{Hawaii and Guam Family Vacation}

Sooooo, we decided kind of last minute that we wanted to fly to Hawaii to see Mandi and Luke and their kids! They were going to be there for 10 days on vacation and getting there on Space-A is FREE for us...why not go? It's a great way to see family. I just wish they all lived in Hawaii. We could HOP there often. :)

 

On the flight there we flew on a C-17. They say its the cadillac of military planes. It was very large. We sat in seats up against the walls on the side of the planes. And in the middle they had patients set up who they were taking to Hawaii to get medical care. It was nice because watching them do their thing the whole flight there kept me busy and made time go by fast. Before we took off they asked Gavin and Tanner if they wanted to go sit in the cock pit with the pilots during take-off. They came back with big smiles on their faces and said it was really cool sitting up there during take-off. I wish i could have done that! The flight certainly started off right. I was so excited for them to have the chance to do that. The downside is that the plane is extremely loud. You can't really hear anyone talking unless they talk in your ear. I guess that's nice when the boys decided to whine or when Jaydon started crying. I didn't hear it. :) It was a 9 hour flight to get there.  We left Okinawa around 1 p.m. on a saturday and we arrived in Hawaii around 3-4 a.m. on Saturday morning. We were stuck at the terminal until about 7 a.m.  We went through some difficult strtuggles for the next few hours trying to rent a car. Everything was sold out, but we finally got lucky after a few hours and found a minivan.  We went to check into a hotel, but we tried checking in at 10 a.m., and they said it wouldn't be ready til 1 p.m.  We were so tired so we all slept in a running van for two hours on the side of the road until we could check in at 12:30. We didn't have a phone that would work in Hawaii, so we went through a small ordeal to get a phone as well. :)  After we got through that first half of the day we were in heaven. I was LOVING being in America, in Hawaii, feeling like i was home. Paradise home. It was so nice to be off our small okinawa island, just to be on another island. haha!

 

Mandi and Luke stayed in Kailua, a not so touristy spot of Oahu. This picture below is of our drive going there.

 Here we are at the house they were renting. It was soooooo fun seeing the kids and our kids LOVED playing with their cousins. It was awesome. Truly. And this house had a fenced in yard, so everytime we went over there they would all just play and play together and we didn't have to worry because it was fenced in. We did lots of chatting and catching up.

 This is a beach in Kailua. It was a lot less congested than Waikiki. And there was lots of kite surfing going on. It was fun watching.
The water in Okinawa is just as pretty, if not prettier, than Hawaii's water. Our water in Okinawa is a lot more crystal clear. Part of that is due to the fact that we have lots of coral reefs surrounding our Island in Okinawa. The water in Hawaii was a lot more mucky because its all sand getting stirred up and around.

 Another difference between Hawaii and Okinawa is the sand and palm trees. The sand here in Hawaii is beautiful. It's so smooth and perfect. Okinawas sand is rough on the feet, and again, its because we are surrounded by coral reefs. We have tons of shells and coral on our beaches.  The palm trees in Hawaii are taller than the one's here in Okinawa. In Okinawa we have the cute regular sized palm trees. Hawaii has the really tall palm trees.  ALSO, all the mountains of Hawaii look like our northern part of Okinawa. North Okinawa has lots of mountains, just like Hawaii. It's beautiful.

 Hawaii felt more relaxed and more Hawaiian than Okinawa. I really liked the feel there. Oh i miss America. :)
Here's my sweet niece , Karsyn. I had to capture some pics of her.

 We have been doing great eating our plant based foods. We strayed a little bit while in Hawaii. We went to a burger joint. YUM! I will admit it, i still got a veggie burger. I liked it though. I didn't need a real one. I did a quick fun walk through at Macy's. Didn't buy anything. WHY?! I don't know why. sheesh. Probably because i need more time than my boys can handle. :) We also ate some Hawaiian food...Poi, and the pork inside the banana leaves. Those two together were my favorite part of the traditional Hawaiian food. I really liked it.

 On the beach at night!

 Waikiki beach. This beach was crowded. We ARE NEVER crowded like this on our beaches in Okinawa.

