Answers

So something that has made me really happy lately is having a patch test from my allergist!  It doesn't sound fun right?  Its not.  In fact I waited a year to do it because it takes several days and you can't shower or workout.  But I am so glad to finally get some answers and know which products to avoid so that my skin feels better.

I found out that I have a contact allergy to a bunch of things but the worst was a very common ingredient in basically most things with a fragrance, and a preservative in my dish soap, laundry soap and sunscreen.  So I have to switch my lotion, lip balm, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, dish soap, sunscreen, laundry detergent, and even my countertop spray.  Dang.

I've always liked Just Ingredients and I am very interested in her food posts.  But I really like my personal care products and didn't want to switch.  Especially the laundry soap.  But now knowing that it really is reacting with my skin it makes no sense to not find a cleaner brand.  I'm going to try doTERRA's first of course.  Unfortunately one of the compounds I react to is in a lot of oils.  Its also in all the bushes in my backyard.  So that might explain my allergies in my yard when I pick my raspberries, etc I usually brush up with these plants.

Anyway, I also got bloodwork done and found some other deficiencies and things that I can easily improve on and hopefully I will start feeling more energy.  I've really been loving the Huberman Podcast lately.  I've been learning about ADHD, red light therapy, hot and cold therapy, supplements, it is motivating me to get more sleep, vitamin D, eat well, and exercise.  It has some really interesting subjects and he shares data and research for each.

I set some reminders in my phone and I don't clear them unless I get my supplements.  Fish oil, doterra's LLV, Vitamin D, etc.

Another fun thing I did was using my 23 and Me DNA info I copied and pasted to generate a 58 page report at Found my Fitness that explained in depth many of these genes.  It was so interesting!  We all have so many different genes and I'm not surprised to have predisposition to certain diseases that my grandparents died from.  It was very motivating though to see what I can do to counteract some of these predispositions. 

Anyway, last week, Jared and I did a cold plunge in our pool.  The heater is broken right now so good timing!  And it was really refreshing and we both felt really good.  It feels so good to get some answers and direction to how best to improve my health!

Spring "Break" in Newport

 Our family is still not ready to face family vacations without the older girls.  BYU doesn't get spring break.  And the kids didn't know if they would be able to miss class for Spring Break when we were planning it out. 

So we decided to go close so they could meet up with us if they wanted. 

Monet ran at the West Coast Relays in Fresno so Jared and I went down early to watch her run.  We stayed overnight at the Venetian in Vegas.  Jared found a huge room for a great price and it was pretty cute to see how excited he was about this enormous room.  We didn't hardly leave the room!  Just slept.  We got room service and we went out to a nice dinner as well.

Monet did so well at the West Coast Relays!  She got a 17:21 5K!  So awesome.  I am super proud of her.  She was so happy.  

Newport was beautiful!  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  We had a couple cool days.  One was on Sunday and we watched conference.  And then the next it was nice to go to Nana and Papas where it was a little warmer and we could lay out by the pool.  And then we watched the NCAA finals with some of Jareds brothers and cousins.  We have such awesome family.  Love seeing everyone.  We also got to go to Cora's track meet and see the cousins!  So fun!

Then we had just incredible weather for the rest of the trip!  A few of Miles's friends showed up.  Apparently their plan was to sleep on the beach or wherever.  But I'm pretty sure that Miles's plan was for them to show up and sleep at our place.  So that is exactly where they ended up.  They are great boys though and honestly was so fun to see them all.  Miles and his three friends went to Venice Beach and played basketball there and then to a Clipper game that night.  I thought that was pretty fun!

Jared used to like to play basketball at the 38th street beach park and would always meet some pretty good players there.  This time our place was just a couple blocks away and we all went over and played for a little while one morning.  

Soren was not amused and really wanted to go to the beach instead

We rented a Duffy boat one day and cruised around the harbor.  The kids loved feeding the seagulls Ritz and pretty soon they swarmed our boat!  It was funny they loved it.  The seagulls would snatch the crackers from their hands.  

A few days later one of Simone's friends invited us to come on a boat ride in the ocean.  It was so peaceful and beautiful!  All my favorite days are on the water.

The girls are trying to convince Jared to go to their Yoga class.  As you can see, he needs it!  This is as far as his legs can stretch.  haha.

It was 90 degrees one day!  Crazy hot for this time of year.  It was nice to swim in the ocean and have it feel so nice and warm outside though!

All the kids were really happy to be able to meet up with their friends from home!  It was a really fun time and it was so nice to all be together for Spring Break.  Although it was super busy.  I learned that I need to do less next vacation.   I got a little too optimistic with my time.  

Double Digits for Soren!

 So many birthday posts lately!

Soren is double digits!  Its a milestone.  He is still the sweetest little guy ever.

We finally got to have a real birthday party for him.  I think it has been a lot of years since he had one, and when he had that first one it was way low key.

So this time we invited his whole class to the trampoline park.  He loved it and was so excited.  Every year, he has a hard time sleeping before his birthday.  He was even more excited this year because he had a field trip the day before, then we went to a movie with the family that evening, then the next day was his birthday and he got to celebrate with his class.  And then it was Easter the next day.  

So it was really awesome this year.  

He had Battle of the Books and is loving reading now.  He just read Fablehaven and it captured his attention right from the beginning and he's excited to read the other ones.

He really loves playing with girls still.  He has so many sisters, it just feels comfortable!  I hope that sticks.  Lots of my girls had friends that were boys and by junior high they could hardly talk to each other.

But it was cute cause one of the moms told me that she asked her daughter who the nicest and most respectful boy in the class was, and she said it was Soren.  Aww.  Makes me proud that he is so nice.

Soren loves pretzels.  So this year we learned how to make homemade ones.  He also learned how to make German Pancakes.  They are his favorite and so easy to make.  He loves breakfast burritos too.

A little update on the sports front.  He had his first goal a few weeks ago!  On his birthday he had a game.  And he's a defender in lacrosse.  But the restraining line confuses him a bit.  Even if you are a defender, you can cross the restraining line if one of your teammates stays back.  He would never try though to cross it.  He would just pass it out.  Which is also good.  But sometimes if you have a fast break, you just need to take that ball to the net.  So this time he finally went for it!  And he scored his first goal and was so excited.  

He's really fast, and he's been getting lots of ground balls.  So his coach put him on attack a few times.  And that is always fun to get to try out a new position.

He scored another goal and got the draw.  I don't even know if its called a draw in boys lacrosse?  Today I was laughing because he told me that one of his teammates was hitting him in the legs in practice on purpose.  And I said, Soren I think that is allowed!  You are just going to have to hit him back.  Sports are weird!

Anyway, we are making a VIP poster for school and he wants to make sure he has pictures of skiing, and lacrosse, and basketball and surfing on there.  Apparently he's starting to notice what is "cool."

I have to say our family dynamic is really changing!  Soren used to be the cute little baby of the family.  Our little mascot.  And now he's big.  So we have to shift our thinking.  The big kids find some of the noises, etc that he makes "annoying" and they have forgotten what is age appropriate for kids.  So that's kinda sad.  They too made weird noises at that age.  We need to revisit our old home videos and help them remember.  haha.  

Jared and I have been looking for a new bike for Soren for his birthday.  Soren and Jared went out shopping and found a really good deal on a cool fat tire mountain bike and Soren is so excited about it.