This and that...

So, the video below was removed from YouTube because the person who posted it didn't have the correct copyrights. Too bad, since it was awesome.

On another note, I have a tryout on Friday with LA Fitness to be one of their aerobic instructors. I'm totally nervous. I'm actually trying out to be a hip hop instructor. The gym already has one and the lady said she's not sure if there is any room for another class, unless I just WOW her supervisor. So let's see if I can WOW her.

The girl who teaches the class now is terrible with a capital T and I will be listing the reasons why I don't like the class. Unfortunately, it is the ONLY hip hop class offered at the gym so I keep going hoping it gets better. I guess beggars can't be choosers, but this is my blog and I have the right to gripe...

1. I completely understand how hard it is to teach dance, especially to middle and upper class white women with no booty shakin' rhythm, however I feel it extremely important that the instructor themselves should be able to keep an 8-count. This girl cannot! It is SO frustrating when she tries to get us started. Instead of saying 5-6-7-8 like you should, she says, "OK GO!" really fast and that's normally after we should have started a particular step in the first place!

2. Also, she'll repeat a step (which is good - repetition is key) but one time she'll do it for 8 counts, the next time she'll do it for 4 and then the next she'll do it for 12. How in the heck is someone supposed to follow that?!

3. Another thing is her music has cussing in it. I know that may not be a big deal to some, but I feel like you should never use music with anything inappropriate while at a place of business. It's just common courtesy in my eyes.

4. Also, nobody wants to do pelvic thrusts for an entire song! Mix it up a little!

5. One of the most annoying things she does is she gives too many water breaks. I'm there for an hour cardio workout. Don't stop the music and say "Water break" right when my heart starts pumping. Not only is it ridiculous but it's bad for you. Keeping your heartrate up is the only way to burn calories! So while everyone else gets water, I run in place. You'd think she'd notice.

6. And lastly, don't show up at 5:44 when the class starts at 5:45 and then have trouble hooking up your miked headset...EVERYTIME! I understand if it happens once, but when it starts being a consistent problem, something needs to change. The last time I was there, she spent 15 minutes of class time trying to figure the stupid thing out instead of just starting class and talking loudly. Really lady?!

OK, this has turned into an unanticipated vent session. So wish me luck with my tryout. It's on Friday at 11:30 a.m. and I'm freaking out! I haven't tried out for anything since UNT Cheer tryouts in 2002! Ahhh!

On another note, is anyone watching The Biggest Loser? Oh my these people are bigger than ever! I'm totally excited for this season. I just watched the first episode and already bawled my eyes out. That Abby is one strong cookie! I cried everytime she started talking about her personal tragedy and then she would say the most inspiring things afterward. I don't know how I would deal with the death of my entire family in one fell swoop, but I can pretty much guarantee I wouldn't be half as capable as Abby has been. She's a real trooper. Since we don't have cable, I have to watch it online which is normally no big deal since most episodes are online the day after they air. However, The Biggest Loser likes to be different and they don't air the episode until a week later. I thought it was NBC doing that, not The Biggest Loser, but I was wrong because we're able to watch The Office the very next day. I have no idea why it's different with The Biggest Loser. So, if you're watching, don't spoil it for me and say, "Ooh! Can you believe so-and-so was voted off?!" because I'll have no idea and then I'll be forced to slap you. You've been warned...

The best thing I've seen in a long time!

I saw this on my cousin-in-law, Heather's blog. It's seriously incredible! I would have done ANYTHING to be a part of this!

This is Oprah's 24th season opener and the BlackEyed Peas performed. What ensues is the "World's Largest Flash Mob". If you don't know what a flash mob is, you will by the end of the video! :)

The cool story I promised - I hope you think it's as cool as I do!

I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on November 26, 2005. For those of you who don't know, Latter-Day Saints are also known as Mormons. I was introduced to the Church by missionaries who moved into the apartment complex where I worked and after 4 months of investigating and asking numerous questions, I decided to be baptized. I take my faith and membership in the LDS church very seriously and my decision was nothing short of difficult. It was a life-changing decision but if given the opportunity, I'd do it all over again.

This past weekend, I attended my 10 year high school reunion and had so much fun seeing lots of people I hadn't seen in, well...10 years! As I was walking around talking to people, two boys I've known since elementary and junior high tapped me on the shoulder - Brett Frandsen and Donnie Warren. I immediately recognized them and screamed with joy, which I don't think they were expecting. These guys weren't really friends, moreso acquaintances, but I was excited to see them nonetheless since we had numerous classes together.

Donnie said he had seen my blog through his sister who saw it through a friend of hers. Did you get that? Anyways, he noticed the Church logo on my page. He and Brett have been members their whole lives and wanted to congratulate me on my baptism. It was seriously so cool to find out after all these years that Brett and Donnie were Mormon and I had no idea. I never thought I had a whole lot in common with them, but now, that's totally changed. They were really great, all-around nice guys who married girls they deserved. I got to meet their beautiful wives and they met Joseph and we had a great talk in the middle of the dance floor!

