Mom, Brooke, Brittany, & I drove up to San Diego for a girls weekend to go wedding dress shopping with Ally! We left Friday morning at 5:30am! So early, but it was nice to get there by lunch time! We picked up Con Pane & met Ally at the beach for lunch! It was a little rainy at the beach but still fun to walk down on the sand & visit with Ally! Then Ally had to work, but the rest of us drove to La Jolla Cove to see the seals & walk along the coast. Then we checked into our hotel & got ready for dinner. We met Ally & Zach at a place called La Puesta that they kept insisting Nate recommended. You had to have an ID to show you were 21 to get in & Britt didn't so we were all nervous they wouldn't let us in. Luckily when we all insisted we were over 21 & don't even drink, they let us in. The food was really good, mom & I shared the best carne asada fries. It was really noisy & kind of a college type crowd though & we kept saying, "I can't believe Nate would recommend this!" Later I asked him & he had no idea what that place was so someone else must have recommended it to them, haha! After dinner, we walked over to Extraordinary Desserts. The walk over was a little sketchy, we walked by the prison, which weirdly enough was downtown. Brooke said something about the people being freaky really loudly & then realized there were people on a bus bench right next to us, we quickly walked passed them! We split a few desserts & then headed back to the hotel.





On Saturday we met Ally & Zach at d-street beach & it was such a perfect beach day! The weather was perfect & it felt so nice to relax on the beach. After a few hours we walked to a sandwich place for lunch & then got ready to go wedding dress shopping with Ally! First, she tried on an old homecoming dress that my mom had that she might want to wear for her wedding dress. It was a dress that my mom's mom (Grandma Darlene) helped her pick out. Then we went to a place called White Flower that is just like the show "Say Yes to the Dress". It's a place that I went dress shopping with my mom, mother-in-law, & Ally! You have to make an appointment & then they have a place just for you & your family to sit. You pick out the dresses you want from some amazing dresses & then someone helps you change into them. They give the people you come with drinks & cookies It was so fun to go there with Ally & she looked sooo pretty in all of the dresses. There were 2 that we all liked. When we left, we were all expecting that she would say she wanted to buy a dress, but she said that trying on all the dresses actually made her realize that she wanted to wear the dress from my mom because it felt more like her. It did fit her perfect & she will look so pretty as a bride! Next, we went shopping at Fashion Valley mall & I found a really cute dress at Anthropologie! Then we went to dinner at a really good Indian place. Zach met us there & me & Brittany asked him some questions & video taped his answers for Ally's bridal shower. The funniest thing was that Brittany was asking the funniest questions that were so vague. She asked him, "So, how do you do certain things? Like fold towels & put the dishes in?" Hahaha! After dinner we crashed at the hotel & then we headed back to AZ in the morning. Another funny thing about the trip was that we each took turns driving & we all had little freak out moments (except Brooke). Brittany got all stressed when she was driving & said she couldn't drive with all the ooing & ahhing when we got stressed she was going to hit a pedestrian. I got stressed when Britt told me to take a freeway after I'd already passed it & then the GPS wouldn't work. Then mom kept saying to go left when the gps would show right. Haha, good times! We made it back alive & had such a fun time visiting with Ally, doing wedding plans, & also relaxing at the beach & eating lots of good food!!! I'm so thankful for my family & that we all have so much fun together! We missed Melissa but it will be so fun to all be together in a few months for the wedding!!!

Nate & I went to St. George to visit Melissa, Sam, Jenna, & Andy for fall break. Brooke came up a day later with Rhett, Ethan, & Kade. We had such a fun trip & it is finally starting to feel like Fall!!! On our first day there we went to a park, went hiking around the red rocks, & went to the Stahley Pumpkin Patch that we go to every year. They had a corn maze, lots of games, animals, slides, pig races, & lots of pumpkins. It was really fun & is one of my favorite fall traditions! Then Sam made us his famous pizza & we played games & had pizzookies. Such a fun day!


Jenna put Nate in jail & tied a bell on him so she could tell when he escaped!

Note to self, don't sit next to Nate when playing a game!

After hiking through the crack with Jenna!

Nate sure loves that corn slide!







On Tuesday we walked to the duck park. It was perfect weather to be outside walking & a good break from the AZ heat! We went to a volcano park that is the most amazing children's park ever. It has a volcano that really erupts every hour, a train that goes around the park, & a waterfall. Then we had lunch at Cafe Rio & then drove up to Cedar City to see the fall leaves in the canyon. Most of the leaves had already fallen but we still saw some really pretty orange, red, & yellow leaves & the drive through the canyon is always soooo pretty! We drove up to the children's pond & spent time walking around the pond, fishing (Ethan caught 3 fish with a Moana fishing rod!), racing around the pond (Brooke & I were dying after, I thought my throat/lungs had something wrong with them!), & drinking hot chocolate. Then we went to a cute little pizza place & had pizza & gelato.



