Young Wife's Guide

My monthly article for Young Wife's Guide is up today!
Check it out here. :)

Insta-Friday

It's been a while since I've participated in Insta-Friday! :)

It's about time that I join back in!

The past few weekends, we've actually been home!

I've been on point with my eating because I've been home and have allowed time to meal prep for the coming week.  

Last weekend, we enjoyed a leisurely weekend at home, but with a few events in between.

Friday evening, we used our wonderful gift card that my parents gave us for our anniversary.

Outback is one of our favorite restaurants to eat at, so we used it wisely. :)

Thanks, Mom and Dad!! 

Saturday, there was a festival in downtown St. Charles that we went to.

I wanted to go because I had heard that there were supposed to be a lot of craft vendors.

My husband graciously complied, but little did we know how JAM-PACKED it was going to be.  Oh my goodness.

However, they also had some old engines and boats on display.

I thought of my youngest brother and how he would have loved looking at the boats.

Too bad he wasn't with us.

Shortly after we left the festival, we did one of the things we do often...an ammo run.

Too bad they didn't have the things we wanted for the prices we wanted them.

One of these days...

PS.  I think that's the most ammo on the shelf I've seen in a long time.

We found this adorable little house online and went to go visit the neighborhood Saturday night after church.

We found out that there was an open house the next day, so we went!

Oh, I loved everything about that house...except there was no backyard.

So...I will admit that I have never had a leek.

I'll also admit that they sounded disgusting to me.

While in the grocery store, I had to google a picture of a leek so I would know what I was looking for....and then I You Tubed a video on how to chop it.

Yay for modern day technology!!

Oh, and they aren't disgusting.

With all this back to school-ness going on, I was really feeling sad.

Sad because I love school supplies.  Seriously.

It's like Christmas for me...getting new school supplies.

I did go get a new notebook (and used my new Cartwheel app at Target).

I used the notebook this week when I listened to a couple webinars!

Taking notes {with my pink pen} made me miss school a bit {but definitely not the tests}.

I've always liked learning...and I'm a huge note-taker.

Okay...another thing.

I'm starting out on a new adventure, which I'm totally excited about.

I hope to share that with y'all a little later because it deserves a post of its own, but I would love it if you'd all like my page on facebook!

I can't wait to share this with you!

And here's your laugh for the day:

Have a great weekend!!

Things I'm Loving Thursday--Health and Fitness Edition

Being active in the fitness community has allowed me to find some pretty awesome people and gadgets.

Today I want to share with you what I'm loving and how I integrate it into my workout!

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About a month ago, I got this sweet Polar Heart Rate Monitor as one of my rewards for reaching a fitness goal that I had.

I absolutely love it!

I use it when I work out...whether it's walking/running or doing a body weight workout.

I love it for the information that it shares with me.

It helps me work toward my goals.

I also wear it as a watch!

Get yours here!

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About a year ago, I heard about Body by Vi...and how the shakes taste like "cake batter."

I ordered a month's worth and found it absolutely disgusting. Blech.

I figured that the only reason people were talking it up was so that they could get their's free.

So when I heard about Shakeology, I wasn't sold.

I did some research and I talked to some people that I knew used it.

They seemed to like it...and there's no "selling" it, so I knew it was a genuine answer.

I decided to purchase some, and at first I wasn't sure about it.

But there are so many different things you can put in the shake to make it "yours."

Now I love it and use it everyday!!

I really like that they offer "vegan" options. 

Currently I'm dairy free, so this was right up my ally!

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Do you plan your workouts?

Do you track your workouts?

I never did until just recently (and it's easier to track now with my HRM).

Tracking everything has also helped me figure out what I'm doing wrong when I get stuck.

I can use it to help me get out of the rut that I'm in.

Here's my planner and what it looks like on a monthly basis.

I always write in what the goal is for the month.  In August, I am to run/walk 55 miles and use that hashtag on instagram and facebook.

I write in my workouts during the week.  I'm currently doing the Witness the Fitness workout challenge with Betty Rocker.  I also write in my mileage when I get finished with it!

I also keep a separate notebook with my workouts.  You can find this specific workout here.
I write out my workout stats from my HRM as well.

 The object of me keeping track is also to see how far I've come.

I love looking back on a workout and seeing that I've improved my plank time or that I did more reps.

It keeps me motivated and focused on my goals.

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At the end of June, I was finding new people to follow on Instagram (IG).

One thing led to another and I ended up at Betty Rocker's website.

She was leading a 30 Day Bodyweight Workout Challenge, and I was in.

I completed the challenge in July and felt awesome.

Here's why she's cool:

1.  She makes up bodyweight workouts.  That means you don't have to be in a gym and you don't have to have any accessories/weights to do them.  You just use your own body weight.

{Think that sounds easy?  I just dare you to try one.}

2.  She created a facebook group for the 30 day challenge.  Not only did she create it and give advice, but she answered everyone's questions.  She is awesome for doing this...and she does it now in the VIP Program.

