Healthy Body Image Challenge Day 2: "I love my teeth"

Okay, this might be weird since we were talking about ankles yesterday, but another inherited trait I want to talk about is my teeth. The inherited part is that I have large teeth and a big smile. I love it! That is one of  the things that people comment on most of my features. I've even had a random street vendor in San Francisco shout out, "You've got a beautiful smile. Keep smiling!" However, I had some issues with my teeth when I was younger. I still have darker spots on my teeth, which I have had since I was young, and they happened because of there being too much fluoride in the water. (A dentist told me it was called fluoridosis). I remember one time a boy pointing it out and coming up with the nickname of "tartar teeth" for me. That was devastating to me and it stuck for a long time. However, as I've gotten older, more and more people comment on how white my teeth are. I don't know if things have changed (because I feel there are still darker spots), but it's been a good boost of confidence.

On the other side, I've had some love-hate relationships with my teeth. When I was young, I loved going to the dentist. Of course, I might have loved it a lot more than others because my dentist was my grandpa. The last thing that he did on my teeth was take out my wisdom teeth and then he retired. I actually went to college after that and ended up having to go to a dentist during the time I was at BYU. I ended up with a cavity that they claimed they took care of, but when I got home and we went to our new dentist (who was good like my grandpa), he told me that they had not cleaned it completely and I ended up having to get a root canal.

Since I was going back to BYU, I got the root canal out here in Provo and that was another horrible experience. The guy was good at what he did, but he was an interesting guy. Thank goodness, I went home to my normal dentist after that and he put on my crown. Every dentist that has seen my teeth since have raved about my crown. It must be good. :) However, even though I had a great dentist now I hated going to the dentist because I always seemed to have a cavity or two. However, I was pleasantly surprised the last time I went when he said no cavities. I almost thought he was joking! I was so happy to hear that I didn't have to come back. I have really tried to take better care of my teeth. Ryan has had a rough time with his teeth because of all radiation he went through during his cancer treatment. That is why we have both been working hard at taking care of our teeth. Flossing, brushing, and using mouthwash.

The new one that I want to do to show that I appreciate my teeth (and my parents for putting me in braces - thanks mom and dad!) is putting on my retainers. Yes, I still have them and I should use them more often. I am blessed to have straight teeth and I should show that I am grateful for that by helping them stay straight.

I really am blessed to have good teeth. I have really been trying to also take better care of my teeth by not drinking a lot of soda, drink more milk, and calcium pills. I love my teeth and I want to keep them strong. I am grateful for all of the things that they can do. I am also grateful for my smile. This is to my grandpa: I will work better on not using my teeth to hold things or open things with them. I want to keep my teeth forever!

I really do want to thank my grandpa for being such a good dentist and always checking our teeth when we would go over. He was always concerned about our health and he took such good care of us. My sister Jonelle mentioned that he asked to look at her teeth when we were there for Christmas. I was a little jealous that he didn't look at mine. It's been a long time since he's asked, but maybe next time, if I'm lucky. :)

Healthy Body Image Challenge Day 1: Confession "I have fat ankles"

I decided to not just say "better body image", but healthy body image. The goal is to really be happy with who I am (or anyone else reading this to be happy with who they are) which means having a healthy attitude about your body. You are no longer coveting what anyone else has. You are happy and ecstatic with the person that you are.

Just as an addendum to yesterday, I am not trying to just be happy with what I am right now if I feel like I need to still lose some weight. I think it is healthy to want to be your best self. I just don't want someone else telling me what my best self should be or should look like. I know my body's limitations and what will never be. For example, my inherited family trait that I don't love is fat ankles or "cankles" as I heard from some of my guy friends (your calf just goes straight to your ankle).

Some guys I knew used that as a way to know if a girl would be fat later on. They used it as a determination of F.P. (Fat Potential) It totally ruined my self-image in college and I blamed it on the fact that no one wanted to date me or marry me. Thank goodness my husband knew nothing of this "cankle" business. I asked him about it later and he thought it was ridiculous. (This is why I love him!) I know a lot of skinny people with fat ankles. The first thing for me to know and understand is that my ankles are not particularly skinny and will never be. That might lead to the fact that I don't love my legs, but let's just start with my ankles. I know that I cannot change how they look (wide), but I do know that I can change how my legs look, leading to a slimmer version of my ankle. I know I am using my other cousins and aunts as examples (and I just said, don't look at others), but I can because they have the same genetics that I do. I know theirs look skinnier, so therefore, mine can too. Also, I have already seen it on my own body, I just need to remember it.

Here is a more positive light on my ankles:

• Because they are "bigger" it is easier for me to balance in dance
• I have strong calves because of it
• When I wear heels, you can't tell as much :)
• They help me to run
• I should be better to them and strengthen them because I sprained my right ankle in a soccer game about 12 years ago. It still hurts since then, but I know if I strengthen it, then it will be better in dance, running, etc.
• My ankles help me to walk and get to places. I am grateful for them

What can I do to strengthen and slim down my ankles? Being a dancer, I've done lots of things.

1. In the morning I try to do calf raises while brushing my teeth. I do them in 1st position (jazz) with my feet facing forward, and in 1st position turnout (ballet). This has helped me with running and dance. I also notice that it does not hurt as much when I strengthen them. When I was taking aerobics at BYU a long time ago, someone told me that when your joints pop (from an injury) if you strengthen it, it will stop. I need to work on that more because I tried it and it lessened the pain.
2. Point and Flex: This comes from dance training. I will do this going forward and in turnout. Just sit on the ground in pike position (or you can do this with your back on the ground and your feet straight up in the air). With your feet straight up (as if you were standing) that is flex. Roll through your foot starting from the heel and point with your toes at the end, point straight. Reverse to flex position and repeat. 10 times is usually good. 3 sets of 10 is awesome and you will feel it in your ankles and legs. Turnout is good too because it hits different parts of the ankles. As you get good and want to add strength, try using an exercise band.
3. Balance is also key for your ankles. Try balancing on one foot. See how long you can hold it. Then balance on the other foot. Next, try it with your eyes closed. It gets a little bit harder. If you really want to try balance, go on your toes (dance relevé) and balance on each leg. Hold your arms to your side for balance or in first position ballet in front of you.
4. Finally, you want to keep your ankles loose and limber. In dance, we rotate our ankles. Pop one of your feet up (on your toes) and rotate your ankle out to the side and then in. Do this about 8 times, then reverse. Rotate inside out. Then switch feet and rotate out, then in.

This was good for me to write down. I forgot all of the different strength exercises I can do for my ankles. I am actually excited to do this each day. Besides the point and flex, you can do most of these as you are getting ready in the morning. While you are blow drying your hair, curling your hair, doing your make-up, or even while you are in the shower. The point and flex could actually be done in bed while you are waking up in the morning. (Gives you an excuse to stay in bed a little bit longer.)

Why do I want to strengthen my ankles? Because they help me with balance, keep me from falling, help me to run, dance, walk, swim, jump, AND they are an important part of my body. I want them to fulfill their function that they have been given and make them the best they can be.

Now I know that not everyone has fat ankles, but maybe you have weak ankles or you just want to be able to balance better. I hope this helped in that sense.

I guess in an essence, the first healthy body image challenge is to come to reality with one of your body parts that you cannot change. Some people will come up with parts of their bodies that they don't like, but can't strengthen (i.e. nose; on a lighter note you could flare your nostrils). This might be harder to deal with and figure out how to be happy with it. Everyone has their own different journey, but in the end, love who you are and what your family genetics have given to you. Use it as a strength, not a weakness.

Please comment if you have any other strength exercises for ankles. I am sure there are plenty that I have not written, but most of the ones I can think of are strength exercises for other parts of the body as well (squats, jumps, jumping jacks, etc.) Now that I think about it, ankles are very important for all other parts. I remember how hard it was to get around when I sprained my ankle. It was not fun. Show your ankles that you love them and take care of them!

Better Body Image

I haven't come up with a good title for this yet, but the essence of what I'm going to write about has to do with a transformation of how I think about my body. In our day and age, there are so many things out there telling us the "ideal" way to look. Way too many skinny (unhealthy) models are out there skewing our body images. The way that they look is not an ideal way to think. We do not all have the inherited genetics to look like that and if we do, we have to alter our image by some unnatural means.

