Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Just a quick one for today. Karma/do unto others/what goes around comes around/love thy neighbor as thyself. Eternal truth found in religions all over the globe. Let's practice this!! Exames coming soon:)

Well Its been a while. What an adventure this life takes us on. Its SO HOT!! and so Im not running much lately but I am doing Piyo and Insanity and Jake tries his best to train me in the wt lifting life hahaha. Those Wts got nothin on me...haha. ANyways Ive given my kids the asignement to write in their jounal everyday this summer and so I thought I better get to it as well:D SO here goes. I didnt write my goals for the new year and since its Half way through the year its as good a time as any:D

1. Get to the temple once a month. I cant believe how lucky I am to have the temple so close...why do I only go once in a blue moon? Well because I put entertainment and fun higher on my priority list. SMH!! so that is changing and JBoy has his recommend now and I want to take him and his cousins once a month too for baptisms. I'm excited to be writing this down and committing to it:D 2.I also commited to reading the Book of Mormon in one month. I finished it in three:D haha:D Hooray:D I am commiting again to read it two more times before the year ends. Its amazing how I would read something and then see it the next day happening in the world and Id know how to apply it to my life. 3. Food STORAGE!!! Can I just put a couple of things in every time i go to the store...its really not that complicated. Or I could sign up for thrive... I love that stuff!! I did go last year to the cannery and canned some oats... that was amazing!! I am excited to make an inventory and fill in those gaps. Who wants Oatmeal till Jesus comes? Ill trade you some marshmallows!!! I think I should store smores stuff. 4. I am being healthy this year...mostly. In all fairness this year knocked the wind out of me... just like two years ago when I gained all of my wt back and I was in a hole of dispair haha and my mom made me go to the dr and we found out I have ADD!!! thats why Im so FUN!! haha anyways so I take my pill sometimes now and its great but this year was almost harder than that year and guess what! I am down ten lbs... and sometimes 15... I am slowly gaining momentum to a healthier looking me haha. I am really proud of myself for keeping it together and relying on the tools Heavenly Father helped me get and I didnt spiral!! HOORAY anyways so my goal I guess is to be active and to eat healthy which so far so good mostly.. Ill commit because Jake had me commit last night to working out 7 times a week:D that should help:D I think I can I actually Know I can and I will love it once I get moving Im unstoppable!! haha Here are some before pics I did a while ago. Ive already made some progress Ill post them someday:D This is something that Ill be working on till Im 105 so Im excited to love me at every stage:D

5. Love me. Love me. Love me. I think of my dream when I was a dolphin. I flew through the water of that river of goodness that lead to the fountain of righteousness you know like Lehi said to his sons be the river and be the something else... My brain made me a beautiful dream from that river and My dolphin self flew and swam and jumped and twisted and felt the freash cool water rush over my skin and fill me with JOY!! then I got really worried about my family and turned around to see them standing on the shore...but I realized that no they werent on that shore they were part of me and if I swam to the beautiful ocean of goodness that they would come with me automatically. So I am working on being an example of what I hope my children will be. Does that make sense? I want them to live Happy lives so I am living a happy life. I want them to work hard so I am working hard I want them to love themselves and have big happy self esteems so I am loving myself and showing what self esteem looks like. I want them to soar so I am soaring... haha:D So Love me Love me Love me so My children love themselves so my husband loves himself so we have lots of love to share. We cant love our neighbors without loving ourselves right :D Anyways so this is another rotating goal that I will be working on till im 105:D Hooray:D Well thats enough for today:D I love you Mandy:D Good job writing in your blog haha. See you tomorrow:D

Be the Good

Over the last few weeks horrible people and events dulled my faith in Humans. What in the world am I doing in this world and how do I change it? How can I make a difference when this seems SOOOOO BIG!! Well I prayed, I fasted, and I got my answers. Be the Good that people need to see in this world! Show people that there is beauty all around! Be a light and SHINE!!! So people dont loose hope. Be the good. Yes the world is rotten...I am not. I am strong I am faithful "I am like a star shining brightly for the whole world to see! I can do and say happy things each day, for I know Heavenly Father loves me" He loves you He loves me and together we can make a difference! Imagine this...There is Becky, a tired over worked mother of 5. Her oldest has just gotten married and the funds are tight. She takes a second job to work nights at a local convenience store just to make ends meat. Her youngest baby gets sick but she needs to work this overtime shift tonight to pay the rent and put a little food on the table. I walk in and have no idea who she is or why or where I just see a woman stressed out at the register. This is the choice I have today. Do I look past the seemingly sadness in her shoulders or do I ask her what I can do? What do you do? I know what I did and Im so excited to do it agian:D Pay it forward 2013:D

Health..ung..but still determined.

Well here I am 30lbs down from christmas 2011 :D Yaeee!! At one point I was 45lbs down but then a few lbs came back on and I was okay with that for a bit 198 was still 40lbs down well then came Christmas and hollidays for 2012...+10 and I got right back on the wagon and took most of it off by February woohoo:D 200 was a good number... then Grandma's house came..who gains 9lbs in one weekend? Me thats who...soon after came Hawaii in winter with all of the goodies and treats and malasadas and now here I am at 210 again haha.*crazy laugh* BUT I changed that day a year and four months ago:D I changed at the center of me and there is only keep trying left inside of me. Keep moving keep getting better keep after my real body:D Be nice to myself be good and take time for my body and my family and my life will be blessed. So even though like a toddler learning to walk I fall down lots...Im so gunna get this and maybe Ill be an expert walker fitness guru in a couple of years:D

VIVA

To live my life with purpose and intention and FUN! Maybe my purpose and intention should be to have fun. And laugh through the tears because there is nothing else to do. Sometimes dancing in the rain gets cold and soggy but you gotta keep dancing because whats the alternative? falling down in the gutter and being washed away...we would only be so lucky. I can do anything and be anything because I have a solid foundation on Christ and he has commanded us to find joy and to be happy. My stake Pres. told me once when I was crying to him about my life. You know mandy one thing I know is that the sun is always right around the corner. I feel that sunshine shining on my face and my heart and I cant help but smile.

