I'm BACK

I haven't had the internet at my house for the last couple of days and it is driving me CRAZY. I don't know how people exist without it. I can't. So it is good to hear that some of you missed me. The weird thing about blogging is that who knows who is reading. You type and type and never know who is reading or not. My mom was here this week also so I was pretty busy all week long. I've had a great week. I love when my mom comes to visit! I have been doing pretty good on phase two of South Beach. I have even lost another pound. Yeah. We went over to some people from our wards house last night for a little get to know you date. We ate dessert (yum...I ate a brownie and Ice cream) I wasn't going to be rude and not eat. It was worth every bite. We had a great time. I think they will be good friends. We have tons in common and they are looking for friends too. It was really fun, we were over there for 2 hours and the kids played great. They have two boys with another on the way. One of their kids has Juvinile Rhuematoid Arthritis so we have a lot to talk about. They also have a little Oliver. I gave both my kid hair cuts today so I will post some pictures as soon as I am at home. I am posting from my sisters house since I still have no internet. Since I am posting from here I put a couple of pictures on that I love, from the summer.
This is Rob and his cousin CAROLINA. The picture is blury but priceless I love that you can see her finger going in his eye. They are the best of friends but they sure know how to fight each other. She pulls his hair with both her hands. She won't be able to now with his new short hair cut.
Here are my boys in matching outfits at a car museum in Moses Lake. We went to visit and my dad slipped on a toy the kids left out and broke his leg. I love it when I can match my kids.

I will try to post more this week. I have just crashed. I was so sick and tired of not eating...walking around all over the place...and feeling guilty with every bite that I ate I just crashed I have been vegging and enjoying my mom all week.

Bandidas

Saturday was a good day. I loved going to the baptism. Afterwards Cortney and I came home and worked on our talks. YUCK. We had scheduled a double date with some of our good frieds Tiffany and Todd Davis. I have been friends with Tiffany my whole life. She is my sister friend. Todd and Tiffany met because of me...I hooked up with Todds brother (of course a long long time ago...just to make that clear). We love them. Cortney and Todd have tons in common and tiff and I are like sisters. We both got baby sitters and went to Cafe' Rio. I was all set to get my order with no rice and a whole grain tortilla. We waited in line for almost an hour to order and when we got up there they didn't have my tortillas. I froze. I didn't know what to get. I almost broke down and started crying. I ordered what I had planned on ordering a steak quesidilla. It took me so long to decide what I was having I couldn't change it so I ate a white tortilla. I guess there are worse things I can have. It freaked me out. Luckily I had known I was going out for dinner so I hadn't eaten anything phase 2 the whole day. It was so yummy. I felt full for the first time in weeks. We afterwards went and rented the movie BANDIDAS. It had Salma Hyek and Penelope Cruz in it. Oh my I think it was THE WORST movie I have seen in years. It was almost unbelievable how bad it was. We had a great time though it was really fun to just be out and having fun.

Sunday started out really weird. I first have all have discovered poached eggs which I LOVE. I am obsessed with them right now. I had a couple for breakfast and then afterwards I had half a grapefruit with no sugar on it. It was so good. My first fruit. As we were getting ready for church, I was so dizzy. I felt so sick and couldn't stand up at all. I was so worried about my talk I was praying that I wouldn't pass out during it. I wore my flat shoes so I would be able to balance. I was dizzy all the way up to the pulpit. But I made it through with flying colors. Cortney and I are so glad that our talks are over with. I ate really good today. No cheating at all. My family is all here in town we had a family dinner. My brother makes THE BEST homemade sourdough pancakes you have ever tasted. I had a couple bites with fresh peaches on top. They were yummy. I don't know if it was worth eating something I shouldn't. But...I am still a skinny lady. I need to have some life. I wanted to do the diet for two weeks. I didn't cheat once. I didn't have a crumb or a lick of something I wasn't supposed to. Even if I got something on my finger from feeding my kids I wouldn't lick it off I would go wash my hands. Now I am going to try and eat healthier. I am going to try and have a protien and a veggie with every meal. More fruits and whole grain everything. I know I can't have a life without sugar so why try. I haven't really had any yet, I am going to go as long as I can but it isn't too realistic for me to never have sugar.

Brooklyn Baptized

My niece Brooklyn was baptized today. It was so awesome! The spirit was so strong even with all of the little kids running around. It was the perfect thing to get me thinking about my talk on Sunday on Covenants. She looked so beautiful and so happy.

Here I am with all of this "free food" around me. I have a hard time resisting stuff if it is free. I did good though cheese, lunchmeat, veggies, water. NO COOKIES! man they looked good though

Our little family at the luncheon. My mom got my kids the cutest matching outfits.

BREAD!!!

