Natural Girls Gift Guide

Who else gets stuck when making their Christmas Wish list??? I know I do every year and I literally spend weeks figuring out what the heck I want and editing my list! So I have compiled some of the best things I have found this year for those natural girls out there. So if you are like me here are a few items you will LOVE!!

1. Piperwai Natural Deodorant: I have read reviews that this is one of the best natural deodorants out there. I have not used it yet but it is on my list and I am so ready to give it a try.

2. Peach Tea: This is seriously one of my favorite loose leaf teas! It has a sweet warming flavor to it!

3. Monat The Champ Dry Shampoo: It is all natural and all the videos I have seen with it have amazing results! This item is definitely on my list and I am praying I get it. If you don't think that this is a must have go read the ingredients on your Dry Shampoo bottle and you will want to try this! This is a MLM and I am going to post below the amazing lady I follow who uses it. I have learned so much about hair from her page! Seriously, She is worth following! Her name is Kendall Welden.
Dry Shampoo

4. Yoga Starter Kit: I love yoga and I hope you do too! It is amazing for your health! This starter kit is on my list.

5. Night Cream by Hardtfeltskincare: This is one of my favorite Etsy buys!!! I used it on my belly for stretch marks and love it as my go to moisturizer. I know it is for your face but I use it for my whole body.
Night Cream

6. Essential Oil Diffuser: I love this one with the bamboo look and changing colors. It will be a lovely addition to your home.

7. Core De Force: It is a MMA workout program. I am hoping my hubby will do it with me.  Couple workout time is the best in my opinion. Go to shop>Fitness Programs>Core De Force. You will get added to my most recent fitness support group when you order your program!
Core De Force

8. Salt Lamp: I love these things! I have mine on right now as I am writing this. They promote a good immune system, help you relax, clean the air, and much more.

9. Northern Lights Black Spruce 5ml: This essential oil seriously has the best scent. It is winter in a bottle. My husband and I love diffusing it at night. It seriously makes it feel like you are camping. We love it. It also helps with dry skin so it is the perfect winter time oil.
Northern Lights Black Spruce

10. Activated Charcoal for Whitening Teeth: I have heard such amazing things about this! I am ready to try it. Scared to see how it tastes but this one is flavored thankfully. White teeth is a great Christmas present.

That concludes my list! I hope you found some amazing inspiration and even have some items you are adding to your list! Ladies send this to your hubby as your Christmas wishlist! You will LOVE Christmas day!

Top 5 Must Haves for the Christian Woman

My whole life I have loved spending time with the Lord and keeping my focus on Him. I remember as a young girl I would sit in our sitting room and color pictures while singing songs to the Lord. I would sing songs to Him for hours and hours. Now days with being married and having a 3 week old newborn it is a little bit harder to find time to keep my focus on the Lord. We haven't been to church since maybe 2 or 3 weeks before the baby was born. So I have had to work really hard on keeping my focus on the Lord. I am going to share with you the five main things I believe will help you in your journey of seeking the Lord.

 1) Have a laptop, phone, or Bible ready in all of the places you spend time in. I have a couple examples of how this has been useful to me in the past few months. At the last job I worked I always kept in my bag a a Bible or Bible study; so when life got hard and I needed an encouraging boost I had God's word ready. I also keep one of those easy to read devotionals in my bathroom for potty breaks and bath time. One of the biggest things for me right now is having the bible or any device with the Bible in all the places I breastfeed David. Many times breastfeeding is the only way to calm him down when he is fussy even though he just falls asleep. I get tired and frustrated, but when I pray or read God's word it calms me down. So keep God's word in the places you will need it most.

2) Get a prayer journal. I just recently ordered one and started using it. I must say it has been a HUGE help. I love being able to write my thank yous, requests,and praises down before I pray. It helps me stay focused and I feel more powerful when I pray because of it. I also love reading my past prayers and seeing what God has done in my life as well as seeing the unanswered prayers that I am happy about. My prayer journal I have now is pink leather and has a scripture on every page. I highly recommend getting this one it is simple but just what you need. Click on the picture to order it!

3) Get a day planner that is Christian based. I used to get those day planners that were full of motivational quotes that inspired me. Now that was all good and fun but it had no depth or profound effect on my life. I spend a good 2 hours searching to find myself the perfect day planner and I have found it! It has scripture verses, themed months, and quotes from Christian authors. It helps me keep my priorities straight when planning my week. I also find that the month's themes seem to always be just what I need. This months theme is prayer and I am LOVING it. Click on the picture below to go check it out!