 Tanner trying to body surf.

 Tough boy...

 I thought this was hilarious and luckily i caught the picture in time. They were digging away...

 Our first two nights we stayed in a Ramada, but our last night we stayed in a really nice military resort called the Hale Koa. I wish we could have enjoyed it for more than just one night. This was our view to the right.

 This was our view to the left....

 And our view from our room down below....

Overall, we only stayed three nights in Hawaii. Sadly. We had to make it back by Friday, and unfortunately we have to go when Space-A is available. We arrived Saturday morning and had to leave Tuesday morning.  We really had a blast , and are already planning our next trip for next october/november again.
We left Hawaii and flew to Guam. We stayed in Guam for 24 hours.  I wasn't impressed with Guam. Guam is an Asian tourist spot. It's american territory, but down on the tourist strip along the ocean it's about 98% Asian tourists. I didn't really know what to expect in Guam, but i guess i didn't expect that.  Guam really wasn't  impressive. The ocean looked like Okinawa, but the island wasn't near as nice as Hawaii or Okinawa. We didn't see much of the island at all, i guess. BUT what we did see....blah.  Let's just say i know what it looks like and i have no desire to go back. :)
We finally made it home Thursday later afternoon. Our flight to Guam took 8 hours and our flight from Guam to Okinawa took 4 hours. LOTS of flying. It really wasn't bad though. It wasn't bad at all. I could handle that by myself, which gives me hope that our Space-A flight to America in March will be not so bad. It will just be me and the boys.
Space-A is such a nice option for us.  It does require LOTS of patience..patience waiting to catch a hop and patience waiting on the plane  and waiting to get on the plane and to get off. It takes a lot more time than a regular commercial flight. BUT they do give you an option to buy a meal for the plane. It's not like a wimpy meal you would pay for or get on a plane. We pay $4.00 for a meal and we recieve a box with a sandwich, chips, some kind of granola bar, oreo cookies, a drink, and some kind of fruit, etc. They make sure they give you plenty. Its really nice.
It was a really fun vacation. We had lots of fun together.

{My heart is full}

I spoke  at Youth Conference on Saturday. I taught two 45 minute sessions. I spoke on goal setting. It was a difficult topic, but i made it. I also taught the lesson in Relief Society today on Making Time for the Book of Mormon. That was a lot of teaching in a weekend. I am truly glad its over, but so thankful for the opportunity. I learned a lot about myself, about my life, and about my Savior.

Some things have been on my mind often because of all the reading and studying i have been doing.

When we come unto Christ he shows us our weaknesses. When we use the atonement to make our weaknesses our strengths, he then shows us more in our lives that we can make better. It's a continual process of growing and progressing. That's what we should strive for...to become more like Him. And he shows us the way when we come unto Him.  That's what we are here for. Our purpose here is to grow and progress to become more like Him so that we can eventually return to Him and have Eternal life. That's something we are to work for and strive for everyday. He will show us our weaknesses so that we can grow. He pushes us to fulfill the measure of our creation.  It's hard working on those weaknesses sometimes. Its hard trying to make it a strength, but we build character, we become better, we become stronger, and it builds our testimonies when we go through those trials and experiences.

Every person wants to know WHY they are doing what they are doing. We all want to know WHY because when we know WHY it makes it so much easier to do it.  We all have a purpose here and we want to know our purpose. It's built in us to know our purpose.  We are each supposed to figure out our purpose here and fulfill it.  Our Heavenly Father has every confidence and trust in us that we will be able to discover our true potential. He knows we can become MORE than we ever imagined in our minds. He knows what we need to do, and he knows our purpose. He pushes us in our life to fulfill our purpose here. If we don't KNOW our purpose here on earth then that can create confusion. That confusion can create insecurity. That insecurity can create doubts and fears. Fear is limiting. It limits us from becoming who our Heavenly Father KNOWS we can become.  If there is one way Satan can keep us from becoming who the Lord knows we can be, it is through fear.  But when we know our purpose here on this earth, and when we know our individual purpose it pushes us to become more. ANd more . And more. And through that process we learn who we are, and what we want in this life. We can become who He knows we can become.

