90 Day Challenge

We finished off last year pretty calmly after going on the best vacation of our lives the week after Thanksgiving.  This year we had a wonderful week in Utah before having a couple pretty chill days.  Last night K and M were still awake to watch the ball drop in New York City via a live stream with Hubby and I.  So at a little after 10pm we said good night to our girls and were satisfied with our year.

Our Christmas card "letter" that M helped me write mentioned some of the things we were grateful for.  There are so much more.  Actually, if you want to be super bored, I will paste in what I wrote down as part of Rachel Hollis' 90 day challenge:

10/1

1. Children’s thoughtful prayers
2. A clean kitchen to wake up to (thanks to Hubby)
3. My children’s good friends
4. Play dates
5. Central heating and Air Conditioning
6. That Subway and Smashburger are in the same parking lot
7. Where we live
8. Kind parents at the public school
9. Make up and showers
10. Clean children

10/2

1. Playing with my children
2. Being able to work on making a scrapbook today
3. Meeting a nice mom at the park who was adopted
4. Shopping at Sprouts
5. Disney’s Dance Party 2 Wii U game
6. Having a great Girl Scout co-leader and Activity Days co-leader
7. A chance to begin anew every morning
8. Reading stories at bedtime
9. Today’s nice weather
10. M wanting to work on her Faith in God book

10/3

1. Being able to volunteer in Natalie’s classroom
2. Having Teresa come to help me
3. Shopping at Target
4. All my children having a good day at school
5. Indoor plumbing
6. Appliances to wash things for me
7. Watching the children decorate sugar skulls
8. My dad taking Danny to football practice for me every Wednesday
9. Carpooling
10. The public library

10/4

1. The opportunity for my middle children to go to the Waldorf school
2. My iMac and the internet
3. Starting to pack for Disney World
4. Smoked salmon, rice and fresh green beans
5. Ghirardelli chocolates
6. 2 Cellos music videos
7. That my husband doesn’t have to travel much for his work
8. My home
9. My marriage
10. My parents

10/5

1. I missed this day. Thought about writing in extra the next day but decided leaving it would be more authentic.

10/6

1. Modern day comforts
2. Technology that allows me to watch General Conference from my home
3. 2 hour church! The rumors were true!
4. Making edible cookie dough, sugar cookie dough and play dough with my daughters while my man and boy went to the CU football game
5. All the speakers that obviously put so much into preparing their talks with the guidance of the Holy Ghost
6. President Nelson’s challenges that balance out this Five to Thrive quite nicely
7. Feeling like GC today was just for me
8. All the times I haven’t accidentally made my kid cry
9. How athletic K and D are. I like to say it’s a perk of adoption. (:
10. I better say “my hot husband” more than once on this list in case Hubby reads this. Love you forever!

10/7

1. Another wonderful day of General Conference
2. Success at making GF/DF cinnamon rolls from scratch
3. Watching my girls make Halloween cookies from our sugar dough
4. The announcement of 12 new temples across the world
5. Being edified and encouraged all weekend long
6. Being reminded of what is most important
7. Talking with Jennifer S about her nephew
8. Watching “The Miracle Season” for FHE last night
9. Hubby making dinner
10. Our dishwasher

10/8

1. K helping N with what to do on an “in day” (due to nasty weather)
2. N and K’s teachers and attending parent teacher conferences
3. That it is official, the Waldorf school is going to let D try out 4th grade for the next 2 weeks
4. Hubby making omelets for dinner
5. Hubby subbing for K’s volleyball coach tonight
6. Realizing I can finish M’s 6 year scrapbook before I leave town
7. Getting to watch the cheesy rom com “The Decoy Bride”
8. Getting to eat the yummy food I baked this weekend
9. Lots of clean clothes
10. That my mom came over and babysat while I went to conferences and even cleaned up the mess when Meigo pooped in the basement during my absence

10/9

1. That it was Hubby’s turn to deal with the dog in the middle of the night
2. Time to panic clean the house for book club
3. Yummy treats Kat brought
4. Giving Belinda a hug
5. Seeing Denise again
6. Katie’s crazy Utah stories
7. Becca’s volunteering to be in charge of Cub Scout popcorn
8. Our winter gear
9. Love notes
10. My sophomore BYU scrapbook

