Winter Wonderland!

Sandy requested a picture of our winter snowstorm! This is not a great picture–this is our parking lot at work–but we have gotten at least 9 inches of snow, with several more predicted throughout the day today.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!!

Our Europe Adventure

I was reminded last weekend that not all of my blog readers are Facebook friends–so I need to blog more for them!

As many of you know, two weeks ago Jason and I returned from a two week dream vacation in Europe. We flew from Denver to London and visited London, Paris, Vienna (with a side trip to Salzburg), the Cinque Terre on the Italian coast and ended our trip in Rome. It was an amazing, incredible two weeks!

Coming back has been extremely hard for me. This week was much better, but last week was a huge struggle. I love the European culture and would love the opportunity to live there. That, couple with horrid jet lag and dissatisfaction at work made for a very sad Leah. I am doing much better but would still love the chance to live in Europe!

Here are some of my favorite pictures! I will attempt to do a post on each of the places we visited.

Stonehenge

Eiffel Tower

In the mountains of Austria

Cinque Terre

and Rome

It really was the trip of a lifetime, and I have so many incredible memories that I will carry in my heart always. I am ready for the next trip!! If only I could get paid to travel for a living…

Scope

Well, I had my scope last Thursday. First I have to say, conscious sedation is the weirdest thing! I have had it several times in the past, but it is still so strange!

The scope didn’t show anything other than a small hiatal hernia (which may be the cause of the reflux), and the doctor did a few biopsies (several on my esophagus and several in my small intestine to rule out celiac disease). Both of those came back negative.

So now what? I know this is crazy, but I was really hoping the scope or biopsies would show something that could be easily fixed. I know, I should be thankful that nothing majorly serious is wrong. And I am. But I am also disappointed. So now the search for more answers. The next step is to visit an allergy doctor to rule out food allergies. I may just have to learn to live with acid reflux! Which I know a ton of people do, so I can do it to. I would just rather not!

Struggles and Lessons

I think most of you are also my FB friends, so you have heard much of this there. For the last several months I have been struggling with some GI issues. My doctor thought it was acid reflux and started me on an acid reflux medication. It helped some but not completely, and I had a lot of nausea which was interfering with the things I wanted to do, so I cold turkey stopped taking it about 1 month ago. Bad idea. Apparently there is something called acid rebound that occurs (in some people) when you stop taking acid reflux medications. Your stomach produces large amounts of acid, even more than before you went on the medication, and you have horrid, horrid acid reflux symptoms. The first few days off the medication were a nightmare–I had constant burning, and eating only made it worse. On top of that, I also had horrible anxiety. After about a week, Jason went out of town for 5 days, and I thought I might lose my mind.

Thankfully, things have gotten much, much better. I still have some GI issues and am having a scope next week so they can get an idea of what’s going on in my belly, but things have improved dramatically. And I have learned so much through the process. What are some of the lessons I have learned:

1. God is good. I don’t know how I would have made it through this trial without my faith.

2. My family is amazing! My mom was so wonderful throughout the whole ordeal. She called and texted me multiple times a day, especially while Jason was gone, to check and see how I was doing. It meant the world to me!

3. I need people! I have always prided myself on being an independent person, but I don’t know how I would have made it through without so much support from others. It was amazing! And I am thankful for FB–it really helped me throughout my struggles.

4. I need to be more compassionate.

I have a new admiration for people with chronic illnesses–I am a terrible sick person, and I cannot imagine feeling so badly every day for a long time.

I know good things will come from this, and I pray that the lessons I have learned will stick with me. It is easy to get complacent and forget the hard times, but those hard times make us better people (even though they are awfully hard when we are in the midst of them).

Weekend in the UP!

I spent a wonderful holiday weekend with my sister in MI! Last summer, she moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michingan, right off Lake Superior. This was my first time to visit her there, and IT WAS AWESOME!! The summers there are beautiful, the lake is AMAZING!, the beach is wonderful and the town is so cool! It was a wonderful weekend and hard to come back!!

Seattle!

Just spent Memorial Day weekend in Seattle and had a wonderful time! We were really blessed with beautiful weather–it was even sunny and warm on Saturday, and really no rain at all during our time there!! I haven’t downloaded the pictures off my camera, but here are a few from my phone!

We bought a Copper River salmon at Pike Place Market–the place where they throw the fish! It was great fun!!

I LOVE Pike Place Market!! It is my favorite part of Seattle!

Space Needle–quintessential Seattle Landmark!

Saturday morning we took a walk around Jason’s neighborhood. It was a beautiful day!

I LOVE all the lush greenery! We have nothing like this in Colorado!

We spent Saturday afternoon at Alki Beach in West Seattle. It was an amazingly beautiful day!!

 

 

The Royal Wedding Sermon

Why yes, I am still thinking about the royal wedding! I am slightly less obsessed than I was last Friday but still think about it from time to time.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding was the sermon–the words were amazingly beautiful! I plan on posting some of my favorite portions (they have the full sermon text online!).

One of my favorite quotes was right at the beginning: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” Love it!!

The Royal Wedding

Okay, I admit it–I am obsessed with the royal wedding! Funny, I wasn’t even planning on watching it until a couple days ago, but I am so glad I did!! Coverage started here at 2am (WAY too early for this girl!) but the actual wedding started about 4am our time, so I got up about 3:30am. It was way too early for the breakfast scones I purchased, but I made myself a cup of English breakfast tea and settled in! Jason said he was going to get up and watch, but when the alarm went off, he rolled over and went back to sleep. The pugs and I watched from about 3:45-6:30, and it was so much fun!! It was so amazing to watch history  unfold with the rest of the world. I even got teary several times! My friend Ebeth was watching also, so we texted back and forth as we were watching. I ate my raspberry scone from Whole Foods (YUM!) after the wedding ceremony while waiting for the kiss!

The wedding was so amazingly beautiful, Kate’s dress was gorgeous and the words of the sermon were incredible. William and Kate seemed so genuine, and the ceremony was so “them.” They  looked so happy and so in love! I am so glad I got up for it–it was worth the early morning wake up call and something I will remember for a long time!!

Happy Easter! (a little late)

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!! We sure did. We attended a wonderful Good Friday service on Friday, saw an amazing Easter musical on the life of Jesus on Saturday, and had a cookout, colored eggs and attended church with friends on Sunday. We also had a lot of R & R, as we are both struggling to get over a nasty cold we have. It was a wonderful weekend!!

I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and the hope, forgiveness and peace I have through knowing him! Have a blessed week!