Greening Up Your Travel

August's Make and Takes contribution is all about "greening up your travel" -- so to show my blatant double-life, here I'll showcase Holden at Lake Powell... where we stayed on a gas guzzling house-boat with air conditioning and used paper plates for meals (though we all brought our own water bottle to refill instead of single serving drinks... but still.)

About a guy...

Special thanks to this guy:

And this guy:

 For fun times like this:

And this:

Thank you for giving  me these:

I'm glad we started this:

Happy 6th Anniversary Cher Danny.

Media Madness with the Mangums

We've been in somewhat of a media frenzy this past week.

• Zoë had a cameo on a channel 2 news story they were running about Scott. You can watch it HERE. (And then yes, RETIRE HATCH and vote for Howell.)
• My latest guest-blog for Make and Takes went live today. It's a tribute to the greenest little lady I've ever known -- my grandma. Check that piece out HERE. 
• Also, I'm sure you didn't think with all the talk of Health Care legislation and the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (colloquially "Obamacare") that I'd be silent on such a hot political topic. No, I'm not. I've posted a piece on howell's WE Blog, you can find that link HERE.

In case you don't want to read the full piece, consider this fact:

"By focusing on 'tweaking' the ACA, rather than scrapping it altogether, we ensure that in our state more than 22,00 Utahns under the age of 26 are covered under their parents’ insurance plan; and because of ACA 50,000 Utah children are now insurable, despite having pre-existing conditions."


Despite what the anti-ACA people want you to believe, Obamacare is not all bad (this is probably due to the fact that conservatives -- Romney and the Heritage Foundation-- created the blueprint). It's actually got some really great things in it -- with provisions to CUT the cost of health care. But you don't have to take my word for it, the Utah Health Policy Project (a non-partisan group) explained it a lot better more than a year ago.

Anyway, enough politalk. You can check out the pieces if you're interested. I don't know anyone who thinks the law is is perfect, but it's a start...

OK, so that's the tip of the iceberg on my week in review... we've been busy. I can't wait to head up to Sun Valley this weekend and spend time in the sun, at the pool, with my kids and my best friend. We all need a little break from the new 'norm' of Mangum madness.

Danny & the kids takes a scenic drive to Magna

If the title of that post didn't get you excited, I don't know what will.

OK, but here are the facts:

• Zoë caught a little cold yesterday; her secretions were flowing like Niagra last night (and today). She'd try and nurse and would have to pull away to come up for air. (Bless her heart). Needless to say, neither of us got much sleep (Danny had decided to utilize the extra twin bed in Holden's room... very convenient).

• Zoe-bug also decided at 5-ish, just as the horizon was starting to turn from black to a dusty yellow, that should would wake up... and be up for a couple of hours. 

• At 6:45 I traipsed into Holden's room and made a huffy breath, almost in tears: "Zoë's been up since five and she won't go back to sleep!" I was whining and exhausted -- and knew the day I had ahead of me. I was already scared. 

• The husband traded me beds. 

• Holden woke up... wanted a milk and The Avengers (the cartoon). I lost it as only a Mom can (I'm kind of embarrassed for myself) -- making empty threats about show-watching (I loathe empty threats, and try to be so vigilant about avoiding them when I'm sane and more rested.)

• Danny swooped in to rescue Little Bits from the wrath of Mommy-Dearest (yours truly). 

• Moments later I think I hear Danny shut the door. I can hear the baby crying through the wall. My spirit whispers that I should get up and do something to help him. (I failed to mention that he spent most of his free-time on Sunday playing "mom." Taking care of kids, cleaning up messes... and generally organizing and taking care of things that I've been meaning to do and haven't gotten to... I've been a little busy lately; no seriously, we're not just making cinnamon rolls and drying lavender people.) But I just lay there.

• Moments later I wake up to the sound of Danny's dress-shoes on the hardwood floor outside the bedroom. 

• But it wasn't moments later. It was 9 am. Danny had loaded the kids in the car and driven to MAGNA via 3900 south. Yes, my amazing husband loaded our little people in the car so that Zoë would get some rest (he says since he doesn't have boobs, it's the only way he can get her to sleep); and I got two more hours!!!! 

• Best husband ever.

So here's a little note to myself that you can read:

Dear Sabrena, 

Next time you decide to complain, nag, or give your husband a hard time about ANYTHING, please remember this day. Remember how thoughtful he was. Remember how much he loves you. Remember these acts of service before you decide to fly off the handle because the trash bag wasn't replaced -- the trash was taken out -- can't you be happy about that?!?! 

