My heart is breaking and rejoicing

Who hasn't watched the Wizard of OZ and was scared for Dorthy while she was running to her house and picking up little toto to get to her Aunts house. 

On April 11th, 2011 most of you know we were hit by a tornado and will forever be in our memory. Camryn and Connor will never forget what it was like getting picked up in the middle of the night and put in our bathtub praying that we didn't get hit. Our house didn't get missed and we ended up with so much damage.

Because of this, Camryn has become an experience Weather lady after being in a tornado. 

On Saturday, December 26th we were leaving our house on our way to visit our family in Rowlett for Christmas. Jason's 2 brothers both live in Rowlett.

As, we were getting in the car around 3:00pm Camryn said, wow the sky sure looks weird and it's warm but some cool air coming in too which means tornados! Which weren't even in the forecast of course for the day. Only storms were. 

We get to Rowlett around 5:00 and visit and take pictures with the new baby calves Greg has on his land. 

Camryn just got her iPhone and was taking selfies with the cows 

The brown momma is in charge!!

Selfies of course!!

Love her so much!!!

She is the most beautiful little girl to me! 

Of course being silly!!

Love the little white one, we named him Blue Bell, not sure if Greg calls her that, but we do :)

Of course got to love on my baby girl Cassidy too! Love being a Great Aunt to all of these little babies!! Keep them coming :)

So, about an hour later it gets really dark out side :(

All of our phones are going off.....

I keep going outside and the weather is just getting worse, and I go back inside and I tell my kids and Carol, I think we need to get things prepared just in case. meaning Closets, bathrooms etc. 

We have the news on but everyone is just going on and visiting. 

I go outside and look up, it gets really quite and I go back inside and grab Jason!

My nephew Gregory comes out with us and he says What is that noise?? I said it's a Tornado!! Now if you've never heard or seen a tornado...basically it sounds like a large train coming through your backyard!!

We all started to run into the house and said there is a tornado lets go!! At the same time my brother in law was out back as well and came in saying the same thing!! There were about 15 of us..not even sure and we ran into the bathroom with our kids, Gregory and his new wife Melissa and Nana (Jason's mother). Everyone else was either under the stairs or in the pantry. Immediately after getting in the bathroom the house starts to shake, I get down on my knees with Camryn, we hear a loud bang and all of the lights go out.  All we can do is pray. 

This may sound all dramatic to you, but I'm here to tell you I really thought this was it. I was about to go to Heaven with my husband, kids and my entire Duncan family. My eyes are tearing up just writing this. A Tornado is a very  mean and demolishing storm, doesn't care what it takes down or who it takes down with it! 

I'm here to say, thankfully after 10 minutes we hear Greg say, it's in front of us, you can come out now. The lights are still off and we run outside to the front. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of it but I've never seen a tornado that size and it was just tearing a path in the neighborhood in the front of us. I will post a video below of the neighborhood. (well one of them)

My husband and Father in law left to go check on my inlaws house that are a few streets over, and my friends house which lives next door. They were on a flight home from Disney when all of this was going on!

My Brother in law left to go check on their house as well, at this point we heard the tornado went right over their house which is by the highway. 

Thankfully everyone's house was missed!! God was so Good!!

Others weren't so lucky. 

Yesterday was the first day we made it out to Rowlett since the tornado and I must say it was very emotional...viewer discretion is advised. 

This video shows the destruction that happened in the neighborhood in front of my Brother in Laws, the house we were at and my inlaws house. As well as my Best Friends from high school, Tricia Brewer. 

The pictures below are from a neighborhood on Chiesa and 66. 

I wanted to share this, as it's a daily reminder of how quickly all of your materials can be taken away, and maybe help you focus on what's really important.

Goodnight,
Kristi

Uniform

As a SAHM my uniform has been Yoga pants, especially living in Dallas Texas! LOL

no, but seriously I do dress up sometime.

Since, starting to work out again and the 24 day challenge, I of course needed more Yoga pants! Imagine that! 