Sleep!! to loose it... Who knew:D?

Hi Yall:D I know its been forever but I had to share my experience while its fresh.

For the past 9 years Ive been on a constant weight battle.

Had Jakey: very cool boy btw:


and after TWO YEARS!!! of losing not one pound even though I did run two miles and did crazy yoga or tai Bo every day...

Nope not a pound.

Jake went on a trip so I couldnt wake up at 5 am
and go work out so I ended up getting more sleep and I was eating great. Bam two weeks
ten lbs...no exersize lol. (maybe...it could have been the extra sleep looking back?)

looking good after getting back to my goal weight..jakey is two:D WOOHOOO!! IM never gunna be fat again!!!!

Just kidding:D Here comes Zion:D



Hit the 200 mark with him:


and was starting to lose it when bam here
comes Miss Bella.



I hit 215...



Note:When I left the hospital I weighed more than when I went in....there
needs to be a support group for that.


Okay so here I am four years after Bella and I am 238lbs!!! Three kids is SUPER hard.
stress has a way of making me crazy...unless I have some cake or chocolate...



then im perfectly normal and loving and can go throughout my day happy as can be.

weird I know. But I didnt know how to balance it out. I would rather be fat and happy you know
than be a mean mom. SO I let myself go.

Last year I did a Triathalon to help me get in shape (smh cant believe im sharing this lol but its not like anyone reads this so its okay right haha:D its honest and thats what I need right now)

...lost maybe 2 lbs....AAAAAAAHHH and I really was working out 1-2 hours a DAY!!! for 6 FREAKING MONTHS!!! to get ready for this thing...HAHAHA (crazy laugh again)

I did feel good though and was excited to keep going...

the flue came along...then the flooding of the bedroom...then the replacing of the floors...then the amazing yet stressful moving in of my family and adjusting to 7 kids and...then there was the searching for houses and the buying of the house...and the moving...blablabla.... I didnt want to make the sacrifices it would take to workout and go throught all of that (which I should have..) So I quickly gained 20lbs and was heavier than ever. Laaaame!!! I know.

New years is going to be different this year. Ive decided. and that is that. end of story. So
we buy a juicer and get a gym pass and wala were losing weight. I keep gaining back everything
Ive lost during our juicing though after I get down to 228. So for three months I get closer to getting
out of the 20s just to get right back up close to the 30s. IM GUNNA GO CRAZY!!! at least I feel healthier lol.

Now Ive decided...I am dedicated. I got to see a personal trainer and have a break down and bawl
in front of this total stranger. I hate her a love her and Im excited to really start this journey now.
ive been meeting with her every week for the last month and have been working out at least 5 hours a
week. I have not lost one single lb. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (crazy laugh...again) IM WORKING SOOOO HARD!! but this is not unusual. THis is how it has been for the last 9 years. WORK AND WORK AND WORK and see ZIPPO results.

K so this is the trick. I decided to pray...
not just for help in working out. But help in actually healing my body so I could loose weight. I felt like I was doing everything I possibly could and I just needed devine intervention now...

SOOOO guess what Heavenly Father told me!!! Yes He hears me and answers me now and again haha. I heard that still small voice say "You need to sleep."

I was like whaaaaaat? its that easy? Which really isnt easy for me but soemthing I dont mind giving a true dedicated Go Mandy shot:D

K so this was friday night. I had just gotten done working out for two hours and it was 1am. It was the only time I had
and I was commited now so I HAD to get there and get my workout on. lol.
Since then I have gotten a full 8 hours of sleep every night. today I weigh in at 222!!!!! WHAAAAAT!!!!:D Happpy DANCE HAPPY DANCE!!!! I feel a direct corrolation between sleep and actual dropping of lbs. Either that or Heavenly Father is doing one of those go wash in the river 8 times things to see if I have faith.
SO here is to commitment and determination and dedication and Good Decisions. and most of all here is to answered Prayers. Thanks to my Father in Heaven for always looking out for me. I swear he has millions of answers for me. I need to go to Him more often with these life issues. He cares and I know he will always help me out:D
So as long as I keep working out and keep eating great food and keep sleeping I will keep losing:D I HOPE!!! and isnt that what life is all about? Hope:D Love and Faith? WOOOHOOOOOO:D Ill up date you guys next year probly lol:D just had to write this down:D

Inspiration

So I was reading the interview Stephanie Meyer did with Shannon Hall (both authors of some of my favorite books) and I came to the part where Stephenie talks about her dream and how she started writing and how she felt "compelled" to finish the story to find out how it ends. I got TOTALLY inspired and wondered what I am compelled to do like that and I realized sewing is a HUGE fun part of my life:D I can stay up all night just to sew a pair of pants or a new blankie for someone:D I LOVE the creating process.



SO Ive been sewing the last two days and writing too and decided my poor blog needed a post:D
So what gets you all riled up and excited for life?