So woke up this morning with a couple of scrambled eggs and some turkey sausage. Cortney and I hurried and got ready to go to the temple. My cousin had volunteered to babysit for us. We hadn't really cordinated the time very well though we thought she was coming at 10:30 and she got here later than we thought. Anyways Cortney and I hurried to the temple at 11:30 thinking we didn't have time for a session (Cortney had a man date at 2:00) we decided to do some sealings. I haven't been able to do sealings because of my RA, so this was very exciting for me to be on all kinds of drugs that make temple work possible. Going to the temple for us has been hard with my RA no matter what we were doing. I was really stoaked to go, with how good I feel now. Anyways...I am rambling. We got there and it was some stake in Lehi's temple week. There was no room in endowment sessions....no room in sealings and an hour wait for inititory. I couldn't believe it. So Cortney and I instead sat in the front room in the temple and read our scriptures. We are both speaking in church on Sunday (thus the visit to the temple) and we both are kinda drawing a blank on how our talks will go. We have to speak on covenants. After we went to Cali's house, my mom is in town. YEAH! I made us some taco soup which was good we had avocado this time which made it sooo yummy. I have been really grumpy the last two days. Just down in the dumps. This diet is getting to me. I know that while on prednisone I am a couple pounds heavier than I would like. Cali keeps reminding me that it is way better than being crippled. She is so right, I just keep forgetting that. I knew when I went on it it would be harder for me gaining weight and stuff. I also knew it was worth it. I NEED to remember that. In the spirit of remembering that I made my self a delish sandwich on 9 grain bread from Great Harvest. I left off any cheese but loaded it up with veggies and horseradish and pickles (yummy vlassic ones). I don't know if I've ever felt better. For the first time in 17 days I felt satisfied. Oh it was good. I savored every bite. I finally talked myself (with a little help from Cali, Cortney and Roberta) into remembering that whole grain bread is not my enemy but my friend. OH YES IT WAS GOOD. I did 12,000 steps today. I am getting inspired by my sister in law who one day got 18,000 steps. She does a steppin' video every morning and then spends the whole rest of the day on her feet. It has changed the way I think. When I am on the phone I pace around. When I am reading I walk the length of my house. When I am in line I march in place. I zigzag as I walk around to get more steps. My mom told me I was weird. It is true I can tell I make people uneasy with all my walking. People at stores always wonder what my deal is. Little do they know I am walking off the pounds (probably not really but it sure sounds good) I lady today at Costco waited for like 5 minutes for us to get our car loaded and leave so she could have our parking spot close to the front. We have become so lazy that we will wait minutes for a spot 30 feet closer to the door. Man. Oh...heeehee I had one candied almond after dinner. (like the ones from the mall Roberta) Just a tinsy one. YUM.

Day 15????

So all day today I debated about going off of phase 1 and on to phase 2. Last time I did the diet I was down to a size 6 after the two weeks so I didn't need to diet any more. I didn't even do phase 2. Now this time I am terrified. I am down 8 lbs maybe 9 (I weighed my self mid day after lunch today). I am really close to that size 6 but I can't help but think if I keep at it a couple more days I will get there faster. I am afraid I won't be able to control my self...like it will be a slow leak in a dam and the next thing you know the whole city is flooded. So today no wholegrains no fruit. Just scrambled eggs, and salad. I am officially sick of salad. I have been loving it the whole time, but there was something about the salad today. I didn't want it. I did walk my my steps today...well I have 7 more steps to take. I went to Target and walked the perimeter of the inside of the store. Talk about BORING!!! I forgot my ipod...plus I feel weird walking inside with it people always stare. I had 6,500 steps left to do. I need to be working harder to get my steps in during the day. Walking for an hour straight in target by your self is not fun. You can't even look at anything because if I was looking at stuff it would probably take me two hours. I finally thought to grab an US weekly and read as I walk the time just flew by after that. It takes me about 10 mins of straight walking to get in 1,000 steps. I need a girlfriend to go walking with that is for sure. Meanwhile Cortney is here watching the hunting channel with a big bowl of double fudge BROWNIE ice cream. He lost 11 lbs and is a skinny man so I guess he can eat whatever he wants. It does sting a little though. I will most likely have a piece of toast tomorrow. We will see.

Phase 1

I don't know if I can go off of phase 1 yet. I am feeling like I want to keep losing just a little more. My mom is coming to town for a week and wants to lose 5 lbs. I think I will stay in phase 1 and help her. I don't know what to do. I feel like it will be easier for me to keep doing if I don't have carbs. It is easier for me to stay on than to have to do it again later.

