Progress on Goals

Read the Book of Mormon as a family.  Study and read the scriptures.
We are still reading the Book of Mormon as a family and are caught up to read it in a year.  We do not always read more then a couple verses everyday but on other days we catch up.  We have been reading some of the Isaiah chapters in first Nephi.  It is so beautiful the love that the Lord has for all his children.  He will not forsake us.  I, Mom, have been meeting with a bunch of moms for a Scripture Study group every couple of weeks.  The last few weeks we have been studying compassion.  My friend, Nicky, comes up with questions for us to study and recommends chapters to read through.  We had about 7 women come to our house the last time we met.  And they will be here again this Thursday.  I am excited to be in love with the scriptures again.  

Get along with and love my family.
We are not perfect at this but we are implementing new strategies to make sure we understand each other more in our marriage and make time to really talk and listen to each other.  With the kids, we can lose our patience but the days we are doing things together and we get out of the house to do something fun tend to go better.  I know the kids appreciate when I am in a good mood because I get a lot of hugs and kisses. Same thing with Brian (:

Go to the temple once a month.  I got to go to the temple for the first time yesterday, since Ryan was born.  I made it in under the wire; my recommend expired the next day.  I was so glad to be able to go and soak in the quiet busyness of the temple.  I went during the same shift, Brian and I, worked on almost 5 years ago and saw many of the ordinance workers we worked with while we were there.  

Run a 5k - Brian is now signed up for his half marathon on May 3rd.  I have not signed up for the 5K that same day yet; but I will.  I just downloaded the Run5K app on the Iphone.  So let the running begin.

Lose 35 pounds -
I have lost about 4 pounds this week.  My friend, Nicky, and I decided to follow each other on Fitness Pal and have changed our settings so we can view each other's food and exercise diaries.  We help each other stay more accountable and write each other encouraging messages.  She had her little girl 3 days before I had Ryan so we are both ready to slim down. If you want to follow me on Fitness Pal my username is raemerk20.

Invest in relationships with grandparents and great grandparents.
We are going to see Grandma Merkley tomorrow at my parent's Superbowl party.  She wants to see all her great grand babies. It will be nice to spend time with her.  The kids love all the Grandparents and they love them.

Pay off debt and have savings.  The finance challenge I have been doing has been great.  We have been able to save about $500 this month. (This is huge for us!) Most of this is because I got paid from my new cleaning job.  This job has been a huge blessing and just the motivation I needed to budget and get ahead.

Trade in car for SUV/minivan. We are talking about getting our new vehicle.  We need to pay our car off first.  If we get the new vehicle this year we might go, with the kids, to Disneyland after Christmas.

work on goals with my kids and husband.
I could not reach any of my goals without them.  They motivate and encourage me everyday.