Father's Day 2014

Ryan is the ultimate dad. He may not always hear the girls in the middle of the night when they cry, but when he does, he lets me sleep and he will stay up with them for hours until they go back to sleep. He is hands on. He knows all the Disney princesses and their corresponding songs. He actually enjoys watching Tangled and Frozen. He frequently takes the girls out on daddy-daughter dates and they always come back feeling extra loved. He is a great listener. He will listen to Brinley's many stories about her day and ask her questions about all that she did, especially what she learned during school time. My biggest fear of working at night and on the weekend, was being away from Brinley and Ellie. I knew Ryan could handle it, but there was always a bit of guilt whenever I left the house in a complete mess and dinner half-done in order to run out the door to work. I've been working for almost 10 months now and I can tell you that Ryan does it all. He cooks, cleans, bathes the girls, washes hair, reads books, tucks them in bed, vacuums, and folds laundry. He never complains. He is always first to reach for the scriptures during meal time, breakfast time or dinner, depending on how much time we have. He gives them both Priesthood blessings and leads our family by example. We are so lucky to have you! We love you! 

Eggs and bacon for breakfast and a fruit/spinach smoothie

I can't let Father's Day go by without reflecting on my own father and all that he has done for me. My dad is one of the hardest working men I know. I think I appreciate him more now because as an adult, you realize that sometimes raising kids and "living the dream" really sucks. Life is hard, but my parents never let on how hard life was for us at times. My dad has shown me that having a good education is priceless. He is so much fun. I think I get my silliness from him. He is always doing weird dance moves and telling stories from his childhood that always have us rolling with laughter. He continues to give me fatherly advice and show support for my own family and I'm so appreciative of that. 

I'm grateful for the men in my life that are amazing examples of what a good father should be like. My dad, father-in-law, grandpas, uncles, cousins, brothers, brother in laws, and my wonderful husband. 

The Girls Shared Bedroom

I'm telling you, the best decision I've in the past year was to put Ellie in Brinley's room just before her 1st birthday. Those two have been inseparable ever since. Before moving Ellie in, Brinley came out of her bedroom 5-10 times before finally falling asleep. She woke up easily. She kept saying she was "scared of the dark" and didn't like the door shut. That girl was relentless! 

And now that they share, Brinley has fallen asleep quicker, has slept harder and rarely wakes up if Ellie cries in the middle of the night. Ellie sometimes thinks bedtime is a big party but for the most part, she falls asleep without complaint. The worst part is that the wake each other up in the morning. Sometimes at 6:30am. I'm sure lots of you are laughing 6:30am is early!? But really- if I see a 6 on my alarm clock I freak and it kind of sets a bad tone for the day. I am not a morning person. 

I wanted to remember this time in our lives with them sharing a room, so here is a little room tour. I'm still tweaking their bedroom arrangements and toy storage but for now, I think it looks pretty good!

I have a pretty intense toy organizing process that I do every 2 weeks and it keeps me in control. The thing I hate most is how fast toys become unorganized. We don't have enough space for the storage system that I want, but we do have a walk in closet in their room that is big enough for their dresser. Close that door, and the mess is gone! :-) 

Date Night to the Beach

Date night. At the Beach. YES. 

Dinner. Mulligan's. Shared our favorite Firecracker Shrimp Tacos and a bowl of Seafood Bisque. YES.

Dessert. Non-dairy blood orange Gelato. YES. 

Such a fun date! So relaxing. No big agenda. Just fun with my boo. 

I FINISHED WHOLE 30!

It's true! And I can't believe it.

This post might be really boring and long winded for anyone who couldn't care less about my Whole 30 journey. So if you're interested, buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride :-)

Just 30 days ago, I never thought I could stick to any diet. Taking anything out of my diet seemed like a tragedy and I honestly didn't understand what it took to lose weight. I graduated from college with a Bachelor's in health science, so yes I understand food, I understand it's complexities, and I definitely understand how the body works and functions. But maybe I understand it best through books, and helping other people, but definitely not on me. I've never held myself accountable much to what I ate or how consistently I worked out. And I definitely blamed my softness and chubbiness on having kids. 

So when we started Whole 30, I didn't have any expectations, and I thought Well, even if I do a week of this it's better than not doing it at all, right? Lame! I had no faith in my self! I had no self control with how much sugar I consumed before I started Whole 30. My biggest reason for starting Whole 30 was because of my sugar addiction. Whenever the girls and I went to the grocery store, I would grab some type of treat for myself. Skittles. a Twix bar. Flaming Hot Cheetos. a Donut. You name it. I ate it. And I didn't feel bad about it at all. 

Because of my sugar addiction, I got headaches. Like, multiple times a week. A migraine once a month. then followed with the migraine hang-over that lasted a few days afterwards. But I looooved my sugar, and kept fueling the fire. It was a vicious cycle that I didn't have the courage or will power to break. 

So let me break my Whole 30 down for you.

Days 1-7

How we felt: The first week was rough. The first day I had a blistering headache that would not quit. I was hungry all day long. Ryan would agree with me that he felt equally crappy. He didn't get as bad of headaches as me, but he felt run down and tired and cranky. The "carb flu" is no joke and we both suffered big time from it.

What we cooked: The first week was tough. I honestly only thought my cooking knowledge only extended from sweet potatoes, chicken, and spinach. Pathetic. We ate strange meals. Didn't have any dressings. And I honestly thought I was going to throw up while eating almost everything. My gag reflex was struggling. So embarrassing. I didn't know how much I loved a good crunch!! 