10/10

1. Beautiful big snowflakes
2. Wonderful Girl Scouts (such nice kids!)
3. Finishing M’s 6 year scrapbook
4. What we can learn through reading the scriptures
5. Those who are willing to help
6. How well N did getting her cavity filled
7. The nice older couple when I took N to lunch at Culver’s and the nice woman at Target who let us go ahead of her in line
8. How much the children enjoyed having O. over for dinner
9. That Hubby could take K to her appointment while I was at Girl Scouts
10. Watching Zombies with the children while Hubby was at Young Men’s

10/11

1. Being able to get everything ready for our trip! (That automatically has like five in there.)
2. Reading new library books on the sofa before bed
3. All those willing to help while I’m gone

10/12

1. The Disney Magical Express
2. A smooth flight/getting to the airport
3. Being in the warm Florida weather
4. Swimming with K
5. Our Fast Passes to the Rockin’ Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror
6. That we were able to buy the last Tower of Terror shirt K wanted in her size
7. That we were able to cross eating at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater off our bucket list
8. How happy K was seeing two people get engaged after the fireworks. People were cheering and you could feel the good wishes of strangers coming together for the couple.
9. That my foot is surviving all the walking
10. Sleeping in a bed all to myself

10/13

1. The fancy shampoo and conditioner made it to the value hotel
2. There was only two of us in the mayhem that was Epcot
3. The happy memories we have at that place
4. Kind strangers
5. I survived Mission: Space
6. How much K liked the above
7. Test Track fast pass
8. Easy transportation back to the hotel
9. When we get seats on the bus instead of standing
10. Being able to sleep with no one or dog waking me up

10/14

1. The Magic Kingdom
2. Splash Mountain
3. The Halloween parade
4. Kind employees
5. The Halloween party
6. K getting to meet Jack and Sally
7. Being able to eat at Be Our Guest restaurant — we tried to in 2016 and couldn’t get in
8. Dole Whips
9. That we actually had fun clear til midnight
10. That I’m getting my exercise in while having fun (walking almost 7 miles every day)

10/15

1. That K and C got to spend time together
2. That C loved the Tower of Terror rode we convinced her to go on
3. Great seats for Beauty and the Beast thanks to C’s family
4. Fast passes to Rockin’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror and Slinky Dog
5. Eating in air conditioning
6. Watching the Little Mermaid in air conditioning
7. Finally finding a frozen banana to eat
8. The perfectly warm evening
9. Package seating at Fantasmic
10. Getting our picture taken while the fireworks were going off

10/16

1. How neat the Flight of Passage ride was!
2. Getting to ride Expedition Everest 3 times in one day
3. Getting to talk to my family on the phone at the airport
4. How easy the Orlando airport makes things
5. Finishing writing the blog post about our trip on the airplane (one less thing to do when I get home)
6. A smooth flight home.
7. Making it home safe
8. K saying she had an awesome, magical trip
9. Me feeling the same way
10. I’m going to sleep in my own bed

10/17

1. That I could get done what needed to be done before I started feeling really sick
2. That Teresa was here today
3. That the weather was nice enough to open windows
4. That Shelly could be my substitute for activities days today
5. That it was Julie‘s turn to run activity days today
6. That Hubby could home early from work to take care of the kids again
7. That N and M are so happy to have me home even though I’m sick

10/18

1. That I am feeling better today thanks to being in bed from 4:30pm yesterday until 6am this morning
2. That my younger 3 enjoyed going to the public library so much
3. That Kate’s orthodontist appointment went well
4. That I could rest in between doing things like dropping children off at school and kindergarten pick up
5. It looks like we have all our ride photos from Walt Disney World and I can start working on the scrapbook for it
6. That D mowed the back yard for me
7. That Hubby went grocery shopping for me
8. That Hubby could go deal with the renters checking out and showing the house to someone
9. Where we live (I was looking at housing in Pasadena and it is crazy)
10. That I could keep my food down today!

