Summer Rain

I've really been missing home lately. And by home...I mean, Thailand.

I know that Heavenly Father is so kind to me and sends me tender mercies every day.

That's why it rained yesterday...I'm sure of it.

Hearing the thunder and lightning and smelling that beautiful earthy raining smell made me want to run outside and get soaking wet just like I used to back home during monsoon season. A warm summer rain.

So I ran outside and played with the dogs. Pippen, of course, was upset when he saw what I made him run out into.

Aaron stuck his head out to take a picture of me saving Pippen from the rain.

I'm so glad that I had 5 minutes to feel like I was back home again.

Recipe: Paleo Choco-Banana Ice Cream

To celebrate going 7 days with my paleo diet, I made Ice Cream.

I know what you must be thinking, "Katrina! You crazy goof ball, you can't have ice cream! It has dairy in it! What about your diet?!"

That is where you are wrong!

I know...you probably don't actually care. But here you go:

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup almond milk

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 mashed very rip banana

honey

Direction: In bowl, mix together all the ingredients. Depending on how sweet the bananas are, sweeten to taste with honey.

Put the mixture into an ice cream maker and let it do it's magic for 20-30 mins.

At this point, the ice cream is a soft serve consistency and you can put it in the freezer to harden it up.

It was super delicious. Usually when Aaron and I make ice cream, it is really hard to eat a lot of it because it is so rich from the cream so this is amazing. Next time, I'm going to throw almonds in there.

Happy Eating!!

Paleo Diet: End of Week One

Here is what my diet is all about briefly.

The basics of the diet:

1) All the fruits and vegetables that you want

2) All the lean meats, fish , and sea food that you want

3) No cereals

4) No legumes

5) No dairy products

6) No processed foods

Here is what has changed in the last week with me.

* I lost 5lbs in the last week (this makes me want to work to get back to my pre-APX body...working at a desk job was awful for me).

* My skin is starting to clear up (I don't know if that is a fluke but we will see what happens).

* Our kitchen is way cleaner (since I'm always in the kitchen, I get a ton of dishes done).

* I feel like I'm taking care of the world a little bit better. When leftovers spoil, I know that they are safe to throw in the compost bin because they are fruits and vegetables mostly. Also, instead of throwing away the packaging of the food we would make, I recycle the plastic bags that the fruit and veggies come in and all of the waste from that into the compost bin.

*I learned how to steam veggies. I thought that it was too much effort so I never did it. Turns out...it is no effort at all.

* It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be.

New Foods:

*Almond milk- It is surprisingly good. It doesn't taste like milk but as long as you aren't expecting it to taste like milk, it is pretty good. It is sweet and nutty.

*Kiwi- I've had kiwi before. It wasn't a new flavor or anything but I haven't eaten a kiwi in 4 years since they are more work than I think they are worth. But for the sake of having some diversity, I bought them and loved them.

Cub Scouts: July Hike

Aaron and I (and the boys) had so much fun on last month's hike so we decided to do it again! This time we had more boys and a tougher hike but it was still lots of fun.

Even though it was overcast outside when we started (thank you so much Mother Nature), it started to warm up really fast. The boys were really smart about staying cool. The stream was freshly melted snow so it was great for keeping the boys cool. I even dipped my hat in the water.

The view was beautiful the whole way up. What was tons of fun, was standing here and pointing to where we started walking and seeing the boys realize what they are capable of.
When we got to the end of our trail, we had the boys sit down to have a snack while we taught them about "The Outdoor Code".
Aaron looks so cute teaching the boys. I'm 100% sure that I was the only person up there who felt that way...but there you have it. Look at this cutie!


"As an American, I will do my best to- Be clean in my outdoor manner, Be careful with fire, Be considerate in the outdoors, and Be conservation minded."
The boys did a great job memorizing that and I hope that they can remember it whenever they are in the outdoors.

I really hope that we can find time in August for one more summer hike.

Dee's Birthday! (A Week Late)

Aaron and I took a trip down to Provo on Friday to celebrate Dee's birthday! Her birthday was actually the Friday before that but we couldn't make it down since we were dining with my family in Murray that Friday (Mimi's Cafe! So good!).

