Home. =)

Sean and I like to do.  We like to create, renew, build, paint, fix up.  When we found our first home in 2010 we were so excited!  It was definitely a fixer-upper, but that was the best part.  We like to make things our own.  The house, it needed help.  The windows were old, single paned, the walls in the front room were bright red.  The carpet in the living room space were purple, disgusting, and the sliding glass door was falling out of the frame.  The house was built in the 1950's so, naturally, it was "old," but it definitely had it's charm.  We fell in love with the quarter acre lot, the beautiful deck, the hard wood floors throughout the original space.  It was home.  It was ours.

Over the past four years, we've given it a little TLC.  We repainted the entire house when we moved in, sleeping on the floor in the livingroom for the first couple of months.  We replaced the ugly purple carpet with hard wood flooring, and put in a new sliding glass door.  The house began to breathe life. It was becoming what we had envisioned.  Slowly, we've saved money and taken out a project here and there.

Here are some of our favorite transformations:

A Happiness Infusion

Sean and I just celebrated our 3rd anniversary!  I still can't believe that it's already been that long; we've truly come a long way and have definitely grown together.  Like I mentioned before, I met Sean my senior year in high school.  I was just wrapping up a musical I was in and we were having a cast party at the TGI Fridays when a young guy at the bar with gorgeous eyes decided to follow my friends and I out of the restaurant and ask me for my number.  That was over 7 years ago and here we are today!

 Relationships are hard.  They're challenging.  They force you to face things you may not necessarily want to face.  I mean I have a pretty difficult time breaking bad habits that I have as much as the next person.  But, that's the beauty of it.  I keep telling people, if you don't fight occasionally, there might be something wrong.  You aren't allowing yourself to be 100% vulnerable.  Besides, it's a challenge.  I love the opportunity to have an occasional sparring match and let my sass run wild... ;)  It keeps life interesting and as long as you can end it, (hopefully with some constructive progress) with a hug, a kiss, and maybe, - if he's lucky- ;) that other thing I won't mention in attempt to keep this entry "G Rated,"  you're growing.

Anyway, back to our 3rd anniversary...Due to the fact that we had my 2nd sonogram for the Clomid on the Thursday before our vacation,  we held off on making any permanent plans.  We always save up to go somewhere every year just to escape it all.  On Sunday night we decided to go visit my grandparents up at Pinecrest Lake and go camping for a few days.

 

It was nice to visit and in the middle of the trip (despite the drought) there was a pretty intense thunder and lightening storm and my goodness did it pour!  We stayed for a few days, put our feet in the water and enjoyed the lack of cellular service, nature, and fresh air.

By Tuesday, we decided it was time to go and just decided to drive.  We'd thrown around a couple of ideas, but were still unsure about how far we wanted to go and how much money we were willing to spend.  Ever since we were engaged in Disneyland 5 years ago, we've made it a habit to go back every year since.  (With the exception of our honeymoon)  What can I say?  We couldn't resist, and to LA we went!  We had no reservations, no tickets, so clearly it was the genius choice.  I called to see if there were rooms to stay for a night on the way down and most of the hotels in the area were completely SOLD OUT.

We ended up staying with Sean's brother and his girlfriend Kelly for that night (thank goodness) and took off toward the park super early the next morning.  We ended up getting stuck in the parking garage (we got there at 6:45 and they don't open til 7:30) and who knew?  The garage was one way and there was literally no way out.  It was the perfect time to realize that I had to use the restroom and ended up having to trek across huge empty lots in order to find a bathroom.

After my 5 year old "potty emergency," I decided to book it over to the Disneyland Hotel to try our luck while Sean found a parking spot.  I made my way up to the front desk, let them know it was our anniversary and begged to know if they by any chance had a room available.  It turned out, they had ONE room available.  It turns out, they were holding a convention that week, so the park would not be as packed as we originally thought.  To top it off, the wonderful lady behind the counter insisted that we were "with the convention" and gave us discounted 2-day park hopper tickets for about $75 less each than we would have paid for normal rate.  Score =)

We enjoyed 2 days in the park.  They ended up upgrading our room for us for our anniversary to a downtown Disney view on the sixth floor where we were able to watch both Fantasmic and World of Color from our room.  We ate at the Carnation Cafe on main street in Disneyland and were seated at the hostesses "favorite table" under the round gazebo.  To top it off, our very first ride that first morning was on Pirates of the Caribbean in our very own boat!  We watched the parades, ate the delicious dole pineapple soft serve, visited the hitch hiking ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, took not one, but two! rides in Radiator Springs and more.  The second evening, Dustin and Kelly met us in the park where we rode some of the rides Dustin was experiencing for the first time.  It was a wonderful, relaxing anniversary trip!

My favorite moment was this:   I just have to share this because it's one of the cutest things I've ever experienced: Sean, Dustin, Kelly, and I were getting in line for the Radiator Springs Cars ride at California Adventure last night and we were walking toward the end of the line, when this little girl who was standing with her dad and some family, (probably around the age of 4 or 5) ran up to me. She was SO adorable and was wearing the Elsa from Frozen's Disney princess dress with her hair all braided back. She ran up to me with her book in hand, had the biggest smile on her face, and asked me excitedly to sign her autograph book. I was a little taken by surprise/confused, but asked her if she wanted me to sign my name in her book? I was a little hesitant at first, but her dad seemed to be fine with it, and she continued to insist. She was so excited and had the cutest little voice. She nodded smiling, so I wrote my name in the upper corner of one of the pages of her book and told her I loved her dress! She giggled and ran back to show her dad super excited and he looked up at me and said, "thank you, you just made her day." I watched her dance and sing through the rest of the line reminding me how beautiful life is through the eyes of a child....

