Daddy attacks babies

Typical Sunday activity in our home.

Christmas Morning Videos

Christmas Morning

Everyone's gifts were a hit! The youngest two got toys.  Celeste and Eden both got old iphones of mine.  The other four kids got Nooks and Nook tablets.  We are all tech'ed out here.

Christmas stuff

I've been doing this for a few years.  On Christmas Eve, late at night after getting all the gifts set up, I block off the stairway for the kids to come upstairs and leave them with a note.  Here's this year's:

Gotta get something out of them; and what a great motivator Christmas presents are!  This is the stairway blocked with wrapping paper.

On Christmas Eve, the kids all on their own decided they were going to act out the Nativity.  It was pretty cute.  Sam was a very reluctant baby Jesus and ran off.

Christmas Eve, in the afternoon, Steve and I went and saw Ballet West's The Nutcracker!  That was so fun for me!  I have actually only seen The Nutcracker live once before.  Every other time I was in it.  They did a great job!  I am a big fan of the show Breaking Pointe, which is a reality show about Ballet West.  So it made it even more interesting for me to know some about the personal lives of the dancers.

Janice and her kids came over for dinner and a Christmas talent show the night before Christmas Eve.  They were their own little orchestra and played us some good music.

Winter

A year and a half after moving into our house, I still get excited seeing the antelope herd out our back window.

Hanging out with the Butlers.  Gearing up for Christmas.

Temple Square with the Youth

It's a yearly tradition to take a trip to Temple Square each Christmas with the youth in the ward.  We had such a great time.  I was fortunate to be in the group with Celeste & Eden.  But I wasn't with Jonah to get any shots of him.  (There were 40 youth that went, so we split up.)

I love my babies and their Daddy

This scene after church with Steve on the floor playing with his miniature people made me smile.

Santa Goes to Our Church

Fortunately for us, we have a good motivator to keep our toddlers quiet and well behaved in church.  Charity knows Santa really is always watching her!

Celeste - Ballerina

Celeste decided about 6 months ago that she actually did want to dance.  So better late than never!  She has taken some lessons a bit off and on throughout her almost 15 years, but this time she is enjoying it more than ever.  So that has been fun to see!

Test Results in regards to my experiment

Yesterday I got all my results back from my doctor and from the Ybefit office.  There were a lot of results to go through and took some time to do.  I had 12 different blood tests run that were a repeat of the original 12 blood tests taken before I started the experiment.  I also had a repeat of all the fitness testing as well as the Bod Pod test, which is the most accurate body fat percentage test available.  I had a repeat of my VO2 max as well.

I thought about reporting all these results on here, but decided it was just too much information to post.  I will say that all of my tests showed that either I stayed close to the previous results, or there was an improvement.  For instance, my protein and iron levels were either the same or higher after 6 months of being vegan.  I  decided to post the most interesting results though, because some of these results really shocked me and I thought they would be interesting to others as well.  

My only apprehension with sharing these results, is I will be sharing some personal information that I wasn't all that comfortable sharing with the world.  But with such improvements, I am happy to share this information now.

So without further ado, here are the results!

First off, a before and after photo.  This one was the most embarrassing!   The "before" photo was taken 6 months ago.  I was out of shape!  I had had knee surgery a couple of months prior and my diet and fitness level were not ideal.  I had gotten kind of chubby!  Yuck!  I weighed 135 lbs precisely in this photo.  (My height is 5'6.5")  The photo on the right was 6 months later.  I did not want to do one of those "after" photos you see of people where they are sucking in their stomach giving a false side by side of the old photo, so I didn't.  But I can still see a decent difference.  I weighed 126.5 in this photo.  (8.5 lb. difference.)  What is cool about this to me is that I was not restricting my calorie intake in order to lose weight, which I have always needed to do in the past.  Normally I need to stay around 1200 calories to lose weight.  This time I ate whenever I was hungry and didn't allow myself to be hungry these past 6 months.  I mentioned in my previous post that I averaged 2300 calories per day.  That is almost twice as many calories!  For me, to see such a loss with that amount of calories each day is remarkable. 

Here are some other results.