4) Have a playlist on Pandora or Youtube full of your favorite Christian music. Sometimes when we are driving, cleaning, or just to busy to read; it is soothing to the soul to listen to your favorite Christian music. I am super picky though, I hate the songs they play on the local Christian radios. They just aren't my style. That is why on Youtube I made a playlist of my favorites. Many of those songs are country songs that focus on God. I get chills while listening to them because they speak to my soul. I highly recommend making your own playlist to enjoy, but here is the link to mine if you want to check it out! My Christian Playlist

5) The final and most important thing I believe you need isn't something you can buy or put together really fast. It takes time and being mindful to add to your life. You need to have a deep heartfelt desire for the Lord. You need to be at a place that when the hard times come your first instinct is to cry out to the Lord for help. You need to have an awareness and knowledge about what the Bible says our role is as a woman and you need to figure out how to act accordingly. I am going to be truly honest, I am no where close to mastering this step. It is hard. But every time I work at it, I reap amazing rewards in my life,

Before I close this blog I would like to leave you with a few scriptures to help you on your journey to being a better and more mindful Christian woman.

Proverbs 21:9 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. 

1 Timothy 3:11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. 

Proverbs 11:16 A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches. 

Proverbs 31:20-21 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. 

Proverbs 31:26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 

Proverbs 14:1 The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

Why Meal Prep and Plan as a Stay at Home Mom?

So many times I am asked this and even ask myself this question, it seems pointless. Why cook ahead for the week when you are going to be home all week? It can even be hard to find time to do it on the busy weekends. It used to be my life line! When I was working full time and running an at home business, cooking was something I had NO time for. I would always meal prep a ton of food for the whole week. Now I still try and meal prep for my husband while he is working. I also do a bit of meal prep for myself on Saturday and Sunday. Let me explain why: Here are my three top reasons for meal prepping while being a stay at home mom.

1.       I Run out of Energy: All the time I run out of energy. Or I am so busy and focused on something that I am doing I have no clue I am getting hungry. Then all of the sudden BOOM I have a killer headache and feel as if I am going to pass out if I don’t get a good meal in me right now! Meal prep helps me in my many uh-oh I am hungry situations.

2.       When I Need a Snack or Quick Fix I Naturally go for the Junk Food: I am a HUGE easy meal person. What are the easiest meals? Junk foods! Frozen pizza, frozen dinners, chips, PBJs, Grilled Cheese, Quesadilla, and so on. I can’t do that all the time. Now YES I eat all of those, but I can’t afford to mess up on my meal plan daily. So meal prepping provides a way for me to have an “easy” meal and it be extremely healthy.

3.       Appointments Run my Life: I have so many appointments each week and the easiest solution is to have fast food before I leave or on my way home. My body doesn’t need fast food though after every appointment. So meal prepping gives me the ability to throw say already cooked mixed veggies in the microwave for 45 seconds and grab a Greek yogurt and be on my way.

Like Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Having those go to already cooked foods is one of my way of planning to be successful in my health and fitness journey. I also wanted to share with you my free bonus tip!!! I started this just last week and it has seriously been revolutionary. Below I have it pictured. I write out what I have available to eat each week by food groups. So I am never stumped on what to eat. Or I know exactly what I have in stock. It makes sure NO food is wasted and that I never catch myself say, “There is nothing to eat in this house.”

My friends today I am encouraging you to start planning to succeed instead of planning to fail. I would like to extend an invitation to you to join my 5 Day Free Meal Prep for Success group starting on October 17, 2016. It will be hosted on my Facebook page and will be full of amazing information to help you learn to do what I do! Comment below if you want to join with your email address! Also if you are learning about this after the above date Check out the tabs section of my Blog my goal is to soon have these easy short Free Classes available through download and also open up some exclusive health and wellness courses.

Just had to share with you what I made today! I made Lentil Soup, 5 Grains, and Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Muffins. Take a look at the finished product! You can find these recipes on my Pinterest page under the board Hunger Time.

Top Tips for Crushing Heartburn During Pregnancy.

My heartburn has been almost unbearable during this third trimester. Nothing seems to help for over an hour. I always seem to end up feeling hopeless and unprepared. Lately though I have been following an amazing plan of action. I am able to ward most of the heartburn off without taking too much medicine, getting fat, or drinking tons of soda.

