long and since it started raining I got covered in mud. Under different circumstances (better weather, better shoes and not at 6 am) it would have been awesome, but unfortunately I think I murmered more than I should have. The spot that we had the fireside was so beautiful that instead of going to the A's game tonight (which was sold out and will no doubt be a mad house) we are going to hike up there and have a picnic dinner. It should be fun.

In other news: In the past I've had dreams where I was given a baby girl and the other night I had a dream that I physically had a baby myself. This time it was a baby boy. I think I had this dream because now I'm starting to believe it's actually going to happen and sometime soon. I think this new found faith can do nothing but help.

A fun weekend: the male perspective

Sound the trumpets, Dave is finally writing a blog! Anyway, this weekend was a blast. All it took was one concert and now I am addicted. The concert took place outside at the beautiful Konocti Harbor Resort overlooking Clear Lake. Luckily it wasn't raining. Jason Aldean was the opening act (known by country music listeners for "amarillo sky" and "hicktown"), singing along side his "punk" looking lead guitarist. They put on a good show and even played some Guns & Roses songs. But I had no idea what a contrast there was between an opening act and the main event. Rascal Flatts came out amid lights, fireworks, and had a huge setup of tv's in the background. I have seen concerts on tv at awards shows and such, but nothing compares with the real thing. I hope I will be able to go to more concerts throughout the summer, if time and money permits.

Rascal Flatts singing one of our songs