Updated Page!

Hey guys!

I just created a brand new "About Me" page here on the blog! I've been putting it together for the last few days in between work and nap times, and today it was finally ready to be published! *pats self on back*

It's just a little summary of me, what I share here and why I like to blog. If you've been around for a while then you probably already know most of the info there, but if you're new, please go check it out!

About Me!

Happy hump day!

Doggy Dash

Piper ran her first 5k this past Saturday! Our local city park was hosting a "Bark in the Park" weekend to raise money for the humane society and Saturday evening was the kick off with a puppy trot 2k and a doggy dash 5k. Saturday was forecasted to be beautiful so we signed up last minute (as in, 10pm Friday night) and decided to have a fun family afternoon/evening at the park!

We got there early and spent an hour or so playing in a big field...

Her hair and her face. Love.

She wore her cute poodle shirt that was handed down to her from her cousin in the spirit of the doggy love that was happening at the park!

Taking her to the park is so much fun now that she can walk on her own. Not only is it fun seeing her walk around and explore, but I'll admit it makes the park visit a little more relaxing for mama and dada as we sit and watch and take pictures. ; )

Gotta get a pre-race picture! 

Piper could not believe her good luck. Not only did she get to leave the house and get a car ride, but she ended up at the park and was going to get to go for a run!

She must've thought it was her birthday or something.

We watched the puppy trot first. I was so sad I didn't have a costume for Piper! I have plans to buy one when they go on sale next week and keep it for next year!

Here she is waiting for the race to start. I think she was a little nervous. There was definitely some panting and whimpering going on. Maybe she was just intimidated by the fine German Shepherds that were keeping a close eye on their competition.

Things were a little crazy when we first started. Piper was pulling me all over the place! She didn't have a clue why all of these dogs and people just all of a sudden took off in the same direction. I couldn't stop laughing. Her excitement was hilarious.

But she settled in nicely after a few minutes and we had a great race! 

She'll be 3 years old this November, and let me tell you, the first year or so was quite the challenge trying to train her to walk and run without pulling. We stuck with it though, and while she still has her moments, she is actually really well behaved on her leash now. Even amidst all those other dogs! Consistency pays off people - even when its hard!

Honestly, I should take Piper with me to all of my 5k's! We got a great time. We finished in 25:57. Hello! That was an 8:21 minute mile! Way faster than I normally run when we just go out with the stroller around the neighborhood. Maybe it was just the freedom from the stroller that made us go faster! Either way, I was super excited about our good time and it was motivation to keep up the work for the next race I want to do in December.

 Also...Piper got 5th place in the large dog category.

Not too shabby for her first race. ; )

Coffee and Pumpkin Muffins

Yesterday was Tuesday. Tuesday's we {Erin and her babysitting kids and me and Reag} usually spend the day at my parents hanging out with my mom and siblings. My youngest sister Sara had a volleyball game yesterday afternoon - and my mom and Mallory coach her team - so even though we went over, Erin and I didn't stay long. We were feeling in a fall baking mood - particularly of the pumpkin variety - so we stopped by the store to get some pumpkin, cake
mix and cream cheese on the way home and headed back to Erin's house to make the simplest yet tastiest pumpkin treats possible.

Here's what you'll need:

1 can of pumpkin

1 box of spice cake mix

1 8oz block of cream cheese

5tbs of sugar 

Mix the pumpkin and cake mix together in one bowl

In a separate bowl melt the cream cheese down so it's easy to stir and mix it with the sugar. 

Pour the pumpkin mix into the muffin tin first and the put a dollop of cream cheese on top. Take a skewer or tooth pick and swirl the cream cheese into the top of the pumpkin mix. 

Pop in the oven at 350• and bake for 10-15 minutes. 

They are mouth watering and addicting. You can totally make these without adding the cream cheese swirl and they taste just as good- just not as "rich" if you know what I mean?