1st-   hsCRP for CV Risk.   This high-sensitivity CRP blood test is promoted as a test for determining a person's risk level for Cardiovascular Disease, heart attacks, and strokes.  A normal result is defined as anything from 0.0-2.5.  My original result 6 months ago was a shocking >15!  This result was shocking to me and my doctor because I was a fairly healthy person with absolutely nothing in my lifestyle to indicate that there was a problem.  My cardiovascular system was nowhere the health we had both thought it was.  It was kind of a scary thing to see.  My new result at the 6 month mark was 0.8.  GIANT improvement!

2nd-  Blood Pressure and Heart Rate.  This is another problem I had been dealing with for years.  My blood pressure was a bit high.  I was taking medications to bring it down.  But the medication caused some problems, so I went off of it.  My heart rate was very strangely high as well.  I have been a pretty active person all my life, so it made little sense why I had blood pressure and heart rate issues. 

A normal blood pressure reading would be 120/80.  My original blood pressure, which was normal for me at the time was 131/97.  My new and normal blood pressure 6 months later was 118/85.  A normal heart rate would be 60-80.  My original heart rate was 170!  My new normal heart rate 6 months later- 59!  Pretty amazing.

3rd-  Cholesterol.  A normal total cholesterol number would be between 140-199.  My original cholesterol reading was 227.  Being young, at a normal weight, vegetarian, and never smoked, my doctor was confused why in the world I would have high cholesterol levels.  My cholesterol reading 6 months later - 155.

4th-  VO2 Max Test.  This test is done on a treadmill where you are supposed to walk and run while they use gadgets to monitor your cardio health.  (The results go from "Very Poor" with any score less than 26.5, to "Poor", to "Below Average",  "Average", "Good", "Very Good", and "Excellent" with anything above 40.7)  My original score was 29.0 ml/kg/min = POOR.  My new score 6 months later - 46.2 ml/kg/min = EXCELLENT.

5th-  Thyroid Stimulating Hormone or TSH. A little background on this one:  I had a low thryroid problem for quite some time, leaving me feeling cruddy and tired. I was put on Synthroid to elevate that.  After getting on Synthroid, I felt a lot better!  I had been on Synthroid for quite some time when I started my experiment.  My intent was to stay on it during the experiment.  But a few months into it, I was beginning to feel sensitive to it and decided to go off.  So that makes these test results even more interesting to me.  A normal range for this blood test would be .45-4.67.  My original result, even while taking Synthroid was .88.  My new result 6 months later and being off of Synthroid was 1.95!

I will share a few more interesting things that are quite personal to me, but I feel like sharing because they are certainly interesting in regards to my current experiment.  I mentioned I was on some medications prior to starting my experiment.  My intent was to remain on all these medications during the experiment.  Some of these were the Synthroid for my thyroid, Zoloft for depression, and Ambien for sleep.  I had been on Zoloft for years.  I have always struggled with depression and although I have been doing well emotionally, I was just too scared to go off it.  I was afraid that I would have a terrible emotional crash and just wouldn't be able to cope.  So I stayed on it.  And I planned to stay on it.  I have also been taking Ambien for years too.  I have had serious problems for years getting to sleep and also staying asleep.  Ambien had been a lifesaver for me.

Well, I noticed after being on this experiment for a few months, that I was beginning to feel a lot better and I was also feeling extra sensitive to medications.  Meds that had little effect on me before, now seemed to be much more powerful.  The side effects were starting to bother me, so I just went off of everything.  And surprisingly, I am doing well.  

Another interesting and very very personal thing, which I discussed with just a few people was an incident I had a few months ago.  I had had a tubal ligation right after I delivered my last baby 2 years ago.  This surgery was done by an expert doctor who actually came up with this particular procedure.  He removed a portion of my tubes and cauterized them.  Those tubes were sent off to pathology to make sure that they were indeed my reproductive tubes.  Pathology came back saying the surgery was successful.  I would be having no more babies.  Well, a few months ago I was feeling pukey sick and my period was late.  I took a test, and surprisingly I was pregnant!  In talking with my doctor who has been overseeing me for this experiment actually made the comment that maybe this experiment of mine would suggest that this type of diet could actually reverse (or heal) permanent sterilization.   My response was, in that case, nobody would want to eat this way!  After getting over the shock of being pregnant and accepting it, I soon miscarried.  Miscarriages are not uncommon for me.  I for some reason have a difficult time carrying babies to full term.  This was my 6th miscarriage.  I do not want to go through that again.  I saw my Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor who said that at least one of my tubes had miraculously grown back and healed.  He suggested that with how fertile I am, if I did not wish to become pregnant again, I should have the surgery done again and have the tubes totally removed.  I have this surgery scheduled for this week.  

