Gotta love birthdays!

Although it may seem I am writing under the ruse that it's my birthday, I have so many other things to share! I have had a pretty exciting week. Here are some highlights :
- I did a backbend! This is an amazing feat coming from a girl who from elementary age thought that she would never be able to do this. I thought that if you didn't do flexibility exercises from a very young age, that you would never have that flexibility. I am so excited to be wrong!
- I got sung to in primary again for my birthday. It's been 15 years since the last time that happened. I love birthdays. I can't help it, it's been engrained in me to celebrate them at all times, in all ways, and in all circumstances. :)
- Reed didn't have to work this last Saturday, so for the first Saturday in a long time, we got to spend most of the day together! While we were together, we went and looked at some duplexes, a condo and a house. We were so excited and happy! I can't wait until we can get a little more serious about buying.
- My parents entered the MTC yesterday. I hope to be receiving a phone call from them today and I can see how they are doing. It seem a little surreal to have my parents in the MTC when they're always the ones waiting with the rest of us at home for the person on the mission.
That's it for now. We are SO happy and grateful for the great weather we have been having the past few days. Warm weather is finally here!

Psyche!

You know, just when you have plans laid, something always happens. I will actually be waiting approximately 2 weeks and then having my colposcopy. Sorry about the mis-information. I actually had to re-schedule because of some bad scheduling on my body's part. So, May 14th it is to be. I'm already starting the countdown all over again.

I have been substituting for about 2 weeks in the CTR 6 class at church, and have loved it! The last time I taught in primary was when I was 18, I team taught with my sister Alyson a large class of Sunbeams. Challenging, but pretty fun. I remembered my passion for primary again when Reed and I were visiting Brian and Kamber in England and I played the piano for primary since Kamber needed a pianist. I loved it and have longed for it since then and have been able to snatch little tidbits of enjoyment by filling in for the primary pianist in our ward when she's gone. Today I even convinced Reed to come to my class with me today to see if he could help me temper all the kids, there are 9 or 10 normally I think, but today there were only 8. It's amazing to me that even the most rambunctious, distracted kids seem to get the right answers when it might seem they aren't listening. I love that! I love that they listen long enough to get the message of what I'm teaching . . . I'll take it even if it's not perfect.
Reed and I also attended my parents ward to hear them speak before leaving this Friday to go visit family in Utah and then report to the MTC on Tuesday. Our family pretty much hung out all day, and made lots of memories. It nearly broke my heart when one of my nieces left sobbing, crying because Grandma and Grandpa were leaving and she had just realized it. But other than that, I know my parents are excited to go out and serve and I'm excited for them.
Reed just realized that he still has 3 weeks, not 2, left of school! He was VERY relieved. Understandably.
Last bit of news. I am having a fun (sense the sarcasm) medical procedure done this week, Wednesday, that will hopefully help with the viability of our next pregnancy. I'll be glad to get it done and see what the dr. says about what's going on with me. If you all could pray for Reed and I, I know I would appreciate any extra prayers. Thanks to all!

Alysa and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

I had "that day" today. You know, the one where you wake up grumpy, you get to work late, you don't feel good, and everything just snowballs from there. It wasn't down in the dumps, it was just me feeling mad about stuff happening in life, and not really dealing with the emotions associated with it and then just feeling GRUMPY! This doesn't happen often, thankfully, otherwise, I would need a counselor or something for more permanent, long term help in figuring out my emotional dilemmas. And Reed might need one too, poor boy, for having to deal with me. :) Anyway, thankfully that day is over and tomorrow is Friday and I'm trying to come up with a good reason to ditch work tomorrow . . . . anyone got any bright ideas? :) I already tried to convince Reed that I could try Mark's ipicac idea . . . . but Reed convinced me that there was more associated with that than just throwing up, so it's out of the picture. I could call in saying a have a fever . . . . . spring fever?? I think it might work. :)
Reed needs some credit for a talent not all may know about. Reed is a top rate kitchen cleaner. I came home today to dishes all done, floor swept and mopped, counters and table cleaned and wiped off! Wow! What a guy! This is only one of the many reasons that I love him.
He sacrificed his study time for school in order to do that. So I returned the favor and made him dinner. :) We make a good team.

What a week!

