Whole 30 COMPLETE

We did it!!! We did the entire 30 days and didn't cheat once.... During our 30 days we went to an out-of-town wedding with an open bar, and I tried to convince the Officer that one glass of wine wouldn't be a big deal, but the Officer is an "all or nothing" type and he gave me the "well I'm not going to have one, but you can if you want", and obviously I'm waaaay to competitive to be the one that failed the Whole30, so onward we dieted all the way through a delicious-looking Christmas holiday.

The super disciplined Officer has to pack lunch for his 12 hour work days, and this is what it usually looked like on the diet- this diet isn't easy "on the go" 

If you are considering doing a Whole30, you should absolutely do it (but make sure you do it with someone, because solidarity). The first 10 days were very challenging. I was in a grumpy sugar detox, and at lunchtime every day I was twitching for a soda. It was also a learning curve to make a grocery list that first week, and I had to adjust to spending much more time in the kitchen chopping veggies and cooking.

We ate salad almost every day for lunch with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. We topped the salads with all kinds of veggies, eggs, meat, almonds.... they never were boring

After the first 10ish days I started to feel good, and we figured meal plans that worked for us. We happily discovered that we really enjoyed all of the food we ate, and we never felt hungry. I never had any miraculous energy that I secretly hoped I would get, but I did feel really good.

oh my goodness this was one of my favorite meals - Bacon Apple Pork

The Officer and I both lost weight- I lost 16 pounds in the last 30 days. I've never really lost weight in my life, so that has been awesome. My clothes all finally fit again, and I don't feel like I constantly have to try to get my shirts adjusted just right so they are hiding my belly that has grown for 3 babies in the last 4 years. It's also been freeing to have complete control over food for the first time in my life. I have always been an emotional eater, and after a long day I always think "I need" a treat or a drink. In the past I thought I could never really say no to dessert, but for the last 30 days I said "no" every day, and it was easy by the end.

Belle requested that I take a picture of her food too- this is what their dinners usually looked like... I didn't make other meals for them- except the occasional grilled cheese.

I'm so glad that we did this diet, and we are still trying to figure out what we are going to eat now that we are done. I still can't eat dairy, soy, or peanuts, so I won't be able to go too crazy anyway. We both felt so good on this diet, so we want to keep doing some of it, but not as strict. I hope we don't get back into bad habits- then we might have to do another whole30, but I'm not quite ready to consider that again yet.

Here are some of the other meals we enjoyed if you are looking for ideas: whole30

Lumbertactical

I'm sure you've seen the new "Lumbersexual" trend in fashion, which I think is quite funny.  The Officer and I have never been very trendy or stylish, but the Officer's love of plaid, guns, and the outdoors would mean that a lumbersexual trend would make him pretty close to stylish. Of course, the Officer always likes to wear O.D. green, so I've named his style "Lumbertactical", and I think everyone will be wearing it in a few years. Here is a picture of lumbertactical....

Of course this was after he spent the afternoon renovating the bathroom floors, so I'm not sure he'd wear this outfit out to dinner or anything. I do think it goes well with my "dressy sweats" style. The look is also much more attractive when the man is doing the dishes after cooking us dinner =) Sorry ladies, he is all mine! 

Board Games and Great Dads

1. Today was a long hard day... I was just a tired grouch after a long week, and I spent 5 hours this morning taking little baby girl to 2 back to back Dr. appointments, only to find out that I still must continue my diet of no good food, until forever. Dramatic, I know, but that's how I am when it comes to food. The Officer went to work as soon as I got home, so we're on day 3 of not seeing each other for more than 30 seconds. Being a Law Enforcement wife can be tough. Enough of the whining... now for my happy takes....

2. Being a L.E. wife can be really tough, but it also has it's perks. The Officer was supposed to work Thanksgiving this year, but he was able to get the day off, so next week he is going to have 6 days off in a row, which is going to be awesome! I can't wait for next week!

I should never complain about anything.... I'm so lucky! 

3. Thanksgiving is going to be great- we get to spend one day at his parents' and one day with my family. Both houses will be full of great food, lots of cousins playing, football games that I will ignore, tons of laughter, and hours of board games after the kids go to sleep. I'm just a little bit excited for Thanksgiving, even if I can't eat the mashed potatoes or desserts.

4. Speaking of board games- Our new favorite board game is 7 Wonders, and wow it is so fun. My bro-in-law always introduces us to the best nerdy board games- Dominion, 7 Wonders, Thurn and Taxis- don't consider how nerdy this makes me until you have tried these awesome games.

