Welcome to Vegas Baby!

My biological Mom, Arlene, her hubby Neil, and Arlene's daughter Mattea are up for about ten days to hang out with us. Today we went to one of the local casino's for their yummy brunch. The omelets were in top form today!
We kind of started the day off on the wrong foot with my poor communication skills though. I told Arlene we were on our way to meet them and so we went to their hotel, and they thought we meant at the Casino, so the boys and Bill and I went to every casino and every buffet in town before finally going to the one closest to our house and finding them already done eating and wondering why it took us 2 hours to drive 2 miles. They were super understanding though, and I'm sure I'll be able to laugh about it in a couple of years! (just kidding!)
Mo loved the waffles with whipped cream, as you can see.


















Here is Mo wearing a napkin on his head. He's such a cute little show off.

















Arlene was tickling Mo and blowing on his neck and I caught this picture, and I just think it's darling.

Pajamas

Lately we've been pretty good about our bedtime schedule with the boys. At 7:00 they all have a bath, and then I get them out one at a time, put their jammies on and then go get another one. Mo is always the first out, and the first one in pajamas. The other night I got Mo all ready and was about to do up the zipper on his sleeper jammies and the phone rang, so I ran to get it, and when I came back this is what I saw. How did he do it, I don't know! But, he was pretty proud of his new hat. He's always putting things on his head and showing off. So funny!

Master Cleanse: Day 10.... Final Day

Yesturday I was so exhausted after my workout. I could hardly walk, so I didn't get anything done, including my evening blog. But if I had done it, it only would have said: Sooooo tierd..... can't....lift.....fingers........Must.....have......sleeeeeepy.

So, you didn't miss anything. Today is my last day, kind of. I had two lemonades this morning, and then I went and got a colonic (thankyou Vanessa, it was way less scary then I thought it would be), if you don't know what one is don't ask, unless you really want to know...... And I had a toxic draining foot bath. What I discovered from both of these experiences was that my body is clean (on the inside I mean), so I decided to not continue on with my cleanse, and to start easing myself back into food. Soooo, I went to Walmart and bought a billion oranges, juiced them all, and had my first orange juice just a half hour ago. I am now so incredibly full! I feel like I ate a whole buffet, to the point of bursting! So, I will finish out the orange juice I have and then work my way into broths and then a salad, and then on with my South Beach Diet! I'm super excited, as I also shopped for that today. I can't wait for turkey burgers wrapped in lettuce and South Beach's delicious fake mashed potatos (actually mashed cauliflower, but very very tastey.)

On this cleanse I lost a total of 9LBS.

Master Cleanse: Day 9 Morning

This morning I woke up starving to death!!! This is the first time this has happened. I skipped my salt water and just went right into a lemonade and that helped. I'm going to go do my salt water right now. I just did a huge work out, Turbo Jam, that's one of those dvd's from the informercials. I totally love it. I'm exhausted though. So I'm going to drink my salt water, take a shower, and then have my next lemonade. Phewph!

Oh, I almost forgot... I've been stuck at my 6 pound loss, but this morning I weighed myself and I'd lost two more pounds, yeah!!! So now I'm at 152. Two more pounds and I'll be were I was when I started my South Beach diet last time and lost 15 pounds. I still haven't decided if I'll go on for more days. Vanessa gave me some fasting books so I'm going to read a little and see what I think.

Master Cleanse: Day 8

Today was great. No problems at all today with hunger or anything. I did open the fridge and see a brick of cheese and had a craving, but that was really the only one.

Bill and I almost caught the other Tom Cat that comes around here. The hard thing about catching him is... he looks exactly like Myrrh! I actually caught his upper body in the cage and had to let go because I didn't want to squish him!

Master Cleanse: Day 7

The day went well. I think this cleanse is a little more expensive then I thought originally though. Lots of lemons. Lots of maple. It's also bringing all of my impurities to the surface. I've got some back pain and I still have a sore throat. I wonder if you're supposed to keep going until all that stops, or.... I don't know. Anyways, I could keep going after ten, and I might, but I really really crave bread... the worst thing I can eat I'm sure. Maybe just a salad. Mmmm, ranch....

