I Work Out

Yes, these are just pictures of us posing our muscles and how cute we look, and yes, I may have been forcing Olivia and Heidi to take them...but we did indeed go work out! For me, it was the first time I've gone in a while and we just did weight-liftting and machine biking (me) or treadmilling (definitely not me). I feel great (although my legs would say otherwise haha...)!! I think I'm going to make it a goal to go work out more. I want to build up my immune system and also get stronger. Think I can do it? Heck yes I can!

Recapturing Beauty Day 5: Exercise for Fun

Day 5:

Exercise for fun—choose a form of exercise that you enjoy, a form you wouldn’t normally choose because it calls attention to your body. How did your body feel during and after your exercise? Reflect on the blessing of being able to move.

WHY: Exercise is necessary for health, but we have turned it into a duty, obligation and punishment--something we do to “make up” for the food we eat. Women are bombarded with media messages that tell us we can’t run, swim, do yoga, or any number of things unless we have the “perfect” body. We must stop waiting to achieve perfection and live our lives to the fullest--taking risks, trying new things, and utilizing the unlimited potential of our bodies.

What kind of exercise do you think I chose? DANCE. Of course! What else? I know it said to choose something I normally don't do, but we were also supposed to exercise for fun and I honestly don't enjoy most forms of exercise. Dance is just my way of exercising. So I danced for like an hour and a half. About that amount of time. I can't completely remember because I was enjoying myself so much. And I really did appreciate my body so much while I was dancing. Every little body part is needed in dance and it all just looks so beautiful while you're doing it. I watched some youtube videos for dancing ideas and it just amazed me to see some of the things people could do or just how strange and beautiful their bodies looked while doing it. I love my body because it lets me dance. It is such a blessing to be able to move every single part of it and create something beautiful. That absolutely astounds me. :)

“When you look closely people are so strange and so complicated that they're actually beautiful.”

I loooove UEA!!!

This weekend was so much fun! We had UEA weekend, which meant we got school off on Thursday and Friday. It was so nice to have only 3 days of school and a 4 day weekend! I did a lot of stuff every day and it was way awesome!

Wednesday: Technically, we still had school on Wednesday, but I went to the football game, so I'm counting that night as UEA. I went to the football game with one of my friends. We played against Northridge high school and beat them something like 30 to 7. It was a way fun game and we stormed the field when it was done. Then we went home and went to bed.

Thursday: My friends wanted me to hang out the whole day but I didn't really want to waste my whole day doing that so in the morning, I did a few chores and then later I went shopping with my brother and sister. I still had an art class (for college) so I went to that and learned about positive and negative space. :) Then I went with my friends. We mostly just talked and then started to watch a movie, but I went home, so I didn't get to see the rest.

Friday: On Friday morning, I did more chores (surprise, surprise) and then went out with my family later and some other fun relatives and saw "Journey to the Center of the Earth." To be truthful, I thought it was probably going to be kind of dumb, but it turned out to be pretty cool. Right before that we went to a park and had fun there.

Me in the middle (in the brown shirt) with my siblings and cousins! Notice my brother reading--he couldn't even look up for a picture the book was so good. haha, typical of him!

(Friday continued) That night, I went to a masquerade with some of my friends from yearbook staff. Another girl who's on yearbook was throwing it. It turned out to be way fun. The girl's mom is a teacher at this junior high so they did it there in the cafeteria. There was food and music and stuff, too. We played some games and learned a dance too, so it turned out to be pretty sweet.

Saturday: Early in the morning, I went with some friends to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We didn't actually get to do baptisms, just confirmations, because the temple was so busy and some group of like 20 youth showed up unexpectedly. We would have stayed, but Courtney had to be somewhere so we just left.

Brooke and Courtney pretending to be asleep (not that the temple is boring!)

Who knows what I'm doing. :D

Brooke loves the temple!! It gets two thumbs up!

(Saturday continued) Later in the day, I had to go to work for eight hours (ugh!) but it turned out to be okay. I was there until eleven so I was way tired when I got home and went straight to bed.

Sunday: Sunday was a crazy day (weird, huh)! We went to church and left Sunday school to go to one boy's mission farewell (he was in our ward before it split and is an absolutely awesome kid). Then at 3 we went to ward choir practice (where I play the piano) and sang songs. At 5 there was a youth choir practice and right after that we were supposed to have a fireside by John Bytheway (it really is his last name!). However, he thought the fireside was at 7 and so he was about half an hour late, so we just sang songs until he came. It turned out to be a great fireside, and he was one of the funniest speakers I've ever heard! Then we got home, and sadly, we missed all of the "Amazing Race", so Cee Ryle had to tell us what happened. It was very hectic, but fun.

UEA turned out to be great and I really dreaded going back to school on Monday. Thankfully the week has gone by fast, and another weekend is already almost here!

P.S. High School Musical 3 comes out TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I were seeing the midnight show, but I will see it with my family to celebrate my birthday (a little late, I know). But I'm thoroughly excited and CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!! That's all, have a great day!