"he-haw!"

my heart can hardly contain how precious and beautiful this tiny cowgirl is to me.

Abigail had her very first horsey ride today at a cousin's house.

(I've written about it before, how she was scared of the tiny horsey)

But this time...she was a brave little girl, and loved every single second!!

oh, and it's not ye-haw, y'all.

it's "he-haw!"

Hope y'all are having a blessed long weekend!!

"let's go to the corner"

Those words rang so sweetly when I heard them last night...

because it's been years since I have.

If you are dancer, you know those words.

Last night, I took (survived) my first dance class in years!

I was so so excited and had nervous butterflies in my tummy too.

But it was amazing.

It was so so good for me. Not just for my body, but for my soul.

(on my way...)

Everything possible tried to prevent me from going last night, which I know was just the enemy trying to get in the way

of what the Lord wanted for me.

Both girls weren't feeling well, I started not feeling great,

Bethany would not take a bottle like she normally does if I'm not there, so I had to nurse her extra and thought I was going to be super late.

Then I got lost on my way there.

I seriously almost turned around and just called it off.

I was already nervous anyways...

BUT. I made it. And it was SO so worth it.

(remember this post about God using my sweet friend to tell me to dance again?

so thankful for that.)

I took an adult modern class and it was ah.ma.zing.

The teacher rocked, and I didn't feel out of place at all.

It is amazing what your muscles and mind remember after just a bit of practice.

Once i heard some dance terms and saw the teacher do them, it all came just flooding back.

I even had a "moment" where I just stood there and just smiled.

I think it surprised me at how second nature dancing still is for me.

And that brought me so much joy in my soul.

(after class)

I can't wait for class each week! And get this...I even have a recital at the end of the year!!

That makes me happy too, because Parker has never seen me dance.

It will be the best feeling in the world to have the person I love watch me do what I am passionate about.

Oh, and it gets better...

My recital will be the night before Abigail's very first dance recital!!!

a weekend filled with dance!

I am so stinking sore today.

But my heart is really full.

So I want to say this.

If there is something in your heart that you are wanting to pursue, create, learn about,

or do again that you used to do...Do it.

It will be so good for you, trust me. :)

Linking up today with my precious friend Leslie:

The Girl Behind The Blog VLOG: "How has blogging changed you?"

Super excited to be co-hosting this month's

"The Girl Behind The Blog" VLOG link up with Ashley at 5ohwifey!

This link up she started has been such a fun way to get to know bloggy friends...on a whole new face-to-face level.

You can read more about the prompt here,

but the topic this month was "How has blogging changed you"?

There were a few short questions to answer, and I tried to keep it to a decent time limit!

It is hard to talk only for a few minutes about something that has impacted and blessed your life so much!! :)

Anywho, here goes!

After I made this, I of course kept thinking about things I should have said. :)

One more thing I would add, about how blogging has changed me, is this:

It has changed the way I view community and fellowship.

I think especially as Believers, we think there is ONE way to have fellowship with others.

And if you are reading/watching this and are not a blogger, then it may be a little difficult to understand. But if you know what Im talking about, then you know how deeply the Lord can connect women through blogging and through social media.

There are girls that I text with almost daily.

I'm even going on a girls trip with some of them in a few months! Can you believe that?

Yes, a trip with people Ive never met "in real life".

But that's how amazing it is.

so I guess all that to say is this:

Blogging has also changed how I view the ways God wants to bring me friendships.

He is creative, no?

And I so so thankful.

ok I'm done now I promise. :)

Yay for watching yall's Vlogs today!!

And if you haven't done one before, but want to...this is a fun opportunity, so come join in!

Blessings today friends!!

LINK UP YOUR BLOG HERE!!

You can link up here OR on Ashley's blog, it will show up both places!

more about this Whole30 thing...

I am so blessed by the response from yesterday's post about my weight loss journey

and my adventure into eating clean.

(If I owe you an email or response, I will get back to you at naptime today!!)

Like I told you I would,

I'm back today to share some more with you, and I'm so SO excited for all the friends out there who are thinking of embarking on this with me!

we can do it, yall.

(stay with me, this is another long one, but worth it if you are interested in this at all!

(down 45 lbs in 6 months)

I want you to first hear these words. It kindof explains the thinking behind Clean Eating,

which is what Paleo and Whole30 is all about:

Those are great words, right?

It reminds us that eating better should be just so natural,

like its exactly how we were made to eat..because it is!!!

This website has amazing tools and information.