Naked Sunshine Time

We have this thing in our family that Bill started called "naked sunshine time" where all the boys go outside on the trampoline in just their undies and get a little sun. We only go out during "good sunshine" hours, which are apparetnly before noon and after four. I normally do not participate in the "naked" part, but when I lose my weight I'll probably throw on a bathing suit and join them, who doesn't need a little color?

C U L8R Allig8or!

The Grey Cat

Well, after my last post about this guy we decided that he wasn't a keeper. We've seen him beat up our other cats and steal their food to many times. Also, we thought having a male around would keep the other Tom's away, but it was not to be. Other cats come and they seem to fight outside Marion's window all night. A real cat trap cost around $70 and it costs $10 to rent one with a $70 deposit, so we just decided to buy a carrier and rig it with a rope that we could pull when the cat went inside. We've been trying for quite a while, but one morning I was fed up and I just filled the carrier up with food and waited for him to come around. I think it took about an hour and a half, plus a full cup of dry cat food, a can of tuna, and a can of friskies for him to finally go in there, but when we caught him it was worth it! Bye-bye kitty!

Easter Monday

The Easter Bunny showed up last night, as he promised in his note, and the boys were very happy about it. He brought a lot of eggs, including sport eggs, basketball for Mo, baseball for Ezra and Soccer ball for liam. Ezra and Liam also got parachuting eggs with little green army men in them (edible). I was happy that the Bunny came last night instead of on Easter Sunday Eve, because they feasted on chocolate and gummies for breakfast today, and I just didn't see that going well for church yesturday.

Liam and Ezra also got little stickey basketball nets with basketballs to throw in them, and Mo got a big carrot bat with a green ball. Cute.

Happy Easter! Plus Master Cleanse: Day 6

Jake and Bill played some ball with the boys in the backyard after our amaizing dinner of ham, salad, rolls, rice pilaf, and other amaizing things. I had an amaizing lemon/maple syrup drink with the same thing for dessert, but still enjoyed the company.

This is one of Liam's strike-outs, but he did hit quite a few.

Mickey is super hilarious with his new "hats" that are really Andy's brand new, never been used undies.

Bill took this picture, and for some reason, I just love it.

The Easter bunny didn't come on Easter Sunday, but he left a note saying he'd be back for Easter Monday. I partook of the sacrament today, which was probably a breech of my diet, but the Savior is more important than my cleanse any day, and especially on Easter Sunday. The kids in nursery where all a little hopped up on sugar, so we had a lot of crying and rowdiness, but I still love it.

Today was hard for me, with all the yummy food and what not. I was the tinyest bit depressed, but today I'm good. Everyone was feeling sorry for me, but I knew that I would miss Easter when I started my cleanse. Honestly, there is no good time to start a diet or a cleanse, so you just have to go with it when you feel motivated to do it. I'm happy I'm cleansing, and I might even continue on past the minimum ten, but we'll see!

I've kind of plateaued at the 6 pound loss, but I'm hoping it will pick up a little.

Master Cleanse: Day 5 meets Pre-Easter Party

We had a hot dog roast/Easter Egg dying/ Easter Egg hunt party at our house. The day was a little bit hard with my cleanse going on, especially with all the yummy barbeque foods around, but I made it through!

It was a total blast. The kids had so much fun, and they made up for missing the party at the park by getting 10 times the amount of eggs they would have gotten there!

Our egg dying kit didn't come with the standard white crazyon, so we decided to just bring out all different colors, and that was kind of fun, and cool.

It's hard to believe I've already survived 5 days without actually eating anything!

Easter Egg Hunt

There was a huge community egg hunt at the park today and the whole community showed up. We got their five minutes late, and people were already leaving with huge baskets of eggs! The Alexanders, some friends of ours from church gave the boys a couple of chocolates from their baskets, and Rudy, Andy, and Mickey shared some but other than that the boys got pooched!

They did meet the Easter Bunny though, and that was fun. Mo-Mo was terrified!

Master Cleanse: Day 4

This is the boys helping me to work out. Aren't they cute?

I really thought day 3 and day 4 would be hard for me. On past diets I have experienced light headedness, shakeyness, dizzyness, and incredible hunger pangs, but on this cleanse I haven't experienced any of these things.