• Have Rolaids always at the ready. Make sure to take 2 before bed to make sure you can sleep. Don't take more than 8 in a 24 hours time span.
• Have a case of sprite on hand. Make it a goal of only drink 2 a day max. Sip them when you drink them.
• Have sparkling water always on hand. You can find some fun drinks on Pintrest to make. This week I am making virgin mojitos. Sparkling water give you the save effect as sprite but you can make it healthier. 
• Eat mini meals all day. Eat healthy as well. You can eat a lot more healthy foods like salad, fruit, and veggies than you can unhealthy food. You won't have the ridiculous weight gain if you eat mini healthy meals all day to help ward off  heartburn.

Don't let heartburn ruin your pregnancy. Just work smart and get through it. 

Daniel's Italian Grilled Cheese

Today Daniel made the best food ever and I wanted to share it with you! I like bragging on my husband. I also love being able to call him that now. Just this Sunday we got married and had our dream wedding! I will be posting pictures soon! So happy to say I have never been this happy. God is truely blessing us.

Daniel is an amazing cook except when we first met. The first time he cooked for me he burnt my grilled cheese because he was too busy talking to me. It was so sweet though. It made me like him even more. But he has fully redeemed himself in the cooking arena! 

Daniel's Italian Grilled Cheese

What you need:

White Bread

Two slices of colby jack cheese

A stick of melted butter

Salt and pepper

Garlic powder

Italian herb seasoning

How to make it:

Mix the melted butter with the salt and pepper, garlic powder, and Italian herbs. Get a

baseting brush and cover both slices of bread with the butter mix. Add the cheese in

between the slices of bread and cook on a skillet untill golden brown on both sides.

Enjoy! Seriously this is the best grilled cheese ever!

Essential Oils Monthly Order Unboxing August 2016

I love the moment when I hear the doorbell ring and open the door to see a Young Living box waiting on my doorstep. It makes me feel like a little kid again on my birthday, opening gifts. I love being able to receive treats in the mail, I am a HUGE lover of mail and packages. But this Young Living box that comes in the mail every month is special. It is always full of healthy natural products to make my life or my fiancé's life better. We are both on a fitness journey to heal our bodies from the stress we have put on them. It takes a lot of trail and error but we can slowly see differences in how we feel.

This month I finally got to order 2 items that I had scanned for on the iTOVi Scan I had 2 months back. The iTOVi scanner combines bioimpedance, pressure sensor, temperature, and Bluetooth® technologies to generate personalized wellness evaluations. Basically it scans which Young Living products you need. It can blow your mind how accurate it is. But anyways everything I scanned for was on back order and I finally found 2 of the products available so I grabbed them up! I will start with the two products that I scanned for and them the other three I got as treats for me.

Rehemogen

This is a product that helps with digestion and cleansing. It is in a little dropper bottle and you add a little bit to a glass of water. I assume that I scanned for this because of the 4 rounds of antibiotics I took for a UTI. All 4 rounds failed in treated it and I took care of it naturally. But I still had that damage to my digestive system due to the antibiotics.

Detoxzyme

This product is used to promote good gut health and help in healing your gut. You take 1-2 capsules between meals for better digestion. I hoping right now it will help my with heartburn and gas that has been haunting my pregnancy. I bet though I scanned for it because of my antibiotics.

Einkorn Rotini Pasta

This is an such a life saver for your gut and HARD to find wheat in this pure of form. Einkorn is known as the oldest variety of wheat. It is still in its pure and unmodified form in the pasta. For you this means it has low gluten levels and its chemical structure is far more simple than todays wheat so your body can process it better. I LOVE everything Einkorn I have tried. It tastes so pure and refreshing. It is like going from great value bread to fresh bread from a bakery; you can just taste and feel the difference in its purity.

Basil Vitality

Basil is used to help a bunch of different problems. Here are a few: Relieves coughs and colds, Reduce Ear Discomfort, Swelling, Soothes migraines, Uplifts spirits, Reduces chronic fatigue, and soothes insect bites. The Vitality past of the Basil essential oil just meals the FDA has approved it as a dietary supplement.

Lavender Oatmeal Soap

This was a fun treat for me! It is soap made with pure essential oils in it. It is also all vegan. It is hypoallergenic and made without synthetic dyes or colorants, parabens, petrochemicals, or sulfates. It is a great product that is safe for the whole family. Especially for a nice bath. Great treat for a mom.


I am so excited to try all these items. I just took my first Detoxyme Capsule this morning. I cannot wait to see how much better I feel with adding these products into my life. I love slowly incorporating healthy and natural products into my life. My goal is to one day have a 100% natural and chemical free home!

If you want more info about the Essential Oil products that I use please fill out the form below and I will get back with you and get you the information you need.

