2012 DIET

So when Brint and I got home from AZ we decided that we were going to go on a diet and actually follow through with it.... SOOOO the diet that we choose was actually, in my opinion, one of the healthiest and best diets for your body. Brint has a friend that had come up with this diet and it consist of being a vegan for 2 strait weeks and drinking a cleanse at the same time.

When we were first starting I was super jazzed about it and totally ready to get all that "extra" stuff out of my body and start 2012 fresh! about day 3, I was over it! haha I'm not a very good dieter, mostly because I have never been on a diet before. But we stuck to our guns. In the gram scheme of things, I actually couldn't finish the diet out by drinking the amount of the liquid that was told to drink. I actually started gaining wait and I felt so bloated. So I ended up cutting that portion out and just sticking to the NO meats, dairy, or carbs. I lost about 2 solid pounds in 2 weeks and Brint, who did a heck of a lot better than me, lost about 9 pound! =)

What I loved about this diet though, is that you are never hungry! You can eat as much fruits and veggies as you want. Also you can have beans and white & brown rice, preferably brown rice. But cooking this way forced me to get creative with dinner/lunch. Some of the meal I made were a veggie stir fry over white rice, black bean soup with avocado, tomatoes & olives, I also made chipotle style celantro white rice with flavored black beans... YUMMY! Lots of salads with all the yummy non-carb fixins and snacks were apples, pears, carrots, celery, mixed nuts, trail mix, cutie oranges, bananas, etc. Pretty much anything you can come up with that grows from the earth.

Even though I didn't loose a ton of weight, I feel great. I feel healthy and I love the way it forced me to think outside my box and make dinner that wasn't centered around meat. I think from now on, Brint and I will try to stick with keeping lots of veggies in our diet and keeping our meat portions down.

SO if any of you are interested in going on a good wholesome diet, try it out! It's only 2 weeks long, but it might change your eating habits for a lifetime!

http://ripvenice.blogspot.com/

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

WOW! I am so so behind on posting!

Brint and I had the opportunity to go home to AZ/UT for the holidays this year and it was so needed.

 Brint and I waiting at the airport to leave! SO EXCITED! I love flying over PHX at night... it really show how much the Phx valley is grid! LOVE IT!

Then we get to Brint's parents house...their huge beautiful christmas tree was all lit up and looking like "home"! such a good feeling! 

Dukers was SO happy to see us! Like always, he didn't want to leave our side. About 2 months ago, Karl and Diana took Duke up to the cabin and I guess he brought ticks home. Well they didn't think to check him before brining him home or letting him in the house, so the house got infested! :( so our first night there, we got to say hi to Duke but we had to lock him back up afterwards and it broke my heart to hear him crying for us, and not allowing him to come inside! 

So we spent most of our time outside... I was reading and both Duke and Izzy decide they wanted to sit on my lap and snuggle in the sun! I LOVED IT! :) 

Duke and Izzy got lots of baths so they could be tick free! 

This is typical Brint and Duke... By this time we hadn't found any ticks on Duke or Izzy for about 5 days so we got permission to let them back inside... They were so happy! 

We headed to UT on the 20th to go and spend christmas with my family! They just moved there last January so it was a first white Christmas for all of us! Too bad it didn't snow on Christmas day, but it did snow a little a few days before! It was FREEZING there! But it was so beautiful!  

This is from my mom's backyard... 

My sisters and I! 

Me, Brooke(15), Lauren(13), Stephanie(17), Kenedy(11)

Brint and I went to eat at Tucano's Brazilian grill!!!! SO YUMMY!!!!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!
My mom is like a little elf... you wake up christmas morning and the whole house is filled with presents and goodies and it is SO exciting! :)

My mom made me these beautiful aprons for Christmas! I LOVE them!

We ended up driving back to AZ with Jesse and Ali (Brint's brother and his wife) and my mom and sisters followed us! It was so nice to be back in AZ and have both of our families there! I got up one morning and went hiking with my mom, sisters (minus Kenedy) and Duke... it was warm, fun, and beautiful!

Once we were home Brint and I had the opportunity to go to the temple! 

Also, our cousin Jenni preformed at the Mesa Art Center for a benefit concert that we were able to attend... SHE WAS AMAZING! Loved listening to her sing and watching her play the piano! She rocked it! :)

Isn't she pretty?? 

One of my best friends had a baby right before we left AZ this past Aug, so I was able to see baby Ruby in Aug but I was so excited to see her this time! I can't believe how fast she grew in 4 1/2 months! She is just so precious! I want to keep her all for myself! 

I got to hang out with my sis-in-law Ali! we went shopping and then stop at Tia Rosa's where our bro-in-law Sean works and got smoothies and ate chips and salsa! YUM! we were so full after that! haha 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Jesse and Ali

Of course we had to make Brint's famous Homemade cinnamon rolls! YUMMY! 

Before coming home to Hawaii, Grandpa Clement decided it was his time to cross the veil and enter the other side... What an emotional last week it was. Grandpa was diagnosed with Colin Cancer about 2 years ago and it has been a long hard road. He is such an amazing man! He lived his life serving others ALWAYS! He the most selfless person I have ever met. I am so grateful that Brint and I were able to be home with family during this time and feel the comfort of love.

We love you Grandpa and will miss you so much! 

Young Women's in Excellence- The Treasure Within

Last month we had our Young Women's in Excellence... it turned out really really good. There was a lot of prep for this but the outcome was totally worth all the time put into it.

We wanted to give our girls something personal that they could have that would remind them of YW and what values they stand for. So I made each of our girls a Value board :

On the back of each board was a letter from their mothers letting the girls know how "treasured" she is and how she is valued in their lives. When presenting the boards to the girls and reading them what their mothers wrote about them, it definitely broght tears of love to all our eyes. 

Here was our display: 

Like I said, the program turned out really well and we had such a great support group from the families. It was wonderful!