10/19

1. My mom went to a class on adoption and it’s unique challenges as children grow while Hubby went to work and I stayed home sick
2. Nice weather that enabled us to play at our favorite park until dinner time with M’s friend E and K’s friend C
3. That Hubby could have fun playing poker
4. That Hubby helped me see that during this 5 to Thrive Challenge, the point is to be grateful, not to write 10 things down like homework.

10/20

1. Perfect weather to do yard work at the old house
2. My parents helping Hubby and I get the yard work done
3. Hubby was able to pick out new renters (our former ones bought their first house)
4. D could play at a friend’s house
5. There was even time to play with neighbors while Hubby and I did yard work at our new house too
6. Getting sleep!

10/21

1. More excellent weather, this time to watch D play two football games
2. M choosing to go to church
3. D finishing his Cub Scout square knot
4. K working on Faith in God
5. That all the General Conference talks are on my phone to listen to again
6. Having my parents over for dinner
7. All the hard work Hubby has put in while I’m still not feeling well
8. Snuggling M and N while watching Disney night for Dancing with the Stars Juniors.

10/22

1. My picnic with N today
2. Working on K’s scrapbook from our trip while N was at kindergarten
3. My mom coming to babysit while I took K to the dentist
4. Going to Ashley’s and making calm down jars
5. Eating out at Noodles
6. Walking the dog with M and N
7. Hearing about D’s football game from Hubby via text
8. Taking K to and from her last volleyball practice of the season and K being invited to a CU game

Missed 10/23 — 10/25. I am fully functioning after being sick but it’s taking everything I have not to lay down and rest.

10/26

1. Going to see Dr. Evans today
2. Going to the Temple with my dad
3. Kari watching N for me so I could attend the temple
4. Beautiful weather

10/27

1. Finishing the book Born a Crime ( so many things from that book to be grateful for like not eating worms or having to sleep in the back of a car)
2. Indoor plumbing
3. Growing up where (and how) I did
4. Miracles
5. Finishing K’s WDW trip book
6. Hubby taking M and N to the pumpkin patch so I could rest
7. Laundry machines
8. D having so much fun at his friend’s party

10/28

1. Getting to hold C’s baby during RS
2. All 6 of us being on time to Sacrament meeting
3. Yummy food for lunch
4. M presenting her 1st Vision FHE
5. All 6 of sitting on the sofa together before bed

10/29

1. Meeting with the 3rd and 4th teachers
2. Going to Ashley’s
3. Not having to make dinner
4. How my foot is feeling better after seeing the chiropractor a couple times
5. Money to pay medical bills with

10/30

1. Getting a shower AND the children being to school on time
2. Hubby’s hard work
3. My mom coming to babysit D & M and M’s friend A while K, N and I decorated K’s classroom for Halloween
4. Being able to set up a new troop bank account— nice to have that done with
5. Watching the “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” documentary while I cleaned the first floor of the house
6. Growing up watching Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood in the ‘80s.
7. Feeling good enough to stay awake after the children were in bed so we could finally finish season 5 of Agents of Shield. We’ve been waiting to cancel Netflix for months because of that show.
8. N slept through the night last night
9. My new hobby of seeing the chiropractor twice a week seems to be helping
10. My handy dandy phone that helps me keep track of things

10/31

1. All the neat costumes at the elementary school’s Halloween parade
2. Helping out at N’s party
3. My dad helping M carve pumpkins at the Waldorf school
4. My mom babysitting so I could help at K’s pastry
5. My dad helping setting up for Halloween Journey (for D’s class)
6. All of my children having friends to trick or treat with
7. Hubby setting up our fire pit and passing out candy with joy
8. Happy people at bedtime

11/1

1. Being able to take my dad, D, M and N to DMNS
2. Being gifted chocolate from Spain

11/2

1. Hubby coming home in time to take D to football practice and go to the dry cleaners for me
2. N having a giggle filled play date at our house
3. The girls and I working on Thanksgiving “homework”

11/3

1. Being able to watch our niece play volleyball online. Her team took 3rd Place in the state!
2. Watching D, M and N work together to make his rain gutter regatta boat
3. Watching K and D work together to make deviled eggs
4. Hubby and M having a great time at the Girl Scout Me and My Guy dance

11/4

1. That my mom could watch the girls (including Meigo) while my dad and I went to the district broadcast for church and Hubby took D to his football games.
2. That we have learned to never sign our children up for sports unless we know the schedule first. Better to learn that while they are still in elementary school!
3. Watching some silly shows while snuggling my girls
4. Hubby cleaning the kitchen and grilling a delicious meal for us
5. Having the Smith family over for dinner. They are wonderful.