Request Information about Essential Oils


 

Country Heat: My Saving Grace for my Third Trimester

As all of you know I have been trying my BEST to be healthy and stay fit while being pregnant. It is in my heart to do the best I can to grow the healthiest baby and be the healthiest mama. The past 4 weeks I had been having troubles saying NO to my constant cravings. I have stopped giving in and the biggest help has been getting a push partner. She is my push partner in fitness and my coaching business but seeing her eat health and work her butt off to lose weight makes me want to do the same. In one week of cutting out my Candy Bar Sundaes, Slurpee's, and sopapillas; I lost 1.5 lbs. I am super proud of that, because I knew it was a problem and I was able to notice it and fix it. 

I recently started having leg cramps, intense muscle pain, and shooting pain in my wrist, shoulder and hip. I realized my normal weights, push ups, and squats were no longer the best option for me. So I want super thankful when my Country Heat Package arrived. It is all country dancing but an amazing workout. Last night I did the first workout and I have seriously NEVER felt better!!! I was so happy. I easily made it through a 30 minute workout, dripping in sweat and still had a smile on my face. That never happens for me! I swear this was my blessing to make it through my third trimester which I will be entering next Tuesday! So I am happier than I have ever been with my fitness journey. 

I am also enjoying planning my meal plan with the fixate program. I will be adding in containers as needed but it will all be healthy and clean food. I do not want to deprived my body of food since I am growing a strong little cowboy! But I am going to take meal prep up a notch and I already have amazing ideas! Make sure you are following me on Snapchat that is where I ALWAYS post my meal prep process. My Snapchat is daradventures.  

I am so excited to being doing what is best for MY health and for BABY's health! I feel more motivated than I have in a long time and am 110% happy. This little cowboy is gonna be strong and so handsome. I want to give him the best nutrients I possibly can while he is in my tummy and while breastfeeding him. So the motivation to be healthy for him will honestly never end. Even when I stop breastfeeding him I will want to set an amazing example for him to live by.

Check out my video below to see what ALL comes in the Country Heat Base kit. 

 

Why Does This Crazy Chick spend over $200 a Monthly on being Healthy and Claim she is Saving Money?!?!

It still to this day amazes my mom why when I have a baby on the way and I could be saving every dime for him; why then would I spend over $200 a month on being healthy! Even my fiancé used to say I was wasting money on my Shakeology, Oils, and Workouts. But in the long run I am saving so much money now. Let me explain it to you..

I suffer from IBS, TMJ, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Depression. All of those problems cost me tons of money and I will lay that out for you here in a minute. But the way I feel when those problems are at full swing is miserable. So naturally I have always tired to find a solution or at least something that would work in the moment and sugar coat the pain. Crazy thing is one of the main factors to all of my health problems is stress! For some crazy reason my body just could not handle stress in a healthy way at all.

With IBS I would get so sick at my stomach that on average I would have to take off 1 day of work a week. Back when I taught swim it was closer to 2 days a week. I would be so sick I just needed to stay home and take care of myself. I would get sick before most social events. I would get sick when I got extremely excited about something. IBS untreated is miserable your stomach basically will have contractions with any emotional changes or with a few key trigger foods. So at the end of the day this problem caused me TONS of personal harm and financially it cost 1 day of pay a month!

With TMJ I spent tons of money treating and fixing this problem. You can't just ignore TMJ. Basically TMJ is where when you are stressed you grind your teeth and/or your muscles around your jaw get extremely tense. For me this meant that my jaw popped out of place almost every day and it was extremely painful. So bad to where I would get a huge pimple on the side of my jaw that was most inflamed. To treat my TMJ successfully when it was at its worst cost a ton. I had a chiropractic membership for $120 a month and I had 2 massages a month that cost me $120 total. So for TMJ it cost me $240, as well as the one time expense of a $70 dollar pillow. Why all because my body was not healthy enough to process the stress it was put under.

With Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and Depression I ran to food! No I did not get fat but oh my can I throw down some money on some fast food. I still struggle with breaking this habit on my bad days. But now I ALWAYS regret it. I could easily get a sonic Lemon-Berry Slush every day that was around $2.50. I also LOVED to indulge in ice cream and fried food even though I knew it would make my IBS flare up! But hey it made me happy to eat so who cared at the end of the day. So lets just say over all I spend around $5 a day, now some days I was good and had none and other days I would spend around $20.  $5x30 is $150 a month or more on fast food to fill the voids in my life and make me feel better because again my body could not handle stress.

