Productive Weekend for ME!

This weekend has seriously been great. I love Sunday nights where I feel like I accomplished things over the weekend and spent my time wisely!

Friday I woke up around the time Jake left for work and was bound and determined to have a productive day around the house because it had been a while since I had felt caught up. I sat down to eat some breakfast and about half way through the power goes out. We live in a basement. So when the power goes out it is DARK. Also, how was I going to catch up on laundry, run the dishwasher, vacuum, etc.? I was bummed. I called the power company to find out the expected time for it to be back on and they said to expect it around 5:00 p.m. 5:00 P.M.!!!!!! I went into my room and started reading on my Kindle all bummed out because I was so excited to be productive and I ended up falling back asleep. I woke up at 12:30 with the power on! YAY! Except that I didn't want to get out of bed anymore. I was about to text my sister to say that I was having such a lazy day when I just thought, "NO. Get up Lara. The day didn't got quite as you planned but you can still be productive."

So I got up, got dressed, made a "to do" list and GOT BUSY! I cleaned our apartment (like spring cleaned) and caught up on all our laundry. It felt so great! I got most of the things on my list done! I'm so glad I didn't just stay in bed and be lazy.

Then yesterday we woke up early and drove to Thanksgiving Point to run a 5K with our great friends, The Withers. It was pouring rain and freezing cold (when we weren't running), but it was so FUN! The boys left us girls in the dust at the beginning because of their craziness, but we (the girls) still finished with a good time! It felt so great to cross a finish line. That won't be my last 5K this year. I have a lot more motivation to keep working out and improve my time for the next one I run!

Here are some pictures of us post-run:

                                                                                                                ^^^^^^^This is Chelsea. She's awesome :)

Then today we had Stake Conference so we got out of church early :) I worked on a blanket that needed some repairing that is for my future niece and it was so much fun to sew and be productive in that way. I love sewing!

Anyways, it feels so great to know that I'll wake up tomorrow with the house in order and with a productive weekend behind me. It really makes for a less stressful work week!

I hope you had a great weekend :)

Love,
Lara

Gratitude.

They say writing is a way of therapy and tonight I hope that's true.

I don't know how I can let things set me off like I do, but it can happen so quickly and before I know it I am so upset and wanting to speak my crazy mind to people that I love and would never want to hurt. A lot of that has been happening in my head tonight.

I'm so frustrated with certain individuals in my life. I know that is so mean to say. Fortunately, none of them are ones that I'm around a whole lot (Jake you're safe), but it's still so hard for me to shake the infuriating emotions that I have when I think about them. 

I won't get into a ton of detail on who or what is making me so frustrated. Maybe one day I will, because I think it would be a good thing to get down in writing one day. Today (for your sakes) will not be that day. But as I was thinking about them and I was feeling so upset and knew that I needed to calm down (tears were welling up my friends), I thought of how all my life I've been told that if I'm angry or frustrated to just think of all the blessings that I have. Sometimes I don't want to. Sometimes I just want to be mad and have a freak out, but tonight having a moment of gratitude seems like a much better option. So I'm going to give you a full-hearted list of all that I'm grateful for this evening. I'm sure I'll leave things out, but here you go:

• Jake. I am so grateful that I have him for a husband and an eternal companion.
• The gospel. I have been loving this Easter week and seeing all the #BecauseofHim hashtags. I'm so grateful for the Atonement, the Plan of Salvation, and all the doctrine within the gospel. It makes me so sad to see people fall away from the teachings of the church because it's so important to me.
• My amazing sister Megan. She makes me laugh so hard I have to be close to a bathroom whenever I'm around her.
• My friends. I am seriously SO blessed in the friend department. I have best friends that I can turn to like they're family. They have the same values as me which makes me feel like I can completely be myself around them. Some struggle with similar things as I do, which makes me not feel alone. And some don't struggle with the things I struggle with so that means that they can help give me perspective. Each of them are there to give me great advice. They are amazing listeners and I feel like they really care about me. I could talk about my friends forever, but they know who they are ;)
• My parents. Need I say more? Okay, I will. My dad is like the ultimate dad. I think this post proves that he is an amazing supporter and one of my biggest fans :) My mom is a sensitive loving mother who has taught me to always see the other person's side and was the voice in the back of my head tonight when I wanted to freak out on some people. 
• My aunts. I have amazing aunts on both sides. I think about them often and the advice that they've given me through out my life. I hope to be a lot like them with my future nieces or nephews.
• Patrick. I know I'm biased to him because he's from my sister's womb, but I seriously love this kid! Lately when I hang out with him and Megan he'll tell me that he loves me. And then he'll tell me that I'm his best friend. Me and his mom. How sweet is that? I don't know, maybe everyone is his best friend, but I'm going to go with that I'm definitely one of his. He is so sweet and polite and makes me want to make some babies right away! ;)
• My education. As I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for my formal education at least, I am so grateful that I can go to school and learn! 
• My body. Even though running has been kicking my butt as I've started to go to the gym again this week, I'm so grateful that I can run. It may hurt and the people next to me may think that I'm going to die or pass out, but what a blessing it is to have a strong, healthy body that is only going to get stronger.
• Utah. Man, I live in a gorgeous state!
• My job. Everyday I learn something new, and have fun doing it.
• My home. It might be a basement, two bedroom apartment. But it's a wonderful place.
• Snow. I'll miss you. See you next year!
• Books. Especially Harry Potter. 
• America! She may have some problems but we're still more blessed than most. And if that's not true I'm refusing to believe it right now. USA baby USA!
• Disneyland. Thank you for being a little happy slice of heaven where I will be able to forget life in three weeks time.
• Music. Well, good music. There are so many songs that can turn a frown of mine upside down. I'm grateful I grew up in a home where music was important.
• and... Make up and hair products. Isn't that a great way to sum up my list? Maybe it's shallow (I don't really care if it is :/) but I love that I am able to get all done up and feel put together. And that my hair smells good and when I'm in the shower my scalp tingles from the minty conditioner I massaged into my head. It's pretty awesome. 

So there you have it. That's my gratitude list for today. I'm sure I'll have more. I'm grateful that I was taught this little exercise when I was young because it's helped me numerous times from being irrational. It really helps give me perspective that I don't have it that bad. Even though people I love are idiots. You should try this exercise next time you want to give someone a piece of your mind! ;)

Have a great night!

Love,
Lara

What is it that you desire most?

Hello readers! 

I hope everyone has had an awesome Friday! Fridays are great. I usually have them off but today I had to work. I worked 50.5 hours this week! My usual work week is around 40. So I'm looking forward to my next paycheck ;) And sleeping tonight. 

By the way, today I tried really hard to eat well and drink lots of water. I'm feeling so much better. Also, I'm a true believer in using essential oils. I mentioned I'll be rubbing lavender oil on my feet at night to help me sleep, but I also was given some lemon grass oil to help with my swollen lymph nodes. OH MY GOSH. I cannot believe how big of a difference it has made using it already! They are still a little swollen and tender, but overall they are feeling so much better. I love that the oils are natural. Also, it smells like lemon candy. Like a lemon sucker or something. Tasty! ;)

So the main reason for this post is to share this video. It is a Thai commercial that has been going around Facebook recently and it's SO good!!! It made me tear up. Why can't America make more commercials like this? It is so well done and has such a great message. 

The video/commercial is titled "What is it that you desire most?" It really gives a great perspective on serving others and sacrificing your time and even your things in order to benefit others and yourself. You should watch it real fast! It only takes a little over three minutes.

Watching the video also made me really think about what I desire most. (Crazy right? Why would it make me think about that? ;-) )

Anyways, here are a few things that I desire most in my life: 

• I desire to have those around me to feel like they're loved and appreciated. I just love my husband, my family and my friends so much!
• I desire to have a great relationship with my Heavenly Father.
• I desire to be successful in my career, school, and everyday life.
• I desire to have a few kids one day and raise them with confidence!
• I desire to have a comfortable lifestyle so that I will be able to support my future kids in whatever ambitions that they have.
• I desire to have a few kids one day and raise them with confidence!
• I desire to have a comfortable lifestyle so that I will be able to support my future kids in whatever ambitions that they have.
• I desire to be healthy, strong, and active.
• I desire to have a strong self-esteem and love myself no matter what.
• I desire to spread positivity where ever I go.

