What's been going down....

So it's been awhile so I thought to myself, "Hey self, you ought to post something to your blog." Then myself replied, "What a good thought self. You're so smart."

Baseball.....

So there really hasn't been too much exciting going on since my last post. Dustin finally switched to the good side and is helping coach Thatcher Baseball. I must say he does look good in green. Sometimes he makes me so proud. haha. The kids and parents seem to like him a lot so hopefully he keeps that up and they want him back next year.

He also coached little league with the Bro-in-law, Brandon. He came home after the first practice and I asked how his team was. He said, "Baby. It's not good." Then in the end they won 1st place. I'd have to say it's because of the fabulous coaching. Just about every parent on the team told me how much they loved Dustin coaching. He keeps in a fun and light atmosphere but teaches them at the same time and the kids love him. What can I say? He has a talent with children. They all seem to like him a lot.

I stole this picture from my cousin so hopefully she doesn't hate me for it. I wasn't at that game because Seth, Stacey's boy, had an Mt. Graham All-Star game in Morenci so I went with her so she didn't have to go alone.

Photo Credit: Brenda or John Henderson. Don't know which :)

Temple.....

At the end of June Dustin went through the temple for his own endowments. His brother Morgan went through as well so tons of his family was there and most of mine so it was pretty cool. It's also the first time I'd be back in years. We still have until our 5th anniversary before we can be sealed (Nov. 2011) so we have to wait for that but thought there was no reason we couldn't start going before then. We've contemplated doing a "destination sealing" I really really really wanted to do a destination wedding, but knew that wasn't going to work at the time so thought maybe a destination sealing would do the trick. My 1st choice would be Hawaii so we'll see. Probably won't happen because most likely no one would want to go.

PPA Print Competition 2010....

I entered the Professional Photographers of America's print competition again and did surprisingly well. I always tend to put my case together literally a week before they are due so I never expect much out of it. I think that's why I do it. Then I'm less disappointed when I don't do well. Now I'm starting to think if I can do ok a week before, imagine what could happen if I really tried! I'd probably suck! hahaha. Anyway, here are the 2 prints that merited and 1 went Loan. That's back to back years with a Loan Collection which is a pretty big accomplishment. Now I gotta make it 3 in a row....yikes!

Scored a Merit. Means it's above average. It's hard to get a merit on a portrait and this was shot from an everyday session I do. I rarely shoot for competition during my session (although I ought to)

Scored a merit and Accepted into the Loan Collection (Best of the Best & is printed in a book). This obviously was shot for competition seeing how the rocks didn't hire me for a shoot! haha.

Holladaypalloza's....

We've had a couple "family reunions" if you will this summer. Last year my mom decided she wanted to start doing a trip with her family yearly. Last year we went to Alpine for a weekend. This year we stayed at the Arizona Grand Resort for a couple days. It has a little water park and was a ton of fun. We also watched the D'Backs loose to the Yankers. Damn Yankers.

We also had the first Holladay family reunion in 4 years I think. I hadn't seen my cousins since my grandparents passed. It was a short day and 1/2 even and was basically a blast. I have pictures but I'm too lazy to post them, so imagine a bunch of crazy people having fun. That was it! (or see my facebook page for photos)

On the baby front...

Well after finally coming up with the loan to pay for the IVF we've had some struggles actually getting started. My body doesn't seem to agree with much of this baby crap (as if that isn't obvious haha). I've had another cyst and then a 65+ day cycle to throw it all off. I went on meds to straighten it all out and hopefully will be normal soon. We paid for the IVF package around Mayish and haven't got to do one full cycle yet without interruption. We HOPE that it will finally come to an end soon and we can give this a shot without interruption. It's been extremely frustrating for me to have one problem after the next. I just hope those problems are finally a thing of the past.

As of late I've found it really hard to have a good attitude about it much anymore. I hate seeing other people's baby's. It sounds bad, but I really do. I mean I've watched my friends have kids, 2 of my sisters and one sister in law each have given birth TWICE in the time I've wanted one. I'm just kind of sick of it and I try really hard to have a game face, but sometimes I just can't do it. So I either avoid the situations and steer clear of families or baby's, or just ignore them when I'm around. Bad attitude, I know, but I'm really trying to work on it. Therefore, I've come up with some recent things that I'm thankful for and have learned from this experience.

