If it is in the Daily Report.....

For 14 very close to 15 years Scott has dedicated his life to the military. He serves with honor and pride. He will deploy at a moments notice without hesitation. He will take whatever job the Air Force assigns him to even if not his #1 choice, and do the best he can to accomplish the mission. Scott has worked incredibly hard to make this life enjoyable for the kids and I. He understands that moving us to various locations around the country and only staying for a very short time can be very hard. So he does his best to make all of the transitions smooth. His positive attitude through everything that is thrown at him amazes me daily. His hard work paid off. His dedication was rewarded.

Here is the story...

Close to three years ago we received some very sad news. Scott's grandfather had fallen ill. He had a seizure in his front yard after he had played his daily round of golf. Guy was rushed via helicopter to Augusta, GA where he was placed into a medical induced coma. My mom just happened to be staying at our home in Vegas so Scott and I were able to fly to Georgia to see his Grandfather. When we arrived we were surprised to find him awake and telling his very funny stories. He was so excited to see Scott. Guy was very proud of all that Scott had done for the kids and I. He was also very proud of Scott's military career. He told us a story of when he was in the service.

This is the story retold by me...
Guy was a short man. His mother told him it was necessary that he learned to type because he was not going to be able to do manly work so he should learn office skills. This paid off for him while he served in the military during the war. He was in charge of typing the daily report. The report included many things that had occurred in the past 24 hours and it also included promotions. So one day Guy decided to promote himself early to a higher rank by typing it into the daily report. If it appears in the daily report it is official. What Guy typed was official so he was promoted a bit early.

He told us that story while laughing his signature laugh about 4 times in 30 minutes. The meds were getting to him a bit. The story got better ever time but the words never changed.

Shortly after we returned home to Vegas we received word of the finally diagnosis. Guy Dobson was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, a cancer in the brain. The prognosis was not good.

We packed our home in Vegas and moved to Alabama shortly after receiving that news. After the movers left our AL home Scott and I headed to SC to spend some time with Guy. While sipping sweet tea on the front porch he told the story again. We all laughed like we had never heard that story before! Guy gave us a lot of love and laughter that day. It was a great visit.

Scott has been blessed with amazing Grandparents.
Here is a picture from that day.

Close to 6 months after our visit we received devastating news. Guy had lost his battle with cancer. With very heavy hearts we drove to South Carolina for the funeral. Scott decided to wear his service dress to the funeral. As we sat in the front of the church laughing at the stories of Guy Dobson and celebrating the man he was, the pastor looked at the family and said something to all of them. He then looked at Scott and said, "Guy was especially proud of you, Colonel"! I grabbed Scott's leg in that moment and said, "Guy just promoted you". Scott responded with, "wouldn't that be funny".

Another story told during the service was one of how Guy never swore. In place of four letter words he said, "Billy Mitchell".

Scott was eligible for promotion and his paperwork was being submitted at the time of the funeral. In standard Air Force fashion it took quite a few months to find out the results. So time past and Scott sat in SAASS reading Billy Mitchell's book. As he read it, he thought of his grandfather and the pastor calling him Colonel. We knew the results would come, but what a coincidence would it be if it came while reading that book. We also knew that Scott had a lottery ticket and the chances of a promotion a year early were very close to zero. So he read that book and smiled thinking of Guy. As he sat and read his phone rang. The Commandant wanted Scott to come to his office. He went and was notified that he was selected for Lt Colonel!!!!! Guy put it in the daily report the day we celebrated his life and made it official! 

Scott told this story during his pin on ceremony. We both believe that Guy promoted Scott on that February day. So this promotion meant a whole lot to all of us. It was an amazing day filled with smiles. We are so proud of Scott for all he has done for our family. Scott has given us an amazing life. I believe Guy was just as proud, which is why he promoted him. 

On 12/01/11 Scott pinned on Lt Colonel. 

You can see the pure happiness on his face this day. We were all very happy!

