Camping, Riding, Shooting... Oh my!

We rung in the New Year this year at Joshua Tree Dry Lake. It was the first time we had been to this campground, but I doubt it will be the last. Any place our family can camp with a gorgeous view, where we can let the kids ride their quads, where we can have dark skies for telescoping, where we can take the van out in 4-wheel drive, AND where we can shoot.... well let's just say we will be going back.

Here are a few highlights from the trip...

Seems both the boys enjoy riding!

Playing with the glider on the dry lake.

Looking for meteorites.

The sky was beautiful! Cold, but beautiful.

One tired boy, one happy mama.

Lukey getting his first shooting lesson with sissy's bb gun.

Zachary using his new pellet gun.

Girls RULE!

Fun for the whole family :)

Ecosystems

My kids are absolutely loving their astronomy class this year, and so am I. Science is one of the subjects that seems to get left behind when our days are full. Sad, but true. I will get the reading done, but not always all the experiments that go along with the reading that makes science so fun (and memorable). So the class has been a lifesaver for this mama. Lectures, quizzes, fun labs, fun with friends, and an excellent teacher who loves to show the Lord in science. Win Win WIN!!

While the kids were learning about Mars they had to create an ecosystem for people to live on the planet. They could use whatever medium they wanted and they were to bring it to share with the class. We had a lot of fun (and learning going on too) talking about what would be needed to survive on another planet. This is what the kids came up with:

Emma decided to draw her ecosystem. It includes a large area of closets for clothes, a farm to raise animals for food, trees for oxygen, an apartment building to live in, a wash room for laundry, a huge water tank and a rocket that could go back to earth for more water. Oh, and two dance rooms; one for ballet and one for tap :).

Zachary decided to use Legos for his ecosystem.

He had a building to live in, lots of trees for oxygen, a recycling waterfall and stream for water and recreation, and a garden to grow food.

He let me help with the garden. I had fun.

We also recently wrapped up a study of France. Zachary was elated when I told him he was done with school for the day expect for one thing. I wanted him to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower to his room and create it out of Legos :).

Yes, when Legos are involved with school, it's a good day.

A New Sport

Danny's interest in paddle boarding has been increasing lately. His interest really is in prone paddle boarding, which is laying down on your stomach and using your hands/arms to paddle. He purchased a board on Craigslist and used it a couple times, but it really wasn't the right board for him. So he went back to Craigslist and found a used board from a guy named Mike in Carlsbad. To make a long story short, Mike said he would sell it to Dan if Dan signed up for a race in January in Mission Bay. Seems he really loves the sport and wants to make sure that there are enough people to keep the racing going. Danny agreed and brought another huge 'board' home.

He had not found a lot of time to practice, but to my surprise decided he was going to stick to his commitment and register for the race. It was last week, and he did great!! It was a beautiful day, and it was so much fun to go out as a family and root him on. Nana joined us too. He did great considering his lack of preparation. He finished the race with a smile, and we were so proud of him. Mike, the guy that sold the board to him, had finished much earlier, but went back to cheer Dan on to finish the race. 4.75 miles! Way to go Danny!!!

This Saturday Dan is doing his second race, and we are looking forward to cheering him on again.

Truly a gorgeous day on Mission Bay

This is Dan (on the left) and Mike paddling out to the starting line.

Danny crossing the finish line and checking in at the pontoon boat. He did it!!

Celebrating our Daddy and his 1st race!

Exciting Side Note: My mom has been bitten by love of stand-up paddle boarding after trying it with my sister in St. Thomas. She rented them for us to use at Lake Havasu last summer, which was a blast. Last week she bought her own and took it right out to the lagoon in Carlsbad to get it wet. My dad got a kayak too so they will soon be grazing through the water together :-). LOVE IT!!

Getting Slim and Trim

The Standard Process cleanse is officially over, and all in all I would have to say it was a success. We completed the 21 day cleanse and decided to go back and repeat the first 7 days. We are both feeling great, and have both lost weight. Dan has lost about 25 pounds, and I have lost a little over 15. It's a great start, and done in a healthy way. We hope to continue eating healthier, but I can honestly say I can't wait to have a slice of pizza, the cheesier the better!!!

