Adventurers RE-Unite!

Hey all... I'm still waiting to hear how the Women's Conference was at BYU and the get together in Provo.... anyone out there who went... got some fun stories or pictures to share????

Speaking of Reunions... we are headed "Home" to VV so Eric can attend his 20th High School Reunion for Armijo High in October. Anyone want to get together???

I know it's still 3 years away, but how many of you are planning to attend our 20th reunion at Vaca High???

~Christy

I have the worst luck ever!

Women's Conference is in full swing at BYU and I'm sure the ladies are having a blast. Sadly, I'm not there. I woke up vomiting and I have the flu. I even contemplated spending another $500 to take a last minute flight at 6 am this morning to go to the conference, but I was still sick, so I'm having to sit this one out.

So while I'm recuperating I'll try to organize my South Africa pictures and post more about my travels.

Mini Reunion

We spent the week before Easter in Vacaville/Fairfield visiting friends and family. What I did not expect was to run into sooo many of my friends from High School/Seminary/Girl's Camp that I hadn't seen in MANY years!

Mandi and Justin are in the process of moving back home, so they were in town with their kids. Justin now works for the City of Vacaville, so they will likely be around for a long time! Mandi, if you haven't looked already, my parent's next door neighbor is trying to sell his house... my mom and I went and looked through it last Saturday during an open house... it was sooo CUTE! And the price keeps dropping every day!

When we are in town to visit the fam, we usually go to church in 3rd ward. This is the ward I attended until I was almost done with 9th grade. It's also the ward that Eric's brother Jeff attends and the kids always enjoy going to Primary together with their cousins. I always see the stalwarts... like the Wipperts and Jones' and my first beehive advisor, Mary Page. Then there is a weird arrangement that 1st ward and 3rd ward now have... they nest for Primary and Sunday School/Mutual. So, when we go to Gospel Doctrine, it is all the adults combined from both wards. This always gives me a headache and I confess I find it hard to concentrate on the actual lesson. I spend most of the time searching around the room, trying to identify by name each person that looks vaguely familiar to me! It's maddening! I always end up having to lean over and ask my sis-in-law who someone is... someone I know, but just can't come up with the name! I didn't realize until a couple weeks ago, how many 3rd ward people now live in 1st ward... not because they've moved, but just because of how the boundaries are currently arranged. But Sunday School this time was really a "throw back" to 10th grade! Judy Esplin was teaching gospel doctrine. She was my 10th grade seminary teacher... and we all loved her! I really felt like a kid again being in that room... her mannerisms and her amazing knowledge of the scriptures haven't changed one bit. She is really an amazing woman! Here are some names of people I ran into this last week that I hadn't seen or talked to in a LONG time: Randa and her husband Mark are still in 1st ward... (Mark is YM's president... fitting huh?) ... living on the same street with Ame and AJ. I didn't see Ame this trip, but I did have a great visit with AJ. He couldn't believe the size of my teenager! (I can hardly believe it either, sometimes!) I talked with Randa's mom and sister Scarpa (my 9th grade seminary teacher!) I also saw Giselle Bell at the temple when we went to do a session in Sacramento... what a fun suprise that was! There was a bunch of women from Vacaville there we weren't expecting to see! On Monday, we went to Alamo Creek Park and had a mini reunion with Amber (who drove down with her kids from Orangevale), and Mandi (with her kids). Tricia Sparrow (now Crist) also came by... she lives in 1st ward now. Andrea (Fawson) Hancock is also in 1st ward now, but I missed saying hello to her after church. Stacy was supposed to join us, but sprained her ankle and had to bail out! We really missed you Stacy!!! Here's a photo of us at the park (Sis. Taylor filling in for Stacy who was MIA....)

Memory Lane Part 2

Christy Here:

Here's some fun things I remember from the good old days - some things I wouldn't have remembered except that I pulled them from a scrapbook/photo album I kept (including the pictures!):

*Going to the New Kids Concert! (click here for more on that....)

