Today I am thankful for a gym membership...
Well after getting a gym pass I have tried to make it a habit to go to the gym Monday through Friday before or after work. The past week though I wasn't able to go to the gym as much as I would have liked to. Boy did I notice a big change in my mood, I was a little more sluggish, stressed, cranky, and got annoyed easily. Not really understanding why I was so different I finally got some free time on Thursday before work to go to the gym. After I felt so much more relaxed, happy, and stress free. So not only does going to the gym help me physically but it also puts me in a way better mood and works as a stress reliever as well. I have always liked to get a good workout in the past but never put a whole lot of real value in it. Now I think I am going to make working out into my daily routine, I absolutely love what it does for me. I have always heard that exercising realises endorphins and in the wise words of Legally Blonde "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't!" Not only does it put me in a better mood but it helps me realive so much stress, one being in the way that I have an hour to just get to listen to my music and think. The second being that I think not only do we have stress in our minds but I think our body carries a lot of stress as well, by working out it lets me get rid of all that stress. Leaving me fully relaxed when I stretch after my workout. I am very thankful that I was given an able body and for the health that I have. It truly is a blessing to be able to do the things that I do, which is why I find it my job to take care of my body to make sure I stay healthy. As sore as I am and as silly as this post may seem, this is why today I am thankful for a gym membership.....and because I look fan-freakin-tastic!

My Favorite workout song.

Today I am thankful for challenges..
Challenges I have come to realize will always be apart of life, no matter how old, where I am in life, or what the day is. Challenges are just apart of life and always will be whether I like it or not. To me though I think there are two ways you can go about challenges, One being you can take the challenge as being that you are getting punished for something and be completely bitter about having to go through a challenge. Two you can look at a challenge as a way for you to learn and grow from this experience and not let this one little thing break you. In my patriarchal blessing it said that I would get the opportunity to grow by having challenges in my life. Now hearing this when I was only a 16 year old girl my first instinct was to panic. As I go back and read it now I can't help but be thankful to have challenges in my life and to have a promise that if I go through those challenges with a good heart that blessings will come from them. To me a challenge is just more of a test, it's a test of character, faith, and the heart. So when challenges are brought up in life I feel that is our time to show how strong we are and the kind of person that we truly are. For me I love a good challenge, meaning in the scheme of like in work or activities I'm doing, I think that also has something to do with my over competitive personality. I always see them as a way I can prove to people what kind of person I am and exactly what I can do. Life challenges yes are a little different, whether it be in the form of getting a new job, a passing of a loved one, a break up, or trying to learn a new skill. Ever person is different but at some point at life I am sure we all have experienced the same challenges. The important part about challenges I have come to find is you have to go through the challenge as a learning experience and a chance to grow. I know that I will have many challenges in my life but I know that is a way for me to become a better person. I know that my Heavenly Father wants nothing but the best for me and the way for me to become the best person is to be able to go through challenges in life. That is why today I am thankful for challenges in life so that I can learn and grow from having them.

Today I am thankful for goals..
Well it takes me a thirty minute car ride to get to work, now as much as it is a huge pain in the butt it is pretty nice because it gives me plenty of time to think. Lately on my car rides I've been thinking about goals I have for myself. The first goal I have is to get into the LDS business college and get my business degree. The weird part is for a good three years I have been set on being a teacher, the more I think about it though I think my personality would do better in business. Also my lack of any kind of patience for anything in life might not be the best for a teaching career. I want to go into business because that is something I have actually always understood and found interesting. To be honest I never thought of myself ever getting excited for school, but for some reason I feel like getting my education is very important to me and something I want for myself. My next goal would be to get a better job than what I have now, it might sound crazy but working in a restaurant isn't the most ideal job. I would absolutely love to have a nine to five job, and also a job where I look a little bit more experienced than just being able to take an order. I would love something that would give me a challenge and keep me busy. The next goal is to be a little more patient with life, I have a tendency to want everything in life to happen when I want it too. I think I am getting better at realizing that things are better when they come when they are supposed to. Even though we might think we are ready for something in life Heavenly Father knows a little more than we do. So I would love to be able to let things happen when they are supposed to rather than when I want them. Goal number four is to find a man that can someday take me to the temple. Not only take me to the temple but to also just be my best friend to go through life with. I want someone that loves me as much as I love them, someone who cherishes me. I want someone that is funny but can also be serious when it comes need be. I have realized that if a guy really likes you, you never have to ask yourself "well does he like me?" I think he likes me because he said this and did this. I know that when the right guy comes around I will never have to ask that I will just know, and my patriarchal blessing said I would too. My second to last goal is to finish The Book of Mormon, it's just one of those things where I either need to put more effort into finishing this goal or I just really love reading first Nephi over and over again. Maybe to feel less guilty about never reading The Book of Mormon all the way through I'll just go with the second one. Last but not least my last goal is to make it a daily habit of reading my patriarchal blessing once a day and praying twice a day. This one is very important to me because I want to start good habits that way I can pass them along when I get my own family and to show my kids that prayer is important. I think it is important that we set goals for ourselves so that we are always trying to better ourselves. To become a better person in small steps, I am thankful for goals because it keeps me on the right track and reminds me what is important to me in life. That is why today I am thankful for goals and the blessings they bring along with them.

