2012 in pictures :)

Warning:

PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!

2012 has been such a wonderful year. Here are a few LOT of pictures from the year...

Me and Stacey at her baby shower!

 Me and Jessica taking a road trip to visit our friend Corey in Houston. Corey had a heart transplant and is doing wonderful! God is good. 

 Me and Brandi at the H-plex on Valentine's Day.

Rebecca, me, Emilee and Chastity at Amanda Price's benefit walk.

 Me and Zach taking an early morning stroll at his parents house.

So beautiful and peaceful. 

Phi Mu Reunion at DSU. 

Me, Chastity, Neeley, Kaitland and Savannah. 

 Me and my sis at the Phi Mu reunion. 

 Me and Zach at Corey's benefit Heart Walk. 

Just a day at the park with Brooklee!

 My grandmother's 70th birthday party!

 Easter egg hunt at the Flowood park. 

My beautiful mother, sister, and niece at the Easter egg hunt in Flowood. 

 Me and my amazingly, wonderful grandparents!

Zach's mom and dad ready for their first bike race. 

 25 miles in the worst weather but they did it like a champ!

Me and Zach at a 5k. Spur of the moment and we won our age group in the walking category. 

Family vacay 2012. 

CRUISE!

 My wonderful family on the cruise!

 Zach, me, Britt, Em and Brooklee swimming in the salty waters of Cozumel!

Matthew's first 5k. We walked it and killed it. He won his age group!

Another wonderful day at the park with Brooklee. 

 Em's birthday at Biaggi's. 

Me and Zach at the Beau Rivage!

My first camping trip in years. Fishing with Zach and his parents...

I caught the biggest fish. :)

Mine and Zach's first Saints game! We had a great time! Loved every minute!

Me and Em with our grandparents at Brooklee's birthday!

 Can't believe she is 3!!!!

So beautiful!

 Me and Zach on our way to Brooklee's birthday. 

PUMPKINS!!!

I love fall!

Halloween at the Hplex! 

ARRGGHH!

 BIG, BIG, BIG NEWS!!!

Baby R. will be here in June!

Me, Maegan, Brooklee and Memaw at Joe's Eagle Scout ceremony. 

Christmas with the Rounsaville's!

 Playing with Brooklee's Christmas toys!

 Hungry, Hungry Hippo! 

 Such a country girl. John Deer boots and tractor. 

 Me and my wonderful husband!!!

So thankful and blessed for such a wonderful year!
Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us!

16 Weeks!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know we did. There is nothing better than spending time with family. I can't believe this time next year we will have 6(ish) month old to enjoy Christmas with.

We were very blessed this year for Christmas. Our families out did themselves and spoiled us a little bit. :)

We did get a few gifts for little Baby R.
Check out this precious nativity set. Brooklee has one and they got Baby R. one. I can't wait until next Christmas to put this out.

 Baby R. also got a Winnie the Pooh. Zach and both of his siblings had one growing up so his mom wanted to continue the tradition. I just love the little scarf!

Baby R. also got a beautiful yellow blanket and a crib!!! What a spoiled blessed baby already!

Of course, I do have a yummy recipe for you today. Zach's favorite holiday treat is called a Magic Cookie Bar. He has had these at Christmas time for as long as he can remember. Unfortunately, Zach was not going to be able to enjoy these this year because the crust is made out of flour. We are 100% gluten free ALL the time and Paleo 95% of the time (we will splurge occasionally on dairy or corn products... but this is very rare.) Anyways... back to the Magic Cookie Bars.

Zach found a recipe on Balanced Bites website for Paleo friendly Magic Cookie Bars. He was on cloud nine. So excited! He has been looking forward to making these for months. They were pretty delicious, if I do say so myself. Zach's were a little thicker than the regular ones but Zach decided to double the ingredients.

Here is the recipe:
(From balancedbites.com)

Ingredients

1- 13.5oz can coconut milk (full fat)
1 Tsp honey
1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp butter
2 large egg whites
1 cup finely ground nuts / nut meal – almonds, pecans, hazelnuts – your choice
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup shredded coconut (3/4c go into layers, 1/4c goes on top)
1/2 cup chopped walnutsPreparation

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Simmer coconut milk with honey and vanilla over medium heat for approximately 20 minutes whisking regularly to keep it smooth until it’s reduced by half. The milk should be very thick after this – see photos to the right.

Beat the egg whites in a small mixing bowl and mix in almond or other nut meal and melted butter. Pat the crust mixture down evenly in a 9 x 9 pan (ungreased – parchment paper lining works well to help remove the bars). It will be a bit sticky but keep spreading it until it’s even and reaches all edges.

Layer chocolate chips, coconut, peanut butter chips and walnuts.

Drizzle condensed coconut milk over the top.

Sprinkle the top with a little bit of extra coconut.

Bake 30 minutes. Cool completely then cut into bars or mini bites.

