Oatmeal Man

Grayson just announced that he is Oatmeal Man.  I am assuming this is some sort of superhero.  I asked him what Oatmeal Man's job is and he replied, "To pick up boots."  Hmmmm.  I also heard him explain to his older brother that Oatmeal Man can run super fast.  I love this kid's imagination. 

23 of 30 Things

Top 5 Hobbies

I don't know that I even have hobbies.  I am very busy with my time, but it seems most of that is doing things for other people.  So, I'm going to list a few actual things I spend free time on and a few others I'd hope to one day spend free time on.

Reading--This is something I always do no matter what.  I am always reading a book.  It is the only regularly scheduled thing I do for myself.  My absolute favorite thing about living in Orlando is that the public library delivers books to my house!  It's awesome.

Crafting--Not often, but I do get my craft on.  I am not that awesome, but I do enjoy being crafty.  I try hard to make birthday gifts for friends.  Last year I made kitchen towels.  This year I made magnets and bookmarks.  Nothing awesome, but something to show how much I appreciate my girls.  I dabble in crochet and might even make a Halloween costume this year.

Blogging--My blog is a hobby.  It is definitely something I do to keep track of family history and journal.  I truly enjoy blogging even thought I know my content and writing style are often lacking.  I just blog about what I want to blog about, because lucky for me, I live in America.

Yoga/Pilates/Jogging--I love all three of these things and sometimes make time for them in my busy life.  I really want to be more consistent because it is such a release for me and helps me focus and just feel strong.  I'd really like to actually take a Yoga or Pilates class.  Maybe one day.

Traveling--One day I want to travel.  I want to go and see exciting places and things.  This is an expensive hobby so not sure when it'll start happening.  If I could take at least one week long trip a year that would be awesome.

Real Food-Not Just for Hipsters

Real Food--Not Just for Hipsters

by Stacey Gillespie

 

I wanted to take a few minutes of time to talk about why my family is on an organic real food diet.  This is an issue that I am passionate about and if my words can inspire even one person to make one small change then I will be happy.  A few disclaimers: 1) our switch to real foods did not happen overnight.  Making all of these changes in one day or week would have been far too overwhelming.  However, we switched to organic dairy, produce, and meat in 2010 after I saw the documentary Food, Inc. so that part was already an aspect of my family’s diet. 2) I like to think I can hold my own in the kitchen.  It wasn’t always this way.  My husband used to do all the cooking in our house.  Again, this changed in 2010 when I stepped down from my position at work and cut my hours to two days per week so that I could stay home most days with our two kids.  Part of the deal was that I would learn how to cook. Turns out, I’m pretty good at it.  So the aspect of “home-cooked” meals wasn’t too daunting for me.  And lastly, 3) Eating a real food diet isn’t always easy, especially for me.  See, I don’t particularly like fruit.  Or yogurt.  And I really, really love soda.  So yes, sometimes it does feel like a sacrifice – I want to eat those Oreos as much as my kids do.  Now then, on to WHY we eat an organic real foods diet:

Here are the top reasons why we started eating a (mostly) real foods diet.  I say mostly because, as with all things, it’s good to break the rules every now and then.  Also, there are certain aspects of a strict real foods diet that we don’t follow on a regular basis (I’ll explain that later):

·         The Western diet actually makes us sicker – Journalist Michael Pollan has written extensively on the food industry and its effect on the health of Americans.  According to his research, four of the top ten chronic diseases (coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer) “can be traced directly to the industrialization of our food.”   The so-called Western diet is usually defined as one that consists of a lot of processed foods and meat, added sugar and fat, and a lot of refined grains.  Basically, a diet that isn’t centered on fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

·         Highly processed foods are an illusion – Those boxes and bags of convenient food items always contain added sugars and artificial ingredients and preservatives, most of which the average person doesn’t use in their home cooking and which are almost impossible to pronounce.  Some of the worst offenders that I’ve found are carageenan (a known carcinogen, which is a substance that causes cancer), natural flavors (these things actually trick our taste buds into thinking that we LIKE the food and that we need to eat MORE of it.  There isn’t anything natural about “natural flavors” – they are created in labs and are allowed to contain excitotoxins which can be linked to cell damage and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s), and caramel coloring (another carcinogen that is actually on California’s list of carcinogens that require warning labels.  This is not caramel.  It is created by heating ammonia and sulfites under high pressure which creates carcinogenic compounds).  I was very surprised just how often I could find these types of ingredients in the foods I had in my pantry/fridge.  Even the organic snack foods have these artificial ingredients listed (I’m looking at you, cheddar bunnies!)