While we were there I had my very first ever hot coffee drink. You see, I've been on a slow road towards this new coffee drinker me. It's not something I ever imagined happening or something I tried to become, it's just turning out that way! When I was in high school you couldn't PAY me to drink coffee. Even the fancy starbucks drinks. Even the frappés! I just thought it was all bleh. Until our trip to Europe 2 years ago. We were severely jet lagged and at our first stop out of the airport Mark got a McDonald's frappé. I took a sip because I was desperate for caffeine an it was the first time I tasted something even remotely coffee related that I didn't totally hate. I've slowly started tasting more and more since then and now I LOVE all kinds of frapps. I drank them all summer long. Whenever I would get one this past summer I would seriously pause and think "who am I?!" I barely recognize my former coffee hating self. 

Anyways, now that the weather is turning colder I had been wondering if I should delve deeper into this coffee scene and try a hot beverage. Erin made herself a coffee yesterday and I had a taste. Umm- it was delish. So she made me a cup and I enjoyed every sip. Granted - it was instant coffee cappuccino that was already mixed with caramel - but baby steps people, baby steps. 

I'm not trying to force myself into becoming a coffee drinker, it's just evolving into something I can't control. And I'm not trying to resist it either. 

I fully expect to be drinking - and enjoying - a tall white chocolate mocha with 3 pumps of caramel {my mom and sisters favorite drink} by the the end of this winter. ; ) 

Apple Orchard {2015}

Mark's family has a tradition of going up to the mountains in October to visit an apple orchard and spend some time at a few fall festivals/craft fairs. I started going up with them before Mark and I were even engaged and it's become one of my favorite trips to take with his family. Mark and I actually missed last years trip because Reaghan was only 3 weeks old at that time and we missed the year before because I was running a marathon and traveling for a cousins wedding. We hadn't been on this trip since the year we got married, so we were really looking forward to taking Reaghan to the mountains!

Mark is able to get a condo at the Massanutten resort through his work for a very good price! We are able to get the top and bottom units (that are connected but could be rented separately) to share with his family. It works out really nice. Mark and I stay on the bottom and his parents and sister and brother in law share the top. We'll probably have to change up that arrangement when more kids come in to the mix, but it works great for now!

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We left Friday morning and decided to stop for lunch at Short Pump in Richmond. I had never been to the Short Pump mall before, but now that I've been, I definitely want to make that a frequent stop on road trips. It has everything! And it's an outside mall, so the fall weather made it enjoyable to walk around and get fresh air before hopping back in the car for a few hours. They have these little courtyards with seating and fountains and even play areas for kids.

They also have this adorable train that drives around the courtyards. We hopped in for a ride and Reag thought it was the best thing ever.

Saturday we went to Dayton Days Autumn festival. We stumbled upon it by chance in 2012 and we thought we were going to miss it this year because it was scheduled to take place the first weekend of October. Lucky for us, Hurricane Joaquin got it rescheduled to the weekend we were going to be there! We walked around, looked at the crafts and ate apple pies, kettle corn and cupcakes. Delish! I bought Reaghan a few homemade bibs for the holidays and a couple of little bows. Also a knitted pumpkin hat that I totally forgot to take a picture of!

Here we are ready for our day and enjoying a morning view of the autumn colors on the mountain.

(I couldn't get enough of her in this outfit. The leggings. The boots. The sweater vest. Gahhh. The cuteness was too much for me that day.)

After the festival we went to the windmill shops. It has a little food shopping area, a fun vintage toy store, amish furniture and other antiques and homemade items for sale.

Cousin conversations by the water wheel. <3

My loves.

Talking their "BB" into buying them some yummy snacks. ; )

We found a great Christmas idea for these girls ; )

They couldn't get enough of this kitchen set at the toys store.

The girls were a delight the entire time, but our favorite was after they would take a bath together and  then play in their jammies. They were sweet and loving and very giggly. Here's Reaghan trying to convince Brooklyn to share some of her snacks - which Brooklyn was happy to do!

On Sunday we took a quick trip to a Lavender Farm and explored the grounds where they had some farm animals to see, a giant checker board to play on and a small pond to explore around.

