The End of Another Year!

WOW! I can't believe today is the last day of 2016! This year has been filled with a lot of good things along with a lot of heart break. We can't wait to see what 2017 has in store for us! Lots of exciting things will be happening with our blog so stay tuned for that. We are so very grateful for each of you and your support with our blog and helping make it a success! Thank you for all the love you have shown us. With that being said, what better way to finish off 2016.. here is our Christmas Eve/Christmas Day post! Enjoy! 

Just in case you missed it here is our Christmas card! Merry Christmas! Sorry if we missed sending you one this year, we send out a lot so sometimes it gets confusing on who we have sent them to and who we have missed! We will try and get you next year. 

Right before James and I left I received one of the BEST gifts ever. I was given one of Judy's scarfs! It still smells like her and when I wore it on Christmas Eve, Eve I felt so close to her. Thank you Barry for the wonderful gift. I will cherish this for forever.

On Christmas Eve, James mom and I were able to surprise James with going to Rouge One with the whole family! Thanks Momma H! It was so much fun! 

Of course we wore our Christmas Eve outfits.. I mean we had to! Have any of you seen Rouge One yet? What did you think? The Mr. was a big fan! Myself.. not so much ha! Maybe if I see it again but I don't know if I care to. 

After the movie we went back to my parents house to help set up for Christmas Eve dinner. Of course good ol' "Pete" came! Sure do love my grandpa and his dumb stories that he makes up ha ha! 

Once we were done with dinner and while my pops was taking grandpa home we all gathered around to decorate Christmas trees and cookies! It was so much fun. James, Nico and Seth definitely used the most candies on their trees ha ha.

Once we were done with that it was time to gather around and get our Christmas PJ's and to open some presents! Of course we had already played Christmas bingo which I stink at.. I was the LAST person to get Bingo. 

The men in the family besides Seth all got shirts since you know.. men usually don't care too much about Pajamas. Seth got some 49ers PJ's which he was thrilled about! 

And all us girls got us some nice and cozy pajamas! Ours came with pockets which is always nice. Another plus is they have been keeping me warm up here in the freezing Idaho air! Ha ha! PS. Isn't Crystals baby bump just so cute?!

On Christmas day (I didn't take any pictures.. what the heck is wrong with me?!) we went to try and see my grandpa but it had snowed so much that we weren't able to make it to him so we went the next day. But we were able to make it to James' family! There we listened to everyone talk about their missions and even had some food from their missions, played games, opened presents of course and did the grab box. What is grab box? Um, I don't know how to explain? It's a bunch of presents and you go around and pick one and you can steal someones but only three times. It is pretty fun! Once we were done with that we had to head back to my parents house before the storm got worse or the roads turned to ice. Better safe than sorry!

The day after Christmas my family all went to see Disney's Moana! It was pretty cute but not my favorite Disney movie. It was fun to sit next to Chloe and hear her cute little giggle. Sure do love my nieces and nephew! After the movie we did a little after Christmas shopping where I got A LOT of stuff! Of course I did.. but hey it was cheap! 

The next day James and I were getting ready to go home. But before we headed out we went to the new Brewery in Utah called Strap Tank Brewing Co. to grab a quick bite with my family who I never see anymore! So it was a lot of fun and very nice to be able to catch up with them again! 

Ta-Da! There we all be! I sure do love my family and wish I could see them more often. Maybe next year will be the year. If you are ever near Strap Tank I suggest going there. The food was delicious!

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We know we sure did. Again thank you for following The Mr. & The Mrs. Blog! It means the world to us. And on that note we will see you next year! 

The Last Baby Update of 2016

Well, I have been putting off this post for awhile now because I have been hoping to have some good news to share. But unfortunately the news is still the same. No baby. But a lot of things have happened since I last blogged about our infertility journey. So I figured it would be nice to update you all since I brought you into our journey in the first place. Once again, this isn't a pity post it is simply an update. This post is going to be filled with all the emotions James and I have been going through these last few months. (In August was the last baby update and it was all about us beginning our adoption journey.. there will be an update on that here also.. if you want to see that post go here. The very first post was back in February and you can see that post here.)

