Letter V-Veterinarian

We had another exciting preschool adventure. It just makes me so happy that I am able to do this with my friends and our children. Marissa's dad is a veterinarian so way back when we were working on the beginning of the alphabet, Marissa brought up the idea of going to visit her dad at the clinic when we got to the letter V. It was hard to wait for such an exciting field trip but the day finally came and Marissa had arranged everything with her dad so we could bring the kids in to explore and become veterinarians. 

Each child brought their own animal to take care of at the clinic.

Marissa's sister Anna, who works there, gave us a little intro and passed out some bandages for the animals. Charlie's monkey had a hurt tail...

They got to weigh their animals and themselves...it's great to know that when I attempt to hold both of them I'm lifting 66 pounds.

Then Dr. Christensen the Veterinarian (Marissa's dad) came out to help check up on the animals. So much fun! Charlie was ecstatic and loved every second of this field trip.

And Charlie got a little check-up too!

Lacey asked for the popsicle sticks for her kitty.

And they even got to give their animals shots!

And more bandaging!

All that was in the kitty room....we then got to go into the Doggy room. Lacey and Charlie were brave and rode the doggy lift all the way up.

Marissa's dad almost convinced Charlie to eat this dog treat.

And this is one of my favorite photos from our outing and I vote that it goes up in his office!

They even got to dress up in veterinarian garb

And then they went to the surgery room and the x-ray room.

Then they went back to the kennels where they saw a really big dog just waking up from his sedation and they found a nice clean cage to play in

Miles was a big fan of putting his animals in the kennel. 

And group photos as we left.

 It was such a wonderful day. It left a huge lasting impression on Charlie. (and I think Miles too) And I'm sure the other kids loved it as well. I seriously love preschool and the incredibly talented friends that I get to do it with. And a special thanks to Brother Christensen. (that's what I usually call him but it sounds weird here) AKA Marissa's dad.

Health Challenge

Back in October I decided to participate in a 6 week health challenge with a group of other Beachbody coaches. It cost ten dollars to enter and you could earn points during the challenge and then the winner got to take all the money. The total pot came to $230! I knew I needed extra motivation to get my nutrition on track and I knew what I needed to do to see positive results so I decided to join and win money while creating healthier habits. I had been working out almost everyday but it wasn't making much difference since I wasn't eating very well. 

I decided to keep doing the Insanity Max 30 workout and incorporate the 21 day fix meal plan. I've followed the 21-day fix meal plan in the past and have had great results. I really can't say enough about how awesome it is to eat normal food and how helpful it is to know the right portions. It really makes eating healthy a whole lot easier and there are so many more resources now to help find great recipes that go with the meal plan. It's amazing to remember what it feels like to nourish your body right yet it's so easy to forget how good you could feel when you're not eating right. I was making sure I was getting enough vegetables and protein which I don't usually eat enough of if I'm not tracking my food. I found that when I ate the correct portions of a balanced diet, I was only hungry the 30 minutes before a meal, which was great and when you typically should feel hungry. I didn't feel groggy or sluggish during the day as you might imagine with other diets you've heard of. Anyway, I'm not trying to do a sales pitch but I do feel like this is life changing for me and my family and everyone should have an opportunity to try finding balance in their meals and eating the correct portions of the correct foods.  It's not just for losing weight, you customize the plan to your needs, so if you're nursing, or wanting to maintain or gain weight, there are ways to go about while eating enough of the right foods. It really is a way of eating that can guide you for the rest of your life. 

Anyway, here are some of the meals we enjoy that are completely 21 day fix approved and filling and nourishing!

Turkey Chili                                                                Steak, roasted cauliflower, and sweet potatoes. 

 Eggs, chicken sausage, and raspberries                          Peanut Butter Banana toast

Blackberry "ice cream" Plain Greek yogurt, frozen blackberries, and a squirt of honey. 

 

And here I am being bold and sharing some physical results. In the 6 weeks, I lost 10 pounds, 10 inches, and I lost 6% body fat! That's what I'm most excited about. I feel that if I can just make positive healthy changes, my body will feel good and find a great equilibrium of fat and muscle. I'm not going for a certain weight or waist size. I'm still working on that baby belly 20 months later but I'll get there eventually. In the meantime I feel great with this progress and that I have found a way to help guide my nutrition (and my family's nutrition) that gives me energy to fulfill my many responsibilities.

