Healthy Choice Challenge Week 5

Well everyone had a few weeks off from our challenge but now we are back in full gear. We took a few weeks off because I was on vacation and then it was the fourth of July and most of us were busy anyway. If you are new to our challenge then go and check out Healthy Choice Challenge Week 1, HCC Week 2, HCC Week 3, and HCC Week 4 to get caught up on what we are doing.

So how was the last challenge? Did you enjoy doing a water activity and cooling off? What activity did you do for our challenge?
In honor of my vacation to Montana and all the time we spent in Glacier, this week will be another out door activity. It is summer after all and the perfect time to be outdoors enjoying this beautiful weather. There are so many things you can do outside, go to the park and walk around, ride a bike, go for a hike, even just playing outside in your own backyard. You can always play some horseshoes, volleyball, shoot some hoops, or a little catch. The options are endless when it comes to outside activities.

Specimen Table from Hating Martha

You could go outside on a nature hike or just in your backyard and collect some goodies to make your own Specimen Table like Janel and her kids did on Hating Martha. I think this would be such a great thing to do if you have little one's. Who doesn't love to collect things when they go outside. We even collected some beautiful rocks in Glacier for Jarr's mom's flower beds. (Don't tell on us because that might be illegal.)

So my challenge for this week is for you to go outside for a hour and do something fun. I have listed many things above but there are also lots of other activities not listed. So go outside and have an adventure!

Don't forget to grab my button on off the side bar if you are participating in this challenge! Also leave a comment so I can come and check out your blog!

What are you going to do this week?

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Amazing Blessings

Well I have some great news, if you read my Peaks, Pits, Praises, Prayers on Friday then you know I was going apartment hunting Friday night and hoping to find something wonderful. Well I did, this weekend has been a whirlwind of things and yesterday Jarr and I went to meet with our landlords and sign our leases. He is living with a buddy in a duplex about 15 minutes from me. I found a cute little duplex right by campus, its about 3 blocks away. I am so excited and relieved that I have somewhere to live when August gets here. I am really happy with my new home and I can't wait to start moving things and making it my own.

So let me tell you the story, on Friday we went to look for apartments for me to live in. 1 bedroom apartments in a college town tend to be pretty pricey or really hard to find a good one. So I can honestly say I was dreading this, I was nervous and anxious about what would happen. We looked at 5 apartments on Friday and the last one was the perfect one. It is a duplex and has a living area, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, huge closet, and fenced in backyard. Let me start off by telling you it's a little old, the kitchen is dated and it has built-ins. A built in desk in the bedroom and in the living room. Now I am not a fan of built-ins but this was a great deal and a nice place. So I decided to look at them as a challenge and to take the place.

On Friday night after we had looked at everything we went to dinner and talked about the pro's and con's of every place as well as the price and what I would have to provide for each apartment. Some of the apartments you had to provide your own fridge or pay extra for the one they have. I'm a college student I don't have a fridge laying around. So I had narrowed it down to two apartments, I decided on the last one because the neighborhood was safer and that's a big issue for me. I'm a girl living by myself, I have to be in a safe neighborhood. It was also quite a bit cheaper then the other one. Like $150 cheaper and money is a big issue for me also, like I'm freaking about needing a job. So I choose the more affordable one with the HUGE closet and safe neighborhood.

I don't have any pictures of the place for you yet, I turned in all of my information yesterday and paid my deposit and first month's rent so I am good to go. Now I just need to get my key's and I can start moving furniture and things in.

So I have one thing checked off my list, place to live is taken care of. Now the big one, the scary one, and the hard one: finding a job. I applied to some places yesterday when we went back to sign everything and pay for my apartment. One of the places I applied to yesterday called me about 5 minutes after I left and asked me to come back, they wanted me to meet the CEO. Now let me just tell you I screamed like a little girl I was so excited. So I hurried back and got to meet him, he was very polite and said he would be in touch very soon about the position. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that that will work out.

It's been a very busy 4 days for me and I haven't worked on much but I am finishing a project tonight when I get off work. So hopefully something new for you tomorrow. I couldn't contain my excitement about finding a place and I hoped you would all join in on my little celebration.

What have your amazing blessings been lately?

Peaks, Pits, Praises, Prayers

This week has been great, we got a break on Wednesday for my favorite holiday, Independence day! I made Yummy Homemade Ice Cream for our celebration of the 4th and last night we celebrated Jarr's Papa's birthday with his family. Every day of my life God gives me more and more blessings. I am so thankful for all that he has blessed me with. This week was mine and Jarr's anniversary and we are going to the city tonight to celebrate it. I'm really excited for today because I also have a few apartments lined up to go and look at. So I'm crossing my fingers I find the right one and don't have to keep looking. I will also be applying for a few jobs today since I will have to find a new one when I move in August, so please say a prayer for me today.