We are very proud of all Scott has done to make our lives amazing. He was worked very hard to accomplish a career goal. I think his biggest accomplishment is being able to be an amazing father and husband while being the top of his game at work. It has been an awesome ride so far and we can't wait to see what is in store for us as we continue on this journey. To see what else Guy will type in the official report!

Juice, Pray, Love

I am not hungry!

I do not feel malnourished!

I am only cheating on carrot sticks and steamed veg.

I am juicing all day for 2 straight days!

You read that right, I made it over the hunger hump!!! I can not began to tell you how great that feels! Both Scott and I are seeing the scale go down. It is working and it is not as much work anymore. I feel like I can do this.

I am doing a bit of a happy dance on the inside. Juicing is awesome so far. I truly enjoy the veggie/fruit juice that we are dining on. It also helps that Scott is our juice chef. He is awesome, waking up every AM to prep our juice for the day. I am not going to be able to juice 100% of the time. I have to injest some type of solid or I might kill somebody. The solid has been only veg or a piece of fruit and I don't feel guilty about it.

Day 4 was cheat free! First day of success. I was very proud of myself. We had our normal concauctions. The orange one in the morning and the green one in the afternoon. We had a fruit smoothie for dinner. I only dined on carrots with some peanut butter. My only complaint is I am having a hard time with water intake. I guess because I drink my food, I don't feel thirsty. So eating the carrots with peanut butter is helping with that. Peanut butter makes you thirsty. I know you knew that but I thought I would state the obvious to fill in some space!

Detox process
No headaches so far. I am peeing more than I ever have. That is starting to slow down back to normal. I feel like my kidneys are properly cleansed. I do not feel like my colon has been cleansed... Get ready for TMI. I am not pooping like I hoped we would! Gross, I know. That is the best part about detox is you cleanse your system and if I am not having gut bombs I am not feeling like the system is being cleansed. I am going to go with I have more liquid in less solid so nothing can come out solid. We discussed adding some soluble fiber to our juice to see if that would work. No worries my friends I will share if it works with you very soon!


Day 5 was not my favorite day. I headed to my favorite place in the whole wide world, the Doctor office! Yep, that place is like Disney, so much fun. Being poked and prodded is a flipping blast. Looking at what looks like an alien figure growing inside of me is like making a horror movie. Just like Universal Studios. Let me tall ya, it was a fun trip. Found out that protein is a bad, bad thing for me and that I have a giant cyst that has little friends, and it is infected. Fun times. I got a shot and some other stuff then the best part came.. The Dr called me Super Woman! OK, so those weren't his exact words but he did keep asking me how I am functioning with this level of cyst, most women would be in the hospital. Not me, nope I am not going there! I will suck it up because I know it will go away. It will hurt but just like always it will be gone soon. If it isn't going to kill me why go on a tricare paid vacation. Although, now that I typed that out I may go get my bag and head toward the nearest medical spa hospital. Nah, I will just stay home and make my family listen to me whine!

Juicing on day 5 was good. I didn't really have an appetite so it was kind of a gimme day. I did eat the broth and veg left over in Jillian's soup bowl and I may have added a few crackers. Guess what I didn't feel a bit guilty after all that prodding around I earned that quarter cup of soup. It tasted pretty good. I did injest all my juices and they were good like always. We are just two days away from a full week of juicing! We are doing this people!!!



On a spiritual note, I am finding that praying in place of hunger is very fulfulling. I have heard of people fasting and when they feel hugry they pray. So the last two days I have done just that. No, I haven't been praying that my hunger would be taken away. Although, that might be incorporated at some point soon. Funny how things work. I pray when I am hungry instead of eating and the last two days have been great! Man, God is a rock star!

Don’t worry about anything;

instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

Philippians 4:6

Veggie Vampire.. Sucking the juice out one veg at a time!

So Day #2 and #3 have to be combined due to the fact that I was unable to write. I was laid up on the couch catching up on Real Housewives on Hulu and sipping on some juice. My ability to focus was lacking. I just couldn't seem to peel my eyes away from the most educating program out there, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. You can really learn a lot from those housewives!


