NOEL and New Years Resolutions

Finally,  a new blog post???? Amazing. Sorry, Ya'll I have been majorly slacking on blogging but TADAH I am going to make this one of my New Years Resolutions to blog more. I am so excited for this next year and seeing what it can bring. 2011 has been one of the best years of my life and I am so thankful for the experiences I have gained but I literally cannot wait for the New year! There are so many wonderful things that happened in 2011 that I would like to sketch down before I loose it all from my memory!
- I started off this year living in Hawaii with some of my best friends and a friend that I honestly call my sister from heaven, Annie. I am so thankful for this girl and all she has done for me- knowingly and un-knowingly. I could not ask for a better example and spirit in my life. She is the strongest person I have met and has the strongest testimony! She is the person I would always look to for strength and the one who I would turn to when times were the hardest! She never complained about a single thing, and always knew exactly what to say for every possible situation. She is everything I thought a best friend could be and so much more. Even though the coming of April separated us, we knew that is wasnt the end of the road! I know she will be my best friend for eternity and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us Hawaiian sisters :)
-I am so very thankful for my beautiful family and the incredible amount of support they have given me! I dont think they thought Hawaii was the best idea for me and suprisingly enough it was the hardest/most wonderful experience in my life! I was so thankful to come home and see everyone. I know my life wouldnt be the same without them, and the experiences I have come to know.
- I am thankful for my wonderful cousin Terri and all she has done for me. I have always looked up to her for being my role model but when I lived in Hawaii she seemed to have been more of a hero to me which I didnt think was possible to be even more. She watched out for me and helped me realize my own strength when times were hard and seemed impossible. She taught me love of the gospel and myself and always lead with an example. I am so very grateful for her willingness to serve with hope and understanding of what I was going through. She always kept her head up no matter what trials she faced and I learned so much from her example. I am one truly blessed girl to call her my cousin/sister!
-I lost my best friend and horse on December 8th and my world will never be the same. Kitty taught me more than I thought could be taught. She taught me patience, love and loss. She was always there for me when no one else seemed to be and I know without a doubt she knew my points and knew how far to push me to make me better and stronger in all she did. I will never forget the first time I saw her come barreling out of the trailer- all strangly and beautiful at the same time and from that moment on I knew my life would be changed forever. She carried me on her back from the time I was 9 to 19, and lead me to numerous championships, belt buckles and a Jr. Princess and Princess title. We traveled all over the state vying for the next prize competing for the best; starting at 6 am and not setting foot again on the ground until 9 at night or later. It was keeping bobby pins popped into my head, and way too tight jeans. It was glossing her hair, and staying up the night before a show washing, glossing and getting glimmery shirts ready for the next day. It was cleaning stalls to keep her getting trained and taking lessons each and every day. I will miss her more than words can say, but I know when I hear the thunder roar it will be Kittys feet clippity clocking on heavens floor.
Even though there have been some tough times with 2011- there have been even more good times to make it all worthwhile. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for me!
I have so many new things that I want to accomplish in 2012. Here is my list!
1. Be to my goal weight- 15-20 more pounds
2. Go to Alaska
3. Run my first Marathon
4. Run my first Half marathon
5. Be closer to my Father in Heaven
6. Learn to play the guitar better and write songs

Blogging Rut

As of lately, I have been in an awesome blogging rut. I haven't posted in over a month because to tell you the truth, I have been too lazy to. There really hasn't been anything exciting to blog about and so I just haven't. I have been pretty frustrated with my weight as of lately, and I have been fallowing my goals as of the last post to the tee and I have not seen any results. I am feeling good, but I feel like my body hasnt changed. I have to remember things are going to be slow because I am at my last little bit, but it is about putting me UNDER. It is driving me nuts. But this week I am going to start looking at things in a better light and focus a little harder. I am going to give up a few more things and take somethings off the previous list. Normally during the week, I have been running/crossfit on mondays, spinning on tuesdays, kickboxing on weds, spin on thursdays, and run/crossfit on fridays. Saturdays I normally just run or find something worth it to do and rest on Sunday. This week I did just that, and to my dismay, I have gained about 3-4 pounds since I started. I'm just going to have to keep my goal in mind, and push through so I can be what I want which is 10 pounds lighter by Christmas.

Happy Happy MOnDAy!

First of all, I went for an 11 mile run this morning! Oh and it was WONDERFUL! I started a goal last night and this is what I have come up with! I have so far on my journey lost 57 pounds as of a year ago, ad my goal to be smaller than I have ever been is about 10-15. I am working towards that goal and think I can be able to reach it by Christmas. So in order to keep myself on track I am going to write what my plan is and try to write about it and stick to it every day.