11/5

1. That our 2 Shutterfly books arrived safely to be enjoyed
2. That N had a great time playing at Z’a house
3. That the children (D, M, the twins in M’s class) had so much fun playing D’s classmate’s game
4. An FHE that was without drama and I felt like we really invited the Spirit into our home

11/6

1. N and I were able to get the mini van super cleaned and were entertained by doing things like walking to Great Harvest Bread Company to get yummy food
2. The gluten-less pumpkin chocolate chip loaf
3. That I could gather photos for N’s 3rd year scrapbook

11/7

1. A nice and relaxed late start morning
2. A house to clean and clothes to launder and dishes that show how easy it is for us to have plenty of food to eat and clean water to drink
3. Our Thanksgiving FHE
4. My mom being willing and able to help at N’s Daisy meeting
5. That K felt better today
6. D said he was grateful for school

11/8

1. Being able to watch N give K hugs during the Turkey Trot
2. All the volunteer work that went into helping her donations to the school
3. Hubby donating and his company matching
4. M loving her viola lessons with our neighbor
5. D’s den meeting (and not forgetting to bring snacks to it)

11/9

1. Being able to attend the Ameritowne field trip with the 5th graders. I loved who I worked with and the jobs they did and being able to be there with K.
2. Also very glad I didn’t wreck while driving other parents from K’s class
3. E for having N over for a play date so I could go

11/10

1. M and N helping me clean up the art room while K was at Q’s house and D was at football practice
2. Getting a hair cut and bringing home Chinese food from our neighbor’s businesses
3. Watching The Holiday Calendar on Netflix with the whole family in the basement

11/11

1. Subbing D’s primary class
2. Watching D give his talk
3. Having a home where we can have Deacon presidency meetings
4. Going to the J family’s house for a Thanksgiving FHE

11/12-15

1. Feeling good enough to get things done like move the rabbit into the garage for the winter, clean house, have N’s friends over to play, do much needed shopping, fill out K’s club volleyball forms, etc.

11/16

1. We could feed the missionaries tonight
2. That B, C and A made it out safely from Utah. We love them so much!

11/17

1. Having B, C and A here. The guys went to the CU/Utah game and the girls painted nails, drew, ate at Noodles and watched Hotel Transylvania 3 before we had chili and cinnamon rolls for dinner and played games. ️

11/18

1. Subbing Sister Y’s primary class. They used to be my Sunbeams so I am always happy when I get to teach them.
2. Great talks in Sacrament meeting
3. Having the T family over for dinner.

11/9

1. Being able to take K & Q and D & Z go to Get Air while M was at horse camp. I read books to N while they got some great fun in!
2. My parents babysitting so I could take K to the dentist and attend D and M’s parent teacher conferences

11/20

1. Play dates with the O. Family while M was at horse camp. Cheap entertainment!

11/21

1. My parents being willing to babysit while I took K to the orthodontist and chiropractor
2. My dad taking D to Get Air
3. M being able to play at Z’s house

11/22

1. Thanksgiving food
2. My home
3. My dishwasher
4. King Arthur Flour GF sugar cookies
5. R’s baptism

11/23

1. N sleeping through the night on a more regular basis now
2. Taking the girls to Crack Pots and Dickey’s BBQ while my guys were skiing

11/24

1. Eating lunch at Cafe Rio
2. No fuss picking out our live Christmas tree
3. Decorating the inside of the house for Christmas

11/25

1. Subbing in primary
2. Finding out church will be from 9:30-11:30am in 2019
3. Having a nice day with our family

11/26

1. Walking K and N to school this morning
2. M having C over to play for the first time
3. Hubby making omelets for dinner

11/27

1. Watching N and her friend D having so much fun together while his mom went to the temple
2. A nice day to walk home from school in
3. Hubby making fajitas for dinner
4. The girls helping me make allergy friendly Christmas sugar cookies

