St Louis (mostly pics)

WARNING: TONS OF PICTURES BELOW!!!
I wont say much on this but will put some stuff with pictures. With all me and Trent has had going on, it has been quit stressful so we decided to take a quick get away and go to St. Louis to see the sites and watch the Cardinal play.

I was quit fascinated with the arch so there are a ton of pictures of it alone. This is the arch view standing outside of our motel.

You can see the arch driving all over town. We had actually drove about 20-30 minutes away to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and you could still see the arch far off in the distance.

At Busch stadium, if the Cardinals hit a homerun, they would shoot off fireworks with the arch in the background.

When your tour the inside of the arch, this is whe egg shaped tram that you take up into it. If your claustrophobic, this IS NOT for you.

From top of arch looking down the side.

Views from top of arch

The arch shadow from top of the arch

Busch Stadium outside where Cardinal play

View of Busch Stadium from top of arch

We toured Busch Stadium and in this picture, we are inside the Cardinals dugout

On the field behind home plate

Busch Stadium with Arch in background

We took a ride down Route 66

Then we went for a short walk down the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge which used to be part of Route 66

This sign and gas pump is part of the original Route 66

This bench was made out of a sign that was on part of the original Route 66

Trent standing with Route 66 sign

I was IN LOVE with my zoo pics and totally AMAZED at how well they turned out. They actually look even better printed. Made me LOVE my new camera even more.

Loved the Lions. He was simply Beautiful!!!

Lion far away.

This lion was walking out on the tree limb and scared me half to death. The limb was shaking as if it was going to break however did not seem to phase this lion at all.

I loved the up close shots of the animals.

This Gorilla totally cracked us up laying there hanging like it was dead. At one point, it opened its eyes and just layed there looking around at everyone.

Momma Elephant and Baby Elephant

And last but not least the Hippo. I was totally fascinated with the Hippo, who ever knew they could swim under water for so long.

Hope you all enjoyed viewing our nice relaxing get away. We sure do LOVE our vacations and get aways and hope to go to New York next year so hopefully I can share tons of pictures from there also. Actually, it could be scary how many pictures I come back from New York with.

You wanna go Fight Joe?

Every since me and Trent met, he has dipped. I harrased him and harrassed him for many years about quiting and he always told me "I can't just quit cold turkey". Well maybe he can't just quit cold turkey but he could try to quit right? Nope, he wasn't even trying. Well, Out of the blue one day, Trent told me "when this can is gone, I am going to quit" I thought absolutely no way possible. He just aint gonna do it. Well, he sure did make a liar outta me. On October 9, 2009, he put the last dip in his mouth.

Before picture with dip in. I always thought this picture would have been so cute IF he didnt have that big ol' wad of dip in his mouth.
Aww, look at us now. No dip and cute as can be.

I was SO very proud of him for quitting for 1 year so I just had to do a surprise for him. As of October 10, 2010, Trent has been totally dip free for 1 YEAR. Way to go babe. I am SO proud of you.

Anyways, I decided to plan a quick get away trip for the 2 of us and to do something that my dear hubby finds so relaxing and as a stress reliever. I booked a motel room in Florence, AL and set up a tee time to go golfing at Robert Trent Jones golf course in Muscle Shoals, AL. Me and Trent were both working so I texted Trent around 2am the day we were leaving and told him when he got home from work to pack his bags becuase we were leaving town that afternoon. I wrote him a letter telling him just how proud of him I was and how much I loved him. At the end of the letter I put pack comfortable and then I put the predicted weather and then what direction and how fast the wind would be blowing for the day he would be golfing. I then told him there was a hint in the letter which totally confused him. (the hint was the wind information) He was so curious but still did not know what we were doing. We went home from work, packed bags, got in a nap and left the house. Trent still curious not knowing what we were going to do, I started laughing as we drove down the road and said "I dont know if this will give it away or if you will look at me like I am stupid but, do you want to go Fight Joe?" He got the biggest grin from ear to ear and said "oh that was a dead giveaway, we are going to play golf! Get ready for a laugh cause Joe is going to kick my Butt". Robert Trent Jones golf course has 2 trails. One being Fighting Joe and the other being SchoolMaster and I had reserved the Fighting Joe for him. That is where I got, do you want to go Fight Joe?.

