Yes, I’m ALIVE!
I’m so sorry to leave y’all with nothing but the sound of crickets on my blog the past several days. We’ve been runnin’ around like crazy and also enjoyed a fun holiday weekend!
I did pretty well with my “One Week Health Challenge” thing. I ate a TON of fruits, veggies, real whole grains, chicken, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. I also stayed away from cruddy food, except for one small indulgence on the 4th and a few fries on Saturday night. I must say that those fries made me SO sick the rest of the weekend. Blah.
I’m always so amazed by how well my body feels when I eat well! I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s really eye-opening to me how vastly different I feel when I fuel my body well as opposed to feeding it full of crap.
It also seems like I need to learn that lesson over and over again.
I felt really, really good all week long. I had more energy and my body just felt more vibrant and healthy (go figure.) I had some major sugar cravings on day 3 and 4, but I stayed strong!
On Saturday night, Kev and I went to see the movie, The Fault in Our Stars.
It was a really good, thought-provoking show. However, it’s also a very heavy, sad story. 🙁 I teared up several times throughout the movie and one time I wanted to full-on sob out loud, but I sucked it up and went to my “happy place,” lol.
When the movie ended, I leaned over to Kev and said, “Now that was a crappy show.”
It was actually a very GOOD show, but it just made me feel very vulnerable and afraid of what trials might come my way. I also told Kev, “Why in the world did I choose to have six kids, marry a wonderful man and have the best dog in the world because they all might get sick and die one day and abolutely rip my heart out and leave me in a vegetative state!??!”
That’s truly how I felt/feel. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life, but it scares me how much I LOVE them and NEED them. I’m already preparing for the day my sweet doggie dies and he’s only three years old.
Yes, I think I’m a bit of a basket case.
Anyway, I digress…
We were in a hurry to get to the movie on time and we were also STARVING, so we decided to buy some food at the theater. There aren’t too many healthy choices there though (shocker.) I ordered a sandwich wrap with a side of fry/chip things. I know it wasn’t the best choice, but it tasted good to me. HOWEVER, I felt so sick the rest of the night and all day on Sunday.
I just had mega, mega indigestion and felt so so gross. I know pregnancy made it a lot worse too. I only ate about half the fries too! It made me realize (for the gazillionth time!) that my body does not like cheap, fried food, dang it. Lesson learned. Although, I’m sure I’ll have to learn that lesson again!
On a brighter note, here are some of the YUMMY, healthy things I enjoyed last week!
Leftover chicken, brown rice and salad topped with Tzatziki. I actually had this several times and it always tasted AMAZING!
I made tacos for dinner one night and this is how I made mine…
I usually skip the tortilla, but I decided to use ONE and make it into a tostada type salad. It was phenomenal! I topped it with fat-free refried beans, turkey taco meat, lettuce, tomato, olives, green onion, cheese, salsa and plain Greek yogurt.
I think I’ll make it again this week. Yum.
I enjoyed Chocolate Protein Pudding a couple of times and it always hits the spot.
I made Blueberry Pancakes for the kids one morning and Kev made us some KILLER omelets.
The omelets were made of one egg, 3-4 egg whites and all the veggies we had on hand (peppers, green onions, olives and spinach.) I topped mine with a little all-natural ketchup. Kev also put a little cheddar AND Feta cheese in my omelet and I loved it. Seriously, Feta cheese makes an omelet SO SO good!
I snagged ONE pancake and topped it with a little sugar-free syrup. Absolute heaven.
I enjoyed a bunch of other healthy things last week, but I didn’t take any more pics. 🙁
I also did pretty well on the exercise front. I walked three times; three miles each time. I’ve really enjoyed reading a book while walking on my treadmill.
It’s nice because the book takes my mind off of HOW LONG it takes to WALK three miles!!! I am not a patient walker, btw. I really want to RUN and get it over with quickly, but my body cannot physically run right now. Seriously. Walking is just about all I can do.
Yes, it’s sad.
I also went to the gym once last week and got some great strength training in. I also snapped this CUTE picture on my way out…
Eeeeee, yikes. I think I’m the weirdest pregnant lady ever. My tummy stays pretty small, but the rest of me looks like someone tried to blow me up with an air hose! It seriously feels like someone decided to see how much poof they could fit inside my body before it explodes.
It’s so much fun.
I also decided I might be retiring from the gym until this baby gets here. I think I’ll just stick to my walking and weight lifting at home. We’ll see how it goes.
A Great 4th of July!
We had such a fun holiday weekend! I love the 4th of July SO MUCH! It is the epitome of summer!!!!
On July 2nd, we took the kids to our City Carnival. Our two biggest kids were gone, so we just took the three little ones and we all had a ball.
Kev tried to take my 10 year old around on a bunch of rides, but sadly they wouldn’t let him go on most of them because of his cast. 🙁 He was so so sad, but he did find ONE ride that allowed him to go.
Kev and two of my boys are on the far left. This ride went up and around different directions and they all loved it! I was worried my 6 year old would freak out, but he loved it and wanted to go again and again!
I took the two littlest ones on several of the kiddie rides too.
I even went on the Merry-go-Round with my kiddos. Yay.
That was the extent of my ride going experience. 🙁
We had a great night.
