in with the good

Last night I made Kale Chips.  After I put them in the oven to bake I thought, "Who even am I?!"  

I used to be the kind of person that when offered a salad I thought, "Have I angered you somehow? What did I do to deserve this horrible excuse for a meal?"

I've never really been the healthy type.  I pretty much ate and did what I pleased through high school, college, and up through the first 3 years of my marriage.  A few happy pounds and two beautiful babies later I found myself wanting to make some changes.  In the past I had halfheartedly made some commitments to exercise or eat better and they all ultimately ended up falling through within weeks or even days.  

The truth is I was content with where I was.  I didn't hate my body or have low energy.  I loved to eat sweets all of the time and every night was treated like it was a celebration and I would allow myself to give in to whatever craving I had. (mostly because I'm an adult and thats one of the perks after all!)  When things got hard there wasn't necessarily a big motivation for me to continue on.  

After experiencing the exhilaration of natural childbirth with Avett I literally felt like I could do anything.  I remember the moments right after I pushed him out I kept repeating, "I can't believe I just did that!  That was amazing!!"  I mean I was practically yelling it.  Childbirth was the highest of the high feelings I had ever felt. It made me want to do more things to push my body to new limits.  Giving birth to Avett was the positive driving force that gave me the confidence to know that I can do hard things.

So, when 2014 rolled around I made the cliche resolution that this year would be different.  I adopted the motto, 

"In with the good."

We have been eating a lot of good lately.  And I am proud to say that I have lost 17 pounds so far and John has lost 19.  We've lost 3 pounds more than what our two year old Evaleigh currently weighs.

I feel like we have become accidental occasional vegetarians.  We eat meat sparingly and have vegetables with every meal.  Lots of water.  Juicing.  Soup from Juice Pulp.  Greek Yogurt.  Cauliflower rice. Morningstar burgers.  Exercise.  Boiled Eggs.  Roasted peppers.  The occasional bowl of ice cream because we are human after all.  Coconut Oil.  Flax Seed.  Nuts.  Apples.  

So, hello kale...we are so excited about our new changes.

kissing trees

We have been loving this warmer weather.  The other day we got out and picked flowers and ran and swang and played with birds nests and checked on the buds growing in the orchard and learned to kiss trees.  

Growing up my mother taught us all about the outside.  We practically were raised in the woods playing outside from sun up to sun down.  I have fond memories of Parker rock in our backyard.  Picnics on that rock.  My sister and I climbing the tree we named Mabel.  Digging toilets in the ground.  Making trails that lead to a make believe pony camp.  Walking through streams.  Picking flowers and countless walks.  My mother has always been quite the gardener.  She never missed an opportunity to let us look at her flowers.  She would tell us that the secret to her beautiful flowers was that she would talk to them and tell them they were beautiful.  

This weekend Evaleigh and I found ourselves in the orchard.  The trees are all sprouting and displaying their new buds.  This summer we will have peaches, apples, pears, plums, cherries, blueberries, and huckleberries.  I've loved watching these trees grow from what looked like broomstick handles to 10-25 foot trees.  It's a beautiful measure of the passage of time.  I am proud of those trees my mother and her husband planted.  So I taught Evaleigh to kiss them and tell them they were doing a good job growing and that they were beautiful.   

I felt like my mother.

I'm glad to become like her.

four years ago

Four years ago my sweet Evie was just over a year old and i was brand new pregnant with Avett.  I came across these pictures today and showed them to the kids.  They loved looking at the old photographs and OOO'd and AHHH'd over baby Evie.