Welcome, Fall

At the risk of sounding cliche, I'm so happy fall is here. It truly is my favorite season! I love it for the same reasons everyone else does: Pumpkin Spice lattes, football games on Sunday, the leaves turning, mild weather, making soups and stews, apple crisp, sweater season, and decorating with pumpkins (of course!).

But on top of that, I love fall because it means a slower pace for me. Wedding season is finally winding down (only 5 more weddings to go!), and the mass chaos that was my summer is behind me. Fall means more time with David, more time home, less travel, and less craziness. Hooray!

This spring and summer were so draining for me. Between working like crazy, traveling every month, and all sorts of bumps in the road with trying to get pregnant, I'm certainly ready to turn that leaf over. Don't get me wrong, there were some awesome blessings this summer (free trip to Alaska anyone?!), but on the whole, it has left me exhausted and in need for some restoration this fall.

I can't wait for my days to take on a slower pace so that I can put my whole heart into focusing on God, David, my family and my new home (ummm, totally haven't done anything with decorating since like March. Ooops!).

When we were on our anniversary trip through Colorado, I spotted some leaves beginning to turn in the mountains. I'm sure there are plenty more now! I can't wait to take a little drive through the mountains and admire all the beautiful colors!

Happy Fall everyone! =)

Happy Little Clam

I've had a few friends and family ask how fertility stuff has been going since I haven't updated in about a month. Well...that's because we just don't know much at this point. The past 30 days have been full of appointments with Dr. B, ultrasounds, blood draws, phone calls, the hysterscopy and the endometrial biopsy I had done. I wish I could say we're closer to knowing what's going on...but we're not.  All of my ultrasounds, tests and blood work have come back normal.

So I think we're just chalking my epic failure of a reaction to Clomid in July as a "fluke." I'm back on Clomid this month, so we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that I respond well and don't have any side effects like I did in July.

I do have another round of blood work next week, so we might have an answer or two after that, but I doubt it. So as of now, Dr. B still thinks I have a luteal phase defect and that Clomid is the best course of action for it. Based on how I react to Clomid this month may change how we proceed in the future. Dr. B did mention there were a few other hormone therapies we can try later. So at least there are options if Clomid isn't the best thing for me!

All things considered, I'm doing pretty well with everything! David and I have been keeping busy and having lots of fun together lately....traveling, late afternoon bike rides, cheering on the Broncos, hanging out with family, date nights, movies...we're having a grand time! =)

I'm happy that I'm not letting these struggles run my life. I think many women dealing with infertility get so sad and stressed over all of this, that their quality of life really suffers. I'm so glad that I still have my joy and hope! I just have this supernatural peace about everything. I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: God's plan is perfect. His timing and His will are good. His comfort, peace and strength are real. So for now, I'm happy as a little clam to surrender this whole journey to Him and allow Him to work things out in His time. I trust He will reveal things to us when He is ready. As always, we appreciate your prayers as we walk this road. =)

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." -Ephesians 1:18-19

S'morekies

The longer we camp, the more adventurous we get with our food options. It used to be hot dogs and s'mores. The end. Maybe if I was feeling crazy we'd have potato chips as well. But we've since evolved our camping cuisine and last week we hit an all time home run.

I baked chocolate chip cookies before we left for our anniversary trip. I also got all the standard s'more stuff. It took me a solid 8 days before it dawned on me to combine the two. Enter, the S'morekie. I've outlined detailed instructions for creating such a complicated dessert. =)

1) Get 2 cookies & a marshmallow

 2)Toast your marshmallow

 3) Accidentally burn your marshmallow because you were distracted by your husband taking so many pictures of you

 3) Make your husband eat the burned marshmallow =)

 4) Repeat step 2! This time, don't burn the marshmallow!

 5) Put the marshmallow between the 2 cookies

 6) Blissful surprise at the deliciousness you're tasting

 

Viola! That's all there is to it. I know, I know, my culinary expertise is a thing to behold. =) David decided to get crazy with his s'mores and use a Reese's cup instead of plain chocolate. It looked yummy!