3.  She loved the 30 Day Challenge group so much, that she created a VIP program for those who wanted to keep moving as well as new people who want to join.  Seriously...she gives you a new workout each month, along with 2-3 new recipes (that are going in her cookbook) for a LOW, LOW price.

4.  She does her research.  She is well versed in so many things regarding fitness and food.  I know that what she says has been researched and figured out before she says it.

5.  Her Body Fuel System is awesome!  I'm currently on Week 3 now and it feels so great to eat clean (unprocessed foods) and be dairy and gluten free.

What things are you loving right now?

Do you workout with any specific gadgets or do any specific workout?

There's Got to Be Something More, Right?

A while back, my mom came up to visit for the weekend.

My parents don't get the chance to come up very often because they farm.

Farming takes up a good 9 months out of the year where you're really busy.

So when they randomly come up, I don't take it for granted.

My mom came by herself and we just had a weekend to do whatever we wanted. 

It was a lot of fun!

We had great conversation...especially about health.

One particular conversation stuck out to me, and to this day, I still think about it a lot.

One might ask why I decided to make the choice of eating healthier 

or why I started to work out.

And when you get past the shallowness of the answer, "To lose weight," there's still something so much deeper.

(**I'm not saying that the purpose losing weight is shallow...I'm only comparing it to my thoughts on this topic.**)

When I was younger and attending Sunday School at my church, I remember so many times reading these verses:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body."

Romans 12:1

"Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship."

Romans 6:13

"Do not offer parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness."

After reading those, I always had questions.  What does it mean to offer your body in worship?  I know that I can sing songs in worship, give my offering as worship...but what else?  My body is a temple, so treat it as such.  Don't have premarital sex.  I got it...I knew all those things.  But there's got to be something more, right?

My mom told me a story that day, not too long ago.

It was a story that totally clicked with me...one that gave me an "a ha!" moment.

One that still makes me think...

On Wednesday nights at my home church, there is a supper before Wednesday night activities.

My mom often cooked for them, and even when she didn't, we still attended the suppers.

Our minister and his wife also attended those suppers.

One particular night, my mom was sitting by our minister's wife.

Mom noticed that she was portioning out her food and asked her what she was doing.

She had told her that the portion that she set aside was her "tithe" to the Lord.

She was giving that portion to Him, and she would eat the rest of her food.

Wow.

I had never thought about using your food as a tithe.

But as someone who loves carbs, that isn't a bad idea.

It put a whole new meaning on, "offer your bodies as living sacrifices."

She was sacrificing part of her food, what she really wanted to eat, to the Lord.

She was offering up her body as an instrument of righteousness.

That really stuck with me.

Even in my eating...I need to glorify the Lord.

10 on 10 {August}

Yesterday was the tenth, and I finally remembered to take my pictures!  See every month on the tenth, you take one photo every hour for 10 consecutive hours to show the beauty among ordinary things.

I have a lot to be grateful for.  Yesterday, I took the time to actually clean our apartment and catch up on errands.  It's so nice to have a clean place.  It's the little things that I'm grateful for...food and relaxation, hopefully buying a house within the next year, grocery shopping, folding my husband's laundry, having a little "me" time, hearing Tyler play in the band at church. It was such a lovely day.

Linking up with Rebekah.

2013 Float Trip

Back in June, I went to Tyler's family reunion.

I told him that if I had to go to his, he had to go to mine.

Besides, I'd been to his 3 different years and he'd never been to mine.

Fair trade, right?

I thought so.

Ours is always the first Sunday in August.

Always has and probably always will be.

It was on the calendar and I just know that he was counting down the days. :)

However, last weekend when I called my Dad, he said they had gotten a bit of rain.

Now that is a miracle in itself.

Normally the drought is in full-swing by now and the guys are in irrigation mode.

He told me that if it rains a bit more, we might go floating on Saturday.

That was okay with me...one of our family's favorite things to do is spontaneously go floating.

I say spontaneous because that's the only time we go floating...if we get rain.

Well, it was supposed to rain all weekend long!

But we decided to go anyway.  

It turned out to be a beautiful day!

My aunt, uncle, and 3 of their kids went with us...so there were 13 of us total!

My favorite time was on the way back home.

We were all in the van together playing games that our family is known for:

"Muck-a-luck" and "The Spelling Game."

Then we ended up singing songs that we used to sing on the road when I was a kid:

"Oh You Can't Get to Heaven...," "Oh How I Love Jesus," etc.

We laughed a lot.  

It did my heart so much good.

I had such an incredible day just hanging out with the people I love and getting to share it all with my husband.

He got a taste of what our family really is.

My dad really wanted to go zip lining...he wouldn't tell you how much, but you could definitely see it in his face.

My mom got to go with him...along with my brother, his girlfriend, and our cousin, Carl.

They had a blast!!

And of course, I recorded them...
so for your enjoyment: