Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year! We spent it in Spokane with Zac's family and I was lucking enough to have Lindsey come too! I always have a lot of fun when I am with Zac's family. I sure lucked out in the in-law department because I think I got the best ones. 

We started Thanksgiving day with a nice hike. It is so beautiful over there. Afterwards, we all helped make dinner. One, night we pulled out the family photos. Don't miss the cutie pie at the bottom! Thanks to Margaret and Lindsey for letting me steal all of their pictures.

Family Pictures!

Well, it is that time of year again! Last weekend we took our limited photo taking skills to this beautiful park that has a great view of Seattle. Amazingly it was super sunny and very cold. Thanks to our friends for snapping some good shots.  

How Far Would You Go?

I have been asking myself this question a lot lately. How far am I willing to go to fulfill my dreams. This month marks the third year of our infertility journey so naturally it has been on my mind a lot more than usual.
When I think of this question I can't but help to also think how far I have come. I have endured 13 rounds of crazy pills (aka Clomid), surgery, pain, hope and heart break.
This past year has been a roller coaster to say the least. Discovering that I have Endometriosis opens a whole flood of emotions and questions. I had surgery about four months ago and sadly the Endometriosis is returning. I can feel it more acutely than I ever have. It is like I was living with the disease for so long that I got used to the way it made me feel then having a few wonderful months of knowing what it is like to not have it around makes me even more aware of the pain and the difference in my body.
Thank goodness for a wonderful husband who somehow manages to deal with my craziness. I was talking to a friend the other day and she asked how Zac was doing with dealing all of this. I said that he is doing really good considering that he never knows what kind of Katelyn he will walk in to when he gets home from work. Sometimes it is a happy Katelyn who has dinner made and the house clean other times it is an emotional mess that has binged on Netflix and is still in her PJs.
Right now I have no idea what to do next and it is scary. There are several options where fertility is concerned, however, I am learning there are not so many options where Endo is concerned. Even if I were to get pregnant the symptoms of the disease would come right back and will continue to get worse as time passes.
I have been reading every book I can find at the library about it hoping I can find ways to slow it down. So many things in my life are making more sense. As many of you know, I need a lot of sleep and am almost always tired. It turns out that fatigue is a common symptom of Endo. The extreme pain and nausea that comes with each cycle are also common symptoms. I also have weirdly sensitive skin and I am allergic to nickel and fragrances. According to one book, there is a link between autoimmune disorders such as allergies and endometriosis as endo itself is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Women with endometriosis were more likely to have an autoimmune disorder or disease than women without endo.
By learning as much as I can about it, I am hoping to gain at least a little control back. It feels better than not doing anything.
There are a lot of good things that have come from this challenge and I am sure there are more that I haven't even realized yet. However, it is not easy. Sometimes, it feels like each day is a battle between happiness and letting it consume me. I refuse to let this steal my happiness. If I can't beat it, I am at least going to go down fighting.

Halloween!

Halloween this year was a ton of fun! I am liking this holiday more and more each year. We started it off by winning 3rd place in the costume contest at our ward party. We were Jack and Jill after they fell down the hill.....again. Haha. Next year I am going to actually have to think of a new costume. We carved pumpkins with another couple in our ward then topped it off by throwing a Halloween party on Halloween. Can you believe it that we fit 13 people in our small apartment?

Halloween Party!

Minute to Win it Games:

How many candy corns can you suck up with a straw?

My Favorite Time of Year

I have to say that I love fall in the Northwest especially coming from California where fall was nonexistent. The leaves are giant and turn beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red. The weather is crisp. The rain is back in full force but I don't mind it as much as I thought I would. Zac has been a good sport as I have dragged him with me to participate in fun fall activities. Here is a quick recap of what we have been up to. 

Mom and Michelle came for a quick visit. It was so fun to see these two even if it was really only for one full day. It will have to tide me over until Christmas. I took them downtown to see Pike Market Place and the Gum Wall. Michelle thought the gum was pretty gross and refused to chew a piece to add. They will have to come back so I can show them the rest of Seattle. :)

Growing up with my dad's garden I was quite spoiled. We had our own private pumpkin patch in our backyard. This year, Zac and I and several friends headed out to a locate pumpkin patch and corn maze. I had never been through a real corn maze so that was fun! It was nice weather when we went but it had been raining earlier so it was super muddy. Bu that didn't stop us from getting some pumpkins.

