CARDSTON

This weekend we had the opportunity to visit Mark's family in Cardston. We had such a fun time. Mark' sister Corrine had fun planned for everyday, we were so grateful to her for that. We did everything from a Temple session, climbing Bears Hump in Waterton to a River rafting trip at Midnight. The weekend was packed with greatness. Then Monday we went to Calgary for the day to look at some Tandem bikes and visit some friends of ours in Strathmore that we have not seen in a long time. It was great fun and I am a little sad that our summer has come to an end. This was our last little trip of the summer. Hopefully winter will be just as fun and packed with lots of snowboarding trips.
Here are some pics of our fun filled weekend.

GOALS

I have been thinking about Goals a lot lately, why we make them? why we can keep some and break others in the matter of minutes?
Mark is reading a book right now called "Awaken the Giant Within" by Anthony Robbins. He is a man that went from being a Janitor to a Billionaire just by sitting down, setting some goals and following through with them. I hope to read this book when Mark is done, if he ever gets done. (Mark is great at starting books but terrible at finishing them). It made me think of myself and the goals I set. I don't really think I have ever set long term goals for myself. I mostly do something because it falls into place for me. Like School, Sports, Marriage, Callings, Church. Then I set my goals around the tasks I am currently involved with, Example: passing school with a 75% average, being a starter for my basketball team, try to do something kind for my husband everyday, and all the many church goals I try to set for myself.

Maybe this is why I feel like I never know where my life is going. I just kind of do whatever comes my way and hope life works out okay. So I have decided to try an experiment over the next couple of years in my life. First set some long term goals, 2nd find ways to achieve them, and 3rd always be assessing where I am at and if these goals are being achieved. I have been raking my brain the last couple of days with what would be good goals, and then I finally realized I just need to decide what I want in life, set those as goals and find out what I can do to achieve them.

A couple of the goals I have decided on are to personal to share but there are a couple of good ones I thought I would share with my friends and family.

1. Have a Family
2. Run in the Boston Marathon
3. Be Debt free by the time I am 40. (No Mortgage, No Vehicle payments, No fun toys debt, nothing not a thing)
4. Serve a Mission with my Husband in a foreign country
5. Go to a third world county with a group of Optometrist and Opticians and help people who can not afford glasses.
6. Go Visit Africa

Some of these goals are things I have dreamed of doing since I was a little girl, like visit Africa, and others are ones I have just recently thought would be very cool to do like go help people who can't afford glasses.
I think it will be interesting to see how hard I really want to do these things, because I really believe for the most part that almost anything is possible if you want it to be.
I am excited to read this book and hope it will help me understand how to make these accomplishments in life achievable.

960 CALORIES

= 4 Oreo cookies and the new Wunderbar that has two smaller sticks in it (what I ate in one hour, while sitting on my but watching a movie.)
or
960 calories
= 1 apple, 1 banana, 1small piece of chicken with no sauce, 1 medium bell pepper, 1 cup of fresh asparagous, 1 cup of brown rice, 2 pieces of whole grain bread, 1 egg, one glass of skim milk (What I have been eating in a typical day except for lunch and another snack, which adds about another 600 calories to my daily total)

I love that in one sitting of eating unhealthy food, I can eat almost as many calories as I eat in a typical day. Thank you Period for making me crave insanely unhealthy food and make me feel crappy the rest of the day and have no desire to do anything.

On a positive note I went for a run last night with my friend Royall ( we are doing the Climb of Hope Run together) and it felt absolutely awesome.

THE RESULTS ARE IN!!!!!

And they are good, I totally PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not stop smiling I am so happy. I kind of cheated though in finding out, I still have not got my results back yet, but I called the Alberta Opticians Association today, because if I want to take the cl's course I need to be registered by this Monday. I called and asked when the results were going to be in, they said they were in just not mailed out yet. She asked for my name and three seconds later she was like, ya you passed. It took all my power to not scream in here ear with excitment. Finally I can relax and maybe get a good nights sleep. There is definately going to be some celebrating tonight.

CLIMB OF HOPE PLEDGES!!!

I am officially registered for the Climb of Hope 5 km run, know I just need to raise some money and get a better running time then 28 minutes. If anybody is wanting to donate I would really appreciate it, it is going to a great cause (cancer research). Mark is being sweet enough to take some pledge forms to his work for me, but anybody else that would like to donate online it is super easy. the website is www.climbofhoperun.ca. Just go to the donate now button enter in the participants name and follow the rest of the directions. Nobody is obligated I am pretty sure Mark will be able to get the $100 minimum donation fee from work, but the more the better. Thank you in advance though to anybody who does.

BARRHEAD!!!!

This Friday and Saturday we had the opportunity to visit Mark's Aunt and Uncle and Cousin in Barrhead. It is a small town about 1 hr NW of Edmonton. We had so much fun, they are such a neat couple. Friday night we went to a demolition derby ( my first ever ) and had such a blast. The people driving these cars though are completely out of there mind. Then Saturday we did some mini golf ( better be ready Harkers), let the little kids jump in our Bounce House and ate some really good food. I have to say spending time with family this summer has been so much fun, but has not been good for somebody trying to lose weight. Burgers, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Chips, Ice Cream. All foods that just love to go right to my belly. Thankfully there is only one family trip left and that one involves climbing bears hump in Waterton so hopefully that will burns all the calories from all the fattening food we eat. Here are some pics of our fun filled weekend.

CLIMB OF HOPE!!!!

I finally found a marathon to run, as I was chocked out of my Magrath Tri-Athalon. I have been perusing the internet lately trying to find one in August or September that is not on a Sunday or a weekend I work and I could not find one anywhere. Well today I was finally successful. I am actually really looking forward to it because it is a charity one so I have to go and raise money for it, which is always a good cause. So time to hit the pavement and maybe know I can convince my husband to buy me new runners.

Our True Identity

Our True Identity

SUNDAY PICNIC!!!

Good Food









Great Friends










Beautiful Weather










and two very warn out puppies

SOMETHING NEW!!!

So my something new, different, exciting goal is going great. I am almost 100% successful, and if there has been a day that I have not done something it is because I have been to busy, which is a good thing because that was the point to the goal in the first place. Get Busy and Get Active. Some of the highlights included, going and playing in the rain, sleeping under the stars on our deck, making friends with a girl at work that I never thought I would get along with. These coming up weeks are going to be full of I think even better ones. Going and getting a membership at the Kitscoty Library, doing a 8 km run, visiting family in barhead, and hopefully try wakeboarding. If anybody out there is board with there life right now give this a shot, it is so much fun, I have found interests I never knew I had and for the most part have kept my life pretty busy these past couple of weeks.