Day 14

I started Wednesday with two fried eggs and two sausages. I gagged them down in the car on the way to take Oliver to the dentist for a cleaning. He is so cute at the dentist. So serious. He is always so good and lets them do what they need to do with out any problems. I love taking him there. Afterwards I got him a sonic kids meal. Oh man tator tots....he got a grilled cheese sandwich and it is on texas toast with melted velveta goodness in the middle. When I am not dieting I get it all the time. It smelled so good and felt so yummy in my hands. It was one of the things I've wanted the most since starting the diet. We came home and my sister and I went to the grocery store while Cortney watched the kids. I was mostly going to get more steps in. It is so cold in Utah right now. We went over after to Great Harvest. They are the only bread store in Orem that mills their flour every day. That makes it better for you I guess. We bought a couple of loaves in anticipation for our ending of phase 1, but passed up the offer for a free sample. We both still had to finish the day. For lunch we had vlassic pickles wrapped in fat-free lunch meat with a tinsy bit of low fat cream cheese spread on there. I had more lunch meat and string cheese later in the day as a snack. Cortney had scouts and three kids actually showed up. I went to pick one of them up and I couldn't believe their house. I am not trying to be judgemental or rude or anything. I just felt so bad for this nice little boy. All of their windows were covered up so their was no light in the house except for the TV. You couldn't see the floor at all their was stuff everywhere. It looked like the hoarders homes they show on Oprah. I have never seen such a dirty home. When I told Cortney about it later, he said another kid in our scouts house is WAY worse. I couldn't believe it. When they all were out our house they kept saying, "man your house is so nice" , "I can't believe how huge your house is!" , "wow, you guys have a big screen TV that is awesome (about Cortneys 1990 big screen he got for free from a friend)". It made me realize just how lucky we are and that our kids are pretty dang lucky too. Our ward is a really poor ward. The houses in our ward though are starting to be pretty expensive so the new people that are coming in usually are just like Cortney and I nice young couple with a couple of kids...pretty good job. Slowly the dynamics of the ward are changing. It is sad though when we are one of the families that is the best off. When I drove a girl home from mutal she said..."you live in a house? Lucky! I wish I lived in a house". We really are lucky too. Anyways during scouts my sister brought over here 4 kids for us to babysit while her and her husband who was only in town for the night went to watch a show in SLC. It was crazy here while I tried to cook dinner for six kids and all of the 10 year old scouts were here too and they are wild. I got all of the kids into bed, and ran off to a white elephant exchange at mutal. It was pretty fun. I left as soon as the last present was open and when I got back Rob was the only kid that had gone to bed. Poor Cortney. I had made split pea soup for Cortney and I for dinner. It was pretty good considering I didn't have any ham to put in it. I just used what I had in my pantry. I didn't take a picture because there is nothing you can do to make split pea soup look good. It was nice and creamy though (i blended half of it) which is not what you usually get in south beach. I had a Rusell stover peanut butter cup for desert. Watched American Idol, and beauty and the Geek before bed. American Idol contestants keep getting worse and worse. Man I kept laughing hard at the people and I would wake up Grace (I was rocking her). Being not able to laugh was making me want to laugh even more. Well that is all.

Day 13

Wow I can't believe that I am almost done with phase 1. The second week went by fast. Tuesday started off with two scrambled eggs made in the microwave. I was super late for playgroup and needed something ready fast that I could eat in the car. We had a great time at playgroup. Everyweek I don't want to go but have fun once I am there. Both of my kids played the whole time and usually they just sit on my lap. Afterwards I went to Cali's so she wouldn't have to wake her kids up to take her older ones to school. Her husband is out of town so I try to help as much as I can. One thing that happend this morning that was awesome and it might be too personal but he this is my journal right? Before the diet I was so annoyed because everymorning when I would shower my thighs would touch, because they were fatter than usual. Well as of Tuesday morning they no longer meet together. I was so happy. For lunch I made a taco soup with broth, black beans, green chillies, tomatoes, canned chicken, onions, and mexican seasoning. Topped with cheese, salsa and a little ranch. It was D-lish. It was a good change from my usaul salad for lunch. For dinner though we had salads with chicken on them. I actully love to eat salads. My sister is really sick of them on this diet and can barely stomach them. After dinner we watched an excrutiating 1st episode of American Idol. Ouch. Those poor people. We love it. I had only done 6000 steps and it was way to cold out side so I walked in place for 40 mins. It was like the boringest think that ever happened to me. It is really hard to walk 10,000 steps a day (4.5 miles for my stride distance) without a gym membership or treadmill. Especially when it is -5 degrees out side. I would have loved to be at a gym in the warm watching TV and walking on a treadmill. But I got my 10,000 steps. Cortney kept telling me...you don't have to do it every day. I couldn't believe him discouraging me. All I need is someone telling me I don't have to do it and I am convinced I don't. BUT Ashley in 2007 keeps going.

