remember, remember

I was on my friend Megan's blog and she had this picture and a link to Elder Eyring's talk I remember being moved by the talk and truly appreciated the reminder. He talked about writing in a journal. It hit me that it was more a way to improve my gratitde by becoming more aware of the lords hand in my life rather than just to discharge a duty.

Daily Challenge Writing you journal after pondering as Elder Eyring sugests.

Thanks Megan!

To go along with the others

Okay I don't know about anyone else, but my sweet-tooth is getting the better of me lately. So my new goal (that I've done once before and was very satisfying) is to have no junk food, fast food, pop, chocolate (including granola bars that have chocolate chips in them)for 6 months.
What perfect timing to start now, June 1 till December 31.
And instead of making a New Year's Resolution on Jan. 1 to stop eating junk food, you can start eating it again. That sounds good to me.

So I've tried to convince my husband to do this challenge with me, but that's not happening. So if there are any takers I'd be willing to be your support as long as you can be mine.

I find doing these things is easier if you have someone to answer to.
I also found for me personally that I can't give myself any cheat days or exceptions because I take advantage of those and it gives way to more cheating.

So let me know if you want to do it?

It's all about BALANCE!!

Hello everyone! So I wanted to share a health challenge my aunts, uncles, cousins and I did a few weeks ago. Each day there were 10 things we got points for doing each day.

1) Get 7 hours of sleep ( it didn't have to be consecutive-you could take a nap if you fell short)
2) Get 30 min exercise each day -sunday was a bonus if you went to church :) It could be taking a brisk walk or swimming-whatever you wanted really
3) Eat 5 servings of fruit or vegetables
4) No sweets (cookies, cakes, ice cream)
5) No carbonation
6) No junk food (chips, or fry's etc.
7) 2 servings of whole wheat
8) 6-8 cups of water
9) No eating after 8pm
10) One of one family time

Basically we got a point for each of the things we did each day for a total of 10 points a day. Now the best part is you got 3 bonus points each week where you could have a treat, miss a day of exercise, or whatever. We did the challenge for 4 weeks and everybody put in $20 for the kitty.

To be honest with you I FELT SO GOOD! It was hard but I felt so healthy and full of energy! Really it's just like living the word of wisdom and taking care of our bodies, eating in moderation, etc. It ended up there were 9 winners who all got perfect scores. Everyone loved it so we are doing it again starting June 15th and doing it for 8 weeks. (it works out we end the day we start our family reunion.) We aren't doing the money thing this time, but are still trying to think of a reward. Anyways, I hope it makes sense the way I explained it but I wanted to invite whoever would like to join me in doing this again! Any takers?!

I am out of ideas

I am waiting for a challenge. I am having a hard time thinking of something new. I thought that because there are 7 of us we each have one day of teh week in order of how are names appear on the blog I just assumed that ment Saterday was my day. now I am wondering if I missed something.

I was thinking about how much I take for granted. My good friend was put on bed rest for what's left of her pregnancy. She has about 3 months left. It is totally life changing she is a busy mom and now the simplest thing are either forbidden or at best limited. I have a better appreciation for my Mom who already had 4 of us rug rats and was put on bed rest when she was pregnant with #5.

I don't know what I am trying to say but I feel like I need to do all I can while I am able. I am such a bad procrastenator. I have so many unfinished projects and goals I jave yet to acoplish. So maybe what I am saying is the challange for today is do something you have been putting off. Who knows what is comming and often important things get forgoten becasue they are not urgent.

Personal Study

I love to learn. When I was a kid my dream was to know everything about something(it did not really mater what) so I was the world's expert. I thought my job could be where I just answer peoples question about what ever it was that I knew everything about. Maybe that sounds crazy and now that I think about it it sounds very egotistical. I was not an espaliering egomaniac I just was exited about learning. However as the saying goes, and I have learned, the more you know the more you know how little you know. I think I got that right, you get the idea. As a mom I have had to learn a bunch of new things. I am blessed for this opportunity but sometimes I think I need to broaden my horizons in an area other than early childhood education and development.

Today's challenge
learn something new. I know we all have interests and things we are curious about. we live in a wonderful world where we have so much information at our finger tips let us access some. Happy learning.

Thoughts?

Hello!! Sorry for not taking my turns - life has been a wee bit crazy! Okay, a lot crazy. And now we are off to Montreal tomorrow, then Dave's birthday (30!), then Tiffany's wedding, then packing and cleaning and moving!! Then two weeks of unpacking the house and packing for California, and then I'm gone for the summer! Whew... And then it starts all over again in September. Please tell me that, at times, your life is like this, too. Anyone??

