I Hope They Call Me On A Mission...

So I have some news. MY BROTHER IS GOING ON A MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully you can perceive my excitement! I know we are taught that jealousy is bad, but I sure would love to be going on a mission again. He's been called to Leeds England. It's good to have another Elder Lafeen roaming the world. Way to represent. Of course the English will most likely be able to pronounce our name. Unlike the beloved Brazilians that had some struggle. Ewder Lafim was my name for two years, and what a great two years those were!

Way to go bro!

A post while I wait (or weight)

Okay... I wrote a post yesterday, but I seem to have temporarily misplaced our camera. (I know I had it at my parents on Sunday, so it can't be far.) So... I don't want to post about our mini vacation down south ('down south' for Utahns happens to be St. George or Vegas) until I have the pictures. So, that will be coming shortly.

I wanted to check in with my New Years Resolutions and maybe make a confession or two.

#1. Lose weight. Well... this week should get me started on this one. I've been using my heart rate monitor every day and I think it's helping me push myself. I've set the goal that I'll lose at least 500 calories (when I spin, it's closer to 1,000) a day, and every other day I only do 25-30 minutes of cardio, so the rest has to come from strength training. Which means, I'm pretty sore most days. PLUS... (here's where the confession comes in) Justin and I are trying the RESET program with USANA. (I'm not going to put a link for it, I'm not sold on their products, so I wouldn't want to send people there -but you could search for it if you wanted to)
The program consists of taking the USANA vitamins twice a day and drinking 3 meal replacement shakes and 2 fiber bars a day. And that's it. But, it's just for 5 days.
From yesterday til today the scale says that I've lost 3 lbs, but a lot of that is probably water weight because of how much I'm drinking. I'm not sure how Justin's doing, other than that he's STARVING. I don't think he has as much experience with dieting as I do. It can be pretty hard.
Anyway... if any of you have ever used USANA vitamins, I'd love to hear from you. Good and Bad stuff. We're not sure they can fit into our budget right now, (of for Justin, ever) but I'm a sucker for healthy stuff. So, I'm leaning towards trying to take them on a regular basis.

On to the rest of my list.

#2. I started compiling a list of birthdays. That's all. Maybe today I'll try to go out and buy some cards and stamps. So far we've only had 2 birthdays, my sister and Justin's mom.

#3 and #4 could use some work. We read a lot on our way back from St. George on Sunday, and we're on our schedule, but it hasn't yet become part of our routine, which is what we need.

So... all in all, I'm not doing too bad. Granted... it's the 15th of January, and I posted my resolutions on the 4th, but I should keep them going.

Priceless

Miles traveled: 900
2 night hotel stay with a move: $250
Money lost to the slot machines: $23
Hours worked: 1

Spending 2 days in jacket weather with sunshine...
Priceless

Justin and I traveled to St. George (about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City) because I have a kid on my caseload placed there. We spent Friday and Saturday night in St George and went to Las Vegas for about 8 hours on Saturday.

It was a fun, quick trip, even though I felt like we were driving constantly. It was nice to have a little bit warmer weather and there was no smog in St. George, which was a welcome change.

We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few...

View Album

Get your own

Just so there's no confusion

I have a confession to make. There's a slight chance you may already know this about me. (Like... if you've ever MET me, or read this, this, this, maybe that one, I mentioned it here, and who could forget this one, here, here and this one, actually, pretty much all of September and October).

I'm a Red Sox fan.

And now, everyone in my office will know it too. I finally took all of my Red Sox stuff from my laundry room that no one sees, to my office, where I spend most of my time anyway.

Here's a couple of pics.

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday Day

to you Happy Birthday Day

to you
Happy Birthday dear Jodi

Happy Birthday To You!

You're the BEST sister I've ever had!

The newbies should park in the back

Well... first Monday of the new year. And do you know what that means?
I couldn't get my normal parking place or cardio machine at the overcrowded gym this morning.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you all have made a firm resolution to get up and go the gym at 6 am every day, and I'm sure you'll stick with it for the next 12 months.
But, for those of us who have been there every morning for the last couple of years, could you please park in the back and not use my favorite machines? You're kind of breaking my routine up a bit.

First Post in the New Year

Okay... I've been thinking about my 'resolutions' for a week or so, and I think I might be ready to write them down so the great blog community can remind me that I've failed all of my goals come February. And... so Bryon can have a list to copy from.

First, the obvious one...

1. Lose weight. I know, I know, I'm REAL original in this one. More specifically, I am going to lose 500 or more calories each time I go to the gym (thanks to my new heart rate monitor I can track these things). I've given myself one day off during the week, so I'll attend the gym 4-5 times a week and I'll do strength training 2-3 times a week instead of just cardio. Oh... AND, I'll quit snacking on chocolate at work.

2. Write Birthday Cards. I love birthdays, and I think you should make a big deal about them, especially when you're under 18. So... I will go and buy bulk birthday cards and somehow keep track of everyone's birthdays and get cards in the mail (with a stamp). Everyone will include: Moms, Dads, brothers, sisters, sibling-in-laws, grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles. It will also include friends (if I know your address, you'll be on the list) and the young single adults that Justin and I teach in church.

3. Read the Book of Mormon with Justin (and hopefully the Young Single Adult Class). Justin and I read the Book of Mormon cover to cover during our engagement, and I haven't been very good since. This year's Sunday School curriculum is the Book of Mormon, so we'll challenge our class to keep up with Justin and I. And, to make sure we're keeping our end of the bargain, we'll update a chart in front of the class every week with our progress.

4. Daily personal and family prayers. Got that Justin? I know we start and stop all the time, so now everyone knows.

There's many other goals and resolutions I could and probably should make, but those are the four. Feel free to add your list and ask how I'm doing on my goals.