Easter and PCOS diet

Today was Easter!

It was a fun day and we enjoyed letting the boys hunt for their baskets and candy... Oh wait! We hid their baskets and they found them before we were awake! :-) And it was fun to watch them get candy but they found everything so fast it was a short hunt. We also had an Easter egg hunt at Mom Duersches with all the cousins which was also delightful and the boys enjoyed the annual Easter games (toss the jelly bean filled eggs, touch the numbered eggs to see who gets the highest without touching 0, egg bouchee, and more).

We also as a family, went up to Grandma Sanders home and did some yard spring cleaning. It was a lot of labor but with so many family members there to help, we finished in just a few hours. It's so wonderful to spend your time thinking of someone else, especially as we reflect on our Savior's gift to each of us around Easter time.

Today in church was wonderful too. Kelv and Alene both had a chance to help play the piano for the Easter program and the boys sang beautifully the special song, "Gethsemane" with the rest of the primary. Hearing the Primary sing this song was powerful and Alene had to work hard not to cry while playing. It's so important for kids to know that Jesus loves them. He loves them so much that he paid the ultimate price of feeling ALL the pains of this world, and then dying so that we have a chance at the wonderful Plan of Happiness. If the kids can remember that song, it will come to them during their hard times and give them strength. Here is a link to a YouTube video of the boys singing:

They learned this song from Alene's mom back in 2013 and then Alene taught it to the Primary Chorister in our current ward. She loved it, shared it the Primary President and the Bishop. They loved it and we sang it for Easter! 

We also cooked our first Easter Ham at home and learned that you need to really be careful of cooking the Ham long enough for the weight of the Ham. Alene read the label wrong and thought the Ham was 2.6 lbs but that was actually the price/weight. The Ham was actually closer to 6 lbs. Needless to say, dinner was a little later than we originally planned but delicious!

Both boys are doing great in tumbling and it's fun to watch their confidence grow. Camden had two soccer games this week and he is getting better and better! His team won both games and Camden even blocked a few goals from the other team. And on Saturday he even scored 2 of the 5 goals for his team! Kelv is learning to coach better and better as well and the kids really like him. It's fun to watch!

Alene, had a bit of a rougher week as she begins to realize just how life changing PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) is. Despite watching what she eats and rigorous exercise she is still slowing putting on weight. It's extremely frustrating for her. So we decided to research what others have done, and found that many others have had success losing weight when they eat "whole foods" and don't eat Dairy or Gluten. We've never been super organic loving people, but we decided to give it a try, and bought Alene lots of Gluten Free, Dairy alternatives, varied Proteins, Veggies, and Fruits. She's working at adjusting. It's not been super easy at all, (especially with all the Easter candy laying around), but we're going to keep trying. We're focusing mostly on Alene eating all meals and snacks super organic and healthy for now, but hopefully this with help the whole family eat a bit healthier too! 

Lastly we wanted to share a cute picture Camden colored for himself. 

You can see it says, "Camden Repents" and "CTR". Camden colored this during conference to show how he repented after making two mistakes and Chose The Right. He drew M&Ms spilling all over the bathroom and into the sink, how that made him sad, but he cleaned them up into the garbage. Then drew a picture of how he knocked down the art center and how he CTR by cleaning it up and how Daddy helped him too!

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

Yesterday was a day of hard labor. We built some garden boxes, took out some grass where they'll go, lined the boxes with some black plant tarp, dug holes for 3 rose bushes, dug out and transported the 3   bushes, and cut away even more grass in prep for the shed base. That was a lot of digging. I am very sore. The rest of the fam helped along the way, including Alene assembling an outdoor "wicker" storage chest, the boys digging around, collecting rocks, and in general being super excited to get to plant plants (Camden could really not contain himself).

We survived the long day and are crossing our fingers the rose bushes will survive. Also, hoping the sod transplantation takes as well. 

The primary and the boys are prepping for singing in church next Sunday. They'll sing Gethsemane - Camden (and Xan)'s all time favorite song. It'll be really neat because it is such a powerful song and so many church members (w/o kids) have not heard it I'm sure.

The boys (and Alene) went to the jumping place with Marianne and her boys. Camden as usual had a great time, but Xan surprised us and was all of the sudden more confident in the things he did. Who knows, maybe the tumbling we've been taking him to has paid of.

Oh and I went to San Francisco Wednesday morning and came back Thursday night. The "Bandido" team, or the "Sharing" team has pretty fully disbanded at this point. Many having been from the 1000memories acquisition and most having left Ancestry.com entirely. The one guy left to show us the territory was named Partha. He was very nice and it was a worth while trip. Got to meet our PM Rachel Rosnkratz. Overall, good trip. Alene survived alright - definitely wouldn't want me doing that more than once or twice 

Conference Sunday!

Conference Sunday! Strawberry Waffles! It's a fun tradition, now made better with a legit rotating waffle iron and a "True Belgian Waffle" recipe. With a ratio of 1 cup butter to 2 cups flour, they turned out crispy and delicious! :-D

Yesterday the boys did really well with paying attention during conference. Using the fantastic conference center board Alene made last conference, we get them a treat each new topic they heard (there's like 60 to choose from).

