Family, Fun times, Bad times & A super feel good movie! What a week!

One of Sandra's Beautiful Bridals

Wednesday night my sister Kami and her family came and stayed with us for the weekend.  The purpose for their visit was so that Kami could take wedding pictures of our cousin Sandra but it was a nice mini vaca for them also.

We had a lot of fun with them though!  We took the kids Thursday night and went to the Halloween store.  Landon wanted EVERYTHING he laid eyes on and Riley was just content, taking it all in I guess.  I was a little nervous someone would have nightmares that night, but wasn't a problem.  

Aunt Bunny and the boys

Riley loves Cade :)

Kami doin what she does

Thanks for playin Roger/Kami fam!

So, with trying to be healthier, it wasn't so bad since Kami has been healthier as well.  She introduced me to chai seeds.  (....Those will take getting use to.)  As well as other things.  We did splurge a few times, but not near as bad as past splurging.  I'm hoping to get back into it again now.

Last night we made the only whole wheat "Tortillas" I can make.  It was actually my crepe recipe.  Works though!

1 Cup (Whole Wheat) Flour

1/4 teaspoon salt (sea salt)

3 Large Eggs

1 1/3 Cups Milk

2 Tablespoon Vegtable Oil

1 Tablespoon melted butter

It hurts!

And on the first crepe....wrapped my finger around the metal part on the pan and...bad burn.  I tried some home remedies...the best was my finger against a potato.  The night went downhill from there...

The show must go on!

Black bean and corn enchiladas

Homemade enchilada sauce

Processed cheese :)

 The enchiladas could have turned out better.  Our black beans were crunchy..(I must not know how to prepare black beans) but I think the recipe still has potential.  I don't know.  Not worth the painful burn though.

So it's been a hard weekend.  (Not any problems with the Seamons family being in town) but for whatever reason I've been just off in other ways.  At work Wednesday, Friday and Saturday I just did every mistake that was possible.  I have been extremely irritable.  Angry with people in general from work to stupid politics, haha.  Then yesterday it started with the burn, then I couldn't find ANY printer paper I needed to do something for my calling...just totally annoyed and my attitude was awful. I took care of things and eventually calmed down.
Then we watched "17 Miracles" for the first time.  It totally turned my night around.  I expected it would be a bit of a guilt trip for me having had such a bad attitude earlier but still wanted to watch it.  It touched me so much seeing and remembering all that the Saints endured traveling to Zion.  I don't think I would have been able to go through what they went through.  I thought about my "tough" week and it just didn't compare with the trials that were experienced in this movie.  I thought about how easy I have it, how blessed I am and it made me feel sad for not having a better attitude through my trials or for lacking faith in my day to day activities.  I wondered what I am doing in my life that has as much purpose as these people had in theirs.  I hate crying in movies, haha, but I bawled the last half hour to hour. What touched me the most was seeing the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father, I got chills in several scenes. It was so good and such a spiritual movie.  Such a good reminder of why we are here on this earth and what our responsibilities are.  I feel so grateful for these Saints who had so much purpose in their lives and faith and were so strong.  I'm grateful to be apart of such an amazing church.           

I just found instructions about how to replace table sugar with honey.  Excited to try it out.  Here I come zucchini bread! :)

Replace 1 teaspoon / 5 ml of white sugar with a quarter teaspoon / 1 ml of honey. Alternatively, BBC Food suggests that it is easier to replace one quantity of honey for each one and one quarter quantities of sugar. The ratio should be 4:5 ^[2]

• Honey has quite a strong flavour of its own - be careful substituting it in recipes where it might dominate the overall flavour. Fruit is susceptible to being overwhelmed by the flavour of honey.
• A cup of honey contains 1/4 cup of water; this means that you should cut down on liquids by the same amount.^[3]
• Lower the oven temperature by 25ºF when substituting honey, to prevent overbrowning.^[4]
• Honey is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture. This ability means that cakes should turn out to be more moist when using honey in place of sugar.^[5]

DAY Four

Yesterday:
-Smoothie,
-Sandwich,
-Sauted veggies (peppers, onions, spaghetti squash.....) in a
(oops) store bought flour tortilla.  I tried making my own whole wheat flour tortilla's but no success (of course). :) So I used what I had.  It wasn't bad for being filled with just veggies.  Mom, you have got to be so blown away that my meals can consist of just veggies.  Did you ever think you would see the day?  I MISS CHEETOS.  CHOCOLATE.  DOUGHNUTS.  ...What?  I never even had an obsession for doughnuts, but I miss them.
-Cade wants to buy raw milk (sick.....but I might just give it a try).
-Skipped taking my crazy pill.
-Asked Cade if he wanted to go to In-N-Out, he said no.  Gosh, he's such a food nazi! :) Totally kidding. But you'd seriously think this was all his idea.  Haha.