In other good news....I finally found a job! It is for a Health Fitness Specialist so right up my alley. The best part is that it is only about 10-15 hours a week with the possibility of increasing in hours later. I will get the opportunity to teach group exercise and personal train a little more. Definitely more hands on wellness than what I was doing previously. 

Backpacking

Over Labor Day weekend, we went on a last minute backpacking trip with some friends. We hiked the Chain Lakes trail up by Mt. Baker. It was absolutely beautiful. We hiked past several glacier lakes. Each lake was this beautiful blue color and so clear and calm.  It was about 8 miles round trip. It was really wet and rainy when we first started hiking but then it cleared up and was beautiful the rest of the time.
There are few things I enjoy more than going out in nature and leaving behind everything else. When you are out there, all of life's problems and struggles don't seem to matter. I am hoping that we can go on one more camping or backing trip before the rain comes back. Until next time....

Five! Funf! Cinco!

It feels like it was just yesterday that I was writing a post about being married for four years. And here it is, FIVE! We have been married for five years. Well, a little over five years now since we celebrated our acutal anniversary on the cruise.That still just seems a little crazy to me, five years. Zac and I have been through a lot in the last five years and we have both changed, but it still feels as if we are newlyweds. I am a lucky girl to be married to my best friend and supporter. There are so many times I would have just given up if it weren't for Zac. Here is to another happy year of marriage!

Alaska

The last two years have been filled with great accomplishments. Zac and I both graduated from BYU. Zac graduated with a masters, we both got big kid jobs and.......we celebrated FIVE whole years of marriage! Being busy with school, jobs, moving, etc. we decided to go on one big vacation to celebrate everything we had done.
We decided on a seven day Alaskan cruise. Oh my gosh, it was pure heaven. No phones, no internet, no work, unlimited amounts of food, just Zac and I for seven days in Alaska. I took way too many pictures and if I posted them all here it would take a day to get through all of them.

Ketchikan, AK

Ketchikan was our first stop. It is supposedly the rainiest city in the U.S. however, it was absolutely beautiful weather while we were there. We went ziplining which was awesome! There was another Mormon couple in our group who were both BYU fans then both of our guides were U of U graduates. Haha.

Juneau, AK

Zac really wanted to do or see something that was very Alaskan. The dog sledding was way too expensive so the next best thing was going to a glacier. We saw the Mendenhall Glacier. It was amazing! I have never seen anything like it. It was pretty cold and wet, but after living in the Northwest for awhile it didn't bother us at all.

Skagway, AK

Our next stop, Skagway, we took a train ride along the old trail to the Klondike gold rush area. The views from the train ride were so beautiful! My camera does not do it justice. There was a lot of history in this small town. Because the Klondike gold rush area was in Canada, the Canadian government required each person coming into Canada in search for gold to bring with them one ton of supplies. That is 2,000 lbs! Some of these guys had to hike this trail over 30 times to get all of their supplies.

Victoria B.C. 

We were only in Victoria for a view hours, so we just walked around. Victoria is actually really close to Seattle so I am sure that Zac and I will go back and see more of the Island. Everything from the buildings to the views were gorgeous.

Cruisin' 

I think the best thing about going on a cruise is that you don't have to worry about anything. Transportation, room, food, entertainment are all taken care of. Amazingly, with all of the food and eating like 5 desserts a day, Zac and I hardly gained any weight. :)

The view from our room as we were leaving Seattle

The had a minute to win it competition on board. Sadly, Zac and I did not complete our challenges. But we had a lot of fun anyway.

This is the sweet couple that sat with us at dinner. There are from Peru and spoke hardly any English. Boy, was I glad that Zac could speak Spanish or it would have been pretty awkward. 

Zac entered the ping pong tournament and made it all the way to the championship round. He ended up getting 2nd overall.

The views from our room were unbelievable! Everyone told us to get a balcony for the Alaska cruises and we are so glad we did.
We had so much fun! We ended up winning a total of three bottles and two glasses of Champagne. Haha. We gave it away, since, you know, we don't drink.
We also met a lot of fun people. We met one couple from Oregon who were married the day after us and it turned out that we were on the same cruise for our honeymoons five years ago! Small world. I guess we will see them again in five years on our next cruise. haha.
It is hard coming back to the real world with real problems after such a great vacation. It was a great break from everything. Now, I think I am suffering from Zac withdrawals after being with him for a whole week. ;)