Life as we know it

So a lot has happened in my life this year and its all exciting things.

Last October I started working at the Cocoa Lodge here in Rexburg. Its a delicious little Lodge filled with Chocolate and flavors. In the fall and winter they do flavored hot chocolate and in the spring and summer they make Frozen Hot Chocolate. Basically its cocoa powder in a frozen a drink, seriously the best thing I have had in a long time and very addicting.

 Well as this business started I was their to help Katie with all the social media. It was amazing to me all the things I found myself learning. The social media world is a crazy one and businesses really have to be on the ball in order to get people to "follow" and "like" them. However it is a great resource for advertising as well.

As fall semester was ending I was really dreading school and not really happy with my degree I had chosen. I looked at my graduation plan and noticed that I wouldn't graduate till 2 semesters after Robbie. This is a problem because Robbie and I want to move as soon as he graduates and gets a job. This got me thinking I am paying thousands of dollars to go to school to get a degree I don't even plan on using, just so I can have a piece of paper that says I graduated in something. So Robbie just said well just graduate with your associates, you must have that by now.. At first I thought excuse you, you are supposed to tell me to keep going. He then explained "Shanel I love you no matter what you do as long as you are happy!" Wow talk about husband of the year award.

So I prayed about it and it felt right for me. That's the thing, I loved school but could never find that path that was leading to something I was excited about and willing to work hard enough in those classes everyone hates. However I have found new ways to educate myself in the things I love, such as social media.

So as time went on Robbie told me about this job on Craig List for a real estate company here in town. I thought I have only had one job in an office and it was only for a couple months till I came back to school. There is no way I am qualified for this job. However Robbie said it is worth a try, so I put in my resume and I didn't hear anything for 3 weeks. I just figured oh I must not even qualify for the job. Then I got a phone call for an interview. I seriously looked up everything I could to prepare myself for this interview. When I got there it seemed good, we went through my resume and I started talking about my experience, when they started asking more about the social media aspect of my job with the Cocoa Lodge. I was like really all you guys interviewed me for was my experience with social media! Wow! haha

So after all the questions and going through what they would want from me in that aspect. They challenged me to come back with a plan if I got a second interview. I said ok I will prepare for that.
I was pretty shocked after that interview, I really was surprised. However being the girl I am, I started preparing a plan. I didn't even know if I had a second interview but I was excited. However by the end of that day they called me back to schedule a 2nd interview.

So for the next two days I did research and came up with a plan. I walked into the interview and talked with the owner of the company and his brother. They asked me a bunch more questions and then we went over my plan. We talked for over an hour, I finally had to say I needed to go to get to my job... Well I left confident and anxious, I was scared to get the job because of the people I worked with were so great to me. However, I think I would have been more sad if I didn't get the job. However within two hours of my 2nd interview they called to let me know that I got the job.

Seriously I didn't know whether to cry or scream!

Well I went through all the training and now I have been on my own for a couple weeks now. I re- organized the office and got everything clean and refreshed. Now I am starting on all the social media things with CountryWide Properties, Inc. . When I started the interview process with this company I felt like I had something ahead of me, that this was my path in life, or the beginning of something big.

I not only have the real estate company, all the agents have other businesses that they run, they also need my help on the social media as well. So I am always busy and have plenty to do which is really nice.

We shall see where this takes me in life, its amazing how far a little job at a chocolate shop can start you on a bigger path to greater things!

Bridget's Baby Shower!

One of my Counselors was Pregnant so I decided to put on a baby shower for her. Really I jut like putting on parties so its a good excuse =).

The colors are pink and gray! Which if anyone knows me I love the color pink and really anything sparkly!

So I decided to do a sweet but simple theme.

I bought some tissue paper and made some tissue flowers
I bought the pink fans from Amazon
Then I just used streamers that I had from previous parties

In stead of onesies I had the girls decorate the bib's. I feel that as a mom it maybe hard to use the onesies. My mother also says that babies can never have to many bib's also these bib's have plastic behind them. That prevents their food from seeping through.

The Food I simply did some veggies, cupcakes, and smokies.

However one thing I learned from this. Is don't put the smokies in the crock pot over night on low. Thats to long for them. Simply put the smokies in the crock pot in the morning or a couple hours before the party. 

I also had pink lemonaid, mason jars and the cute chevron straws.

I had a lot of fun with these ladies and I think Bridget got a lot of nice things for her little girl!! 

