I took the Health challenge

After I had my third child I had a friend invite me to join a health challenge.  Its called the Meltdown Challenge.  Its a group that encourages healthy lifestyles.  It's not ONLY about losing the weight but making healthy choices in all of the aspects of life.  I really like this way of losing weight because diets don't work long term, but changing your lifestyle will.   It really focuses on taking those small steps to making better choices daily.

Drinking water is one of the big ones they focus on.  Drinking water is so important especially to a nursing mom (aka ME!) Our bodies are 70% water.  Most people are chronically dehydrated and I know a lot of the time I am.  I try to drink water as soon as I wake up because I know I am dehydrated first thing in the morning.  I know it makes me feel better when I start my day off with a large glass of water with my ultimate minerals in it as well.   I have a harder time trying to fit in all 80 oz of water that they recommend drinking especially when I am drinking my quart of green smoothie for breakfast.  I just have to keep on top of it and keep my nalgene water bottle out, so I see it and am reminded to drink.

Another one of the areas is sleep.  Any mom will know that with small kids its hard to get 8 hours of continuous sleep.  I don't even remember the last time I had a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep..... seriously.....   Its hard especially since I wake up at 5 every morning to work.  So I don't get those points very often.  Sleep really is important though I try to get the most I can I try to go to bed at 9 so I get some good hours in but my baby is still waking up at night and sometimes the toddlers as well.  Oh well I will miss these days right?

Movement is another important one, ok they are all important.  This one is you can walk in place or while you are on the phone pace around.  I chase my kids around and play with them that gets a lot of movement in.  I also try to just be moving a lot, which isn't very hard to keep moving when you have little kids.  They keep you on your toes.  Another one is to chose to park farther away from the store and walk in, little things like that.  Take the long way to get somewhere instead of the short cut.


You get to set up your own eating plan and make your own goals.  The only goal that they set is you lose 6% of your body weight in 6 weeks.  Even then you get to choose because you can choose the maintain part of the challenge which is you can't gain more than 1% of your body weight but you can lose up to 5.99%.   The first time I chose to lose the percentage because I had some baby weight to lose.  Since then I have chosen to maintain because I can still lose up to 5.99% which is awesome.

There are daily readings that help motivate and inform you on making healthy choices and how to make your life easier.  I love reading these.  I find that they are clever and very helpful.  One example is this

One of the best parts of this challenge is that you pay $20 to do it and then the winners (meaning you lose or maintain whatever you choose and get your points required.) divide up the money pool and you get all of your $ back and some of the times even more.   So Its a win win for me.  I don't think I have lost a challenge yet because I choose maintain and lose still.

I have found that its true that its harder and harder to lose the baby weight with each additional child.  It might be because of the limited time you have or your body just getting older, I don't know for sure but I am having a harder time.  So these challenges have been helpful to remind me and keep me going to get healthier and lose some extra weight I have hanging around.

A big Thank you to my husband

I don't know if I have told my husband enough how grateful I am that I can stay home with the kids.  I love being a stay at home mom.  (I do work PRN/part time but its just early mornings and some nap times.)  I"ll write more about that later.
These are just a few of the things that have made me realize how lucky I am.

• I get to play with the kids, whether its animals with Lexi, shoot the bad guys with Max, or chase Sawyer around and tickle him.
• Cuddle with them when they are tired or when they get hurt.
• See them go to school and come home and tell me what happened
• Watch the rain and sometimes even play in the rain with them. 
• Clean. Like it or not. I like the end results of the cleaning. 
• Wash my clothes the way they need to be washed.
• Do my fun crafts
• Have play dates with my sisters and their kids
• Go food shopping if I dare :)
• Watch kids experience new things and how they react to it
• Make my garden plans for summer, and then work in the garden.
• Have fun summer days out in the sun with the kids
• I get to teach my kids how to work and the results of doing our chores
• Get to stay in my pj's all day if I want, and most days I do :)
• Don't have to drive in the snow
• They get to help me make dinner and have it ready for when Daddy comes home.  This is them helping me tonight make pizza roll ups..... Yes they washed hands.