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

Not a good day food wise. My sister woke this morning...her husband leaving to go out of town for a week to find her pipes were frozen. Cortney and I went over to take a space heater and see what we could do to help. We both grabbed a string cheese on our way over. For lunch I had two fried eggs and for dinner we had steak fajitas. I went walking/running at 7:30 tonight I had about 1 1/2 miles left to go. It was 5 degrees out and so dang cold. I don't remember the last time I was that cold. It was a little scary too...my neighborhood, dark streets. My adrenaline was what kept me going though. I had Cortney's Ipod and I loaded all of my favorite shake your bootie songs. I was walking like I was on the cat walk. I felt so proud of my self (hahhaha) and could feel myself getting skinnier. My theme was Justin Timberlakes bringing sexy back. That is exactly how I feel. So good for me I walked my 10,000 steps (I almost hit 11,000). As I am getting closer to adding whole grains and fruit, I can't help but think that I might go another week. Or as long as I am loosing like this.

Yahoooo!

I came over this morning to check something out at Cali's house, and curiosity got the best of me. I needed to weigh myself. My heart was pounding so hard. I closed her bathroom door so no one would see and as I stood there I couldn't help but smile. I waited for the magic number to appear and when it did it showed I lost......7 lbs. Yeah for me. I feel way skinnier. At church on Sunday my undershirts that I usually wear were too big and making way too many wrinkles under my shirt. Instead of as they usually are, holding every inch of me still and stable. I think I might stay on stage 1 for another week. I would love to lose 3 or 4 more pounds.

I wanted to add this picture of Robbie...The kids were going crazy one day I was at my sisters so we gave both the babies chocolate bottles. He loves to pull his hair when he is falling asleep. He used to pull on his eyelashes, but now it is only his hair. Thank goodness. It is so cute everytime he is tired he will pull his hair. Hopefully he doesn't pull it all out.

Yummy

So Rob learned something new this week. He has learned to pull him self up on to chairs. When he starts to get hungry he goes to the kitchen and pulls himself up to the table to see what he can find. The day of these pictures he happened to find a bowl of leftover cereal from Ollie. Cortney was watching the kids and forgot Rob could get up there. When Cortney found him Rob was eating as much as fast as he could before he got caught. Man that kid loves to eat. He was so happy and proud. He also can reach up on the counter and find food. He'll pull down whatever he can reach. Funny kid.

Day 11

Today...church day. We have church at 1:00 and we still can't make it on time. Sheesh. We really need to get it together. For breakfast I had a fried egg and a piece of turkey sausage. Its all gone now. Sigh. I will have to go to the grocery tomorrow to get some more. Cortney had an omlet and a couple of pieces of turkey sausage. We didn't eat before church so no lunch today. A couple of pieces of gum got me through it though. It was Olivers first day of Sunbeams. I always feel so nervous as I watch him go. He LOVED it. He thought it was funner than nursery. He kept telling me about kids in his class that were bad and that were throwing crayons all over the class. I feel really bad for his teacher...she is just a young girl, and has a real classfull. He did say his best friend in the class was a girl with flowers on her shoes. I think he will do better in sunbeams than in nursery. He couldn't stand the free play time where kids could take whatever toy they wanted from him. After church we were starving but realized that we had to get our recomends signed by someone from the stake. Rob was being the worst I've seen him in a while. He kept hitting his head on the wall on purpose. We decided to brave it though and headed over to the stake center. There were 18 other people in line in front of us. It was an interesting hour. Luckily Cortney...my hero...brought me a sugar free almond roca to munch on while we waited. Dinner was yummy tonight I made a mock chicken cordon blue. I pounded out the chicken so it was skinny and rolled up ham and string cheese in each one (with toothpicks to hold them). I brushed them with a little whole mustard seed mustard and wrapped them in tin foil packets to bake in the oven. I baked 350 degrees for 20 minutes...pretty standard. Then I browned them on the stove top in a little Fresca (you know the sugar free calorie free d-lish pop) just so they would have a little sweetness and get nice and brown on the outside. I topped them with sesame seeds and served with some honey (splenda) mustard I made. It was a couple of big spoons mayo, a couple tsp mustard (the same I used on the chicken), a pinch of splenda, probably a tsp lime juice and a little fresca to make it more liquidy. It was REALLY good. I make something like this in my normal life but it has of course brown sugar and honey, I thought this was just as good. The picture isn't the best. After all day not eating I was STARVED and didn't have time to get a good picture.

Saturday day 10

Breakfast: Omlet, two turkey sausages...so yummy i love them, you can barely tell they are turkey.
Lunch: String cheese and lunchmeat.
Dinner: A big salad made by my dear Cortney...He is becoming quite the gourmet.
Dessert: A serving size bowl (small) of CarbSmart Rocky Road Icecream (the almonds in it are to die for). It is my favorite Icecream treat. YUM.