Alene got back from her trip late Monday night. She let me keep my facial hair for one more day since it was my Birthday on Tuesday.

A 5 day growth is about the tops I've ever done. Alene still is not a fan of it. I think it'd be kind of fun to change it up, and especially nice not to have to shave my entire face each day. But for now, I'll be happy with what I got.

Tuesday - my b-day - was good. I got many fun gifts and got to have a nice evening with my boys and then Alene (all to myself - no etsy). We ate some deep dish pizza and yummy strawberry cake. My work day that day and the next couple days was filled with new-hire onboarding/training at work which was good but made each day feel quite packed/busy. Sadly, I missed the last part of it, going to Ancestry.com's datacenter, because Camden had a soccer game I need to be on time to.

Coaching has been going well. I definitely have a bunch of newbies to soccer. I should probably pick an assistant to help with practice times. I got one dad to help during the last practice and it went a lot better.

During both practice and the game though I feel like things go well and I'm accomplishing what I believe to be my purpose as coach at this point: being positive, encouraging and, as much as makes sense, instructive. I learned their names easily the first day and use each one probably 50 times each game/practice. Any time there's a throw in or goal kick or stop in the game - to get their attention and focus back and then position them properly, I need to name each one of them out, or I'm bound to have one or all of them wandering off in la-la land. In other words saying "ok guys! Come [something]" or "ok team! [something]" etc. just does not work at all. It's pretty fun. Not really my first choice for how I'd like to enjoy the game. I'd rather be lazy and sit and watch. But, nonetheless, it is rewarding and fun, so I do it happily.

I mowed the lawn for the first time this season. We've got a lot of outdoor projects to do over the next month or so. I need to dig out a place to install a shed floor/base, fill with gravel, and then assemble a shed on top of it. We're going to transfer a few rose bushes to somewhere in our yard - need to figure that one out. We're also going to build and plant a couple of garden boxes. Oh, and once the shed is done, I'll need to re arrange the garage and attempt to fit things cleanly between the shed and garage such that we can fit both cars inside. That's my goal anyway.

Oh, and have I mentioned that we have a second car? So, I've got to make sure I'm very clear about how appreciative of Alene's parents to offer the car to us in the way they are. But, that said (and truly felt/meant), the Jeep Grand Cheroke is at pretty much the bottom of the list as far as desirable cars go in my book. It's gas mileage is abhor-able, and I feel like a fraud driving in a nice vehicle like that. It definitely fits the criteria of being able to handle the snow for when I shouldn't be riding my bike. But, first of all, winter is a whole spring, summer and fall away, and there are other options out there that get decent gas mileage and are good in the snow. So, a bit sad. Again, though, Alene's parents have done something very nice for us. It's a limited edition and has tons of nifty features. It is in great condition both visual and performance. They "gifted" it to us to avoid the sales taxes and the price and financing are a steal. It was too good a deal to refuse. And too good for me to not be happy with in the end. So, yes, trying to be as happy as I can.

Happy Birthday Kelv!!!

Well, after finally making it home from Pennsylvania I was so happy to see the boys. I missed them so much! The next couple days were absolutely filled with catching up on Etsy orders, spending time with the Segos who came to visit, and most of all, celebrating Kelv's b-day! Being a Tuesday it was a busy day with Preschool and Tumbling already on the schedule but we were able to make a fun sign, strawberry cake, and an overall fun day with Kelv!!

We especially loved playing our new game, 7 wonders and Kelv totally beat me which is good since it was his birthday. :-D

We also went to the Fertility Clinic on Wednesday and found out that I do have a well managed, case of Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). They say my symptoms aren't as apparent because of all the exercise I do which is good, but partially why they didn't expect me to have PCOS, since I don't look like most women who have it. However, there are lots of cysts built up in my ovaries. The eggs my body releases just aren't growing with the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), and they just hang out in my ovaries, taking up space and messing up my hormones! This can account for the 4 miscarriages I've have over the last year and half, as well as how I can't seem to get pregnant without medication. My body has also become more insulin resistant making it quite difficult to lose weight. However, with my shop breaks coming up, we're hoping I can manage my life a little better and work on getting myself to a bit better state.

 Camden and Xan are both so good at math too. Camden started adding much larger numbers this week, and even is starting to learn how to carry over when doing addition! We can't believe how well he understands the concept at the age of 5. The best part is the joy he expresses with each discovery when he solves a problem. He was ecstatic when one of the answers was over 100 for the first time. Jumping around and thanking us for "letting him learn!"

Etsy Palooza!

Alene's been keeping up with a packed etsy schedule (1-2 orders and evening and a large wedding order to fill in the cracks).

I got slime in my tubes and haven't needed to fix a flat in over a week :-D.

Alene is looking forward to her trip out to Washington DC where she and her mom are going to surprise Ruth and attend her "Savior of the World" performance she is volunteer. She'll fly out Thursday and spend some time with Bret and his family and exploring nearbysssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssdddddddddm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd


Sorry. I fell asleep and didn't finish this...