Help a Sister out!!

My good friend Clerissa just needs some help!! Please just read the rest before you judge me ;). She's in the running for a contest and it ends THIS THURSDAY!! She has a youtube video that needs more and more views to win it. THAT is WAY simple! It's a pretty clever video too, and I think she really should WIN! After I watched it the first time, this is what I've been doing: while I'm at a computer I have the video playing on mute in on of the tabs. So PLEASE check it out and just have it in the background, on mute if you want. I usually don't bother with things like this, but she's my friend! I think it's such an EASY thing to do and I'm just asking that you do it along with me. No big deal right? RIGHT! :)

THANKS A BUNCHO!!!!

UGH!

I am so behind in school!! I'm doing my darndest...(minus a break I desperately needed) but STILL! I'm really not school savvy. Street savvy yes.

Emil is doing great of course. He says this is a really fun semester for him, I'm really glad!

Emil got a promotion! He is now the Service Manager at his Branch! YAY! He LOVES it and I'm so happy to see the difference it's made for him.

Work is pretty dang busy! Since my hours have been cut it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to get everything done! Usually things have to be left until the next day (which is a pet peeve of mine) and so I'm continually getting behind. I do all that I can to be efficient at work, but it's not as simple as that. Oh sure, what do I do? Work at the Cache-Rich Assoc. of REALTORS(R), address needs of the Agents. Some might say...ok so what do you do??? This list is very long. But basically, in between answering phone calls and email it's a lot of busy work. Filing, updated ANY changes (even a phone number) is 5 sometimes 6 different places, depending on what's changing. Making SO many phone calls to get things done that aren't. Making books for classes we have about every month. Addressing so many different needs! And the thing about it is, many times people don't think I do very much. I do get appreciated comments about how hard I work, but not very many. HOWEVER. That doesn't really matter to me, the point is I need more time than 4hrs. a day to get it all done! I enjoy it though! It's been such a wonderful job at this time in my life. It's a wonderful blessing.

So..I've got to get going with my bizzle! Wish me luck!

As requested, more hair pics.

Since so many of you asked to see more pictures, here you go. My FABULOUS friend Amelia did wonderful work on my uncooperative hair to get it lookin' this good and I LOVE every second of it!!! Fun and edgy! I was having a difficult time with the cut before and she made it all better!

Before I dyed it...

After I dyed it!




I really REALLY like it. It's also very different from what you are use to seeing me like, but I've always enjoyed messing with my hair. Just know that now, someone who really needed it, will have my long locks of red hair to enjoy. I definitely will not miss all the sweet old ladies who loved my hair and constantly commented about my red hair. Even tho I like it myself, I wanted a change and I LOVE it! So just be happy for me instead of saying what someone already has "OH NO!!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR BEAUTIFUL LONG RED HAIR!!!!!???? WHY DID YOU CUT IT??" Hahaha!!

Happy Birthday!

These are the embarrassing balloons I got for him on his birthday...


I'm incredibly grateful that he was born 26yrs ago yesterday! I'm deeply in love and want to share EVERYTHING with him EVERYDAY!

I'm infinitely blessed to have him in my life. I almost cannot bare how much my heart bursts when I think about how much we've grown together and been through together.

As I say over and over every day, I love you.

Good-bye hair!

Hello...SHORT hair. This is the shortest hair cut I've EVER had. And.......I LOVE IT. Haha!!
Go me! Yay for change! Change don't scare me. ;)



This cut is fun! This is only one of the ways to style it...so far it's my favorite!

I'm donating some of it, the part that wasn't died and I cut almost 14" off!!!

Haha! Oh man, it's gonna be fun to hear what ya'll have to say about it!

The Kind Diet

This book is GREAT!! This is an actress who is a Vegan. This way of eating consists of NO animal products or processed foods and PLENTY of wonderful foods and recipes. This book has so many recipes! She talks about it a lot as well which I really found it to be a good source of inspiration, information, and health. Believe me, you can eat really good food when you are eating healthy!!

So far I've made these...


...and some cupcakes for our Primary kids for V-day tomorrow. But sorry, no picture to tempt you with! They are FANTASTIC!!!

The meat substitues she has are yummy! Some of the ingredients were hard to find, and a little more expensive at first because they come in large quantities. But they last and I have already found some substitues for some ingredients that we couldn't find or afford. We also want to use up what food we already have instead of throw it away. We wish we had the financial luxury to spend more on these types of foods, but right now it's not something we can do. The ingredients that were tough to find, CAN be found online though. However, for now we are doing our part to just lean into all of this. Being healthy takes work, just like anything that is worth it in life. We've been able to keep our lifestyle exciting! Cooking has become fun for me. We've also found a lot of really GREAT recipes at www.allrecipes.com Most of the time you can just search under Vegan or Vegetarian and make your own adjustments according to what your goal is.

