Strawberries or Actuallies

Yes, that's what Savannah is calling strawberries, "actuallies" is exactly what it sounds like! She is very familiar with them too as we have a good producing patch in our backyard now!

We have a good sized patch growing and Savannah is no stranger to picking them!

I made 2 batches of jam with them the other day too and it was so fun. It's the best tasting jam ever!

A few other things we've been up to:

Savannah is potting training, but we are NO good at it. Anyone have any book suggestions as we obviously can't figure this out on our own! She's fine to sit there all day, but definitely wants down when she has to go!

Nate is growing faster than Savannah. They have been in the same size diapers for most of Nater's life, but now they are in the same clothes. Even so much as the other night when Savannah puked on her PJ's she wore Nate's!

Father's Day was just the other day and we did Savannah's hair up cute w/ an adorable hat and matching dress and colored a card for her Dad. Todd is really a great Dad and it was so cute to see her give it to him and look at it together. She's a pretty lucky girl!

See what I mean about Lucky Girl! Yes, this is whipped topping that Savannah is licking from the beaters provided to her by her Dad. And in case you are wondering how she got so good at it... it's not her first time!

And finally we have a real live garden. It's so much fun. Stuff is sprouting and growing and we are looking forward to harvest! We planted corn, tomatoes, crookneck, zucchini, butternut, and potatoes! Yum Yum!

This isn't the Todd I Married!

or the Todd you once knew! What is the 1 thing in this world that you would think Todd would never give up? Well there might be a few, but if you know him well, you'd know he'd never give up his burgers! Well as long as never means June 1, 2010! Yep that's right, Todd went burgerless last week. And now for the rest of the story...

It all started with CrossFit, our new workout gym. You can google it if you need more info. We started doing it, which means we started an intense workout program. With this new gym they recommended what's called the Zone diet. You can google that too if you want. They said it was the perfect diet for the workouts we were doing. So Todd got curious and my dad ordered the books for everyone to read. (My dad often does this in hopes everyone will read them and then tell him what he should do!) Todd read the first 5 pages and thought it couldn't be the truth; it couldn't be a good way to live. The problem being it accused grains as being the great evil. That we should only eat meat, vegetables, and fruit. The diet incorporates grains but feels they should be limited. This didn't sit well with Todd since he was familiar with D&C 89 which says that grains are ordained for the use of men, and didn't like idea of diet plan that thought they were so bad.

This led to much contemplation as to what he should be eating, etc. As he kept going back to the Word of Wisdom he kept thinking that there should be a Word of Wisdom diet. He joked with my mother that he should write a book on the Word of Wisdom diet plan, or at least someone should! My mom, having every type of book for every type of righteous situation, said, "Oh, I have that book! I'll let you borrow it." So Todd left with "The Word of Wisdom Food Plan. A Medical Review of Mormon Doctrine". You can google that too!

Well he read it and it highlighted out some good verses in Section 89 such as something like Grains are not only ordained for the use of Man but the Staff of Life. Indicating to Todd that not only should they be consumed but should be the main source of food. And it made him revisit all the verses that talk about when we should eat meat. It pointed out in verses 12, 13, & 15 when we actually should eat meat. Todd originally thought it just said "sparingly" which he hadn't really ever thought about. But in reading it he realized just how much it talked about it and how it didn't really mean 2-3 times a day and sometimes for snacks! The book also points out how much more often meat is mentioned in the Word of Wisdom than everything else that we know to be sinful.

The medical science presented in the book showed statistics that were very sobering to Todd. Talking about how we have cured age old diseases such as polio, measles, and small pox and now those diseases are just getting replaced by new diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. All of which are preventable through diet. The book also quoted prophets and apostles specifically speaking about abstaining from meat.

So there you have it, we are off meat, and are anxiously awaiting winter and Todd is praying for a famine! Just kidding. He is actually doing great and feeling great and eating grilled vegetables like never before and whole grains and complex carbs like previously consumed burgers and fries! He is really hoping the blessings predicated upon adherence to these principles will be realized in his life!

Savannah and I are hoping it doesn't go any further than this as this morning was the third morning in a row we have had oatmeal, and Savannah cried when she saw breakfast this morning!