Melissa's Energy

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

:)

I love when I go on runs and this is the view...

I love going bouldering and carrying my enormously huge pad..

I love this apron I made for Jordan, even though it took all day..

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Ok so this week I am dealing with midterm (yes, it is already the middle of the semester. Didn't it just start?!?) I have been lucky and they really havent been too bad. I only had three this week! 1 down, 2 to go! Anyways, so one of them is nutrition midterm. I have been learning all about balancing diets and making sure we have enough essential proteins, carbs, and fats. But not so much that we get fat. AAHH. Our bodies are crazy, let me tell you. Everything we put in has a reaction and is processed in a different way.

So there I was... out of bread, again. I like love that stuff. mmm. Then I was thinking, why am I a slave to my peanut butter and honey toast when there are so many other things? well I didn't have much time to think because I had to go to class... Nutrition! We learned all about proteins. I had been living in this fantasy world that peanut butter was the greatest thing for my body and that God had sent it to this Earth just for me to love and eat, with honey. Well I was wrong. After a bunch of mumbo jumbo learning, I discovered a whole world of good protein sources that still taste good AND are cheap. (I am poor)

Beans - all kinds of beans, kidney beans, black beans, soy beans
Eggs
Skim Milk
Soy

So I went to the store after classes and homework. I bought a bunch of fresh produce, rice, beans, eggs, and milk. Well today I was able to eat a variety instead of my old oatmeal for breakfast. I had an egg on whole wheat toast with some jelly, a banana, and a big glass of water, or two.

If you know me, you know I love the summer more than any other season. Seriously. So it was my dinner night, and I decided to make

Some summer rice!

1pk brown rice 140z
1can mandarin oranges
1/2cup copped celery
1/2cup chopped green onions
3Tbs. cider vinegar
3 chicken breasts. boiled and cut up in small chunks
1/2cup slivered almonds

Use juice from mandarin oranges and cider vinegar, pour into measuring cup and measure the rest of the way to 2 1/2cups with water. Bring to boil, add brown rice. Reduce to simmer 5 mins. covered. Take off heat, stir, cover for 5 more mins. Add everything else and enjoy!

So easy and it tastes great!!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

confession

Up at school, it seems a big problem is staying in shape while going to school and balancing homework, roommates, work, and for me rock climbing. There are always so many treats, whether at FHE or roommates just having a good time. I have been attempting to stay in shape by running with my roommate Kimberly, but lately my body has been telling me no. The bottoms of my feet hurt like I have broken toes, and my knee occasionally likes to scream at me for moving so much.

So needless to say I have been doing very badly at staying in shape. I have decided to come up with a plan that female college students can follow.

One of the biggest problems for college students is nutrition. I have seen so many people eating crappy food that does nothing for the body. The challenge is finding food that is cheap and nutritious.

Another big problem is finding time to work out. School work is a big responsibility and it seems that now we are being stretched to our limits with classes, homework, and maintaining a social life.

Here are some of the simple things that can be done to improve your body:
1. Drink at least 4 water bottles of water a day(I am at 2 so far!)
2. Do 5 days of cardio for 30-60mins a day.
3. Lift weights 3 days a week
4. Eat more fruits and veggies.
5. Make healthy eating decisions

It is so important to maintain physical fitness in these days. So many people put it on the back burner and focus on other things, but by taking care of our bodies it will increase our quality of life.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Loving life!

It is the start of a new semester! These are my amazing roommates. I have been so blessed to have such amazing examples in my life. They have taught me more than they will ever know. I am so excited for Kendra (Top Left). She is getting married on April 17, 2010 to Jacob Barnes. They are perfect for each other.

These pictures were so much fun to take. They are at the very end of the day so that is why we all look exhausted.

It has long been a tradition that we always make cinnamon rolls on every fireside. And they turned out amazing!

This is a trip I took last semester with my mountaineering class. We were so awesome climbing around on everything!

Life is so good. I love everything about it. Even the times when it seems hard. We have been given this short amount of time to come down here and prove ourselves. I have been so blessed in my life. I know that my Heavenly Father is looking out for me. This makes me realize how all the bad times only make the good times so much more amazing.

"Find Joy in the Journey"
-President Thomas S. Monson

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Busy Busy BUSY

I have been up here at school for a couple of weeks. So when I signed up for school I thought it would be a good idea to take 18 credits. Well I have definitely learned how to work hard. I have been waking up every morning at 7AM, going running, doing scripture study, leave for classes, and do homework until 7PM if I am lucky. I am on my ward's Frisbee team and I also take a mountaineering class where I am gone every weekend to go hike up a huge mountain! I also teach a class called Abs That Rock on Monday and Wednesday nights at 10. An hour of nothing but abs! I am not complaining at all! I love being busy and feeling like I have accomplished something at the end of the day. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but if I am doing all the right things I know that everything is going to work out, and it ALWAYS does!

So this last weekend we went on a hike called Bell Mountain and the weekend before was Teewinot. There is this boy in my class, we will call him Jimmy. Well Jimmy is a little slower and bigger. We go on hikes that are HARD. Whenever we would get to some harder stuff I noticed that Jimmy would fall quite a ways behind. A couple of friends and I would stay behind with him and help him through it. I have never seen someone more commited and hard working than he was. Jimmy had a brain tumor and also had cancer. I did not know this when I started hiking up this trail. It was amazing to see him litterally pull himself up rocks through snow and bleeding cuts. He truly was an inspiration. Half way up Teewinot he decided to stay behind and let us go up to the top. Well while waiting down there another couple came up and the girl didn't want to go to the top either. She stayed down where Jimmy was. Jimmy was able to have a gospel discusion with this girl and shared his testimony with her. It is amazing to see how nothing can get Jimmy down and he is still able to share his testimony with others. NEVER once in any of the hard hikes did I ever hear Jimmy complain about anything! I need to be more like him.

Here are some pictures:

This is Teewinot. We started at the trail in the corner and went to the very top

On top of Teewinot, that's the Grand in the background!

Bell mountain at sunset

Sunset on Bell mountain

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Table Rock overnighter!

I am in a mountaineering class and yesterday we went on a hike by the Teton Mountain range up a trail called Table mountain. We slept out on top for a night! The view was amazing! We hiked up for 7 hours and got up to the top just before the sun went down. We all got on our warm clothes and made our dinners. After eating we got in bed and our teacher read us the most depressing bedtime story ever... Everyone on the mountain climb died. Good way to start off the freezing night i know! Well we fell asleep for a little while and then our tarp randomly flew off. Well Dustin and I were wide awake so we ended up talking for a couple hours while eating starburts! Rick came in and out of sleep... supposedly a mouse was trying to steal his hat! Well we fell asleep eventually and the next thing I knew it was just before sunrise! It was amazingly beautiful! After breakfast we practiced sliding in the snow with ice axes and then practiced falling and stopping ourselves with the axes! Then we hiked out to inspiration point which was so inspirational! :) After we hiked down singing... yes singing the whole way! It was such a fun trip and nice to get away from the stresses of school for a night! Now to get back to work!

hiking up