As of late.....{one year later}

So....it's been about a year since I've updated everyone on our lives on our lovely blog.  I guess that means we've been too busy :)

This past year has been CrAzY (that's the only time I will justify typing a text like that.) We purchased our first home, DJ applied/interviewed/got accepted/started GRAD school, I switched schools and added a new subject that I'm teaching, I fell in love with Yoga, we cut down and almost ripped out 7+ trees (trunks included) in our yard, I started a small photography business, we're blessed to be the uncle and aunt of 3 new nieces and nephews, celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary, and overall have just been living life.

We are finally getting some painting done in our house, hanging things on walls and adding our own personal flair of home decor skills and it's starting to feel more like home.  We are so grateful for our families and the blessings that we have.  DJ is a non stop working GRAD student.  His GRAD program consists of 7 students and they do not allow any of them to have outside jobs and for good reason.  He puts well over 20+ hours of homework time a week and sometimes feels like his brain is going to explode with information but he is loving it.  I am amazed at his dedication and passion for therapy and how well he handles the pressure.  After 2 years of being married, I still haven't learned his stress handling skills :)

I am still teaching foods and nutrition and absolutely love the drama and energy of high schoolers (most of the time :). I've labeled myself the "obnoxious nerdy" teacher that has daily conversations with my students that go like this,

Me- "Alright, each team will have 10 seconds to choose a team name GO!.....(10 seconds later) Team 1 what's your name?"
Team 1- "Team EBOLA!" (class erupts into laughter)
Me- as I write Ebola on the board "Too soon guys.....too soon.  Team 2 what's your name?"
Team 2- "Team H1N1"
Me- "Touché young viruses, touché."

I am loving having a house and decorating to my hearts content each time I find a killer deal.  Despite our sewer backing up twice into our basement and cleaning up sh*tty water we have loved living here.

Some of our recent adventures was a Halloween party we hosted for several couples in our neighborhood.  We are trying to get to know more people and make friends so we decided having a Annual Zolman HAlloween Party was the way to do it.  We had delicious food, spooky music, and pee your pants laughter games.  

Here are some pictures for you:

I feel like this blog post is like a yearly Christmas card with me typing what we did this past year but DJ and I are going to try and be better at posting more often. As for now, enjoy your sugar filled candy and food this Halloween season, we most definitely will :)

Pomegranate Chia Seed Pudding and Our New Vegan Diet

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, DJ and I watched the movie Forks Over Knives.  I felt so inspired by what I learned that we decided to go Vegan for the 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.  It was rough the first couple of days but we felt so good once our bodies started to flush out all of the gross stuff.  Then...Thanksgiving hit.  It is SO difficult to eat healthy during the holidays and I have a really hard time with self control on what I eat and put into my body so we decided to take a break until January 1st.

So here we are 5 days into our whole food, plant based diet.  I love it.  It's difficult and sometimes I just want to eat some cheese or stuff my face with brownies but overall we are feeling better and better each day.  One of the most fun things about eating whole foods is that you get to make everything you eat from scratch (because it's "whole foods" nothing processed.)

Tonight we had a delicious dinner of veggie stew made by DJ and for dessert (because you can't go without anything sweet) a pomegranate chia seed pudding made by me.  I absolutely LOVE making foods with ingredients that I have never used before like kale, millet, quinoa, chia seeds, wheat germ, and the list goes on.  Since I love sweet things so much I am determined to find some fun Vegan dessert recipes.  I have been able to find some great resources online like Carrie at Carrie on Vegan. She has great recipes which is where I found this one.  I modified it a bit and liked the way it turned out.

Since this dessert is so beautiful I took some pictures and thought I would post the recipe so here ya go:

 We found Chia Seeds for $7.50/lb

 DJ got me a food processor for Christmas, yea! I'm loving it

Pomegranate Chia Seed Pudding
Serves 2
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 TB of whole chia seeds (if you want to use ground chia seeds just split it 1/2 and 1/2)
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup fresh pomegranate arils (about 1 medium sized pomegranate, if you want to use more feel free it will make the pudding have more flavor and will change the color slightly)
• 1/2 tsp pure maple syrup

Directions:

• Combine chia seeds, almond milk, pomegranate arils, and maple syrup in a food processor until smooth.  Pour into bowl and place covered in the fridge overnight or for a couple of hours until it has set up.  Stir before serving and enjoy!

Thanks Carrie for the recipe!

My New Obsession

First Off: Keep in mind that this is not a sales pitch, mmmkay?

I just want to share with all of you about my new obsession with Doterra oils.  I'm addicted.  But in a good way.  

Reasons:

#1- I sleep better and more peacefully (no bad dreams, night terrors, and no trouble going to sleep or getting back to sleep when I wake up in the night.)

