I think it's finally true...I am pregnant

Some people are under the impression you have to have sex in order to conceive. We have found this not to be the case. Due to our struggles with unexplained infertility the last 3 years, we bought our baby from Emory Reproductive Center.

And these are the shots I did for the In-Vitro Fertilization process during the course of 3 months.

And a close-up of the worst part of all - 10 weeks of progesterone shots with a 1 1/2 inch needle in the bum. That's 77 shots, folks. Don't worry, I have chronicled the whole journey, and this child will know all that I suffered to get them here!

But we are pleased to announce all of our efforts were worth it this time around, and I am currently 14 weeks pregnant!

Due date is March 16th (really March 20th according to the ultrasound, so Greg is hoping for March 21st which is his birthday).

Next Dr.'s visit is Oct. 20th where we will hopefully find out the gender of our baby.

So anyway, if you see me and are wondering why I'm got a big belly lump (not so much a bump yet), you will know why.

A Hiking We Will Go!

Have you...

1. Scaled to the top of Amicalola Falls
2. Explored the depths of Providence Canyon
3. Braved the swinging bridge in Tallulah Gorge
4. Faced the daunting staircase in Cloudland Canyon

We have! Apparently we are eligible to be in the Canyon Climbers Club for a $10 fee. Ummm....I think we'll pass and instead explore new GA parks.

Today we went to a park we'd never been to before, Sweet Water Creek, located near Six Flags.

Similar to Roswell Mill, this mill, called New Manchester, was burned per Sherman's orders during the Civil War invasion of Atlanta. Roswell was burned first, and then New Manchester. The women and children working in both mills were charged with treason and put in prison in Louisville, KY. Sherman is not highly regarded here in the South.

It was a beautiful day for a hike, and so great to find a new place to explore! Thanks for the tip, Jaimee!

And in other news, Greg got to see the DragonCon Parade this year while I was stuck in a building one block away adjudicating orchestra auditions.

We are kind of in love with "Dr. Who" at the moment. Okay, more than kind of....it's an obsession. :)

Joon and Joo-ly

ARIZONA

Six days after I returned from China, I left poor working Greg to go to Tempe, Arizona for the International Double Reed Society Conference. This year it was held at my alma mater, Arizona State University. We lucked out with beautiful weather in the 90's, and I was so happy to visit my Arizona home and so many good friends.
Martin Schuring was my oboe teacher for my Master and Doctorate degree, and Rebecca Cain was my office mate when we were both T.A.'s.

Amy Fleishans was my first oboe student in Arizona, and she started studying with me when she was 12. She just graduated from ASU in Journalism. Don't I feel old!

This is part of the old gang from our fabulous AZ single days: Amanda Jackson Bergeron and her daughter Katherine, Sharron Krebs, Tammy Adams, and her sister Laura Krebs. Minus the complaining about bad dates, it was just like old times!



And this is truly a blast from the past - me, Andra and Elizabeth started at BYU as oboe performance majors together in 1995.



Me, Melanie Carter Garcie and Ashley Reed Williams - Mormon Oboe Players from ASU




My student McKenzie (the one with the big hair) playing for the VERY FAMOUS Nicholas Daniel, a British superstar oboist (in case you haven't heard of him).


Sarah Ambrose, my co-worker from GSU, came all the way to ASU to perform with me!


4TH OF JULY IN PEACHTREE CITY!

And speaking of Mormon oboists, during the first week of July when Elizabeth, Jacob and Aloysia were once again visiting us, Heidi Reed dropped in for a visit from North Carolina where she is working on her doctorate in oboe performance. (There are too many of us now!) I taught Heidi during my semester visit at BYU, and Elizabeth taught Heidi while she was a high school student.

After our experience last year, we plan to never miss another Peachtree City 4th of July. This year our city was competing to be recognized as the nation's most patriotic city. Greg heard we came in 3rd, which isn't too bad! Here's the crowds of people and golf carts lining up for the parade.

Heidi baking in the sun...

Elizabeth and Aloysia (unfortunately Jacob had to leave early this morning)

Golf cart from one of our local pet stores

With the tail wagging behind!

