The benefits of living in California

I know that I've got a lot of catching up to do with the blogging, pictures and stories about our new home and how we are getting settled, but that will have to wait for another day ... we aren't totally settled in yet and there are a million things to get done, but I just have to share this.

I was running out of soy juice boxes. In some grocery stores you can buy soy milk in juice box containers and they are great. They are non perishable and small so I can take them anywhere and never worry about what David is going to drink.

The commissary here at VAFB (Vandenberg AFB) doesn't carry soy juice boxes. So, we drove to Santa Maria today, about 30 minutes away, to go to dinner, and left a little early so that I could run inside Trader Joe's. I was sure TJ's would have them. Nope. They have Banana Waffles and some great high calorie snacks and cereals for David (always looking for more ways to get more calories into that boy!), oh! and brown rice bread, but no soy juice boxes. Well, that's not true, they carry chocolate soy juice boxes but not vanilla and David hates chocolate (oh the irony!)

So, after dinner, I ran into Von's really quick to see if they had any. Nope.

Chris suggested that we try the little health food store that we had seen on the way to dinner called Lassen's. OH MY LORD IN HEAVEN!!!! This store was like out of my mommy day dreams!! They had everything that I've seen or wished for and then some! There are certain brands of foods that I've gotten use to looking for, brands that I can trust to taste good and live up to their vegan/gluten free promises, brands that David will eat. But these brands, like Ian's or Cherrybrook Kitchen are impossible to get in Minot. My mother-in-law has been driving all over the greater Sacramento area buying food products for David and shipping them to me for over a year now. Through online allergy support groups that I'm a part of I've seen a lot of products that these brands offer, but I've never seen them in a store, not even Whole Foods. Well, um, not anymore. For example, Cherrybrook Kitchen makes a whole line of baked sweets and frostings. A little while ago they started advertising premade frostings, but I've never seen them anywhere ... until now. They had 5 different kinds of vegan cheese! I've looked for over a year just to find one kind in Northern California! They had vegan mayo and whipped topping, cinnamon raisin bagels... And this store was tiny, but it was like they were using every possible square inch of space to house all the things that I specifically have been wishing for.

Needless to say, I found the juice boxes. I also got David the best vegan butter spread, vegan cheese, and vegan/gluten free chicken nuggets. And then I left the store, got into the car, and cried tears of joy and gratitude and relief.