"a colostomy waste of time?"

I thought it was a clever pun, but I have to give proper credit to my neighbor Jonathan for coming up with it. No I do not have to wear a colostomy bag-its just a joke.

So, I thought I would give a quick update about my health. So far I have been trying very hard to get better. People keep asking me if I am feeling any better, but the answer is a little complicated. I do still have all my symptoms, but I don't want to say "oh, no I still feel terrible all the time." The truth is that I don't feel terrible all the time. I rarely feel terrible. Yes, I have tummy issues, but I'm pretty used to it. Its been this way for a year and a half. I don't feel all crampy and twisty and sick inside like I have in the past, so that's good. The answer to the question is I am getting better at being gluten free. I try really really hard. I am very careful, but its not an overnight process to suddenly know every food and every scientific term for all the things I can't eat. I'm still not perfect at it. I got my blood test results today saying that I still have gluten somewhere in my diet. The hard part is finding it. Also, the hard part is coming to terms with not eating it. That was a joke by the way.

I had a colonoscopy on Wed-that was a real treat. Actually having the procedure was totally fine. If there is one thing I love its to be put to sleep in 10 seconds and then to be loopy when I wake up-followed by another coma-like sleep for 4 hours. Wednesday was great, I actually looked forward to Wednesday. Tuesday...was crappy. Very very crappy. For those of you who have experienced this-I am sorry. To say that its miserable is an understatement. I had to drink more than a gallon of laxative. Except that I gave up halfway through my gallon. I figured it was okay because , honestly, going to the potty is not my problem. That gallon jug is designed to clean out 90-year-old constipated men. I didn't need it all. Plus I realized that I was going to kill myself if I had to finish. I'm sorry to disappoint you Peggy-I tried. The Doctor didn't seem to notice and technically nobody asked my if I actually drank it all so I didn't have to lie-technically.

After all is said and done, the results are good. I don't have crohns disease or intestinal cancer. I do have microscopic colitis, which I really freaked out about at first. I had no idea what it was. Secretly I hoped that it meant that I didn't have celiacs, but it turns out it just means that my insides are a little swollen and I should take some Imodium. Was it really a waste of time? Not really. Just more clues to the puzzle. Its hard to expect immetiate results and solutions to answers. Fortunately for me, i'm probably the least perceptive person alive so by the time I learn a lesson, thats about the time I realize that it was a trial that taught me-and by that time the hardest part is over. I hope. knock on wood.

Sorry to bore you all with this stuff. Some of you really care, some of you really don't. I just thought it was time to do a mass update. All in all, I'm doing better. Kinda. Mostly. I'm doing just fine. Still battling against the gluten. If you notice anything that has secret hidden gluten in it let me know. I'm trying to find it so I can get better. All the way better.

Wis Dells

That's what all the signs say as you drive toward the Wisconsin Dells. Apparently you call it Wis Dells when you are super cool and in the know. Angela had a cool title when she posted about the trip so i thought i had to think of something too.

So this weekend we took a trip up the the Wis Dells which is this city almost completely comprised of water park resorts. There are several hotel resorts in town, each with their own complete water park to go with it. Our hotel (Wilderness Resort) was one of the smaller parks and it still had 3 indoor water parks each complete with water slides and kiddie areas. We didn't get any real pictures of us playing in the water since we didn't want to get the camera all wet, but Joe did take this video of our hotel room that he was extremely impressed with. In the video you get a quick peek at the awesome outdoor water park which wasn't open since its out of season right now.

The trip was a blast! I decided almost immediately that Wisconsin Dells is going to be an annual trip for us. It was so much fun for the adults and still perfect for the boys as well. Even with the outdoor parks closed it was still awesome. We'd take turns with the Doughertys (some friends of ours that we went with) watching all the kids and going down the water slides. I absolutely loved it! It was a perfect little trip-it was cheap, fun for all the family, and close enough that we can still drive home at the end of the day.

