The Good and the Bad

Quirky mural in a Mexican restaurant. The rest of the face stretches to the ceiling. These lips were enormous and right at our eye level. 

We all went to a college baseball game (we won!). This past weekend, only Dan and Colby went to another game (migraine for me, booooo).

Dan and I went on a double date with friends and saw the Back to the Future Broadway musical. I was skeptical at first and thought it shouldn't be a musical, but then the songs were great, the costumes looked straight from the '80s, and the set was absolutely incredible.

Paige worked hard getting ready for a veterans banquet and reunion at one of her museum jobs. 

Leah's been doing rotations in hospitals, schools, and clinics all school year and finishes this week. It's been a long but interesting year as a graduate student. Sometimes she texts, "Can I come home tomorrow?" or sends me things like this:

**Update Thursday morning -- last early morning train ride to rotations, she did it!! Phew!

Just a few more months until we see Carson again! 

Colby's working long hours because nobody else can quite do what he's doing at his job, and they haven't hired anyone else to help him. He does get paid for overtime. He's our more private kid, so I intentionally don't share too much about him here.

For the past year, I've seen lots of people recommending the Emma M. Lion series of books that are similar to Jane Austen's books. I got them for Christmas but hadn't sat down to start reading them yet until this weekend when I finished the first one. The writing and characters are delightful. I'm excited to read the rest.

I love that our backyard faces the sunset and our yard is finally landscaped. Every night the weather cools and we sit outside and watch the sunset. I also love that we can do that here without mosquitoes attacking us. I do not miss mosquitoes.

I was having a hard time, and this is one of the places I go when I just need to wander somewhere pretty for a while. 

There was a birthday lunch for a friend. Eleven of us were able to make it. I took sandwiches for my gluten friends and muffins for my gluten-free friends. The friendliest, best women live here.

My stomach is not calming, and I've been sooooo discouraged and hurting, plus physically and mentally worn out from my stupid health problems. My enzyme test came back normal, so clearly my stomach is still capable of digesting food. My gastric emptying test is in three weeks. I've called everywhere and even driven to ask in person, and I cannot find a lab in our city that does the fructose breath test my doctor ordered.

My stomach hates me every single day, but Sunday was the worst day in a long time, I ate a small low FODMAP meal in the morning, and then my stomach quickly grew and grew and was so so so painful. I was nauseous and dry heaving and started to pass out every time I stood up. I had to skip church and lie completely immobile in bed for most of the day. I slept A LOT. I finally was able to get up and eat crackers at 8:00 pm. My stomach remained huge all day and into the night even though I hardly ate. Sometimes it's like that. But...Monday I finally woke up feeling great and had more energy than I've had in a very long time. I deep cleaned everything in sight and was able to keep my stomach under control for the most part. What a difference it makes when my stomach behaves! I miss the old me who could get a lot done and wear normal clothes and eat delicious food. 

Leah sent me a recipe for gluten-free Brazi bites (Brazilian cheese bread) using tapioca flour. They tasted great and I'll be making more.

I keep eating small, boring, low FODMAP meals and I'm really tired of these same foods.

Tomorrow I'm retesting for SIBO to see where my numbers are now and if I'm still positive. Since October I've taken 5 antibiotics and one month of herbal pills specifically used for SIBO. All the symptoms point to me still having SIBO, but I want to know for sure if we're still fighting the right thing. 

And that means today I can only eat rice, eggs, meat, and potatoes, and drink only water or herbal tea to be ready for the SIBO test. 

Surprises

We had no idea that Carson's SLC mission would give him so many cultural experiences. We thought he would only experience Utah and Wyoming culture and language which would be very different from where he grew up. But he has served in Marshallese and Samoan areas without knowing those languages first. Now he has another opportunity to learn a new language and experience another culture. It's been so interesting and something we didn't expect when he was called to Utah.

In other news, three wards here were dismantled and completely renamed with new boundaries. Our ward was getting enormous, with new families moving in every month. Everyone in all three wards was released at the same time from all callings, and then only new bishoprics were called as well as EQ, RS, and Primary presidents. We're happy with the boundary changes, which were very different than we expected and kept more of us together than we thought, and we'll still keep in touch with friends who are now in other wards. Everyone was asked to answer their phones this week and next week so that callings can be filled quickly. Dan got his calling last night.

Landscaped

Landscaping was finished yesterday!! It's very exciting and we love it! It was supposed to take two weeks and ended up taking six weeks exactly, but some things came up that pushed back the schedule, and we're okay with that. We're waiting on an electrician to finish electrical work and connect everything so we can have an outlet right here along our view fence, but that's the last thing. Then we'll eventually add a fountain, some plants, and furniture.

We were supposed to have five boulders in one corner of our backyard but we left two of them in the front yard. One was too heavy to move without a machine, so I told the landscapers to roll it somewhere in the front.

One side of our yard is narrow and we don't expect to use it, so we put leftover pavers by that gate and made a spot for a small air conditioner we may install in our smaller garage. Our HOA doesn't want any pavers up against the shared walls between yards that may cause drainage issues, so it looks awkward but that's why our side patios don't extend to the walls.

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View from other gate looking back at the same side area. The turf is the right length for cornhole:

We added a path to our driveway on this side.

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This back corner doesn't quite match the vision I had for it, and the rocks aren't quite right yet, but I'm thinking of what to try next in this corner...maybe a fun sculpture among the rocks? The poles are for Dan's hammock. He already loves this spot.

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