Beach day

we made it back to the beach-finally! It had been way too long!

 It was lovely because hardly anyone was there!!!

 The boys had the best time collecting sea shells, digging in the sand, building sand castles, and flying kites.

 The boys wandered way off on their own looking for shells together

 Noah was happy just to sit in the sand and dig :)

 the waves were huge!

 The most exciting part for them was the kite flying. They love their kites! Even though there was no wind and they had to run to get their kite to fly they loved it!! They ran around for over an hour just laughing and so happy!

 I just love this husband of mine! such an amazing husband and father. It just keeps getting better.

The perfect way to spend the day together!

SLO Day

celebrating a very special poppa on his 60th birthday! We love you Pops!

post holiday projects!

hanging around the house!

the holidays are over but the house projects are not! we are in the process of creating a drought resistant front yard, painting the boys room, staining a dining room table, and bathroom updates! Meanwhile I'm busy trying out new recipes (Giada De laurentiis is my girl!) She has some wonderful soups and stews that have kale and chard and all sorts of good veggies in them! I have been watching her show on the food network online and drooling over her dishes....it is so fun to make new dinners!!! I have also been on a little fitness journey to get healthy, mainly in what I am eating and how much. I've always liked working out, I'm focusing now on what I'm eating! I started Autumn Cabresse's 21 day fix right before thanksgiving and  I can only say good things about it!! 7 different 30 minute work outs (pilates, yoga, upper fix, lower fix, total body cardio, cardio, dirty 30 and a ten minute ab fix) and colored portion containers to keep you eating the right amount of protein and veggies, carbos and fruits, nuts and seeds, healthy fats. It is all clean portion control eating and I have felt so much better since being on it. It is a healthy lifestyle change and portion control has always been hard for me! and knowing exactly what to eat to fuel my body for my workouts! Here's a little sample of what I eat each day....

breakfast
2 eggs and a cara cara orange with a scoop of organic super food (from Costco it has probiotics and enzymes in it and all sorts of good superfoods, leaves me energized all day)
and lots of water!

snack
one scoop of organic vegetable protein powder (again from Costco)
I fill it with 8oz of water and ice and a tiny frozen banana chunk. .so good!

lunch
a yummy veggie salad and veggie soup
I have a Panera copycat squash soup recipe I make for the week and I pack my spinach salad with some baked chicken and cut up veggies like carrots, cucumbers, bell pepper, some cottage cheese, sprinkle on some sunflower seeds, and top with a tsp of balsamic vinegar! This week I added some beats in there! Yum!!

snack
one apple and a small handful almonds

dinner
whatever creation I come up with!!
I have a protein, carbo, and veggie

dessert
1 scoop of my organic protein powder with ice water for a shake!


I fill up my containers each day for the correct food and portion size.

What I have noticed since starting the 21 day fix is that before the 21 day fix I was eating too many carbos and not enough protein or veggies! I have had more energy since being on it and have felt so much better since it is clean eating. I eat every two hours and drink a lot of water each day!

I ended up getting the 21 day fix off amazon but they do sell it off beach body :) Anyway there is my little 21 day fix plug! If you want more info feel free to ask :) There is a little group of us that are doing it and it is so fun to have a support network :)

21 day fix  (it comes with a nice big waterbottle, the containers, the fix guide book, really simple and easy to follow, and 2 discs with the workouts)




giada de laurentiis (so many good recipes I've been trying out!! My favorites so far are her winter minestrone soup, Tuscan barely kale soup, chicken artichoke stew, and spinach bruschetta!)

a few more of our Christmas pics!

Happy Wednesday!!