Boys Monthly Letters

The boys have posted their monthly letters to their blogs. Just click on their links or pictures to the right.

Blood on their Hands!

Dave & Darren have blood on their hands this week, literally! They left early yesterday morning to head down to Southern Utah for the Muzzleloader Deer Hunt. They were able to hunt last night and Darren bagged himself a 3-point buck. This morning Dave was successful as well and got himself a 4-point buck. I am really happy that they were both able to fill their tags. Dave has had quite a dry spell these last few years so it's great to finally have some success. And the best part of it is that they are only about 40 miles from Moab so they are on their way there now to spend a few days playing there on the 4-wheelers before heading back to hunting camp for the opening weekend of the Elk hunt which starts on Saturday. I was really hoping that they would fill their tags early so that Dave's hunting trip could also double as a Moab trip because he LOVES it down there and just doesn't get down there near as much as he'd like. I am so happy that he can now play a bit and then hopefully get himself an elk as well this weekend.

**I will add pictures once they send them to me!

Building the Bridge

We went up to the cabin this weekend. We spent a good part of Saturday building a bridge so we can get from our cabin, up to Grandma Jinx's & Grandpa Don's cabin without having to balance across the creek on slippery rocks (resulting in wet shoes more often then not). It was fun! Darren and his boys helped us out with the project.

Dave loaded up the supplies on Darren's trailer and pulled it over to the creek on MY 4-wheeler :)

Cousins

Brothers

And in the end we have a great bridge to get us back and forth and hopefully the boys' shoes will stay dry (Here's hoping!).

Erickson Family Reunion

We spent the evening up Big Cottonwood canyon at the Erickson Family Reunion. Dave was able to reserve the Stairs Plant for the event. Seven of the Erickson siblings and most of there families were there which was wonderful. It was a PERFECT evening to be up the canyon. Our family actually got up there early and spent some time just hanging out.

What a picture perfect day to be up the canyon!

The boys had fun with their cousins exploring up the mountain.

Kyle got to play some football with Lydia which he LOVED!

Towards the end of the evening our little bookworm pulled out his book (currently reading "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull) and got cozy in a chair to read. Like mother like son.

Is there anyone in this picture who doesn't have vampire eyes? If anyone gets a better picture I would love to have it. Darren & Cindy weren't able to make it :( but everyone else was there. It was a great night. Hopefully we can do this every year!

Labor Day Weekend at the Cabin

We had a WONDERFUL holiday weekend at the cabin. The weather forecast was iffy but the weather ended up being beautiful. We went up Friday after Brandon got out of school (early day = 1:00). We got up there at about 5:30 and had time to take a nice 4-wheel ride.

Darren & Cindy and their family were up at Grandma Jinx' cabin for the weekend. We joined them for cake and ice cream that evening to celebrate Darren's 35th birthday!

Kyle learned a new word that night "Nnnnoooo!" I got him some cake and tried to help him cut it and feed it to him and he was having none of that. He wanted to do it HIMSELF! But I have to admit it was so cute how he said "Nnnooo!" that I did have to keep trying a time or two just to hear him say it again. He is very independent!

On Saturday morning we went down to Fort Bridger along with Darren & Cindy to the Mountain Man Rendezvous. It is so much fun! We really look forward to it each year.

We get to see teepees ...

Check out cool guns ...

And see what life was like at the Fort long ago.

We got to see Bridger's old Fort which is super cool!

The boys got to get their faces painted with "Real Indian War Paint" ...

And got racoon skin hats.

It was a really fun outing. And of course they have wonderful food there which Dave & Darren were more than willing to partake of! :)

The weather did get a little colder that afternoon and evening and we did get a little rain. But it was nice. We just hung out and relaxed. I had checked out "The Candy Shop War" by Brandon Mull for Brandon so he would have a book to read over the weekend incase we were driven inside by the weather and being the little bookworm that he is (just like his mother) he had the entire book read in about 24 hours, over 400 pages. Wished I had gotten him a couple books. :)

On Sunday we forego the usual 4-wheeling for some calmer activities. We usually drive up to Bridger Lake and walk around the lake and have a little picnic.