Boring day nothing new. When you are writing everything you eat you realize how redundant this diet is. It really makes food boring. Which is a good thing. Food in my regular life is very exciting. It is all I think about. So boring is good. I did walk my 10000 steps today. We went all over town and I just walked my bum off. It is definatly getting easier and easier to get done though. I won't do it on Sunday but back to business on Monday.

Day 9

Here are some pictures of my day home with the kids.

Oliver loves to make forts all over the house. Today he was under the recliner


My little Rob watching Baby Neptune

Breakfast: 1 egg two turkey sausage
Lunch: 4 cherry tomatoes, 1 stick of string cheese, three slices of lunchmeat tablespoon of cashew pieces
Dinner: Big salad that Cortney made for me, with a million veggies and chicken.

So today I got stuck in a book and all I did was laundry all day and read. That is why the food I ate wasn't very good. Worst part is the book wasn't even good. I waited around at home doing laundry and waiting for my brother to drop by so I didn't get much walking in. I babysat my sisters kids (part of our babysitting exchange, we do it once a week) in the P.M while they went to Outback (they are also on Southbeach). So I didn't get my walking done. I only did a little over 3000 steps. I decided though that I could take two days off a week so I don't get burned out. It was -3 degrees last night and that is without the windchill so I wasn't about to go walking anyways. Saturday I will do better.

Day 8

It is way too stressfull for me to think of a clever title each day that is why I am simply going with what day it actually is. Real creative. I had a great day today I was on the go all day, non stop. My poor baby didn't even really get a nap. I started one egg and two pieces of turkey sausage (yum) I have been using my sandwich maker almost every morning to do my cooking. I cracked an egg in one side and put my sausages into their own little wells closed the cover and got my kids dressed while it cooked. Talk about convienient (my spelling is the worst....sorry). We went to play group at 10:30 (with my old ward), then to visit Molly the girl we lived with. It was sad seeing our apartment there all empty. I could tell they were sad we were gone too. I stayed there until 1:00 we had a great talk. I love them. Then we went to target real quick. My sister needed to pick up a perscription and I was just going to get more steps in on my pedometer. I didn't buy anything there and we then went to her house for lunch. I had some pork roast she had done the night before. We put a little Carb Free Steak Sauce (I think from A1) it was really actually good. When I got home in the late afternoon Cortney and I took the kidos walking at the mall. They rode in the stroller and I walked like crazy. My total step count for the day 10137. We walked 6000 steps at the mall and it was actually fun. I killed me to see all of the major sales that were going on though. Yikes. I left without spending a dime (good Ashley!). Dinner tonight was thinly sliced chicken breast, browned, mixed with 16 oz. of Brocolli (cooked), I added some seasoning and then about 1/2 cup of low fat alfredo sauce. I think it had two carbs in it so I hardly put any on, then I added a little reduced fat cheese and let it simmer for a while on the stove top. It was really good. Even Oliver loved it. I had a little chocolate treat after dinner. It was great. Cortney and I have been talking and we are so happy right now. We have gotten past all of the craving and are doing really good. If we were loaded I think this diet would definatly be easier. But for now I am getting skinnier, my skin looks better, the dark circles under my eyes are gone. What more could you ask for....maybe a carmel brownie. Yeah I'd go for that. I think that is really the only thing I still crave. You can't find that texture in any south beach food. Oh...one more funny thing. Cortney went to play raquetball after the kids were in bed. I could hear Rob saying "mom...MOM! momma....Mom" in his bed he was saying it pretty loud but wasn't crying so I was letting him be hoping he would go to sleep. After a couple of minutes he was still calling for me so I went down to his room and he had gotten his shirt off. When I went in and turned on the lights he was so proud of what he had done. He was jumping and falling and rolling all around his crib trying to show me what a neat trick he had learned. We was smiling so big and kept touching his tummy. He is so cute. I laughed, told him he was a good boy, put a different shirt on and put him back to bed. This time he went to sleep no problem.

