2012 Scentsy Family

2012 ROCKED for the Scentsy Family. With the launch of two new brands, Velata and Grace Adele, the opportunity is bigger and better than ever. For my business, my team has grown to 87 and representing 18 states. I love this company and the people who are in it. What a blessing it has been to me, giving me new friends, travel, and control of my own business. Want to join the fun? Join my team and let's rock 2013!!

Jingle Bell Run

A year ago I started running. My goal was to run the Jingle Bell Run that benefits the Arthritis Foundation. For the last few years, I have walked this 5K fun run/walk with my Mom and my kids, while the men in the family run it. I had been wanting to run it for years, but never did. I set my 2012 goals, and the Jingle Bell Run was at the top of the list. Knowing I needed a short term goal to keep me on track, my step-dad suggested a 5K run in February. And then another in May. I found a local run in July, and then my siblings and I did a relay in September. This all lead up to the Jingle Bell Run. The week of the run I came down with a cold, and the morning of the run, it was only 38 degrees. Both things slowed me down, but didn't stop me from running.

My brother Marty ran with me and was very patient with my slow pace. I do have to say that I owned the small hills! And at the end, he pushed me to run it in. I ended up with a 35 minute flat time. Not my best, but I met my goal! Next year's goal is to run it under 32 minutes.

I have my 2013 goals set, and my brother and I have been challenged to run a 10k......oh boy!!

Christmas 2012

Christmas was busy as usual, and we still have one more to celebrate when Dan gets home! Here's some of my favorite pictures!

Crafts, and my love/hate relationship

I love the idea of crafts. I but I dread doing them. I realized last night why. When I do crafts, it's for a LARGE group, and I get suckered into doing so many crafts, it sucks the fun right out of crafting. Years ago I was part of a Moms group at church and we did crafts for 100 or more women. I can't stand the smell of peppermint because of one of those crafts......long story!

Now, I'm working on a craft project for PACE at school. It's for a group of 60 kids. I'm doing cocoa mix in Starbucks Frappaccino jars. This is the third year I have done this craft. It's pretty simple, and I can get everything prepped in just a few hours. (Last year we were short on jars and I had my Mom and staff at school chugging frappaccinos so that I could use the bottles!). This year I had collected more than enough jars, and I set out to get them cleaned up, and pull the labels off. In the past, if you pull the labels off as they come out of the hot dishwasher, they peel right off. NOT. SO. MUCH. NOW. Starbucks must have changed the glue on the labels, because they leave behind the glue, and only elbow grease and a SOS pad will get it off. NOT fun when you have to scrub 60 bottles. I was grumbling some not so nice things about Starbucks as I scrubbed those bottles. Let's just say, we will be choosing a different craft next year.

I hope someday I can enjoy some crafts, without having to do so many of them!

Before and After

I was honored that the Scentsy Family asked to interview me for the Wellness section of the Consultant Spotlight. My wellness journey has taken all year, but I have lost 19 pounds! Here's the before and after pictures.

A Loving Example

For the last few years, one of my biggest fears was losing all my grandparents at once. I knew how blessed I was to have all 8 (step grandparents included) of my grandparents alive into their 80's. That's some good genetics! A few years ago I lost my first grandfather, and then have lost three more in the last two years. This week I lost my first grandmother. That makes three grandparents lost this year. It's been heartbreaking.

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to Grandma K. She became our step grandmother over 17 years ago, and never treated us as step grandchildren. She welcomed four teenagers into the family and treated us as she did her own grandchildren. She remembered us on every birthday and holiday.

She set an example of God's love. It doesn't matter how the family was put together, family is family.

When I am sad, grieving, frustrated or just feeling helpless in a situation, you can find me in the kitchen. Tonight I made my cheesy broccoli soup, Grandma K's favorite. When I gave her the schedual of this year's soup of the month club, she told me she was looking forward to June when I would bring my cheesy broccoli soup.

I am so thankful for her example and will forever remember the love she showed!

5th Annual Chili Cook Off and Pumpkin Carving Party

Our friends hosted their 5th annual Chili Cook Off and Pumpkin Carving Party. I had been working on my chili all month, and was really thinking I had a winner! Good news, a woman finally won!! Way to Go Stephana! And a very close 2nd place went to Tiff!! The Boobie prize went to Erin, so it was all girl power! Here's a few highlights of the night, and my recipe that people have asked for. It may not be a winner, but I like it!!

Black Bean, Lime and Cilantro Chili

1 pound ground beef, browned
2 med onions, diced
4 tbsp minced garlic
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp honey
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup lime juice
1/3 cup chopped cilantro

Place all ingredients in crockpot, except lime and cilantro. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in lime and cilantro before serving.

Crazy Auntie!

Life has been very busy. I always say that, but I think I have been working more than I ever have (as a Mom), and with Dan being gone for going on 77 days......I'm running hard. So imagine my suprise last Friday when I realized we had no plans. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. Well.....the house needed cleaning, like bad.

So what do I do when the house is a mess, and I have no plans? I call my sister in law and offer to take her 4 kids overnight. Why not? I have missed those kiddos and needed some bonus Auntie points. And they really couldn't mess up things much more than they already were. (Wow, how do I forget the mess 4 extra kids make?).

I did do some prep before they came over. I made sure there were chocolates above the toilet (Halloween ones too!) and made a batch of cookie bars. For the record, those bars barely lasted the evening!! I think my brother stole the last one when he picked the kids up.

