I finished!

Have you ever taken on a major challenge such as remodeling an old house or running a marathon? Doesn't it feel incredible when the rooms are all done or you cross the finish line? Okay, I'd feel horrible at the end of a marathon, but the sense of satisfaction would be amazing. I remember when I decided to earn my BSA "mile swim" award in a freezing cold lake. I worked up to it over the summer. When I finally finished that swim, my body was so numb I don't know how I was still swimming, but I was absolutely ecstatic about finishing. When I finally got feeling back enough to walk, I was walking on air.

Well, I'm pretty excited today because I finished my year on the "12 steps to whole foods" nutrition program. Last year my GreenSmoothieGirl nutrition ranking on a scale of 1-100 was 23. I was eating no fruits or *vegetables unless you count spaghetti sauce and I ate half a box of granola bars a day. This year I'm at 76 and I feel much better.

*Let me amend that statement. We ate a TON of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and zuchinni from the garden last August. I'm referring to all the other months of the year where all we had were a few spoonfuls of frozen veggies for dinner once a week.

Got Green?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Remember to eat your dark leafy greens every day, among other things its the worlds best source of calcium. You can just teeth on them, or put them in a smoothie like AJ! I totally reccommend the smoothie.

Our first salad

I told the kids that my goal this month was to serve salad at dinner every night. They said "eew yuck!"

So the first salad had me ready to go to battle, but as it turns out, no one complained. Little AP had seconds and thirds. I gave her a tiny bowl to start with I was so nervous she would hate it. Thankfully, my family likes salad just fine. AJ our picky eater doesn't use dressing, but she eats the salad. Yay! (Yes, that is a blenderful of green smoothie in the background.) I keep the lettuce and veggies separate like restaurants do so everyone gets some.

AJ's birthday photo-journal

I chose a peach and spinach smoothie for breakfast

Since mom is documenting smoothie stuff, we pose with a number 7 candle. Smoothies are good for 7-year olds.

Add this one to your blog mom, please!

The rest of my birthday breakfast is cornbread muffins, Yum!

Then I watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and hold my baby brother.

After church, we add the finishing touches to my ice cream cake. We call it the "Leaning Tower O' Cake"

It is an ice cream cake with oreo ice cream, cookie dough ice cream, ganache, reeses peanut butter cups, and sixlets. I've been planning this cake since June. Mom says its totally not on her diet, but she eats some anyway. I used the leftover ganache on strawberries from the garden. So fancy!