A Few Favorites

I thought I would share a few things I am loving right now. 

They are a little random!

Urban Decay Naked Palette

{Source}

I cannot say enough about this. I don't know how I lived without it for so long.

All of the colors are great, amazing pigment, and blend beautifully.

You can create so many different looks, just with this one palette.

And the Eyeshadow Primer Potion it comes with, rocks my world! 

I'm dying to get the Naked Palette II

Garnier BB Cream

{Source}

This stuff feels amazing on.

It is so light, goes on easy and really does hydrate.

I've always had insanely dry skin, and since I started using this 

I don't have to apply moisturizer 10x's every morning. 

Coconut Oil

{Source}

I've recently learned of the millions of benefits of coconut oil.

Is there anything this stuff cannot do? I don't think so.

I found a giant tub at Costco for only $16.00, which is a crazy good deal.

So far I have used it for: DIY vapor rub, lotion, in my smoothies. 

I have many, many more plans for it. 

If you don't know of the benefits, do some research,

this stuff is amazing.

Essential Oils

{Source}

Along with the coconut oil research, I've been reading a lot about essential oils.

I'm slowly building my stash. Very slowly.

There are so many EO's out there, and it's a little overwhelming. 

So far I have Clary Sage, Peppermint and Eucalyptus. 

The Clary Sage is supposed to be good for fertility.

I've used them with the coconut oil topically, and also inhaling them. 

I also bought espom salt, threw it in a bowl with peppermint and eucalyptus EO's,

mixed them up and have my own relaxing bath salts. 

 

Cali/Callie

Wow. I'm a really terrible blogger. 

Let's do some catching up. 

The first weekend of February I flew home to Cali

to spend the weekend with my family and attend the girls 3rd birthday!

{The birthday girls. Kim, I straight up stole this pic!}

I cannot believe they are 3 years old!

As usual, Kim did an incredible job of their party. 

I really have NO idea where she finds the time to do all that she does.

The girls had this bounce house, and to the right was a slide.

Miss Sophia asked me to go down with her, the key was I had to carry her

up the inflatable stairs. Those bad boys are not meant for an adult. 

Let alone an adult trying to carry a 3 year old! 

It was a workout. Especially since we did this no less than 25 times.

I feel so blessed that I have been able to fly home

the last 2 years to attend their birthday. Wouldn't miss it for the world.

It was a really, really quick trip. It felt like it was non-stop chaos.

It was so great spending time with my parents and sister.

I miss them all terribly, but I am grateful for the time I had with them. 

 I am already counting down to our next trip back in June for my 30th birthday.

{No trip is complete without going to a winery and enjoying Sangria}

{My dear dad}

Saturday morning I woke up to find Callie not her usual self.

She had a really hard time standing up, let alone walking.

I took her to the vet and he thought she had sprained her knee.

Gave her pain meds and sent us home. 

Last night I was petting her and noticed a very large bulge on her hip of the same leg.

She did not like it being touched. 

When I woke up this morning I noticed blood on our bathroom floor. 

She had licked her hip raw and was bleeding. 

I had to work today so Travis took her to the vet this morning.

Turns out she doesn't have a sprained knee, 

she actually has an abscess that had ruptured and was infected. 

My poor girl. The vet said she was in a lot of pain, but handling it like a champ!

They had to drain her leg, which is very painful. 

But she is now back home resting and on antibiotics. 

No idea how she got the wound in the first place, one vet

thinks she was bitten, his wife thinks she laid down on a nail in the yard. 

(We don't have nails just laying around the yard, but live near lots of construction)

I'm hoping she is back to her usual, insane self quickly.

 

{My sweet girl lounging}

Perspective

We have been living here in Texas for almost a year and a half now.

I have to say, I really do love the people here. 

We have made some amazing, life long friends. 

We have added two wonderful dogs to our family.

Travis finally got a much deserved promotion. 

Texas has been great to us. 

And I can't wait to leave!

Living here, away from family has really put a lot of things into perspective for me.

I always knew I was close with my family, but never

truly realized how much I would miss them until we moved. 

A big part of moving here was because it was that dream that we would be

better off financially, and be able to "live the dream". 

The idea was we would be able to afford for me to stay home once 

we had kids, and be able to purchase a house, and fly home 

when I needed to see my family and friends. 

But that's how it works, it's always "supposed" to be a certain way. 

I can tell you, it hasn't been a single one of those things. 

But what moving here has given me is time to think about what is really 

important to me. What do I REALLY want?

What I really want, isn't a beautiful big house, it is a comfortable

place to call home within driving distance of my sister and parents. 

And if having to work after having kids is what has to happen, so be it. 