That evening we went to the resort's indoor water park. It's actually pretty pricy, so we weren't sure if it would be worth it - but we had 50% off coupons and we got the twilight discount for going after 5pm - so we thought it would fun to try it out and it was a really fun time!

Reaghan enjoyed walking around the kiddie pool area. We took them on the lazy river too, but the girls weren't as excited about that so they sat with BB and TomTom and ate snacks while we went down a few water slides. :)

The last day we were there was finally the day for apple picking!

We've found a new orchard than the one we used to go to and the one that Mark went to growing up. It's a little closer to where we stay at Massanutten now and you can pick you're own apples off of the tree {the other one you just picked the apples out of a bin ;)} so his family was okay with making the switch to the new place.

Reaghan was better at taking the apples out of the bag then she was at putting them in.

Unfortunately all of the delicious apples we picked fell out of the back of our 4Runner when we went to load it up the next morning and then proceeded to roll down the hill that we were parked on. Womp womp waah. Mark did track them all down and we brought them home, but they are pretty traumatized. I think I'll be baking lots of apple pies now instead of straight eating them.

On our way back from the Orchard we stopped at the Route 11 chip factory and got to sample sweet potato chips hot off the machines. So good. I also got some of my favorite cream soda. You can't get this stuff here in Hampton Roads so every time I saw it while we were in the mountains, I treated myself to one. 

(I never even knew I liked cream soda until a certain friend of mine got married this past August!)

That evening we drove down to the park near our condo to enjoy the warm weather that we were having and spend our last night playing with the girls together.

They couldn't get enough of the swings! Reaghan didn't want to get out. 

We saw dozens of deer walking around the resort that night as well. This one was in the condo parking lot and was hoping to get some food from our neighbors who were eating on their balcony.

I admit - I also threw out a few cheerios for them and they gobbled them up. I'm sure I'm a horrible person for feeding a wild animal - but these deer looked like they were already pretty used to being fed by humans.... so.... I don't think I made them any worse off ; )

We are, once again, so blessed to be able to take these family vacations. I think this makes this our 6th trip since May! Wow! What a great year of getting to travel, spend time with family and make memories with our sweet baby Reag. She's our favorite.

PS

Reaghan learned to walk completely on her own while we were there.

She's now a full on toddler following me around on wobbly legs all over the house.

It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Clean Eating Challenge

I had planned to post every day of our clean eating challenge, but sometimes plans don't go, well, as planned.

But before you think I didn't actually complete the challenge, let me assure you that I did! I finished it - with the exception of a small cheat day the day of Reaghan's party with some cake - and I lost 6 pounds! I was pretty happy with that.

Doing the clean eating challenge definitely made me more aware of what was in some of the food I had been buying. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sustain the no sugar, no dairy, no carbs thing for the long haul - but I think it did what I had hoped. It gave me a push to stop buying pre-packaged seasonings and realized I don't need to load my oatmeal up with butter and sugar! Putting fresh fruit it is almost just as tasty. ; )

Now that its over, I'm still trying to limit sugar, drinking mostly water and making more "clean" foods to avoid processed ingredients that I can't pronounce. I mean, like I said, we're not giving up everything all together or never eating fast food again, but its the little , every day choices that make a difference right? : )

I made some pretty yummy meals for dinner so thought I'd share some of them here!

Taco's with Homemade Seasoning:

I was really excited to make the tacos. Mark ate his on tortilla's but I just made a taco salad. I really missed putting cheese and sour cream on , but some avocado's on top helped :) 

Here's the recipe I used:

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Eggs:

Obviously no recipe here. But I ate eggs almost every morning for breakfast. I like eggs so I didn't mind. I tried to mix it up a little bit. Usually I would put cheese in my omelets or scrambled eggs but I learned that eggs are pretty good on the savory side as well by adding things like avocados, tomatoes, rosemary, thyme and/or garlic powder. I've continue to to eat eggs this way and leave out the cheese since its just extra calories that I don't need.

Quinoa Garden Salad:

Recipe: (it also called for 2 teaspoons of sugar that I omitted). I actually took this to a work potluck and everyone really liked it!

