Our story

Life is just a beach!

Joe and I grew up in Southern California. All we have known is gorgeous weather and the sand between our toes. 

Before we met:

I'm 11 months older then Joe to be exact. When he started high school I was a sophomore. We went to the same school that first year and don't ever remember a time meeting, but I do remember the Mormon kids were a close knit group of kids. 

After the Lords work:

Joe and I both served missions for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, AkA: Mormons) He was serving in south Chicago, Spanish speaking. and I was in the middle of the country in Kansas, using my American Sign Language skills. 

The first sighting:

Just a week or two after I got home my mission my brother dragged me to a "mormon night"out at the local MLB game with the institute. I remember sitting a few rows behind Joe and his friends. My girlfriend sitting next to me said, "Aubrey, you should date Joe. He is so nice and handsome and he just got home from his mission too!" 

A few weeks later, I saw Joe again outside of church activities. I was dropping off my mom at the movie theaters to meet my dad for a date. As she was getting out of the car, Joe was coming out with his dad from seeing a movie. We did the awkward wave (I know you go to institute with me but I don't know much more then you are good looking)

Our first "date":

After talking to each other and flirting on Memorial day at the beach he started asking every night to hang out. We hung out at our friends house with a bunch of good mormon kids until the weeee hours. Finally thursday he asked for a haircut and friday I called him up to join a bunch of friends that were going camping down on the beach and surfing. HE had forgotten that he was schedule to take a girl out from institute to "get to know" her better, but he made sure that I knew he was still up for going camping after the "date". yes, our date was the 2nd of the night. My brother and I slept in our tent and Joe brought his own. We walked down by the beach and had a real nice time. 

Sightings: 

We saw each other everyday after that, we couldn't get enough of each other. We are both suborn and opinionated which made for great fights. A week later we went on a official date. 

The Date:

Joe took me on a group date with his 2 best friends and their dates (whom I love and know). We went to ESPN zone for dinner and I don't remember much because that was the night he kissed me for the first time and that is all I remember. We all drove together and when we were driving home and I was resting on his shoulder when he couldn't stand it anymore he lend over and kissed me. Earlier that night my gf that was on the date asked Joe's friend why hasn't Joe kissed Aubrey yet, and his answer was along the lines of "some girls we kiss just to kiss and some girls we wait because they are marriage material. 

and the rest of the night I was on cloud 9. 

Engaged:

While I was on a family vacation 3 months later he and his friends made a video of all the places we have been to and all the memories we made. When I got back home he made me to go to institute that night along and said he would be there later because he had to help his dad out for work. All along he had it all planned out to propose right after the lesson. I sat there trying to read my scriptures but I was really pissed that Joe hadn't shown up yet and the class was almost over. When the teacher finished his lesson he asked for a female volunteer, but  just ended calling me up. They played the whole video that Joe made in front of the class and at the end Joe walked in and got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife, and of course I said YES!

Married:

We were sealed in the Newport Beach, CA Temple 4 months later on January 2, 2009. 

Life pursuing a family: 

I went off of birth control 4 months after our wedding. We weren't trying to get pregnant until 8 months after, and we had just stop caring about using protection and just hoping it would happen without trying to figure everything out. I've always wished I could just get pregnant and not realize it until months later. Finally I was making good money and we found a great insurance plan that would allow me to get pregnant after a month. Usually insurance makes you pay for maternity up to a year before you can start trying.  Last Sep. 2010 I decided to go see my OB/GYN to do a check up and get just simple lab work done. I told her we were going to try to get pregnant. (but in the back of my mind I knew we could have gotten pregnant in the last year, but I figured if we actually tried it would just happen). A month later I was back in seeing her for very painful periods. I started looking back and realized I was missing a lot of days of work because I wasn't able to stand during. She wanted me to take more iron and do a ultra sounds and pelvis exams. When everything came back normal I just though, just a few more month and we'll be fine. The next month I was back in again for more pain and discomfort. (not to mention the sadness you go through when you realized you aren't pregnant that month and then have to deal with pains so bad you can stand. We looked into different things it could be and tried to help it each month, but it never got better. We finally took a cruise for our 2nd anniversary and I secretly just hope more relaxation was what I needed, but once again, I felt like we failed.

The dark time:
The winter was getting dark and so depressing. I couldn't stand going on to facebook because everyone else seemed to be so happy and fertile. Everyone around me seemed to be getting pregnant, even in Hollywood, every other day another star would announce their exciting news. I wanted to be happy for these people but I couldn't. I started to feel so much hatred towards them. Even my closest friends were getting pregnant and when I couldn't take it anymore I shut down. my co-workers said I just looked lifeless. I didn't talk to anyone. I looked like their was no hope in my life. This went on for weeks, it killed me inside. My husband did everything he could to help me. Every time he helped it was temporary comfort for me but I also went back to being depressed. I was crying daily sometimes multiple times for no reason.This for me was and still is the hardest part of living your life. Nothing seems to matter but what I can do to be able to have a family. I wanted to see a therapist. I felt so dark in my life.

Finding Happiness:
Reading books like "no one can take your place" by Sheri Dew and "If life were easy, it would not be hard" really helped me jumped back to my spiritual side. I realized I needed my lifeline to my Heavenly Father to be as strong as possible.  My boss came up to me and said" Aubrey, what is going on in your life?" I just broke down and cried. I couldn't even get out what I could say to her. I told her I would talk to her at the end of the day more. When we talked again I had even more tears, I wasn't sure what I was going through or what i needed. I just wanted to feel like myself again and be happy and smile.  My boss told me to take some time off and go see my mom. She just knew some California sun and mom time would hopefully help me out of this funk.  I feel so blessed because I was able to leave the next day to California.

Present time:
We are still hoping to have a family and have started more test to see what treatment is best for us at this time and if they will work.
This is a very hard issue to deal with and I thank you for your love and support.