So on Friday we packed up the car and headed down to Provo! We had tons of fun visiting with my favorite sister in law. We enjoyed some lunch at Zupas (since it helped me stay on my diet) and then afterwards we went to visit Aaron's aunt and uncles since we haven't seen them since we got married.

Then I ran off with Dee to take some pictures. I told her that I could get a good one of her and I think I did.

She is a beautiful girl and I loved focusing on her. She is such a special person.

We went to Bridal Veil Falls for a little walk around and visit. It was so nice talking with her.

She was so cute playing in the FREEZING cold water.

After this, there was a little party and hang out with some of Dee's friends. Meg wanted to see Geoff and so I went and picked him up. Didn't get any pictures of them together though. This is Geoff....but no Meg next to him. She was probably making out in the corner or something. :)

Being ridiculous while keeping cool with our feet in the pool. Wish I would have brought my swimming suit because it would have been glorious to go swimming.

Even though we were only in Provo for about 8 hours, it was still really nice.
The ride home was...interesting...and long. We were stuck in traffic on I-15 for an an hour at point of the mountain. It was nice to have that time to hang out with Aaron...but I would have preferred to hang out with him at home. We got home at 12:40am after leaving Provo at 10:10pm. We had to get rested for our hike the next morning!

On a Lighter Note: Pink Underwear

One thing that I promised myself that I would do when I was an adult was to never laugh at children's problems. I wanted to be taken seriously when I had a "big" problem and my mother had...has...a hard time not laughing when something is clearly funny.

I totally failed yesterday at the pool with the scouts.

We had Every Cub A Swimmer yesterday and so we were will ALL of the cubs scouts in our area. After we did the things that we needed to get signed off, the kids went off to play...and some adults played too.

There was this game with a ring...the kids were against the adults. When the adults got tired of the game, we left the kids too it and forgot all about it. Apparently some boys were keeping it away from other boys...and the boys who could not get it, got their feelings hurt.

Well, one of the boys...who was not one of my cubs, came over to me and told me what happened and then he said, "And then he said that I was a girl that wore pink underwear" (I held it together...but barely) "and I don't know why he said that because I don't wear pink underwear anymore!"

And that is when I lost it. The "anymore"!

One of his friends came to his rescue and said, "I've worn pink underwear. When the white clothes all turned pink, I had to wear pink underwear." Then he inquired, "Is that what happened?"

And the boy said, "No. It was just pink."

Anyone else feel bad when they totally laugh out loud in a kid's face?

Recipe: Paleo Diet Hot Chocolate

Aaron and I both have chronic diseases that we are kind of sick of. After having a crazy allergic reaction to some walnut cookies (I've never been allergic to walnuts before this), I decided that somethings needs to change. Mostly, what I'm putting in my body and that included medication...but I might talk about that some other time.

While my hands and feet were swollen, I called my mother to tell her that I've had enough and I want her crazy radical health advice. She sent me two books, The Paleo Diet and Fasting and Eating For Health.

Aaron and I started the Paleo Diet last night and since I've gone a whole day with the Paleo diet, I decided to reward myself with a treat. I couldn't find a recipe online for paleo hot chocolate so I made one up. Even though it is a paleo recipe, I want to be clear that this would be something that the author would stress was still to be drinking in moderation.

Paleo Hot Chocolate:

1 1/4 cup of water

1/4 cup cocoa powder

7 oz. coconut milk (Regular dairy is NOT paleo...so this is what really makes the recipe paleo)

1 tsp vanilla

cinnamon

honey

1) Boil the water

2) Throw the cocoa powder and coconut milk in there and whisk it around until you don't have any lumps.

3) Throw the vanilla and a dash of cinnamon

4) Pour into a mug and pour in some honey to taste and you are ready to go.

The coconut milk and honey are what make it...not the best for you even though it is better than the alternatives. But you know what, as a treat, it is very worth it. This stuff is good! Honey, cocoa, coconut, cinnamon, vanilla....yeah...this drink is pretty awesome.

Wish us luck as we try and eat healthier and live a little better!