A Letter To My Parents

These things have been on my mind a lot lately and I've been wanting to write this post for a long time! I figured with school starting back for many people, now would be the best time. I'm not saying that I had perfect parents (no one is a perfect parent!) growing up but they were pretty close!

As an adult now, these are the things I'm most thankful for:

• Thank you for not pressuring us to get all A's.

You understood the fact that the grade doesn't always reflect what we learned. You didn't want us failing but you also didn't put pressure on us to get "perfect" grades.

• Thank you for not pressuring us to get perfect attendance.

Some of my favorite memories happened when we were with family during school days. Some of those family members are no longer with us and I am so thankful that I have these memories to hold onto. Nothing can take those memories from me and I can guarantee you that I learned more with them than I would have at school.

• Thank you for making us work when we were 2 (ummm I mean 15). ;-)

From helping on the farm to washing windows at church to help pay to go on a mission trip to working after school, we learned something at every "job". We've been working since we could walk, some of it we even put on ourselves like the Sunshine Cleaning Service and (surprise) we had a monthly "family" newsletter (I wonder where my writing came from?).

• Thank you for making us pay for our own car insurance.

Although sometimes I felt like I was just working to pay for insurance it helped reinforce the fact that nothing is free. To those of you reading this that are thinking we had fancy cars...trust me, we didn't.

• Thank you for teaching us the value of a dollar.

I think I've already shared my cash box story. I also remember receiving used movies for Christmas. And tons of hand-me-downs.

• Thank you for not letting us grow up too fast.

We weren't allowed to shave, wear makeup, date, etc. until a certain age. Although some exceptions were made I'm glad boundaries were set.

• Thank you for not buying us a toy every time we went somewhere.

I actually don't even remember going anywhere that would sell toys. Did we ever even go to Toys R Us? I don't think I've ever been in that store.

• Thank you for not taking us shopping every weekend.

See point above, I don't remember ever going shopping as a kid and I'm thankful for that. My memories consist of playing outside (swimming, running around, playing kick the can) and spending time with family.

• Thank you for not letting us grow up in front of the TV.

We did watch TV, usually as a family. I remember Saved by the Bell and Home Improvement the most.

• Thank you for following through with your punishments.

If you said we were grounded, we were grounded. Following through with what you said you were going to do make us actually realize there were consequences, although we weren't happy at the time.

• Thank you for not carrying "what everyone else's" mom or dad was doing.

This taught us to not care what other people thought about us once we got older. I may have taken that to the extreme but I believe it's a good trait to have if I do say so myself.

• Thank you for never trying to "keep up with the Joneses".

I don't know what kind of house or cars my friends' parents had, I just remember playing with my friends. You didn't raise us to care about what someone had or didn't have. You never made comments about other families. You never tried to outdo anyone.

Dad - I'm glad I'm like you. I get my extreme shyness, work ethic, not caring what anyone thinks of me, and my sense of adventure from you. I'm proud of you for all that you have accomplished. I'm thankful that you got us up each morning, made sure we were getting ready for school and then went and worked outside all day in the Georgia heat (and cold). What I'm most proud of is you hiking over 1,800 miles on the Appalachian Trail, when you were in your 60s and after having open heart surgery. You wanted to do that since 1972 when you were in the Marines (Oohrah!) and never gave up on that dream.

Mom - I'm glad I'm like you. I get my work ethic, love of family, and generosity from you. I'm proud for all that you have accomplished. You NEVER quit working, which is a good and bad thing. I'm also very glad that you had us stay with your mom and dad growing up. We learned so much from them. You took care of your parents (along with other family members) without question when the time came. You give people a place to stay who need it. You look for the best in people. Did I mention you never quit working? I think you have 3 jobs right now?

In general, thank you for not being so hard on us. You didn't let us get away with not trying but you also didn't expect perfection in every single thing about our lives. I'd say you did a pretty good job on me and "the favorite" daughter, Ashley. :-)

Life is Short Make it Count. #19

Hiking Andrews Bald in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Last Thursday I went tubing with Scott's sister, her daughter, and son. It was an inexpensive way to have a little fun before they went back to school! During the day Saturday, we took it easy so that I could get some work done and also finish up some things around the house. Saturday night we went to the pool to hang out with some of our neighbors. We had plans to go to bed early but ended up staying at our neighbors much later than expected. We almost didn't even get up to go hiking Sunday but I am so glad we did!

Sunday was a big day. We woke up around 6 AM and drove three hours to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The plan was to do Charlies Bunion and The Jumpoff. Then we were going to stop at Mellow Mushroom on the way home. The weather was so nice we decided to stay and hike more! We did Charlies Bunion and The Jumpoff, went to eat pizza (and a salad!) in Gatlinburg, and then wrapped up the day with Andrews Bald. It felt more like October than July and we definitely made the right decision to stay late! We ended up hiking over 12.5 miles with an elevation gain of over 3,000 feet.

