My Hubby...Neal

Husband Tag, you're it!!

Where did you meet?
Institute...if you can call it that. I went to institute in Utah. When I went to Kingman it was a culture shock!

How long did you date before you were married?
6 months

How long have you been married?
10 years this coming March(26th)

What does he do that surprises you?
When he tells people how much he loves me, how proud of me he his for what I have accomplished and how lucky he is to have me as his wife.

What is his best feature?
His smile

What is your favorite quality of his?
His willingness to work hard.

Does he have a nickname for you?
Nope...he uses the same nickname everybody uses.

What is his favorite food?
Steak and potatoes

What is his favorite sport?
Nascar

When and where was your first kiss?
About 2-3 weeks after we meet. He was getting ready to leave for work (graveyard) and I was going to be leaving to go to Utah. I remember we were outside at Tina's house.

What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Laying down on the bed snuggling and talking about anything.

Do you have any children?
Do dogs count? We have two dogs, both boys. I'm really outnumbered

What are his hidden talents?
He really enjoys working in the yard. He like the challenge of trying to keep a green yard in the desert. He is really good at it.

Who said i love you first?
He did

What is his favorite music?
Hip hop R&B, rap

What do you admire about him?
His love and devotion to his family.

What is his favorite color?
blue

Will he read this?
Probably not

Who do you tag?EVERYONE! It's fun to learn about people's spouses

Thinking positive and being grateful

I haven't posted in a while because I tend to dwell on negative thoughts, and I thought maybe I should blog about something positive before you all think I'm a miserable person. Today I have had lots of ideas about what to write about. However, there is one thought that has been on my mind for a while now. This may seem strange, but I want to take a walk down memory lane. Perhaps its being called to young women's or maybe its getting in touch with all my old friends on face book, maybe it is reading LeShell's blog or most likely a combination of all.
I want to thank my good Friends from Junior high who supported me, loved me, and taught me. I hated junior high but in looking back I have many great memories and friends. I used to walk around the block to walk to school with my friends. I would walk the opposite direction of the school. I meet Joyelle, LeShell, Trudy & Daisy at the corner. We then stopped and picked Christy up at her house. Our last stop was for Angie. I could have met up with them at Angie's house, but that would not have been enough time to spend with them.
A lot my girl friends from junior high really helped shape who I am today, however, there are two women in particular who stand out in my mind at this time. First is Jeanette. I remember when I was really getting down on myself and I felt no self worth, she made me a list of my good qualities, along with some other friends, to help me feel better about myself. I think I still have that list somewhere. Second is LeShell. LeShell taught me the power of music. She showed me how music can bring the Spirit of the Lord into your life. I discovered Michael McLean through LeShell. These may seem like small thing, but it is through small things that great things are accomplished.
I want to thank the girls in my Sunday school class and young women's (don't forget the leaders) from the Walnut Hills ward for opening their arms to me. For taking me into the fold, for loving me for who I was and for who I became through their Christ like love. It is through their examples and acceptance that I learned to love the Lord and learned of His love for me. It was a priceless gift that I will forever be grateful for.
Never underestimate the power of a helping hand. You have no idea how your actions and words can change another persons life. I'll finish with one of my favorite quotes (I'm paraphrasing) "Be kinder than necessary, you never know what the other person is going through." Okay, so I butchered it, but you get the point.

I've disapointed myself, once again.

In January 2007 I found myself extremely motivated to lose weight after stepping on the scale and getting quite a shock. I decided to join weight watchers. It has been a good decision. By the end of November 2007 I had lost 46 lbs. I felt great. I was half way to my goal. However, in 2008 I continued to see saw back and forth. At first it was within a couple pounds two up two down. You get the point. Then I started going up 3 pounds down one. Little by little, and sometimes not so little, I have put back on 23 lbs!!!! {gasp in horror}
This last weigh in I went up almost 9 lbs. I had skipped two meetings and was not watching what I ate at all. I have let myself down. I dreams of reaching my goal weight last summer. I wanted to be at are very near my goal weight when I finished school. I can't believe how I let myself get so off track. I haven't kept my "eye on the ball" I've been to busy eating.
So I think I have gotten my rude awakening, to say the least. I am focused and determined to not only lose what I already lost but even more. Right now I have a closet full of clothes that are too tight to wear comfortably, and they are really cute clothes that I want to wear. I don't feel like I look good. I feel undesirable. I want to hide under a tent so that nobody can see what I have become. 2009 is going to be my year!
One thing I noticed looking back at this last year was that once I started eating chocolate again my weight loss journey became more difficult. 6 years ago this past August I gave up chocolate (except for hot coco and chocolate milk). I didn't eat chocolate for 5 years! But once I hit the 5 year mark I figured it was long enough and I thought I had things under control. Oh how wrong I was. So as of two days ago I'm not eating chocolate anymore! I'm going to make this a life long goal. I do have two exceptions just like last time; (1)hot coco and (2) chocolate frozen yogurt (chocolate yogurt has the same amount of points as vanilla, so why not eat the chocolate).
For the year of 2009 I made 4 new years resolutions. None of my resolutions had to do with losing weight. My resolutions were spiritually based. I know that if I get the spiritual part of my life in order everything else will fall into place. So with my determination and a lot of divine intervention I know that I will succeed at getting healthy and fit this year.