Since I last posted in August I found out that my brother and sister in law are expecting a baby girl! She will be here soon (maybe even today!) When I first got the news I was overwhelmed with emotions. First off, I was so, so excited for my brother and his wife! I was also very excited to be getting another niece or nephew (at the time I didn't know!) But while feeling very happy and excited I also felt very broken. I felt guilty for feeling the way I felt because how could I feel the way I was feeling I was being rude for feeling sorrow for myself in their moment of joy. As soon as I got the news I will admit I started bawling. It felt like a huge win for them but a big loss for James and I. That is the best way I can explain it. But not once did I not ever feel happy or excited for them. I just so wanted to be in their place and to have that news to share with everyone. Like I said I felt like a horrible person and so very selfish for having the hurt feelings that I did. But after talking with James grandmother I learned that my feelings were okay. It was completely okay for me to cry and for me to feel the way I felt. And the way I felt I wasn't going to get over in a day and that, that was perfectly okay. I was okay after awhile and was able to have the full joy that I could for them (hopefully that makes sense..) and I even helped my mother and sister throw my sister in law a baby shower. Now you have to understand that yes, the day of the baby shower I did have a break down. It was very hard to be around all the happiness of welcoming a baby and seeing all the baby stuff. But it also didn't help that I was surrounded for a week with all about baby stuff and baby stores. I was put in places where I didn't necessarily want to be but I "sucked it up" and tried my hardest to work through my emotions.And again, I felt very guilty for the way I felt then. As I write this today, I still feel guilty for the way I felt then. But please remember I was never not happy for my brother and his wife. This is a situation/s that are so hard to explain unless you have been in them you probably can't/won't completely understand.

Back in September James and I attended my "yearly check-up" with my wonderful doctor. He asked us how we were doing, how the medicine he put me on was doing as well. We also talked about some other things and he has put me on a medicine for my PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) After a long talk and being in his office as to what seemed as forever.. and explaining our situation he said that there was no more he could do and it was time for us to go to a reproductive doctor. He referred us to a great guy and place (they are in Utah) and they got to us quickly. They actually had an appointment for us that following Wednesday but due to some communication we weren't able to attended our appointment that day so we had to re-schedule and they didn't know when their next opening would be. Talk about FRUSTRATING! *back story!* The company we are going through is based out of Utah (Reproductive Care Center) but they have so many people from Idaho that go down there that they are trying to get an office set up about an hour away from where James and I live so that is where our first appointment was going to be and since it is only a few doctors they don't come up that often so we had to wait until the next time the doctor was in our area. 

Well, in October, Halloween day to be exact! We had our appointment with the RCC (Reproductive Care Center) and it was a very wonderful and fulling appointment. It gave James and I a lot of outlook and hope. The doctor basically told us that we had an ovulation and sperm problem. Which means that James and I (mostly me..) have a lot of testing to do. James test is fairly easy. If you get what I am hinting at.. ha ha. The doctor said James need to have a semen analysis, get some blood work done and he also needed to take some medicine to help keep his sperm count up and his little fishes swimming and good. (Sorry if that is way too much info! ha ha!) So James is able to get his testing done at any time. For myself it was a little more complicated. I also had to take some medicine to help protect my eggs, needed to get some blood work done and along with two other tests. The first test I have to get done while on my period, and it is an ultrasound. Easy right? Well, this ultrasound is one that they will put inside me so they can get super close to see if I have any eggs, if I do how many and how old they are. I hope you all caught on.. I HAVE TO BE ON MY PERIOD. (Remember.. I don't have regular periods.. soo...) Once my period has stopped I have to go back in for more testing and this time they will shoot a dye up me to see if I have any blockage (cysts, build up etc.) After I do the last testing they told me I would be down for the rest of the day so not to plan on driving ha! 

