Goodbye… For Now!

I have decided to give the blog a break. 🙂 It’s added pressure that I put on myself, so I’ve decided to alleviate some pressure!
I will be back, I don’t know when. But when I am, it will be AWESOME. I just need a break to get the things that need to be done in my life DONE, and to re-think my whole “what’s the purpose of my blog?” question.
Thanks for reading and supporting! I’m still making goals and achieving them one baby step or giant leap at a time, and I hope you will, too!

Service Challenge #3 Update 2

For over two weeks now, I’ve been striving to teach my son basic gospel principles on a daily basis. One night I remember simply asking him who was depicted in the picture over our mantle. He correctly told me it was Jesus. I told him just like I love him, and he loves me, Jesus loves him, too! I’ve repeated this often for him when he is unhappy or when there was a good opportunity. Another night, he was scared of thunder and lightning during a storm. My husband and I told him he could feel better if he said a prayer. We asked him if he wanted to, and he said yes. So we helped him ask in his prayer for comfort and that we would be safe during the storm. Now he frequently says he feels better when he says prayers after being in a bad mood or when he is sad or scared. My final example is our Family Home Evening lesson last night. We haven’t had an actual lesson in a while, so I focused on doing fun things with Jacob that would get his attention and be fun. We talked about temples, and there were a couple of songs we sung, a game we played, and a temple mobile craft we did together that is now hanging in his room. I think this is going great!

My next Personal Progress value experience I’m working on will be Knowledge #4:

“Select a gospel principle you would like to understand better (for example, faith, repentance, charity, eternal families, or baptismal covenants). Read scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets that relate to the principle. Prepare a five-minute talk on the subject and give the talk in a sacrament meeting, in a Young Women meeting, to your family, or to your class. Record in your journal how you can apply this gospel principle in your life.”

The gospel principle I am choosing to study is ‘revelation’. I’ll be studying it over the next week and then give my five-minute talk for Family Home Evening next week!

Pearly Whites!

Here’s my update on my awesome oral care routine goal!

I finished up the Crest Whitening Strips, and they worked fabulously! My teeth were so preeeetty! 🙂 I would suggest anyone who wants whiter teeth without paying tons for the procedure at their dentist should try them. I got the medium intensity strips. Can’t remember what they were called, and it’s been forever since I threw out the box. But it was really good for me. You leave it on for half an hour, which was about how long I was working out. That was a good distraction so I wasn’t just sitting around waiting by a timer to see when I could take them out! Haha!

I’ve brushed and flossed every day!!! My gums don’t bleed anymore for sure! I very highly recommend getting the floss picks from the store. They aren’t that expensive and they make flossing so much easier, which in turn motivates you more to do it every day. For a while I was brushing before I exercised every night as well in place of my whitening strips, but after my sick week it was another one of those things that got put on the back-burner.

I haven’t made a dentist appointment for this month. Another back-burner thing. Also there’s tons of craziness going on right now — super fantastically busy! I will try next month perhaps when things calm down and I have one of my big events checked off of my list!

Keep smiling beautiful, bright, CLEAN smiles!!!

Did I Just Think That???

I am on week 5 of my running program and going pretty strong! I have the occasional knee aches, but for the most part I am really chugging along!

Every week when I first do the new running sequences, I feel like I won’t be able to do it towards the end of my run. This week, I literally vocally coached myself through the full 22 minutes and did it! I felt silly talking to myself, but hey, whatever works! It motivated myself to just keep on pushing it until the end. By the end of the weeks I feel really good when I run and like I’m ready for the next week of new challenges! At the end of week 4, I can remember thinking to myself, “Dang, that was a good run!” And then I caught myself — What? Did I just think that? I hate running! So I would say that I am DEFINITELY learning to enjoy running! Finally!!!

My running tips, amateur as they may be, are these. Pick some good music to run with! Have a good water bottle that you are comfortable using while walking! (Mine has a straw.) Do some basic stretches before! I roll my ankles in circles and stretch my knees and quads. And lastly, focus on your breathing while you run! I have found that if you breathe out twice as long as you breathe in, that helps. I take a deep breath through my mouth and nose for four strides, then let it slowly out through my mouth over eight strides.

It’s been weeks since I’ve had that stitch in my side feeling. The muscles in my legs feel so great — like they are warmed up and feel really strong when I run. It gets me excited to run when they feel that way!