OK, that is not really why I couldn't blog. My sweet little friend decided to cause me some pain so I needed to resort to my medication that takes the pain away but also makes me sleepy and make crazy choices like choosing to watch Real Housewives instead of Tebow!

Juice Day #2 was easier than Day #1. I decided that not being able to chew food screws with your mind. If you simply eat a carrot instead of drinking said carrot you feel full. So I cheat now. Sometimes I take a bite of those veggies before I suck the juice out of them. I am started to feel like a vegetable vampire! Doing this is helping me get over my hunger issue. OK, I might add a little natural peanut butter on the carrot sticks but life is short and Tara is getting crabby. My dad always said, " a hungry man is a dangerous man". I couldn't agree more, in fact my kiddos would also find that true. I am a bit of what one might refer to as a Bitch. Bad word, I know. Pain and hunger are not my favorite feelings to have so I might not be the nicest person on earth. Especially when my girls are happily eating the homemade Mac and cheese I perfected on the day I stopped ingesting food. Yep, the Vita-mix helps make the perfect Mac and cheese. Watching them grin while ingesting that creamy yummy carb wonderful pasta made me want to lock than into the garage for the night. They will be a bit surprised when they find the dinner table placed in the backyard when they get home. How good is that food when you eat it outside? Not so fun is it? OK, I didn't really do that, but I will tell you fixing dinner is very challenging when you want food. On a positive note our menu has doubled since juicing. I am finding all kinds of great good for you recipes while starving. I totally recommend juicing if you are having a hard time meal planning! It is amazing. Man, this whole juicing thing has so many benefits!

Our Juice for day #2
Orange, Carrot, and Ginger
Cranberry Apple

We, or should I say Scott has perfected making these items into juice with zero texture. The item he uses to make this happen is the Nut Milk Bag. You all know you giggled when you read that! If you didn't go back and read it again and if you still aren't laughing you are a boring boring individual and need to lighten up. See there is that bitchyness coming out. Sorry! Any way the nut milk bag (hehe) works just like cheese cloth and separates the fiber from the juice. So making apple juice and cran apple juice is wonderful. Kale also tastes so much better when the pulp of it is gone.

I also drank a smoothie textured pure fruit juice. I can't remember the exact fruits I used but it was filling.

Non juice... Cheating cause I suck
5 wheat thins
A Luna protein bar
Carrot sticks with some peanut butter
Steamed Brussel Sprouts and Brocoli


That's it.... Oh wait this will be the part where Scott will call me out. So in order to prove to him that I will remain 100% honest with my cheating moments I will share with you my other very weak moment. I may or may not have had a bowl or maybe two depending on your definition of a serving size and if you count a refill of the bowl to count as bowl two then i guess i had two bowls. I hate for my poor milk to feel unused. So in order to make the cow feel like there hard work was worth it I added some more cereal to the unused milk. It was so good and guess what the scale still showed a 4lb weight loss on the morning of Day #3.

Day #3 was the best I have done thus far. I guess watching those skinny women on Real Housewives combined with Tracy Gold's show on lifetime about people with eating disorders made it easy to stay away from food. Who am I kidding? I felt like crap so food wasn't really calling me. I drank my standard juice and threw in a few bites of shredded wheat, and crackers to help with my nausea. I also ate an English muffin so I could take my medicine. Scott came home and whipped me up some yummy cran apple juice and then decided to juice a butternut squash. OK, so we knew what would happen if we did that... Butternut Squash soup! Substance in the juice form! It was good and filling!

I have survived 3 days of juicing and as of Day #3 I am down 4lbs. My health is not 100% yet. I did know that this isn't the fix for it. I was really hoping my cyst would be gone by now. Not so much. I guess this is what I get for giving in to my weaknesses and slowing down my workouts. Even a short break reeks havoc on my body. A little break gives my body time to grow a cyst. So as soon as that bad boy goes away I will be on my way. Other than my cyst I am actually feeling OK. It is hard to tell what is detox and what is cyst related at this point. I am going to blame it all on the cyst that way I won't hate this process even more!