• To hear the kids get so excited when they hear the garage door open "Daddys home!"
• I get to pick and follow our own schedule.
• I get to see the kids creativity bloom.   Lexi is always coming up with something new for her animals.  Houses or things they are going on a trip to see.  
• I love hearing them get along and be crazy silly together.  They will sometimes play for hours together before I have to intervene.  

Just today I wanted to do my crafts for my kitchen decorations and front hallway.  So there was painting involved... messy with kids.   Luckily my 1 year old took an early nap.  I got out some old boxes that were just getting recycled and had Lexi and Max paint those boxes.  They sat there and painted 3 big boxes for probably an hour or so.  I was able to get all of my painting done as well.  They loved being involved and "helping" mommy craft.  

I am so grateful that my husband goes to work everyday so that I can do and see all of these wonderful things my kids do.
Thank you so much Jared.  We love you!

Things I did before I had kids

Jared and I will sometimes talk about what we did before we had kids and if we had known what we know now what we would have done different.  I started to think about all of the things I used to do that I would never be able to do now.

 Like go grocery shopping just to get out of the house,  this was such a luxury I know now.

Sit down and read a book.  I love to read and I actually used to read for pleasure.  I started a book last summer and I think I am on page 50 and I have opened the book maybe 2 times.

I have a big sweet tooth so I could eat candy openly.  I didn't have to hide when I was eating it.

I was able to make a bathroom trip ALONE!  Now I am accompanied by 3 kids, even when I shut the door.

I have never been much of a TV watcher but I enjoyed a few series.  I even wasted one summer watching a whole 8 seasons of Friends and Lost.  Now we look back at that and say WHY?  we should have been out hiking or doing stuff you couldn't do as easily with kids.  If only......

Easy trips to the Temple.  I used to go on my way home from work all the time.

Taking a Sunday nap.  Those were the days.....

I could get ready and leave the house in 2 minutes flat..... now it takes about 20 min on a good day

Then as I think about all of these things, I think a lot of the things I enjoy doing now I wouldn't do if I didn't have kids.  Like making fun crafts or things for them.   Shopping at kids consignment sales.  Pintresting ways to decorate their rooms, or the backyard for them.   So really I guess I wouldn't change anything.  I love the way it is, and I love being a busy Mom.

A mother was born

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  

She never existed before.  

The woman existed, but the mother, never.  

A mother is something absolutely new.  

         ~Rajneesh

I read this quote and I loved it because it is so true.  I had no idea how to be a mom when we brought our little Lexi home.  I had a grand idea of how I wanted to be but things have not turned out that way.  They have been altered by what I have learned along the way.  I have done things that I said I would never do as a mother, and I don't think its bad.  

It is a learning process and everyday I learn new things.  Learn ways to be a better mother, whether its from doing something the wrong way and realizing it midway though or after or seeing someone else do something positive.  I am learning to be a mother just like my children are learning how to be children.  We are all in this journey together.  Being a mother gets harder and more complex the more kids we have and the older they get and they are only 4, 3 and 1.  I can't imagine what it will be like in 10 years.  

Some days I feel like I have the mom thing down pretty good (not very often) and then other days I wonder if I will make it to lunch.  It's those days that I have to really dig down deep and say what am I trying to do here?  Am I trying to get my to do list done or am I trying to be the mom my kids want and need me to be?   What is most important? This is NOT easy for me to do.  I am a list person and I love getting my stuff done, even if it is laundry.  I have to take a step back and say it's ok that the laundry won't get folded today or even tomorrow.  My kids need me to stop and just play with them right now.  I have really been trying to do this lately and I have noticed that it makes a HUGE difference in how the kids behave.  They are happier and more willing to help me do the "chores" later.   They are also so much more willing to play together later. 

So here I am a 4.5 year old Mother learning new ways to be a better mother for all the wonderful years ahead.  I love being a Mom even on the hard days.  I don't know what I would do without my kids.  

Strollers....strollers and more strollers

For those of you that know me know that I love to buy and sell stuff.  Strollers are one of those things.  I love to buy and try things out and if I don't like it I sell it and make my $ back, usually.  I have done this with a lot of baby stuff like cloth diapers, baby toys, and strollers.