I know that some of these things are extremely cheesy sounding, but I can honestly say that each of those things are things that I strive to do each day. I fall short sometimes and then sometimes I feel like I succeed at them. But I think that if we have goals or things to strive and desire for it will bring good into the world. Also, if we try to not think selfishly, we will be blessed and we can do so much good for other people!

So you don't have to answer this like outloud, but what is it that you desire most? I think it's a great personal question to think about!

I hope you enjoyed the video! Have a great weekend!

Love,
Lara

My Body is Screaming at Me.

Hello everyone :)

I hope you've had a good week so far. I truly do! I have had a little bit of an unusual week to be honest. 

I would say that overall my body is pretty healthy. I'm far from perfect. I hardly work out, but I try to make up for that by watching my portions and trying to eat healthy. I can tell my body needs me to work out, but I make excuses all the time. And that is life. Not really complaining about that because it's only my fault. 

But lately I think some things are starting to catch up to me. Maybe it's getting old, I'm not sure! But either way, it stinks. 

This week has been crazy busy with work. My boss was out of town last week and so we've been playing catch up this week. I knew it was going to be crazy, and I had the best intentions on taking good care of myself, but I fell short in that department. Let me tell you a little bit of how I have been treating myself this week... 

Monday: I had a pretty good night's sleep. Got to bed at a decent hour, set my clothes out for the next day, curled my hair because I had my Welcome Dinner that night. I even packed a healthy lunch the night before and ate breakfast on my way to work.And I barely had enough water for the day.  Day one of the week wasn't too shabby.

Tuesday: Had to wake up an hour earlier than usual because of my work schedule. I did not go to bed at a decent hour. I did pack a quick healthy lunch on my way out the door, and I had a glass of chocolate milk for breakfast. Already you can see that I'm having a decline in the preparedness factor and I didn't have the healthiest breakfast.... By about 3:00 I started feeling tired and the day was catching up to me. I put my chin to my fist while looking at our work schedule or something and noticed I had a tender lymph node. I think to myself, "No big deal. It will go away." By about 5 pm it had gotten worse. I go home and have Wendy's for dinner. I try to eat somewhat healthy when I go there, but I can't seem to go there without getting a Frosty. I decided to schedule a facial for the next day at my favorite spa because I needed to relax. I go to bed that night feeling a bit sick and really tired. Also, I only had like 32 oz. of water.

Wednesday: I woke up after not very many hours of sleep (welcome to my world) and pretty much every lymph node under my chin and one in my neck was swollen. The dang things won't drain! And they were very painful to touch. Every day at work was slam packed busy! No break in the schedule at all. And I didn't pack a lunch that morning. My diet at work consisted of Girl Scout Cookie thin mints (thank you Debbie from work), about 4 cake bites from the Sweet Tooth Fairy shop, and some water. SO BAD. I got off work and headed to my facial. At the spa they have some snacks while you wait to go get your service so I had myself a beautiful apple. That was heavenly. Seriously was the most delicious thing I'd had all day. And I drank some water. I was really hoping that having the facial and having the esthetician massage my lymph nodes would help them feel better. Right after the facial I got home and went right to bed. Also hoping that the extra sleep would be beneficial.

Today: Woke up late to get ready for work (also a usual part of my life) so I rushed to get out the door. My lymph nodes were still really swollen and I had a dull ache in my lower abdomen from what I think are repercussions of not eating very healthy.  I didn't have breakfast and couldn't eat anything because we were really busy at work until 12:30. I rushed to Subway to get me a sandwich, I loaded it with as many veggies as I could. That was a healthy choice. But as you can see from my little log up top I started the week off strong and slowly got worse and worse at taking care of myself.