..... Until this.

But seriously, the day went well. I haven't really lost any more weight, but hopefully I will!

Master Cleanse: Day 3 Evening... donuts, and Mc Donalds?!?!?!

Walmart here does this thing where they sell their donuts really cheap at 6:00pm just so they can get rid of them and make fresh ones for the next day. Bill teaches early morning seminary so he asked me to pick up 40 or so of them tonight for his Friday class tomorrow. I said "No problem!" And it usually isn't, but today was a different story. I walked into Walmart, went to the bakery section and found 10 other people standing there, waiting for the boxes to come out. I started to panic, and called Bill. He told me he would run to a Walmart in the city and see if he could score some too. I waited and waited with all those people, and they were totally staring me, and each other down. Finally the Walmart lady brought the boxes out. I was standing right beside her but I got completely trampled by everyone who thought it was smart to stand by the donuts and ended up getting my box last. I ran to the donuts, and patiently (with my hands on my hips and my foot tapping) waited for the lady in front of me (who I totally beat to the waiting area) to be done. I waited for what seemed like forever and I heard my phone ringing in my purse, but I wasn't about to give up my spot, so I let it ring, and I rolled my eyes at Bill for calling right at this critical moment. Then, just as the lady in front of me was finishing up this other lady who already had 4 boxes loaded to the hilt shoved in and pushed me out of the way... so no more Mrs. Nice Girl. I jumped in too, and started loading my donuts sideways. Most boxes fit 12 nicely, and that's how everyone was loading them, but I know that stacked sideways you can get close to 30. I just grabbed every donut within reaching distance and loaded up a box as fast as I could. 26... Phewph. I called Bill, he said "this walmart doesn't have donuts" I hung up on him, grabbed another box, elbowed some old lady in the face (I'm just kidding) and started loading up a second box. When it was all loaded up I had about 50 donuts (Bill said he needed more than fourty.) I walked away from the donut case and looked back expecting to see it completely empty, but to my surprise there were still donuts in there, and everyone else was GONE. So, I called Bill, told him the situation and he said grab another box (you really can't go wrong with 25 fresh donuts for $1.68 can you?). I loaded it up, paid for the load, ran to the car to drop the donuts off, gave each boy a one, and then went back into Walmart to boy lemons for myself. It's a good thing I don't like donuts, or I would be super not happy.

For some reason I promised the boys McDonalds (probably because I thought it would be easier to not cook a delicious meal, but just buy it instead) on the way home. We stopped in, bought our happy meals at the window, and then decided to go inside so the boys could run off some of their energy. I opened up the happy meals and I don't think Micky D's has ever smelt so good! I got the boys nuggets (my total weakness) with ranch dressing. And the dressing smelled soooo yummy. But..... I didn't cave!!!

When I got home tonight (late, about 9:00) I went to the fridge to grab my second to last drink and there were still three bottles in the fridge!!! I thought there were two, but I guess I missed one. Oops. People keep asking me if I'm hungry, but I'm really not (obviously if I missed two drinks and didn't even feel it.)

I'm excited to weigh myself tomorrow and see the difference!

Master Cleanse: Day 3 Afternoon

Well, my tea "kicked in" at 4:11 this morning, so while I was up I weighed myself and I have dropped from 160 lbs to 154 lbs! How excited was I????

Day 3 is going much better than expected. I had to run some errands this morning so I took my saline solution a little later in the day, and I'm still seeing results 3 hours later. I still don't feel hungry (which is fantastic), but I am craving food a little bit. I would list all the foods I wish I could sink my teeth into, but then my stomach would start growling and I'd have to drink my 4Th lemonade early, so I'll just leave it at "I'm craving food a little bit" and carry on with my day. The lemonade tastes better every day, so don't worry about me! I'm a survivor!

The saddest part of my day is when I microwave my water for my cup of tea. You see, the last thing I microwaved in there was Papa John's Pizza! ooooooh yummmmmmmmmy! and I can smell it every time the microwave heats up. Oh, now my stomach is growling. Way to go! (Wink Wink)

Apparently some big stars do this fast to lose some weight quickly, included in this list are Beyonce and Angelina Jolie. This is Beyonce at her finest. She told the media that she lost 15 lbs on this cleanse right before her role in Dreamgirls.

