Post 21 No Junk-food Challenge

So I just finished my 21 day No junk-food challenge and... I LOVED it! The first couple days were hard because one, I realized all my snack stuff was on the list and two, I think I was having sugar withdrawals. I don't eat a lot of sugar anyway but since it was Halloween time and there were loads of candy everywhere! So after the first few days of getting used to the idea of not eating pretty much any sweets I really started to enjoy it. I could tell I felt better when I didn't eat all the junk and you know what? I actually noticed that after about a week and a half or two weeks I was losing weight! My exercise regimen hadn't changed. It mostly consists of yoga and a run or two a week. So without any change in that and just a slight change in diet I was definitely losing weight! I was pleased with that and I was feeling even better and could focus more! So in all the only thing I would change would be to get healthy snacks to replace my habit of bad ones. I liked how I felt so much that I decided that I want to do this for 21 days out of every month. I think it is a little unrealistic to do it every single day, especially the white bread part. (I think the hardest time I had during the whole thing was going to Texas Roadhouse and not being able to eat the dinner rolls, it was moderate torture!) So I am going to start every month and if I need to take a day off here and there it is okay as long as I get my 21 days in somewhere during the month. And if I get them all done early I will have a whole chunk of days at the end. Hopefully how good I feel during the first part of the month will help me stay away from the junk the rest of the month. So Beka and I won the costume contest at the party we went to on Halloween so at midnight of the last day of our challenge we stayed up until midnight so we could eat our Snickers bar! Enjoy our midnight pictures with the candy bar!


*Disclaimer: These pictures were taken at midnight and we were just excited to be finished and not concerned about looking great!

Birthday Number Twenty-two!

I can't believe I am 22! I had a pretty great day. Being in school the third week of November seems to be a midterm week as well. It is the week before Thanksgiving so it seems to always be filled with school work. This day was no different. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to get up and work on a paper. It was due that afternoon and I had been so busy with other school assignments I just started on it. I worked all morning and took a little break to go to lunch with Beka at the Skyroom. It's the nicest place to eat on campus and you get a free meal for your birthday!

Then I went back to work and finished it as quickly as I could so I could go shopping for a new outfit! I got done and Beka and I went to the mall and spent a while there and then picked up some things at the grocery store for the fondue party later. Beka was kind enough to make me a cake and we decided we should just use all the candles I had in the drawer. It made quite the flames!

It has been a year full of wonderful times and better than I could possibly have imagined! Thank you to all my wonderful friends who joined me for the party and all of those who have made this last year better than I could have ever imagined!
The whole day ended perfectly, 22 hours later! :)

21st Year in Review

The last year has been an incredible year! I have been so blessed with so many opportunities and experiences I couldn't possibly cover them all. So in celebrations of being 22 tomorrow I will list the top 22 things that happened in the last year:
1. Women's Conference (I just realized I haven't blogged about it so I will be doing that soon!)
2. Becoming an aunt to Traygen James
3. My best friend leaving on his mission.
4.Two of my best friends getting married.
5. Moving to Washington D.C.!
6. Interning at Children's National Medical Center
7. Outer Banks, North Carolina
8. Seeing Wicked at the Kennedy Center
9. Starting my final year of college!
10. Seeing Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center
11. Fun Halloween Costumes!
12. My sister visiting me out in D.C.
13. Traygen's baby blessing.
14. Talking to my brother via Skype on Mother's Day
15. Speaking at Women's Conference
16. Meeting various general authorities
17. Learning lessons and loving my patients at Children's.
18. Meeting my nephew for the first time.
19. Having lunch with the government relations director of Occidental Petroleum at the Oval Room.
20. First trip day trip to Denver (Hopefully it will be the next place I call home.)
21. Jimmer!
22. Living the best year full of countless opportunities and blessings. Some days I think I could not be more blessed and each day brings more

Looking Down to Look Up

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes life is hard a lot of the time. Things happen in life and we do not know the reason or why it happens. Sometimes there is absolutely nothing we can do about it and it is hard to be chipper and perky and pretend like everything is okay and that is okay. Sometimes it takes looking down to look up.
It was raining the other day and I didn’t have my umbrella. So I had my hood on and was looking down so my face wouldn’t get soaked and to look out for puddles. I was think about how rain makes us look down and is a little gloomy. Being born and rained on a farm rain was always a blessing but I do love the sun and light, which brings life to everything. But today the rain was gloomy. As I looked down I saw these leaves on the ground.

