So, why are you such a deadbeat? Well. . .

I have been going back and forth with the decision of putting “my problem” up and out into the blogging world! Then I figured most of my close friends already know about it. All of my other friends probably have some advice or help. So here we go. . .

I have been sick for quite some time. When I would go to the doctor's office I would be told that it was IBS or food poisoning. Never quite knowing why my immunity was so low or why my stomach was always in a constant state of pain, bloating, and discomfort.

So in spring of last year I decided to start having more whole wheat in my diet. After learning that eating foods with higher fiber helps promote healthy digestion and weight loss; two things that I needed help with! The pain and discomfort started getting worse. It finally got to the point where I was unable to go to school and missing church meetings. I blamed the pain on stress because I would have it even when we were on vacation. I thought that I should feel better when I was relaxing. But, no! I was literally always feeling ill!

I ended up going to a doctor that had helped other family members. After many tests (very disgusting and painful tests) they discovered that I have Celiac disease. Please refer to the website: http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/digestive/celiac-disease/symptoms/symptoms?section=section_01

Since I didn’t treat this disease (didn’t know I even had it) it had killed off a lot of the lining in my stomach and a lot of the bacteria that you need to digest some foods. Due to this unfortunate situation I am now allergic to peanuts and dairy as well. Since your gut is a link to all of your other body functions it ended up messing with my thyroid, which in turn ended up messing with my hormones, which of course explains those painful miscarriages! (It reminds me of the song of the old lady who swallowed the fly. I have been humming that ever since finding this all out. Kind of a fun tune . . . wouldn’t ya say??)

Needless to say this has been an ahaa! moment. I am more than a little bummed that I have a restricted diet. The cost of this diet is double the amount of a normal diet. Also, I will be on pills for the rest of my life. I am too young to be on so many pills for the rest of my life!! I have more pills than my eighty three year old grandmother!!

Despite all of this I am so thankful to have answers to so many questions. It is nice to know that it wasn’t all in my head and that there is in fact a reason why I was never able to sustain a healthy pregnancy. It wasn't just bad luck again and again and again. . .grrrrrrrrr!!!

It will still take anywhere from two weeks to two months to be back to “normal.” Regardless, I am super excited that I am not as bloated, I will have more energy (slowly and eventually), I will not have stomach discomfort, and I will not have as many scary and disturbing nightmares! This has been like my own personal El Nino; you know, where you blame everything on it!!

I am still struggling with things that I can or cannot eat. I, unfortunately, am learning the hard way what I can or cannot eat. (So many sneaky items that have hidden ingredients) The biggest struggle is not being able to have ice cream, cupcakes, and cookies. They have some items that are made without dairy, peanuts and gluten. The missing ingredients are noticed. It’s been nice because Lacy doesn’t beg for a bite of those. That is evidence of their bad taste!! Heeheehee

Doesn't that look so good?? No more of that for me!! :(

I am almost at my wits end though. I am going to have to give in and visit a nutritionist. Thank you to all of my friends and family that have been so helpful and supportive. A quick shout out to the ones that have been especially helpful!! Thank you Val, Kara, Sarah, and especially Ryan. Ryan, I think has had to have as much, if not more, anguish than I have with this. We always liked being that couple who would share meals and dentures well into our late 80’s. Chances of that happening are less likely.

Thank you Ryan. You have been my rock and defender of the bad foods. You have had to pay the most for this and I am sorry you married a faulty product!! Thanks for loving me despite all of this!!

It's The Holiday Season. . .

Well, not really anymore. Especially since we are in January and all remnants of Christmas and the New Year have been taken down. This is just my typical procrastination. GO ME!!

Some really cool and fun things happened to us, so of course I must share with you all the happenings of our exciting life. Don’t hold your breath. . . we are anything but exciting!!

So for Christmas I wanted to get Ryan some really cool presents. That is my goal every year with all the people that I shop for; however, by Christmas morning I get major buyers remorse and think, "Why did I get them that? What was I thinking?" One of the presents I got Ryan was great!! I think it was more fun for me than for him. Here is how the conversation went:

Picture two days before Christmas . . . me, coming home from some great shopping and errand running, and Ryan, coming home from a long day of work, we are heading out to dinner.

Heather: Ryan, you need to open one of your presents early . . . or it will die.

Ryan: (eyes big at this point) What did you get? (Said more angry than excited)

Heather: I got you a puppy!! (Said with excitement, a huge smile, and of course batting of the eyelashes!)

Ryan: WHAT??!! (Humor completely gone from his face . . . looking quite menacing at this point)

Heather: I got you a puppy and if you don’t open it and wait until Christmas morning it will die. (He looks like he is ready to faint by this point and I decide to give the poor guy a break.)

I then explain to him that I named it puppy but he can name it whatever he wants. . . (Color starts to come back into his face but he still looks at me with daggers). I lead him towards the fish tank where I have taped a bunch of wrapping paper for him to “open” his present. (He is starting to look less like he is going to kill me and more like he is going to laugh). I then point out the little crab that I had named puppy. By this point he is happy. I then explain that I got him a tattoo, lipstick and a puppy for Christmas;all names of the new wildlife in our tank.
A small idea of what our new "Puppy" looks like. Scary, right?? It freaks me out.

I wonder if he has completely healed from the experience. At least I got a lot of enjoyment from that!! That’s what makes it all worthwhile, right?

