23 goals/adventures/things before 24

Well, here it is, this year's list of 23 things to do before I turn 24:
1. Scrapbook my London experience
2. Graduate from BYU
3. Complete an internship
4. Get a full time job
5. Go to Washington D.C.
6. Visit somewhere I've never been
7. Get a credit card
8. Go to the temple at least once each month
9. Do something that scares me
10. Move out of my parent's house
11. Finish my quilt (or at least start it)
12. Work on Family History
13. Blog once a week
14. Visit Alyson and Kenny in Florida
15. Visit Nick and Amanda in Virginia
16. Visit a national park
17. Take the GRE
18. Fall in love with a person, place, or hobby
19. Become a runner
20. Be better at staying in touch with friends
21. Accomplish all 12 of my new year's resolutions
22. Forgive
23. Visit campus with my parents and have them tell me stories from when they were in college (this counts as family history, right?)

Goals Goals Goals

Instead of making year-long goals I decided to do a goal each month.  I stole this idea from the amazing Anna who did the same thing last year.  I just love the idea of doing something for 30 days as opposed to 365 days.  January's goal was to keep my eyes closed during prayers.  All prayers, personal or public.  It was a little hard because I had gotten so out of the habit, but it was worth it.  It's something that I'm going to continue to work on.

February's goal relates to school.  My goal is to spend 1 hour outside of class at least three days a week on campus studying.  This has already proved to be more difficult that January's goal.  I love my naps, and with my crazy schedule with school this semester it's going to be rough, but I need it.  Wish me luck!

Report Card

Just over I year ago I made this list of 22 things to do before I turned 23.  Looking over the list I found that I accomplished only 8/22.  At first I felt disappointment in myself, but then I thought about the things which I did accomplish in the past year which are much more important and impressive than those things on the list.  Here are 22 things I did in the past year (the first 8 are those things which I completed from my list)

1. I read the entire Book of Mormon.

2. I went to California-and the beach!!

3. I went snowmobiling (I switched this out for snowshoeing-it's close enough, right?)

4. I floated the Provo River.

5. I finished my family reunion quilt... mostly.

5. I attended General Conference

6. I went to Utah Lake

7. I became an aunt! 

 

8. I basically stopped doing homework on Sundays. (It was a MAJOR improvement from before so I'm counting it.)

9. I went hiking just outside of Zion's National Park.

9. I had surgery on my leg and survived.

10. I played on my first ever intramural teams (kickball, basketball and inner tube water polo)

11. I got to spend a quarter of the BYU vs. Utah football game on the field.

12. I actually dressed up for Halloween.

13. I said goodbye to my biggest little brother for 2 years.

14. I went skiing with my family.

15. I went up to Park City during the Sundance Film Festival and

16. Saw the Banksy graffiti on Main Street.

17. I decided that I am not going to go to nursing school (at least not in the foreseeable future)

18. I applied for and was approved for graduation.

19. I registered for my last semester of college (and got smacked in the face with the worst case of senioritis imaginable)

20. I finished my last GE.
21. I learned how to look at the insides of people's carotid arteries and then looked at hundreds of people's carotid arteries.

22. I learned more about my Heavenly Father's love for me as His daughter.

These were tons of fun and I learned more about what I want to do this year!  If you have any suggestions for new adventures, send them my way!

the best weekend ever

This week has been rough, I've had to take each day hour by hour to get through, but I know it's because it's getting me ready for an AMAZING weekend.  I am so excited for general conference and the opportunity to listen to the prophet of God on the Earth today. Today I came across the video below and it reminded me of the gratitude I have for the knowledge that I am a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father.   

holla

So I've made zero progress in accomplishing the run/walk plan I mentioned in this post, but don't you worry because this morning I got up at 5:35 AM and went on a bike ride with my momma.  It felt so good and I'm so happy I went even though I have been literally falling asleep at work today, it was totally worth it.  I hope that I'll be able to remember how awesome it was and I'll be able to get up early for the rest of the summer to exercise!

On a completely separate note, I am leaving tomorrow to make my way to CALIFORNIA and I can't wait. The beach, shopping, Disneyland, and just everything about Southern California is so great.  Be ready for the greatest blog post of your lives when I get back (Or rather a super long post about me and my amazing trip to California).

I got this picture on geoguessr right after my last post.  I guessed off the coast of California.  It was in Australia.

greatest game on the world wide web

If you're looking for a break from:

a hard day at work
your homework
facebook
your family
your roommates
life in general

I have found the answer to your prayers.  It's called Geoguessr.  It's a game that uses google street view from around the world to make you guess where you are.  Just try it out and let it change your life.  If you're feeling really confident, you can even challenge me to a game, but I am pretty good at it-just sayin.

Note: I was not paid to write this post, these opinions are completely mine and I wanted to share them with you because I love you and want to share my happiness with you.

put me back in the game, coach

So this past Saturday I decided I was done being a lump on a log and decided to get up early (or as early as sane people can get up on a Saturday morning which meant 7:30AM) and go for a walk/jog.  This was the first time I've really done substantial amount of walking/running/movement since before my surgery.  I was nervous but excited.  The plan was to walk for five minutes and jog for one minute and it felt amazing.  The first round of jogging was exhilarating!

When we finished, I thought we had walked just over a mile and I was happy with that, but I was mistaken.  I mapped our run today, and we actually went 2.25 miles!!  I am so happy/proud/excited that it was double what I thought we had done (It also helps me feel better about how sore I was)!  I can't wait to get out again and continue to feel and watch my body continue to heal itself.  It's been really hard to go from finishing a half marathon just a few years ago to barely walking a couple of miles, but I know if I work hard I can get back to where I was!

(Running in the St. George Marathon in 2010)

To help me get back to running, I am planning on following the schedule below.  Anyone is welcome to join me in my endeavors.  It's going to be hard (because it's SO hot outside) but it's going to be worth it!!