a little politics... a litte religion... Im such a rebel because this post is about them BOTH

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuley-boteach/are-mormons-any-weirder-t_b_1116390.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

A friend posted this on facebook and I really liked the article for the ending point he makes (this is just the part I really liked not the whole article) :

"Hence, our concern need not be with a person's faith in public office. It does not matter if they are Jewish, evangelical, Mormon or Muslim. What does matter is whether their faith is focused on relating to God and, by extension, caring for God's children, or whether they see the purpose of their high station to promote their particular religion. It is easy to identify the difference. People who are in a relationship with God are humble and do their utmost to refrain from judging others. Their proximity to a perfect being reminds them of their own fallibility. Their experience of God's compassion leads them to be merciful and loving. But those who worship a religion are arrogant and think they have the only truth. They are dismissive of other people's beliefs and maintain that advancing the cause of their religion is more important than life itself. The rabbi in Israel who recently made the strange comment that soldiers should face a firing squad rather than listen to a woman sing is a classic example of this heresy.

Those who worship their religion evince the classic characteristic of cult members. Whereas a real faith system is empowering and makes one strong and capable of operating outside their own faith community, cult members can only identify with other members of their group and require the environment of the cult in order to function. They don't have beliefs. Rather, they take orders."
I like this so much because I do believe there are both types of people, I however don't believe that those who worship their religion and not God are always aware of their error. I have gained humility and understanding through the trials I have been through in life, not just current but also previous things to my divorce. I continue to learn about the Saviors unconditional love and that the atonement is there for everyone and every sin, big or small, young or old, mormon or not mormon, and that its not my place to judge a persons heart, I do believe that you can judge a persons actions though which brings the opportunity to safeguard yourself or your loved ones from becoming caught up in the wrong things. My dad told me when I was really angry with Kevin a few wise words that go through my brain at random times now and that was "You cant crucify him because of what he did, he may not have been thinking about everyone involved, but you have to love him and show him forgiveness" To me that means because someone makes a crappy choice you cant hate them or badger them or spread a bad rep but you have to realize that they are human and make choices that they may already or may one day really regret and then let go of it. How would it be if everyone I had ever wronged or everyone that knew my mistakes "crucified" me for my mistakes. Oh boy! So any person at anytime is deserving of love and forgiveness. It's required of us to forgive everyone (everything) but God will choose who he forgives because only he knows the sincerity of the heart. I'm kind of getting sidetracked from the article! haha. But I think as an LDS member having lived in Utah you do run into people who are judgmental and worship the rules of their religion and miss that step of getting to know the Savior and his infinite love and understanding and tolerance and forgiveness. I know that even those members probably mean good but don't quite see the foolishness in the way they are. I have recently said "I'm not mormon because I believe in the people, I am mormon because I believe in the doctrine." That is true. If my testimony of the gospel was only people deep I would have left the church a long time ago. But when you weed out the negative people in your life and really read The Bible and The Book of Mormon and understand the things they teach and open your heart and feel God's love and goodness then you will know as well :) Anyways yep, I liked what he wrote.. and I like Mitt Romney.. hes got my vote.. and not just because hes mormon! Obama seems to disagree though .. he is always after Mitt!

Nighty night! xoxo

My blog needs major help.

Or I just need a MAC so I can have one of those super neat clean looking blogs. Yep, I'm going with the MAC idea. Well I have seen friends start the blog post of what they are grateful for and have wanted to do one as well, it gives ya something to blog about :) So I will catch up real quick with eleven things I'm grateful for!

1. Mariah Noah Godinet. He has my heart one hundred percent. He teaches me so perfectly.
2. A sound mind. One that I think is pretty good at thinking :)
3. Running and the difference it makes in my life. Its a big pick me up.
4. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Every little experience in life that has impacted me in any way.
5. My Family. Dad Mom Ben Nat Kim Annie Beth Blake Brad Bret Mariah and Kevin and their spouses and children.
6. Beauty - Inside and out!
7. Living in safety and not having to worry a great deal about it.
8. Dr. Pepper (This one is a love hate.)
9. Forgiveness. Id be doomed for sure without it.
10. My crazy Mom whom has a huge heart and is a solidly good person.
11. My crazy Dad whom has an understanding heart and is solidly (good) and strong person.