5. The Officer and I love playing board games with both our families, and we have recently started playing games with the girls. They ask to play games all day- their favorites are chutes and ladders, candyland, and memory. We played Uno once, and they did okay, but they are still young to understand skip and reverse and all that. So I've been trying to find a good board game to get them for Christmas, and my friend Lauren sent me some great ideas. Here are my top choices right now.... Let me know if you have ever played any of these games, or have any other game ideas for preschool-aged kiddos.

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel

Hoot Owl Hoot

Discovery Garden Game 

Bingo Pongo

6. The Officer has made slow but steady progress on our bathroom remodel. Remember when he did the powder room reno in a week, and then immediately started remodeling our master bathroom?! Well, then I went back to work, and he has had very little time to work on it, so it's been slow moving. As with all DIY projects, there is always more work to be done than you thought. He does work hard on it whenever we both have a day off, so he is making progress. At least he has some really cute girls cheering him on!

7. One more take about SuperDad, because he is just that awesome. There is seriously nothing that he doesn't do. He's a tough guy who renovates bathrooms, shoots guns, and arrests criminals, but he also dances with his daughters, changes diapers, and does their hair! The man does their "pretty hair" while I'm at work, which I think is pretty impressive, but a few weeks ago Belle requested a braid like Elsa, and he didn't know how to do one. That day when I got home from work he asked me to teach him how to braid. I taught him, and now he braids Belle's hair when I'm gone. He's such a good Daddy.

This is his first braid at the end of the day, and of course Mr. Perfectionist told me that he "needed to practice some more". 

Linking up with 7 Quick Takes at This Ain't The Lyceum this week

Ziptastic

Last week the Officer and I went on a fantastic date. We used a groupon and went zip lining through the forest. I always stress before a long date like this, because I get nervous about leaving all 3 girls with someone (this time my awesome sister Michaela babysat for us).  My sister said the girls were all good for her, except one explosive diaper and one girl who likes to ask "why?" 10 times a minute. Once I actually got out of the house and stopped worrying about my 3 month old and her bottle, I had such a good time- maybe I can just remember this the next time we're planning a long date, but probably not.

The Officer and I absolutely loved zip lining.... the views of the mountains and the autumn leaves were beautiful. There were 8 zip lines, and the last one got up to 45 MPH. The Officer and I wished all of them were that fast, because that one was just awesome. We hiked through the woods in between some of the zip lines, and we walked across some rope bridges. The trip ended with a rappel down from a tree, in which the Officer just embarrassed all of us as he jumped off the tree and flew down one-handed.  I'm not sure why the Officer and I go on all these dates where he is super good at everything..... like the time he completely destroyed me in laser tag. I need to start choosing things that I am better at than him, if only I could think of something.

We love going on fun, adventurous dates together. I told him we should overcome some fears together on a date sometime, but ummm he is scared of nothing. absolutely nothing. The only fear I have that I can think of is snakes. I have no interest whatsoever in overcoming that fear on any date. not ever. We did walk past a snake while we were hiking in the woods, and that is enough for me.  Anyone else have any fun date ideas? We get to do "dinner and a movie" at our house for the rest of our lives, so when we finally get a babysitter and get out of the house we want it to be new and exciting!

7 years

7 years ago today I went on my first date with the Officer. It was the Fall semester, which meant I was playing soccer nonstop, and the smartypants Officer was always busy working and taking classes, so I remember that we had a hard time trying to schedule our first date. We had been getting to know each other at CCM events, and we had hung out at Monday night rosary for a few weeks, so I knew I wanted to go on a date with him. We planned our first date for a Friday morning before I left for a soccer road trip. We met at his apartment on campus where he made me a yummy eggs and waffles breakfast (still 7 years later he always makes our family breakfast). Then we went down to the river and hiked the paths and I'm sure I talked and talked and talked....

Not our first date, but the same river where we went on our first date

I have no clue what we talked about, and the date was a bit rushed because I had to meet the team for our game, but I was absolutely sure it would not be our last date. We talked on the phone while I was away that weekend, and he said he had told his family all about me. I was glad he was excited about me, even though I was super weird and afraid of commitment at the time. After that we just went on date after date after date for the rest of our lives :)

CCM winter ball a few months after we started dating. This was the first time the Officer told me he loved me, and surprisingly I didn't run for the hills when he said it :)

A few nights ago the Officer and I stayed up late talking, and he asked what made me decide to seriously date him. He was a great guy when I met him, but he was nothing compared to the incredible man he is today. So what did I see? How did I know he was going to become a perfect husband and super Dad? I have no idea. Mostly, it was probably just the grace of God that led me to him. Of course there were lots of surface things that attracted me to him- like he is a hunk ;), and he's athletic and fun. More importantly, it was his honesty and the fact that he is always striving to become better and holier that made me know that I wanted to marry him.  I'm so glad he took me on that first date 7 years ago, and I'm grateful for every date since then.

