Camping and 30 days of habit..

We took the girls camping when they couldn't walk, once, and once when they were just learning. It was probably more frustrating and draining than I had expected. Last year was a Lake Powell trip that while the houseboat moved my nerves were being shredded! So having them be able to walk, listen, and pay attention to certain things was much more exciting! This year we've already gone camping several times and without hesitation they got down and dirty.

The dude's parents took a camper up to Skyline for a few weeks and were kind enough to let us tag along with our motorcycles and kids in tow. The gremlins at first were a little frightened and uncertain of all bugs around the camp ground but eventually learned to ignore it all.

We actually had to go buy jeans for the first time that were slightly too big and allowed for lbs of dirt to leak down their little butt cracks. By the end of every evening they were filthy and generally super tired! I never understood how kids had so much energy! I must have been a little energizer bunny when i was a kid. They spent their days in the dirt, playing with their cousin, riding 4 wheelers, riding their strider bikes up and down a little hill and a little motorcycle ride. 

Surprisingly they didn't enjoy roasted marshmallows at all, they much rather just the regular mallow itself.  But they did love the fire and we had to very often remind them not to run around it. It was so much fun watching the explore and see what things did, testing the waters of nature. I'll be the first to tell you they are professional little squatters. ;)  We are really hoping to get a few more camping trips in this year to a couple new places. 

 As for 30 days of habit...it takes 30 days to start a good habit and only a few days to break one. Today marks that day that I'm throwing myself to the lions and fighting away a huge temptation of mine. Sugar. I've dont it before, around probably the worst time of year, Christmas. This year I'm starting earlier and hoping it sticks. Anyway, here are the few things I'll/we will be changing/starting today:

• No sugar unless natural- as in fruits and other raw foods.
• Keeping a journal - Either blogging for that day or writing in my personal journal. I miss blogging and I want to be able to look back on some details I may not remember one day.
• Telling someone every day something you like or appreciate about them - I have so many people around me that deserve to be told how amazing they are!
• Taking a walk - we may work out occasionally but I think family walks in the evening would be a great way to relieve some stress, talk, and enjoy the world around us as a family.
• Cold showers - I know! It sounds crazy, because trust me, I am the first to turn the heat up to scorching and burn while I shower. But after some research on the matter I want to see the effect it will have. All the benefits of cold showers I feel are things I'm slightly lacking needing in my life. If you'd like to see just a handful of these check it out here. 
• Natural Sleeping pattern - another subject you can find lots of research on. As you know your sleep goes in patterns of deep sleep to..well not deep. Setting a time to sleep and a time to wake ie. 11pm to bed and 7am to wake. Causes you to get too much sleep and is often restless without you even realizing. Research shows that following a sleep only when you're absolutely tired but waking up at a set time causes your body to enter a sleep cycle necessary to keeping your body rested.  

For example, I need to wake up roughly around 7:30am. So the night before I will go to sleep when my mind no longer is able to keep me functioning, eyes wont stay open, good way to test is read a couple pages from a book. For the first night I may end up being up till 1am but I will without a doubt wake at 7:30am. Making sure not to lay there and to, after a couple good stretches, sit up in bed. This may cause me to drag the first couple days as I feel super tired. But in turn that means by the evening I'll be tired enough to go to sleep earlier. Bottom line if you're laying in bed and you cannot fall asleep within 20 minutes, your body is not ready for sleep. Get up, go read, or do something small till you feel tired and certain you can pass out within a short period. Eventually after a few days your body will start a natural sleep patter that will properly assess when and how many hours your need to sleep. Generally keeping your bed time within a 2 hour window and keeping your mind and body at rest the entire night. 

So in ending, I feel like these are all things that can make a positive change in my life. Especially the sleeping since I haven't slept will since the twins were 6 months old. I plan to try and track the differences I feel and see. Possibly do a few blog updates.  As for today, I haven't had a bite of sugar, I took a cold shower that actually felt amazing and woke me up real well after falling asleep a little later than normal but waking at 7:30. So far so good!