Thank you Earl...

My cousin, Marine LCPL Earl Willis, leaves March 12 for his first deployment to Afghanistan. This past Saturday we went to a BBQ send off for him. Many miles have always separated me from Mom's family but this move to Austin has brought us closer. I was absolutely thrilled when my Aunt Robyn emailed me the invitation and details for the get together. Run or no run Saturday morning we were getting to Lake Jackson to see the family!

We arrived around 4ish and Aunt Robyn had the smoker going with lots and lots of food for everyone. It was so neat to see Earl's friends.

The Brazoria County Cavalry showed up which was a HUGE surprise for Earl. The Cavalry consists of many, many, motorcyclists led by the Lake Jackson Fire Department. They come to wish those who are going off to war all the best. I was in awe of this ritual they perform every weekend for our men and women who are leaving to serve and protect our country.

I have told Earl this, but I say it here also... There are NO words to express the gratitude I have for his commitment.

Earl's older sister Christina is a great photographer and she and I tried to capture as many moments as possible for him.

We had so much fun. The girls got to play with their cousins... I got to see many of my cousins along with my Aunt and Granny! Many heart-smiles!!!!

Here are some of the pics we took. We heard the song that is in the background on the way home and I think it is appropriate for what Earl will be facing... tears...

Thank you Aunt Robyn again for making sure we were a part of this. We love you all!!!!

"Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you."

~Deuteronomy 3:22

A Day of Firsts...

Saturday, February 27 was a day of firsts at our house. Garth's brother Travis and their niece Kinsey came for a weekend visit. Kinsey came to see us before she leaves for Marine bootcamp (keep her in your prayers... she is excited and we are oh so proud!).

Saturday was beautiful therefore we decided to go to Zilker Park. This park is just a few blocks from Garth's work but we have never been there together to enjoy. It has a great playground for the kids, a train ride and then the famous Barton Springs Pool. It was a little too chilly for a dip in the pool but we did go on the train ride! The girls had a blast climbing all over the playscapes, running up and down the hills and of course the train ride!

After going Saturday we will definitely be meeting Garth for picnic lunches from TacoDeli at the Park! (Ensalada Tacodeli-Sirloin, no cheese, no sour cream... soooo yummy!)

The other first, was that I got to go on my first "girls night" out in downtown Austin. I was invited to go with some of the girls from the neighborhood for a little dinner and dancing and spirits ;)

We began the evening at the Iron Cactus and enjoyed our dinner on the roof listening to the sounds of 6th street below... so fun.

On a side note... Let me just say that if I had gone to undergrad here at UT... graduation would have been questionable, I definitely would have chosen the 8 year Ralph White Scholarship Program (AKA my dad) instead of the 4 year program!

Okay back to the evening... Then we headed down to Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, where we listened to one of our neighbors sing and play all of the fun requests (I have never met this neighbor, David Lee,... still have no idea really who he is but the neighborhood girls knew, so it was fun)... and then it was off to dance.... dance and did I mention dance!?! I haven't had a night out dancing since right after Izzy was born, so that was over 2 years ago... it was time ;) And I think it is safe to say I got it out of my system for a few months... or maybe years! And Garth is thankful because I got to do it with the girls and he didn't have to suffer through dance party USA with me this time. HAHA!!! We had a great time. I can now say that I have been out on 6th street and maybe a few more streets...?...?...

Is it working????

So many of you have asked on different occasions how CrossFit is going... I have really tried NOT to measure or weigh myself and just go on how I feel. There have been moments during my workouts I have had to stop to pull up my pants and I thought huh, that is weird... good but weird. And today while running around the back yard chasing the girls I kept hiking my pants up. I remembered that the shirt and jeans I wore today I had been pictured in a while back... I was not happy with the shot. Remembering this, I decided when Garth came home tonight I would have him take some quick shots to see if we have made any "progress". I cannot believe I am doing this but here are some before and where we are now shots... I still have a long way to go but...

Here it is....

Before: Oct. 23, 2009 & then another March 16, 2009

And then there is Garth who dropped the pounds soooo fast! He is on the last notch on most of his belts.