They are beautiful! And for a moment I looked up and saw the even more beautiful tree they came from. When the rain falls and we don’t have an umbrella and life is hard and we do not know why or we are not in control of the circumstances that make things difficult sometimes it is okay to look down. As long as when and while we look down we see the little beautiful things in our lives that then make us look up to our Father in Heaven and see an even more beautiful sight. I love the Lord and I am grateful for the times the Lord allows me to look down and then in turn I see the little beautiful blessings in my life that make me look up to Him and be thankful.

No Junk-food Challenge

So I don’t really like cookies, cake, ice cream or other things like that. I don’t even really like chocolate that much. I know that is supposed to be a girl thing to love chocolate but my dad doesn’t like it either and I contribute my not liking it to him. Anyway but somehow because Mormons always have food and often times it is desserts or treats I become a social sweet eater. I eat these things even though I don’t really like them. My friend decided to go on a 21 day No Junk Food Challenge and I saw this as a good reason to stop eating food I don’t like. Besides none of the food is doing you any good anyway. So on November 1st we started our no junk food challenge. I wasn’t about to do this without putting a whole team together! So my roommate, my mom and dad, (Dad was a little sad knowing he couldn’t have ice cream for 21 days but he’s done a really good job!) and of course my friend who had the idea all embarked on this journey 15 days ago. Fifteen days in and we are doing great! I feel great. I really feel good and the only hard part is when you are traveling not to justify. So I had to settle for a fruit smoothie in the Denver airport. My friend and I like how we feel and doing this so much I think it is going to make a come back in January for another 21 days. Here is the list of things that are off limits.

I am going to have to say the white bread is probably the hardest for me just because so many things have white flour or are just white bread. For instance, I was at the mall the other day thinking a pretzel was not too unhealthy then I got there and realized it is white bread. I asked them if they had anything made with whole wheat and the look was hilarious. Sadly, no whole wheat and no pretzel for me. I already feel slimmer, though I think that is all psychological!

A Cougars Independence

I am not sure how to adequately describe how much I love watching college football. I loved high school football and watching my brother play and one of the greatest things about college and possibly fall semester is football. I am not a fair weather fan I will stay to the end of the game no matter how cold it gets! This weekend is the last home game and it starts at 8:15pm. But don’t you fret I have been prepared for a really cold weather game for years. In the past four years there has never actually be a game where it has been snowing during the game. I secretly wish it would snow on Saturday night just so I can experience it. Last weekend it was a night game as well and started at 7:15pm. My friend and I made sure we dressed very warm and headed out! Thankfully we weren’t cold at all the whole game. Even our fingers were warm thanks to Santa for bringing me hand warmers last year! I love to bundle up and watch the Cougars play their way to victory!

And for the first time EVER I got a picture with Cosmo!

Day trip to Denver

Today I am looking for a future. I have always been a planner and the Lord is definitely testing my faith when I can’t really plan too much of my life right now but I have complete trust in Him and His timing in my life. I flew to Denver today for the day. I felt really cool flying with only a purse because I was coming home only a few hours later. Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver, Colorado is the only place in the country to offer a dual certification internship for recreational therapy and child life. My plan has always been to double major because I wanted both degrees. I want to work in a hospital with children. This has been the plan since I have come to college. This is pretty impressive when the average college student changes their major many times. So I went to Denver to check out the hospital there because they have one of the VERY few dual internships in the country. (The others are in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Baltimore) I am really excited and hopeful one of these internships will be granted my way!

We've been waiting for you..

I try to attend the temple on a pretty regular basis. My friend and I were at the temple today and as we met the man at the front desk. He said, "We're so glad you are here! We've been waiting for you." We've been waiting for you.. The whole time I sat in the temple today that line ran through my mind over and over. I try to make sure I pray for those I am doing temple work for that they may accept the work that is being done for them. Today as I listened to the names and saw where they were from and the year they were born they were particularly real to me. There were some sisters who were born in the 1750's. Over 250 years they have been waiting for this day. This day the ordinance that will help these individuals enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). They were waiting for me to do something they cannot do for themselves. They were waiting for me. I love the temple and am so glad I can be there today for them as well as for me.

Halloween!

For Halloween this year my friend and I were GOLDFISH!

I got the idea from a friend last year and just loved it! It is really easy and cheap! The whole costume including: 2XL t-shirt, leggings, orange shoelace, ping pong balls, coffee filters, and spray paint all for less than $15. We stopped by a couple parties and we even won a costume contest at one of them! Everyone was so impressed it was a really fun costume!