Thanksgiving 2013

Hunter and I are blessed to have 3 moms and 3 dads! The bonus to having a big family means more Thanksgiving dinners!!! Unfortunately all of our family lives two hours or more away so we don't get to visit everyone on the holiday so we get to celebrate holidays for weeks!

We had our first Thanksgiving the weekend before with Hunter's mom's side of the family. We were lucky and got to host so it made decorating fun! I love setting the table for fun dinners and I got to use lots of my fun wedding gifts! (Still haven't used the china, but we will one day!)

Hunter and I used this day as our CT cheat day.  We were good to start with and had our smoothies before dinner to prevent over-indulging and I think that helped! Everyone helped cook and brought food, Hunter smoked a turkey, and we drank the wine from our winery visit last month! Everything was perfect! We sat by the fire all evening watching football and catching up, just like family visits should be!

I'm very blessed by the flexibility in my work schedule and Hunter's extra PTO this year so we headed to St. Louis to see my family for the week of Thanksgiving!

We loaded up the dogs and were headed north Tuesday afternoon! I have to brag that we have the cutest, best dogs ever! They didn't love staying in a hotel, but they were so well behaved the entire trip!

Did you know Chick-fil-A gives you dog treats??!

Our first stop in St. Louis was Imo's Pizza and brought it back to my parents. Those who grew up in St. Louis and have moved away, know just how exciting authentic STL style pizza with fresh provel cheese is. (I bought 5 pounds of the cheese to bring back to Dallas!) 

We enjoyed lots of family dinners and family visits! I miss my niece and nephews so much, it was great watching them play and seeing how much they have changed in the past few months. 

My grandma has had some health problems this year so it was nice to bring Hunter over to visit and see some of my cousins. She was interested when she realized I was an OT and asked me to show her the exercises her therapist left for her to do. I also modified her phone, remote and made some other recommendations to my family to help them take care of her. It made me feel really good to help out because being so far away, I feel like I can't help my family how I would like to. She was happy and rewarded me with some of my Aunt's famous brownies!  

Our Thanksgiving was also our Christmas since hunter and I can't make it up again this year. It was beyond cute watching the kids open their presents (and everyone else's!). Kids make Christmas so much more fun and so much more exciting. Mom and Dad got us a food saver and I can't wait to start freezing some stuff! Mom knows I'm frugal and hate wasting anything, so that was the perfect gift!

Saturday was the Texas A&M vs Mizzou football game in my old college town, Columbia. Our original plan was for my best friends and their significant others and my parents to all go to the game together, but unfortunately my Dad got sick and my friend's grandma went into the hospital so we were down a few important that day. We had a great day, but they were missed!

I had so much fun showing Hunter around MY campus. Seeing everything there brings back so many memories of the years I spent there, the friends I met and the life lessons I learned!  We went downtown to our favorite pizza place then hung out in a bar I used to sneak into when I was underage!

The game is so important to us not only because those were the schools we attended, but because the Mizzou/A&M rivalry is where we got engaged 3 year ago! My parents got us the tickets as our 2 year wedding anniversary gift and it was a perfect way to celebrate!

Just like the weekend we got engaged, Mizzou won! Hunter was depressed, but later admitted it was a fun game because of the energy in the stadium. 

I felt like it was freshman year again, and I had my best friend of 15 years at my side. We spent more time chit chatting and laughing than we did following the actual game, but that's what made it so great. 

My Mom still came along even though my dad got sick and she had so much fun hanging with us "kids"! We loved having her and we laughed so many times telling her college memories she probably still wishes she never knew!

We got back so late Saturday night that we slept in late on Sunday and got a late start!  Just like every other morning we were there, mom had an awesome breakfast ready for us! We were beyond spoiled this trip like we are every visit. It never gets easier leaving my parents house, but knowing that I get to go back home to Dallas with my husband and puppies makes it bearable till the next visit!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Hunter and I have been doing the Complete Transformation for a few weeks now, and this is one of my FAVORITE smoothies! Easy, yummy, and holiday festive!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

What you need:

2-3 bananas (depending on size)

1 cup coconut or almond milk

1/4 cup honey (warmed to pour easily)

1/2 can puréed pumpkin (organic, GMO FREE)

1/2 cup freshly ground flaxseed

1/2 cup finely ground Almonds (OPTIONAL)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (OPTIONAL)

2 scoops Juice Plus+ French Vanilla Complete Plant Based Protein mix

How to make it:

1. If you like your smoothies more "frozen", make sure to take the pumpkin OUT of the can and freeze it ahead of time. Also peel the bananas then freeze them (don't freeze with the peels on, and don't ask how I know this)

2. First blend the bananas, milk, honey, and pumpkin into a smooth purée. (If you add everything at once, the powders don't seen to blend as well)

3.  Add the spices, JP+ complete, and ground flaxseed/almonds and blend well.   I didn't measure the spices precisely, I did it to my preferred taste. Don't hesitate to add more or less of what you like! I added more cinnamon because I love cinnamon flavor!

