A List Of My Favorite Fitness Things.

When I began this fitness journey 11 weeks ago, I knew I wanted to get in the best shape that I could. That was my goal. Along the way, I've learned so much. I learned that I am stronger than I thought I was and that I can lift pretty heavy weights without being too bulky. I learned that I don't need as much cardio as I thought I did. I also learned what to eat and that I didn't eat enough.

Rewind a few years ago...I was SO skinny. After I had Scarlett it was hard for me to gain weight and I just ate whatever I wanted because I figured I needed to gain the weight. Turns out there is a lot more to it. I have learned that I need more protein to gain muscle and that I was lacking magnesium and good clean foods. I was a bit of a chocolate lover. Funny thing, now that I don't eat junk, I don't crave it one bit. I never thought I'd hear the day that I would say I don't crave chocolate! I mean, I do still eat it now and again as a treat, but I choose a good quality dark chocolate instead of Mallowmars....
So as I've continued along this journey, and no I am not close to finished, I take with me all of the things that I've learned and the things that I've found that I love. I've compiled a list of my favorites for you. 

 Favorite Protein Powders:
My ultimate first pick is: SunWarrior Chocolate Plant Based Protein

Next choice is Garden of Life Raw Organic Protein

My favorite Protein Bars:
I love  GoMacro bars! I've been eating them for awhile now. They have the best flavors and I was lucky enough to participate in their fuel your fitness campaign!! My favorites are: Protein Pleasure, Everlasting Joy and Protein Replenishment. Check them out HERE.

My Favorite Workouts:

I am obsessed with BikiniBodyBurn right now. Loving the way I have transformed week by week and gotten stronger. Often I don't feel as though I'm working every body part but core exercises are miracles. 

And if I'm stuck or have questions or just need some help, my go to guy is one of my good friends, Fitregimen.  (unfortunately in Austin TX now) but he knows his stuff and always has my back if I need some tips. He can move to New York any day now!

If I could tell you my favorite specific exercises, I would say that they are squats with heavy weights, squat jumps (although they used to by my nemesis, I love them now), hip thrusts and all ab exercises. 

My Favorite Protein Packed Snacks:
Peanut butter, banana, almond milk Smoothie with a scoop of protein.

Cottage cheese

Avocado Toast with Eggs, Spinach and Tomatoes

Apples with peanut butter

Yogurt 

Iced Coffee Protein Shake 

When I'm Craving Something Sweet, I make these:

Peanut Butter Cup Protein Brownies 

Promise to share more soon...

Father's Day Weekend & A Garden.

So you will notice my blog has some crazy notices all over the sides....PhotoBucket decided to change their policies and I will no longer be using them as my photo host. I'm currently creating a new blog facelift anyhow so please excuse the construction. :) Anyhow...this post has been sitting in my queue so here ya go!

I've been wanting to build a garden for awhile now. But it seems that there is never really enough time to take care of it in our household. Or that's the excuse I always give.  Maxwell is finally to an age where he can help and be involved with the garden and so we decided it was time to try a small garden. We opted to build a raised bed with a few.....er a lot of plants in it. The day before Father's Day, Ty bought some wood at the hardware store and then put together a new bed for Scarlett's beloved little sprouts. We went to the local greenhouse and put Scarlett in charge of picking out what we would plant. She chose everything from tomatoes to watermelon and corn. lol We obviously didn't plant ALL of those in there but if you see a watermelon or a few husks of corn growing in our side yard, you will all know why ;)

Maxwell was more interested in the building of the garden bed. He helped Ty with that. Scarlett ran to play with the neighbor until that was done and then came back to gently plant and kiss....yes she kissed each plant. She is one of a kind I tell ya! After all of our little sprouts were planted, we watered them and Scarlett sang them a song or two that she learned in school. I caught the most darling song that she sang to them while patting the soil. If you caught it on Instagram Stories, you know what I'm talking about. @itslaurenrebecca

"If ya got the sun and if you got the rain, and you plant a little seed in the ole' back lane, and you wish and you hope and keep the weeds down, you may find OH, you may find a root growing out from the seed in the ground....." 

I died when I heard this one because it really was the sweetest thing ever. Now we are maintaining them and watering them and hoping to see some tiny veggies grow soon. The tomatoes are already giving us hope. It's really more about the experience for us at this point. Maybe someday we will get out there and do an actual large garden, but for now, the raised bed in our patio area is just right. 

On Sunday, I took Ty and his father to the winery here in Saratoga. They have an outdoor area that does not disappoint. There is a large grassy area for the kids to run around and play. They serve wood-fired pizza and the wine isn't too bad either ;) We enjoyed wine/beer samples and delicious apps & pizza. It was a cheat day for me, for sure. Live music played and the kids danced while we sat in that glorious old sun. A good day indeed. I started a blog post to the kids that evening. It was a letter really. I wanted to write to Maxwell and Scarlett and tell them how lucky they are to have such wonderful men in their life. There father and both grandfathers are wonderful, loving people. I never finished the post because....you know, it was midnight and I had to be up to get 2 kids off to school/daycare and work. But I have every intention of finishing it and posting soon. The only thing missing from this great weekend was seeing my dad. I hope to see him this summer to make up for missing him on Father's Day. I hope that all of you dads, fathers and papas out there had a good weekend.