I would recommend buying the e-book, it has GREAT tips and recipes for getting started with your Whole30 challenge.

Today I just want to share a few random things about the way we eat now, and then at the end I've got on of my favorite Paleo recipes for you...Egg Muffins! YUM!

*with all the amazing stuff you can eat while doing this, you would NEVER know you are "on a diet".

It's because Paleo and Whole30 kind of go against conventional wisdom and have you incorporate natural, good-for-you fats and proteins,

and takes out the processed, chemical-filled, filler-filled crap.

After the first few days of your body starting this healing process,

you will be amazed at how enjoyable it is to eat like you were meant to eat.

seriously.

{ PS I promise I do not get commissions from Whole30. :)

I am just so amazed at how this changed my life, and so I can't NOT share it with you,

if that makes sense. :) }

Keeping it simple today, and to help answer a few questions I've gotten,

here's a list of a few of the things we love to eat.

Hopefully this can help you get an idea of what it would be like for you.

(=amazing) :)

**and I want to say this to you mommies**

one of the great things about eating this way as a Mom:

a. you are teaching your kids the best way to eat without all the processed junk.

b. this is a FAMILY lifestyle of eating, no making YOUR meal, and then figuring out dinner for everyone else.

Abigail, my 2.5 year old, will eat any and all of the things we eat!

some typical stuff we eat on Whole30:

breakfasts:

Egg Muffins (see recipe below)

scrambled eggs and sausage patties

strawberry and banana fruit salad

egg omelet with whatever veggie or meat you want to add in it

Bacon (yes, Bacon...its a great natural fat!)

lunches:

(sugar free) sandwich meat/mustard roll-ups

salad with homemade vinagerette

sweet potato, baked or made into fries

*mainly, I eat leftovers from dinner for lunch*

snacks:

apples

banana with a little sunbutter on it (yumm!)

strawberries

egg muffin

scrambled eggs with broccoli or a veggie cooked in it

(Abigail loves that..."eggs and trees!")

Pumpkin seeds

Walnuts

Pecans

Smoothies

(with any fruit or veggie, and a little coconut milk! you can be creative with this!)

Dinners:

(Ill be posting all these recipes soon!)

Sausage Apple Hash

Spagetti with Zuccini noodles

(I can still use my mom's spagetti recipe for the sauce!)

Sloppy Joes

Moroccan Chicken

Sweet Potato Chili Fries

Shrimp Cocktail

Burgers and Steaks on the gril

baked Pork Tender Loin

ok so here's my confessional for y'all,

I have a few "cheats" I allow myself!!

(I found that I personally still lost weight and felt better even though I allowed myself these things...but I am NOT saying you could or should do it too...

I'm just trying to maintain full disclosure here!!)

PS if you are hardcore Whole30/Paleo...hold your judgement ok? :)

my cheats:

(sugar-free) Vanilla Creamer in my coffee...just a splash

Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea

(sugar free) Syrup for my sausage in the morning

the occasional slice of cheese

(I crave dairy sometimes because I am still breastfeeding)

"sausage bites"

(they have no sugar, but do have some preservative crap in them...they are basically like tiny summer sausage bites. I found they give me a little protein boost when I just need something small)

Another great thing about this way of life:

You can eat out or eat at a friend's house without any problem.

No worrying about offending anyone while you are counting points or bringing your microwaveable meal to their house!!

Restaurants and most meals at people's homes will include a meat and a veggie, and usually a fruit option of some sort.

People don't even have to know what you are doing, because you can eat normally...

You can simply just pass on the bread or pasta!

SO. I hope this helps give yall an idea of how I have made this work.

There's SO much more to share, so Ill be back soon with more about this!!

In the meantime, if you are thinking about this, or just curious, here are some of my fav sites to check out, to learn more, and to see some of the amazing things you will be eating:

PaleOMG

Whole 9 Life

Mark's Daily Apple

Nom Nom Paleo

Everyday Paleo

OK well thats it for today!!!!

but I hae to leave you with one of my favorite things to eat these days.

And my hubbs and toddler LOVE these too!

Paleo Egg Muffins:

here's what you need:

Sausage

Bacon

Eggs

Salt and Pepper

*can add bell peppers, onions, anything you want!*

*you don't have to use both sausage and bacon*

I use low-sodium Bacon, because it has no sugar.

I use sausage crumbles just to make it easier, but you could just ground the sausage.

cook your bacon.

*a great way to get your family up and going in the morning,

because the yummy aroma fills the house!*

Even though the sausage crumbles are pre-cooked,

I still let them brown a little bit in the bacon grease.

