St. George Spring 2011

Katie loves the sand dunes at Snow Canyon

We were taking ourselves way too serious. We needed a vacation. We needed sunshine. And, Sophie needed to finish a report on Millard county. On a whim, we loaded the kids into the van and drove to a little piece of paradise called St. George, with stops in Millard county along the way.

St. George has always been a place we've passed through on our way to California rather than a destination. But, now that I've experienced it, I can't wait to go back.

We had already visited U-Dig outside of Delta to mine for trilobite fossils on our way to Panguitch, where Brian completed his first century bike ride last summer. Notes on that excursion: It was a lot further away (I think it was an hour or more each way off the beaten path) than I was expecting. But, the dirt road with roller coaster hills proved to be almost as much fun for the kids as the dig itself. After we'd ventured out to the middle of nowhere -- we found out it was going to be approximately $70 to dig for fossils! But, after we got the Utah locals discount and they threw in a few of our kids for free, I think the total was about $40. Still, I was thinking - Wow! $40 to dig through rocks! But, in the end we walked away with some pretty sweet fossils and the kids still talk about how cool it was. Totally worth it.

Other sites we visited in Millard to enhance Sophie's report were Cove Fort (another excursion I highly recommend). The fort is completely restored and interesting to tour (it took about 60 minutes). It use to be an inn of sorts for pioneers making the 2-day journey between Beaver and Fillmore. We also stopped by the historic state house in Fillmore. This was the only one of five phases to be completed on what was going to be the capitol building when Fillmore was briefly declared the capitol of Utah in the 1800s. See how interesting Millard is? I bet you didn't know. I didn't know.

Still, it wasn't interesting enough to be our vacation destination. So, we drove a few more hours to St. George.

We arrived late Friday at the Lexington, which, by the way, has an outstanding heated indoor/outdoor pool that I highly recommend. It also has a pretty amazing breakfast buffet.

In the morning, after feasting like kings, we took a dip. It was so wonderful and the kids were having such a great time, that we didn't stop swimming for four hours. Then, we drove to Snow Canyon (just a few minutes outside of town). It was perfect for our family! I felt like I was in paradise.

First we took an easy "hike," actually a 10 minute walk, to a little slot canyon where we took some pictures.

Ian posing in a window in the slot canyon

Then we crossed the street to huge sand dunes with an abundance of the most beautiful, soft, red sand. I liked it as much as I like visiting the ocean. And I LOVE visiting the ocean.

The kids were having too much fun to pose for a picture

The kids dug holes, built sand castles, buried each other, and had a crazy good time for hours while I lay in the pillowy sand soaking in beautiful rays. The weather was perfect in the low 70's. I think I want to go to St. George every spring . . .Brian's artwork in the sand

Saturday night, we met up with my awesome friend Malea who is fortunate enough to actually live in this paradise. We had Mexican food with her beautiful family (she is the mother of FOUR adorable boys!) and headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool.

On Sunday, Matt and Malea graciously invited our whole gang to their home for a delicious brunch and we crashed their sacrament meeting before loading back in the van to come home.

Malea -- let's do it again soon girl! I miss you.
Christina -- we're coming to Hawaii to see your paradise next time!

On this trip, I discovered that Malea is on a gluten-free diet to remedy some health problems.

I too am on a gluten-free diet to remedy some health problems. Here is my story:

From the time I was expecting Isaac (he'll turn 6 in August), I started feeling pretty tired. Even though the intense nausea passed when he was born, I continued to feel rundown and zapped of energy. The doctor tested my thyroid and said everything was normal. She told me I was tired because I was a mom. But, dang! I wasn't just tired the way moms are tired. There was something amiss, but, I didn't know what was wrong.

The problem intensified after I had a miscarriage in May of 2008. When I was expecting Katie, I suffered from migraines and I did notice a curious connection between eating breads and becoming very sleepy right afterward (I never considered that it might be a permanent or serious aversion to wheat).

After Katie was born, my exhaustion was almost more than I could handle. But, again, western medicine did nothing to help me. At the advice of a friend, I visited a lady who practices holistic medicine. She told me to stop eating gluten, dairy and sugar for 30-days and come back.