Ok, so today, practically the same story...except that I attempted to make a chili.  Did it work out, I think you can guess that correct answer on that one.  It wasn't too bad but I wonder if it could taste any better.  Shoot, I am sure not a very convincing person if you are thinking about getting healthy.  Be patient, I have high hopes this will all turn around in the taste department.
-Cade still wants to go buy raw milk.  (Haha, he actually literally told me that as I was typing that last sentence and as he's reading Elder Widtsoe's book).
-I took half of half of my crazy pill because winging is a crazy weird feeling and I don't like it.  So little by little I'm trying to wing from my crazy pills.
-I feel good.  I don't feel bloated (TMI?) which is always nice and is embarrassingly a usual occurance.  I have no complaints.  ..Haven't had any headaches for the past few days and haven't experienced any fatigue.  So all is good in the feeling good part of this experiment.
-Cade just informed me that one perk might be that he won't lose his hair.  Huh.  Interesting.  We found a positive for him!

So that's the events of Day 3&4..

P.S. Our saving money efforts are paying off WELL!  Our power bill went from $99-$53 and our cell phone bill went from $166-$78.  Awesome.
 

Day two.

A SUCCESSFUL use of almond milk this morning.  Ok, it was smoothie, but that's alright.  :)  I made the almond milk, and then put it in the blender with two apples, two bananas and frozen strawberries.  Ok, I don't know what the rule is on banana's not being in season and use of fozen fruits.   I don't care though.  I had to make it taste decent.  And it did.  So, that's nice.  That was breakfast with an egg.
Lunch was my favorite meal so far.  A peanut butter and honey sandwich.  Haha.  I have my organic peanut butter, made with nothing but peanuts...what?  That's crazy!  It taste funny at first bite but it grows on ya and like I said, it with honey and my sandwich thins is my favorite meal since yesterday (and I liked it before I went crazy healthy, so that's sayin something). 

Then for dinner I got creative.  NEVER works for me.  I always think that I'm going to make some amazing new recipe or meal idea.  It always turns out sad.  Today I cooked some squash spaghetti (is that what it's called?)  Then I used a recipe I found off the internet for a tomato like sauce.  It had peanut butter in it, I ignored that thinking it would be alright.  So I poured my tomato sauce on top of the spaghetti squash and again sprinkled with goat cheese.  HOPING it would be like lasagna with a twist.  Make sense?  Probably not.  It did to me.  Put it in the oven...  Didn't turn out well at all.  All I could smell as I was trying to eat it was peanut butter.  Sick.  Ok.  Scratch that idea for in the future.  And more researching....that's been day two!  I probably won't blog about day three unless something seriously successful happens.  And hopefully it will.
Ok, and why am I doing this?  I am a big believer in natural remedies.  I think that if I put the right things into my body things will improve on their own.  My biggest thing is....I want to get off of my anxiety prescription and if eating right is all it takes, than I can keep at this.  It only makes sense that processed foods or foods high in chemicals and such can take a toll on a persons health physically as well as mentally.  So that's the truth to why I am trying so hard.  Now, as for Cade....I have no idea why he's still on the wagon.  Haha. :)        






Almond milk

Soak almonds for 8 hours

1 cup of almonds= 4 cups of water in blender

Blend.  Strain for smooth texture.

The first recipe I tried had a little more to it but forget that idea.

DAY ONE.......ugh.

Day one has been frustrating.  Will there be a day two?  Haha.  I really don't know what I am doing.  I wanted to be really strict with this and do it 100% but I don't think that I can.  At least not right now when I know so little.  The book I'm reading has me confused about a lot....  SO.  I am just going to do my best.  Until I really understand more what I want/should be doing I'm just going to stick to what I had originally talked to my sister about, a simple whole foods diet to the best that I can.
This is what I have a grip on.  It is important to eat what is in season.  I agree with that.  I'll try my best with that.  Yesterday we had a lot of fun shopping at farmers markets and at a sweet old lady's "booth" on the side of the road.  We were proud of the low cost and good picks!
Way less meat.  We can do that.
Refined and processed stuff is out.
Cow milk less.

So this morning we made Almond Milk.......yuck.  I don't want to give up on the idea yet but I definitely need a new recipe or idea.  I am just planning to experiment with this idea.  ..With our unsuccessful almond milk we had eggs that we bought from locals.
Lunch was an apple. Haha.  All I could come up with as I was struggling with confusion.
Dinner was a salad-- romaine lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, spinach, hard boiled eggs, sprinkled with shredded goat milk cheese. And then we made our own ranch out of cashews, olive oil, dill, parsley, garlic clove, etc.....  It wasn't bad.  Eh.  Kinda funky though.  
Gosh, I feel like such a hippie.
Hopefully I can get a better hang of what I am trying to achieve and see the benefits though.  Stay tuned....if you don't think I'm a complete weirdo.     

Ok so about last post.  I am still learning little by little what it takes to make the changes that I want to in my diet.  I think tomorrow before I go to work, Cade and I are going to check out some health food stores and/or green house markets...?  I don't know where we go shopping but hopefully I'll have it figured out by tomorrow. Ha.  And if I feel confident enough then we'll start Sunday maybe.

