My conclusion for today...Ian is AMAZING!!!

I am sitting here thinking a lot about my husband today(mainly because I am nervous for him). He's been so busy lately with life in general, with our house "projects", and is getting really busy with work again. I am already starting to miss him, even though he hasn't left yet! How does that happen?

Anyway, I have just been thinking about some of his characteristics, strengths, and accomplishments as of lately, and he is such an amazing person, and somebody I really admire and look up to. I love him so much and am so glad I am married to such a neat (and unique :)) man!

Ian finished our side-yard. He is such a hard, strong worker--and very strong willed. Once he puts his mind to something, he doesn't stop until he's reached his goal.

We bought the rest of our sod late last Friday night (10:30---it was a little crazy) and he stayed up to finish it, and it was about 1:00 a.m. Ian is also a very caring person, who thinks of ways to help others, and then helps them, even if they aren't home. We had some extra sod, and a family he home teaches needed some grass to put on a spot in their yard. Without calling or anything, Ian just went over (they were gone) and did all the work. In that kind of situation, I would feel stupid/insecure, but he is just so willing to do whatever needs to get done for people, and doesn't worry about the silly things I worry about. It's a really great quality he has!


Ian just finished school and has graduated!!! (although he chose not to walk) YAY! Some of his classes were really tough, but his goal was to get through them, and did---with good grades!
Today (and this is why I am nervous) Ian is out doing one of his FAVORITE things----running, how'd you guess? :) He is such a determined person and is so passionate about running. He is running 50 miles in a race called "Squaw Peak" up in the mountains.

I have attached some maps to show a little bit of perspective. He is pretty much running up and down mountain peaks. Most (sane :)) people could never even imagine---but when Ian loves something, he puts a lot into it, and makes it everything he wants it to be (and has FUN, believe it or not), which is another good quality he has that I admire.

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I am not trying to be boastful about Ian. Most of you that know Ian, already know these things about him. I just wanted to express my feelings/thoughts about him on my blog, because I don't ever say much---so this post is dedicated to him!

He's going to hate it and be embarrassed about it....but I don't care! He deserves the acknowledgments!

5 years ago today...

...Laura(my sister) and Gavin got married. Happy Anniversary!

And I was really tired...
because 5 years ago last night I returned home from Russia! I am so grateful that I was able to go to Russia and to have ALL of the experiences I was able to have. Looking back, it seems like that was the perfect thing I did at that time of my life. Those months, living away from home on the other side of the world at such a young, yet crucial age, helped me grow in so many different ways. I would never trade that time of my life for ANYTHING!

Here are SOME pictures (I know, there are TONS!) of my some of my favorite people, experiences, and memories from 5 years ago! Wow--time has flown! Enjoy!

Good Times

Church and wonderful people we met

Some of my favorite places to visit

Travels
My Family and their house

My Students and the school
Good Food---ha ha..
My room

Other changes taking place around our house

When we first looked at our house, we didn't care much for a yard. Less maintenance right? Well, now that we've lived here for a bit, we still don't care much for a high maintenance yard or anything, but the cement EVERYWHERE is just not quite cutting it. We thought it would be nice to have SOMETHING other then cement....so, Ian decided to start a little (BIG) project.
Thanks to our dads and their help (and equipment) our yard is coming along nicely and they(Ian and our dad's) have been able to do a little of this:

Re-arranging some HUGE rocks to form a new rock wall (one that will keep the neighbors dogs away! :))Filling it in and leveling with some dirt. I didn't get any "Before" pictures, but right after our patio, there was a vinyl fence, and then it dropped down into a hill.


Almost done! The first and second tiers will have grass, the bottom one will be home to a car or the water toys.

Yay---another patch of grass!

And one last thing...just as a reminder to mother nature---it is May 24th, and remember it usually is sunny and warm this time of year? NOT SNOWING!!!

A REALLY bad idea

So, in my last post I talked about my eating habits and changes I am making. Well, one of the biggest changes I have made is drinking a smoothie daily. But, while these may look just like any kind of smoothie, don't be fooled---they are MUCH different!

Anyway, my friend Kalli and I decided that we wanted to try another "flavor"---so last Saturday we spent a good part of the day, shopping at different stores throughout the valley to get all of the ingredients.