So over all I spent $240 for TMJ, $150 on cravings, and say I made what I made when I started Coaching $9.50 and hour and I worked 8 hrs the day I took off: I would have lost $76 dollars a month. So over all I spent/lost a total of $446. Not to mention a lack of energy, a moody personality, and I was a pain to be around.

Now I spend around $200 a month on living a healthy lifestyle and I LOVE it! I am happier, I have more energy, I rarely suffer from TMJ now, my IBS stays under control 75% of the time, I almost never have panic attacks anymore, my anxiety has gotten minimal, and my depression is getting ALOT better. I have never felt more alive and healthy in my life. I could have said no to Shakeology and the oils because of money but I didn't I jumped in and found such healing and fresh life with it.

I hope this will help you to consider trying more options that actually work for your health and improve your over all health and not settle for anything less than a "super life."

Quick and Easy Snack for the Whole Family

I must say I have been truly struggling with coming up with ways to use my WIC foods in a healthy mannor. I kept over complicating it and trying to think of these amazing mind blowing recipes to help you and myself out. But then I realized we are all busy women with kids! Who has time for hard stuff?!?!?!

So I decided to take the words of advice that are so common, "Keep it Simple Stupid." So here is my first recipe that you can get entirely with your WIC card.

•Apples and Peanut Butter•

What do you need:
•Red or Green Apples
•Creamy Peanut Butter

What to do:
Wash your apples. Cut and core your apples into 6 or 8 slices. Grab the tub of Peanut Butter and dip your apples into it. Now it you are sharing this get separate containers.

Total Time: 5 Minutes

Let me know if you enjoyed this! And if you have ever used your WIC credits this way.

52 Uncommon Dates: Date 1

My fiancé Daniel and I are doing a ton of things to work on our relationship to help us have a successful marriage. One of the things we chose to do was start this book 52 Uncommon Dates by Randy Southern. Wednesday night we had our first date!

The First Time For Everything Date

We had to keep it simple since I am pregnant but we went to a fancy part of town we had never been together in. We also went to new restaurants. To keep it fun and new, we had an appetizer at the first place, an entrée at the second, and desert at the third.

The First Restaurant we chose was Brios. We enjoyed the free appetizer of bread and crackers. Then we ordered some weird beef appetizer. It was a horrible mistake. The beef was raw! Daniel ate some of it but could not stomach the rest. I enjoyed the crackers and salad that was on top though! It was fun just talking to each other even though the appetizer was CRAZY.

 

 

 

 



The Second Restaurant we chose was a little French one. It was almost empty except the bar. We enjoyed a delicious margarita pizza. We had great conversation there and enjoyed smiling at each other from across the table.

The third restaurant we chose was Cheesecake Factory. We got this one ToGo! Daniel got the 30th anniversary cheesecake and I got the Hershey's cheesecake. Oh it was the best most amazing cheesecake in the world. It was sinful how good it was.

Over all we loved the date! :)

On a scale of 1 to 10 how did we like the date?
Daniel: 15
Deborah: 10!!!

Hope you start this book too!

Pregnancy Workouts

I will not lie to you that I was SUPER scared to workout at the beginning of my pregnancy. I did not think I would be able to do any workouts or feel safe while actually breaking a sweat. I know so many of you felt or feel the same. It can seem like no big deal to workout or to not work out but trust me the benefits are 100% worth it! :)

Here are a few benefits to working out while pregnant:

• Reduces back pain and constipation
• Helps you sleep better
• Boosts your mood and energy levels
• Labor and delivery will be easier
• Your labor may be shorter
• You will be less prone to morning sickness
• You will bounce back faster after delivery

So I am sure by now you are like OMG I so need to do this!!! I have this and this and I would really like that to stop. I understand. My body knows every time I miss a workout, I just feel like crap. But what is safe and unsafe to do? Well the general rule of thumb is you can do anything you did before pregnancy during pregnancy. So that why you see the cross fit women doing all kinds of craziness while pregnant. But what if you did not workout before becoming pregnant, what can you do? Well of course get it cleared with your doctor mine recommended yoga and such. So double check there but here are some of the programs I have found easy and doable while pregnant.

Top Go to Workout Programs:

1. PiYo
2. TurboFire
3. Fit Maternity

My Favorite Workouts:

• PiYo Define Upper Body: It about 19 minutes and is easy to accomplish but still gives you a good push.
• PiYo Define Lower Body: It is around 23 minutes and is one of the best active stretches for your lower body.
• TurboFire Hit 15: It is hard but it is only 15 minutes of cardio and makes you feel like such a Super Mom when you are done.
• 21 Day Fix Extreme Yoga Fix: It is advance but there is an amazing modifier. It is 30 minutes long but of pure stretching.
• PiYo Strength Intervals: It is 25 minutes of hard work but it is all easy on your joints and no jumping around. Be ready to sweat.

