the birthdays

William and I had a pretty good Birthday.

I treated myself to a tortuous 14 mile run outside.  I ended up leaving later than I thought, and the heat almost killed me.  It was nice though, to help me still feel young enough and fit enough, to just go out and run 14 miles the day I turned 36. haha!

Mary was kind enough to make a pancake breakfast for everyone.  William loves pancakes, that is his favorite breakfast.

We all went out for snow cones when I got back from my run, and William opened his huge bow and arrow gift from the family.  He then played with his best friend.

I taught piano lessons and celebrated William.

That evening, I went to home depot and bought stuff to build our mound with.  I REALLY wanted to get that done for my Birthday. 

While I was there, Ben took William to the store to pick out his new bike.  William was so excited!

William had his donut cake, and I had cheesecake that evening.  Ben surprised me with the cement that night, and told me it would be done the next day.  It rendered me speechless. haha!

We sang, blew out candles, and wrapped up the day.

Overall, I hope it was a wonderful day for William.  He had his party earlier in the week, but I did my best to help him feel like the actual Birthday was special, unique, fun, and all about him.

I love my big buddy so much!

Fun facts about William:
He is a great friend, and has TONS of really good buddies in the neighborhood.
His best friend is Tyson Muhlestein and Stockton Paige
He loves to ride his bike, ride his motor scooter and play on his kindle
He is willing to try ANY new sport.  He loves sports and has a desire to try them all.  He is particularly good at wrestling and soccer at the moment.
His favorite color is blue and orange
His favorite food is pizza..without the cheese.  So, basically bread and pizza sauce..hahah!
He has the best laugh in the world. It is straight from the belly and is totally contagious.
He is a twinkle in his eyes when he smiles.
He is a happy kid.
He is our best reader so far.
He is very curious and asks lots of questions all the time.
He really, really loves Charlie, and he cries whenever we have to put Charlie in his crate our outside and Charlie whines. 
He has a HUGE heart and big feelings.
He is always warm, and is the best to cuddle with.

Happy Birthday William!  Love you to the moon and back!

mothers day

Mothers Day weekend was a good one.

Saturday was Sam's last soccer game with this team.  The weather was CRAZY!!  Right as the game was supposed to start, there was a huge downpour with thunder and lightening, so they postponed the game.  Once that storm passed, they started the game, but it began to hail like crazy, so the stopped the game until that storm passed.  Once they resumed again, the wind was nuts, but they kept playing through it.

The weather was so bad, that I was the only one that went to the game.  I was an idiot, and I was just wearing my gym clothes, because I had just finished working out.  I FROZE!!!

The game was good, and Sam had a great season.  He loved this team, and I feel like he learned a lot.  I noticed that Sam has become  much better with his foot work, and his confidence in taking shots at the goal has increased too. 

I am excited to see him continue on.

One last STORM cheer.

The rest of Saturday was spent cleaning, training the dog, and trying to entertain kids who were cooped up due to the weather.

Sunday, Mother's Day was a good day.  The kids gave me really cute homemade cards, and gifts they made in school.  The weather finally cleared up and the sun came out, which was a huge deal to me.  I really need the sun.
We decided to get everyone, including the dog, outside.  We went to the park.
While we were at the park, Sam asked me if I wanted to race him.  Somehow I had energy to spare, so I agreed.  I wasn't sure I could beat him, but I thought there was a good chance I could.  I run almost every day after all.

Once the kids heard that I was going to race Sam, they all wanted to race me.  We decided to have a family race.  Ben would be the finish line.  I figured Mary was the only one that would most likely beat me.

Well, we did the race and Sam and Mary completely smoked me....by a LONG way!  They blasted past me and got way ahead.  I didn't have a prayer!  I couldn't believe it.

To make matters even more crazy, William also beat me.  Yup, my 7 year old.  For real.  I did not go easy on them at all.

I was so astonished by how badly I was beaten, that I called for a re-match.  That one was only worse. 

I am not a competitive person, with other people, so I wasn't bothered, but I was definitely shocked.  It was actually hilarious!

That is me, way, way back there in the blue sweater, running my absolute fastest.  And that would be Mary and Sam, absolutely trashing me.  haha!!!  William wasn't in this particular race, but he beat me every single time.

It was really fun to play with my kids and to be together as a family.  We all had a good time.  One the walk home, William walked up to me and said, "it's ok mom, maybe when you're older, like 90 or something, you will beat me."
Thanks William.

