A Goal accomplished...almost

I started on the wood floors this week. It's spring break which means I don't have to play chauffeur all day, so I thought why not. The kids were pretty  helpful through the process, often times I just needed their body weight to hold something down. I'm pretty proud of myself. I did 90% of it by myself (and my back muscles KNOW it!) - Hubbie had the chance for over time this week and that doesn't come around very often, so he couldn't really help much.

 Good bye hideous white tile with nasty black grout!!

 This kid had a bit too much fun smashing tile. 

It's looking beautiful!!! This is my dining room, we still need to finish baseboards and the kitchen. I can't wait till it's done. It's gonna look amazing:)

Goals- an update

This pretty much sums up all my goals... Basically, I suck.
But it's ok, because my goals are allowed to change. I've been so busy with homework that eating right and exercise have not been a real priority. I know that exercise will give me the energy I need, but so will Diet Coke, and it doesn't require a shower after, so I usually choose that option! (**Hanging my head in shame**)

I did make it to the temple last month! And I did take a birthday treat to one of the sisters I visit, other than that I've got nothing else to update.

We're counting down till the end of my semester and the end of seminary for Scott like kids excited to go to Disneyland.

Then we need to slow down. Our goal was less chaos and it's been worse than ever. Can't wait... Can't wait...

FHE #6

This week we talked about prayer. Chase read us a story from the friend. We talked about how we can feel comfort through prayer.

 We played a game of Clue. Anyone that has played Clue with a 5 year old knows that it is basically impossible, but we still had fun. We ended the night with Root Beer Floats. yum:)

Goals- week #5

I made 10 goals for 2015 and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.

FAMILY:

1. Family Home Evening every week. 
* Read about those here if you missed them

Last week we went to Peter Piper Pizza for family home evening (and Sienna's birthday!)

2. Family Fun Day every month

*We went and saw Paddington for this months Family Fun Day! It was adorable. Hubbie said it stuck to the story. I remember the book Paddington, but I don't remember the story line, so I can not vouch for his truthfulness! It was too funny though, because Tanner just could not get over the fact that nobody was freaking out that a talking bear was walking around London.

3. Epic summer vacation

*More on that in a few months.

HOME:

4. New Floors

*Boom! Taxes done and e-filed, I anxiously checking my bank account for my refund. Although, Uncle Sam was not nearly as kind as I was hoping, he's paying for my floors, so for that I am grateful!

5. Finish "the list"

 *The security door is in! It's all we've accomplished, but I feel safer knowing it's there. Also this week, I managed to lose my car keys and house key, Hubbie is convinced I lost them outside somewhere because we have ran-sacked the house and they are no-where to be found. So it was extra incentive to put the door in! He did it himself, only because the Handy Man we tried to hire canceled on us twice. Turns out he's pretty handy himself!

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

*Though my February goal is to lose 5 lbs, I took a week off. I still lost a pound in the process, but I just couldn't bring myself to get up early and exercise. Tomorrow starts a new round of 21 day fix!


7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month.

Check out January's project here. I'm scouring Pinterest for February's project.

January

SPIRITUAL:
8. Daily, meaningful prayer. 
*I've been so busy with work, kids, school and life that I feel like my constant prayers are the only things holding me together.

9.Do my visiting teaching each month.
*This cracked me up! I need to talk to my partner for this month.

10. Attend the temple at least once a month.
*I'm going this weekend, come hell or high-water:)

Well, there's my report for the week. I'll check in again next week. 

Christ's Atonement

Ever have one of those days where you just can't get it right? I've had a month that way. So, this quote touched me today. Change is possible, and I will get it right:)

Goals- week #4

Happy February!!  One month down on my goals, 11 more to go:)

I made 10 goals for 2015 and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.

FAMILY:

1. Family Home Evening every week. 
* Read about those here if you missed them

I found this quote I liked:  “We all know the struggle necessary to retain family home evening. There are thieves among us who would steal our Monday nights. But the promises of the Lord made 84 years ago and reiterated by our Prophets today, have never been revoked and are there for us: ‘If the saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them.” Neil L. Anderson, Prophets and Spiritual Mole Crickets. October 1999 General Conference.