And the thing is...our life here is so short in comparison to eternity. Take for example this illustration.
---------- . ------------------------------------------------------------------------   The first line, before the period, is our life in the premortal existence. We lived there and prepared to come to this earth. We learned the plan. We probably set goals, and knew what we had to do on earth and what we needed to become and achieve. That dot, after the line, is our time here on earth. Soooo short and it doesn't seem like much time at all. That would probably be similiar to ONE year out of our 100 years of life on earth. Our purpose on this earth is to GROW and PROGRESS, and we do that through trials, experiences, and testing. It's almost like everything in our life tests us to see our commitment to it. Our purpose is to have eternal families so that we can return to our Heavenly Father and have Eternal life.  What we do in that tiny span of existence here on earth matters so much.  We have so much to learn, to do , to become.  Our purpose is eternal life...so we should be striving for that everyday. We should be working on that everyday, in some way or another.  Because what we do here and now matters so much in the life to come. And the wonderful thing is that when we strive for these things everyday with faith, it makes us happier. It makes us happier because our eyes become more open to our purpose in this life, and more open to what we need to do. Somehow we see things more clearly and things start making so much more sense. I don't quite know how to explain how that happens, but it does.  Somehow the closer we become to our Savior, the more he reveals to us. It is through faith that he will reveal things to us. He is testing and pushing us to discover that. And when we start to discover he reveals more...he is blessing us for our faithfulness, and showing us the way. He gently nudges us along and lets us choose for ourself.  As we come closer to him its easier to Keep an eternal perspective, and it is so important everyday to have that because it reminds us of what matters , what truly matters most. We will see the big picture....for example...when someone says something to you thats rude, you don't get offended and BARK back. You, instead, are able to see that it doesn't really matter in the whole eternal perspective of things. And you move on. And might actually feel bad for that person who attacked you, wondering what difficult things they must be going through to act that way. BUT sometimes it is hard not to bark back. :) haha! That's where our human nature comes in. We are all human and will ALWAYS make mistakes. It's not possible to become perfect.  OR when you get caught up in the things of the world momentarily, you are able to keep grounded with that eternal perspective because you know it doesn't really matter because you know your purpose here. And knowing that purpose helps you stay grounded and helps you to become more loving  and kind and selfless. And its easy to keep an eternal perspective through scripture reading, attending church, filling your life with the spirit through prayer, and keeping the commandments and doing what Our Heavenly Father has asked of us. Those things bring us closer to him and fill us with faith and help us to see with an eternal perspective.

Our Heavenly Father rewards us when we show faith in Him and When we act in obedience. He blesses us in so many ways.  I am so grateful for the scriptures.  We have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much to bring us so much Scripture in our day.  All the sacrifices that so many had to go through to bring about the Bible and the Book of Mormon is amazing. He gave it to us because he loves us, and wants us to know how to live and how to return to Him. He is showing us the way home EVERY single day, we just have to notice and be aware of how he is doing it.  That's a huge blessing in itself.  He doesn't leave us alone. He is always there waiting for us to come to Him and is just WAITING to pour his blessings out on us for a faithfulness in Him. He loves us more than we can comprehend. I know its nothing we have felt on this earth. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to become GREAT. And i am so grateful for that.

{My sweet sweet boys}

I woke up to Shane getting out of bed in the middle of the night. He opened our door and as soon as the door i opened i could hear jaydon crying. It was about 3 a.m.  He started saying "I want mommy." over and over again. I was going to let Shane handle it, but he sounded so sad , like he needed me for some reason. SO, i went in there, stood over him and said "Why are you crying?"  He was crying the most sad cry i think i have ever heard from him. True sadness. ANYWAY, he said, "I want to hug you."  I leaned down, and he put his arms around my kneck, pulled me into him, and while he is still crying with tears rolling down his cheek he kisses me on the cheek and then squeezes me tightly. I put my cheek to his cheek, and he started calming down. After about one minute he was calm.  Then i said, "are you okay now?"  He said, "I want you to take a nap in your bed,"...he didn't say it demanding. He kind of said it in a way that he wanted to make sure i was safe and sound in my bed. I kissed him again and said goodnight, and then he was silent.
That broke my heart for him, but also made me feel so loved...that he needed me and hugged and kissed me on his own, without me asking for it or being the first to initiate it. Such a sweetheart. My boys are so sweet. I love them.