*After having this appointment James and I decided that we would put off going forward with adoption for a little bit. (It didn't feel right completely after we started moving forward with it.)* 

Well here we are to December. November went by and I never had my period.. BLAH! And the first couple weeks went by in December and no period.. BUT I did get Kidney Stones! Well, I did end up getting my period.. but at the WRONG time of course. If you're a women you know periods typically last about a week. Well, I got mine on Friday night (can't go do testing because they are closed and I wasn't 100% sure if it was my period.) Well we go down to Utah to hear Natalie speak for her farewell. So we are down there until Sunday which is fine, I can go do my testing on Monday! Ha. Jokes on me.. my period stopped. So I called my doctor and well, he gave me the worst news ever. He basically told me I had bad luck and that the timing was wrong. I had missed my opportunity to get my testing done. So now I am going to be put on medicine to start my period in January (of course when my deducible isn't met..) so I can control it a little more and get my testing done. So that is where James and I are at, at this moment in time. Just waiting on my body to allow me to get my testing done. So here is to hoping 2017 is a lot better year than 2016 was for James and I! Ha ha! Although 2016 was filled with a lot of great things and don't get me wrong it was a great year. But you know what I mean.

Thanks everyone for going on this tough journey with us and for the outpouring love and support we have got from all of you. It means so much to us! 

Target Beauty Box Opening!

Welcome to today's video! You might just want to watch.. there is a special surprise guest! THE MR! Give him some love.. make sure you thumbs up the video and leave a comment so he will come back again to visit. Don't forget to subscribe to the blog (via google or email!) ALSO don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel! Next year we will be posting more videos! So we hope you enjoy today's Target Beauty Box opening.

We sure hope you enjoyed! Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

Throwback Thursday!

Another Thursday is here.. time for an old blog post! Enjoy! Don't forget to subscribe to the blog so you never miss an update! (Subscribe to the right by email or Google!)

12.24.2011

Merry Christmas. :)

Enjoy some classic holiday classic songs.. and feel free to sing along and spread some Christmas cheer! :D

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas Eve as well as a very merry Christmas!

Ha ha! There you go.. hope you enjoy my "Christmas Card" with my good ol' pup Toby! Sure miss him!! 

CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR *Part Two!*

Welcome to the final Christmas house tour post! We sure hope you have enjoyed the tour so far. What has been your favorite thing we have shared? Leave a comment below letting us know. ALSO don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update! (Subscribe by email or google!)

THE KITCHEN:

When you first walk into our kitchen you are greeted by our new sign! We got it this year on Black Friday. Thanks James for spoiling me. Ha ha! It is just so cute and sparkly boy do I love sparkles!

Next you will see our mail holder where I have hung a Santa clock my mom gave me this year and a couple of Mary's art work! 

Of course.. the fridge HAS to be decorated too! There are a few Christmas cards that we have received and again those stickers. I got my Christmas aprons from Seagull Book and the oven mitt holds our scissors. The stocking is one that my cute Nephew made me this year! On top of the fridge is our awesome gingerbread village that we made a few days ago!

If you know this family then you know we love cola! So it is fitting to have Santa coke.. ha ha! Again thanks mom for all the decorations you no longer wanted. 

For the kitchen I just got $1.00 soap and it smells sooo yummy! Mmm gingerbread cookies!

There is our cute snowman cookie jar that is not filled with any cookies.. BUT it is filled with mints ha ha! So if you come to visit don't be disappointed when you open it and don't find any cookies. 

Then on our stove I have some empty salt and pepper shakers and a trivet that I made awhile back with my mommy!

We have a cinnamon candle lit.. mm smells so yummy! The pop out wood nativity is one that James grandfather made for us! It is so pretty and I love it!

Why yes, we do have a cowboy Santa.. because why not?! And yes.. we would have a hot cocoa sign. I mean it is one of my favorite things in the world! So yeah!

And lastly.. here is our buffet! A small hot cocoa station to the left.. some candy on a snowman dish and just some random decorations! 

