Coffee.

I want coffee. With cream and sugar, not black!
Wahhhhhhh

Whole30 Challenge

Eeek. Just the name alone scares me.

September 28th will be my 1 year anniversary living with Graves' Disease. When I was first diagnosed, I had no idea what Graves' was or the role my thyroid played. I have done so much research in the past year, I should have a degree in research! Graves' is such a weird disease. Before I was diagnosed, I had a few heart palpitations, I was hot alllll the time, I would just bust out sweating for no reason and I had some serious brain fog. When the Dr. told me I had Graves' and explained it, it all made sense but I asked myself, "now what?" I had three options, radioactive iodine, medication, or a total thyroidectomy (surgery) All of those scared me but the meds seemed like the route to go. Taking the iodine would mean total isolation for 3 or 4 days and no guarantee that it would actually "kill" my thyroid. So I started out on 10mg of tapazole twice a day and would meet with my Dr. in three months for labs and to see what my levels were. First visit back was good, my levels were in the normal range and I was feeling pretty good. I have read other people's journey with Graves' and I felt extemley blessed because some of them had experienced "Thyroid Storm" where they had to be rushed to the hospital because their thyroid was going bizerk causing the rest of their body to shut down. I prayed and prayed that didn't happen to me. I got back in the gym and started eating a healthier diet. Of course, I was selfish and indulged more than I should. I love CARBS and SUGAR and couldn't give up my coffee or bread. I've always been a thin person with high metabolism, I'm thankful I've never had to diet or really watch what I eat but as I get older I am more conscious of what I put in my mouth. Especially having an auto immune disease. I added more veggies, more fruit, more protein but still couldn't MAKE myself give up the tablespoon (is that bad?) of sugar in my coffee or my bread! I purchased several books about Graves' and read in one of them that Celiac Disease, an auto immune disease of the small intestine, means eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, can cause intestine damage and cause other auto immune diseases. I don't remember being tested for Celiac.
So...
I found this Whole30 book about completely changing your diet and 1. feeling amazing and 2. a cleaner diet helping with lower blood sugar for diabetics, allergies, AUTO IMMUNE DISEASES and a wide variety of other things. So I was interested and bought it on my Ipad. When I got through the first 3 or 4 pages, I was asking myself, WHY AM I NOT EATING A CLEANER DIET!??! I though about all the food I consumed in a day and realized how much of that was processed and contained so much added sugar. I had posted on Facbook that I needed recipes and had a friend message me. She asked why I was needing recipes, that I was already thin and didn't need to lose weight. I told her I wasn't doing it to lose weight, I wanted to rid my body of added sugar and anything processed. I have been working my booty off in the gym and can tell but changing to a cleaner diet I will be able to see more changes and hopefully make an improvement in my auto immune disease and eventually be off medication and not have to worry about having my thyroid removed.

http://whole9life.com/2011/06/whole-30-v4/

I'll be trying to keep up with my progress here. I am trying my hardest to follow this as best as I can and not have any cheat days!

Here's what I had for breakfast:
September 16th
Scrambled eggs, with spinach, smoked salmon and bananas. Naked juice instead of coffee!

Wish me luck! If you have any recipes for WHOLE30, please send them my way!!

4 years old!

So Hudson turned 4 on Saturday and woke up that morning saying, "I'm 4, did I grow?" He kept saying "When I was 3 I did this..." We kicked off the celebrations on Friday night when some family came in town. We went to eat at Chito's and told the waiter it was Hud's birthday. They came out shaking spoons and forks in plastic cups singing happy birthday! They attempted to put a huge sombrero on his head but he didn't like that idea, shook his head and hid his face :(
Then turned around and ate ALL the chocolate covered sopapilla!

Cody's cousin Scott, Christie and the boys stayed the weekend with us and the boys got some quality time together. They are the best, most protective older cousins ever. They played, wrestled, went fishing Sunday afternoon and had the best time.

The party was a SUCCESS! It was probably the smoothest a party has ever gone. The Grand Texan was such a great place to have it. We rented a suite and just let the kids swim, play ping pong and putt putt.
it had a massive slide that I thought he would love but half of it was completely covered and dark. Plus it was super high and I think that scared him. He actually went down ONCE and we missed it.