Master Cleanse: Day 2, Evening

Well, I made it through another day with no cheating. I got offered strawberries and cream, corn on the cob, and a Barq's root beer, but I stayed strong. I have to buy more lemons tomorrow, and I am still mooching my syrup from Mom (she has B grade, I have A grade... B or C is the recommended syrup.) Nowhere here in town carries anything under A. Tomorrow though, I will check out the little health food store here.

I just had my Smooth Move. I made a smaller cup of it this time, and it was very strong, it was hard for me to drink. It just tastes like hay, or straw, or something. I've been making it in a huge mug, but it was dirty, so I made it smaller, and I think I let it steep for to long. Honestly, I think it was harder to drink then the salt water.

Anyways, the lemonade is tasting yummy, I really like the cayenne in it. Yesturday I didn't put enough in and the boys were all over me everytime I pulled out a bottle, wanting to "taste it just a little". Today they all had one taste and never asked again. Bwah hah hah hah!

I will give you a weight update tomorrow morning. Good night!

Master Cleanse: Day 2 Afternoon

Everytime I walk by anything even resembling food I crave it. I walked by a stale bag of chips that had been sitting on the counter for probably 8 months, and I've never wanted to try them... today I had to stop myself! I dreamt about food last night. I ate jello and chocolate pudding. I don't even like pudding.

I love my husband, but you will never believe what he did to me. He made me a huge bowl of strawberries and cream! WHAT WAS HE THINKING?!?!?!

I was so mad I didn't even think about it, I just stomped to the fridge and grabbed lemonade #2, all the while mumbling about how he could do this to me and what not. I'm pretty sure he was just trying to be nice, but seriously....

I got my saline solution down, I gagged a little at the last 6 ounces again, but it stayed down. It didn't work quite as fast today, but I didn't have to wait the whole hour for it to take effect. Last night though, after I finished my smooth move it was only about 20 minutes before I was in the bathroom. I thought I'd be up all night, but it was just the once and I slept right up until 8:30.

My tounge now has a white coat on it, mostly towards the edges, not a full coat yet...

Master Cleanse: Day 1, Evening

A couple people are interested in the lemonade diet, so I included an email I wrote to a friend in this blog at the end. It has all the details and what not that you might be interested in looking at.

I have been in the bathroom so much today! The saline worked all day for me, or maybe my system just took over on its own. I don't know. I'm also drinking a lot more than is normal for me, so I've been peeing an awful lot too!

My tounge feels funny, which I know is part of the process. It feels a bit numb, and a little fatter than normal. I haven't looked at it in the mirror yet, but I'm assuming that it will turn white soon. (This is a detox, and a lot of toxins come out of your tounge. Gross right?)

Well, I'm off to drink my "Smooth Move" tea, and then off to beddy bye. I'll keep you all posted.

Email to Friend:
I did this cleanse years ago, and I was worried that I didn't do it right, so I looked it up on line, and sure enough... I didn't do it right. I was really happy to find these awesome sites. The first one is where I got most of the information from, the second one is a guy that also uses the first site for inspiration. I love the stories of others.

I never read the book (I guess I'm to cheap to just go out and buy it....) but if you want to check it out from the library, or cough up some money it is called: "The Master Cleanse" by Stanley Burroughs

http://www.yestheyrefake.net/lemonade_diet_cleanse_journal.htm
http://www.chrismewhort.com/cleanse/page/3/ (I don't know if you clicked the link on my site for him, but he is super funny)
http://sassifer.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/master-cleanse-day-1-morning/
http://www.timothygray.com/extras/blogger/master_cleanse_fast/index.html

Before you start your cleanse, the night before you should have a cup of sienna leaf tea, (everyone who has it has the brand called Smooth Move). I have the Chocolate Smooth Move, which is supposed to have chocolate flavor, but it soooo doesn't!! You can get this at almost any store that has a health food section. This tea is not your regular Celestial Seasonings tea, and it's definatly not that tastey, but it's not disgusting either. If you're not a tea drinker it will be harder for you.