Gavin was sick yesterday. As he was sick he kept asking me to come be with him. Everytime i found a moment i would go sit or lay by him. It totally made him perk up when i hung out with him. I felt like my presence was the highlight of his day. That felt good. :)

Tanner was so sad that Gavin wasn't going to school yesterday. He cried and cried and didn't want to walk to his class without Gavin. I told him i would walk him to class, so i did. And he was happy. :)

Jaydon always tells me before his naps, "I like Gavin and Tanner. They are nice to me. And they are so silly."  We went to meet Tanner the other day by the door he comes out of after school. As soon as Jaydon saw Tanner, he ran to tanner , wrapped his arms around him and gave him a huge hug.  Then he came to me after that and said "mom, i really like tanner." 

Moments , like all of these, melt my heart and make me feel really blessed.

{Our week and weekend}

This last week Shane had to work 12 hour graveyard shifts, except for friday.  It totally threw us both off of our routines. I feel fairly tired this week, more than i have in a few months. I would go to bed fairly late with him being gone. I keep myself busy doing things because i don't really like sleeping by myself.
On top of going to bed late i would get woken up every single night in the middle of the night because Tanner kept waking up with a bloody nose. I thought that was a tad bit weird. Then last night Jaydon woke in the middle of the night sick. So, i was up for a few hours last night trying to help him as he puked. Poor kid.

Friday night we had our Branch Chili-cook off and Trunk or Treat activity. We joined with the Awase branch and i would say there was a pretty good turnout. Combined, it made me feel like we had a ward rather than a branch. :)  TONS of people brought pots of chili. I think there were probably 40 pots of it? That's a lot. Anyway, they had three categories for judging..."the scariest chili" "the spiciest chili", and "the best overall tasting chili".  I WON the best overall tasting chili category. I can't take credit for it though. I received this chili recipe from a friend about a year ago. It was the BEST tasting chili i have ever eaten.  I got the recipe from her and by the time this chili cook-off came , i knew what chili to make. :) I can't wait to tell her that her chili won! The missionaries were the judges and they said they knew when they tasted it that it was a contender. It was fun winning. I don't win things, so when i do it feels good. :) haha...

Saturday we had soccer games. It's always a blast watching the boys play soccer. Soccer is becoming my favorite sport, slowly.  Tanner's team is fun to watch because they are still kind of little and cute. Gavin is at the age where they are getting a better grasp and its becoming more competitive. His team is so much fun to watch for that reason.  Their team , so far, is undefeated for this season. They have two more games to play before the end of the season and i know Gavin is determined that they win it all. :) He plays GREAT out there and is so determined and just attacks the ball.

Saturday night i had a girls night out with 7 other friends. We went to eat some yakiniku, and then we went to the SLAUGHTER HOUSE. eewwwwww! scary! :) It was a blast. We had tons of fun.

The boys had their primary program today and i am so sad i couldn't be there for it. :( But i had to take care of little Jaydon.

This week is going to be busy. For SOME strange reason, i was asked to speak at YOUTH conference. uuuhhhhh, im not sure what they were thinking when they asked me, but somebody had to of gotten that one wrong. :) haha! Yeah, i am a little stressed, but i take it seriously, and so i stew, and think, and ponder, and read and study until i know i have got the write things written down that im supposed to talk about. And ive been struggling the past couple of days. I know i have one part written down right, but feel stuck.  I know it will come together, i just hope its sooner rather than later. :) That's saturday. Then sunday i have to speak in Relief Society. Not soooo sure how my sunday lesson is going to go, being that all my time is devoted to this youth conference talk. ha ha....

