Beautiful Sabbath Day

The Sabbath Day... 

doesn't the sound of that just make you want to treat this day a little bit different from the rest of week? 

That's certainly how I feel, but I was raised that way.

Because of my wonderful parents I would never think of going anywhere else but to church on Sunday morning.

It just seems an odd day to me if I miss one of my meetings.

Today in church was a really great day, and I was touched by the Spirit.

All month long our Sacrament Meetings have had the same theme (4 weeks, 2-3 speakers each week) and somehow everyone has taught me something different. How is that possible you might ask... its through Heavenly Father and his love for us. He knew we needed to hear those messages, and he knew through the same topic the messages would get taught.

The topic was Establishing Righteous Patterns.

From the talks today I picked up some key messages meant just for me, 

1: Strive to be better. Find motivation, something that will always keep you moving forward in faith, and coming closer to God! Moroni 10:32-33 ...come unto Christ, and be perfected in him...

Something that is a motivation to me is my family and the eternity that I want to spend with them. To me nothing could be better, but to make that happen I have to have my life in order... I have to be working towards that goal at all times, not letting my guard down for a minute. If I do I know the adversary will be there waiting to drag me down.

2: Keep the Commandments! This is just as much key as the first point. It seems a simple thing, but it can be so hard. We all know the 10 commandments, the ones that were written on stone. Although in this day and age we need to make rules for ourselves that we treasure and follow just like those commandments. When we make those rules we have to follow through on them. What is the point of making them to just dismiss them later, to justify them... why did you make them in the first place then? 

In Sunday School we covered 1 Nephi 16 paralleled with Alma 37. This was about the Liahona, what it was for and how it worked. We may not have the Liahona today, but we do receive guidance and it works just the same, based on our Faith and Diligence in Christ.

Combined Relief Society and Elders Quorum was awesome! We had Brother Barrett speak to us. He is from Bishop Parkers ward, and he is an institute teacher. He talked to us about the Book of Mormon. About reading it and thinking about it and then over time it will be in our hearts. Everyday in this world we are beaten down and our hearts are hardened a little bit, but if we continue to read, even if we don't think it does any good, it does. It softens our heart it teaches us of truth, and gives us an eternal perspective. There are promises on every page and all you have to do is read and find them. It is A Marvelous Work and A Wonder, it is The Word of God, and if we take it in everyday we can deflect the fiery darts of the adversary, we will be able to withstand the temptations, we will learn of divine timing, we will be more patient, and we will be ready for what the Lord has in store for us.

I KNOW THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE.

I KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVES.

I KNOW HE LOVES ME.

HE IS MY FRIEND, MY BROTHER, AND MY SAVIOR.

I hope you can take something from this message. Know that I know it is all true in my heart. 

Juices/fresh fruit smoothies!

New Favorite!!

As of  late I love juicing fruit... like oranges... Fresh squeezed orange juice is the best. 

Also my Magic Bullet is great for making smoothies... Like Strawberries, Blueberries, and Kiwi (mixed with a little sugar, water, and a couple ice cubes).

Or tonight I had Strawberries, Blackberries, Kiwi, raspberry lemonade drink, and a couple ice cubes.

I'm gonna try and add milk, yogurt, maybe green smoothies... who knows what'll happen.

Smoothies and fresh juices are so great!!!!

Cleanse Day 4

I told you yesterday that I had changed the length of my cleanse... Well Monday I drank 6 glasses of the lemonade mixture... Tuesday 7 glasses... Wednesday 6 glasses... and today 5 glasses. Then I ran out of my 2nd bottle of maple syrup... it was $10 for a bottle which lasted 2 days... so if I bought another one I wouldn't feel good about only using 1/2 of it so my choice was to extend my cleanse by a day or cut it short by a day. Well my checkbook decided for me that I was going to cut it short. But its ok because I do feel better, less bloated, and I feel I will get somewhere now with my workouts.

Tonight when I got home from work and institute I juiced some oranges and drank a glass for the last hour. I think the mistake most people make after completing a cleanse or detox is going back to their regular eating and exercising habits. I'm not saying I'm going to be perfect but I hope to be better. I hope to keep on my workout schedule. I also hope to eat better. More homemade food, more little snacks throughout the day, littler portions, and not so much fast food. I think the stuff is delicious so I will still eat it, but not as frequently.

