the deep end

I'm doing it, i'm dropping off the deep end.

Let me explain:

-Growing up i thought my mom was a crazy health nut (she was)
-Now i'm turning into one

I guess my mom made an impact on me. I like to think it was for good. I guess i've always been kinda weird myself. I've always like learning about health, this is one of the main reasons i chose to get my degree in Exercise Science. As useless as the degree is, i still enjoyed learning about it. Now i have my own family, and since i get to be at home and a homemaker i get to make food decisions for all of us. A few weeks ago my mom had me read "The Green Smoothie Girl." Her ideas weren't really that foriegn to me (we're been drinking green smoothies for years) but her explainations were helpful and because of those explanations i decided to do some experimenting with my own health. I'm always been as "healthy as an ox" according to doctors but i've also ALWAYS had alopecia. In my mind, something wasn't fitting together. If i'm so healthy, why does my hair fall out? That has been the questions for years. That is still the question now but i've finally decided its time to take matters into my own hands and see if i can do something about myself. And since i don't want to start buying tons and tons of pills or vitamins or spend thousands on treatments, i figure the one thing that i can afford to change is my lifestyle.

I'll let you know how it goes. For now i'm trying to eat mostly raw foods with some cooked but no meat and minimal dairy (yogurt). My experiment involves eating this way for 6 months and seeing how i feel--4 and a half more to go. So far, i feel great. has it been the cure all? I don't know, only time will tell. But for now, i'm looking for ideas that any of you might have on recipes, gardening, sprouting, dehydrating and anything else that might be part of my, and consequently, our (poor John) new lifestyle.

Oh yeah, i couldn't blog today without sharing my latest favorite picture in the whole wide world. Here ya go :) I LOVE MY BOYS!

sunday thoughts

Yesterday in Relief Society our Bishop taught a lesson and encouraged us to read the talk "The Effects of Television" by Elder Ballard. Today i read it. It is great. The talk was given in 1989. He spoke about the need to choose carefully the things and programs we allow in our homes. I couldn't agree more and i dare say, its worse now than it was 21 years ago. He discuses the phrase to be in the world but not of it and suggests that instead, we think about this poem:

All the water in the world
No matter how it tried
Could never sink the smallest ship
Unless it got inside.
All the evil of the world
And every kind of sin
Could never damn a human soul
Unless we let it in.

The choice is our own. It starts with us. Boyd K Packer said "You may not be able to control things out there with others, but you can control things here, inside of you."

We are creatures here on earth, we have tendencies of "the Natural Man" but it is up to us to give our best effort to overcome the natural man. That is what i believe earth life is all about. Nobody is perfect but if we are constantly striving to overcome our natures we will succeed. We will be happy. Our relationships will be healthy. Elder Ballard says:

We can live in the world, brothers and sisters, without letting the world into us. We have the gospel message that can carry men and women buoyantly through the “mist of darkness” (1 Ne. 8:23) to the source of all light. We can raise children who have been taught to discern and to make personal righteous decisions.
The Lord does not need a society that hides and isolates itself from the world. Rather, he needs stalwart individuals and families who live exemplary lives in the world and demonstrate that joy and fulfillment come not of the world but through the spirit and the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

We live in the world, but we get to choose whether the world will live in us. Thank goodness we have that choice and oh how i hope i can teach my children to want to make good choices.

still catching up

We went to Baby McLean's baby blessing while back in sanpete. It was great, and McLean looks adorable! Here's some pictures of Jack with his closest cousin :)

We tried getting a picture of them hugging. This is what we got

This one is Jack wondering why he can't roll over. Funny boy.

Biking! -by popluar request :)

So we bought a infant bike seat on Ksl and finally got it all hooked up. We love it! We just need a little warmer weather. But here's Jack on one of our short rides. He seems to like it, except for the wind :)

Good times, we sure love our little man. And we LOVE to be outside, bring on summer, we are ready!

I know i do this...

So i know i do this, no posts for a while, and then i try to catch up all at once. Sorry about that. But here's some random pictures of our Jack man whom we love so much :) Watching a movie with mom. Silly boy, he doesn't like his toys these days. He likes to play with things that we play with. Movies, credit cards, cell phones, wooden spoons, pens... those are his favorite toys. Remind me to not spend money on kids things...ever :)Just chillin. Probably wishing i'd let him play with my camera (i do draw the line somewhere)

Oh ya, another favorite toy, magazines. He loves them.

 He still loves the exersaucer. Even more now than ever. Its one of the only things that he is pretty content in on his own. Oh how we love his smile.

Jack makes us smile and laugh constantly. We love his laugh and would do almost anything to hear it. I can't believe he is 7 months old. Time flys. At 7 months old Jack:

-Still sleeps swaddled

-Laughs and giggles and smiles constantly

-Eats rice cereal and try's some other things

-Finally rolls over easily. But only to his back from his tummy. He's capable of both but why in the world would he want to be on his tummy? He doesn't, i assure you.

-Still loves walks and going on adventures with his parents

Oh, and we took him swimming for the first time a couple weeks ago and he loved it!

Huge bathtub = Pure bliss.

It was so fun! Here's a few pictures of that

Just chillin, he loved the floater, he definately thought he was prettty cool :)

Lol, he looks terrified. He isn't.

We're testing the baby floating theory.

The resuts: Babies float, everything except their heads.

My Before and After

This last weekend we went to Sanpete to visit. While we were there my mom gave us this old high chair that we got (I can't remember from who...maybe bridget? If so, thanks). Anyway, i'm was excited to re-do it and here's the result! Before: (Left)

After :) (P.S. It is red. The flash in the picture makes it kind of look orange, but it isn't)