A couple of years ago while in Milwaukee I was with Fabkids and they launched Fabletics and had just signed Kate Hudson. With my order for Camryn they sent me a free pair of yoga pants. They were nice, fit well..maybe too well because I needed a new pair. With all of the advertising they've been doing, I signed up again. 
As a member your first outfit is only $20, 2 pieces! That's a great deal! Then every outfit after is only $49.99 for 2-3 pieces. 

I love purple of course :)

I don't have any printed pants, hoping these don't make me look bigger but the fabric is great! the front has a slight V which is nice and a small pocket in the waist.

Love this top, it has a built in bra and it's not fitted around the stomach which is nice as well.

solid purple pants, same fit as the printed one but doesn't have a v in the front.
The pocket in the waist band can fit my IPHONE 6 Plus, so it's pretty big!

I really love the fit of this top, only thing missing is the bra.

Below is the link to fabletics
http://www.fabletics.com/invite/62811064/

Have a great night!!

Transparency.....

As many of you know, we are back with Advocare and started the 24 day Challenge. Maybe it's from me working in the corporate world and TRANSPARENCY is a word we used a lot. 

I'm going to try and share my experiences every day, good or bad. We started today, but last week I tried cutting out my bad habits like Coke, Red bull and over all just eating bad!!  

We joined Anytime Fitness, and I even worked out 3 times last week! Which is awesome considering I haven't been to the gym in 7 months :(

When you join Anytime Fitness you get a trainer for one 1 hour session, which was great because she also took my measurements. I can't believe it, but I'm about to share it on my blog....Like I said total TRANSPARENCY!!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE>>>>>>>>
height 5 2"
Weight 126....now at home that day and for the past week, I've been at 128...but I'm obviously going with their weight :)
Age 42
Chest 33....which is already smaller than it used to be at 36 :( SAD SAD DAY
Waist 31"
Hips 38.5" I try telling people I have hips, but they don't believe me...maybe this will show them.
Thigh 23.5"
Calves 12.25"

Body Fat 32.9".....WHAT WHAT WHAT....so fat :(
BMI 23.1"

My goal is to lose 10 pounds.

Believe it or not, I'm even going to post my fatty pictures, but I need Jason to take them so don't get too excited yet! LOL insert evil laugh!!

I did work out 3 times last week and once with the trainer which was awesome, I could barely drive my car the next couple of days!! WHIMP!! I'm hoping for Linda Hamilton arms...yes, I just showed my age! :)

So, this morning I woke up so very tired and took my morning pills and did my carpool thing and dropped the kids off. Not going to lie, when I came home I did go back to bed for an hour. Momma needed her sleep...plus Jackson and Jason were snug in our bed all warm and I succumbed to the peer pressure!!

Anyways, when I got up I drank the yummy delicious fiber drink....I say this half kidding but I'm glad to say that now Advocare has non flavor fiber drink, which before it was citrus and I've never been able to get the entire drink down!! This time I mixed it with Grape Spark and it wasn't too bad. I think it's more of a texture thing with me...but lets just say it worked pretty fast. Sorry TMI (Transparency) :)

Had my oatmeal and went to the gym.  Was feeling kinda sluggish since I didn't have coffee but the Spark was definitely helping!!

I did the treadmill at 3.5 and after every song I increased the incline and made it to 8 incline and I was holding on for dear life!! I walked 30 minutes and burned 217 calories for 2 miles...not bad. I did my arms...using the workout the trainer did with me the week before. Hoping my arms are not jello tomorrow!!

Then I needed to go to walmart after to pick up some more healthy food...which is so much more expensive then junk!!! UGHHHHHHHHH

Anyways, got home, had lunch which was turkey breast on whole wheat tortilla and cottage cheese and a fruit...protein, fruit and complex carb :)  Had my second spark and got ready to pick the kids up. 

I feel I'm doing ok, tummy is a little upset which is to be expected, a little headache, which too is to be expected because I cut out caffeine. Thankfully I started that last week so I'm not quitting cold turkey!

I'm writing this while I'm baking chicken and drinking my water!! which I may add I must drink 64 ounces a day!!!! YEP, thats 8 classes a day!!! This may be my biggest struggle but I'm trying to keep my ADVOCARE cup filled with water and lemon when I'm not drinking spark!!

