A Kraus Family Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving together was just a few months after we were married. We went to Colorado to spend just a few short days with the Kraus family. After two years (switching off with my Nielson family), we went back! That first Thanksgiving together back in 2014 was before we started a blog, so I'll post just a few picture highlights from back then :)

Hiked to the top of Castle Rock in Castle Rock, CO

The farthest our Honda Civic has ever gone on one tank of gas...

16 mile bike ride as soon as we arrived, typical Kraus fam ;)

Took some early Christmas photos in downtown Castle Rock :)

And fast forward to now, we went back to Denver for Thanksgiving with the Krauses again in 2016! This time, I convinced Dustan to skip a couple days of school, so we left the Friday before Thanksgiving and were there for over a week until the following Sunday! It was wonderful.

We arrived just barely 15 minutes after Bryson and Taylor, who are now living in El Paso, Texas while Bryson is in medical school. Sadly, this means we got the small guest bedroom. Only half the family was there the first couple days while Jen, Bryan, and Erin were in Arizona for a cross country race.

Our first day there on Saturday, we did the typical Kraus activities. We went mountain biking, went to Levi's piano recital, played games, and watched a movie. The mountain biking trails still had some snow on them, so it was a very muddy ride--only minimal injuries though!

Awful picture for everyone, haha

Sunday was spent going to 1:00 pm church (the worst), eating, playing games, and watching movies. At around midnight, we left to go to the airport to pick up the rest of the family. It was time to party!

Monday was our first day with the whole family--unfortunately, the kids still had school. We pulled out the youngest, Levi, around lunchtime and did some more mountain biking. (It was supposed to snow on Tuesday, so we wanted to go before the trails were ruined wet again.) We did a 5 mile loop from the house, and I was able to make it to the last 10 yards of the trail before crashing! After a short break for lunch, we drove to a nearby bmx style biking course with jumps and banked turns and rode around there until the high school kids got home and joined us for some indian ball.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent doing some shopping in downtown Castle Rock, and the usual games and movies that the Kraus family loves so much. It had snowed Monday night so the usual mountain biking, outdoor sports, etc. were out for Tuesday. The snow made for perfect hot tubbing on Tuesday night though!

But on Wednesday enough snow had melted, so we again went to a park to play some games, such as football and ultimate frisbee. Afterward, we visited the Red Rocks Amphitheater, which is an outdoor concert area within the Red Rocks Park. It was pretty neat. Bryson and Taylor serenaded us on their guitar and fiddle.

Thanksgiving Day arrived! We spent the morning cooking up all the best dishes: turkey, candied pecan sweet potatoes, raspberry pretzel jello, mashed potatoes, carrot timble, and of course MORE PIE. Everyone in the family weighed themselves before the meal and again afterward to see how much weight they had gained. We sat down for an absolutely delicious meal around 3 pm (the Krauses like to eat early) before weighing ourselves again. Dustan gained 4 pounds and I gained 2.8 pounds, haha. We spent the rest of the day fat and happy, watching movies, playing games, and eating pie.

Most of Friday was spent at the Epic Sky Trek Challenge in Castle Rock. If the workers are to be believed, this is the largest ropes course in the world! It has over 110 different challenges and obstacles. Aside from losing feeling in my hands and scraping off the skin on a few fingers, it was a blast! There were different levels of courses, rated similar to biking or skiing, with green, blue, and black courses. Everyone tried a few each. That evening we played more games and watched the 5k episode of The Office in preparation for Saturday morning.

Saturday was our last full day :( That morning, we participated in the Stake 5k Turkey Trot. Honestly, I don't think anyone in the family was looking forward to it (except maybe Bryant and Erin, since they just finished their cross country season), but we all participated! Dustan and I had been doing no training for this whatsoever, and we definitely aren't runners. A 5k was much farther than anything we had just run in a while (since we've been married). Dustan had the goal to never walk and my goal was to actually finish the race without walking a majority of it, haha. Dustan did great, completing the race in 24:51 minutes, which is an 8 minute mile pace. Thankfully, Jen and Paul ran with me and kept me going, or I don't know if I would have finished! I completed my first 5k in 34:29 minutes, which is about an 11:06 minute mile pace. We both met our goals!