***WARNING...THIS WILL GET AWFULLY CHEESY AND OUT OF MY

NORMAL CHARACTER (Which really is slightly embarrassing. haha).

PLEASE DON'T MAKE FUN OF ME LATER. ******

1. Safety. I have made so many trips to Scottsdale to see my Dr. almost always by myself. Often at 5 or 6 a.m. Usually I drive up for a 30 min appointment and drive straight home. I'm usually wasted and not once have I even come close to being in an accident or fallen asleep. I think of how often I travel that road and it's scary! I feel blessed that I've been kept safe.

2. Faith. Heavenly Father has some crazy ways of doing things. I'll be honest, I can't say I agree with them, but trust and faith is key. I trust and have faith that what is to happen to me will happen in His own due time.

3. Tithing works! Of course, there are things I struggle with daily, but for some reason tithing has always been the easiest thing for me to do and I think it's because I know it's one thing I can be perfect at. I just write one little check and done! So easy and I never screw up! I love that feeling because there's so much more I screw up on. haha.

Well, over the last 1.5 years my faith in tithing has grown immensely. These Dr. bills have literally kicked our butts. They are so unreal. I know I say it all the time, but really when I think about what we've spent it makes me sick. I could have knocked a huge...a HUGE dent in our house payment with what we've spent. (And that's not even counting gas and food during my trips.) I have always been on top of my bills and never let my credit card carry a balance over. I will crunch the numbers every week to make sure we are within our means. And I swear by this...so many times I crunched and came up in the red. Over and over, with the same results, yet somehow when our credit card bill was due, we had enough money to cover it. I firmly believe that is due to faithfully paying tithing and even giving a generous fast offering.

4. A supportive family. The Dr. appointments are demanding and when my body says go, there's no changing that. I am lucky that I work in a business where I can make my own schedule for the most part, but I'm even luckier that when my work schedule seems to collide with an appointment that I have to make my family is there to cover for me. Poor Trisha has done more of my work in the past years then I'd care to admit. Same goes for the rest of my family. They literally say, "don't worry about it. It will be covered" Anyone who knows me and knows how I have to run everything at the studio knows I hate people doing my job and that it's something that's hard for me to let go. I've never heard any one of them complain (Ok, so my dad complain's sometimes, but that's just him. He still does it without question :) )

5. A giving family. With the financial struggles my parents have helped us out where they can. I know for a fact, if they could afford to pay for it all, they would do it for me in a heart beat, but they can't so just a little here and there has helped a lot. I never ask for it, nor do I expect it, but their small donations have made a huge difference.

6. An understanding & caring family. In a situation like this, you often get bombarded by questions/comments that are offensive and hurtful. People don't mean it, but they just don't think it through. My family rarely asks too much, yet they don't act as if nothing is going on. They stay right on the perfect line and if by chance they do cross that line, I tell them that was a stupid comment and we move on. I can't do that with every stupid comment I get from people, so it's great I can do it with family and they don't get offended or mad at me.

Also, I remember when Stacey got pregnant with Jos. Her and Brandon came over one night to tell us and she was in tears before she could even get it out. Brandon had to tell us. It meant a lot to me that she felt so bad that she was pregnant when I couldn't be. It's not her fault. She didn't need to feel bad, but it meant so much to know that she cared enough to do so and cared enough to tell me to my face instead of me hearing about it from someone else or find out by the sudden growth of a belly.

7. Technology. My heavens it's unreal what they can do! Grow a freaking embryo in a little dish, monitor it daily and know exactly the quality and what stage it is at. I'm grateful the technology exists that allows me to try these things out. Years ago I would be barren and screwed!! haha It's well worth the price I'm paying. Even if I end up empty handed in the end.

8. All the small things. Really...all the small things. My life is full and I really do have a lot that others don't. I ought be thankful for that :)