A long post about kids, fun and food.

Hannah had just slipped and fallen hard twice and was crying, Felicity was crying and Liesel may have been also. One of those classic mom moments. 

L found this little guy and was convinced that he was going to follow us home after she let him go. She kept saying, "I can hear him! He's following us!"

Heaven's birthday gift for Lindsey: an AMAZING birthday rainbow mid-ride; My birthday gift to Lindsey: 1 hour of pain mountain biking a trail that really kills your self esteem called EZ and Lazy. 

This girls love their Auntie! Happy Birthday to Lindsey. Made this homemade shortbread crust-cream and strawberry pie (you make the pudding from scratch by heating it on the stove, tempering the egg and folding in real whip cream) TWICE. Brian came home from the White Rim in time to celebrate Lindsey's B-day and mentioned more than once, "Babe, I wouldn't mind if I found another one of those in the fridge tomorrow. . ." hint hint. I didn't disappoint. 

Went on two killer trail runs with Lindsey when she was here! 

Another from out Mountain bike excursion. 

The GIANT banana split we got at the art festival. Hard to believe this was one week ago because now we're sweating our brains out in 97 degree weather! 

Hulu-hoop champ. Sarah Hays was legitimately surprised that I had a hidden talent for the hula-hoop. :) 

We snuck in a 20 minute bouldering session on Lindsey's b-day. Right after the trail run and before the arts fest. 

Love my sister!!!!!

On one of our many outings. My two peas in their own pods. 

And my newest sweet pea with gorgeous eyes and the sweetest temperament. 

What a good month it's been. I'm not going to recap all the trails and outings, but suffice it to say that there were MANY. May weather was amazing. 70s with a good t-storm about every day that came and washed through quickly. I LOVE living in Moab. I really do. It's amazing. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that every day I look up and around when I'm in the backyard, running on some trail or playing out somewhere with the kids and think, "This is amazing." 

We go to host Lindsey for her 29th Birthday this month. That was a great weekend for me. I love having family so close by and she really does a great job of coming down. My kids adore her and definitely feel comfortable around her. . .perhaps too comfortable. ;) We played like crazy and had so much fun together. One funny story: we were trail running a loop and the end of that loop (when we were about 100 yards from the car) had a river/creek that was so deep I had to swim it with only my head above water. The second I got to the other side, some hikers popped out of the brush and said that there was a trail where you could cross some rocks not too far the other way. Lindsey escaped the  icy swim!

Brian got home from a SAR this afternoon around 2pm. He was called out yesterday at 7pm back to Canyonlands. A man had repelled on an unsafe anchor, which didn't hold. His girlfriend and 15-year-old daughter watched him fall to his death. Brian went out on the White Rim to help them and remove the body. Brian is a hard worker and I'm so glad I married him. For that reason and for so many others. I look forward to when he walks in the door every day.

For the past three weeks I've been counting my calories using the smartphone app called "My Fitness Pal." I enter in every recipe and my portion size. I invested in a scale and a food scale for my Mother's Day present and I've been keeping track of everything for three weeks. My goal is to do it for six weeks. I have lost 10 pounds so far. I wanted to mention this because it has been so educational for me and I have really enjoyed it. 

Here are a few thoughts on it:

1) Being disciplined in this area of my life has sparked a desire to be more disciplined in my spiritual growth. As I was running the other day, I was thinking about how everything has both an easy way and hard way (all things have an opposite)-- the hard way being the greater result. I can get angry at my child and yell (easy) or I can take a deep breath and say it calmly again and again (hard). . . etc. Every time I resist and take the harder/higher road, I have a greater result. It's basically Mosiah 3:19 in action. Obvious, I know. But seeing the success temporally has made me more diligent spiritually. I 

2) I feel blessed that I have a smart phone. It sounds silly, but it is honestly an incredible tool. I type in what I want to weigh, it tells me how much I can eat and if I stick to those numbers, I'll have "x" result. It kind of blows me away. 

3) It feels really good to not be pregnant. I am so glad that I can MOVE as fast as I want. That I can jump, run, climb, bike and play. I have a gym membership, but using is torture. I like to exercise because I like to be outside. I like feel the sun on my slathered in sunscreen skin. I like to dunk my head in a cool pool and let it drip down. I like to run with no shirt in the middle of nowhere. I like to stare deep in to a canyon and go up and down slickrock. 

4) I want to eat a more plant-based diet. I haven't eaten as much dairy or meat since I started and I feel amazing. I don't want to support the beef industry anymore. I realized that the government is what has set up the daily nutrient guidelines. I think people are eating more protein than they need and our main focus should just be eating more plants, whole grains and absorbing our nutrients naturally. Nothing about the meat industry is good. It isn't healthy, it is terrible for the environment and it's inhumane to animals. I know it's hippy stuff that's been around forever, but sometimes hippies have it right. I'm not saying I won't eat meat at all, but I think it should be more of a flavoring than a main dish. I want to eat a modest amount and I can't wait to get our own eggs.