A new development in my goal to learn to enjoy running is that I have decided to run a 5k after my beginner’s running program! I think that will add a bit of fun into the mix, plus a goal to work towards. The 5k I found is in October and is called the Color Run. I asked my husband if he’d like to do it with me and he said he’d love to! I’m going to ask other people to do it with me as well and maybe get a team going! I’ve never felt better about running!

G, H, I, and J — a Catch-up On Homeschool

Oh Homeschool, how I am so enjoying our break week!!! Here’s what we have done in the past FOUR weeks of homeschool curriculum!

G: We colored a ‘Gg’ coloring page and talked about the G-sound; looked at flash cards for the words ‘garden’, ‘goose’, ‘gorilla’, ‘goat’, ‘goodnight’, ‘giving’, ‘grandfather’, ‘grass’, and ‘grizzly’; read the poem “Grizzly Bear”; read the books “Count Along with Mother Goose”, “Guinea Pigs Add Up”, “Goodnight, Me”, “Grandpa’s Little One”, and “Goodnight Moon”; looked at a picture of and talked about Edvard Grieg; listened to “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and danced to it; watched a music video of “The Green Grass Grew All Around”; talked about the greater than concept with number cards and objects; colored pictures of and talked about geese and gorillas; talked about Greece and colored a map of it; made a smiley-face Grassman planter and planted grass seeds for his hair in it (two blades grew!!!); and galloped around like a horse! We also did 7 workbook pages!

H: We colored an ‘Hh’ coloring page and talked about the H-sound; looked at flash cards for the words ‘honey’, ‘hat’, ‘hair’, ‘hands’, ‘hiccups’, ‘happy’, ‘hedgehog’, and ‘home’; read the poem “The Hairy Dog”; read the books “Hurricane!”, “Hip and Hop Don’t Stop!”, “Hugville”, “Hare and Tortoise Race to the Moon”, and “Hello, Red Fox”; looked at a picture of and talked about Franz Joseph Haydn; listened to “Symphony No. 94 in G ‘Surprise'” and danced to it; sang and danced to ‘The Hokey Pokey’; practiced counting to one hundred with a number chart; colored pictures of and talked about hibiscus and hippopotamuses; talked about Hawaii and colored a map; listened and danced to Hawaiian and hula music; and made a hand print painting. We also did 8 workbook pages!

I: We colored an ‘Ii’ coloring page and talked about the short I-sound; looked at flash cards for the words ‘igloo’, ‘Indian’, ‘inside’, ‘insect’, ‘iguana’, ‘inspector’, ‘instrument’, ‘inch’, and ‘inchworm’; read the poem “Inchworm”; looked at a picture of and talked about Giocchino Rossini (Italian); listened to “William Tell Overture – Finale” and danced to it; watched a music video of “Ten Little Indians”; learned about inches by counting how many were in a foot-long ruler and measuring objects with it; colored pictures of and talked about impatiens and iguanas; looked at a picture of an Indian chief and talked about Indians; watched a short video about Pocahontas; and made a feather headress. We also did 7 workbook pages!

J: We colored a ‘Jj’ coloring page and talked about the J-sound; looked at flash cards for the words ‘jam’, ‘jungle’, ‘jump’, ‘joy’, ‘juggle’, ‘jeep’, ‘juice’, and ‘jelly’; read the poem “JellyFish!”; read the book “Bread and Jam for Frances”; looked at a picture of and talked about Scott Joplin; listened and danced to “Maple Leaf Rag”; sang “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt”; used jellybeans to practice counting; colored pictures of and talked about jaguars and jellyfish; talked about Japan and colored a picture of children in kimonos; made an origami frog to play with; made Jell-o; and made a paper plate jellyfish. We also did 8 workbook pages!

So the favorites from these for weeks were watching the music videos, digging dirt for our Grassman, hand print painting, measuring in inches with the ruler, making the feather headdress, dancing to “Maple Leaf Rag”, making jaguar and jellyfish noises, and making the paper plate jellyfish!

Enjoy the pictures below of our activities! I’m relieved to finally have a break week amid all this craziness happening. Glad to have some time to relax from prepping activities and lessons and to look at getting ready for the next round!

Spring Cleaning 2013!

I have already begun my Spring Cleaning! April is the month to do it, and I started on schedule!!! Here is a calendar to show what I have planned to do this month and when.