But let's keep this going. Does anyone want to make a little calendar and assign us each a day? And I say we all invite all our friends... that way we are responsible for coming up with fewer challenges and we get to connect with our friends' friends, etc. It will be fun!! I'm going to post our blog on my blog and see who wants to sign up. Another thought: whoever does the calendar could even pick themes if they wanted. Like one cycle through would be spring cleaning, or scripture or church-related, or nutrition/physical activity, or educational... you get the idea.

What do you think?

replenishes yousellf

I was reading a talk “Daughters of God” by Elder Ballard today and he said” sisters, find some time for yourself to cultivate your gifts and interests. Pick one or two things that you would like to learn or do that will enrich your life, and make time for them. Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give to others, even to your children.” It really hit me I could not think of the last time I had done anything for me. I thought it was selfish but when he said we can’t give when we have nothing it made me think.

Today’s challenge is to find something that “replenishes you” and talk some time to for your self.

Thank you

Thank you Sarah for that challenge for Food Storage and our 3 month supply.
My challenge is for everyone to think of someone who has done something for you recently or someone who just needs a note to brighten their day, and write them a note.
A thank you note goes a long way and when you get it out of the blue it can really make your day.
So get out a pen and paper and start writing.
P.S. I am thankful for all of you and for what great examples you are to me.

Saturday Challenge

A Saturday Challenge I don't know about you but Saturdays days are busy. For me today we started some demolition under our stairs. We are going to put in pullout pantry storage and my house is full of drywall dust. All I can thin is how long will the mess last. This is all to help us use our limited storage space more efficiently for food storage. I have been planning and working on my 3 month supply of food. Ever since the article in the Ensign on food storage I been trying to be more faithful in having food storage. I am jealous of all of you with basements. Any ways I have yet to sit down and finish made meal plans and inventory of my pantry so I can really tell how I am doing with my food supply. So after all that my Saturday Challenge is to Find some small way you can make your self more prepared. Something like meal plans or even read the Ensign article it was helpful and made everything doable.

Get happy!

I was having a hard time choosing what challenge I wanted to put up today, but I made a decision! (Success!) I'm choosing this for a few reasons... 1) It still doesn't feel like spring here, though I think it's coming. Because it's still freezing outside, those of us up here need to make some fun inside. And 2) At the Women's Conference on Saturday, Wendy Gibb did a session called Healthy Mental Attitude and she handed out little flowers that said "Create more happiness." (The theme of the conference was Elder Uchtdorf's talk on creating, and if you haven't watched this short video, go watch it!) Anyway, that got me thinking about how we need to be active in creating our own happiness and not just waiting around for life's circumstances to create it for us. That being said, different things make different people happy, but this is what makes me happy. Do one or do all three, do it by yourself or do it with your family, but do it!

1. SING

2. DANCE

3. PLAY

Okay, it's a little cliche, but do it anyway! Hint: If you have little people in your home, do it with them. I guarantee it will make them happy and you happier!! So go make some happiness!

Challenge Completed!

So me and Caleb took the last challenge VERY seriously, and we decided that in order to spend more quality time together we needed to take a little vacation. And that little vacation is back to my mission, Puerto Rico, for a week! :) I'm posting just to let you know that I'll be away for a while, and will not be contributing to the blog while I'm gone. Happy Challenging!

just the two of us

There has been so many good challenged it is getting a little harder to think of something new.

Eric was away last night on a scout camp and I was thinking when was the last time we sat down and spent some time on just us. I know we are supposed to have date night each week but I find it hard to get it all together. Most of our dated are to the Temple and that is good but when was the last time we had a real conversation that was not related to the kids or the business of life. I thought a good challenge for me is to spend a little time showing love and appreciation for a great spouse.

Water

Oh snap. I totally forgot it was my turn. If you read my blog you will understand why I might have forgotten about this.
So tomorrow you can do my challenge.
Drink water!
Water is so good for you and sometimes seems so hard to get as many glasses of water as we should per day.
Drinking water from a straw will help you to drink more if you have a problem drinking enough. When you drink from a cup you also swallow a lot of air so you feel full and can't drink as much.
Drinking through a straw eliminates this.
Drinking water helps with my overall skin condition, I notice especially in my scalp. I have a really dry scalp when I don't drink enough water.
So enjoy a nice glass of cold water, and don't wait till you feel parched to get a drink because you need water before you feel like you do. (I hope that makes sense).
It's late and I'm just blabbering so I'm done for now.