2. Family Fun Day every month

*"Family Fun Day" as my kids think it should be, didn't really happen. But you know what? We played a ton of games this week, and we saw a movie on January 1st. We've been so busy this month that that will have to count!

3. Epic summer vacation

*More on that in a few months.

HOME:

4. New Floors

*We're waiting for tax season on this one, but we've measured and Hubbie's arranged time off in the end of February. I've never been so excited to do my taxes!

5. Finish "the list"

 *The list is coming along, slowly but surely. I'm still waiting to put the security door in. A lot of "security" we get from it, laying in my garage. I had the hair brain idea to paint the door frame first though, and then it started raining, which put a stop to those plans. I'm going to try and get that done this week (in between the million other things I have to do). Also, I started to work on Chase's room, but he informed me he'd rather be playing Minecraft on a Saturday then paint his room, so I decided to not bother.

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

*January's results are in. I'm happy and I'm not. I weighed myself on Thursday (which is my normal weigh in day) and I was down 7 pounds!!! I did a major victory dance around the house. Then I weighed myself on Saturday the 31st, just for a total for the month and I had gained 5 pounds back. WHAT THE HECK?? I had done nothing different, how does one gain 5lbs in 2 days? So I was pretty bummed, so my results for the month are 3 pounds lost and 4.25" lost. I even went down a pant size. So overall, it was a successful month. I'm shooting for another 5 pounds in February.





7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month.

Check out January's project here. I'm scouring Pinterest for February's project.

January

SPIRITUAL:
8. Daily, meaningful prayer. 
*I've been so busy with work, kids, school and life that I feel like my constant prayers are the only things holding me together.

9.Do my visiting teaching each month.
*It's a new month, and I got a third sister added to me. She's new to the ward, and since I haven't felt that this ward is super inviting, I'm gonna go the extra mile to make friends.

10. Attend the temple at least once a month.
*Ugh. January was a complete failure. So many things went wrong every time I had planned to go. I'm going to make it up in February.

Well, there's my report for the week. I'll check in again next week. 

Goals- week#3

I made 10 goals for 2015 and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.

FAMILY:

1. Family Home Evening every week. 

*Three weeks in! Whoop Whoop. You can read about those here if you missed them

I found this quote I liked:  “We all know the struggle necessary to retain family home evening. There are thieves among us who would steal our Monday nights. But the promises of the Lord made 84 years ago and reiterated by our Prophets today, have never been revoked and are there for us: ‘If the saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them.” Neil L. Anderson, Prophets and Spiritual Mole Crickets. October 1999 General Conference.

2. Family Fun Day every month

*Originally scheduled for the 24th, but we'll have to bump it back to the 30th. Life keeps getting in the way.

3. Epic summer vacation

*More on that in a few months.

HOME:

4. New Floors

*We're waiting for tax season on this one, but we've measured and Hubbie's arranged time off in the end of February. I've never been so excited to do my taxes!

5. Finish "the list"

 *Bummer on the dryer front... I paid a guy $55 to come tell me my motor was shot and I needed a new one. So we spend 4 hours shopping around, find one at home depot, spend 30 minutes at check out cause their machine is acting up, rent a truck to bring it home, personally unload a HEAVY dryer, take the truck back. Get the dryer out of the box, realize we need the plug off the old dryer, realize that someone has already taken the old dryer off the curb, go back to home depot to buy a new plug, get the electric all put together, take the washer out so we can hook up the dryer, put the washer back, turn dryer on .... It's broken. Like making a terrible noise, won't spin broken. We call Home Depot and at first the manager was like, Sorry, I don't show record of this purchase, but we finally convinced him that we have a receipt... and he called around to another store, found us another one and had it delivered and took the old one back. In the mean time, we hit the laundromat with $20 in quarters and 7 loads of laundry. That sure piles up quick!
Back to "the list" though... since we were renting a truck, we bought a security door too and crossed one whole thing of the list. I'm calling it progress!

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

*I rocked this week food/exercise wise. When you do the 21 day fix right, it works so good. I was completely dedicated and lost 3.5 pounds this week alone. I'm down 4.8 pounds- goal for January is 5 pounds and I have a week left!

7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month.

I made one for me and SiSi. Being a girl is so much fun:)  More details on mine here.

SPIRITUAL:
8. Daily, meaningful prayer. 
*I've been so busy with work, kids, school and life that I feel like my constant prayers are the only things holding me together.