·         Low-fat and non-fat dairy products aren’t better for us –  I haven’t seen it explained better than this:

“To make dairy products low fat, it’s not enough to remove the fat. You then have to go to great lengths to preserve the body or creamy texture by working in all kinds of food additives. In the case of low-fat or skim milk, that usually means adding powdered milk. But powdered milk contains oxidized cholesterol, which scientists believe is much worse for your arteries than ordinary cholesterol, so food makers sometimes compensate by adding antioxidants, further complicating what had been a simple one-ingredient whole food. Also, removing the fat makes it that much harder for your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins that are one of the reasons to drink milk in the first place.” – Michael Pollan

·         Genetically modified organisms – GMOs are plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of biotechnology.  This experimental technology merges DNA from different species, creating genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.  Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide.  Despite the biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.  Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe.  In nearly 50 countries around the world (including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union), there are restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs.  A recent French study concluded that rats that were fed a diet of GMOs over a lifetime developed tumors and died prematurely due to organ damage.  In the United States, the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale.  So really, the only way to avoid GMOs is to buy organic versions of the most common sources of GMOs.  The USDA does prohibit the use of GMOs in organic products.  Almost 80% of processed foods in the U.S. contain GMOs.  The products in which you’ll find the most GMOs are conventionally grown corn (88% of U.S. crops), canola (90%), soy (94%), and sugar beets (95%).

·         High levels of pesticides in conventional farming – The Environmental Working Group has a list called The Dirty Dozen that tells us which produce contains the largest amounts of pesticides, based on their own studies.  The organic standards regulate how much pesticide can be used on crops, so purchasing organic produce means we’re ingesting less pesticides (even after washing, pesticides stay on the skins of most fruits and vegetables).

·         Buying out of season, non-local produce means it’s traveling too far and being ripened in transit – buying in-season produce from local farmers (whether through a market, co-op, CSA, etc) means we are supporting our local economy and our fruits and veggies are fresh.  Also, USDA certified organic produce that you’ll find in a supermarket is grossly overpriced.  If you talk to the farmers at farmers markets and elsewhere, you’ll find that most of them do practice organic farming, but the cost of actually getting certified by the USDA is simply beyond their means.  So you can buy locally, get cheaper “organic” produce, and support the small farmer community.  Everybody wins.

·         Conventional beef, poultry, and pork products have become “big business” – the images shown in Food, Inc are startling and shameful.  The facts are that these factories are pumping out products that don’t even remotely resemble real meat and they treat the animals in a seriously inhumane way.  It has been scientifically proven that happy, healthy animals produce better, healthier products.  “You are what you eat eats, too.”  Did you know that farmers/producers have started feeding CANDY to their livestock?  CANDY.  Check it out: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/22/business/la-fi-cow-candy-20120823.  The best way to ensure that we are eating good meat is to buy grass-fed beef and free range or cage free chicken and eggs.

·         Homemade and real foods taste BETTER – If I had known how ridiculously easy it is to make our own ice cream I would’ve started doing it years ago.  I recently checked the list of ingredients on a carton of low-fat frozen yogurt . . . sure enough there were carageenan and natural flavors listed.  But I can make my own ice cream using organic ingredients (whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, and egg yolks , plus a vanilla bean or some chocolate depending on the flavor) and it blows away anything you’ll find in a carton.