On the subject of getting slim and trim, we have decided to take it one step further and slim down our expenses. It is time to get in control of our eating AND our money. We decided to look into Dave Ramsey, so I checked out an audio book from the library and Danny and I really liked what he had to say. I won't get all preachy here, but after a few days I was moved to check out Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University on-line and see what the classes where about. Lo and behold there was a introduction to the class at our local church the next morning AND there was childcare. (ahem... okay God, we're listening) So we went, we loved it, and we bought the t-shirt (meaning we are now signed up for the 13-week class). Our first class was last night and it was great. This is not going to be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.

By the way, while we are going to the class the kids get to go to Adventure Club, which is a weekly Bible Study that they have attended in the past and loved. Unfortunately our youngest has never gotten through a Church service in the nursery without someone having to come get us. He cries and screams and just wont be consoled. Surprisingly the first night he got through the whole class, he did a craft, played on the playground, he went to music and the teacher said he loved it! He was even sitting at the table with the other kids praying when we picked him up. And last night when we picked him up it was again a success, he was excited to show us the Valentines he made in class with his Bible verse on it. All thanks goes directly to God for this!!! His work is being shown in this place and so, as a family, we have decided to pursue the Grove as our families church.

So here we go on another adventure together. I'm so blessed to walk it with my hand in my husbands and Christ in my heart (and all three of my kiddos HAPPY at church!).

Standard Process Day 20

Okay, so much for blogging our cleanse. I did take notes throughout the past few weeks, but I have not been sharing them here. Blogging kind of takes back seat to taking care of my family, schooling, preparing food, and just the general upkeep of life.

Saying all that, things have gone very well. I thought the beginning of the cleanse would have been much harder. I think my body was asking for it. I really didn't crave foods, I didn't have the headaches I had heard about, and my emotions seemed to just get better and better as the days went by. Yes, I was tired. What homeschooling mama of three isn't. But things where just easier to deal with. I didn't seem to have the highs and lows thorough the day.

Probably the most difficult thing on the cleanse was making sure there was foods to eat ready to go. I did great getting up with Danny and getting him out the door to work the first week. After that I slacked off and just tried to have food in the refrigerator for him to grab and take. I found it very simple to make a shake for breakfast every morning. My kids eat a ton in the morning, and by the time they are full and ready for the day it's nice to be able to just whip up a shake for myself that satisfies me and is good for me too. We balanced out the fruit in the shakes with lots of carrot juice and frozen spinach. Neither are detectable in the shakes. I also would have a lentil dish in the refrigerator at all times to simply heat up and eat. I made a thick lentil stew with a ton of vegetables. I also made a curried lentil dish that was a nice change. I made huge amounts of these so they would last several days. We could pull out a half a cup or so and have something warm and satisfying right away.

Something else that helped was flavor. Since we were limited on what we could add to food I used lots of fresh herbs: thyme, oregano, basil, along with tons of garlic and good old sea salt and cracked pepper.

As far as weight results, Dan has lost about 21 pounds. He lost pretty steady the whole three weeks. I have lost about 12 pounds. I seemed to quit loosing last week after trying to eat even less. I started thinking that my body may have been going into some sort of starvation mode and holding onto my weight. Once I started eating more again, the weight started coming back off.

We did have a cheat day. We made it through Dan's birthday with no problem, but going to Disneyland pushed us over the top. We had planned a fancy sit down meal with our cousins that was price fixed, meaning no matter what we'd ordered it would cost the same. Danny and I broke down and both had tri tip and mashed potatoes. I also had two glasses of wine and he had a long island ice tea. See, when we cheat, we cheat! Fortunately it was easy to get right back on the wagon.

So tomorrow is the last day of the official cleanse. I am hoping we stick to some of these new ways of eating. I will be adding back in meats and cheeses as well as carbs, but I think we can make wiser choices and continue portion control. I would like to continue the shakes for breakfast and maybe lunch too. It would be nice if I could continue to lose some more weight.

