retraction. an opinionated one.

Okay guys, my posts aren't usually littered with my opinions like this because I don't like confrontation much... but here I go anyway...

I need to retract my excitement about the trending "free" Get Fit & Stay Fit program from Oats & Honey that has been floating around instagram recently.

I probably only have a beef about this program because I got my bachelors degree in Exercise & Wellness with a minor in Nutrition. So like I kinda know what's up. I mean I'm a little rusty... but when you study something for so many years you kind of get to at least state your opinion, right? Anyhow... I totally fell for this program. And I shouldn't have because I know better! So I feel stupid. I don't want others to feel the same way.

That being said, here's my two cents.

My initial impression of this program was that it was going to be a do-able and flexible program that would fit into anyone's lifestyle... from women working full time to women homemaking with kids. I don't know where I got this impression. But I did. Turns out the program is actually pretty strict and not what I had in mind at all.

If you've signed up for this program then you probably know what it entails.

I can confidently say that you do not have to take supplements, use protein powder, and detox your body to live a healthy lifestyle. Can these things be helpful? Yes, sometimes. Are they necessary and should they be highly recommended? No. There is so much more to living healthy and well... it's all about variation and moderation! Not to mention the other contributing areas of wellness outside of physical wellness (emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, mental, and so forth).

I also found a few controversial blips on the Oats & Honey website that aren't quite connecting the dots for me. My comments are in red.

Here's their mission statement:

          I run across so many women every day that have low self-esteem and poor self-image (probably from reading too many fitness magazines and wishing their body was like the photo-shopped body on the cover... foreshadowing). They struggle with their weight and there (typo #1) health but have no idea what to do or how to go about making a change for the better. It saddens me to see this, to see so many women who have the potential to be incredible but don’t have the tools or the “know how”. I have watched this over the past 5 or 6 years and realized what the problem is. Our society today teaches that everything is a quick fix, a single pill (multiple supplements are recommended on the website), quick diets (12 weeks isn't quick?), and instant results. Everything is fast and at the tip of our fingers, internet, cell phones, fast food etc. In regard to health there is always a new “Fad diet” that everyone wants to try, Atkins diet, Paleo diet, Pill soak diet and the Raw food Diet just to name a few. They all guarantee an instant fix to your weight problems. 
          Now the big secret….. are you ready…. To achieve excellent health and an overall healthy looking physique the answer will NEVER come in a box, it will never come in a shake form (just in the whey protein drink recommended on the website), it will never be in a diet that states “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days” (but 12 weeks, it will?) and it will never be an instant fix. The KEY to optimum health is consistent hard work, healthy eating for more than 30 days, and a true and honest change in your lifestyle (this sentence I absolutely agree with). A change in what you buy at the grocery store and how you cook. The choice to drive past the fast food restaurants and go home to make a chicken Salad with fresh REAL food. Most importantly a change in mindset that the “Fad Diet” or “what’s popular” is almost always a scam that will not acheive (typo #2) long term life changing results. Together we will re-educate ourselves about what being healthy REALLY means. That is the first step! (most of this paragraph was spot on)
          My goal is to educate and teach women across the world. To help them understand how to take care of their bodies and there (typo #3) mind so they can feel good about themselves on the inside and the out! Everyone woman deserves the chance to have that incredible body we all see on the magazines (WHAT?? are you kidding me?? I just... can't say anything nice about this.). It CAN be done, all you need to do is take that FIRST step. I am here to start that journey with you and will be with you every step of the way!

Am I just being mean or is anyone else seeing the issues here?

I am sure that the individuals running this program have good intentions. K, maybe they just want to make a buck. But I'm going to just say that their intentions are good. And I totally appreciate that. I would also love to help women around the world become healthier. But I wouldn't do it the same way that Oats & Honey is.

Well... now that I've been a jerk and torn up this program I'm going to go work on a post about what you should be doing to live a healthy lifestyle. Things like learning to love the body that you do have, having a diet full of variation and moderation, and finding active hobbies to strengthen your body. 

... and I'm all paranoid that I have a typo.

a year ago today...

Of all of those things that could have happened, it's hard to believe that a year ago today we loaded up our moving truck and moved across the country.

It was such a hard thing to do. Yet here we are, already a year later... and to our surprise, totally loving Provo.

The other day I was thinking about the future and where in the world our family might settle down. In that moment I saw our family living in Utah Valley. Something that I never thought I'd be okay with. But we've really grown to love the area this time around.

After leaving Mount Horeb I seriously did not think I could love anywhere as much as I loved that adorable little village and the amazing people that lived there.

Tonight we even got to go see a bunch of our Wisconsin friends...

This is maybe a third of everyone there.

Truly, everyone out in Wisconsin was amazing. We were so lucky to get to spend a few years with them.

I don't even want to start thinking about moving again in less than a year.

Here's what I wrote last summer when we were about move...

"In less that ten days we will be all packed up and well on our way to Utah. Going in the opposite direction of so many things that I have come to love dearly... yet heading straight for so many people and familiar places that I also love and am excited to be close to for a couple of years. Fortunately we've had a lot of really fun things to keep us busy this summer so we haven't had to dwell too much on the fact that we'll be peacing out soon. Unfortunately our last "fun thing" (also known as Auntie Callie- thank you thank you thank you for coming to see us!) left yesterday so it's go time. Time to really pack. Time to really start thinking about saying good bye."

... I have a feeling that come next summer we'll be feeling the same way about leaving Provo. Except that as of now we have no idea where we'll be headed.

Anyway... here's to good people all around the country. How blessed we are to have been able to mingle with the elite of them these last few years.

sometimes the coolest things happen.