In the mornings you are supposed to mix 32 oz of warm mineral water with 2 tsp of non-iodized sea salt and drink it up. Most people go on and on about how disgusting this is, but when I tried it this morning it wasn't so bad, especially if you use the first ladies thought, that it tastes like chicken broth without the chicken. If you get more than 16oz down you're doing better then most. If you read her site, take the advice, DON"T GO OUT until you've had your "movement" or you will be in big trouble.

The funniest thing I read on all the sites is about how their tounges are swollen "but it's probably unrelated". It's totally related. This fast, is not a diet, it's a detoxifiying cleanse. It's designed to get all of the toxins out of your body, and one of the places that your toxins will come out of will definatly be your tounge. Everyone reports white tounges, or swollen tounges, and the first lady even had a tounge peircing hole that pussed the whole time, nasty!

As with all fasts, and diets, (especially for me) I suspect that the third or fourth day is going to be the hardest. Your body starts to protest and shut down, but if you make it through those days the rest is EASY! Okay, so not easy, but at least not so difficult as the first four days. When I did this originally I only lasted until the 3rd day, when my energy dropped off and I was shaking I just caved and went to Taco Bell. Not this time baby!

If you do go on it, you may be drinking a little more than normal. One guy actually gained 6 pounds (!!!) in one day, then he was up all night releaving his blatter, and in the morning he had lost 7 pounds (phewph!)

60oz is the minimum per day, I think the max is 120, but I really don't know for sure.

The below recipe makes 60 oz of "lemonade", enough for 6 - 10 oz glasses. Although your requirements may be different than mine. Please read the book to determine your needs. 60 oz is sufficient for a reduction cleanse.

60 oz water per day (or 10 oz per glass)
12 tablespoons Organic Grade B Maple Syrup (or 2 tbsp. per glass)
12 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (or 2 tbsp. per glass)
6/10 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper (or 1/10 tsp. per glass) or to taste


When coming off the fast you need to have freshly squeezed orange juice for 24 hours, and then go to a veggie broth for the next day. You can find a recipe for the broth on the first ladies web site, but I'm probably just going to do the canned stuff.

Some people stay on for 10 days, I know someone who went on it for 41 days. Do you know Jill Heninger? Your hubby probably does, anyways, it was her Mom that did it.

From the blogs I've read on this it looks like 11 pounds is what you'll lose in 10 days. That's the average anyways.

Happy St. Patricks Day

The boys just loved "green day". We wore matching green shirts and when we went out in the evening everyone stopped to tell us what a lovely family we had.

For breakfast we turned our yogurt green with food coloring. The boys definatly loved that. I however, was not so fond. Normally I'll finish off any yogurt that is left over, but not on St. Patty's day. Green foods (other than veggies) kind of make my stomache turn over.

For lunch we turned our noodle soup green. Again, the boys loved it, Mommy and Daddy not so much.

We had dinner at Lakeside Terribles (hense the lake and kayaks) and their buffet special was corned beef and cabbage, I am so not a big fan of that either, but they also had roast beef and that was yummy. A great last meal before my diet started!

A Day in Las Vegas

We went in to Las Vegas the other day, and we saw this sweet car on the way in. If you click on the picture of it you can see that the licence plate says BTMBL, which for you non-Batman Freaks, is Bat Mobile. I was trying to discreetly get a picture from inside my car, it was HARD. Nice Lambo. This ones for Papa and Taylor!

We went in so that we could meet up with Bill's cousins Josh and Nicole. We got in really early for some other things and just kind of cruised the strip for a while. Because of all the cruising I don't remember where we got the picture of these two hotties with Liam and Bill, but I do remember that this picture totally cost us $5!!! (They said the money goes to help fight cancer....)

We also happened to run into Elvis at Harrah's. He was super nice, and apparently he does a show there. His outfit was AWESOME, but the bud in his hand is priceless.


Finally we met up with Josh and Nicole. We ate dinner at Harrah's and it was so yummy! Apparently it was PIE day (3.14) so they enjoyed some pie, but I just had some cheese cake (before my diet started!). I have another picture of them in a really cute pose, but I just liked this accidental picture better. They are so cute together!!!