9.Do my visiting teaching each month.
*Yay! I did my visiting teaching, and told my partner about my goal and she's happy to help me with it. Turns out my partner is pretty awesome.  And one of my sisters I visit is also pretty awesome and I hope I can become good friends with them. My other sister I visit had strep so we just dropped off cookies.
10. Attend the temple at least once a month.
*Well, it was on the calendar for yesterday, but we just couldn't make it happen. The scouts sprung a camping trip on me and took my babysitter up to Flagstaff to camp in the snow. I have one more week and by dang-it, I will make this goal.

Well, there's my report for the week. I'll check in again next week. 

Goals- week #2

I made 10 goals for 2015 and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable. 

FAMILY:

1. Family Home Evening every week. 

*We've done week one and two without incident. You can read about those here if you missed them!

2. Family Fun Day every month

*Originally scheduled for the 24th, but we'll have to bump it back to the 31st. Life keeps getting in the way.

3. Epic summer vacation

*More on that in a few months.

HOME:

4. New Floors

*We're waiting for tax season on this one, but we've measured and Hubbie's arranged time off in the end of February.

5. Finish "the list"

 

*Ugh. The list... So I sanded down my front door frame, in preparation for a fresh coat of paint. Then went to price a security/screen door. Home Depot would have been about $450 (total with installation) which made me gag a little. BUT then our garage door broke ($200 repair), THEN our dryer broke (repair man coming tomorrow-praying I don't have to buy a new one!) THEN my car started making a really annoying sound (this is the 3rd time it's happened, costs about $100 to fix- it's not vital, but it gives me a headache, so it kind of is)... so the security door and everything else on the list will wait for another day.  Boo:(

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

*I'm doing BeachBodies "21 Day Fix" and hubby has completely abandoned me. He did Pilates one day and it nearly killed him and I think that's the day he checked out! I've had a rough week food wise, and even though I exercised everyday, I didn't see any progress on the scale. Oh well, it's more about getting healthy then the number on the scale.

7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month.

I made one for me and SiSi. Being a girl is so much fun:)  More details on mine here.

SPIRITUAL:
8. Daily, meaningful prayer. 
*Still working on this, it'll be a work in progress, and today's lesson "Pray Always" from the Ezra Taft Benson lesson manual was a perfect reminder of what I'm working on.
9.Do my visiting teaching each month.
*Boom! I talked to my partner, and reached out to my girls, hopefully visits will happen this Tuesday.
10. Attend the temple at least once a month.
*Well, it was on the calendar for yesterday, but we just couldn't make it happen. We had things already planned for the morning and then had a birthday party for my father in law in the evening. 65 years young! Here he is with Chase and my niece Morgan.

Temple day is officially rescheduled to Jan 24th.

Well, there's my report for the week. I'll check in again next week. 

My first "wardrobe" project

I finally had time to breathe and think about my goal to sew one new wardrobe piece for myself each month. So, here is my project #1:

 Isn't it adorable??!?  Ok, only problem really is this is way too fancy to wear to church, the grocery store or the host of mundane tasks I do each day.  Honestly, I kindof look like a cupcake in it, but it is fun! So for now, it'll hang in the closet until I find somewhere fancy and fun to go!

It was really not that hard to make and it cost me about $14.  I followed tutorials from here and here.

Maybe I'll add it to my shop to sell in my $100 challenge for by Small Business Class. Lots more on that coming soon!

Goals- Week #1

I made 10 goals for the NEW YEAR and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.  

FAMILY:

1. Family home evening every week

     Week one went well, you can read about it here

2. Family fun day every month

     *It's on the calendar for January 24th- I'll let you know what we do.

3. Epic summer vacation

     *More on this in a few months:)

HOME:

4. New floors:

   *Waiting for tax season on this one.

 5. Finish "the list"

   *"THE LIST" hangs on the side of the fridge and is full of things that need to be done around the house to really get it to where we want it. It covers everything from hang quotes on the walls, to paint the ceiling, to plant a tree. I've done all of 3 things so far. *sigh*

*This week, I hung up the ruler (growth chart) in the hall, cleaned out the linen closet and hubby repaired our ever leaking roof.  Glad to have a few (even if they're small) things checked off the list.