Carlene's Cakes made his cake for the second year in a row and it was absolutely awesome and delicious! Look her up on Facebook if you ever need a cake. We were so blessed with so many family and friends coming to celebrate with us, thanks to all who came. We sure did miss one beautiful smiling face though. Gram was truly missed but we all knew she was smiling down singing Happy Birthday with us.

After the party we all came back to our house and started cooking! We had a full house. Cody made steaks, chicken, corn, poppers, potatoes and rolls and it was all so GREAT! We played games after and let Hud and the boys play with all his new toys.

Thank goodness Monday was a holiday and I had time to clean the house and get his toy room organized. I ended up bagging 4 HUGE trash bags of toys he has outgrown or never plays with. Donated those bad boys to Goodwill. We met my mom for lunch and did a little shopping. Hud had some gift cards to Toys R Us so we let him do a little shopping. Bet ya can't guess what he bought?!?!? Stealth Tech Ninja Turtles, all 4. He had just enough :)
Hudson is already talking about his 5th birthday.....Lord help us.
Back to the grind! Our Odessa Step Out walk is in *19* days!

Cody & I will be leaving to Fredericksburg this Friday to celebrate 6 years of marriage :)))
xox


"When you lead your sons and daughters in the good way, let your words be tender and caressing, in terms of discipline that wins the heart's assent." -Elijah Ben Solomon

Diamonds!!!!!!!

Shine bright like a diamond! So last Friday Cody and I double dated with some of our friends Nate and Tara. Cody and Nate worked at station 8 together for almost 6 months and Nate is a great guy. I've only been around his girlfriend Tara once and that was only for about an hour. She is a doll! So sweet, outgoing and they are so much fun.I was looking forward to getting to know her better, she is just one of those people you know you are going to get along with and we DID. I was also looking forward to spending time with my husband! We were going to meet them at Wall Street, our favorite date night place to eat. My car was low on gas ( I don't know what it is and YES I know it's bad for my car, but I let the gas light come on EVERY time before I fill up) anyway, I had no gas and didn't feel like stopping to put any in so we decided to take Cody's truck even though he was in the process of moving stations. He's been at station 8 for 6 months and really loved it. It's a busy station, Nate is there and he had a pretty great crew. A spot at station 6 (right down the road from our house) became available and Cody's sister James is there ;-) We give them so much crap because they are seriously like sisters. If one gets something cool, the other has to have it and they argue like siblings. They've also been best friends since elementary. The captain at 6 is pretty cool and Cody knows the other 2 guys, so he put in and got it. He had to move everything from his locker and all his bedding so his truck was packed. He unloaded his bedding and a few other things so I could squeeze in the passenger seat. Mary, Cody's mom always keeps Hudson on Fridays. It's been a tradition for almost 3 years. She gets him from daycare and they just have a fun filled Friday afternoon and evening and she brings him home Saturday morning. It's a great little break for mommy too ;) We made a quick stop to say hi to Hud at her house and be on our way. She lives a block away so it's very convenient and I decided not to buckle my seat belt. I know, law breaker. As we are getting back in the truck and heading to dinner, I try to buckle my seat belt and there is something in the way. It caught my attention because it was a pretty gold color, then I noticed it was a bag, then it just went all down hill from there. I consider myself a pretty avid Kay Jewelers shopper. I have the open heart jewelry, I have purchased the pandora bracelet and many charms for my mom for special occasions, I have a watch from there, so I know the bag! I immediately start pulling on the bag and Cody just glances my way and his face drops. He casually asks "What are you doing?" I said "there is something in the way and I can't buckle my seat belt." He said, "Just stop!" Being so hard headed I keep pulling. Finally he opens his bottom console and hands me the bag and says, "you already know, just open it!"
My 30th birthday is coming up in October! I can't believe I just announced that. Just kidding, age ain't nothin but a number and it's never scared me to get "older" I'm totally ok with it and look forward to turning 30. If it's anything close to being as awesome as my 20's. I think I'll be alright. Anywho, I've always wanted diamond studs and what a perfect time to ask for them, 30th birthday!! So he had asked a few months ago, What Do You Want? I have to say, Cody is probably the best gift giver, I always get what I want and MORE. He spoils me. Always has. I mentioned diamond studs and he didn't ask again. A few weeks ago I started looking at all the different options and sending him pictures in case he "forgot" then kinda dropped it.
Back to the bag: I open the little black box and inside are the two most beautiful princess cut diamond stud earrings!!!!!! I start putting them on and he starts telling me the story of him and Nate going one day on shift and staying at Kay for nearly and hour before he decided on them. Then comes the really sad/romantic part. Cody's never really been a romantic, he's sweet and thoughtful just not mushy and romantic and that's ok. He proceeds to tell me he was in the process of finding and B & B in Fredericksburg and we were going to leave next Friday for our anniversary, 6 years on September 8th!! As we were unpacking the car he was going to ask me to get a couple of beers out of the cooler and have the earrings in the cooler :)) What a sweet idea. After the story I told him we could still do that and I would act totally surprised. He said I ruined it. DAMMIT. I didn't even snoop this time. I'm totally a snooper. When I know something is in the works or a surprise is going down, I snoop and bug until I get it out of him or find it. He hates it but I can't help it. I can't stand knowing there is a surprise and not knowing the actual surprise. It's a curse I tell ya.