All of those workout programs have modifications and are perfect for pregnancy. I do LOVE my PiYo. It is easy on the body and great hard work. Other workout programs I dabble into are: Challene Extreme, Slim in 6, and Yoga Booty Ballet. I would love to help you pick a program and give you ALL my tips and tricks.

Fill Out This Application to get Into one of my Fitness Groups

 

What is Coming Up This Month of July!

I am so excited for the month of July! I have been planning a bunch of things and am launching all of them ASAP to help you live healthy and fulfilling lives! Last month I learned so much about what all of your needs where and I want to keep learning about them. I want to be able to help all of you in any way I can.

• 90 Day Fitness Group for Engaged Ladies- It just launched on the 5th. We are still accepting ladies into that group until the 1st of September. It is a fun group of ladies supporting each other on their fitness journey to an amazing honeymoon!
• WIC Recipes- I know so many of you use WIC as well, and I wanted to help provide a resource with good healthy recipes you can make with your WIC items. Make sure to share these with your friends who are on WIC.
• Pregnancy Workout Ideas- I will be sharing with you all about what I have learned while working out while pregnant and what programs I suggest doing and NOT doing.
• Farm House DIY Projects- My Fiancé and I are currently looking for a house and are planning ahead by making the furniture that we can.
• 52 Uncommon Date Ideas in Real Life- My Fiancé and I are starting a book by Randy E Southern called 52 Uncommon Dates. I will be posting about each date and how we liked it. We love going on dates but we just run out of ideas. So we are extremely excited for this!
• Monthly Essential Oil Unboxing- Every month as many of you know I get my oils in! I want to start sharing that with in hope that some of the products I use on a day to day basis or that I am trying could help you out as well. I know so many of us have health problems and the oils have seriously been a God sent to me. I hope this will bless you as well.
• Love Yourself Challenge- We are bringing it back!!! A few months ago my team and I had a Love Yourself Health and Fitness Challenge group where every day we worked out, had motivational posts, ate healthy, learned how to meditate, and just focused on loving ourselves. I was truly an amazing group and it was so amazing to see all the ladies lives just transform. You will not want to miss this.

I have so much more than just this coming up in July and so many little ideas but these are the BIG ones! I am so excited to help you enjoy life more and live a healthy life. I work hard every day to keep my life positive and fun. I know you want an amazing life for yourself as well and I want to help you get there! Make sure to share all this post will all your friends!

 

Why Is Fitness so Important to me? And How Did I Get Hooked With it?

There are so many facets to how and why I spiked an interest in fitness and honestly I could go on for hours trying to explain it to you. But since I love you and now how precious your time is I will give you the shorter version. My whole life I have dealt with horrible stomach problems. I spent a few years going to a GI that was never able to diagnose my condition even after all the tests. He put me on a prescription that helped a little. During my high school years it got worse! It started being linked with my anxiety and periods. Before my senior year of high school; my mom and I decided we needed to go to another GI and see if we can find a solution. I could not live my life running to the toilet and getting sick all the time.

My new GI literally diagnosed me after 5 minutes of me talking. No tests, no crazy theories, and no drama. She informed me I had IBS-D. There is no cure. The best way to manage it is with good probiotics, exercise, staying stress free, and healthy living. I could manage this! The kicker was that the trigger foods were chocolate, greasy food, caffeine, and sweets. That was so not a happy moment for me. Another trigger was any stress in my life good or bad; basically any extreme emotions would cause me great sickness. At least I knew what was going on and has an idea of how to fix it.

After that I went on Instagram and started following all kinds of healthy people. I needed inspiration, ideas, and help. This whole process was new to me. I had seen my mom start weight watchers so our dinners as a family were healthy. Most days though I had cheese its, popcorn (2+ bags a day), mac&cheese, quesadillas, and next to no veggies or fruits. This spiked my interested even more I started learning about Kinesiology and decided that I wanted to major in that in college. I had a free gym at the place a worked and would work out maybe 3 days a week and tried eating healthy all that I could. It was extremely hard with no one holding me accountable. I failed all the time and would digress and become sick again. 