4th of July 2017.

As you all probably know, the 4th of July is my favorite holiday ever. I mean, birthdays are a huge deal and America's?! It doesn't get any bigger. I'm pretty sure I inform people of that every year. ;) This year, was no exception. It was just as awesome as I expected it to be regardless of it landing on a Tuesday. And I always go through my 10,837 photos after it's over and think, I didn't take enough pictures....this is the truth. I'm not kidding. Ha ha.

We had a cookout at our house on Sunday. The weather was perfection and the drinks were flowing! The kids had a grand old time playing and splashing in the pool while the adults relaxed. Now, rewind to last week, we weren't sure if we were even going to have a get together since the storms that came through had destroyed our outdoor patio section! Literally. We came home to chairs at the bottom of the pool, a metal umbrella snapped in half, glass shattered all over the patio and IN the POOL! (Ugh) Even my palms were tossed about the yard like rag dolls. I thought, great! How on earth are we going to get the glass out of the pool!?! To my surprise, there are actual divers that do just this for a living! Yeah....pretty cool. So he came and spent a couple hours in the pool and saved the cookout. Ty helped clean up the rest of the patio and we concluded it was microbursts or something that had done the dirty work since the rest of our yard was untouched.

So Sunday was a great time with good food and awesome friends. Of course Ty and I had to work on Monday but I got out early to do some relaxing in the pool by myself. Which may I inform you, was glorious. Then Ty met me for a impromptu date....all of but 35 minutes and a quick couple drinks at a new little place in downtown called the Sinclair.  We take what we can. Then we picked up Maxwell for a haircut. It was time getting really long and crazy in the summer heat. He normally HATES getting his hair cut. We used to have the "Hair Fairy" come to our house to cut his hair but after holding him down one too many times and watching him scream bloody murder, we decided to try a different approach. We took him to a little shop outside of town where "Vinny" propped him up on the chair by himself, gave him a  lolli-pop and went to town cutting his hair. It was a miracle! No crying or even a whimper. Vinny said, "He just wanted to hang with the big boys, not the hair fairy!" Ha. So that may have been the truth.

Anyhow, we packed up the kids and went to Ty's father's house on the lake to eat Smore's and watch fireworks. Granted, the view from his house would have been perfect, we decided to go out on the dock and watch them on the water. This was the first year that Maxwell really appreciated them. His little "Wows!!" made me smile. After, we had some drinks by the fire and then headed home to get some sleep. When we woke up on the actual 4th of July, we ate breakfast with the windows open and relaxed a little before heading downtown to watch the Patriotic Parade. Scarlett's favorite part was the "Patriotic Pooches" all dressed up in their red, white and blue. We walked Congress Park and ate Smoothie Bowls, pet doggies and found baby ducklings. It was all about the kids. They really enjoyed the day and that alone made MY day. Then we packed up the car yet again and headed north to my sister's house for another cookout. I was planning on laying low and not drinking for the evening since I had consume more than my share over the weekend.....but! My sister made the most amazing Margarita's that I think I've ever drank! So I had one....or two. Ok 3. 

And we laughed and swam and had a great time. We even took a walk around their neighborhood before packing up the car to head back for Saratoga's Party in the Park and Fireworks. On the way home, around 5:30, the kids fell asleep and wouldn't wake up for anything. We laid them in Maxwell's room together and there they laid until the next morning when I had to wake them both up. Ha!! They were pooped. So we didn't even see fireworks on the 4th. But I can assure you that they had a blast of a long weekend. I hope you all had a great 4th!! 

Maxwell Turns 2: Trucks & Diggers

Maxwell turned 2 on June 9th and we celebrated with a small party at our house. Trucks and "diggers" was the theme. Two of Maxwell's favorite things. It was a low key celebration but I found that it was a lot more enjoyable. I got to watch Maxwell smile and open his gifts instead of running around making sure everything was running smoothly. We even got the event catered so we didn't have to cook. Maxwell got one gift from Ty and I. This GMC Truck. We tried to find a matching Ram Truck like Daddy's but we couldn't find one and so the GMC it is. Scarlett got Maxwell a little green big boy bike. 

I can't believe how big this little guy is getting!! We upgraded his crib to a big boy bed and this time, we were smart and went right for the full size, skipping the twin. You live and learn right? 

I am putting together his big boy room and I will post that on the blog soon. We are so very grateful for 2 years with this little Bubs. Here's to watching him grow many more!