Adventures

Today, we took advantage of the beautiful Spring weather with a hike with good friends and the doggies. We had every intention of hiking Smith Rock, a State Park, just a a few miles from home, but when we arrived the park was over crowded. Not only was it a perfect Spring day it was also the first weekend of Spring Break for the local schools! I am not a fan of huge crowds so we decided to turn around a head for Cline Butte; that way the three dogs could actually burn some energy off leash.

Hailey and I atop Cline Butte

I've purchased a few travel vouchers for some surrounding areas for the future. We are headed to Grants Pass to go wine tasting for Mike's birthday. We get a river view cabin for two nights, a bottle of wine, dinner, daily breakfast, and 13 vineyard vouchers! I hope we can make it to the southern coast, too if time allows. I know Mike wants to fish so I am sure we will be doing so of that somewhere as well; it is his birthday after all!

A view of a room

I also decided that we needed to try "luxury camping" so we will be taking a trip to Olympia, Washington sometime between now and the end of September to give it a whirl! I got two nights in an open air "safari style " tent; accommodated with a memory foam bed, microwave, fridge, candles, heater, and close to a bathroom and shower located in a State Park. We get 'smores, muffins and coffee included. I think it may be a great way to celebrate a 3 year wedding anniversary and a great time to meet Teresa from Not Pregnant and Pissed; wouldn't you think!?

Luxury Camping

The Safari Tent

Next, we need to plan a tropical trip; we just can't seem to decide where! Mike has narrowed it down to a Caribbean location- we just can't figure out which Caribbean location, yet. I am not a very seasoned traveler- or flyer- so I am not sure what the best option is for planning such a vacation. Do we use a travel agent? Expedia? Fly from multiple locations or try to fly as direct as possible? If anyone has any helpful info, I would LOVE to hear it!

What about you; do you have any travel plans this Spring or Summer?

*edit*
 Since the post- I had to cancel the "luxury camping" adventure. The resort was sold out during the week we wanted to go - we had to reserve a spot for 2015!

She's baaaaack!

It seems like forever since my last post! We just got back from our vacation in So Cal. We had so much fun even with the third wheel. Yep, that's right. AF showed up just as I was about the board the plane. No joke. I told Mike that I better go potty before we got on the plane because I won't use the one on the plane. As I wiped I was greeted with her blushed face. I guess she decided that a  42 day cycle was long enough and that she wanted to enjoy the beaches too.

We arrived in LA on Thursday morning, rented a car and drove to Vista to stay with Mike's grandparents. It has been a year and half since we have seen them and the visit was much needed. Grandpa has dementia and Grandma is in serious pain with her back. We spent 5 days with them and then we spent a couple nights with Mike's cousin. The trip was a perfect mix of family time as well as one on one time. 

We went into Oceanside a few times since it was only about 15 minutes from Grandma and Grandpa's house, then we drove down to San Diego, and to Palm Springs and then up to Anaheim to Disneyland (AF was gone by then)!! 

At first I was really scared to go to Disneyland since I am so scared of rides but it ended up being a blast! I wanted to ride the "scariest" rides over and over again! I loved Space Mountain and Splash Mountain...even though I did keep my eyes closed almost the entire time! We were sure beat after that; we got to Disneyland at 9:30am and we left at 12:30am. My feet paid the price for sure!

The weather was fantastic the whole time we were down there; a little really warm but, still fantastic! Meanwhile, in Oregon it rained the entire week we were gone. We definitely brought the warm, dry, weather back with us! This week it is in the 90's and by Tuesday it is suppose to get to 100! At least we are partly acclimated to it.

I am exhausted and I am so far behind on all of my blog reading; I have a lot of catching up to do!

I will leave you with some pictures of the trip-- everyone loves photos, right?

Mike's First Ever In-N-Out Burger

Family

Sunset  in Oceanside

Oceanside Pier

Oceanside Pier

My hubby smiling! He does that sometimes.

USS Midway- San Diego

San Diego- Bob Hope tribute

The Kissing Statue- San Diego

Miss Marilyn Monroe- Palm Springs

Laguna Beach

Beach Bums- Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach- Blue Steel

Toon Town- Disneyland

Disneyland

The Castle...

SO MUCH FUN!

Mike looks like he is pretending to yell- but he wasn't!

Ready. Set. Sit It Out.

Yesterday I would have started my 7th round of Femara but instead we are on sort of a break. It is sort of bittersweet for me. I know we need this break for many reasons but trying without the help of western medicine seems weird. Instead, we are going to continue to try naturally. That is, if I even ovulate or have a period again. Every time we stop treatments, including birth control, my cycles go haywire. My cycles go from 30 days to sometimes 53 days (or longer)! It is ridiculous! Then, when I call the RE with concern, they request a P4 check and it always shows some sort of ovulation, so I am forced to continue to wait it out. As if I haven't waited long enough! I swear, it is Murphy's law. Stupid Murphy.

I don't even know what cycle to call this now. Do I count from the time we started "trying" or from the time we met with the RE? Either way we are looking at over three years and four months of negative cycles. That seriously blows! Who knew that I should have won the "least likely to be a mom" award? Growing up, some parents thought I was a bad influence on their girls. I was a little boy crazy, and maybe a little sneaky, so they all thought I was going to end up pregnant at 16. HA! Little did they know that I wouldn't even be able to get pregnant at 31! If they only knew then, what I know now, I might have been able to continue some friendships; that is a whole different subject.

So, here we are, about to take on infertility by ourselves.  I know that it is pretty unlikely that we will achieve pregnancy with out the help of our doctors, but, stranger things have happened. To be honest, I am looking forward to a normal, spontaneous, sex life with my man. I mean, semi spontaneous. I will still use OPKs and I will continue to temp; because I am neurotic like that, but I have a feeling it will be more enjoyable knowing that we are not "invested" in it financially. These next cycles will be inspired by pure, raw, emotion, and desire; something I hope we still have!

We leave for Southern California in one month and I am so excited! A week of doing nothing but hanging out, lounging on the beach, eating, drinking, and whatever the heck else we want to do, sounds like a freaking great time, a much needed time! Mike deserves a break. He works so hard to give us all the things we want and need. He deserves more than just a week off. It is not enough, but it will have to do.

I hope that you don’t leave me while we take a break from fertility treatments. I promise that not all of my posts will be “life posts”. I will continue to write about my infertility journey, I will continue to purge my thoughts regarding this bitch of a battle, because we all know that our minds are consumed with IF, all day, every day, no matter where we are in the journey on the roller coaster. What you won't get from me are posts updating you with lab results, or ultrasounds or doctor's visits, but, I will post my OPKs! I need you to be just as confused with them as I am! Misery does love company!