Lincoln with the Canis' and Phillips'

I've been meaning to post this for almost 2 months now. It has been very busy around here! In between Christmas and New Year's, TJ and I spent some time in Lincoln, NM with our friends Jon and Michele, their boys, Michele's parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew. We had the best time!! Lincoln is outside of Ruidoso and is so pretty! Michele's mom and dad bought and old school house in Lincoln and remodeled it and it is amazing! We spent some time there a couple of summers ago and loved it. It was so neat being able to spend time during the winter there. They also have some land outside of town and built a "barn" which is beautiful! We went sledding one day. That was fun. I hadn't ever been. Then we spent some time at the barn and had a snow ball fight. We went in to Ruidoso to eat some yummy pizza! The last day there, we rode four wheelers up in the Capitan's. The view was gorgeous! We had so much fun just hanging out, eating and playing cards. It was a nice time for TJ and I to just get away and what great company we were with! Below are some pictures we took.

The Schoolhouse

Walking from the Schoolhouse to the Barn in the snow! It was great!!

The "Barn". I told you it was beautiful!

Gearing up for the snowball fight.

TJ prepping...

The view through the gate at the Barn.

I thought these windows were so pretty.

Merry Christmas (early)!

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family early this year. We had a great time! Everyone came to our house, except for Tony and Eric. They had to work and were missed! We ate, unwrapped gifts and played Chinese Christmas. It was a lot of fun! The boys played outside most of the day, it was a beautiful day! The neighborhood boys had fun playing with them as well.

We celebrated Christmas with the McClure's this year. It was so much fun! I'll post with pictures and details later.

Riley

Coltyn

Ryan, Mel and Twylah

Anthony

Ryan, Mel, Twylah and Lacretia

We also were able to meet Megan's boyfriend, Terry. He was a trooper hanging out with our loud, crazy family! :) He's very nice and we were glad to meet him!

Mark

Mel, Lacretia, Steph, Meg, Twylah, and Mom

Justin, Lacretia, Coltyn and Anthony

Steph and TJ

McClure Christmas

Christmas, this year, was spent at the McClure's. We had the best time eating, visiting, watching movies and of course, playing with Thayne! He is a blast!! TJ and I left Midland on Christmas Eve. It was so cold and had snowed earlier that morning. Jeremy, Allison and Thayne drove in from Amarillo. It took them 4 hours to get from Amarillo to Lubbock. Needless to say, it wasn't an easy trip for them. We were glad to see them pull up! TJ's grandparents got in later that evening. We ate and visited for a while. Of course Santa had come when we woke up Christmas morning. Once Thayne realized this, he had a blast playing with his gifts. We did too! :) We had a nice relaxing day enjoying each other's company and opening presents.

Santa visited Thayne!

He liked his work bench!

What a cutie!

Granny opening gifts.

TJ and Jeremy got John a guided fishing trip for 3 for his 50th birthday. John, his dad and brother went. He's commented before on the boys going with them. So, TJ got his dad, Jeremy, his PaPa, his uncle, and himself a guided fishing trip to be taken when the weather warms up. They are all excited about it. They will have to do it again when Thayne gets older!

John and Jeremy opening their fishing trip gifts.

PaPa opening his fishing trip gift.

TJ watching them open their gifts.

Debbie watching Thayne open a gift. Isn't she so pretty!!

TJ opening some tool I got him.

Thayne loves to be read to. It warms this Aunt, who teaches, heart! He got several books and wanted them read to him. He loves Elmo!!

Christmas was wonderful! We are so blessed with great lives, a wonderful family and fantastic friends. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out and visiting. Twylah and Mel came in to visit and we shopped a little on Saturday. That was fun! TJ's grandparents went back Saturday and his uncle came in Saturday. We don't get to see him very often so it was nice being able to spend time with him. We all left Sunday. TJ and I made it to Midland long enough to unpack, repack and head off to Lincoln, New Mexico. I'll post more about that later.

It's been a while...

since my last post! Not a lot has been going on. The end of August we started school. I'm teaching Reading, Writing and Social Studies in 4th grade and have 2 great classes! I love it!