THE HALLWAY:

Here you will find not very much! Of course our Greg Olsen calendar with one of my most favorite paintings of his! It is beautiful! The small wreath above it one I made and it is basically there to cover up a nail that I left in the wall from our normal decoration that is there ha ha! 

And the last thing you will find in our very small hallway is our Christmas village that I got when we first got married at a yardsale for only $10!! What a steal. I love it and it looks so cute in our little nook above our stairs. Thanks hubs for always helping me put this bad boy up!

THE DINING ROOM:

There be our dining room! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Why yes.. I did make that banner. Ha ha!

I decided this year to place a nativity seen in these nicer frames that normally hold our Living Christ and our Family Proclamation. I think it looks soo pretty!

This is my favorite part about our dining room! I love these shelves and especially decorating them! And yes.. again my house is decorated with a lot of Mary's work. Ha ha!

And again just added some pretty printables in these frames! Some of our favorite songs. What's your favorite Christmas song?

And the Mr. has the best wife ever.. who made him a BYU tree with help from the leftovers that his mom, siblings and I think grandma made when his brother had this tree for a little bit. Fun fact.. this was our very first Christmas tree minus the BYU stuff! And indeed we do have a BYU snoopy!! ha!

This is James Africa table.. that his aunt gave him! But right now it is holding our Christmas decorations. Whew.. good thing I had a spot for some of these bigger items and our way cute snowman nativity. 

Oh hey there is the rest of the cards we have received so far.. besides the ones I got today because I haven't had the time to put them up yet! Thank you to everyone who has sent us a card we love them! 

And the last thing is our kitchen table center piece! Our napkin holder with salt and pepper shakers that are filled ha! And our cute Santa butter dish I got this year! It is simple but it works.

AND THERE YOU GO! Once again we sure hope you have enjoyed the Christmas tour of our home! We would love to see yours so make sure and leave a comment! Merry Christmas everyone!!

CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR *Part One!*

Welcome to the start of the Christmas House Tour the inside.. the part I know you all have been dying to see! Today covers the master bedroom, the bathroom and the front room! The next post will cover the kitchen and dining room! (Should be here tomorrow!!) Hope you all enjoy!
The Master Bedroom:

Last year after Christmas I found the Darth Vader tree skirt and BAM that's how we ended up with a Star Wars tree in our room. It is something we both really like so heck why not! IT also goes great with James Legos! But Obviously we need A LOT more ornaments for this tree.. maybe after Christmas we will score ha ha! The tree topper is a bow my sister made for my last year to go with my Christmas present. (She took us to see Star Wars 7!) This is the only decoration in our room beside some lights that are above our bed but I didn't take a picture of that. SORRY!

THE BATHROOM:

The stickers on the door were originally going to be on a wall in our kitchen but they kept falling off so the bathroom door it was.. plus we don't want Santa to have to hold it all night right?! ha ha! I got the stickers this year at Target for $3.00!

Welcome to our Snowman bathroom! I got our shower curtain a few years back at a yardsale for only $1.00! Can't pass that up! And that is when the snowman bathroom was created!  

All the printables I found on Pinterest! Gotta love free printables! This is on the wall as soon as you walk into our bathroom above our light switches. 

This is to the left of our sink! 

Of course we have Twisted Peppermint hand soap.. 'Tis the season. Gotta love Bath and Body Works for sure. 

The towels were gave to me from my mommy! She's so kind. So was all of the decorations (besides printables and shower curtain and garbage can..) Thanks mom!

The Rugs I got from Kohl's a few years ago! I had coupons and money I had earned so I got them for super duper cheap!! 

The garbage can is from James mommy! It was full of popcorn but once it was all gone I used it to store decorations and now it is our bathroom garbage can this year! Thanks momma H!

Oh the thrown! Of course it is decorated too! The stocking is from my Grandma and the Noel blocks (my dad used to put them up and spell Leon all the time..) are from my mom.  