The main thing that I want to do this year is to shed all of the "dead weight" that is keeping me down about loving my body the way that it is. I am imagining that I would like to do a detox of all the unhealthy things I think about personally about my body. It might take me a long time to get rid of some of the deep rooted feelings I have (such as I have never liked my legs), but I think it will be healthy.

Today, I just want to start off remembering that my body is a gift. I think the first step is to take an inventory of what a beautiful creation my body is and to take into account all the wonderful miracles that are happening each day, mostly without anything that I am doing to it. I'm just going to start with listing off some of the blessings I have because of my body. (Maybe this has been on mind because I've been dealing with atypical pneumonia for the past week and have been setback on some goals that I would like to achieve with good health).

*These would be different for everybody because we all have different things. I recognize that not everyone will have healthy lungs, be able to taste, have all of their limbs, but this is a start to love what I have and recognize the blessings that they are.

I am grateful for my body because:

• My heart pumps blood daily giving me the energy that I need
• My lungs are healthy and bring the oxygen to the blood that gives me energy
• My muscles and bones help me to move
• My eyes are able to see
• My ears are able to hear
• My nose is able to smell
• My tongue is able to taste
• My feet allow me to run, walk, dance, hike, etc.
• My hair is thick and full
• My skin is strong and protective
• My hands are able to do all of the things that I need to do each day
• I am grateful for my limbs, toes, fingers, and thumbs that help me do daily tasks. There are amazing people out there that do not have some of these and are able to compensate for what they are missing. I look up to these people.
• My mind - that I can think, feel, love, empathize, understand, and connect with others.
• It is a creation from a loving Heavenly Father who wants my spirit to continue to grow and learn.

This is just a start, but I was thinking about it yesterday, that the first gift we were given after we were created by our Heavenly Father was our free agency. We have the ability and freedom to make choices. Because we chose to follow Him and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have now been given these wonderful bodies. I know that not all bodies are whole. We have our own particular challenges with them, but they are a gift and my goal is to learn to love the gift that He has given me and be more grateful. I am so grateful for the body I have been given. I have specific challenges, one of them is feeding my body with the proper nutrition it needs to sustain me and and the other is to exercise and keep my body strong, but those are things that I can change.

Looking back, it was two weeks ago, when I went to breakfast with a good friend and told her that my heart is just not into being healthy. I wasn't sure what would get me out of that plateau. Then, I got pneumonia. The down time has made me realize how important my health is and that I want to maintain it. Maybe this is what I needed to get me started on my healthy new me. 

Since having pneumonia, I have realized that it is more important than ever to watch what we give our bodies. That goes back to Free Agency. We have the choice to fuel our bodies in certain ways. I have been working on telling myself each day how much I love my body and what I have and have realized that when I say that, I am less inclined to want to eat something that is unhealthy for me. This is just a start and I'm sure it will get harder as it goes, but I really want a healthy body. I think this is what will give me the drive to do it and maintain it this time. I will still be using techniques that I know work (I've used Weight Watcher Points Plus in the past and I love it because it works), but this time, if I have my whole heart in it, it will stick.

That and this quote: 

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.    -Edward Stanley

Stay tuned, I hope to write a little each day about something positive or thought-changing about how I view my body. Maybe it will be a 30 day positive body image challenge. :) 

Happy Birthday to me! I'm now 33!

"3 is a magic number, yes it is, it's a magic number." And this year I have double 3's in my birthday year, so it's going to be a magical year, right? It has been such a wonderful day. So many people have called, texted, or left messages on my facebook page to wish me a happy birthday. I truly feel like the queen of the day. It started out with some sleeping in (of course) and then we had blueberry pancakes with peanut butter on them. I love the blueberries so I was looking for the pancakes that had the most in them. Ryan got two that had a lot, so he brought them to me instead. What a great, wonderful man I married. I got an awesome Happy Birthday song from the Watts and Quincy tried to send me kisses through the phone by sucking on it. :)

