Sea World- Fun for all ages!

Enough with the depressing talk. Let's talk fun! We've had the pleasure of going to Sea World twice so far this year. We bought one of those Fun Cards where you pay the same price as a one day admission but you get to come back all year.

The first time we got to go we went with Ben, Mer, and the girls. We went both Friday and Saturday and had a blast. It was so nice to see the faces on the girls at the shows. There is nothing like bringing joy into a child's life because it brings joy into yours! We also got to stay at this awesome resort hotel thanks to Ben and Mer's friends. It was an amazing, relaxing time and we wish we could do it again.

Hanging in the hotel with our Sea World treasures.

Waiting for the Shamu show to start.

Everyone after the Shamu show. We sat in the Splash Zone but hardly got wet.

Thanks for a great trip Ben and Mer! We had a blast!

The second time we went was two days ago. My aunt called us last month and asked if we would help her out with taking her grandson's to Sea World. Being the fun lovers we are, we said yes! So we spent the night at my cousin's house Wednesday, got up early Thursday and headed out to San Antonio, then came back that night after we had worn the kids out. Boys are a lot harder than girls. Holy smokes. Carter has Down Syndrome so you have do a lot more for him than other 6 year olds, but he's a great kid and LOVES Heath so they always have a great time. He loves shows, animals, and acrobats so he was in heaven being at Sea World. Carter loved the Beluga/Dolphin show so much that he just sat there when the show ended and signed more and said "more show!"

Zane, Aunt Sis, Me, Carter, and Heath outside the entrance of Sea World.

Another great trip! Thanks for inviting us Aunt Sis!

So hopefully we'll have more fun trips to S.W. this year and many more summer fun adventures!

Why not me? *Addendum

*ADDENDUM TO MY PREVIOUS POST*
Okay, obvioulsy I am a little angry right now. A lot of this has been building up the past three years. Month after month of negative pregnancy tests will do that to a person. I'm not going to lie, I really do think/have thought/feel/have felt all of the below things and more- wrong or right. I need to write about two things. One being of a time shortly after joining the church. I joined when I was 17. During that time I took ridacule from friends, family, and sometimes strangers. I dealt with my Baptist friends who thought I was going to hell. I dealt with my parents kicking me out of the house because they didn't understand. I dealt with my grandma giving my parents anti-mormon literature so that they could know the "truth". For the past 10 years I have struggled with the need to fit in with my family and friends that were now so clearly different than me and also trying to live the life I knew I wanted. I knew what I believed and I knew why I wanted to be baptized, but trying to be another person after being someone else for 17 years can be a difficult thing. I stumbled many times, but always got right back up and kept moving forward. That was a very hard time in my life. I was being hurt for doing something good- going to church. I was changing my life for the better, but met opposition in every direction. It was a very painful time, but also a time in my life that changed me for the better. I made it through and thought to myself, surely this is as bad as it gets. Surely I will reap the benefits of standing strong for what I believe. Hince the bitterness as the time came for me to weather yet another one of life's trials- infertility. I feel like I am going to be fighting these battles all of my life while others seem to have things handed to them. It feels like nothing comes easy to me and I am becoming resentful of how strong the Lord believes me to be. The hardest part is being a member of this great church that teaches of families and how they are your greatest treasure. When you can't obtain it, you feel broken. You feel like a failure as a wife, a member of the church, a daughter/daughter-in-law, and a daughter of our Heavenly Father. I know I cannot let this trial define who I am or where I am going. I know I cannot let it extinguish my testimony or love for the church. I just don't know to get out of this place, to come to terms with this, to overcome these feelings.
The other thing I wanted to say was that I am aware of the many blessings I have daily. I do not want to short change all the good I have in my life. A very loving husband, a wonderful house I can call home, two loyal dogs, great family and friends. It just seems that when something like this takes over your life you forget about the simply great things you do have. I know I have a lot and I am very lucky. And on the other hand, I realize that there are many more people out there that are struggling with far more than I am.
I also realize that this is not the end of the road. That there are many options out there for us to expand our family. I'm just simply a girl who wishes she could do it the "normal" way, and needed an outlet to vent these feelings I've been having. I think the world in general does not talk about infertility enough and so as a woman going through it you feel alone and strange. You feel like you have no one to relate to, but I have found many greats friends along this journey and thank them for all the support they've given me.

