#29: No TV or Movies for One Week for Me or the Girls

This one was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Mostly because I decided to do this during what turned out to be a very difficult week for me physically.  I had these big ideas of all the wonderful things we would do instead of watching TV and instead we were lucky to even leave the house most days. 
We really don't watch TV a ton, but it does get turned on every day usually.  I noticed that the girls adapted to this a lot better than I expected.  They played together, colored/drew, danced, and used their imaginations.  Only occasionally did I hear "Mom, I Want To Watch A Movie!!" 
The hardest part was after the girls were in bed, because most nights Neil and I vege(is that how you spell it??) around watching shows.  I got a lot of reading done. :)
I'm glad I did this, but a little disappointed that it didn't turn out exactly as I was hoping.  Maybe we'll have to try it again on a better week...

#70: Make Detailed Plans for My Salon

**Seven New Posts!  Don't miss all the excitement! :)**


I really enjoyed completing this goal.  It's always fun to dream, right?

I decided I was going to call my salon "The Thirsty Hair Saloon" and design it after an old west saloon.  I don't think the picture is easy to see, so I'll just highlight some of my favorite parts.
In the lobby will be a Grub Bar where you can choose some refreshments.  The receptionist are is called the "Welcoming Posse".  There will also be a mechanical bull that you can ride while you wait.  The doors leading to the floor will be swinging doors.
I named each section to go along with the "Old West" theme.  The Nail Table is called "Happy Hooves", the Waxing Station is called "Waxing Depot", the shampoo bowl is called the "Watering Trough", my storage area/color bar is the "Tack Room" and my stations are the "Hair Stables". 
Like I said, this was really fun to plan and I hope someday that I can make this dream a reality. :)

#67: Graduate!

I am done with school!!!!  It still doesn't feel real.  I finished my hours on Sept. 13 and graduation was on Sept. 21.  I completed Honors and Deans List (More on that later since those are two separate goals.) and am loving having some actual family time during the week!!

This is the face of an official Cosmetologist!

 Sammy was nice enough to be my model for graduation.  Doesn't she look great?!

 The Happiest Family In The World!!

#58: Do a Service Project for a Family Member or Friend

This has also been done for quite a while.  At first I decided I would wait to blog about it so that the people we chose to serve wouldn't suspect that it was us, but since I am the worst secret keeper/liar in the world they knew pretty much right away.
I'm not going to go into details about what our service project was because I don't want to feel like I'm boasting about serving, but this goal is done! :)

#46: Ask Neil to Choose One New Thing to Teach Me

This may shock some people, but until a few months ago I had never operated a lawn mower!  It was always my brothers' job when I was younger and I never felt it was necessary to change that.

At the beginning of the summer Neil's mom asked Neil and I to take care of the yard at her rental house which is just a few blocks away from us.  Neil thought it would be a great time to teach me to use a lawn mower since the yard is pretty big.

It went well at first.  Until I broke the lawn mower.  One minute I'm walking along just fine, the next the handle is no longer attached to the mower.  Oops!  (In my defense it wasn't anything I did, I was just the lucky one who happened to be using it when it happened!)

Luckily we had an extra lawn mower, so on I went.  I finished the backyard and moved to the front.  Not even one pass in the lawn mower died.  And wouldn't start back up.  That's right, I went through two lawn mowers on my first time ever using one!  

I tried to tell Neil it was a sign that I shouldn't be mowing lawns, but he didn't think so.  A couple weeks later we got a new lawn mower and I've have mowed the lawn almost every week since then.  I really don't mind it that much.  I'm glad Neil decided to teach me this. :)

#43: Potty Train Taylor

This goal has been done for a LONG time!  I can't take much credit for it being done.  Taylor pretty much decided on her own that it was time for her to start using the big girl potty and that was the end of diapers for us.  She is Amazing!  Almost immediately she was staying dry all night and when she did have an accident in her sleep she would immediately wake up and let us know.  (As opposed to Holly who will sleep all night and then inform us in the morning after she's slept in it all night! Gross!)
It's been so nice to not have to change diapers anymore!  Hooray for Taylor and her independent and stubborn nature! :)

#39: Take the Girls Miniature Golfing

We. Love. Trafalga.  I'm glad that I had this as one of my goals because we had a blast!  The girls are going to be pro golfers in no time.  (Much sooner if we would take them as often as they asked to go which is almost every day.) 
We started our experience with the miniature golfing.  The girls loved the black lights.  Afterwards we let the girls play in the arcade.  They didn't want to ever stop playing the games and earned a lot of tickets. 

 Neil helping the girls with their golf stance.

 Holly loved getting everybody's balls out of the hole.

 They were in heaven!

 All of us.

