Update: 101 Goals in 1001 Days---with pictures

Once again, I am updating some of my progress on my 101 Goals in 1001 days (a list of goals that I want to accomplish, some big, some small).  I will highlight a few things here, but the full updates & notes have been made on the original post.

Completed Goals:

2. Run a 5K  

4. Lose 15 more pounds 


I DID IT!!!  31 pounds lost and a 5K completed!  I completed these two goals that I thought I NEVER could do.  These are very significant to me because of all the physical and mental effort that were required.  It feels awesome.  I've included some details in this post.  But for your viewing pleasure I have included some before and after pics of the weight loss.

Other completed goals:

51. Learn to sew a new project twice per year  (This month I learned to make a pillowcase)

72. Help build a Habitat for Humanity house 

This was really fun.  Some of my coworkers and I saw a Campus announcement that volunteers were needed so we decided so sign up.  We ended up helping build the two main walls to the house.  So the boards were marked and we aligned the studs, and then helped nail everything together.  It looks and seems very easy but it's really not!  It was a LOT of work and the particular way we had to bend over made all of us very sore for about a week.  Also, the nails kept bending so it seemed to take forever to get all the nails properly in place.  It felt good to help others and we had a good time doing it.  We might sign up to do it again, too! 

Goals in Progress:
26. Personal scripture study every day for 1 month
80. Family prayer daily for 1 month
95. Hold a real family home evening at least twice per month


I used to be so diligent about having meaningful prayer and scripture study literally every single day, but becoming a mommy makes finding a quiet moment a lot more difficult.  Many nights I just fall asleep at a moment's notice and I am usually running late every morning.  So James and I have been making a significant effort into being more consistent and I love it.  I love having family home evening ("family night") together where we just focus on having good quality time.  You can really feel the Spirit more in our home and we are able to focus more on what truly matters and less on the petty things.  We're still FAR from perfect, but working on these goals adds so much to our lives.  Here is a picture from our most recent family night, where we took a nice long walk up and down the bay.

46. Build a year’s supply of emergency storage (in progress)

I updated our 72 hour kit in June.  This is basically a kit you can pick up and take with you in the case of an emergency (food, water, change of clothes, and a few other necessities) or evacuation.  We had a lesson in Church about being prepared for Emergencies and this is especially important since we are in a hurricane area.  The government also recommends having one.  The link to the list we used is found on this page (of course I don't have everything on the list, but it is a great guideline).  It's a really simple concept but I feel great that we did it---we are prepared!  Here are some other websites that talk about emergency preparedness:

http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/hurricanes.html

http://providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,8034-1,00.html

Well, that's all, folks.  More to come about other family activities later!