A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

3 Generations Doing Dishes

Ethiopian Platter—No Utensila, Just Injera to Grab Your Food With

Strolling Down the Huckleberry Trail

Play Time Is Over. Ms. Hansen's Teaching.

Saturday Nap Time

Liver Cleanse Process

Picture has nothing to do with post.

I've had four people personally ask me what the whole process for the liver cleanse is, so I thought I'd post for them and all the others who are suffering in silence.

Step 1 - Prepare your liver 
I found an herbal liver and kidney detox tea at my local Kroger (Fry's for all you Arizonians). I suggest drinking this for a few days before detox.

Step 2 - Soften your liver
I drink as much apple juice or apple cider vinegar as I can the day of my cleanse and for my first cleanse I drank this a few days before. Apple cider vinegar has more malic acid and requires less dosage. Malic acid makes liver stones soft and painless to pass.

Step 3 - Fast
On the day of my cleanse, I don't eat anything. This builds up bile, which helps with the cleansing processes.

Step 4 - Epson Salt I
Two hours before going to bed, I take 4 tablespoons of pure Epson salt and mix it in a larger glass of water. Warning! This is very bitter! The Epson salt seems to be the driving force for pushing them out.

Step 5 - Olive Oil & Citrus
Right before I go to be I take half a cup of olive oil mixed with citrus juice (grapefruit, lemon, lime or orange). It doesn't taste as bad as you might think. This coats your insides and allows the stones to slip out.

Step 6 - Sleep
I lay on my right side while sleeping. I have no idea why exactly. I read it in about 5 liver cleanse recipes and do it out of blind faith.

Step 7 - Epson Salt II
When I wake up I take another four tablespoons of Epson salt in water.

Step 8 -  Epson Salt III
About an hour and a half later (give or take a half hour), I take the same Epson salt drink again.

Step 9 - Persist
I didn't get great results the first time, but the second and third time I did. So don't get discouraged after one try. Talmage's first time he repeated Epson salt drink four more times and the olive oil/citrus drink one more time until about 6 o'clock in the evening and got results the first time he did the cleanse.

Step 10 - Repeat
I plan on repeating this process every two weeks until I don't get anymore stones.

Liver Cleanse (Warning! Graphic Images)

So Talmage and I did a liver cleanse. His first, my third. Basically we drank vinegar, Epson salt mix in water and olive oil mixed with citrus juice. We drank each drink two hours apart and then went to bed. The results are a little gross, but since you were wondering here is a picture of our liver stones.

Talmage's First Liver Clease

The second time I did it got over a hundred stones, probably over a measuring cup full of liver stones. The third time I got about 70 stones out. And I got "gravel" out during each.

If you want to know more about the importance of liver cleanses I highly recommend this movie. "Here, educate yourself."

Basically cleansing your liver is an important key component of detoxing your whole body.

Conference Weekend

Two weekends a year we stay at home and watch General Conference. This is a live broadcast of our prophet and leaders in our church receiving inspiration from God and speaking directly to us. It is an amazing experience of hope and renewal. And family time. I love it and get so much peace and hope from it. 

The kids and I painting:

 

Talmage left for a week long conference in Flordia on Sunday of conference weekend.

You are What You Eat

 How we've changed our eating habits after watching Hungry for Change:

• The label says it all; we try to buy more FOOD and less "food like product." 
• We buy more organic vegetables especially spinach.
• We have a lot more smoothies with cleansing ingredients such as adding parsley, spinach, cilantro, etc.
• We try to make meals that we are used to but with a healthier twist. For example, brown rice instead of white rice.
• We eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables, it seems to even out budget-wise.

Honestly, it's a challenge to find that balance of taste good and is good for you; a challenge worth working on. Because you are what you eat.