Project #walk365 {October}

You guys! I'm still walking!

Seriously. This is kindof a big deal!

My original goal was to walk 365 miles in 2015, an average of one mile a day, obviously. At the beginning of the year, the other part was to walk every day. I'm taking weekends off now, but I'm also growing another human, and I passed the 365 mile marker back at the beginning of October! So the goal has changed along the way, but the point is that I'm still walking!

1. Oh look--feet! I've decided to set my October goal to 1 1/2 miles 5 days a week. Hope that will keep me motivated but not overwhelmed.
2. Just an early morning walk with a rafter of turkeys. That's Idaho!
3. Bam! 365 miles complete! I'm not quitting my walks quite yet though! (It just so happened that this milestone was on my 40th birthday!)
4. I'm having to walk later in the day because mornings are cold and dark. Glad I have a schedule that allows for that!
5. We live by a tree farm and it's fun to see the colors en masse on my walks.
6. Same tree farm as yesterday. Still pretty!

1. Aren't the clouds cool? So was the weather. Should have dressed a little warmer, but it still beats being hot!
2. Old MacDonald's barn is my turn-around spot these days. (Seriously, that's the name on the mailbox!)
3. My, what long legs I have! The bump is getting more prominent.
4. The hills are highlighted with yellow and orange!
5. I love fall! We've been having frosty nights and warm days with plenty of sunshine. Wish you could see the mountains better.
6. Not a bad view on my walk today.

1. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! 380 total miles this year!
2. We showed the boys the joy of geocaching today! It was great for the first three caches but the fourth had us scaling mountains and watching out for bears! We never did find it.
3. Sunset over Lake Pend Orielle (part of the geocaching adventure).
4. We got rain last night so the sky is clean and the grass and trees are sparkling.

1. I want to walk down this road to see where it goes! Sadly it's private property.
2. It was 39* when I left for my walk with frost still in the shade.
3. Did you know there are deciduous conifers? I just learned about tamarack trees this week. They're pretty!
4. It was still frosty and a cold 34* at 8 AM and I had to bundle up for my walk!

1. There's snow on the mountain behind the clouds!
2. The rain has greened up the grass, even as the leaves are falling.
3. On a whim we tried the Viewpoint Trail at Priest Lake. When you start at the lake there will be climbing involved to get to said viewpoint! Climbing is hard when you're 34 weeks pregnant! The view and the feeling of accomplishment were worth it though.
4. Celebratory selfie at the top of the Viewpoint Trail at Priest Lake.
5. Thankful for a break in the rain for my walk today. I like rain but not getting wet.
6. There was finally another break in the rain and I got my 1.5 miles in! Technically it's November, but I need one more for October, so I'm counting it! Also, more snow on the mountains!

Ok, so my last October walk was really in November, but I'm totally justifying it. Both Friday and Saturday were really rainy and really busy, and I just couldn't make myself walk in the rain. That brings me to a total of 33 miles in October, and 396 miles total for 2015. Yay!

My goal for November--taking into consideration that it's weeks 36-39 of my pregnancy, there's Thanksgiving and the weather might just include snow before the end of the month--is one mile a day, five days a week. That's only 20 more miles! I will take December off (hello, baby!) and slowly ease back into walking in January, if the weather allows.

Have you kept your exercise goals for 2015?

Robinson Lake

A few weeks ago on a normal Sunday, a friend we ran into in town told us about a hike he had been on the day before. It was a beautiful day and we had nothing on the agenda, so we went looking for this hiking trail!

We drove north on Hwy 95 from Bonners Ferry. The drive itself is so beautiful! This section of 95 is part of the Wild Horse Trail Scenic Byway and the International Selkirk Loop. After about 25 miles, we came to Robinson Lake and Campground. It looked promising, so we parked and started walking around.

We found a trail in the forest and followed it as it meandered by Gillon Creek.

We walked about a mile and a half before finding a quiet spot and letting the boys do what boys will do around creeks.

There was lots of rock throwing and leaf-boat races. Jonathan helped guide the boats through a rocky spot as they kept getting stuck. I'm truly surprised he didn't get wet!

This guy and I enjoyed hanging out, watching our kids, and looking at this:

At times like these, we're so so glad we moved here!

We followed another trail back to the campground. When the boys saw a fallen log over the creek that made a perfect bridge, they all had to try it. I don't want to admit how nervous I was for them! They all did great! No one fell or freaked out. Josiah got a little help from his daddy, but I couldn't even watch! #boymom

After that nerve-wracking experience (honestly, I was the only one with a case of nerves!), we headed back to the lake to do some faux fishing and more leaf-boats. Actually, Jared carried a huge chunk of bark through half of the hike and we found pinecones and rocks to be passengers.

I was happy to have a bench to sit on and this beautiful view!

I think Robinson Lake Campground is next on our list of places to camp. But this very pregnant lady isn't camping anywhere for awhile!

After we left Robinson Lake, we drove the remaining 5 miles or so up to the Canadian Border. You know, just to say we'd been there. We currently don't have passports so we can't venture across the border, but we'd like to one day!

Hope you enjoyed this outing with us!

Life Lately {November}

As usual, it's several weeks overdue, but here's a little glimpse of our life in November!

FALL. Fall colors and my sweet boys. Each of them gets to add and a half to his age in November. #kindofabigdeal

LIFE. 1. Jared moved out. 2. Look out, world! Jared's reading! 3. Jonathan read a whole book today! 4. Cooler temps mean I can wear my jean jacket which has exploded my wardrobe options! 5. My engineers built this shuttle complete with launch pad. 6. "I just farted in my mouth."

