Personal Happiness project: week 5

This week is brought to you by the letter E and the challenge: "Exercise daily. Eat fresh foods." I had started going running every day at the end of June but took a break for fourth of July, which lasted about 2 weeks. So now it is time to restart that habit. Get the lead out Jepson! Even though I'm skinny I'm anxious that my body is not in the physical shape that it should be to bear a child (if and when that happens *fingers crossed!*). And exercise is scientifically proven to make you feel better. {insert indisputable scientific study} Case and point: Kyle has been a little upset lately at life. So last night, he did some pushups 'cuz he's a tough guy like that. And he started feeling better! See, exercise is so good for you!

And not eating super processed food is good for you too. We already try to avoid buying processed and prepackaged food (to a degree) because it is expensive. At the grocery store, we pretty much stick to the walls of the store for bread, vegetables, meat, and dairy. But we're not crazy; pasta, premade spaghetti sauce, and frozen vegetables are our friends. And we buy bread instead of making our own (read: we're normal.) I want to try making our own granola. I have a recipe from my sister-in-law that looks pretty good and one that I can do in a breadmaker! Kyle's mom also just gave us a recipe for homemade yogurt that we have yet to try (It requires a gallon of milk! That's a lot of yogurt if it isn't delicious). We have been eating our tomatoes though and they have been good. The other night I made pizza with homegrown tomatoes, bacon, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning on top. The tomatoes have a strong flavor and thick skins but putting them on the pizza was a nice complement for the bacon and good for softening the skins. It was fun to go out to my "garden," pick some veggies, and put them in dinner.

Mmm bacon and tomato pizza

Also, we're going to be moving soon {hopefully} so eating what we already have on hand will be better than getting fast food for dinner (a.k.a. my weakness). Good luck to us and you! Have a happy healthy week!

previous week's challenge

Personal Happiness project: week 4

Hoo boy, I am getting a late start this week. Things have been busy around the Jepson home. We're still hunting for an apartment and Kyle is making preparations to apply to graduate schools. On Sunday we had a family council/planning meeting where I printed out a schedule for the next 3 weeks and Kyle started making goals for applications and tests. Also we have a dinner, a party, a bridal shower, an open house, and a move to help with. We're going to be busy, but happy busy :)

So blogging got put on hold for a few days. Anyway, this week's challenge is "Drink plenty of water. Dance." Seems like a pretty easy one. Goal: 2-3 bottles of water per day. Drinking lots of water will help me prepare for next week's challenge: exercise. And maybe clubbing?? Haha, I don't know. We'll see about that one.

Also we're going to see the latest Batman movie tonight. Excited? Yes!

See you next week since we'll be a blur this weekend!

previous week's challenge

Creativity update

Per last week's happiness challenge, I made what seems like a lot of stuff. Here are some pictures!

The most actively creative thing I did was sign up and take a painting class at my local Michael's craft store. It looks so good!

 

We had some icing we needed to finish off and I wanted chocolate so voila! Homemade oreos! Super easy recipe too: 1 18.25 oz box Devil's food cake mix, 1/2 cup shortening, and 2 eggs. Mix it all together, bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, cool, then frost, then eat :) So good!

 Not really a creation, but our tomatoes are doing well.

 Our harvest!

 Delicious! I was proud of myself for making this up. Vegetable pasta with a white cheese sauce and our tomatoes on top. It was fun to eat something we had grown ourselves.

 Kyle and I and some friends of ours went on a date to the pottery studio I frequent. These are the results of our labors! Michael and Chelsie made the cup and the vase, respectively. Not bad for their first time! I did the bowl and the pitcher. Fun fun!

Personal Happiness project: week 3

This week is brought to you by the letter C and the week's challenge is "Create something exciting." I have a few ideas for this. I'm going to focus on the artsy-craftsy aspect of this challenge because that is more exciting than creating a family budget or creating an empty receipt box.

I bought a canvas a few months ago that I have yet to do anything with besides shove it in a cupboard. But the challenge in a few weeks is to paint, so maybe I'll save it for that. There are a few crafty things around the house I want to try, but they're not super exciting, just moderately. Pottery is my go-to creative outlet because I'm good at it and there are a few techniques I've been reading about on Ceramic Arts Daily that I want to try. I'm looking forward to the products from this week's challenge because {hopefully} it will be something tangible. Pictures to follow!



In other news, we harvested our first tomato and it was delicious! It was really sweet. We will soon be harvesting another one that is bigger than the first, and when I checked yesterday, other tomatoes are starting to change colors too! I love having a garden.

previous week's challenge

The best 2 years so far

It's weird to think that Kyle and I have been married for two years and that we've known each other for three. It feels like we've known each other for ever, yet it wasn't so long ago that we didn't. We've grown together and he is perfect for me. Our anniversary was actually a few weeks ago. We went to dinner at Mimi's Cafe and Kyle gave me a card that included our itinerary for our actual celebration: dinner at Chef's Table, show at the Hale Center Theater, stay at the Hine's Mansion bed & breakfast, stroll Downtown Provo, and watch Stadium of Fire and the Beach Boys! Lots of fun and nice to have a midweek vacation with the man who makes me happiest.

 

 

  

Happy anniversary love! The best is yet to come *clink*

Our little garden

We have a couple of window boxes in which we planted some stuff. We've also gotten to harvest some stuff!

Strawberries!

My big, strong hunter gatherer

 We also have a tomato plant that produced a lot of flowers but no fruit until May 23rd when I saw...

 Since then, the plant has just exploded with fruit--we have over twenty tomatoes! Unfortunately they're all green. Except the other day I noticed our first little tomato...

It's red! Well, orange. But it will be red soon! Then we shall feast! Well, it's only about the size of a golf ball. But it's ours and it's cute! The strawberry plant only produced four berries. I'm really bad at remembering to water the plants so I think it's almost dead. The tomato plant is alive and well though. So is our geranium. The ranuncula we had died and I guess I didn't get any pictures of it.

This is almost exactly what ours looked like. Yellow too. *sniff* It's my favorite flower. 

Anyway, things are blooming in the Jepson home!

 

Photo credit here.

Personal Happiness Project: week 2

This week's letter of emphasis is "B" and the challenge is to "Be present. Be bold." So I will try to focus on what is going on now. Kyle has been looking at grad schools and started making plans for taking tests and applying to programs for next fall. Our future is super fuzzy right now, which is super scary, but the time we are spending together and the habits we are developing now are what matter (and a plan is developing, which has a significant calming effect). We still don't have an apartment, but things have been crazy so the search will resume...umm...soon.

Speaking of crazy, this week we will be celebrating our anniversary that was a few weeks ago. Two years has gone by so fast! Also we are going to Stadium of Fire to see the Beach Boys (ahhh!!). So excited! This will be an awesome week to live in the moment and focus on the memories we are creating.


"Diligently doing the things that matter most will lead us to the Savior of the world."--President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

As for the second part of this week's goal, yikes! I guess this is also face-your-fears week! Maybe being bold with sharing the Gospel? Saying hi to strangers? Trying new things? I'm not sure how this one will play out, but we'll see. It'll take some work.

Either way, being present and focusing on the things that matter most in our lives will bring us closer to our Heavenly Father, which will help us to love our families, friends, and others around us more.

previous week's challenge