A Boring Life?!?! What?!?!

Kevin and I were talking the other day about how I don't send out "update" emails to family members about how we were doing and I told it him it was because nothing had changed in our life since the last time I did an email (which was SEVERAL months ago). He then decided to point out every detail of change that has happened in our life just within the past week...yes, that's my husband for ya :) 

SOOOOooooo, I suppose I will talk about some of the things going on in the Bodily home. 

School has been....hmmm *trying to thinking of positive word*....demanding. Every semester I forget how much school work I will need to do. It always starts out so easy, which means I start very bad habits early on (like doing homework 5 minutes before class because I can get a 95% on it....). Yeah, I can't do that anymore and it's such a pain in my butt! But that's my own darn fault. I am taking Latin this fall, which has turned out to be so intriguing! I love it! None of the other classes I'm taking are worth talking about so that will be the end of my school update :) Just kidding, I thought of something else. I am taking an online class this fall, and my teacher is absolutely hilarious!!! He posts videos for every week to watch before doing the homework. He is so entertaining that Kevin will stop what he's doing and watch his lectures with me! It is quite a nice change from the boring, normal lectures! Unfortunately I do not need to take any of the other classes he teaches (nor am I interesting in just taking them for fun). 

Kevin was just called to be the Young Men's Secretary in our ward, which means we will both be working with the youth and will be able to sit next to each other every fast Sunday during the third hour of church!!! (Yes, I am getting excited about that). He is very excited since he has been callingless since...May?...and since we both had thought he would be working with the Young Men. Speaking of the youth, I am so very blessed to have the calling I do! Our young women teach me new things every day and it is so wonderful to see them grow and blossom! Since I am the 2nd counselor, I am over the Beehive class (12-13 year-olds) and it is so great to see the changes that they make in such a short amount of time! I am so proud of my young women and their wonderful hearts! For Christmas, they decided to make baskets for 5 families in need. Things in the basket would include: toys, pictures of Christ, fun holiday food, and a few other things. They came up with this idea on their very own and it just warmed my heart! 

...please bear with me and the choppy paragraphs....

I am still teaching piano, but my students have changed a bit since the last time! I have been teaching a family of three but will no longer be teaching them due to certain circumstances, and I added a brand new student just a few weeks ago! We only work in 15 minute intervals because she is....4!!!! It is so very different to teach a four-year-old....even though I have taught several five-year-olds!!! Isn't it crazy how much one year can do!! 

....and my little four-year-old just woke up so it looks like that's all for today! More updates soon to come! 

...don't ask me what the definition of "soon" is because I don't know ;) 

Happy Holidays!!! 