And at first this started out trying to understand what a whole food diet was or what this "Green Smoothie Girl" was doing.  After talking to my cousin Julie though, and understanding what her family does, I am still basically doing the same thing..just a little bit different.  (Except the cows milk part.  That I got from green girl and makes sense to my lactose self).
Right now I am reading a book that she recommended and that is, The Word of Wisdom: A Modern Interpretation by Elder Widtsoe.
If you don't understand what the Word of Wisdom has to do with this than just like I did, you should go read D&C Section 89 again.  And look that book up at Deseret Book. 
I thought that all there really was to the Word of Wisdom was: Don't drink alcohol, don't use tabacco, don't drink coffee and tea....kind of a thing.  But there's a lot more do's that no one (myself included) really pays attention to.  It's interesting.
Now, don't get your panties in a wad.  I'm not trying to be controversial; or a self righteous, rub it in your face, know it all. I'm just learning more about the Word of Wisdom how I believe it was intended and trying to apply it to my life.  I feel like living the way I am living right now isn't bad; I also feel like though, that I could be blessed more physically as well as spiritually by making a few changes.  I would copy and paste Julie's email if I felt like that was ok....she said it all perfectly though and her family has seen many blessings from living this way.        

P.S. Cade is totally on board with this.  I would just like to put that out there.  He is just as much for this as I am.  I feel like since Cade is so easy going it might look like I'm just "running the show"&"no ifs, ands, or buts about it".  I promise though, we've discussed this, thought about it, researched some, and are both looking forward to the changes we are about to make.  Or try our best to make. :) 

Ready...maybe...Go!

  Ok, so if you are friends on facebook with my sister, Kami, you might have caught the conversation she started about a whole foods diet.  She went and saw this lady called the Green Smoothie Girl and rather than trying to sum up what this lady is all about you should just go to her page and read about her for yourself --- http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/about/
  So like I've mentioned before, I've always wanted to be healthy and am just now learning how I think that can be achieved for me (maybe not for you, whatever, that's ok).  I just want to put this whole idea that food can be a healer for the body to the test.
  I have been doing better in the healthy department since starting the Take Shape for Life program but since my transition phase, I feel like I could be doing better than I have been doing.

So this is what I want to do!   ....

-I want to eliminate as much processed foods out of my diet as I possibly can.
-I want to learn how to substitute certain ingredients (example: natural honey instead of processed table sugar).
-I want to eliminate cows milk from my diet.  Hello almond milk.  And I just found a super easy recipe for almond milk today! SWEET!  Stoked to try it out.
-I want to eat meat more sparingly.  Um.  I'll set my goal for once maybe twice a week...that's sparingly enough for now.
-And I want to do this everyday for 3 weeks and blog about it.


Disclaimer:
I am sure that I don't know all the details of this diet.  This is what makes sense to me right now though.  As time goes on I hope to get better at this but I think I'm starting out alright.  You are welcome to comment if you know anything that I don't know.  I am open to ideas/recipes/insight :) Yes please.
It is ok if you disagree with this diet.
One day when I have kids if this is a success in my home I will not be telling aunts/uncles/grandmas&grandpas they can't feed my child a processed cheeto.  Don't worry. :)

So now... When will I start?  How am I going to do this?  Do I have time or money?  Where do I go shopping?  My biggest issue right now is all the food I just stocked up on a couple weeks ago sitting in my pantry and freezer.  Practically ALL processed somethins..  I don't want to waste them.  Then again.  They are good for long "shelf life", so it won't be too much of a waste right now.  I guess questions and concerns will be answered as soon as I can decide to make the commitment and you see "Day 1" posted.

And thanks Kami for bringing this up! I am excited about it...if I can pull it off.    

 

Another SUPER weekend!

 Cordell and Vickie--Sealed for time and all eternity in this Temple 31 years ago!  

It was so neat to go to the Logan Temple on Friday to celebrate this special anniversary. 

And it was just nice to go to a session again; we realized there that it had been way too long since the last time we went to a temple session.
With so many Temples so close to where we are living right now it's crazy to not be attending more often.  I love the Temple.  

The group this year--Uncle Jeff, Cade and I, Mom and Dad Hansen, Grandma Gretta, Shane and Jeanette :)

Shane and Jeanette

Saturday (and again today) we drove to Logan to listen to general conference and spend time with the family.

Aw :)

Zach went to the store with Grandma and Grandpa and brought us all back suckers.  We love these kids! 

Owen found my high heels.  What a cute kid.  He's a lot of fun.
















No picture of sweet Autumn.  I meant to get one but never did.  It was great to see her as well though, always is..  We love Autumn!

But it was so nice to spend time with the family, go to the Temple and listen to conference!  Really, can life get any better?  I just feel blessed to have the gospel in my life, a loving Prophet (as well as his Apostles), an eternal family and an AMAZING husband.  This weekend was great for remembering the blessings in my life.  Happy Happy Happy.