I don't really hate it. Juicing is easy to complain about. I actually enjoy going to the extreme to get healthy again. I know, big shocker! It feels good to be making good choices again and to maybe motivate others to make better choices. I love being back to our old ways after a 4 month break.

Day #1 I Miss Carbs!

What is on my mind?

FOOD! Yummy solid, carb loaded substance!

Juicing Day #2 is under way.

How do I feel? Fricken hungry!

This whole thing was much easier to talk about than actually doing. The Vita-mix came in on Thursday night. Scott took his excited self to the commissary between meetings and bought us day #1 supplies. Kale, green apple, carrots, oranges, and ginger. We made a juice that night to try it out. Let me tell ya, this Vitamix is awesome!!!! The juice is good too. Just not substance.

So let me take you to Day #1

I have not done 100% juice. I have "cheated" a little bit. I was starving for substance of any kind. Morning Juice was a combo of kale, green apple, and celery. It was very good, filling, and got me to lunch. My lunch juice was my favorite so far. It was a combo of carrot, orange, and ginger. I was getting very hungry and craby around 3pm so I made a smoothie textured juice. It was made with orange, strawberry, carrot, and celery. Jillian, Jess, and I all agreed that this one was very good. It held me over for another hour and then I couldn't take it. So I tried a smoothie with banana, orange, and raspberry. I was hoping a thick consistency would fill me up to my dinner juice. Yeah, well you try cooking dinner for your three wonderful children and not eat. Doesn't work so well. I snuck 4 plain, cold tortellini. Those little pieces of carb wonderful tasted so good. I was still starving so I snuck a handful of potato chips. Dirty, dirty, dirty, bad, bad, bad... But oh so good. OK, they actually didn't taste good at all. I guess cause I felt so guilty eating them. So on to my dinner juice. Trying to get creative since all my creations yesterday turned out so fabulous why not reach for some kale and get creative. I love grapefruit juice, so why not add some kale to it. Not good, not good at all. I should have judged the taste by the color that was produced from combining the two. Think small child's diaper after eating green beans. Gross! But, I decided to chug away. OMG OMG.. Bitter yuckness!!! Down the sink with you nasty beverage. Now I am hungry and my juice straight up sucked. Support, I need support. Why does my husband have to work late tonight? Then when I am about to call Domino's and order a big order of fat pills and call this whole juice thing off, my phone lights up with what could be easily mistaken for God at that point, my husband and juice partner Scott. I whined, came very close to tears until he told me he was hungry too and thought this thing was easier when we just talked about it. We being the most stubborn human beings I know will not quit. He came home and told me to make an English muffin with vegan butter if I really wanted it. So I did and it was the best thing ever. My hunger subsided and I enjoyed the fresh apple juice made by my love. He also made me another juice veg concauction that tasted yummy. Those two items helped me love my Vita-mix again.

So juicing so far is hard very very hard. I am weak and have eaten substance here and there. Chips have been the worst cave. I am not going to beat myself up for cheating by eating what I have eaten. According to the scale this AM I am down 2 lbs.

"skinny people are hungry people" So skinny I shall be, cause I am beyond hungry. I am fricken put a small child in front of me, I might gnaw off there little arm hungry! So on to juice day #2....

Pain Free is the Way I Want to Be!!!

No big brown truck parked in front of my house.

No person in a brown suit knocking on my door.

No UPS delivery.

I am beginning to wonder if UPS is playing some kind of sick joke on me. I am starting to think they are starting to enjoy watching me chase them down the street as they drive by only to fall to my knees in tears when they don't stop to give me my flipping Vita-mix!

Today more than ever I understand why I need to reboot my system. When I eat healthy and run everyday I feel good. Not the I feel good because I am doing what is right, the I am healthy and pain free kind of feel good. I was doing really great no pain or illness for months. In fact I have had the longest stretch of pain free living that I have had in years! Then the holidays came, Scott left for 6 weeks and I stopped running and eating right. I wouldn't say my eating was amazing before Scott left but my exercise routine was awesome! No winter blues here. There is no excuse other than I got lazy and confident that I had kicked my problem in the face and it was gone.