I went off the gluten and dairy, and cut back on sugar (come on people, I am human). I immediately felt a change. I lost 5 pounds of water weight overnight, my energy increased and I felt like a thick brain fog had lifted and I could think clearly again.

After 30-days, she told me to stay off gluten, dairy and sugar permanently.

It was news I could not take. I could never be one of those people, I thought. I owned a wheat grinder. I baked my own bread. I baked the best chocolate chip cookies in town. I made homemade pizzas and sweet rolls. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't eat wheat in some form.

At first, I ignored the advice and went back to eating whatever I wanted. But, after 2 weeks, I was feeling so lousy, I knew something had to change. I decided to eliminate gluten because it seemed to be affecting me the worst. I mostly cut it out, but for several months, I would still allow myself some baked goods one day each week. The day after these splurges, I suffered. I continued to indulge, but, the longer I was off gluten, the more sensitive I became until it finally made me so sick that it wasn't worth it. 14-months later, I am 100% gluten-free (and, I have been for about 9-months). I never eat it unless by accident (or in a very rare moment of weakness when I take a tiny nibble just to try something).

It was a big sacrifice at first and I had to keep lots of gluten-free substitutions on hand to keep from feeling too deprived. Now, it's surprisingly not that big of a deal. And, my energy has increased 10-fold. It has changed my life completely.

For the past few months, I've been going off dairy. I'm 90% there (I miss you cheese).

Someday I will conquer sugar.

Have you made a dietary change that has transformed your life?

Gluten-free Bakery

I just finished writing a story about the Sweet Cake Bake Shop in Kaysville. I was very touched by the owner, Ali's, story. When she was in her twenties, finishing up her studies at Berkeley, and trying to raise two babies born 18-months apart, she was also fighting for her life. Her health was deteriorating and the doctors did not know why? She became so anemic that she needed regular blood transfusions. She developed type I diabetes and Crohn's disease.

She was sick. Her get up and go was gone. Sometimes she temporarily lost her eyesight leaving her in a sea of darkness. She was overcome with exhaustion and the doctors had scheduled a surgery to remove her intestines.

A few weeks before the surgery, a new drug was developed. It costs $2,000/month and she said she is lucky her husband has a good job and they can afford it. It is expensive, but, it spared her from a horrible operation with lifelong consequences.

Around that same time, she read an article about celiac disease and requested lab tests since her symptoms matched. The tests were positive. At last, she could understand what was wreaking so much havoc on her body.

And, then, an interesting thing happened. After the initial relief of having a diagnosis came depression. Ali had always loved baking and now she didn't know what to make. She missed being in the kitchen with her children. She missed taking part in social gatherings and holiday meals. She felt isolated at parties and Thanksgiving dinner. As she put it, "All the familiar foods in my life were gone."

She missed pasta and pizza and bread. Most of all, she missed chocolate cake.

Being the bright Berkeley graduate she is, Ali pulled herself out of the cloud of sadness that had encircled her for a little over a year since the diagnosis and went to work. She first experimented in the kitchen with all of the flours and recommended substitutions that were available. When none of those were satisfactory, she decided to invent her own flour. She had already tried the store bought gluten free breads and cookies and found them repulsive.

After hundreds of trial and error runs, she came up with the perfect mix of flours - such as almond and coconut and sorghum - that she could use to make all of her old favorites. She perfected breads and cakes and all of the cookie classics. She made shortbread and brownies and lemon crumb bars. She baked exquisite gluten-free treats. She made them so well, they tasted even better than the gluten containing counterparts. Along the way, she met others who could not eat gluten. She realized she was not alone. She baked for them. She baked so much that she opened a bakery in Kaysville. There, she met children who had long been deprived. She saw them eye the giant display case and ask hesitantly, "Is there anything here that I can eat?" Only to be told, perhaps for the first time in their memory, "Everything."

She made a grown woman shed tears over a chocolate chip cookie.

While Ali passionately relayed her journey to me (even choking up at times), I found myself reflecting on my own journey to a gluten-free life.

More to come . . .