Why not me?

As most of you loyal readers (all 3 of you :)) know, we've been struggling with infertility issues for about three years now. It has overwhelmed my life in so many ways. It is starting to define who I am and I hate it. Oh there goes Adrienne- She has infertility- feel sorry for her. It's a disease that is pretty much sucking the life out of me. The worst part is that it is a silent disease that no one sees and that no one can cure. So I live each day mourning my childhood dreams of becoming a mother, raising a family, and doing what most people consider the best job on earth. I watch others as they interact with children, or as mothers hold their infants, and I look at what seems like every person around me walk around with a pregnant belly, and I think- Why not me? Why not me, the person who waited until she was married to have sex, the person that did what the Lord asked and got sealed in the Temple, the person who has tried to do what is right. You feel like you are doing these things in your life: going to church, paying tithing, saying your prayers, attending the Temple, reading your scriptures, following the Word of Wisdom- and they are hard sometimes, but you do them, and you feel that somehow you will get rewarded- that it will pay off. Then you wake up one day and you realize what a fool you've been. Because the 16 year old in the back seat of that car just got what you want. The unwed mother of 3 just got what you want-again, that girl smoking and drinking has what you want, and even the very best of people have what you want- and deserve it. So why not me? I've spent the last three years wondering what I am doing wrong, am I not good enough, am I being punished, is our timing wrong, does the Lord not care and has forgotten me. Does the Lord not care- how sad is that? This has been the most painful time of my life. I have questioned who I am, what I believe, and why I believe it, and I am coming up short on answers and feeling a lot of apathy towards life right now. Slowly coming to the realization that I will have to pay $15,000-$30,000 to experience what others get for free is a bitter battle with your spiritual side. On top of that, we don't have that kind of money. Not to mention that the procedures take everything beautiful and wonderful out of the experience. Doctors probing and poking and implanting. We've done three procedures so far and nothing has come from it. Just false hope, broken hearts, and empty bank accounts. I am spiritually flat lined and unable to comprehend what God wants me to learn from this pain right now. I've heard it all: You are so young, it will happen. Give it time. Be patient. It will happen in the Lord's time. Go on vacation. Just relax. Don't think about it. God is teaching you something. Some are just meant to adopt, maybe that's you. This is how Satan tries to get us. If I hear another tried and cliche saying about trying to have baby- I am going to scream! I especially don't want to hear it from the mother of 8 sitting next to me telling me she understands what I am going through and to hang in there. No you don't and I don't need your sympathy. I don't know if I'll ever become a mother, by miracle or adoption or whatever, but if that day comes I hope I can look back on this bitter, angry, painful time and see what I was supposed to learn, because all I can say right now is SCREW THIS BABY MAKING STUFF, IT SUCKS!

Bitter Yuck! And other Fun Tales.

Both her and Ally love to lay on their toys for a good nap.

This toy is the best. She will get inside of it and walk around. So funny. At this point, she had played so much that she just passed out in it. So much entertainment!

Well, it's been a couple weeks since we've gotten little Sophie and things are going pretty good. Ally has really taken to her and they pretty much exhaust each other playing all day. Exactly what we were hoping for! We're still working on the housebreaking thing (and hoping our carpet survives it!). Sophie goes in for her second set of shots this Friday and then hopefully we can take her on walks and other things.

So she has been chewing on my baseboards-A LOT. We decided to go to the pet store and get some of that chew deterrent spray. We picked out one called Bitter Yuck. Sounds yummy right? So this is how it's supposed to work. You spray it on whatever you don't want them to chew, they put their mouth on it and get a taste, then they are so disgusted by the bitterly yucky taste that they no longer chew on your things. Let's just say it did nothing. In fact, she started licking it off right after I sprayed and wasn't even phased. So fast forward to later in the night. I brushed my fingertip on my lip. What do I taste? The most horrible thing I've ever had on my tongue. It tasted like sucking on a bare aspirin. IT WAS GROSS. I drank water. Nothing. I ate all sorts of things. Nothing. I felt like I was going to throw up so I just went to bed. I woke up with the same nasty taste. Let's just say I've been trained to not lick my finger and Sophie stills chews on everything. How backwards is this? It was pretty funny though.

