Hi, my name is Erin and I'm a Vegan...for now!

Since I was a young teenager I've been semi haunted with the idea of someday being medicated for life due to my high cholesterol. I mean, It's all genetic right? It's not MY fault I've had high Cholesterol since I was 14. In my youth I was very active and my mom made healthy meals. As an adult, I've continued to do so by making healthy meals, having one treat a week and lots of exercise. I'm also at my healthy weight. I know that it is part genetics, but you can't blame it all on that. You have to take responsibility and control at some point. But on the other hand, nothing I did lowered my cholesterol. In fact, it raised it! That's it! I came to the realization that my cholesterol will keep rising. Did you know that over 100 million Americans have high cholesterol? And also, if you didn't know, high cholesterol leads to major heart disease, such as stroke and heart attack! I don't want to be part of that statistic! Thank goodness for my Aunt Linda and the conversation we had on one of my visits to Price last year! She said that my Uncle Brent read this book called "The China Study"

which talks about health and the horrible shape we, as Americans, are in. It talks about how we intake too much animal based foods, which are the highest in fat and cholesterol. My Uncle Brent followed this diet of no animal based foods (no eggs, butter, cheese, milk and all meats) for six months and he lowered his cholesterol by like almost 100 points.

So this is what I've also decided to do! I bought the book, read it and became a Vegan and will be for six months to see if it helps lower my cholesterol.

Well, so far, I've been doing this diet for one month and it's actually been great! I've actually grown to love fruits and veggies again and I've found some vegan meals that are so delicious! I made a vegan pizza with pizza sauce I made from Scratch! I think that pizza was one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten. I made homemade dough too but let Jake handle the fancy part (going back his old Litza's Pizza days)!

The cherry on top is that I've lost 8 pounds since I started a month ago and I just FEEL great!

I've had a couple people ask me if I'm taking supplements since I can't eat meat! That's the misconception about vegetarians. There are SOOO many plant based proteins out there, it's ridiculous! You don't need meat and animal based foods to get your protein and be well balanced! As a matter of fact, because of all the fruit and veggies I'm eating, I'm more balanced than I've ever been.

MY GOAL

I'm not planning on being a Vegan for the rest of my life. I just love burgers, milk, butter and cheese too much. BUT...if this diet does work and my cholesterol lowers (finally!!!), I'm not going to let the past six months be in vein.

My new life will be eating animal based foods VERY SPARINGLY and stick with more whole foods, plant based diet from now on. If you know me, you know that I love being healthy so this high cholesterol thing has been KILLING me!!

I'm doing this for me and I'm doing this for them:

(and my wonderful husband as well..of course)! I don't want this looming over me anymore. I'm taking control of my life. Yes, I love a good burger, but I love myself and my family a whole heck of a lot more and I have way more respect for my life and my body than to just sit back and slowly kill myself with the #1 cause of death in America: Heart Disease!! Some people can be happy eating whatever the heck they want and then in the next breath pop 5 pills to keep them from dying earlier than they should, but I can't! I refuse to take a pill for good health! I'm very proud of the decision I've made and I hope that the choice to take control of my health will make all the difference for me and my family...lead by example right?!! MY CURRENT CHOLESTEROL: 223 (normal is now 150 or lower) I'll post in the beginning of July my new cholesterol! One month down, five to go!!

B-day Party at Kangaroo Zoo

As soon as Lydia found out that she was invited to a b-day party at Kangaroo Zoo she was ecstatic! Then she couldn't wait to go to the store and pick out a birthday present for her friend, the birthday girl, Hailey!!!

Lydia had so much fun bouncing around with all of her little friends! I don't know why but Lydia has the hardest time looking into the camera! She'll smile fine, but gets too distracted! Funny little gal!

The Kangaroo bounced into the party and Lydia didn't hesitate going up and giving him a hug, although Lydia insisted she was a girl kangaroo and wondered where her baby was!

Seriously Lydia....look into the camera!
FINALLY! Happy Birthday Hailey! Thanks for inviting us! Lydia had a blast!

Game Nights!

We go through spurts of playing games and it seems that that's all we've done lately! Ever since New Year's Eve we've been having a lot of game nights with family and friends and we've had a blast hanging out and playing games!

A few weekends ago we hung out with the Newell's. We ate dinner and went back to their house to play!

Last week we hung out with our pals the Clark's for yet another game night. And of course when we wanted the kids to go off and play, they wanted to join in the fun! Cute bff's playing with their daddies!
Tonight we had Jake's little brother's family over for a wii game night and even though Gwen and Lydia are a couple years apart in age, they played so well together. Lydia was so sweet with her and shared all of her toys! It was awesome to watch them play so well together! We'll have to do that more often!
We're so glad we have such awesome friends and family to hang out with! We love you all! :)

Nate Turns 7 Months & Mommy/Daughter Date!