We've been learing so much about food, let me share:
Locally grown produce is MUCH better than produced that has been shipped from other countries. During the winter season, grapes, apples, tomatoes, assparagus, and more, don't grow well. But sometimes those that come from CA, or other close states, is better. When they have come from other countries, those foods have additives to stay "fresh" during shipment. Natuarlly, they aren't supposed to last that long, so they have things added to them.

Another thing we noticed that we're SAVING MONEY buy not buying so much meat and eating what we buy! Eating healthy hasn't been more expensive, it has been more cost effecient. A big part of it is due to PLANNING.

Another thing to watch for is GRASS FEED meats and eggs, if you don't want to give up animal products. The types of meats that have been grass feed is MUCH better than any others. Most animals are fed food that induces them to grow fatter, faster and it's cheaper to feed it to them. Why? Because there are regulations that most farmers HAVE to abide by or they will be fined or sometimes sued if they don't. Including what they grow and how they feed the animals. I won't get into it more, but these are things we are trying to watch for. We haven't been able to do EVERYTHING. But we are doing what we can, and that's what matters I think.

We feel SO GOOD!! It is a WORLD of difference! We are losing weight, have energy, and cooking has become EASY. Some of the ingredients are not only good for us but the clean up and measureing is SO MUCH quicker and EASIER! Just these simple things have been wonderful!

Yay for good health and changing our lifstyles! We are doing the best we can with what we have and it's paying off.

Can't wait!

I like Tim Burton's work even though some might say it's "weird". He is an INCREDIBLE creative mastermind in my opinion and I watch most everything he directs.



This looks SO fun!!

In other news...

My brother Sam will be serving a mission in the Santa Rosa CA mission...SPANISH speaking! WAHOO!! I love ya Sambee!

I saw and X-boyfriend on campus and couldn't believe he lives here in Logan. I think that's crazy sauce! He was trying to make sure I knew he was married and unavailable. UM...HELLO??? I AM A LOT MORE UNAVAILABLE THEN YOU MR.!! Look, we don't have to be friends, we don't even know each other anymore!! Yea, well I didn't say any of that of course. The good stuff always comes to ya after the fact doesn't it! I hope he's different than when I knew him, I know I sure am. He put us both through a lot of crap, but I was a complete mess too. It taught me a lot, but I definitely think it's insane that we both ended up moving to Logan with our spouses...not to mention living 6 blocks away from each other!! Too weird!

School and life is busy as usual. We watched a documentary called Food Inc. Click there for a preview. We both were amazed at all that we learned and it really affected me, in a good way. We've thought so much about it and really have tried to implement a lot of what we learned into our diet. We HIGHLY recommend you watch it. We rented it and ended up buying it afterwords. In light of all we learned from that we've also been re-reading the Word of Wisdom and other scriptures in the Bible that talk about the use of meat from animals and other foods. The documentary really seems to be in line with the guidelines in the scriptures, which is great!

It's been really neat and we're working hard to get a good balance. We have been eating more vegetarian then we did a few weeks ago. It's been good in some ways, but I've felt really REALLY faint, tired, I'm paler than usual, and clammy. I have hypoglycemia and protein gives me the energy I need to function. I've tried all kinds of nuts, brown rice with veggies, cottage cheese, peanut and almond butter, soy milk, etc. but it's not doing the trick. It's almost been two weeks and I think I need to re-vamp things. I talk to a Registered Dietitian about it and order a book full of Vegan recipes too. I hope to find a way to eat meat less, but still get the energy I need. It takes a lot of work and time to figure all this out, but it's WORTH IT!! Anything that is hard is also worth it.

We are excited to weigh in on Friday and see if we've maintained or lost any more weight. We get to hear from an "Iron Man" Thursday night, that should be interesting...haha!

Is anyone else tired of the bitter cold and snow? Utah County is warm compared to Logan. What a crazy difference 2 hours makes...

I miss our baby Nayia, as usual. But the waves seem to come stronger at different times. I can't believe she'd be almost 26 months. Before I know it her 3rd B-day will be here! I wish that I could be watching over her grave better, it's almost the only thing I can do as her mommy right now. I also wish we had someone looking over it for us, but I know that some family members go to see her and spend time there. That means so much to us...we love you!