Church was great.  Mary was asked to speak in Relief Society about women in her life who have been Tender. 
She wrote the talk herself, and she wrote all about me.  It was very touching and very sweet.  I kept the talk.  It was so special.
 We had a yummy dinner after church, and Mary and her friends worked really hard the day before to make cake pops (my favorite dessert) for me.  They were so yummy!

We hung out after dinner.  We did some push up contests, sit up contests, and talked about each child and their special story of coming in to our family.

It was such a great day.

I am so blessed with my beautiful children, and to be a mother to them.

Being a mother is my greatest treasure and gift.

im a gym spectical

I had quite the interesting week at the gym this past week.

On Monday, I decided to try out a new water bottle.  It has a straw built into it, and a spout that flips up.  Half way through my run, I was tiring out, so I decided to mix up some zip fizz in my water bottle.  I went over to the drinking fountain, poured in my zip fizz, added water, shook it all up, and placed in in the cup holder on my treadmill.

I ran another mile, and then decided to get a drink.  I waited that mile, because zip fizz is very fizzy...hence the name.  I wanted to give it time to die down a little, so it wouldn't be so bubbly in my stomach.

I stopped running, grabbed my water bottle, tilted my head back, opened my mouth, and flipped the spout open.

It was basically like a massive geyser of zip fizz went off.  I guess you could describe it as shaking up a can of soda and the opening it...times 10.  Zip Fizz came spraying out of the spout so fast and so hard that I shrieked.  It was spraying all over my face, my hair and my clothes, and it wouldn't stop spraying.  I didn't know what to do, so I turned the water bottle away from me, and it continued to spray all over the treadmill and the girl next to me.  She started screaming, so I ran my water bottle...still spraying everywhere, over to the garbage and let it continue spraying in there.

Pretty much everyone in that area of the gym was completely undone, they were laughing so hard.  It was a sight to behold.  I was drenched, and literally dripping zipfizz off my face and hair, the treadmill was dripping, there was a trail of zipfizz leading to the drinking fountain, and my ENTIRE water bottle had emptied out everywhere.  Somehow the straw, the spout and the fizz acted like a syphon.  It was unreal.

I have been going to this gym for 5 years now, so most of the people there are good friends of mine.  Luckily, I was not embarrassed, but it was unbelievable!  A couple of my friends were laughing so hard that they could not even talk.   Pretty much everyone there that morning was laughing or kindly teasing me about it the rest of the time I was there.  It didn't help that my shoes were squeaking on the treadmill the rest of my run, because they were sticky and the tread was sticky and damp. I joined right in the laughter.  I can't imagine what that must have looked like.  It would have been hilarious!

I spent the next little while washing my face and hair, drying out my clothes, and cleaning off the treadmill.  The entire time, I was laughing along with everyone else.  A lot of people offered to help clean the mess. 

Oh man...it was pretty epic.


During all of the mayhem, I didn't think to take a picture.  I finally thought about it once the mess was pretty much all cleaned up.  The only thing left to clean was part of the tread on the treadmill.  This is probably 1/10 of the mess I made.

On Saturday, 5 days after the zip fizz incident, I went in to do cryotherapy after my workout.  The gym was pretty busy, and again, a lot of my friends were there.  I was done with the cryo "freeze" part, and I was lying back in the chair with the "boots" on.  I have posted a picture of them on here before.  They are black boots that zip up from my toes to my hips.  They hook to a machine that forces them to massage my legs by filling with air and squeezing them in different spots.  I LOVE the boots.  They are like a deep massage that works out all of the lactic acid and fatigue in my legs.  I am usually in them for about 25 minutes.

There was a guy next to me, also in the boots.  He had headphones on, and was completely relaxed, eyes closed, enjoying the massage.  There was also a person in the cryo tank on the other side of the wall from where I was.  Aside from us three, the two people that work there were also in the room.

The cryo room is in the gym.  It is just separated by a glass door and a wall. 

I was all settled in the boots, getting relaxed and closing my eyes, when BAM!!!!  It seriously sounded like a bomb went off, and my right leg immediately felt cold and free.  The noise was so loud that the guy snoozing next to me flew out of his chair, boots and all.  The two workers ducked and frantically looked around, the guy in the cryo tank yelled, (poor guy was naked, freezing and helpless) and people out in the gym either duked, yelled, or looked over to where I was.