My body is seriously screaming at me. It's like, "What the heck are you doing to me?!" I seriously think that the swollen lymph nodes, the constant tired feeling that I have, and the dull ache in my stomach is my body telling me FEED ME GOOD FOOD, HYDRATE ME, GIVE ME SLEEP!!! JUST TAKE CARE OF ME!!!

Bodies need routine to stay healthy. At least I know mine does for sure. I have always been a fan of routine and when I get out of it like I have lately my body gets really angry. I haven't felt this worn down in so long. But enough with the depressing stuff. I know how I'm going to fix it!

My new night routine will consist of something like this:

• Eat a well balanced dinner, home cooked. Simple is even better.
• Unwind from work by watching TV. But no more than an hour each night.
• Straighten my house before I go to sleep so that it's organized.
• Pack a lunch and breakfast for the next day and set out my clothes for the next day.
• Get ready for bed--shower, wash my face, brush and floss my teeth, stretch, and read my scriptures.
• Massage lavender oil on my feet and behind my ears. 
• Go into a blissful sleep by 10:30!

My new day routine will consist of:

• Eating a good breakfast and lunch
• Drinking lots and lots of water
• Getting fully ready each morning before I leave for work.
• Getting some form of exercise even if it's just doing 20 sit-ups.

Such simple things that I never do, but I'm going to start! I have got to start taking better care of myself because my body deserves it. In my choice of study I have really learned how truly amazing bodies are and they are definitely something we need to take care of. So I'm going to make sure mine stops screaming at me! And hopefully this swollen lymph node mess will go away soon.

I loved this quote I found on pinterest today. Not the best looking picture of it, but I thought the words were true. If your daily routine is healthy, then your future will be healthy!

What do you do to help your body stay happy? I would love ideas. Post them on my Facebook post or in the comments below! Thanks for reading :)

Love,

Lara

My Lesson of Patience and Dental Hygiene Welcome Night.

So I just want to prepare all of my readers right now that I have been accepted into the Weber State Dental Hygiene program and because of that I will be writing A LOT about my life as a dental hygiene student. I know that it is going to be very stressful and I'm hoping that writing about it may help me with relieving some of the stress.

Here is my first post about it :)

First, I just want to give a quick background of how I decided to go into dental hygiene.
Honestly, I never thought about the dental field in high school. I have always enjoyed the dentist. I was always one of those people to ask a lot of questions when I go because I found it interesting, but I NEVER thought I'd become a dental professional. I thought I was going to be a social science major, or an esthetician, or a elementary ed teacher, or an english major. Pretty much anything but a dental hygienist.

My first year of college I attended Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. I LOVED it and met the love my eternity there (his name is Jake). When Jake and I decided to get married we made plans to move to Salt Lake because he was done with his associates (that's like all you can do at Snow) and because he wanted to attend the University of Utah. At this point I had decided to kind of quit college and find a school to go into skin care and esthetics (which I still think would be an awesome career and trade to learn).

Jake and I moved to Centerville, Utah shortly after we got married and we found jobs quickly to support us. I found work at a grocery store and to be honest it was the WORST JOB EVER. I have the hardest time working with food. Not my favorite thing. Not only did I not like it but it didn't pay very well and I had to work weekends and nights. I know what you're thinking, I'm such a complainer. But I wanted to be over that stage. I wanted to find something that was a little bit more secure, where I could make a little bit more money (especially since Jake was going to be starting school soon), and where I could have more of a set schedule. One day on my way home from the DI (love it) I saw a banner for a dental assisting school in Centerville. It was an 11 week course that only ran on Saturdays. Once again, I never really saw myself working in a dental setting, but I decided to check it out a little more. I went to an open house they had one evening and I just felt like it was the right choice for me. I signed up and graduated 11 weeks later.