Once I turned 18 and graduated high school I landed a full time job. I had been following a girl named Jessica who was a Beachbody Coach and we had been talking for over a year. She had inspired me and gave me the dream to do what she was doing and become a coach. I wanted freedom for my life and I wanted a solution that would work for my health. I joined and failed as a coach at first but I learned so much about my health and how important that was to me. Shortly after that I landed an even better job that was in the corporate world as a data entry person. I was very good at this job, but it took a HUGE toll on my health due to the stress and sitting all day long. Even though I was working out and eating healthy I got sicker and sicker. I eventually developed a condition called TMJ where I grind my teeth together at night due to stress. I literally went to bed worrying about work and woke up thinking about. I could not help it or control it. I ended up spending $240 on massages and chiropractic visits. My aunt got me using essential oils which helped but by no means took the toll off my body. I would need time to recover and heal again.

When I got TMJ it kind of all set in that something was really wrong that maybe I was not where God wanted me to be. I quit my job and went back to college part time and focused on my health; physically and mentally. It was an amazing time to just focus on my needs. I think in the long run this health and fitness love of mine is so needs based. I also love it and enjoy all the learning. I used to tell my mom if I could just study for the rest of my life I would be so happy. I was good at it and it was fun to me. This gave it to me in a way.

All in all health and fitness had been my medicine. Coaching has given me motivation, emotional support, and the ability to help provide for my family. I am by no means a fitness expert or have any kind of health degree but I have learned from a very tough road I have traveled. I am always learning new things that can help myself and others live healthier lives.

The Start of Preparing for Baby!

As Daniel and I go through this journey of having a baby; we are learning how much work goes into this change. The preparations that need to be made seem endless and expensive. When we realize that I will have a unpaid maternity leave the realization of the toll it will be is even more terrifying. Thankfully, I can slowly see our hard work paying off and God's hand taking over. It makes me feel hopeful every time I can see His hand.

 We are facing many struggles. The biggest one of them all has been the reality of how much having a child costs with the Doctor and Hospital. Amazingly we start having to pay for my OBGYN and Delivery this next month! I never saw that coming! I never even heard of having to "prepay" a birth. We also are having a hard time finding a good rent home; one that is in our price range and in a safe neighborhood. Especially after the tornado, all the local rent homes have gone up over $300 a month. Another struggle that we will have to fix before next summer is Daniels car. He has a nice car but the back seat has NO a/c and in Texas with a baby that is a no go. So by next summer we need to have a new vehicle. 

On the bright side of things we have been getting some very good blessings! I have gotten a baby wearing device and bottles for free. I am earning points at the pregnancy resource center for more baby items. All ultrasounds and a breast pump will be covered by my insurance. My business is growing every day which will be a HUGE help during my maternity leave. Most of the items we need for our house I am slowly getting on sale. I am also starting to work on lots of DIY projects for the baby and for our future home. I need Daniels help ALOT with painting, welding, and woodworking. Thankfully he enjoys it! 

What do we still need? 

-A good rent home

-Everything baby! Diapers, wipes, crib, clothes, playpen, and everything else...

-The ability for me to have good income even on maternity leave.

-Less hormonal mood swings

-More energy for me

-A good church home with an amazing nursery and young marrieds class

Overall we are so excited for our future and just waiting on God to show us how all this will be made possible. In the meantime we will continue to work hard and lean on him. At the end of the day, the fact still remains that all in all; all we need is Jesus. 

Second Pregnancy Doctor Visit! We Found out the Gender!!!

Today was honestly just an amazing day for Daniel and for me. Daniel came over after work for the doctors visit. He got off about 6 and was at my house soon after. We cuddled all morning and he got to feel the baby kick for the first time; which honestly is amazing at 19 weeks. We sure have a strong little baby.

Our doctors visit started with a sonogram which would be Daniels first to see. This for me was honestly the best part of it all! But first we had to wait as the Tech needed to take a ton of pictures to make sure the baby was healthy and growing correctly. Daniel and I visited the whole time. I cannot tell you how amazing it was when she was finally done and turned the screen around for us to see. Then for Daniel it became even more real than earlier this morning when he felt a kick for the first time. We got to see the baby's lips moving and the little toes! It was so perfect.

I mean look at that sweet thing up there ^^^^^^^^^^. How can you just not fall in love?!?!?!

 We learned that our baby is perfectly healthy. The heart looks good and the little tummy. Our baby is 9 OZ. I am gaining weight perfectly not to much for sure and not to little. I have no worries at all currently for sure! The Beachbody coach in my wants to say it is Shakeology that makes healthy babies! But of course that is not at all true it sure helps though.