#34: Make a Snowman with the Girls

Obviously this goal has been completed for quite a while since there was snow on the ground. :)  This was a tough one for me because I Hate being cold-which sort of limits my desire to touch snow.  I didn't get any pictures of myself helping with the snowman, but I did help them with it.   The girls had a blast doing this and after the snowman was built they decided it would be fun to start a snowball fight.

 Putting on the face.

Showing off our masterpiece.

Giving kisses.

 They decided the snowman needed hair.

Snowball fight!

#73- Do the Dishes First Thing Every Morning for 2 Weeks

For Honesty's sake, I didn't always do this first thing in the morning, but if not first thing, it was done after lunch. I figured I could count it because I did them every day, which is a feat for me. :)

#93- Go To Desert Star Theatre

My awesome sister gave Neil and I tickets to Desert Star last Christmas. We are huge slackers, but finally used them on November 19. We saw It's a Wonderful Life. It was hilarious!!!!!!! We both really enjoyed it and have even been throwing around the idea of getting season tickets.
Thanks for the Christmas present, Misty! :D

#80- Vacuum Once a Week for 2 Months

This goal was harder than I thought it would be because the floors have to be clean before they can be vacuumed! : ) I really enjoy having clean floors, it's nice to not have to fear for your feet when you're walking around barefoot. This is a goal that I plan on continuing even though it's checked off my list.

#95-Teach Somebody How to Sew

When Misty asked me to help her make Melia's Halloween costume again this year I couldn't say no. Last year's turned out amazing, so I knew this year's would be awesome.
Conveniently one of Misty's goals is to learn how to sew, so both of us were able to benefit from this.
Misty did an amazing job and the costume turned out so cute! My favorite part was at the end when Misty said she didn't want the costume to be finished because she wanted to sew more. :)

#28-Get the Girls Sleeping in Their Own Beds All Night

This goal has been done for a while, but I was afraid that if I blogged about it I would jinx myself and they would start coming into our bed again. :)
The girls are sleeping great in their own bed. On rare occasions we will get one of them in bed with us in the middle of the night, but not very often. It is so nice to have some room to sleep instead of praying you don't fall over the edge. :) I don't have a picture to accompany this post because I'm afraid that if I took a picture of them sleeping it would wake them up.

#4- Run a 5k

On August 6 my school held a 5k. As soon as I heard about it I was so excited that I would get to pass off another goal. I talked Neil and Misty into running with me. We had a lot of fun, even though they had to go pretty slow to wait for me. Neil pushed the girls all the way. Neil got 3rd place in his age group! We are running another one in a few weeks and I'm so excited!

#37-Take the Girls Horseback Riding

I believe it was July when we did this, but could be wrong.
We went down to the Durtschi's house in Ephraim to let the girls ride their horse. They absolutely LOVED it!

Here they are getting acquainted with the horse before they start riding.


Once the horse was saddled we asked Holly if she wanted to ride first. She was a little scared and said she didn't want to. When we asked Taylor if she wanted to ride she didn't even hesitate. She ran right over to get in the saddle. She had a blast and didn't want to get off. She got several turns because she was having so much fun.


After Holly saw how much fun it was for Taylor she was as timid. She also had a lot of fun riding.

I'm so glad that we have friends who have a horse and were willing to let us come visit and ride.

#27 Do The Girls' Hair Everday for One Month

So, I didn't do very good at posting pictures every day, but I did complete this goal. It was usually fun to try to come up with new 'dos. It was also great because slowly the girls got better about getting their hair done and now they don't usually freak out about it. Here's a few pictures of more hairstyles that we did.

#27--Day Eight

*Disclaimer: I didn't take the pics right away today, so these styles are post-play hair. It looked a lot better when it was first done.*

Day Eight Holly: Today Holly's hair looked so cute with the curls from yesterday's style, so I just put it in a ponytail and let the curls hang down.


Taylor: One pony on top. I love her curls in the back!!!

#27--Day Seven

Day Seven Holly: Today Holly requested the same style I had. I did a high pony and then did three barrel curls and put a flower in. She loves it. :) Every day gets better with her. Today she didn't cry once while I was doing her hair! :D


Taylor: I did pigtails on top for Taylor today.

#27--Days 4-6

Day 4 Holly: I took an idea that my sister used a few days ago. I split Holly's hair down the center and then did 3 ponytails on each side connecting to the one above. I then did 2 zulu knots because Holly requested "crazy hair again."


Taylor: Can't go wrong with pigtails on top.


I didn't get pictures on day 5 so I will just tell ya what I did. Holly: I attempted to do a french braid that went diagonal across her head, but it didn't look good so I just put it in a half pony. Taylor: One pony on top.

Day 6 Holly: I did a fish braid, or in Holly's words "Shark braid".


Taylor: One folded pony on top. I don't know if that is really what it would be called, but instead of pulling her hair through the last loop I only pull half of it through.