Yeah, well not so much. This weekend the pain returned and today the pain I feel is so intense that I had to call Scott and tell him I wouldn't be able to make a friend of ours promotion ceremony. That broke me down bad. I hate canceling on Scott. I love meeting him for anything and everything. It is like a unexpected date. Although not always romantic, it is time that I get with him during his crazy work day. I hate canceling on my family when my pain sets in. My poor family is probably so sick of me and my medical issues. I know I am!

I just want a normal healthy life! I am so fortunate to have the life and have. To not have a life threatening illness. I count my blessing every day for that. Right now I am sad, defeated and mad. I did this to my self. I can fix this, it is in my control. I know if I stick to my vegetarian diet, limit protein intake, and run at least 5 days a week I will not experience pain. So I am so mad at myself right now. I need to reboot and restart my life. A pain free life.

So my juicing plan is for more than just weight loss it is for my health. It is for me to be able to live. To be able to meet my husband for anything and everything, to be able to be a mom to my kids. Not the person they all look at with the, "here we go again" eyes. They are all so wonderful to me when this happens but I know they don't want a mom and wife that lays around. Hell, I don't want to lay around. I have a million other things I want to be doing! Although I do have to say this laying around always gets my creative mind going because all I do is look at craft blogs and store ideas in my head. OK so that is not good either! I need to live!

So juicing needs to start. Maybe if I send this blog to UPS my vita-mix will arrive right now! I know my Vita-mix won't take the pain away. I know that it will be gone or at least be less painful in 3 days to a week. I know that getting back on the right diet and exercise routine will keep it away. So yes people the pain of my detox is so much better than the pain I am in right now. This crazy plan is so worth every headache, acne break out, and hunger fit. It means I will be back on track and I plan to never get off it. The pain I am feeling right now is giving me so much motivation to live a pain free life!


I am so beyond ready to reboot my system!!! UPS please release the damn Vita-mix!!!



PS I have the tracking number and they say tomorrow is the big day! I was hoping they would hook a sister up and deliver it early! Lord help them if that sucker isn't at my door by 6:30 tomorrow night!

Only A Few Days of Snickers and Coke Left!

New Years Resolution...

Ah, yes those wonderful reminders that come around once a year to remind us that we sucked last year and need to have another shot at it again this year! To remind us of that ten pounds we resolved to lose but gained right back on February. That soda we promised to stop drinking but decided the headaches were not worth it so we bought that case of Coke yelling, "drink me" as we walked by it in the grocery store and drank the whole fricken thing in the car! So here we are January 2nd the first full day of weight loss, no soda, no nicotine, or whatever crazy thing you resolved to do this year. This year is going to be the year we do it!! I know I am praying that this year will be my last year of resolving to lose weight. I am bound and damn determined to make it happen. To kiss my muffin top good-bye, to burn every pair of spanx I own. Oh wait, I may sell those on eBay. I may need the extra cash because all those cute jeans in my closet are going to be WAY to big this time next year! Yep, I am doing it!

Step one: get this diet started! I am waiting a few days to kick this off because I like to do opposite of the rest of you crazy peeps! No, not really I actually was hoping to start this a few days back but my flipping Vitamix, the tool that will make my muffin top melt is still being held hostage by UPS. Conspiracy I tell ya! I think they are letting all my friends get pounds shed before me so I am the fat girl on the block! Really, Vitamix you need 15 days to get to CA from Ohio. Like Scott said, we could have rode our bikes to Ohio in 15 days and got it our darn selves. I guess if we would have done that we wouldn't have needed to Vitamix to make our pounds melt. Hmmmm

Anyway. Vitamix is a vital part of my plan to my, "finish what I started" resolution. Why? Well because it will make the item I will need to reboot my system. My Vitamix will turn all my veggies and fruits and to yummy juice concoctions that I will consume in place of food. That is right my friends we are juicing! I am committing to nothing but juice for 30 days.