Seven months old....I can't believe it! Turning one is just right around the corner. It's gone by WAY faster with kid #2 for sure! It's kind of sad, yet I don't terribly love the infant stage so it's kind of nice that he's growing up! I know I'll miss it when it's gone but I love the interaction, talking and playing around outside WAY more than the sleepless nights, poopy diapers and two naps a day!

Here's my baby boy at SEVEN MONTHS!

This smile is just the most precious thing! We love this little fella so much! And those dimples...so adorable!

Everyone keeps telling me how much he looks like Lydia now! It's true! He no longer has the red hair, he's blonde! He has the blue eyes, the same smile and same voice! Genetics really are an amazing thing!
He still does the "I've got a plan" thing with his hands; not as much as he used to, but he still does it! Cute boy!

On Saturday, January 8th, he finally started making actual word sounds...you know, the ones that sound human. He normally just yells and does that razzing thing with his lips but on Saturday he made the "Dah, dah, dah" sound. Yay! He does this all the time now and I love it. This was the first thing that Lydia did and it's funny because their voices sound exactly alike. Totally de ja vu!

I FINALLY got him to start eating solids. It was just a matter of finding what he liked. For some reason I started him with oatmeal cereal (I started Lyd on rice cereal) and he hated it. So after months of trying oatmeal and different fruits and veggies, I finally tried the rice and what do you know? He loved it! He can't get enough of the bland stuff!

I can't get enough of that cute, smiley face!!! He is such a happy baby and will smile at anyone, anytime! He's so good natured.

Every time he eats now, it totally reminds me of the movie "A Christmas Story". I have to keep the bowl and spoon right below his mouth and just shovel it in as fast as I can until the whole bowl is empty. All we're missing is the snorting sound that Randy makes. Instead of the snorting, all Nate does is the razzing with his lips and food goes flying EVERYWHERE!

It gets so messy! As you can see in the pics, when he razzes it hits the bowl and bounces back on to his face and head. I even found some food on the back of his head once. I can't complain too much though because 1. It's pretty funny and just too ridiculous to get mad at and 2. He's finally eating solids which is what I've wanted!
This is still his favorite toy! He lays here every morning when he wakes up. He's getting closer to crawling. He lifts his arms to the straight position. He only needs to get his knees up under himself and he's set!

Thanks to my SIL, Nate gets to sit in this Bumbo and he loves it! He's at that stage where he can't quite sit yet, but he hates laying down because he can't see as much! So this thing has saved us! Here he is watching TV with daddy (some sporting event I'm sure)!

We love you Nate! You are such a happy baby! I wouldn't change a thing...well, except I DO wish you would start sleeping through the night already (still get's up twice)!!!
I was trying to think of something to do that Lydia hasn't experienced yet but by the time we got around to getting out of the house it was almost time for Nate to go to bed so Daddy stayed home and Lydia and I went out on a mommy/daughter date to Kangaroo Zoo for some Black Light Mini Golfing.
She actually loved it; so much so that we did the course three times in a row (we were the only ones there). If you've done this course you know that it sucks! It's actually the worst mini golf course I've ever seen but Lydia had fun and that's all that mattered!

One of her favorite things was the fact that her shoe laces glowed in the dark!
Even though the course was super easy, it was Lydia's first time so it was a challenge. But what do you know, on one of the holes, she got a hole in one! Good job Lyd's! She was so happy that she did it!
Thanks Lyd's for hanging out with me! I had a lot of fun! You are such a joy to be around and I love that you are in the stage of asking questions. I love the funny things you think up to ask!

In Memory of My Dad...

Born: November 30th, 1944

Passed Away: November 15th, 2010

Laid to rest: November 19th, 2010

The past few nights I've been dreaming about my dad. They've been pretty weird dreams but it was still nice to be able to be with him, even if it was just a dream!

I thought I'd do a special post in memory of him and say a few things about him; things I want to share; things I want to remember about him and just to remind myself of the man he was...and still is!

He was such a cute kid. I loved all his curly hair!

He was the oldest of four children. Here he is with his little brothers Robert and Garry and his little sister Linda.

I always remember my dad being very strong physically. He was very tall too. Here he is with his dad, Bert Hyrum Frandsen

My dad's absolute favorite place to be was in the mountains. He would've lived there if life would have allowed it. Every summer my brother and I would fly out and spend our summers in Utah and a significant amount of that time was spent in the good 'ol Utah mountains.

I LOVED it!!!

Because of my dad, I too have a love for camping, roughing it in the woods, making s'mores, sitting around the campfire talking, playing games and making up skits to perform. Those were the some of the BEST memories of my childhood.

My dad remarried when I was young so when my brother and I would fly out for visits, we had a brand new family to play with; three step sisters and two half siblings. Again, some of my most precious memories. We had some good times together. We called ourselves "The Kids Cooperation of Imagination". We put on plays in the backyard (The Wizard of Oz was my fav), had fashion shows and we even had our own lip syncing band. Of course my dad was there in support, sitting in the audience through endless hours of our performances, smiling the whole way through.