 And I think it's pretty clear that he enjoyed it....=)

A Mixed Bag

I posted last week that I'm keeping my spiritual antennas up, patiently waiting for God to give me some sort of signal as to what I should be doing, where I should be working, and what my calling in life truly is. The thing is, I know that God doesn't always work quickly. In fact, in my life, He often takes His sweet time before allowing me to share in His insight. I know full well that this whole career switch thing won't happen over night. Heck, next year at this time, I could still be discerning what my calling is and what I should be doing. I don't expect Him to make a move any time soon.

But, that doesn't mean I can't make a move. There are all sorts of jobs out there that I can do while I am trying to figure out what I really want to do, what I'm really meant to do. And so, today, for the first time in almost 4 years, I applied for a job...or 4. =)

I applied for a Kitchen sales consultant at Jax Sporting Goods (LOVE their kitchen stuff, so fun!), a receptionist position, a Pretrial Case Manager for adult offenders awaiting trial and an Admitting Patient Rep at the hospital right down the road. Hahaha, talk about a mixed bag of jobs! I'm moderately qualified for all of them, so I guess now I just sit back and wait to hear if any of them are interested in my application. Oh the anticipation! =)

And as a side note, I'd just like to say how weird it is to list yourself as your last employer. But that being said, I can give myself a glowing professional reference if they call me to inquire about me as my last employee. Hahaha!

Spiritual Antennas Up

With almost 20 weddings weddings done and 7 more to go, I have to admit, I'm tired. This summer has worn me down, I'm exhausted! Apparently, two weekends off in 16 weeks just isn't quite enough (who knew?!). Thankfully, now that September is here, things are slowing down a bit, the end is in sight!

And since the end is in sight, it's time to start thinking more seriously about life after photography. I've prayed a lot and still firmly believe that I should not do photography full-time next year. It's an odd feeling because I've been a full time photographer for 4 years now, and I've gotten very used to the self-employed lifestyle. I love working from home. I love choosing my clients. I love being able to stay in my sweats until 3pm if I want to. I love that I can go grocery shopping at 10am on a Wednesday. There's a lot I really love about this job.

But I won't miss working 50-60 hour weeks May-October. I won't miss the nightmare of taxes and bookkeeping. I won't miss being glued to my computer screen, constantly answering client emails. I won't miss the sudden urge to throw my computer out the window while I'm editing photos because Lightroom froze, again. And I certainly I won't miss having to apologize to David because I've been so dang busy that we haven't had a chance to go on that hike we've been meaning to. Nope, I won't miss any of that.

So I'm keeping my eyes and my heart open to the possibilities that lie ahead.

I'm trying very hard to keep an open mind and not box myself into something. I've got my spiritual antennas up and I'm just waiting to receive some sort of signal from God. I want Him to lead me to the place He has chosen for me.  I want to willingly and joyfully follow Him into whatever He has planned. I won't lie, I'm scared. But I know this is what I'm supposed to do. I'm in the midst of finally reading The Wild Goose Chase, which is what got me started on this whole career switch thing to begin with. I'm excited for what God has been revealing to me through this book.

At this point, all I know is that I'd like to work part-time and I'd like to help people. Beyond that, I have no clue. Maybe I'll work in a non-profit, or a church, or in a hospital. Who knows! I will keep doing photography on a very limited basis. I've worked too hard to build this business up to where it is to just shut it down completely. But next summer will look a lot different. I'm aiming to shoot less than 10 weddings, hopefully work part-time somewhere else and spend the rest of my time where I belong...playing in the mountains with my wonderful husband! I can't wait!!!!

5th Anniversary Trip

What a wonderful 5th anniversary we had! Since we went on a trip to Mexico last year, we decided to stay closer to home this year. There are so many beautiful areas in Colorado that we rarely get to see because they're 7+ hours away from where we live. It takes a whole day to get there, so you really need to have more than just a weekend to really explore some of Colorado's prettiest spots! So we took off on a 9 day camping trip through some of Colorado prettiest spots!

