Quick Update (March and April)

I don't have a lot of time, but I felt the need to post an update today. I wish I could type out all of the neat things I am learning lately, but for some reason, the lessons are coming at a really fast rate right now and I don't think anyone would want to read all of my ramblings... maybe when I have assimilated them better and can condense them into a short explanation, I can post about it without rambling too long.

I'm doing really well health-wise. I'm symptom-free for 2 months now and feeling really good. It has been neat to see God's hand in so many ways in this health journey. For example, I had the idea come to me that I needed to juice in the morning, have a salad for lunch, and a plant based meal in the evening. I needed to have some fermented food or drink with every meal (sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc) I also needed to give my body time to heal without having to digest food sometimes so I needed to stop eating after 7 or 8. I wrote all of these goals down. Then I came across a book called, "The Maker's Diet" that had very similar guidelines with a few detoxing time additions. It is neat to see my guidance being so in line with the guidance that others have found. I'm not following it perfectly, sometimes I'll sneak some fruit in the evening or other times when I crave sweets (I think I should limit my fruits to about 3 per day, but I have a major sweet tooth - I'm kind of addicted to figs and fried plantains) but if that's as bad as it usually gets, I think I'm doing pretty well ;-)

We haven't gone out a ton lately... I'm still cooking a lot and teaching the kids all these new cooking techniques and recipes. We are a gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free house now. Unless you count sourdough bread, but we don't since most of the gluten is broken down in the long leavening process (I'm not eating grains yet, but I hope to soon) My poor dad broke his femur and we've been trying to be helpful to him this last month too. We haven't done a ton so I didn't take a lot of pictures, but we did go on a Spring Break adventure and a few other places so here's a short overview of some highlights from the last 2 months.

March Pictures:

This is our 4th year going to Rob Gardner's The Lamb of God  at Easter time.I think it's a tradition! 

Love this smile!!!!

I don't remember why I took this picture, but I sure love there people!

Cassia and William go to prom, so fun they were in the same group and that they went with these awesome people...

Someone took this on my phone, I think it's precious.

A hug for Ariel after The Little Mermaid play

I had to snap this picture when I saw it during a break...I call it "teens these days!"

Trip to Bluff to build houses at a Navajo Chapter for William's Priest Group High Adventure. What an unforgettable experience!

Hiking through Hovenweep

On the way home, our family stopped at Arches to hike Delicate Arch. The weather and company were perfect.

Coen learning to roll everywhere

Sunday Cuddles

 Weekday hike

The only picture I got on my phone from Dallin's birthday... his grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free absolutely delicious marbled cake by Jessalyn. In my defence, I was so busy making his day special that I didn't even know where my phone was most of the day. We also went to an escape room to celebrate.

 Here are a couple of pictures from Bill's facebook page!

Joy is a bit young to already be taking selfies isn't she?

Tulip Festival!

With all of this focus on food, sometimes I have to take some food pictures. That, btw, is a grain-free tortilla!

My oldest and youngest - oh my heart!

Pretty isn't it?

Even Joshua is becoming quite the chef. These pancakes were made from scratch by him, but were not grain free, so I didn't eat them, but William did make some grain-free pancakes the other day by accidentally using white bean flour instead of wheat flour. They were super yummy (at least to someone who hadn't had pancakes in months - the kids thought they were edible at least ;-) ) 

Bill's birthday was at the end of April and I didn't get any pictures. Jess made him  grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free strawberry shortcake. It was incredible! Even the kids thought so.  I wish I had taken a picture. We also went to his favorite restaurant (La Casita) and went to see Infinity Wars. Good times with a good man and our beautiful family :)