Easter 2010

Lots of post tonight.  I've been a bad blogger lately!

It was so nice to have Easter the same weekend as General Conference.  I loved listening to all of the testimonies of Christ spoken of by the Prophet and other church leaders.  We are so blessed to be members the the true gospel and the peace that it brings in this crazy world we live in. I am grateful for the Internet too because since we had such a busy weekend we didn't get to listen to all of the sessions.  But, now we can go back and listen to what we missed.  I love the Internet!

The kids were very excited about Easter.  I was too.  The Easter bunny brought candy and Zhu Zhu pets.  The kids LOVED them.  It was so funny to watch them drive around and make the weird noises they make.  I hadn't ever seen one before.  Jackson wasn't to sure about his and he'd make it go and then run away from it.  It was funny.

We didn't have time to dye eggs on Saturday because it was Con's birthday.  So, we dyed eggs Sunday afternoon.  They had so much fun (okay Hailey and Conrad did.  Jack just kept getting mad because we took his eggs and put it in the dye.  I guess he wanted to keep holding them).  They also love to peel and eat the eggs too and they've had fun the past couple of days doing that.

We had a great weekend!

Conrad is 4!!!

Saturday was Conrad's birthday.  Bo's mom was in town for the weekend and he was excited to share the weekend wither her.   It was a very fun day (minus the snow on the ground).  We let him open a couple of presents when we got up and then saved some for later.

Of course since it was the day before Easter we had to go to the Easter Egg Hunt.  It was in the Rigby Jr. High gym (yes the weather was that bad).  I could not believe how much candy the kids got.  I'm sure they were planning on more people.  Conrad had tons.  I'm sure we will have it around for at least a couple of months.

Then, off we went to Leo's Place.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like a scaled down Chuck E Cheese.  We do what we can here in Idaho Falls :)  It was a lot of fun.  Conrad opened the rest of his presents there.  It's so fun to watch kids open presents.  They are so excited.  They had so much fun that they didn't eat much pizza and so they had it for dinner leftovers.  Nice for me :)

My cake on the other hand flopped a little this year.  I baked his cake the night before so I would just be able to frost it in the morning.  Well, that didn't work out.  I could not get the cake out of the pan.  I even greased and floured it.  Oh well.  So, I had to hurry and make one in the afternoon after we got back.  He was just happy to have cake.  He is so easygoing.  Just like his dad :)

So, now I'll type up some fun stuff about Conrad and things he loves:

First off, he is very quick and you can't get anything past him.
He is a peacemaker
He is always asking, "Did Jesus say we can eat this?" (I think it's from hearing about coffee and all the other things we don't eat and drink and for some reason he really picked up on it.)
He has started writing letters.  And Hailey tries to spell things for him to write.  (So fun to listen to.)
He learned how to ride his bike last Fall
Bo said, "When he hits on the tee he pretends to hit homers and runs all around".


He LOVES
 Fishing and can't wait to go again!
 Spiderman
 Being outside
 Candy
 Pepperoni Pizza
 Martha Speaks (PBS Show)
 Playing games
 His family
 Having sleepovers with Hailey

We love you Conrad.  You bring such a sweet and loving spirit to our home.  You are a great brother to Hailey and Jackson and can't wait for the next one to come.  We are so happy you were sent to our family.  We can't wait to see what you will learn and do this next year!

7 Year Anniversary

Wow! I can't believe we've been married for 7 years.  I remember when Bo was on his mission time went by so slow and I just wanted it to go by fast for those two years and then I wouldn't care how fast or slow it went.  Now it just seems to fly by.  Why is that? :)

Our actual Anniversary was March 28.  I have just been a bad blogger the past week.  We celebrated our day the 27th.  My mom took the kids for the afternoon and we floated the Snake River (me with hesitation of course, but it is really shallow right now so it wasn't scary).  At first we rode to an island and tried to find a good spot but couldn't find one deep enough.  So we just decided to go get back in the boat and play around in the water instead.  That was much more fun.  Bo found a good spot and caught 2 trout.  One was actually pretty big too. When we got home.  I put the kids to bed and Bo went to IF to get some Thai Food.  YUM!!!  He also rented New Moon and we watched that too.