11/28

1. Having Teresa here
2. Kindergarteners and their moms
3. Having our last and best Girl Scout meeting with the Cadette troop

11/29

1. Going to the chiropractor with the kids
2. Chick Fil A drive thru
3. K’s first club volleyball practice going well
4. The public library
5. A functioning car and safety

11/30

1. My lunch time book club friends
2. Running errands with D and M
3. Having the money to pay for things like a gift for the giving tree at Church

12/1

1. The happiness December seems to magically brings
2. Hubby’s hard work at the rental
3. K babysitting while I took D to football practice and muy Thai
4. Beginning to put up the Christmas lights
5. Cafe Rio
6. N being so excited to go to sleep just because it was her turn to have mommy put her to sleep

12/2

1. Safety in travel
2. Others willing to help
3. My parents coming along
4. Going to 8 is Great to talk about Activity Days
5. Watching the Christmas Devotional together as a family

12/3

1. Being able to get errands done and the money to pay for all this food and dental floss and everything else we buy
2. Having just K and I at Target

12/4

1. That Hubby could run errands for me while I made dinner
2. That N’s dental visit was so easy today. (Thought she might have a cavity but she didn’t and just sealed it to make sure it didn’t become one.)
3. Beth (D’s wonderful cello teacher)

12/5

1. K being able to sleep in and N earning a Daisy badge due to late start this morning
2. Hubby taking my Waldorf kids to school in the mornings
3. Emily being so easy to babysit
4. Hanukkah Activity Days meeting done
5. Latkes made from scratch done

12/6

1. M enjoying her viola lessons with J
2. K enjoying practicing with her new volleyball team
3. Car pooling
4. Baking D a half birthday cake with N
5. Being a stay at home mom

12/7

1. Being able to get lots of little things done in the morning
2. Picking up my kids from school
3. Taking N to see Disney on Ice
4. A functioning van and a phone to give me directions
5. Our water distiller and the money to pay for it

12/8

1. Buying Hubby’s Christmas present
2. Our Ward Christmas party and all the people who made it possible
3. Being able to help clean up and see the building’s attic for the first time
4. Talking to D and M about the Book of Ether at bedtime
5. Having the energy to stay up and watch a rom com with my Hubby
6. Sitting next to neat women at the Girl Scout cookie training
7. Not running out of gasoline

12/9

1. Getting to church in time to partake of the sacrament
2. Talking to Stacey
3. Sitting next to Cassandra during RS
4. A clean kitchen
5. Shrimp to eat for dinner
6. How much the girls loved the Dancing with the Stars Juniors Finale
7. Our Legend of the Candy Cane book

12/22

1. Being able to skip almost 2 weeks of gratitude and still feel grateful
2. Meeting with Bishop K for tithing settlement last Sunday (his words help me with being ok not trying to back track on recording blessings
3. Hubby being willing to drive so that I could write out my December blog post
4. Eating lunch at Freddy’s and trying the jalapeño fry sauce
5. The S family cleaning our part of the church assignment for us today since we forgot to do it before we left town this morning

12/23

1. Emily’s family saving is seats at church and a lovely meeting
2. Getting to talk to Emily and their family spoiling us with food and activities
3. Seeing Grandma Wilcox and extended family
4. John’s polio blanket joke
5. The tree of life at the cemetery
6. S enjoying riding in our car while D enjoyed riding with Marcus

12/24

1. Swimming with Hubby’s family
2. Seeing and eating lunch with the S family
3. Eating pizza with the Parkers
4. Going to the M’s house to participate in their family traditions (and feeling so welcomed by their extended family too)
5. All our safety in driving around so far

12/25

1. Seeing children happy and surprised on Christmas morning
2. Kendra making us a fancy breakfast complete with napkins folded to look like Christmas trees
3. My new coat and hat Hubby bought me
4. Seeing the children say thank you to their cousins when they opened their draw name gifts
5. Watching cousins play UNO together

12/26

1. Bowling and laser tag
2. Time to relax a bit after all the excitement of the last week or two
3. Evie spending the night

12/27

1. Meeting Melissa (Aviana) for lunch
2. Visiting Temple Square

12/28

1. Ice skating and eating lunch with some of Hubby’s family
2. Visiting BYU campus
3. Crossing escape rooms off my bucket list
4. Carpooling with A&E and M&K
5. What a great time my children had getting babysat by the P family