*TPing with everyone - especially buying large quantities of TP at Food 4 Less at 11:00 p.m. with Chad and Amanda

*Stake Dances and strategic moves to avoid the lay-ocean (sp?) guys from Fairfield!

*My first Youth Conference - in Provo at BYU - remember the theme... RUE?

*Spraining my ankle on Amber's trampoline... I have this weird memory that the ward missionaries were at her house when it happened, but I'm not sure!

*Riding on countless excursions in the Wells Van....

* A group date with Amanda, Sandy... and sadly enough I can't remember who MY date was... I know Amanda was with Matt, Sandy maybe with AJ???? Who I was with I have NO idea... but Amanda made her Sweet and Sour Chicken and I still make that recipe for my family at least 2 times a month... it's one of our FAVORITES!

*Kissing Rugby at the Jensen's house

*Running Pictionary and Strobe Light Dancing at Amy's House (her brother was ... umm... Bevin????..... Sandy had a huge crush on him..... and they lived in 4th ward.....)

*Dancing to music in Stacy's kitchen

*Singing the song that Tara Thompson wrote in the 2nd ward talent show "Free"

*Tipping the canoe with Matt and Amanda at Lake Solano

*the Funniest thing I remember (right now anyway) was a party we had my house, and it was one of those, "Do you love your neighbor"type games... there was one chair left and Matt and Scott were both racing for it. I think Matt got there first and Scott jumped and sat on his lap... then the chair crumpled to the floor! It was Hilarious and my mom was a really good sport about the incident! I hated those chairs anyway, so I didn't care!

Stacy I completely agree with your observation.... we did have a really good, strong youth group. We were SOOO lucky! We had a great seminary program and because our boundaries had been re-arranged several times in several years, we all knew each other better than most kids from neighboring wards knew each other. I see the Youth Group Situation that my kids are facing here and it's NOT even remotely as good as what we had... it makes me a little sad for them....

Memory Lane

I've been thinking about some of the great times we all had in our teens. The time that Christy and I made dinner for the Bishop and his wife and we wanted them to have a romantic time.

Or the time I was on a group date with Christy, Scott, Matt, and me and while laying on Christy's living room floor, someone farted (I think it was me, actually) and we all busted up laughing!

Or the time I think I flashed by boobs, thankfully in a bra, when we were doing a photo scavenger hunt. At least at that time, I was thin, even though I thought I was fat.

Or the time I set up a romantic rendezvous with Lisa Davidson and Edwin so they could dance in my bedroom to a Chicago mixed tape I made. I used Chicago music because Edwin had had me listen to them while he told me all about the trumpet and the brass instruments used in the music.

Or the time when Edwin dated Christy (Edwin got around!) and the song, Kokomo was popular and I sang to Christy that she and Edwin would "get there fast and then take it slow," meaning the stake dance.

I remember what strong LDS teens we were and how faithful we were. We had tons of fun and it was all chaste and innocent, like singing broadway tunes around my piano.

Feel free to add your memories, too!

Random Questions

Two names you go by:

1. Stacy
2. Mrs. V.

Two things you are wearing right now:

1.red t shirt
2. blue sweatpants

Two of your favorite things to do:

1. play games or shop online all while using my laptop
2. read a good book while taking a bubble bath

Two things you want very badly at the moment :

1. a body that ovulates and a baby
2. a well organized and clean house

Two favorite pets you have had/have

1. Willow a female purebred Welsh Pembroke Corgi
2. Boots, my favorite cat who is no longer with us

People who will fill this out:
1. dont know
2. dont know

Two things you did last night:

1. watched Benny & Joon (love that movie!)
2. Went out with my husband to Dimple Records and International Imports, two of our favorite stores

Two things you ate today:

1. It's the Oscars tonight and that means the menu is: Pizza
2. and Brownies! Same menu as we've had for the last 10 Oscar nights!

