some people are just sweet.

Remember my friend Christy?
You know, she sent me the MAGIC ONESIE.
Well she is at it again.
She made me a little button for my fertility blog.
Around of Applause for Christy!!!
Thanks girl.
So now on my side bar you will find a button
with a big ol' face of mine which will link you
to our journey!

NEW BLOG

I have started another blog!
If I knew how to make a cute button to click on I would, but I can't.
So click on the link, and join me on the ride I took this summer.


http://findingfollicles.blogspot.com

Chicago

Greetings from the Windy City!!
Chicago is the COOLEST city...especially in the summer.
Having a sister who lives there allows to us to visit every season BUT summer wins every time!

We played on Navy Pier

We rode on the Ferris wheel

This was my FIRST time on a Ferris wheel!
I totally handled it like a pro.

It was also our FIRST time eating at
FOGO DE CHAO....

We rode bikes EVERYWHERE this trip!!
It was so fun to go pick up pizza on our bikes,

and ride through the city

and over the bridge to the zoo.

We went back to Navy Pier!
But this time it was so everyone could ride bikes, not ferris wheels.
These girls LOVED it!

We peddled to "taste of Chicago" and ate Chicagos' finest and drank lots of WATER.

and with all that biking we headed home to wash up

what a week!

Infertile fun friend

This is my friend Taylor.
We met when I was 10.
She moved away when I was 13.
Thanks to the blogging world we reconnected a few years ago.
I looked at her blog and wondered if she was infertile too.
I mean she is Mormon, married for 6 years, and has 2 dogs.
That screams INFERTILE.
I didn't dare ask her over the blog,
so I waited until we were friends on facebook to ask privately.
Low and behold:
ENDOMETRIOSIS!
She has scar tissue surrounding the outer part of her tubes.

We have seen each other a couple of times since our pen pal-ing over facebook
and things have not changed.
No awkward pauses or weird conversations, we're still the same. And dang it...
We're still FUN!

Taylor and her husband Darren came down and stayed with us for a couple of days. One late morning we woke up and all randomly agreed to go to Magic Mountain on a whim.

Romney talked me in to going to the scariest rides. All of which I kept my eyes closed breathing in my nose and out my mouth as calm as I could....YELLING
" I DONT LIKE THIS I DONT LIKE THIS I DONT LIKE THIS"
Oh the things I do for LOVE...

Taylor is so mysterious.....just like her tubes.
At least she is consistent.

The boys navigated us through the park.
There were a couple of rides us girls sat out on.
No thanks guys you go ahead...we'll be in the bathroom puking!

However, we LOVED the ride GOLIATH.
Favorite of the day for sure!!!

Taylor and I never had to worry about the "no expectant mothers" rule on these fun rides.
But one day we're going to be mothers, some how, some way!
and we're still going to be
FUN!
***Lets cheer Taylor on, she had to surgically remove a tube from her last IVF cycle. That darn embryo nuzzled into her tube not her uterus....stubborn little thing***

a little face lift...

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

Were gettin there! slowly but surely...but were gettin there!

Berlin, Germany

When we started planning this trip Berlin, Germany was not high on my list. I just didn't have interest in going! Little did I know it would be my highlight. We learned so much and were able to experience a little history. I CANNOT even fathom what happened here just a few short years ago!

We fell in love with this Cathedral and this plaza. The dome is the prettiest I have ever seen. We stood admiring this beautiful building and just years ago stood thousands of NAZIS hailing to HITLER in this exact spot.

Berlin is a very new city because it was bombed and destroyed during WWII. However there are still old buildings like the cathedral that survived. If they survived their statues have missing limbs, and black charcoal is all over it.

We loved the old Berlin but also loved the new too! Like sitting here enjoying our Currywurst while listening to locals cheer on Germany during the World Cup!

**********

We were able to see Check Point Charlie

Go through the American Sector


See and touch the Berlin Wall.

We got kicked off the train(apparently our tickets were no good) in the middle of no where. So we waited on the one and only plat form for another train. But we did finally make it to the tiny town we were looking for...

This is what we were trying to get to!

RAVENSBURCK:

WOMENS and CHILDRENS CONCENTRATION CAMP.

It took us 20 minutes to walk from the train stop to the camp. Our walk was gorgeous, green and peaceful. The town was charming and the cobblestone was perfect.

We kept saying over and over how beautiful it was.

Even the outside of the camp was beautiful.

But just behind that building was horror! Pictures can not show what we witnessed and can not feel what we felt.

The bunkers are no longer there but you can still see the imprints in the gravel from all of them.

The shops were still in tact.

These shops were where the women reported to work everyday!

The prison cell.

Yes. You are seeing that correctly. This is where the women/children were burned.

I tried to imagine what these women/mothers were like. I tried to imagine what they were thinking about before they were led to the gas chamber and then burned here. They did nothing wrong yet were treated in the most horrible way.

It was very hard to picture the horrific scene when the surroundings were so gorgeous.

It was hard to believe that something so inhumane took place there! But it did. And it was all done for nothing! Millions of people lost there lives in Holocaust and my heart aches for every single one of them!

My heart was touched here at Ravensburck and I am thankful for the humbling experience.

This world travel was a great one and I am grateful to of had the opportunity to see more of the world!

St. Petersburg, Russia

M o t h e r R u s s i a !

This was our longest stop of the cruise and it still wasn't enough time!! Not even close.

In Russia you can not just get off the boat and go play. You HAVE to be in a tour guided group. If you want that freedom to do as you please, you HAVE to have a Russian Visa. If you go to Russia you HAVE to play by their rules!

Russia was the first place that required a passport check in and out of their country, it was kind of intimidating.
but at least we got another stamp in our passport...

Russia was a once in a life time opportunity.
We were so excited for this stop!!
It would only be natural that I got the flu in the middle of the night!
Rom, Scott and Jen toured the Hermitage Museum for 3 hours in our tour group while I sat in a chair sweating breathing in my nose and out my mouth. I kept telling myself "don't throw up here."

Romney was so sweet to let me hang all over him that day...and I did.
And he wasn't even worried about my germs.

I still wasn't feeling up to eating.

and based on these faces...

I didn't miss much...

so I continued to sip on my water.

After lunch I was starting to feel a little better and started to pep up! I actually remember the Peter Paul Fortress and I absolutely LOVED it! I was diggin the gold!

and I 100% remember how cool the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood was.

After a 17 hour day in Russia with the Flu I was ready to get back on the boat. We are holding up our hands to show that its 11:00pm and time for bed!

Russia was our last stop of our cruise.
But our vacation still has one more stop...
We gotta hurry back to Norway to catch our flight to
BERLIN, GERMANY!