Life Updates

I know I've needed to do a post about our Utah trip and a gluten free update, so I figured I would combine them all in a general "life" update.  Hope that works.  Sorry... it's long.

Our Utah trip was ok.  Maybe I should be more enthusiastic about it considering I used up all my PTO for this trip, but it was just a really busy trip with lots of driving.  And we only got to catch friends and family for a moment here and there.  I look forward to the day when we live much closer and can spend real time together!

Dustin rocking my shades since he forgot to bring his

We drove from Portland to Boise, then Boise to Salem, then Salem to St. George.  Once in St. George we stayed for a full 48 hours before driving back up to Salem.  By this point I was DONE with driving and ready for teleportation to be invented NOW (or yesterday).

 While in St. George Dustin visited with lots of docs and spent a whole day with one that we really like.  We also got to visit with my cousin Amber and Joe, high school friend Spencer and Stacie (and baby Isabelle), and Dustin's cousin Emily and Landon.  And we got to eat at Dickey's. Holy gluten free BBQ goodness.  Once upon a time there was a Dickey's here in Gresham but then it closed.  And then we were sad.

Back in Salem Dustin visited with more docs while we tried to fit in visits with the Creers, the Jacks, and high school/college friends Scott and Tiffany, Lindsey, and Lauren.  We also got to remember the joys of Chuck-a-Rama taking my grandparents out to lunch as a thank you for doing our taxes.  They pretty much are the best. :)  And oh yeah! We finally got to meet Kinsey, Kendra and Adam's baby!

 When we were at church in Salem at my home ward, we got to check out the missionary board and it was full of missionaries! 18 just from my home ward! So proud that my sister Ginelle is one of them right now!

The weather in St. George was BEAUTIFUL but Utah county had another idea of April fools-snow!  Yuck yuck.  Certainly do not miss that part about Utah!

No wonder we want to move here.. beautiful blue skies!

Some of the doctor visits were frustrating while others were very enlightening.  We would still like to join a doctor as an associate (we're hoping for our favorite St. George doc!) but if that doesn't work out, we are seriously contemplating starting our own practice.  Which is scary.  But could be awesome.  Hopefully we'll have a real decision as to which direction we will be going in the next few months so that 12th quarter we can really get plans worked out.
We were able to catch Conference on the way home by listening to it on KSL.  Between family visits here or our visits to Utah, we keep missing conference! I am definitely looking forward to next month's Ensign to catch up on the talks that we missed.  And to next Conference session when we will be DONE with school!

Life back in Portland is still as busy as ever.  Dustin has a similar schedule to last quarter but with a little more flexibility. He loves being able to spend time in the clinic and work with real patients.  Dustin loves chiropractics and dreams about it frequently. One time I woke up in the middle of the night because he had grabbed my foot. I asked what he was doing and he told me he was just going to try an ankle flow.  I told him "no you're not" and that was it. In the morning, he didn't even know that had happened.  He is sleep adjusting! I'm glad he loves this career path so much and that this was a good decision for him.  Graduation ceremony will be coming up the end of June but he won't be done til mid September.  That's only 4 months away!  One of his teachers this quarter talked about the importance of going on a family vacation when school is done.  He is my new favorite teacher. :)  Not sure how we'll be able to fit a trip in, but hopefully we can plan something cool sometime within a year of graduation.
My work is still busy busy.  Working in accounting I really can't tell you much about my job, but I can say that this month I will have the highest number of invoices entered in the history of this company EVER. And this record breaking month is from the new record I made in December. Good thing I'm a rock star so I can keep up with this workload, eh?  I talked to my boss about our upcoming plans for the fall and gave her a tentative last day of September 5th.  Who gives a 4 months notice like that?! I know, I'm crazy. But they can take a while to hire someone new and I want a month (at least) to train.  I told her I want to stay until then so they can't get rid of me sooner even if they find my replacement.  She agrees. She really loves me doesn't want us to leave. I love that she looks for job openings for us here so we can stay.
I've also been trying to think about what I want to do after Dustin's graduation.  Our entire marriage has been getting Dustin through school.  If we start our own practice I will definitely be a big part of running the office. If he joins as an associate then I have a lot of freedom as to what I can do.  I don't know if I want to stay in accounting forever... right now a part time job at a fabric store sounds super ideal besides the fact that it would be a retail job and a retail job sounds awful.  We'll see how things end up.