Here we all are celebrating Father's Day I believe!

At one point, a long time ago, there were FIVE GENERATIONS of Frandsen's on this earth and they got a picture to prove it. My Great Grandma died many, many years ago but shortly before my dad's passing last November, my niece had a baby boy which meant two things...1) Five generations were back on the earth and 2) my dad became a GREAT GRANDPA at age 65! Crazy! I don't think he ever got to meet him though...he was just too sick.

My dad was huge into working out and one day he decided to get into martial arts. I think he was the oldest guy in all of Price who had this as a hobby but he was really GOOD though. I believe that he even took first in a couple divisions. He kicked butt that's for sure. And yes, my dad is the tall one in the back with the long, permed hair! Haha!

He had a few professions in his lifetime. First and foremost he was a Registered Nurse and he was dang good at it too! He was an RN for many, many years!

He took a break from nursing and became a campground manager at a campsite in California. We even made a trip out there to visit once to see what he did! Living in the mountains full time...my dad's dream for sure!!!

Side note: when dad was young, he used to call chipmunks, pea chunks, so that's what us kids called them growing up too. So now whenever I go camping with my family, that's what we call them. It's really fun to hear Lydia say, "Let's go on a walk and look for pea chunks!" It's like a little piece of my dad has stayed with us! I like that!

He even took a stab at trucking for a while. He worked for North American. He said it was pretty lonely though.

My dad had a huge love for music (that's definitely where I get my passion and talent...from my dad)! He had a gorgeous tenor voice and could sing anything so beautifully!

He also played the accordion and he was awesome at it too! When he was young he even made it on a few television/talent shows playing it!

Although we popped in and out of each other's lives a lot the past 31 years, I still had a deep love for my father! The past three years spent with him has meant the world to me and I owe my Heavenly Father so much for reuniting us so we could share his final chapter on this earth together!

I'm grateful that my dad could meet my daughter and my son. I'm grateful for our talks, our crying sessions together and our walks down memory lane, reuniting after years of being apart. We can never get those years back but I am so grateful for what we did have. We were able to mend broken wounds and I was able to be there to comfort him and sit by his side during his worst time, his battle with cancer.

I can't believe I was blessed enough to be brought back into my dad's life at the perfect time. We had six months of catching up before the news came that he had cancer. I know that my dad was so happy to be reunited with his seven children and what a wonderful thing that we could all be there for my dad, to let him know that in his darkest hour, he wasn't alone, all was forgiven and we could all be at peace with one another!

This is how I want to remember my dad! His mountain man beard, happy and jolly as could be. His laugh was awesome. I always loved his laugh!

He always did this thing where he tweaked your knees. I now do this to Lydia and we laugh! It's the little things like this that will always keep my dad with me!

As I age, my memory will fade but I will always try to keep those things with me my dad did that I loved so much so they can be passed down to my children and great grandchildren.
I love you dad! May God be with you til we meet again.

Lydia's life as a three year old!

Lydia has learned so much this past year and we are so proud of her growth and each of her accomplishments!
She is still obsessed with singing and dancing and she gets so happy every time she learns something new. Her most recent accomplishment is her backbend. She does those famous Miss Mo "Mickey Mouse Ears" and she's off!

She loves to sing and make up her own songs but gets SUPER shy when she realizes someone is watching her. With dance, she's not like that that. She loves being on stage.

Her favorite shows are: Imagination Movers, Little Einstein's and Dora

She has a lot of close friends but there's nothing like her BFF Lizzy! And since she's family, we're pretty sure they'll be best friends for life!
She says the sweetest prayer. My favorite is when she says that she's grateful that we can spend time together! That's a staple in her prayers and I think it's so precious!

She LOVES preschool. I really under estimated her willingness to go. I thought she'd be shy and not want me to leave her on her first day but she did wonderfully and has done great ever since. I know it's helped a lot having her little buddies Brock and Jordan in there with her!
She loves all of her friends and thank goodness she has some good ones. She's always wanting to have play dates; so much so that she had one every day last week! Thanks everyone for having Lyd's over and letting your kids come play with her! They all play so well together!

She loves taking "silly" pictures now and can't wait to see them after they've been taken!
She's developed a new love for drawing and is becoming quite good. I had NO idea she could draw anything, let alone little people. This is the first picture that Lydia has drawn that makes sense. In her words exactly:

"This is Daddy, Mommy, Baby Brother doing a baby cartwheel, Larry, Brielle, Brielle's dad, Brielle's mom, Mathias, a good, not mean monster, Madelyn, Izabel and the yellow one is an airport driver"!
Her Bunny is still her favorite thing. She has had this bunny since birth and she has to sleep with it every night and she is her best comforter when she is hurt or sad...just after her mommy of course!
She LOVES her baby brother and can never get enough of him!
She really is just a sweet, kind little girl! She continues to impress us and make us smile on a daily basis. She is one the of the brightest joys in our lives!

We love you Lydia! Always have, always will!!!!