Also exciting was that last week Kami, Chapan, and Ron came to visit. We had such a wonderful time just visiting with them. It was our first time to really get to know Chapan since the wedding so that was nice. They didn't really want to do much- I'm guessing Ben and Mer wore them out- so we mostly hung around and watched movies/TV. We also checked out Lance Armstrong's bike shop, Mellow Johnny's. It was pretty cool. We ate at the usual places- Hut's and Trudy's, and again just hung out and played Wii and watched a lot of The Office. You guys promised me you weren't bored, so I hope you had as much fun as we did. So glad you made the extra drive to come see us! Love you!

Meet Sophie Jane!

Sophie Chillaxin in her new bed.

Ally and Sophie not knowing what to think of each other.

We finally got that second dog we've been talking about. She is a 7 week old salt and pepper Miniature Schnauzer. She has a natural tail and ears-breeders usually crop them, but it's purely cosmetic and tortuous, so we are glad she is al natural. I just felt really horrible that Ally was just laying around the house all day when she could be playing with a friend. So a while back we decided on getting a second dog, but let the idea go when we found out we were moving to Austin. Now that we've settled in and Ally was back to her I'll stare at you while you work because I'm bored routine I started thinking about it again. And alas, a new puppy. The sad part is, Ally isn't too thrilled, at least not yet. When I first got Ally, my parents had another schnauzer that we'd had since childhood. They became the best of friends and then Missy passed away. I thought she had been missing that companionship so we got the puppy. I think she likes her and all- they are just at different stages. Ally wants to play with Sophie and so she comes barreling at her and Sophie just freezes in terror because of this huge thing coming at her. It's been pretty funny. All in all though, I think they will become the best of friends- only time will tell. Total guilt trip last night was when Ally wouldn't get on the bed and sleep with us :( I guess I didn't factor in the jealousy thing. Oops. Well wish us luck as we head down this new road of adventure!

Hotel Breinholt Booked Again!

This weekend we had the pleasure of having our friends Joey and Kira visit from Houston. They came in Friday and stayed until Tuesday night. We ate at lots of yummy places, played lots of Mario Bros Wii, and just had fun hanging out. We had so much fun with you guys. Thanks for making the short journey to spend part of your Spring Break with us!

Heath also has Spring break off so we are just trying to get some stuff off our to-do list this week. That's pretty much it right now.

Visitors at Hotel Breinholt!

We had a great weekend with Heath's family. Thursday night Mom, Dad, and Ron drove in from Ben and Mer's and we took them to Trudy's to eat. On Friday we headed down to campus so they could see where Heath spends his days (and to visit the world's largest collection of things burnt orange- The Co-Op). After that we ate a place called The Mellow Mushroom which was one of Ron's favorite places from his mission- and there was one in Austin! Pretty cool for him. Next we took Ron to the Apple store so Heath could talk his ear off about all things Mac. Then we started our trek to find a movie theater that played The Blind Side which ended in an even crazier attempt to find one that played Avatar in 3D. We ended up watching Avatar, and it was pretty good. I think the visual effects were amazing, but I wouldn't say it was the best movie I've ever seen. Saturday Ben, Mer, and the girls came into town. We sat off to eat at this place that Ben has been dying to try- The Salt Lick. It was pretty good BBQ, but I'm not sure it lived up to its hype for everyone. Then we did a little shopping at the Round Rock Outlets- Mer and I love that place! After that we went home and hung out. Sunday started off with me getting to church early so I could talk to one of the bishop's counselors. Guess who got a calling? Primary, here I come! Then we just spent the rest of Sunday eating and hanging out. That night, after the girls went to bed, we had an exciting game of Super Mario Brothers Wii. It was great. I think we played one level a bazillion times. Monday morning we said our goodbyes and our house has been too quiet ever since. We miss you guys! Thanks for a great long weekend. We had a blast!

Best Sydney quote of the weekend: "I just want you and Xhaxhi to be my parents". Hehe, made our day. Poor Syd, she thinks we'd be cool parents. Little does she know.... :)

Best Malla quote of the weekend: Anytime she would walk around the house and say in her sweet little voice "Xhaaaxxhi" "Haaallllaa"

BEST WEEKEND EVER. Welcome home Ron! Thanks for everything Mom and Dad! We're so glad we got to see ya'll!