8 Things

I was tagged by Becky — so here it goes!

8 Shows I love:
1. The Biggest Loser
2. Make it or Break it
3. What I Like About You
4. Most shows on TLC
5. Wipeout!
6. Sabrina the teenage witch
7. Rachel Ray
8. The Next Food Network Star

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Slept in until noon! (it was great!)
2. Worked on a surprise for my grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary!
3. Read some in “Gone With the Wind”
4. Wrote in my journal
5. Watched “The Prince and Me” on ABCfamily
6. Went to Marissa’s wedding reception (She looked beautiful! Congrats Marissa!!)
7. Practiced my song for Sacrament Meeting (“A Believer’s Prayer” by Sally DeFord)
8. Prepared my lesson for my Primary class… 5 and 6 year olds. We played with rocks!

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. The Olive Garden
2. Applebee's
3. Rockne’s
4. Texas Roadhouse
5. Amish Door
6. Pizza Hut
7. Steak ‘n Shake
8. N/A

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. To enjoy what is left of the summer
2. To have a stress-free semester
3. To get more hours at work (Currently, can I only work 10 hrs/week during the fall semester)4. To find a way to transfer schools… I would love to go out west!
5.To finally get caught up on my journal… I’m 2 years behind… yes I know how crazy this sounds, but I have everything that is important written down so I don’t forget. It’s just a matter of copying it to my journal now.
6. To be a better person
7. To speak better Spanish
8. A new wardrobe!

8 Things I'm Looking forward to:
1. My 21st birthday! (36 days and counting!)
2. Some of my classes this fall
3. The County Fair!
4. Meeting my future husband and spending our lives together
5. My grandparents 50th Anniversary Party
6. Friday (my day off)
7. Fall (I love when the leaves start changing colors!)
8. The Second Coming

8 People I Tag (Considering I don't know who all reads this not to mention who would actually do it):
1. Kira Carey
2.Mikell Gehret
3. Julie Rohal
4. Danielle Johnson
5. Erin Stanfield
6. Micah Mae
7. Nichola
8. Jon Ridinger

I want to be a LOSER too!

My family and I are big fans of the hit reality weight loss show "The Biggest Loser". There is something inspiring about watching people change their lives because they have decided to put themselves first for once. While every contestant's story is different, they have a few things in common:

1. They are clueless when it comes to living a healthy life
2. They do not know how to balance exercising with other daily activities
3. They do not understand basic food choices
4. They lack self-esteem and self-respect, even if it does not appear that way on outside
5. They each have to understand that the only one stopping them from shedding the weight and looking their best is themselves. (This may be the hardest on the list)

After watching the show for three seasons now, it is time to apply the lessons I've learned. My family and I began changing our lifestyles in January 2008 by creating a family version of the show. We had weekly weigh-ins where our weight for the week was recorded on the calender, watched what we ate and exercised regularly. At the end of each month we took pictures so we could see our progress. This was a great plan of attack for me. Having a support system made eating right and exercising less stressful and difficult for me. However, we are only human and we fell off the bandwagon the beginning of 2009. I could tell you many excuses about busy lives and loads of schoolwork, but lets face the facts...it was laziness.

On Monday I started all over again and this time I will reach my goal! Here is my new plan of attack:

• Buy a cute outfit in my goal size and hang it where I will see it everyday
• Start my day off right by eating a healthy breakfast
• Drink at least 8 glasses of COLD water
• Track my progress on here (to an extent)so I have another excuse to get moving
• I am going to make healthier eating choices and try to cut "emotional" snacking from my day
• Do some kind of exercise everyday for at least 20 minutes. (My favorites exercise DVDs are Leslie Sansone: 3 Mile Weight Loss Walk and Jillian Michael's - 30 Day Shred. I promise that you will be exhausted and "feeling the burn" when you finish these!)
• I am also following the advice in Leslie Sansone's book Eat Smart, Walk Strong, which provides readers with a plan for 6 weeks

So....wish me luck as I once again begin the journey to change my life and improve my health. Any tips or advice you can offer are greatly appreciated!

Friends by Day...Enemies by Night

This past Saturday my best friend Kira and I had quite an adventurous day! We started off the day (okay, so it was 2 in the afternoon) at the Zoo with some people from church! The day was PERFECT! The sun was shining, the temperature was in the 70s, there was a slight breeze and we had the perfect driving soundtrack playing ("Of June" by Owl City). Neither of us had been to the Zoo in about a year, so we were really excited...kind of like kids on Christmas Morning! We each had one animal we really wanted to see... for her it was the Lamas and for me the monkeys! The day was filled with laughter and new friends! Our delight continued as we pretended to be birds and penguins, later the giant turtle tried to run away with Kira (he was trying to break out of the exhibit to get to her... it was really funny!) and we even touched some underwater creatures! While we were exhausted from walking all day, we were still relaxed and reluctant to leave... but we were pressed for time before our next adventure of the day.