Anyways, like I said I will post my pictures of before challenge soon. I will also try and share new recipes etc through out these 24 days. 

Here is a pic of me enjoying my second Spark of the day while waiting on my kiddo's in line !!!

If you are interested in learning more about ADVOCARE, our products and started a challenge, just emailed me at kduncan03@gmail.com.

Goodnight!

New Year, New You

This has been our moto for the past couple of days, not only with us but with the kids as well. We have challenged them to try to push themselves to try new things and make a difference this year. With friendships, with each other and with us. 

In the short time we have been in 2016, Jason and I have already tried New Things. We have signed up with ADVOCARE again as we are the heaviest we have ever been. Our eating habits are bad and we got comfortable and we don't want this to be passed down to our kids. 

We are also trying many NEW Foods too :)

I've been very busy on Pinterest looking for yummy but healthy recipes that we will all LOVE. It's a struggle when you have young kids, but we will make it work!  

Soooooo, I wanted to share with you our dinner tonight that was a huge hit and healthy too!!!

Skinny Lasagne Rolls

Ingredients:
* 8 Whole Wheat Lasagne Noodles
* 15oz Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
* 2 tbsp Parsley Flakes
* 1 Large Eggs
* 1/4 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
* 16oz Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
* 4 cups of your choice of tomato sauce...we used Ragu Traditional Low Sodium 

Instructions:
Bring a pot of water to boiling and add 8 lasagna noodles. Once to your liking, drain, rinse and set aside.

Pre Heat Oven to 375

In Medium bowl mix Ricotta Cheese, Parsley, egg and Parmesan Cheese

Using a cutting board, begin to assemble your noodles by laying one noodle flat and use 3 teaspoons and spread down the entire length of the noodle. 

Also, sprinkle mozzarella cheese down the center of the noodle. 

Take sauce and cover the entire pan bottom with some of the sauce (don't use it all)

Gently roll up your noodle and place down on the pan. 
Continue to do so until all 8 noodles are placed. 

When completed, place the remaining sauce on top of each noodle along with some shredded cheese. 

Cover with foil and place in oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, remove foil and continue baking for 15-20minutes. Let cool down and ENJOY.

Hopefully you and your family love this as much as mine did!!

#thestruggleisreal

This is the truth with all I do. If I ever sit down and really write a book like I say I'm going to one of these days that's my title. 
This blog is a struggle as you can see, I haven't posted since last summer. 

I think with social media these days, it's become easier to blog via FB, Instagram, Twitter and now even snap chat. These sites are a quick fix to blogging, right? All I have to do is upload a picture at any given time and let you know what's going on in our life. 
I truly love to write, I always have. It's therapeutic and in a way of what may be pulling us down. Most recently, we've discussed getting off Facebook or just staying on as a way to keep up with friends we can't see everyday and family but not really posting to it as much. 

Sooooooooooooo here I go again, in my attempt to blog.


For those of you that may not be up to date on my FB page, or not following me any longer because I've some how offended you (not knowing why) then you are not aware of the many changes in our life and new experiences. So, here is the low down.

* Jason has left Cycle Center for good. I really just need to leave it at that. He wasn't looking but we were praying because we were not happy as a family, and as a husband and wife because we made a commitment to someone and kept our part up but it was one sided. If you know us well you know our main priority in life is our family and kids. Most of our major decisions in our marriage have all been made around our kids and what is best for our family...not just the 4 of us but all of us (26 and growing). Moving back here so Jason could go back to Cycle Center and for me to quit my amazing career was for nothing more than our kids and our family. 
When something or someone doesn't have our family in their best interest it's time to cut them loose and this is what we did. When you pray as we did for an answer, a sign, some sort of way to help us understand what we need to do...he got a call. Thats it, plan and simple. The door was opened and Jason is now with McGraw Powersports as the Regional Sales Manager for all of their stores in the South and Southeast... Which fyi is huge "everything is big in the south" :)  This job is allowing him to travel a lot, which is amazing and I'm so proud of him for him taking a leap of faith and he is doing so well and is very happy. 

