Easter and other stuff

Here is whats been happening here:

Fiora is a 5th grader so she got to sing in Hope of America pageant this year.  Since she has a yellow shirt she was on the border of the flag.  Holly my sister took pictures for me since I don't like fighting crowds at the marriot center. Fiora went with her friend Kimee and said she had a fun experience.

getting ready for the big hunt

Kynsie and the colored eggs

Dad

Knightly and Jesse

Penny and Kynsie

Aeven

Penelope and Savanna

Trevan, Penny, Sylvan

We had a big Barrett family Easter egg hunt at our home this year, and Holly brought her fancy camera and took some beautiful pictures of the kids looking for eggs.  I like the one of Kynsie holding the colored boiled eggs and the one of Knightly and Jesse, but they are all great.  Everyone came, I made them some healthy sugar free dinner which ran out fast I didn't make enough, and we tried to fill plastic eggs with toys, notes, money, snacks, instead of candy this year. I thought it was marvelous!

Of course we had a little private egg hunt Sunday Morning for the kids, the girls got fingernail polish and Weston got money and chima legos. Twas fun! Sunday was very spiritually filled with the ward choir which I direct singing very well "My Shepherd Will Supply my Need," and an Orem Chorale concert that I sing in performing 9 Christian hymns of the Savior in the evening. My parents and several of Jared's family came to support and I very much felt loved by and love for all of them!

The Saturday before my 21 day Sugar Detox we took the kids one last time out to eat, we went to the wild zucchini which was very good. Jared took me to the temple prior to dinner so I could get spiritual strength to make it through the next 3 weeks. I started Monday and so far it has been a good experience for my health, but a little hard on the kids (I'm taking them with me and they aren't too keen on the new menu items). I spent the last week or so preparing; my fridge and pantry are transforming, the cupboards are bare but the fridge is stuffed!  Jared bought me a bread maker (mostly for the kids, to make whole wheat bread instead of store bought), a nice multi functioning food processor, a julienne slicer, and all the whole food ingredients I'll need which is no small price. My fridge is full of various nuts, vegetables, organic eggs and organic-no-sugar-added sauces, homemade snacks (i.e. beef jerky made with coconut aminos instead of soy or sugar), and the freezer is full of meat. I have to cook my breakfast lunch and dinner, and all my own sauces and dressings, so convenience is a thing of the past (I'm not even supposed to use a microwave!), so my fingers are cracked and sore, one is infected, and I feel like I run a restaurant I'm cleaning and cooking so much. I've been keeping a food diary and digestively speaking I've had the best 3 days of my life, thankfully I'd already stopped eating most sugar/simple carbs so most all the withdrawal symptoms are out of the way.  Once the detox is over I'll incorporate back into my diet things like homemade breads and fruit (the only fruits I can eat on the detox are lemon, limes, green apples, and green bananas) and dairy, but I can't dispute that I feel pretty great on the veggies, nuts, and proteins! Hopefully I can make it a lifestyle.

New bread maker, I made a gluten free bread with coconut flour and buckwheat and the kids grew to like it.

jalapeno, goat cheese, bacon crumbles, not on the detox list but a favorite snack when I was eliminating carbs

 

My new food processor, its a beauty! I can't believe how much nicer it is than my old one.

Milk for the kids, and we're still trying to get rid of some sugar filled sauces, but everything else is for detox week 1

No more processed foods are being bought, so the pantry is looking bare.Weston ate the last of the oatmeal yesterday