I did start the day off by going to my friend Susan's brothers funeral. Her brother, Brian Scott Kelley, was in a major motorcycle accident which at first had them knowing he would be paralyzed, but they didn't know how much brain damage there would be. As time went on, they found out that there was no blood going to the brain and he was brain dead as of Monday, July 16. It was a very nice funeral and a lot of us from school went to support her.
After that, we relaxed a bit before we got to go to Chili's with my sisters, Jonelle and Maren, and my brother Eric. We met them at 4:30 for dinner. They already had the bottomless chips and salsa with queso ready for us when we got there. I got something I had never had before, Grilled Shrimp Tacos which were really good. She warned me that they were spicy, but I didn't think they were at all. They were very tasty. Maren got a sandwich which was not her favorite, Jonelle got the Monterey Chicken (one of my favorites- I was debating on whether or not to get that too), Ryan got the full baby back ribs, and Eric got this massive burger with onion rings and bacon on it. He couldn't remember the name of it, but it was huge.
My parents gave me as a gift "The Serpent's Shadow", another in the Kane Chronicle Series. Maren gave me some mini-eggs she had left over from Easter which I was so excited for because we didn't get any this year. Eric made sure to tell the waitress it was my birthday and we got this amazing caramel brownie with ice cream. Soooo good!

At Chili's. Gift from my parents.

I tried to flip it, but it wouldn't do it. This is the 3rd book in the Kane Chronicles Series.

Then we went to go see "The Amazing Spider-Man". I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but it definitely surpassed the Tobey Maguire ones. I really did like it, even though it took me awhile to get into it. My favorite part (the one part where Eric laughed out loud) was when Stan Lee did his cameo. (Stan Lee is the creator of Spider-Man and all the Marvel Super Heroes). Just listening to his music on headphones while Spidey and the villian are fighting in the background. Awesome.
Then we went over to Jonelle's for some cake and ice cream. Jonelle had made the funfetti cake which I love and Eric had picked up from the BYU creamery a fudge brownie nut ice cream, yum.

The "awesome" funfetti cake Jonelle made.

Eric is very concentrated on lighting the candles.

Jonelle & Eric are now doing it.

As you can see Maren's candle has burned the most.

Look at ALL of those candles lit up.

The birthday song

I blew all the candles out in one breath!

Then we watched some Quincy videos before we left. It was a lot of fun and I will post the pictures tomorrow, but I at least wanted to get this up tonight. Thank you to all for making my birthday so wonderful!

Jonelle getting the Roku ready. Ryan excited to see Quincy. He hasn't seen her since she was born.

Maren & Eric chilling on the other couch.

We ended up having to video tape this on my ipad so we could all be in it. This was my first attempt to take pictures from a video. I tried to add special elements to it, but for some reason it didn't save it.

My goofy husband.

Now my goofy brother.

Love my family!

Eric was definitely hamming it up.

We have fun together.

I think Eric is really the only one who changed among all of these pictures.

Organization battles Entropy

I recently went to a Stake Relief Society Workshop and learned that organization is not a talent, but is a skill that can be learned. Well, I have been trying to work on that skill during my summer vacation and I have found the nasty law of physics, entropy, lurking around every corner. Entropy's definition states - a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration/lack of pattern or organization; disorder. There is a Law of DISORDER! Therefore, for every thing that you put in order, entropy is there trying to take something else apart. (I hope it's not like the 3rd Law of Motion: For every action there is an EQUAL and OPPOSITE reaction. Uggghhh!) That has been my struggle for the past few weeks. For example, I just re-organized my kitchen exactly the way I wanted it. I had just made everything clean and orderly. The space on top of my fridge is now a space saving item, but I didn't realize I had left so little room for each item. As I was readjusting a basket, a bottle of Noni Juice fell on the carpet, hitting precisely at the bottle's neck causing the bottom to shoot off. Immediately, the sticky, nasty, tart smelling liquid, permeated into the brown carpet, splattered all over my kitchen chairs, table and wall. Entropy was out to destroy me! I had spent a good day and a half re-organizing my kitchen and it lashed back. It took me a good 3 hours to clean everything up, including the carpet (2x - thank goodness for OxiClean!)

I don't think you can see it very well, but this is the picture I took to 
show Ryan while he was still at work. It took me 3 hours total 
(not all at once) to clean!

Here is the cleaned result! No stains, just shadows from the table.