Two people you talked to last night

1. James
2. Shauna (online chat)

Two things you are doing tomorrow:

1. Work, ugh
2. Feeling better, hopefully, so I can use my new treadmill!

Longest Trips taken in the last 10 years:

1. 10 Day cruise to the Panama Canal, Columbia, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Aruba
2. We leave in 30 days for a month long trip to South Africa!

Two favorite holidays:

1. Christmas
2. Easter

Two favorite beverages:

1. water, preferably from my parents well.
2. Dr Pepper and I can't drink the Diet, it's nasty. The best D.P. is the one from Dublin, Texas made with cane sugar. Oh my my it's tasty! And sometimes I splurge and order the cane sugar and also the regular but the caffeine free, however, I have to order them online and the shipping is outrageous!

It's Wednesday

I just feel like typing my thoughts. I'm on a break at work and don't have much time. My workday, or should I say night, is almost over. It's 8 45 pm and my students are on their break and then lab starts at 9 pm. Tonight they are working on their Shiatsu sequence.
Tomorrow we are taking a field trip to the "Bodies Revealed" exhibit in Sacramento. I'm excited to see it, since I saw a similar show in San Francisco a couple years ago.

The lunar eclipse was really cool tonight. I wonder if James got any good pictures. I'll post some if he did.

I just saw another blog of a couple in Roseville that I don't know but she is pregnant and has on her blog a calendar update of what the baby looks like each day during the pregnancy. I haven't seen anything like it before and it looks really neat. I'm wondering if I'll ever get to add one to my page. Part of me really wants to get pregnant at my age and part of me looks at all my friends who had their children years ago and I wonder what am I getting myself into? Maybe I should just adopt.

I'm so overwhelmed right now with all of these projects that I want to do. From remodeling my house, decorating my house, cleaning the back yard and pool to get it ready for a party this summer for all my past massage students, trying to make my vocal cd, trying to get pregnant, wondering where I should work after I get home from South Africa and the women's conference. Just so many things floating around in my brain right now that it's hard to prioritize and focus. I still need to finish my Prenatal Massage and Doula class, too. Just add that to the list, too!

Well now I have to go supervise my massage lab and help the students with their Shiatsu. Then I have to figure out whether to cook chicken or pasta when I get home. Hmm.

Christy Tagged Me

Best thing you cooked last week?

My tuna casserole.


If money, time, and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who?

I've always wanted to go to The Grand Hotel from the movie, Somewhere in Time. I'm so jealous that Christy has been there! James and I both love that movie and we have said that we will go there someday. Other than that, I just love to travel. I want to go to Japan and I might go to China in April for some massage training. I really want to go to Germany and Wales and travel all over Europe.


When was the last time you cried?

I don't cry often. I teared up a little yesterday after reading some very nice things my sister, Shauna, wrote to me in an email. My last hard cry was about 2 weeks ago after a very bad day at work.

Five things you were doing ten years ago 1998 -

My best friend, Becca, and I moved to Sacramento to finish our Bachelor's degrees. We got our first apartment together. We decided to go out to karaoke and didn't know any clubs in the area, so we chose one called Faces. The minute we walked in we realized it was a gay bar! But we ended up staying and had a fun time with the gay guys who knew all the words to the songs of Les Miserables. I got a massage job working at The Comfort Zone in Roseville as an independent contractor. I became a full time student at CSUS to get my BA in Communication Studies focusing on interpersonal relationships and small group communication. I started attending one of the Sac singles wards and went on the most pathetic date ever with a guy from there!


Five things you were doing five years ago 2003 -

I was dating James and knew I would marry him but he and I were still discussing our religious differences and trying to find a compromise. I was still roommates with Becca but we had moved a few times. I had finished my degree and had worked in Social Work, car insurance, and Earthlink.