On Monday we went on an early morning 4-wheel ride and went up really high up on Thunderbolt Mountain where we could circle the rim of the mountains and look down on everything. The boys had a great time searching for dinosaur bones and cool rocks. It was the perfect ending to a really nice weekend at the cabin!

The End of the Cleanse Diet

THE CLEANSE: Well I made it! 2 weeks without any sugar, flour or dairy. I have to say that it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I found lots of things that I could eat and instead of snacking on stuff that had a lot of processed sugar in it, I snacked on fresh fruit. That being said I have to admit I AM SO GLAD TO GET TO EAT WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS AGAIN!!! I think the things I missed the most believe it or not were peanut butter and cereal. Breakfast was by the far the hardest adjustment. I can't stomach oatmeal and so eggs are getting really old right about now! And it will be really nice to eat my turkey sandwiches with bread again. :)

THE RESULTS: Despite the restrictions I am glad that I did it. I really saw results. I lost about 5 lbs and even better, I lost 2 inches off my waist, in just a handful of days. Plus, I lost 3% of my body fat. I learned one very important thing over these last two weeks ... want to lose the belly fat ... cut out the sugar!! It's as simple as that. Your body stores all the excess sugar that you eat in your belly.

CONTINUING ON: This isn't a diet that you want to keep up for a long period of time because if you do, your body will go into starvation mode and start to store fat and you will end up packing on the weight. I am not a nutrition expert but I have learned some very good things from this that I will continue doing.

First: I will really watch how much sugar I eat. There is so much extra sugar in so many things we eat, no wonder we as a nation struggle with weight. I am not going to cut out all sugar and I will still eat dessert (yeah ice cream!) in moderation when I want to, the key is not to have a lot of extra sugar in all the other things that you eat throughout the day.

Second: Cut the dairy. There is so much sugar in dairy and so by cutting a lot of that out really makes a difference. No more gallon of milk a day for me. :)

Third: I am also going to try to try to pay attention to how many calories I take in and do a zigzag sort of eating structure. HERE is a really good website that you can check out. It has you input your age, weight, height and amount of weekly exercise and it will tell you how many calories you can eat in a day to maintain your current weight, for fat loss and for extreme fat loss. I am not a calorie counter and do not plan to become one but it does give you an idea of how many calories is a fair amount for you at any given meal. There is also an option that will show you a 7 day calorie cycle (zig-zag) which as they state "*Calorie cycling provides same amount of calories per week, but 'tricks' your body by constantly changing daily calories. This helps to prevent or break plateaus." I always have a problem with plateaus and I think that is because when I am trying to eat right I eat about the same amount of calories each day and my body just comes to expect that. My plan is to look at my week and plan which 2 days that week I can really lower my calories and do this same diet on those 2 days. I will also pick 2 days that week that will be my splurge days where I can up my calories. The rest of the days I will just try to just eat well like I have been. If you really think about it, this is pretty much how we normally eat anyway. We eat too much on the weekend and then spend the first few days of the week trying to make up for it. So with a little structure and planning this can be used to our advantage.

EXTRA BENEFITS: This has been good not only for me but for our whole family. Dave is enjoying all the fresh fruits around the house and the healthier meals. We have been eating much more fresh fruits and veges and fish and cut back a lot on the red meat. We also got bikes last weekend and most nights after dinner we take the boys on a bike ride which has been really nice. And it's been good for the kids too. Brandon (our carnivore) loves salmon and so it's nice to see him eating something other then steak or pork. Eric really pays attention to what I say is healthy and now will only eat wheat bread with his sandwiches because it's more healthy. And just today he was sitting eating yogurt and he asked me "How many calories does this have in it?" Maybe through this I can help my kids grow up as healthy eaters. :)