I am behind on a few days currently. It’s only because I haven’t completed all my tasks on my checklists for certain areas — not that I haven’t worked on the areas. The only area I should have done but haven’t touched is the laundry room, which took me almost no time to do last year and should be a breeze to catch up on when I have the spare time! I have completed the yard, garage, and guest bathroom days as well as one (and 1/2) of the closets days. I still need to go through my closet and have my husband go through his. The other closets are done and beautiful! For the master bathroom, it’s all done except going through my drawers/supplies. It looks gorgeously clean and has a new shower curtain and bath mats! It’s the first stage in our bathroom redecoration, which is the next home improvement we’ve decided to do! I didn’t go through attic boxes due to time/energy constraints. But I DID have my hubby pull some down for me, so I’ve definitely thought about it, and been meaning to do it!

I mentioned checklists earlier. After I formed my calendar looking back on my experiences from last year, I wrote out checklists for each space of what I wanted/needed accomplished before I could officially check it off as Spring-Cleaned! For example, here is my list for the master bathroom:

1. Go through supplies
2. Scrub tub/shower
3. Scrub toilet
4. Scrub sinks
5. Clean mirror
6. Clean floorboards
7. NEW shower curtain
8. Embroider towels
9. Go through linens
10. Wipe doors

On this list, the only things I haven’t done are go through supplies and go through linens. The embroidering of the towels I was going to do as needed for each bathroom, but I decided that I would just devote one day at the end of the month to do them all at once. There are a lot of them, and embroidering takes up a bit of time. We are also planning on buying new towels for our master bathroom, but don’t necessarily have the money to do that right now, so there’s that factor, too. Also, last year I devoted the last day to a Goodwill drop-off of any un-neededs I found throughout the house during the month as I cleaned. Instead, I am donating these things to a church garage sale fundraiser in early May, so there was no need for that. So I switched it to embroidering towels!

I find that being flexible with myself in these ways de-stresses my life immensely. There’s no way any plan, no matter how well-put-together, will go off without a hitch 100% of the time. I can’t know what life will throw at me every day. So going at it with a flexible mindset is so key! If you’re stressed out, you will want to do a significant amount less than if you are relaxed with yourself, so I choose to be relaxed with myself!

Let the Spring Cleaning… continue!!!

Service Challenge #3 Update: Divine Nature #2

“As a young woman you are blessed with divine feminine qualities. Increase your understanding of and appreciation for womanhood. Read Proverbs 31:10-31 and two talks on womanhood from a conference issue of the Church magazines. Review what “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” says about being a wife and a mother. Then ask your mother or another mother you admire what she thinks are important attributes for being a mother. List the attributes in your journal. Then choose one of those attributes and strive to develop it. After two weeks report your success to a parent or leader.”

Proverbs 31:10-31

(Notes)

• Being virtuous is priceless, and something that others can’t take away from you. It’s a treasure you grow within yourself and watch bloom throughout your life, making you a more beautiful woman and person!
• Does my husband trust me? Do I make sure that nothing goes to spoil? I have never thought of this scripture this way before!
• Do good to your husband — don’t do evil. If you are upset, don’t lash out and do evil things towards him. Just calm down and realize that you love that man, and that trumps everything else.
• Work hard, and look for work to work hard on!
• One of the tasks given to a mother in the home is to take care of all things related to food. No matter how hard it may be to make meals to fill your family’s tummies, it’s a responsibility that needs to be fulfilled – even if you have to “…considereth a field, and buyeth it…” and then “with the fruit of [your] hands… planteth a vineyard.”
• Make sure your body is healthy and strong! Exercise!
• If you are making something for someone else, do your best and make sure it is good.
• Be mentally prepared that you may be needed at all hours of the night to serve your family and others that may need your help
• Be giving to those in need — when you have more than enough, spread that around to those who don’t.
• Don’t be afraid of trials. Rise to meet them!
• Prepare your household for all kinds of weather and disasters, including having the right clothing for your family.
• Clothe yourself, but do it as a virtuous woman would — with modesty!
• Because you are a virtuous woman, you will no doubt affect your husband positively. He will want to be the best person he can be, because you are doing the same. He’ll have success and be known to those around him.
• Be full of strength and honor always
• You will find happiness throughout your life if you live a virtuous lifestyle
• You will be wise and say wise things (don’t I need this!)
• You will be able to discipline with the kind of kindness the Savior showed
• Take care of your house and those in it!
• Be busy — don’t be a lazy bones! You will be happier if you keep yourself busy and productive anyway!
• If you do these things, you will be happy, your children will be happy, and your husband will be happy, and they will love and praise you because of it!
• Do the best you can and be the best you that you can be!
• Worldly praises and attentions mean nothing in the end, but the Lord’s approval is eternal
• You will be show the fruits of your labors when your life on earth is ended, and the works you performed in life will be your judgement 🙂