I'm not sure what made her approach me, but I guarantee you that it was MY night that was made. It's a great story that I'll remember. (She will probably reminisce some day as an adult, come across the page and go, who in the heck is Merenda?) LOL

I love and admire the innocence and sheer joy that comes with youth. I remember how magical Disney was to me as a little girl and am thankful that it possesses the same magical qualities
To this day. 

Thank goodness for an occasional happiness infusion and making memories!

Here's to year four and hoping it bring tiny toes our way =)

A Healthy, Natural Approach

Recently a good friend of mine, Brittney turned my mom and I on to essential oils.  I had talked to her briefly about my struggle with becoming pregnant and she sent me some samples of oils to try out.  I've tried so many methods to balance out my body at this point (prescriptions, acupuncture, etc.) that I was willing to try anything.  Now, it's obviously too early to tell whether of not they've worked for me in terms of fertility success, but I was amazed at the broad range of uses, that, for the past few weeks I have witnessed success with.  I've become so optimistic about them and enthusiastic about the naturals properties of the oils, that my mom and I have decided to become Doterra wellness advocates.  It's a great way to share the oils with others and garner rewards while utilizing the oils for myself and my family.  My three personal favorites at the moment are Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint.  It's amazing the wide range of uses!
Click HERE for more information!

Click Here for 101 Uses for Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint Essential Oils!

• I add 2-3 Drops of Lemon, 1-2 Times a day.  It's so refreshing!  It's also said to improve your mood and clarity of thought. =)

• Peppermint has helped relieve headaches and migraines, cramping, and abdominal discomfort.

• As for Lavender?  Some may know, I have trouble getting to sleep at night, but applying 2 drops to my feet every night helps me get right to sleep.  

• Lavender also helps with cuts and bug bites among many other things!

So far, I'm really optimistic and can't wait to try out some of the other oils and we're very excited to share them with our family and friends!  If you're curious, contact me!  I'd love to share them with you!  Or, if you'd like to take a look for yourself, click here!  Here's to 100% natural, healthy alternatives!

The Very First...

I met my husband Sean my senior year in high school.  Long story short, we fell in Love.  We moved in together, got engaged at Disneyland with quite the extensively planned out proposal, bought our first home in 2010, and in August of 2011, I married my best friend.  I graduated from CSUS with a Bachelor of Arts, Photography at the end of 2012 and that's just the beginning of our story...

Shortly, after I graduated from College, we decided we wanted to start our family.  Little did we know what a difficult road it would turn out to be.  My body has never quite functioned "normally," so I assumed it might take a little bit of time.  I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and in it's own time, but nearly two years later, utilizing as many resources possible and praying with our whole hearts, we can't help but feel a little short on patience and and a little overwhelmed with frustration.  Still, we continue to pray, support each other and remain hopeful and optimistic.

Here's a very brief timeline of what our Journey has been like thus far:

•  We began "trying" briefly after graduation in December of 2012
• In November of 2013, I decided it was time to see an OBGYN.
• After discussing my less than normal symptoms (usually experiencing between 36 to 105 day cycles among other symptoms) and sometimes multiple week menstual cycles, we came to the conclusion that it was very likely that I had PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome)  You can read more about PCOS here.
• In December of 2013, I began taking Progesterone to "regulate" my cycles.
• The good news?  I was having 28-34 days cycles.  The bad news?  6 months later and I still wasn't pregnant-you cant get pregnant if you are not ovulating.
• At this time I also tried acupuncture, which was interesting, but not something I could afford to continue at the time.
• The end of June, I went to see the OBGYN again.  After quite a bit of research, Sean and I, and the OB decided to have me start on 50mg of Clomid.  Good news?  No Side Effects.  (Which I was really anxious about)  Bad News?  It wasn't working.
• July came and we decided to double the dose to 100mg of Clomid.
• I also started using some "Clary Calm" essential oil used in cases of infertility to balance out hormones.
• This time, an additional sonogram later, we witnessed some progress.
• For the first time, not one, but two days of positive OVPK tests.  It seemed to be working this time...

...and this is where we are thus far...

It's funny how anxious you are when you are not ready to have a baby.  Every negative pregnancy test comes with a sigh of relief.  What's really awful is when you decide that you are ready, and for whatever reason, it's not quite in God's plan and things just refuse to fall into place as you'd hoped.  I've seen more negative pregnancy tests in the past couple years,  experienced frustration, quite a number of roller coaster periods (both physically and emotionally), and have shed quite a few tears.  My sweet Sean has been so patient and understanding and I'm so grateful for the positive attitudes and encouragement from my family.  We've kept quiet about it for quite a long time. 

Everything Happens for a Reason.  It's just frustrating when you don't know what that reason is...
For now, we remain optimistic and hopeful.  We pray for the blessing of a child everyday.  You never know what tomorrow might bring.

I began this blog further increase my "optimistic attitude."  I've always planned on journaling the progress of my pregnancy and I'm crossing my fingers that with the progress we've experienced recently, we'll soon have a happy healthy baby on the way!