After hurrying home from the Zoo (we went the speed limit, don't worry!), it was time to prepare to become enemies! That night we were performing in our church's "Open Mic Night/Talent Show". We sang and acted out "What is This Feeling" from the musical Wicked. However, in order to get into character, we each had to take on a different personality (our song talked about how much we could not stand each other and that we were forced to be roommates at school) and physical appearance. Therefore, Kira bought a "lovely" Hannah Montana wig (that we tried to curl with soft rollers...with no luck) so she would look like Glinda, the "good witch", and I bought black hairspray to look more like Elphaba the "wicked witch". Our performance was a hit... everyone got a kick out of our different hair colors (we kind of swapped hair colors for the night)! We choreographed the song ourselves late Friday night into early Saturday morning, therefore we were able to bring our characters to life instead of just standing on stage. However, we had a costume and dance malfunction as Kira tripped over her 4 inch heals and her wig came off near the end of the performance...but being the "professionals" we are, we pulled it off as part of the show! Needless to say, it was every one's favorite part! We had so much fun performing and hope to have the opportunity again, either on campus in the fall or when we are 50 years (I tried to convince Kira that our grandchildren would get a kick out of it)!

M.I.A. in the month of May

Hey everyone.... I'm back! The first half of May has been crazy, but I'll work backwards with pictures so you know what has been going on in my life lately. On Saturday, my youngest sister Macayla had her first home softball game of the season... they won 17 - 7! She plays 3rd base and is amazing. She had a game this afternoon and hit a triple! Also, if you look close at her socks, you will notice the green blobs are FROGS!

Last Sunday was Mother's Day. My sisters and I surprised our mom good this year. We made her a huge sign that had three words for mom because we each call her something different, it was hanging on the sliding glass doors when she went downstairs that morning. On the table we had a picture of each of us in black and white with only our blue eyes in color. (Those pictures are now on her desk at work!) But the best gift of all was the collage post we made with 30 different pictures of her and us over the years. It really is amazing... across the top is a quote I found by Abraham Lincoln about his own mother. It is now framed and hanging in her room.

The first Saturday in May, I was invited by one of my best friends to attend his Senior Prom. It was kind of strange going to Prom as a graduate, but it was fine because there were three other people from my graduating class and a random 25 year old... so I wasn't the oldest guest, thank goodness! But, Prom was a blast... I had so much fun dancing the night away with a great friend. However, we both decided that the DJ did not play enough of a variety of music. (He didn't even play the Graduation song for the Seniors!) I had more fun than I thought I would and I am so glad that he asked me to go. I wouldn't trade the memories of that night for anything. He's such a sweet guy and was the perfect gentleman all night. I'm honored that he wanted to share that special night with me.

So, I think that covers the first couple weeks of May... hopefully with the semester over and Summer here I will be better at posting! (But I'm not making any promises!) ;)

Earth Day

As today is Earth Day, I thought I would share with you a couple pictures I took of nature in my yard this afternoon. I love the signs of spring... rebirth, growth, change, and hope are just a few worlds that come to mind. Our planet is very important and we all need to do our part to protect it. Whether it is something as small as picking up a piece of trash on the sidewalk, changing light bulbs in your home, recycling or planting trees, there is something for everyone to do! Use your imagination, the possibilities are endless! We must each do our part if we want future generations to view the wonders and mysteries Earth has to offer. A thought to leave with: How many more species of animals will go instinct, acres of rain forests will be destroyed and miles of glaciers melt before all of human-kind joins forces to reverse this tragedy? It's time for a change... let it start with you and your family! Happy Earth Day everyone!

Beautifully Strong

For Spring Break I had the opportunity to travel with my family to Ft. Jackson, SC to watch my cousin graduate from Army Basic Training. It was the first time we saw him in 13 weeks and I could not believe how much he changed over that short amount of time.

Physically... he received a buzz hair cut courtesy of the Army, lost 15 pounds and 5 inches, however that wasn't what caught my attention. Emotionally, he was a different person. He was still Alan, but he was more mature, aware of his surroundings and those around him. He held himself differently, and confidence radiated from him, it was almost tangible. He respected the uniform and kept his professional manner at all times. I believe this is what shocked me most, having grown up with a cousin that would pull my hair or wrestle me to the ground just because he could.

On Thursday, the base had family day so the soldiers could give their families some idea of what they had to endure every day to get to this important step of graduation. While we walked around base, he shared stories of his friends, officers and schemes. It was amazing to watch as he became animated and engrossed in the stories, as if he were reliving them.

The entire time we were with Alan, I had my camera at the ready. Upon returning home, I discovered I had taken 464 pictures in 4 days! Out of all the pictures I took, this is my favorite… and I feel I have titled it appropriately.

As soon as graduation was over Friday morning, we drove from SC to VA… 6 ½ hours! We spent all Saturday at a local Go-Cart and Putt-Putt course. We had a lot of fun racing each other in the cars and playing mini-golf boys vs. girls. (Sadly, the boys won, but not by much!) It was bittersweet leaving him at his new base in VA Saturday Night. But we are all so proud of him and his determination and devotion to the Army and his country. He is on his way to greatness and it makes me proud to say that I am his cousin.

I received this video on Facebook and it got me thinking. I want to start March off right by standing up for my faith in God. I'm not posting this to try to convert you or sway your faith in any way, however, I am posting it so you will know where I stand. I want to be an example in a dark world, a light at the end of the road and a friend always willing to lend a hand. I want to live my life as an example of Christ, sharing my love for the Gospel with those around me. I am choosing now to stand up for what I believe in. What will you choose?