Processed Food: To Eat or Not To Eat......

Ever since we watched the Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver, our family has been trying to eat out less and we have minimized how much processed food we eat. That also means less fried foods and soft drinks! I don't know why I've never questioned what I eat but watching that show (we actually bought the book too!) has really inspired me to cook with all natural items. I don't mean organic, I just mean using items that are fresh! I have always cooked with "convenient" food items so it's been really fun to be creative with our meals. I remember that when Guy and I were newlyweds (I guess we're still pretty new!), I was going to make pancakes one morning when Guy said, why don't we make them from scratch? I thought- you can't make pancakes from scratch! Silly boy! You have to buy it in a box! Guy-very lovingly mind you-told me that you can make pancakes from scratch along with most processed foods. WHAT???? Like I said, I don't know why I never thought of that before, but here I am ready to conquer the cooking world.

Last night I made my first homemade marinade for chicken! It was teriyaki chicken-I used 1/4 cup of water, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 tbsp of packed brown sugar, 1 tsp of veg oil, 1 clove of garlic chopped, and S&P to taste. Mix it all together and marinade chicken (or other meat) for at least one hour and no longer than 24 hours. My super cool husband grilled the chicken along with sliced pineapple! If you've never grilled pineapple before, DO IT RIGHT NOW! IT'S SO GOOD! We had brown rice and zucchini as our other sides. Braylen ate like a champ too! I hate to pat myself on the back, but I was pretty pleased with how things turned out. I'm still pretty new to cooking but I have enjoyed finding new meals to make.

I never realized how bad processed food is for you! I've been looking at nutrition labels and have no idea how to pronounce some of the stuff that is in certain foods. Crazy! I've been really mindful of this while shopping at the grocery store. Although there are some things that I'm not ready to give up. Like tortilla chips, frozen waffles, juice drinks, fruit snacks, to name a few.

On another note, Braylen has been so much fun lately. He has come up with this super funny fake laugh. And he does it all the time. Especially if he feels shy or if a stranger says hello. It is so cute. He is so friendly to people. He is saying his ABC's too. Well.....kind of. He sings "a, b, c, d, e, e, e,...a, b, c, d, e, e, e,.... over and over. And then sometimes he'll say "p" or "v" or "me" like it's the end of the song. so cute!

On Tuesday while we were meeting for bible study, Bray was looking out the window and waving to cars. We had the window open, so when our friend Rick showed up for study, Braylen said "Hi! Hi baby! Hi baby!" It was so funny. Sometimes when he's playing by himself I can hear him say "hi mommy, hi daddy, hi baby." He just brings so much joy to people. I am so blessed to be his mom.

Happy Day!

The past few weeks after New Orleans have been so much fun! My sister Jessica and brother in law Vince were here for a whole week in the beginning of April! We celebrated Easter with my family by going up to Madison, IN to hear my uncle Bob preach at his church. I love doing that every year. It is so amazing to see how the Lord continues to bless their church in growth and fellowship. I was encouraged by the message of "Doubting Thomas" and I really loved the worship. Thank you Jesus for the cross!

Here we are after the service. I have the most handsome boys!

Jess and I took Braylen to the Red's Opening Day parade. It was so cool (not like Mardi Gras cool but still fun) and I had no idea how popular it was! Braylen did not like it at first and was scared to even watch it.

But he eventually warmed up to it.

We had two weddings in one day! On 4/10 Jess and Vince were in Keenan and Jen's wedding, which my mom also made their cake, and Guy was the best man in Stephen and Susan's wedding. The weddings were no where near each other! But Braylen and I were able to attend both of them-well 50% of each. :) Braylen was such a trooper and a very handsome date.

We were both super exhausted and slap happy by the end of the night.

Thankfully, daddy was there and he gave us the energy we needed (well mommy needed) to continue our fun night!

We also enjoyed some time playing Just Dance on Wii with my family. I mean it is the coolest game ever! Even Braylen got into it!

Braylen also knows how to play video games while wearing these suckers......

Those are mommy's shoes buddy!

We are teaching him the difference between girls and boys. :)

Until next time, I will leave you with a little blast from the past. Stay tuned for updates on my time at my 10 Year Reunion! Can you believe I've been out of high school for ten years? Look how short my hair used to be?

Have a great week!

Trip to NOLA

Hello friends and family! We have been super super busy and this is the first time I've had to sit down and write an update. I'm going to break a few entries up so that it's not a super long one. But before I share about our trip to New Orleans, I wanted to update you on Guy!

Over the past few months, Guy and I have been praying about God providing him with a new job position. God is always faithful and we have been really blessed by AWE (where Guy has been these past 6 or 7 years) but A LOT of things have changed and with the economy being so crazy, Guy knew that it was time to start looking for another job. Well, a great organization called Master Provisions has offered him a wonderful position as Operations Manager. You can visit MP's website to find out more info. Guy is so exciting to join their team. MP provides clothing, accessories, jobs, etc to economically devastated countries while presenting the gospel and sharing God's love with the lost! How cool is that! Guy will be working in their warehouse packing, organizing, shipping clothes and monitoring groups who come in to volunteer. He will also travel to different churches in the US to pick up clothes and share with the church what MP is all about. He will even go on mission trips over seas! He is so exciting to be joining MP's team. I'm so excited for him. If everything works out, he will be able to start in June! We will keep you posted.

Braylen and I spent 8 days down in New Orleans! We flew out with Peggy on Tuesday, Mar. 23 and stayed with Guy's grandma, Mommy I. She has a really nice house and it's close to the airport and the french quarter! Guy's cousin Brooke is having a baby next month, so we went down for her shower. Brooke is having a baby girl and her name is Ava Bethany. How cute is that! The shower was awesome and Ava got so many cute things. We can't wait to meet her. Braylen and I stayed until the following Tuesday-we flew home together-just the two of us. It was really fun! Braylen is so super flexible and he fell asleep on the plane (which was during his nap time) and didn't even wake up when we landed. He really is so sweet. By Tuesday, I was mega homesick and was so happy to see my even sweeter husband. I felt like I was never going to get home! Guy came to pick us up at the airport and we all had a nice little reunion!

B and I had a great trip. I LOVE going down to New Orleans. I really like the city, the people, the music, the food (minus the seafood-I could just eat red beans and rice everyday).....it's just so much fun. We hope to take another trip down to visit Brooke, Wayne and Ava. Next time we'll bring Guy.

Bray with Mommy I

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