{Football}

Here are a few action shots for your enjoyment.  All the boys went out to play football. Except for Jaydon. He did some skateboarding. haha. :) I love all these shots because it catches them in the middle of plays. I love their body positions and i love the expressions on their faces. Its so funny. :)

 

{The Japanese Ninja/Airbender}

 

Tanner received an AWESOME Ninja Get up from his friend for his birthday. He loves it. He put it on and just giggled because he thought it was awesome. I asked him if i could take some pictures of him doing some awesome jinja posts. I thought he was going to say NO since we were outside and there were people around. ALL OF A SUDDEN, he starts busting out karate moves for me. haha! i love it.

 The bowing Ninja...

 Laughing, and being silly...

 Tanner trying to take the ball from baby brother. Typical.

 Jaydon being theatrical running across the street.

Shane's Night Shifts...

Shane has to work  6p.m. to 6 a.m. shifts this week.  So, the boys and i have been watching movies together, popping popcorn, making smoothies, AND tonight we took everyones measurements. The boys thought it was so funny. We found out that Tanner's head is bigger , round, than Gavin's and Jaydon's head. YET his neck is smaller than the other two. haha! We all thought it was so funny.  Then we measured their bellies. Gavin's, of course, was bigger around. BUT Jaydon's belly was an inch bigger than Tanner's! Hilarious.  Then we measure their legs, right above their knees. Jaydon's legs are bigger than the other two. We measured their height. Gavin is 4 ft. 3 inches. Tanner is 3 ft. 11 inches. And i don't remember what Jaydon is. We had a lot of fun measuring. :)

{Soccer and more}

 

I love my boys. And i love watching them play soccer, more than basketball. Did i just say that out loud? I might get in trouble for that one. :) I feel like they do GREAT at soccer and they fit well in it.  They LOVE it and they are playing all the time, in my house....much to my dismay. It's a blast watching them play at their games. I really hope soccer is their number 1 sport when they get older and have to pick between just a couple sports to pursue.

 

Last saturday Gavin ROCKED his game. He was attacking that ball the whole time. He scored their first goal. It was great. I think Shane being there pushed him to work harder than ive previously seen him.  This was the first time shane was able to come to a soccer game since the season started. Poor guy. Two of the saturdays he was working on day from being on call. Another time he was studying all day. Two saturdays were cancelled from typhoons. It's been wild.

 Tanner is so fun to watch. He can't seem to make those legs run as fast as the other kids, BUT he sure does try really hard to make his presence known. I think most people naturally underestimate his abilities, but he always surprises everyone with what he can do. It's so fun watching him play soccer. He plays an awesome defender and just attacks that ball when it gets close to the goal. Most kids run back to the goal and stand in front of it to guard it...he doesn't wait for it to come to him. As soon as that ball crosses over into his half of the field he gets this look of determination and goes after it and kicks it to the other side.

 Just for fun....

 The boys have some new hobbies lately. First, they like to make their own pokemon cards. Second, they love drawing. Third, they LOVE playing with legos. Fourth, soccer.  You will always find them doing one of these four things and nothing else. Jaydon likes to do whatever his brothers are doing...so he goes along for the ride, but likes to create chaos amid the fun. He just naturally destroys things. I don't know how , but he does.

The boys are playing really well together. Tanner and Jaydon have a better relationship than theyve ever had. They always have their moment of teasing and fighting, but they love each other. The more i try to accept that they won't always be nice to each other, the easier my job as a mom will become. :) And its working.  I have cured gavin of his whining over his homework(crossing my fingers it stays that way).  He just does it now, first thing when he gets home. He has been rewarded for doing it without whining, and i think he realizes that if he gets it done right away he will have the rest of the day to do what he wants.
I have struggled with Gavin, and i am sure many of you know this.  He is a very zestful, spirited, analytical boy. He has been a challenge for me. I am not patient with whining, complaining, etc. I just have 0 patience for it on a scale of 0-10. It automatically makes me mad. With such a spirited child , such as gavin, my patience is tried constantly, my EVERYTHING is tried constantly. It's challenging. I am reading a book that is helping me realize a few things about him and his personality.  I am beginning to realize that it's not a bad thing.  His whining and complaining means he is a boy who knows what he wants and will do what he can to get it. Persistence. That will pay off when he gets older and as he learns how to use that trait in a good way, rather than whining. And he will learn. He is just young and has to learn how to direct his intensity appropriately. That's where i come in. :) I have to help him figure that out. I am still learning how to do that. :) haha! BUT i am hopeful it will all turn out fine. :)  Jaydon is another SPIRITED child of mine. He can be very challenging, but i am learning how to work him. I am just glad i have one child that isn't so intense...it gives me more strength knowing that ONE won't give me such a hard time. :) I really love my boys.