Shortly after graduating I started working at Millcreek Family Dental for Dr. Anthony Baird. I cannot even tell you how much I love the office I work for. My boss and fellow coworkers are seriously the best. Anyways, I started to really pay attention to the hygienists there. They really love their job, work a couple days a week, and, let's be honest, make good money! A couple other things about their job that I thought I would love included:

• They get to scrape calculus off people's teeth. I love to do stuff like that. I always have. I'm a picker, zit popper, gross person!
• They have great relationships with patients. As an assistant it's hard to get to know people because you don't always see them on a regular basis. With hygiene I will get to see the same patients every six months. I love the social aspect of the job. 

Anyways, I started to really think about myself as a hygienist and I could totally see it. I started to really feel like I was heading in a strong direction. So I went back to school! I had to go part time most of the time because of my work schedule. And let me tell you, school had never been so challenging! For the first time in my life I was taking hard core science classes like anatomy, chemistry, physiology, pathophysiology, and microbiology. Never in my life have I thought myself as a science person, but now I absolutely love it! I thought english was my forte, but sorry to my aunt Kena who teaches high school english, I am not. I'm pretty sure she's known that all along though. I was meant to be a science major!

Once I was able to apply to Weber State's program I did. The first year I applied I didn't get in and I didn't expect to. No big deal. The second year I applied I tried really REALLY hard. I wrote a killer essay for my application and got an interview! Yay! Went to the interview and NAILED it. Seriously. I thought I did awesome. But I had this feeling when I left that I tried really hard to ignore to not be disappointed because it probably wasn't going to be the year I would get in. Sure enough, a couple weeks later I received a letter in the mail that said I was an alternate for the class of 2015. I cried. I was so SO close but nope. I waited all summer hoping someone would drop out so that I could get in.

I remember one night I went to my aunt Kena's house to visit and in our talking I just started to cry. I was so sad and discouraged that my timing was different than His timing. I just wanted to be done with school SO badly and move on to the next stage of my life. But my aunt gave me some great perspective, like she usually does, on my situation. She said sometimes we have no idea why things don't happen for us when they think it will. It really seemed to me to be the right time, but clearly it wasn't. She suggested that maybe the group of girls that got in the class of 2015 wasn't the right group for me. Maybe there was someone in that class that would bring me down or something. Or maybe there is someone in the class of 2015 that is going to be incredibly helpful and I'm going to be so glad that they are in the class above me to help me. Or maybe the perfect job for me won't be in 2015 but in 2016 instead. Anyways, I'm still so very grateful for that talk because I realized that I wasn't necessarily the problem of why I didn't get in. One thing about me is that I usually assume that it's my fault when I don't achieve something when I want to. So aunt Kena, if you're reading this, THANK YOU! Thank you for giving me some much needed perspective and a self confidence boost at the same time.

So I applied again (third time). And for me, third time was the charm!!! YAY!! I didn't even have to interview because I was an alternate last year. I received an email stating that I was in the program for the class of 2016 and that I would be receiving a formal letter in the mail. I was seriously so excited! I called and/or texted everyone I could think of to tell them the good news! The call I remember most was when I called my dad. I don't want to ever forget it because he made me cry! The phone rang, he answered, and the conversation went something like this:
Me: "Hi dad!"
Dad: "Hi sis! What are you up to?"
Me: "Oh, I just got off work. What are you up to?"
Dad: "Oh, just working--" (I cut him off here and say...)
Me: "GUESS WHAT?!?"
Dad: "You got in."
Me: "I GOT IN. How did you know?!?"
Dad: "Well, of course you got in." (ahh... dad. So sweet.)
Me: "How did you know, did mom tell you?"
Dad: "No, I just had a feeling that was why you were calling."
(A little bit more chit chat... and then the really sweet part)
Dad: "I'm really proud of you sis. You've worked really hard and you deserve this. You should be proud of yourself. This is a big deal."
Me: "Thank you"... tears are falling... "Thank you so much dad. I love you."
Dad: "I love you too sis. Make sure you call your grandparents to let them know."
Me: "Haha okay dad, I will."

BREAK: Time for a picture moment. This is me with my dad on his most recent birthday. Ahh... cute. I love him so much.