I need a detox. We were Vegans for 10 straight months. I felt amazing, better than I ever had before. It was hard at first and then it became what we did. It was our lifestyle. What happened? Why did we quit? The only reason I can come up with is confidence. Lose more weight then you have in a long time and you feel good. So you forget to eat healthy and fall off the vegan train hard. It is easy to eat like crap. The bad part is you feel like crap. I have just a small amount of weight to lose to bring back my confidence. My challenge is taking it to another level and keep it there.

My short term plan is to reboot my system by juicing for 30 days.
I have also vowed to quit chocolate and soda for good, as in forever! Yep I am done, D-O-N-E with those two items. The two items I can grab anytime, devour in my car and ditch the wrappers and no one will ever know. So no more ever again. No lie! You may laugh and say no way, but ask me when the last time I ate McDonald's was or when I had anything with any kind of artificial sweetener in it. Quit those no problem so I am quitting the other two no problem. I have also set another pound goal. A number that my scale will not go over. A heathy and very achievable weight. When I was fat I set a number goal achieved it and guess what my friends in 5 years I have never gone over that number. So it is time to set a new one. Time to quit using I have 3 kids so I can't look like I did in High School. Hell, the only thing I liked about High School was my weight so I am getting it back! I am also going to set new fitness goals. Set new PRs, swim more, etc, etc, etc I am praying these few things will build my confidence higher. This is not a diet for me this is going to be the start to the rest of my life. We are doing it!


FYI I am sharing this with all of you as my personal journal, my accountably. Or better yet I am sharing this crazy plan cause I need all of you on your damn knees praying for me, loving me through my bitchy detox attitude, and slapping me upside my head when I toss that Ritter Sport in the cart when I thought no one was looking. I am also preparing you for a bunch a griping, whiny blog posts ahead. Cause guess what my friends I am blogging about this whole crazy ordeal right here!

Great Start!

Happy New Year!

This morning I found this verse that sums up my New Year's resolution.....

No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing; Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us to heaven. 

Philippians 3:13-14

I am excited about what 2012 has in store for us. I am most excited about 365 days to finish what I have started! To becoming what I should be! For the past few years I have had the New Year's resolutions that make the top 20 list. You know the standard I want to lose weight, quit a bad habit, etc, etc, etc....

I am happy to say that I am finally at a point where I just need to set a new benchmark. Set the bar a little higher to the goals I have already reached. Although the goals I had set for myself were not goals of what I should be. I think I have settled and I want to become better and do more! 2012 will be the year of finishing what I started and bettering things that are already good! 

One thing on my list is making the most of the area I live in. Why not start that today?  The hike we planned yesterday didn't happen because of the wind. So this morning we made it happen. Scott and I decided to take a chance and have the kids come with us on the initial hike. We usually do the hike without them to see if it is something they can handle. I am so happy we chose to take them. I am happy that they got to experience the awesome private beach with us. That all 5 of us got to experience Paradise together! 

The hike was short but a little challenging. The path was steep and slippery in some areas. The rattlesnake population is pretty high here and they love the area we hiked so it made us a bit nervous. The snakes are aggressive here and like to hiss at you instead of going away from you. So we had to be on the lookout. I am happy to report no rattlesnake sightings! The trail itself was great until the last part that led you to the beach. That is where it was a bit slippery and steep. Fortunately it was a very short distance and something all of us could handle. Plus, I am pretty sure the sound of the waves crashing and the private beach that was before us was motivation to get us there without hesitation! 

We were in an area that was enclosed by cliffs and the ocean. It was like our own piece of paradise! I guess that is why they call it Paradise Beach. We took off our shoes and socks and walked on the sand. There is nothing better than the feeling of sand between your toes. It was definitely what we like to say, a "we live here" moment! 

I really felt like this was a hike that was meant to be done. A hike that we all felt like we were taking full advantage of where God has placed us. I can't wait to check more CA things to do off my list! 

2012 has started out pretty awesome!

Gracefully I look up, thankful for a new year. I pray that I have the determination and strength to set a new standard this year. To finish what I started and to thank God for all things he gives me this year both good and bad!