Five things you were doing one year ago 2007 -

Starting to work with my doctors to get pregnant. Falling more in love with my dog. Going on a cruise. Planning a baby shower for Becca and getting excited to become an Auntie to Jack.


Seven of your favorite hobbies:

Singing, reading, counted cross stitch, playing piano, shopping.


Five favorite foods:

baked chicken, mashed potatoes, sees' candies, brownies, cheesecake


Five places you've been:

Panama Canal Locks, St. Thomas, Victoria British Columbia, New York City, Cartagena Columbia.


Five favorite memories:

Road trips across the US with my parents, Senior prom night with Amanda & Matt and Scott & I, My Wedding!!, Holding my niece and nephews for the first time, Winning a gold medal in Chicago with my speech and debate team.

Blog links

I figured out how to link the blogs! I added April's and I need the URL for Christy's and Amber's blogs.

Add my blog link

Stacy, I assume you're the webmaster... can you add the link to my personal blog to this site?  And Christy's too?  Muchas gracias!  Mine is http://parkerpalace.blogspot.com.  I think it would be great if we had links to everybody's personal blogs... what do you think? --april

Tag, You're It....

Best thing you cooked last week?I think I made my Beef Stew (in the crockpot) - it's even better than Dinty Moore!



If money, time, and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who? Everytime I go to Disneyland I wish I could come back for a few days with just my husband and stay in the Grand Californian Hotel.



When was the last time you cried? Yesterday - I was watching Sense and Sensibility - I always fall apart at the end when Edward confesses his love for Elinor and she finally breaks down and loses it after all the time keeping her reserve and hiding her emotions.



Five things you were doing ten years ago 1998 - Moving from San Jose, CA to Dublin, CA; taking Black and White Photography classes at San Jose Community College in the evenings; Getting used to Eric's unpredictable work schedule and long commute hours; learned how to scrapbook; bought my first (and only) minivan!



Five things you were doing five years ago 2003 - Got my first Digital Camera - the Canon G2, Got a trampoline for the kids; Went on my first trip to Maui with Eric, but no kids; Conintued the never ending renovations on our fixer upper home; caved and finally signed Taylor up for Little League (he'd been begging for a long time!)



Five things you were doing one year ago 2007 - Overcommitting my time with kids sports - Taylor - basketball, Megan - gymnastics and all 3 kids in Running Club; bought a ski boat with 2 other families; replaced my old piano with a digital baby grand; got released from Primary (after 7 long years); attended 2 weddings (one in Eureka, CA and one in Provo, UT).



Seven of your favorite hobbies: Reading, scrapbooking, taking pictures, shopping, traveling, blogging and exercising.

Five favorite foods: Tacos or Enchiladas; Pepperoni Pizza; Broccoli Beef; Cheeseburgers with Fries; Brownies

Five places you've been: the "Seven Sacred Pool" (Oheo Gulch) in Maui; Mt. Rushmore, SD; Jasper and Banff National Parks in Alberta, Canada; Valley Forge and Gettysburg, PA; and Niagra Falls, NY.

Five favorite memories: This is way too hard! Christmas Eve's at Grandma K's house, Swim Parties, going to Hawaii for the first time, Camping trips, Road Trips across the US and Canada.

Tag four fellow bloggers -I Tag: Carol R, Michelle H, Stacy V, and Hillary W

My hair colors

The first pic is the color of my hair now. It was taken on our Thanksgiving 2007 cruise and by the end of it after being in the sun a lot, there was a lot of blonde in my hair.

So the second pic of me in a burgundy dress sitting with my husband, James, was taken on our Thanksgiving 2006 cruise. This was how dark my hair had turned, although the background did make it look darker. I wanted my auburn color back so the next pic shows me after getting it dyed for the first time. I played with the colors and put more burgundy in it for awhile. It was fun. But then I went back to a more natural look of golden auburn with blonde and red highlights.

Eventually I might do something strange for awhile like putting in purple streaks in my hair. I've always wanted to do that, just cuz. I got the idea from the Sandra Bullock character in the movie, Forces of Nature, where her hair had random blue streaks in it.

