success

Well, it worked! Your prayers and fastings and names in the temple-ings have not been in vain....

I'm Pregnant!!!

They said I had a blood count level of over 1200, what ever that means... the nurse said it means I'm "very" pregnant. I go for a vaginal ultrasound in two weeks, they said at that point they could tell me whether I'm having twins or not.




They also said I need to still take it easy. I wonder how flying will be?







I have to cut back on exercise too, which is sad for me, but worth it. Maybe I'll try this...
Is it ball yoga? Who knows.



I guess I'll become a great walker!

Hail to the Princess Ellie!

It all started one Sunday evening...





She came home from grandma's wrapped the blanket around her waist, and knelt down so it puffed out all around her. Then she said:

Mama, I'm a princess.

Indeed she is!

Then it continued...



She was Cinderella for a couple weeks with a dress she stole from our sweet neighbor Ella.











After that, she started stealing any dress she could find from the Leishman (our other neighbors) dress-up box. This is one of her favorites. She was playing in the leaves with it on when Aunt Kandy got this picture. She never takes the dress off!
I even went to the DI and bought her a few to wear around the house.
She wore this one over her new cute birthday clothes the entire day of her party.




















Since everyone in the family knew that she was princess crazy, she got totally princessed out for her birtday.

She got a wand from Aunt Dawn...















Princess shoes from cousin Adri and the Godfrey gang....
















Princess movies (Sleeping Beauty and Barbi) from Grandpa Brent, and a music player from cousin Ava...








But best of all from Grandma Debbie, she got a giant trunk full of princess dresses, shoes, and the all important accessories.



She immediately put them on for the main event...blowing out the candles on the Pretty Pink Princess Kitty made by Grandma Kristi. "Oh, so cute," Ellie said. She tried blowing them out by herself to no avail. At the same time mama decided to help her, she waved her magic princess wand and the candles were out..MAGIC!!! The lovely sparlky accessory on her head (among other wonderful treasures) is also from Grandma Kristi. There was no end to the presents!!


The princess craze continues. Be looking forward to some lovely Halloween pics of Ellie as Princess Giselle from Enchanted.

Oh, what beautiful embryos.

Here is picture of our little embryos. Aren't they so cute! The clinic gave these to us the day I got inceminated. The egg on the right is "graded" a B2, which is as perfect a human embryo as you can get. The one on the left is graded a B3+ which is like second place. I guess mice can get embryos graded B1, but never humans. They called me the day after the transfer and said that two more eggs had "blasted" and were good to freeze, so we've got a couple in the freezer for later. Everything went well and was very easy and painless. The doctor just waved her magic wand and impregnated me. I just hope it works. They gave me a couple valium to help me relax, and can I just say... I LOVE DRUGS! I slept like Grandma Ruby in the afternoon. Our pregnancy test is on the 29th, so I'll post as soon as I know.

Bussiness Time

Well, tis the big week, the big week for baby-making, in-vitro style. We've been telling all of you about it for months and the time has finally come. The big day of transfer is Thursday.















Dan left his healthy sample at the lab on Saturday. They got 16 eggs from our donor, 10 of those were mature, and 8 were fertilized.





The 8 fertilized embryo are growing and dividing as we speak! The doctors will most likely put 2 into my body on Thursday. The rest will be frozen.




















This is the time we need all of your thoughts prayers, and fasting if you so desire. They have given me a 65-70% chance for success, and have been very optimistic, so we really think we'll be successful. Thank you all for your love and support, I'll be letting you know what happens as soon as I know. I hope we get a happy result!

Climbing, Flying, and Boredom

So, here I am, sitting in Newark, NJ, doing what I do best. Waiting. Always waiting - for a flight, for a hotel room, for a ride, waiting for a plan. Right now I'm waiting to go to Oslo, Norway. While sitting here fighting my rising boredom, I decided it was my turn to post on the blog. I've been out on the road for six days with six more to go. I'm looking forward to doing a little bouldering in Oslo, a run in Dublin, and then coming home. Our family had a great summer climbing, traveling and relaxing. Holly and I summited Mt Rainier for the second time via the Gibraltar Ledges route, and we had a great family vacation in Jackson, WY.
Last weekend before I left, Holly and Ellie and I met up with Scott, Maggie, and Casey for a climbing trip down to Maple Canyon. It was so much fun! Holly climbed hard and Ellie, after wearing herself out by rolling in the dirt numerous times, went to sleep in her pack 'n play at just the perfect time to allow Mom and Dad to go climb together. While we were there, Casey H. took the Family Portrait in this post. He is a magician with a camera. To see more of his stuff go to www.caseyhyer.com or click on the link to one of his blogs below. We finished the day off by eating fantastically fat hamburgers and fries before retiring to Casey and Alisa's house for the night. (Thanks for having us over guys!)
While I'm gone on my Continental sponsored adventures, Holly stays busy hiking, running, teaching, and most importantly, momming. Ellie is so sweet and beautiful, and definitely keeps Holly busy. Holly is truly a superwoman for dealing with all of the responsibilities of home during my long absences. Thank you honey! It looks like I've managed to make it through another wait! :)
See you all again soon.