THE FRONT ROOM:

This is my absolute favorite part of our home! It just looks so cozy!! It might just be that we have a working fireplace this year and have been able to stay warm! YAY!! 

Our new rug was meant to go outside.. but Mr. Ollie kitty loved it so much so I left it inside and put it in his favorite spot! Now he can stay nice and toasty ha ha.

The Mr. spoiled me with some Christmas fairy garden things! Yay! It looks so festive and pretty.

I guess I should just say this is my FAVORITE room because it all looks so cozy and pretty! Oh yeah.. remember that wreath I made so I could leave my giraffe up.. well there it be! 

This is also one of my favorite set ups. I love being able to keep Jesus in our mind this holiday season and remembering that it isn't all just about gift giving and receiving and Santa Clause.

Of course I would have a Santa shelf. Because he is fun! ha ha.

And yes.. need to make our movies look pretty right!

Love being able to reuse card boxes as decorations or for wrapping purposes. Do you do this too?

The precious moments nativity is one of my favorites! I got it a lot of years ago from my grandma!

And lastly.. I just kind of threw this together!

Fun fact.. the snowman picture I got brand new at a yardsale for ..... ONE DOLLAR! I also got the felt tree banner from Target for $1.00 when James and I were first married.

This is right next to our front door. Below is all of our Christmas books and a few more of our nativities! The Santa picture lights up but it needs batteries and I just never put them in it.

This nativity we have up all year round but during Christmas it gets a prime spot up on the top shelf. James got this hand made while he was serving his mission in Ghana Africa! It is so pretty!

Yes, we have a musical Charlie Brown clock! And of course.. one of Mary's work of art.

My mom gave James the blanket last year for Christmas it is so cute! Also the pillow was our nativity that we got a few years ago! I absolutely love it!

Ta-Da! Here is our "main" tree! It is full of a lot of memories from all of our ornaments.

The Charlie Brown nativity was the first one James and I ever got together! We love it! This is also our first year with a train around our tree and it is so fun! The cats love to knock it over.. so hey it keeps them out of our tree! ha ha!

I got these two pictures also brand new at a yardsale for .50 cents a piece! I love yardsales! They are GREAT!

This picture also lights up but again no batteries ha! I got this one and the other from Ti-Pan last year for $2.00 a piece! What a steal of a deal. Wish I would of bought more. Oh well!

I didn't feel like putting our lamp away so I "dressed" it up a little bit so it would fit in. Hopefully it looks a okay! The tile coasters are some I made this year! They are fun!

Ah, my FAVORITE tree! My Barbie tree! I love it! All my old fashioned barbies and of course.. a SIGNED picture from Barbie! I met her when I was younger at Target and it was the best experience of my life. I also have a Barbie bear (thanks Crystal!) and an old fashioned Barbie book! MY pink tree is just so fun and pretty. Too bad the lights burned out this year.. so I need to replace them!

And there be our stocking since we don't have a mantle yet! Yes, I have one for each of our animals..what can I say they are our babies ha ha! The Santa is the cats favorite "toy" they like to knock his head off and play with him. Ugh. CATS! Poor Santa Clause!

I decided it would be easier to leave all the picture frames from my gallery wall up and just change the picture out to Christmas ones! 

Say hi to Edwin! That is his spot lately if he isn't in Maggie's bed ha! Fun fact.. James made the tree pillow covers! And I got the Santa in a truck two years ago from Kohl's for only TWO BUCKS! Woo! And the moose my buddy ol' pal Kirstie gave her to me when we were in high school. I love my moose! 

This picture I got a few years ago from my mommy for my birthday! It now hangs next to our couch! It is so pretty and I love it of course! I love everything right? ha ha!

And just so you ALL know.. there is ONLY 5 days left until Christmas! You're welcome.

Hope you enjoy part one of the inside house tour! How is your house decorated?! I would love to see. Leave me a comment below and don't forget to subscribe to the blog so you never miss a post! (To the left by email or google!)