Even Ryan has felt the effects. He has been trying to get so much done with work, his new calling as 2nd counselor in a Singles Ward, and studying for the Enrolled Agent Exam. He has been doing all of this stuff to prepare and get organized and entropy comes along and he gets sick for 2 weeks straight! I felt so bad for him. He kept on trying to work and push through it, but every day he still had a fever of 102 degrees. It was horrible and there was no rest for him. In the end he had to succumb to entropy's power and call in sick. He took off Thursday and Friday and just slept. It was good for him to just sleep it all away (and go to an actual Internal Medicine doctor rather than InstaCare - not that they aren't good, just another opinion was needed). Thank goodness we got some good antibiotics and he is on the mend.

Poor Ryan. He just needed lots and lots of sleep.

I know that if you don't think about something, it takes it's power away, so can I do that with entropy? Can I conquer it and just not think about it? There must be a way to go against this Law. Maybe I'm thinking too much about this since I just finished "Matched". I need to not think too much about what I read. I just picked up "The Lost Hero" so I might be a little into Roman mythology for awhile. :-) Maybe Roman mythology and fighting bad guys is exactly what I need to fight entropy right now. I will just focus on the awesome power I feel of being organized and imagine entropy's power fading away. And if it doesn't, I guess it's another way for me to learn patience. :-)

Learning through Repetition

The best way to learn something is through repetition, right? Well, I guess the Lord wants me to be a professional at getting students accommodated with starting school in the middle of the year. I have had 10 students move out of my class from the beginning of the year. (It might be 11, I've lost track). With those students who have moved out (it seems at a constant rate), I have been selected by the school secretaries to receive the bulk of the new students. (Not by some malicious reasoning - at least I hope- it is just because my numbers keep going down and the other teachers' numbers have stayed the same).

The school secretary sent me an e-mail on Friday entitled "You are going to KILL me" and contained the name of the newest member of my class. (This will make 11 new students). My class seems to have a revolving door on it this year because as they leave, more come in. Luckily, I will be in the classroom on Monday when he comes, because it is also a joke that I am either at a training or something when the new student arrives.

I guess I just need to laugh and learn to perfect the art of helping students to start in a new classroom part way through the year. I'm glad that my fellow co-workers understand my frustration and laugh with me. The student before this one's name was Roxanne and my co-worker lovingly made me a CD that played "Roxanne" by the Police over and over again. I think I listened to it at least 15 times while preparing for my new student.

I must admit it is hard to see my other students go and new ones come in, but it keeps me on my toes and reminds me that the Lord is teaching me to learn by repetition. I must not have gotten it right yet. :)

The Family Proclamation meets Percy Jackson?

One of the things that I love about teaching 6th grade, is that I get to learn about all of the ancient civilizations. We talk about Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The best part about it has been learning how the gospel correlates with each of these different civilizations. I have seen how Mesopotamia flourished and fell because of their dealings with Jerusalem. I have also gotten a deeper understanding of why it was so important to find a Roman citizen (Paul) to help spread the gospel after the death of Jesus Christ. I have also seen how Egypt went from being a polytheistic nation (believing in many gods and goddesses) to believing in one true God during one Pharaoh's rule (Joseph's influence?). My newest insight came to me today as I was visiting teaching both of the sisters I teach today.

The title of the Visiting Teaching Message this month is "Guardian of the Hearth." (My thoughts: I have never used the word "hearth" except for when teaching about Greek Mythology, so it piqued my interest.) In 1995, when President Gordon B. Hinckley introduced "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in the general Relief Society meeting, he said the following to the women of the church, "You are the guardians of the hearth, You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God."

First of all, how cool is that to be called a guardian? I really did imagine a warrior princess defending her homeland and her home. Someone that is at the front of the gate, keeping evil out. It was so cool to think that we as women have that role of keeping out evil from our homes and protecting our family. Of course, the first warrior princess I looked up to was, She-Ra. :) Then maybe a Xena type warrior.

Now as I had said, the only time I had really used the word hearth, was in Greek mythology, but I know it has to do with the fireplace as well. When I think of a fireplace, I think of good things, I imagine warmth, good memories, family gathered around telling stories. The hearth is to be the symbol of what home is supposed to be like. It is supposed to remind us of good times and warm feelings of love towards one another.

