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!

GRADUATION

Andy finished up his Master's Degree program, and we were able to attend his graduation. It was a good day!! Graduations are always so bittersweet for me. I'm not sure why, but every-time the graduation theme song starts to play I burst into tears. Whomever the child... it's like their life flashes before my eyes and I'm all of the sudden thrown back into their childhood from birth... and I can't take it. #bittersweet#always

Andy has worked hard earning first his bachelor degree and then his masters...all while working a full time job, coaching Seth's baseball/basketball teams and taking care of family. Work and family take up enough time - without adding more things to accomplish. I'm not sure how he managed(Janelle was a big help♥), but he did it and we are so happy and proud of him for all that he has accomplished. We love him and his sweet family!! Woohoo Andy Poo!! Way to go!!