Yup, it was me again.  Right in the middle of it all.  The boot on my right let, had just blown up...literally!  It blew off my leg and into the wall next to me.  The material of the boot is very, very heavy and strong, so the force to blow that up had to be incredible.  I had no idea what had just happened, but I was scared to death to look at my leg.  I thought that maybe it had blown off, but I felt no pain at all.  I finally glanced down, and my leg was still there and perfectly fine.  Once I realized I was ok, I just began laughing.  People were completely freaked out.  It truly sounded like a bomb went of in the gym.  The employees at the cryotherapy, who are also my friends, were horrified that I had been seriously injured, but I assured them that I was fine.  People were running into the room asking what happened...and there I sat.  One boot on, the other boot across the room.  I just waved.  Yup, it's me again.

This one took a little longer for people to laugh about, but once they did, it didn't stop.  It was too scary at first, but once we all figured out that everything was ok, and we started re-living everyone's reactions, it was hilarious!

I guess in all of my time at the gym, things are bound to happen.  Apparently, this was my week.

seattle

A few weeks ago, My mom, Kelsey, Mary and I had our first ever girls trip!!  It was so much fun it was ridiculous!

My mom, Mary and I flew to Seattle, where Kelsey picked us up at the airport.  She had the cutest little basket in her car set up for us.  It had treats, chocolates and matching bracelets in it for each of us.  How cool is that!

We grabbed lunch and drove straight to Leavenworth.  It was a good 2.5 hour drive, but TOTALLY worth it.  I have never seen such a magical town in my life.  It was unbelievable!  I felt like I was inside a snow globe.  To top it off, it was lightly snowing the whole time we were there.  Everything has a Swiss feel to it, and EVERYTHING has lights.  It felt like a whole different world!  The shops are adorable, the town is adorable, and everything is magical.  We had a blast there.

We drove back to our Hotel after that, and ate ourselves silly and crashed.  The hotel was awesome too!  The theme of the hotel was pineapple, and the décor was so cute, bright, and fun.  The blankets on the beds were the best I have ever felt.  We all snuggled into the beds and vowed to never get out.  We fell asleep watching Hallmark Christmas movies and eating chocolate.

The next morning we ate at this cute little breakfast café; in down town Seattle.  It was old, quaint, and perfect. It was so freaking good!  Best crepes ever!!

 

nutella hot chocolate, with a cute little leaf design in the cream

After breakfast, we headed to the Space Needle.  It was so cool to be able to look at Seattle from being up above it all.  It was absolutely freezing, but totally worth it. It is gorgeous City.

 

 

 

After the space needle, we headed to my Pikes Street Market.  I immediately fell in love with this place too.  WOW!  Best fruit, calamari, flowers, market, EVER!  It was so much fun.  We even visited the gum wall.  So gross, but cool at the same time.

Home of the best cheese curds and tomato soup ever!!!

 

Pikes Market was so fun.  We shopped, ate, watched the dudes throw fish, put gum on the gum wall, and ate the best fruit we have ever had.  It was so cool.

After the market, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Nutcracker.

The Nutcracker was put on by a Professional Ballet Company, right in downtown Seattle.  I have never, ever, seen anything like it.  The costumes, the set, the live orchestra, the beyond talented dancers.  It was unreal.  Truly unreal.  We all had our jaws on the floor the whole time.  It was so cool!!!

My mom surprised us with bracelets too!  They were the same brand that Kelsey got for us!  How cool is that! 

We crashed that night after the nutcracker.

The next morning, we rode bikes to breakfast.  It was so fun!  It finally stopped raining, so it was perfect.  Riding Pineapple bikes through Seattle to breakfast...doesn't get much better than that.  Except for a little incident, where my mom fell.  :(

A big reason we did this trip, was to celebrate Mary's 13th Birthday.  Yup, she will officially be a teenager next week!
She was so much fun on this trip.  I love her fun-loving personality.  She kept us laughing and on our toes the whole trip. I am so glad I have such a great kid to share trips and experiences like this with. 

In the elevator

After Breakfast, we headed to the airport, and made our way home.

It was definitely a trip none of us will forget.  It was special and fun and magical in so many ways.  I am hoping that it will be the first of many Belnap girls trips to come.
Happy Birthday Mary girl!

haunted half 2017

About three weeks after the St. George Marathon was the Haunted Half-Provo.  I had previously registered to run it with Chelsea Riddle (my marathon running buddy), Becky Phillips and Shauna Goates.

I had taken quite a break from running, in order to heal up after the marathon, so I was a little nervous about being able to race 13.2 miles.

The Haunted Half ended up being a blast!  We all just took it easy.  We didn't worry about time, we didn't listen to music, we didn't stress at all.  We just ran, talked and had a good time.  It was perfect for a post marathon race.

