Boise trip

Back in October (my goodness am I far behind!) I went with my friend Stephine, to Boise to visit Becky. We had such a fun weekend-eating a lot, and just hanging out together relaxing. Becky found that there was a "Scarecrow stroll" that weekend at the Boise Botanical Gardens, so we decided to check it out. I'm so glad we did, because the plants and trees were beautiful with fall colors and the scarecrows were a fun addition! Plus there was a great view from there. 

Funky crow

 Lots of beautiful trees to see

 Steph & Becky with the sock monkey

 Plant life

 A leisurely stroll...

 Roses still blooming at the end of October!

 I loved these plants with the black leaves

 Cute scarecrow

 My cute friends!

 My bestest and I

 Yoga time...

 Fall frolicking

 Mr. Potato Head!

 Miss Lucy

 We also had one other big adventure. For a long time Becky and I have talked about getting matching tattoos. We almost did it in Mexico, then decided not to. We both thought we'd get shamrocks to mark our Irish heritage, it would be a different but cool matching tattoo and I was hoping it'd bring me some much needed luck as well! So we headed to a random tattoo parlor in Boise. Steph decided she wanted one too. She went first so she wouldn't chicken out!

Steph, looking scared to get hers!

 The outline

 She chilled as soon as he started, it wasn't nearly as bad as she'd imagined!

 Her finished product! Anna is her daughter :)

 Next it was Becky's turn. Our shamrocks were the exact same shape, but we had different artists so they are in slightly different spots and have different coloration.

Becky's turn

 All done!!

 My turn!

 All done!

 So after all that, Steph decided she wanted a SECOND one! In the same day!

 Her final product

 Becky & I!

Thanks again Becky & Steph for an awesome weekend. It was so much fun and I hope we get to do it sooner than later! xoxo!

Another health update

The week before last I went in to meet with my doctor for my first follow up appointment after being diagnosed with Hashimoto's and PCOS. I was sort of nervous to see what I'd find out, since I had been following the medication and diet she had prescribed. I hadn't even had gluten since Thanksgiving. I was expecting to see some change, but also didn't really know since I honestly didn't feel better. We ran a lot less tests this time since we had it much more narrowed down, but here is what I found out.
THYROID:
-Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) went down from 4.49 to 1.99. That's definitely good, but my doc wants it under 1, so we're getting closer.
-T3 (another thyroid aspect) went from 3.1 to 4.2. That's not so good. It should be between 2.3-4.2 so I'm too high there. We'll work on that.
-T4 stayed the same so that's good.
So I went from a half tablet of my levoxyl (thyroid meds) to a whole tablet, hoping that will lower my TSH and T3. I'm still losing a lot of hair, so I'm hoping if this improves, that my hair will stop falling out so badly.
HORMONES:
-Dihydrotestosterone went from a 13 to a 16. That is still within the expected value, so we're not too stressed about that, even though it went up a bit.
-Regular testosterone went from a 60 (which was high) to an 83 which is really high :( This was the one thing I was really hoping would have gone down. I haven't had a period since November, and that is definitely why. I think deep down I really knew this hadn't changed.
So for this we are lowering my dosage of Vitamin D, getting rid of saw palmetto and hoping that will help.

My Doc said I am the only patient she's ever had with both Hashimoto's and PCOS so I'm a bit of an anomaly and things will take a bit more tweaking than she's used to. Most of her PCOS patients are teenagers and she's able to easily tweak their hormones, but because I'm older and because I have the slow thyroid on top of it, she thinks I'm just going to take longer to get right. I had some gluten last week and noticed that I didn't feel bad at all from it. My Mom was recently diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity, so I know that I am prone to the sensitivity as well, but I think as long as I keep it to a bare minimum that it won't kill me if I have it once every couple of months, but I am going to do my best to continue eliminating it. I want my thyroid to get better and I want my rash to keep at bay, which for the most part it is doing right now.

I can't believe its 2011. 2010, even though we had a lot of great things happen--me graduating and getting a job, taking some great trips and spending lots of good time with friends and family, over all-it wasn't a great year for us. We are still mourning over my health issues and the inability to get pregnant. Christmas was pretty sad for us, as nearly all our friends have kids now, and all seemed to have such happy holidays surrounded by happy kids. I still love spending time with my friends' kids, but all of the talk of babies and kids continues to make me sad and I find myself unable to know what to do with those feelings. I realize that I turn 32 this year, and Rick turns 34 and we aren't all that young when it comes to having a baby. It may take longer than I think to right these health issues, and even then, I still may not be able to have a baby. So I am devoting this year to coming to terms with the fact that I may never have my own baby and learning to be ok with that. Rick and I are taking a nice 10-day trip to the Yucatan in April. 4 days in Cancun and 6 in the Riviera Maya, about an hour or so south of Cancun. We'll be doing lots of relaxation and exploring of Maya ruins etc. We are both really looking forward to it, because all of this has been really hard on us, and in a lot of ways we haven't dealt with all of our feelings the way that we probably should. Neither of us are entirely convinced we want to adopt, not that we're not all for adopting, but neither of us quite feel like we've fully accepted our current situation and are ready to move to that next step. Hopefully we'll get there are some point.
Thanks again for your love and concern and I'll continue to keep you posted-my next appt with be in 8 or so weeks.
Happy New Year!
-Lauren & Rick

Helicopter Ride!