“Womanhood: The Highest Place of Honor” by James E. Faust – April 2000 General Conference

(Notes)

• “The true spirit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gives to woman the highest place of honor in human life.” It’s important to remember that the gospel is perfect, but the people trying to live it are not — not everyone will treat women with the full respect they deserve. It’s also important to remember that you have to deserve that full respect by living a virtuous and righteous life.
• “A beautiful and chaste woman is the perfect workmanship of God.”
• We need to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all places. Living this way naturally brings respect.
• Be glad to be a woman!
• We should always be giving service to others — it’s part of our divine role as caregivers.
• Being a woman is so much more than wearing/doing girly things. It’s our “capacity to love, …spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength.” And everyone is different!
• Woman’s intuition is a real thing! It’s being open to the whisperings of the Spirit!
• “Young women need to be strong in righteousness” — not necessarily in physical strength.
• “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
• You will find peace when you embrace your true identity as a woman and daughter of God.
• Women should have PERSONAL GOALS, including education and skill training, and which “coincide with the joys of womanhood”.
• Keep an open mind to the Spirit as you work towards these goals — sometimes the Lord needs you to focus on something else in your life, no matter how excellent or worthy your goal may be. And the Lord always knows best, so we should trust His judgement.
• When we stand as witnesses of Christ and his gospel, that means in our actions, words, and appearance.

“The Joy of Womanhood” by Margaret D. Nadauld — October 200 General Conference

(Notes)

• Being a good and faithful woman, you can’t help but inspire others!
• The Lord has in the past placed a great deal of trust in women, and that continues today. We are asked to “walk in virtue and live in righteousness” so that we can be successful in our lives as witnesses of Him and as workers in His gospel.
• Your outward appearance is a reflection of who you are on the inside, and your desires in your life. So if you truly desire righteousness and to be more Christ-like, you will “[receive] His image in your countenance”.
• You have a stewardship over your body, and should treat it as a holy temple, which it is, because the Spirit of God dwells with you, but not if you defile your body.
• Temples are made by man for God, whereas bodies are made by God for man. It truly is a sacred gift from Him which we should cherish and respect!
• Women should be trying to please men who will truly love them for who they are — and God truly loves us for who we are, so we should try to please Him!
• Be grateful for your divine potential and magnify your God-given gifts!
• “Grateful daughters of God love Him, and teach their children to love Him”
• We should be learning from other women in our families, teach our daughters the things we have learned, strive to give our children the best education we can find as well as continue to educate ourselves, and help develop our children’s skills.
• We need more Godly women in this world, because there are enough worldly women in it.
• Only after everything was created — even men — were women created. And only then was the work said to be complete.

(Notes)

• Marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God, so the position of wife and mother is therefore ordained of God.
• Gender is important and was determined when our spirits were born, before we came to earth.
• I am an heir to eternal life if I am righteous in this life as a wife and mother.
• My relationships to my family as a wife and mother (and daughter, and sister, etc.) will continue after I die.
• We are commanded to have children as husband and wife, and since I have the ability to carry children to full term, it’s my role to carry and give birth to children in obedience to that commandment.
• I am to be loyal to my husband and not have sexual relations outside of our marriage.
• The creation of life through procreation is “divinely appointed”, and I feel so blessed to be able to participate in utilizing that to create bodies for children that God has trusted me to raise on this earth!
• I have a “solemn responsibility” to love and care for my husband and my children. This means unconditionally!
• I need to show my children love and righteousness as I raise them as well as make sure they have the things they need both physically (clothing, food, shelter) and spiritually. I need to teach them not only the things they would have them learn in school, but also the things of the Lord: love, service, obedience to God’s commandments and the laws of the land. If I don’t do and provide these things for my children, I’ll be held accountable for my failures by God.
• Since marriage between a man and woman is essential to God’s eternal plan, I am half of that equation! That makes me feel extremely important and needed.
• I can create a happy home for my family by patterning our lives by the teachings of Christ as found in the scriptures, and by exercising principles such as: “faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”
• “Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.”
• As husband and wife, father and mother, we need to work together and help each other to succeed!

