The STORM

Wow, what a week this has been. When it rains it pours I've once heard. That would be the case for me. Up in the night last night, I couldn't sleep. At 2am there were many tears and much prayer being offered. Listening to "How Great Thou Art" my grandmother's favorite hymn, I couldn't help but think she was watching over me in my time of need. Life just keeps moving along and there are so many obstacles along the way, a test, a struggle. A test to see if I will be faithful to what I know is true and right. There are attacks, personal ones from some we love. It hurts and cuts deeply. What would Christ do in situations such as these, I ask myself. I realize He would just take the blows, and let it pass. My thoughts turn to him this Easter season. I must remove myself from the situation and know that those who attack are hurting inside, the anger bursts out in ways unimaginable; for we were friends...


Amidst one trial, another is in the background of my mind. I had been holding it together until, it all came out, last night when I was alone and it was quiet. My precious father is sick, very sick. And I am very far away. I love him, deeply for he has given me so much and taught me so much of how to serve others and what real love is. I found out this week that he can hardly walk. He is so weak and tired from the cancer that is on attack. As I was up in the night typing a letter of thanks and love to my dad, through my misty eyes in the darkness I glanced over at our desktop computer to see this:


Lindsey. I love her. She is hilarious. Amidst the tears came laughter. Lindsey had put this as the wallpaper on our desktop last night before bed. I am so thankful for her. She is such a wonderful daughter. I feel so blessed. She really cracks me up. Thank you Lindsey for brightening up my dad, I mean my night. : )

Weight LOSS

BEFORE

My birthday 2010

AFTER
My birthday 2011

So some of you have inquired about my weight loss. Yes, I have done it and I'm loving it! My baby is about to turn 3, so I have no excuse of keeping all that baby weight.

My quest began last year in March. I wanted to know how many my calories my body needed each day to maintain itself. I subscribe to the school of thought that if a person is continually overeating, even with exercise, the weight will not come off because they are eating more calories than their body burns. So with that said, how many calories did I need to sustain myself? At this time I had been studying in the scriptures, the Word of Wisdom found in the Doctrine and Covenants. This code of health contains things that we should not take into our bodies to be healthy, but also things we should be partaking to be in optimal health. My mission became just that. To be in optimal health so I could serve my family and others and have energy and vitality. I started with a 10 day cleanse, the lemonade cleanse. The one where you drink Smooth Move tea at night, Celtic sea salt water in the morning and then fresh lemonade with grade B maple syrup and ceyanne pepper. Wow, it was hard and I only made it to day 6 because I got the worst headache in America. I couldn't finish it out, but I felt really good afterwards. I lost 7 pounds at that time.

In April of 2010, I started thinking again about my personal calorie intake and really wanted to know how much I really needed in a day. My good friend Lolly told me about the Weight Watchers points and how the system counted calories for you. It sounded like a game to me. So since she was going to the Weight Watchers meetings she bought some points books for me and points slider scale and I was ready to begin. The first two weeks were so hard. It made me realize just how much I was overeating. I never thought I was an overeater until I started points. My experience has been amazing. I was loosing 1-3 pounds a week. Steadily. I've now lost a total of 35 pounds and I love how the points have taught me portions. It's actually really easy to do points. I really treat it like a game for myself. A challenge.

During the summer, my husband and I also started eating less meat. Especailly red meat. We have meat every other night now for dinner. But my meat portions are cut way back. About 3 oz is all my body really needs. We have tried many vegetarian recipes and we love this way of eating. Our son has autism so he is on the gluten-free, casein-free diet. Because of this, all of our family dinners are GFCF, which has also helped change the way we eat. No more cream of chicken soup. No casseroles. Really simple food and yummy food, fresh veggies! I have some GFCF Recipes here. I love the not-so-heavy feeling after a dinner. So awesome.

Here are some links to get you started with the points. Have fun with it. Write down everything you eat! Everything that goes into your mouth. It doesn't take a lot of time to have a food journal. Think all the hours of your day. You are only spending a fraction of that time writing down your foods and calculating points.

1. First, figure out how many points per day you get.

Points Calculator

2. You get 35 extra points in the week called Flex points. So if you eat over your points in that day, they count as flex points. (I don't use all mine in the week) Keep track of these daily.

3. You can get activity points for working out etc. You can choose to use these points to get extra points in the day. Calculate them here. Also, on the same website is a points calculator. Just type in calories, fat and fiber content on any food label and it will calculate the point value for you.

4. When I started I didn't have the points values books so I found it all here.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions. I have lost my weight without going to a meeting or paying for the website etc. Just the initial $25 for the books and a digital kitchen scale from Walmart is all I have put into this. I'm sure it would be helpful to go to the meetings, but I just decided to do it on my own. And it worked. Really. Good.