Yesterday I applied for a few jobs online and got back some weird e-mails. I definitely don't recommend doing that and I won't be again. Who knew people were such creeps, I guess I just want to believe the good in people. So hopefully today when I go and apply in person I will find the perfect job for me and get an interview. The whole process of finding a job is so nerve wracking to me. I am a very private person and although it might seem hard for some to believe I'm an introvert so putting myself out there is very stressful for me. So hopefully things go smoothe today and I can find a job and an apartment! That would be such a relief to me, I've been worried about what my future will bring and those are two pretty big things I have to get figured out.

Since I'm on my own and paying for everything this is pretty big deal for me. I don't get any financial help from my mom because she really just can't afford it and I don't expect her to. So I pay for everything on my own and I'm really proud of that fact. I haven't taken out any student loans because I have full scholarships that pay for my school, I worked hard to get those and I'm so glad I have them. So I only have to pay for my living expenses, food, car insurance, and cell phone. Which isn't much compared to my school but its still a lot on what I make as part time. I know God will help me make it through this and I know that he will provide I'm just very impatient when it comes to waiting for his plan. I like to make my own plans, so my faith is my anchor and it's keeping my head from exploding.

Now onto what this post is really about, I always digress.

Peaks of the week- My peaks this week are many, the 4th of July (my favorite holiday), and it was mine and Jarr's anniversary which makes my heart happy. I am so thankful that I have such an incredible God loving man in my life. We may butt heads but I know at the end of everyday we will always work things out.

Pits of the week- I've been slacking off on my DIY's this week, I had a lot of plans for myself and then life got in the way. I do all of my crafting at Jarr's house because he has a big sun room that isn't used for anything so I claimed it as my craft room and its covered in my things. Anyway he didn't get working air conditioning until Monday night and then we started our new work out routine Monday. I know excuses, excuses. It's just been one of those weeks but tomorrow I have some projects that I am finishing for sure.

Praises of the week- I praise God for letting us have air conditioning. That may sound silly but go without it for a few days and you will too. I'm also praising God for giving me so many wonderful opportunities in my life, the job I'm at right now has been such a blessing. I have made some lifelong frienships and I have learned so much about myself and my work ethics, which ended up being better then I thought. :)

Prayers of the week- I pray that God helps me find the perfect apartment, if not today then in the future. I pray that God helps me find the perfect job for me and it will help pay my bills. I also pray that God blesses my friend Kenton who is in Afghanistan and gives his heart peace. I know Kenton has been at turmoil since he was shipped out a few weeks ago and I just pray that he turns towards God and relies on him.

What are you Peaks, Pits, Praises, and Prayers for the week?

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Yummy Homemade Ice Cream

I love summer, it is my favorite season and I always feel happier during the summer. I get a break from school and right now I get off at 3:30 everyday so I have lots of free time to work on things. One of my favorite things about summer is homemade ice cream. When I was a little girl my grandma made homemade ice cream every Sunday when we had family dinner. If you were lucky she would let you pick what flavor she made that Sunday but most of the time she already had it picked out. My favorite, by far was her homemade strawberry. It was delicious, she used strawberries from her patch in the backyard and that made it extra yummy.

Last summer I decided to buy my own ice cream maker so I could make homemade ice cream whenever I liked. Well after lots of trial and error I have found my favorite vanilla homemade ice cream recipe. I found this recipe in Old-Fashioned Homemade Ice Cream recipe book, you can find it on amazon here. The thing I love about vanilla ice cream is you can add any topping you want to make it special for you. So yesterday afternoon Jarr and I decided we wanted homemade ice cream and we got all of the supplies. After a bag of ice and lots of salt we had some delicious ice cream for dessert.

Here is the recipe we use:

Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe:

1 quart whipping cream

6 cups of whole milk

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Pour all of your ingredients into your freezing can and make in your ice cream maker. This makes about 1 gallon and takes about 40 minutes.

We halfed this reciped since it was just the two of us and we still had a lot left over. Jarr also ate some last night after fireworks and said it was just as good out of the freezer as it was freshly made. What I love about this recipe is there is no cooking involved like a lot of homemade ice cream. I just think that's weird, why would you cook something that is supposed to be cold? So I don't cook things that I think are supposed to be cold, I find recipes that don't call for that.

After you have made your ice cream you can then enjoy it with any toppings you like.

Jarr crushed up oreo's and had his cookies and cream style.

I sliced up strawberries and had mine like this.

And just for fun a firework picture from last night. I love fireworks, they let everyone be a kid again for the night.

What is your favorite kind of ice cream?

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