All in all, this was a great experience and I will do it again in the future.

Standard Process Day 1 and 2

Danny and I started the Standard Process Cleanse yesterday. So far it has been going really well. We have been doing a lot of menu planning and shopping for food. The cleanse includes protein shakes, supplements to get your body rid of toxins and running better, and diet. The diet consists of lots of vegetables and fruits along with a small amount of brown rice and lentils. We are trying to eat more vegetables than fruit to keep the calories down. We have been starting out our days with the shakes. I use a green juice that we buy that is a combination of many fruits and vegetables along with frozen mixed berries, frozen spinach, fresh squeezed orange juice, and carrot juice as well as two scoops of the protein powder. The shakes are really quite tasty and very satisfying. I find them very easy to do while getting breakfast ready for the kids. I have been having the shakes for about 5 days, just to kind of get ready for the cleanse.

Yesterday, being our first official day on the cleanse, we had our shakes in the morning for breakfast. We had some carrots and apples while out on the road running around. Between trips we came home and had some brown rice with peas. For dinner Dan sautéed up some mushrooms and we had a huge salad. I never felt hungry all day. I did want to keep eating though after dinner. That is just habit for me, one I need to change. So I held fast and didn't eat anything else. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't hungry. Here's a shocker... We are each taking 30 pills a day (of supplements) along with our normal DHA and multi's that we take daily. Another thing we are trying to do is up our consumption of water. Got to have something to push all these impurities out of us.

Today started much like yesterday with our shakes. Again for lunch we were out on the road, but Dan had packed a great salad of cucumbers and tomatoes. It was delicious. When we got home from our shopping today, Food Prep began. I made an oven roasted tomato sauce that turned out amazing. I can't wait to have it. Probably tomorrow over some sautéed Portabella mushrooms. I'm also thinking it will be fantastic over spaghetti squash. So I put it in the refrigerator for future use. Danny helped me make a lentil dish with tons of vegetables. It had carrots, celery, onions, basil, oregano, bay leaves, thyme, vegetable stock, and the lentils. Seasoned up with some sea salt and pepper, it was wonderful over a bed of brown rice. I was very easy on the rice, and served a pretty small portion of lentils on top, and I was full before it was gone. Recognizing that, I put the plate down and decided I would save it for if I get hungry later this evening. It's two hours later already and I'm still full. One other thing that I experimented with tonight were kale chips. I know, sounds awful right? But they were amazing!!! I washed two big bunches of kale and cut away the stem. Then I tore it into "chip" sized bites and tossed them in a bowl with a bit of olive oil and sea salt. Actually, more than tossing them, I rubbed the oil all over them. Then I set them on two big baking sheets (without overlapping them) and baked them for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, tossing them once while they baked. Oh my goodness!! They were so crunchy and light and salty and good. The kids went crazy over them and Dan and I did too. We ate the whole batch!! Seriously, we ate two huge bunches of kale and LOVED it!! Luckily I had a feeling this might be a hit and I bought four bunches of kale, so we will have to do it again in the next couple of days.

So, all in all we are off to a great start. I am feeling pretty good, and enjoying our food, and I'm not hungry. I am hoping tomorrow we can get a little more exercise in. Maybe go to the park and play and take a walk. Maybe go up and down the ladder putting the Christmas decorations in the attic?? I am very excited to get to do this cleanse. I am hoping it's a start to some healthier living for me and my family.

(Note to say that I got most of these recipe ideas from other people who have blogged about their experience doing this cleanse. If I were a little more savvy blogging on my iPad while giving my 2 year old a bath, I would include links.) ;-)

Welcome 2012

A new year has started, and with it comes promises of change. I could list all of the things I hope to "do better" or "do more" or "do less", but then there would be let down for me when not everything changed. So I start this new year trying as best I can to slow down and take every moment in. Life is full of moments not to be missed by other things getting in the way. I want to be more present in the day to day things going on around me. In doing that, I believe there will be change in many things.

So blessings to you and yours for a very happy and healthy 2012, and slow down with me and breathe in life all around.

Happy New Year!