Spring has definitely sprung! Brian is back to working on Saturdays. He survived Friday's lay-off by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin! He was actually told that he was being laid off, but there wasn't a check waiting for him and he wasn't on the list. So, we are thankful that he is still working!

I took advantage of having a Saturday by myself. I did a bunch of Spring cleaning that needed to be done and then I decided to see what I could find at Home Depot. I've been wanting to plant something in the driveway planter, but haven't been able to decide on what. I knew that it needed to be drought resistant and colorful. When I saw the Sweet Broom plants, I knew they were they ones! So, I planted and mulched to my hearts content!

The garden is doing well. I've only had one causality so far. My red bell pepper plant bit the dust. I have herbs (basil, rosemary, chives, parsley, cilantro, and thyme), 4 tomato plants, a jalapeno pepper, a green bell pepper, radishes (from seed) and lettuce. I planted a bunch of flower seeds and they are just beginning to sprout.

Did you know the average household throws away 200 pounds of food scraps per year? That's a lot of scraps! I've been wanting to start a compost pile for awhile now. But, since Belle hangs out in the backyard, it had to be somehow contained so she wouldn't forage in it. I was perusing one of my favorite blogs and came across directions on how to make a compost container out of a Rubbermaid tub. Check is out here . I'm looking forward to reducing waste and never (hopefully) having to haul home potting soil again!

"In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt" Margaret Atwood

Murphy's Get-Away

We celebrated Brian's birthday by going up to Murphy's in the Gold Country last weekend. It was a much needed get-away for us both. There isn't much to do in the town of Murphy's, but they do have a very cute downtown area with shops, wineries, and art galleries. We enjoyed browsing thru the shops, checked out a couple of the wineries, and enjoyed people watching. We enjoyed a great dinner and a bottle of wine at the Murphy's Grill in the evening.

The next day, we had breakfast and checked out the VW show at Murphy's Park. We then decided to drive up to Calavaras Big Trees State Park. We were surprised to find as much snow on the ground as we did. We had yet to make it to the snow this year, so we were excited to see snow. We hiked for a bit and enjoyed the sunshine and the beauty of the park. If you have never been there, I highly recommend it.....it's beautiful.

Perfect Weekend

What a great weekend! On Saturday, my friend Heather came down for a visit. We indulged in lunch and some retail therapy. It felt really good to be out and about with all the sunshine! We checked out Orchard Nursery in Lafayette and I picked up some plants for the garden.

Today, Brian and I were the "boring married couple". We took Belle for a long walk. Brian washed both cars and I mowed the "lawn". Then, I finally got to plant some plants in the garden. I decided, since the danger of frost was mostly over, that this was the "planting weekend". I planted cilantro, Italian parsley, thyme, rosemary, chives, 2 different kinds of leaf lettuce. and 4 different kinds of tomatoes (early girl, roma, roma grape, and yellow boy). Yes..can you believe I (queen tomato hater) planted 4 tomato plants?!?! But, I love cooking with tomatoes. I'm hoping that I have enough to make my own salsa and pasta sauce this summer. YUMMY!

Lettuce and herbs...We still need to get more mulch to put down on the path....But I think it's going to look good!

Tomato plants...I want to get some bell and jalapeno pepper plant...maybe some beans too! I just can't decide!

Brian is putting the finishing touches on our new umbrella. We put out the new umbrella and pillows. We can't wait to BBQ!

You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~Author Unknown

Coming Out

The longer that Brian and I are married, the more questions we get about when we are going to start a family. It’s a very natural question. I have wanted to be a mom ever since I can remember and it’s a fact that I have been very open about. Many of you know that Brian and I have been trying to create a 2-legged sibling for Belle for a while now, but some of you don’t. So, we wanted to share our journey with you.

We have been trying since October of 2007. We were overjoyed when we found out we were pregnant in May of 2008, but our world came crashing down on Father’s Day when we lost our precious baby. This past December, we decided to pursue infertility testing with a reproductive endocrinologist (RE). Our results didn’t deliver us the greatest of news. Our RE recommended that we proceed with a medicated IUI (intra-uterine insemination). So, today we started our first medicated cycle.

It’s definitely an interesting time to be pursuing fertility treatments to have a baby. The world has had a lot of exposure to products of infertility treatment recently. Everyone seems to be familiar with John and Kate + 8 thanks to the TV show and surrounding publicity. Kate used IUI to conceive both of her pregnancies. Our RE was very specific in terms of how we will avoid multiple births. She will do weekly ultrasounds throughout my cycle to track the development of the follicles that will eventually turn into mature eggs. Just prior to insemination, another ultrasound is done to see how many mature follicles there are. If there are 4 or more--she cancels the cycle. If there are less than 3, we choose if we want to go ahead. (The chances of 2 or 3 eggs being fertilized and actually implanting are not really all that good).

Infertility isn't fair, and it's expensive and painful and extremely difficult. Brian and I so desperately want to be parents. Our child may come naturally, or with medical intervention, or possibly through adoption, I don't know. But what I do know is that when we have them, we will love them so much more deeply because of this whole mess. All of the fears, worries, pain and unanswered questions will fade away, and all that will matter is the precious life that we created. There have been so many "whys" in this journey: "why us?" "Why aren't we pregnant?", "why isn't this working...we're doing everything right?” I think, even with all the angst, we both feel somewhat relieved that we finally know the reason why and we are ready to take this next step.
As we go thru our treatment cycles, we will keep you posted with as many details as we are comfortable with. Please know that we both welcome your prayers and support. Feel free to ask us questions, but please respect that some days are better than others and some days we just don’t feel like talking about our infertility. We have found a great support from an organization called Resolve. They have a very educational website. Check it out: http://www.resolve.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lrn_ffaf_hcih

Character cannot be developed in peace and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved." - Helen Keller