Congratulations Merryl & Darren!

We have a new nephew!!! My older sister just had a baby on Oct 27th. His name is Benson (I'm not sure if he has a middle name yet). He weighs 8 pounds & 2 ounces. He is very healthy and apparently very cute but that doesn't surprise me. I'm still waiting for a picture but I'll post one as soon as I get one. I wish I was there for my sister but she did great and the delivery went good. I will get to see him at Christmas so that will be my greatest Christmas present. Congrats Merrily & Darren... you guys are great parents and I can't wait to see Brooklyn & Dawson (and you guys, of course). Love, Mandy & Chad

Halloween 2007

I have a folder in my pictures on my computer that I have labelled "Dental School Year 1". I was reflecting on the first year of dental school and came across pictures from a Halloween party I had with my Beehives last year. I thought I'd post them seeing as how I didn't have a blog then. I love serving in Young Women's! They are such beautiful girls in every way and I'm proud that I can help to lead these young women into being righteous and dynamic women who will one day be the leaders of the church and great examples to the world. I love them all so much and look forward to many more great experiences from serving in Young Women's!

Mr Olympia

I'm finding it more and more difficult to keep up with this blog thing. It gets old after a while but more importantly, it is nice to keep a "journal" of our experiences in Las Vegas. And it is definitely that... an experience, a great adventure that never seems to get dull. So I'm going to be brutally honest, I haven't looked at many of your blogs for a while but I will sit down one day and read blogs that I need to catch up on.
A friend of ours has a brother who got us tickets to Mr Olympia for half the price so on Chad's birthday, that's one of the fun things we decided to do.
It was really exciting because I've always wanted to go to an Olympia show. At the tender age of 18 I became a gym rat and lifted religiously for 7 years. If I didn't lift weights 6 days a week I felt like I was cheating. Sufficeth to say, the only time I'd miss a day at the gym is if I had to attend a wedding or something (very) important. Needless to say, I was pretty buff and in great shape. Because of my transformed body and my passion for working out, I decided to compete in a Miss Fitness competition. Ability: this demonstrates strength, flexibility, and a variety of gymnastics moves in a dance routine which is choreographed. I had the gymnastics advantage from being and competing in gymnastics for 9 years. Physique: the judges will judge you on symmetry and muscle tone/definition. This requires you to have a certain amount of muscle and only be at about 5% body weight... not very much! Have you ever tried dieting to lose weight? Multiply how that felt by about 20 times and you'll know what it's like to train and diet for a bodybuilding/fitness show. I was in karate and kickboxing, went as far as I could go in kickboxing and still never felt as much discipline needed to prepare for the fitness show... mostly because the dieting was so strict. A "down to a science" percentage of complex and fibrous carbs, protien and good fats. When I say fats, I'm talking about 4 grams of fat. That's about how much there is in a tablespoon of salad dressing. Anyway, I think you catch my drift on how difficult it is to prepare for a show. I'm sure you're asking why anybody would want to do that to themselves. All I can say is it is one of those things you'd have to experience before you could understand why anybody does it. There are no words to explain it. Fitness is not to be confused with bodybuilding even though you need to bodybuild to go into a fitness show. I in no way support the use of steroids. Many people who enter bodybuilding shows use them but that's why I loved the world of fitness (which are combined with bodybuilding shows).
Here's the showdown with the top 6

I was a little surprised that Chad wanted to go to the Olympia show. After all, it was his idea. In response to my question why he wanted to go, he said "I want to see what your past is all about and to know more about the things you were interested in". I thought it was sweet for him to acknowledge my past experinces and interests. Would I ever train for a fitness show again? I would love to but it's not a good idea when you're trying to get pregnant. Especially being that low with the body fat percentage... not gonna happen! Although I have known of girls to compete after 8 months of having a baby! It is possible! My focus right now is to just be healthy, have a well-balanced diet and to continue to work-out at the gym... not necessarily for 6 days a week though!
Here's a picture of the fitness girls

P.S. I'm sure none of you know who Jay Cutler is but he is a celebrity in the bodybuilding world and featured on almost every bodybuilding magazine. He's won Mr Olympia twice consecutively but unfortunately didn't win this time around. Anyway, he was who I was cheering for at the show. Only because I met him at Whole Foods last spring. It was neat... he was standing behind me in line. I noticed him while I was paying for my groceries and had to ask him if he was who I thought he was. He said yes and asked me about my gym/lifting experience. I shook his hand and told him to make sure he wins. Like I said, unfortunately that didn't happen but at least I got to shake the hand of a Mr Olympia winner. Here is a picture of him. Schwarzenegger's got nothing on him... not right now anyway, lol.