I really love the holiday seasons. I do hope though that winter stays in its months this time around and we can see a spring soon after the new year! I cant wait to sign Mariah up for swim lessons and go to the park and ride bikes on summer nights together. Having a child is really the best thing in the world! Yum <3

I went to seattle the end of October to see some of my friends that are my oldest friends as in we have been friends since 6th grade.. how old does that make you 11? so 12 years! Melissa had a sweet lil babe Raegen who was so precious and good the whole time I was there. Melissa's home is so homey and cute and totally Melissa - I loved it! I got to see some of Washington and it is such a gorg state! Emily and I had time to go do a few things in the city and lots of time to talk and make memories, I love my girls! <3

17 MIRACLES

I loved this movie. (I also think that main actor is looking pretty good.) It was such a great reminder of the sacrifices that we forget or maybe never knew of. It definitely left me in tears and gave me many impressions of attributes I need to work harder to obtain, and also things I need to teach my babe. I sometimes feel like there is so much in the world to distract us in our day to day lives - even just technology wise with cells phones with internet, tv, media, music just about everything we do includes some type of technology or entertainment. It's really nice some days to just turn it all off, leave the phone in a drawer, talk in the car to Mariah instead of listen to music, steer clear of TV and movies and just be old fashioned let your brain think for itself instead of being fed what to think through technology and media. I am humbled tonight by the things the pioneers before us endured, both in and out of the church. I hope to be proven as strong as them, what a blessing that would be!

OBSESSED!!!

MARIAH. K I am so obsessed with Mariah and everyday I become more and more obsessed. I don't even think it's healthy anymore! I do want to say though - I don't think I am one of those mothers who favor their child because they are (sickly) obsessed and are weirdies. Being a mom has really made me love all kids more in general because I now know and treasure the tender little feelings and realize how much our kids depend on their parents. It really drives me nutty when a parent is nice to their child but super macho with other kids. I just want to squeeze and love and every little child.  I love being a mother and I love my Mariah. He is perfectly naughty and cute and mine!

Next. DIVORCED. Ugh. Bugging me. I hate being divorced. I hate it for a lot of reason even though I know it is completely necessary. I am a lover. I can argue and get mad / mean but at the end of the day I am a lover. I had an AMAZING example of an amazing marriage and family growing up from my parents and siblings. I was taught true love is service, forgiving, selfless, and endurance. When I love people around whether it be friends or family I truly love them. (Obviously) I truly loved Kevin. I still love Kevin. He is family to me because he is Mariah's dad. I don't want to be married to Kevin because Kevin and I are headed two completely different places. And he is kinda annoying ;) ( I say that lovingly ) But I still love Kevin and his family. AND THEN.. I always stress about being able to deal with having a somewhat broken family for the rest of my life. I didn't grow up around divorce. A few friends parents were divorced but I never saw it in my family or experienced any of the drama of divorce. I don't like that Mariah will have 2 dads. It is a foreign situation for me and I just want him to have what I had. (Iespeciallydon'tlikethathewillhaveanother"mom".) BLAH. It is what it is and I will do my best to make our life as smooth and loving and homey as I possibly can. Mariah is loved and I am sure it will only continue to increase and become greater as life goes on.

Last but not least. THE GOSPEL. I can't even say how grateful I am to have it. It is the foundation of everything I believe in, everything I hope for, everything I try to be. It gives me answers, it gives me strength, it gives me comfort. I am absolutely certain there is nothing better. When life feels heavy or media feels filthy or people just seem bad hearted - I can always mosey on over to LDS.org and read a few talks and feel at peace. I love that my religion is based on Love, Forgiveness, Tolerance, and Family. It focuses on everything happy and good and doesn't have any room for judgment or pessimism. I know that sometimes people who are the same faith as me become confused and are judgmental or critical but we each have our own weaknesses and all have room to improve. I love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ - they have made the perfect plan for us and will never abandon us. I love seeing people - it doesn't matter what religion - that acknowledge God and the good he gives, those are the people I admire and those are the people I like to be surrounded by.

