Zion Month Recap

June has been a tough month. I came off of a successful Zion Month and I've been struggling ever since. I've gotten away from my New Year's Resolutions and I'm obviously not following the Zion Month standard. I haven't gone hog wild or anything, but I feel like I've lost a little motivation and direction.

I'm looking to rededicate myself after our vacation which is the first week in July. I need to modify my New Year's Resolutions and start again on "being good". I'm actually looking forward to getting back in gear since June has been a tough month.

I've held to most of the ideals set at the beginning of the year, but I haven't blogged, my diet isn't rock solid and my exercise has screeched to a halt. I don't want it to sound depressing because in retrospect I'm still doing better than where I was a year ago, but I realize I don't want to waste a good thing.

With that off my chest, let's get to the Zion Month results:

Scripture Study (31/31)

I was able to keep this goal each day of the month. Most of this was done via the I-Pod on my way to work, but it also includes time spent preparing my Sunday School lesson or possibly reading the Ensign Conference Edition.

I'm proud of this goal just for the fact that it clearly makes a difference in my life. After having long stretches of no scripture study in the past, the contrast is amazing. I'm hoping I'm getting to the point that this is more second nature as opposed to "I have to study the scriptures today."

Personal Prayer
Morning (30/31)
Night (31/31)

There really is no excuse to even miss one day of prayer. I missed a morning prayer on May 31st which is the last day of the month. It was a Saturday and that proved to be a difficult day sometimes to remember to pray in the morning. But, honestly, that should have never happened.

Family Prayer
Morning (27/31)
Night (31/31)

Believe it or not, the biggest struggle was Sunday mornings. We missed three Sunday mornings and one Saturday morning. We have 9:00 a.m. church and so Sunday mornings are kind of high intensity. We try to get to church by 8:30 a.m. so Becky has time to get ready for Primary. That means that we do have time to take 3 minutes to have a family prayer. I just flat out forgot those mornings. Most of the time it would hit me about 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon.

There is something to be said about a weekday routine. These things are easy doing the week just because it's a repeat of one day after another. Weekends seem to be less scheduled so it's easy to forget. I'm not sure many families have a family prayer on Saturday mornings. If you do, let me know what your secret is so we can implement it.

Temple- One time (1/1)

Becky and I made it to the temple on May 30th. Not a moment too soon.

Read Entire Ensign (1/1)

This one turned out to be a challenge. First of all, it was the conference edition. Secondly, it didn't come until May 15th. I'm pretty sure I finished the Ensign on May 31st.

Just a couple of talks that I enjoyed: "Testimony" Elder Oaks, "To Heal the Shattering Consequences of Abuse" Elder Scott, "A Matter of a Few Degrees" President Uchtdorf, and probably my favorite talk "Daughters of God" by Elder Ballard.

No Sugar (31/31)

Not too big of deal. I don't even remember being very tempted. I've said it before that sugar is not my weakness. It's more of a greasy hamburger and fries that I struggle with.

No Soda (31/31)

This one was more of a formality since I haven't had a pop since last August. Coming up on a year!

No Fast Food (31/31)

I'm proud about this one as well. My New Year's Goals say no hamburger and fries. This goal was a little more stringent. I was able to get it done.

Just a couple of days ago I went through the Wendy's drive thru to get dinner. I got a salad (pathetic) and the kids got a kid's meal and Becky got a hamburger. It was the first time I've driven through their drive thru in months. I could smell the burgers as I started my order. It took everything I had to stop myself from saying, "Number 2, no tomato, biggie sized with a Dr. Pepper." I realized I really am weak. I might as well turn to heroin because I might have better odds of shaking that addiction.

No Eating after 9:00 p.m. (31/31)

This was also a New Year's Day goal so I had already been sufficiently practicing this. This one isn't a temptation except for about two days a month. Sometimes my stomach is growling and its 10:00 p.m. In days past that meant a couple of hot dogs with chips or a fast food run. It also makes for some not-so-pleasant nights.

In Bed- 11:00 Weekdays 12:00 Weekends (30/31)

I missed a day in there, but I can't remember why. I think it was the Lost season finale which we started after the girls went down for the night. It was 3 hours long so I'm pretty sure we didn't make the 11:00 p.m. witching hour.

Exercise- 6 days a week (25/27)

I did pretty good on this one. I played basketball every MWF and then did some other stuff on TThSa. I might have missed a couple of days, but I'm pretty sure that's the best I've done in a one month time period.

Blog- 1 Day/Week (4/4)

I was able to blog four times in the month of May. It's always therapeutic to get some entries in. In fact I wished I blogged more. Part of me feels like I need some epic entry every time I post, so I need to realize that it's OK to have a 300 word post instead of a 3,000 word post.

TV- News, American Idol, Lost, NBA, Church Stuff (31/31)

The shows above were all that I was allowed to watch. Because of the reduction in the TV package it was about the only things on anyway. The NBA playoffs were free game, but because a large majority of the games were on TNT or ESPN I didn't watch them. In fact I didn't watch one minute of the Western Conference finals between the Lakers and the Spurs. That alone is an astounding fact. In fact I just re-read the sentence and I still can't believe it's true.

It helped to cut back on TV consumption, but I still got in some watching. It did help me when none of the above programs were on and instead of finding a Law and Order: SVU replay, I would actually turn the TV off and move on to something else. Baby steps.

Well that's the wrap up. Overall, not a perfect month, but a successful month. It's a good thing because I would have hated to be translated while Becky would have to raise the kids as a single mother. By the way, what's the ruling on something like that? Would Becky be free to get re-married or would she still be married to me even though I'm up in heaven and all, hanging with the angels? Just wondering.