May St. George Trip

While Ryan was gone to Oklahoma for training (for 5 whole long weeks), I decided to break up the time and head on down to St. George for a week with my good friend Cherish and her daughter Suzie! It was some nice and much needed R&R.

We hung out by the pool

We had fun with our friends!


Cherish and I have been best friends since High School. I am telling you all this because she knows me so well and puts up with my crazy last minute adventures! I had this crazy idea while in St. George that we should go to Vegas one day and spend the night! Well lets just say that I didn't believe that Vegas wasn't very "kid friendly" until that trip. When we first got there we were on a high from this last minute decision! We immediately went to the M&M factory because we knew you could do stuff with kids there, Well that was about it! Cherish and I stuck out like a sore thumb in Vegas!

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After the M&M factory we decided to go to lunch to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was of course delicious!

My favorite story from this trip is after we ate at the Hard Rock we went to see Hello Kitty on the street because Suzie loves Hello Kitty. Well I didn't want to take a picture with Hello Kitty because I knew Maggie would probably flip out and plus I didn't have money to tip him. Cherish on the other hand took a photo, but did not tip him because she realized after that she didn't have any money to tip either so we hurried and busted out of the there! Just imagine us two moms with children in a stroller running away from a man in a Hello Kitty costume shaking his fist at us! I wish I had a picture of it!

It was still so early on the strip and we couldn't check into our hotel yet so we decided to walk around some more. It was miserable! It was so hot and even though we had hats and sunscreen for the kids they were miserable to and starting to get a little burnt. I wished so bad that we would have thought about coming later in the day so we could have at least checked into the hotel first, swam a bit and then been able to seen some of the shows that don't start until early evening (like the pirates and such) but me and my crazy last minute ideas are never really good ones so after FINALLY being able to check into our hotel we realized that we were so exhausted and just wanted to go back to the condo in St. George, so about 2 hours later from checking in we checked out! Crazy I know (and no we did not get a refund :( )

Our two tired girls wearing there matching jammies from the M&M factory!

Although Vegas was definitely a "bust" the overall trip was still fun and an experience we can definitely look back on! Thanks Cherish for being such a good sport and putting up with me!

We could not for the life of us get a good picture of the both of them smiling at the same time!

Home Owners!

Woot Woot! Sorry, but I don't think I can put it any other way! I am so excited and happy to announce that Ryan and I are officially HOME OWNERS! This blog post is a little behind schedule though because we have been officially home owners (or home owers for the next 30 years) since mid June! I am sure this sounds silly to most people, but I finally feel like a real adult!

Here is our Home Sweet Home!

We have actually been living here for the past 7 years in the basement apartment renting from Ryan's Grandma. She recently was moved into an assisted living center which is why we had the opportunity to buy. Grandma Jane (aka Ryan's Grandma) has always told us she would love for us to buy it from her someday so that the home could stay in the family. I got pretty teary eyed when we signed the papers, because after we had finished all the paper work and were ready to leave she told both Ryan and I that she thinks her husband John (who built the house 50 years ago, and passed away over 40 years ago) would be honored for us to make it our home! That meant so much to us both, and makes this home even more special to us!

Their are a lot of improvements that need to be made, mostly cosmetic, but that is our favorite part! Either doing these improvements together will draw us closer, or cause a whole lot of arguments! (Hopefully not the later :) ) I am extremely lucky to be married to such a handy man so that we can do majority of the improvements ourselves!

Their are going to be a lot of new changes coming to my blog and I am excited to be able to share them with you all!

Welcome Home Daddy!

So a lot of people already know that Ryan was gone for 5 whole long weeks training in Oklahoma City for work! Maggie and I were unable to go with him so it was just the two of us at home. I did not want to blog or facebook it because I didn't want any crazies coming over and stuff. (I can get kind of paranoid sometimes!) Anyways it was a long and hard and very lonely separation for both of us but the benefits of it in the end are worth it, and the reunion was great!