Day 7

Woke up this morning and we decided to take the kids swimming at the indoor pool in Lehi, it is awesome has water slides and kids jungle gym in the shallow end. So we got all packed up. I made Cortney and I, to-go egg omlets made in my sandwich maker. We loaded up and got to the pool just to find that it was under repair and drained. Oliver was so sad he wanted to swim. It was a real bummer.I could not believe it. We drove home put Rob to bed, and Oliver and I went for a walk. We walked a mile (he rode his scooter). By the time we started home he was too tired I thought I was going to have to call Cortney to come get us but we made it and he rode the whole way. I just had to stop and rest once for about a minute. He wouldn't say he was tired though he is way too cool for that. He just kept saying things like I want to look at these leaves, or snow or whatever he saw. I could tell that he just wanted to rest. He is so funny. After that I went to Costco for more chicken breasts and then to Albertsons. They are having a 10 for 10 sale on cereals, granola bars, ragu spagetti sauce, and other assorted things like breakfast bars and such. I spent 62.00 and saved 153.00. It was awesome. I love it. I bought a whole bunch of cereal. I felt like I could have eaten all of it today if I could have. All of those yummy carb loaded treats. I gave rob and Ollie a Blueberry Muffin bar on the way home and they had 26g of carbs each. YEOUCH. When we got back we ate salads. Cortney waited, and waited for his scouts to come tonight. No one showed. None are active, but he called all four of them today to remind them of the activity. After scouts...or wating for scouts, I headed over to young womens and we worked on Personal Progress. For refreshments they had two different pepperidge farm freezer desserts, icecream, a cherry pie, and half of a big birthday cake from costco with strawberry mouse icing. I just sat there and truthfully, I felt okay. I didn't need that stuff. Got home and made the yummiest thing for dinner. I made FAJITA's they were delicious! I sauteed red pepper and onion till tender. Then I set them aside as i browned thinly sliced chicken breast. I added about a half a fajita mix and water and cooked according the the instructions on the bag. (you can find fajita mix with almost no carbs) When it was done I added back in the veggies. We then used cabbage leaves as our tortillas and put a little cheese on top with a little ranch. It was YUMMY. It would have been even better if I'd had a little avocado, but I made this last minute so no luck. I went to so many stores today, plus that little walk with Oliver that I hit 10,095 almost on my own. Of course I always take the farthest parking spot from the door and walked the perimeter of the stores a couple of times more than I had to, but it was way easier than having to do 7,000 at night in a scary kmart parking lot. Oh one more thing Cortney weighed himself today and he has lost 6.5 lbs. YEAH for him. He has never lost weight before. He didn't think he could. I am so happy for him. He now thinks this diet is awesome. (of course he has me cooking all of his meals and deciding what he is going to eat so he gets the easy part!)

day 6

Nothing new going on.
Breakfast: Egg and ham and string cheese omlet with two eggs
Lunch: Low fat carb free hot dog (not too good without bun and ketchup) small salad


Dinner: Salmon with a little lime, soy sauce, fresca and garlic, Salad.


Along with White Bean Soup with Greens (from Roberta's South Beach Diet Cookbook) , the greens were swiss chard. The soup was okay. I think it would have been just as good with frozen or fresh spinach. I added parmasan cheese crisps.

Russel Stover's Peanut Butter cup for dessert. Cortney had sugar free Cheesecake pudding, so far the yummiest sugar free pudding I have tasted. Then I went and walked 7000 steps in 20 degree weather. I had already done 3000 so I put on Cortney's Ipod and walked for 64 mins straight. The Pedometer told me it was 64 aerobic minutes of walking. I felt great getting that done. TWO DAYS IN A ROW. Yeah for me. My total at the days end 10168! Oh I had a peanut butter spoon when I got home from walking.

10074

The official count on my pedometer today is 10074. YEAH! I finally got to 10,000. Now to do it I had to go on a walk with the boys, and then after they were asleep I walked around target and then around the parking lot (in the freezing cold) till it was done. I can't believe how much walking 10,000 I walked 4 miles and 2 of them were at target. I decided that I am really going to try to walk 10,000, I mean hey I am already miserable why not add to my misery. I want to make sure I am doing everything I can to lose the weight. So today I woke up with no desire for eggs. I ate my two strips of bacon and had a big glass of water. Then for lunch I had some of my cabbage soup, with grilled chicken breast in it. String cheese for snack with some cashews. I took my kids to the doctor and that sucked all of the energy out of my I BONKED big time. I felt as if I was going to fall off of the chair. Of course I was having to carry BLOBO all over the place they weighed him and he is 26 lbs. I carry him all over the place it is exhausting. Both my kids are okay, unfortunatly. The doctors office is my hell on earth. I hate it, and to leave with no perscriptions sucks. I guess I was looking for a fast fix. Rob has had a cold since christmas. I told Oliver if he let them swab his throat I would get him a treat. Of course the candy store down stairs only took debit payments over 5 dollars, so instead I took him to Carl's Jr's to get a hand scooped strawberry milkshake. It was torture handing it back to him with out having a taste. Plus he didn't even finish it all. I perfectly good shake gone to waste. For dinner I made a recipe from allrecipes.com (they have a southbeach section) it was okay. The recipe is

Gingered Chicken Breast
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
DIRECTIONS
Combine the lemon juice, ginger, pepper, and garlic in a small bowl. Place the chicken breasts in a deep bowl. Pour the ginger mixture over the breasts, turning once to coat both sides. Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Heat the skillet on medium-high until hot. Add the chicken. Cook, turning once, until tender, about 8 minutes.

