finally blogging... I have been needing to get on for forever!

Well, it's been awhile. too long since I have blogged. I actually enjoy it and I missed being away! But my family is here this week and we have been having a wonderful time. I have been spending every minute with them and it has been fantastic.

On Friday after work, I went ice skating with all the staff. It was really fun, even though I still suck at ice skating. I can't believe we have all been up here for a month already, but it has been a fantastic month. I have loved every minute of it. (once again, these pictures are from my phone so they might be bad quality!)


The next morning, I got up early with my roommates (and Ben) to go hike around Bridal Veil Falls. It was gorgeous and really fun. We ate breakfast by the waterfall and took some sweet pictures.




who knows what is going on with this picture? but the waterfall looks beautiful so it has to be part of this post!


I now interrupt this fun post to bring news about healthy eating. My mom brought down her bodybugg with her to Aspen Grove and set it up to let me use it. It tells me how many calories I burn in a day. Apparently, I have been burning around 3,000 calories a day. which is a huge relief to me. It explains why I was feeling so hungry all the time and why I was not losing weight. I was pretty much starving my body! and it motivated me a lot to see why I was having problems losing weight. I am now ready and motivated to kick butt this next week. Here's to seeing some results!

Now that I have spent some time telling you about my new goals in eating healthy, allow me to present to you one reason why Aspen Grove is so fantastic... smore's bars. which are basically the most delicious thing you will ever eat!


Have a great day!

Frustration

I have been pretty frustrated with my lack of ability to eat healthy lately. Okay, it's not like I am eating totally unhealthy, but I am not eating the way I should to lose weight.

Even when I try hard to eat healthy, at my best I am eating 1700 calories, which is hardly enough to lose weight, especially at my current weight. (unless I had the time and means to exercise like I used to) and it's never balanced, because most of the meals here are fatty and don't have as much protein.

I also have a hard time finding the motivation to exercise. I need to run and work out more, but I just want to be lazy after work. I also don't like running up here because I don't want to be killed by a moose.

I know that when I don't eat healthy, I feel gross. and when I don't eat in my calorie range, I feel disappointed in myself. when I make good decisions, I feel so proud of myself. so why can't I get it right?

one of these days, I am going to figure this out. because I want to be at my goal weight by the end of the summer!

my dad :)

My dad has to be the awesomest dad in the world! I was thinking about all the wonderful things he has done for me and the great example that he is!

Reasons why my dad is so great:

1. He is the best example of what I want in my future husband. He is consistent and dedicated and always has clear goals. He is loving and kind.
2. He has always taken the time to share my interests with me and spend time with me.

3. He encourages me to challenge myself and work hard.

4. He has always supported me, loved me, and believed in me. when I needed it most.

5. Even now that I am away at college, he still takes the time to stay in touch and make sure that I have everything I need.

6. He is committed to running and helped me develop a love of running.
7. He taught me to love hiking and camping, which are two of my favorite things.

8. He works hard every day and is honest in his work.

9. He loves to play with us. wrestling, wii, weird voices, made up games... he has a silly side that is so much fun.

10. He loves the gospel and I know that he has a testimony. He has helped me so much to grow in the gospel and has always been a good example. He has so much knowledge about the church.

There are so many more reasons why I love my dad. He is so fantastic and I am so grateful to grow up as his daughter!

recent life

I wish I had the time to blog more often! too bad... anyways. onto the recent happenings in my life.

On Thursday night, I drove down to Park Plaza for an epic game of Moonlight Mafia. too bad I was exhausted and I only made it through about an hour of the game. It was really fun though. We opened up a lot of the apartments and you had to wander around and try not to get killed. or if you were a cop, you had to kill the murderers. I was a cop the second time but was not very good at finding the murderers apparently.

Cleaning took forever on Friday because we had to switch out some sick bedding and we were missing a lot of bedding as well. After cleaning, I went back to my trailer and took a four hour nap. man, I have been sleeping so much lately. trying to not get the stomach flu is hard work. After I woke up from my four hour nap, I went to Pizza Pie Cafe with like 15 people from Aspen Grove. We talked about weird dreams we have had and how Ben can control his dreams Inception style. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to the park and watched the sunset... and some weird couples. and we practiced our smolders. you know, the usual. We decided to come home and watch a movie. but I knew I would fall asleep during it so I just came back to my trailer to blog and chill.

can't wait for tomorrow... Glen projects and cleaning checks! and my family gets here in one week! and Harry Potter comes out in 28 days! Good night everyone :)

Hufflepuff!

I just got home from the best FHE ever! We started off with a lesson, and then came the fun part. Our activity was... the sorting! We all sat on a special stool and had the Sorting Hat put on us (voiced by Kyle, who has excellent Harry Potter voices.) I was sorted into Hufflepuff. We all went to our house tables and colored buttons for our houses!



The wonderful Matt made us all butterbeer and went around serving it :) It was really delicious!


It was a lot of fun! I love hanging out with people from Aspen Grove and it was a good chance to talk to new people! and you know... Harry Potter is just so amazing.

Bonus pic from our trip to the store to visit Nico... some people are really good at giving you sample scoops that are more like single scoops! (thanks Chris!) :)


sorry for the bad quality, these pictures are my phone!

