Before and After Whole 30 ****warning, before and after photo's enclosed!!****

So, I completed the Whole 30 challenge!!! Basically, the Whole 30 challenge is for 30 days, you do not eat any form of sugar, wheat, dairy, or preservatives. You eat A LOT of vegetables, lean meats, fruits and nuts (no peanuts). It was rough the first couple of days without the wheat and sugar, I actually started getting shaky. But after the first four days, I felt a lot better. I also had more energy, which was good because I also made it a goal to work out 5-6 days a week. It has actually been a lot of fun, because Adam is very active, so we've been spending much more time together. We've gone running at night, gone to the gym, and done work outs at home together. I've also been going to the gym with my mom, and been doing workouts with my friend Stacia. My hopes from the Whole 30 were really just to feel better. I had started to feel so sluggish, that something as small as taking my baby for a walk in the stroller felt like too daunting of a task. Now I have so much more energy to play with her and keep up with my ever growing child!! My secondary goal was to lose some of that pesky baby weight. It's not like I gained a ton, but it was the heaviest I've ever been and it wasn't doing a lot for my self confidence. Well, after 30 days of strict commitment, I DO feel a lot better, much healthier, and yes......10 pounds lighter :) I am quite happy with my results, and proud of myself for sticking with it!! I can't say that I'm going to be able to be AS strict as I was this past 30 days with my diet, but I am going to strive to continue to eat healthier, and definitely stay active. It's good for my health, and it's good for my marriage!!! I have even been so bold as to post my before and after photo's. (and yes, I am flexing as hard as I can in both the before and afters. I promise you I was not sticking it out!) If you want to know more about the Whole 30 challenge, go to whole9life.com

Gotta do the "Grateful's"

***Disclaimer....this post was more for my own purposes, is kinda lengthy and maybe not that interesting to some of you, so if you wanna skip this one, no hard feelings :)

So, for some reason tonight, I've let feelings of inadequacy creep up, and I've got a case of the "shoulda, woulda, coulda's". Never-mind the fact that I'm a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a full time employee.....I feel like I should be doing, well, more (???). I am basically feeling sorry for myself for not being super-woman, and when this happens, I go through all of the things that I am grateful for in my life, and it usually makes me feel better. So, worth a try, no?

1-Obviously, I am most grateful for my family. My "mom, dad, brothers, sister" family, my "in-laws" family, and my "husband, daughter" family. It has come to my attention the last few days just how wonderful, open, loving, accepting, and perfectly imperfect my family is. Each and every one of them would stand in front of a speeding train for me, and I can say with the utmost certainty that I would do the same. I thank God for them several times a day, and I wouldn't know what to do if even just one of them wasn't in my life. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!! I'M GRATEFUL FOR MY FAMILY!!!

2-I'm grateful that both Adam and I are employed. That is such a blessing, especially right now. Not only are we employed, but I have AMAZING health insurance. Adam has been to countless doctors visits, physical therapy visits, chiropractic visits for his back, and did I mention the thousands of dollars of dental work taking up residency in his mouth? How wonderful that all we've had to do were tiny little co-pays, for which I use a pre-taxed flexible spending card? I'M GRATEFUL TO GET 4 PAYCHECKS EVERY MONTH!!!

3-On that note, I'm grateful that my parents taught me how to budget. Yeah, we've got debt up the ying-yang, but with the skills that have been engrained in me by Janet and Quin, it won't be long before I say "Buh-bye" to that debt for good! I'M GRATEFUL I KNOW HOW TO SAVE MONEY!!!

4-Ok, I know I said family already, but Ella gets her own number :) She is the most exciting part of my day, every day. I love going into her room in the morning and seeing that smile. I love coming home from work and seeing her kick her legs and wave her arms with excitement to see me. There is nothing like having a human being love you with such reckless abandon. She is the. best. Period. I'M GRATEFUL FOR MY BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, MIRACULOUS, SWEET, HAPPY, GOOFY, WONDERFUL BABY DAUGHTER ELLA!!!

5-I'm grateful to have a roof over my head. Sounds pretty basic, but there are so many people just in Salt Lake City that sleep in parks and on benches because they do not have this luxury. I get in my car every day, drive into a paved driveway, walk into a heated home, sit on my very comfy couch, eat my delicious food at a big table and crawl into a massive warm bed with my husband (and have you seen my husband?) and go to sleep knowing that I'm safe and loved. I'M GRATEFUL FOR A PLACE TO CALL HOME!!!