I often get asked how I'm feeling now that I'm gluten free.  It's been over a month now (about 6 weeks) and I feel just fine.  Remember that I wasn't having major digestive problems, so it's kinda hard to say exactly if there are any changes. I feel like the other symptoms I talked about earlier have decreased a little. I don't get anxiety as much, but it comes and goes. Some days are good, some days are bad.  Same with my energy level, I feel like that has gone up, but some days I'm drained (like this week's #manlessmonday where I came home from work and took a two hour nap instead of doing something productive- or anything at all really), and others I'm ready to conquer the world (like today is a good productive day).  Eating gluten free has been a pretty easy transition. The only time I've REALLY wanted to eat something with gluten was when we had lunch at Panera and they brought around FREE fresh baked baguette loaves.  Oh my, the heavenly smell of fresh baked bread! But I was strong and we gave the loaf away. I've found some really delicious recipes and enjoy what I eat.
In case you were wondering, eating gluten free does NOT mean eating Paleo or clean or healthy.  There are so many delicious gluten free things out there that are super unhealthy (cupcakes, fries, chips, etc).  Another question I get is if Dustin is gluten free as well, which he is not. When we eat food I cook (which is becoming more and more common, wahoo!) then he does, but if we're eating out, he gets regular food. And that's fine, I don't feel like he's not supportive (he's very supportive) or making me feel bad. I like what I eat. There's a lot of great GF options.
We are trying to move toward a more "clean eating" lifestyle in addition to gluten free and I am excited for those changes.  We're planning on eating less sugar, more veggies.  Less processed, more whole foods.  It will be a good switch.
For all those wondering how Portland vs. Utah with gluten free options compares, Utah has a lot of great things going for them in the Gluten free field.  Number one is probably New Grains.  We picked up some New Grains products sold at Macey's and I am in love.  The English muffins, pizza dough mix, and crepe mix are all amazing.  The texture is amazing, the taste is amazing. All around delicious! Sweet Tooth Fairie's GF cupcakes were not magical but her sugar cookies are! Costa Vida is basically all GF and were very accommodating to even avoid cross contamination (something I don't worry about a LOT, but do a little).  Utah has In'N'Out.  Utah has Dickey's.  As much as Portland is "forward thinking" in their dietary needs service, Utah has a lot of good things going on and I feel like they're pretty equal. Though if it came to straight up gluten free bakeries, Portland would win.  Which is maybe why I should start my own gluten free bakery in Utah. ;)

So that's life for us in a nut shell. Still busy, still GF, and still hanging in there through the good times and the bad.

March 2014 Date of the Month and Anniversary Weekend

Dustin's first official date of the month planned on his own!

Brianne,

Off with the "training" wheels! Our marriage is on the right "track".

Love,

Dustin

March's date of the month took us to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center for a train ride down to the Sellwood area.

All Aboard!

Views of the Willamette River

It was a beautiful day and it was nice to see so many families biking or walking along the trail.  They all liked to wave as the train went by.

Dustin wanted a picture with the big train wheel.  It was really big.

After the Railroad, we picked up gluten free cupcakes as anniversary treats from New Cascadia Traditional Bakery.  They were delish!

The next part of our date wasn't really train related, but we wanted to visit Multnomah Falls and have dinner at the Lodge for our anniversary.

 We hiked up to the bridge and had to stop because the bridge had a huge chunk missing.  A rock fell or something due to the snowmaggedon.  Crazy!

Happy 5 year anniversary!

The date ended at home watching the movie Unstoppable.  What a great train movie!
I can't believe how fast the past 5 years has gone by.  I'm so lucky to be married to such a wonderful man that is so kind, smart, and loving.  I'm looking forward to this next year of marriage and the new stage of life we'll move into with graduation coming up.

Giving it up

Today on facebook I posted a question asking for advice, tips, tricks, and favorite recipes for going gluten free.  While I received mostly helpful comments, I received a few "why are you doing this?" responses. Don't worry if you were one of them who said it in your mind or out-loud on facebook, my own mother was one of them (i love you mom!).  But to be honest, it shouldn't matter to you why I'm doing it, unless you're looking at going gluten free too and are also looking for good suggestions. 
Up until last week I have been the kind of person who says "I will NEVER go gluten free unless medically needed!" or "I'm on a gluten ONLY diet" (which definitely has never been true, but I have jokingly made that comment).  Well, after researching gluten intolerance, I have found enough evidence that has given me a change of heart and a desire to give it a go.
After a personal message from a friend who shared her experience with clean eating after experiencing infertility, I sent her a response and figured I could share it here too for any who feel they need an explanation for my personal health choices.  So here ya go:
I am going gluten free for a couple different reasons. I ran into a friend the other day who has hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's to be exact) and infertility, and is now happy-healthy-baby pregnant.  I asked her how they found success and she shared her story with me about going gluten free. The only change they made after multiple failed IUI's and a previous miscarriage was their diet.  Gluten can have a strong connection with hypothyroidism, and she is now off her meds. You can read a brief article on the connection here.  She knows that I also have hypothyroidism and infertility, and recommended that I look into it as well.
So of course I started researching everything about going gluten free, and I noticed that I have a lot of the symptoms associated with a gluten intolerance: Itchy, scratchy rash, Foggy Brain and trouble focusing, Depression, Anxiety, and Irritability, slight dysfunctional digestion (I get random episodes of burps after eating- yep, TMI, but hey, you asked why I'm doing this!), and of course, unexplained infertility and miscarriages.  Go ahead and google "gluten free and infertility" and you will find many articles that address this issue. 
While I'm not sure my symptoms are necessarily from gluten, I figured I could try it for 6 months (that's what my friend recommended as was recommended to her) and see how I feel. The only way to know if you have a gluten intolerance is to cut it out 100%. We aren't trying any other fertility treatments right now and if this does happen to work, it will be a whole lot cheaper than seeing a specialist again.  If it can work to treat hypothyroidism, that will also save the expense of medication and doctor appointments to retest every six months.
The more I look into eating gluten free, the easier I see it becoming. Knowing that corn, potatoes, and quinoa are okay (I've been clueless about what all gluten is in, I always hear how it's in everything), it makes it easy for me to give up pastas and breads. The things I'm worried about the most are baked goods. I have a huge sweet tooth.  I know that a "no sugar diet" would also help with any systemic inflammation, but I'm not ready to give up sugar.  I've already tried out a gluten free peanut butter cookie from Our Best Bites here and I loved it.  I hope to be able to ease out sugar gradually though as we start eating cleaner. 
I have no idea if eating gluten free will help my infertility--that's one of the big problems with unexplained infertility AND miscarriages, we have no idea what's causing them-- but I think it's a worth a shot.  Don't you?