The distance was just the right amount as well.  It definitely pushed me, but it didn't kill me.  When we crossed the finish line, I was completely spent, but felt great!

Again, I had completed a race with no stomach issues, no hip issues, and no IT band issues.  It was so awesome to be able to run two races in a row feeling so great!  It is always really fun to run with friends too.  It was the perfect combination.

It is a costume race, but none of us can handle running with loads of stuff on us, so we all bought Superwoman socks with capes, they were also compression socks.  Win, win!

The course was gorgeous, and the day was sunny, and beautiful.  We ran a trail that followed the Provo river.  We ran past waterfalls, under trees that were bright yellow and red, through parks with flowing streams, and we always had the huge majestic mountains right over us.  It was an amazing course.

rock the socks

freezing our butts off at the starting line...no joke.  It took about 4 miles of running before I could feel my fingers or my toes again.

Shauna Goates, Becky Phillips, yours truly and Chelsea Riddle.  Very fun running crew! 

Haunted Half Provo...you rock!

See you next year for sure!

presidents club 2017-arizona

Presidents Club this year was at a resort in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Ben made Diamond Level...which is amazing...so we got an extra day!

My mom came to our house to watch the kids for us.  She is such a lifesaver.  The kids had a great time with her, and it is so much easier to relax and enjoy a trip, when we know our kids are in good hands.

Honestly, we didn't really do much, and it was exactly what we wanted.

It was so flipping hot, that even sitting in the shade by the pool was uncomfortable.  We spent time in our room reading, watching TV, and taking naps.  We met up with some of Ben's team members throughout the trip and ate with them and hung out.

We worked out as well.  I had a 13.2 mile run to do, for my training, so I did that one morning while Ben was at a meeting.  I did it in the gym they had there, but I seriously thought I was going to die of heat stroke!  I sweated through my tank and my shorts...completely!  Not kidding.  It was insane!  The gym had no air flow at all, and the heat from the outside somehow felt like it was seeping in.  I got it done though, and it was a work out that I was very proud of completing.

On Friday night, we met up with Ben's friend Shem and his wife.  They took us to a place called Coconuts.  They are known for their fish tacos.  I was not thrilled to go there, it sounded gross to me, but holy moly...it was soooo good!  I could eat there every night!  It was great food.  It was fun to see Ben catch up with an old buddy, and his wife was fun to talk to also.

We got to go to the fancy recognition dinner on Saturday night.  It is always fun to dress up, and eat with friends.  The best part though, is that Ben gets recognized for all of his hard work.  I am so proud of him. 

They normally don't announce where President's club will be until January or February, but this year, they announced it at the dinner.  It is going to be at an amazing resort in Florida next year!!!  Right by the ocean.  There will be beaches, ocean, pools, and the place looks unbelievable!  It got everyone really excited to work hard to make it there next year. 

It was a great trip, and just what was needed for us to recharge after summer, and build up our energy for a very busy fall. It is great to have a get away with Ben.

Ben works very hard for our family, and he is great at what he does.  I never take these trips for granted, and I am so grateful for all that he does for us every day.

President's club rocks!

our birthday

As with every year around our Birthday, I give William the option of celebrating together on the same day, June 4th, or to have his own day, on June 3rd.

Of course, he loves the idea of having his Birthday one day sooner, so again, he choose June 3rd.  It actually worked out perfectly, because that was a Saturday, so we were able to do a party with all of his friends!

William has been so excited for his Birthday, and he has been begging for a motor scooter.  That is the only thing he wanted, and he REALLY wanted it.  Ben and I did a pretty good job of making sure he understood that it might not happen, even after we bought it.  :)  Makes it more exciting when it does happen...right??

Saturday morning, we all gave William good morning Birthday hugs and then we headed to Sundance to watch Ben do a bike race.  We went to the wrong finish line, so we missed seeing Ben come down the mountain, but we did catch up to him eventually.  He had a great race, and came in 2nd place!  He only missed 1st place by 1 second.  Pretty awesome!  He has been working really hard this season at endure racing as well as downhill.  Looks like it is paying off.

When we all got back home, William could wait no longer, so he finally got to open his present, a motor scooter! 

Soon after, all of his buddies came over for his party.  They played water kick ball, did a piñata, played water games, ate donuts (William's choice for his cake this year), and had a great time! 

top: Stockton Page, Deakin Case, Sam Welch, Tyson Muhlestein, William, Ryker Anderson, Logan Weeks
Bottom: Sam, Luke, Hudson Riddle

 After the party was over, William played with his new toys, we ate pizza, and just hung out as a family celebrating William.