Healthy and Happy

When I was a little girl, I never thought much about what I looked like and what others thought of me. I would wear stretchy pants with crazy flower patterns with a striped shirt with no matching colors whatsoever. My hair was hardly ever combed, always knotted, with who knows what stuck in it. (A mother can only do so much for a wild child). But this crazy lifestyle of mine didn't last long. And what I mean by that is the outlook I had on myself changed. Sure I still wore crazy clothes and never did my hair, but I began to realize that people had opinions of me: negative opinions of me. I began to realize that I wasn't the smallest in my class, the prettiest in my class, or the skinniest in my class. I thought of myself as the thick girl that was more like a boy (because apparently girls can't scrape their knees while climbing trees and trying to catch weird-looking insects). When I hit my chubby years, like most girls do, all I would see in the mirror was the extra fat on my cheeks and the extra curves on my thighs, hips, and stomach. Without even realizing it, all I wanted was to lose weight and be considered beautiful by those around me. The saddest part of this story is I was never unhealthy during any point and definitely not considered overweight at any level in terms of BMI and other measurements. But I felt like I was overweight, that I wasn't small enough, or pretty enough. During my junior year of high school I finally began losing weight. But not by choice. At first I was ecstatic! This was exactly what I wanted. People started noticing and commenting on how good I looked and how much healthier I looked. They had the nerve to tell me I looked healthier when I was perfectly healthy before! But, I believed every word. I was healthier and prettier! Boys started noticing me as a women and not just a friend. It was incredible to finally have positive feedback from people. But it didn't stop there. I kept losing weight. And I started getting sick. At the end of my junior year, and after visiting doctors and having blood tests, I was put on antibiotics. The pain went away for a short time, but after about a month into my senior year I was missing nearly one day of school per week on average (to top that off our school only met four times a week). My grades started dropping, and the pain became more frequent and less tolerable. I saw three doctors and had three procedures with minuscule results. They knew everything it wasn't, but they found a stomach infection while they were at it, so why not put me on antibiotics anyways right?! Fortunately for me, the pain decreased and it seemed as though the majority of the problem was fixed. Like any good story, it couldn't end here! A year later I struggled again. The doctors still don't know what's wrong. But why am I telling you this? I was skinny. And I also became unhealthy. Although I was not the one to chose this, I know many of you out there look in the mirror and see something distorted and try to change the way you look by making unwise decisions. Don't do it. There is a difference being being healthy and being skinny. Societies view might not change as quickly as yours does, but yours needs to change! I lost 45 pounds within about a year and I have struggled for nearly four years now just to gain back ten of those pounds. And every pound I gain I shout for joy. Not only because it's closer to where I was before, but because it means I'm gaining strength and becoming healthier. It has not been fun, and the body wasn't even worth it. Even after I had lost all that weight I would find myself unsatisfied: I still was too big, not skinny enough! It took several of my dear family and friends to help me see the ribs that were showing. It was then that I realized I didn't want to be skinny. I wanted to be healthy. Girls (and boys), please, PLEASE, stop thinking that you need to be skinny. Skinny is not what you need to be. Healthy is what you be. I know it's too much to ask you to be like the little girl I was and not give a darn about what people thought because I know I'm not like that anymore, but please, please see the beauty in yourselves. Being skinny will not make you happy, but being healthy will, no matter what size you are.

A Time for Change

The past month and a half Kevin and I have experienced some of the most difficult hardships and trials but it has also been some of the most enriching experiences at the same time. Just a few weeks into the month Kevin was told he would not be able to sign up for classes this spring. What a bummer it was to hear that! We had waited last fall for Kevin to enroll in classes this spring, and had even turned down a full-time job because of it! LCCC was working so well with him until they put him in a position that led to him being unable to sign up for classes. I knew it could only mean one thing: the Lord's hand was very definitely involved in this and college this semester was not what Kevin needed to be doing. Although Kevin has been working a part-time job it's back to searching for a full-time job! (what fun…)

Shortly after this "bad" news, we found out we were expecting! How exciting! I have never been so excited in my entire life. In fact, just thinking about it made me over-zealous for this little one to enter our home. I started looking into bigger apartments, baby clothes, the whole works. It was so hard for me not to just shout out to the world that I was going to bring a little baby into this world! We were excited to say the least. Wherever I was, whether it be in class, at work, or with friends, I was always relating our conversations to the future and to babies (in my head, of course. I didn't want anyone to catch on!) ;) Unfortunately this excitement would not last long. Only after a few weeks of knowing we were pregnant I started having excruciating cramps and the next day lost the baby that had brought me so much excitement and anticipation for the future. I was heartbroken and felt lost. And to top that off the miscarriage made me so sick that I had missed two exams and class for almost a whole week. :( Everything was starting to fall apart. What was I to do now? I have never in my life felt so worthless and alone. Poor Kevin. I feel bad that I had these feelings even when he was so very good to me! We grew so close after this hard time. We began focusing more on each other's needs and not just our own. I started to rely more on my Savior and what He can do for me and what His plan for us is.