And in case you didn't know, I did end up winning the $230.

Thanksgiving

So, I was horrible at taking photos over Thanksgiving weekend so this may just be one of those wordy posts. Sorry. But not really sorry.

The day before Thanksgiving Max's parents came to stay with us for a couple of days. Max put them to work on one of the properties until pretty late.

On Thursday morning, after breakfast, we went to the First Annual Turkey Waddle and food drive put on by the mom of one of my piano students, also a member of our ward. We got there a little late but we still dropped off our food and did some running. They had hot cocoa, and doughnut holes. Max's mom pushed Miles in the stroller so Max and I took turns running with and without Charlie. It was a fun way to start the morning.

 The food drive gatherings

A group shot, taken by Max...notice Charlie checking out the Hot chocolate.

Charlie wanted to push his brother for awhile so I let him...and then he wasn't watching where he was going and tipped the whole stroller over. Miles wasn't hurt but he did get pretty scared. 

After that we went home and raked some leaves. I did another workout (I was at the end of a challenge group where I could win money so I was hitting the workouts and nutrition hard...and spoiler alert...I won $230...more on that later)

Then we had lunch and got both boys down for naps....Max's parents were off with his sister so Max and I enjoyed a nap too. I can't remember the last time that that happened. 

After a wonderful restful afternoon, I got up and made some sweet potatoes. When the boys were awake we went over to my Red Grandma's house for dinner and games. We were able to see my cousin who had just arrived home from his mission in Texas the evening before. I was able to play a card game with the grownups while Max wrangled the kids. We stayed until bedtime and then took our boys home. 

The next day I had a photo shoot in the morning for some friends of ours...since I'm lacking in Thanksgiving photos, I'll add some of those here. 

That adorable chubby little boy had that grump face the whole time. Haha!

These were taken at our favorite park, We played for awhile after the photos until Charlie reminded us that his feet were frozen from stepping in the creek.

After we got home, I finished my side dish and then we headed over to Max's Uncle Jay's house for another Thanksgiving dinner. 

It was fun to see Brent and Lisa and the boys. It has been a long time. Also, it is always great to see Jay and Annette. After the Thanksgiving dinner, there is the ever so popular wrestling match once the tables are cleared. Charlie was all in this time. And Miles even participated a bit. Max's cousin Jordan was super careful with all the little kids and they loved it. 

Max's parents went home with Brent and we went to our house to clean up and pull out our Christmas decorations. Yup and I still didn't take any photos of this. It wasn't quite the jolly experience we were expecting. Miles became quite the monster and multiple ornaments broke before they even made it onto the tree. I have a little pile of decorations and ornaments needing repair. Luckily the excitement has worn off a bit so he's not pulling ornaments off as much, that and most of the ornaments have moved higher on the tree. We put them to bed early and did some exercising. I'm kind of adding random photos from my phone now to make this blog more interesting...

The next day was filled with Property projects. The boys watched Max move, chop, and burn wood out the window for over 30 minutes while I got a workout done. They could have gone outside but Charlie didn't want to be cold. It was really cold...well cold for here. 

It was a productive day! And that was our Thanksgiving weekend. A lot of exercise, a lot of food, a little laziness and a lot of hard work. 

Preschool Birthday Party

A week after Charlie's birthday we were able to do our preschool party for Charlie and Lacey. Marissa volunteered to host it since we were out of our house at the time and it was Lacey's birthday as well. It was my turn to do the Letter U as well so we incorporated some Letter U activities but the party was the main event, partly because the letter U is hard. Haha! Also, Elizabeth came down the night before for an impromptu visit because their power was out. It was so exciting for Charlie that his cousins could come to preschool with him. Also, Lacey had some friends come to the party too. One of them was another Charlie who was the same age as my Charlie, they had a lot of fun together. 

We played spin the bottle with actions!

We wrote letter U on the white board then everyone got a balloon and threw it UP and put it Under our legs, then we pulled out the sheet to throw our balloons UP and get UNDER the sheet. (letter U, get it?)

After that got kind of wild we switched gears to make Stained glass UMBRELLAS.

We had Mac & Cheese and Pineapple for lunch with little UMBRELLAS

And then Marissa had a cupcake decorating station. That was a major hit for the kids!

Notice Miles having one fist full of candy and another full of cupcake! Haha! He was a happy boy.  

It was a madhouse but so much fun! Who doesn't love birthday parties...and preschool?