William is a great kid.  He is very snuggly and warm.  He gives awesome hugs, and he loves to cuddle and have his legs rubbed.  William is very athletic.  He is powerful and coordinated, and he is a smart athlete.  William has a very tender heart, and often tells me I am beautiful, that he loves me, and other sweet comments.  He loves to wrestle and play very rough.  He has a laugh that comes straight from the belly.  You can't help but laugh when he laughs.  He lost three teeth this past week, so his smile is adorable!
William just finished 1st grade in the dual immersion program with Mrs. Bingham and Blanca ??
He loves to read and is a smart kid.
We love William with all of our hearts.  He is a big part of our family, and his big smile with his twinkly eyes melts our hearts.

Happy Birthday William!

The following day, on our real Birthday, we gave William a huge balloon boquet with a bucket of his favorite treats under it.

I woke up to cute cards from Ben and all of the kids.  We went to church where lots of friends wished us a happy Birthday, and we came home to a steak dinner, with the best cake I have ever had in my life for dessert.

It was a great Birthday for us.  I love sharing such a special day with such a special person.

me: 35  William 7
Happy Birthday to us

good eats

I have been doing my low carb lifestyle now for about 4 1/2 months.  I have loved how it has changed my body, my energy, my overall feeling of health, and my confidence.

I don't completely cut out carbs, or any other food/nutrient group, but I just eat really low carb.
My body responds really well to it, and I can feel it.

The past few weeks though, I been getting crazy bored with the same ol' foods.

I eat loads and loads of

Every morning for breakfast, it is always 3 eggs, lots of cheese, and once a week I will add bacon or sausage.

Breakfast, I really don't mind. Pretty dang good, filling, lots of protein, and zero carbs.

Lunch is always chocolate Shakeology, with lots of Adams Natural Peanut Butter, one banana, and ice and water. This will never, ever get old.  I crave it every single day.

I don't usually need snacks anymore. If I go into ketosis, where I really restrict carbs, I feel full a lot of the time.

When I do snack though... it is peanut butter bites, string cheese, almonds, olives, cucumbers and ranch, or a pepperoni stick.  Nothing too snazzy, but it does the trick.

Dinner is where things are getting frustrating for me.  I am getting so sick of meat and cheese.  I don't crave breads or pastas anymore, but I am just bored.  I make my family the dinners I have always made, and I pick out what I can eat, but I am just so ready for a full meal that I can stuff in my face.

So....I ordered a few books, and BAM...the past few days for my taste buds have rocked!!!

yes, the one on the left is Atkins...no, I don't follow the Atkins diet...but I eat very similar foods to those who do.

First up was this..

I have seen a ton of recipes with zucchini noodles instead of regular pasta, but it sounds so disgusting to me.  I have never liked zuchinni plain, or squash.  Zuchinni bread on the other hand....
My boredom got the best of me, and I decided to try it.

Lucky for me, our local grocery store sells these.


LOVE the name!  Fresh cut squash and zucchini noodles.

I was all set to buy a vegetable noodle maker, but lo and behold, I walk in the store, and this greets me.  SCORE!  It was meant to be I guess. :)

I made it last night, took one bite, ( I admit, I grimaced) and literally just started beaming!  It was so flippin' good!  Seriously!  It tasted exactly like Fettuccini Alfredo.  I used these noodles, a little heavy cream (zero carbs), a tiny spoonful of cream cheese (no carbs), loads of garlic, and lots of other seasonings, and that was it.

It was insanely good!  And to test it to make sure it wasn't just good to me, and my palate that is not used to sweet things anymore and kind of weird now according to my family, I gave a bite to Molly.
Hey, she was asking.

It turned into a war over who could eat more.  She gobbled it up so fast! 
YES!!!!!

This recipe gave me so much excitement, that I spent the next day looking through the cookbooks whenever I got a chance.  I came home from the grocery store today with all sorts of stuff that I would never have dreamed would be in my pantry.

Over half of it, I didn't even know what it was, and had to google pictures of it just to find it in the store!

Almond flour meal...what the?

 OK, see that xanthan gum crap there to the left of the Almost Flour Meal.  Exactly...what the what is Zanthan gum.  I went to THREE stores looking for it, without knowing where to look or what to look for.  Seriously, this stuff was impossible to find.  And what the freak is it anyway.  The name sounds pretty freaky to me.  But hey, I am supposed to cook with it, and it is supposed to keep all this healthy stuff sticking together, so whatev.

milk that tastes like dirt... and my life saver,  Heavy Cream.

yes, I know what this is.  Just don't ever use it.  Looks like I will be now.



