Running!

I am going to turn myself into a runner if it is the last thing I do. I am literally dreading Sunday because I start my half-marathon training and that is stressful! (sigh)

So...SO

Well, we are home from New York and I loved every minute of it. I will tell everything I can remember about New York on my next post. This post is to briefly brush up on our lives.

1. Daniel has a new job as a CNA at Sunbrook Home Health and Hospice. He is excited to begin his journey in the medical field and is even more excited that Wingers is not in his future. I can't say I blame him either.

2. I am looking for a new job. I am still at ASWN and I am going to continue to work there as long as possible. As for Wingers, I am hoping it will see the last of me soon. I am going to apply at different Restaurants in hopes of serving elsewhere. Surprising? I know! I thought I would be a server for Wingers until the end of the world.

3. Even though we just got home from vacation we wish we were with Daniel's family in California. His Aunt and Uncle took the kids there and we considered tagging along and if it weren't for Daniel's new job we probably would have. Jealous.

4. There are 4 weddings in September that we know of and that is just crazy.

5. FAT a.k.a WEIGHT. Yep, I said it. It's words that pretty much all girls hate and even some boys. Daniel hates it because he can't gain any....muscle...fat...nada!! I just think its funny how Skinny=Fat, Fat=Fat, Obese=Fat, Average=Fat. Seriously world?!?! Is everyone fat? I can honestly say NO and I can honestly say that there are people who have zero fat on them... So, if that is the case then why do I hear skinny people say they are fat? I guess I will never know!

6. I start my 10 week training for my half-marathon this Sunday, August 22. Scary right? Before I left for NY I ran 5 days straight for 30 minutes each day. Ask me how much I have ran since I got home....NEVER! I am screwed. So, I might just die in the next 10 weeks from exhaustion. I love you all...JK but really I need some luck.

7. 7 1/2 weeks until we will be in Cali! YAY!

Anyway. I'm out.

Family

I always think about family, whether it be a single person between our families or family as a whole. I even have friends I would consider family. I don't think I could ever distance myself from any of these people I call family. I love them all too much. I come from a very good family. We are not quick to judge, shun, disown, belittle or dismiss. We are there for love, support and strength. My immediate family is the base of what I grew up knowing. It is my core and it is part of what made me the person I am today. I also grew up very close to my extended family. If there is a family party you can bet all my family would be there. My Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, and even friends of all these family members are accepted with open arms. My Grandma Carol is my Moms, Mom and between her six children there are a total of 21 and we are the cousins. The 21 of us range from 30 years old to 2 years old four of those cousins are currently married and seven of the cousins have been married. Sadly three of the marriages just didn't work out. So that makes a total of 25 cousins because once you marry into this family you are without a doubt a member of the family. There are also six children amongst the cousins and we count them in the number even though they are the next generation. 31 cousins and we are all so tremendously close to one another. We would seriously do anything for one another and it doesn't stop at that ANY member of the family would do anything for anyone of us.

Recently I have thought more and more about how grateful I am to be put in such an accepting family. I am not a person who has ever had trouble being accepted in any aspect of my life but I see people everyday being shunned by the very people that call themselves family. To me the word family has always meant a great deal, it has meant dedication, love and acceptance. I have seen pride rip apart families and keep them apart for years. It is not the act that offended a person that keeps two people apart, it is the pride that each of them hold too dearly to move forward and love each other. Mothers, Fathers, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents these are all people we think of as mentors or older people to look up too. They are the adults and they should be the first to put aside differences and do whatever it takes to make sure their families are united forever. If these people are hurt or offended by their child, niece/nephew or grandchild they should be the first to put their best foot forward and move on. If the situation happens where the child is offended I still believe the older person should take charge and try to fix the situation. People are pathetic though and they obviously don't believe family is as important as I do. One of the main foundations of the church is family. We base our whole lives around family and having an eternal family is our ultimate goal on this earth. If the people who think that they can ignore, push and shove their children away think that they are good people, they are wrong. They need to toughen up, move on and bring their family close. I am lucky enough to be close to my family and to Daniel. I was raised in well and that I am grateful for. I pray for every broken family in this world to be fixed, mended and restored. Hopefully every day there are answers to my prayer and I truly believe that there are. I also hope that the families I pray to be mended the most are mended sooner than later because you never know in life what is next to happen.

Fun Time!

So the count down begins, we have 5 days until we will be in New York. I seriously couldn't be more excited. I want to see everything there from the Statue of Liberty to the Christian Louboutin store! :) Oh geez, I am like a little girl counting down to Christmas. I have good reason because New York is one of my dream places to visit alongside Hawaii and Europe.I have started running...yes running. I run as often as I can to prepare for a half-marathon. I start my official 10 week training on August 22. I think I have officially lost my mind but that is OK because I will cross the finish line and hopefully my mind will return to me after I have accomplished such a great goal. I am running two miles which I know sounds like nothing compared to the 13.1 mile run I have ahead of me. That is the distance of a half-marathon and a full marathon is 26.2 miles. I am going to try to make it a goal to run a marathon before I have a kid. I mean if we get surprised with a child then there is nothing I can do about it but if there is no surprise then my goal is to complete a marathon before children. I want to be trained and ready to run a marathon by next fall. It seems so close and who knows what my commitment level will be by then but as of right now that is my goal. I purchased some Nike ID+ shoes which I personally designed and they will track my distances. I don't get them for over a month but I am really excited about getting them. They are bright blue and neon yellow. I couldn't get a big picture of them so there is a mini one below :)Daniel has an interview for a new job today and I will soon know how it goes which makes me nervous. Who knows how our lives will plan out if he gets a new job. It is a CNA position so if he gets the job he will surely take it because it will get his foot in the medical field. So good luck to him.

