Merry Christmas!!

So long 2012, it’s a new start 2013!!

Another year come and gone, a whirlwind of a year it has been!  Strange to think this is the first year in three years that we haven’t had a baby!!  Yikes!  And we aren’t announcing another one either!  =)

Travis has completed his second-to-last semester!  I can hardly contain myself!!  He will take three more classes again next semester (ugh!) and a class in the summer and then be done with his bachelors in Computer Science!!  We hope to have a BIG party!  He has been in school almost our whole marriage.  He is still at Mayo, working hard, and hopes to get into programming upon graduation.  This will be a much anticipated change!

I can’t believe Ashley will be five in February!  Where does the time go?  We have officially decided to homeschool the kids and we have been doing preschool at home with her.  She is a great, caring sister and looks after her little brothers well.  She continues to be a great helper for me and I am sure that will continue to get even better!

Tanner will be three in March.  I was just wondering the other day why he wasn’t fitting into his 2T clothes.  Well, because he’s almost three!!  Wow!!  Tanner is “all boy”!  He is a joy and keeps me on my toes!  His little brother is finally growing on him a bit. =)

My baby boy, TJ, is one already!  He is a ham and loves spending time with his brother and sister!  He is crawling all over the place and uses his walker and furniture to walk around.  He hasn’t decided to walk on his own yet but seems to be getting very close!

This year I have wanted so much to “simplify”!  I have been trying to get rid of extra things so we can focus more on each other rather than “stuff” and organizing.  Focus more on each other- Just one of the reasons for homeschooling, spending more time together as a family.

It has been a tough year for many reasons.  I have battled depression and finally feel as though I have finally come through on the bright side.  It’s amazing what taking care of yourself can do along with “letting go and letting God”!!  Travis and I did a whole foods cleanse in September and began Crossfit (high intensity health and fitness training) in October.  We are both enjoying it and I even heard the words “I sort of miss it” come out of my husband’s mouth regarding both of these activities!!  In November, my parent’s divorce was final after a long road and Dennis, Travis’s mom’s husband, was diagnosed with very aggressive, high grade bladder cancer. 

I was part of a running group this summer and ran my first two 5Ks this year.  I never thought I would be a runner but the Moms on the Run program made it happen!  I became an independent Norwex consultant in November and will be working to help families to improve their health and quality of life by greatly reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning.  I am really excited about this new opportunity as I can determine my own schedule and still spend a majority of my time with my family.  http://allisonvail.norwex.biz/  I truly don’t know what I would have done this year without Jesus and the support of my amazing husband and friends!  Jesus gives me peace in a time of chaos and fills me up when I feel so empty sometimes.

We look forward to celebrating Jesus’ birth next week when we will thank Him for humbling Himself and coming to earth to die for us!!

Bless you in the New Year and may you feel Christ’s love in a deep, meaningful way!                  

Love, Travis & Allison, Ashley(4), Tanner(2) and TJ(1)                                                                                   

opvail@hotmail.com and vail.allison@yahoo.com

Day 21- Sept 29, 2012

Today is the day, we have arrived!! We made it our complete 21 days and started our journey to eating healthy (whole foods = non-processed foods). I’m really hopeful about continuing, with the exception of sugary sweets. This is SO my downfall and I still totally want them after three weeks of not having any.


Tomorrow we will reintroduce grains.  My intent is to continue with a minimal amount of processed foods.

I am down 13 pounds and I believe hubby is down about 15. In that sense, I feel great. As for more energy or any other benefits that may have come from this, we shall see!! =)  The energy has not come through this 21 days that I can tell, other than maybe a little bit.

So.... here's to the rest of our journey!!  =)

Day 17

The hardest part is over and now we are just thoroughly enjoying our chicken! Only four days left!  The other night I made an amazing whole chicken. Who knows if it was because we haven’t had chicken for a while or if it was THAT good, but I thought it was truly home-cookin’ good!! I said the salmon the other day was amazing but that salmon had nothing on this chicken!! LOL

Last night I made chicken zucchini burgers. They were pretty good. I will make them again!

Come to find out I made a mistake in having eggs. We weren’t supposed to have eggs yet, just chicken and fish. Hubby and I both thought we read somewhere that we could have eggs.

The weight loss continued and I am now down twelve and hubby is down fourteen. I am down a couple inches in the waist and it feels so great. My tummy is my struggle area and it’s so nice that I can actually see that it has gone down!

I still really want sugar and bread and the things I can’t have but it’s not as difficult to not have it. When we are done we have decided we want to reintroduce bread first. Hoping to make some homemade bread to kick us off!! I’m sure it won’t be long before we have pizza as we love our pizza!!

Looking forward to see how the reintroduction of food goes and hope to keep losing weight when we do so!