He's totally over the whole F'Burg idea now :( so we are looking at staying at the Lajitas Resort and Spa in Lajitas, TX. I had also looked at the Gage Hotel in Marathon. It's on my bucket list of places to visit but they are completely booked next weekend.  What a sweetheart I have.
Lots going on in these next few months. Hudson will be turning 4, our 6 year anniversary and this ol geezer turns 30. By the way, Save the Date for October 12th, 80's inspired 30th birthday bash going down at my house. The girls and Cody are throwing me a totally rad 80's themed party.

http://www.lajitasgolfresort.com/

Life lately

These past few weeks have really been an eye opener on how big our LITTLE boy is getting. He moved up a class at school and is now on the PreK learning level. We thought it was a good idea to sign him up for Tae Kwon Do because he loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, owns almost every sword/nunchucks/scarf that the turtles have and he is constantly doing TMNT "moves" all over the place. What a perfect way for him to burn off some energy, learn discipline, and self defense right? We sat through a class so he could get a feel of what he'd be doing before we committed to the intro class and bought a uniform. Of course, he was hooked and couldn't wait to start. So, I signed him up last Friday and his first intro class was Monday. Let me just tell you, as his mom, I have seen him look pretty cute in a NB hippo Halloween costume, teeny tiny little wranglers with cowboy boots, a mini tux with a tiny bow tie but this Tae Kwon Do outfit topped them all!! He was adorable and you could tell he felt so cool once we put it on. The instructor tied his belt and wrote his name in Korean on the side and he was off to his spot and class started. I thought he might be a little shy at first, not knowing anyone or the routine just yet but he got out there and ROCKED it. He did exactly what the instructor told them to do, said yes sir and tried his hardest at jumping jacks ;-) We have to work on those...but it was the cutest thing EVER! Glad Cody was off so he could watch. We laughed the whole time.

Young Lee's Tae Kwon Do! 8-19-2013

We've also been planning a 4 year birthday!!! I love birthdays and admit to going a little overboard but hey they only have 1 birthday a year right?!? I say this alllllllll the time but seriously, I can't believe our baby is turning 4. This will be a VERY bittersweet party knowing our Gram won't be there. I know she will be watching the whole thing from the best seat in the house though, smiling down, singing happy birthday to her boy! She was always such a huge help at his parties, asking if she could do anything and always finding him the BEST gifts. Sure do miss that woman.

We've also been looking in to some schools for kindergarten. So many decisions being a parent..... I think we've decided on Midland Christian school but not certain. Hud would be going to Henderson next year if we put him in public school. With the boom and all the extra people in Midland, I've talked to teacher friends and they have classes as big as 35 students. That doesn't make me feel like he would be getting the best education. With a private school, a teacher has maybe 15 students and more one on one time is available and they have Chapel once a day :) We have a campus tour set up in September. I'm not even sure if he'll be able to start K next year with his birthday falling on August 31st. EEk

We had our friend Laurel's baby shower this past weekend and we showered little Temple with great food, company and lotsa PINK! It was a great time and little T is due on my birthday!!!

