This Week was a Momentous One....

First off we survived week one of the Paleo diet and aren't crying for our mommies. Here are the things we've learned while on the Paleo diet (since I haven't done one of these in awhile!):

- Jamey can indeed survive without cheese for a week.
- Morgan can indeed survive without peanut butter and sweets.
- Eating healthier does in fact make you feel better (Not even kidding we have talked on and on about how much better we feel)
- Morgan now drinks a gallon of water a day (A DAY!!)
- There are actually quite a lot of Paleo recipes out there and they are very tasty!
- We've both rediscovered our love of vegetables.
- It takes A LOT of protein to fill Jamesy up and I do mean A LOT!
- Healthy eating takes a great deal of planning, but is worth it in the end.

All kidding aside we both feel great and have not had any problems at all. I did have like two days of sugar cravings where I thought I might die if  I didn't get something sweet, but I would just eat a piece of fruit and drink a lot of water and it would pass. Jamey also had a couple of times when he couldn't get full but mostly when we were eating out and he was having to eat salads and they just don't put enough protein on salads these days! Jamey did cheat a little one day at Moe's but nothing huge. Overall we have felt better and I feel like my skin has improved a good bit! We also have lost weight which is just an added bonus because neither of us really had an aim to lose weight, we just wanted to get fit and healthy. Jamey ended up losing nine pounds...no you didn't read that wrong he really did lose nine pounds. Isn't that crazy! Especially since I would have said he didn't need to lose any! He says he had gained some weight though and was happy to have some of it off :) I lost three pounds which I was pretty stoked about too. I'm getting back down to my weight I was when I was running a good bit awhile back. That weight lost wasn't just from Paleo though, we have both been running most every morning and doing some cross training as well. We have also decided to do one cheat "meal" a week since most Paleo people say they do this, or follow a more 80/20 approach to Paleo. Which technically means you follow Paleo 80% of the time, but really people eat Paleo most of the time and just don't beat themselves up if they have a cheat every once in awhile. SO after completing a full week of Paleo I received this text from the husband dearest.

So when I got home I did a little cross training then rewarded myself with this....

Yep, that is cookies and cream ice cream with peanut butter on top. Seriously peanut butter was so hard not to eat all week. Especially with it staring me in the face every time I opened the pantry! DUMB LEGUMES!! If almond butter wasn't $15 then I might would have eaten it instead, but Jamey gave the veto on it when he saw how expensive it was haha! 

Well enough about this Paleo thing that we crazy people are doing. We had ANOTHER momentous occasion this past week as well. This little girl....

turned NINE years old. I'm being serious... She has grown up so much over the past 4 1/2 years I've been with Jamey. It has been crazy how the time has flown. I don't even understand how you parents do it. I mean I almost cried when I saw her the other day and thought back on how much she was growing and how it was all happening way too fast! She spent the weekend at their our (that still seems weird...) aunt's house for her birthday so we went over on Saturday night to help celebrate, and then some of the fam jam came up Sunday so we could all go to the Wizard of Oz at the Alabama Thatre. Everyone enjoyed it and the obsession with the Wizard of Oz may continue on in the younger generation of the Hurst children.

Jennie was first obsessed now maybe Amelia? Only time can tell.. She is right now obsessed with such things as the color blue, tie-dye and peace signs if you couldn't tell in that picture above! 

Those were the major momentous occasions, but there was one more... A dove made a nest right outside our bedroom window this summer, and we have literally watched the baby birds grow up. I mean we saw her make the nest, lay the eggs, feed the birds, sit on the birds, and finally teach the birds to fly! It was the first time I've ever watched birds like that. It was pretty amazing to see. God's creation is truly a beautiful thing! 

Jamey and I have truly been blessed this week and we are excited for the upcoming week! My sister comes to visit this weekend, and I finish all my summer classes up come Tuesday YAY! I also leave for Orlando early Wednesday morning for an inter conference for Ernst & Young. I'm pretty excited for all the cheesiness and awesomeness that will come with that ha! Praying for you all and hope you all have had an amazing week like we have! 

Well Here Goes Nothing...

Jamey and I have decided to start the Paleo Diet......although after our grocery bill tonight Jamey may be quickly rethinking ha! For anyone that doesn't know what the Paleo diet is here is a short run down. Basically, it is a cave man diet. You can eat anything that you can pick out of tree or off a plant, and anything you can kill, but that is pretty much it. Nothing processed and no diary or legumes. Mallory can tell you the science behind why you can't eat legumes because she told me, but I don't remember.... Anyway, so pretty much meats and veggies and fruits are all that we can eat. Oh, and nuts! Yeah, no diary and no grains. WHICH MEANS NO MILK AND NO PASTA. Yeah, those are probably going to be the two things I miss the most. And cookies..yep cookies, I will miss those guys. If you want anything else besides the basic run down HERE is a link.

We are both starting to run again (as long as I can get through these darn shin splints!), and hopefully we will both be running the Mercedes marathon in February. We are signing up for a few races along the way to keep motivated with the first being the Color Run 5k on September 2nd. We will be running with my sister and it is her first 5k! Go Mallory! Then we plan on signing up for the Warrior Dash on October 6th. I'm pretty pumped about both of the runs, but  I definitely need to do some weight lifting before the Warrior dash!

I'll try to keep everyone updated on our Paleo adventure and let you know who crashes and burns first ;) Also, there is a half gallon of cookies and cream ice cream in our freezer, so it is going to be like a test of the wills for who can look at it the longest before giving in and eating the whole thing. I'll post meals as I go if any of them are any good. Some meals are easy and normal, but I'm definitely going out of my comfort zone and trying some new things for this diet.