Last night was the cherry on top as this week of taxes finally winds down. Good news on taxes: we're getting money back. Bad news: it's a pain in the rear having to file them. :) I took it upon myself to fill out the forms, which was stressful especially since I was filing for myself for last year too. So, I filled them all out, had Reed check them, and then we signed, problem was it took most of the night to get that far. Thank heavens it only happens once a year.
Last night we went to see John's play Oliver!. I love plays! I have been taken to them since I was probably about 8 years old, when the Morrison Center had Music Week and everyone got free tickets. My mom would always secure those for us. I remember the first one I ever saw was Annie, which was already a favorite of mine. John did a great job, and Reed said he could hear him singing a few times, which is amazing in acast of over 100 kids.
Anyhoo, today we have stake conference. And a planned visit to both sets of parents. :) Sounds like a nice leisurely day to me. This week officially starts the panic of birthdays in my family, starting with my sister's birthday and then just a few weeks later starts the onslaught, including my own, many of my nieces and nephews, Mothers Day in the middle, and topped off with my mothers near the end of May. Busy time of year. Only this year, my parents will be leaving on the 3rd, for the MTC, I think, so they will be missing out on a lot of them. That will make it different this year.

Exercise week!

This has been a great week for me. First of all, it went really quick! Yay! Secondly, I worked out every day thus far, and I feel fantastic! I am trying to whip myself into 10k shape because the 10k I want to run is May 19th, and I want to do well. Well meaning at least as well as I have run my past 2 or maybe a little faster. That would be awesome. Reed has been keeping busy with school. He had a test this week, which kept him stressed and busy. He is currently playing tennis with a bunch of guys that include my brother Jon and some of his friends in his ward. Reed loves Saturday mornings because of its tennis possibilities, as long as the guys don't wimp out about it being too cold. :) Men! Anyway, tomorrow he is giving a talk in church, and I am teaching a primary class. Fun stuff! Oh, I had the funniest thing happen this week. I thought it was funny. I had to go to my ob's office to give blood so they could test my hormone levels to make sure they are coming down from the pregnancy, and they called me the next day to let me know the results. The first thing the nurse said was " You did miscarry." My first thought was, duh! Sorry, and not meant in a rude way, but that was not in any way surprising, and I didn't expect to have them confirm that for me. I just wanted to know if my levels were coming down. I could have confirmed the miscarriage for them already in so many ways!! :) Oh well, maybe it's still a bit of a sensitive subject. Really though, I feel that having already made new goals and having something else that's positive to focus on has helped me not to get depressed or really all that sad. I think I just have felt a little frustrated with my dr.'s office over the whole thing. que sera sera. Positive note: I'm going to go work out now and get some more frustration out. Reed should be home soon and we can have pancakes! Our Saturday morning tradition. :)

It's been a WHOLE week....

Sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog, but I have had good reason. Really. After much deliberation, I have decided to share what has kept me so busy. While I was having so much fun in Michigan with my sister and her family, I found out that Reed and I were going to have a baby! We were both so excited. It was an indescribable feeling of elation and happiness, and yet caution on my part because I have been having some issues with my body, but I figured everything must be okay, because I was feeling pretty good. Things were good for about a week, and then, last Sunday, on that last Sunday in March, I started having some really heavy bleeding, and just knew that I was having a miscarriage. I read about them online, and from a doctors website read that there was nothing you can do to stop a miscarriage. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. So, finally on Thursday, I started having some very painful cramping and bleeding, and my doctor confirmed that I was most likely having a miscarriage. It really happened. It wasn't the way I would have liked the whole thing to end, but sometimes things happen without our permission. I have been in a lot of physical pain since Thursday with cramping and other types of pains, but today was the first day I can say I had no cramping. I feel back to my normal self, and Reed and I are planning on trying again in a few months per doctors orders. We are okay, but sad, about the miscarriage. I just figure that we had something to learn from this situation. We may not know what it is now, but if nothing else, it helps us to be more compassionate of others who may experience the same type of loss.
So, today, I got back to my exercise routine that I gave up the day after I found out I was pregnant. I am PLANNING on running a half marathon this summer. For sure. I am excited about being able to start again with my running goals, and for now, it will keep me motivated and occupied long enough to get past the next couple of months until Reed and I can start thinking about babies again. By the way, today is the one year anniversary of the day Reed proposed to me. That was a sweet day. :) And it's also our 9-month anniversary. Only 3 more months to go and it's a year! Reed just got home from school, so I'm off to catch up on his day.