12/29

1. How well my children said good bye this morning
2. Patrice’s presents for the ride home
3. That this 90 day challenge is almost over
4. That my husband doesn’t mind driving
5. Downloaded shows from Netflix to keep the children entertained
6. Making it home safely without harm or incident

12/30

1. The last 3 hour church!!!
2. Our house
3. Hubby’s truck to take us to our last 3 hour church!

12/31

1. To be happy with 2018
2. To have a much cleaner house than I did yesterday
3. To watch my daughters work together to do the dishes
4. Eating at Noodles and Company
5. Watching the ball drop live in NYC so K and M and Hubby and I didn’t have to try to stay awake until midnight

Here is an image of what the 90 Day Challenge was:

I loved the book, Girl, Wash Your Face.  I could say it was life changing because it did teach me to the care of myself while all of my children were at school.  Life is much easier for the entire family when I do.  Of course, my "free time" is still limited to when N is in half day kindergarten and I still make sure to take care of what needs to be done, but it is definitely easier for me to be the kind of mom I want to be when I feel like I do have time to get done what I want to get done.  So, when my friend Melissa recommended I try the author's 90 day challenge to finish out the year, I did.  Let me just say, waking up an hour early every day was a disaster.  Hubby tried this one with me and when you have 2 adults with interrupted sleep for years on end thanks to 4 children and an aging dog, this is horrible advice.  We ditched that one pretty quick because we were cranky!  Do not take that advice unless you can go to bed earlier!  I did try to work out more regularly and think I did but I never worried about how many minutes I was spending.  For a person who hardly ever works out, usually 15 minutes made a difference in how I felt.  #3 actually made my life easier because it lowered my goal of how much water to drink.  lol.  I was able to keep this goal much easier.  The food category I cut out was "bedtime snacks," meaning that I tried not to eat anything after the children were asleep.  This was pretty easy for me to keep and definitely helped cut down on how much junk food I ingested.  Lastly, I wrote down things I was grateful for.  Obviously ten was a bit drastic and kind of defeated the purpose for me so I kept it authentic after my husband called it on that.  So overall, I think the challenge was good at helping me snack less at night & exercise more (which hopefully is a habit now) but I can't say I'm a huge fan of the thing.

Honestly, the best advice and the best challenge I received this year was from President Nelson in the Women's General Conference Session.  He encouraged us to fast from social media and see how it felt.  I noticed for me (since I already took FB off my phone), Instagram is a way for me to feel connected. What I noticed was that if I wasn't checking Instagram I was playing silly games on my phone instead.  So if I really wanted to get at the core of his advice, I would take the games off my phone as well.  He also encouraged us to finish reading the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  I was already doing so but still only managed to finish the Book of Ether last night with M & D listening with me.  I blame it on all the fun we had in Utah -- we didn't listen to scriptures at all that week!  One thing that I already really liked doing was listening to all the General Conference talks from October 2018 while I was doing housework or exercising.  Then, when I finished with that, I began listening to all of President Nelson's GC talks since he became an apostle in 1984.  Lastly, I took up the challenge to attend the temple more often.  Before he said this in October, I hadn't been to the temple since the end of May.  Thanks to Kari and I trading off babysitting, I got to go again in October & December.  I look forward to continuing in the new year.  The world will tell us to focus on ourselves to be happy & the Church will tell us to focus on others to be happy.  The truth is, if we don't take care of ourselves, we can't serve others and we can't be happy.  I wish I had internalized this sooner.  I think my children would have spent their earlier years with a much happier mother if I hadn't have tried to power through it, using up the vast stores of everything I had to just keep going. Of course, I have to say how proud I am of the children and how much they can do for themselves now.  I feel I am out of the survival mode I had been in from 2010 until rather recently.  Funny how the best things in life can take the most out of you.  I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything but I don't know how I could have made it this far without the testimony of and help of my Savior.  You can read all the self help books in the world but whether you realize it or not, Jesus Christ is the power behind every good and lasting change you make in your life.  He is the Light of the World and His light resides in you because you have a divine heritage.

Happy New Year!