IN OTHER NEWS...
Shane ran the half marathon on saturday. He is doing so great with his health. I am so proud of him. He ran the race well. AND guess what? I saw my cousin for the first time since he arrived on the island. :) He and his wife and daughter now live here. He ran the race too.  I always knew he was a machine when it came to running, but didn't realize how much until this race. He got 2nd place overall in the 1/2 marathon with a time of 1:26.  He even said that was slow, and used the excuse of not running it faster because he has been sick. Crazy kid. Seriously. He and my uncle are big time runners, cyclists and swimmers. It's insane.

Shane is in tokyo right now for some leave. Can i get some leave? :) I must admit...ive been feeding the boys cereal and pizza for dinner. It's kind of like leave for me in a way too. :) AND my house became a disaster from the time we dropped him off at the airport in the morning up until evening of that same day. I felt like not doing any cleaning, and that's what happens when mommy doesn't clean for about 8 hours...the house falls apart. And it did.  I am really slacking with him being gone. AND i stayed up until 1 am reading and watching some tv series. hahah! I never watch tv and i don't remember the last time i stayed up that late. Good thing i have shane to help me keep it together, and good thing he isn't gone much. :) I hope that helps him realize how much i do around here is because i want to make him happy , and i do want him to come home to a clean home with dinner prepared. :) He is my motivation.

I tried running again, and it hurt my hip again. It felt so good running, i was so hopeful i would be fine this time. NOPE.  It's not hurting as bad as last time, BUT there are a few things i realized that might be contributing to it, so i am going to try running again this week and see what happens when i adjust a few things. :)

I love general conference. i love the way it makes me feel, and the motivation it provides me.

{Our journey to eating healthy and losing weight}

Before we started our journey to eating healthy Shane was a few numbers away from high blood pressure. His last blood pressure numbers before starting to eat healthy was about 138/ 87. He has had prehypertension about our whole marriage.  He has recently been about 20 lbs. overweight, weighing in at about 210 lbs.  He didn't look healthy, and i was worried about his eating habits.  He had an addiction to sweets. I think most Americans have an addiction to food, which is something i realize now that our eating habits have changed. But i would say he had an addiction to most foods. He would emotionally eat, and often.

He has been eating plant based foods for almost 5 weeks.  I checked his blood pressure yesterday, and for the first time his blood pressure is NORMAL. It was about 115 over 75.  Amazing. Not only that but he is weighing UNDER 190 lbs. at about 187 lbs. He looks GREAT!!!  Seriously. Not only that, but his resting heart rate is 52, and he said before it was always about 80 beats a minute.  He feels good and i have NEVER EVER seen him have so much control over his food intake in our ALMOST 9 years of marriage.  I mean, if you know shane WELL, you know that if he has a donut in front of him he will most definitely eat it. No question. Not this new shane!  He has been OFTEN rejecting the donuts brought to him at work. Rejecting lots of sweets. It's amazing. Seriously. I couldn't be more proud of him. And he really enjoys eating this way. It's a new sight when i see him grab a handful of greens and shove it in his mouth like he is some kind of herbivore animal. haha! Seriously, i would say he just conquered one of the biggest struggles in his life. I am so proud of him.

