Favorite Snack

This is my favorite snack of the week! Charlie LOVES it too!!!

Zone Waldorf Salad Snack (1 block)
1 cup celery, diced
1/4 apple, chopped
1 tsp. mayo (I use Mayo with Canola Oil)
1 pecan, crushed
1 oz. cheese

Mommy in The Zone

I was in the mood for changing something. About myself. I felt that my mood swings were getting out of control. I have heard from others that a change in your diet could help with mood swings. I also felt like I should have more energy throughout the day. There were times when I felt out of control with eating! If there was a bag of chips I would eat and eat. If there was some chocolate or candy I would keep eating it! I just felt out of control. I don't llike to be out of control.

My brother just so happens to be my inspiration to make some change. Some might think this may be a little bit scary...an older brother inspiring?? Alex is inspiring to me in a lot of ways. He was talking a lot about The Zone way of eating. So I picked up a book or two and set to it. A lot of what Alex was eating he would explain to me and I would try it all out. He sent me a link from Crossfit that had some easy recipies on it. I like many of them. So Easy! What could be easier to snack on then some cottage cheese, pinnapple, and 6 peanuts? Here is the article. http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/cfjissue21_May04.pdf

I have had A LOT of questions about all of this. So as I blog I will answer these questions. I am trying all sorts of new things in the kitchen. My thought for now is a little bit of change at time is all that matters!

Some foods we are trying and avoiding:
Less bread-open faced sandwiches
No cereal (occasionally for me, and everyone else gets to eat what they want)
More protein-deli meat, steak, bacon, ham, lots of chicken, hamburger, salmon, tuna, and fish
Oatmeal and steel-cut oats
More avocodo (for fats)
Favorite lunch today: tortilla with avacodo, chesse melted, and salsa!
Smoothies with protein powder

So basically its a good balance between protein, carbs, and fats.  As I try new things I will be sure to share!

Weeds of Life

Blog Post Verse 1
He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. ~Matthew 13:37-39 (NIV)


The other day I was sharing with Jeff some news about a few my mom friends. He asked "Is there ever any good news that happens to your mom friends? It seems that there is always bad stuff happening." I told him Yes of course! Why do I naturally share bad news first rather than the good stuff? I feel like if I tell Jeff bad news, I will get more of a response from him. "oh wow, so sorry to hear that" or "that is terrible". If I tell him good news will he react the same way is a positive manner? "Oh that is wonderful!" "Oh I am so glad to hear that".  I was sowing weeds!

I was pulling weeds this afternoon. These weeds surrounded the beautiful spring flowers like tulips and daffodils. I wasn't paying any attention to the flowers, just the weeds. Pulling and plucking, digging and discarding. I was on my knees when there was a tulip right under my nose. I could not avoid the scent from the flower. I looked down and there was such a beautiful contrast between the inner black and the outer red. So beautiful, God's creation. It was like God was saying...here you go my sweet daughter-I give you beauty amoungst the weeds. Sweet child, don't focus on the weeds, focus on the beauty that is in front of you. Wow! Thank you God for this moment.

Isn't this true with life? It seems like sometimes there are so many "weeds" growing around us that we fail to see the beauty that is right under our noses. So now it's time for me to focus on God and all the beauty and blessings that surround us. Focus on the good seeds! Instead of telling news about bad things happening, tell the good news! The praises! The Blessings! The beauty of God, the kingdom of heaven!


Blog Post Verse 2
Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. ~Matthew 13: 24-26 (NLT)

This picture is from last summer. Charlie enjoying God's beauty!

Thank you God for beautiful life.

Blog Post Verse:

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. ~Isaiah 58:11

Last fall I was pretty confident in how our compost would turn out. I packed the can in the ground a foot or two and buffered it from the cold winter to come. This spring, I opened the compost can and there it was. So beautiful. Perfect compost dirt! Whenever you smell fresh dirt, do you ever start to salivate a little bit? I did! I don't know what it is that causes that!

As I emptied it out into a wheelbarrow I found out that the lower I got, the stinker it was. I also found a few things there weren't decomposed. The top of a pinneapple, some newspaper, and the stinkiest thing on the bottom were some corn husks. This year I will avoid adding these things. I will also remember to pick up the can and roll it around to get some air in the bottom of it.

In our garden area I hoe'd and raked out all the weeds (isn't it amazing that weeds are one of the first things that grow in the spring?) to get it ready for the compost. It was about 1.5 wheelbarrows full that I mixed into the garden area. I will be planting some tomatoes and basil. We also trimmed out quite a bit from the bottom of the pine tree, so there will be a tad bit more area and more sun.

Our tulips and daffadils have started blooming! All different colors in many areas of our yard.

We have been blessed with a beautiful Spring with plenty of sunshine and rain!

Thank you God for such a beautiful creation.

All of life.