• 1 cup plain Quinoa
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium cucumber, chopped
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh chives, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh Italian Parsley, chopped
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Coconut Shrimp:

Recipe:

• 2 lbs wild-caught shrimp (it takes a couple pounds to feed our large group)
• 1 cup unsweetened shaved coconut
• whites of 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp chili powder

Mix the coconut shavings and chili powder together, dip the shrimp in the eggs and then coat with the coconut mixture. Cook the shrimp in a skillet in coconut oil and viola coconut shrimp! Alot of the coconut shavings did fall off but I just scooped them out and used as toppings.

Sweet Potato Fries:

Don't judge this picture! Haha this was my first time trying to make them and I totally scorched them! But I figured it out and it became one of my (and Reaghan's) favorite snack! 

Just slice the potatoes into fries, toss them in some olive oil and then bake them - at a low temp like 250 degrees so you don't burn them!

 Tuna Salad:

Lunch was always the hardest part for me. I like quick lunches, like a sandwich, and the clean eating challenge usually meant I had to do some chopping and assembling. But this tuna salad was filling and yummy, and another one that Reaghan really liked.

• 1 can of tuna
• 1 1/2 of avocado
• 1 chopped boiled egg
• Fresh salsa that had tomatoes, cilantro, chopped onions and peppers in it
• Salt and Pepper to taste

 Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti:

Recipe: Honestly there really isn't a recipe. You can use whatever meat/sauce you like! I used canned organic crushed tomatoes with basil and then added a some garlic and onion. This was my first time making something like this and I actually really liked it. I cooked the whole spaghetti squash in the crockpot while I was at work and pre-made the ground beef and spaghetti sauce. When I got home I cut open the squash, forked out the flesh and threw it all together. 

Tuna Cakes:

Recipe: 

• – 2 cans good quality tuna
• – 2 eggs
• – 2 Tbsp almond flour
• – 2 Tbsp coconut flour
• – 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• – 1 tsp mustard
• – 1 tsp garlic powder
• – 1 tsp onion powder
• – 2 pinches cayenne powder
• – salt and pepper to taste
• – oil for cooking (I used coconut oil, which did give it a slightly coconut-y taste.) 

This recipe makes 4 tuna cakes. I didn't have any almond flour so I double the coconut flour and that made things a little dry. I much prefer almond flour to coconut flour! All you do is mix all the ingredients together, form them into cakes and then cook them in a skillet over medium heat. I topped it with fresh salsa and had some veggies on the side. :)

Chicken Quinoa:

One night we were super busy and out late so when I got home I just threw together some quinoa (it takes like 5 minutes to make) some chicken that had already been cooked and some halved cherry tomatoes. I sprinkled with salt, garlic and onion powder and it was a quick easy meal. I'm loving quinoa now!

 Veggie Soup:

This one is another no brainer really. You just start with around 28oz of vegetable broth and then 14oz of crushed tomatoes - not drained. Bring that to a boil and then once it boils turn it down to a simmer and add in fresh or frozen veggies and allow it to simmer for a good 30-40 minutes. Season with garlic, thyme, pepper, and parsley to taste.

One thing I really missed during the challenge was something sweet at night. To help fight off temptations I looked up some yummy sweets.

Coconut Banana Ice Cream:

Recipe: 2 frozen banana's, about 1/4 cup of canned coconut milk. Put in the blender and mix! I put in a little too much coconut milk so I had to add in some frozen strawberries to thicken it up again and it was a great choice! haha I loved this stuff. SO GOOD. 

Paleo Apple Crumble:

Recipe:

• 6 medium size apples, peeled and diced
• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 35o degrees and lightly grease a pie pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together the honey and vanilla extract in a bowl with the cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add the flour and whisk until smooth and combined.

Cut in the coconut oil and stir with a fork until it forms a crumbled mixture.  Spread the apples in the bottom of the pie pan and top with the crumbled mixture.

Cover with foil then bake for about 45 minutes until the apples are tender.  Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. 

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Most of these recipes can be found on my Pinterest Board "Clean Eats" if you want to see the original creators and more details!