Exciting New Chapter Filled With Blessings!

   Hi everyone! We have had a great summer and I am so excited to share some of it! It hasn't been easy but we have been doing our best to count our blessings and kind of power through it. I will update the best I can!

   Having nothing to do after graduation really wigged me out. It was nice having time to relax but I don't relax easily. Glen always says that I can never just do nothing, which is pretty accurate. I had my first interview about a week after graduation. It was exciting to get to interview for a "grown up" job, but when I came out of the interview I wasn't as excited as I knew I should be. Immediately, Glen and I started praying about what we should do if I was offered the position. We both agreed that something felt off about it and decided to turn it down when it was offered to me. This was so hard! Turning down the type of position I have been waiting for forever and the paycheck that went with it seemed absolutely ridiculous; but we did it. I found out about 10 minutes after I called and turned down the position why I was prompted that way. I don't want to go into too many details but it would not have been the right place for me. So....we took a leap of faith and it turned out to be exactly right.

   Starting in June I went back to working at the animal clinic just for the summer. We turned in our application for the apartment complex that we have wanted to live in for forever and we got accepted! So we both took on more hours to pay for deposits as well as our current expenses. Glen is working his butt off at Leslie's and is still on track to become the assistant manager at his store. With the hours we were both getting we were able to pay half of the deposits and set our move in date. This was another light at the end of the tunnel; we've grown out of our apartment and so many things have been going wrong with it that we are ready to get out of here! Toward the beginning of the June I was crunching numbers and freaking out, as well as worrying because it had been almost a month with no other calls for interviews. Literally as I was thinking this I got a phone call from the school that I attended for my first observation year at UTA. I went to the interview and felt like I sounded like a total dummy. The questions were so much harder than I expected but I answered them the best I could. Right after my interview Glen and I went to the temple; after our session I spent some time in the celestial room and part of that was praying about the interview and the job in general. I could tell right away that this one was different; I was anxious to get the phone call from the principal and hoping it would happen. We prayed about it and felt that if the position was offered to me, I should take it. I heard back from the principal the next Monday and I got the position! I will be teaching second grade at Remynse Elementary in Arlington ISD and I am so excited!!

   Glen and I have been enjoying our mutual days off together. While I was student teaching we didn't get a whole lot of quality time. We've gone swimming a couple of times, played games, and gotten to veg some. The one thing that we didn't get to do is travel like we wanted, so we've made plans to save and go next summer. I did get to spend some time in New York. I went with Megan and Caelan and we were there for about 6 days. We went with Chris, Holly, and the kids to see The Hill Cumorah Pageant. We played games. went to a birthday dinner for Caelan and just got to spend some time together. I also got to go to my best friend Kassy's baby shower. It is crazy and awesome to see her as a mom; they're going to be so great though. No doubts.

*WARNING: SHAMELESS GUSHY FEELS PORTION*
   Okay so here's I think one of our biggest blessings this summer. I posted a status about it on Facebook but couldn't type details through the tears. I'm able to talk about it without crying, I am just amazed. For months Glen and I have been praying that our finances would work out with moving this coming Saturday. I always forget how expensive moving is with having to still pay rent in the current place as well as deposits and rent in the next place. Finances are painful for me, so I am pretty sure that my brain blocked out that pain. Anyways, we have included this next couple weeks especially both in our individual and couple prayers. We've fasted about it about it and brought our concerns to the temple. Well the peak of our financial hill is coming up in the next week and a half. As I was coming home for lunch today I was thinking about all of our upcoming bills and wondering how this was all going to work out. Thinking about how we'd done all we could; we paid our tithing first thing after each of our checks and we have been as careful as possible with our finances. I was thinking all of this when the email alert on my phone went off. The email was from UTA and it said that a refund had been generated to my checking account. I figured it was a little refund for parking or something so I logged onto my account to see what it was from and how much. It was a good thing I had put the car in park because otherwise I would have wrecked. Almost $1,500 was the amount of my refund.
 
   I walked into our apartment and I am sure by the look on my face Glen thought something terrible had happened. I told him and we thought they had made a mistake. I called my mom to see what I should do or if I should call the financial aid office. She told me to do what I thought was best. I intended to call but thought I should first check my financial aid page and all the way at the bottom was the grant that was being refunded. I was supposed to receive it last summer but never did so they issued the refund now. I just started to cry. This is literally the exact amount to pay our deposit we've been looking for relief for and some other bills. I We are so incredibly grateful. The first thing Glen mentioned was blessings from our tithing; my first thought was the hundreds of prayers answered.

Whatever caused it, we know we are blessed beyond words. The following quote seems to sum it up nicely. We were feeling blessed as it was by friends and family who support and love us, this was the icing on the cake.

