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!