Food Fixes

I grew up with a diabetic mom, and a dad that has heart problems, so food was and is a big thing in our family. I think because I didn't grow up on junk food, I look at other people and think, "what in the heck are they feeding their family?!" I have to pull back and remember that most people didn't grow up like me where if you didn't eat right then you got sick. So with that said I'm very thankful for a mom that taught me simple things that I can do to help keep my family healthy.


One of the easiest things my mom taught me was juice is bad!!! Empty calories, what little nutrients you do get from it, would be much better received from the actual fruit. Parents will say that their kids won't eat fruit, but I saw my mom raise four very different boys and two also very different girls and we all love fruit and veggies. Why? Because that is what was in our house to eat. We are human, we must eat, and we will eat what is provided for us. We never had juice, and I never buy it now because it is not an essential part of my diet.


Stay away from fried!!! You can satisfy most every craving for something fried with something baked. Chicken nuggets with breaded baked chicken, french fries with potato wedges, and so on. I occasionally will indulge in potato chips but when I do I always feel sluggish and sloppy. No bueno my friends.


Refined whites are evil. No really, just pure evil, and this is what I struggle with the most! Yummy cakes and muffins, pancake breakfasts, breaded everything, it's hard to resist, I know. What my mom always did was she gave us whole grain or corn-mill everything for day to day, and then gave us a yummy desert every Sunday dinner. I love the way whole grain tastes! White bread is like fluff, and is kinda gross to me.  Pasta is best when it's hardy and whole grain. I'm not talking wheat or whole wheat, I mean whole grain. It's harder for your body to digest, so you burn more calories, therefore you gain less weight. They say the greener the better with veggies, I say the browner the better with pasta, bread, rice and tortillas!


Always rinse your hamburger meat! Even if it says not to, do it!!! It rinses off a lot of the fat that turned into grease while cooking. Use half a seasoning packet instead of the whole thing. Cuts the sodium intake in half and will taste the same. The same thing can be done with the amount of hamburger meat in most recipes. Not only will it save you some calories, but it will save you some money.


We never had meat at every meal. The scriptures say eat meat sparingly, and I think it's wise council. We would have a veggie brown rice casserole, a salad with black beans, or soup and a whole grain roll. We never even noticed that meat wasn't apart of the meal. It's an important part of our diets, but most people eat way to much. 


It's not about being skinny(I'm not by any means) but for me it's about being as healthy as possible for my kids and husband, and making them the healthiest they can be. I used to feel deprived because we never ate fast food, we always had carrots and grapes instead of cookies and chips for lunches, and my mom made EVERYTHING from scratch.(she even grinds her own wheat) I'm now sooooo grateful for the way we ate, because I'm already showing signs of heart disease and diabetes and I know how to eat to live longer. I've totally given up fast food and soda, and I have so much more energy, and I'm a better mom. My daughter tells people that she won't eat certain things because it's not healthy, although she truly believes that chocolate is the healthiest thing you can put in your mouth.( I think the same thing, my momma taught me right! ) I'm proud that my daughter is learning things from me that I learned from my mom.

I won the Gold for being the worst blogger EVER!

So in the land of Rexburg blogs are everything,...to most moms,...but not this one. I don't know how any mother of two finds time to do this! Sienna isn't here right now and that's how I found a couple of min to update, but Mags is still pretty demanding.

That's right I had miss Maggie, actually a while ago. I meant to do a blog about it, but I chose to sleep instead. A good choice I think. So I think I will give a quick run down of our life starting with her birth.

She was born on May 9TH, MOTHER'S DAY! Everyone that hears this is always like, what a wonderful mother's day gift!, and I'm like yay I will have to give up my day for years to come for my child's birthday! I had consistent contractions the whole week before she came and I was miserable! No sleep, no patience, no fun. Then around 2am on Sunday morning I felt a lil pop and a lil trickle of water. Not the huge gush that you hear about or see in the movies, a lil trickle. I got up, went to the rest room and wondered if that was my water breaking. I put a towel down on the mattress and went back to sleep. The next morning we woke up and got ready for church. I was having bad contractions, but I knew that they were giving the mother's day gift(chocolate) in sacrament meeting that day, and I was so not going to miss that. I stayed for all of the meeting, and then after much convincing from Grant he got me to call the doc. I told him what was going on and he told me to get up to the hospital. They confirmed my water broke and 4 hours after getting there I had my beautiful baby. Her official birth certificate name is Marjorie Hope (Maggie Mae) Daniel. She was 7 lbs 7 oz and 19 inches long. She has my eyes and Grants coloring and smile. She always has a look of concern that she might be dropped at any moment, which we realized was justified after Sienna dropped her,...twice. We absolutely adore her!

They look so much alike in these pics!

Sienna is a wonderful big sister, droppings and all! She helps me get diapers or anything else I need, and usually is the first to comfort her when crying. She does get a lil jealous, but for the most part she's been awesome! She is still hilarious and keeps us laughing all day. I can't believe that she's four! She's so smart, pretty, and adventurous. We have thoroughly enjoyed the summer, and we have spent most of our time at the splash park, getting snow cones and riding the carousal. She's a ball of energy! Always on the move. Earlier this week she got a hold of the button for the downstairs doorbell(my bro and his wife life in our basement) and hid. She started ringing it every five seconds so my brother came upstairs and started looking for the culprit. It took all of us, three grown adults,(Grant was at work) 45 min to find her. I started getting scared! She was in Mags closet under my wedding dress. Sneaky lil devil. We are hoping that she will start preschool in the fall, we're just playing the waiting game to find out if she was accepted.

Grant has been out of school since the winter semester ended in April and we have so enjoyed it. He has been working for Melaluka and is doing really well there. He just placed second in the whole company for credit card transfers and won a Nook. He also earned a surround sound system for our living room, so as you might have guessed this is his favorite job yet. He had another 4.0 semester, and he's gearing up for the fall. I'm truly blessed to have such a hard working husband. He loves Mags and is wonderful with her. Although he started walking with her to get her to calm down when crying and now she thinks if daddy holds her he has to be walking. It's really cute. He's been fabulous with helping Sienna get the attention she needs and everyday he comes home and plays with her before he does anything else. Both girls really adore their daddy!

We all got a lil vaca in July, and went home for a lil bit. We blessed Mags and ate at all the restaurants that we've been missing. I gained a fair amount of weight while there, but Rosa's caso is always worth every lb. My mom ended up coming back with us and we had a splendid week with her here in Rexburg. She had a lot of fun with us I think, and she even made us our traditional Christmas dinner, Navajo tacos! Sooooo yummy! We loved every minute of her being here.

I will try to be a better blogger,... maybe. It's just not really on my priority list right now. When the winter comes and we're stuck in the house, you might hear from us a lil more often, but I want to spend these last glorious weeks of summer outside. :)