Now, how does Greek mythology play a role into my thinking? One of my favorite juvenile book series is: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It is written by Rick Riordan and is so great for my students because it teaches about Greek mythology in a fun action-packed book. In the last book, "The Last Olympian", Percy and his friends are trying to save Mt. Olympus from falling to the Titans and their leader Kronos. As all of the Olympians are out trying to fight the Titans, Percy travels to Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods, and finds that one goddess is left behind. It is Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home. She explains that she does not have any great powers and is the least of all of the gods. (Isn't that how the world would like us to think, taking care of the home is the least important of all the jobs?)

She then goes on to tell Percy that it is harder and harder to keep the flames of the fire going because of the weakening of the gods as they are away from their home. Long story short, Percy knows that in the prophecy about him, he will make a decision that will either bring the destruction or victory of the gods. It isn't until Prometheus gives him Pandora's box (if you know the history of Pandora, she was told to never open the box because of what would happen, but curiosity got the best of her, she opened it and all of the bad things such as death, hunger, sickness, fear, etc. came out into the world. The only thing left in the box is hope which means that there is still hope in the world. If she is ever let out of the box by mankind, then that means they have given up hope as well.) and tells him if he changes his mind on fighting the Titans to let hope escape to show they surrender.

Now, back to Hestia and why she is so important. :) As things are getting worse, Percy travels back to Mt. Olympus and finds Hestia still tending the fire, trying to get it to be bigger. As Percy comes closer to the fire he begins to learn Hestia's true role in the world. He sees in the hearth his mother, Paul (step-dad) and him at Thanksgiving dinner, his friends and him around the campfire at Camp Half-Blood, singing songs and roasting marshmallows, Rachel and him driving along the beach in Paul's Prius; all warm, loving, tender memories. Hestia then asks Percy if he is ready to make his decision. He looks at Pandora's box and realizes that hope is pretty useless to him with so many of his friends dead, Olympus is on the verge of falling and he had seen so many cruel things happen by the hands of the gods. In his mind Prometheus whispers Surrender, Otherwise your home will be destroyed. Your precious camp will burn. He looks at Hestia and remembers the images he'd seen in the hearth - friends, family, everyone he cared about. Then he remembered a fellow camper (friend/demi-god) saying: There's no point in defending camp if you guys die. All our friends are here. And then another demi-god, Nico, standing up to his father Hades saying: If Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. He then realizes that if the home is invaded and overtaken, then everything is lost. He gives Pandora's Jar to Hestia as an offering.

She is confused at first and says, "I am the least of the gods. Why would you trust me with this?"

"You're the last Olympian. [Percy] said. "And the most important."

"And why is that, Percy Jackson?"

"Because Hope survives best at the hearth," [Percy] said. "Guard it for me, and I won't be tempted to give up again."

The goddess smiled. She took the jar in her hands and it began to glow. The hearth fire burned a little brighter.

"Well done, Percy Jackson," she said. "May the gods bless you."

I hope this makes sense, but Percy realized that home was the most important because that is where you learn to trust and love others. He knew it needed to be kept the strongest in order to win the war. He realized that it was the protection of the home (Mt. Olympus) that would help to keep the evil out. The other gods had "abandoned the home" and left it vulnerable to attack, but because he gave hope to Hestia and called her the most important of the gods, their strength was renewed and hope burned brighter.

Now I know Rick Riordan is not a latter-day saint, but it is so cool to see that even in Children's literature, we can find simple truths of the gospel. The home is what is important and the most crucial to protect from the buffetings of Satan. We are the guardians of the home. We are the ones in control of what is allowed into our homes. We are daughters of our Heavenly Father and he trusts us to bring up the next generation with love, hope, and strivings to do what is right and trust in the Lord. I have a new soft spot for Hestia, the least of the Greek gods, because she is in charge of the most important spot of all: The Home.

(P.S. The picture I chose of Hestia was on purpose. It reminds me of the 10 virgins -one of the 5 wise- with their lamps. It is also a symbol of keeping enough oil in our lamp so that we can have a fire like hearth near us always - to remind us of Home.)