• Eat no dairy 
• No sugar/pop
• veggies and protein, only fruit when necessary 
• lots and lots of water 
• and workout everyday

There is my plan, Im going to do it and I am going to feel good about how I am doing. Cant wait to begin to transform! :)

Perfection

"There is something in the way you are. There is some kind of love and hope that radiates to all those who are looking for strength in you. By some sort of miracle you can be a light and hope to those who are lost, those who are searching, and those who think this world will never cease to blunder them. You are an angel to the fallen and a lift to the weak, a hope for the ages and a love for the deep and blistering soul. You can be this to yourself, to your dreams and to the non believers." -Pat Vale

Day to Remember

I have been up in the mountains for the weekend, so I would have posted this sooner but I wasnt here. A miracle came to our small beautiful valley over the weekend. It all started around 11 am yesterday morning, when it was announced at General Conference that our small town was going to be one of the next places to have a TEMPLE built. amazing.  Me  and my mom were just heading out the door to get groceries for the weekend when President Monson came on and started to say..." It is my great privelage to announce some new temples..." We were in a hurry to get to town so my mom rushed me out the door saying, " We have it recorded... if only we would have waited for 2 more minutes! Haha. Well, as we made our way into town, my mom got a text from my Aunt Teressa asking if we had heard the news. As soon as we saw this message our lives have been changed forever! It still isn't real to me that we are getting a temple here in a valley that only has a small population, but I know the people here are strong. This will be the first temple in Wyoming, and I am amazed, blessed and overwhelmed we will be having it here in this little piece of heaven. More to come when I know :) xoxo

I am OLD

I know I am almost 20 (wow) and I am starting to really feel it. Not very long ago it seems I was just barely turning 10 and in 10 years from now I will be the big ol ' 30. WEIRD. As I look back I know I have been very blessed throughout my life, and I am so proud of the person I am, and I can't wait for what the future has next for me. Even though sometimes there are times I would like to turn around and go back to certain times in my life, I know I can't look back anymore that the road now is only one way, and that is forward. I can't wait to see what is in store for me, but my heart knows I wouldnt be so excited about the future if it wasnt for my past. I have grown, cherished and truly LIVED over the past year and it has been the hardest while being the most rewarding year I can remember. I know without a doubt I can be strong, I can be brave because the worst is behind me, and that obstacle that I was sent to tackle is myself. I have never been one that truly believes in who I am. People would tell me I was a wonderful singer, I was a great athlete and I was pretty, but ya know, I never belived them. I didnt look for the good inside of me, I only turned for the bad. I'm not sure what changed inside of me, all I know is that I did. I look at life and myself now with beauty. I look for the positive and not the negative. By doing this, I havent only learned about my self but I have learned about others and what others truly have inside of them. I have said this before and I will say it again, but Hawaii truly changed me. It changed my life and it made me want to believe in myself. I have had the best year, and because I am whom I am now, I can't wait to see what the future holds.
I am going to be doing things a little differently on this blog. I am going to try and post EVERYDAY. And when I say this, it probably won't happen but I am going to try real hard :) Even if its not a lengthy post, it will be something... like a quote, something I learned, something I was inspired by or just a random word. I am aslo going to keep track of my health goals and post my excercise plans for the day as well as what I plan to accomplish. This will be a journal (sortof). I'm not going to bear my whole soul on here but I will make it ME, and somedays I'm not going to hold anything back, but that's who I am. Since my life changed, I have found a new way to look and view life, one of them is viewing myself. I want to keep up with who I am now, and strive to be even better, a happier, healthier ME. I want to experiment with new things, live my bucket-list and continue to try and be an example to others. So here I go, I am starting my new blog... I need to figure out how to change the background and stuff to make it cute, but I have failed so the new blog might be a little down the road ;) Here are somethings I plan to accomplish before New Years.
**** Go to the NFR. I want to plan a trip for me and my mom to go. We have wanted to go for years and I want to be able to have a trip to look back on with my mom other than horse showing :)
**** Loose 70 pounds- as of right now I have lost 58 and these last 12 might kill me but a girl can dream right? I can do this, I can do this.
**** Go snowboarding. I have never once touched a snowboard cause the things make me shudder just looking at them because I can just invision myself flying down a mountain, plastered with now, goggles crooked on my face heading into a crowd of innocent bystanders. I.dont.want.to.do.that. But ya know, this might be a good thing for me to try something new and get out of my comfort zone. I remember the first time I tried Skiing. I about killed me a shed, but by the end of the day I was skiing like a PRO. Hopefully this is the case with snowboarding.
**** Learn how to dance. Ok, so I can shake it with Zumba, but other than that I am one left footed duck. I think dancers are so neat... The way they can move and twirl around the floor as well as bend in crazy ways. I want to be able to do that. Wow. That would be neat of me.
**** Run a half marathon. I ran the El Vaquero Loco this summer, but I never had the chance to run the half marathon that was here this July. I had a family reunion, and I was lame and chose note to be there for the run. I wish I would have now, becuase I heard it was an awesome experience. There are a few halfs before December so I hope to do one of them. I also hope to have a training schedule. All the other races I have ran, I have not really trained, just kinda done my own thing. I never time myself, I push my body as far as I think it needs to be pushed and a little further, and I just run. I enjoy the time I get when I am alone, running with nothing but the air and sun. I used to run with music and think that people who didnt were Crazy. I was always scared of the fact that I would hear my obnoxious breathing and want to quit. I have LOVED running without music though, I am a firm believer that I can focus better on my breathing, focus on my body, and listen to the world around me.
Well ya'll, that's it for today. Oh, almost forgot! I am so stinkin proud of my little brother Andy! He is playing Varsity football! He is only a sophomore this year, and along with 2 other sophomores they are the only ones that are playing. I am so proud! Homecoming is this friday so I will be able to watch him play for the first time on home field. So stinking proud I am. Anyways, here is a little motto I saw the other day and LOVED!