As I said before, those are the top reasons why we chose to go the organic/real food route.  We don’t avoid all GMO products (it’s nearly impossible to do so).  We still consume refined sugars (in moderate quantities) and we still enjoy the occasional dinner out at a non-real foods restaurant.  We just don’t do it on a daily basis.  I used to let my kids have the occasional meal at Chick-fil-A, but even that has been stopped.  Here’s why (http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/04/25/food-babe-investigates-why-chick-fil-a/).  I switched from sugar to honey to sweeten my coffee.  I’ve found that a lot of the packaged snacks that I used to buy can be made (and taste better) at home.  As we ran out of stocked items such as flour, nuts, and cooking oils I replaced them with whole grain and organic versions.  When we do eat out, we try to support non-chain restaurants that source most of their ingredients from local farms, bakeries, and fishermen.  When I shop, I still buy mostly organic products unless it’s produce that we can peel.  And we’ve started buying our produce from a local company that sources directly from local farmers who do not use GMO seeds and who farm using organic practices.  I’ve found that it really isn’t more expensive because since we’ve stopped spending money on the snack foods, it has balanced out.  We eat applesauce, nuts, popcorn, cheese and whole wheat crackers, homemade granola, smoothies and lots of other delicious organic foods for snacks.  As a result, we actually eat less because real food is more filling and keeps us full for longer periods of time.  We don’t worry about calorie counts or nutritional content.  The whole point of real food is that if you’re eating a variety of these foods every day you don’t have to worry about those things.  My husband has lost a bit of weight and my weight has not changed.  My daughter used to suffer from constipation but now she doesn’t have a problem.

It hasn’t been easy, especially transitioning my kids.  My husband was the easiest, because he’ll try any food once (sometimes twice).  But my kids?  Oh boy.  I spent the first week afraid I was torturing, starving, and depriving them.  All I heard at every meal was, “I don’t LIKE that” and “Noooo!”  So I adapted.  I tried offering some unconventional “lunches” such as smoothies or cheese and crackers.  I let my daughter help me make our own homemade Cheez-Its.  Sloooowly, they’ve started to come around.  Is it smooth sailing?  Not yet.  But my goal is to teach them about the foods we eat.  To show them that we can enjoy our food AND that it can be good for our bodies.  Hopefully this way they will be able to make good choices as they get older and are on their own at meal times.  I won’t keep them away from non-real foods entirely.  I’m sure once they get to school there will be class parties and holiday events were processed foods are all over the place.  But if they are eating 90% real food, then I don’t have to stress about the 10% of processed foods they get elsewhere.

If anything I’ve said has struck your interest, here are some great resources for finding more information:

The blog www.100daysofrealfood.com was invaluable for me when I was transitioning.  The founder, Lisa Leake, is instructional and encouraging – never demanding or judgmental in her tone.

The Food Babe, www.foodbabe.com, has a more aggressive style, but if you want to see some great in-depth investigation into the ingredients in some of the more popular restaurants, then she’s the one to visit.

The Non-GMO Project has all the information you’ll need on GMOs and how to avoid them.  www.nongmoproject.org

If you’re looking for something easy to read with great guidelines, check out Michael Pollan’s book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual or the more extensive In Defense of Food.

Thanks for your time.  My sister is awesome and I’m so lucky that she was willing to let me borrow her soapbox for the day.



Growing Up

My boys keep growing up no matter what I do to stop it.  Here are some recent photos to prove my point.

 

 It seems it is always time for a haircut around here.  Landon looks especially grown up following last week's haircut.  The last of that "baby" hair is gone and it is so sad.

 

 This is the first time ever that Grayson has not cried during a haircut.  I hope it sticks.  Seeing as he's been having regular haircuts since he was 4 months old, it will be a welcome change.

 

 Ethan is so big.  He helped  Jared clean up. 

 

 Landon eating a smoothie like it is ice cream.  He was so messy and cute, I just had to throw this one in here.

 

Ethan doing homework.  Today I was working with him (mostly I'm just moral and reading support) and I teared up thinking about how grown up he is.  I gave him a compliment and he said, "Thank you." He is so sweet to me. 

 

Also, I love how Landon says "butterfly" and chases them all around the backyard.  I love how Grayson gets so excited to go pick up Ethan from school.  And, I love that Ethan is tall enough to get his own water out of our fridge. (It has the freezer on the bottom, so it took awhile.)

22 of 30 Things

The Future

5 years from now, I see myself in a similar state I am now.  Only difference is my children will be older and all of them will be in school!  I don't even want to think about that.  With all that time alone, I think I'll enjoy exercising more frequently and getting my house a little cleaner than it is now.  I hope that Jared is still loving his job and making more moola.  It'd be great to have a house on a quiet Cul-de-sac with enough space for our brood and our workout stuff (if you've been to our house, it is the first thing you see when you come in and it drives me mad).  Maybe I'll work a few more hours, but mostly I want my full-time job to remain "MOM."  I want to provide yummy afternoon snacks and taxi my children to various activities.  I want them to KNOW how much I love them and I want them to be happy.  I hope Jared and I will have either taken or have a concrete plan to take a real vacation to one of our top ten destinations.

