Word for the year.

Every year I have been doing this, I like to have a visual reminder around of what my word is.
I am liking this year’s reminder!

2010..

What will it bring?
I can think of many possibilities but I am mostly thinking about what I can do to make this another great year in my life and for my family.
I have been letting the goals in my head percolate for a while now, deciding which are truly important enough, worth the time and energy..
Here's just a smattering:
- Read more.  I have already started compiling a list of books for myself, and books to read with the girls.
- Run a 5k..  sometime this year.  It was going to be a goal before 30, but that is not going to happen at this point!
- Read the Old Testament this year..  Genesis always gets me.  "Begat..  begat..  begat.."  (Snore....)
- Be more consistent with my Yoga.  That might just help my shoulders to not feel the way they do now after shoveling two tons of snow.
- Read the Book of Mormon..  again. :)
- Actually have a calendar this year.  I survived 2009 without one..  barely.  I got to a point where I really should have had one, but thought I should just keep on going.  I made it this far, eh?  Why screw up a good thing? ;)  Actually, it will be a series of calendars..  one wherever I may need it, and I will keep them all correlated.
- Using said calendars, I will plan a month-to-month routine, getting ahead of myself so life is a little bit easier come Christmas 2010.
- I rocked it on my layout goal last year..  I really did.  I still haven't counted the final tally, I stopped when I hit the magical number.  This year, I will keep that same goal, but add to it in that, when I design a digital layout, I will have to do one traditionally as well.  So that is 144 + ?  Yikes.  Let's see if I can brag it up next year at this time.
- Dates.  Merrill and I have no excuses now.  We need to have more dates.  We just started late night soaks after we get the kiddos down and they are AWESOME!!  The adult talk time is priceless..  interruptions non-existent.  There is something about the day after those soaks that make me feel so much more connected to him.   Getting all dressed-up and going out together will probably have a similar outcome.
- Last year, I set a goal to be a better friend, and I am setting that goal again, as there is always room for improvement.  Birthday cards were sent off late and that should not happen when someone is trying to be a better friend!
I will also be continuing my photo a day project.  That was fun!
I have also been thinking awhile on my word for the year..  there were many prospects.  I got serious on two of them but it goes to enjoy.
I learned a lesson on Facebook from my uncle when I posted my status update during the busy last two weeks of December.  I posted that I was praying that I would get all the wrapping done, and that Peyton would stop the unwrapping.  My uncle commented that he "prayed that I would enjoy this most wonderful time of my life."
Then and there I knew that was to be the word of the year. 
I need to sit back and relax a bit.  So what if that certain project doesn't turn out the way I intended?  And what am I going to do if I didn't get to do as many fun things this break/summer/weekend/day as I wanted to with the girls?  I should just enjoy what we did get to do and not fret about the details.
Ahhhhh...  there.
And so it begins.....
Happy new year everyone!!!!

Word for the year..

Yup.. play.
We do a lot of this, as it is already, but I wanted to make a more concerted effort, to play this year.
To play in many ways..
Play in the kitchen, try new things.
Play in the craft room, try new techniques, learn some new skills.
Play with the kids, put work down and just play.
Play with Merrill, relax, let go and play when we are together.
Play as a family.
In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, it states:
"Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."
See, play..
We have been doing a lot more playing so far this year. I find it very relaxing to play house with the girls, although I end up being "the babysitter", while they go out on "dates". The plot lines they implement while we play Barbies together, help me to forget about my current worries or stresses. We have also begun playing before bedtime, still reading, but added playing. It has been so much fun to play with Peyton, especially. To see the understanding of new concepts in her eyes is very fulfilling.
I also plan to continue to play with my friends..
On that note, I would love to have a "scrappernoon".. leave me a comment for when works best.. after Peyton's birthday and Valentine's is over of course! :)

Ooohhh.. it's so project day...

I am cleaning out the craft room.. finishing up some projects that have been lying in wait..
Finally made my Valentine's sign.. still need to do the flag and the girls' dresses.. :0
..and my word of the year:
There's more coming!!

Picture a day..

Look at these two cuties!!
They are my "picture a day" for today..
Picture a day is just a way to document what seems to be those little everyday occurrences that take place, but sometimes end up meaning a lot. It helps us to remember the stages of our lives, the little things, the details. We usually take pictures of great or special events, and forget the day to day. This is what I am going to do to keep up my 2008 word "embrace", and carry it forward into 2009.. haven't really settled on a word for 2009.. do you have yours?
These two had such a fun night and day together. They kept asking me if they looked like sisters. When I said yes, they would ask me if they could pass for twins.. hmmm... close.
Sophie asked me to do her hair like I did Lynn's the other day.. I first made her promise she wouldn't go taking it out if she didn't like it :) and that she would show Lynn how not to cry while hair is being brushed and styled. She held true.. Lynn wanted hers done the same way.
I loved playing with Sophie's hair! Lynn's is so long and thick.. it's hard to get it to do what I want or to stay where I put it.. Sophie's did just what I told it to do..