On a random note...our house is almost completely clean :) YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

24th Weekend

After I got off work Friday night from Wingers I went home and got ready to party. My cousin Sabrina and her daughter Chauntay went downtown for the 24th of July Pioneer Day parade, which was Daniel's last parade. We planned on sleeping down there and waking up for the parade. Well, that plan didn't go over so well because it ended up being impossible to sleep. So we napped for about 45 minutes and then we waited for the parade to start at 9am. The parade was really slow and nothing I imagined. It took forever and they didn't even throw candy or anything to make it exciting. I enjoyed watching Daniel but this will be the only year I go to the Days of 47 parade (I am not sure why it is called that but it is) Then I took a 2 hour nap that day and got ready for a party at my parents house with Daniel's Aunt and her family. I was pretty much a zombie at the party but I still had fun and I hope everyone else did. We lit off fireworks, had snacks and visited. I sure do love my in-laws. They are so awesome and so fun :)

My Recent Addiction!

So I have always loved to shop! For real, I could do it for a hobby, sport, job or for no reason at all. It is not so strange because my mother likes to shop also. I was born and raised to shop. I would not say I am as extreme as Rebecca Bloomwood (a.k.a. Isla Fisher) in Confessions of a Shopoholic. Although I could very easily become that addicted if I didn't have bills to pay and if I believed in credit cards. Since I think credit cards are a waste of money and too much stress I don't have as big of problem as some people do. My problem however persists in WANT, which turns to desire and then turns into need. For example I want this gorgeous pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. Then I began to desire them, think of them more often and now I just strait up need them. Daniel and I are going to New York for fun and they sell them! They sell Louboutin shoes within walking distance of where we are staying. You better bet I am going to go and look at them. Daniel is my anchor because he wont budge on letting me buy shoes for as much as Louboutin shoes run. For those of you who are not educated on high fashion glamor I will tell you the cheapest pair would probably cost around $600 U.S. cold hard cash. The particular pair I need run about $1000. Will I ever own a pair of Louboutin shoes? Yes. Will it be in the near future? Probably not. I will have to wait until Daniel is a rich doctor and I am a wealthy business owner of the most fabulous reception center in Utah. My sister thinks I have a problem and she says that my personality resembles Khloe Kardashian and my shopping habits compare to Kim Kardashian. She watches Keeping up with the Kardashians and she laughs because she says I am a combo of two out of the tree of the girls. Don't get me wrong though, even though my shopping is a little extreme I still love a good sale. Daniel says I will buy just about anything and if it is on sale then it is a for sure sign I was meant to own it. I am a hard worker and I feel like I deserve to have anything that I want. Daniel deserves it too and he is just as superficial as I am just in a different area...Electronics. He has to have the best of the best and wont settle for anything less. I love it. I got new luggage for my birthday back in January and the luggage was one of the things that consumed me until I found a reason I needed it and then I bought it. Gotta love addiction :)

Our Lives The Past 3 Months

Well, back in April we found out that our friends Josh and Missy are pregnant with a little girl. They are going to name her Teagan which I think is way cute. We went to Virginia from May 6-10 and we had so much fun. On the first Day we went to dinner and went bowling. Day two we went to the beach that is probably 2 minutes from Josh and Missy's house and enjoyed each others company for the rest of the day.
Then on the third day we went to Busch Gardens amusement park and it was such a blast it had some great roller coasters. On day four we went to the Virginia Zoo and it is so nice. I am used to the Hogle Zoo which is nothing compared to how pretty the Virginia Zoo is. Then on the last day we went to Virginia Beach and it was perfect. The sand was was soft and the waves were wonderful. I wanted to rent a four seat bike but no one else wanted to so we walked along the shops and had such a fun time until we had to leave to go to the airport. Our plane ended up having technical problems and so we flew to Georgia for the night and then they flew us home a day later than expected. Which was fine because we got to spend one extra vacation day with each other. After we got home regular life started school and work once again consumed our lives. I went on a 5k walk with my cousins which was really fun! In June we broke out of our usual routine and went mini golfing with our friends Chad and Shelly. Daniel joinied the Salt Lake Community College summer band and he is also in an all mens choir. He ended up getting really sick with Virtigo and wasn't able to preform at the final concert for the choir and he missed two parades that he was supposed to be in with the band. It sucked for him and it took him a little over a week to fully recover. He was luckily better by the 4th of July and we had fun celebrating. We spent our day in Sandy as usual and went to the fair, the hotel room my family always rents so we are walking distance from all the festivities, watched the parade and the fire works. This year Daniel's Aunt and family came to watch the fireworks which was so great! Daniel still has a couple parades left until he is finished beign in the summer band and I thought it was pretty neat watching him preform since I am not used to that kind of thing. He does really good and I am glad that he is involved in something that he enjoys.