Oh and Bridget had her baby on Wed morning and Stephanie and I went to go visit them that night! We fell in love with Ms. Vienna

Heavenly Father Trusts You

Being a Relief Society President for a newly married ward may seem to be easier then other wards. Yes most of us are around the same age and most of us have families at the same stages. However since October when I was sustained as the Relief Society President I have noticed a few things. 1 never assume people have it all together. I have encountered situations where I thought wow that sister has it all together and is so strong. Then I come to find out why they are strong and also what their weakness are. Sometimes actually a lot of the time I struggle to understand what many sisters are going through. I have been very blessed in my life to have a supportive family, supportive and caring husband, and many blessing placed upon us at this time in our life. I have a blessing that states that I will have a "charmed" life if I live worthy. I never new what that meant at 16, however I knew I had a big job on this earth. Sometimes I feel that Heavenly Father trusts me with to much. Some moments I can not see or know what I am supposed to do. However I have known that through action I can make a difference.

Heavenly Father has trained me from a young age to act, pray, and then do. He always has me make a decision then to ask him if it right. For the most part he doesn't disagree. I have found that if you have a righteous decision God will bless you with the path you choose. For instance (as a women) we have the option to choose to go on a mission or not. Now that the age limit has been lowered to 19 I feel that many young women may face a choice. Should I stay or should I go. Many return missionaries may face rejection due to a young girl going on a mission rather then perusing a marriage at that moment.

Mission and marriage are NOT bad decisions, both have their places, and both can come sooner or later in life. For me I always thought I would serve a mission, however my husband came first. For me I didn't question whether to go on a mission or get married because I had the guidance of the Holy Ghost throughout the whole time I was dating my husband (which was 8 months). Then I continued to get that reassurance when we were engaged (which was 4 months). The age limit was still 21 and I did get married when I was 19 (almost 20) so I had at least 2 years before that pressure came on me.

The whole point of this post is that decisions are hard. The reason we are here is to make decisions and learn from them. However it is easy for use to regret our decision. As women we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to "make the right decision" when in fact Heavenly Father trusts you. He also Trusts you to trust him. Sometimes our path has a lot of bumps and sometimes our path doesn't. Those bumps/trials can come from some of our decisions. However we must remember that if the Lord said OK, then tomorrow it is still going to be a good decision.

Stacey's Baby Shower

Sorry everyone I forgot to add this Last Summer!

I have been putting together one of my really good friends baby shower which has been a lot of fun.
here colors are orange, navy blue, and gray and can I just say I love the colors. The decoration have really come together and here is where I got all my ideas

First were the invites you can use this really for any occasion and they look professional and cute.
You can find a lot of cute party labels, and other things you need for the party there also.

Second was the banner, I unfortunately do not have a cricket so I had to go to a local craft store and use their cut outs but they are supper cute. I did Orange flags, with navy blue letters and then cute and Elephant out and put it in the middle. This idea came from my own head =) I really love making banners. (You can kinda see it here, sadly I didn't get a picture!)

Third are the geometric shapes (instead of lanterns). These are made from tissue paper and are super easy to do. I liked this better because Stacey is having a boy and doing tissue flowers or lanterns just seem a little girly to me. I just love this and its unique to anything I have seen.

Fourth would be the activities. So we have 3 activities that we are having the girls do.

1. The guest book: instead of a guest book we are doing this cute picture with a baby elephant hanging from "string" which people will write their names on cut-out dots and then glue them on the picture. This way Stacey has a record of who came and can use it as decoration for the babies room. (the link doesn't show you how to make this, but its pretty easy to print a calendar off and buy a stamp that matches the theme)

1. The diaper changing bucket: This is for the ladies that are attending to write encouraging messages to Stacey, so when she has those late night baby changes she can be reminded of all the women who love her.

1. Decorating Onsie's: We want the ladies to be able decorate a onsie for Stacey so she has a little piece of her friends with her when she leaves in September.

Today, Tomorrow, and Forever!

So day marks my 6th day of Body Rock 30 day challenge. Wow do I really love it, its crazy because I usually get really bored with work outs but not with these. They are different and challenging each day. I also am beginning to feel stronger which is great. I have really found motivation in posting pictures after each work out and getting great responses and encouragement from all my friends and family.

I read something that really got me thinking. On one of my friends blogs Yours Sincerely. She talks about how our actions and what we do and say on Facebook, Tweeter, Instagram and Ext can really influence people and how they think of us. I have actually thought about this a lot lately as well. I have actually been adding people that inspire me to my Instagram feeds and Facebook such as Al Fox (Carraway), Mormon.org/facebook , and so on. So as I am looking through my feeds I can get inspiration. Sometimes I read an article that someone has shared/posted and I get upset about something in it or disagree with something and then I will scroll down and read a scripture verse. Sometimes I even read a different article and it is uplifting and positive.

I think thats what motivates me to post my picture. I hope it inspires you and makes you want to get up and accomplish your goals and dreams.

It is said that it takes 2 weeks to create a habit, bad or good. So if you make one bad choice and then let that choice define you. You will create a pattern of bad decisions (Thats just my own thought). However if you make a bad decision and then choose to make a better one the next time, that is called progress. One thing I have learned especially in my calling in my ward. Is that I am not perfect, I am not able to be the super women I would like to be. I will make wrong decision and I will hopefully make good decision. But one thing is for sure I learn from my mistakes.