I cooked the chicken in two tinfoil pouches (other reviewers suggestions) in a 350 degree oven for 20 mins. We had it with salad and green beans. The chicken was just chicken to me. But the ginger taste is yummy and not your usual taste.

Good day better than yesterday!

Day 4 = YUCK

So I woke up today feeling pretty miserable. We fasted only till noon though because we were getting too sick. I couldn't think of ANYTHING that sounded good to me at all. I ended up having two fried eggs with turkey bacon. Then as my mid after noon snack a cheese stick and a small amount of nuts. For dinner we had Salmon with red peppers again and brocolli. I did make the most delish coleslaw made out of thinly sliced cabbage, brocolli and cauliflower. I added to that mayo, a splash of vinegar and a pinch of splenda. I also added some sunflower seeds. It was really good. I also had maybe 1/3 of a cup of the soup from last night(even better the second day). The other thing I figured out is that fresh lime juice makes most sugar free drinks more tolerable. It kinda masks the taste of the artificial sweetner. I had a toffee square from russell stover for my dessert. So far this was my worst day on the diet. I saw the picture of our dinner last night and I almost puked, either I am sick or this diet is kicking my bum. I am dying. I feel like I would rather be fat and eat what I want. But I know that is just day four talking. Tomorrow will be great much better. As for today my burst of energy from yestserday is gone. I just keep staring at the bag of chocolate carmel macademia nuts in my cupboard and I WANT them. All of my true loves in life are chocked full of carbs. Even Ollie and Rob and usually Cortney just not right now. Sheesh. I think I will make the "vegetable quiche cups to go", so I can just eat something in the morning and not think about it. I am also going to get maybe turkey sausage or canadian bacon. I also think that lunchmeat rolled up would be yummier for me than salad (i am getting pretty sick of that). Oliver is sick tonight I think he has strep. I will most likely have to head over to the instacare. Poor baby, he just keeps crying and can't swallow or talk.

Day 3

So today we started off with omlets with red peppers, tomatoes, spinach, onions, and mozzerella. accompianed by of course turkey bacon. For lunch we had huge salads (man this does get boring). Cortney had some sugar free Jell-O for a snack and we have been drinking peach fresca's. I actually am not really liking the sugar free treats as much as I did last time. I think it is the after taste it leaves in your mouth. For dinner we had (pictured above) veggie burger, salad and a cabbage soup. We both got full and satisfied. The soup was pretty good, I though happen to love cabbage. It was just nice to have something other than salad and meat. After dinner I took a sugar free fudgcicle and microwaved it for 9 seconds took it off of the stick and mixed it in a bowl with a tsp of peanut butter, then back to the freezer for a while to firm back up. I got this idea from the web I thought it was okay. I think I would have rather just had the peanut butter alone by its self though. I did feel like I had so much energy today though. It just makes you feel good about yourself when you are showing such will power. It makes me feel like I could do anything. I cleaned and cleaned and organized closets all day. Cortney kept wanting to take a break or leave the house but it was great for me. I love having everything cleaned and organized. This time around on the diet is easier for me. I think it is cause Cortney is also doing it and we talk a lot about it. He now knows how hard it is. I still have a headache though. Well that is all for tonight GOODNIGHT.

The recipe for the soup is:

Healing Cabbage Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 quarts water
4 teaspoons low sodium chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
1/2 head cabbage, cored and coarsely chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, drained and diced (read labels for one with the least amount of sugars or just use 4 regular tomatoes diced)
DIRECTIONS
In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic; cook until onion is transparent, about 5 minutes.
Stir in water, bouillon, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then stir in cabbage. Simmer until cabbage wilts, about 10 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes. Return to a boil, then simmer 15 to 30 minutes, stirring often.

Funny kids

Well it is 10:30 a.m. and so far it has been an eventful morning. First Oliver got his hands on a sugar free candy and swallowed it whole...he was bawling and throwing up in the kitchen garbage. His throwing up turned into my dry heaving on an empty stomach. He was so upset by the whole thing and he can still feel the candy in his chest. He keeps saying..." I want this candy to melt...I have to drink lots of water". Then shortly after that I put on a baby einstein for the kids and jumped into the shower with promises of treats if they be good while I was in. As I was getting dressed after the shower I heard the loudest noise and ran out to see Oliver running BAWLING to the back of the house. He had turned the volume all the way up and Rob had changed the channel, so the static on another channel was SO LOUD. As I ran in to turn off the TV Rob sat in the next to the TV sobbing but I couldn't even hear him the TV was so loud. So I got the TV off and had to sit rocking both my boys for about 5 mins. Oliver told me "My toes are wobbling" I didn't understand so he said "My toes are shaking that is what happens when you are scared". He thought that the TV was two lions that had got in the house. After all was said and done he kept saying..."it was all my fault, I turned the TV up, I don't know why I did that." He would say it in a real sad voice, the whole ordeal really upset both him and Rob. I love being a mom.

