Lauren's Birthday Party

We had a simple party at home this year, and it was great!  

A little craft to keep the kids busy when they first arrived:

After they played for a bit we did cake.  The chocolate-chocolate cake from CostCo... heaven!

And plenty of presents! Here was her happy-face just for Daddy because Grandma Nel bought her an arrow sling for her archery.

Then, a water balloon fight!

Please take note of Paige's expression in the picture below.

Justin had dumped the bucket of water on the crowd of kids, but Paige and Jaelyn got the brunt of it.  Paige was big-time-massive-meltdown upset because her new dress was wet.

Apparently no one explained the concept of a water-balloon fight thoroughly enough.

Oops.

Here's Lauren air-drying herself.

And Jaelyn drying herself off on the warm playhouse window.  ;)

For the record, this is what Lauren thinks I want when I say I'd like a picture of her on her big day.

And this is what I really want!  Love that goofy girl!

Lake Havasu - Part II

I didn't take any pictures the second day we were there, but the third day - once Justin was done with his class for the morning, we went and checked out the London Bridge area.  We wanted to let the girls run around and burn off some energy before we sat them in the car for three hours!

The bridge was interesting, the founder of Lake Havasu bought the exterior of the old London Bridge, shipped it here and rebuilt it.  Crazy! 

Justin was in charge of chasing Jaelyn around while I was taking pictures.  This was no easy task around the water - she is a runner!

And this is her beautiful smile every time she notices the camera pointed at her.  She must know how much Mommy loves cheese faces!  Awesome.

The big girls climbed up this huge grassy hill area, and were so proud of themselves!  Then Paige rolled down, twice.  Lauren joined her for the lower half of the hill the second time around.  An adventurous spirit, she is not.  =) 

A sister picture again!

My real motivation for lining them up right here was to get a picture of all their little skinned up knees in a row.  You can't really see Jaelyn's... but they were there.  It just makes me chuckle because I can remember constantly having scrapes and bruises on my knees.  Sad that my klutziness got passed to the next generation! 

And look, I was actually there!  LOL!  Next time I need to have Justin take a picture of me with the girls at the beginning, when they are not tired of having their picture taken yet!  

It was a great trip and I am so glad we all decided to go!  I love exploring new places!

Havasu - Part One

I just realized it has been almost three weeks since I posted, and when I went to get birthday pictures of Lauren ready, I also realized I never got pictures of our trip to Lake Havasu posted!  So, we have to those first!  

We had never been there before, and were thrilled to find there was a little beach at our hotel!  So we ran to the dollar store and got some buckets and shovels for endless fun!  

The ducks and bunnies were rampant at the hotel, and would get really close to us hoping for some food!

Which thrilled all my children to no end!

The girls thought this was the best place ever!  Playing at a "beach" two or three times a day = Beeler girl heaven!!!

One more Havasu post on its way!

Beeler family spring get-together

Every year the Beelers get together around Easter for a potluck and catching up.  Janel and Steve are always generous hosts, and everyone has a great time!  The kids do an egg hunt and swing at a pinata.  I love that the cousins are getting big enough to really play together now!  

Food changes

In the past year we have changed a lot of our eating habits.  While researching what to do about Jaelyn's dairy intolerance, I have learned so much about the quality of what we consume.  And now, I can not un-learn it.  So we make changes.  We still have plenty of distance to go, but I am proud of what we have accomplished so far, and I wanted to share with you that it is do-able!

1. We have switched to nearly all organic produce.  Occasionally we will get conventional citrus or bananas, but that's about it. For those of you who think that is a waste of money, or that it is silly because you grew up on conventional produce... read this.  What you ate twenty years ago is NOT what you are eating now.
2. We try to eat only grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken and eggs, and wild-caught fish (that have been tested for mercury levels).
3. We avoid GMO's, soy anything, and chemicals.
4. We drink water, organic coffee, and tea.  That's all. 
5. We stopped eating 90% of any processed foods. We still occasionally eat crackers or tortillas chips, but I buy the kind with less than ten ingredients (of which I know what they all are, and they have no big offenders!).
6. We starting seeing sugar and starch as what builds fat, not edible fat. 
7. Greatly reduced the number of times we eat out.  When we do, we try to support restaurants that make healthy food choices (my personal favorite CHAIN: Chipotle. And no, McDonald's does not have any investment in them anymore!).
8. We started seeing our plate as 50% plant food (or more), 25% healthy protein, 25% "starch" (preferably whole grain).
9. We started vegan Thursdays, most weeks we don't eat any animal products on one day out of the week.  Justin will be on this week, but not the rest of us.
10. We have learned to love vegetable juices (this was huge for me, I am rather picky), and my current goal is to make sure we have two a week.
11. We've switched all our oils over to three - coconut, olive, and butter.

And I have many, many goals left:

1. Get a reverse-osmosis system for drinking water (and liquid minerals to add to that drinking water since it will be stripped).
2. Find a new produce co-op since mine shut down.  :(
3. Reduce amount/frequency that we eat wheat and other grains.  And sugars.  Always reducing sugars!
4. Veggie juices at least twice a week.  I need to get in a better habit of when I make them.
5. Only consume raw dairy products.
6. Learn to make water-kefir and drink bi-weekly.
7. Buy locally-grown produce that is in season.
8. Stop eating processed meats (lunch meats and bacon).
9. Find a local source for healthy free-range pork products.
10. And on a personal level -- figure out how to work regular exercise into my crazy days.

I am sure there are more that I am not listing, and this is just about food!  There is a loooooong list of product changes I want to make in our home.  But, it is working.  Our kids have a better attitude toward food - they crave healthy things, and though they still want their sweet treat after dinner - sometimes they are okay with fruit, or two small pieces of REAL licorice. We are getting there, and we really feel better!  The other nice thing is knowing that we are voting with our dollars, telling the big corporations that we no longer want their chemical-laden products and that it is time for a change!

And we are feeling pretty good about that!

A Little Life

Easter 2012

This Easter felt a little crazy to me, I was at the hospital photographing a birth until 4am, so I was a bit of a zombie.  But Easter is my favorite holiday, so I was determined to do the best I could.  We were up and out the door on time for church, which in and of itself is a miracle in this household!

Paige seemed a little tired, too.  Maybe I woke her up coming in at 4am.

It just isn't a holiday without a picture of the bigger girls trying to choke their littlest sister.  =)

In the evening, we had our annual egg hunt with the Swope family!

Hope you had a wonderful Easter as well!