Thanksgiving {2015}

This year for Thanksgiving was my side of the family's turn. Since I am the oldest in my family and also the oldest grandchild, my parents and siblings as well as aunts and uncles, with all of my cousins still get together. It was quite the change from last year with Blake's family just being his parents and siblings with Blake's parents grandchildren. We went from about a party of 12 last year to over 50 this year and it was a little bit different this time around. 

My aunt and uncle were the ones who hosted it this year in there new house they had just moved into six days before! Along with all of my west coast family we also had my Aunt Hanna's family join in, they were going to be in the country and were originally going to spend Thanksgiving with her side but since there would be plenty of room at my aunt's house there were also invited. (And if you look, you can see my aunt's mom {she is Korean} holding Ella). She held Ella about four times during the time we were there! I didn't have a problem with it, but thought it was funny especially to end up having the picture taken that way!

There was so much food! And boy was it good! I loved all of the variety and time to be together with family. It was also fun to explore my aunt and uncle's new home. It comfortably was able to hold a party of fifty, which was quite the feat in figuring out who was going to host it this year.

With some Koreans joining us, we had some nontraditional Thanksgiving dishes including sushi and potstickers! I never got around to trying them because when I had gone back to see if any was left, it was all gone. But I had plenty of food so it wasn't too disheartening.

One thing I don't get to do very often is get together and just visit with family. Even though we are only a few hours away from each other, we don't get together very often. It was fun to finally get together and spend some time catching up and enjoying each other's company.

There is a little backstory to this picture: This is my cousin Kyli, she lives on the east coast but is going to school at BYU so she was able to come to Thanksgiving. However, since we are living in Rexburg we don't ever see each other and hardly ever before she came out for college. The last time we had gotten a picture together was my senior year of high school which was five years ago! So we finally got an updated picture and it is crazy how much has changed in those years.

I am thankful for family and all of the fun times we have together. I have so many things to be grateful for; a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, cars to drive, a college education, loving husband, wonderful kids, and the list goes on and on. I know sometimes I can take what I have for granted, or find myself wishing for things that I don't have that I "need" but taking a minute to look at what I am blessed with, I have a lot and I am very grateful for it and especially for my savior and what He went through. Because of Him, I have a forever family, and that is enough for me!

PC: Kevin Yoo

Ella {7 Months}

My baby girl is seven months old! I know I start almost every post that way of Ella's month growth, but the time is flying and she is learning so much everyday! She army crawls and planks daily, and seriously will be getting her six pack in any day now. She loves to use her voice and will "scream" when she is happy or is talking back to you. And you can tell when she is happy because she kicks her legs like crazy, and it is just the cutest thing ever! As for food; she has tried a few different fruits and vegetables but would much rather have the fruits, especially the bananas. She is following in her brother's footsteps with that one! She is also starting to like puffs and can grab them with her finger and thumb, but still struggles with getting it to and keeping it in her mouth.

Now that she is becoming more mobile, she loves to play with toys and will army crawl (she is SO close to crawling) across the room when she sees something she wants. Boston loves to give her a car so he can play cars with her and it just makes my heart melt to see my two kids get along and play together.

Ella is just a sweet and content little girl! She loves to smile at you and when you get her laughing it is the best sound in the world. She continues to sleep through the night and is just growing like a weed!

My Whole30 Experience

So for the month of October I decided to take on the Whole30 challenge. To sum it up in a nutshell; I stayed away from some foods that can have a negative impact on your health or body. So foods like processed, grains, bread, dairy, legumes, sugar, and alcohol (which I do anyway). I figured I could do this for thirty days, because in the long term, that is a short amount of time to help initiate a nutritional reset and feel better. I had made some goals before I started to help give me more of a purpose and focus on why I was doing this, instead of just avoid certain kinds of food.

Results

I had three goals; eat more intuitively, have better overall health, and up my energy levels. I can say that after thirty days I have eaten more of when I am hungry until I am satisfied rather than just going off of what time it was. I did not get sick when my family did this month, and I have had more energy than before with the amount of sleep I have gotten (with kids can be less than ideal). So I think my goals were met and I am happy and feeling great! However, these habits started forming at the end of my Whole30, so I decided to extend my Whole30 for fifteen more days to better get a grasp on those habits I have started. So my new end date will be November 14, but am thinking of possibly going until Thanksgiving. I am thinking of potentially adopting this lifestyle but adding in a few other foods not Whole30 approved; like sugar (every once in a while), yogurt, cheese, and bread. All of these would be on occasion and not at the frequency I had them at before.

Many times with the Whole30 people do it to kickstart weight loss, I did not do it for that reason but was pleasantly surprised to see a seven pound difference at the end of the thirty days.

Successful Recipes

With certain foods that I normally ate not in my diet for the duration of the challenge, I had to get creative and find other ways to enjoy the food. I tried some new things I found on Pinterest and thought I would share the successful and yummy recipes I would make again not on the Whole30.

Tuna Patties - I am one who like tuna and this made a great quick dinner when I was short on time. If you don't like tuna you probably won't like this one, but I thought they tasted great. My husband and little boy approved this one.

Cauliflower Rice - Surprisingly very tasty! I would definitely eat/make this again.

Almond Crusted Tilapia - This recipe use salmon, I only had tilapia on hand and it turned out great!

Buffalo Chicken Sliders - This had to be my FAVORITE meal on the Whole30, it was so tasty. And called for sweet potatoes as buns. I had never really had sweet potatoes before, but this was so good! I had it multiple times!

Pork Roast - I generally like a good roast, and it was so nice to be able to use the crockpot! I actually made this twice!

Two-Ingredient Pancakes - I found that it worked best to do one banana and one egg. It was too runny adding a second egg. No these are not like your traditional pancakes, they are hard to flip and have an eggy consistency, but they are good. Especially if you add in a little cinnamon.

Sweet Potatoes and Sausage - I altered this one a bit, since I don't like onions. I did add in some sweet potatoes and used a msg free pork sausage rather than kielbasa.

Lemon Garlic Salad Dressing - Salads were a meal I had maybe 5-6 times while on the Whole30. I knew I would need to find a good dressing. Making a Whole30 approved ranch seemed like a lot of work and I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand, but this dressing was so fast and easy and yummy! It was great!

Tips

Some tips I would give to first time Whole30ers are to:

1. Meal prep and meal plan - When I did not plan out what to make for dinner I did not generally have dinner, but snacked - which led to not feeling satisfied and made it harder to stick to.
2. Have Whole30 approved snacks on hand - When I needed a quick go to, nuts, fruit, or pre-cut veggies were a saver. When I ran out of these, I did not want to get something out to cook just because I was hungry.
3. Listen to your body - If you are hungry, eat! Don't deprive yourself because it isn't "time" to eat yet. I loved that I could eat as much as I felt like eating at the time and still accomplish my goals.
4. Take it one day at a time - Sometimes it can get overwhelming, just focus on the day and don't overthink.
5. Look at the Whole30 timeline - They have written out what you most likely are feeling and going through. It is so helpful and comforting to read because they are spot-on! So thinking that you are failing because you are craving everything non-Whole30 approved on Day 15, you are actually feeling how you should. 

I can't believe I made it through my first Whole30 and that I am actually continuing it. I love that I am happier and feel better! I hope to continue as best I can with this and continue improving my health!