There you have it. Word by word. We did leave the peanut butter chips out because the ones Zach grew up with did not have PB chips on it. He, naturally, just added more chocolate! :)

So... back to Baby R!

*16 weeks

*baby Rounsaville is the size of an avocado

*only had to teach 1 spin class this week (thanks to the holidays)

*one abs class this week

*been pretty tired but I think that is because of all the holiday festivities 

*not really craving anything this week.

*sleep has been pretty good the last several nights

*2 more weeks until we know if Baby R is a boy or girl!

*starting to feel like I am showing

*anxious to feel this sweet baby for the first time!

I can't believe next week we will be entering into 2013!!! 

Happy Early New Years!!

Christmas Workout

Today, I thought it would be a fun idea to make my classes do a Christmas workout. Since most of our classes are 30 minutes, I wanted something fun, quick and challenging. Anyone can do this anywhere, anytime. 

Here is how it goes...

12 Days of Christmas Challenge!!!

Pick 5 exercises.

We did....

Standing Military Press

Squats

Bent-over Rows

Deadlifts

Side Bends

We used dumbbells but this can be easily modified to whatever you have available. 

Like...

Push Ups

Squats 

Inverted Rows

Glute Bridges

Bicycle Crunches

Use whatever you have and pick a chest, quad, back, hamstring/glute, and ab exercise of your choice.

Do each exercise 12 times.

Repeat 11 times.

10 times.

9 times,

and so on until you get down to one. 

Try doing the entire 12 rounds without stopping. This, maybe, should take 20 minutes total. 

Your heart rate will get up, your quads will be burning and you should even sweat. 

Try it out, let me know how it goes! 

Its the holidays, remember not to over indulge. Treat yourself  but remember to get back on track the next day!

15 weeks & Some!

So, yesterday I officially became 15 weeks into my pregnancy! Time is really going fast and I can't believe in 3 more weeks from today we will know the gender. I really need to start blogging more about this journey. It is quit amazing how things change.... did you know your feet could grow!?!?!?! 

I am so incredibly blessed that I have not been sick one time! So thankful for this!!!!

Well Christmas is a week away. Where did the time go??? 

We had our Christmas party at work today. There was more sweets than savory but hey its the holidays, right?

I have an ABSOLUTELY delicious recipe that I would like to share with you. 

ALMOND O' JOYS

Yes, my friends, these are homemade Almond Joys!

 These are so much better than the real thing and full of clean/natural ingredients. 

Recipe:

(Straight out of my wonderful Paleo Indulgences cookbook)

Bars:

2 Cups unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup of raw honey

1/2 cup almond flour (you can get this from Kroger)

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

pinch of sea salt

60 or so whole roasted almonds

Topping:

2 oz dark chocolate

1 oz unsweetened dark chocolate

(I forgot to get this so I just used another oz of dark chocolate)

1 tsp of coconut oil

Mix all bar ingredients (except almonds) together. Place in a 8x8 dish that has been sprayed or oiled. I used coconut oil. Place 2 almonds in 6 rows of 5. Place in freezer for 15 minutes. Take out and cut into squares. Place on sheet pan and then put pack in freezer for another hour. (I made this part a day before and left them in the freezer until yesterday when I was ready to cover with chocolate. They do not freeze solid.)

Melt topping ingredients and drizzle on top of your little squares and place in fridge or freezer until chocolate sets. 

That's it. Easy, delicious and so so so tasty!

Try them out and let me know what you think!

So, back to the pregnancy...

This is what is going on...

*15 weeks

*baby Rounsaville is the size of an orange

(My favorite fruit!)

*teaching 4 spin classes a week

*teaching 2 body sculpt classes a week 

*teaching 4 ab classes a week

*energy is slowly coming back 

*craving potatoes, potato chips, chocolate caramels and almond o' joys :)

*sleep is hit or miss

(most nights its pretty great but there are some nights where I wake up and then will lay there for a couple of hours before falling back to sleep.)

*still can only eat my delicious vegetable beef soup (recipe is in previous post) reheated, everything else has to be cooked fresh

*3 more weeks until we know if Baby R is a boy or girl!

Zach and I (and a lot of help from my sis) have been planning our revealing party for our families. It's going to be super cute and can't wait to share it with you!

Hope you all have a wonderful week and holidays! 

Merry Early Christmas!

13 weeks!

Hello 2nd Trimester!!!

I am so thankful and most say that I am very blessed to have made it through the 1st trimester without getting sick! Not one time!! 

I must say that my 1st trimester was pretty easy. I only pray that the next 28 weeks are just as easy. 

The only negative thing about that I have experienced was a loss of appetite and not being able to eat left overs. If you have read any of my previous post you know that Zach and I are real big on food prep and we make all are meals on Sunday, therefore we do not have to do any cooking during the week. For the last 8 weeks this has changed for me! I have also had an aversion to all the wonderful veggies I use to eat... kale, bell peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts... you name it I have had trouble eating it! For work I have had to bring protein shakes with fruit and nuts and for a couple of weeks I would walk over to the cafeteria to make a salad. Thankfully, I am getting a little better. 

