Living Life Gluten Free

So after working through many years of horrible stomach problems, I had two friends and my trainer suggest that maybe I should get rid of the gluten in my diet. Low and behold......
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been gluten free for a little over two weeks. The change in my body is an amazing one. I am actually stomach problem free. It has taken a bit of getting used to. We have worked together as a family to do quite a bit of research regarding brands I can have and can't. We have modified and adapted some recipes, but so far so good. It is quite amazing at the amount of food out there. I have gotten on a celiac support discussion board to keep updated. I have also found some new blogs to follow as well as connected with several friends through facebook. The support has been incredible.

We made our first gluten free pizza last night and it was really good. I also made my first batch of gluten free brownies this weekend. Later this week or this weekend, I am hoping to get to Burnsville and Eagan to hit up two highly recommended gluten free shopping places for groceries.

So even a little wheat can't stop me....next up gluten free cake pops. Yep my baking will never end.

Sophia's First Manicure

On New Years Eve we decided it was time for the girls to get pretty. This involved Sophia and I get manicures together. She had such a wonderful time at the nail salon and all of the people thought she was just about as cute as ever. Ryan's girlfriend Carly even came with us. After we got done, Sophia was left with bubble gum pink nails with silver sparkles on top. She was a pro! When we were leaving she asked me if we could come back again. I told her maybe for her birthday. She said that next time she wanted to get a pedicure and manicure. What a girly girl.

Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours!

Merry Christmas! What a wonderful week it has been filled with family, fun, presents, and food galore!! We had such a whirlwind of a holiday. It all started on Christmas Eve.


Christmas Eve-
We went to Lino Lakes to spend time with my dad's side of the family. Sophia had a wonderful time playing with the kids and we all enjoyed several rounds of bingo. I actually won one game. It was so fun to have the family all together. I really enjoy this tradition and can't remember the last time we didn't spend Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family.


Christmas Day-
We got up early and opened presents. Then we had my grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin, and parents over for a wonderful time of appetizers, presents, and ended with a fantastic dinner. I made chicken lasagna, homemade crescents, and veggies. They stayed for most of the day and then we played games and watched a movie just the three of us.


Day After Christmas-
Yet another celebration with the Wickmans. We had them over for appetizers and then made homemade pizzas. It was delicious! They stayed to open presents and then headed home.


That brings us to yesterday (Tuesday)-
My brother is finally home from Tucson. We celebrated with the Juhl family Christmas. We did our usual appetizer dinner and presents. It was an amazing evening.

With all of the celebrating you would think that we would be tired, but we aren't! Tomorrow evening we are having yet another small Christmas with my brother's girlfriend. Then I think I can officially say we are done celebrating.

Cookies Galore

Two weekends ago my mom, Sophia, and I had a cookie baking day. It was so much fun and the work completely paid off. By the time we were done, our entire kitchen table and most of the counters were covered with cookies.

Sophia was a great helper, although her interest didn't last long. When she went for a nap, we got quite a bit more done.

The results....tons of cookies. I have been giving them as presents and put them out at one of our parties. I just adore the holidays.

Oh Santa how I love you!

Last weekend we made a trip to see Santa. I'm sure this will be the first of many. Sophia just adored him! She worked quite hard on her list and was thrilled when she heard that she could put it in his mailbox. He gave her a candy cane too, which she recently discovered she liked.

Last month completely flew by. With being in school, Sophia at gymnastics, and many events going on including a couple of weddings....we have been busy!

Here are a couple of pictures from Santa:

Halloween Recap

Halloween flew by quicker than I imagined. It started off with our annual trip out to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. It was still warm enough to be in shorts and t-shirts at this point.

After it cooled down, we carved our pumpkins and got ready for the big day. Sophia really enjoyed carving the pumpkins this year. She really wanted to hold the knife. We quickly diverted her attention to coming up with a design instead.


We did a couple of different things this year we don't normally do. We went to a pumpkin carving event at our community center (that was our third carved pumpkin), attended a Halloween celebration at Lifetime Fitness, and Sophia had her first ever party!

The girls came over for snacks, games, and crafts in their costumes. It was pretty cute!


On the actual day, we quickly trick-or-treated over by my parents house. We went to a couple of the neighbors that we know and Sophia also went to her papa and nanas.

Then we went over and had our annual pizza dinner before trick-or-treating with our neighbors the Matzas.

Then we were off! This year I stayed in and passed out candy and Hal went with Sophia. They had a fantastic time and she came back with tons of candy!!

Another wonderful Halloween! Good thing that it wasn't snowing.....
I know that November is already off to a quick start. I can hardly believe that it less than two weeks we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Time flies!

It's Pumpkin Time!

Last weekend we took advantage of the crisp fall air and went to pick out our pumpkins. We were going to head to the Stillwater Pumpkin Festival, but upon our arrival to downtown Stillwater the line was so long of cars we promptly turned around and made different plans.

Deciding that it was pretty late for us to go to the Pumpkinmania held in Mahtomedi, we opted to head to Axdahl's Farm off of Manning. This was a great choice for us. It had a little bit of everything we were looking for. We got to get out of the car and walk around a bit in both the pumpkin patch and the corn maze. The weather was so warm it was hard to believe that it was October.

After our brief walk, we headed back toward the barn to pick out pumpkins. Of course Sophia went right for the mini ones. She found one that was just her size, but after we saw the price we decided to head elsewhere to actually purchase our pumpkins.

So it was back in the car and we went to our good old pumpkin spot....this person's yard/driveway off of Jamaca in Mahtomedi. The pumpkins were perfect and we found two great ones for carving. We also saw some unusual ones too.

I am excited to get the rest of the fall things out like sweaters and comfy pajamas. Blogger isn't working right so I can't share my pictures with you right now. Hopefully soon. Until then, happy pumpkins!