6-I'm grateful for my friends. The ones that I have now, there are no words. Every single one of them inspires me in a different way. They love me, not because of how I look, or what I do, but because they just do. No conditions. They were there when my life resembled a really depressing after school special, and they are still here years later. I love you all!!! I'M GRATEFUL FOR THE BEST FRIENDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!

7-I'm grateful for my Father in Heaven. Ha- you wanna talk about unconditional love??? I'm quite sure he carried me through at least a couple years of my life. There were days when I do not know how I ended up in my office chair at 7am, but I got there. For that matter, there were days I don't know how I breathed in and out, but I did. Not because I'm so strong, but because I had a Father in Heaven who saw one of his daughters struggling, reached down, picked up her up, and put her where she needed to be. I've never doubted the presence of God in my life. I've doubted A LOT of things, but never that. I love my Heavenly Father. I'M GRATEFUL FOR HIM!!!

........see, feelin' better already.

Holiday wrap up and more!

So I realize most of these are out of order, and there are even some duplicate pictures you've already seen, but I do what I can with what little free time I have!! So enjoy :)

Ella and I went for a little hike on Saturday...we both had cabin fever, so even though she was tired, we fired up the Jeep Stroller and headed up the mountain side!

Here's my cute little stinker playing in her clothes hamper. She thought this was pretty cool :) She's still not crawling yet, which really is fine with me! But she is very close, she gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, scoots backwards, and sideways, but no forward motion yet!

This was Christmas morning. Ella had some breakfast and then opened her gifts. Her favorite was her Lullapet, it sings songs and tells stories. What a perfect first Christmas we had with her!

This was my moms Christmas masterpiece. It was a white chocolate peppermint cheesecake cake!! All set on a peppermint candy platter. My mom rocks!

Some pic's of the classic Nativity. Ben was Joseph, Keslee was Mary and Ella was baby Jesus. My mom read from the bible while we watched on, it was very sweet :)

Here was the Christmas Eve feast....and it was AMAZING!!! Tenderloin, potatoes, carrots, salads....oh man, my stomach is growling just typing that out. Can't wait for next years dinner!!!

We got a new niece in December. Molly Luekengah!! She is a precious little doll :)

I realize I already posted about my get together with my friends, but there are a couple more pic's here :) Love this tradition!

Isn't she THE most beautiful little girl you've ever witnessed?!?! I mean, you've heard the saying that a smile can light up a room, but hers actually does. LOVE HER!!!

Some extra Santa pic's...I'm hopin' next years Santa pics are this successful!

Here is Santa. How nice of him to fly in all the way from the North Pole days before Christmas just to get pictures with my little girl ;)

This was one of the coolest things we did this year. This is a refugee family from Africa. It is one woman, I think she is 26 or 27, taking care of her four kids and two of her sisters kids. By herself. When my mother in law met her last year, they had NOTHING in their apartment. So she and some other women in the stake rallied and with the help of Linda's employer and donations furnished her apartment. We thought it would be great to omit sibling gifts this year and take that money to give Christmas to them. We got clothes, coats, toys and some food and took it over a couple of weeks before Christmas. They were SO friendly and just seemed happy despite their meager living situation. We picked up some pizza's before we got there and it's a good thing, because sneaking a peak in their kitchen all they had was Ramen Noodles. It was so great to get the nieces and nephews involved as well, because they really got into it. My niece Alina was so excited that she had picked out three of her own dolls and new exactly who she was going to give them to :) This truly brought back the true spirit of Christmas for me. It felt so much better to give to someone who genuinely needed such basic things like coats and blankets, as opposed to buying some lame $15 gift for your brother who already has anything they could ever want. I hope to make this a new tradition :)

**Oh, as for me...I'm doing something called "Whole 30" this month, basically cutting out sugar, dairy and gluten from my diet for 30 days, then continuing to eat healthy after that. I have also been exercising almost every day for the past three weeks. I will post before and after pics at the end of this month. It's not easy but I'm already feeling the benefits!!! Go me!!!