Sunday morning I woke up, so excited to try it. After quite the process of making it, it was finally finished and looked so tasty. It smelled good too!

Well, after taking this picture, I could hardly wait any longer and decided to take a big gulp. To my surprise it tasted AWFUL and made me want to throw up instantly! I finally convinced Ian to try it and he wanted to throw up too. I told him he needed to be supportive and cheer me on( I wanted to drink it because of its nutritional value & was feeling a little guilty about the money I spent on the dang thing!) Ian did a great job cheering me on---"Drink, Drink, Drink" but that didn't help at all! I forced myself to drink about a third of it, but could NOT do anymore. The rest of the day I got sick to my stomach when I thought about it, and still, a week later, shudder just thinking about that thing!

It was NOOOOOO good! I think I will stick to this one:
This picture makes it look much more appetizing then it looks in real life. Weird.

It's sooooo yummy! And soooooo good for you!

A change, change will do ME good....

No...I am not a big fan of Sheryl Crow, but this song has been in my head a lot lately.....and this is why:

Over the past couple of months, I have been thinking about my diet and the foods I eat. Up until now, I haven't ever cared all that much about the things I eat. I eat what I like, whether it has nutritional value or not. I eat whatever sounds good. I eat what's convenient. I'll even admit this one...I eat what's cheap. :)

For the past, let's see here...coming up on 5 years...my diet has been terrible! Ever since I got home from Russia (and actually while I was there! ) I have just eaten whatever---and whenever. I eat always--when I am hungry, when I am not hungry, when I am stressed, when I am bored, when something looks too good to resist, just because, when I crave something, when I am mad, when I am happy, when I am annoyed, when I am sad....you get the point. (And I understand and know this is normal for a lot of people and I believe it is part of being human---it's what we do.)

MOST of my days in these past years have gone something like this:
*Wake up, skip breakfast
*Get to work, and shortly thereafter find candy to eat for "morning snack"
*Eat lunch (sometimes somewhat nutritional, other times not one bit) with a can of Dr. Pepper or sprite
*Eat a sugary treat with or immediately after lunch
*Find more more candy or treats to eat for "afternoon snack"
*Come home and eat something quick and easy for dinner (usually something already made that you dump from a can or box) because its easy and I DON'T like cooking!
*Sit on couch or bed while eating desserts (yes, plural) until up to 11:00 at night
*Go to bed
*Repeat next day

My attitudes have reminded me of these quotes I found:

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand"

"I KEEP TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT BUT IT KEEPS FINDING ME."

"I GAVE UP DESSERTS...It was the worst twenty minutes of my life."

"I ONLY EAT IN THREE PLACES: HERE. THERE. AND EVERYWHERE."

After MUCH consideration, research, reading, studying, telling myself I can do it, and now finally having a sincere desire to do it (oh yeah, and singing this line of Sheryl Crow's song in my head to myself), I have decided that starting today, May 1st, my eating habits are going to change significantly.

It's taken me YEARS to get to this point. The two main reasons that have kept me from doing it are 1-because I didn't care and 2-I was NOT ready to do it. I didn't want it to be something that just lasted for a short amount of time, because for me it needs to be a lifestyle change.

But now I feel ready to care. I feel ready to want to eat healthier. I feel ready to accept that it is going to be a lifestyle change. I feel ready to get over my sugar addictions! I feel ready to not only do what's convenient.

I know its going to be HARD---but I also know it will be beneficial in the short run and the long run, and that is what's motivating to me.

I will say that May 1st came up way too fast...we still have too much junk food around the house. But Ian will take care of that and enjoy it for both of us! :)

And with that---here's to a change that will do me good! Thank you all for reading...

Yum!

Last night we had a good experience.

Ian and I decided to take advantage of a special Baskin Robbin's had last night.....31 cent scoop night! Apparently this only happens once a year. Thanks to FOX13 news morning show, Ian found out about it and we got in on the great deal!

We arrived right before closing time. The line went out the door but we decided to wait (in the FREEZING weather) and boy was it worth it! I loved every bit of it--- except for the limit they had to 3 scoops per person....but I guess maybe that was a good thing! Especially with my upcoming changes----stay tuned for future post and details! :)