Super Mario Brothers Volcano Cake

With the help of the hubby I made this fresh Super Mario Brothers Cake for my son's 5th birthday party. If the kids weren't impressed, well the adults were. It's fun to come up with an idea then make it and have it done and have a new fun creation. My husband came up with the tea lights as the different levels you have to pass in each world...great idea! I really love making birthday cakes. The volcano is made with a barbie dress cake pan and I thinned out the frosting and dripped it right on. The green cake is actually a gluten free/casein free cake for my other son who can't have wheat or milk products. We try to include him in the fun as much as possible, so he doesn't feel left out. Awesome!

Chore Sticks

I've been trying to motivate my almost 5 & 3 year old to do simple chores around the house. I was looking for some sort of chore chart on the web and I came across this fantastic idea for CHORE STICKS from this blog: Make and Takes. So simple and easy to use. Eli's sticks are blue and Leah's are purple. When they get done with their chores they just flip them over to the colored side up.

I got the clip art from The Idea Door, really cute.

Thank you very much, and I sized down the clipart to fit on the sticks. They turned out super awesome. I was very crafty today I must say.

Yummy Healthier Pumpkin Muffins

Made these wonderful pumpkin muffins today from a recipe from the Internet (joyofbaking.com). I changed the recipe a bit to make it more healthy, ie. applesauce instead of oil. They turned out fantastic and you will love them too!

Healthier Pumpkin Muffins

1 Can Pumkin Puree

2 Eggs

1/2 C. Buttermilk (add 1 tsp. lemon juice to milk and let sit for 5 min)

1/2 C. Unsweetened Applesauce

3/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 C. Bran (I use oat bran)

3/4 C. Sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 C. Craisins or Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the pumkin, eggs, buttermilk, and applesauce together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, bran, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add to wet mixture. Mix well. Add in the crasins or chocolate chips, if desired. Pour batter in muffin tin and Bake at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Muffins are done when toothpick comes out clean after poking muffin. Makes 12 muffins. Enjoy the season! Love that pumkin.

I Started Juicing!!

So I've been sick a lot lately and have developed asthma and allergies this summer...YUCK! So I dusted off my juicer and found this not-so-yummy juice recipe, but oh-so-good for you anyway. Drink it up, it gets things moving and I swear it has melted some of my excess fat away! It's a cleansing type juice and good for healing any illness. Here it is:

Healing Juice

3 Carrots

3 Kale leaves

2 Stalks of celery

2 beets

1 turnip

1/4 pound spinach

1/2 head of cabbage

1/4 bunch parsley

1/4 onion

1/2 clove of garlic

1/2 Cucumber (optional)

Wash, peal and cut most of the veggies. Some people don't peal, but I do. This is good for 3-4 servings of juice. For one person use 1/4 of the recipe. I make enough for one full glass and I plug my nose and drink in down in one breath. Tell me how you like it. After drinking this almost everyday for 2 weeks I have started to acquire a taste for it. The problem is that most of us only like sweet tastes and that is what we are used to. Now, when I eat sweets they taste too sweet and I don't even want them. My husband and I have been drinking this concoction and we click our glasses together and say, "Cheers to good health!" I do believe I will wear out my juicer because I love the effects this is having on my body. I want to have optimal health and live long and prosper!

Tourist

I am a tourist in my own hometown. I have been away for two years and have come back mid summer to see the sights and the ever changing landscape. Gilbert, Arizona is where I come from, where I grew up. Back when there was only one stoplight in town and one high school. Now it is a thriving huge city with everything you need around you. As I am swimming in the pool, I hear the never ending hum of the air-conditioners and the crickets at night. I smell the stagnant water from the irrigated lawn and I see the bright white puffy clouds in the distance with the mountains nearby. All the sights and sounds that I remember from back when I was a kid growing up that seemed insignificant at the time, but when you are away living in the Midwest and then return, you capture all those memories of childhood in a short visit. The bright, scorching sun that always shines here, casting contrasting dark shadows on the sidewalk, the locusts buzzing in the trees in the backyard. All such familiar surroundings that I sometimes miss.

So many new things have been built here that I just can't believe this is where I am from. Because it was not like this growing up. It was a small town back then, I lived on the outskirts of city life, which are now the city. I visit Joe's Farm Grill and take a picture of the sign with my family because it is an attraction and a new place to see. I really do look like a tourist my husband says. But all in all, I came here to see my family and my parents and all those that I love. I don't get to see them often, but when I do I feel grounded and taken back to my roots of who I am and how I was raised to be. I like it. It's like a breath of fresh air, a new beginning to go back and raise my little family back in Wisconsin, where not so many people know me in the community I live in. Not that I don't like it, I really do. It's just well, a different culture there. I suppose there are a lot of people like me, who don't stay where they grew up. That fits me, for I love a new adventure. But I do love coming back, even when it feels like an oven outside.