Day 11

Dinner tonight was amazing if I do say so myself!! I didn’t go with the chicken I was thinking, I went with salmon instead for my hubby. Unfortunately at 7pm he still isn’t home to eat it (stuck at school). =( So I broiled the salmon with dill and Italian seasonings, then made veggies also. I caramelized the onions and then added mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, and…. I don’t remember, maybe that was it. I put the same seasonings on those and it was scrumptious!! Not sure if it’s because I haven’t been very creative up until now and we couldn’t have meat, but boy it was good. Mind you, even just a few years ago I NEVER would have ate this meal- let alone made it!!

I did end up getting up this morning and surprising my hubby with eggs for breakfast. He didn’t seem to excited but I was excited for my eggs!! I can’t wait for tomorrow’s meal now!

I’ve also determined that the best Christmas present for me this year would be a chef to come to my house and teach me how to cook (is there such a thing?) and an organizer to come help me organize my house (off topic of this context but that’s okay).

So, a great day for food I think!

Hopefully the kids will catch on to this food soon!! =)

Day 10!!

I did it! I did it! I made it to day 10 with only a few tiny, tiny little cheats!! I cannot wait until breakfast in the morning and dinner tomorrow night!! Eggs for breakfast and chicken for dinner!!! I may even get up really early and serve my hubby eggs for breakfast before he heads off to work and school for enduring this with me!!!

The last couple days have been better than day seven, but dinner for day eight and nine were not for me. I’m still not a spicy girl (or somethin’) and I made lentil chili on day eight and vegan chili with no beans (essentially just veggies & chili seasonings) on day nine. At least last night we made rice to go with it, so I ate more than I otherwise would have.

After day seven, my weight loss has come to a screeching halt. I haven’t been exercising much during this time so I’m sure when I kick that in they will come off again. I hope so! Hoping to go running tonight but that hasn’t proved to happen the last week or two.

One of the difficult things with this for me is getting in more vegetables than fruit. I think the last couple days have been best for that, now that I am just eating the veggies whether I like them or not and hope that I acquire a taste for them. =)

This morning I changed it up a bit in my smoothie and added more veggies too and it was actually quite tasty… which I can’t always say about all the smoothies! =)

We made it through the tough part… now on to the rest!

Day 7

Uffda! Today was a hard day!! I want bread! I want cheese! I want pasta! I want ice cream! I want pretty much anything I am not supposed to have! =) Can’t wait until Thursday when we can at least have chicken and eggs!! Yesterday was a little hard simply because hubby said “I don’t want to do this anymore. I want…” But we are still truckin’ along and I had a big victory with him and his dinner of vegan tacos!!! Never in a million would I think I would hear my husband say, “these are REALLY good!!” about vegan tacos!! =)

I think the hard part for today was meal planning for the next week (doesn’t help that I want to spend time with my kiddos and the house is a disaster). I feel like there is nothing I want to eat, except what I can’t have. I am tired of carrots, broccoli and cauliflower for snacks. I need to eat more peppers for snacks I guess and get use to those.

I remember day four was a gross day because the smoothies weren’t very cold. They taste worse when they aren’t cold. I ran out of frozen bananas so I was using non-frozen bananas and not using ice. They were nasty! Once I figured out why the smoothies all of a sudden tasted even worse, day five was much better.

Day five I remember I woke up feeling energized and really good, but by afternoon, I had to take a nap. Day six I woke up feeling pretty good too, but not as good as day five. Hubby has had a “sick feeling” last night and tonight but otherwise has felt pretty “normal” all week.

Wish I would have updated each day but this week has been pretty overwhelming. I have barely even gone anywhere and it’s been crazy!! As of day five I had lost six pounds and hubby had lost seven. As of today I have lost eight and he has lost ten!! That’s the good news of the day! =) But, all in all, I’m still happy that we are doing this. I think it will be worth it.

Day 3 Update

(Read with light-hearted, fun tone of voice, cause that’s where I’m at!)

Dinner was AWFUL! Do people really eat this stuff!!?? =) Seriously! LOL! Tomorrow we are eating something we KNOW we will like. But shhhh, don’t tell my hubby, he doesn’t know yet! =)

The best part of today is that my hubby and I are connecting over this experience. We have had a hard time connecting for some time (just little snips here and there) and I really hope that this experience will draw us closer. He was having a hard time tonight wanting any food but what we are allowed to have, I was a little bit too, but it helped us to relate to one another. He was a little irritable too and he’s usually pretty even keel and I’m the irritable one!! =)

He thinks he has lost six pounds already! Really, three days and six pounds!!?? Why do men have it so easy!? HAHA! I might be down three and that’s really exciting!! I’ll check in the morning. I didn’t actually want to weigh myself until day 7, but it gives a little motivation seeing the scale going in the right direction!

Wanting other foods, but loving it!! =)