HALLOWEEN!!

This is our Relief Society presidency minus Rachelle, our beautiful secretary at our ward Trunk-or-Treat! Everyone seemed a bit confused when they saw our booth, but quickly relaxed when they realized we were giving out Hershey's Kisses!:)
My parents were in town so they joined us at the Trunk-or-Treat.
Haylee wasn't too sure of the whole "face paint" idea, but we told her it was funny and then she liked it. Every time she saw a witch anywhere she'd say,"It has a green face like Mommy!"
Halloween was so much more fun this year with Haylee. She understood and recognized Halloween stuff everywhere we went! We did Halloween crafts all month to get in the spirit! It's so fun having a 3 year old for the holidays!

TRIATHLONS!!!

I am so dang behind on this blog, it's not even funny! Yes, we are still alive and well!:) And now I can officially say I have completed FOUR triathlons!! This top picture is from the Tri in the Pines in Show Low, AZ. We did this one in August. It was HORRIBLE!! It's amazing what a difference the altitude creates! I almost got hit by a car on the bike course and after being grateful that I wasn't, I immediately wished I had been hit so that I would have been put out of my misery! But hey, I did it!
This is after finishing the Las Palomas Tri in Rocky Point, Mexico. We did this one in April. It was a blast! It was open water swim in the ocean and the waves were bad this year, but it was still so fun! I actually enjoyed this tri!

Cameron and I went to St. George in September and completed the Kokopelli Tri at Sand Hollow. There are no pictures because we went by ourselves and were too busy setting up and getting ready to take pictures! I loved the swim in the reservoir (I always love the swim--it's my favorite event) but hated the rest of the dang tri! They have this hill on the bike course that is UNREAL!!! It almost killed me! I'm so happy Cameron and I have this hobby together. We can't wait until Haylee is old enough to participate!

EASTER 2010!!!

See? This is what happens when you don't blog very often...you forget which order to upload your pictures!! So....going backwards here...we came to Snowflake for Easter weekend. This is Haylee after finding all the eggs the "Easter Bunny" had hid for her! It was so fun that she understood the idea a little better this year.:) She was pretty proud of herself! And if you're thinkin' there's candy in each of those eggs, you are wrong. Fruit snacks! She LOOOVES fruit snacks these days!:)
This was definitely one of those occasions I had been dreaming of before Haylee blessed our home. I dreamed of hiding the eggs, surprising her with an Easter basket, etc. It's all the little things you can't wait for! And Haylee doesn't disappoint! She is so animated about EVERYTHING these days! She literally got excited about EVERY SINGLE EGG she found!:)
On the drive to Snowflake on Saturday morning, we stopped by the family picnic in Show Low with Cameron's side of the family. It was so fun (even though the wind was SUPER annoying...have I ever mentioned how much I hate wind? It's pointless!) to see everyone and to have Haylee participated in the Easter egg hunt!
She needed a little help from Dad to get to the eggs before the older kids got to 'em! Hey, those short little legs can only go so fast...I KNOW!!!
Anywhere there's a playground, Haylee is in heaven! Luckily, we have an awesome park right by our house! There were other things we didn't get pics of this weekend (we were having too much fun to stop and take pics!)--while Cameron, my dad and his dad went to the Priesthood session of General Conference, Penny (Cam's mom) came over to my parents' house and colored Easter eggs with Haylee, then we had dinner when the boys got home. On Sunday afternoon, we drove over to Winslow to have dinner at my Aunt Rozella and Uncle Leo's home. It was so much fun to see all the cousins (minus little Eme, who needs to remain as "germ-free" as possible!) again! The food was AMAZING, as usual at that house! And my cousin Amanda put together ANOTHER egg hunt, including baskets for all the kiddos! Love her!!:) So yes, Haylee had THREE egg hunts in two days! Score!! Overall, it really was a great weekend!

TRIPLE THE FUN!!!

Through the technology of in vitro fertilization, our great friends Jose and Christy are expecting TRIPLETS at the end of May/beginning of June!!! Two girls and one boy! As you can imagine, NOBODY is ever ready for triplets! I'd like to ease their burden just a little by collecting whatever "baby items" I can for them. This is where all of you come in! Do you have any baby/ kid clothes, toys, books, blankets, shoes, bouncers, movies, Boppies, etc. that you are done with and could donate to them? I will come get it from you at your convenience! You can either leave a comment here, email me at bethanycomerford@yahoo.com, or call or text me! Thank you so much!!!

