Hey Family!
Hope everyone is doing well! Love seeing your updates and your photos! Congrats Seth on your return home from your mission and all of our new-schoolers on yet another year of school amid a global pandemic. Our world is more and more like Hunger Games every day, and our girls are proud to represent District 12. :)
Things are going well for us - here's a few brief updates:
- Bear Lake - we took one last little Summer trip to Bear Lake with Danielle's family and it was really fun. The hardest part about traveling for us is getting someone to watch our geriatric dog, whose health challenges can be hard to deal with. Courtney, Seth and Integrity agreed to stay at our place and our girls were so excited for Indy to play with their toys. We came home to a very clean house - they were the perfect tenants! Bear Lake was really fun despite all the smoke. We played in the lake, got Raspberry Shakes, rented "family" bicycles, shopped and had a great time.
- Park City - on the way home from Bear Lake we made an impromptu stop in Park City and rode the Alpine Coaster and did a few other fun things. It was a great end to our last Summer fling. Two of our three girls are crazy for rollercoasters and this one was really fun, and SO scenic. If you haven't done it, I highly recommend it. I liked it better than the Alpine slide.
- School - Ani is in 6th grade, Layla is in 2nd, and Noelle is in Kindergarten. This marks the very first time in 11 years that Danielle has a few hours of alone time. The girls have varying levels of excitement for school, but things are going well so far and they like their teachers. Noe and Layla are in dance, Ani is in piano - and there are other things that I'm forgetting! It's a busy stage of life! I'm going into the office about three days a week and work has been very busy for me lately. I'm working with a New-York based PR firm that is developing some "brand-management" type proposals (we don't call them that at the Church, but that's what they are), and some of these are getting a lot of attention and traction within my building - so I've been busy presenting them to all sorts of councils and committees.
- Keto - Danielle and I are still doing Keto (it's been 5 weeks) and intermittent fasting. I've lost about 25 lbs (and most of that is due to keto - the rest is from running a ton before we started). We monitor our blood to see if we're in ketosis. It's been a really good experience. Danielle is doing it to better understand and regulate blood sugar, and I'm doing it to lose weight and understand insulin. She makes amazing meals and that (and Dr. Pepper Zero) have made all the difference. I feel way better, and I'm sleeping a ton better. I used to have to prop myself up every night and dealt with snoring, reflux and other issues. Now, I have none of that. I hadn't planned on doing this long-term, but I really like the way I feel, so I might see what this looks like longer-term. I've always gained all my weight back plus some each time I've lost weight, so I really would love to figure out something that works for me. It's funny - I used to think I could never be gluten-free, but this is gluten and sugar free and it's been fine!
- SnackStash - I always have a side-hustle to keep things interesting and to keep me creative. My latest side-hustle is with a buddy from work and it's called SnackStash. It's basically bags that look like unappetizing food that kids wouldn't want to get into, so adults can hide their treats from their family (or roommates). We're working with a Chinese manufacturer to get these bags printed, then we'll create a little website to take orders, and start marketing them. We're planning on $10 for 4 bags, and we'll have some fun with how they are shipped and packaged (in keeping with the "top-secret" theme).
- Half-Marathon - I'm running a half-marathon in a couple weeks and have been training lots in the hills by our house. I've fallen in love with trail running and go about 3 times per week (anywhere from 4-11 miles). I'm not fast, but I'm pretty consistent and love getting outside (I even ran all through this last Winter for the first time ever). :)
Hope you're all doing great! Love you!
Lehi Westras
Email sent August 25, 2021
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