Like a Leopard

Did you know the average house cat can run up to 30mph? Puuurrrrrty amazing. (Pun intended, I am HI-larious.)

I however, cannot run that fast, but I did buy myself some pretty wicked cool running shoes. Leopard print + coral + Nike, what more could you ask for, I mean really.

I first saw these shoes on Pinterest like a year ago and knew I HAD to have them, but I seriously searched everywhere and could not find them except on Ebay for mucho dollars $$$ so yeah, I didn't go there. Then the other day this girl walks into my work and my goodness she was wearing the darn things. I demanded she tell me where she obtained them and once she informed me they were at the Nike Outlet I knew I had to rush over there immediately. I couldn't resist. I had been waiting an eternity for these lovelies. Now my life is complete and I can sleep at night.

In other news, I got to wear these shoes again last night after a very long absence...

I went to my first horseback riding lesson on Wednesday and it exceeded my expectations. My teacher is a really good horseman and has done rodeo forever so he was able to teach me a lot and correct some of my bad habits. We talked about even getting into barrel racing lessons eventually! Learning to barrel has always been a secret ambition of mine so I'm super pumped about that!

Ye Old Faithful

Whelp. We had a fun weekend road trippin' it up to Idaho. 

I have never before in my life been to Yellowstone, which is strange because for about two years I lived only an hour away from it. So for part of the weekend we had to make our way up there so I could have the experience. Boy, it was lovely. I even had the opportunity to eat an Old Faithful candy bar as I was witnessing the real life Old Faithful shoot out water 100 feet into the air. A special moment, indeed.

Sometimes it is nice to escape from the busy, hectic life that is Utah County. I swear time slows down in Idaho. Perhaps someday we shall live in a small town such as the one my husband is from. I would like that.

I start horseback riding lessons tomorrow which I am uber excited about. I mean I know how to 'ride' a horse, and I have a lot of experience with trail riding but I have never been taught any formalities, so that'll be fun. Plus since Angie, the horse I rode got put down I feel like I've had a void that needs filling, so hopefully this satisfies me!

Don't try to order any type of mint flavored drinks from the Slurp. Disgusting. I was attempting to order something that resembled a mint julep, which quite possibly is my all time favorite drink, bar Diet DP of course, and well, it didn't turn out as planned and I wasted like two whole dollars. When you are poor two dollars is a lot of money. Money I will never get back. Anyway I'm not gonna even share the drink recipe with you because no one should ever try to replicate it. 

I should also announce that I will be coloring my hair next Tuesday. Hair dye has never before touched my precious locks and so this is kind of a big move for me. I'm thinking some blonde highlights and probs a trim. My ends are in desperate need of TLC. I love my strawberry blonde hair, but I'm ready for a change. :)

Father's Day

"Of all of the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to deity, He has asked us to address Him as Father."

     I just love the above quote, because God is just that, he is our Father, and it's important to remember Him too on this Father's Day! He is a prime example of perfect love, caring and understanding that a father should be. If there is one thing that I know for certain, it is that God loves us all, His children, and that His whole purpose and plan revolve around helping us get back to Him and become just like Him. How neat. 

     I am so grateful for the men in my life and for the roles that they play and qualities they possess. My dad has been a great example to me of what a man should be - strong, caring, a good provider and a leader in our home growing up. My grandpas are good, honest men who have worked hard their whole loves and love their children and grandchildren. 

     Since I have been married I have been able to appreciate the role that men play even more as my husband and I have learned to work together as husband and wife and as I have seen how he has stepped up to the plate and been the kind, caring, sweet, concerned and hard working man that he is. Showing a desire to care for and provide for our future family.

     Men don't get enough recognition. I'm sorry, but they really don't. In today's world the popular idea is that women don't need men. I mean really? Like we don't need them at all? What a silly thought that is to me. I love my dad, I love my husband, I love my brothers and uncles and guy friends that I have had and I honestly couldn't imagine life without them. I am in full support of being an independent, successful, confident woman, but to eliminate the important role that men can play in your life completely and say that you don't 'need' them is saddening to me. 

    So Happy Father's Day out there to all the wonderful men in my life! Thank you for being the tough, honest, kind, rock-solid, hard working individuals that you are. 