Makes it extra yummy. :)

crack open all your eggs and beat them in a bowl.

crumble the cooked bacon,

add the bacon and sausage to the eggs and mix in gently.

PS I use a ladel to fill the muffin tins.

just makes it less spilly.

Grease your muffin pan with Coconut Oil.

fill your pan with the mixture.

Pop in the oven at 350,

I bake for about 18 minutes.

They should pop out pretty easily.

And ENJOY these protein packed snacks...

anytime of the day!!!

OK. You can do this.

we both can!!!

love yall much.

PS if you are a blogger, you still have a day left to make a VLOG!!

come link up with a bunch of amazing ladies tomorrow for The Girl Behind The Blog!!!

(read about it here!)

freedom from addiction, and my 45 lb weight loss

Y'all. My life has changed.

**I never write about weight or health really,

mainly because I have fear of people judging me.

So please know that my heart is sincere right now in sharing this with you as a story of my personal journey and as an encouragement to you if you need it.**

PS this is a long post, but worth the read, I promise!! :)

{progression of weight loss in my face...maybe you can't tell, but I can! :) }

I actually should probably start this post saying something like,

"Hi, I'm Sarah. I am a sugar addict."

And then I would let you know that while it is still a daily battle,

I have been mostly "sober" from sugar for several months now.

I am being completely serious, and if you think I am joking, then you probably never have had, or don't realize that you do have, an addiction to processed sugar.

It is real.

When I first starting changing my diet, and cut out all processed, refined sugar, and gluten...

I literally went through withdrawals from the sugar for about 2 days.

Like chills, headaches, the shakes...the whole bit, no joke.

Which clearly proved to me that I was doing the right thing!!

I will write more about my addiction to sugar as this "series" progresses,

but the gist of it is this...

I have always loved anything sweet. Especially candy and desserts.

But my main vice? SUGARY DRINKS. Completely processed, FULL of sugar drinks.

Juices of any kind: grape, lemonade, cranberry, you name it.

Oh, and lets not forget about my enemy, Coke. yep, straight up Coca-Cola.

Seriously I am surprised I did not become obese from all the sugar I have drank in my life.

You know how most people keep a glass of water by the bed?

I used to keep JUICE.

Swigging it all night long, every time I slightly woke up.

(oh, and let's not even talk about what this has done to my teeth.)

ANYWHO.

All that to say...guess what?! I am free from my sugar addiction and feel healthier

than I have in years. Seriously.

And I have lost 45 lbs, and feel great right now!

Don't worry, this post is not about the Sugar Devil or something.

It's not even about weight.

It is about the FREEDOM I have personally found in changing the way I eat and think about food.

HOW did I do it?

At the encouragement of several friends, and mainly my sister Danielle,

I got on board with the "Whole30" challenge, which is basically eating Paleo in a strict way.

It is a great way to begin the HEALING process to rid your body of all the processed crap you have put in it.

(hence my withdrawal symptoms)

"Paleo" is kindof a popular thing right now, especially as Crossfit exercise has become popular...most Crossfitters seem to embrace this way of eating.

It basically is eating lots of protein, healthy fats, veggies, fruits, seeds, and nuts.

No processed foods, white potatoes, starches or refined sugars.

Sounds hard, but Im telling you...it's not, once you get passed the initial "healing" your body has to go through.

There is a plethora of awesome recipes out there, and I will be sharing a bunch here too!

I'm about to tell y'all about it, but

click here to learn a ton about it:

OK so lets talk about the weight thing real quick.

I am just going to be completely vulnerable and open with y'all here, as I would hope you would expect from me. Even about this.

so please, no judgement ok? :)

Though I have had an addiction to sugar for a long time, I never struggled with being overweight. I have always had very high metabolism and am usually very active as far as exercise goes.

And let me give a quick disclaimer here:

I fully realize that most of my weight gains have been from pregnancy, which is obviously legitimate and healthy weight gain!

But after the baby comes, and after a reasonable amount of time and physical healing, getting through the early stages of breastfeeding, adjusting to no sleep, etc...

it just becomes weight.

And it is SO so easy to just keep it on, and add to it.

And that's what I did after I had Abigail.

And rightly so, really! In my experience, having my first baby was one of the hardest adjustments ever in my life. So focusing on weight loss was obviously not a priority, when all I really needed was just a little shut-eye. :)

(amen, first time mommies?).

But when Abigail was 9 months old, and I was still carrying around the baby weight,

I realized that how I felt about myself was affecting everything.