The kids had a blast playing, and for the most part it was an uneventful evening. Until bedtime. I let the kids build a fort to sleep in, and then gave them all glow sticks (I am the cool, fun Auntie!). What I didn't know was, you DON'T give Drew glow sticks. Within minutes of lights out, I hear Emma say, "Auntie, Drew broke his glow stick". I quickly got him to go wash up, and found that my floor, Emma's blanket, Lily's slippers, and the side of the chair were glowing. I cleaned things up the best I could, and ended up separating two of the kids to another room so that there was less talking, and more attempts at going to sleep.

The next morning was filled with questions like, "Why is Drew naked?", "Where are Drew's pants?", "Drew why don't you have pants on?" and "Drew, you just had your pants, now where did you lose them?".

It really was fun to have the kids over. I give kudos to my brother and sister in law for dealing with 4 kids all day, everyday. Next time, we will skip the glow sticks!

Fall Soccer

We have had  a beautiful fall, until today! Dry weather so far for the soccer season! Lily's team is doing great, 1 tie, 3 wins and 1 loss. It was a challenge to move up to the bigger fields this season, but they have been playing well. Coach has worked with them on playing their positions, and it's working well. Lily has scored two goals so far. She's great at being at the right spot at the right time. And she's a fast runner! The games are fun to watch and you can catch me yelling and cheering on the sidelines. One week I had my baby nephew with us for the game. He was yelling right along with me, and clapping when anyone else would. Tomorrow will be a wet game.....I'm ready to go with rain boots and umbrella!

Wellness Journey

A year ago I went to Boot Camp for Scentsy Directors. I had an amazing time, met new friends and gained so much from the training. I went there burnt out and feeling overwhelmed by my daily life. With Dan gone, and kids sports and youth groups, working at the school, volunteering at the school, and my Scentsy business, I was exhausted.

We are blessed at Scentsy to have a Wellness program. They truly care about us as people, not just consultants. Our wellness coach was very blunt and to the point (which I needed). He said that we need to take better care of ourselves, or we can't take care of our families and business. He gave us workouts, meal plans and the kick in the butt to get healthy. It was exactly what I needed.

I came home and started with small changes. My mocha habit (liquid booty as coach called it) had to go. I cut back to 2-3 a month, instead of 3-4 a week. I cut back sugar and added protein. I started walking more, and eventually started running.I now run 2-3 miles, 3 days a week.
It was difficult (and still is) to schedual my runs around my busy life, but it was well worth it. I gained so much more energy, giving me what I needed to keep up. I still struggle to make time, but I have never regretted a workout!

I set small goals to work towards. My first 5k was in February, and then did more in May, July, September, and have two more by the end of the year. This keeps me motivated to keep running, knowing I have something to work towards.

My favorite race was the Lake Padden Relay with my siblings. All four of us ran, and it's something I will treasure forever. While we were one of the slower teams, it was more about doing it together, than winning. Well.....our one goal was to not let my step brother and his kids (Team Because Dad said so) lap us (Team HARM- Holly, Amy, Rob, Marty). They did not lap us, but did beat us by about 20 minutes!












Besides the energy I have gained, I have lost 17 pounds this year. Losing weight was never the purpose of my wellness journey, but it has been a great payoff of the changes I have made. I'm down a pant size, (happy dance) and am rocking skinny jeans!!

I'm still working and learning. I had an injury this week, and the first thing that came to mind was that I couldn't run. I need to be more careful and avoid injuries. I need to work on my breathing while running. Having asthma as a child has really effected my breathing. I'm trying to focus on breathing patterns and it's just going to get harder as the weather cools down. I need to work on staying healthy. I got sick last month, and didn't run for 10 days.

My wellness journey has really been about taking care of me. Once I do that, it's much easier to take care of everyone else. I want to set a good example for my kids, and also have pride in myself and be happy with where I am at.

Fair Time!

It's fair week here in Whatcom County! I will be at the Scentsy booth all week, stop by and say hi! Nate entered a Lego creation in the hobby barn, along with a million other Lego entries.....good luck finding his!

Snow Family

We were thrilled to have our family from California come visit. We haven't seen them in a few years, and had yet to meet my youngest niece. She made this Auntie's heart very happy when she came right to me, and was my little buddy for the day.

Summer Job

Nate has been mowing our lawn for the last two years. He doesn't always do the best job, but he's getting better. This spring, when my Grandpa passed away, there was talk of hiring a lawn care company to mow the lawn for Grandma. I told them Nate could do it, for way less! I'm over there every week to work in the garden, so it has worked out great. Nate was shown how Grandpa liked the yard, and has been expected to do it right, or do it over.
It's been a great learning experience for him. He has been very responsible and has done a great job. We talked about how if he does good work, others may want to hire him also. He is saving some of his money for Fair week, and the rest for a Wii game.
I am a firm believer in teaching kids life skills. They need to learn these skills before they leave home. They need to take on responsibilities, and suffer the consequences if they don't follow through.
Pretty proud of my kiddo!

Camping

We had a fun weekend camping along the river. I am so thankful that Dan took all of July off to spend with us. Friday night was filled with thunder and lightning, but we were still able to sit outside and watch. Dan packed the BBQ and smoked a brisket on Saturday, and it was amazing. My Grandma came out on Saturday and played cards. Nate and Lily are now happy to take your dimes! Nate packed his new BB gun, and was shooting targets and pop cans all weekend. Lily had cousin Bailey to play with, and I got to relax!

Happy 12th Birthday, Nate the Great!

Happy 12th Birthday to my Nate the Great!