Being in the MBA program has brought so many unexpected blessings into our lives. While deciding where we wanted to attend grad school we had the stereotypical -though extremely effective- list of pros and cons. Little did we know that in coming to BYU our "pro" list would get exponentially longer and our "con" list would practically disappear.

Of all of these surprise major pros blessings of coming to BYU, my favorite has been getting to associate with some seriously awesome families.

One of these families is the Scotts. They've been living around these parts for a while now and know all of the ins and outs of Provo. They also contribute a ton to their community. #provorocks

A huge contribution that Brittany Scott has made started ~5 years ago. Her and a handful of other local artists started a monthly forum of sorts called Creative Collaborative. Reason number one (of like a million) as to why she's one of these awesome people that I mentioned. At these Creative Collaborative meetings the speakers (usually other successful local artists and entrepreneurs) share their story as well as little entrepreneurial wisdom nuggets with those in attendance.

Last night's collab featured Elle and Jared Rowley from Solly Baby.

They started in Salt Lake City in 2011 and have since found great success in their business of designing and selling fashionable, light-weight wraps for all of us baby wearing mommas (as modeled by Brittany so perfectly in the photo above).

I was soothing my baby in the back and wasn't able to write anything down but I was seriously inspired by what they shared with us. The collab was videotaped so hopefully I'll be able to add a link for that soon.

Anyhow.

My absolute favorite was when they talked about balancing their business with their family life. Elle said that the whole reason of starting Solly Baby was so she could eventually delegate most of her responsibilities and instead get to spend more time with her three kids.

This was so incredibly refreshing to hear! Over the last year I have been to so many events where I just could not connect with the speakers. They were mostly all power houses that didn't live the lifestyle that I want to live. The lifestyle of climbing the business ladder while simultaneously being a homemaker. Really that's the main reason by being a mother and a business women totally turns me off. It's just not my thing. Too hectic. I already make things hectic enough! Anyway, to each his own. So... hearing a women that is very successful say she didn't want to be over run by work was so nice to hear.

On that note, before the meeting even started Elle and Jared sat down next to me and chatted with me about my boys and how great it was that I was in the homemaking stage of my life. (p.s. auto correct changed homemaking to hibernating. Bahaha.) These guys seriously won me over 100%. Not only do they sell a product that I want to "someday" own (foreshadowing!) but they totally get it! They live their business model and are such genuine and kind people.

Their philosophy from the Solly Baby website:

One, we believe our wraps bring you closer to your little one, physically and emotionally, while simultaneously giving you the freedom and comfort to take on daily life. Secondly, we believe that taking on the role of mother or father does not replace you as an individual, it simply adds to it. Our wraps reflect your personal aesthetic, seamlessly and luxuriously integrating all of the benefits of babywearing and the beauty of still being YOU.

At the end of the night they gave away a Solly Baby bundle to a member of the audience and guess who won?? It was me! Can you even believe it?? I was so excited and my hands wouldn't stop shaking... I could hardly type my email address into her phone haha.

Anyhow. These guys are bomb and I can't wait to use their products. I had to stop wearing Mr. Calvin once the weather heated up because we were both sweating like toaster cheesers while use my other wrap. And I really miss those baby cuddles and the convenience baby wearing provides. Needless to say I'm pretty pumped to have a Solly wrap of my own. (:

Thank you again and again to Elle and Jared for your kind and inspiring words as well as your generosity. I truly left the collab last night feeling so refreshed and inspired to be better. Not in an "I'm not good enough" way but in a confident "there's more that I can do" way.

family picture overload.

On the morning of the previously mentioned mission farewell/baby blessing day we had a local photographer come take a few quick pictures of our family before Hermana Barfuss peaced out on us for 18 months. Here are some of my favorites...

Didn't she do such a great job??

You can see more of her beautiful photography and check out her family's adventures at The Bell Buzz.

for this child we prayed

You guys, I cannot get out of this blogging slump! Writer's block to the max. Maybe it's because I'm hungry. I'mma go eat some lunch.

Okay. Let's do this...

We'll make things easy and finish up a post that I meant to post over a month ago... so...

Last Many Sunday(s ago) we had the opportunity to bless our baby Calvin while we were visiting my family for my sister's mission farewell. If you're not familiar with the traditions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints then that first sentence was probably pretty loaded.

What is a baby blessing?

In the church we give infants a name and a blessing. It's not a saving ordinance like baptism or receiving your endowments but it's a nice way to name your infant for the records of the church and give him or her a blessing.

What is a mission farewell?

Worthy and prepared young men and young women can submit their "papers" to be assigned to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the earth. The assignments are made by the leaders of the church. My sister has been assigned to served in the California, San Fernando mission speaking Spanish. Before missionaries leave on their 18 month-24 month missions they give their "mission farewell" to their ward (congregation). This farewell is basically a short sermon consisting of the missinary-to-be's testimony and their thoughts and feelings about leaving on a mission.

So.

My little sister gave her farewell in May and since lots of family would be attending we decided to do Calvin's baby blessing on the same day.

It worked out great and it was a beautiful day with lots of wonderful family.

And Todd gave Calvin a beautiful blessing. To be mindful of others and full of service. Our little guys really are so lucky to have such a great daddy to look up to.

Getting little Calvin Scott here took much longer than anticipated. Now that he has finally made it we couldn't be happier. He's the sweetest little ball of perfect baby. Seriously. I could... no, I do kiss on him all day and adore his little turned up nose and his strawberry blonde cul-de-sac hair. He's simply the most precious baby ever. I can't efficiently express my gratitude that the Lord answered our many prayers and blessed us with such a beautiful baby boy.

"For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him."

1 Samuel 1:27