I know what this is too...and I use it in everything! It got it's picture here because I like it, a lot.

I cannot wait to mix all of these crazy random ingredients together, along with this stuff, and actually bring pancakes back into my life again....for only 3 carbs per pancake!!!
I am just praying it doesn't taste like cement and cardboard with sugar free jam on top.

lots of this will be happening, in the cooking, not on Mary's eczema she gets on her lips. Who would've thunk.

I also bought Vanilla Almond White Protein Whey powder.  ummm, yeah, the name probably doesn't go in that order, but it was another one that was so freaking hard to find! I had zero idea what it was or what it looked like.

When I did find it, I slammed my palm to my forehead in a "doh" moment.
It is a protein powder Becky, you know, by the protein powder.
Good one...Good one.

Aside from my cookbook, zoodle alfredo find...I had the BEST FIND EVER today.

Friday and Saturday are my caffeine days. The are my hardest workout days, and it is the weekend, where my to do list around the house is always longer than the hours in the day, and lets face it, all of the kids are home, and they have lots and lots of energy and needs.

I normally drink zipfizz, because it is extremely healthy, and the caffeine comes from natural sources, so I don't get headaches or crash from it.

On some Saturday's though, when zipfizz isn't quite getting me through, I will go to my favorite place ever.

BEST dirty soda's and cookies in the world...I swear.

I usually get a "Paradise"...Diet Coke with sugar free vanilla and sugar free coconut. (two pumps of each please)

Today though, I branched out and got a "Dr. Cream Berry."  A Dr. Pepper with Raspberry Syrup and Cream.

It sounded so stinking good to me I was salivating at the window...but it had too many carbs and sugar for me to be able to enjoy it after the hard workout I had just done...so I tweaked my order. Go me.  I thought out of the box.  Not my style unfortunately for me, but I did it. And it worked!

I got a Diet Dr. Pepper, and 2 pumps of sugar free raspberry syrup.

I brought it home, and added my own heavy cream to it (zero carbs and 1g. of sugar).

I took one sip, and it was so dang amazing, that I literally started laughing and cheering. Yup, right there in the middle of the kitchen.  Shoes still on, grocery bags hanging from my arms, sweaty gym clothes, and all.
Mary and Sam stared at me like I had gone completely mad. Even though it had caffeine, I made all of the kids try it. 

They hated it.

What the?!?!

Better for me..no one sneaking sips.  Mine..all mine.


It was sooooooooo good!  Holy Crap!  I actually grabbed my keys to get in the car and buy another one, but Molly pooped her pants right there in the middle of the kitchen (all of my excitement must have gotten the best of her), and diverted me. 

By FAR the best find I have found so far.  I absolutely cannot wait until next Saturday, just for this.  It feels like I am waiting for Christmas..for real.

Next up, the second best find of the day.

Yup, two great finds in one day.  Believe me...after the week it has been, this was a God send.

Again, it is Atkins.  Not because I follow their diet (I give myself cheat meals once in while, and my lunch has PLENTY of carbs to not work on this diet anyway), but holy crap, this little nugget of goodness blew my mind.

Some of the other Atkins treats I have found taste like chemicals and plastic to me.
This treat however....YUMMY!
I am a caramel lover..the good kind of caramel.  As in Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company Sea Salt Caramel Chocolates kind of caramel lover.

This sweet, blessed, heavenly little bar brought caramel back into my life!  (disclaimer:  it also brings a massive load of bloating and gas as well), but it is WELL worth it.  At least to me.  Ben and the kids would beg to differ.

Needless to say, it was a good low carb food week for me.  I found some new recipes and some awesome treasures!!

Oh, and this is also arriving in the mail in a few days.

Bring on the homemade salsa, shredded chicken taquitos where the chicken is actually ground up, pie crusts that I can finally eat (made out of nuts), and a whole new world of cooking bliss!

Oh, and as another side note.
I try to drink lots of water, I really do, but I just need flavor, ya know.
These do the trick every time!  I may or may not have a fridge full of these at all times.

And that's a wrap folks.

Hopefully I will be posting again in a few weeks with a bunch more new and yummy eats I have discovered in my fake sugar, weird ingredient, somewhat gassy, yet amazing low carb healthy Becky world!