The start of my conclusion

I am sure many of you who are reading this know me already, but for those who don’t, my name is Noelle Briggs. I am 22 and currently live in Southern California with my two favorite people; my 11 month old son Tanner (probably the cutest baby you have ever seen) and my wonderfully handsome husband, Ryan, who is equally as cute (in a manly way, of course).

A few things you should know about me, I love to be outside; running, napping, reading, and doing absolutely nothing. If it can be done outside I want to do it. (I should clarify, though, that it can’t be under 40 degrees...50 is definitely pushing it!  :) I am not the biggest fan of the cold weather, I would so much rather be sweating than shivering.)

On the other hand I am also perfectly fine with staying in my sweats all day and bumming it out on the couch watching pointless T.V. drama shows. How did I not know about “Downton Abbey”, I am hooked. Also,  “The Bachelor” , it doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself I hate that show... I always get sucked back in.

I like to pretend that I am good at cooking. I used to burn everything I touched ( my family still makes fun of me) but I have come a long way and really find satisfaction when I try a new recipe that actually tastes good...and that I didn’t burn.  ;)

I like to think I am pretty crafty, “To-do” lists are a must, I am LDS and proud of it, I graduated in Health Science from Brigham Young University-Idaho and am still not completely sure what I want to do with it. But for now, I love working from home as a Beachbody Health coach. I enjoy being active and learning more about the human body. I really like  hiking but I am what my husband calls a “high maintenance hiker”--if the view isn’t worth it at the top, then I’m not interested. Lastly, I love food. Sandwiches, anything Mexican, and chocolate chip cookies are my weakness.

I feel like there are many reasons why I wanted to start a blog.  But rather than go into them all here (trust me, we’ll get into them all later), here’s the abbreviated version:

Initially I wanted to make one for the business I run from my home. When I first signed up to be a health coach, I wasn’t sure what to do with it, it kind of just fell in my lap. In a good way! When we moved to CA. in August for my husband’s grad school, we just took out our first loan, and living expenses were way more than we could afford. The sudden realization of knowing that we were in debt, felt heavy and overwhelming.

I remember feeling panicked and immediately started looking for jobs that I could do at night. We needed an income but my husband couldn’t work due to school and I wanted to avoid putting our son in daycare if at all possible (he’s just too cute to spend that much time away from!). To cut the story short, I had put a lot of pressure on myself that I was supposed to put my husband through school, be a supportive happy wife, a present loving mother, and just fulfill all the other areas of life when I felt like I couldn’t even take care of myself (at this point I was still rocking the daily sweat pants and t-shirt, greasy hair, and I still adjusting to the changes from having a baby). I felt very confused and not sure what decisions I needed to make but knew I needed to find a way for me to move forward in my role as a mother, wife and as an individual.

So after 5 months of lots of learning and some very humbling experiences this is my conclusion:

All I want is to be the best version of myself, but to also be the version my Heavenly Father needs me to be. Someone who sees their importance and influence in their role as a mother, wife, and friend. Someone who looks for guidance and direction from her father in heaven.  Someone who is grateful for the body they have but takes care of it with respect, self worth, and smart choices. Some who can laugh and be happy in their current situations, and be able to learn from their weakness and who isn’t afraid to use their strengths.  

So at the end of the day, the point of this blog is for me as a wife, mom, coach, missionary and a friend to share my experiences, failures, victories, and moments of me trying to be the best version of me that I can be. And possibly along the way I can even help a few of you to do the same!

I hope that I can do just that and am excited to continue what I have started to learn.