V-Day

This year we spent Valentine's day in PA. We had a three day weekend so we figured why not?! I spent part of the day hanging out with my bff Dana. We ate WAWA hoagies and swapped some gossip. We also watched "Nights In Rodanthe", which we don't recommend because it was so sad.

Saturday night Matt, my mom, dad, sister and I went to the adult Stake dance. There were a lot of people there and we had fun dancing the night away! Matt bought me a rose corsage and my Dad gave us a gift card to Outback! Yay for our 6th V-day together:)

I am attempting the electric slide. I love my Dad dancing in the background! haahaha.

I tried to find a serious picture of us but Lauren doesn't do serious.

Central Park in February

This past Saturday Matt and I met my Mom, Dad, and little sister at the Temple in Manhattan to do baptisms. Afterwards we headed over to Central Park to take a walk around. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday, it was sunny and in the high forties. We went and saw the fountain from 'Enchanted' and saw some guys dancing around on old school roller skates...........never a dull moment. For lunch we found this really yummy, cheap Chinese restaurant about 4 blocks north of the Temple. I love living close enough to my family where we are able to meet up in the City!

Fountain in the Winter.

Mom and Jenny in CP.

Dad and Matt chit-chatting.

View from the RS room above the Temple.

What We've Been Up To

So I have really taken this 'eating healthy' thing seriously; It's been two weeks since we started and we have made healthy dinners each night. Here are a few that we have made.

Turkey burger with guacamole and pepper jack cheese.

Tortilla pizza with mozzarella, pineapple, and cilantro.

Turkey bacon breakfast sandwich with egg white and Velveeta cheese plus cantaloupe, blueberry yogurt and blueberries!

We have definitely noticed a difference in our health since we started watching what we eat. Try it!

Good Choices

I have been trying to eat better and exercise more and I thought I was doing a pretty job until I read the following books. This first book basically goes through the aisles of a grocery store and compares the fat and sugar content of similar items. For example, I have been eating Danon's all natural low fat yogurt thinking I was doing great! Well this book explains that one serving of this particular brand of yogurt has the same amount of sugar as a kit kat! Then it goes on to recommend eating Fage nonfat yogurt(only 7 grams of sugar) over Danon's all natural low fat yogurt. I was really disgusted to find out that those Little Debbie double-decker oatmeal creme pies are 470 calories and contain 39 grams of fat! That is more calories than three Twinkies. I love those creme pies!

This page is comparing different cereals.

The second book goes through the popular restaurants and fast food places and gives the four worst menu items and the four healthiest menu items. It was a real eye opener to see that half of an Outback blooming onion is 1,155 calories. That is only HALF! And the worst restaurant dish in America is a platter of Aussie cheese fries from Outback coming in at a whopping 2,900 calories. Bleh. There are some good choices at Outback! The prime rib dinner with sweet potatoes and string beans is 730 calories...not bad. Ok and just one more thing, I used to LOVE the Aloha Pineapple Smoothie from Jamba Juice but then I learned it has more sugar than a banana split from Baskin Robbins!! Who would have known.

And then last but not least, I also got the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. Lots of yummy, cheap, healthy meals. There will be some life long changes going on in our house!

Here's my favorite recipe (I haven't tried it yet but the picture looks SO GOOD!)

Strawberry Breakfast Banana Split

1 1/2 teaspoons fat-free, sugar-free hot fudge

1 small (6") banana, peeled and halved lengthwise

1/4 cup fat-free, sugar-free vanilla yogurt

1/3 cup chopped fresh strawberries

1 tablespoon crunchy high-fiber, low-sugar cereal (such as grape nuts)

Heat the hot fudge in the microwave

Arrange the banana halves in a small banana split dish or a shallow bowl with the cut sides facing inward. Spoon the yogurt in the middle. Top with the strawberries, then the cereal, Drizzle the fudge evenly over the top and serve. Makes 1 serving.

Per Serving: 195 calories, 5 g protein, 46 g carbohydrates, less than 1 g fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 88 mg sodium

Winter in New York

Is cold, cold, cold!!! It was 25 degrees yest. and very windy.

Despite the freezing temperatures we decided to meet up with my Dad and sister, Kyra.

Kyra got 100% attendance in seminary so my Dad rewarded her with a trip to the city and a Broadway show.

We all agreed to try out the lottery for Shrek (you can win $26.50 tickets). You have to go to the M&M store's 3rd floor and sign up for a 10am drawing. There were probably about 40 people there and they gave away 16 tickets for the matinee show and 16 for the evening show, so basically almost everyone got in. Kyra and my Dad both won so we were all able to go to the show! It was really cute and funny. The guy who plays Lord Farquaad did the whole show on his knees! I was very impressed.

The only bad part was when Kyra started vomiting at the very beginning of the show and spent the rest of the time in the bathroom. We all felt really horrible for her but she wanted us to stay. She's very sweet that way.

Dad and Kyra in Grand Central

I feel like we take this same picture everytime we are in the city.

Kyra had been feeling naseous all day and this was right before we went into the show. What a good sport!

Notice we have the same bag! We are twins!!

Decisions

So we did it.....we got a Wii!!! Matt ran down to Nintendo World (located in Rockefeller Center) after work the other night, bought the Wii and made it back to catch his regular train home. Then we went out and bought Guitar Hero, World Tour and Guitar Hero, Aerosmith with two guitars. So please come over and rock out with us!


We already started to decorate our guitars. Can you guess which one is mine and which one is Matt's????!!!!

The Winner Takes It All

Friday night Matt and I attended my work party at a swanky restaurant in White Plains. There was dancing, Italian and Island food and a raffle. The raffle was for cash prizes and only the employees of Greenwich Woods got a ticket. So they raffled off 2 $100 prizes and then 2 $200 prizes and finally the grand prize was $500 cash! Guess what I won? You got it, the $500! I never win anything, I was so excited.

So now I am just trying to figure out what to use it for.......Last night Matt told me that if we were ever rich he would take me in to have my appendix removed because I am constantly worried about it bursting. I might put the money towards that. Or I was thinking a Wii.......what do you think?