Days 8-15

How we felt: We came out of the "carb flu" and began to feel much better. Ryan is a pretty avid running/weight lifter, so he missed that during the first week. He could only run about 2-3 miles before feeling extremely drained of any resources. During the second week, we both tried to run a few times, but still felt very tired. My headaches went away and I felt full of energy by the end of the second week. Brinley got a bad cold this week and Ellie got stitches. There were so many opportunities to quit and order a pizza, but I busted out a quick dinner and called it good. Maybe it wasn't picture ideal or the best Whole 30 meal, but it was food and it kept within the parameters. 

What we cooked: It was the end of the first week when I discovered my homemade mayo and salad dressings. That pretty much transformed our eating for the rest of the Whole 30 journey. I tried out new recipes that I found on Instagram. The #whole30 and #jennawhole30 community is amazing. So many encouraging words and recipes and tips. I made kale chips. and tuna steaks. and yummy salads. and tried to eat as much of a variety of fresh vegetables as we could. 

Days 16-22

How we felt: We totally got into a groove during the third week. Cooking got easier. Meal prep was faster. Energy was up and we started to work out more. 

What we cooked: I pretty much made the same thing day after day. Salads or left overs for lunch. And roast veggies and chicken/steak for dinner. 

Days 23-30

How we felt: It is amazing how good your body feels when you're not dealing with GI track problems, overeating, or sugar hang-overs! I did eat some dried mangoes during this week and dang I felt majorly bad physically and mentally after doing it. Just that bit of added sugar made me feel so crummy! I'm pretty sensitive to sugar now.

What we cooked: Lots of the same meals as the week before, roast veggies, salads, lots of ground turkey, and chicken.

Now that I am a few days past my completion of Whole 30, I can see how beneficial it was for us, especially me. I am so surprised when I told people that I was doing Whole 30, and they looked at me like I was crazy and say why would I ever do that? Or you need to eat carbs, your body needs bread. Or you don't need to lose any weight, or don't you need that treat at the end of the night? 

The thing is, it was never about weight. Why can't I just do something that is good for the inside of my BODY? It made sense to me. It was always about restarting our systems and getting back on track with eating right.

The worst part about being on Whole 30 was when I accidentally licked my finger after making a PB&J for the girls and I would just spazz and wipe the jam off my tongue over and over again. I hated feeling guilty if I did something accidental like that. 

I've also realized that my sugar cravings haven't gone away. Actually, I probably crave sugar more now since not having anything for 30 days. But my self control is in check and I have enough will power to say no to treats and sweets. My headaches have been better. I got a migraine in the middle of the 30 days, but I blame that completely on being hormonal. I am grateful to have had minimal headaches this month and it's taught me that sugar is my biggest trigger. 

Now for my body, and what actually changed.

Before

After

 Before/After

You're probably thinking, I don't see any changes, and guess what? I can't see much either. But, according to the scale, I lost 5 pounds. 5 POUNDS! I couldn't believe it when I saw my weight dip into the 120's. That hasn't happened since before I married Ryan. 

Here are my top 5 reasons I'm glad I did Whole 30:

1. I don't need to eat a lot to feel full. And realizing that my body doesn't need to have pizza and rice and pasta and pancakes and bread to have energy. In fact, my body doesn't need any of that in order to feel good and have energy. 

2. Mind control. I have been so focused and determined. Ryan did Whole 30 with me mainly because I wanted to do it, and so he would sometimes say, If you wanna quit, I'll quit too because it was hard, so hard sometimes, and I would just kick and scream making meals sometimes. We are such enablers! And that's what got us in food trouble anyways, so I would not quit. I couldn't quit!

3. Muscle tone. Without doing much weight lifting or exercise (maybe 2-3 times a week), I've noticed toning in my arms and legs. My muscles have felt strong and I was able to do 20 push-ups this month!

I instagrammed this picture, and #whole30 reposted my picture on their instagram. I was a celeb for a few hours and it felt amazing! So many encouraging words from other Whole 30-ers. It was awesome! 

4. Trusting in my ability to make healthy and clean meals for my family. I haven't been buying much processed foods for the girls (pretzels, goldfish, crackers, etc) and instead I have been giving them fruit and veggies when they are hungry for snacks. Cooking from scratch 3 times a day for 30 days teaches you to come up with meals quickly and creatively. I haven't really followed a recipe either all month! Or have used any additives. Just spices, good oils, and my homemade mayo! Before I would use cheese, sour cream, and cream of whatever cans. Kind of makes me gag a bit thinking about what I cooked with before. It is amazing how many additives there are in food. Always read the back of food labels!!! Read read read. 

5. Confidence in myself. I am so proud of my accomplishments. It is pretty hilarious I'm sure to be on the receiving end of my Whole 30 speech when I talk to people. I just can't say enough good things about this program and my results from doing it. My body from the outside looks the same, but man, my body from the inside feels so strong and clean and happy. Those results definitely outweigh the outside results. 

I asked Ryan about his experience with Whole 30 and he is so happy he did it. He lost 7 pounds and definitely had a better before/after picture than me but he didn't take a before picture! Grrrr! He is so determined and focused to lose another 7-8 pounds to get to his goal weight of 175. I am so proud of him! The biggest change he has seen is in his GI track. He suffered from a lot of problems from eating dairy and has been completely free of those problems while on Whole 30. He also had a little bit of eczema on his face and scalp that would not go away. He hasn't been as itchy or irritated this month and we believe it's because of the Whole 30 diet.

So that's that! We are finished Whole 30, but are still eating the Whole 30 way about 80% of the time. We've already introduced steal cut oats in the morning and some black beans. We are planning on staying away from dairy for good as much as we can (except for the occasional fro-yo cone!). Thank you for all your encouragement! It is amazing how much easier things are when you have others cheering you on along the way.