Utah's Hogle Zoo

Going to the zoo was always a favorite of mine as a kid. My first job actually was at Hogle Zoo at age fifteen. I worked in the concessions and pretty much hated the job except I loved watching the animals on my break and lunch. I worked there for two summers and hadn't been back since. Fortunately they have done some upgrading in the twenty years since but it was pretty much the same zoo as I remembered. We went with the whole family and my two great friends and their kids. Big crowd but we had a lot of fun!

This is the same train they had when I was a kid. Durable little thing! They had these lion drinking fountains there when I was a kid:
Brenden wasn't so sure about the carousel:The whole gang.. I couldn't believe we got this shot of everyone!

Grandkids!

It's been great to have all the grandchildren together for the weekend. The weather was stubborn for a day or two but has since been absolutely beautiful! Here are some pictures of us enjoying my Mom's beautiful garden: Always a little helper...um can you believe my Mom is 68.. Yeah she is built unbelievably:

Having fun with water where ever he is:

Brenden trying to brandish a plastic sword at cousin Dan:

Brenden, Lauren and Melissa:

Dan and Lindsey:

My parents 50th wedding anniversary weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah

My parents have been married for 50 years as of June 5th. They wanted to do something special that included family and close friends. This last weekend we had a nice garden cocktail party and also a family dinner. Very nice to be able to have all four grandchildren together at the same time. Something that hadn't happened yet. I would have loved to have Dave with me but the Marine Corps wasn't going to let that happen. It was great to see not only my parents close friends that I have known my whole life but my friends Kat and Erica. Very nice indeed.

The Fillerup-Roque visit to Cherry Point.

I am so lucky to have such great friendships with a few choice ladies. One of them being my longtime friend Beth who just came out to North Carolina with her husband Dominic and son Aidan to visit us. What a treat to have them here for a few days of sun, fun, water and good food and drink. It was totally awesome! Why is it that someone hasn't invented a machine to make time stand still? Gee I could have used that to make their stay here last longer....

Boat! Boat! is one of Brenden's first words: Brenden's new thing is playing with sticks in the sand: This little turtle was crossing the road:
The gang at the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium: Crabbin' around:Aidan looking at the big jet from Dave's squadron:Dominic chillin' with the Harrier jets:
Pool party!Who needs any more than sandals and a hat? It was a fabulous Father's Day 2009:

It's summer time - let's go!

I know one is supposed to follow the rule of thumb that says baby pictures at birth, three months, six months, nine months, so on and so forth. Dave and I love Brenden to pieces but haven't exactly followed said rule of thumb. In fact we had three week pictures done and then eight month pictures done. Maybe a move across the USA didn't help matters but does that make us bad parents, nah.. just realistic. Maybe I get caught up in taking pictures on a daily basis that are candid and not posed but I make myself do these staged photos because I don't want to be labeled a "bad Mom". Anyhow here are Brenden's, er.. thirteen month pictures (well actually taken one day under the thirteen mark so I can actually check the box that says twelve month pics).

Now don't be surprised if I don't have the obligatory eighteen month pictures taken. Besides I think I take enough of us on my own and dare I say better ones???

Parental Unit visit

My Mom had been to see us when we moved to Cherry Point but my Dad hadn't gotten a chance to come until a few weeks ago (see previous blog entry). It was great to have them both here and for them to see Brenden at his current, er..very active stage of development. I took them to Fort Macon, The Aquarium and to Tryon Palace in New Bern where we also saw some other Civil War sites. I am going to go back to Salt Lake City, Utah in less than three weeks to attend their 50th wedding anniversary cocktail party and dinner. Such a tremendous feat to celebrate a milestone like being married for 50 years! The downside is that Dave won't be able to come with me. To boot, he will be gone for five weeks after that for jet training in Yuma. I have gotten spoiled with having him around and being such an active Dad. That time has come to a hault I am afraid with all of his training now moving into high gear. I guess we can't have it all - all the time!

Here are some pictures of my parent's visit - it was a great time!

Tryon Palace Gardens. So beautiful this time of year:
Tryon Palace Gardens:
Aviation exhibit in Havelock:
Fort Macon:

The Cuteness at 12 months old.. thinking he is king of the world...

The last month...

.... we have had a lot going on and now it is quiet again so I can take time out to breathe and catch up or rather for you to....

I went to Washington D.C. for two weeks to start IVF #4 last month at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Thankfully Dave's Mom had said she could come out to N.C. for the two weeks I was gone to take care of Brenden while Dave was working. The coordination of the trip and caring for baby was not an easy task. Fortunately my friends Marilet and Perry let me stay with them in Quantico, VA (which made the trip into D.C. an hour) which was very sweet of them. Unfortunately the day after I got there, I got into a car accident and my car was hauled off for two weeks in the body shop. No one got hurt which was fortunate but it made an already stressful situation worse. Not a good way to start off. Marilet was sweet enough to let me use her car and again made my life easier. Thank God for good friends!

When Dave, Shirley and Brenden did make it up there for the final week of the process, we had a few days to sight see and to try to take our minds off of the emotional and physical roller coaster known as in vitro fertilization. It's a necessary evil in our lives and for those of you out there that don't ever have to go through it, consider yourselves very fortunate. It's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. That said, when it works -the outcome is more than worth it (for us that would be after two failed IVF's and having success with IVF #3) so we wanted to try it again.

This time around I had a chemical pregnancy which means I had a small enough level of HCG to test positive but the levels didn't double on the second test and thus.. nada.... We did have one embryo that made it to day 6 blastocyst stage and thus could be frozen so we will try again in a few months but for now we are going to enjoy the summer with Brenden and pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. Trying to have a 'glass is half full' attitude. It turns out that gets harder and harder to do after these cycles. I do appreciate all of my friends and family's well wishes and pep talks. They really do help!

On a lighter note, not only did Shirley get to spend two weeks of time with Brenden but my parents also came out to help us for a week and a half so there was some very good family time spent together which was awesome. I also saw a lot of interesting things on my trip like George Washington's Mt. Vernon as well as many Civil War related buildings, cemeteries, historic sites. I took hundreds of photographs and it's hard to choose the best ones for the blog but here goes:

Mt. Vernon:

Marilet and 4 month old Ava. She is the sweetest baby and helped me curb my missing Brenden so much!

Shirley, Dave and Brenden touring the National Air and Space Museum: He was fascinated with the museums and pointed at most big items:

The front of the Jefferson Memorial:Washington Monument as seen from the Jefferson Memorial: