Picking Dandelions

Weigh in: WEEK 2

Well this week was great until Saturday night when we went for dinner at Kelsey's and totally ate food we shouldn't have, followed by a guilt free Fathers Day Sunday of Cafe Rio Burritos and Chocolate Skor Poke Cake. That is my favourite thing about this challenge though you just pick yourself right back up and go right back at it, the only damage you have done is the scale stayed the same 148lbs. I also didn't get to the gym as much with being busy but the weather was beautiful so I had lots of good walks with the kids. My favourite recipe this week was one I got from the vemma bode iPhone app, it was this Garlic Lime Chicken and it was to die for good. I am definitely making it again this week. Another delicious meal was zucchini with some vegetable seasonings and mozzarella cheese, then baked in the oven. So yummy and great for a low carb day snack. So I am hoping for more workout this week and no failure days and maybe a guilt free Sunday that isn't so guilt free to see the scale come down a pound or two.

Bringing back an old tradition!!

When Mark and I were first married we made blueberry pancakes every Sunday. We did it for about 4 months strait before it slowed down a bit, then by the time we moved to Vermilion they were never seen of or heard about again, until two weeks ago when it was stake conference and Mark didn't have early morning meetings to get to, YAY!!! I had bought a big box of blueberries on Saturday and when Mark woke up he started talking about are old tradition of blueberry pancakes and that we should make some again. We didn't have any pancake mix but now I was hugely craving those bad boys so I went to Pinterest for a homemade recipe and I happened to fall upon the most amazing recipe on the face of the planet. They were unreal good and we all wished are stomachs were bigger so we could have ate more. We decided that it would be a good idea to bring this little tradition back for Sundays Mark doesn't have meetings and maybe make these our Christmas pancakes and also have them anytime we are craving them, which I think might be often. 

Weigh in: WEEK 1

What an amazing first week, everyday my body kept feeling tighter and healthier. I was able to get in four good work outs. My best one was on Tuesdsy night when I got in a good 7KM run. I only had one moment when I got really hungry, that was Friday night around 10:00 after a long exhausting day. Our team leaders in Vemma came up from Toronot to put on four big events for us, one Friday night at my house and three Saturday at The Royal Hotel. It was such a great experience and I got some awesome training and meet some of the nicest people ever. So it made for a fun, long exhausting weekend. saturday was the only day I struggled following the program as I was out and about all day at Vemma events. I think mine and Marks favourite meal was a chicken burger BBQ'd with some Mozzarella cheese and one big scoop of salsa. Perfect for a Low Carb day for lunch or supper. So yummy and so easy to make. So now for the moment I have been waiting for. Got up and weighed myself this morning and was so Happy to see my Scale reading............ 148 LBS!!! Down 4 lbs my first week and couldn't be happier. Especially with Sunday being my guilt free day and I had to down a big bowl of popcorn for that. So now onto week 2 and new challenges, new recipes and hopefully new goals meet. 

DOING IT TOGETHER!!!!

Challenges are so much better when you do it as a team. I started the Vemma Bode 12 week weight lose challenge a month ago, it was hard to do it on my own, eating seperate meals as my hubby and family, so Mark decided to jump on the band wagon with me. I was also able to get a couple of friends to join us as well. Mark and I started this Monday and it has been so much easier when we are there supporting and encouraging one another. I have decided since Vemma is also my business and would like to promote it a bit and show everybody how amazing there products and program is, that I am really going to document Mark and mine's progress. I was going to do it on a daily basis but realized I would not have the time, so weekly it is. I am hoping this will help keep us motivated and my friends that are doing it with me motivated and who knows maybe get others interested as well. I don't know if Mark will allow me but I will mark my weekly stats plus meals and workouts so others can see how easy it is. It is a life style change and a healthy one lots of people need to make. So here we go, there are some before pics, but I promised Mark I wouldn't post them until we had After pics. I heard a good quote a couple months ago... It is Okay to have a before picture as long as there is an after picture.

Kalinda: Starting weight: 152 lbs (some may not believe this but I really am) my initial goal was 12 lbs, but as I was watching Extreme Makeover Weightlose Addition with Chris and Heidi Powell (They created the Bode program and products with Dr. Y.B. Wang, who created the Vemma formula) and all the contestants are on the bode products and they were losing 60 to 100 lbs in 12 weeks I decided to set my goal a little higher.

Goal Weight: 128 lbs (24 lbs) I know it is a little low for me, on the BMI scale it says 125lbs or less and I would be considered underweight, so I am shooting for that goal knowing once I stop the program a couple pounds might go back on no more then 2-3 I hope. So that I can maintain 132 lbs.

Mark's info will be posted at the end as he is a little more private about that stuff then me.

How many children are you suppose to have???

I usually never take those stupid Facebook quizzes that pop up on newsfeed but today there was one that peaked my interest, the topic was...

How many children are you suppose to have. So I started answering the questions and they went a little like this

1. Do you have kids

Yes/no

2. How many siblings do you have

3. Do you like time to yourself

A. Yes everyday

B. every once in a while

C. What is that

4. When you see big families in the mall you think

A. That looks fun can't what to have kids

B. that looks fun but not for me

C. Those people are insane

4. Do you think an only child is 

A. Spoiled

B. bad manners and temper

C. Depends on the parents 

5. Do you wanna raise your family in the

A city

B suburbs

C country 

6. Do you think children are expensive

A yes but worth it

B yes how am I going to pay for college

C no

D yes but so it everything else in life

7. How do you feel about children

A I love them

B. I like them but get overwhelmed with two many

C they can be quite annoying

So it is not 100% but it went a little bit like that. At the end of answering the questions with complete honesty I was not surprised when they told me 4. Not because I want 4, heavens no, but because of how society acts. You must be a cold heartless selfish person to only want two children. I mean of course I don't like children of course I think they are two expensive of course I think big families are crazy. Or maybe just maybe I can love children to death, not even get a little annoyed at how expensive they are, love the sounds of kids laughing and playing and heaven for bid only want 2. I went in and took the test again answering the questions the way they would want me to and I got 1 child. 

I get asked on probably a weekly basis, as I am sure most of you women do, how many children do you want. Or I get judged on a weekly basis in two very different ways. From members in my church it is always so when is the next one coming, or how many more you going to have, cause their is no way you could be done at 2. From people that don't go to my church it is always oh great a boy and a girl now you can be done, because you would be crazy to want more. I read an awesome blog post the other day from a women with a big family and how she gets so annoyed with the world judging her for having so many kids so close together. I agree the world is so bad for doing that. Big families are beautiful and fun and chaotic and  a lot of work, but it is that families chose to have as many aborable kiddos as they want. Then there is my church and they are just as bad on the flip side. I am this horrible, selfish commandment breaking women for only wanting two. I constantly feel like I have to justify to people that I love my children because I only want two. The famous question I get asked all the time... "Why only two?". Even if Wade would have been a girl we were done. I use to be one of those people that constantly judged everybody for there actions, not that I am perfect now, however I think I got so sick and tired of being judged myself all the time I finally started to look at everybody's side. Started seeing the beauty in everybody being different. I don't know if this blog post will make any difference in the world, I do hope though that people will look at me differently and that even though I want a small family I love my kids more then anything, my world revolves around them and I wouldn't want it any other way. 

ALL BY MYSELF!!!

Marky mark was in Edmonton all day looking at tent trailers and going to stake leadership training. So me and the kiddos had the whole day to ourself. We started by sleeping in till 8:30, gotta like that. Then devoured some Cheerios and oranges. Next was a walk to the awesome park right beside our house. Macie loves climbing and Wade loves shoving wood chips in his mouth. After lunch, Wade had a nice long nap while Mace and I played in the back yard. Then the best part of our day, we headed to the Border City Petting Zoo. Macie loved everything about it. The best part was when I bought Macie a bag of popcorn and we went to say hi to the goats and the attacked her bagging for popcorn. She loved every second of the animals worshiping her. She of course then wanted to give popcorn to all the animals until these weird looking Donkeys bit her pretty hard. Then we decided it was best to just throw the popcorn at the other animals. It was nice that the Bennett's showed up for some adult company and Macie got to hang out with Yann. After super we had our Saturday night baths then built some awesome block towers, to kick over and build again. Then always my favourite part of everyday, snuggles, milk and stories. The kids were asleep by 7:30 and I get some alone time as Mark is still not home yet. It was such a great day and the kids were amazing, especially Wade. 

Rainy Days!!

To me spring and summer is about playing outside, swimming outside, eating outside, pretty much being outside as much as humanly possible. These past couple of days though have been gloomy and rainy and the kiddos are almost done with there colds, so we have burrowed ourselves inside and have been lazy. Staying in PJs, watching shows, playing dress up, reading lots of books, doing lots of puzzles and some crafts. I was pretty impressed with Macies art projects these past two days so wanted some pics for memories as I am sure they will eventually end up in the garbage. This weekend it is suppose to be nice so back to daily routines of parks, water fights and searching for ladybugs!

The Color Within!!!

Today Melissa, Sara and I did a 5km color run. It was a blast having paint thrown all over us. I of course let the competitive side out of me and had to get out of the mess of people and run ahead. I couldn't believe it when Mark said I was the 4th person to pass the finish line and the first girl. It felt pretty awesome. I love it when I get to hang out with these girls we always have so much fun. Afterwards we hit up the Brewhouse for appetizers then did some shopping all sweaty and full of paint, we looked pretty cool!! Next year we are going all out for dressing up. 

Young Women's

Last night for activity we had the girls come to our house and we made some delicious elephant ears, blew up the bounce house and devoured some delicious Nutella s'mores. To say I love my youth is an understatement, these girls are amazing, kind, polite, listen well. Me and Sylvia constitently say how lucky we are to have such good girls. It is such a blessing when being a youth leader and  the girls are such a good example to you and make you want to be a better person. I love my calling, the Youth and the amazing leaders I get to work with.