NOVEMBER

November was one for the books. We had a lot happening this month.

1. We sold our house!!! We had a wonderful realtor, who is also a friend! She was the best!! She arranged for us to use her brother's trailer. It was huge and enabled us to rent just one U-haul truck to finish the job - so thankful!

We packed and packed and packed...

It's hard to move for so many reasons. This was our first home(that we owned). There is some sentiment attached to leaving a place you've spent so much time. As much as this move was needed, it was still a little bittersweet...more so for me than anyone else(Casey & Ry were ready to go). This house brought us a lot of fun memories, but it also was a complete drain on the system....physically(too many stairs) and mentally(too many repairs). Hence, the reason it was easier for some to leave behind. It was definitely a fixer-upper, even more than we anticipated. I will look back with fondness at the memories made, but I'm definitely looking forward to more memories in our new home with less stairs(YAY!!) and hopefully less repairs(fingers crossed)!

Andy came into town the night before to help(Thank you!!). We closed on both houses the same morning and had to be out right after closing. It was a crazy timeline, but with a lot of help we were able to get it done. We are so thankful for the missionaries, friends and family that came to help. We are forever grateful(especially since it was wet and rainy...bad moving conditions)! Moving is hard, very hard and I don't ever want to do it again!

2. This also happened!! Just a few days before our big move Casey got an 11-pointer. He was pretty excited. He had been going to a friend's property to hunt. He'd come home and tell me how close he'd come to getting one. Well, he finally did and we have a freezer full of meat!

3. Thanksgiving also happened. It was a pretty chill Thanksgiving and I didn't take too many pictures. In fact the first pictures are of Casey and I the night before enjoying dinner out. Ryan was with friends, so Casey and I decided we'd grab some dinner before coming home to prep for Thanksgiving. It was a nice break after the hustle and bustle of moving.

I tried these yummies...They were the bomb! So delicious! Gluten-free, but full of so much goodness!! Caramel pecan tarts. I think I pretty much ate most of them - Definitely a keeper!

And I bought some of this for myself! I love this time of year!!

November was definitely a month to remember! A month to be thankful for all that we are blessed with. Thank you November!!

Happy Halloween

Hope you all have a SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN!!

Here's a post with a little blast from the past, as well as a few from the here and now! ENJOY....

Family life....and moving.

We are in the middle of a move. We have been for the last month, and it's exhausting. We have moved several times in our 26 yr. married life, but we are older now. We haven't done this in 11 yrs. We have more "stuff" - mostly our children's (who have moved out of the house) stuff. We are trying to minimize(selling, giving away, donating) as much as we can, but it's crazy and time consuming and not super fun. We will get it done...only a couple more weeks and we will be on the other side of all this. Yahoooo!!!!!

In the meantime, life goes on and this happened.....

We have a new driver in the house. Again I will say, I'm older now and things don't come as easy as they once did. I hope I live through this "learning to drive" year. I think I'm still in denial we are even at this point in life - last child, last driver, last experiences....

I will survive!!!

HEALING

As we come up on the 3rd year mark of Casey's accident, I have to say there has been a lot of healing going on...physically, mentally, and spiritually. This post is about the physical(for me). After the accident I felt very strongly that I needed to do whatever it took to stay well/healthy, so that I would have the strength and stamina to take care of everyone. I immediately took sugar and carbs out of my diet. It helped. I stayed well and lost a few pounds. However, as time went on I realized stress had taken it's toll on my overall health and my body started slowly breaking down. I went in and had a few tests done to check for gall stones. They came back negative. I was getting reoccurring yeast infections, so I knew my immune system was weak, and if I didn't find something I would continue this downward spiral. That's when I found these 3 books. They have been my life-savers. We cannot be well on the outside if we first are not well on the inside. These books taught me how to heal from the inside out. I'm so thankful for this knowledge and where it has taken me and continues to take me. It's a process, and I'm trying to involve everyone, however...that also is a process. But, when I stay on the path of wellness I feel so much better. I'm extremely excited knowing I have answers and knowledge for growth, health, and healing. Knowledge is power!!

All that being said. This was only half the battle. I had to find a new way of thinking, cooking, and eating. I enjoy food...good food. I needed to find resources that would feed me, fill me and satisfy my taste buds. I wasn't willing to have a blah diet for the rest of my life. So, again I searched and found places that would bring those satisfying foods into my regimen of health and healing. It is possible! I purchased several Paleo and Ketogenic cookbooks, and follow a few Instagram accounts that offer these as well. This one I'm sharing is one of my favorites. She's really good on clean eating, and has some really great ideas. I loved this one, because I still need to have chocolate in my life. If it's healthy, great! But, I also need it to taste good. I've made some recipes that were terrible. I've thrown a lot away. So, I get extremely excited when I find a delicious meal or treat that we all enjoy....well, Ryan had a bite.

And here's the recipe if you want to try it out.

She's caraclarknutrition on Instagram if you'd like to follow.

ENJOY!

ps - If anyone knows any other resources I'd love to have you share!