Easter and Spring

We have had an amazing Spring so far! The weather has been beautiful. Joey and Charlie have been outside loving up all the sunshine! Joey has a so many adorable freckles on his face, I just LOVE IT! A rainy day can bring some fun too. For Easter Joey and I made ressurection bisquits...something he learned in school. They were delicious! We had so much fun decorating eggs and searching for some too. The boys got some tennis raquets in the thier Easter baskets and it has been so fun!Here are a bunch of pictures of our adventures!

Charlie found some bugs on the tennis courts! Joey is quite the tennis player!

Merry Blogletter! (Got this title from Lizz my sister!)

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

What a wonderful year! We started the year off with our usual burst of birthdays in January. Joey turned 3! Now he is almost 4. Joey started pre-school this fall and loves it. It is two afternoons a week and he does a lot of painting and art, reading books, playing, and learning new songs! He will be going on many field trips too. Charlie loves to drop Joey off at school. Charlie turned 2 in November. He learns a lot from Joey and they play well together, but are not without their fights. Charlie is really a rough and tumble kind-of kid. He loves wrestling and running around. He loves riding his bike!



Uncle Alex was visiting for a few months so we were able to spend some time with him and the boys got to know their uncle. Grandpa Mike also visited us a visit. What fun adventures we had.



I took a part-time job at my friend's store downtown. A babysitter plays with Joey and Charlie during this time. The boys love their babysitters! It is so great to be able to bike to work (on nice days) and catch up on pictures and blogging. I update our blog just a couple of times month. If you are interested, please check it out http://katybellamommy.blogspot.com/.



Jeff has been working more than ever expanding Wipfli's Information Technology practice. In the summer he had a really fun softball season. The kids loved to watch and play their own games on the sidelines. He worked hard on the house this summer and we also hired someone to finish painting the trim on the exterior. We don’t want to get that high up!



Jeff and I along with our friends took a super fun trip to Mexico last March. We took some time on the beach, eating-the food was amazing, and a full day adventure excursion. The adventure included climbing a Mayan ruin (which I clung to every step) zip lining over a croc infested lake, and repelling into a cavern. We are planning another trip to a different resort in January.



This year we added a new perennial garden and a patch of tomato plants. In the fall, we planted over 150 tulips and daffodils-something to look forward to this spring! We enjoyed many weekends at Jeff's parents in Turtle Lake. They got a pontoon that the boys just love! The boys also were able to hang out with their Great Grandma Lee quite a bit. Charlie has grown fond of the show "I Love Lucy". I can just see G-Lee's eyes light up when the boys are around her. What a blessing she is to us. We love her very much.



Tucker, the black lab, is a great dog! He belongs to Phil, who rents the bedroom and the backside of our house. Phil is a helicopter pilot for Mayo One. Phil and Tucker are best buds and we have really enjoyed having them both stay with us. Joey and Charlie love to have Tucker fetch a softball-and Tucker will not quit unless you hide the ball from him!



We wish everyone a Happy Holiday season and a great New Year!

It's about time!

I thought that it was about time I updated this blog! We are getting sooooo excited for Christmas this year! We get to meet our brand new nephew Elias! Randy and Chanda are travelling from Pennsylvania to spend the holidays and introduce us to Eli. Everyone from the Stevens side will be home from Christmas. Jeff and I and the boys will going to Turtle Lake on Christmas day. Ben and Belinda, Randy and Chanda, Tom and Laura, and Julie...it will be a houseful! At my mom's my Brother Alex will be in town to celebrate with us on Christmas eve. 

Thankfully we didn't have to visit Santa at the crazy mall. Santa payed a visit to Jeff's office-Wipfli. It is a wonderful set up-we eat some pizza and each kid gets a goodie bag and a big book to color in. Then Santa arrives and reads us all the Christmas story. Then he gives each child a gift with thier names! The boys warmed up to Santa fast! It was so fun.

Snow and Ice

It has been cold! We have been outside a little exlporing what snow is all about. Sledding, Ice fishing, digging tunnels-it has all been fun. On those really cold days-we stayed inside and made homemade playdoh and cookies, boats out of recyclables, and bringin the snow in to play with!

Jeff took Joey out ice fishing for the first time this year. Jeff bought a vexilar so they could find all the fishies. I guess there weren't any fishies to find! Aaron Kasper and Jack joined them in the adventure.

This is the plate fo the different cookies I made this year. I also made Brown Betty Buttons-which were yummy! Chocolate crinkles and cranberry oatmeal (did not turn out great). I wanted to make a bunch of different ones and I thought this is a great year for practice-so if I messed up...oh well..just practicing! The merringes looked like little turds, but they were so yummy! My favorite this year had to be the gingersnaps.

We bundled the boys up and pulled them up and down our street delivering cookies to our neighbors. The boys said "Wheeeeeeeee!"