Another interesting thing that has happened with this experiment is in regards to my knee.  I injured my knee badly back in February.  In April I had surgery to fix my torn ACL.  That recovery was tough!  In June, I was feeling pretty darn good and took a jazz dance class.  Stupid idea.  Landing a side split leap, I re-tore my ACL, and tore up my meniscus badly.  I had surgery again in August.  My surgeon is well known and respected.  He is the surgeon for the professional ballet company Ballet West, as well as the professional soccer team Salt Lake Real.  He has taken care of many professional athletes.  So he is not one of those orthopedic doctors that is for all the old folks out there.  He made the comment to me after my August knee surgery how happy he was with my recovery.  He was amazed at how quickly and how well I was healing.  He gave me the thumbs up to start working out and running early.  So that was exciting for me!  I attribute my fast healing from my diet.

Young Women

I love these girls like crazy!

Christmas decor is up :)

The kids and I decorated tonight.  They all had so much fun doing this.  Seeing them have so much fun always brings me joy.  I am so impressed by Celeste who wanted to do the tree all by herself.  So I let her.  She assembled it entirely by herself & did the decorating.  I thought she did a decent job!

Thanksgiving

I hate when I forget to take photos!  This is one of those times.  This Thanksgiving I only got these three, and they are just of the kids in the Butler's backyard.  Awe well :/

We did have a fantastic Thanksgiving though!  It was so easy and relaxing.  The Butlers and us decided to spend it together and to just go out to eat.  No cooking, no cleaning, no fuss.  It rocked.  

We all went to Golden Corral and pigged out.  After that we hung out at the Butlers for a couple of hours, putting together a puzzle and talking and playing.  Then we went out to the movies.  Some of us saw the new Hunger Games movie, and my kids saw the movie "Frozen."  We had a great time.

My WOW Experiment

I don't think I have written about this on the family blog yet.  I have reached the 6 month mark tonight of a personal experiment I have been conducting.  I am halfway through this experiment!  It hasn't been that easy, but I am really happy I have made it this far, sticking to it faithfully, and am looking forward to continuing it and seeing what happens. 

The experiment is what I call my "Word of Wisdom Experiment."  And basically, in a nutshell, it is to try to live the Word of Wisdom, (which is found in Doctrine & Covenants 89 - scripture from my faith,)   as accurately and perfectly as I can.  Why?  Well, this section of scripture describes a code of physical health.  It explains certains things to stay away from and also explains things that your body needs.  At the end, it states the blessings promised to those who follow these guidelines.  Promises that include:  health, strength, and wisdom.  More specifically, the promise I was most eager to cash in on was the one that says if you keep these sayings, you will "run and not be weary, and walk and not faint."  For me, who has struggled with fatigue most of my life, I wanted this like nobody else has ever wanted it!  So I decided to put it to the test.  

I wont go into detail of all that the Word of Wisdom states, but I will for the purposes of explaining my experiment explain some of it.  First it says to stay away from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, etc... No problem for me.  I've never even tried any of those things my entire 35 years of life, and don't really care to.  But then it says that we should eat herbs, which in the footnotes are explained as "plants."  So we are to eat plants.  Also, we are told to eat fruits and vegetables in their season.  We are told to eat grains as the staff of our diet.  We are told to eat meat only in times of Winter, famine or cold.  And when we do eat meat, it is to be sparing.  

So for the past 6 months, I have tried to conduct this experiment carefully as to not have any possible variables that could throw off these promises made.  I began in May.  And up until this very day I have only eaten a plant based, whole foods diet.  No meat, since it was not Winter, nor has a famine been going on.  I have not included any dairy in my diet because it is not even mentioned in the Word of Wisdom and I do not believe as many Americans do, that dairy is a totally necessary part of a healthy diet.  I have made whole grains the "staff" of my diet.  These grains for me have mainly been my own whole wheat flour bread that I have made, old fashioned oats, and brown or organic wild rice.  I have eaten a good amount of nuts and seeds. I have also eaten lots of fruits and vegetables, trying to stay with ones that are in season here in my region of the world.  I also have tried to stick with fresh fruits and vegetables, not processed ones.   