  

The End of A VERY Long Chapter

   Hello again!! We have a lot to catch up on. Last time I posted I wrote about our last challenge and my gallbladder surgery. My complete recovery really has only happened the last few weeks. As it turns out, when they take your gallbladder it messes with every last bit of normal digestion. Funny how before it decided to act up, I didn't even know what it did. Then all of a sudden its absence messed everything up! The last few weeks Glen and I have been on another challenge. I am not gonna lie, we have not done well! With graduation, people visiting, and a whole lot being unable to be planned, it made things difficult. We still have lost some and we aren't finished yet, but the cleanse part of this challenge seems to have done something I did not expect. It fixed my messed up digestion! No lie! I tried for the month and a half or so after my surgery to fix and regulate it in a variety of different ways. I don't know why I didn't think about trying this before but when we started the challenge, I realized it. Even if we haven't done perfectly, or well even, that by itself has been huge! Even if I haven't lost as much as I should have, that has been a huge burden.
   I also wrote about how hard Glen has been working; that has not changed. Anyone who knows him shouldn't be surprised by that. Since I last wrote, Glen has been transferred to another store. This is actually pretty convenient because the new location is like 2 minutes from our apartment and 5(ish) from where I will be working over the summer. His manager is awesome and he is being fast-tracked to be an assistant store manager. This is exactly what we've needed! He will consistently be full time and we will have the opportunity for insurance. He also has been able to make contacts about his t-shirt business which has been growing. I am so proud of all that he has done and will do. He takes care of us and does anything he can to make sure we're covered. There are big things coming this summer and I am incredibly excited to see what happens.
   As for me, the chapter of my life that I have been working on for the past 6 years. This last Saturday I graduated with my teaching degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. I cannot describe how I feel about this. For years it has been my focus. "I just have to do.....so I can graduate." Then in a matter of minutes, it's over. I told Glen that, in a way, it feels kind of like when we got married. We spent months planning, arranging, and imagining what it would be like. We planned our life around what would happen after the day was done. Then all of a sudden, in a flash, it was over. The day after we got married we remember looking at each other like "okay...now what?" That is how I feel. We have been working so hard to achieve this goal and now that it's done, it feels so strange! It's like I have to be a grown up all of a sudden. I realize I have been one, but still. My job now is applying for jobs. I've passed all the tests, taken all the classes, and walked the stage. Now it's time to get my own classroom.
   I have spent this school year at an amazing school. Diane Patrick Elementary has an amazing faculty and administration. I have truly been learning from the best and I have learned a lot! I would love to get a position in any school! Teaching is what I have wanted to do forever. I would love my own classroom, and I know that will happen. I would love to be offered a position at Diane Patrick; I feel comfortable there and I have seen the community. But I know I will end up wherever I am meant to be. I am looking forward to being wherever that is.  I would add pictures from graduations but those have been all over Facebook already.
   This post is more of an update on us; I will post a personal post (just from me) on my personal blog. Stay tuned.

Updates of All Kinds

   Hello everyone! First things first, I was not able to keep up the frequent updates with our last challenge because of school. But Glen and I each lost at least 10 pounds and several inches. I accidentally threw away our paper where we kept our exact stats. Unfortunately, Glen had to finish our challenge without me because in the middle of it I went to the emergency room with what turned out to be a gallbladder attack. This made it so that there were only some foods that didn't totally kill my stomach; lots of crackers and applesauce. But Glen did finish without me and did well. We're both still working on our goals of course and now that my gallbladder is out, we can work on them like we really want to.
   Glen has been working crazy hard at work. He's one of the ones that gets relied on the most. I am so grateful for him and everything that he does to keep us going while I finish my schooling. He works long days and is the first one to step up and help me cut out something for the kids. He's been a life saver during all of this and every day he does something like this or willingly works a 12 hour day I don't think I could possibly appreciate or love him anymore. But then he does it again or sleeps on the floor for me, and somehow I do love him even more. I am amazed at his perseverance. He works then comes home and puts everything he has into his business. Which seems to be growing and doing well.
   As for me, I spend literally half of my days at the elementary school. I just switched to the second half of my placement. One thing I learned from all of my time in third grade is that I never realized how much I could love so many children who were not related to me. Each and every one of those kids is different and each one of them taught me something. There were a lot of challenges along the way but I love those kids and I miss them bunches. That sounds really dumb to say since they're just upstairs from where I am right now but it's true. But this has made me so excited to go back down to kindergarten. I got to know those kiddos some from being there one day a week but I am so excited to get that time with the kinder kiddos. I am two months from graduation and time is flying, but it's taken so long to get to this point that I am kind of okay with it. Now comes the end stretch, what does that mean? Finishing my student teaching, taking my last (and biggest) certification test, and job hunting. Whew!
    We hope life is treating you well. One thing Glen and I have talked about a lot lately how it is becoming more necessary for us to hear about the good in the world. People just being decent human beings. Nothing extravagant or over the top, just decent people. So I am ending this post like Ellen Degeneres ends many of her shows. Be kind to one another. 

We're All In!

   Hello hello everyone! This is a sort of update on what we're doing. So read it if you want, don't if you don't...whatever!
   So as many know Glen and I did our first 24 Day Challenge back in the end of May and we saw amazing results! If you didn't see those, feel free to go here. We were PUMPED! We tried to do another challenge in the fall (I think...?) but I had some medical issues that sidelined derailed blew up that idea. So that was discouraging. After our first challenge we kept going for a while, but in the name of full disclosure, we slipped back into old habits. Sometimes it's less expensive (or seemingly so) to buy food that's not as healthy or refrain from getting the supplements and multivitamins that our bodies need in the name of the budget. Don't get me wrong, the budget thing is valid! But we learned the hard way (again) that it totally takes you off track and takes a toll on our body.
   With the new year we spent a good chunk of time looking at our life style. It was not easy and it was not comfortable.Glen signed up for a budgeting/spending website called Mint and it categorizes our spending and let me tell ya...holy crap! We spent so much money without even realizing it on like take out and stuff because we had no groceries. As soon as we saw that we agreed that the money that went towards that last year is going towards a healthier us this year. No doubt. We knew we had to do this again and really stick to it. We knew we had to find the value in the investment into our health. This meant being okay using some money on our challenges that before would have gone to take out. It meant being okay with ignoring the junk food cravings in the name of fueling our bodies.
   After we had decided to do this we saw an episode of Biggest Loser where they were giving the nutrition information (like....all of it) of some of the popular junk foods that a lot of Americans especially eat. It was the popular mall food court food and watching it actually made us so sick to our stomach that we couldn't even finish what we were eating. All of this helped us make the very easy decision to jump All-In with thousands of other challengers nation wide.
   So we're holding ourselves accountable even more than before (partly inspired by my sister-in-law Holly being so transparent with her goals and process). We seriously fell off the wagon and we want back on for good. Today was day one.

Aimee
   To put this out there is really hard for me. I am a perfectionist so the fact that I failed at staying on that path really sucks. I let my life and my busy schedule get in the way; basically I said everything else in my life was worth more than investing (both time and monetarily) in myself. That is something that I always have had an issue with; Glen has pointed that out about me too. I tend to give every bit of time and energy to other things and people that I have nothing for myself. So I am trying to be okay with spending money on healthy food to take care of myself (and obviously Glen too). I'm trying to be okay with taking an hour at the gym as an investment in myself. So here are my starting stats; officially the heaviest I've ever been and the most unhealthy I have ever felt. No the pictures aren't good ones...it was before bed and I was sleepy! :)

Weight: 157.2 lbs
Chest: 36.5 in
Waist: 29.5 in
Hips: 36.25 in
Thighs: 20 in

 I came into this constantly feeling tired. Coming home at the end of the day just tired and wanting to munch! I am a stress eater...for sure. Not to mention just feeling super gross all the time.

I was so excited to get started today and I had some serious wins! First of all the kiddos in my class today started a fundraiser selling chocolate...sorry kids Mrs. P isn't buying any chocolate this time but I'll try to find someone who might! They were learning fractions with candy and I realized how totally mindlessly I munched when I had a Hershey kiss in my hand without even realizing I had picked it up. I was completely shocked at myself and put it right back down. Win #1. After about a ten hour day at school when it would have been easy to say that I didn't want to go to the gym, I drank my Spark and my Rehydrate and buckled down. Win #2. Lastly, with my endometriosis makes it so there are days when I am in a lot of pain just because. Today was one of those days but I pushed through our workout anyway. I hurt like crazy afterwards but it was worth it. I invested in myself and I felt good for it. Win #3.

I am now home, worn out in the best way, snuggled up with my boy in one of his sweatshirts. I'm finishing up this post, looking at some school work, then going to bed on time. A successful day one...on to
day two!

Glen
Weight: 233
Chest 43 in.
Waist: 45 3/4 in.
Hips: 44 1/4 in.
Thighs: 24.5 in.

This is Glen speaking now giving some of my own thoughts and opinions. After going without our healthy routine for a good amount of months I can honestly say I am incredibly stoked to getting back to this CHANGE OF LIFESTYLE routine!

Even though I am a bit tired at first getting up in the mornings, I enjoy the time with my wife and knowing that we are on our way to being healthier and having a long life together.

The first days typically of each challenge are the hardest but this third go round I found that it was so easy to get up and start the day out.

My absolute favorite product which I will say over and over and over and over and over is SPARK! This product for me is not just about giving me maintained energy through out the day but it allows me to be more focused and productive working on.  My wife has mentioned in previous posts on here and on her facebook page so now I am going to mention it again.
   I own an online custom graphic apparel company Shirts Just For You and because I am so confident in these challenges I am offering to anyone and everyone that is willing to purchase a 24 day challenge I will give them a free shirt with one of my recent new motivational shirts DONT QUIT which you can see here. Let's get started. This is your year!