LEARNING. Some days you just need to get out of the house and do something different! Part of the joys of homeschool.

THANKSGIVING. 1. I'm proud of my son's willingness to serve. This is a fellowship meal on Thanksgiving that my in-laws host for the rehab center in town. 2. Officially a big boy now! 3. Getting into the Christmas spirit with Aunt Gloria, kind of. 4. Life is better with this little guy around! 4. Helping Grandma. 5. Jared wants to tell you all about his delivery truck.

We weren't planning to go to Grandma & Grandpa's house at Thanksgiving, but thought we should make the trip to see Gary's dad before Christmas. I'm so glad we did! The boys and I ended up staying after Thanksgiving while Gary went back to Lincoln for work and school. My father-in-law passed away just two weeks later. That's why the "sort of" with the Christmas spirit, and that's why were still in Missouri as of this publishing date. 

Thanks everyone for your kind comments regarding our loss. It's an especially difficult time of year to lose a member of our family. Grandpa will always be missed. 

Five Whole Foods Suppers

This whole foods thing is pretty cool. Since I last mentioned it, I've been pretty good about avoiding gluten and dairy, I've mostly not eaten eggs, and I completely haven't eaten corn, soy or peanuts. Sugar, on the other hand, is much harder to avoid, but I've done a lot better than I thought I would.

I actually did eat some gluten over the weekend, and you know what? By Sunday I felt terrible! I was so groggy and sleepy with a constant little headache. Weird, but I've read that can be what it's like for your body when you do eat gluten after avoiding it for awhile. It's back out of my diet and next time I'll remember the brain fog before choosing to eat a regular sandwich again!

I've been keeping tabs on which meals we really like and feel good after enjoying. Also which ones are easy, our kids like, and there might be leftovers for lunch the next day.

These Sesame Noodles with Wilted Garden Greens by Bev Cooks were surprisingly good! I didn't even have all of the ingredients, but I did have fresh Swiss chard from a neighbor and we enjoyed this recipe a lot! We used gluten-free noodles and will be making this again.

I found this recipe for Cauliflower Coconut Masala on the Roasted Root but it was actually created by Coffee & Quinoa, just so you know. It was easy and delicious! Our whole family loves Indian food, so it's nice to get it at home when you know exactly what goes into it and it costs a lot less.

I knew we liked cauliflower alfredo, but I wanted a vegan version as I'm avoiding dairy right now. Again, I didn't have all of the ingredients, but this Creamy Cauliflower Alfredo from Evolve Vegan was so very good! I left out the roasted onion and garlic as well as the rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes and just used some onion and garlic powder. This recipe is a keeper! I have to admit, I liked it better than the cauliflower alfredo with dairy milk and parmesan! Weird! We used half zucchini noodles and half gluten-free spaghetti.

This Burrito Bowl from A House in the Hills looks absolutely amazing. Ours were much more humble but even then, this is one of my all-time favorite foods. We used jasmine rice, black beans, salsa, non-dairy ranch dressing and a handful of corn chips on top for the boys. Yum!

We love lentils and tomato bruschetta, but until recently we'd never put them together. Again, the link to the Lentil Bruschetta Salad is what I based the recipe on, but mine was different. I made regular tomato bruschetta--roma tomatoes, minced garlic, basil and parsley (fresh is better but dried works), a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar and a shake of salt. Then I added a couple scoops of fresh cooked lentils and served it over--of all things--a baked potato. So good! In fact, we're having this for supper tonight.

Martha Stewart's team of elves usually gets things right, but sometimes they forget the humble home-maker doesn't have a team of elves to keep up with the kids and laundry and everything while she cooks all day. But this Roasted Pumpkin Soup recipe is seriously easy! It has only 7 ingredients including the pumpkin, salt and broth! And it's vegan! The hardest part is cutting up and roasting the pumpkin. Not that I've tried it, but we have a pumpkin who's days are numbered! I'll let you know how it goes.

So, now you know more of what we're eating. Have you found any great recipes lately?

Fall Finale

It's still November, but Nebraska has snow on the ground. Not much, but it's there.

We've had a beautiful, mostly warm fall that has been so pretty!

Until the cold weather rolled in on Monday afternoon, we were enjoying being outdoors with just a light jacket, if any! I caught these pictures of my boys on Sunday when it was 60.

I hope you're warmer, wherever you are!

Ellie's Closet {Fall 1}

I sprung the news last week that I was going to start a series called Ellie's Closet. I'm taking a basic wardrobe that I created on Polyvore and mixing and matching the wardrobe into several week's worth of outfits. I'm trying not to repeat any outfits, but if you catch one, don't fire me! Please also remember that this is for fun. I'm not trying to make any fashion statements, just trying to inspire myself to mix and match my own wardrobe to keep my outfits more interesting. And to inspire myself to wear something other than yoga pants and a sweatshirt.

So, here's week 1!

Ellie is not me. I don't dress that nice all the time, and she's thinner than I am. She was also really insightful about building her wardrobe to include so many mix-and-match basics. While some of her outfits are super cute, they wouldn't be as practical for a stay-at-home-schooling mommy of little boys. White pants? Love the look but they wouldn't stay clean until breakfast time! Booties? Cute! But would I wear them if I had them? Not on most week days.

Having said that, we can use Ellie as an example to bump up our daily selections. For instance, I started wearing a lot of skirts this summer. I love the look and found them so simple and comfortable! I also LOVE scarves and usually throw one on.

Ok, looking forward to sharing the next set next week!