Date night

Cortney and I had date night tonight. My sister watched the kids and we attempted to go see a movie. We didn't want to pay for more than the dollar movie so we went down into Provo. There was a 20 foot line and all of the movies starting soon were sold out. Dang mormons....so cheap. So instead we walked around Costco and then went and ate at Sizzler...I had a 8 oz steak with broccoli and Cortney had a 12 oz. delicious sirloin steak...seasoned to perfection. I was however sitting right next to the bread basket for the salad bar so that was hard. We originally tried to go to outback for the special there but the wait was 2 hours. Its not THAT good. We finished off with a couple (one each) of Rusell Stover's sugar free Chocolate covered toffee (tastes like a heath bar). Yum! Cortney couldn't believe it was only day two. It was so nice though to go out without the kids. We even stopped by the grocery store and checked out their sugar free treats and vegetables. I LOVE DATE NIGHT. My sister and I trade once a week so that we are able to go out. Before we thought we wanted to go together but we don't have a sitter so we never did anything...we figured it would be better to go alone with our spouses than sit around and wait to find a sitter. :) It has been so fun and great for me to get away. When I got home I remembered how much I love my kids...they are so funny and so great.

Day 2

Lunch on day 2 Cortney grilled up some chicken while I made the salad. We had lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, red peppers, sunflower seeds and parm cheese. My favorite dressing while on the diet is ceaser with a little pinch of splenda, Cortney even agreed it was yummy.


Here they are Cort's is a bit bigger than mine


So day two has come and is almost gone we had scrambled eggs and turkey bacon again for breakfast (Cortney's request). We had deviled eggs for a mid morning snack (we are starving on this diet). For lunch the salad pictured above. Then after lunch we went to Walmart to get some sugar free goodies. Cort didn't think it would be this hard, he feels okay but really wants snacks. Our kids had a doughnut at walmart and it about killed me, my body seriously ached for the cherry turnovers in the doughnut case. We came back and each had a half of a Morningstar veggie burger. YUMMMMY! I made up a sauce to go on top that made it so yummy. These burgers are a different texture than most things you can eat on this diet. The sauce I made for this is as follows:
In my mini chopper I put
Two big spoons of mayo
5 Cherry tomatoes
1 inch section of a dill pickle
SMALL pinch of splenda
I pulsed the mix untill it was pretty well mixed. We ate it on top of our burgers it tasted like the yummiest (okay that is pushing it but good for this diet) fry sauce. This was one of my favorite things so far definatly different that what you usually get to eat. I will post again what we had for dinner.

Two more

Here is Rob taking a taste of the snow. He loved the stuff....don't worry the snow was fresh.

As you can tell Rob was having a much better time when he was by himself.

My little obsession

Here he is ladies and gents...my obsession. I love him, am crazy about him. But how could I not be...he is just so darn cute. Here he is lounging out in front of our house on a snowy day. His snow pants made it impossible for him to walk so Cortney made him a lounge chair out of snow and we would come and bring him a snowball to hold every once in a while. He just sat and watched. I couldn't pick just one to put on I asked Cortney which was his fave and he couldn't decide either. I even have two more to put on that wouldn't fit with these.

South Beach

So the day has come the 30 bags of Halloween candy I bought have been devoured, all of the Christmas fudge, various dips, carmels, and little smokies were eaten....it is time for me to start my diet. I know the picture above may not look very appetizing (taken with my phone) but it is what we had for dinner for day one south beach diet. We (Cort and I) started off with breakfast of scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. I have sugar free atkins syrup (no calories no sugar no carbs...basically maple flavored water) a couple of drops of the syrup on the bacon makes it so yummy and a little less like cardboard. For lunch we ate at the University of Utah Hospital (doctors appt. for ashley) I had a salad and Cortney ate a 6 dollar steak which was actually delish and came with asparagus. For dinner (pictured above) we had green beans and salmon cooked in tinfoil packets with red peppers, garlic, lime juice and tons of lemon pepper. It really was some of the best salmon I've had. So day one almost over. I have a screaming headache but so far I haven't gotten the shakes. I did come to realize at my doctors appt. that I gained 4 lbs while I was in Rexburg for Christmas (well worth it Nicole well worth it). I can't wait to lose some weight. Oh my snacks for the day were a string cheese and a couple nuts.