You know you work as a counselor at Aspen Grove when...

you walk back to your cabin after your weekly 10 minute meeting for all the program staffers with a bunch of stuffed animals you wanted for your kids and try not to feel too awkward.

a fantastic weekend :)

There's nothing to rejuvenate you after a looooooooooooong stretch of work like a day off with your best friends :)

This is Arianne and I. (and Dwight.) She is pretty much amazing and we have been college roommates for two years (though we have known each other since 9th grade.) I got to spend two hours just talking to her about life and all the crazy things I think about all the time. We also indulged ourselves with some Cafe Rio--pork quesadillas and raspberry lemon lime drinks. yum.
Then, we headed off to some random field for the Ultimate Frisbee championship game! We met up there with my other roommate, Ashley, who is also amazing. I was only barely informed that this event was going to take place, but it was definitely worth tagging along. Team Quick DOMINATED and it was a great game to watch. Of course, we all went out to Wendy's for celebratory frosties and pretty much took over the place. After that, it was back to Park Plaza for an intense game of Bananagrams. I had never played this game before, but it was so much fun. Of course, Theo totally kicked butt and so I lost every time (except for a stroke of luck where I won), but it was so fun! Especially when Reedboat Dreamboat whispers to himself to figure out words and then ends up yelling out "Lust!" randomly in the middle of the game because he figured out a word!

Then, it was time for bed because I was getting up early to go to breakfast with some awesome people from AG :) I love them all! I slept in my soon to be room (2 more months... ish?) with my soon to be roommate Sarah, who is all pretty cool herself.

At 8 am, I roll out of bed to look cute for breakfast and then go to pick up the crew... Nico, Kelli, and her roommate Stacey. we head to Kneader's for their all you can eat French toast. It was delicious. and I was really full after the first plate. But I would feel stupid if I did not get my $5 worth, and so I went back for seconds. It pretty much kept me full all day. Besides that, it was a lot of fun. Miss Sarah Jones (who thought of the whole idea) has some pretty cool friends that were fun to hang out with.

When we got back, I got to hang out with awesome roommate #2, Ashley. We played some frisbee and got pretty good. We went to the Creamery to go visit the lovely Arianne at work. We headed to Target to get some much needed essentials. and try on weird kid helmets. I look way too happy.


We ended the day with a few games of ping pong. I am getting better, but still need practice. and now I am back up at Aspen Grove, ready to take on another week with my hopefully adorable Kittens :)

Marriage

Okay, this post is not going to be about what you think.

Since coming to college, I feel like one of the main areas where my testimony has grown the strongest has been in my desire to be married in the temple. As a teenage girl going to young women's, it was always one of those things where I was always planning on doing it, but I never really thought about it other than the autopilot of it was what I should do. But as I came to college and had some amazing religion classes and began to see how going to the temple could change my life, I began to think about how I wanted to start off my family with the blessings and promises that come from a temple marriage. and now I for myself that there is no other place I want to be married. And... it's just so pretty. (cue stalkerlike pictures of random people after their marriages)

as for the honeymoon... (these pictures are just plain weird, but you get the idea!)

Disney World Baby!!! Hopefully I can talk my husband into this one, because how epic would that be?

And... just for kicks because I found this while I was looking at Disneyworld honeymoon pictures. Tangled reception anyone?

Well, enough about marriage :) until next time!

A Lovely Story that won't have a happy ending

So last night, we had an epic night full of playing Bang! It was so much fun. Well, someone came into Snowshoe with a delicious looking fruit pie and we all wanted some! But, there was only one clean spoon. What the heck, right? We're all friends. So we passed the spoon around and all dug into the pie. and it was totally delicious. and totally worth it.

But when I got to work the next morning, one of the boys that was involved in said pie-sharing incident didn't show up at work due to the stomach flu. So I am now bracing myself for a night or two of the stomach flu. And I thought I would at least make it through June. Well, there's a slight chance I still might not get it. I hope not since I am already battling exhaustion and a sore throat from dealing with kids all day!

In other news, life is just great :)

Kittens!

I am doing a second blog post! (this really is a cause worth celebrating!)

Today was our first full day with the new group of Kittens. 5 year olds are just the most adorable age and I love them. All the girls just want to be my best friend and it is the best thing ever! They love to play and talk and have tons of energy. I just have so much fun with them! One of our kids, Ava, is so great. She calls me her buddy and she wants to do everything with me.

I love Aspen Grove. I forgot about how wonderful it was up here. I love being in the mountains and the great spirit that you feel up here. I love all the wonderful people I have met and how the staff is like a huge family!

The other day we celebrated Kelli's day for my lovely roommate, Kelli Lewis. Well, it was not much of a celebration, but I sang the Kelli's day song all day long as I was working (something about spaghetti and brownies and the end of May) and we all went to go get ice cream after the opening show :) It was pretty fun. I really do have the greatest roommates up here. sometime I will post some pictures.

I really need to get motivated with eating healthy again! Okay, so I only had one really bad day and a few okay days, but I need to kick my butt into gear again! I feel like it is ten times harder to make healthy choices when I can get dessert every night and it's buffet style dinner... eat as much as you want! I am still trying hard though, and that's what counts. Now if only I was motivated enough to get up and run. at least my five year olds are active and crazy so I know I am burning some extra calories playing with them.