Snow Day!

The weather lately has been incredible! Supposedly the storm of the century has come to AZ and I love it. Probably because I don't have to live in it. It snowed in Scottsdale Saturday and Flagstaff received 35 inches of snow last Thursday, the most snow they have ever had in one day. Heading to work I was surprised when my car door was frozen shut! So crazy! We decided last min to drive to Payson and play in the snow. We didn't even need to drive all the way to Payson, just pulled off the side of the road and played for about an hour or so. Our friends joined us and I'm so glad they did. The Morris Family has 3 of my kids' BEST FRIENDS. Such cuties.

Disneyland

For Christmas I made the kids Mickey Mouse shirts and bought tickets to Disneyland for 3 days. I have never taken my kids to Disneyland and was starting to have some serious mom guilt over that. The plan was to leave April home with Ron while I take the older 3 myself. Thankfully I’m a genius and asked my Dad if he would like to join us. Being the fun Grandpa that he is he accepted!!! He really saved the trip I’m so glad he joined us. I had planned and planned this trip thought about attire, food (GF and snacks), I researched the Disneyland app and website, checked the weather... etc. The weather threw me for a loop. I knew the forecast was rainy for 2 of the 3 days we were there. But I didn’t take into account that rain in California weather is a lot different than rain in AZ. It’s COLD!!!! And clothes/shoes NEVER dry out. The rain made for nice short lines but also very cold and wet climate. I used the hair dryer a lot for shoes and kept putting clothes in the laundry mat dryer to help keep my kids as warm and dry as possible. 

   

Callie got to meet Minnie Mouse and Tinker Bell. Some of our favorite roller coasters were Guardians of the Galaxy and the Incredicoaster. I LOVED watching my kids experience things. I was really impressed with Callie and Noah. They are not normally adventurous about rollercoasters. They went on ALL of them and loved it! Mason (when he wasn’t pushing buttons or pestering his siblings) was quite the crack up too. He has such a zest for life and a quick wit I love it. My Dad was really sweet about staying at the hotel with whoever was worn out or cold. On the last day Jenessa even came and played at Disneyland with us!! She’s a Disneyland fanatic/expert and it was super fun having her there. She recently moved to California so she took an Uber to our hotel and stayed there Monday Night. Callie and I really enjoyed our girls night and last day of fun with her.

Noah's poor feet at the end of a long wet cold day.

 

Celiac Disease

The only reason I got tested for Celiac was because of my sweet but insistent baby sister Maryann. She was diagnosed in December of 2017 and also has an extremely rare skin condition called DH (Dermatitis Herpetiformis) that she suffers from as a side effect of Celiac. I reluctantly agreed to get tested because I didn’t want her condition and also just so she would stop nagging me. If you figure out celiac disease early enough you can reduce complications and side effects associated with it and also minimize damage to your small intestine. I still vividly remember that week in May. I had a really crappy week at work and on my way home from work I listened to a voice message from my doctors office confirming that I had tested positive for Celiac and “I should probably avoid gluten”. No follow up recommended and no referral to a GI. It was an annoying and insensitive short message with no answers or even follow up recommendations for me. My older brother Allen has had celiac for years but he was diagnosed as an adult and has never been very open about it. From conversations with Maryann and some research I’ve done my understanding of the disease is that it is a genetic autoimmune disease. There is no cure for it and if you don’t maintain a strict gluten free diet at all times you are at risk for developing stomach/intestinal cancer, or intestinal/digestive complications and issues. I’ve also learned that about 1% of the population are diagnosed with celiac disease. And everywhere I turn no one seems to know very much about it. I’ve seen a nutritionist, a cooky Chiropracter, a GI specialist, emails and phone conversations with people that say they can help, and I’ve even joined a few celiac support groups on Facebook. I’m still figuring it out but luckily we live in a world of bizarre adversity and crazy theories about food that have pushed food companies to produce a variety of grain-free or gluten free food items. I've had some weird side effects from going GF ranging from lack of energy to hormonal shifts, poor Ron I thought for sure I was pregnant for a couple months with the way I was feeling. I’m about 7 months into a gluten free lifestyle and while it comes with its own set of complications probably the hardest one for me is the social aspect. People don’t understand what it is I didn’t understand it myself before and I still don’t fully get it. There is definitely a learning curve. I’ve had 36 years to enjoy and experience food. I’ve been saying for months that I’m glad it’s me and not one of my kids. Putting a child on a GF diet would be so complicated and difficult. 