New Calling

Neal & I both got new callings yesterday. We were released from the activities committee about a month ago. It was strange not having a calling, but our little vacation is now over.
Neal was asked to be an assistant building coordinator. To save money we (the wards) are now in charge of cleaning our building. Our wards day to clean is Saturday. Neal's job is call the families the night before to remind them of their opportunity to help clean. He will also be going on Saturday to assign certain jobs and to help out. He will be alternating months with the other brother called. Also with having two people if we or they are out of town we will have someone to cover. I'm glad that he was extended a calling he was willing to accept.
I'm excited and overwhelmed by my calling. I was called to be a young women's advisor. My first response to the calling was joy. I have always wanted to serve with the young women. It was the young women's program that really helped me embrace the gospel in my life. I want to be able to give back where so much was given. I will be teaching the Laurels, we have 3. However, by April I will have 5. Our youth program is pretty small in our ward. Our primary, however, is huge. I'm really looking forward to being able to work with the young women. I am also very humbled by the calling and pray that I can do a good job. I'll just keep praying and praying and praying.
Wish me luck...

My hair

Before

During (goodbye hair)

Jamie w/my ponytail

My ponytail...for the kids


After (the back)



After (the front)

Small sacrifices aren't always easy

Have you ever seen the Friends episode where Joey is trying to prove to Phobee that there is such a thing as doing a selfless act that you don't feel good about? Well he couldn't find anything, but I have. Normal doing something good for someone bring you a piece of joy to your own heart. I have never not felt this piece of joy until now.
About a month ago I got this "feeling" that I should donate my hair to Lock of Love. I thought to myself that this was a good thing to do for others. My hair was long enough and it would help out the poor kids that are going though such a hard time. Well I measured my hair and I knew that the 10 inch minimum was going to leave me with really short hair. I thought that maybe I should wait a little while longer, let my hair grow a bit more. My hair stylest (Jamie) even tried to encourage me to wait a bit longer when I told her of my plan. Actually a lot of people tried to talk me out of it. However, when I thought about waiting that "feeling" came back that I needed to do and soon. I was even "told" that I was supposed to do this so that I could experience sacrifice. I though okay cutting my hair really shouldn't be that big of a deal. As sacrifices go its pretty small.
I looked online and found a haircut that I thought would work well with my very round & pudgy face. So on Tuesday I headed off to Jamie's with the picture of the hairstyle I wanted, my ponytail holder, measuring tape and my camera. I was ready to do something for someone else. I felt good about doing this. Jamie put my hair in the ponytail, measure with the measuring tape and then began to cut. I felt the weight come off and heard my hair breaking apart. I felt sad, it had taken so long to get as long as it was. Jamie styled my hair. She even gave me some product to help me add body to my limp hair. When I left Jamie's I was in shock and knew that this new hairstyle was going to take a while to get used to.

The next day when I attempted to "style" my hair I became very frustrated. I had apparently gotten rid of my round brush which is what Jamie used. I attempted to recreate what Jamie had done with my curling iron, but I was completely unsuccessful. It didn't seem to matter what I did with my hair I couldn't make it look right. It was just too short!
I even told Neal that I needed him to lie to me convincingly that my hair looked good. I know he doesn't like my hair short, he's told me. He prefers it long as I do. I also know that he can lie convincingly. However, he was unable to do so on this day. I began to cry. Yes I cried over my short hair! I felt stupid crying over my hair. Its only hair for crying out loud. It will grow back, very slowly, but it will grow back. Until the moment I started to cry Neal actually thought I was doing this because I wanted short hair. I tried to tell him before that I didn't really want to cut my hair but I just felt that I really was supposed to do. He know believes me.
I haven't cried since Wednesday. I bought a round brush and am now able to style it better, but I still don't like it. I feel naked without my hair falling down my back. I don't think the short hair looks good with my round face. I feel fat! Okay I already felt fat, because I am, but now I feel fatter.
So I have done something good for someone else and I don't feel good about it! Perhaps in time I will feel better about it, I hope. It might be in two years when my hair gets back to the length it was. Does anyone know about anything that will help my hair grow faster? I know I'm being selfish and crying over spilled milk, but I can't help it. So I thought if I wrote about, got it off my chest, I would feel better.

Joining the bloging world

Okay so I thought maybe I would join the world of blogging. I don't know how good I'll be at keeping it up, but her goes nothing. I'm really not to sure how this works and all but I'll figure it out. I'm being sad today because I have to go back to work. I've really enjoyed sleeping in these last two weeks and I don't want to have to get up 5am again! Yes, I know I'm whinning and being a baby. I'll get over it in a week or two.