For our 2nd anniversary, back in August, I got Rick a helicopter ride. We redeemed it in September, on a super beautiful day! The ride was out of Newberg, over the Willamette and wine country. We had a great time, even though there was a lot of haze on the horizon.

Our chariot

 Flying over the Willamette

 Farm country

 We got to fly down really low over the river, which we loved!

 We even landed on a tiny patch of gravel

 pumpkins for days

 corn maze

 Mt. Hood

 We saw a bald eagle and got to follow it for a bit. Pretty cool!

 Coming back around over the airport

 A plane coming in after we landed

Our helicopter ride was so fun! It was the first time either of us had been in a helicopter and I'm so glad we did it! Happy anniversary Rick (only 4+ months later haha!).

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Ours was REALLY low-key. We both worked Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas so it didn't really feel like Christmas. Rick and I decided to not exchange gifts this year and instead put our money towards vacation in March or April. So now we're trying to figure out where we want to go! We were thinking Vietnam, but now we're thinking maybe something a bit more relaxing and not as go-go-go. Well that's it from me, for now!

Timothy Lake camping trip

At the beginning of September, Rick and I went camping up at Timothy Lake with our friends Ronn and Jenn and their friend Brian (and his adorable black lab-Harley). We had gorgeous sunny weather, but it was FREEZING at night. It was the first real inkling that Fall was on its way! I think we had the best campsite there. It was huge, private and right on the lake! We woke up to dense fog. This was the view from our campsite out to the lake.

A nice peek of Mt. Hood

 Fog burning off

I love this one of the fog and the people on the dock

 

 This little guy was our resident muncher. He was so cute! I love his tiny claws!

 In his little house

 Rick relaxing and taking in the view

 Ronn hanging out

 Harley being a good dog

 Saturday afternoon several horses came down to the lake front and I went over to get some pictures. I don't have much experience with horses at all, and I had never seen a horse with blue eyes!

 Nor did I know that they have horizontal pupils! So cool!

 Wet Harley-man

 Sunday morning we visited Little Crater Lake, a sink hole with crystal clear and very cold water.

And that's it! I am kind of sad looking at these now that its December and cold! I am already excited for Spring and warm weather :) 

Things are good here. I am keeping very busy with my photography business and have three shoots coming up in the next month or so. I hired someone to build me a website so that is in the works. Its all very exciting for me! Rick and I are looking forward to getting through the holidays and planning our next vacation. We are hoping to go to Vietnam in April!

My health continues to be a focus in my life. I will go in next week for my first blood work since my diagnoses. In the last 5 weeks since I was diagnosed with PCOS and Hashimoto's, I have strictly followed my Doctor's instructions. I have been gluten free and taken all of my medications. I haven't noticed any huge differences, but I feel less hungry throughout the day, my itchy foot is much less itchy and my face is less oily. Oh and it seems like I'm not losing as much hair either, which is great. Strange, I know, but that is all I have noticed so far. I will be very interested to see what has changed with my levels once I have the blood work done, and what my Doctor has to say about everything. I believe my itchy foot was due to a skin problem called Dermatits Herpetiformis, and that is ONLY attached to Celiac Disease. My Mom is fairly certain she has Celiac and is going to get diagnosed at the end of the month, and even though I have never had any stomach issues, I think I have it too. So, it sounds like I will likely be gluten free for the rest of my life. It hasn't been as challenging as I thought. The hardest part is when I'm eating out with other people and they're eating things that smell so good that I want! I crave a big juicy hamburger at Red Robin with a big fluffy bun or a Subway sandwich. Luckily, there are great substitutes out there and lots of restaurants in town have options too. 

Christmas will be pretty low-key this year. Christmas Eve at Rick's parents with his sister and her family, and brunch Christmas morning with my family at my Aunt's. And that's it! No home Blazer game this year, which has become a tradition. So, not sure what we're going to do! It'll be nice to relax :) Well that's it for us. I'll let you know what I found out when I have my bloodwork done next week! 

xo, Lauren