Maaaaarch

Food: 

Nils was gone all day one Sunday (as with many Sundays), so I made him this food and sent him a picture to try and lure him home. 

Gluten free bagels from Trader Joe's are quite good! It's been so long since I've had anything like it. It almost scares me how "normal" they are. 

Same with Chick-fil-A GF buns. They're soft and not even dry. Almost scary. I tried one for the first time 2 days ago. What is this witchcraft? 

St. Patty's Day dinner: GF green pancakes and breakfast works. 

In regards to this gluten free life I'm living, here's an update: I've basically stopped cooking with gluten all together. I still buy packaged pastas, crackers, bread, etc., that everyone else is welcome to eat, but when I cook a meal that I am also going to eat, it's gluten free. No one complains about it, and I've gotten a pretty good handle on what GF products are garbage in my mouth, and which ones are totally fine/good.

I had a pretty gnarly flare up from about September-January, and it was very perplexing and frustrating, because I never cheat. Ever. It wasn't as bad as before when I didn't know what caused my issues, but it was pretty bad. My arms and back were covered in this stupid, blistery, bleeding, unbearably itchy rash. I visited the dermatologist (a new one I found about a year ago), and he put me on some medicine that kinda sorta helped. He's very nice and willing to try lots of new medicines, but I think I figured it out on my own- IODINE. I was taking a multivitamin with iodine, and that's when the flare started. I stopped taking the vitamin, and I'm 99% cleared up. This condition/disease/syndrome/whatever is totally perplexing and weird, and I'm learning that it's something that I'll probably always have to deal with in one way or another. Gluten is the catalyst, but many other things can trigger it. It's not awesome, and I feel like a nut job when I think about my list of forbidden foods. Oh well. No one should have to feed me.

Wedding:

My nephew Stockton married Cassie. They're fun and cute. 

Kevin had Nils take his spot in the line for a few minutes. What a joker.

The fam!

Events:

Another Jazz game. It turned out to be the best game of the season. Super exciting, and ended in a win. I love that Nils is converting a little.

Nils got Real Salt Lake tickets from his boss. We're not soccer people- we know almost nothing about the game, so it was a little boring, and cold, and we had to park far away, and... we probably won't be going again. Also, lots of floppers in soccer. 

Addie and BFF Ella spent last Saturday at Teen Author Bootcamp. It was 13 hours of nerdy heaven for them. These two are pretty cute and funny together.

Anders got his license. He's in a suit because he got it the same day as the wedding, and we managed to sneak the DMV in between the luncheon and reception. He's been driving himself all over the place. It's so weird/wonderful/scary. I even had him go pick up Aani from violin lessons the other day! What is this strange new world I'm living in? 

Our fan of 18.5 years bit the dust a few months ago, and we just threw it away the other day. It's very sad. We've slept with this fan on every night for our entire marriage, and as a result, everyone in our house is a white noise addict. We all have trouble sleeping in silence. Anyway, we've had a hard time finding a comparable replacement. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE, FANNY?

Anders had a piano recital. He "won" the recital?? He got a 1st place trophy. It's worth mentioning that his competition was a bunch of small children, so yeah. Anyway, Anders has a talent for the piano, and enjoys playing. He has some cousins and aunt and uncle who are also pretty amazing, so it seems that it runs in the family.

Randoms: 

Ava made a card for her teacher for teacher appreciation week: 

She wrote us this weird note during stake conference. I've had that stationery for 19 years. I found it a little while ago and gave it to her, so obviously she must use it.

Just being precious at stake conference.

Our fridge hasn't been cold for a few weeks. It's kind of a frog in the pot situation- you don't realize you're eating warm yogurt until you put your yogurt in the fridge at work, and when you take it out a couple hours later, you realize you haven't had cold yogurt in a month. Anyway, it's a wonder we aren't all dead of salmonella. NilsyNils got out the blow dryer and he done fixed it.

Aani and Ava cleaned the shelves in exchange for ice cream- this is probably the nicest it's ever looked in there, aside from when it was purchased. 

 

We're happy to see April roll in. Nils' team at work has been working crazy long hours, including the last two Saturdays, and it's been pretty lousy. They're launching tomorrow, so hopefully we can go back to normal life. As Ava said in her note to us, All is well, all is well.