Good News!

So we've only been waiting forever to finally share but here we go! We are pregnant and it's just one! Above is the two embryos we put in at 5 days old. Only one survivied which we are super okay with so we're 12 weeks now and due March 29, 2011! We are so grateful! Below is at yesterdays dr appt! So cute and less bean like!

I've been waiting to share all of what is going on due to my trying not to spill the beans although most people we talk to regularly already know. It's hard to keep a secret when you've done IVF. So, here is a catch up of August and some of September. My mom and brother Nate came out in August for a little over a week. We went to Island park while there and took some fun pictures.

We also did our traditional Redskin pics so here is Hyrum this year!

These pics are all out of order but we went to the zoo too in IF and it was fun. Pigeons and bunnies at a zoo are a little lame though...

Family Redskin Pic.

Island park bear! Hyrum was a little scared at first!

Hyrum and I by the bear.

Hyrum and Nate on the bear.

Hyrum went four wheeling while I stayed at home being a good pregnant lady. Here is Hyrum all decked out! Thanks Patti & Richard for a great weekend and showing us around!

Ben & Hyrum on the four wheeler trip.

Grandma and Hyrum riding.

Hyrum fell asleep on the way home on the four wheeler. So cute!

The family!

Hyrum & Ben.

Grandma and Hyrum.

I cheated a little and took Hyrum for a ride around the cabin.

Grandma got Hyrum some new tools. Here he is showing them off.

This one is for grandma....the race car pjs.

Labor Day weekend we went to the Idaho State Fair. Hyrum loved all the animals! He wanted to touch all of them but the pig "startled me" as he says.

Hyrum and the goat!

I also gave Hyrum his first haircut by myself in a while. It looks not as bad as the ladies I"ve paid to do it lately...

Cutting hair!

So everything is going well. We feel so blessed and happy right now and Hyrum is convinced it is another boy!

Hyrum is doing really well with speech now. He has been going for 6 months and we retested him and he is age appropriate now! Yeah! We're going to keep going through the end of the year but we're really excited. The speech therapist told me the first day he would need speech until kindergarten. She was so shocked how fast he improved! Hooray!

Our next big adventure is Virginia in 6 weeks! We can't wait to go see our family/friends out there and all of us get to go! Hyrum is excited for the airplane ride! It will be a quick trip of 6 days but we can't wait!

Marathon Post Warning!

Too much has happened lately to leave out so pardon my really long post and feel free to rush through! My mother in law got diagnosed with Breast Cancer almost 2 months ago and has since had surgery but I made her a breast cancer survivor quilt and my mom quilted it for me! Below is a baby blanket I made for Ben's cousin Adrienne. My mom also quilted it for me!
Our lawn has required some extra watering lately so Hyrum has had fun running through the sprinkler!

So happy!

It took a whole week and with much help from our family the Lukes, we finished our rock project. This is the before....

This is the after. 2 dump trucks full of 2 inch rock and many wheelbarrow fulls later we are done and still have rock left over. Someday we will tackle the front flower beds but for now we are resting! To the left of the picture is a small garden area. We did this because we are sick of looking at weeds! What a project!

Just too cute in his hat! He wants to wear it every time he helps Ben mow the lawn. Yes, we are still obsessed with that around her. Although we have progressed to if we say no to mowin the lawn he says Wednesday...the day we normally mow!

So, after weeks of shots we got the green light to start stimulating the heck out of my ovaries! Due to daily doctor's appts (even on the weekends) we stayed at hotel for 5 nights. We tried to get out as much as we could to entertain Hyrum. Lets just say we won't be planning any long hotel trips in the future! Cranky 2 year old all week but we did have some fun! Friday July 2 we went to the zoo and saw the new baby elephant. Hyrum was impressed!

I think he was a little shocked how big the animals were since in books they look so small.

Included at the Hogle zoo is a carousel ride and a train ride. He screamed when he had to get off the lion on the carousel ride. He loved it!

Pictures are out of order for a few...but on Sunday the 4th of July we took a trip to temple square after or dr appt. It was a beautiful day (yes I took this pic). Can't believe its almost been 5 years since we got married there! Of course in December it didn't look so nice!

Hyrum on the platform where Ben and I had so many wedding pics taken.