Infertility Sucks

I remembered a day many years ago that Edwin Wells and I were riding the bus home and talking. He asked me what was wrong and I told him that I had found out that I might not be able to have children. At this point, I don't think he was considering going to medical school and I probably told him something that he was uncomfortable hearing.
I always have had irregular periods. Without taking artificial hormones, I might only have a period 3 times a year. Which is great until trying to conceive, that is.

I also was diagnosed as having Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS. It means I am insulin resistant, have a tendency to gain weight (don't I know it!) and have increased difficulty losing weight. You could take me and another woman and put us on the same diet and the other woman will lose weight much faster than me. Bummer, huh.

So about a year ago my Gyn. and I started all the preliminary testing to refer me to the Kaiser Infertility clinic. This involved blood draws to test my hormones. I have a vasovagal response during blood draws which means I usually start to black out and/or pass out so they always have to lay me down. (I know, I'm a mess!)

Once I filled out packets of genetic and health histories for myself and James, the Infertility clinic had us both attend a meeting where they explained all the options to us. This began our journey for operation Baby Vahanian.

I have to go have an HSG, which is an x ray of the uterus and fallopian tubes. I was really nervous for this procedure because they told me it would hurt, but it really wasn't bad at all. It was done by the Chief of Radiology and he was really nice and once he found out that I teach anatomy and massage therapy, he started explaining things to me and showed me on the screen my pubic bones and uterus and my tubes. The procedure involved injecting dye inside the uterus to test for scar tissue and blockages. Thankfully, there are none and so I should be able to carry a baby to full term.

The other tests involved more lab tests to rule out STD's, like HIV and chlamydia. I'm negative but I knew that. And then James had to give his own sample to the lab. And the lab lost it! He had to do it again. He wasn't happy about that, but after all the testing I've gone through, I told him his part was pain free.

After doing all those tests, I was able to make an appointment for the infertility counseling and consultation. James came with me and then we found out the dr. was out sick and I had driven all the way over to the Arden Mall Kaiser which is about 30 minutes from our house! Talk about frustrating. Oh the joys of Kaiser. But at least they're paying for half of all the fertility which is a lot better than other insurances.

I finally got in to see a nurse practitioner, Lyn. We both really like her. She is an older lady and just very competent. She did a pelvic ultrasound to check the ovaries. Ok, no one told me this would hurt and it was about 5 minutes of torture!. Apparently my ovaries are hard to see and so she kept applying serious pressure to my abdomen while shoving the ultrasound wand further around my uterus. I started getting queasy and dizzy and about vomited.

So our baby making plan is going to be a process of fertility drugs and inseminations. Currently I'm taking Provera for the next 10 days to get my body to have a period. I'm also taking Metformin which is actually a diabetic drug (I'm not diabetic) but has shown to regulate ovulation in women. PCSO women have a higher risk of miscarriage in the first trimester, so some women continue taking Metformin during the first part of pregnancy. I will probably do that if I'm able to tolerate the icky side effects. So far, they are starting me on a small dose and working up to two full pills a day. They make me feel queasy all day and have given me diarrhea. Oh joy of joys, but my dr. said it might help me lose some weight. I hope so! My goal is trying to lose 40 lbs before conceiving and I'm half way there.

Are you bored yet with my fertility regime? But we might have twins out of the deal. James is a fraternal twin and has a sister. And twins are also on my mom's side of the family, too. At my age, I'd be totally ok with having twins and get two for the price of one! Eventally, though, whether or not we are able to conceive, we plan to adopt. I've always wanted to adopt a 3-5 yr. old. I've looked into using LDS Social Services, but they won't let me because James isn't a member. Bummer, huh.

Well I think I gotta run to the bathroom...again! I better be losing weight if I'm feeling this icky!