All in all we are so excited. I cannot tell you how just incandescently happy we are. I do have a little secret to tell you! Daniel,  my parents, a few select friends, and I have know the gender of our precious baby for about four weeks now. It has been beyond hard to hide it from everyone. But my OBGYN told me not to announce it just is case the world goes crazy and she happened to be wrong. So today we had the gender confirmed, strongly confirmed.

So for what all of you have been waiting for our precious baby is a....

Boy!!! We are having a sweet baby boy. I cannot believe we are having a perfect little boy. Daniel by all means is overjoyed. I cannot tell you about the joy he had when I called him 4 weeks ago and told him. I am excited and totally nervous. I had NO brothers and didn't have boy cousins till I was older! So I have not been raised around boys. But God knows exactly what I need and apparently that is to have a son. Who knew we could ever be this happy!

Craving Crusher : Peanut Butter Balls

A Healthy Snack to Get you Through Pregnancy or Life

I have intense cravings for sweets and dangerous foods like that! I mean come on who wouldn't Braums is like heaven to a pregnant sweets craving woman. But I know how much more my baby need good nutritious food. So I have made a snack to help keep those cravings under control. 

Peanut Butter Balls 

 Ingredients

• 3 Packets or 3 scoops of Vanilla Shakeology 
• 1 Cup of PB 2 Already made(2/3 cup of PB 2 and 1/3 cup of water)
• 1 Cup of Organic Oats
• 1/3 Cup of Honey
• A splash of water if you need it

First, measure and pour your Shakeology into a good sized mixing bowl.

Second,  make your PB 2 and stir extremely well. Then dump it into the bowl.

Third, measure 1 Cup of oats and pour into the bowl.

Fourth, add 1/3 cup of honey to the mix and begin mixing with a spatula. After mixing for about 3 minutes you may realize you need just a splash of water to get all the powders to stick together.

Once you are done mixing, begin rolling them into little balls and putting them on a cookie sheet cover with foil. Place in freezer for about 15 minutes to an hour to chill. Then you are done and can place them in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy this treat! Share with all your friends and let me know how you like them.

Also you may not know where you can get Shakeology so Here is the Link

No More Fear Natural Sunscreen is Here! DIY Essential Oil Sunscreen

So if you are anything like me you want to eventually be 100% chemical free!!! Well I am taking the summer by storm and figuring it out this year. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. Who else is with me here? Let's all start using products that a good for our body and heal us rather than hurt us.

So how do we make this Natural Sunscreen?

I swear this is the easiest recipe and you are going to think I am crazy!

Ingredients: 2 oz of Coconut Oil and 30 Drops of Carrot Seed Oil.

Directions mix them together and you have essential oil sunscreen.

Now you do need to apply generously. Make sure to let it dry before entering water to laying down on a towel. Also reapply every hour to three hours: it all depends on your skin type. If you burn easily reapply often. If you are one of those lucky people who do not burn then apply about every 3 hours.

Enjoy you summer out in the sun everyone! I want to see your DIY Sunscreen pics!!! Make sure to tag me in them on  Instagram or Facebook.

Also you can get your Carrot Seed Oil HERE!!!

 

DIY: Natural Bug Spray with Essential Oils

First off I want to share with you the WHY we are making natural bug spray. What is so bad with the store bought kind??? Well let me inform you my friend.

• First off they warn you NOT to breathe in bug spray it may give you poisoning. Have you ever successfully applied bug spray and NOT inhaled it? Yeah it is pretty hard.
• The chemical DEET that is in most bug spray is extremely harmful. Here are a few documented and tested side effects listed below:
•  Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes
• Sensitizer/Irritant: Yes
• Birth/Developmental Defects: Yes
• Detected in Groundwater: Yes
• Potential Leacher: Yes

 So maybe what I could find is not that much but the fact that bug spray can cause birth defects means this mama is staying away from it!!! So lets get to the fun part how do we make this amazing homemade bug spray? 

What you Need:
-Teaspoon of Epsom Salts 
-A Spray Bottle
-8 oz Which Hazel
-8 oz Water
-Thieves Essential Oil 15 Drops
-Peppermint Essential Oil 15 Drops
-Purification Essential Oil 15 Drops
-Citronella Essential Oil 15 Drops

What to Do:
-Add you Which Hazel into the spray bottle. Then add you Epsom Salt. Then add all your Essential Oils in. Shake it up! Then add your water. After that you are done! 

Unless you want to be cute like me and add a super fun label. I got the one on Pinterest. I swear to you the lady is skilled in making cute labels. 
Here is the link for the labels: Bug Spray Labels