I know Aloysia doesn't look excited about all the candy she was getting, but trust me, she was.

These dudes were scary.

Cruise Golf Cart

My favorite part - the McIntosh Marching Band!

And my other favorite part - THE WIZARD OF OZ!!!

Greg trying to take candy from a baby

Greg and Jacob went fishing with Greg's co-worker Cameron, and Greg caught this fish!

And this is what his fish looks like without Photoshop.

UTAH

Greg and I were able to go to Utah for a short 4-day vacation last weekend. Alisa and her fam were visiting from Mexico, so we were all together except for Ben, Jenny and Tyler (we missed you guys!) Our first activity was to go on a short hike to a waterfall.

Here's Jared with the newest member of this ever-increasing family, Ethan.

Maiya, Danny, Nana, Ella, and Cole - caught by surprise it seems!

On Monday we went to the Kennecott Mine, which I had never heard of, but it was amazing! This open mine pit used to be a mountain in the early 1900s. It has one of the nation's largest copper deposits, and provides more copper than any other source for the United States.

This tire is from one of their massive haul trucks, which is as large as a house. Their "diggers" are as large as a 6-story building. Here is some of the family.

Super big tire!

Can you see how small the white truck is compared to the haul truck? They are side-by-side on the road.

Danny Danger - about to jump?

My wonderful husband and my wonderful Dad

Lara Rae and Ella Rae, both born on March 28th!

Me and Michael - He was flirting with me big time all weekend

4 of the 5 sibling: Alisa, Lea, Lara, and Brian with my Mom. This picture is also proof that Brian really is a giant, at least in the Saville family.

Chinese Food

I loved the Chinese food! Part of the reason is because my parents know what to order having spent so much time in China. I am so grateful I can benefit from their having already learned by trial and error.

This is biaozi (prounced bow-za), a specialty dish that Tianjin is known for. It is a breaded dumpling with all sorts of wonderful things inside of it. I also loved jiaozi (pronounced jow-za) which is a fried dumpling or pot sticker, and which you can order at PF Chang's.

Unfortunately I have zero tolerance for hot stuff. This dish was about $1.00 which is fairly typical at small cafes, but WAY TOO HOT to eat!

Boiled peanuts - delicious!

And this is a dish of lily bulbs, celery and cashews. It was unbelievably good...one of my most favorite dishes ever. Do you see how good these vegetables look? Chinese cooks really know how to cook their vegetables.

And this is fried eggplant, which is also one of my favorite dishes. Oh my gosh, it was soooo good!

Ordering from the menu

After our walk on the Great Wall, we had a "Farmer's Lunch" at a restaurant on the premises.


This was some sort of green vegetable and although it looks terrible, it was very good.

Fried sparrow or dove, we never confirmed which and I didn't really want to know.

Fried fish - as in whole little fish fried. Can you see it? Reportedly tasted like Fritos.

This is a fancy dinner we had with my parents' colleagues. It was an elaborate 4-course meal, meaning we went through at least 4 table-laden rounds. The Lazy Susan spins around, and you take whatever you want with your chopsticks. Not the most sanitary, and also very difficult if you are as bad at using chopsticks as I am.

This is from the fancy dinner. A Cantonese tradition, an whole fish is brought out in the middle of the courses. It was also really good.

At this fancy restaurant, you could pick your food out... Giant fish heads anyone?

Or perhaps some bullfrog legs...

This is from a local grocery store called Carrefour.

Blueberry flavored Lay's.

Or perhaps you'd like the cucumber flavor.

The oil aisle at Carrefour.

And last but not least, KFC. No, we never ate there, but seriously KFC has taken over China. I have never seen so many KFC stores, signs, or delivery bicycles. It used to be McDonald's, but now it's definitely KFC.

These are very popular ice cream bars. You can get them in Corn, Peas, and I believe there's a Green Bean one as well. People were eating these everywhere we went. Since I can't eat ice cream, I never got to try one.

But I did try Corn Juice at one restaurant. It was a hot drink, and tasted like custard. It was excellent!

I attempted to eat a little bit of everything that was given to me and was pleasantly surprised by a lot of food items. The fried creatures with crunchy bones though...just couldn't do it. Maybe next time.