Migraines and Bucketlist Items

Well this last week was great and horrible at the same time! I've been having a lot of problem with migraines. I ended up having a day where I just had to stay home from work. But alas, all is well. We'll figure it out.

On Friday, I got to go to Jurrasic Park 3D with some friends and then we went out for ice cream after. That was really fun to just have a night out on the town. I don't go to movie theaters very often-but obviously for a good 3-D movie you need to. It was just the original Jurrasic Park movie, redone. It was awesome!!

On Saturday I crossed something off my bucketlist!! I went with Josh, Kathryn G., and her old roommate, Rachel Boaz to the Festival of Colors here in SLC. We walked in, hadn't bought chalk and people were just throwing the chalk on us. By the time we made it to the line for chalk we almost didn't need to buy any because we were covered in color. We still bought some chalk so we could cover each other even more and throw it on to other people.
It had been raining off and on all day and we were a bit worried about it. But we hit the perfect window-it was raining as I drove to the Festival and then as we were leaving, it started to rain again. Here are a few pictures of our lovely colors!

I have a lot on my bucketlist and I'm continually adding to it, so we'll see what other adventures we can find myself on over the next little while!

I've just finished up a book called Personal Entropy for work. Basically it discusses how to increase your productivity-the factors that contribute or deter you from that goal. It was a great read and I wrote a little bit more of the specifics on my "Keeping Up With Business Blog" if you want to check it out.

A little bit from my scripture study: I was finishing up 1 Nephi and starting 2 Nephi. These are a few things I found that we can use to come closer to Christ and other patterns I saw or thoughts that I had:

In 1 Nephi 20-22, something I found is the fact that Christ is the light and that there will be a prophet to lead his church. We know that there was a time where the earth had no prophet but since Joseph Smith restored the gospel to the earth, we will always have a prophet to lead and guide us. That is a powerful tool: to have the  mouthpiece of God so close. These scriptures also talk about how the righteous need not fear.

With my 100 Days Closer to Christ, there is a scripture of the day and a thought of the day. I LOVED the thought of the day that went with these scriptures: "Our faith in the Lord is the source of spiritual power that will give you and me the assurance that we have nothing to fear from jeourney." -M. Russell Ballard

If we follow Christ and have faith we will have spiritual power to lean on at all times--even the tough times!! I believe those are the most important times to be leaning on faith so that I don't stray from the path of truth and righteousness.

Have a good week! Keep Christ's light close and challenge yourself to try something new :)

Movements

Lately I've been really focused on working out and trying to stay active. I've been going to a couple of yoga classes and trying to go running a few times a week. It is so interesting to see how much the body is capable of even when your mind thinks you can't take another step or you can't bend any further. Your body stores tension in different areas of the body-maybe the neck or the shoulders or the hips and then your body moves in different ways in order to release that tension. As I'm doing yoga and running I feel that tension and stress leave me. It is amazing and makes me want to continue to run and "yoga."

It is interesting how people get into different routines, once you've learned how to do something or where something is, it has become second nature to do that thing or go to that place. Sometimes I find myself stuck in these routines and not paying attention to the details of what is around me. I've driven the same route to work almost every day since September. I've changed it up a little here and there but I've found the fastest route and that's the way I go. Just recently, I was sitting at a stop light and I looked up and saw that there was a NewBalance store there on the corner. I sat and thought to myself, "Is that new?" and I couldn't answer. I had no idea because I had just driven straight down that road. I wonder how many other details and beautiful things I miss because I'm just trying to get to work or to the store. I will be safe but I want to be more observant about the awesome things that I have around me. I want to admire the architecture and wonder at the big trees and  ponder about the people I see walking. There is so much to take in and I'm going to try to take in a little more of the movements around me.