Back to July 3 now. Ben's cousin Adrienne invited us to play with them for the day and watch fireworks at Thanksgiving Point(in ut they do fireworks on the 3rd due to Sunday). Here is a picture of us waiting 2 hours in the windy cold for fireworks to start. Hyrum loved them!

Earlier in the day on July 3 we went swimming at Adrienne's inlaws house. Hyrum is a fish(see videos below).

Another picture of mom and baby elephant at the zoo.

Family picture at temple square.

Hyrum standing in front of his namesake.

Closer up.

Monday (our last day before heading home Tues) we drove up to beautiful Park City. I have only been there in the winter for skiing but it was fun to go in the summer. We had to hit the outlets and Ben spoiled me by letting me try stuff on kidless while he played at various playgrounds scattered throughout the outlets. After we went to Olympic Park and saw where they did bobsled and ski jumps at the Olympics. Hyrum did not want to get out of the bobsled.

Ben & Hyrum in front of the practice ski jump. There is a swimming pool below that the jumpers jump into. Looks fun! Hyrum just wanted to go swimming in it.

Our IVF has been successful so far. On Tuesday they put me out to retrieve eggs! They got a whopping 27 eggs...17 mature...13 fertalized. The embryos are 3 days old now and all have made it and in 2 days we will go down to have 2 put in! We keep asking Hyrum do you want one baby or two babies? At first he said two...now he says one...I'm hoping for anything...in the words of my niece Jocelyn "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" So we're hoping for a baby or two next March but time will tell.

Below are some videos of Hyrum swimming on July 3. Too cute not to show grandparents!

Butcher Happenings

I've needed to update for so long but life had been busy and exciting lately. Way back when on Memorial Day we went with Ben's sister and her family to Mesa Falls. Ben & I had never been there before so it was really fun. Hyrum was a trooper and walked the whole way! Ben's mom has been here for about 2.5 weeks and recently went home but she was able to be here for this.

Above: Family pic at Mesa Falls
Below: The boys and Chloe

Grandma Butcher & Hyrum

May 17 we got a new little niece...Paige. Ben's sister Becky had her 5th girl and here is a picture of the new family!

We've had some fun outside whenever the weather has decided to stay nice. These are some pictures sometime in May of Hyrum having fun helping wash the cars.

His favorite part was spraying us with the hose. He would laugh and giggle so hard it was so cute!

Hyrum always points out bikes whenever we go places so we thought maybe he'd be old enough to try a trike! Well, lets say this picture is the most he's been on it total. He hasn't got the coordination figured out yet but we'll work on it! He does like it though!

Hyrum's most favorite activity right now is mowing the lawn. I do not exaggerate to say that at least 5 times a day I get asked "dad lawn" which means is dad mowing the lawn? How exciting is mowing day at our house! We got Hyrum a bubble lawn mower that he pushes around while Ben mows. It's pretty cute and funny!

Hyrum's 2nd cousin Karston came to play the other day and here is a cute pic of them.

Hyrum also loves to throw the football and we did not teach him this but he knows somehow he has to have his helmet on? Too much watching football at our house! He's getting ready to toss it here!

Our future football player (Ben hopes).

Hyrum is now in a big boy bed...in a big boy booster seat at the table (no high chair). He's getting so big...next big step will be potty training.So it's not a great picture of me but I chopped my hair off last night. I was trying to grow it out but decided I needed something faster so I chopped it. I love it though.

I turned 24 last Monday which was fun. Ben and family spoiled me which was nice. We went down to Sandy, UT for one of our IVF appts and it went well. I have started injections now in my stomach and it's not as bad as I thought. Even though I give many shots at work and start IVs frequently you just don't know how it will feel to do it to yourself! I still have to psych myself up for it a little but the pain is really minimal. It's more the idea of it than anything. I'm heading into my last 3 shifts of work this weekend and then will be spoiled with month off to complete our IVF stuff. We head down July 1 to stay for a week and a half. We have a couple day trips to make down there between now and then. It's getting exciting and nerve racking! I just want it to work so bad and we have so much invested in this! They gave us the lecture this past weekend of the risks of it not working and it felt a little discouraging. I'm trying to stay positive and have faith!

On a happier note...Ben is enjoying work right now and actually had been busy...He's having fun building models for the company but worries he will put his whole department out of a job because the computere is doing all the work! Just kidding! But he does laugh about it!