The wierd things I do

I have decided that I'm going to do a cleanse. If you have no desire to read any further...I completely understand. But I've decided to blog about this because I think it will be theraputic of me and also because it's what I'm doing. I've heard of people doing them and never in my wildest imaginings did I ever think I would do one...but...I am. I always thought when I was a teenager and even until I started having children that people who had their babies at home were crazy hippies and that people who did cleanses were just weird. It wasn't until I had my 2nd child that my way of thinking changed. Having my third child at home was difficult and rewarding and comforting and life-altering for me all at the same time.

So now I'm a home-birther! Not that Nate and I plan on having anymore but if we do it won't be delivered in a hospital! Anyway, I stumbbled onto a cleanse that a friend of mine did and absolutely loved. I was very skeptical. I started doing research into them. Some were just drinking water mixed with cheyanne pepper, honey and lemon juice, others involved some sort of pill. None sounded like anything I was interested in. I researched the company that my friend told me about called Arbonne and what the ingredients were in the cleanse. Many of the ingredients are herbs. Milk Thistle, Burdock root, etc. You don't starve yourself, but with the gluten intolerances in our family, this cleanse seems exactly what I need! I'm really excited about it and how I will feel. I'm going to try to post everyday about how I feel and what the effects seem to be.

I mentioned the gluten-intolerance, it seems that Ethan, Natalie, Me and possibly Conner are gluten-intolerant/ have Celiac's Disease. We have had to eliminate all gluten from our diet. This means no wheat, barley or rye products. So any cookie, cracker, pasta, bread, cake, etc. we can't have. Ironic isn't it when I LOVE to bake so much!! I didn't think that it would be a big deal at first but I also didn't realize the extent to which gluten is used in food. Cream of Chicken and Mushroom soup, both have gluten and are therefor off limits. There is also gluten in soy sauce, and caramel color, which roughly translated means soda, and anything dark in color. Food starch is gluten, and so I have been relegated to excessive label reading!! Fortunately I feel a ton better eating gluten free and Ethan has made a huge improvement as well. We have had less tummy aches and bathroom problems and Ethan is sleeping better as am I. Eating gluten free has other advantages as well. Most flours and products that are gluten free are also free of preservatives. This I learned when talking with my Visiting teacher whose sons are also Celiacs. Inspired assignment for a visiting teacher I think. I didn't know that we had this when she was assigned to me but having her as my visiting teacher is a tender mercy if you ask me. She has been very helpful with tips, and advice, and ideas for our family!! But I digress... anyway, this has been a big change for me and for our family. It's also been an experiment in seeing what is good and what is not. FYI Pamela's brand is the best out there for Gluten intolerances!! Cookies, bread you name it she has a mix for it and it's fabulous! My father was the one who was diagnosed with it and since it's genetic we thought it might be good to look into. I'm glad we did. So if you know someone who is gluten-intolerant or has Celiacs Disease, don't be afraid to have them over for dinner. We can have Corn, rice, potatoes, quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), beans, any veggies,and fruits, corn tortillas are fine just not flour, corn chips, and potato chips are ok too.

Here's where I found the cleanse: www.arbonne.com It's in the figure 8 line of products. I'm pretty excited about it. We'll see how it goes! Wish me luck!!

Thanksgiving

I actually have a few minutes...Nate is using the chain saw outside and our 2 adorable boys can hardly contain themselves. If it's electronic or some sort of machine that is powerful they want to own it, use it, or stare at it! Trains, motorcycles, tractors, monster trucks, chain saws, drills, weed wackers, lawn mowers, anything like that!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving and ate too much food of course! Uncle Daniel came and brought the Wii with him giving my kids hours and hours of mindless entertainment, which they of course loved. They even got him to spend the night 2 nights in a row. We had a lot of fun despite serving everyone some dry gluten-free pancakes! Still getting the hang of this gluten-free thing. I'm just not used to the textures and consistencies and everything that goes into it...but I will. :-)

Nate is home with us for 5 whole days...we're not sure what to do with him!! ;-) We sure enjoy every minute we get with him! Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving.

Life in the last few months

So I have been a horrible blogger...not gonna lie, I kinda figured I would be. With Nate gone as much as he is, I'm marathoning daily just to keep the house clean and make sure the kids homework is done.

We have had family out to visit this month and last and I'm always reminded of how much I love my family, not just the family I was born into, who I love dearly but my "married family". My sisters-in-law are the most wonderful and talented ladies who are talented in so many ways! My brothers-in-law are wonderful examples and my Mother & Father-in law couldn't be better. In life not many people have such a great support system. I wish I lived much closer to all of them!!


We have been trunk-or-treating, visited the train Museum, gone on picnics, the Pumpkin Patch, dinner together, and just spent time. Nate has visited several states and the kids seem to have grown a bunch. I am still heavily weighing homeschooling the girls and feel strongly that I should. It's actually doing it where I have been a bit hesitant.