Since i don't have any pictures of the water parks I'm going to make you look them up. Just go to www.wildernessonthelake.com and click on water parks. Make sure to look at the pictures of The Hurricane! It was seriously nuts! I thought I was going to die. I'd even seen the picture but I thought they'd turned the camera sideways to make the picture more dramatic-NOPE. We actually did that. How many times can I say that it was awesome? If you live anywhere near the area you need to plan a trip to the Dells, or contact us to see if you can tag along on our next trip.

i CANNOT figure out how to get the text next to the pictures!

from top to bottom:

1)checking out each others loot

2)the boys spotted a puppy and freaked out-they LOVE dogs

3)i love Ethan's face as he digs around for his easter eggs

4)Noah still trying to figure out this game

5)Dad taking the boys for a stroll

Fun Stuff

I wanted to post a few pics and videos of the boys just to update everyone. As many of you know, we took a trip over spring break out to Utah to visit family. It was quite the long drive but the boys did ok. They did get very bored and tired, though. These pictures aren't great because they were taken with my cell phone.

Here is a video of the boys going on their first Easter egg hunt. They had a blast. I haven't gone through the pictures that Jessica took of the hunt but We will post some of the best ones later.

SPRING!!!

Our family just got back from spending spring break in Utah visiting our family. Normally we wouldn't make the trip for such a short stay, but we hadn't seen anyone since summer, and it was a long long long winter. We all had such a great time seeing our family and letting the boys get reacquainted with their cousins. My oh my the boys had so much fun running around with all those cousins. They also had a blast running around outside, and in other people's big houses. They aren't used to such big houses-me and all my friends live in tiny apartments. I was sure that after all the running they did, my boys would have gotten that all out of their systems, but the moment we got home last night they just ran and ran. Joe and I decided that it was a well deserved run after having spent the last two days in the car seats. The boys actually did really well throughout our little road trip. We all had such a good time and everyone took really good care of us while we were there. Poor Joe got strep throat while we were at his parent's house, but as i said before, it is a big house and we were able to find a quiet bedroom for him to sleep while the boys played with cousins. He wouldn't have gotten that here at home. He also wouldn't have gotten his mother and sisters to take such great care of him. I still feel lucky that he got sick in Price-i guess I'm allowed to say that since i didn't have to pay for the Dr. bill (thanks mama whitehead!). Other than a sore bum from the penicillin shot, Joe is doing really well.

OK, i know that i sound like a care bear exploded in me, but i just have to say that I'm SO HAPPY ITS SPRING!!! Driving around today I just felt like mother nature was saying "hey there, i know I've been gone a long time, but I'm back now". Other drivers probably thought i was high on something bc i couldn't help but smile like an idiot as i drove along. I'm so happy!

Girls Night Out!

Every once in a while we have a night out (or in) with just the girls. Last night we met up at Target and picked our ridiculous outfits for each other and tried them all on. That's the last picture of the three. By the way, thanks ladies for indulging me. I obviously never got to play dress up with my 4 older brothers, so I just can't get enough of it even at my age. When all the outfits were discarded and we were done in the dressing rooms we decided to go back to my friend Kate's house and rocked out the Karaoke Revolution-which i also love. This is what you get when you let ME plan the girls night. Seriously, I absolutely LOVE letting go of my reservations and inhibitions and making a complete fool of myself, but its even MORE fun when other people do it with me. That's where the dress up and the crazy singing comes in.

Hope you enjoy these.

P.S. Kim, I'm really sorry we did karaoke without you-it was super last minute and we didn't actually plan on doing it until ten minutes before we did. I promise we'll do it again.

Like Father Like Son

I saw this and I just HAD to take a picture. To me this portrays so much!
-what a great dad Joe is.
-how having kids changes your life, it may not be what you expected, but it sure is great.
-These boys sure love their papa.
-men love sports their whole lives.
-sometimes the kitchen floor is the best place to bond.
-life doesn't have to be glamorous to be wonderful
-you take what you can get, when you can get it.

I love my boys-all three of them.