When i started i felt sluggish. I hit a wall in the middle of my day and just felt wiped out and needed to nap.  I was struggling with my hormones and emotional state, which i felt like was just getting worse....blamed it all on my monthly cycle.  My stomach felt heavy, bloated and painful ALL THE TIME.  I was so sick of all of these things. I had been praying for months to somehow find an answer or to figure out what to do. I wasn't really addicted to sweets, but i would eat them if they were in the house, which was often because shane was very insistent on having them in the house what seemed like everyday.  I couldn't find the strength to resist the sweets if they were here. My blood pressure was always normal range. I was gaining weight. I was at 125 lbs. I could feel i was gaining. And i was struggling with my sleep at night.  I felt like i was waking often in the night, and felt every movement shane made.

After eating plant based foods for 5 weeks i no longer feel sluggish! Ever! I don't hit a wall in the middle of my day.  I sleep better at night time, hardly waking in the middle of the night!  I feel like my emotions are under control. I still have my moments of emotions, but not near what it was. I am crossing my fingers it stays that way. :) BUT 5 weeks of feeling this good is definitely a new thing for me. I hardly ever feel bloated, with a heavy stomach, and hardly ever get stomach pains. In those five weeks i have probably felt pain in my stomach about 3 times, and it didn't last long. Whereas before it was just about everyday. My blood pressure is lower than it's ever been. Shane took it for me last night and it was about 96 over 65.  Wow.  I feel great. I am no longer 125 lbs, but i am now 115 lbs. I don't think i have been 115 since before our marriage. 

This journey has been wonderful. It was hard at first because of the withdrawal symptoms from all those dairy, meats and sugars and processed foods, but it was so worth it. It's so strange how our hunger is so different than what it was before. And how our cravings are so different as well. We don't really crave....well , wait...shane does crave his new breakfast which is a blueberry, banana, walnut, and small amount of dried oats. He loves it. :) haha! Before when i would make a healthy salad for dinner we would all be hungry within an hour or two. BUT now, we feel satisfied and don't feel hungry so soon. It's such a different and new feeling to get used to.  AND another strange thing....shane came home from fast sunday saying that he didn't even feel hunger the way he used to on fast sundays. He didn't feel the hunger pains in his stomach, and it was so much easier fasting. I felt the same exact thing. It was not hard, i wasn't thinking about food, i diddn't get my hunger pains. It was awesome enjoying fast sunday without constantly feeling hungry.

Basically, for this plan you eat all the greens and fruits you want. You eat all the veggies you want, but limiting the starchy ones. You can eat a limited amount of nuts, avocados, dried fruits, and ground flax. You have a goal of 1 cup of beans a day, which is so easy for me to do. :) Your goal is 1 lb. of raw veggies, and cooked greens, and non-green nutrient rich foods. 4 fresh fruits daily and 1 cup of beans daily. You eliminate the dairy, animal products, fruit juice, oils, sugars and between meal snacks.  Of course, you can consume the bad stuff sometimes. :) We have one dinner a week where i fix whatever meal they want. And one baked treat a week that is allowed as well.  And you can eat no more than 150 calories per day of low-nutrient foods.

 I am so grateful an answer to my prayers came. It came at the right time, i am telling you. I have tried eating healthy before, or tried getting my family to do it, but it was so hard because they gave me a battle...particularly shane. :) Some reason this time around, he jumped on board and hasn't looked back. The book Eat to Live changed us. 

Also, i think it all goes along with the word of wisdom. If you know where to find scripture on the word of wisdom  then thats great. I remember praying at the beginning of this journey that my mind  could be enlightened as we studied the scriptures so that i would learn something new about the word of wisdom OR about the new way we are eating. As a family we are in Alma 46.  It was my turn to read and i finished the last few verses for us. In verse 40, i received a confirmation...it says "And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land---but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of climate---"
You can imagine my excitement when i read this. :) I found a scripture about food! I wrote it down in my journal! I hope to continue to find these treasures as we continue to read. :) This is all very exciting for me. You know when you have found a truth? And you just want to shout it to the world? The way i feel about this new way of eating is the way i feel about the gospel and the Book of Mormon. It rings true. It makes sense.  It makes me feel GOOD. It makes me happy. And i feel passionate about it.