Hopefully this can help any of you trying to do this. You can do it! I believe in you!

Day 2 and 3 of the cleanse

Yesterday was Day 2 and today was Day 3.

Yesterday was a bad day... I was so hungry, I felt awful! 

I figured the only way to get through this was just thinking day by day. You can't think... I have 4 days left! you won't make it. You just have to have the mindset of finishing the day you are on. So that's what kept me going yesterday... I can make it till I go to bed... Then this morning I was like... 2 days down! Yay Me!

Today hasn't been so bad. Not as hungry, and in a few hours I'll be done with 3 days.

Last night I had to buy more lemons and another bottle of maple syrup and I decided that was it... my wallet can't take me buying anymore, so I'll finish what I have and then drink fresh squeezed orange juice the rest of Friday night, and Saturday morning. Then my healthy eating starts... its hard to make a Lifestyle change, and I don't agree with Diets as they usually cuts foods out of your life... I don't like that idea. My plan is to eat healthier, not eat fast food as much (very rarely) eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and to not eat as much processed foods, they aren't good for you.

I'll still go workout 2-3 times a week, and do some Pilates a couple times a week.

So happy to be making this jump start to the new year! 

5 Day Cleanse/Detox

Whenever you hear Cleanse or Detox all people seem to think about is losing weight... Well that is always a positive outcome of this, but its not the biggest reason to do them.

A cleanse or detox is good to refresh your body, its a good jump start for a new you.

I'm doing The Master Cleanse, The Lemonade Diet, The Cayenne Pepper diet... it has numerous names, but they are all the same. Its sounds to be super disguising... but its actually not that bad. You would think only drinking water and this 'lemonade' you would be super hungry, but yesterday was Day1 and I felt fine... This morning I feel fine as well!

Here is to a new year and a new me!

New Years Eve

So I know I did horrible the month of November... I didn't update my blog everyday... but I did grateful posts on Facebook everyday! I'm i'm so proud of myself for that. 

Now here it is December 31, the end of the year 2011... so much has happened in the last year. Friends have falling in love and gotten married. Friendships have blossomed much more than I would have ever thought. And sadly some have fallen by the wayside. That is all part of life though. Some people you are meant to know forever, while others touch your life for a brief moment and then they are gone, some gone on a happy note that you stay friends, you just don't keep in contact so much. While others fall out in a harsh way and your friendship is gone forever. Those are sad goodbyes, but its part of life, part of growing up, and part of moving on. 

Also in this past year my family has grown! My brother Andy and Sister in Law Leza welcomed my adorable nephew Brody into this world, and he has brought so much happiness! Then my brother Gary came home from His Mission in Texas. After he got home he got in touch with Chelsey who he went to High School with and they dated till he asked her to become his wife! This next year they will be married and She will join our family for all eternity.

The plan for tonight is that we are going to Salt Lake to ring in the new year with some old friends, and hopefully some new ones... a quote I found: 

Right now, someone you haven't met is out there wondering what it would be like to meet someone like you. 

Hopefully I can take this into the new year and meet some amazing new friends. So here's to the New Year... May it be everything it needs to be, may it teach me some new lessons, may it be filled with new adventures, and may I be able to embrace it all. Thank you 2011 for everything I accomplished.

Day 5

I'm thankful for my roots where and how I grew up. I went to Star Valley this weekend for Taralyn's bridal shower with Crystal. Since we were there and I grew up 20 miles outside of Afton I decided to drive Crystal up to Freedom to show her my family farm.

I'm glad of the way I grew up, on the family farm learning hard work from my dad and how to run a home from my mother.

Some fun things while we were in Afton was that Tara's family gave us a private viewing of the new Footloose movie. Not kidding... they have two theaters... we were in the bigger one... and it was me, Crystal, and Tara... it was fantastic. Then there was the bridal shower where we made Tara blush by giving her cute and inappropriate for little kids lingerie.

Before we headed home we stopped at Burger King and Taco Time for dinner. While at Burger King we asked for fry sauce... found out it was discontinued... but they had a new 'Zesty' sauce that was fry sauce with horseradish sauce... the lady said 'Its like fry sauce on crack'... so if any of you are looking for fry sauce laced with crack... Burger King is the place to go!