I lovey lovey lovey my baby, my family, my friends, the fall, cute clothes, being a momma, and the opportunity to learn and grow! And you.... <3 ( I don't have any new pics so here is some old ones I love.)

Okay I need some help....

figuring out how to do my blog background! Update: diet is good, I have lost pounds it is so true you are what you eat! I feel great, however I am starting a 30 day diet on Oct. 1st I will post on it periodically about my success and my tips and my weaknesses! I am going to be better about posting and try to update this once every sunday!
Happy week everybody! <3

Eat Healthy. Work Out. Be Skinny.

 I want to lose 20 lbs. I don't want to lose 20 lbs in 2 months. I want to lose 20 lbs in 20 days! Can it be done. I think so. But we shall see. I have been eating a lot healthier these past few weeks. I haven't eaten bad or had fast food, candy, soda etc. and it really feels sooo sooo good. In fact TODAY I ate fast food which included a soda and an ice cream annnnd... I feel so ew. So I threw away my meal before I even got half way done and decided.. nope, not for me. I want to stay healthy. And then I decided to write a post on it. Before I had Mariah I was a huge yo yo dieter. I was also big on running. I started running in junior high. I would run around my parents subdivision and I was on the cross country / track team. The couple years right befor I had Mariah I would jump on the treadmill and run 7 miles in an hour. I have always wanted to do a marathon. I remember going to the gym with my dad as a kid and HE would run 7 miles. Okay so yeah... I love running. I want to be a healthy mom and wife. I gained 60 lbs with Mariah. SIXTY POUNDS. Yeah, I just admitted that. I couldn't breast feed so I lost the initial 20 in the first few weeks and then slowly lost 20 more... then gained 20 back... and then lost it again. Oh the fun. Now I have 20 lbs to go until I hit my pre baby weight. And I am sooo ready to say goodbye to it FOREVER. I will never be chubby again in my life. Ew. I HATE being chubby. I don't mind chubby people :) but I do NOT do chubby. good. at. all. I even hate the word. K so here is my whole point. I am going to blog all 20 days of my diet. I know pretty much everyone wishes they could lose a few lbs or be better at working out. Except for those annoying skinny ones who are like.. "oh you're trying to lose weight hmm I wish I could gain some." "Cool, anyways..."

Day one - this is my plan....

1 gallon of water - 6 apples ( thanks em :) )

Why so crazy? Because like I said up there.. I ate junk today and feel EW.

Work out - 2 miles working on speed. I currently run at 6.5 pace and for the last 2 minutes I up my speed to a 7. I also peek at all the skinny girls who are running and they are running at 7 like the whole time so that is what I am working on... getting out of the 6's.

STRETCH. So important. Stretching to me is like half my improvement abilities. Especially since I have had shin splints for months now and they are still bugging me.

More cardio - I like to jump on the stairs for some extra cals - I do the Fat Burn at level 8 anywhere from 5 - 30 minutes depending on my energy level.

Weights lifting - Legs. I do one legged squats holding 8 lbs. dumbbells. I also do the hip abduction both directions and the leg lift machines.

I should look like this in no time. ( 100% lying. I don't think I could ever look like that. But a girl can dream.)

I've had it.. yep I'm super over it.

Ummm K.... someone told me the other day that if you think 2 is bad wait til 3. Hmmmm Mariah hasn't hit 2 yet..... I'm going to be submitted to a crazy house.
I have been keeping my fridge stocked with drinks... ya know like 24 water bottles, capri suns, powerades when they go on sale.. I literally have a whole shelf of drinks. Mariah Noah has decided that this is THE MOST FUN thing mom does... EVER. Why? Because that means that he can get into the fridge.. throw the drinks out one by one... chew on all the capri sun straws... and if he so desires... throw away as many brand new drinks as he'd like!!! WHAT. IS. THIS. CHILD? People tell me all the time... "You must be running all day..." (insert sympathy face here) "I am... thanks. Oh, and the fact that you feel the need to tell you also know my child is naughty makes me think you're lame. ThatsitKthanksBYE." Hmmm.. maybe we need to do more quiet, cuddly, concentrate, reading time... I'll let ya know if it works!