Before: June 27, 2009

We are so excited we are seeing and feeling results. We are trying to stick to a Paleo/Zone way of eating and keeping up with our 3 times a week CrossFit.

This was a HUGE CrossFit week for me (((BIG SMILES))) Tonight for the second time in a row I FINISHED a workout before my coach called time (goal check)!!!!! I am on my way to accomplishing my goals Monday night I did a box hand stand push up (goal check)... barely, but it was a start. Yesterday we did "FRAN" as the WOD (workout of the Day) FRAN is 21-15-9 reps of, in this version, KB Thruster and Pull Ups, so I did 21 KB Thrusters and then 21 Pull ups and then 15 and then 9... I finished in 11:37! I did the pull ups WITH THE BANDS (goal check)!! and I had to go lighter on the kettle bell weight... still tough and I still finished!!! Tonight (Thursday, February 25) I finished the workout before JDP (my coach) called time... the WOD was: 3 rounds for time: 500m Row, 10 Squat Clean to Over Head. I need to start taking my book in and write it down because I have now forgotten the time but I think I finished it in 14:57???? I think. I know it was like 3 seconds from his time limit.

The important thing for me is I finished!!!!!! I am accomplishing goals... my pants are falling off... I'm on my way! HAHA!!

While I wish you could all come and workout with us here in Austin, I found these CrossFit Gyms in the Oklahoma areas...

Bixby: CrossFit Bixby

Jenks: CrossFit Jenks (This group looks like they have fun)

Lawton: CrossFit Havoc

McAlester: CrossFit North Oklahoma

Moore: CrossFit Exile

Norman: Ground Zero CrossFit

Oklahoma City: CrossFit OKC, CrossFit 405

Owasso: CrossFit Owasso

Stillwater: CrossFit Stillwater

Tulsa: CrossFit Tulsa, Next Generation CrossFit, CrossFit Sky

Yukon: CrossFit 66

If you want to find a CrossFit gym in your area click here... CrossFIT.com, find your state and see if there is one near!

Splish Splash

So Garth takes care of the girls on the nights I go to my CrossFit workouts. Monday night after my workout he brings me the camera and says, "You have got to see this".

Just push the play button and look at what he discovered ;)

PS... you might hit the pause button on the slide below to stop the music from playing over this one (I need to fix that)

Hmm, now I am just a little concerned as to how she made it this far before he noticed. Ha!!! Never a dull moment around here...

Snow Day

Today it snowed in Austin! Izzy was so excited to get out and play... so we did.

Popcorn Monster...

This Saturday Izzy and I went with our friends Jackie and Max to see ELMO and ZOE LIVE! (yes all of the Sesame Street characters were there but these are the only two Izzy really cares about) This was our first live performance to attend so we were very excited.

We got inside the show and Izzy became very quiet. The lights lowered and Izzy looked at me and said "Here he comes." She was so serious, taking it all in. During the first half of the show, she would clap at the end of the songs but that was it, just still taking it all in. Every once in awhile she would turn around give me a big hug and a kiss and say, "Oh momma I love you!" My heart just melted...

Then just before intermission Izzy decided she wanted popcorn, so I took my melted heart right up to the concession stand to get her popcorn. Floating back down to give my precious little girl her popcorn I handed it to her and she proceeded to devour it... handful after handful after handful... I sternly told her to share with Max and she would oblige me and Max by giving him a single piece of popcorn... she had become the POPCORN Monster at Sesame Street!

Once intermission was over and the second half started Izzy could have cared less. She was only interested in the popcorn. Finally Elmo had a solo so I was able to distract her and give the tub o'fun to Max so he could enjoy for a bit. Then Elmo's short solo was over and Izzy had to have the popcorn back. The girl at this point was more excited about the popcorn than she was the show... I will keep this in mind for the next time.

She did end up slowing down and sharing more with her buddy Max... here is a look at some of the highlights of the show.

Ahh, what we will do for our kiddos and what we learn when we do ;)

Quick Pic...

Izzy giving Sophia Luv'n while Sophia tries to finish her dinner...

Quick Pic...