I grew up living very close to my grandparents, and seeing them all the time.

I always dreamed of having the same thing for my children one day.

That simply isn't going to happen living this far away.

I want my kids to grow up near their cousins and my friends kids. 

I want to be around when my first niece or nephew is born. 

Or when something exciting happens, to be close enough to celebrate.

I want to be able to meet Kim for margaritas and happy hour on Friday evenings,

and spend a few hours with the girls more than twice a year.

I want to be able to sit with my parents in their backyard chatting the afternoon away.

I want to take the dogs to the beach! 

I have realized those are the things that mean the most to me.

And those things are all back in California,

where I long to be. 

I will never look back on this decision to move to Texas as a mistake. 

It has shown me what I want and what is important. 

Sometimes you just need a change of scenery to make you realize

everything you ever wanted was right there in front of you all along. 

And while life there wasn't what you hoped and dreamed it would be,

it was actually much better. 

Hoping and praying we will be back in California by the end of 2013!

Love Light Session

Damn, I'm really bad at keeping up with things. 

For instance, our Christmas cards are still sitting on my desk,

addressed and ready to go...yet there they sit.

So it's really no surprise I never posted the pictures

from our Love Light Session with the amazing Lyndsay at Life In Motion Photography.

These were taken last August. Like I said, I'm on top of things.

I really cannot say enough about Lyndsay. 

She is incredible. 

This session was only a mini session, and I had the hardest time 

deciding which 5 photo's to chose. 

I can only imagine what a full session with her is like. 

Should I ever get pregnant, I'm driving my happy ass back to Austin

to have her do our maternity photo's. 

 

A Change of Heart

I haven't written about our infertility journey for a while. 

Back in September we met with our RE to discuss IVF.

After that meeting we decided to move forward with IVF as our next option.

Our plan was to start in December. 

But, that was going to be a little more difficult than just waiting for the day to come.

Our ART's department was going to be closed the last two weeks of December/

early January. My RE was going on vacation until Jan. 5th. 

My cycle would have had to start no earlier than Dec. 23rd, no problem 

as I was "supposed" to start Dec. 25th, and I'm nearly always "late".

As the start dates got closer, I was not comfortable with our decision.

I had a lot of doubt and spent a lot of time second guessing this choice.

I in no way felt IVF was wrong, but just wrong for us at this moment. 

Don't get me wrong, I want to be pregnant more than anything, 

but starting IVF right now just didn't feel right. Something was telling me no. 

I talked to Travis about it, and he agreed if it didn't feel 120% confident

we shouldn't be doing it right now. 

The day after we had this conversation my cycle started. 

December 19th.

The decision was made for us, we wouldn't be doing IVF this cycle even if 

we had wanted to. 

Maybe that was God's way of protecting me from being upset having 

to "cancel" our treatment. 

As for now, I'm working on getting my body healthy.

I'm working on eating healthier and working out. 

For now, we have put off IVF until June. 

We are discussing adoption, but at this moment it is nothing

more than a discussion. 

I'm praying for a miracle in the next six months. 

But if it doesn't happen, I know in my heart that one day, somehow

we will be parents.

December

This post is going to sum up the entire month of December. 

Don't worry, it won't be as long as it sounds.

Here is how our month went...

I did some Christmas crafting.

Glittered Canvas

  

Wreath on the front door

Callie had her pictures taken with Santa Paws at the 

daycare we send her to. It was free for all the pets and they sent 

me 7 pictures from her photo shoot!

This was the best picture.

She looks like she is having the time of her life!

 

 

Meet Hershey, the newest addition to our family. 

 

Travis has always wanted a chocolate lab, so she was his Christmas gift.

We adopted her from a military family who is moving and wasn't able to take her.

She is the sweetest dog ever. 

It took Callie a little while to warm up to her, but now they are BFF's.

 

We hosted our first Christmas at our place. 

Travis' parents, sister and Grandmother came over.

The highlight of the day for me was that it snowed!

I have NEVER had a white Christmas, hell, I don't remember 

the last time it rained on Christmas. 

Everything was so beautiful covered in snow. 

And the dogs loved it. 

 

 

This past weekend we celebrated Travis' 30th birthday.

We didn't do much. He hates his birthday. 

But I took him out for a day of all his favorite things:

breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, a trip to Bass Pro, a movie 

and lunch at Hard Eight BBQ. 

The day after we got to enjoy a relaxing day together and have lunch with

our good friends. It was so nice to have two relaxing days off with him.

Beer and a movie in a huge leather recliner...the only way to see a movie

  

The "menu" at Hard 8

 And now we are sitting in our pj's, watching House Hunters and waiting to ring in 2013.

Happy New Year friends!