It was really fun to do something other than just watch a movie and go to dinner.  We had fun talking and being together with no kids (as much as I love them) and I actually had a lot of fun riding in the raft.  Thanks for planning a fun day Honey.  You always make sure we do fun stuff. :)

Thanks for the last 7 years married and almost 4 years before that.  You are the greatest husband and father anyone could ask for.  You make me laugh.  You take care of us and make sure we are happy.  You know how to fix things that go wrong.  You know how to get me to relax and enjoy life.  I'm grateful you hold the priesthood and can use it when we need too.  Thank you for all that you do.  I love you!!! And can't wait to see what the years ahead bring us.

6 Months Gluten Free

First of all I want to say that I know having Celiac Disease is not the end of the world.  But, it does change things.  The world revolves around food and that's the challenge I face.  I would be lying if I said the last 6 months haven't been a challenge for me.  I would be lying if I said there wasn't a grieving period too.  I would also be lying if I said I still love to bake.  Everything I try just doesn't turn out right.  It takes so many ingredients to replace flour and it just doesn't have the same texture or taste.  It's very frustrating to take all the time to bake something that doesn't taste good.  But, cooking dinner has become more fun as I try new recipes that taste great.

I can honestly say that I haven't felt this great in years.  6 weeks after going gluten free the tingling symptoms were gone.  Even more though, I had a whole bunch of little things I didn't even realize were wrong that have gotten better.  The other great surprises of improvement have been my short term memory.  I was so hazy all the time.  I can now remember the small things that happen, lists, and best of all where I put things!  I also used to wake up with my hands dead asleep or one of my whole legs down to a foot asleep.  That no longer happens.  I also have more energy (well before I got pregnant that is).

Before I got pregnant it wasn't too hard to stay away from gluten, especially if we were at home.  The way I felt definitely made it all worth it.  But, since becoming pregnant it has been harder.  I have always used bread as my comfort food.  If I felt like I needed to eat something "right then or I'd throw up" I'd grab a slice of bread or a cracker.  I haven't found that comfort food this time around and that has been more difficult. I just want some pizza or a big juicy hamburger with a bun!  (I know many of you will say, you can still make that with gluten free flours.  But, it is nothing like regular bread.  I am still acquiring a taste for it. And being able to eat regular food in the first trimester has always been hard for me.)

This has been a life style change for everyone around me.  Especially for Bo and the kids, but more Bo.  We used to enjoy eating out and now it is more challenging and honestly not nearly as fun.  Fast food is impossible unless I bring something else.  I used to make bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, and other treats for the Bo and the kids, and now they get the store bought bread and not very many treats.  (It's just too hard to be sure I get it all cleaned up and don't contaminate my kitchen, supplies, and other ingredients.)  When we get together with family it makes it more difficult for family too.  But, everybody has been great to be sure I have something to eat.  Thanks guys :)

This has definitely made me think about others and the challenges we all face.  I am a better person for it.  I have learned a lot about how much the Lord and our Heavenly Father love me and are there for me.  I am so grateful to have the gospel and knowledge I have to help me through this trial and others.  It really helped to read the scriptures when I was angry.  I am grateful for Bo.  He has been so supportive of me and never complains about the food I make or yummy foods I don't make anymore.  Even my kids say, oh mom I wish you could have "that food" again.  They want me to eat what they eat because they like it.  But, if I can eat what I am eating now and feel as great as I have been feeling, it is all worth it! I am just grateful I can fix the problem by changing my diet. Nobody can eat whatever they want, whenever they want without bad things happening to their body, right? :)

New Batting Cage Room

At work we are in the process of launching a baseball and softball bat website and while we were setting up to become dealers for some of the big brands like Easton and Dimarini we ran into a problem. We had to setup a retail space to sell the bats locally. So we begrudgingly fixed up the batting cage room and made it super awesome.  I think if there was a shower in the warehouse, i would seriously consider living in the warehouse.  Who am i kidding, I don't need to shower ever again I would move me and the family in right now if Celeste would let me. Here are some pics of the batting cage room.