I have been working hard to be less stressed and count my blessing this month. It has been difficult! I have truly struggled to face my demons. Seriously, this break was much more draining than what I imagined, primarily because of my inability to be patient! These 9 weeks have dragged by, yet also sprinted?

    Well, this morning Graham + I went in for a baseline ultrasound. I have had my fair share of negative appointments so I went in with many worries. Alas, I truly received fantastic news all day! My U/S was done by my favorite person in the entire building, a spunky, vivacious GYNO. This chick busted up in there swearing and giggling- she soothed me so much with her positive energy. My egg supply was great, my uterine lining was fantasic and she gave us the go-ahead for this month! I can't even voice how wonderful that moment was to me. This September! She also made the comment "This may work the first time." Which, in truth, horrified me a little just because I don't want to get my hopes too high. (Sigh, it sucks that I feel the need to be a pessimist.) Yet, I would love for that to be true. 

    Then Graham and I had to sign a waiver about forgoing genetic testing. I also don't plan to test while pregnant- it's not going to affect my decision to keep a baby. While there I asked about Graham's second set of numbers, which should have been given 6 weeks ago, and.... They were ALL normal! Everything! No problems at all! Another worry struck off my list.

    It was so incredibly peaceful. Graham and I were able to go in together and that alone helped me so much. I love that we have a relationship where we can feed off of one another's strength in times of need. I truly hope things continue to look up, I have been filled with confidence. So here we are- a few weeks away from getting the party started! Hurrah!

I Choose Happiness

     Did you ever write a really long, drawn out note confessing your love to the handsome boy sitting across from you, but good judgment got the better of you so that letter ended up crumpled in the trash next to broken pencils and failed tests? Yeah, essentially that just happened to me, but with a post about my sorrows.
    Sometimes things just really, really, really make you feel indescribably unhappy. Every single person has some sort of difficult trial(s) they're forced to endure. Lately, mine have felt overwhelming. I've really allowed myself to be sucked into all of my problems. They've been defining me, like they're these big words hanging off my clothes- plain old noticeable.
    Graham asked me if I wanted to be a strength for people? I do, I really wish I could show people that I can undergo any difficult task and come out unscathed. But I can't! I'm human! I have more faults than I'd like to think! Yet, I want people to turn to me, if needed.
    You know what though- I can feel depressed and sob and curse the existence of everything. That's been my way, recently. It finally seemed to dawn on me that perpetuates an unending cycle of negativity. And I feel  F E D  U P.
    From here on out, I want to work extra hard to move past sadness, especially when it's self- induced. I want to choose happiness. And it'll be easy! After all, I've got a wonderful life. I am so loved by many people. I've got a spouse who I adore. I have a warm home. I've got food in my refrigerator. And I've got faith in Jesus Christ and His Father.
    I kept thinking: I choose happiness, I choose to feel like tomorrow will be a good day. I choose to live with dignity. This will work out, and I hope to keep a smile on my face in the meantime :)

"Because I have been given much I too much give, because of thy great bounty Lord each day I live. I shall divide my gift from Thee, with every brother that I see, who has the need of help from me!"

Southern Utah

    Two months ago Graham and I flew into SLC, Utah for a wedding, but decided to make a vacation out of it. It's always so much fun to reconnect with old friends. I completely forgot about making the video to go with it while writing all the stories up! Which, by the way, you can read all about it here, here, here, here and lastly here (Do ya'll understand why I would've thought it was already done by now?)

    Hopefully, the word associated with this video isn't: overkill. I enjoy looking back on snippets of our past vacations- it helps to remember, and even relive, them. The quality is not what I would normally expect, but I guess transferring from my camera to my hard drive is the cause? Anyone know how to stop that? I am kind of disappointed.

    Carrying on! Moab and Salt Lake are the primary locations for this vid- 2 completely distinct places. Oh Utah, why are you just sooo beautiful?





     

Chicago, Pt 2

    Well, well. I went over the basics over our trip to Chicago here. And another trip bites the dust! It was brief, it was fun. We ate some of the most delicious foods. We saw some spectacular sites. We made some great memories.
    I never can get enough of our families, they're some kinda special to me. Until next time!





          

Chicago, Pt I

We just came back from a 4 day trip in Chicago, Illinois.