SoCal, So BEA-UTIFUL!

We are back from California! Although, it was great to be back in our own bed, we missed waking up to the sound of waves and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. We were literally 10ft. from the beach and it was a wonderful, relaxing trip for all of us. We bunked in a room separate from the house but connected to the garage. We had a sliding glass door and a bunk bed with a twin at the top and queen at the bottom and Hudson LOVED having his own bed "way up top" This was him the 2nd day on the beach. He took a 2 hour nap after playing in the sand and running from the waves for almost 5 hours!

My dad "won" this beach house in a golf tourney! He got closest to the pin and paid a whopping $500 for 13 of us to stay a week at the beach! An 80 something year old Dr. has owned this house for about 40 years and rents it out. Talk about a prime location for real estate.

This is where almost everyone spent their time. We had 3 wonderful dinners prepared by Daddio, Cody and a few extra helpers at this table. I would wake up in the morning, fix my coffee and enjoy this magical view and breathe in the ocean air. We even did some dancing on this porch! The guys golfed the first morning we were there while we enjoyed the beach! I even got a few runs in through the neighborhood. Cody was busy, he golfed and went deep sea fishing and was always helping my dad cook. (He didn't get to relax as much as we did, sorry babe!)

This is my favorite photo from the trip

Just the 3 of us!!!!!

Dana Point, Ca. We stayed in the Monarch Beach neighborhood and this was our view (from the deck)for 4 days! The weather was wonderful the whole time we were there. Warm and sunny at the beach, cool and comfortable in the evening. Sure do miss those temps...103 is not ideal. We were so sad to leave that we seriously thought about staying one more day. But there was only 1 seat left on the flight home for the following day and Cody had someone work 1/2 a shift already. Boo

Now it's back to the real world, buckling down on our two Step Out walks we have :-/ From here on out is BUSY BUSY!

Before we left on our trip I had a lovely Dr's appointment to reveal that my levels are actually ALL normal! yay! My TSH, T3 and T4 were all in the normal range..that's a big deal because I have been struggling with keeping them in the normal range and we've been changing dosage. FINALLY! For now.. I had met with an ENT to see what my surgical options were just to get my thyroid removed. If my levels hadn't of been normal, I would have already scheduled a thyroidectomy! But since they came back normal, my Dr. suggested, give it another 3 months on the same dosage, come back and get blood drawn, then see what they are. If they have changed any, look at getting it removed. So, fingers crossed, it all stays the same. The good ol eye is still the same. Which is good in a way because I have to be in a "stable" phase for 5 months and then we can talk about decompression surgery to get it back to normal! Normal, yay, what does that even mean??? Crazy ol thyroid!

In the midst of all this, I am planning a 4th birthday for our baby! BABY, he should still be a baby :(
He's so BIG! So SMART and so HANDSOME! I'm so proud of the little man he has become.

                                                                       XOXO

Vacation Madness

Holy vacation mode batman! We just returned home last night from Sea World San Antonio! What a great, exciting, (exhausting) trip. We are home safe and sound and all a little worn out. Tuesday afternoon Cody and I headed out to San Antonio. Hudson, his grandma Chita, Liz, Joseph, Scott, Christie and Aaron and Ryan had left early Tuesday morning from Tahoka and drove in to Midland to pick up Hud and Chita. It was nice to have 4 hours on the road with Cody because the prior weekend I had been at the lake for 4 days without him :-( So we got to catch up a little with quietness ;-)
We arrived in SA right at rush hour traffic and let's just say, Cody is not a patient person driving in 4 lane crazy traffic and got a little angry....... Anywho, got to the hotel and everyone had already checked in and were having appetizers and drinks on the River Walk. We stayed at La Quinta 2 min from the River Walk so we started walking over for a BEER! We all purchased tickets for the river boat. Of all the times I have been to the RW., I have yet to ride the boat. So that was interesting, and HOT! Like miserable hot because there was no breeze and Hud was cranky because he had been up since 6am with no nap. No more boat trips in our future. After the boat tour the grandparents took the kiddos back to the hotel to swim and relax while Scott, Christie, Cody and I went to Ritas to grab some food and MARGARITAS! The wait was crazy, on a Tuesday, we waited almost 45 for 4 people. It was almost 11 by the time we got done eating so we stopped in Coyote Ugly Saloon to have a beer and watch the crazy girls dance on the bar. Scott had never been to CU and was in AWE. We called it an early night because we had Sea World the next day.