{Beach Exploring}

 

Today the boys and I went along with three of my friends to explore some beaches and search for shells while the kids played in the water. We left at 9 a.m. and got home at 4:30 p.m.  We explored the northeast part of the island. It was actually spots shane and i have been to already, but it was still fun and still beautiful as ever. I love the scenery up north. When we first arrived there was a huge tree that was perfect for climbing soooooo all the kids started climbing, of course.  At this beach we found about 4 sand dollars.

 Then we headed further North to monument beach. It's so beautiful here. There are many many rocks on this beach. It's crazy how different the beaches here can be. BUT there were still some great spots for the kids to swim and run around.  The kids buried each other in the sand, played soccer and built sand cities, and swam. Gavin even did the Butterfly! He didn't realize he was doing it, but i think we have a future swimmer! How exciting!

 The trees on this beach were completely stripped of their leaves and needles from the typhoon! It looked so different from the last time we came because of that.

I am really frustrated that my pictures are not ever crisp looking anymore. They all look blurry to me. BUT if i use my husbands camera  they turn out exactly the way i want. I even just had my camera cleaned thinking that was the problem. NOPE. I don't know why all my pics are blurry!! ggrrrr!



Ummmm, i just realized we have a bum sticking out of the left side of this pic. hahaha!

{A few Recents}

FIRST...Tanner turned SIX years old! I can't believe it! Its so crazy to me. We have a 7 year old and 6 year old and 3 year old. WOW. Tanner is really loving kindergarten.  I think it helps him A LOT having Gavin with him in the mornings on their walk into school. He bravely waves bye to me, gives me hugs and kisses, and walks proudly to class, waving at me until he can't see my car anymore. aAHH, i love it. Melts my heart.

Tanner is such a good example to his brothers. He does what is asked of him, he helps Jaydon remember to do his chores. His confidence builds everytime he accomplishes a new task.  He actually LIKES doing homework and wants to make sure that he does is PRODUCTIVELY. He asks to sit at the desk when its time for homework, and when he is done with it he is disappointed because he wants more to do. SHOCK. Who is this boy?! HAHA! I really like it. When he is given a chore to do he wants to do it RIGHT the first time.  I love watching him grow and get bigger. BUT i do wish time would slow down. It's going too too fast. Tanner is really starting to come into his own.


SECOND...this is what our fridge looks like right after i make a trip to the store. Remember how we are eating all plant based foods? Well, here it is. It is packed full of fruits and veggies, from front to back and left to right, and even the drawers at the bottom are packed FULL. We eat all this in FOUR days. No kidding. We eat FIVE bags of spinach, 2 containers of herbs mixed greens, 3 romaine hearts of lettuce, collard greens, and then some. That's just the GREENS.  You can see what we have here.  It's insane how much veggies and fruits a family like ours can consume in four days.

THIRD...We recently had a surprise TYPHOON. We knew one was coming that was a category THREE, but nobody was expecting what came with it. Our category FOUR typhoon wasn't as bad as this supposed category 3.  We had sustained winds of 100 mph and wind GUSTS up to 180 mph. It was CRAZY. AND even COOLER than the coolest typhoon bolaven that i THOUGHT was the coolest experience of my life. This was even better. I might never see anything like it again.  Garbage cans were flying, trees (and LARGE ones) were falling over(uprooted), some trees just snapped,  branches were flying all over, we watched a basketball hoop bend in half, we watched our thick mighty tree almost fall over. It's now just leaning sideways.  We watched a door with a lock pad completely rip off and the door flew off.  We went out to survey the damage and there were TREES and branches EVERYWHERE. ALL OVER. It was like a tornado hit. Thats a huge mess for the guys to clean up here.  Cars flipped over , cars shifted and were randomly placed in the streets. We saw a video of a car that flipped over from the wind and the wind just carried it across the parking lot , like it was nothing, and it hit the curb and then flew in the air and did a few spins in the air before it landed. It was an intense typhoon. There is nothing like the power of that wind. Nobody expected what came with it, which is so odd. But we enjoyed it and we were all safe. Thank goodness for our cement homes and windows that are made for the wind.

Uh, i promise i will post some pictures of the boys soon. I keep forgetting to take my camera with us to places!!  I would post some of tanner and his birthday , but i used the video camera for that.