Just before sunset on Saturday, we got all dressed up and took some family pictures. It was absolutely freezing, especially once the sun went down. But they turned out great! Only a few tears were shed, which is apparently a new record for the Krauses during family pictures ;) The rest of the day was spend vegging out, watching movies, and playing games.

On Sunday, we went to church, ate some lunch, packed the car, and we were off! We were really so blessed to have been able to spend a whole week in Denver with family. They were so good to Dustan and I--feeding us, housing us, taking us on adventures, and serving us. We are very thankful for them, and to have them living so close that we can travel there for a short week!

Whole30

Over the past year or so, I have been feeling really dissatisfied about our health, especially my own. First and foremost, our eating habits were horrendous. We began limiting our eating out budget at the beginning of 2016, which was beneficial. But we were eating large desserts (like ice cream with a side of popcorn and soda) many times a week. We did not have a good balance of fruits and veggies compared to carbs. My portion sizes were much larger than they needed to be. In addition to this, we were not very consistent in exercising--Dustan did more through all the sports teams he participates on and through biking to school and work. Neither of us were at our healthiest, and I had gained more weight than I would like to admit since our wedding.

When I first began realizing that something needed to change, some friends tried out Whole30. After some research and discussions with Dustan, I decided that this was something that I wanted to try--not as a permanent lifestyle change, but just to help jumpstart new, more healthy habits.

For those of you that don't know what Whole30 is, the website can tell you all! But basically, it is a diet that has you abstain from added sugars, grains, alcohol, legumes, and dairy for 30 days. Does that sound crazy? Because yes, it was crazy. And one other caveat--no weighing yourself for the duration!

We started the Whole30 near the end of September and continued through mid-October. And yes, we finished! And yes, it was REALLY HARD. I obsessed with meal planning those 30 days. If I didn't plan, there was nothing really substantial that we could just eat on the fly. Try making a quick and mildly good tasting meal using basically only protein, vegetables, or fruits.

But anyway. Here is just a brief summary on how Dustan and I felt throughout the 30 days. The first week for me was actually easier than the rest of the time, probably just because of the novelty of the program. Our fridge was stocked and I was trying out some new recipes and we were eating good sized portions. The second week was similar to the first, though I had a few more cravings--and not my usual chocolate cravings, but for any regular foods. That second week, I was also shocked at how quickly our groceries ran out. The third week, we really started getting sick of the foods we were eating. There just wasn't a ton of variety. But by then, we were already halfway through, so we were committed! The last week was actually the hardest, I think. On the Whole30 website, they provide and timeline that they think people follow during the diet. That last week they described how people would panic about what they would eat once they finished the diet. We did not have that problem! The cravings were the worst during that last week. I thought about food constantly, and all the things I wanted to eat once we finished.

But even with many negatives that we seemed to feel during the diet, I really do have some positives to list. (I didn't notice many of the positives until once we started eating normally again though, haha.) So, here are some thoughts, realizations, and impacts from each of us!

Ellen:

• Fell asleep faster and didn't wake up as much
• Lost 11 pounds
• Clearer skin
• Pants are looser
• At first, had a hard time getting satisfied/full
• Felt satisfied on less food by the end
• Same amount of energy
• After finishing the diet, would feel sick after eating others foods
• This diet is expensive!

In general, I thought that Whole30 is a great way for people (like me) to realize how unhealthily we are eating and what impact that can have. I don't want to live on protein, vegetables, and fruit. I think there is good in others foods, and that I need to treat myself sometimes. I am hoping to incorporate more Whole30 recipes into our regular meals.

Dustan:

• Never felt really satisfied/full after a meal
• Lost 11 pounds
• Hungry much quicker
• Could see his abs better ;)
• Same amount of energy

After finishing, Dustan wanted to note that limiting sugars is really important, which is one of the rules of Whole30. But Dustan doesn't agree that grains should be limited (they are the bottom of the food pyramid!), but there are healthier grain choices. He is also willing to try and be more healthy, especially after finishing this experience.

We have set some new goals for ourselves on how often we will be exercising, eating treats, etc. Hopefully, we can get our health back on track with less extreme action!