Theme for 2012

I have a ton of pictures and other things that I should blog about for my "journaling" purposes, but my thoughts are almost always concerned with one word-HEALTH. My focus for 2012 is on being healthy in every aspect of my life. Physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, financially...you get the picture. I have been contemplating this for several months so it wasn't necessarily sparked by the new year. It was actually sparked last year by some different things that happened to people we love. But I was pregnant and all of my energy was consumed by growing a healthy baby and giving birth to her. Once I started feeling somewhat normal again it was time to tackle this task of becoming a more healthy me and helping my family become more healthy as well. I have spent a lot time reading and thinking about how best to clean up our diet. I have big plans for this for what I want to see happen with that this year, and I am excited about what I have been able to do in just one month. My goal is for us to 80/20. That means 80% whole foods, 20% other. No more processed crap. 80% of everything we eat this year needs to come from real, made from scratch foods. The very first two steps I did were to stop buying cold cereal and dinosaur chicken nuggets. These were very difficult for me to do because I am NOT a morning person and cereal is so easy to fix for my kids. And what's easier than popping some nuggets in the microwave and adding some fruit and calling it lunch? And those were Jacob's favorite things to eat. He had them everyday for months/years. BUT my kids deserve better. I recently read an article about how feeding our kids sugar daily from an early age is like giving them a cigarette at an early age. They get addicted and the sugar is killing them slowly. Yikes!! What about all the other stuff in the packaged foods we buy? Can you even pronounce the names of half the stuff that's in there? Last night I read an article on ksl.com about a politician in Oklahoma sponsoring a bill that would make it illegal to put human fetuses in food. WOW!!! I was floored that that would even be a concern. Makes you wonder what else they are putting in there. I could go on all night about this. Bottom line is I want to live a long healthy life. I want to be able to ride my mountain bike and hike and do everything else I like to do in 30 years. I want the same for my kids, and I don't want my husband dying on me at age 60 due to something that can be prevented, which almost happened to my mother-in-law last year. I know I will never be perfect. My kids will still get/want their treats, and we will still have pizza sometimes. I took the kids grocery shopping today, and Jacob wanted all this "junk" food. All I had to do was remind him that we are trying to take care of our bodies a little better. And he gets it!!! So I am making him some oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies :) No white sugar or eggs. Just oats, nuts, chocolate chips, a little oil, brown sugar and flour. And on June 25 I will be running my very first half marathon!!

Thanksgiving Point

We did the wagon ride through the lights at Thanksgiving Point twice this year. Each time with a different group of friends. We also stopped by to see Santa's reindeer and to get a treat.