2012 Goals

Okay, I think I'm finished with my goals for the upcoming year, so here they are:

1.) Finish the Old Testament by February
This was one of my goals last year. I think I would have hit it if I had gotten so sick with my pregnancy. Now that the morning sickness is gone, I want to kick this in high gear and finish in two months. This equates to reading nearly 5 pages a day, but I'm hoping the loftiness of the goal will spur me to finish on time.

2.) Read the Book of Mormon
It's been a few years since I've read the Book of Mormon, and this year in Primary I will be teaching it to our Valiant 10 and 11 classes. I'm going to be encouraging them to read the whole book, so it's only fitting that I pick up my own challenge. I will start this once I finish the Old Testament, so it will equate to about 2 pages per day if I stay on task.

3.) Monthly Temple Trips
It's pathetic that we live so close to a temple so many temples and yet we hardly ever go! My goal will to be to go to the temple at least once a month, though I may give myself a pass in June depending on when the baby comes and how quickly I recover.

4.) Daily Gratitude Journal
I've had several friends talking about this on Facebook, and I think it's something I'd like to try this year. Every night before bed, I want to write down at least one thing for which I am grateful. I also want to do my best not to repeat anything, so hopefully by the end of the year I'll have 365 notes of gratitude.

5.) Read 25 Books
This is quite a step up from last year's goal of reading 12 books, but I'm really excited and I have a HUGE list that I want to read. In fact, I hope to shatter this goal. Here's the breakdown of what I hope to read this year:
* 12 YA fiction books for the book club I've joined
* 6 fictional books of my choosing (I hope to shatter this because I'm already planning on reading the Narnia series, which is 7 books, plus quite a few more)
* 3 nonfiction books
* 4 church nonfiction books (two at the top of my list are Jesus the Christ and Lectures on Faith).

So, all in all, some pretty tough goals, but I'm excited! Here's to a great 2012!

2011 Goals: Final Review

I know the year isn't quite over yet, but I wanted to give a final account of how I did on my goals this year.

• Goal 1: Complete P90X - hit it! This goal was completed May 14th.
• Goal 2: Run a half marathon - did it! This goal was completed June 11th.
• Goal 3: Get to 135 pounds - failed. I got so close! At one point in May I was 136.1. We went off birth control at the beginning of May, and I was assuming I would be pregnant by June, so I gave up trying. That didn't quite happen according to schedule, but I never did hit this goal. I officially gave up in early October when I found out that I was pregnant, and knew weight loss would not be in my near future.
• Goal 4: Finish the Old Testament - failed. I was on track until I got pregnant. The morning sickness was terrible, and reading fell by the wayside. I know, it's probably an excuse. I am almost done with Isaiah, so I still have a fair amount to go. I am rolling this goal over to 2012.
• Goal 5: Read 12 books, with at least 6 being non-fiction - hit it! I finished my last books this month, and ended with a total of 13 books this year: 7 non-fiction, 6 fiction. I found the non-fiction to be a pleasant stretch for me. Next year I have a much loftier reading goal, as far as numbers go.

So, overall, I did fairly well. I hit 3 of my 5 goals, and got pretty close on the other 2. I really liked having measurable goals this year, and I feel like I stretched myself further by doing this. I am working on my 2012 goals now, and will have those posted soon. Some of these are quite lofty, so I'm trying to make sure I'm not taking on too much.

Now, onto my resolutions...

• Resolution 1: Build an unbreakable habit of scripture study and prayer. I was doing really well with the scripture study, due to my goal above. However, that's a habit I will need to re-establish in the new year with my new scripture goals. As for prayer...well, I'm still really lousy with that.
• Resolution 2: Cultivate friendships. I feel like I have done really well with this. A large part has been me quitting my job, which allows me to attend play groups weekly. Just this regular contact with some of the women in our condos has allowed me to feel more involved. Plus, I've tried harder to initiate activities such as game nights and parties.
• Resolution 3: Love being a mom. This will definitely be an on-going resolution, as every day presents new challenges. I really felt like a great mom in the summer--we'd go to the park a lot, or head to waterparks or Trafalga. Well, then school started, and the weather turned cold, and now it's back to a whole lot of TV time. Not to mention that trying to fit in my part-time job has made it a little difficult. I absolutely love being a stay-at-home mom...most of the time. Sometimes I feel like my kids would be better off at a babysitter's house, because I fear that I'm too harsh and I yell too much (okay, I don't fear the yelling part--I KNOW I yell too much). Patience is definitely not a virtue I have right now. So, while I love being a mom (and I'd better, because we are adding another child to the mix), I think I have a lot of growing to do to become a better mom.

Remember: I Wanted This

These past few days I've had to try really hard to remind myself that I wanted children and that I wanted to be at home with them. Quick run down...

Saturday morning I spent several hours cleaning my kitchen. Yes, it was that messy that it took me HOURS to sweep and mop the floor, clean the table off, wipe off the counters, and wash the dishes.

By Sunday, the dishes were piled up again, and I came out of my bedroom to find that D had gotten into the pantry, spread Bisquick from the kid's bathroom (all...over...the bathroom!), down the hall, and throughout the family room. In addition, he dropped Coco Puffs all over the kitchen that I scrubbed down the day before (and, of course, stepped on quite a few to reduce the puffs to powder). And, if that wasn't enough, he also emptied a good amount of maple syrup onto my once-pristine floor. So, after a few choice words and some more time sweeping, scrubbing, and vacuuming, the kitchen was once again clean.

This morning I had quite a bit of work to do, so I got the boys some cereal and told them they could watch a movie when done. Well, I came out a bit later and found that D had not only emptied his cereal bowl all over the kitchen and living room, but he had also emptied the remainder of the cereal onto the floor as well. I told him (and B2) that they couldn't watch a movie until it was all cleaned up and went back to work. A short time later I came out to find that not only had the cereal NOT been cleaned, but D had gotten into Ed's (our frog) food and emptied half of the container of stinky pellets all over my once-clean kitchen counter, and broken up the gingerbread house we started but never finished. Oh, and D had hurt his toe, which started bleeding, now resulting in little blood splotches all over my kitchen tile. So, once again, I pulled out the vacuum and vacuumed up the carpets, swept and mopped the kitchen, and wiped down the counters. While I was doing that, I had B2 get D into the tub. I went into their bathroom only to find D dumping cups of bath water onto the bathroom floor while B2 laughed. Really???? I was about ready to go ballistic on both of them. So, I called the hubby and we both had a good laugh, and then decided that this craziness needed to be blogged.

Heaven help me if this next child is a boy, because I'm pretty sure another boy in the house will result in something getting lit on fire...