Vegan

A few days ago Aaron and I watched this documentary.
I kind of wish I had never seen it. 

Then I could go on eating my beloved bacon and macaroni and cheese in peace. 

But when some one tells you that you might have cancer 

and you hear some pretty convincing research that links certain foods to cancer

you think twice about eating them. 

So the hubby and I are thinking of becoming vegans. 

Wow...it was hard to even write that. 

I think I might be the most reluctant vegan ever. 

I'm pretty sure I could give up meat and not miss it (except bacon. I'll definitely miss that)

but Cheese is a whole nother story. 

And ice cream. 

And especially Yogurtland (actually I'm pretty sure I'll cheat for Yogurtland. Maybe like once a week). 

Tonight I made my first vegan meal (thanks to this recipe from the Pioneer Woman). 

And it was delicious. 

At least Aaron and I thought so. 

The kids were another story (even the baby wouldn't eat it!). 

But the kids did LOVE the vanilla almond milk I bought today. 

Anyways, I was hoping you guys might be able to help me out and give me some yummy (not totally weird) vegan recipes. Pretty please. I have no idea what I'm doing here! 

Friday Randoms

Happy Friday!

Here's a peek at our week through the camera lens of my trusty iPhone. 

Enjoy!

Wesley's always the first one up in this house. 

This day he decided to give Madelyn a personal wake up call.

I finally found some foam dough at a garage sale of all places. 

It is officially the coolest stuff ever. 

Soooooo much better than play dough. 

So much. 

We hung out with some good friends and Mackenzie and their daughter decided to put on a little concert for us.

Wesley went for a ride in a police car. 

I told him they were going to take him to jail and it totally freaked him out.

Which was kind of my whole intention. 

Did I tell you that he pulled the fire alarm at our church a couple weekends ago. 

Oh yeah. 

Lights and sirens went off, people had to evacuate the building, the fire truck had to come...the whole shabang. 

She's getting to be so big! 

Her first time riding the merry go round all by herself.

my pretty little girl 

look at that strawberry in our garden!

:)

look at those cute little teeth 

Just another reason I love Pinterest. 

Cool coloring sheets found here (via Pinterest). 

I made some fried chicken

super healthy of course :)

We got the NEW Jana Alayra DVD in the mail. 

And guess who is in it?

She was so excited to see herself and so many of her friends in it. 

So cool!

I was the helper for Mackenzie's preschool class this week. 

We worked on the letter "V" this week so we made paper bag vests and a volcano that erupted (have you ever done that with baking soda and vinegar...super fun!)

Potty training has been going!

We got some new pillows (from Target) to spice up the living room. 

And we had a family movie night.

Hope you had a great week! 

Big Boy Undies

Guess what we have been doing lately?!

Possibly my least favorite part of parenting...

Potty training!

I may be in the minority here 

but I think diapers are way easier. 

Gross yes, but definitely easier.

Especially when you have more than one kid.

I have nightmares of being stuck at Target with a cart full of stuff when one of them has to go to the bathroom. 

Trying to figure out how to hold the baby and help my toddler go potty all while trying to avoid every germ imaginable. 

Scary!

And to top it all off 

I always hear people say that potty training boys is harder than girls 

(and Mackenzie was a stubborn little thing when it came to potty training)

so I was NOT looking forward to this new adventure. 

But the boy has been ready for a long time 

so I finally decided to put on my big girl panties and just do it. 

And it has been sooooo easy! 

This obscene amount of candy he has been eating may or may not have something to do with his success

but whatever. 

He's doing it! 

My little man's growing up! 

Sniff.

But yay for not having to buy as many diapers. 

Blah, Blah, Blah

Hey friends!

I have nothing good to write about today. 

Well I'm sure I do 

I just can't think of it right now. 

BUT I have read several awesome blog posts lately. 

So I'll point you to those instead. 

HERE, HERE and HERE

Enjoy!

Friday Randoms

Here's a peek at our week through the lens of my camera phone.

Enjoy!

My baby checking out our friends baby chicks. 

My last meal before the colonoscopy prep and 2 whole days without solid food. 

I love me some Pei Wei. 

Most of our park days are usually spent on the swings. 