10 years from now, I think life will be really different.  For one, I'll have a teenager!  What?!  Maybe we'll be frequenting high school events and I'll be making significant efforts not to embarrass any of my children.  I will be entering my 40's, which may be scarier than having a teenager.  I may even be coloring my hair.  I am so boring, I really hope that we are happy with our lives and that my children have become confident, kind individuals.  I want Jared and I to be happy and enjoying our time together.  Maybe I've even used some of my free time to learn how to play the piano. 

15 years from now, I hope I haven't developed severe anxiety over any poor choices my children may have made or may be making.  I will be dealing with an utter loss of control over their lives and from what I've observed it is going to be difficult.  I hope I handle it with aplomb. Ethan could be on a mission and Grayson will be graduating from high school.  With Landon and our new baby right behind him, I hope I've developed some new hobbies and that Jared and I are making fun plans seeing as our home is on the verge of being an empty one.  I may be working more, but right now I don't see wanting to.

Not very creative.  I want a quiet, happy life with as little drama as possible. 

21 of 30 Things

Superpowers

 

If I could have one superpower, it would be something that would allow me to manipulate time.  I have few regrets, so it's not that I would use it to go back in time and "fix" something.  I just feel that I don't ever have enough time to do everything I need and want to do.  Maybe I could just get myself a Time Turner and all would be easier in my little world. 

20 of 30 Things

Three Significant Memories from Childhood

1. Yearly family vacations to Hiawassee, Georgia to stay at Ms. Ginny's cabin.  We would drive 8 or 9 hours from our little home in St. Augustine and stay for up to two weeks. Often we would find neighbors had left brown shopping bags full of fresh picked corn on the porch and we would feast on delicious foods all week!  Seeing as we weren't rolling in the dough when I was a child, this was the perfect vacation.  All it cost was gas and food.  And back then, gas was about $1 a gallon.  Ah, the good ole days.  The cabin was on a hill and at the bottom of the hill was a lake. We spent the weeks boating, jet skiing, hiking local mountains, looking for Brasstown Bald mountain, hiking Ruby Falls, enjoying the Georgia Mountain Fair, day trips to Helena for tubing or to Mark of the Potter, and every night we'd play games!  It was awesome and I have the fondest of memories of those trips. 

Rear view of the cabin from the lake.

Lake Chatuge.  I remember thinking it was so cool that when we crossed to the other side of the lake we were in North Carolina.

Best Friends: Ms. Ginny and my Nana, Grace.

2. Skit nights!  Every year in high school during Homecoming week, we would hold skit night.  There was always a theme (chosen by the current junior class) and you had to incorporate school spirit, the team we were playing on Homecoming night, and find ways to make fun of other classes and teachers and hot topics of the time.  We'd get our theme about a week before performance and have several days to put it all together.  Proudly, the Class of 1998, won all four years were at St. Augustine High School.  A fact that we like to rub in whenever possible.  Here's a photo from our Senior year when we did our own version of Rocky Horror Picture Show and it was awesome. 

 

Yes, Kenton is wearing one of my old dance skirts over his jeans.  Awesome.

 

3. It's SHOWTIME, tonight! The time spent dancing and singing in my dance group, Showtime, USA also provides many significant childhood memories.  I gained tons of self-confidence, made great friends, participated in fun activities that didn't always include dancing (think video scavenger hunts, service projects, and trips to fun places), and had a blast doing it. 

 

Stacey (9), Me (11), and Valerie (10) before a performance.  We were very patriotic in the early days.  I think that skirt would probably fit my thigh now. 

 

My Sophomore year we started incorporating a much for authentic musical theater vibe.  Here I am wearing a very tight dress (I think I cried when I found out I had to wear something that showed off my butt so clearly) and singing Can't Buy Me Love.



19 of 30 Things

If I could live anywhere it would be Stars Hollow! I know this place doesn't really exist, but I love it. I love that it has seasons and isn't far from fun, big cities in which to play. I love the small town feel of it where everyone knows you and is looking out for you. I love the quirky residents and festivals. If this place existed, I would love to live there.

Soccer!