I have been wondering why I don't have a huge amount of friends, people who go out every now and then, and hang out together at the park all the time. Chatting in the group of Moms that all their kids play together etc. In thinking about this I realized, that isn't my job. If I did those things I wouldn't have much time with my kids and, I'm actually glad that it's this way. I've never been "popular" I've always had just a couple of really good friends in my life and others who I like and would consider chat buddies or good acquaintances. It takes a lot of effort for me to be a good friend and being a good friend to a lot of people just isn't possible. So I just decide to like everyone and once or maybe 3 or 4 times in my life I make a friend that I will keep forever. I can say that I only really have 2 of those kinds of friends, if you aren't counting family. That is a blessing!! Those two people I treasure!!! One being my hubby!!! The other I won't embarress by name but she knows who she is!!! Real friends aren't afraid to say the truth if they know you need to hear it! She has always done this in a kind and supportive way, and yet, never backed away from what needed to be said, encouraging or even difficult things. Those are the kinds of friends you keep!!






Halloween was great. It was Little Nate's Birthday and we had family over to help celebrate! He is 4 years old and it's so weird how fast time goes by when you start having children!!! He is such a sweet, sincere, caring, and helpful boy! Everyone who meets him instantly loves him. He greets strangers with enthusiasm and people are drawn to him. He is such a special boy and just like his Daddy! He loves to help his Dad mow the lawn, weed wack, blow with the blower, and also pull weeds. He works side by side with him and I'm so thankful that he has such a wonderful and powerful example of that in is Daddy! He loves Tractors, motorcycles, garbage trucks, and trains.

Nate is still teaching Sunday school, and I am still in nursery and life is just as busy and wonderful as ever!!!

Camping

So for our anniversary Nate and I took the kids camping. I have so many memories of camping and I want my kids to experience camping as well. We went to Zion's camp. About 45 minutes to an hour away. We had a great campsite, great food (if you ask me, the kids didn't care for foil dinners and kabobs), and mosquitoes were aplenty! I thought it would be fun but I wasn't prepared for the wonderful time I had!

Zion's camp has a small pond, and a beach/meadow area around it so we went down there rode some paddle boats, canoe, and a raft. Played wiffle ball with Nate, Daniel, Amber, my mom, Whitney, and Amy played too! so cute how Conner and Isaiah would chase the ball instead of running to the base!! Badmitten and slip n' slides, and picked fresh blackberries too!! So much fun!

We had smores, foil dinners, kabobs, peach cobbler in the dutch oven (thank you Amber, it was delicious!!!), pancakes, lots of bacon, eggs and a bunch more!!

We went on a night hike that was really great! The kids complained and whined about how they were scared the whole way and wanted to do it again when we were done! It was so neat!! So peaceful, and beautiful!! I enjoyed doing all the food but need more practice and finesse'!!

Being up there was so fun, and I loved it so much that Nate and I want to go again this month! Loved it!





I did however, forget my camera!! So disappointed!

Palago Food

In no particular order, the Ravioli's, the view from the walkway to our workshops in one of the buildings, the Ricotta with Truffle oil and breads that I will NEVER forget!!! YUMMMMYYY!!!!

Chicago!

Got back from The Pampered Chef's National Conference in Chicago on Friday night. There is no way to adequately describe my experience! I think that everyone should experience that city. I can't not wait to go back next year!! I'll try to capture our experiences but it may take a few entries.

We flew into Midway on a stormy night. Thunder,lightning, rain the whole thing which made for a bit of a bumpy ride. I was surviving this until we started to land. We are almost on the runway when the pilot unexpected pulled up...I mean straight up. Or it seemed like it. The plane was shaking and bumpy, and all I could see was white clouds with horizontal rain, flashes of lightning next to the wing of the plane. So scary! They circled the plane back around and finally, mercifully landed! This one did me in. I was so sick!!! Still had to get onto a shuttle to take us to the hotel!

Monday was our treasure hunt at McCormick Place! This place is huge!! Takes up like 2 or 3 city blocks. Don't know for sure but it was massive! Got some free stuff and did some shopping for for Pampered Chef clothes, purses, decals etc. Then we went to the Hancock building! 96 stories and my ears popped all the way up but the view was so worth it!!! We were right next to lake Michigan!! Someone recommended a restaurant at the Hotel Conceierge so we went there. the restaurant is called Palago and this place was doin' it right!!! They make their pasta fresh every day! I had the Veal Ravioli's with a Pistachio Butter cream sauce!!!!! May I say.....WOW!!!!! Here is a picture of the food, restaurant and me enjoying it!!


Ricotta with Truffle oil!!!!! Toasted home made fresh daily delicious bread!! The ricotta with Truffle oil!!! DIVINE!!!!!

P.S. Having trouble getting all the pics. to upload so I may have to make several posts to get them all, sorry!

LOVIN' the Mommy life!

Getting ready for my trip. The goal: get packed, don't leave Nate with a sink full of dishes and a dirty floor! So far I'm only 1/2 packed and I feel like I'm in a hamster wheel with the cleaning part!! Got the floors swept and mopped without incident and went to do a load of dishes. Finished that only to find that the nice neat (large) pile of folded clothes on Conner's bed I was trying to put away was all over the floor. No longer folded and some thrown into the toy box. He wanted to jump on the bed and the clothes were in his way. It's a disaster in there!!! Started on that, and Ethan decided to destroy the kitchen while I wasn't watching...again...ok, I give up for now. I'll have to wait until they are all in bed!!! I love being a mom, being here with them and watching them grow. The house can wait I guess!!!