So in a serious tone . . . I got Ryan a really cool hockey puck case, thanks to my eBay seller. He has all these hockey pucks from NHL games and when he played in a league. He is so good he would receive the game puck on occasion.Ryan also got a Nintendo Wii, compliments of Terry and Vicky!! Thank you Jerky and Annelise for getting the bug in us! It has been fun!! I have been meaning to take pictures of our jam sessions . . . totally dropped the ball on it. So Brian you need to come back over just so I can take a picture of you holding the game controller with Ryan. We can reenact that fun night for camera and blog purposes!

It was fun opening up the presents on Christmas morning. We opened them with Brandon, Tawny, their two kids, Aaron, Terry, and Vicky. There was a big void though because our Utah family was not there!! (Sniffle and sob) Next year Michelle!!


Brandon and Tawny did not know that we had asked for a Nintendo Wii. So Ryan, being the tease that he is, had an idea of what present it was so he waited to open it until the very end. Poor Brandon and Tawny; it was really confusing to them and their kids. They saw us opening games and controllers (we got a lot of fun controllers, Mario Galaxy, Spiderman 3, Dance Dance Revolution, and Guitar Hero 3) but were baffled as to how we were going to use these games; especially since the Wii is not the easiest to come by. So that was fun!

Since I don't have any pictures of us playing. . . yet! Here are some pictures, use your imagination and I am sure you can see us playing this!

For New Years Eve we went out to a really yummy dinner with Terry and Vicky. We had prime rib at the Summit House. SO GOOD!!! Terry, Aaron, and Ryan each gave me their bones to take home to Lacy. She was such a happy dog!! We had to fence her in the kitchen. She has a tendency to be right at our feet with her bones. Ryan didn’t want it to get the floors dirty. So she was funny to watch. She would get so excited and start gnawing on that bone . . . then she would realize that we aren’t focusing our attention on her, and also that she in fact was locked in that small area, so she would whine. Then she would remember her bone and go back to devouring it. I think I found more humor in her little idiosyncrasies than Ryan did.

As a random note . . . I always feel so conflicted with items like this. I was very strict about feeding Lacy table food in the beginning. Then with the health scare of so many dogs near to death with the pet food recall I became more lenient and gave into her sad puppy eyes. So it is a tough spot. I feel bad not letting her eat the yummy food, but I feel ten times worse when I give in and she gets a bad reaction to the table food I fed her!! I am sure all you Mom’s out there can relate to that!

Happy New Year!!

A fun little game for all you friends and family. . .what is different with this picture? If you don't know then we may not know you or like you enough. heeheehee

I don't have a whole lot of time to spend on a worthwhile blog. I know, I know you are all so disappointed, you are going to miss out in yet another mind numbing write up of our life . . . my life. ;-)

As one of my goals for the New Year, I will try to give you a more interesting and exciting blog, something worthy of writing a comment on. You know who you are . . . you phantom blog reader’s . . . leave me a comment so it is worth it to me to leave it unblocked. :-)

It is also going to be my top priority to have Ryan eventually write something on “our” Blog. Please everyone give him some encouragement. Otherwise you are all doomed to hear from me only . . . who wants that?

I will write up a new blog in the next few days (too sick and too busy right now).

A quick shout out to Santa (my in-laws) and Ryan, thanks for a great Christmas . . . good times and great loot!!

Happy New Year Ya’ll!!

Little Lacy Love Bug

Happy 4th Birthday, Lacy Love!!

I have been going back and forth on posting some of these pictures. First reason, it was when I was feeling very yucky, hence the fact that I look very yucky!! And the other reason is it’s about my dog.

Now I know a lot of you out there (Ryan) don’t think a dog contributes very much in a family; they are just some animal that you waste loads of time and money on. Well, I beg to differ!!

I love my dog and I feel that she is a large part of my immediate family!! So with that being said, happy birthday Lacy Love!! I can't believe you are four years old!

Such a cute little puppy!!

Such a sweet little cuddler!

She loves the fish!

The fastest way to feeling better, have a dog to cuddle with!!

She is so sweet!

She is my constant shadow!

And she is so much fun to have around!

Merry Christmas

Mamas Don't Let Your Boys Grow Up To Be Cowboys!

I was going through Ryan's family photo albums and I found this really cute picture of Ryan and his friend Erik (Jerky). I think they are about one or two in this picture. Really cute. Since this is Ryan's and my blog he should have more blogs about him!! So this is a start!

Be nice to me, it's my first time!

That’s right; I have been dodging this bullet for years. I hate needles and I hate inflicting pain on myself. Not sure what’s wrong with me.

So I have tried to give blood three times now and I suppose it’s true what they say, the third times a charm! I successfully gave blood today. Ryan and I did it together, but between you and me, I think Ryan was just making sure that I went through with it this time! The first time I tried to give blood I was a dental assistant and at the time and had pricked myself with an unsterilized needle and the second time I was on antibiotics for an infection. So this time there was nothing to get in my way! I feel good that I helped someone today.

Being my first time they gave me a pretty pin to wear that read, “It’s my first time.” To prevent flushing I had cold towels on my forehead and on my neck. They were very attentive and made me sit and relax a little longer. Ryan joked that they do that for difficult patients not for first timers. But, to save my pride I will continue telling myself that he is wrong! It was all a nice experience except for the fact that I was dispersing my blood. I think I may tell them it is my first time every time!!

Best part; I got to eat cookies and juice!! I think giving blood may be a frequent occurrence!!

Ryan is so brave! What a trooperThis is a horrible picture of me. But, I figured you all would be proud of how much blood I gave!!