Goodbye Gluten

It's crazy to think that a year ago I found out I had mono. I never would have imagined that a year later I would still be having health struggles. It has definitely been a trying year! The doctor visit in late May/early June yielded some interesting results. My vitamin D is normal again, so I'm grateful that was an easy fix! One of my tonsils is normal, and the other was only slightly swollen. More progress! My available iron shot up, but my iron stores went down. Only by 1 point, but it doesn't make sense when I have been on iron supplements. The doctor admitted that is a little paradoxical, but she said blood tests aren't always black and white. So, there isn't much to do but keep taking iron, and retest in a few months. The iron had caused a lot of stomach and colon issues, so I basically had to do a colon cleanse. It was quite painful and made for a rough week, but I'm grateful school was out by that point so at least I could be at home :) Mono can cause a lot of digestive problems, so we are onto trying elimination diets to see if that helps. The first adventure is going gluten free. It has been two weeks, and I think it might actually be helping. Which could really be an answer to prayers, but it also makes me sad. Mostly because I love goldfish crackers. ha. I think the real test will be when I start to add gluten back in my diet though. So, we shall see! If you have any favorite gluten free tips or recipes or ideas, send 'em my way!  In other news, my brother Jared and his wife Whitney came to visit, and she took some fabulous pictures of Braden and I. Whitney Owen Photography is the best :)

Top of the SLC Library. Such a great view!

Jared was boss at flying Braden's RC plane!

Love these crazy kids. Thanks for a fun weekend!

Hope Ya Know, We Had A Hard Time

When I say 'we', I mostly mean 'me'. Braden has definitely been my rock these past few months. It's taken me a while to want to update the blog, probably because I didn't want to remember a lot of what has been going on. But, I think I need to write some of it down so I can look back later and see how far we have come.

Starting off the new year, I was really hoping that my health would begin to improve - I had been on iron supplements for over a month. But it seemed like things were almost getting worse, and I couldn't figure out why. I went to the doctor again in February, hoping for some answers. She looked at my tonsils, and said they were extremely swollen (which they had been back in November as well). We discussed the possibility that my tonsils are so swollen that I can't get enough oxygen when I breathe, which could be causing some of the dizziness. She recommended I go see an ENT (ear nose and throat doctor), and they would probably want to take my tonsils out. They ran several more blood tests as well. The tests came back the following week, and my iron had gone up from a 5 to a 12. They want me at 30 bare minimum, but up towards 60 preferably. So, I've got a long way to go, but at least we are making progress! The results also showed that I am Vitamin D deficient. I started feeling hopeful that things would get better soon once I started taking Vitamin D.

The day after I received the test results, I got in a car accident. Our car was totaled, and I was a mess (more emotionally than anything). Thankfully, I wasn't severely hurt. My arm was burned and cut from the air bag, I had a bloody nose and fat lip, along with mild whiplash, but that was it. I missed a few days of work after the accident, and during that time, I got another call from the doctors office. They had run a mono panel blood test to see if I had really had mono recently (just because I didn't entirely trust the original doctor I had seen), and the results came back that not only did I have mono recently, but it was still active in my blood. So that was really the icing on the cake to the whole month. ha. No wonder I had been feeling so sick recently. They told me my tonsils could be swollen because of the mono, so to hold off on seeing the ENT for now. Vitamin D deficiency, anemia, and mono all cause insomnia. So, sleep has been hard to come by, which of course, makes everything seem worse. Through trial and error, and my dear mother's help, I found a pill that works to help me sleep most nights. It has all natural ingredients - including melatonin and chamomile, so hopefully now that I can sleep it will help my body recover faster!

Even though it felt like all these trials kind of came on at the same time, there have been many tender mercies through it all. Braden's parents were so kind, and let us borrow one of their cars so we would have a vehicle until we bought a new one. One of our friends drove Braden to pick up the car from his parents, since we had no way to get there. We had several meals brought in by friends over the next few days, when I would probably have been too prideful to admit we needed help. They just saw what needed to be done and took care of it. My boss at work was so kind, and she took care of finding subs for me so I didn't have to worry about it. They had flowers delivered to my apt, and I had countless people text, call, or stop by to check on me. This experience has definitely brought me closer to Braden, and to my Savior. There have been a lot of blessings that came from all of this that I don't think could have come any other way.

 In the General Young Women's Meeting, Elder Uchtdorf talked about how joy always comes after sorrow. I know my health still has a ways to go, but I feel like after that trying month, I am starting to finally glimpse that joy. I am learning to rely on the Savior more, and just trust him. In a recent Fast and Testimony meeting, one of the speakers talked about how we need to stop asking 'why', and just trust that the Lord knows best. That has been hard for me, but I know he won't give us more than we can bear.

A 'Box of Sunshine' one of my friends brought me

Cameron got home from his mission! Bet you can't tell
which one is cardboard Cameron, and which one is real.

This was at the Easter Egg Crack Off. You roll hard boiled eggs at
each other, and which ever egg cracks is out. Each person gets
two eggs. Neither Braden or I won.

But my eggs got first and second place in the
decorating contest! :)

 For a date night, Braden and I went eye bombing at the mall. You basically put googly eyes on random items. This was one of our favorites we did :) It was on the side of the photo booth.

These two videos definitely helped me during that difficult month. I watched them a lot!

You can make fun of me for that last one ^, but I love me some boy bands!

Delicious Food and a little dancing.

Its hard to believe that January is already almost over. I really need to be better at keeping the blog updated - more for myself than anything. I think blogging is a great way to keep a family journal - something our children will be able to look back on in years to come.

The Holiday season wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be. My iron pills were making me pretty sick, and it was my first Christmas away from home. I love my in-laws, but not doing any of the typical Owen family Christmas traditions was weird. Each family celebrates Christmas a little different, and it really made me ponder on what makes the season special.

The morning we were leaving for Rexburg for Christmas, I was feeling really sick. Braden gave me a sweet blessing, in which I was reminded that there will be days where my body is strong, and days where my body is weak. I just need to be patient. I am grateful for the Priesthood, and the hope and comfort it brings. Dealing with anemia has been a little rough. I know I shouldn't complain, because there are people in much worse situations. But, seriously, anemia does the weirdest things to you. Like make you so fatigued and tired, and then give you insomnia. What kind of a mean trick is that?! There was one night over Christmas break where it took me over 5 hours to fall asleep. Needless to say, I was pretty grumpy the next morning. (Braden was really patient with me though :) ) Thankfully the insomnia comes and goes, so I am able to sleep well at least 70% of the time. I can handle that!

We have made some delicious food lately, and people have been asking for the recipes. So, I started a recipe page on our blog. The Zupas Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup and the English Muffin recipes are listed on that page.

And as always, here are a few pictures ;)

These are the English Muffins. They taste just as
good as store bought, and are surprisingly easy to make!

Anybody want to build with legos?

Our ward has a Christmas Masquerade Ball!

We found this beauty geo cashing!

Braden loves his Sriracha shirt and beanie. A little too much. 

These are the Christmas gifts we brought to neighbors.
Can you tell what they are supposed to be? :)