A Must Read

Just a quick plug for the best book I have read in awhile (except for my scriptures of course). And certainly the best thing I have ever read about infertility.

The Infertility Cure, by Randine Lewis.

My N.D. (Naturopathic Doctor) asked me to read it while I am doing my overall wellness treatment so that I am better prepared when we move on to the fertility treatment phase. So, if you are struggling with the same problems we are, READ THIS BOOK! I found it on Amazon for like $15.

It is written by a woman who struggled with infertility while she was an OB/Gyn. She was not finding solutions in western medicine so decided to turn to eastern and natural medicine. She moved to China and became a licensed dr there and went on to have 2 more children. She now runs a very successful clinic in Houston where she uses both eastern and western medicine to help her patients conceive. I really like her approach because although the focus is mainly on alternative medicine, she explains how it relates to traditional medicine and how the 2 can work together. I don't fully understand or relate with all of the concepts she writes about but the underlying theme hits home with both Brent and I. Heal the body and it will function as nature intended. We've already tried the medical route which treats symptoms and overrides the body's natural processes. Now, don't worry, I'm not going all "Crazy Hippie" or anything. It just makes sense. Rather than pump my body full of synthetic hormones and chemicals (which we did for 2+ years) to force it to do something it's not doing on its own, I am making lifestyle changes and taking supplements to help balance my systems so that they can do what they are meant to do.

Having struggled with infertility of her own, Randine really understands the emotions and needs of women in our position. I knew that I would enjoy this book before I even finished reading the introduction because I came across these 2 statements:

"Western medicine had once mislead me into thinking I was infertile or somehow "broken." But I wasn't infertile: I was imbalanced."

And my very favorite quote from the whole book:

"I don't know why we have been chosen to undertake such a painful journey, why we must go through such struggles to bring our children into the world. But I do know that when we look into our babies' faces, they will never have to wonder if they were really wanted. Ours are the children, who no matter how they came to us, will look at their parents and know, from the deepest place in their heart, how much we cherish them, and how we labored to give them life. And in that there is no greater security and no greater gift."

My naturopathic treatments may not help us get pregnant, who knows? But I DO know that it is changing my health and starting to heal parts of my body which have been "broken" for a long time. And that is worth all the nasty tasting supplements and crazy detox diets in the world.

I Love to See the Temple

On Saturday we went to the temple. It was really nice since we hadn't been since we moved here to England. We got on the train in the morning and were walking into the temple an hour and a half later. Not too bad for it being 45 miles from our house and us not having a car.

It was built in 1958 and it's on 32 acres of land which also houses overnight accommodation for out-of-towners, a distribution center, the Manor House (patron housing?) and lots of open space with trees, streams and a koi pond. The interior of the temple seems very English. The decor is very simple but very beautiful. There is lots of glass and wood accents. The celestial room looks a lot like some of the rooms we've seen at the palaces around the country, lots of gold and columns.

Now that we know how to get there, have the taxi company phone number programed into our phones (to get from the train station to the temple) and can eat lunch in the cafeteria, we'll be back to our once a month routine which will be very nice.

It's a Smashing, Positively Dashing Spectacle...

A few weekends ago, we went here...

We were invited by Calvin & Carike.

The Royal Ascot races have been around for almost 300 hundred years.

Here's what we thought.

First, the pros:
-It was really fun to dress up. I bought a new hat and skirt and Brent wore all 3 pieces of his 3 piece suit for the first time.

-The races themselves were pretty cool. There were 6 that day, we only stayed for the first 5. On the fifth one, a jockey fell off his horse right at the start but the horse kept going, as you can see here. It was funny. Don't worry, no one was injured.

-Talk about a cultural experience!
-We used the binoculars to sneak a peak into the more expensive sections and gawked at all of the morning coats and top hats and fancy ladies. There is a very strict dress code for the Royal Enclosure but not where we were.

-Even though there was no official dress code for the Silver Ring, where we were, most everyone was still dressed nicely. Men in suits, women in dresses with hats and fascinators. Some of the dresses were a little too short or low of both but as a whole, most everyone looked very nice.
-We saw a few silly hats and things. One man was wearing a bright orange tuxedo, much like the one Jim Carey wears in Dumb & Dumber and one group of women was obviously there for a Hen Party (Bachelorette party) because one of them was wearing a white gown and her hat was shaped like a wedding cake.

-We were at the same place as the Queen for a few hours, even though we only saw her on the big screen tv.
-The area we were in had large screen tv's so that we wouldn't miss any action, several food vendors and a live band.
-We didn't find it until the last 2 races, but there was seating in our section, not just open grassy areas to stand in. Although, standing does give you a chance to be right up next to the fence and we were really close to the horses for a couple of the races.

-Calvin & Carike were smart and suggested we leave before the last race so that we would have an easier time getting home, which I'm glad they did because this was the queue for the trains behind us. We would have waited hours to get home rather than the 20 minutes we were in the queue.

-We learned a lot of tips and better ways to do thins of we decide to go again next year.

The Cons:
-It took us an hour to get on the train to get to the races. Every train that came was so full that people were pressed up against the doors. Eventually, we stopped being nice and just shoved our way on. Brent and I were on different cars but we made it there.
-There were SO many people in the Silver Ring! I don't know the official number but my guess is thousands. The pictures don't do it justice.

-Since the whole thing is outdoors, there was smoke everywhere. Especially in the more crowded areas.
-We couldn't get on the same train as Calvin & Carike so we were just going to meet up once we got there. We couldn't find them and for some reasons either their phone and/or ours didn't work. Brent happened to finally spot them out of the blue right before the 5th race.

Overall, it was a pretty fun experience and I'm glad we went.

It's my favorite!

So Saturday was the 4th of July. Which is my very favorite holiday. I LOVE living in London but I must say that it is one time that I REALLY missed the US. To make up for the extreme lack of US patriotism here I have been listening to "American" music all week (everything from patriotic hymns to classic rock that makes me think of my home) and we had a BBQ with a few people from church and some from Brent's office. We thought it was really funny that we celebrated American Independence Day in England with people from Trinidad and South Africa.

Brent, Roland & Nadia, Brent's co-worker (from Trinidad)

L to R: Damon, Paige & Caitlyn from church and Calvin & Carike from work (they are all from S. Africa)

How can you have the 4th of July without burgers, potato salad, watermelon, rootbeer floats and other tasty treats? That would just be wrong. I also made my favorite southern dessert, Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, to represent my (secret) Texas pride. The funniest part was the rootbeer floats. Most of them had never even heard of rootbeer before. They all loved it of course!

There are several reasons I love the 4th of July more than any other holiday (yes, including Christmas!) which include but are not limited to:
-the awesome music
-fireworks
-parades
-BBQ's
-and probably most importantly I am a huge history nerd and just plain patriotic! My life revolves around my family and my religion both of which wouldn't exist without the inspired foundation and opportunities of my country.

The 4th of July also is a special day for another reason, a more romantic reason. It is the anniversary of our engagement. 6 years ago Brent asked me to marry him while we were sitting in the FDR memorial in Washington DC just before the fireworks started. I had been out in DC to visit him during his internship that summer and he surprised me with a proposal. On my favorite holiday, in one of my very favorite cities. Does he know me well or what?

Us visiting the DC temple 2 days after we got engaged

I have been searching YouTube to find the perfect tribute to my fave holiday and almost went with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir version of Battle Hymn of the Republic or the Charles Ray version of America the Beautiful but this morning I was browsing Facebook and found that my friend had posted something even more beautiful and fitting and it combines 2 of my loves. Thanks, Susie!

So, here's to you America! We love you and miss you!