In my last post I talked about sticking to the basics in reference to gospel principles. In September, I began my 100 Days Closer to Christ with my scripture study. I did well for the first little while and then kind of fell apart. I'm going to start again to help focus my scripture study. I also have a goal to study my scriptures for 1/2 an hour every day. I'm sharing this because I'm the type of person that once I've shared a goal, I'm much more likely to achieve it. Anyone and everyone is welcome, and encouraged, to check up on me and these goals! We will see my movements and steps in my spiritual progression and strength to withstand temptation and be a strength to those around me.

There are movements all around us and in our own lives. We must embrace these  movements. We must learn and grow from these movements.

Inspired Steps and March Madness...in April?

I know, I know..it has been a very long time since I've blogged. A few people bugged me about this but I just couldn't find time to write. I have been inspired by my dear friend, Josh, to post. I now commit to the world that I'm going to do better! :)

Well it is April. I have all of 2013 to catch you up on but don't worry, I won't do it all in one post, that would get overwhelming for everyone. So I've decided to just talk about April and then as I'm writing future posts I may refer back to, and catch everyone up on the first part of 2013.




Usually March is filled with basketball for people considering March Madness but my basketball craze came in April. As an FHE activity we were able to attend a Jazz vs. Portland game. It was a lot of fun to hang out with some of my girlfriends from the ward. I was also thinking, it was the first bball game I had been to since college.






A week later, I went to a work conference on benefits. We met at the Energy Solutions Arena (previously known as the Delta Center) and had an all day training with drawings, food, etc. After the training we had dinner and then we went to a Jazz basketball game. We were playing the Thunder! One of the drawings throughout the day was for us to go down onto the court during halftime and high-five the players as they came back onto the court. We were suppose to cheer them on and pump them up for the second half. I was selected for this AWESOME task :) We ended up getting free t-shirts too.

The players were not all that excited because they were losing-and these games are really important because they are battling for 8th place in the tournament against the LA Lakers. So they need all the wins they can get. We tried to be as positive as possible and cheer them on as they high-fived and fist-pumped us. Even though they were losing, it was super cool to be down on the court.

I went up to Logan for Easter and my mother's birthday at the end of March. We had my birthday dinner (only 2 months late) at El Torro Viejo- my FAVORITE Mexican restaurant. It was fun to spend time with my family. I pretty much hadn't gone to Logan since the beginning of the year and I miss Cache Valley.









A few thoughts that I've had in April:

*General Conference: came at the perfect time. I was reminded of a lot of basic, key principles that may have been lacking. Sometimes I get so caught up in details that I have to step back and go to the basics. Where is my foundation? What am I leaning on? What is important to me and am I doing what I need to to get that? I love being able to listen to our church leaders. I felt such a spirit as they were talking and I'm excited to go back and study their words again. I was able to listen to the Priesthood session. I particularly loved Elder Hales talk. Even the quote that is at the beginning is perfect "Standing obedient and strong on the doctrine of our God, we stand in holy places, for His doctrine is sacred and will not change." My life is always changing, I am always changing but if I am holding onto something constant, that is true, I will remain on a stable foundation. I will be able to help others through their changing times. And we can remain true to God. I just love this gospel. I just have to remember to stick to the basics.

*People: are in my life for a reason. I just want to give a shout out to all of my friends and family and say thank you. Especially, those new friends in my life. Keep living by the spirit because at times you don't know-through your example and words you are blessing those around you. Each of you are blessing my life. I love people. I love learning from you. I love learning about you. I love serving you. I love spending time with you.
I have been blessed with this ability to love easily and forgive easily and that makes me vulnerable to get hurt easily. After chatting with a friend, he said (and I am paraphrasing), it is better to love and forgive and get hurt then to close up and not be blessing those may be needing that love. So I will continue to put myself out there and love and forgive and I trust that the Lord is there to help me get through the pain may come later.

I feel like I could keep writing all day about random things! This post HAS been very random and scattered and the next one may be too since I'm trying to catch you up. But I'll get back to my normal posts soon. But there are a few thoughts and steps from Cydnee's April 2013.