Cut him some slack. He's a good man. A good father, and an amazing husband. You really have got the full package. Please keep that in mind.

Just remember that, ok?

Love, 

Me

Week in Review

This sleeping beauty turns 7 months today:

This is Zoë, asleep in the Ergo with sunscreen smudges in her hair
at the Sandy Independence Day Parade - can you believe those lashes?!?!?

It's killing me that she has already figured out crawling (she's not fast yet, but ridiculously mobile). We've given her some solids (just let her try out some fruits and veggies on her own... no rice cereal this  time around, but you should see that girl play with an avocado.) She's a good sleeper, but recently has been enjoying 2-hour nursing sessions from 7-9 at night (and then who knows when throughout the night... I'm half-asleep.) She's delightful and happy and chill and thinks her brother is the sweetest thing in the world.

Like most of you, we've had an exciting week.  Here some of the high-points:

I worked on the campaign... here's a little ditty posted on Friday. Earlier in the week I finally caved and let Danny shave his and Holden's head. 

Look at that mischievous grin

So in an odd twist, Zoë now has the second longest hair in our family. 

Who needs "Baby Einstein" when you've got a mirror to give constant stimulation?!?

We spent a lot of time with my family and enjoyed a couple of parades on the 4th: our annual East Millcreek Parade where the kids walk away with more candy than Hallow's Eve, and then we joined the WE Team for the Sandy Parade and walked with Scott. 

The Mangum and Smith Clans sportin' WE tee's
and getting ready to walk the parade route

Yes, I'm happy, but it was H.O.T... Holden rode in the trailer (behind the Landcruiser)
with his cousins, while Danny, Cassandra, Zoë and I passed out literature.
Zoë was a good sport; though did I mention she weighs 22 lbs AND is
100 percentile for height AND weight? Carrying her was my workout for the day...

It took her 20 minutes to make it from one side of the carpet to her furry-friend. 

Great week. Love my kids. Thankful for my jobs. Married to an amazing guy.

Life is indeed beautiful. 

What's for dinner: Goat Cheese & Raspberry Panini

I started an 8-week "biggest loser" type competition this morning hosted by my little sister. It's called "Chubbie Club."

There's a lot of cash to be won if you lose the most -- I most likely won't win, but it's another great motivator to shed this baby (and cupcake-indulgence) weight.

Last time I participated in Chubbie Club I was training for the marathon... I think I took 3rd place. In retrospect, I should've taken a dive the second to last week so I would've been the at-home winner. But I didn't. I did, however, get down to 140 lbs for the marathon and even lost 5 more pounds after the race. It felt great. I haven't been  a size 4-6 since I was in Junior high. :)

Anyway, I know what works for me... and Dieting doesn't if I want to be healthy. What does work is Michael Pollan's mantra of "Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants." So that, coupled with the fabulous premise of eating like a French Woman, ("French Women Don't Get Fat" you know...), I prepared this for dinner:

Micro greens with crook-neck squash, avocado,
crimini mushrooms, red bell pepper, parmesean cheese & green onions.
I also added basil and cherry tomatoes from our garden and
 a lemon thyme vinaigrette  (the lemon-thyme from my herb garden),
some lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt. 

The main course: Goat cheese and raspberry panini on
whole wheat (from Stoneground) paired with steamed carrots

Things I love about this meal: that I made it up. I have never had a raspberry-goat cheese panini before. It would've been even more delightful with a little honey to sweeten it up, but that's mostly because I am kind of a sugar addict (not candy, but sweets... like cinnamon rolls, and cupcakes, cookies, etc). But I will say the pairing of the cheese with the tartness of the raspberries was even more delightful than I had imagined. I lightly buttered the bread before sticking it in my George Foreman (so much better for paninis than meat, I think). Oh, and I mashed up the raspberries so they could be spread out easier on the sandwich. 

Also, the salad was awesome... I hardly ever buy salad dressing, but was getting tired of my "balsamic" go to; so this was definitely a nice change. And we just started eating squash raw... good choice for a salad -- who knew? 

I'll keep you posted on my Chubbie-Club progress. 10 pounds in 8 weeks is possible, 15 pounds would be better... but no matter what happens it's going to be fun to spice up my food relationship because that  is what works best for me!

Did you Miss it?

Sorry folks, didn't want you to miss out on the monthly Make & Takes bit.

This time of year of course I'd be found extolling on the virtues (and mishaps) of life au jardin. The good news in there's a Beastie Boys reference and my Instagram radish picture... and with that intro, how can there be any bad news?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch Check It Out.