This was the first stroller I bought before my daughter was born a baby trend jogger with the car seat.  I bought it off ksl so cheap to begin with and it worked great.  I loved it because I could go jogging with her.   It was so easy to maneuver because it had the swivel front wheel.  You could also lock it when jogging.   The bad thing about this stroller is that its big and bulky.  I had small car at the time so I had to take the wheels off it to fit it in my car.  Boo

Then you need an smaller stroller like a cheap umbrella stroller for quick trips in the store or whatever. 

Then I had a second kid and they are only 19 months apart so I needed a double stroller. I got a baby trend double jogger and I liked it but it was HUGE.  I could only use it at my house because it wouldn't fit in my car.  So I didn't like it that much. 

 So I got a double umbrella stroller for a trip we were going on.  It was pretty compact and I liked it because it reclined pretty well too.  It was still pretty wide though.  

We had a red wagon too. Every child has a fond memory of a red wagon right? big and bulky but still fun.  This thing never left our house, besides on those walks around the neighborhood. 

Baby trend sit and stand.   This one was so long and hard to turn.  I like it for when I had my baby in the baby car seat still because it would fit on either seat.  I liked the versatility of this stroller.  It can be two buckle seats,  one buckle seat and one open seat, or a baby car seat and a seat or baby car seat or a standing seat.   That part was nice but it was really hard to push when you had two kids in there.  Not a fan.  

I then thought ok I am going to start to run again because I love running.  So I saved up and sold all of my other strollers besides my cheap umbrella stroller and bought a Phil and teds double stroller. It was LOVE.  It was the size of a single jogger but it was double.  It was awesome.   I used this a lot.  Then I had a third child and realized I am never going to jog with two kids in a stroller.  I tried it and we didn't make it very far before they wanted out and there was the end of my run.   I decided that it wasn't worth keeping this stroller for the $ I paid if I wasn't going to use it to run.  I would rather sell it and have a cheaper stroller for less money.   I had a hard time selling this one because I loved it so much but I had to remind myself that it wasn't realistic to keep it.  

  

I even tried to double stroller with my single cheap umbrella haha the kids didn't like that too much. 

My husband and I like to ride bikes so we had a bike trailer that also was a stroller.  It was just large.  I like it but it just stays in the garage and we wheel it around here to the parks. It never goes in the car because its too big.  I love that its both a stroller and a bike trailer though.  It seems pretty comfortable because the kids always fall asleep in it.  

Yes there are more :)  

Remember this is over a time period of about 5 years. 

Then I tried out the city mini and it was a little bit nicer than your regular umbrella stroller but still very compact and super easy to fold down.  You can collapse it with one hand and that is important when you have three small children.  So that was a major perk to this.  I got this off ksl as well and it came with the baby car seat attachment and a scooter that hooked on the back so an older kid could ride.   I thought this was an awesome idea for my other two kids but it turns out its really hard to push when there is a kid there.  Great idea but it didn't work for me.  

My newest stroller purchase is the bob revolution stroller I have always really wanted one an just never wanted to pay the $ for it.  I found one brand new at Target for half price.  I couldn't resist.  I have seen them around and I love how its a deep seat and I had seen it used like a double stroller where another kid would sit on the feet part.  Probably not recommended but great for a little bit when your toddler needs somewhere to sit.  I love how easy it is to maneuver. It has a big basket on bottom.  I love how far the sun shade comes down.  

I know....... I"m crazy right?!?  

Its a good thing I am good at selling stuff.  I think I will stick with this bob stroller and my bike trailer.  I use my baby carrier a lot now anyways so I don't need a stroller a lot.  I will always have a stroller around though because you never know when a toddler wants a break.   

Onions keep bacteria away?!?