Woke up early Wednesday, ate breakfast and headed out. The things we do for our kids!! It was 99 degrees by the time we got there at 11. We had planned on doing Wednesday just at Sea World, looking at shows, riding rides and just hanging out and the water park, Aquatica on Thursday. Well, 2 hours into walking around with BOOB sweat and feeling miserable, we all decided to do the water park. Thank goodness we all brought our swim suits with us. We changed and headed over and we were immediately in Heaven. Hud, Cody and I waited in a tube line for maybe 10 min and rode a really fun ride and got soaked which made us all feel better. After that we went to the wave pool, watched the sting rays, swam in the kiddie pool, did another tube ride, watched Scott and the boys get in the sting ray pool and feed them and hung out some more in the water.
This was Hud's favorite part! he must have slid about 20 times :))

Sea World 7-10-2013

When we took Hudson to Sea World San Diego when he was two, he called Shamu, Shampoo! it was the cutest thing. I'm kind of sad he says his name right.

Cody had heard from a friend about an awesome restaurant called Fogo De Chao. (Isn't that fun to say?!) We thought it was further downtown but when we did the boat tour, saw that it was right across from our hotel! We had planned to do a double date with Scott & Christie but they stayed a little longer at Sea World. Mary watched Hudson for us and we got some much needed alone time. This restaurant was amazing. I recommend it at least once. They start you off with a massive salad bar with endless possibilities. My favorite was the smoked salmon and fresh, handmade mozzarella cheese balls, oh and their mini bread rolls, oh and their huge asparagus! Let's just say, I loved it ALL. They swoop in like ninjas as soon as you're done with your salad plate and bring you caramelized banana's (to clear your pallet) and fried cheese. You have a little card with red and green and as soon as you are ready for meat you flip over to green. All of a sudden you have 3 or 4 waiters walking by offering you, filet minon, rack of lamb, bacon wrapped chicken, and tons of other meats I had never even heard of. It was delicious!!!!!!! And all you can eat. For the price, you better eat all you can ;) After filling up to the brim, our waiter conned us in to getting the papaya dessert (it's supposed to break down all the proteins from the meat. And of course a cup of coffee, I was freezing. I felt extremely old for some reason. I guess it was because the whole cup of coffee after a meal but it was delish!!!!!! Hands down ONE of the best meals and restaurant experiences I've ever had.

After that Cody and I headed to Mad Dogs, a British pub style bar and MY FAVORITE  place to have a good time on the River Walk. Comedy Karaoke started at 10 and was so hilarious! Two woman, one white girl and one black girl, best friends for 20 years and they rocked it. Cody had never been and had a great time. Scott and Christie met up with us around 11. I don't know how they did it, I would have been exhausted!!! But they laughed so hard and had a great time as well. We left Mad Dogs a little after 1 and headed to Coyote Ugly AGAIN. The River Walk had kinda died down and no one was really walking or in the bars. It was kinda nice because normally everything is so packed. We ended the night at 2am and walked back to the hotel. It never fails that we always get approached by bums asking for money...it's just not a SA trip without it. Sure enough, one approached us Tuesday and Wednesday night.
We took a little pit stop in Fredericksburg on the way home. We found a super awesome winery that we both love and just happen to be out of our favorite wine. Fiesta Winery, try it out if you are ever in the 'Burg! Texas Well Water is our favorite. We only spent about an hour there but it was nice to walk main street without a ton of people! We got home around 9:30 and everyone was so exhausted we went straight to bed!!!!!!!! What a great trip with family though. We have 2 short weeks to recovery because we leave for Newport Beach on the 27th! Woooooo