Here's to a wonderful husband

Dear Superman,
I cannot number the times that I have thanked heaven for your presence in my life. Every time you walk through my thoughts my heart skips a beat and I seem to float through space and loose track of time. I have found that dreams are not as good as they used to be as they have all come true through you! (*eww mushy...*)

You are the warmth on a cold winters day. You always step up to the plate when I've too much on mine. Life is better with you in it and already I struggle to imagine it without your inviting presence. Anyone who meets you loves you. You are friendly, warm, caring, and non-judgemental. There is safety in your arms and somehow, when you are near, even the darkest days don't seem so bad. Your romantic side shines through with spontaneous candles with the jambalaya and lilies on my seat when you pick me up from class. You inspire me to be better and take your belief in the Gospel seriously. You support me in my various interests and dreams. You let me experiment new cooking on your dinner and cheer me on in any of my crazy endeavors.

That smile, that makes me go weak at the knees and my heart rate increase... those wonderful, caring, baby blue eyes... your laugh that sends sparkles into your eyes and tangible joy through the air. I want nothing more to hear that laugh, to make you happy. I live to see you again, to have you hold me. My dreams all include you now, and I find it easier for me to smile when you are around. You make me so happy i get dizzy with the thought that I am to be your wife... forever...

In summary I have three simple words for you.

I love you!

Love,
Your Sunshine

Ready, Set, Goals!

But with the beginning of a new year we all set goals for ourselves and depending on the goals set, more often than not fail to comply within the first month... am I right? (unless your goal is to continually breath air... I would hope that gets accomplished!) As for my list... I tried to keep a realistic outlook when I wrote it up. I have learned that I do better with small steps working toward a bigger goal. For example: I want to learn how to cook. Solution- my goal is to try two new recipes a month this year... So far... I still have a couple of recipes to try this month... :)

As a couple we made a goal to have a 3 month food storage supply. We definitely don't have the room to store 1 year, and honestly two of us couldn't keep up with it to keep things from going bad... well, with the most recent case lot sale (thank you Macey's) we have just about reached 3 months. We might even have the rice to feed Asia for a year... but don't quote me on that...

Usually I write up my goals on January 1 and then by January 3 I have lost all hope. This year I have tried something a little bit different. In my Nutrition 100 class we are talking about nutrients called vitamins and minerals... and how food contains them. Crazy, I know... But the other day we talked about how every country around the world has their own version of the "food pyramid." We compared them and noted that the new USDA pyramid is the only one in the world that emphasizes how important exercise is to your health, as well as your diet. It also implies that you need all food groups (that includes oils and fats) in order to reach your fullest health.



When I got home I decided that I would get onto the website to see where I am with my own diet... what I found has literally changed my life... or at least my outlook toward food and my diet. When you go to the MyPyramid site, you can look up a food and it can give you information on you. If you take note of what you eat for a week, input the information, it can tell you what you are lacking in your diet... but even cooler is a new program I found. MyPyramid has a menu planner with a 7 day tracker. For fun I put in what I had to eat and it calculated how I was doing according to the dietary guidelines and the 2000 cal. recommendation for my activity level... I was surprised as how well I was doing... and how far I still need to do.

When you sign yourself up (a name, age, and activity level) it will give you your personal guidelines and oh fun you can have! I admit I got a little carried away... but its fun to hear the little 'ding' as it calculates your food intake... But more importantly under the "reports" tab you can choose to look at your daily menu, a weekly menu, a family menu (I added Bryce to my account), food details, and (my favorite) the "my next step" program.

It will show you what you need to work on and then lets you choose one to work on. It will then take you to a list of simple ideas for how to improve a particular part of your diet/activity. For example: I was low in my whole wheat grains. I chose the idea to have oat meal for breakfast. So I did and my feeling of accomplishment is fairly high... all I had to do was eat oatmeal instead of fruity pebbles... wow...

There is also a program on the website that takes you to "MyPyramid Tracker" which lets you input your specific activities, and your food intake, then will show you your energy balance for the day according to calorie intake and output. Pretty exciting...

I admit, every time I have wanted to become healthier, I have been overwhelmed with the immensity of the goal and have not even begun. But with the new outlook I have now... that all it takes is a little decision here and there... I really believe that I can do it!

I was so excited about it, I talked with my old roommate who told me she wanted to improve her health habits and we have set up an exercise schedule to work out together and we have our own "family" so that we can track each other and thus have a little accountability for our eating habits. Bryce is interested and so is Ica and together we want to improve our health! Yay for inspiration!

I greatly encourage any who are interested to check it out. Let me know what you think! Are you going to re-arrange any goals? :)

Major Changes

January started with a bang... that is, the bang of an imaginary track gun... and now I feel as though I'm in a race against... everything... the winner's prize? My time. With a busy semester schedule of 15 credit hours and a 3 hour lab, a job as a TA, a husband, and a house to clean... this race is a fast paced one and I'm not sure I was ready when the gun went off... regardless, I'm in for the win and don't intend to lag behind.

Last semester I was faced with some very difficult decisions while choosing classes. I had hit a major road block with the Social Sciences major and wasn't confident that its what I want to do with my life. After prayer and consideration, some discussion with my other half (Ica) and my better half (Bryce) (I know... complicated) it was decided that I was going to change my major... again. Strange how I thought that I would never change my mind, and I never thought I would differ as drastically as I have... I am officially a FACS ED (Family and Consumer Science Education) major and an undeclared minor of History Teaching. Meaning I will be able to teach sewing, cooking, nutrition, human development, finance,and marriage and family with a possibility of history teaching! I only have one class left to complete the minor... but as far as the "home ec" teacher path... its got a way to go. On the bright side, I am interested in learning the things included in just about every class! I am so excited to have the broad range of classes/experiences required.

This semester my class schedule is loaded with classes that complete requirements for my major. And so far I am learning so much and loving every class. However, my goal of taking a 'fun' class for a bit of a break fell through... so technically my 'fun' class is the 2nd half of the Old Testament (1 Kings- Malachi) with Sister Strathearn. I know, doesn't sound too fun, but if you knew the professor like I do (this is my 4th semester... in a row... with her) you would have planned your schedule around this class (this is not saying anything about how I did...)

Besides Old Testament, I am taking Nutrition 100 (focusing on nutrition), Nutrition 250/251 (focusing on the food science of nutrition), History of Apparel, and Introduction to Family Processes. All of my classes are incredible. I am already applying a lot of what I have learned into my life and am excited and eager to learn more (honestly, I've not been this excited about going to school since... elementary school...)

Well this post is already really long, so I will have to expound on my classes as I get into the semester a little. (and make a few more laps...) But thanks for reading and supporting me in what I do! Happy New year!

Mighty Miracles

This semester has blown in with the end of the last winter storm. The brisk chill stings my cheeks as I bustle around campus on my way to accomplish another errand before my next class. Winter semester is here and whether or not I like it, it's coming fast! I have a fairly full load this semester with classes, my TA job, and being a wife, but my excitement for the semester ahead has not been deterred. On the contrary, it has escalated.

The other evening as I stood in the parking lot I had the chance to just stop. Weird, I know, but in that moment I looked up to see the beautiful mountain ranges that I've lived near all my life standing so majestically, covered in snow. It took my breath away. I realized just how far this mountain range reaches in my little bubble valley here... I can look both ways and see mountains fade into the light fog hovering on the hills... What a wonderful, beautiful miracle I can witness everyday! And how wonderfully sad it is that I have not noticed until now!