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

   (Hubby & I are starting the "21 day fix" journey and our goals for January are Me: lose 5lbs, Scott: lose 6lbs (he just wants to beat me). )

*I love this program, after just one week - I've lost 1.5lbs and 2.75 inches!! I'm thrilled and haven't even been focusing as good on the food side as I should, hope to do better next week.

7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month

  *I haven't had time to think much about this so far this month.

SPIRITUAL:

8. Daily, meaningful prayers.

   *Still working on this. It's hit or miss at this point, as I haven't really developed a good habit.  Here is another good quote I found on prayer:

President Spencer W. Kimball taught: “Some things are best prayed about in private, when we don’t have to be concerned about time or the confidentiality of our prayers. Prayer in solitude is priceless and profitable. Praying alone helps us to shed shame or pretense, any lingering deceit; it helps us open our hearts and be totally honest and honorable in expressing all of our hopes and attitudes.” (Quoted in Liahona January 2011, Why Do I Need to Pray on my Own When I Already Pray With My Family.) 

9. Do my visiting teaching every month.

   *I forgot to talk to my partner this week. The girl is pregnant with her 7th child, and I get exhausted just looking at her and forget to ask her about it, she is a saint I'm sure!

10. Attend the temple at least once a month.

  *Planned on the calendar for Jan 17th.

Well, there you have it. I don't think any of them are un-attainable. I'm excited to share this year with you, and let you know how I do!

2015 Goals

Happy New Year! Where the heck did 2014 go?

 Here we all are STILL AWAKE at midnight. We kissed everybody goodnight at 12am, and were all fast asleep by 12:10!

I made 10 goals for the NEW YEAR and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.  

FAMILY:

1. Family home evening every week

     *I'm thinking I need to come up with some kind of list of topics, so that at 5pm on Monday, I'm not   caught off guard and tempted to forget it.

2. Family fun day every month

     *It's on the calendar for January 24th- I'll let you know what we do.

3. Epic summer vacation

     *More on this in a few months:)

HOME:

4. New floors:

    *This is the 3rd house I've lived in with white tile. I vowed on our house hunt, that if our house had white tile, it was coming out immediately. Well, our house has worse white tile than every before and although some of it has already come out, the rest needs to go. Can you see the lovely pattern in the picture above? Fortunately, the room above (the family room) and the living room, are now carpet. But it's still in all the walkways, office, kitchen, hall, dining room and bathrooms. Here's hoping Uncle Sam is kind to us come tax season!

5. Finish "the list"

   *"THE LIST" hangs on the side of the fridge and is full of things that need to be done around the house to really get it to where we want it. It covers everything from hang quotes on the walls, to paint the ceiling, to plant a tree. I've done all of 3 things so far. *sigh*

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

   *More on this as we go along, but Scott & I are starting the "21 day fix" journey and our goals for January are Me: lose 5lbs, Scott: lose 6lbs (he just wants to beat me). 

 Here we are on day 1 after having our butts kicked by Autumn. This is Scott's first go around, I've had some success with the Exercise/Eating program before!

7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month

  *I haven't decided what to sew yet, but I have a pinterest board dedicated to this and I'm excited to pick something.

SPIRITUAL:

8. Daily, meaningful prayers.

   *I really worked hard on this for a religion class I took this last semester, but when the 8 week assignment was over, I just stopped.  President James E. Faust said:

  “Access to our Creator through our Savior is surely one of the great privileges and blessings of our lives. I have learned from countless personal experiences that great is the power of prayer. No earthly authority can separate us from direct access to our Creator. There can never be a mechanical or electronic failure when we pray. There is no limit on the number of times or how long we can pray each day. There is no quota of how many needs we wish to pray for in each prayer. We do not need to go through secretaries or make an appointment to reach the throne of grace. He is reachable at any time and any place.” (July 2002, The Lifeline of Prayer) 

9. Do my visiting teaching every month.

   *This will be such a challenge for me, I don't know why! I plan to talk to my partner on Sunday. Transitioning to this new ward has been tough for us but it's time to get down to business.

10. Attend the temple at least once a month.

  *Planned on the calendar for Jan 17th.

Well, there you have it. I don't think any of them are un-attainable. I'm excited to share this year with you, and let you know how I do!