Oh and I should probably say that for all the people that are out there saying why the heck would you do this diet neither of you need to lose weight (if you aren't saying that and think we need to lose some pounds just don't tell me! haha). We are actually doing it to help with training. You can do research on it if you want, but supposedly if you aren't carb loading to keep up energy you will burning glycogen the whole time, which is what you burn after you burn up all the carbs you ate. Well, if you burn carbs before burning glycogen then you "bonk" when you run out of carbs, so this is supposed to skip this step since you will always be burning glycogen when you exercise. We will also let you know how that goes! Jamey is a big carb loader, so I think he is a little nervous about saying goodbye to them.

Well here goes nothing! Wish us luck! Has anyone else gone Paleo?? Have any good tips for us or any good recipes?? I'm learning how to cook things all over again I feel like!

Wonderful Weekends

We had the most fabulous weekend this past weekend! It was filled with good friends, long talks, and good food!

The weekend ended in one of the most fabulous of ways as well! Everyday on my way to work I pass by the Alabama Theatre and this week I was riding by and saw that Casablanca was going to be playing Sunday afternoon! Side note: I LOVE old movies like a WHOLE lot. So when I saw that this was playing in the fabulous Alabama Theatre I couldn't let that pass us by. 

Sunday morning came and we got all dolled up in our old fashioned best and went to church then stopped for a quick lunch at Chipotle and headed over to the theatre. When we walked inside it was breathtakingly beautiful. We got there about an hour before the movie started and wandered around marveling at everything. Then we found some seats in the balcony and read the fun trivia facts that were scrolling across the screen. About 30 minutes before the show started a huge organ appeared from the floor. I kid you not. All of a sudden a huge organ being played by a man came up out of the floor on stage. He chatted with the audience and played beautiful music and then there was a sing-a-long. Again I kid you not. There was a sing-a-long. They were songs we didn't know, but it was fun nonetheless! Jamey went and got us popcorn and my favorite, milk duds, and HOMEMADE lemonade. It was homemade. For reals. You could also get it hard, but we skipped that this lovely afternoon. We then enjoyed our movie (We had already seen it before, but it was just as good the second time around). Oh and I only fell asleep once for like 5 minutes. Oh another fun fact about me is that I NEVER stay awake during a whole movie. I mean there are occasions when I do, but a lot of times I fall asleep and yes that means even in a crowded movie theatre, and yes, even when it is one of my favorite movies of all times. I don't know why but a dark space with cozy seats get me every time. If I'm not walking around and doing stuff while a movie is going on then I'm out like a light bulb. Normally I watch movies twice if I'm watching at home. 

Anyway back to what I was telling you...when the movie was over the organ started up again and out we went into the light mist rain outside. It was a perfect afternoon I tell you. If you live in the Birmingham area you should really go the theatre when you get the chance. They do a lot of older movies on Sundays, but they are doing Harry Potter on Friday nights right now. Wizard of Oz is this Sunday and the organist is playing a Wizard of Oz medley before the movie starts. Jennie, does this make you want to swing by Birmingham this Sunday??? Well here are pictures of our Saturday afternoon out :)

Sorry this one is blurry! Bad lighting + iPhone...

Beautiful Organ Pipes! 

Yummy Treats! 

The Organ from our of the ground! Again sorry this one is so terrible....

In our old-fashioned Sunday's best! 

PS. Also, if you are in the Birmingham area and need a watering hole to stop in at go stop by Avondale Brewing Company. Jamey and I seriously could not sing its praises enough. We had an awesome time there Saturday night. 

It may be time to rename this blog...

This blog could probably be called "The Crazy Things Jamey Talks Me Into That Almost Kill Me"  Just kidding, I go willingly and blindly into all the adventures he takes me on and sometimes they are awesome and sometimes I feel like I got run over by a big truck. Today is one of those days that I feel like I just got run over. Yesterday we decided to celebrate the 4th with an early morning bike in Oak Mountain State Park. We have been mountain biking a few times before and the first time was a DISASTER, but since then we've been and have had a blast! The last time we went Jamey decided it would be best for me to have clip in pedals, you know the kind where your shoes clip into the pedal (get it...ha)? Well, they came in the mail the other day, and Tuesday night I put them on my bike. I'm going to preface this story with I rode approximately one lap around my apartment complex and took my feet in and out of the pedals approximately ten times before we headed out Wednesday morning to ride the trails. I'm sure you can all see where this is going....I then fell off my bike approximately 10 times and when I say I fell of my bike what I really mean is that my bike fell over while my feet were still attached to the pedals so there was absolutely nothing I could do but fall over too... Today I'm now bloody and bruised and mad that I completely stunk up my first ride by not being able to get my feet out of the pedals fast enough! I am even more angry that once I fell the first time it shook my confidence enough to make falling even easier the other 9 times... Luckily that was just one day and hopefully I can practice more and get back on the trail and NOT fall a million times....  


After that we went up to Decatur to visit family and celebrate the good Ol' USA! We had a blast and enjoyed and treasured our time with our family. We ate LOTS of food spent all day in the pool, and of course shot fireworks. The perfect 4th of July celebration :) 


I hope everyone had as great of a 4th of July as we did! Here are some pictures we shot yesterday! 

Before the fateful ride began! 

Cousins having fun in the pool! 

Love this chick! 

Even the dogs were having fun in the sun.

Cuties! 

Love these two! 

Sparklers are always a big hit! 

Siblings :) 

Other Hurst Siblings!