Lucee Lou's

I haven't written here for a while.. I mostly like to update our lives here for family who we don't get to talk to all the time as well as for us to look back on the memories we've made in the past 5 years.

Our lives have been BUSY and time is flying! It seems like a new week comes and goes in a blink of an eye lately. I feel the need to give y'all an update on what we've been up to sooooo....

-This past July, Justin applied for a job as a charge nurse in the new Nampa, ID. St. Luke's hospital. He interviewed, they liked him, told him he would start this fall.

We did some finishing updates to our house in Twin falls and put it on the market for $192,000. It sold 5 days later!
Here are some pictures of it!

- We attended the Heyrend family reunion this summer in Island park next to Yellowstone and had a blast! We tubed on the boat, jet ski'd, played games and took a day trip to Yellowstone. It was super fun to have all Justin's siblings together for a few days.

-Justin also applied to CRNA (nursing anesthesia) school and we were waiting to find out if he would be accepted. We decided to move in with Justin's parents in their basement apartment to save money. A few weeks after we moved Justin got an acceptance letter in the mail to St. Mary's University of anesthesia in Minneapolis, Minnesota! He starts April 26, 2018! This is the same school his dad went to in 1997 to receive his master's degree in anesthesia as well. Following in his dad's footsteps!

-It's been a blessing being able to live with the in-laws to pay off debts before we head off to school. Justin and I have been staying motivated by reading all of Dave Ramsey's books and listening to his talk show daily. Come April, we will have PROUDLY been able to pay off around $65,000 in debts within a 9 month period including student loans, cars, credit cards, etc. We highly suggest everyone to read 'The Total Money Makeover'' by Dave Ramsey. It has changed our lives AND our marriage! Being on the same page with our budget has been a huge blessing to our marriage.

-We flew to Minneapolis, MN. In September to check out apartments and meet with the director of St. Mary's. We spent 6 days there and toured a ton of apartments, went to a baseball game, spent 6+ hours in the mall of america, ate so much delicious food, toured the city, and found the perfect apartment in the perfect town for us to live. We left ava with our mom's while we were on this busy trip and she is still traumatized that we went on a plane without her. It was pretty heart wrenching to talk to her every day. Never leaving her for that long again!!

-Justin and I both hunted this fall. He shot a cow elk and I shot a buck deer. We were both pretty excited to put some meat in our freezer! It's fun that we both enjoy the sport and support each other in it!

-My mom and Ben FINALLY got married this fall after 15 + years! It was a small ceremony with just us kids there. It was a special experience and something I think we have all been looking forward to for a long time!

-Justin recently helped open the new Nampa St. Luke's. This past Monday was their first day open to the public and he has really been enjoying it! He also starts his 2nd job as a per need nurse at the Weiser,ID hospital. He is also taking an online organic chemistry class that he needs to go to school. It's been pretty rough, so we're crossing our fingers he passes or school may be on hold for another year!
-I have been working as often as I can in my mom's salon in Nyssa as well. We are both working a lot and also trying to make time for our sweet Ava Louise and each other! We are just keeping our eyes on the prize and know that it will all be worth it come April! Knowing that all of this is short term makes it much easier on us.

-Ava has been attending Tiny Tykes preschool in nyssa and LOVES it! She has got to go on field trips and is learning all sorts of stuff! She is also making friends and talks about them every day. Pre school has been the best for our smart little girl. She talks up a storm, can count to 10, is learning her ABC's, builds Lego houses all by herself (they are impressive), and she is turning 3 this new years eve!! We can't believe she is already a little girl. We are in such awe of her every day and she has everyone wrapped around her finger!

Well, this is us. We miss twin falls so badly, but are enjoying being close to both our parents and are looking forward to moving to Minneapolis for 2 1/2 years! -upon passing organic chemistry of course ;)

With our town being in a state of emergency due to weather, and pretty much being stuck inside all day, I decided to venture out in this crazy weather and get some groceries and supplies in case power went out or water pipes froze.

I went to Target and couldn't help but buy the cute little Valentine's decorations in their clearance bins. I LOVE decorating for each new holiday and season! Needless to say, i COMPLETELY FORGOT to get any water or useful supplies to help us be prepared. But, I did get some pretty cute stuff for Valentine's day!

We aren't going to be doomsday prepped in case something happens, but hey, maybe those candy hearts will hold us over for a few days. 😉

Since church was also cancelled due to weather, I was able to do some organizing in the house as well as meal prep! I'm going to share how and what i do to meal prep.

So first things first. You need to figure out how many calories you should be intaking a day, as well as macros. Macros are proteins, carbs and fats and you should be eating a certain amount of each every day. Bodybuilding.com has a great Macro nutrient calculator (click link to find yours)!

My meal plan is tailored to my macros, so you can tweak yours to less or more food depending on your goals. Download the MyFitnessPal app to track your macros and meals! (Click HERE to track yours now)

I meal prepped breakfasts and lunches for 4 days. Meat isn't good in the fridge after 4 days so that is my limit unless i freeze already cooked meals for the rest of the week.

Here is what my meal plan looks like:

Breakfast: 498 calories

Overnight oats- 1/4 C. oats + 1/4 C. plain greek yogurt + 1/2 C milk + cinnamon + vanilla + 1/4 C. blueberries + shredded coconut + 1 tsp. honey
1 egg plus 1 C. egg whites
2 oz. turkey sausage patty OR turkey bacon

Snack:

1/2 C. cottage cheese
1 whole orange OR pineapple

Lunch:265 calories

4 oz. ground turkey hamburger
1 cup green beans OR broccoli

Snack:

Caramel Rice cake
2 TBS. Adam's peanut butter
Venison jerky

Dinner:220 calories (VARIES)

Venison roast and potatoes
Spinach salad

Daily Macros total:

Calories: 1536

Protein:157 grams

Carbs:113 grams

Fat:48 grams

This may seem boring to most of you, but its so easy to spice it up! Turkey hamburger can be made into burritos using whole wheat or tortilla land tortilla's (click link for nutrition facts). My dinners will be different every night, I don't usually plan ahead for that. And snacks will vary day to day, depending on if i've worked out. If i exercise, i will add another 300 calories to my diet.

THE HOW TO:

First, cook all your meats!

I like to weigh all my food so that i know my macros are correct! Make sure to use the serving size that is on the label.

A serving of turkey sausage is 2 ounces. I will have one patty each morning.

Next, I cooked all my egg whites and eggs for the week, then divided them up into each of the 4 containers.

Then, cook all your vegetables for the week. I made enough for 2 days of green beans and 2 days of broccoli.

This easy crockpot dinner turned out DELICIOUS. Healthy isn't always boring and gross!

Bragg's has a really good, low calorie, few ingredient dressing that i like to use! CLICK HERE FOR NUTRITION FACTS!

Crockpot meals are the way to go while meal prepping! I like to cook a few pounds of chicken at a time and use it for various meals throughout the week. This time i made a deer roast with potatoes.

I also made some venison jerky for a quick snack after gym sessions.