Here are a couple of pics to make you smile. The girls are getting so big!

Super Star Sophia

Izzy practicing her "tilt"

just like Christmas...

Over the Christmas Holiday Garth and I watched the movie Food, Inc.. Many of you have heard us mention it a time or two but in case you haven't... RENT IT! It is not gross, it is simply thought provoking. Have you ever thought how that hamburger got in your hand? Or did you know that corn or some derrivitive of corn is in ALMOST EVERYTHING?!? I had no idea... if you say to yourself... "I would really rather not know" we don't believe it. Most of the people we know are health conscious working hard to lose weight or say they want to... there is a connection to how our food is "created" these days and how our bodies are reacting to it... I mean did you catch Dr. Oz out on Oprah the other day?

The movie left us asking more questions. So much so that we spent the evening in Fort Worth after the Cotton Bowl at Barnes and Noble with our noses in books rather than at the bars drowning our sorrows from our emabarrassing defeat... poor Pokes. Okay back on track. We decided that we were going to have to make changes with our food as a family.
After a lot of reading and discussion we have decided to become a household that will be conscious of where our food comes from.

Things we are asking ourselves at the grocery store...

How was it grown?

Where was it grown?

Can we pronounce all of the ingredients and know what they are?

Our shopping cart now consists of seasonal fresh fruit & vegetables... hopefully organic and locally grown. And of course our meat purchases... we look for Bison, pork, beef, poultry and fish that have been raised humanely on sustainable farms that do not add antibiotics or growth hormones and allow the animals to do what God created them to do...

There are really no cans or boxes in the cart anymore.

I thought that this would make cooking so much harder but it really hasn't. We eat a meat and a couple of different veggies. Easy. Easy.

My favorite part of this journey has been discovering this great company here in Austin called Greenling. It is a company that delivers to my doorstep produce, meat and dairy products that are either grown on sustainable farms locally or are organic and if we're lucky both! I think the girls have enjoyed this more than we have. Every Thursday is our delivery day, for them it is just like Christmas! The two green greenling boxes arrive and they dig in! Izzy and Sophia both dig through it to see what fruits and veggies they get to snack on through the week. They help put the food away in the pantry and then run to their seats at the table for their mini bell pepper snacks with kiwi (which has become their new favorite thing, they eat the mini bell peppers like apples)! They are excited to open the box and we are excited that they are eating what is inside... and it is good for them!

Our family is choosing to vote every time we go to the super market. If the item we are choosing has a true organic option then we buy it... and that is our vote. The more organic items you purchase at a store the more likely that store will carry more organic options. This has raised our grocery bill a little, however, we are more concious about the amount of food we buy and are throwing away less due to spoilage (which saves us money). We are also switching our mindset to pay more now for what we put into our body and be healthy rather than paying later in doctor bills for not taking care of ourselves.

Another option when purchasing your food is the Farmers' Markets in your area. This is a great way to support your local farmers and get healthy fresh food on your table. You can visit the Local Harvest website and do a search for Farmers' Markets near you! There is a handy little "What are you looking for" box, check Farmers' Market and enter your zip code in the "Where" box, then click search! I did this and to my surprise there were even options near my home town of Stigler, Oklahoma, America... well within driving distance ;)

And here are a few disclaimers...

• No, we have NOT become hippies since we moved down to Austin... HA!!! We were actually headed towards this path in Oklahoma
• Yes, we still eat out on occasion... we just know what is best to order for ourselves at the restaurant
• We realize that we are human and plan on making mistakes and rebounding quickly, holding each other accountable! If we can both stick to it 80% to even 90%, we are happy.
• No, you do not need to have special food on hand just for us if we are coming to visit
• No, we are not judging you if you do not agree or conform to our Austin-hippy ways... oh wait, I said we haven't become hippies... hmmm...

And of course I can't make a post without pics of the girls!!! Here they are enjoying the Greenling delivery... the doorbell just rang and our food has arrived!!!

This video is kind of long but it is so cute to see how the girls are excited!

Here are some of the books we have read so far...

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, By: Michael Pollan

Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What you can do about it.

Fast Food Nation, By: Eric Schlosser