~Challenge--Easter~

The challenge today is to share my thoughts on Easter. As a faithful follower of Christ, Easter is very special to me. I can honestly say that I am always grateful for my Savior, and think about him every day throughout the year, but this time of the year gives me some added focus. I try to focus not only on His ressurrection, but also on His life--the wonderful example He showed us of unparalleled compassion and service, the miracles, the teachings, and the unfailing and unconditional love.

As far as celebrating the special day, DH and I go to church, of course--at which I sing in the choir. This Sunday, I also have the privilege of teaching an Easter lesson to the children. After church, we usually have family over for a turkey dinner (always my sister and her family) and sometimes others, as well. This year, we will have my sister and her family, my other sister and my brother (both now live in our basement apt.), my MIL, BIL, and SIL (DH's yongest two siblings). We might have a small egg hunt for my nephew, who is five. My niece is only 1 year and doesn't yet walk, so I don't think she will do much in the way of an egg hunt and my BIL is almost 13, so he is getting a little too old but I bet he will join in and have a little fun w/ my nephew. It should be a fun, special day, which I am so anticipating. I still need to buy the turkey and all the fixin's, though!

~Challenge--First thing that comes to mind~

1. Harry.... Connick, Jr.
2. Black.... white
3. Delicious... yummy
4. Funny... bone
5. Green... red
6. Ribbons... fibers
7. Internet... site
8. BBQ... chicken
9. People... kids
10. Quirky... fun

That was fun. It is almost 11:00 and I have still not made it to the gym; if I don't go soon, I will have to wait until after I give the three piano lessons this afternoon. I haven't done much this morning. I think I am feeling a little overwhelmed with my new church calling as Primary president (for those of you who aren't LDS, that means I am over the children's program at my church--Sunday school, activities, etc.). I just love the children so much and hope I can teach them what they need to know and, most importantly, instill the love of Christ in them. I feel very humbled that I am entrusted w/ this special calling but I am excited at the same time. Primary is so fun! Anyway, I really need to get the gym, so off I go. Have a great day!!

~Challenge--Fave Ice Cream~

Like my dad, I just love ice cream, so it's hard for me to choose just a few favorites, much less one! And I really shouldn't be thinking about ice cream, since I have been eating so well and losing weight. But here goes.

I usually don't go for fruit-flavored ice creams but anything else goes (and I do mean anything), especially anything w/ chocolate and/or nuts. I love Rocky Road, Choc. Chip Cookie Dough, Peanut Butter cup, etc. If I had to pick one that I crave the most, though, it would be Cold Stone's Amaretto--plain, no mix-ins. I just love anything almond, the taste and the smell--yum! Well, I'm off to bed; I'll be dreaming of ice cream, I'm sure...

Hurts so good

Weight training w/ a personal fitness trainer. Tough but I love it! I am so terribly sore this first week. But I kind of like it because I am constantly reminded of the effort I am putting in and the progress I am making.I wonder if I will always be this sore. I signed up to work out w/ a personal trainer for a year! This first month, they will teach me all of the work-outs I need to know, then the rest of the months I will work out on my own, w/ help here and there from them, and have one full session w/ a trainer per month. I'm excited and cannot wait to see what I will look like and, most importantly, feel like by the end of the year! My main goal is to have my back and neck pain lessen and not worry about how my back will be if I get pregnant or adopt a baby. That truly is one of the things I worry about. As much as I want kids, the thought of having to hold a baby all the time really troubles me. I mean, I can't hold a niece or nephew for more than a couple of minutes w/o being in agony. SO, hopefully strengthening my whole body and my back will help that.

The personal trainer is also having me eat LOTS of protein--170 grams per day! It's actually challenging to get that much protein in. I have to really plan my meals and drink lots of protein shakes. All the meal planning will be harder for me to keep up than the working out.

It is storming here today--really windy and rainy. April showers, I guess. The wind bothers me because I have a phobia of a tree falling on the house or something--could be because lightning hit a tree when we were camping up in the mountains a few years ago and it came crashing down right where we were standing. If we hadn't run away so quickly, we would have been goners! The rain doesn't bother me, I just wish it didn't have to rain on the one day of the week I have to travel ~40 min. to teach piano lessons. Oh, well.