Last Monday, the weather was very dreary and, from the inside, it look very cold outside. Towards the end of my work day all I could think about was vegetable soup. I was excited because I was actually wanting vegetables again! I left work, headed to the grocery and came home and made this...

How delicious does that look! 

It was so easy to make and I seriously threw some ingredients in a pot and ta-da! Vegetable beef soup! 

Here is was is in it...

Ground beef

chopped onion

cauliflower

green beans (I used can green beans)

green cabbage

kale

can of chopped tomatoes

beef broth

garlic seasoning

Zach's homemade chili powder

After the meat and onions are doing cooking throw everything else in the pot and let simmer for 20-30 minutes! 

It was so good AND I was able to eat it left over, I made me another pot for this week. Perfect for dreary, rainy days!

So, back to the pregnancy...

This is what is going on...

*13 weeks

*baby Rounsaville is the size of a peach

*teaching 4 spin classes a week

*teaching 2 body sculpt classes a week 

(I am just using my classes as my workouts and taking off on the real heavy lifting I was doing)

*teaching 4 ab classes a week

*very tired

(I hear this gets better in the 2nd trimester... I sure hope so!)

*craving potatoes, waffles, and fruit

(I don't know if I am actually craving anything yet, these are things that just sound good to me.)

Zach and I already have names picked out and we are very excited to find out what we are having in 5 more weeks! Happy New Year to us!

Big News!

What a month! I always have loved October! I love everything about it.

The weather changing! 

The fall colors!

The pumpkins and mums!

Halloween! 

My birthday month!!!

If this month doesn't already have enough going for it, it is also...

Zach's Birthday!

AND...

Our anniversary!!!

Well, this particular October is even more special! 

I found out on October 1st that....

 I'm PREGNANT!!!!

Yep, the girl who said she was never going to have a baby is pregnant!!!

(Never say never!)

We are beyond thrilled. 

Baby Rounsaville will be joining us around June 10th!

Time to start planning! 

good eats

Zach and I ate some delicious food yesterday... I have to share it with you! 

I am not a cooker. 

So.Not.Betty.Crocker.

But something here lately has gotten into me. 

All I want to do is bake or cook a recipe out of the 3 new cookbooks we have gotten. I am loving every bit of it too. If I had the house and money to entertain every night of I think I might would do it! Ok... maybe not every night but probably 6 nights. ;)

So, on to the good eats from yesterday. 

Let me make a disclaimer real quick... Zach and I eat only meat, veggies and healthy fats during the week, so on Saturday we re-fuel our bodies with carbs from whole foods. Some call it "carbing-up".

We made our Saturday morning pancakes. These have become a staple for Saturday mornings! 

Banana Pancakes

You can find the recipe here. We left out the chocolate chips this time and just used a tiny bit of pure maple syrup. Honestly, these are so good alone that you really don't need any toppings. 

After breakfast, we ran some errands, met up with Zach's parents, and then came home to make some lunch. 

I have written about Practical Paleo before. We haven't tried one recipe that we haven't liked.  

We had some turkey burgers already made so we decided to make some sweet potato pancakes. 

What does sweet potato pancakes and turkey burgers have to do with each other???

You use it as your bun!!!

\

We had turkey burgers, kale and peppers, and made sweet potato fries with the extra sweet potatoes we had. This was so good. Yes, we had two different types of sweet potatoes in one meal but who cares!

For dessert, I pulled out my new Paleo Induglences book. 

I flipped through the book and found a recipe that we had most of the ingredients for already. We did have to go to the store to get nuts but other than that we had everything! 

I have to be honest real quick... these cookies are called Macadamia-Date Macaroons. The store we went to did NOT have any macadamia nuts. So, we improvised and used walnuts instead. They were so incredibly good. The had coconut, dates, walnuts, raw honey... what else do you need???

For supper, we ate left over sweet potato pancakes. Zach ate another burger and I ate them like actual pancakes with a tiny bit of raw honey drizzled on top and some frozen grapes. SO GOOD! I forgot to snap a picture. Please forgive me!!

Here are the recipes!!!

Sweet Potato Pancake:

3 eggs

2 tsp coconut flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 cups shredded sweet potato (we peeled, cut into chunks and pulsed in the food processor)

Coconut oil (for the pan)

Mix all ingredient together and cook like pancakes. The sweet potatoes will still be bits and pieces, not pureed. The pancakes have a great texture to them.

Macadamia-Date Macaroons:

8 pitted dates

3/4 cup of macadamia nuts (or walnuts in our case)

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 egg

1 TBSP of raw honey

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Mix everything together in the food processor. You want it to be chunky not smooth. Scoop spoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking dish and cook on 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. 

These recipes are a must try! 

I guess you can just me...

The New Betty Crocker :)