Today marked an important day in my life: I officially became a soccer mom. We headed to the field for Ethan's very first soccer game with excitement.  Mom, Dad, Stacey, Joe, Lyla, Logan, and Tony drove down from St. Augustine to be with us.  Papa K came too with his camera (I'm sure his photos are way better than mine and I need to get my hands on them) and some chairs.  Ethan is on the Purple Team and they did so great.  I really like his coaches and it has been fun getting to know the other children and parents on our team. 

On our way to the field.  Ethan hand-picked this spot to take his first uniform picture.  He is so excited!

 

Ethan's biggest fans are Landon and Grayson.

Grayson was super excited.  He played soccer with Uncle Tony for about 30 minutes prior to the game starting.  I think he ran more than anyone today.  He was super sweaty, but he didn't complain.  Ethan, on the other hand, did complain.  Less than 5 minutes into the warm up, Ethan came over to complain about being hot and sweaty.  I told him that was normal and to get back out there. 

Ethan scored two goals!  Here is a high-five celebration with one of the Silver Team's coaches.  I cried when he scored!  What is that?! Aunt Stacey cried too, so I'm going with "we are super cute." 

Coming to high-five us after a goal.  He gave everyone explosion fist bumps and finished with an attempted knee-slide on the field.  It was awesome.

Hanging out on the sidelines.  The smile never left his face.

Action shot.  Game ended a little early because a pretty good rain shower started and all the kids started to scramble.  We were soaked through, but found it to be a great way to cool off from the Florida heat.  Can't wait until next week. 

 

Update: Norb got an action shot of the first GOAL!  Go Ethan!

18 of 30 Things

You can read about the thing that was the most difficult for me to forgive Here.  Following this experience, it was less difficult to forgive Josh and more difficult to forgive myself.  I spent a lot of time wrapping my head around what I could have done differently and other thoughts along that train.  I did come to the conclusion that given my experience and knowledge at the time, I truly did everything I could.  In a way, the biggest step I made in moving forward was a type of forgiveness of myself. 

17 of 30 Things

The one thing I wish I was the most great at is dancing.  I LOVE dancing.  I danced regularly, taking classes from the time I was very small through my college years.  It helped me get through some of the most difficult times of my life and is a source of great joy for me.  I watch shows like So you Think you can Dance and Dancing with the Stars and it makes me long to dance again on a stage.  I wasn't as spectacular as the stars of these shows, but I sure wish I could be. 

16 of 30 Things

Greatest Accomplishments

 

My Children! I know they are no where near raised, but just being pregnant, giving birth, and raising them these last (almost) 5 years is an accomplishment in and of itself. Being pregnant for me is not a surreal, mild, pleasant experience. It is hard and full of sickness and discomfort. I simply don't feel like myself when I'm pregnant. It is really hard for me, but I love the babies that come as the reward at the end. Here are two of my three during last weekend's indoor campout.

I made a huge blanket for my mom for her birthday in 2010.  It is nothing fancy, but it is the first of, hopefully, many more blankets in my creative future.  Making something gives one an amazing since of accomplishment.  (It is also great that two years later it is still in good shape.)  Mom and I snuggle up in my blanket creation below.

 



Graduation from college at BYU and from grad school at UCF.  Both were hard, but for drastically different reasons.  I survived both and am so proud of my education.  No one can take it away from me. 

 

Receiving my LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Work) certification.  This is a two year process following graduation.  It requires a certain amount of hours of professional experience coupled with a certain amount of hours of licensed supervision and a huge, hard test at the end.  I took that test 8 months pregnant with Ethan.  I did not procrastinate, I promise.  I took it as early as I could.  I passed! And, five days later Ethan was born.  Glad I didn't wait seeing as he came three weeks ahead of schedule.

Launching a pilot program for Deseret Industries (a division of welfare services for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).  I had the privilege to launch a pilot program here in Orlando for DI that helped bring services found in DI Stores to an area that did not and would not have a store.  Thanks to Heavenly Father, amazing local support and colleagues, I was able to get the program off the ground.  Today it is very successful part of the LDS Employment Family (another division of welfare services) and is found in many states in the United States.  Also, a lot of what we discovered has been beneficial in implementing new programs in the stores as well.  I know I played a small part, but seeing what a little seed can produce feels like a significant accomplishment in my life.