This life is all about learning and making decisions. Whether they are good or bad. That is up to us. We have agency to choose how we act, talk, react, and even criticize. One thing is for sure we can always change, and always make better choices.

I hope I motivated you or got you thinking today!!

If you don't mind sharing, what are some of your goals or habits you would like to start?

What a Great Week!

So this week I finally started a 30 day challenge with #bodyrocktv  they have this awesome 30 day challenge where they send you a 12 MINUTE work out. Let me tell you it kicks my butt. I am sore after 4 days and I am so happy its day 5 (resting day). Now I have no excuse for not working out or going to the gym! I have 12 minutes in my day to do this. My goal for January is to continue the 30 day challenge to not give up no matter how sore I get.

I hope you are all accomplishing your goals you have set for the new year. If you haven't set any goals take sometime and really think about things you want to change. Make sure they are realistic for you and that you have some kind of system to keep you motivated. My motivation for this 30 day challenge are the fact that it is 12 minutes and how pathetic it would be not to keep going. =) I also am tired of not feel comfortable in a swim suit. So I figured instead of complaining and winning the whole summer, I would work hard these next 6 months. Then really enjoy myself a little more this summer.

Also last winter was my first winter in Idaho and lets just say I can't wait for it to be my last! I really struggled with my work out routines and gained 10 pounds. I also watched way to much t.v. and eat a lot of junk food. So I now have two jobs and a full time calling in my ward that keep me busy and then now my 12 minute work outs to keep me fit and feeling good.

The thing about working out is not to become this over muscular woMAN, but for me to feel better about myself and to help the winter go by a littler faster. Do things that make you feel good, and helps you forget about the bad just for a lithe bit. Girl time is a must for all women. Single, married, ext. Do over look it or forget it, because one day you will wake up and wonder where all your friends have gone. Believe me it has happened to me.

Some things to look forward to: Oh and I will be giving one of my friends a baby shower in February so stay tuned for all the fun decorations I do! The color theme is Grey and Pink! My favorite!

Just some pondering and thinking

So A lot has happened in the last 3 years of my life I will first start off with meeting my husband who the lord has guided to me. I know there has been a lot of articles going around about how we choose our husband/wife, how to commit, how you should treat your marriage or even how you should parent. I do agree with a lot of what they have to say but some of it I don't. I want to share some insight I have had through the past couple of months as all these articles have been flying through Facebook and even being debated over.

I think we all have personal, and spiritual experience that bring us to the person we choose to marry. The path is not easy and has its ups and downs whether its through dating or the first couple of months of marriage. For me it was during dating.

 I am a student at BYUI and everyone feels the pressure to get married. However when my husband and I met we felt that pressure and sat down and talked about it. We decided that we were going to enjoy our dating life and see where it brought us. We had a blast together and really got to see who each other where. We let each other grow by living in different states and talking on the phone. This helped us to really get into each others minds and ask real questions. I left on a study abroad soon after returning from that long summer. We then had to decide if we would continue to date or take a break. However the thought of not being together broke my heart and his heart.

We soon knew that through these "trails" we would be able to make it. I spoke to him almost everyday on my study abroad telling him all the wonderful things I had learned and saw. He talked about how being and Engineer Major was going to kill him. We over came a lot together, even more then I am sharing here. We grew spiritually together and we new we loved each other.

We got married and guess what? We had to learn more about each other and how to adjust to living with each other and how to be husband and wife. However we did it together. I think that is the most important thing. Is doing it together!

We will find the person we want to marry whether through spiritual guidance from god, through a best friend, or someone that that is sitting across from you in a class. However, it happens in your own experience, its your life choices and it's your own individual decisions that will bring you to that person. My experiences will never be the same as the person next to me. But my decision will affect the rest of my life and the rest of the future generations ahead.

Life doesn't get easier and that's why we choose a spouse, because it is so much easier to go through the hardships of life with someone by your side then by your self.

You may find that you feel a lone sometimes however that is your choice and your spouse choice. I think a lot of what the articles going around are stating is don't think about yourself so much. Or think about what would make you happy and TALK about it with your spouse. If there is a silence in your marriage break it! Never let anything get in the way of the people you love.

And sometimes an agreement, hurt feelings, or even a bad day can be solved with a simple "I'm Sorry". For a girl this is hard to understand because most of us like to talk everything out. But for my husband it means the world to him if I just look at him and simply say those two words. That's it!

All I am simply stating is that you have a personal experience through out your whole life. Enjoy it, do what you feel is right, and love it the rest of your life. The past will never change but the future is full of a thousand possibilities.

Shanel