A New Adventure...Part 1

I'm trying not to dwell too much on our recent loss and the hell on earth we call infertility, so I thought that I would get away from that for a few weeks and do some random posts about our haphazard life together. As a matter of fact, the ONLY thing we've ever planned in our marriage is having children. So let this be a lesson to you newlyweds...get knocked up ASAP. Don't worry about your education, careers, saving money to be a stay at home mom, buying a house, or enjoying your life together first. You need to spend all of your savings, throw out the birth control, and go get jiggy with it. Just do it.

Believe me, we are the King and Queen of "If you wait until you are ready to have children, you won't have them."

Did I really just digress? I am sorry. Like my sister always says...no regrets, just lessons learned.

Andy and I have been known to jump in a car and just...drive. Wherever the road takes us is basically where we end up. For instance, Memorial Day Weekend 2007. We had, what, like three days off of work? What started as a simple roadtrip to the coast of South Carolina, landed us in NYC. In three short days, we visited the major landmarks of D.C., climbed the Empire State building, got rowdy in Times Square, took a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty, walked through Central Park, visited Ground Zero (so sad), Rockefeller Center, Chinatown, Grand Central Station, and made the subway our biotch. We had so much fun, and even got to meet up with a childhood friend who lives there now.

Empire State

Also in 2007, I had the pleasure of visiting my best friend from nursing school who lived in Hawaii. Her hubby was stationed there, so all I had to do was buy a plane ticket and take the trip of a lifetime. We drove around the entire island of Oahu...I was able to see everything. My favorite part was snorkling in Hanauma Bay...or maybe it was visiting where Lost is filmed! Andy had to be left out of this adventure because of work issues which was a bummer. I will take him back one day though!

Prettiest beach in Oahu, Bellows Beach

Our next big roadtrip happened in 2008...to the Wild West. It was a little more thought out since we had to take some time off of work, but we didn't make reservations anywhere. When we got tired of driving or found a town that we liked, we would pull over and stay the night. My awesome parents were able to come along with us on this trip. In 10 days, we changed a flat tire in Kentucky, went to the top of the St. Louis Arch, drove through Missouri and Kansas, explored Denver & Vail, gasped at Utah (the most beautiful state), tore up Vegas, stood in amazement at the Hoover Dam, went rafting on the Colorado River in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, rode a helicopter out of the Grand Canyon, explored almost every rim of the Canyon, visited the meteor crater in Arizona, and drove back to South Carolina through the southernmost states. Incredible experience. I must say that we live on the wrong side of the country.

St. Louis

Riding the elevator to the top of the Arch

If it's prohibited, I'm there.

We made it to Colorado in one piece!

Beautiful Rockies outside of Denver

Taking a break from rafting in the Grand Canyon

Utah, our favorite state.

What happens in Vegas...

Living life by the pool in Vegas

About to fall into the Grand Canyon

We've had a lot of other adventures, but these were by far the best!

As we all know, 2009 was a pretty rough year for us. I am so very glad to see it go! We wiped the slate clean, and are praying that 2010 will be a better year.

I had the genius idea to push myself just a little bit further this year. I used to run a little bit as part of my workout routine, but got out of it as we got further into fertility treatments. Last week, I started training for the Bridge Run in Charleston. I even convinced my mom and Andy to do it with me...yay!!! It's a 10k run (6.2 miles) that begins in Mount Pleasant, goes over the Cooper River Bridge, and then into downtown Charleston. Hopefully I can burn off the 10 Lbs I gained during the last IVF cycle/pregnancy. I'm so excited and I hope that I don't end up in the hospital before all of this is over.

Our crazy adventures have been put on hold for awhile, but that doesn't mean we can't accept new challenges and push ourselves just a little bit further this year.

Cooper River Bridge...this picture was taken while we were in Charleston for our 1st IVF cycle. I LOVE this bridge.

We're going to run across that?!? Glad I have long term disability insurance.

Wish us luck!!!