Because Celiac is a hereditary disease I had all of my children tested. The kids did so well at the appointment. No one cried or even flinched when they placed the needle. Callie of course was a little anxious (as she usually is about any appointment but it helped that I did my usual routine of not telling her much until we were actually on our way to the lab). Poor little April, they had to try 3 times to draw her blood. She did so good! I had her sit on my lap and we played on the iPad while they stuck her again and again. She didn’t cry but on the third try you could tell she was a little over it. Kicked her legs a little and winced. Mason and Noahs results came back negative. Callie’s results were inconclusive which means that we need to talk to the GI specialist. April’s results were positive. I started crying on the phone when I heard the news. She is my pickiest eater. Her diet currently consists of fish crackers, cereal, pancakes, cookies, apple sauce and hamburgers. Occasionally I can get her to eat frozen blueberries, sliced apples and grapes. But that’s it. She is REALLY picky. Before her blood draw I’ve been telling Ron for weeks “it’ll be fine if any of our kids have it except April.” I’m so thankful my children don’t have any serious health issues I know we are blessed with good healthy and happy children but I’m really nervous for what lies ahead. I am not a fan of being in the kitchen. I’ve never enjoyed spending time cooking and prepping. (Probably why Ron has never gained much weight in our entire marriage, poor man has to live life eating crappy food). I’m going to have to always figure out food for April. Anytime she goes to a friends house, at preschool or nursery at church. She won’t get to eat cupcakes with everyone else at birthday parties. Even going to grandma’s house is going to be hard for her to not raid grandmas pantry. My heart hurts for her thinking about all that she will miss out on and not understand. I don't mean to be so dramatic I realize this is not a HUGE thing. Plenty of people deal with much worse I am grateful for modern medicine and the conveniences we enjoy today. But I do not look forward to teaching April this lesson so early in life. Our ward Christmas party this year was really hard I brought her a couple Gluten Free treats but they didn't look as appealing as the line of cookies on display and I endured a 20 min meltdown about her wanting a cookie with sprinkles. Makes me sad for her. On the bright side she is picking up pretty fast and constantly asks me "Is this gootin foo-weeze" She is such a smart little sweet heart. 
Mason and Noah will continue to be tested about every other year. Because it runs in my family they could develop or trigger the disease later in life. Callie and April will continue to be monitored by the GI specialist. For now Callie is staying on Gluten and April has been GF for about 6 weeks.

Christmas 2018

As always Christmas comes and goes so fast! That said I feel like Christmas Eve was the longest day of my life. I was so excited this year we didn’t have any large gifts with a million pieces to assemble or requiring heavy duty manual labor. So I thought we would for sure be in bed by 1am... nope. Ron and I were up until 3:30am wrapping presents and Christmasing. 

Christmas morning came and went; I feel like the kids were happy I hope it was memorable. Ron and I actually had 2 different gifts for each other that were identical. LOL Too funny we both got each other a video monitoring doorbell and a hygiene tool in our stockings. I guess great minds think alike!

Mason

Scout stuff

Hiking Backpack

Sleeping bag/hat

7” tablet and case

Large nerf gun

Noah

Pokémon stuffed animal squirtle

Dogman Book’s 5 & 6

Ninjago shark lego set

Minecraft video game

Disney infinity video games/characters

Large nerf gun

Callie

Tablet 

Art supplies 

Stroller

Hatchimal

April for weeks now has been saying that she wanted a pink Unicorn. She never said anything else. I love that little sweet girl. My Dad gives the kids these stuffed horses from Wells Fargo and we have collected about half a dozen over the years. April collects all of them, lines them up to brush them and talk to them. She will do this for up to an hour at a time. It’s adorable. She even gets my water spray bottle to spray their mane and brush it. I think she does that because that’s how I do her hair. 

Pink Unicorn amazon

You Spirit Horse /lucky doll 

2 Unicorns one of course pink

Babydoll

Hatchimal

Family gifts:

3-day Disneyland passes 

Hover-board