I felt gross, I was still wearing maternity clothes, I had NO energy.

Eventually I lost the weight after getting back into exercise, and about 2 months of Jenny Craig. (which was great for me then, but it is def not a way to live because it is ALL so processed).

Then we got preggo with sweet Bethany.

I learned later that you usually gain more with each pregnancy (was this true for yall?)

Well, it was for me!

I gained 42 lbs with Bethany, which was a good amount and nothing to worry about.

But I KNEW this time, that I wanted to really work at getting the weight off quicker.

Not because of looks, but because of how it makes me feel to carry around extra weight.

It is a lot easier said than done though, especially when you are a nursing mommy who wants to eat everything in sight, you aren't sleeping, and you are chasing around a 2 year old.

{post-baby weight, even in my legs}

PAUSE:

I want to say this real quick:

do NOT in any way think that I am saying that if you carry around baby weight for a while it is a bad thing. it's NOT. This is just MY personal story and my journey of becoming healthier. :)

So, I let some of the weight just come off as it naturally does after delivery.

I tried to exercise some, but finding time/child care to do that was difficult with two little ones.

THEN.

A few friends of ours began telling us about the "Paleo" thing.

Pale-what? no carbs? are you Crazy?

umm, no JUICE? "Theres NO way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks I can ever do that."

BUT, with simply hearing the testimony of my sister, of our friend Zach, and a few others,

about how their life and health and sicknesses changed...

I began to realize that this may just be what I NEED to do.

To lose the weight but also (mainly) to change my eating lifestyle and break my sugar addiction.

So I did it.

I did not make it through the whole 30 days of Whole30,

but it kickstarted my weight loss AND my freedom from sugar addiction.

Within the first 14 days, I lost 12 lbs. Yes, that's right.

My sister's husband lost about 30 in 30 days!!

And I continued to lose until I met my goal, then started adding some processed foods back in (limited).

(then I went to Dallas for a funeral for a week, and gained some back..so I am now embarking on my second Whole30 challenge!)

My hope in sharing all this with you today, and in the days and posts to come,

is to encourage you that you CAN break addiction to processed foods.

And to encourage you to ask yourself if you HAVE that addiction! Lots of people don't realize they do.

Also, I hope to offer some guidance and tools for you if you decide to embark on this journey too.

It is TOTALLY DOABLE, yall.

Seriously, if I can, anyone can.

This girl used to make out-of-the-way trips to the gas station to get Laffy Taffy.

And you know the great thing about it, about "clean eating"?

You really do feel clean.

Know this about Whole30 and Paleo eating:

It is NOT a "diet". no points, no counting, no microwaved food.

It is a way to live better.

so here is my testimony about it:

in 6 months and 10 days, I lost 45 lbs.

I have for the most part, kept it off for almost 2 months.

I sleep better, which is a miracle.

I am no longer addicted to sugar, which is an even bigger miracle.

I have more energy to keep up with being a Mommy.

I feel better about how I look.

I stay fuller longer which helps me not to reach for bad snacks all day.

I am wearing regular clothes (not maternity still).

My moods are drastically better.

Exercising is easier.

I coud tell Bethany was affected because my breastmilk got healthier:

she stopped having any reflux and her gas issues improved SIGNIFICANTLY.

My mind and memory is clearer than ever.

All positive things that have impacted my life!

That's why I had to share.

The fact that I am no longer addicted to sugar like I was is worth it all.

I honestly believe this is saving me from sicknesses I was headed for.

I feel like I've been given a GIFT of changing my life.

I am NOT perfect (I had a bunch of Nutella this weekend, darn it.)

BUT I am trying.

Because I have come to realize it is important to me.

{the day I reached 45 lb weight loss goal!}

I am still very much a work in progress when it comes to all this, but my desire is to share a little bit with you here about how my life has changed.

I will have a button over on my sidebar that says "Whole 30...",

that you can click on to find tips, recipes, and read about my journey in this.

That's what it is: a journey.

I look forward to doing this thing together. :)

Come back tomorrow to learn more about this "Whole30" thing,

and about the Paleo way of eating.

I'm gonna include one of my favorite recipes for y'all too!

also, if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, I am using the hashtag #sarahswhole30

to show pics of meals I am eating on this journey!

In the meantime, check out this website to read about it:

and check this out to read stories of people whose lives have been changed like me:

sorry that was a whole lotta info...but I am so glad to share it all!!

You are my new bff if you made it through all that! :)

Blessings y'all!!

See ya tomorrow.