I got the chance to sit down with my mom and ask her what she thought were important attributes of being a mother, and this is what she said: being able to accept your children for who they are and support their choices, trying to be a good example, try and be there for your children and let them know they can count on you if they need you, teach your children the gospel.

Of these wonderful qualities my mother listed, I’d like to work on “teach your children the gospel”. We have lots of family activities and fun things going on around the house, homeschooling, etc. I would like to see more of the gospel being taught and learned by my little ones. I know my youngest isn’t old enough to really understand much, but my son could certainly understand basic gospel concepts. So for the next two weeks, I’m making it a goal to try to teach a bit of the gospel to my son every day!

Service Challenge #3

So this month (I know it’s already almost half over) I’ll be working on Service Challenge #3: “Give significant service to individuals or groups outside your immediate family.” There is a lady in our ward who has a daughter in the Young Women’s program. This mother cannot get up to move or speak. She has not been able to work on Personal Progress with her daughter or receive her Young Womanhood Recognition for herself, so one of the Young Women leaders thought it would be great to do everything in proxy for her! It’s an amazing idea, and so I’m jumping in and doing some of the value experiences for her in proxy.

I have chosen three value experiences to complete.

Good Works #4 – “Teach a lesson about service in family home evening or in another setting. Use pictures, music, examples, or demonstrations in your lesson. You may want to use the manual Teaching, No Greater Call as a resource.”

Knowledge #4 – “Select a gospel principle you would like to understand better (for example, faith, repentance, charity, eternal families, or baptismal covenants). Read scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets that relate to the principle. Prepare a five-minute talk on the subject and give the talk in a sacrament meeting, in a Young Woman meeting, to your family, or to your class. Record in your journal how you can apply this gospel principle in your life.”

Divine Nature #2 – “As a young woman you are blessed with divine feminine qualities. Increase your understanding of and appreciation for womanhood. Read Proverbs 31:10-31 and two talks on womanhood from a conference issue of the Church magazines. Review what “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” says about being a wife and a mother. Then ask your mother or another mother what she thinks are important attributes for being a mother. List the attributes in your journal. Then choose one of those attributes and strive to develop it. After two weeks, report your success to a parent or leader.”

I am going to start with Divine Nature #2 because my mother is actually visiting tomorrow night, so I can have a chat with her about motherhood! 🙂

I feel so blessed to be able to do this for this wonderful lady and her family. I hope to continue to be able to do as much as I can to reach this goal and work on Personal Progress in proxy for her until she receives her medallion!

Long Time, No Post!

Life is so crazy, isn’t it?

Amongst many, many, many other things in mine, we got the nasty bug that was going around, and it put my children and I out of commission for the week of spring break. It made me a week behind in EVERYTHING in my life. I felt so lost and like I didn’t know what to do or where to begin to put all the pieces of my once-0rganized life back together. I somehow found the will and a way to crawl back up out of my bewildered state of doing almost nothing but have a mental break-down. I prioritized what needed to be done around the house or that had a short deadline and let everything else go. When I had a minute to sit down and look at my calendars and lists, I did, and rearranged things to meet the need of having an un-planned spring break! Homeschool lesson plans were pushed back, trips to the library and other places were let go, chore and exercise schedules were relaxed and picked back up when they could be, and this blog was not updated as it should have been.

I’m still a little bit topsy-turvy from the whole thing — you have no idea how planned-out everything was for me for the next two months, and how taking a week off messed it up — but I feel sane again. I got through the first of many big events, and so I feel less stressed-out and more like I can get back on track and accomplish things.

Keeping my chin up and pressing on! I’ll update my blog with posts as soon as I can over the rest of the week.

…Ow.

Last night I pulled a muscle in my side or something like that while doing push-ups. This morning it felt like I had a broken rib. Therefore, until I can breathe or move my right shoulder without wincing in pain, I’m cutting the pushups out of my Six-Pack March schedule.

I have to be honest… these were my least favorite thing to do, so I’m not that sad. Plus they worked my arms a whole lot more than my abs. I’m going to keep doing the sit-ups, planks, and running, though!