"She believed she could, and so she did."

I think it is so simple but it truly means a lot. You can believe all you want but until you do something about it, you might as well not believe at all. Be back tomorrow!!

C.H.a.N.G.e.S

  I realize it has been a couple months since the last update so time for a good HUGE post. I have had a great summer so far and I am looking forward to the Fall. I love Fall, it's my favorite time of year with the leaves, sunsets, and cool temperatures that just perfectly fit together. I am so grateful we have changing in seasons we can see everyday, we can take in God's beauty and be thankful for another changing season. 

Lots has happened this summer, and it has been one of the best summers I can remember. Starting in June, my little sister Kynzi tried out for Jr, Princess and WON! She used Royal my new 5 year old gelding, and I was so stinkin' proud of her! Fallowing right in her big sister's footsteps ;) She is the cutest, look at her matching blue outfit! She thinks she is pretty great!
I have been able to spend lots of time with my friends that I haven't seen since we graduated. It was so great to spend time and get back to how simple it used to be in high school! I have missed them so much, it was good to catch up and see how much has changed since we went our separate ways. 

Speaking of change, I want to talk a little about how much my life and myself has changed over the last year. I am really starting to find who I really am and make choicesas to who I someday want to become. I can't imagine who I used to be, and I am proud to be able to love myself for the first REAL time. I have lost over 50 pounds, and I am beginning to finally LOVE my body. I want to be able to last as long as possible, and I wasn't happy with who I was before. I wasn't happy because I was relying on other people and other superficial things to make me happy, and once I realized those things didn't matter that's when I began to mold a new and happier life. I honestly couldn't have done it if I hadn't been able to go to Hawaii.  I know without a doubt in my mind that Hawaii saved me. I could turn to no one but myself and rely on my inner strength to change and evolve. I was so blessed to have Terri, my cousin/sister there to help me through everything. And Annie my truest best friend to be a light at the end of the tunnel when I needed it. It wasn't easy sometimes but I know my father in Heaven was holding to my hand tightly more often then not. I am a happy, confident person looking for a future I know now I can conquer. I began my real journey in February 2011 and I have not looked back since. I began running little bits at a time, not everyday, but I soon became hooked. I LOVE running. I used to hate it, but now it's a craving I can't get past. I ran my first race ever which was the Swift creek 5K and won my age group!! I was so happy and proud. On August 13th, I ran the El Vaquero Loco which translates to "Crazy Cowboy" and let me tell ya, it was just that. There were times along the trail that I wanted to break down. Let me say, this wasn't easy in any way shape or form, but it is one of my greatest achievements. I got a little teary eyed a few times when I would look up and there would be nothing but uphill wilderness that I believed I couldn't conquer. This race began at the bottom of Swift creek and went to Corral Creek Lakes and turned around and came back. The first 8 miles were complete uphill. There was maybe 2 flat spots the whole way, and when I say up hill I mean UPHILL. It was pretty ridiculous a few times, but I kept pushing. My dad has done an aid station for the race for 5 years now and he was the first one I came to and man I have never been so dang happy to see him, my mom, Andy and Kynzi. They made it a family trip and hauled everything up on the horses the day before. When I came to them, I wasn't doing to hot. At this time I was 5 1/2 miles in and still had the roughest part ahead of me, but with some reassurance and energy gels I was on my way. I chugged a long and made it to the turn around and the last aid station, and man was I so ready to be done. Heading back I took as many pictures and kept on keeping on running all the way down! When I reached the finish line my Grandpa and Grandma Erickson were waiting with Chocolate milk and Lemme say, it was the best dang thing I have ever had.:) It was a wonderful experience and I am so proud of myself for finishing. My goals before the race were:  Finish, don't be last, and don't crawl across the finish line and that I did.