I learned a lot about myself and what I am actually capable of doing on my own, which in some ways is a comfort if in any way I had to be on my own (which hopefully that will never happen:)! A few things that were definitely easier while the hubby was gone.....

Laundry

Cleaning...I am amazed at how less messy things were! I think partly it was because I was constantly cleaning to keep myself busy too!

Dieting...no offense to my husband or anyone else, but since Ry has been home, my healthy eating and dieting has gone straight out the window! I think husbands can be saboteurs!

Exercising...I just knew that Maggie had to come with me regardless of where I went so I took her. Now I wait until Ryan gets home so I can go on my own, and then well, I don't! (my own problem, I know!) I am just soo tired by the end of the day and am sooo not a morning exercising kind of person!

It is so nice having my hubby home with me now! I think this experience has only had a positive impact on our relationship! The best part of Ryan coming home was that he surprised me and came home a day early than he was supposed to! I couldn't stop smiling the whole evening! Maggie especially missed him and his tractor rides and playing in the dirt! She is definitely a Daddy's girl all the way!

The next day that Ryan got home! He immediatly started working in the yard and garden with Maggie!

Unfortunately Ryan's training isn't done yet and he will need to go again for even longer than before, but like I mentioned earlier in this post I am kind of paranoid about the crazies and will not say when and for exactly how long, but I can say that I am really NOT looking forward to it! I am just going to miss him sooo much! More than anything it is just so lonely for the both of us! However I know we can do it!

We love you Ryan and are so happy to have our Daddy and husband home safe and sound!

Living a Low Carb Lifestyle

So I just had to post this! Only because it is starting to get frustrating to me on how people are quick to assume that all I eat is meat! I am trying to follow a low carb diet. I very strongly believe (and always have) that since not all body types are the same, not all diets are going to effect everyone the same way. I would try low fat, calorie counting diets with my friends and they would loose weight and I would gain! I finally decided to try something different and In the past I lost 50lbs on Atkins.  I was the most healthy I have EVER been! I had soo many people telling me that Atkins was so bad for me! I couldn't understand why they would say that especially since all my cholesterol levels were good, my blood pressure was great and I had the most energy I had ever had. That was almost 10 years ago. I find it so funny how now most diets are now saying lower carb (or lower glycemic index diets, which are very very very similar) are better for you! Even weight watchers made starchy foods higher points and most higher protein foods lower points! So part of me really wants to say HA!

So, let me show you all what I eat each day on an Atkins diet:

Breakfast: Bell Pepper Rings filled with eggs and motzerella (this is seriously delicious!)

Snack: Double chocolate express smoothie

Lunch: Grilled chicken on mixed greens with tomato's and parmesean

Snack: Green bell peppers with creamy italian dressing

Dinner:Turkey pumpkin stew.

 As you can see I don't just eat meat! I eat veggies veggies and more veggies! My diet is very satisfying. Once I got through the induction phase (2 weeks of only 20-25 grams of carbs allowance that MUST come from vegetables) I had no more cravings for sugar and uncontrolled eating! And every week that I am on my diet I slowly introduce new forms of carbs from lower glycemic fruits, to nuts, and beans.

Here is a little science of what carbs and high glycemic foods do to our bodies: In a nutshell high glycemic foods cause a spike in our blood sugar levels. When those blood sugar levels spike it causes a release of insulin. That sudden release of insulin makes our bodies think that we are in a starvation mode and causes us to think we are either hungry or craving something to eat. Since it causes our bodies to believe we are starving we then store more fat for our own (natural) protection, or binge on the freshly baked cookies we just made and before we know it already ate half of them (not that I am speaking from experience or anything ;) ) 

I know all of this from 1. following a low GI diet in the past and 2. Last September I did some extensive research on the effect of high GI foods and the skin. I recently stumbled upon a great website that goes over the many myths that people associate with a low carb diet. I highly recommend you to take a peek! Healty Low Carb Living Myths.