4. Want to add some fun to your holiday? Blend in some Rum Chata or Bailey's for an extra kick!

5. This mix makes a blender full of smoothies so be ready to share or put in mason jars and freeze for a smoothie to go!

If you are interested in ordering some Juice Plus Complete Plant Based Protein mix for your smoothie, Contact Lauren Jarvis, MOT, OTR or order directly from www.LaurenJarvis.JuicePlus.com

Email: LaurenJarvisForJuicePlus@gmail.com 

Being Grateful

I think you are always reminded of what you are thankful for during Thanksgiving, but this year I felt extra reflective. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer this fall and has been fighting her battle since. We are blessed to have the financial resources and hospital facilities nearby to help her fight and I'm forever thankful for God's blessing in that!

Mom is doing daily radiation treatments until the week before Christmas and has already undergone a successful lumpectomy. Her prognosis is fantastic and she is totally kicking cancer's ass! I'm so proud of her for being brave and tackling her diagnosis head on without any hesitations! 

For thanksgiving everyone always shares what they are grateful for and reflect on the blessings they have been given. This thanksgiving, I was the purest definition of grateful I have ever been. 

Grateful to have a healthy, able body. 

Grateful to have a kind, loving, caring, husband. 

Grateful to have a strong, happy, FUN, faith driven marriage. 

Grateful to have two dogs that completely fill my heart with love. 

Grateful to have a nice, warm home with plenty of meals and cozy blankets for lazy nights.  

Grateful for supportive, positive friends that encourage me to better myself, but love me for who I am.  

Grateful to have a family that loves me and all the craziness that comes with loving me, and does it unconditionally. 

But this thanksgiving, I was most aware of being grateful to have my mom. There are so many cheesy things I could say about how my mom is the best  ever and she is my best friend, all of those would be true, but they don't define why I'm grateful to have her. 

I'm grateful to have a mother that LOVES me. She loves me to the moon an back. Everytime she calls she greats me as "hello Sunshine!!" She will listen to me talk endlessly on the other line of the phone while I talk through my problems, helping me solve it myself so I can learn from it. She is all those awesome things a mom is and more. 

I have a mom that is driven in all that she does by the love of her family. When she got her diagnosis, she didn't question treatment. Letting cancer win wasn't an option for her because she knows that my sister and I NEED her. 

She didn't let fear paralyze her when she had to go in for that extra mammogram when one came back "weird". She didn't think twice when the doctors wanted to do an invasive biopsy. When she got the "Big C" diagnosis on my birthday, she waited to tell me so I could enjoy my fancy date night with my husband. When she told me the next day, she already had an action plan ready. 

Two weeks after her lumpectomy, she was busy tying up lose ends at work and packing so she could meet me in Orlando for a conference and a girls weekend. 

During her first week of radiation, it seemed like everyone around her needed her. She did her treatment quietly and helped everyone else. Now she goes every morning before work for radiation, just like someone stops by Starbucks. 

During my visit she just casually mentioned some side effects she's been having from the radiation but always reminded me she can't complain because what's she's going through is noting compared to what so many women go through. 

I could give more anecdotes about how she is the coolest, the best, or the most fun, but if you re-read what I wrote above, her battle is more than enough to show how much she loves as a mother. She's fighting because I'm worth it to her. She's fighting because she has a husband that would be lost without her. She's fighting because she has a daughter just figuring out motherhood and still needs her guidance.  She's fighting for a lot of people because she loves you and can't let you down. 

This thanksgiving we all got together and ate too much, because we could. God gave us another Thanksgiving as a family so we celebrated. This time though we celebrated a little deeper and a little more lightheartedly. 

Thank you for reading and thank you for the prayers that I hope will follow.  This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for my mom. Simple as that ;-)