Here are some pictures of our fun day Fighting Joe.

Here we are sitting in the golf cart waiting on the group ahead of us.

Just some scenery from the golf course.

Making a heart with our hands in the shadow while waiting for the group ahead of us.

More golfing scenery. I may not play golf, but I LOVE to go with him to just watch and relax. It is so peaceful to me to be on the golf course.

My wonderful hubby just chilling.

More scenery

Trent hitting the ball off the hill towards the flag that you can barely see.

Don't really know why but I like this picture

Putting

WAY TO GO BABY!!! I AM SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!

Every Girls Dream

Ok, I have been stalling for forever on blogging because me and Trent has had so much going on and I have just not felt in the blogging spirit. I will give you the one BIG update that has gotten me out of the blogging spirit and then I will try to update on some that has went on since then at a later time.

Now for the big news. I have thought and thought of how I would blog all of this mess and the more I thought about it, it just felt so overwhelming however on the same hand, it will feel so good to let it out. I will not go into huge detail but will fill everyone in on everything.

As we all know, it is most every little girls dream to find that Mr. Perfect and begin a family. God Blessed me almost 8 years ago with my Mr. Perfect, my best friend for life that I began my wonderful Married life with 2 and a half years ago. I thank God each and every day for blessing me with such a wonderful man. When me and Trent met and before getting married, we both agreed we wanted 2 and no more than 3 kids. PERFECT, right? We both want kids and agree on the number. We also both agree to start trying a year to 2 years after getting married. Another PERFECT, right? Well up to this point yes, everything is PERFECT. We came off Birth Control and begin trying to extend our family 1 year to the month after getting married. We were both so excited and absolutely could not wait to get the news and to give our parents the news that they would be grandparents. We even thought out ways to tell our parents. (I knew once I started blogging, I would cry and now the tears are coming) I am now crying cause I am thinking of how I was going to tell my daddy. I bought a stuffed bear and had a onesie made and put on the bear that said I love my Papa Vaughn. Everything was so perfect. Well, month after month went by and we started getting down and not understanding why we were not pregnant. After a year and a month, I went to the doctor to begin the process of finding out why we had not gotten our little bundle of joy yet. Test 1 was done and everything was basically very normal with it, showing not much reason we shouldn't have gotten pregnant by then. Dr then said he wanted to wait a month and do my second test and then in the mean time, have Trent tested also. Well, it just so happened that my second test and Trent's first test was on the same day. We would go to Trent's appointment and then go to mine. During Trent's appointment, they done the routine check. During the routine check, we could tell the Dr was not quiet finding what he wanted. Trent done his test (everyone gets the point right?) and we wait about 20 minutes and they came back in with the news. Trent had zero sperm and they were unable to feel his vas. For anyone who is not familiar with that, the vas is the tube that carries sperm outside of the body and the vas is also what is snipped during a vasectomy. We then called the doctor to see if he wanted me to still go to my second test and they did, just to make sure that it would turn out ok and also the next test is something that would have to be ran in the future anyways if we decide to do any type of fertility. That test also came back normal. Trent was then scheduled for yet another test with more in depth testing to see if his semen came back with fructose which would give us more answers. About a month later, Trent done his second test which came back with no fructose and yet again zero sperm. This pretty much guaranteed for us that Trent was born with a congenital absence of the vas. We were then referred the the Nashville Fertility Center where we got our options of what we could do.

Option 1 = InVitro = $20,000 (normally they have a flat rate package plan where it is usually around $12,000 but because of our situation, it would cost more)

Option 2 = Sperm Donor = $1,000 (if we done this, we consider using Trent's brother due to it being as close to Trent as you can get)

Option 3 = Adoption = (we have always said even before getting married that we would do adoption but now it is actually something we are facing and it is terrifying.)

All of our above options are absolutely terrifying for us due to the fact that InVitro is so expensive, can we really take those risk and it not work. Sperm donor is just terrifying because I feel we should start on equal terms and it be neither one of ours. Adoption is terrifying because you just never know everything about the situation.