On the Fourth of July, Kev’s brother and his family, who live in Idaho, decided to come down and spend the holiday with us. We had a yummy BBQ dinner…
We made chicken and veggie kabobs, brown rice, salad and fruit….
We also had hot dogs and chips for the kids.
I told you guys I also had one indulgence. I really, really, really wanted to make a festive Fruit Pizza, so I DID!
It was so yummy and WORTH the indulgence. I will share the recipe in a different post since this one is already long enough.
After our BBQ, we chatted for a bit and then headed over to see our City Firework show.
Here we are waiting for the show to begin….
The kids had fun with the glow bracelets I bought at the dollar store…
The firework show was PHENOMENAL and we had a great spot to see them (Kev dropped off some blankets to save our spot earlier in the day.)
Well that pretty much sums up the past several days in a nutshell. Sorry for the gargantuan post! I’ll try to be a better blogger this week.
I hope you all had a fabulous 4th and for those of you outside of the USA, I hope you’re having a fabulous summer!
Questions for Y’all….
- What did you do for the holiday??
- What’s your favorite BBQ food?
- Do you enjoy fireworks?
- Have you seen The Fault in Our Stars? If so, what did ya think?
You’re back! Yay! I have heard of that movie but didn’t see it. It kind of reminds me of the Mandy Moore movie where she is dying of cancer, but falls in love. A Walk to Remember. I have a tendency to over think about the future too, but all we can do is live life well while we’re here and let tomorrow worry about tomorrow. That’s my profound thought of the day 🙂
Your 4th looks wonderful. Boy do Kev and his brother resemble.
Thanks for your “profound thought.” I think you’re so right! I’ve never seen A Walk to Remember, but my mother-in-law told me about it and said it was such a good movie. I need to see it! I know Kev and his brother look SO MUCH alike. I’m always worried I’m going to mistake my bro-in-law for my husband, lol!
Omg, you are so freaking funny! I busted out laughing at the “air hose” comment, that was funny! You are way too hard on yourself though. That movie sounds really sad and I know how you feel, it is both a wonderful and scary feeling at the same time to love somebody so much. My daughter and hubby are everything to me, and it’s crazy to me the thoughts than run in my head constantly day to day about my daughter worrying about her. I guess it’s normal though to always worry about her. I love her so much and she has given my life complete purpose and all I live for really!
LOL! I’m definitely feeling very, very poofy these days and look forward to deflating soon! I know we as mothers love our kids so so much! It’s a very vulnerable thing to love so much, but of course it is so worth it!
The carnival looks like so much fun and I love your fruit pizza!
I know EXACTLY how you feel! I get so anxious about the fact that I have such a great life filled with wonderful people. I constantly worry that things are too good and the other shoe is going to drop. It’s even worse now that the baby is on his way because I keep thinking that something will go wrong. It’s so hard! I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have these people in my life!
That carnival is so well done and the kids look forward to it every year. I love fruit pizza so much and hadn’t made one in YEARS, so I decided I needed to. I’m glad you can relate to how I feel/felt. I think it’s kind of a woman thing too. I definitely tend to overthink everything and stress out when it’s completely not necessary!
That protein pudding looks so good! And what lovely fireworks! I love going to watch fireworks in the summer 🙂 Glad you had a successful week!
Protein Pudding is one of my favorite snacks. We’ve also been loving summer so so much and had such a fun time watching the fireworks!
Isn’t it funny how that works? I feel amazing when I’m eating super clean, we–portioned meals and working out, yet I always go back to crap food and skipped workout. Oy, such a cycle. Looks like some good eats and a great 4th!!
I know, it’s crazy and I know I’ll always have to work on finding the right balance in my life!
You are such a wonderful inspiration for healthy living, Melanie! I think we not only feel better physically when we are fit and healthy, but we feel better mentally as well. Nutrition and exercise help us think better too, more clearly and less sluggishly.
Unfortunately I worked on the 4th. My kids had plans, so I chose not to “waste” the day off. I took a day off work yesterday to spend with them instead, and it was fabulous!
Favorite BBQ food is ribs! No fireworks this year. 🙁
I don’t want to see the movie because I really, really hate feeling sad!
Thanks so much Deborah! I’m sorry you had to work on the 4th, but glad you were able to take a different day off with your kids. I need to try your ribs recipe. For some reason, they’ve always intimidated me! I felt the same way about that movie too. I really, really didn’t want to cry. It was good though!
I’m the same with that kind of movie… I’m avoiding that one. For sure. Sounds too emotional!! That cake looks delicious! I miss Utah 4th of July-nothing compares! Albuquerque doesn’t even do a parade! It’s not a small city, so it’s crazy!! My husband LOVES fireworks at home, we shot off the small ones and did sparklers and then checked out the real deal. The home ones never compare! But it’s tradition 🙂
I love Utah fireworks so much! The show our city put on what phenomenal! I can’t believe Albuquerque doesn’t do much for the 4th, but it sounds like you still have a fun holiday!
Everything looks so delicious!
Thanks so much!
Such a fun holiday weekend! All your eats look delish, and way to go on your 1 week health challenge!
Thanks so much! We had a wonderful holiday. 😉