Today I am thankful for quotes..
After writing out a full post about music I realized that music wasn't really what I was thankful for today and decided today I was thankful for quotes. I think I like quotes so much because they have a way of telling exactly how your feeling about a situation or even give you a different out look on things. One of my favorite quotes of all time would have to be "If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. I'll always be with you."- Christopher Robin. I love this one for many different reasons, the first being it was a favorite of my Great Grandpa Swenson. In March we lost that wonderful man but even though he is not here I feel him around me and think of him every day. At his funeral this quote was more of a comfort for me because it reminded me that families can be together forever. With this quote being at his funeral I also see it more of his way of reminding me that he will always be with me, which is why this quote will always have a place in my heart.  The second reason I love this quote is I don't think people really give themselves enough credit. On Facebook I always see post from others saying they wish they could do this better or be better in this way. I myself have been an offender of not giving myself enough credit. I never realized how strong of a person I am until this year. All the time at work when talking to guests they are always blown away by the fact that I moved out of the same state as my parents and tell me how strong and brave of a person I am for doing that. I guess I never really thought of it as being something a strong or brave person would do. It was just the life experience I wanted and felt inspired to get for myself. I love what I have learned about myself so far and enjoy seeing what progress I have made in such a little amount of time. I see more now of the long term goals I have for myself and know that with hard work I will achieve all my goals in time. I love the inspiration that quotes can fill us with, the comfort they bring, and the power they have of making us think. That is why today I am thankful for quotes. To finish up my post I will leave a couple others I like as well.                                                                                   

   "Happiness does not depend on what happens on the outside of you, but what happens on the inside of you."-G.B.H

  "The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen, nor touched...but are felt in the heart."
-HK

  "Mama always said, Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."- Forrest Gump.

  "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."-Alma 32;21.

  "The best love is the kind that weakens the soul, that makes us reach for more, that plants fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds."- The Notebook

What I am thankful for...

Well after some long thought process I have decided to start a blog. Now I can't say that I will be the best at posting, that it will be the most grammatically correct blog, or the most interesting. It is more something that I want to do for myself, in a way to journal and to be more positive. My main hope for the blog is to each post put something I am thankful for and that is the theme I'm going to go with this. Well here it goes!

Today I am thankful for family. After moving away from home not to long ago I've had the opportunity to see just how much family really means to me. I got used to having four other siblings running around the house, a mom to talk to and see on a day-to-day basic, and a dad to hear a daily slap stick humor joke from. Not having those things on a day-to-day basic has been a little different to say the least. To be 100% honest I never thought I would miss it as much as I do. As much as I miss my family though moving out to Utah really has shown me just how close all family is. All my extended family lives out here in Utah and to be honest I think I would be a complete wreck without them. In my month of living out in Utah I have 1. Got the front bumper of my car taken off. 2. A fractured foot. 3. The stomach flu. 4. Started at a new singles ward. 5. Started at a new Buffalo Wild Wings. Along with many other things. One thing for sure though, I have not handled a single one of these things alone. In each one I have either had help from a family member, listening ear of a family member, shoulder to cry on of a family member, or just a growing experience shared with a family member. I can't say enough how blessed and thankful I am to have such a caring and loving family. That is the wonderful thing about family, no matter what they will always be there for you. They can see you at your best and your worst and still have so much love for you. I can't say there is much  that I cherish more than my relationship with my family. Seeing the love my family has for me just encourages me to always remember that and to someday be able to extend that love to my future family.