OK, off to eat some protein! :)

Whoa

I so suck at keeping a blog updated! It’s been 2 months since my last post. Here are some of the highlights of the last 2 months:

· I’ve lost 23 lbs. since mid-Jan

· I now have 10 piano students (aiming for 20)

· I bought lots of scrapbook goodies at the Provo Craft and Making Memories warehouse sales J

· I played basketball and racquet ball each a couple of times (something I wouldn’t have done before I lost some of this weight)

· I started a monthly scrapbook group at my house for the women at my church

· I got a membership at Gold’s Gym, instead of staying w/ the rec. center

· I started working out w/ a personal fitness trainer (I’m still sore from Friday!)

· LSU men and women made it to the Final Four (but the men just got stomped by UCLA tonight L ) I’m just still ecstatic that we beat Duke!! Hee hee!

I’m really excited as to what the next month will bring, especially in regards to working out w/ a personal trainer! I’m sure it will be challenging, yet rewarding. Wish me luck!

Procrastinator!

Talk about procrastinating! I have been married over 6 1/2 years and I just changed my name on my social sec. card today! I just never took to the time to do it when I was working. I was so mad because I called on Monday and asked them what I needed and they said my marriage certificate and driver's license. Well, I went to the office yesterday and waited in line for them to tell me I needed my marriage license, instead of certificate! I was ticked! I had to drive back to the office today and the wait was even longer but I am happy to say I finally got it done!

My pic of the day is from the Switchfoot concert last Monday (1/23) in Park City; I went w/ my sister and one of her friends. It was an outdoor concert and it was FREEZING! We were literally standing on a pack of snow and had to ride a snow lift to get up to the resort where the concert was! I think I was dangerously close to frostbite but it was a good concert and I would do it again. :) Here's the pic:

Plugging away

I've been eating really well for over a week now. Yay! Even though Jared leaves things like delicious toffee lying around! Just trying to get over these headaches, which I really think are from getting off caffeine. That's when you know that it is bad for you!

Here's my pic of the day:



















I walked into the bedroom a bit ago and Chloe, the queen that she thinks she is, made herself a throan on top of all the blankets and pillows--she took advantage of the fact that I failed to make up the bed today. I just had to laugh and grab the camera. She's so cute!

It snowed a bit today but just enough to cover the grass. I think it is going to snow more tonight and tomorrow. I hope so!

I'm a loser!

Of weight, that is! I've already lost a few pounds and I am so excited! No longer in the 190's so now I'm aiming for 180's--I'll take it 10 lbs. at a time. I really want to lose about 20 lbs. before I go to Louisiana to visit family. It's just so embarrassing for me to see people who knew me when I was thin--I always wonder what they think (stupid, I know). I mean, 20 lbs. won't get me where I was when I lived there but at least I won't be almost 200 lbs. heavy! And, by the time we go there for Thanksgiving, I will be even that much closer to my goal weight.

Anyway, not much has been going on since I last posted. Still just spending my days scrapbooking and cleaning the house. I could have started a job at my husband's company this week but I wasn't really interested in the job or some of the things I would have to deal with (like truck drivers and other things). I haven't even looked at other jobs. I really have no clue what I really want to do. I'm thinking of trying to get a music studio going--like giving lessons on piano, clarinet, flute, marimba...

Thanks right! I got a marimba last week!! Not the prettiest one out there but have loved being able to play it again. Here she is:














I even played it at the Cub Scout pack meeting last night--the theme this month is music, so the Cub Master asked me to talk about music and play a couple of instruments.

It snowed last night but not enough to stop me from driving Jared's truck to the rec. ctr. to work out; he took my car because he had meetings in Salt Lake. Anyway, just catching up posting here...

Been a while

I haven't posted in almost a month! I've been enjoying my lay off from work. My family was all here in Utah for Christmas and it was wonderful! We took family pictures, went out to eat, had lots of great meals together, did a murder mystery dinner, played games, had Christmas (of course) complete with a big Christmas dinner, and just had a blast together! My husband and I had a good time together on New Years Eve, too. We went out to eat, then went to the festivities in Provo. We saw a hypnosis show, which was hilarious. Here are some of my favorite pics from the past month:












My ADORABLE nieces on Christmas morning












My 5-yr. old nephew trying out his new skate board on Christmas morning

















The cutest little LSU FAN ever!

Change

Well, I was laid off today. I suspected it was coming, since my client's business was moved to another facility in our company and they took over my job. There were no other accounts in my facility that needed another account rep. While it was hard to say goodbye to the friends I made over the last 7+ years, I think this will end up being a good thing for me. BTW, I get 4 months of severence pay and 70 hours of unused PTO, plus the bonus I just received. We will be OK for a while.