#2- Keep me away from illness (I'm a teacher, at a high school, with teenagers.  I haven't gotten sick at all this year.  'nuff said.)

#3-Keeps my emotions in check.  (This is more personal but my emotions were so outta wack that it was really starting to take a toll on my happiness and enjoyment in life, work, and my marriage. Instead of going to the doctor to check my hormones and start popping pills, I looked up some type of oil I could use.  I was really skeptical at first and DID NOT think it would work but within the first week of trying a specific oil blend I felt lighter, happier, and more at peace.)

Someone introduced them to me so I thought I would introduce them to you because they have helped me so much.  I can't wait to buy more and try more and to have kids so I can use oils to heal their cuts and bruises (but not broken arms...oils can't do that and I'm not that kind of mother :)

I bought a book and have been studying up on it the past couple of months.  If anyone wants any or has any questions (or know anyone that does) about essential oils please ask me.  Then we can bond about oils :)

brigham city utah doterra oils

The Annual Zolman Christmas Party

I absolutely L.O.V.E. Christmas time and it's not because of the presents.  I love it because you just get to sit back and enjoy spending time with loved ones.

We started our holiday festivities with the annual Zolman family Christmas Party.  Julia hosted it this year at her house and she couldn't have planned a better party (seriously, JU thank you!)  It has to be slightly nerve wracking to have 18 little rugrats running around your house and I have decided that I am going to try to be more like Julia in the future. Calm, loving, and happy in every moment in life.

When the kiddos were getting a little too rambunctious, we went out and sledded down a fabulous trail just steps outside their front door.  After sledding the nieces and nephews put on the nativity story.

 I absolutely love this picture.  Look at Asher's face.  It shows that pure joy feeling of sledding down a hill. So much fun! 

The Nativity

thanks Julia for such a great party!

Olive Rose Bennion

There have been so many fun holiday celebrations going on the past couple of weeks.  I have felt so overwhelmed with happiness and peace as DJ and I have spent time with family and friends.  Since I have so many fun pictures to post of our festivities, I'll be doing several blogposts to keep everyone up to date. 

This blog post is going to be dedicated to our sweet new neice Olive Rose.  My younger sister Hailey and her wonderful husband Glen welcomed their first child into the world on December 26th.  She is just so perfect.  There is something so magical about holding a little newborn baby in your arms.  It just testifies to me that we have a loving Heavenly Father and there is a purpose and plan to our lives.  Hailey and Glen got married only 2 months after us and Hailey and I also roomed together at Utah State University.  Even though we sometimes, fought over clothes :) I love Hailey with all of my heart and it is so touching to see Hailey and Glen be such adorable parents to an angel of a child. 

I took newborn pictures of Olive Rose at only 3 days old.  Enjoy!

Halloween 2013

It's practically Thanksgiving but I wanted to post a few of our Halloween pictures.  It was such a fun holiday!  We celebrated Halloween the entire month of October by putting up our decorations and planning parties and festivities the last week of September.  DJ and I had a great time planning and making our costumes.  Can you guess what we are?

The weeks before Halloween we met up with the Zolman clan at Gardner Village.  We all dressed up and walked around looking at the shops and trying to keep track of the little ones as they ran around and danced to the Halloween music.  We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Z's house and played games for the little ones and ate some delicious food.

DJ had to work on Halloween so I drove down to spend time with the Harlan's.  We ate Katrina's famous Chicken Cheese Soup in pumpkin bread bowls.  Briana and Hannah were visiting and I was so grateful that I got to spend some extra time with them.

I love this time of year with the changes in season and the holidays.  It is such a great time to make memories and enjoy time with our loved ones.

Briana and Adorable Hannah Lu

For the past 2 weeks, Briana and sweet Hannah were in Utah visiting Grandma Trina, Papa Dave, and the Harlan family.  The one downside to having an awesome job is that you can't just take time off whenever you want so I didn't nearly enough time with them but the 2 days I did get to spend with them were so precious.

Briana is such a great friend, confidant, sister, and listener.  I just love having her around.  She uplifts me and inspires me.  Ever since we were little, she has always been a great example to me and to this day I strive to be as amazing as her.  Plus, she is absolutely gorgeous!  She inspires me to cut my hair short short.

Hannah is just getting so big, it's crazy.  I cannot believe how fast time flies when you live your busy day to day life.  The entire time Hannah just talked and talked.  Most of the time we had no idea what she was saying but her little high-pitched sweet voice just touches my heart and I have this immense love for her, Briana, and Tyler.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing family included with such great sisters. I learn something from each of them every time I'm around them.

Here are some pictures from our times together this Fall.  I'll post some Halloween pictures soon.