This is for my husband who is currently rocking a very manly beard. 

Good thing he's so cute,

because lately he has been doing a lot of this. 

He thinks being 2 is pretty rough (and so he pretends he is 4...just ask him how old he is).

boys will be boys 

Kenzie working on some play dough creations. 

Some one's turning one!

The hubby went to an Angel's game without me (meanie)

so me and the kids at away our sadness with lots of Yogurtland. 

Coffee and I were reunited after a long week apart! 

Yippee!!

I got some new shades 

(H&M in case you are wondering)

Ugg she's so cute! 

Siblings :)

Maddie is getting way too close to walking!

I want to keep her little forever. 

Homemade Hummingbird Food

We like hummingbirds but I'm not so sure they like us.

So to lure them into our new backyard we decided to make them some irresistible, homemade food.

Luckily making your own hummingbird food is a cinch.

All you need is some sugar and water.
1 part sugar to 4 parts water to be exact.
We used 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 cups of water.

Just boil the water, add the sugar (stir until dissolved), boil for 2 minutes and let cool before adding to your hummingbird feeder.
Easy peasy.

Hummingbird food always tastes better when 2 cute kids help you make it. 

Hopefully we will have some new little friends fluttering around our backyard soon! 

I'm glad that's over!

Today was quite the day! 

It started off this morning when I found out that there was a communication mishap (between the surgery center and my doctor's office) and I wasn't on the schedule for any procedures today! 

Yeah I was freaking out when I heard that too. 

The thought of having to drink that awful stuff again was enough to make me want to throw up. 

Thankfully they were able to squeeze me in a little later today at a different surgery center 

otherwise I was getting ready to protest outside the doctors office.  

Once I was at the surgery center they had a really hard time starting an IV on me. 

After 5 tries they f.i.n.a.l.l.y. got it!

Of course that's when Aaron decided to take this picture of me. 

I was trying to look happy even though my arms/hands were killing me from all those pokes jabs. 

Then I had the procedure done. 

Apparently I have a super duper high tolerance to anesthesia because they gave me triple the normal dose of meds and was I was still awake and talking to them. 

I kept saying, "Can you give me a little more. Aren't I supposed to be out. Is it not working?"

Totally crazy. 

Results....

So the good news is they didn't find any tumors (at least in my colon, appendix, colon or large intestine)!! 

But they did find some other abnormal things and they took a bunch of biopsies of different things (don't ask me what it all was because I can not even tell you).

They also still want me to get a specialized (crazy!) Octreotide scan and to do some other procedures so they can check out my pancreas, small intestine, lungs, liver, etc. for tumors.

But in the meantime we are praising God for the little victories and good news! 

He is so good! 

Thanks for the support and love and prayers! 

Gettin' ready for tomorrow

Tomorrow's the big day for stage one of the tumor hunt. 

I have my endoscopy and colonoscopy at 12:00 tomorrow which means I got to spend all day today prepping for it.

Lucky me!  

The kids were so jealous that I got to eat Jello for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

If you've had a colonoscopy before
 you know how much fun the next part is.

You have to drink four liters of the grossest tasting liquid possible that makes you poop more than you ever have in your entire life. 

I tried to add some Crystal Light to the mix and drinking from a straw to help it go down a little easier but it didn't help! 

I'm supposed to have the whole bottle down by bedtime tonight but it's not looking good. 

I have 1/4 of the bottle left and my throat will not let any more of that stuff go down. literally. 

Anyways, I let you know how the procedure went later tomorrow. 

Wish me luck and pray for me! 

5 Generations

My kids have a great great grandma!

How cool is that?!

My husband's Grandma, Papa, and Great Grandma just moved back to Cali!

We are so happy to be within a couple hours of them again. 

5 generations.

crazy.

Madelyn loved hanging out with her Nonna and great grandma.

And Wesley loved checking out his Papa's vintage cars.

Oh and the kids were SO excited to see our dog Cali again!

We gave her to Aaron's grandparents when we moved.

And as much as I miss her I don't miss having a dog 

if you know what I mean.

Don't judge. 

We also got to have breakfast at Zacatecas our favorite hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in Riverside. 

Mmmmm.

Hope you guys had a great weekend!