    It was a whirlwind of a trip, perfect for a trek to the Windy City. The talk of going on an Alexander family vacation had been mentioned back and forth until finally everyone threw 3 sheets to the wind and bought tickets less than 2 weeks from departure. Immediately we worked together to form one superb schedule that we would adhere to. Then our next task was to find an acceptable place to stay to fit all of us. And of course we needed ideas of where to eat at once we got there! One by one, we checked off all of the to-do's. Then last weekend we left on 2 different planes- lest one crashed and blotted out the family line (just kidding, though we did take 2) 7 Alexanders left on an adventure together. We ate all the best local foods, visited the most famed spots and managed to be in town for 2 flash floods. It was a very nice, even relaxing (at times), trip. I've just decided to leave a list of the things we did and let the photos speak for themselves. :)

◘ Art Institute of Chicago

◘ Millennium Park

◘ Museum of Science and Industry

◘ Adler Planetarium

◘ Architectural Cruise with the First Lady of Chicago

◘ SkyDeck at Willis Tower

(Jumping in a box that's tiny, 103 stories above ground, clear bottomed, and collapsible ) 

◘ Navy Pier

(Right as I went to get their photo, they shut off the Ferris Wheel's lights! Typical)

◘Lake Michigan's Marina

◘ Buckingham Fountain

All Things Tangible

    I've been thinking about what is and what isn't. What could be versus reality. There are so many thoughts/ideas that swirl in my head, just begging for me to spend an inordinate amount of time on them. And I find myself doing that; all the while winning the grand prize of 'driving myself crazy.' It's a crummy way to deal with things. Yet, it's so easy to let any problem magnify.

But then I think of the tangible things I have. And I am inspired by them.

     I am committing myself to remember to show more gratitude for the best parts of life. To see the beauty in every situation. To add joy to the lives of those I'm in contact with. To work hard in all that I am asked to do. To be a true example of a disciple of the Lord.

Cinque Terre Pt. 2

    So, Cinque Terre, which was originally written about here, was eventful. Our first day was exhausting and stressful, due to (1) our missed train and (2) many times calling out “Do you know where this address is?” followed by a “No English” response.

     I had mapped out each of the 5 cities, which we were so eager to go to! But of course, the train strike was in the way. We decided to wing it! We bought a ticket at 8 o’clock in the morning to visit the town two stops from our location, Manarola, we decided to prioritize just in case we couldn’t visit them all. This colorful village was similar to Vernazza with the pop of color and rural atmosphere but differed in two ways. First, we could only find one open restaurant (which was terribly expensive) and second, there was much easier access to the ocean. In Vernazza we could walk down by the boardwalk, but it wasn’t very pretty or safe, as there was tons of floating 2x4’s everywhere. However, Manarola had amazing rock formations that really just added some extra flair. We sat and looked at the ocean for a very long time. I think we were just lost in the awe of this change in scenery.
    Afterwards we bought some goodies from the train station, includinga nice bar or Swiss chocolate which is hands down the best piece I've ever put in my mouth (and that's saying something), counted our lucky stars that it was still running. and decided to buy tickets to Monterosso. We shimmied on back to the main train hub, La Spezia, a mid-sized city 15 minutes away. Guess what! When we arrived we found out that the trains were all parking their engines until 9pm, which meant we had at least 6 hours to kill around town. We lucked out in La Spezia though, this town was ready for action! They had a Christmas concert (including Santa's on stilts) and tons of gelato shops that we happily attended. We piddled around for as long as possible, before freezing our buns off and going back to the train station's McDonald's to wait. Graham and I played the quarter game for one solid hour, met a LDS Missionary and bought locally knitted scarves. At 11 o'clock, two hours after the predicted time, trains began to work again. We shipped over to Monterosso, walked around for 45 minutes seeing more bridges filled with locks, ivy ridden walls and the coast (once again, but c'mon ya just can't look away) before catching another train back to Vernazza.
    The following morning we spent time on our terrace enjoying the view and relaxing before the hustle and bustle that comes with traveling. We picked oranges the day before, and decided to eat them with our breakfast and promptly realized they were more sour than a pack of Warheads in your mouth. Yuck! We talked about how we were disappointed that we weren't able to visit all 5 villages. But we did manage to visit 3 of them and a city, so it's hard to complain too much. And the ones we saw? Those little villages were some kind of beautiful! We mentioned how we only saw a few locals and really got the rural feel in this region- it was such a welcome change from the rest of the trip. We decided to get a picture of us with the spectacular background, and managed to end up with 50 so-so ones. #Typical. Then we jumped on the train, missed our stop (is this just a permanent thing with us?)  and narrowly made it back to the central hub in time to catch our train to Rome. And we were off!
    I would, hands down, have to recommend this place to anyone! It was a special place- just so dreamy. I desperately want to visit the 2 remaining villages- maybe one day ;)

Manarola:

Not much sexier than a man wearing a fanny pack, amiright?

La Spezia:

Monterosso:

Vernazza: