Smile

This week I saw a post telling people to smile. I don't remember where I saw it but it made me want to try it out.

The post said that if you smile when you first wake up, even if you have to make yourself, you will have a better day.

I am not a morning person at all but I am going to give this a shot.

Today I want to challenge all my readers to wake up and put a big smile on your face everyday this week. At the end of the week come back to this post then comment and tell me if your week was any better with just a smile a day.

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Mighty

I have spent a lot of time this week thinking about what to write about today. To be honest I had no idea where I wanted to start. Even though I didn't do the five minute Friday post this week because I am starting it next week, the word for Friday was mighty. When I saw that everything fell in place.

Mighty means possessing great and impressive power or strength. When I think of the word mighty I think of the word almighty. Almighty means having complete power, being omnipotent. God is almighty. When you think about how there is someone out there that is perfect. Someone that you can shape your life to be like. God used his might to lay his life on the cross for our sins. In Revelation 1:8 it says "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." I have recently start trying to grow closer to my Heavenly Father. I am excited for the teachings I will receive in the next few months. I am excited to share some of my thoughts with you. I believe that I have a Heavenly father who loves me and gave is life for me. I know that I will get to see him again one day!

I am excited to see where my Sunday posts lead.

I really hope you all like reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Song Saturday

I decided that I don't follow sports enough to write on them every day. So I have decided to change the topic for Saturdays to Song Saturdays. I will pick a song every week that has been on my mind or that tells a story. I have grown up with music being a huge part of my life so I thought this would be a perfect subject for me. A song I have been playing a lot lately is Brave by Sara Bareilles. The song is about how people shouldn't hide behind their fears, they should face them. It is not something that is easy. I have been a shy person most of my life. The last year I have worked towards breaking out of my shell more. I know what it feels like to be pushed around in a relationship. I know what it is like to be the odd one out. I watched the most recent episode of Glee today, and it made me look back into my past. Glee came out while I was in choir and I can not tell you how much I related to it. I am sad to see the show come to an end! I am glad that I have people in my life that have helped me stand up for myself. Don't let people tell you what you can and cant do. No one knows you better then yourself. So stand up for yourself and make your life be all it can be!


Since I have changed things this week I just wanted to update everyone on the new daily topics.
Motivational Mondays
Trip Tuesdays
Wordless Wednesday
Thankful Thursday
Five Minute Fridays
Song Saturdays
Spiritual Sundays

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Growing up

Everyone comes to the point in their life when we get older and move out of our parents house to make a life of our own. I moved out of my moms house a year ago. Even though I only moved an hour and a half away, it still feels like a large distance. It has been nice having my mom close enough to spend a weekend with her though. My daughter loves spending time at grandmas house. I know I have talked about my mom before so this post wont be very long. My mom recently sold her house and is going to be moving to Arkansas. It is strange thinking about how different things will be with her further away. There wont be anymore weekend visits. I have been used to seeing my mom every few weeks it will definitely be something I need to adjust to. However, I am looking forward to this next chapter. I am excited to continue building my life here and get more of the adult feeling by not living close to my mom. I love her to death.

This topic will be changing as of next week to Five Minute Fridays. I came across a blog that started doing this 4 years ago. This is her link http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/ . I thought this would be a great idea to do. Most of my blogs post by 5 am but Fridays will now be later in the day. Thank you for the continued support. I am new to writing these blogs, so it is still in a trial and error phase.

I really hope you all like reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Thankful....

So as I sat here thinking about what I was thankful for this week, it took a really long time to figure out. I have not done much. I am thankful for my health. I have been dealing with migraines since I was in middle school. Ever since I was pregnant my migraines have been a lot better. In the past I have controlled them with drinking soda. This isn't the healthiest choice. This last month I have tried cutting out soda, well at least cut down on it. This week I have had many headaches. It is so difficult for me not to go get a soda every time. I know that if I continue working on cutting soda back that it will continue to improve my overall heath. Over the last few months I have been more sick then I have in a year. When I started working out and improving my diet I have not been getting as sick. I know today is a short entry.

Does anyone get migraines? Do you have any suggestions to prevent them?

What are you thankful for this week?

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions or thoughts.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Bears

I love bears! in fact I have been collecting them since I was born. Can you believe this is a chalk drawing! What does this make you think of?

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions or thoughts. 

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Disneyland

I have taken some pretty interesting trips in my life so far. Some may seem crazy. One of my favorites to this day was one of my many trips to California. I took this trip in May 2007. One of my friends took me, another one of our friends, and 3 of our guy friends to Disneyland for her birthday. Our flight to California left at 5 am Saturday morning.  Then we spent all day Saturday riding everything possible. We put together a system so that everyone rode with a different person. When we got inside the park we split up from my friends parents. We also mapped out the rides we wanted to do most so we could do as many as possible. During lunch we ate inside the park. There were some amazing fiddle players performing while we ate. Everyone wanted to ride California Screaming next. I sat it out because my stomach was not ready for a roller coaster. It was absolutely amazing. I love the Soaring Over California ride. My other favorites at the time were the 4D movie things. The shows like Honey I shrunk the Audience and Bugs Life. It was a very long day. After all the rides we shopped a little bit. We ended up getting back to the hotel around midnight. The next morning we got on a 8 am flight. Before we ended all the fun we stopped off at Woodies for lunch. Played some pool and ate pizza. I had so much fun on this trip that the night I got home I wrote 9 1/2 pages in my journal about it. For a trip that took just over 24 hours, it was one of the most memorable ones I have taken. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Have you been to Disneyland before? Share your trip with me.

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

If you think you can you can!

When I was growing up my mother would always tell me "If you think you can, you can". I have always lived by that quote. She has always been one of my inspirations and motivator for my life. I want to share her story with you.

My mom started having seizures when she was 21. She was in college at the time and it really changed her life. She did not let the seizures stop her from living her life though. During her journey through college she met my dad. They got married and lived life to the fullest. My mom spent years going to doctors all around the country to try and stop the seizures. She ended up finding the Colorado Neurological Institute (CNI). In 1991 they performed a brain surgery on her that removed most of her right temporal lobe. The surgery stopped the seizures, but she had a blood clot on the operating table that paralyzed her on the left side. She was told she would never drive, walk, or have kids. She would not accept that though. She worked hard to be able to use her left side again. In 1992 I was born. I was named Hope because hope means great expectations. That is what my parents now had for their lives and mine.  My mom did learn to walk and drive again. She also learned how to ride a bike again. When I was four my dad was trying to teach me to ride a bike. I told my mom she should ride too. I told her the same thing she had been telling me. "If you think you can, you can." She fell off a lot but always got back up and tried again. She never gave up. in 1995 she had my twin brothers! Then in 1999 my mom Rode the Rockies. This was a bike ride of 437 miles across the Rocky Mountains. She couldn't get on and off the bike by herself. My dad drove behind her the entire way and when she needed help off she would wave him down and he would help her off. In 2008 my mom ran for Colorado's House of Representatives. She was elected and served two terms in this seat. She is still pursuing her dreams to this day.

This is an old picture from my first public speaking event when I was 13. Me and my mom at the 2005 CNI Cindy Acree Hope Awards.

No matter how bad your day gets or how rough the situation is you may be going through there is usually always someone out there that is going through something worse. Always push through even when it is hard to do. Don't let anything stop you from something you are passionate about. You can do anything you put your mind to. Just remember "if you think you can, you can."

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Don't judge me.

Sunday is here. I spent a lot of time thinking this week on what I should say in this post. There are many subjects I could talk about about to keep today in good spirits. Since this is my first Sunday post I thought I should share my spiritual story with you.

My journey......
I have been going to The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints (LDS) ever since I can remember. I went to church every Sunday with my mom and brothers with no complaints. I was very involved with activities and everything. In middle school I went to a Christian summer camp called Camp Elim. I went for three years with my best friend at the time. I was always happy to be there. Going to that camp brought my relationship with Christ a lot closer as well. When I started high school I went through a phase where I didn't really want to go to church. I liked the extra activities like summer camp, and young women activities just not sitting through Sundays service. Now I am not a perfect person. I am not someone who thinks that everyone needs to believe in the same church to be a good person. When I started college out of state I completely stopped going to church. I started dating a guy that wasn't a good influence on me. However I thought I was happy and in love. After just a couple months I was pregnant. I was 17 and not married. I ended up moving back home towards the end of my pregnancy. It was very difficult for me at this point to go back to church because I was terrified of how people would think of me. The thing about my church though is everyone treats you like family. I was welcomed and everyone was very happy to see me. The reason I am telling you all of this is because I want people to understand I have struggles when it comes to church as well. I am 21 now and still struggle with going to church. I am still searching for answers and trying to figure out my beliefs.

What I want you to take away from today is that you can be very religious, somewhat religious, or not religious at all. I found a lot of peace during periods of my life and was thankful to have my church family around. If you aren't religious I hope you will still read my blog. Sundays will not always be about church. Sometimes it will just be about something I learned that made me feel blessed or a life lesson. It is ok to not know where your path is going. Experiment with your beliefs and research different beliefs. You could find answers to your questions or problems. Just be open minded and have faith.

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions or thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Sports

So I can tell you right now that I am not even sure this topic will last very long. But for now I will do my best. I am not majorly into sports. however, I love baseball. With baseball season approaching I thought this topic would be fun. I am from Colorado so most of my posts will probably be about the teams here. I also follow the Red Sox closely so you may get some of their info too. Last week broncos fans were sad to see a player go from this years roster. Eric Decker signed a 5 year contract with the NY Jets after playing for the Denver Broncos for 4 seasons. I am sad to see Tod Helton gone this year. The Rockies retired his jersey this year after playing for 17 seasons. Baseball training started and the Rockies haven't been doing to bad. However Tulowitzki took a fastball to the leg last week while playing a game against Arizona. After taking the rest of the week and weekend to heal, he got back on the field Monday. Not only was he back on the field, they won the game. I look forward to going to a few games this season.

8 DAYS till Opening Day!!!!

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Best friends

I am going to do the best I can to not make this post to long. Best friends are tricky. In my life I have had three friends which I considered best friends. One of these people I am still friends with, one of them I am no longer in contact with, and the third one... well she is my best friend. People change as they grow older. My best friend is Caitlin. I met Caitlin in 2009. As silly as it sounds we met through a fan club online for a band we both were in love with. We didn't go to the same school. We didn't even live in the same city. We started going to concerts together which brought us closer. We have easily gone to 30+ concerts in the time of our friendship. Believe it or not you get a lot of time to talk when at a concert. After a few months we started skyping after school. Are parents got very irritated because we would walk around the house on the computer. Caitlin and I have had our ups and downs to say the least. When I left state for college. We didn't talk as much.We both were just too involved in our classes and extra activities. I saw her when I came home for breaks and then when I moved back we became closer again. She is my daughter "aunt" and loves her to death. Caitlin graduated college last year and got a job in another state. I was able to spend a week strait with her before she started. I helped her unpack and get situated. We try to make an effort in talking everyday. My definition of a best friend is someone who is your non-blood sister or brother. Someone you can tell anything to and talk about anything with. Have you ever heard the saying, "One smile, can start a friendship. One word, can end a fight. One look, can save a relationship.One person can save a life."? I am lucky to have Caitlin in my life. I can honestly say I would not be where I am today without her. Everyone should have someone like this in there life. I challenge you to smile at a random person today. Whether it be at school, work, or a random person on the street. A smile can change a lot of things.

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Huge weight liftted off my shoulders

I have been very thankful this week. For the last two years I have gone through a couple different jobs. It has been a challenge to find a job that gave me a chance to spend time with my daughter and go to school without feeling like my daughter was never awake when I was home. I was a nanny for a little while but that profession does not last forever. I have a friend that was able to give my name to the company she works for. After a week of waiting for a call from them I slowly started to feel like I was not what they were looking for. Last Tuesday I got a call from that company and they were ready to interview me. I was thrilled beyond belief. Last Thursday I went in for my interview and was hired. Needless to say I am so thankful for my friend Amanda who brought this opportunity to my attention. I am glad to start this new chapter of my life.

What are you thankful for this week?

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Winter

Winter just came to an end. I absolutely love when the trees get like this in Colorado! I am going to miss the snow!

Please share your thoughts or stories about this picture in the comments below.

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions or thoughts.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Kansas

YES that says Kansas and YES I am really writing a blog about Kansas. Now I know Kansas does not sound like a great place to take a trip to. It is when your best friend lives there! Other than seeing her for about five minutes last month this is the first time we have hung out in months. We left yesterday and drove about 5 hours to get to Caitlin's house. The trip wasn't very eventful but not horrible. We stopped in Lamar, Colorado at McDonald's so my daughter could play a little bit. She decided to ride with Caitlin the rest of the way so my car was really quiet. I wanted to stop at the Welcome to Kansas sign on the way here and have been talking about it all week. Then what do we do.... we passed it hahaha. By the time I got a hold of Caitlin, who was driving in the car in front of me, we had driven about 5 miles. We turned around and went back just for the pictures. We got to the house and then went to dinner. Nothing else all that exciting has happened though. I will be here till Saturday so i will probably update you guys at some point. We are going to try to go to the zoo here in Garden City on Thursday. Its late now though and I have been driving a lot today.

Have you been to Kansas?

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions and thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein

Dig Deeper!!!!

Happy Motivation Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Today I want to tell you a little bit more about me and hope it can be a good motivator. Ever since 2011 when I had my little girl I have struggled with losing weight. Part of that struggle is because I have had a hard time staying motivated. I have gone through multiple diet plans that have failed. I started working with a trainer for a while but I didn't change my eating habits so I was staying at my same weight and losing some inches but not pounds. This went on for months, which as you can imagine was very frustrating. Two and a half weeks ago I started Shaun T's INSANITY workout. In addition to that I have changed the way I am eating. I have lost a total of 3.5 pounds so far. I can definitely tell it is working because the workouts are getting easier for me to push through. When I finish the 60 day program I will share a before and after picture. Losing weight is different for every person. When you find the thing that works though push yourself through. Not only will you start looking better but it will build your confidence. So for most colleges and high schools it is spring break. During breaks it is really easy to push everything aside and just sleep and watch tv or play video games. Even if it is just a five minute walk, get moving. Shaun T posted this last Monday but it definitely helped me push through my week I hope it helps you too: Its just another day of the week. YOU have the power to make it great or not....so don't focus on the fact that you wish it was still the weekend... focus on all the amazingness you will accomplish this week.

Happy St Patrick's day! I hope everyone is wearing green.

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions or thoughts.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow" - Albert Einstein

WELCOME!

Hey everyone!

My name is Hope. I am 22 and from Colorado. I have lived here my whole life and do not ever want to leave. I have a 3 year old daughter. She is a very smart girl and I love her to death. I started this blog on March 17th 2014. I thought it would help me with my writing skills and be able to share some thoughts with you all. I have a different theme for each day of the week. They are not set in stone so if there is something you all would rather read about let me know. I would love feedback.

The Themes are:

  

My Lifestyle Journey Mondays- These posts are to try and help me stay on track with my journey to a healthier life style. Every week I will share my progress for that week.

Twisted Tuesdays- Every week I will get a random idea from http://www.buildyourownblog.net/the-blog-post-ideas-generator/. I have no clue what will come next.

Wordless Wednesdays- I will post a picture and want to hear what it makes you think of. Maybe I will even share my thoughts.

    

Day Of The Year Thursdays- Each week I will share the funny or weird celebrations for that day. Visit https://www.daysoftheyear.com to see more of the daily celebrations.

Five Minute Fridays- I came across a blog that started doing this topic 4 years ago. The lady who started this is Lisa-Jo-Baker.When I came across this I thought it would be a lot of fun to be a part of this theme. She recently turned the themes over to Kate Motaung. Every week she posts the word for the day. I sit down and write for a strait five minutes on the topic and see where it takes me. Feel free to check out her blog as well. http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/

    

Share My World Saturdays- Every week I will answer questions that are posted on a blog that was made for connecting more with your readers. If you want to know more check out http://ceenphotography.com/share-your-world/

Story Sundays- I am bringing back the 365 Days Of Writing Prompts from The Daily Post once again. I will take a prompt from it every Sunday and have fun with it.

This page will update occasionally. I encourage everyone to participate in the daily question or goal in the comments. I can't wait to hear what you have to say. Enjoy!

I really hope you all enjoy reading my blog. Please leave comments with suggestions or thoughts.

"It doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop." - Confucius