Wednesday we went to another park, St. George has the best parks for kids! Then the boys watched Jenna & Andy & Brooke, Melissa, & I went out to lunch at Painted Pony & shopping. It was really fun to have a girls day together! We stopped at Wingers at Nate's request (Nate & Ethan tied for most wings- 12, last time Nate & Sam both ate like 25 & the waitress was a little shocked & said it was the most anyone had eaten, haha!). Then we headed back to AZ. It was such a fun trip & so nice to get time to visit with Melissa & play with Jenna & Andy!

A week ago I had my surgery. Luckily, the week before the surgery was busy & I didn't have much time to worry. I did get in a huge cleaning frenzy the night before though & made Nate help me with cleaning the entire house. I vacuumed the whole house, steam cleaned all the tile, washed all of the laundry & sheets, cleaned the kitchen, & had Nate clean the bathrooms & showers. I love being in a clean house & knew that if I was going to be home all week I wanted everything to be super clean. We went to bed Wednesday night & then got up early Thursday to get ready & drive down to the hospital. We were supposed to get there at 9:00 am which was perfect because I just wanted to get everything done with & not have to worry about anything.

We got to the hospital & checked in. Then I was quickly taken into a room to get ready for the surgery. There were 4 different nurses in the room & they were all so nice & friendly. They had me do a urine sample to take a pregnancy test- negative of course, change into a gown & socks, take my wedding ring off (one of the nurses helped me because I could not get it off!), put these sticky pads on my tailbone & feet, & then as one nurse was asking me questions, another nurse did the IV. That was what I was most nervous for, but it was actually not too bad because the other nurse was asking me questions & so many things were going on that it was easy to not focus on the IV.

Then Nate was allowed to come back so he sat by me & we watched Fixer Upper & he tried to make me not nervous by rolling all around the room on a chair & making me laugh. I am so thankful to always have him by my side. The nurses had said it might be up to 2 hours before I went in for the surgery because Dr. Magrina was working on another surgery. Right after they said that though, Dr. Magrina & another doctor came in & he said he had just finished. He asked us if we had any questions & we asked him a few questions that we had written down. He is such a nice doctor & answered all of our questions & made us laugh. He introduced the other doctor with him, Dr. Wasson, who would be helping with the surgery as well & would do our follow up. Then the anesthesiologist came in & talked to us a little & then a PA came in & talked to us.

Then they asked if I would like something to make me relax for before the surgery. I said yes so quickly!!! They gave me something to relax, then I said bye to Nate, & then they wheeled my down the hall. It felt kind of surreal being pushed down a hospital lying on a bed, going into surgery. Then I was in the room & there were these huge, odd shaped lights up on the ceiling & lots of people. They helped switch me onto the bed & halfway through that is all I remember. I don't remember being on the bed all the way, so I must have just fell asleep even before getting the anesthesia. I guess I respond very quickly to relaxant medicine, haha!!

The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room & having a nurse bring me shortbread cookies & water. She told me they would get my husband & then 15 minutes later Nate was there (he had given blood while he was waiting & then went to get my medicine from the hospital pharmacy). We we were joking before that he could just spend the whole day at the hospital because they had all these signs for yoga, martial arts, & other classes that he kept saying he would need to go to. I rested for about an hour & then got dressed & then someone pushed me in a wheelchair down to the car.

​I felt a little out of it, but pretty good & Nate was starving, so we wend to Midici to get pizza & I had a little salad. Then we headed home! I am so thankful for all of the wonderful staff at the Mayo Clinic, they were amazing & I felt like the care there was great! Dr. Magrina had come out to talk to Nate & told him that the surgery went very well. They were able to remove the septum completely & also checked out my uterus, cervix, & fallopian tubes (which were not blocked from the outside). They said that they think that we should be able to get pregnant without fertility treatments which would be soooo amazing! Even if we could get pregnant by IUI that would be amazing as well!

I just keep thinking how amazing it would be if I could be pregnant by Christmas this year! I remember the past 3 Christmas' wishing that so badly. Or thinking how wonderful it would be to have a baby by the next Christmas. I remember driving home from an appointment with my fertility doctor, getting ready for an IUI & hearing the song, Noel, as I was driving home. I had thought that was such a pretty name & thought, what if it's a sign that we will get pregnant this IUI & be pregnant by Christmas. Sadly, the IUI was unsuccessful & we were so sad & disappointed. 3 1/2 years later & I have still never been pregnant but I am hoping for a Christmas miracle this year! I will never give up hope!