So far since I have been following my low carb lifestyle (started about 4 weeks ago). I have lost 9lbs. I have SO much more energy, and an added bonus...my skin looks fantastic! I think everyone should at least consider watching their sugar intake into their diets just for the standard health benefits of it.

Anyways! I feel fantastic!

I've Lost My Mind!

Either I've lost my mind, or have found some kind of new determination!

I have decided to post about my weight loss experiences! I seriously think I'm some sort of crazy for doing this, but my whole point in doing it is 1. To motivate and inspire myself and 2. To maybe help motivate and inspire someone else as well!

In the upper right hand side of my blog I will be posting my stats every 1-2 weeks (I still need to take measurements as well, but will also have those posted).  I have also decided to have weight loss/exercise tips once a week that I have found to have helped me. Right now I am working toward a fitness goal to be able to run a 10k in August. I just started training for it on Monday 04/23/12

Hopefully by doing this and knowing that I have people following me through this journey it will help me to not give up!

Before at 194

Easter 2012

Wow, for some reason typing in the year 2012 in my post title just really hit me! I can't believe we are actually in the year 2012! I know I'm not old yet, but man I'm getting old! Anyways back to the original reason for this post....Easter!

Easter was actually kind of fun this year. Not to say that I never enjoy Easter, but as an adult (in the year 2012! For some reason I still can't quite get over that!) Holidays just really aren't as much fun as they use to be when we were kids!

Maggie went on her first Egg Hunt! It was just right next door to our house to at the Elementary school. Let me just say IT WAS SO LAME! I mean, I'm sure Maggie enjoyed it but she didn't really know what was going on except that her mother was yelling at her to grab those plastic eggs! All the hunt was, was this small squared off area! When I was a kid (even at Maggie's age), we actually had to hunt for the eggs! And had cool prizes too!

With Cherish and Suzie, getting ready for the hunt!

I may or may  not have helped her place some eggs in the basket!

I thought she looked so cute carrying her little bunny basket around. She loved it!

Later that evening Maggie dyed her first eggs! I was wondering how they would turn out considering they were already naturally colored, however they turned out really cool! The colors were so rich and vibrant! I loved them. I think the egg dying was really more for me anyways. I may be getting old, but I still love to these kinds of things!

Maggie's hands were pretty much purple after we finished! She seriously LOVED dying them!

The next day, on actual Easter Sunday we had my Dad (my Mom and majority of my family were in St. George) and Ryan's parents over for dinner. (I love to entertain and now I finally have the space to do it!) After dinner we went outside and Maggie had her own little egg hunt. Later she found this bowl and was wearing it everywhere! She is one cute little stinker!

She loves to help with the chickens!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter too!

City Creek and other happenings.

I took my friend Cherish and her daughter Suzie to the new City Creek shopping center for her birthday! Man that place is awesome! I keep meaning to go back, but 1. I have no money to spend and you just can't go there without buying something from Tiffany's right? (Hey a girl can dream!) And 2. I really want to go without Maggie so I can actually browse and look around! Literally as soon as she sets foot into a retail store she flips out! Her father taught her well! (Boo!)

Anyways they have a little splash pad fountain there similar to the one at the Gateway but a much smaller scale. Maggie and Suzie had blast playing in it. I of course originally didn't want Mags to get wet at all but she had been miserable shopping so I figured she could use the wiggle time! Her and Suzie are getting to be such great friends which makes me so happy since Cherish and I have been best friends since about 9th grade!

I thought this pic was funny! I snapped it right as the water hit her in the face! Luckily instead of getting mad she just laughed!

Mags and Suzie!

With the exception of this week (been rainy almost every day), the weather up here in Utah has been pretty decent. In fact it was warm enough the other day that Cherish invited Maggie and I over so she could go swimming with Suzie! Maggie was having a blast up until she face planted it in the water. It scared her quite a bit so she was definitely ready to get out!

Ryan and I are so glad that the Bangerters have moved back closer to us! Especially Maggie since she can play with Suzie all the time now! Thanks again Cherish for the fun times!