* Connor is now in middle school!!! YIKES, it's ok momma!! To be honest, we were so scared of what was to come with middle school and Connor is thriving!! We prayed he wouldn't get lost in the shuffle and prayed that he would develop better long lasting friendships.
We are so proud of him in just these first 6 weeks. He is in theater too, which Jason is so happy about :) Also, he has been able to get closer with his friend Aiden from 5th grade. They have so much in common and we are thankful that he has found a true friend. 
Here is a picture of the two of them before the 6th grade dance a couple of weeks ago. fyi...Aiden is super tall :)

* Me...I'm now a sub for DISD, I love teaching kids in bible study and I've missed that and after a long 2 month process I had my first job today. It was only for half the day with 2nd grade, which was probably perfect! I was myself, didn't try to be something I'm not and not to toot my own horn, but I think I have 5 new crushes and a couple of girls that now want my long brown hair :) But, all that matters is they want me back and I feel that was my purpose for today...make an impression and impact on these little minds. Maybe just not about my hair lol but I'll take it!

* Camryn ....oh our little girl that is so special with such a big heart is loving 3rd grade and her little crush Zach from last year. He gave her a locket today which is a heart, with a picture of them from last year the first week they met. It's such a sweet friendship.  His mother Kristi, has been very special to us as Connor was in her class last year and we were so blessed. Zach has as big of a heart as his mom and we cherish the friendship they have and it's very special. 

So, that is a little update on all of us and hopefully I can keep this going not for your sake, but for mine. if anyone even reads this, I'll be excited!! 

Goodnight.....

Praise Pinterest

Well finally did it....I stayed away for years! I've tried it once or twice but I just knew I would get addicted and I was right. 
I'm told it's a necessity and requirement of a stay at home mom, so I created an account on the big P...yep PINTEREST
One of my goals is to make dinner if not every night at least 4 nights a week. Both Jason and I make it a priority for us to eat together as a family. Our kids enjoy going around the table asking each other how our day was. Even if Jason gets home late, like tonight we try very hard to wait. Luckily the neighbors and their kids were out so growling stomachs were forgotten :)
ok, so before I went to the store, I went on line and found 4 recipes and made my lists. 
Tonight I made Beef enchiladas...ummmmm yummy!!
My biggest critic is my husband, of course the kids but they are picky anyways. If Jason wants seconds, I know it was good!  PRAISE PINTEREST
So, here is the recipe and pictures. ENJOY if you make them!
you can make this with chicken, which is what I really wanted to do and it calls for different ingredients. The store was out of Rotersseri chicken so I'll make it next time. This time I made Beef instead. 
Ingredients:
Lean Ground Beef
Rotel Tomatoes
Taco Seasoning
Butter
Shredded Mexican Cheese
Old El Paso Enchillada Red Sauce

That's it pretty simple!
Cook your meat and when it's done add a Tablespoon of butter and Rotel Tomatoes (drained) and taco seasoning. Don't forget to add 1/2 cup of water due to the taco seasoning and mix...

Next, line your pan with non stick spray, and place some sauce in the bottom of the pan. Stuff your tortillas with meat and roll. Place the tortilla edges down. 

Add Cheese and more sauce....

Cover with Foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove foil and continue baking for 20 minutes and ENJOY!!!!!!!
We did......

Power in Prayer

I truly believe in Power in prayer. This was our sermon today at church and it was very powerful to me. We studied acts, when King Herod killed James and put Peter in Jail and this entire time the church prayed. As Peter lay in Jail in chains, the angels appeared and released Peter. 

Jason and I are very familiar with Power in Prayer and are true believers that without prayer, we can't ask for guidance, strength, vision, and of course answers. We are blessed with our faith in our Lord.

In the almost 11 years that Jason and I have been married we have relied on prayer as a way to guide us on where we should go and answers as parents. He always seems to be listening and I realized this morning what a true blessing that is. You see there are people that go through life one, not praying and if they do they ask "Why is he not listening or why didn't he answer my prayers". I don't have the answer to this, I just know that God's hand is why we are back in Texas. 

When Jason and I began to discuss moving back to Texas, there were a lot of decisions to make and even more questions. We decided to pray and if it was meant to be he would lead us to where we should be. 

Here we are...
AMEN

Goodnight.