Since then, we have bought a trailer home of our very own! Even though we won't be needing that extra bedroom for a while, it is still nice to call somewhere home! While buying the trailer Kevin was relayed a full-time job opening here in Laramie that would be great work and pay the bills. He is excited to see if this is what the Lord has in mind for him right now, and I am anxious to see if it is too! I finally feel comfortable in our ward and feel more like my outgoing self again! (It's taken nearly two years now to feel that way). I have started becoming more active with the people around me and am looking forward to the new things headed our way. I am so thankful and blessed to know that the Lord is in charge. He knows what is best for Kevin and me and He will not settle to give us any less than that! Who knows where I would be without that knowledge.

2013

As the year comes to an end I look back with awe and am proud of the decisions I made, many life-changing experiences and one of the best years yet.

At the start of the year I knew there were many things I didn't like about my life. Who I was, how I was spending my time, and most importantly the lack of my Savior. I had spent much of 2012 relying only on myself, which lead to nothing but bad choices, bitterness, and heartache. So I made the decision to try and stop all of this. In fact I didn't realize how much one choice would influence everything else that would happen this year. What was that choice? It was my resolution to read and study the Relief Society Lesson before church…and not just the day before or the day of, but for the whole week to reflect upon the things I had read and then to read them again. I never thought this one simple thing would lead me to pray more diligently, read my scriptures, and truly rely on the Lord. I did one of the hardest things I have ever done before in February after much prayer and fasting and with the help of a great friend. I am most grateful to this friend as he continued to help me trust in my Savior through what seemed like such a difficult time for me. We talked nearly every day and only a few weeks later we were able to see each other for the first time in 2 1/2 years. From that moment on all I could think about was making myself the best person I could be. The most honest, trustworthy, and loving person.

It was after this that I made another big decision this year. No, it wasn't a part of my resolutions at the start of the year, but it was a decision that would last me for eternity. I most happily agreed to marry and be sealed to my best friend. For the next 5 or so months I was so anxious! Living 10 hours apart was so tough to do, but very wise for Heavenly Father to have made possible. When August 22nd came along everything worked out perfectly (even though my mother may have had several "heart attacks" that I was unaware of at the time haha). The temple was beautiful and I had no cares in the world. I was promising my life, energy, and talents to God and to the man I knew I wanted to share eternity with. Marriage is beautiful and I am so happy I have made this choice, no matter who thinks I was too young, or too mature, or whatever they might think. I love my husband and have no doubts that we will make it through this life and on to the next together.

Afterward there were many things we experienced and many choices we made. I went to school full-time and realized how hard it was to be in school while your spouse isn't. Kevin worked for a while and then experienced the bitterness of being without a job. Though we learned that everything is in the Lord's time and not ours. And that doesn't mean that our efforts mean nothing either. We also learned that when we decide things without consulting the Lord it usually means we learn the hard way. But all is well because the Lord is so loving! I started teaching piano, which is something I love so dearly and am so glad I have the opportunity to do. I also became a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. Who would've thunk! (I definitely wouldn't have). Kevin and I are ward missionaries in the Overland Trail Ward in the Laramie, Wyoming Stake and we have enjoyed visiting less actives in our ward, even though we will know them better than everyone else in the ward by the time we're done ;) Kevin has a job with Tough Guys and is excited for his first day tomorrow! (bright and early 4:30am!) But we are so blessed that Kevin has a job and that all is going well with that thus far. Kevin has also signed up to take classes at the LCCC outreach program here in Laramie. We are excited that they are very willing to work with him and once he takes a few courses there the university will be much more willing to work with him. Unfortunately the process of getting everything figured out with the university the last few months was frustrating and quite frankly not worth it, so we are moving on to the next best thing :) I am thankful that we have the opportunity to both be a part of LCCC as I have enjoyed every class I have taken, even when they are classes I am not particularly good at.

We are excited to see what the new year has in store as there will be lots of new things to experience! I hope you've had a happy new year and that you realize all of the good that came out of the year 2013.