Hiking Charlies Bunion in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We always start off with a Greek salad (no olives!) at Mellow Mushroom. The dressing is amazing and we even dip our pizza in it!

On the way out of the park, after hiking Andrews Bald, we both ate our last piece of pizza, with a view! And, yes, the box does say something about "for your health's sake"... :-)

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Workouts:

Last week I continued with the She Sweats 12-Week Run Builder program. This week I actually joined a boot camp with one of my neighbors. They are having a six-week special which puts me right up until our trip so I figured I would give that a try! It's been good so far because we do things that I normally wouldn't do on my own. I don't think that this is something that I would do on a regular basis but it's good for a short period of time and will hopefully help with my speed and agility (for our hiking trip!). We are also walking/running the neighborhood almost every day. I'm trying to keep the same training schedule as the Run Builder but just substituting boot camp for some of the workouts.

Grocery Shopping/Food Prep

Visit this link for our shopping lists and this link for ways to save money grocery shopping.

Since we were at the park so late we didn't have time to prep much food but I did cook some bison meat and quinoa as soon as we got home Sunday night (around 9 PM). It took me about 10 minutes and at least gave us something for lunch on Monday! On Wednesday night Scott grilled some more food when he got home from work. We did the regular lean mean bison burgers and orange chicken.

Until next week, have a good one! Let us know if you ever have any questions or comments! I've loved hearing from you about the updates! Click here to read all of our updates.

Life is Short Make it Count. #18

Last Saturday we went tubing with some of our new neighbors. It has been a long time since I've been tubing on a river and it was a blast! It wasn't rafting where you actually have to work and pay attention, this is more like floating. We went on a two-hour trip (you choose between two and four hours) and as soon as we unloaded our tubes from the bus it started thundering. It didn't look like it was going to storm where we were though so we went ahead with the trip. You aren't out there on your own, there's a lot of others rafting too. It thundered a few more times and then started raining. I would say for about 45 minutes of the trip it was either thundering or raining. It was pretty funny though and made the trip even more interesting. The sun started shining again as soon as we were done rafting (of course!).

Last summer we did go white water rafting (for the first time) with my dad (who is in his 60s!), my sister, and her friend. You actually have to pay attention and work when white water rafting and it can be pretty scary! We hit a HUGE rock going really fast, we all ended up on the floor of the float but it was awesome! Just for fun, below is a picture of our real white water rafting last summer. We went to the Upper Ocoee and used Sunburst Adventures in Benton, TN. They usually have Groupons for rafting! :)

My sister (L) and her friend are in the front row, me and my dad are in the second row, and Scott and the guide are in the back.

On Sunday we just took an easy day, my parents stopped by, we did food prep, and I worked. We are excited to finally be getting back into a routine after a crazy year.

Be sure to follow us on the following social media accounts (and snapchat under hesheeatclean) and also sign up for our newsletter so you never miss anything!

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Workouts:

As I mentioned on Instagram and Facebook, we started the She Sweats 12-Week Run Builder this week (yes, men can do the "She Sweats" workouts!). We started on week 5 since our hiking trip is in 7 weeks. We wanted to do the Run Builder this time since it still emphasizes weight training but also ups our cardio, which we need that before our trip! I was doing the She Sweats Extreme 4-Week Shred but wanted something with more weight training since I don't weight train that much at all during the month of September...I need to get it in now! For some reason, if it's written down and laid out for me, I'll do it! So far, so good!

She Sweats 12-Week Run Builder

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Grocery Shopping/Food Prep:

Visit this link for our shopping lists and this link for ways to save money grocery shopping.

It was another week of grilling! It actually started pouring while Scott was grilling, good thing we have a covered patio in this house! :)

• lean mean cheeseburgers (with bison)
• zesty grilled chicken
• brussels sprouts (new recipe!)
• green juice
• grilled Aidells chicken & apple sausage from Costco

DISCLAIMER: NOW Foods sends us a free box of products each month to try out. I figured these weekly (or sometimes monthly...) updates would be the best place for us to share some of our favorites! All opinions are my own.

One of my favorite things in this months box from NOW Foods is the Organic Yerba Mate tea. It's a nice, natural, and healthy (and yummy!) boost of energy. I love drinking teas because it helps me get more water in without just being plain 'ol water! If you've never tried Yerba Mate before, you are missing out!

You can purchase many of the NOW Foods products here on Amazon or browse their products here. There's a lot to look at...from brownie mix to trail mix!

Until next week, have a good one! Let us know if you ever have any questions or comments! I've loved hearing from you about the updates! Click here to read all of our updates.