Option 4 = Be alone with no kids and Travel the world. We absolutely LOVE to travel so we do consider this option also. As pretty much everyone knows, we met playing baseball and LOVE to go to games so a personal goal we have made is to visit every MLB field in the United States and this would give us the opportunity to do so.

We just found out in August there was a problem and in September got our options therefore right now, we are just taking time basically to cope with the news and be able to make the right decision so for now, we will just be taking it easy and trying to enjoy life.

Ok, now that everyone is filled in on our little Fertility Journey, I hope you all understand why I have failed you all in the blogging world.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as this is not a very easy time in our life right now. It is so very difficult to understand why there are crappy people out there that can reproduce, peoples marriages are falling apart but can reproduce, etc.

Other than this hurdle in life, the Haddock's are doing absolutely fantastic. God has ABSOLUTELY blessed our marriage and our lives beyond all belief and I am so very grateful for that. I have been saying what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger and I love the way we have just totally bonded and worked through this together. I really feel like we have the absolute PERFECT marriage and I have ALWAYS said I never knew marriage would be so easy. We have recently started doing things like small get aways, board games, video games, etc that gets our mind off things and lets us just relax and enjoy ourselves.

THANK YOU GOD FOR BLESSING ME AND MY HOME AND MARRIAGE!!!

Wow, has it been forever or what?

Wow, I am getting really bad at this blogging thing. When I first started, it was like you just couldn't make me stop now you just cant get me to do it. I am sure a TON has happened since I blogged last but I will just leave it at basics. For the most part, people that are close to me pretty much know it all.

Anyways, since last time, we have gotten a walkway and then edged the opposite side of the walkway and our house looks great now. Still a few things to do but nothing more that needs immediate attention. Here are some before pictures

This was before anything at all was done to the house. This is what it looked like when we bought it. Nice, cute home but just blah, needs some outside work.


Finally 3 years later, here is our wonderful lovely home that is no longer just blah on the outside. Landscaping, walkway, edging, door painted. Looks fabulous now.

As much as I love and miss my family, I love absolutely everything about our home. I could honestly see me living in this house for the rest of my life.

On to more things. Really there has not been a whole lot going on. The only thing that seems to be going on in our lives right now are 1 doctors appointment right after another. Geez, I really cant wait for all these doctor appointments to end. When I was younger, I was tested for allergies and we knew I had horrible outdoor allergies but I was recently retested and yes I am SEVERELY allergic to outdoors. I have started allergy shots and I am now on the once a week. I am so very proud of myself though cause they told me if I can do it 3 times in front of them, I can take them home and do them myself. Well time number 1, I totally freaked out holding the needle saying I cant do it, I cant do it and well the second time, I totally done it like a pro. I really think I can do this. I only have to do it one more time in front of them and I get to do it myself from now on which is so much more convenient then driving 3o minutes just to get 1 quick shot.

Hmm for other appointments, I wont go into details but as everyone knows, me and Trent has been going to the doctor for fertility reasons. We have now been trying for a year and 2 months and with all the testing for this it is definitely a very interesting road to follow. I have already been for 1 test which came back not bad but not good either so next up is Trent to get tested in August and me to also get another test in August. Good thing about my next test coming up is supposedly it can possibly make you more fertile for the next 3 months following. Lets pray to God and hope this really helps with us. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as this is a very difficult thing to go through.

I have lately been learning how to deal with the stresses and everyday annoyances in life and I have totally changed my outlook and attitude on things. I feel like over the past month, I have become such a better person learning how to deal with things. As the trials me and Trent are going through it definitely makes it a little tougher but overall, I am extremely proud of myself for finally getting to the point that I have.

Everything in the Haddock house has really been going great. We really cant complain other than our one little road to travel. It really is a learning experience and we just have to stay strong through it. We are getting ready to go to St Louis next week and most definitely can NOT wait to get away with each other and just be able to let everything go. I reckon this is all I can really think of updating on now but hopefully I will stay on top of things a little better from here on out. (I wouldn't get your hopes up on that one though, lol)

Landscaping

Wow I am so far behind. We had landscaping done 2 weeks ago and it looks awesome. There are more things we are wanting to do to the house however this was a great start. We still need to fill in our ditch line, do a walk way, stain the deck, umm I think that is all. Anyways, while I was on vacation, Trent did not relax a bit. He stayed so hard at work doing several different things to surprise me when I got home. I will also show pictures of that.