I recently came across something saying that you shouldn't use half an onion and then put the rest back in your fridge because it will collect bacteria.    I had no idea about this.  I have never been a big onion fan so I don't use them alot.    Recently I have gotten a ton of onions from our local co-op so I have a whole drawer in my fridge full of them. I have been trying to use them more in my dinners and new foods I'm making.  I like the flavor they add I just dont like the crunch if they aren't cooked.
Anyways so I started to research this onion thing out and sure enough there is a lot of info that says don't put an onion back in the fridge half used. It will make you sick.   I remembered hearing that way back in the day when the black plague was going around they put an open onion out and it turned black because it absorbed the disease.   I remember my mom putting a cut onion in a nylon and wrapping it around her neck when she had a sore thoat to help with it.



I started to put a cut onion out on my kitchen counter to see if it will help us this winter.  We are doing a lot of new preventative stuff this winter to try to not get sick as much.  We are eating kefir daily,  drinking green smoothies, and drinking our minerals.   We haven't gotten sick this year yet.   It might be because its a mild year but we will see.  I believe its helping for sure.  I have had a start of a sore throat a few times but it never gets past just the start of a sore throat.   So I figured leaving an onion out can't hurt.

I also started to read up on more onion healing powers.  You can cut an onion and put it in your sock at the bottom of your foot and it will clean your blood and kills bacteria and viruses.   I think its worth a try.  It could all be a myth who knows.  What do you think?

Cokeville Miracle

 Some shows are just shows and some really make an impact on our lives and this was one of them for me.

This movie was scary, full of anxiety, sad, happy, crazy, unbelievable and amazing.  We went to Aunt Darces house and watched this with her.  I missed a good chunk of the movie where the guy is holding them hostage until after the bomb goes off.   I was getting the kids some drinks and dinner.   Its probably good though because I am a worrier and I already worry about crazy things happening to my children.  Some of them are probably silly and unreasonable but I am just a worrier.  Part of that just comes with being a mom though. 

There were a few things that really hit me or that impressed me with  it.  I loved that even though something bad happened and the kids were hostage and there was a chance of them dying.   They still believed they would be ok.  Children are so pure.   They prayed and believed it would all work out.  They had so much faith.  We all have bad things happen to us, some worse than others.  It made me really think about this and how we can have a positive attitude and have faith that things will work out.  They all got out safe and none of the kids died.   Multiple kids had said that they had seen angles there to help them.  Some of the angels were holding the kids hands, some were just standing by them, some told the kids to get closer to the window.    Even if bad things happen there can be good things happening or helping in those times.  It gave me a little bit more faith to not worry so much about crazy things happening to my children because things happen and if something did happen there would still be something positive in it.  There are growing experiences in those hard and trying times.   God is always there for us and he knows us so well.  

Another part of this movie that touched me was the dad of the kids was struggling with believing and his testimony.  Even after he investigated, saw and heard all of the testimonies of the kids he still doubted.  He had all of the evidence or experiences right there in front of him.  Even his own kids experiences he didn't know if he believed.   It was laid out in front of him and he wouldn't see it.  I wondered if I sometimes am like this.  Blinding myself from seeing things, seeing the modern day miracles of God in my life.   I don't want that to be the case so this opened my eyes a little bit. I want to be open and be willing to see the good in life even in the hard times.  

I really liked this movie and would recommend it to everyone.  

Family Favorite nutrient packed smoothie

 Ummm...... What is in that?

I tell you what this is the only way I can get Lexi to eat her veggies and fruits.  This smoothie is the only way she is actually going to grow.  It has a lot of great things in it.  

This is enough for two people, or 2 quarts ( I could drink all 2 quarts its so good)

3 cups coconut water

2 carrots washed

1/2 cup cashews

1/2 cup dates pitted (winco)

1/2 of a beet

2 Tbs flax seed oil

1 Tbs chia seeds

2 Tbs milk kefir

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 a lemon with skin

24 whole strawberries

Blend on high for 30-60 seconds and there you have a wonderful tasting smoothie with a lot of nutrients in it.   The kids and even Jared loves it.  It has a very different taste.  When I first made this recipe I didn't have the strawberries and I tried mangos and it did not taste quite as good.  Something about the strawberries mixed with everything else just tastes divine.  Don't believe me try it or come to my house and try it.  

It turns this bright hot pink color and its very appealing.  

You can leave out the lemon, chia seeds, kefir and flax seed oil if you want but all of the others are essential to make it taste divine.