Missionary Mail!

Hey Everyone. So my challenge today is mostly for myself, but also for all those missionaries in the field that LOVE getting mail! I know, I was one of them, and seriously a piece of mail, even from someone you don't know, is like gold in the mission field. It makes your day so much better to know that someone at home is thinking of you. I have a little brother in Thailand right now and I have not been that faithful at writing him. Which is horrible! You'd think a return missionary would be better! But life always gets in the way of these little goals we have, which is why this blog is fantastic.

So my challenge is to write to a missionary today. Any missionary. You probably have one in your family, if not find one in your ward to write to. I know that in my home ward they post the missionaries addresses on the back of the bulletin. Or if you don't have anyone to write to, you can write my little brother Scott! His e-mail address is gooberwilson@myldsmail.net I am sure he would be thrilled to get some extra mail!

I hope this challenge will help me improve in this area, and I hope it will help you too!

Reconnect...

Hello everyone,
Let me first start off by saying what a great idea to do this daily challenge blog! Thanks Lyndsey!
Ok, so my challenge to you all is to reconnect with someone who you haven't seen or heard from in a while. You could send them an e-mail to catch up or just give them a call. Life can get very busy and sometimes you really have to make an effort to keep in touch with old friends. I know it just makes my day to hear from someone I haven't seen in a while! So lets RECONNECT ladies!!! Good luck.

Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts

Okay, the challenge holiday is over! Elysse's birthday party kind of took over for a few days, but I'm back.

Anyway, how do you all feel about going in this order:

Lyndsey
Becca
Kailey
Christy
Natalie
Sarah
Amy

And if you happen to miss your day, oh well!! We all know life gets busy. And if you don't do a challenge, do it later! Just do whatever works for you. The idea for this blog just came as a way to share our talents and desires to be better.

Also, in the spirit of sharing, please invite anyone you think might be interested to contribute to this blog, and we'll just add their name to the list. It's neat to see what everyone comes up with for their challenges, and I don't think it matters if we all know each other or not. We are all working towards the same goals and though many of our struggles are different, we are all the same in that we all struggle!

Please also continue to put other posts up whenever you feel like it - anything you feel like sharing. I am already thinking of a wall I can put Sarah's bulletin board on. I love it!

And here is a challenge for today (from yesterday's gospel doctrine class):

At the end of yesterday's class, our teacher challenged us to ask ourselves if we knew what gift(s) we have been blessed with, if we use these gifts, if we are grateful for these gifts, and if we pray for other gifts.

So I challenge you to study D & C 46:11-33 and ask yourself those same four questions.

Cheep, useful and cute to boot.

In the spirit of sharing I just finished a project that seems to me to fit with the principles of thrift I was reading about in Elder Scott's last talk. I was feeling my house was lacking in colour and a place to put all the pictures my little Livvy and David are drawing. You know be a good mom and display their creations build self worth and confidence. I thought "I need some colourful bulletin boards" so I headed to the home improvement store. I got 2'x2' acoustic ceiling tiles and covered them with fabric. The panels are great. I just nailed right though the front to mount them on the wall and now I have cut bulletin boards for cheap. The tile where about 50cents each and the fabric was about $10 for all 4. I used a staple gun to attach the fabric. It was a quick project with big impact in my kitchen.

Challenge #4

I work as a freelance writer and one of the things I love about it is that I am constantly learning new things. I normally work a few hours a week but I haven't worked since No.2 was born three months ago. When my editor asked me to do an in-person interview this week with one of the world's foremost experts on antioxidants and free radicals, I jumped at the chance.

Although I was a bit concerned that everything he said would be SO over my head, it felt really good to do research and exercise brain power that I thought had gone to the dogs. (Or, rather, to the kids).

So my challenge for today is to read something brief that makes you stretch your mind a bit. Something that is out of your comfort zone. Something that helps you understand the world a little bit better. Here are some suggested places to find your reading material: time.com, nytimes.com, wsj.com.

Challenge #3

I find after every General Conference I think "I need to review these talks they are so good". Then live continues and I get wrapped up in the little things and don’t do it. I feel so blessed to have good council from living prophets but then don’t take full advantage of it.

So today’s challenge is to go in line and read or listen to one talk. I was really sick yesterday and I hardly got out of bed so I will listen to a talk while I wipe down my switch plates and door handles.