My dog is in heat

I feel so bad for Willow. She is obviously having cramps and is so whiny and whimpers all the time. Plus she hates having to wear her diaper around the house to prevent her from dripping blood all over. She is a purebred Welsh Pembroke Corgi and we plan to breed her the next time she goes into heat, after the vet says she is of a good size to carry a litter.

Until I'm able to get pregnant, which after my Dr. appt. tomorrow will hopefully be soon, Willow has been my baby. I was never a dog person until we got her.

Women's Conference Details

http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/2008/program.cfm
It's $40 for the two day conference being held on Thu and Fri May 1-2, 2008. Kathryn and Courtney offered their parent's homes. Sandy said she could pick up from airport. So far Kathryn and I have bought our tickets and I think Amber is buying hers soon. April is having money troubles but we are praying for her. That's all we've heard from so far.

I arrive in SLC Wed. April 30th at 3 46 pm on Delta. The ticket was 250. I am very excited to go to an awesome conference and also catch up with the ladies and spend some quality time together!
Now my minor depression I've been experiencing is starting to lift because I have this to look forward to, not to mention going to Johannesburg South Africa for a wedding!

Women's Conference May 1-2, 2008

Ladies,
I am researching flights and will be making my reservation either tonight or this weekend. Also I am going to register for the Conference tonight.
It's a gloomy rainy Thursday here in Rancho Cordova. I wish it was Friday and that I could go home tonight after work and have a weekend.
Does anyone else have clinical depression? I have had it for years and take Zoloft. I increased my dosage right now due to the winter weather and lack of sunshine. I know I'll start to feel better soon.
I hope to see you all in May.

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down

Today I had to lay down the law in my afternoon massage class. I teach the afternoon and evening massage therapy classes. Anyway, I have some students who although technically are adults, their maturity is so high school and they have been giving me major attitude problems for a few weeks.

So today I went in there and made a seating chart and told them that they are preventing me from doing my job. I made them sign a list of policies and procedures. I hate having to be so strict but the students were out of control.

I have been going through a minor depression with all our rainy weather lately. I actually love the rain and cold weather because I know it'll get to be the hot summer all too quickly for my liking. So I increased my antidepressants and hopefully should be feeling more "normal" in a week or so.

I'll upload some pictures soon. I'm finally dying my hair. I know some of you ladies have been doing this already, but I always loved my natural color. But once I hit my 30's it was getting much darker and I missed the golden auburn color.

I'll email you ladies again and let you know about the blog.

The Blogging Addiction

Stacy set up this blog for us the weekend we all met in Texas, but at the time, I didn't have a clue what a "blog" was... then a few weeks ago, I was working on dejunking my email inbox and found the message that had the url for the blog she set up! Now that I'm a blogging addict, I knew exactly what to do with it... yeah!

In the last six months, I've discovered blogging and it's helped me to reconnect with old and new friends in great ways! Plus, it's pretty much like an "online" journal, where you can share pictures, videos, etc. So, email Stacy and get "invited" to be a contributor... the more the merrier! Are we planning a "retreat" in 2008?

Here's a recent family photo of us at Disneyland - Left to right: Taylor (13), Eric with Brayden (2 1/2), Christy, Ian (7 1/2) and Megan (10, but almost 11).

Hello Again

Christy asked me to re invite you to our blog. Honestly I had forgotten about the thing. My husband helped me figure it out again. I'm not too blog savvy, so Amber and Christy, maybe you can figure out how to link your blogs to this one?
Also I didn't have time to add everyone as an author, so if you know of another Retired Adventurer who would want to be added as an author to the blog, email me at hands2calmu@yahoo.com

I actually wanted to start blogging anyway to just capture my thoughts and feelings and such, so even if no one else wants to blog, you can all read about the goings on in my life and the musings from my mind.

Hope you're all doing well.
Love,
Stacy

PS I am working on putting together a care package to send to Edwin and his family. If anyone else wants info about this, let me know.