We started out in Crested Butte, one of my favorite places ever in CO. We camped on the river and enjoyed the beautiful mountains surrounding us. What a great way to start our trip!

 Coming into Crested Butte...definitely a rain storm ahead!

 But with the rain storm came a beautiful full rainbow!

Pretty camp site for our first night!

We woke up late (aaahhh sleeping in on vacation is my favorite part!) and had a yummy breakfast. Then we packed up camp and headed out for a hike on the Oh Be Joyful trail. Wow, what a beautiful hike!

The first of many rather steep cliffs I looked over on this trip!

Then we headed over near Lake City to our next camp site. We 4wheeled up a pretty easy road and through a few stream crossings to get to this beautiful spot for our next camp site.

Then, it was time for Uncompahgre.  David is pretty much obsessed with climbing mountains...14ers to be specific. If a mountain is over 14,000 feet high, you can bet he has a plan on how to climb it. So far, he's climbed about 25 of these peaks. I've tagged along on 7 of them. One piece of marital advice I heard year ago and took to heart was "allow your spouse's passions to become your own passions". While summiting these mountains makes me want to cry (oh wait...I DO cry on many of them) isn't quite a passion of mine yet....I really love supporting David in one of his passions.

I'm not a terribly strong hiker, so these mountains are pretty tough for me. Most 14ers have at least 3,000 feet of elevation to gain and as you can imagine, there's pretty much no oxygen when you're almost 3 miles up in the air! While the hike was hard, I was very proud of myself for summiting!

Starting out....

The summit of Uncompahgre is in sight!

 I was pretty excited to summit =)

What you don't see in this picture is the 1500 vertical drop in front of and behind David. Yet another sheet cliff I looked over the edge of. I got so dizzy looking over the edge that I had to sit down, it was crazy!

 Crazy steep couloir we had to climb up and down

Fat marmots everywhere!

We spent a short amount of time on the summit because there was some nasty weather moving in. We made great time getting off the mountain, packed up camp and headed for Silverton.

In order to avoid a 4 hour drive on paved roads, we opted to take Cinnamon Pass, a 4 wheel drive road that goes over the Continental Divide. The road was very rocky, but not too technical to get over. It only took 90 minutes, which sure beat 4 hours on paved roads! Plus the views were awesome!

We spent the next 3 days between Silverton and Durango. What a beautiful area! We did a few hikes, relaxed a lot and had a great time!

Our beautiful campsite one morning

One of my favorite hikes was to Potato Lake (also known as Spud Lake). This hike was exactly what I needed after such a hard hike up Uncompahgre! It was easy, relatively short and absolutely gorgeous!

I was SOOO excited that the leaves were turning!

We did another hike to Ice Lake, outside of Silverton. It was pretty much the prettiest lake I've ever seen in Colorado. The water was so clear and so blue, it looked like the Caribbean Ocean!

Then we headed out to Telluride for our anniversary! We were soooo happy to finally get a hot shower! We stayed in a wonderful lodge, ate yummy pizza for dinner, walked around town (and laughed at all the rich people who were in town from L.A. for the Telluride Film Festival) and enjoyed a really relaxing day. I've lived in Colorado my entire life and have never been to Telluride, so I was really excited to be there!

Our beautiful lodge

We headed up to the Alta Lakes area outside of Telluride and had a great time there! It was absolutely beautiful and really relaxing!

 David had fun fishing!

Finally, we headed out for our last day. I've always wanted to see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, so we made sure that it was on our list of place to go! It's kind of like a mini Grand Canyon, just a lot darker. =) The canyon is pretty narrow, so not much sunlight gets in, which is how it gets its name. I really enjoyed it here!

We had a lot of fun, enjoyed some beautiful hikes, camped under a lot of stars, ate some good food and had fun celebrating our 5 years of marriage together. It was definitely a lot of work though! Lots of driving, setting up and breaking down camp, cooking, hiking and avoiding rain storms (it rained almost every day!). But we got a lot of good relaxing in as well. I loved being able to sit by a lake, read a good book and have great conversation with David in the sunshine. Overall, it was a great trip!