Beginning next week, I am going to consider it a time of Winter/cold, and thus will begin eating a little bit of healthy meat, sparingly.  

I just wanted to give a halfway update on how it is going.

It is going well!  I have totally noticed a lot of changes in myself that I am so thankful for.  I feel way healthier.  I feel stronger.  I feel a crazy amount of self-discipline and control in many unrelated aspects of my life.  That was unexpected!  I am enjoying a clearer and stronger mind.  I am enjoying better sleep.  And yes, I am enjoying more energy!  So it's been pretty awesome.

I had mulitple tests done through my doctor prior to starting.  And I do not have the test results for this halfway point to report on yet, but I will get those soon.  I do have some stats to report though.  

WOWexperiment STATS

Total calories consumed in the last 6 months/184 days=  424,399

Average per day =  2306 cals/day

Remember, this is not a weight loss diet plan!  I eat when I am hungry.  Some days that has been over 4,000 calories.  Some days I have not been that hungry and stayed around 1,000.  2300 was my average.  Although, despite eating as many calories as I felt my body was needing each day, I did happen to lose about 8 lbs.    Kinda nice.

Exercise Stats:  

Keep in mind, that I had a knee injury in June that kept me from exercising for a few weeks.  I had to get knee surgery to fix it in August.  So I had a couple of months off from exercising.  

Running:  1400 minutes

Walking:  996 minutes

Biking:  719 minutes

Circuit training:  365 minutes

Hiking:  305 minutes

Swimming laps:  255 minutes

Stretching:  314 minutes

Elliptical:  60 minutes

Rowing Machine:  17 minutes

Stair treadmill:  11 minutes

Total Exercise Time:

4442 minutes total

I hope everyone understands that I do think this experiment is extreme and  I would never expect anyone else to do it.  Nor do I think if people eat meat or processed foods and such, they are bad.  I don't.  If you did however, eat and live this way, I do think you would not regret it.

Bubbies

Oh I looooooove my boyfriend!!!!

first time in undies

Celeste wanted to start potty training Sam.  I am just not ready to do this.  I am not a fan of potty training.  It is one of my least favorite parts of parenting.  So I had decided I was gonna wait until he was 3.  But when Celeste asked to do it, I ran with it!  That day I ran out and bought him a bunch of undies and a potty seat and some bribery candy.  

Celeste quickly realized that potty training is no walk in the park, and today he was back in diapers.  But I have to say, a little child going from diapers to undies is pretty much the cutest thing ever!  I had to include a couple of photos of it on the blog.

Family Fun Day

Yesterday for Family Fun Day we took the kids to the BYU Women's Volleyball Game.  

It was a lot of fun!

 And to make it even more fun, our BYU girls won!

Afterwards we took the kids out to one of their favorite places to eat for lunch-  Golden Corral "Where a pig can be a pig."  They love pigging out at that place!  We all really enjoy our weekly FFD activities. 

Steve's Dad's Siblings

Steve's Dad had 15 children in his family!  Two of them have died; one when he was just a toddler.  Aunt Cindy, is Dad Bishop's youngest sibling.  She posted these two photos on Facebook and I really liked them, so I wanted to add them here for posterity's sake.  

Here are the children in order of age:  Eccles, Dale (Dad Bishop), Darnall, Don, Mary Ellis, John, Marsha, Paul, Melanie, Colleen, Linda, Max, Alma and Cindy.

Trying to grow a beard

 Steve and I have been married for over 15 years and I have never seen him with a beard!  In fact, he has never ever grown a beard.  He is not a hairy guy!  And I am glad for that.  But I was still curious what he would look like with one.  So with a little encouragement, he let it grow for a while.  He didn't like it though; and it took him more than two weeks to get to this point.  So he asked me if he could shave it off.  I agreed, but only after he let me get these two photos of his "beard."