I think the coolest part about this experience actually comes before the reunion. When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to wear, I looked in my closet and of course hated everything! Thankfully I had some birthday money to spend and so I went shopping! Being Mormon has also changed the way I dress. I no longer wear anything sleeveless or strapless and shorts always go to my knees. That may seem strange to some of you but it's a personal choice and most LDS members abide by this rule. We feel strongly about modesty and chastity, and go by the notion that our bodies are our temples. Because I haven't been a member all my life, I used to dress in that way, meaning tank tops, short shorts, etc. Don't get me wrong - I don't feel that dressing that way is wrong or bad. It's just not what I do anymore. After having a kid, I feel the need to cover more anyway! So as I'm searching for something fun and cute, a flash of a thought crosses my mind that I could wear whatever I wanted to the reunion. Not a lot of people from high school know I'm Mormon now. It's not like I would see anyone from church so why not wear a fun little strapless dress? I considered it but heard a little voice in my head telling me not to. After some thought, I felt in the end I would be much more comfortable sticking to my modesty guns. I found a really pretty, modest dress at The Limited and was really excited about my choice.

So here I am at the reunion, and lo and behold, I see Donnie and Brett. Two members who wanted to congratulate me on my baptism. I can't imagine how I would have felt had I worn that strapless number! Not that they would have judged me - because I know they wouldn't have. I just would have been embarrassed. Here I am, proud as punch to be a Latter-Day Saint, but dressed in a non-LDS way. How can I set an example for my family when I can't even follow my own example. I realized later that night that the voice in my head telling me not to buy the little strapless dress was the Holy Spirit. And how thankful I am to be worthy to have the Spirit with me to help me make tough decisions.

Being Mormon doesn't just mean you don't drink, don't smoke, dress modestly, have lots of babies (just kidding on that last one!), etc. It's much more than that. A friend of mine put it perfectly - "It has been a process of me figuring out who I am, who I want to be, what values system I hold and how I will interact with my family in my home." (Thanks Carrie!) Being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was the greatest decision I've ever made. It gave me the opportunity to find my husband and be sealed to him for all time and eternity, to have Jonathan and be sealed to him and all other children we have. It's made my life much more fulfilling than I ever could have imagined. I'm truly thankful to my parents and brother for accepting my decision, tough as it may have been in the beginning. I'm also thankful to my friends who I've known all through my non-Mormon days for not judging me and staying my true friends.

Thanks for listening! I am now stepping down off my soapbox, at least for tonight.

More vocab

It seems as though Jonathan is learning a new word or words everyday. It astounds me how much he picks up just by listening and repeating. Today, Jonathan said "this", "juice" and "shoe". "This" sounds like dis, and "juice" sounds like duece. "Shoe" sounded like sue but was pretty spot on for the most part. Once he learned to say "ice", it seemed like all these other "s" words started emerging from his tongue. Pretty cool! I was impressed.

I can't wait until he starts stringing actual words together. Right now, it's mostly gibberish, but he'll come to me and point at something saying a whole long sentence of nothing. When I say "What?", he repeats the exact same gibberish so I know he's really trying to tell me something. I wish I could translate but I'm sure over time, I'll start to understand. It's really funny. I can't believe how quickly my little guy is growing up. It's sad to think he'll never be this age again. I have to enjoy every moment, and I repeat that to myself every day. Man, I love this kid!

Mush!

Corey Mac - this is for you! He's sort of catching on. He thinks it's hilarious when I do it!

Vocabulary

Jonathan has added quite a few words to his repertoire. Repertoire...I love that word. It reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Major Payne. Have you ever seen that movie? It's stupid and ridiculous and my brother and I used to watch it all the time when we were younger. Don't think I didn't put it on my Netflix queue!

Anyways, back to Jonathan. This weekend my big boy said "apple" and "ice" clear as day. It's weird to think just a few weeks ago, "golfball" was this kid's main word! I haven't counted how many words Jonathan can say, so let's start shall we?

1. Ball

2. Golfball

3. Mama

4. Dada

5. Ice

6. Apple

7. Banana (sounds like bana)

8. Hot dog (after he says this, he say Guh Guh which is Gunner, our dog)

9.Gunner

10. Nona

11. Papi

12. Vivi

13. Daddy Mac (sounds like Da Ma)

14. Soccer ball (sounds like sa ball)

And I think that's it. There you have it! Fourteen words, baby! My little boy is getting too big... Sad face :(

PS~ This is my 100th post! I thought that was kinda cool

Little dipper

Jonathan has become quite the little dipper when it comes to his food. I gave him ranch to eat with his carrots and he kept dipping and sucking. I had to remind him to actually take bites and chew! I'll admit, it's a bit messy but totally worth it to see him enjoy his food so much. He kept dipping, sucking and then he'd say, "Mmmmmmm!".

Little daredevil

I know this video is sideways but I hope that won't stop you. This video cracks me up! I know I look like a terrible mom because I'm laughing at the end, but as soon as I realized he was upset, I stopped and cuddled him. I promise. I just had to show how brave Jonathan is getting. This kid has no fear whether it's jumping on furniture or jumping to me in the pool. He's a little daredevil! As soon as he felt better, Jonathan jumped right back on the couch and started up again, only this time he played it much safer. It's fun to see how quickly a little boy can learn, especially the concept of gravity!