I celebrated my 32nd birthday in October and my sweet husband took me to Cibolo Creek Resort, south of Marfa, to celebrate. This is the 2nd year we've gone there for my birthday and I absolutely love it! It is a gorgeous place and so relaxing! My in-laws went with us which made it more special. We went 4 wheeling around the beautiful ranch. It was a lot of fun until my mother in law went down the side of a mountain on her ATV. She hit a rock and down the side she went. She drove her ATV like a pro though and thankfully she wasn't hurt! It scared us all to death though! She got back on and continued the ride. The food at the resort was amazing! Dining was family style and we met many interesting people. One being an author, Leila Meacham, from San Antonio. She's written a book, Roses, that will be out in January. I've already ordered mine from Amazon and can't wait to read it! The rest of the weekend we just relaxed. It was so nice!

My birthday was a big celebration this year! The Friday before a group of friends took me to dinner. TJ was in Houston and was missed! Then that Saturday, Twylah, Melonie and Ryan came in for lunch and some shopping. We had so much fun!

In November, the Melbourne's, Terra and Josh came in. We took the kids out to Fiddlestick Farms for some fall fun. They had a blast and so did the adults! :) It was fun being around their kids and being able to visit! Then we headed back to our house for some pizza and more visiting time. The kids had fun picking up leaves and acorns. After they left, TJ asked me where the bags of leaves and acorns went, we were going to throw them away. They ended up going home to Snyder! I thought that was too funny!! I can't wait until the next time we all get together. Hopefully it will be soon!

We went to Thanksgiving in Ozona this year and had a great time visiting with everyone! I actually didn't take pictures this time. We were too busy catching up! I will make up for that at Christmas. :) We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

We have the house decorated for Christmas and have most of the gifts bought and wrapped! Actually, I better wrap this up so that I can get out and finish our shopping. Then we're off to two Christmas parties tonight. I'm looking forward to them!

Baby making update: After my HSG test, the doctor wanted to track my ovulation pattern. So, we did sonograms to show that I am producing eggs and am ovulating. After this though, I've noticed that I'm ovulating much later than I normally do. So, I'm not sure what is going on. I wanted to give it one more month, which makes it 3 months, before I call the doctor. Our next step is artificial insemination and aren't ready to go there yet. We are hoping that we will have a Christmas miracle! That is, after all, all I want for Christmas! :) Please continue to keep us in your prayers! We appreciate those so much!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Until next time...

Great News

I had my HSG test done today and it went very well. The doctor said that everything looked good. He will be able to give me more information Friday, when the test results are in. At that point we will talk about our next step. He mentioned starting Clomid. I was hoping to not have to go that route, but whatever works. TJ and I were so relieved to hear the good news! God is good! Thank you for your prayers!

A Change of Pace

As most of you know that past 2 1/2 years TJ and I have been trying to get pregnant. After six months of trying, I was told to wait 6 more months. After a year my doctor finally ran some basic blood work checking my progesterone, thyroid etc. It all came back normal. I had hoped he would suggest TJ being tested as well, but he didn't. He just said to keep trying and be patient. When I went back 6 months later for my regular visit, he then suggested running some tests on TJ. Those tests showed some issues which were resolved in January. I was, again, told to be patient and wait it out or go on to an infertility specialist. Well, in July I had had enough! I was ready to change this slow moving pace and get something done. After a few rough days I was lead to this verse 19:20 in Proverbs that says: Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. So, I decided to find a doctor who would listen to me and guide me. I have a dear friend, whom I taught with for years, whose father in law is an OB/GYN here in town who is well known and very well liked. I've known him for a while and knew he would be up front and honest with me. That is all I wanted! So, I met with him to discuss a few questions I had. In turn, he had questions for me regarding what tests I had had run on me. When I told him, he wasn't satisfied. He said that I wasn't ready to go see a specialist, which deep down I knew. He sat with me and laid out a plan of action, which I loved being the planner that I am. So, our next step is having a HSG test done. It is a sonogram of my fallopian tubes and uterus. He will inject dye into my tubes which will show any closures or blockage and will show any masses that may be causing problems. I've read, and have been told, that the dye could clear out any blockages that may be in the way. I have this done next Tuesday. Please pray that it all will turn out okay. I have a lot of anxiety any time I have any type of test run just for the simple fact I'm always afraid something will be wrong. I have hope that all will be well, but I still like knowing I have some prayer warriors out there. After my visit with Dr. Mendez, I felt like a world of weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Knowing that I had a plan of action and someone who would help me was a huge relief! I will let you know how Tuesday goes...

Happy 4th of July!

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy 4th of July! I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend!!