So yeah, I'm in the program!
One of the biggest lessons I have learned through my experience of applying to dental hygiene school was that timing is everything and I am not in charge of it. I thought for sure last year was the right time for me to get into the program and when I didn't get in I was so upset. I didn't understand how my timing couldn't be His timing too. I rocked my interview, I had a killer essay, I have been working in the dental field for a long time, I had good grades... WHY DIDN'T I GET IN? But now I really do get it. Timing is everything and Jake and I are in better places within our jobs and where we live, etc. to be able to basically survive with me being in school full time.

Tonight was the welcome dinner for all the new students of the Weber State University Dental Hygiene Program graduating class 2016. Each new student was assigned a peer pal, who is someone from the class of 2015, to help us with any questions we may have, we met the professors, and got to know some of the other people in our class. I was SO nervous! But it went well THANK GOODNESS. I'm just more excited!

My peer pal is super nice and I felt like I will definitely be able to rely on her to help me out as much as I will need. I met other girls from the class of 2015 that I think will also be super helpful. And most importantly I met other students in my class and I seriously think that I'll be making some amazing friends. The girls seem so sweet, and I think that there will be some awesome memories ahead of me.

WISH ME LUCK!

If you finished reading this long post, I appreciate it. I don't usually like to rant this long, but this is a story that I really wanted to write down. I hope you have a great whatever it is when you read this post!

Love,
Lara

Starting New.

Hello everyone :)

Not too long ago I got fed up with my blog. I didn't blog very often and I felt like I was failing at it. I wanted it to be something that it wasn't and that bothered me. So I deleted it. (Don't worry... I did save it before I did that so I would have some record of past events.)  I had been wanting to delete it for a while but felt a little guilty about doing so. It felt like I was just giving up on it and I don't like to be one of those people who just gives up on something. But I eventually did delete because it wasn't really making me happy.

A few weeks went by and I couldn't stop thinking about how I should probably start up a blog again. But I decided that if I was going to start it again I had to make it how I wanted it. So I've given it a lot of thought of how I want this "new" blog to be and, I guess, what I want to use it for.

First, I want it to be a personal blog. In the beginning "The Heart of Life" was more of a family blog. I had an "About Us" page rather than an "About Me" page. This wasn't entirely a bad thing, but I found that I was always writing the posts except the occasional Movie Review posts that my husband would write. Being the overthinker that I am, this bothered me. Especially after my husband started his own blog all about movies. It was unnecessary to have a "us" blog anymore. So, like I mentioned before, I want this new blog to be a personal blog where I will occasionally post about my family life, but it will be more like a journal for me and not a family journal.

Second, I want to make this blog about my interests, my thoughts, and my passions. I want it to express who I am and also my growth. I like to do a lot of things. I love yoga, fitness, cooking, baking, sewing, refinishing furniture, make-up, fashion, teeth (dental hygiene major right here), reading, movies, TV shows, health, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I plan on sharing my thoughts on these things full-heartedly!

Third, I want this blog to be like a journal. One of my grandparents, my grandma (on my mom's side) is an amazing journal keeper. Before I was even born my grandma wrote in journals and has continued it throughout my 24 years of life and I imagine will continue it till her dying day (which I hope never comes). She has binders and binders of records that she has kept and I know that one day we will love to look through those and find the things she wrote about us and her thoughts about certain situations that took place throughout her life. I want this blog to be like that. I want my future grandchildren to be able to look at this blog and see what kind of person their grandmother was like and hopefully be an example to them like she has been to me.

I am not an exceptional writer, so please bear with me. I like to write, but I have found that I critique myself a lot and compare myself to other blogs that I read and find that I'm not as strong as this person or that person. But I'm hoping that through practice I will develop stronger writing skills and that you may find this blog entertaining.

So for those of you who used to read my old blog, welcome back and sorry for deleting the other one off the face of the planet. And for those of you who are just finding this blog, welcome!

I found this quote on pinterest and thought it fit this blogging situation I put myself in.

Thanks for reading,

Lara