2 1/2 years after we started dating he took me on another hike to a waterfall and asked me to marry him. We look like babies here- who on earth thought we were old enough to get married?!

Birthday Boy

Happy birthday to my favorite guy ever! The girls were so excited to celebrate that they came running in our room at 7:15am yelling, "can we put sprinklers on Daddy's cake now!?!?" The girls helped me make him brownies, and we sang Happy Birthday right after breakfast, because the Officer had to leave for work for the next 14 hours. He is working another long day on his birthday, and he never complained once (though I complain plenty for both of us). The Officer is the hardest worker I know, and I'm so grateful that he works so hard to take care of our family.

Happy birthday Officer! I hope that one day soon you get to enjoy a relaxing day off. You are so adored by all 4 of your ladies!!

The competitive marriage

I have been on Spring break this week, and the Mik family has been on lots of exciting adventures all over the place. I'll have to post about our 10 hour drive and fun visit with my sister and her 12 kids, but another highlight of this week was celebrating our 4 year anniversary.

Best moment of our lives

Four years ago I made the best decision of my life. I said "I do" to the Officer, and I made a vow in front of God and our family and friends to spend the rest of my life loving that man. We have been so blessed with 4 incredibly happy years of marriage, and each year has truly been better than the previous year. After only a few years of marriage I certainly don't have enough experience to offer any wise marriage advice, but I'm going to do it anyway ;). Well maybe not so wise, and not exactly advice. If I were to give real marriage advice there are many things I'd say that have already been said by much wiser people about faith, prayer, trust, respect, laughter, making a decision every day to love.... instead I'm going to keep it light and tell you one surprising thing that works well in our marriage. Competition.

Can't you just see the competitive love?

It's not for everyone. The Officer and I are both very competitive people, and if you have ever joined us for a game night you know this. So it is no surprise that we are competitive in marriage. We like to turn almost everything into a little competition. It makes for a happy marriage for us, because we secretly compete to be the best spouse possible. If he has spent a day working hard, then in return I want to work hard to serve him dinner or put the girls to bed... We compete to make the other happy and make the other feel loved. We also compete just to make things more fun. When we first got married we would do our grocery shopping together, and as we waited in the checkout line we each guessed the price of all our groceries. It was Price is Right style and whoever got closest without going over was the winner. It always made a boring errand a little more fun. The winner of all our competitions usually gets a foot massage.... which means I've had many foot massages in 4 years, and the Officer has only had a few ;) 

Our biggest competition has definitely been anniversary celebrations. When we got married we copied one of my sisters and decided to take turns planning our anniversary each year. I plan the odd years, and the Officer plans the even years. It works perfectly, except that it's getting a little out of control already. I started it out nice and simple enough with a quiet dinner date night for our first anniversary. Then for our 2nd the Officer planned an amazing afternoon at a nearby spa. So I decided I needed to step up my game for our 3rd, and I planned a little historic afternoon trip, dinner, and then an overnight stay where we had our wedding reception. It was great but I realized now we are in the habit of "one-upping" each other each year, which is going to get expensive quickly. We celebrated our anniversary last weekend, and the Officer certainly raised the bar for anniversary planning. 

The beautiful resort

Our balcony

We spent the night at a beautiful resort, and he spoiled me with an entire day of spa treatments. My afternoon started with a prenatal massage (amazing!), followed by a facial, and a pregnancy pedicure. Then we went to a fancy dinner and hit up the resorts' arcade for an evening of even more competition. He hates that I always win at air hockey, but he definitely kicks my butt in all other arcade games. We had a beautiful room with a huge balcony where we sat talking late at night, and the next day we got to sit with our feet in the hot tub talking about future anniversaries. Even the 2 hour country drive out to the resort all alone was so nice to just talk. I love long talks with the Officer. 

The spa section of the resort

The arcade

The Officer certainly set a high standard with this anniversary, just like he sets a high standard every day as a spouse. I can't say enough about what an amazing man he is. I'm so glad our girls get to grow up with such an incredible father showing them how a man should love his family.  Happy 4th Anniversary to my love! It has been an exciting 4 years, and this year we get to meet our newest baby, so I know this year will be great too.

On our actual anniversary my sister and her family watched the girls and we went out to a nice lunch and a walk on the river.... we've been so spoiled this week!

Next year I am in charge of planning our 5th anniversary, and obviously 5 should be a pretty big one.... so no pressure for me. I guess I should start planning now.... feel free to send me any creative ideas that the Officer would love =)
Happy Easter!!