Here are pictures of before and after of landscaping and Trents hard work. There were 41 total plants/shrubs planted. It looks great.

The front of the house before

Front of the house after

The side of the house at the bay window. 5 knockout rose bushes

Front of the house with a paw print saying dogs leave paw prints on our hearts.

Front left side looking to the right side.

Bay window side before

Bay window side after

Front left side before

Front left side after

Front right side before

Front right side after

And last, Trents hard work while I was gone. He painted the door from white to match the shutters, painted the porch, hung new light fixtures outside, and put rocking chairs on the porch.

There are plenty more pics but I think this is enough.

The Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

I have had a lot of things going on in my happy little world that I have got to come to peace with. I read this Serenity Prayer and everything is so true. I need to be able to look back at this when times start getting hard because there are definitely things that I totally do not understand and need to constantly be reminded that sometimes you just can't change things and you need to leave it all up to God to handle for you.

Last weekend we had a Wonderful Surprise 30th Anniversary Party for mom and dad. We were so very lucky to have every person in the family to attend except for 5 people some of which were sick and live out of town. First of all, THANK EVERYONE so much for coming and making their day everything we had hoped and planned for it to be. Now back to the story, my cousin Mary, her husband and their beautiful baby girl Hope were able to come in from NC and she was also our Photographer for the day (pictures will come later when we get them back). Will not say much on this topic for Mary sake but me and her were able to have a nice and kinda lengthy conversation about it being difficult getting pregnant and how it can just make you mad at the world, everyone and everything. As some of you know, this month was a year of us trying. Mary also had a difficult time and in talking to her and another friend, I think that this is where some of my hostility and hard feelings are coming from. I don't understand how people can have children and not want them, love them, spend time with them, give them that love and affection, and everything else wonderful that goes along with having a little one and here we are wanting one so bad. Not only that, it is just making me so frustrated so easily with little things such as laziness, carelessness, irresponsibility, etc. I guess you can see the list just goes on and on. In saying all this, I just ask you all to Pray for me and help me get through this time of such negativity in my life. I hate feeling this way and don't really understand why, saying that normally I am a happy person.

It really sounds like I have so much negativity and I know I do also have positive in my life so On a positive note, I know I have an absolutely AMAZING HUSBAND and most WONDERFUL MARRIAGE EVER and that is absolutely all I could really ask for. I have said several times, I never knew Marriage would be this easy and this good. I know marriage has its speed bumps you have to cross but I never imagined it would be this easy. Maybe it is just cause I got that one in a million Man that made everything so great. Trent Justin I love you more than anything in this entire world. Thank you so much for being so understanding and loving when I have my hard times and as bad as I hate to say it, Thank you for making me laugh when all I want to do is cry. You are Aaaaahhhh-mazing. I love you Babe.

Mom, dad, Amber, Jack, Colton, Ricky, Linda, Leah, and Scott - Y'all are the most amazing family anyone could ever ask for. There is an abundance of love flowing through the family and I am so very Thankful that we have each and every one of you. With the love and support of our families, we can do anything.

Also on another happy note. We are having landscaping done Tuesday. We have been at our house for 3 years in July and we are finally doing landscaping. We are so excited because we know this is just going to make the house look tons better. Can't wait.

Sorry for my little rampage and venting session here. I hope my Serenity Prayer can help someone else out here.

Thirty One Party

My sister is now a Thirty One Consultant and I am going to be hosting a party for her on June 12th. I will be getting some invitations sent out in the next few days however if you are unable to attend or live too far away, you can browse and order off of their website. www.mythirtyone.com/22262 go to place an order top center of the page, then click place an order online on the right side and then click shop now by my name. They have all kinds of stuff… purses, baby stuff, wallets, lunchboxes, diaper bags, organization things, etc. Go check it out. Feel free to contact me for any questions. Hope to see you all at the party.