End of First Side Challenge

Good morning & happy weekend, girls!  The side challenge for this week has been to plan an ACTIVE date night or an ACTIVE girls night out or adventure.  I am so happy that so many have done this- 11- that's incredible!  Just think what this commitment to a healthy lifestyle communicates to your family, to your friends, to the new YOU.  I love it :)  Here's what everybody's got planned in the order in which I received them, and I edited specifics to keep this as safe as possible:

JEN R:  DANCING "[My husband] and I are going to go dancing (ward dance in Feb, specifically). If that ends up not happening, we will go Contra Dancing by the end of Feb (13th, 20th, or 26th all available...). I commit! :)"

AMY: SNOWBOARDING "[My husband] and I have set an all day date for Jan 26. We are going snowboarding... I'm going to take a lesson since I have never snowboarded. [He] is dusting off his boards as we speak!"

KIM: SKIING, RACQUETBALL, & BOWLING "Well my husband has been trying to get me on the mountain for several years now and teach me how to ski. Everyone in my family either skis or snowboards and I am the last to learn. I usually play the cheerleader role and go up and take pictures and cheer them on but this year I think I will be brave and finally learn...We are going to go play racquetball ...and then we are going to go bowling. Boy my husband is going to be exhausted by the end of the night with skiing, racquetball and bowling all in one day! It should be fun and I am really looking forward to it and I'm glad I have another week to muster up some courage to learn to ski..."

LESLIE: SWIMMING "[My husband] and I have decided to go swimming at the YMCA for one of our date nights-- instead of eating out, like we usually do. I think it will be fun to change up the usual date-night routine and do something active together."

SHANDA: DANCING "My date night is going to ballroom dance class with [my boyfriend]! Learning the merengue is amazing and such a great workout then we stay for the group lesson so we are dancing for about 2 hours. We always leave class a little out of breath and smiling. Afterwards we go home and cook a healthy dinner together experimenting with fun new ideas and foods."

ABREY: ROCK CLIMBINNG, TENNIS, SWIMMINNG, ROPES COURSE, ZIP LINE, & SNORKELINNG "We have planned for our cruise on ship : rock climbing, tennis, swimming, also [my husband] and my sister have committed to workout with me on ship at least once each!! Off shore in Cozumel we are doing a ropes course, zip line and snorkeling adventure!!"

TARA: SLEDDING "I am off to a girls weekend this weekend in Galena and we are going to go sledding tomorrow morning after breakfast."

JENN P: WALKING, RUNNING, & HIKING "Since my husband is [overseas] I can't do a date night with him until the end of March! (He'll be coming home for a couple weeks on leave!) But I do have a friend/family that we do a lot of stuff together--our kids are close in age and have a lot of fun together. This week the kids were out of school for three days so we (both families) went to the ocean for two nights. We spent hours walking the deserted boardwalk and chasing our dogs in the sand. That was my fun/active time. We are also planning on taking a mountain hike together when the rain stops here."

MEGHAN: ROCK CLIMBING "I've been wanting to try some indoor rock climbing for a while and I thought that would make a really fun date. I found a place ... they offer climbing until 10 pm M-F. -perfect for a date night! [My husband] and I are definitely going to check this out!!

CHERISE: WALKING/HIKING "My active date night idea is to go for a walk/hike. We've got a lot of great parks around here and I would love to just go for a walk with my husband!"

SARAH: SNOWBOARDING "My hubby and I are going to give snowboarding a shot the 2nd week of Feb (deals on Tuesdays for beginners' lessons).  He's never tried it and I had a disastrous first attempt 7 yrs ago!  We are going to be so sore, but it should be a hoot!"

AND THE WINNER IS...........