Forget Me Not

Today my family and I decided to venture out of the city for a while and go for a hike in American Fork Canyon. I love being up that high in the mountains because when you look at the sky you seriously feel like you could reach your hand right up and touch the clouds. Every summer I used to ride horses all over this canyon with my grandpa, but since he's gotten rid of all of them I haven't been up there as much. I really have missed that fresh mountain air smell, and of course the wild flowers and and really just escaping from the busy world that we live in.

I came across these lovely things along the trail. They're Forget-Me-Nots. Such dainty, pretty little flowers!

On another note Nathan and I signed ourselves up for the Freedom Run 10K coming up on the 4th of July which I am pretty excited about. I love having races to look forward to because they really motivate me to get up off my butt and do my workouts each day. Since I've been married and been really poor I feel like running has been a great hobby for me because it's basically free! As opposed to all the other hobbies I love... ha. 

Nathan and I have been married for a year and a half! I cannot even believe it. Time sure does go by fast, doesn't it.

Comparison is a Thief

Soooo I got a smartphone about six months ago, and I never realized how it could be a simultaneously wonderful and terrible invention. 

Truly it is the best thing ever to be able to obtain any bit of information you could possibly want at all times. What a wonderful convenience that is. However, to have access to facebook/instagram/pinterest at all times is maybe not so awesome.

I found myself getting on social media like seriously every spare second I had in my day, and what it did to me was sickening. I begin to become so consumed with comparing my own life to the picture-perfect, edited lives of others on the web, and to be frank, it made me feel depressed.

Soon none of my clothes were good enough. My apartment wasn't good enough. My hair, body and face weren't good enough. Nothing was good enough for me.

They say comparison is the thief of joy, and I couldn't agree more. I adore the above quote because I believe it is important to remember that we are all at different stages and times of our lives and we simply cannot compare who we are and where we are to someone else. It's quite unfair to ourselves. We're all different and that's the end of the line. The only comparing we should be doing is how we were yesterday versus today. Are we making improvements on what choices we made the day before? Are we correcting our mistakes? Are we trying to be our best self?

That's it. That's all.

So I had to set boundaries for myself about getting on social media, because hey, looking at other people's lives all day and wishing I was in their situation is bad news and it can become a poisonous habit.

A Love/Hate Relationship

I know you are all highly interested in my running endeavors so I'm going to share a little story with you.

Do you remember Junior High School? Well I do. They had something called the 'fun' run, which to say the least was anything but what it professed to be. I can think of several, far more suitable names for it, but we won't get into that. Anyway, the 'fun' run was basically where they wrangled all of us awkward, pubescent, seventh grade girls into the gym and made us run around it like four times and we had to time ourselves and we also had to wear these dreadful gym clothes. Which honestly I don't think I washed once (ew?). The whole experience was just awful if you can imagine.

At that moment in my life I don't think I really liked running that much, in fact I hated it, and I certainly never looked forward to any 'fun' runs.

Thus it was for years. Never enjoyed running. Forced myself to do it on occasion because it was good for me, but hated myself the whole time. You get the picture.

My dear sweet mother, who is a marathon runner would always encourage me run and try to entice me into following her life path, but I resisted. Then one day when I was like eighteen she signed me up for a 10K, and I was just kind of like... alright, I'll do it. So I did that, and it was cool, but I told my mom I was never going to run anything more than a 10K.

So then I ran that same 10K again, and then again. After the third time of running the exact same 10K I have to say that running had become more of a habit for me, and my walls were beginning to come down. Running was not quite as terrible as I had originally thought, plus I was reaping some pretty cool health benefits from it, so my heart was melting a bit.

Then my mom approached me several months ago with an offer that I could never refuse, and honestly it was cruel of her to offer it to me in the first place, because she knew I couldn't refuse it.

She said she would take me on a trip to Disneyland, but only if I signed up for the Disneyland Half Marathon with her.

Obviously a Disneyland fanatic such as myself is not going to turn down a trip to Disneyland, no matter what sort of commitment I had to fulfill. Even if I had vowed my whole life I would never run a half marathon, I guess for Disneyland I will eat my words.

So here I am now. Running a half marathon.

I am a success story.

I hated running. Now I love it, and I love watching my body get stronger and more healthy the more I do it.

So seriously, if you hate running/exercising right now, I promise you can overcome it. Having something to work towards made all the difference for me. Whether that is a race, or a goal weight, or rock solid abs, set goals and work towards them. Compete with yourself. It can be fun.

I'm going to share my training program with y'all whether you're interested or not.