All Hallows Eve

We had a fun and festive Halloween and found lots of opportunities to dress up in our cozy costumes.

We paraded with the neighborhood and had a party at the park down the road.

Our friends had an adult only Halloween party and we had a great night out playing games and eating good food.

 

 

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch out by Ben's work. It was wet and muddy from the storm but the girls still liked climbing all over the pumpkins and filling and emptying their wagons. It ended with Ben carrying both crying girls out like sacks of flour under his arms through the mud. Ugh. Reality with toddlers.

We went to the ward party and the girls loved the carnival games. Especially "donut on a string" and trunk or treating. They have eaten their weight in junk food the last few days and have loved it ... 

Time to get back to normal.

Both little ladies got a case of the croup which has been rough. Evie got through it with little problem but we had some insane nights with Rosie up several times an hour barking like a baby seal and bawling and burning up. No fun at all. Luckily we got her on a steroid and after that it was fairly short lived and we are on the mend.

We were sad to miss the toddler party my moms group was having and attending story time on Halloween dressed in our costumes. Too sick and cranky to go. But we did make it out to trick or treat at Ben's work in the afternoon. The girls loved collecting candy and saying "trick or treat!".

Halloween nightt we had our fabulous friends the Gerbers over and carved pumpkins, ate pizza, and went trick or treating. We got all the kids to bed and watched Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm absolutely sick with all the candy I've been eating --which is exactly how I want to feel the day after Halloween. :) Fabulous holiday.

Quick Update

My parents stopped in for a night on the way home from Winter Quarters in Omaha. These two little bugs sure love seeing their Grandma and Grandpa.

Went in for a baseline ultrasound this week and so far everything looks good. I had 14 follicles and my lining was at 6mm. I think I had a lot more last time but I'm focusing on quality over quantity. Started the major stimulation drugs last night. Here we go. Doing acupuncture twice this week and eating avocados and nuts and a hearty beef stew I made to help fortify my blood. All my acupuncturists recommendations...so the validity may be debatable but I'm willing to try anything that helps me feel like I have some control over the process. My wonderful friend Linda sent me am IVF care package full of the most thoughtful things to help along the way. I feel very lucky to have the support from family and friends and especially from someone who knows exactly how involved and difficult this is. Amazing gal.

Howie, the dog I watch a couple days a week showed up today with a tiny English bull dog little brother. His name is Spike. He sure is cute and my girls and Clover are loving playing with a puppy...but I'm not so sure I'm up for watching one. We'll see how it goes.

Cedar and Zion

We left Thursday to drive 10 hours to Cedar City to meet my family at the Shakespeare Festival. The girls were unbelievable in the car. In fact we didn't even resort to pulling out the TV's at all on the drive down. I was pretty impressed.
It was so fun to see my family even for a quick 24 hours. We saw Les Mis on Friday Night and a play called Stones in His Pockets on Saturday afternoon. They were both awesome. They have a darling little day care right next door and the girls had such a blast staying up late and not napping so they could play with their cousins.

 Because it was such a long drive for us we decided to head to St. George for a couple of days. We had such a great time hiking in Zion. I grew up driving down there multiple times a year to visit my aunt and uncle and it was so good to be back. We did a bunch of shorter hikes that I remember doing as a kid and it brought back a lot of good memories. We hiked the Riverside Trail, Weeping Rock, Lower and Upper Emerald Pools, and Canyon Overlook. I was blown away by how beautiful it is there and how I possibly took it for granted as a kid. Lots of scenery shots. We ate lunch at the lodge and perused the gift shop with all the familiar Native American dolls and hematite and rose quartz jewelry.
Rosie and Evie were excellent hikers. Pinching our ears, singing songs, and taking naps on our backs. Super cute. The girls LOVED driving through all the tunnels on I-70 and especially the one in the Park to get to the Canyon Overlook Trail. They yelled "weeeeeeee" all the way through and chanted "again! again!" as soon as we were out. Great trip.