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.

Dinner Idea

Since I love and admire you all, I know I would like to know when you find a good recipe/idea/or whatever. So I thought we could expand our challenge blog to include all of the other good things we find in life. For example, we had a great dinner last night, so here it is!

Crispy Parmesan Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg white
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup cornflake crumbs
1/2 tsp paprika
pinch each salt and pepper

• Preheat over to 400. Cut chicken crosswise into 1/4" thick strips.
• In a shallow dish, whisk together egg white and 2 tsp water. In another dish, stur together parmesan cheese, cornflake crumbs, paprika, salt and pepper.
• Dip each chicken strip into egg white mixture, roll in crumb mixture and place on greased or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crispy golden and no longer pink inside.

Serve with...

Vegetable Couscous

2 med. carrots diced
1/2 cup diced celery
1 med. onion diced (I used less)
1/4 cup julienned (or diced) red pepper
1/4 cup julienned (or diced) yellow pepper
2 tbsp canola oil (I used less than half of that)

1 med. zucchini diced
3 tsp dried basil leaves (not ground)
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Dash Tobasco sauce

1 cup uncooked couscous
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

• In a large skillet, heat oil then saute the carrots, celery, onion and peppers 6-8 minutes or until tender crisp.
• Add the next five ingredients. Mix well and heat.
• Stir in couscous.
  
• Add broth and bring to a boil.
  
• Cover and remover from heat. Let stand 5-8 minutes.
  
• Fluff with a fork and serve immediately.

We had steamed asparagus with it and it was delicious! Elysse ate everything! Let me know if you like it.

Challenge #2

Who said it was springtime?
I see snow on the ground right now, I guess that's what we get for living in Edmonton.
So since I wasn't around yesterday to do the challenge I will try to do it today.
If you didn't quite get around to it I'll give an easy challenge today, plus you can keep eating those fruits and veggies.
My challenge is something that we often overlook when we clean our houses, but bugs me when I see marks there.
So Spring Cleaning here we come!
Challenge: Go around your house and wash around all the light switches and door handles.
Dirty hands often leave little marks that just build up.
Don't worry it doesn't take long, and if you have kids get them to help too. Mine love to use wet wipes and wash down anything in sight.
Have fun.

Challenge #1

Tomorrow's challenge:

Have at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables.

The Canada Food Guide actually suggests 7-8 servings a day, but let's work our way up to that. Here is the Canada Food Guide Servings Tracker, which is actually pretty neat.

Let's Go!

It's finally spring. FINALLY!! Dave and I were discussing yesterday how we just feel different. Good different. Like, it's time to come out of hibernation and enjoy life. Not that we haven't been enjoying life all winter, but let's face it, everything is better when the weather is good! So... let's go!

The idea for this blog came as Christy, Amy and I are preparing to start a running program tomorrow. (If you want to have a gander, here it is.) Last time Christy and I started running (after Elysse and Brody were born), we felt so great and were so motivated to set other goals and work on improving other aspects of our lives. So I thought we might feel that way again, not that we don't always want to be better.

Here's what I'm thinking: We'll take turns everyday choosing a daily challenge. Exercise, nutrition, spiritual, home, educational, creative, personal hygiene (?!), whatever you can think of. Then we'll all try our best to meet the challenge in whatever way we can. Sometimes it might not happen that day, but the beauty of "a daily challenge" is that tomorrow is a new day and a new challenge!

Are you in??