I'm hoping that I will get into a job that I actually enjoy or that I will finally get pregnant. I'm hoping for the latter more than the former!

I'm feeling a lot of different emotions right now. On one hand, I feel relieved to no longer be working at that place and I am excited to take some time off (DH said I should take a month off and just scrapbook!). On the other hand, it is weird think about not having a job to go to every day and I wonder with fear about the future.

For now, I will enjoy my time off, and try to leave worrying about the future until next month. Gotta get through Christmas first, anyway!

Getting my house in order

It is amazing the crap that piles up in your house after just five years! Holy crap! I am de-junking every room and have literally thrown out bags of stuff. It's so stupid, some of the things we hang on to that we never use, pick up, or even look at. It feels so good to get rid of it all and get every part of the house organized! What started it all was getting our bedroom done (thanks to my sweetie!). It looks so great that I want the rest of the house to look great, too. Here's a pic of it (no decorations or window treatments yet):

We also put a new computer desk in my scraproom, which looks much nicer. I still have quite a bit to do around the house and can't wait to be finished with it all. I have just over a week before my parents and my brother's family fly here from Louisiana for Christmas!

The Christmas season

The Christmas season is in full gear!  We have two parties to attend this weekend--one at church tonight for the adults, then a family party tomorrow afternoon up in Coalville, UT.  The snow from Tuesday is still thick on the ground, due to it being SO FREAKING COLD the past few days!  I hope we get more snow, as long as I don’t have to drive too much in it.

Though I am in the Christmas spirit, I have still not done my Christmas shopping!  I have one thing bought so far!  I plan on getting up early tomorrow morning so I can go get some things before we leave for the party in Coalville.  Christmas is fast approaching and I have so much to do and buy!  Ack!  How did Christmas draw so near?

What's been goin' on

I haven’t blogged in almost a month, oops! November ended up being a pretty busy month.

On Sat., 11/12, I went with my sister and two other chicks to the Depeche Mode concert. THEY WERE FREAKING AWESOME!!! Best concert I’ve ever been to!
At 3:30am that night after the concert, I woke up not feeling well and puked my brains out! Then, at 5:30 I awoke again but with diarrhea this time! Then, I had both AT THE SAME EXACT TIME!! Sorry if that is TMI! It was horrible and disgusting. I was sick all that Sunday and had to take Monday off. I was supposed to fly to Nashville on business but left on Tuesday, instead. So, I was in Nashville all that week—not too exciting.

The next week was Thanksgiving, then decorating for Christmas that weekend. The week after that (last week), I went to Nashville again. When I returned late Friday night, DH had our bedroom all done (we put in wood flooring, textured and painted the walls, and put in new crown molding and baseboards). He even made the bed with our new bedding! Made me cry, it looked so good!

This week, I have been a busy bee doing all kinds of stuff around the house—we are de-cluttering every single room in the house and getting ready for my whole family to be here in Utah for Christmas!!! I even took yesterday off to get more things done. I still need to do a lot of Christmas shopping! The snow we got this week really put me in the Christmas mood and I will probably get it all done this weekend.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

Trials

So I started getting a really bad headache around 3:00 yesterday afternoon. By the time I got home from work, it was a full-fledged migraine. I was supposed to help DH in remodeling our bedroom, then go to a church meeting, but I did neither. I didn’t even scrapbook—that's when you know it’s bad for me!

Most of the time, I am just used to, and can live with, the pain and headaches that go along with my back and neck injuries; but sometimes, I get so sick of it, frustrated, angry, and depressed. Yesterday was one of those days. Today was a brighter day, as, even though I woke up with a headache, I decided not to let it get me down and keep me from doing things I want and need to do—and I still love life! It doesn’t hurt that I went home and took a nap for my lunch break!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, even though things might seem miserable at times, and we all have different trials, there are always people to love and love you back, and many things to live for. I thank my Heavenly Father for the trials because they make me appreciate the good times more.

Monday blues

Not a lover of Monday's! I never like recovering from the weekends. This past weekend consisted of:
· Friday: Eagle Scout Court of Honor (at which I played piano), hanging out with sister and friend, and scrapbooking
· Sat.: Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, scrapbooking, watching football
· Sun.: Church, nap (had migraine), movie (“The Hollow”—HORIBBLE movie!), scrapbooking.

I am using a sick day today, which makes a Monday at least a little better. I hope to get a few LOs done and catch up on my Tivo before DH starts deleting all my Oprah’s!! I hope everyone has a great Monday!!!