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

I've always been a pretty open person. With me, pretty much what you see is what you get. I really don't mind talking openly about issues that others may tend to keep private. A lot of that stems from the belief that I have that we are all here to learn from each other. Anyone who really knows me, knows that it took us four years to get pregnant with Haylee. Then we conceived her all on our own after 4 failed artificial inseminations and the first half of in vitro treatment. In that time, I had three surgeries (2 laparoscopies to laser out endometriosis and 1 uterine polypectomy) that I feel helped our odds (especially the polyp removal). Today the realization hit me that we may be re-entering that grueling world of infertility. This time the name has changed. It's called "secondary infertility". It means we were able to have one child, but have not yet been able to conceive another. We are at the very beginning of the road, having tried for a year with no luck.

I LOVE talking about infertility with anyone who will listen. I feel that it's not just those people going through it that need advice or support. Many times, the families and friends of those dealing with infertility have no idea how to navigate through conversation or support of their loved ones. I know of two great websites that help both the infertile and their friends and family. If you are going through infertility or know someone who is (that's all of you), please take a minute and check these sites out. And please let me know if I can offer any support-this is my new passion...:)

www.2ofus4now.org

ldsinfertility.blogspot.com (this one is put together by an LDS woman dealing with infertility)

ACHIEVING A GOAL...

So you might be wondering why I'm posting an old picture of Cameron in a wetsuit...well, the next time you see a picture like this, we BOTH will be wearing wetsuits! Sexy, I know!! Two years ago this coming May, I set a goal to do the Las Palomas Triathlon in Rocky Point, Mexico. Last year, Cameron did it for the first time. On April 24th, 2010 I will achieve that goal I set! It will be my second triathlon and my first open-water swim triathlon! It seems so crazy for me to say that! A friend of ours will be doing the run portion of the triathlon for me since I have done something to my shoulder (it hurts when I run, but is just fine when I swim...weird) and I hate running. Still, I will be participating in that triathlon! I am so excited! Guess I better start training, huh???

WHAT A DECADE!!!!

I'm stealing this post idea from a great friend/former mission companion! This past decade, 2000-2010 has been an amazing one for me. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that it will probably be the most eventful one of my life. Who else can say THAT???

On May 3rd, 2000 I entered the Missionary Training Center for 2 months, then flew to the Dominican Republic (on the 4th of July, ironically). I was there for the next 16 months where I became fluent in "Dominican spanish" ( a whole lot different than regular spanish you learn in school!), learned to love merengue, platanos fritos, la bandera, and Dominicans. During that time, Cameron and I got to know each other a lot better through letters. I've said before that about halfway through our missions, we knew we were going to end up together, although we never discussed it during the missions.

I returned home in November of 2001, waited for Cameron's return in March of 2002, and we were sealed in the Mesa Temple July 6, 2002. I really did marry my very best friend that day. We got to travel back to my mission and to other great places to visit friends and family before Haylee came along. In December of the year we were married, we began trying to have a child. That struggle would challenge us for the next four years. We went through fertility treatment, considered adopting, and eventually almost went through with in vitro. In January of 2007 we learned that I was pregnant! I will never forget that day. It was a Sunday. I had taken 2 pregnancy tests in the weeks prior to that day that both came back negative. That Sunday I took the last one and decided that whatever it said must be true and I would accept it and move on. When it said "pregnant", I about lost it! I ran to Cameron, who was still sleeping and said, "Look!!!", holding the test in front of him. In that moment, all the cute, clever ways of telling our families that we were expecting went right out the window! We called everyone right then, at like 8am! Sitting in church that day was the best day ever. We had the happiest secret EVER and we were on cloud 9!!

September 28, 2007 will be one of the happiest days of my life. At 8:48am, not only was I done with a 24 hour long labor experience ending in c-section, but I was given the most beautiful, perfect little girl in the whole world, Haylee Brynn. I was finally a mom. My dream had come true. There are definitely challenging moments in the life of a mom, but I wouldn't trade ANY of the ones that I've had in the past 2 years. I adore Haylee and love learning about the world all over again through her little eyes. I love her personality--independent, funny, intelligent, etc. I love watching the joy and happiness that she brings into the lives of our friends and family. She is definitely a charmer, just like her dad.

This HAS been quite the decade for me. It definitely hasn't all been roses, but it sure has been eventful! I even did a triathalon!! I remember just after we were married, a friend of mine did a triathalon and I thought she was crazy. I wondered how that was humanly possible! Then I learned: you just keep training. I feel so blessed to have the husband I have, the little girl I have and all the other blessings I have in my life. I am so blessed...:) Who knows what the next decade has in store....