A New Year...

2009..
It's here.. 2008 is officially gone, in the past. So many things have happened in this last year, some I am not ready to let go of, but I am excited to see what the future has in store for my little family.. for my extended family too!
I have bee thinking long and hard about my goals, for the past year and things I want to accomplish this new year. I have been doing this since October. I busted out my little notebook, the trusty one I keep where I will always see it, in my craft room. I like to evaluate where I am. I did alright last year. Most of my goals hit a hard spot, that was when Peyton was born, and most of my goals have to do with getting back on track..
Just a few examples:
-EXCERCISE!! Fitted black skirt, need I say more? (Go here if you have a similar goal.. :) I think every woman does..)
-Read B.O.M., again.
-Get back to Monday being cleaning day..
-Scrapbook 144 layouts this year (I'll keep track of my progress on the other blog..)
-SAVE more $.. better..
-Be a better friend!!
I have also been thinking about my word for the year.. Jaclyn challenged us all last year; Ali Edwards has had some reminders too.. I've been thinking for a while now. I am still not settled on one.. can I have a word for each room in my home?..
We did nothing of too much excitement this year for New Year's Eve.. no nursing = my "Great (not so great really) Aunt Scarlet" coming for a visit that has been on again, off again for two weeks now.. I wasn't feeling too good. Am starting to feel it again right.. now.. We stayed in, made homemade pizza, we think we have Zucca figured out (very yummy, order the mahgahrita..) and watched a couple of movies, let the kids do some noise makers, at 9 pm, and sent them to bed. I crocheted a new hat for Peyton and we stayed up long enough to greet the new year at midnight, then we crashed. I have to say that I am thankful it wasn't spent the way it was last new year's eve.. in the InstaCare, with a three year old who stuck a popcorn kernel up her right nostril.. not so fun.
We let our celebration get going today, when all of Mer's family could be together. We played Rock Band, Family Guy trivia, and Catch Phrase. Yummy food was involved, and some good laughs, as usual.Me singing and Joe on the drums... yes, a pic of Joe on a blog, mine, because I can!
Sophie during her crazy awesome drum solo.. this lefty rocked it!
Even Dixon got in on the rockin' action.. no pic of Darlene?!Hottie-Body Merrill..
And Jaclyn said she sucked...
Peyton even got in on some vocals...
We are now enjoying a little slumber party with cute little Bubba-Gos (aka Sophie).
Oh, yeah, I am doing "a picture a day" too this year.. it looked like so much fun when Jacks did it last year, I didn't want to start a month late, so I decided that I'll just start this year. :)
I guess I'll aim for taking my tree down sometime this weekend.. I am having a hard time giving in to the fact that Christmas is really done and gone.. it makes me sad! I miss it. I knew for sure I was a hormonal woman yesterday when I was watching "Elf", and at the very end, when James Caan finally starts singing, and Santa's sleigh flies over the crowd, I dang near cried!! Sheesh! I really am hormonal, aren't I?!

Embrace...

I finished reading "The Host"... that woman is one addictive author...
My project for the day...Thanks to Christie for teaching us how to make curly bows a couple of weeks ago!
Thanks for the cute butterflies and princesses too!Sleeping Beauty and Belle...
And I needed more magnets to hold up all the fun stuff I anticipate scrapping with soon...

My "word" for the year is...

4 pages, 2 layouts... all for Peyton's book. Teaching my kids about where they came from is very important to me, those are great people and great stories that they need to know. These pages are about my parents and Merrill's parents. I love to have the baby pics with them, they are so much more interesting than their boring adult pics... just kidding.

Jaclyn posted her word for the year, which got me thinking, and helped to keep me awake last night, well, along with the discomfort of my growing belly... I finally came up with it...

EMBRACE

I will embrace my family, friends, and experiences that happen with them. I will not continue to dwell on what comes next, I will enjoy what is happening now, I will embrace it.

I started to think of how I want to be better this year. I started to think of the naggy wife I was as the year began... I kept nagging Merrill as to when we would "try" for this one, and I have continued to nag him about the "next one". Mom tells me to leave him alone, I am pregnant after all. But I feel like I need to "seal the deal", so this won't be it. I could happily go on to have a dozen or more children, it's Merrill's poor gray hairs that can't, or his wallet for that matter. But I now realize how many things I truly wasn't enjoying or in the moment for, looking ahead to the next event to happen. I wish that I would have enjoyed the girls at their individual stages more, not dwelling on when I could bear their next sibling.

So I will embrace every moment that Peyton has as an infant, not trying to rush it along so I can look forward to the "next one". I will embrace what I have now, two healthy, yet emotional little girls, and the awesome relationship (although there is some slight nagging...) that I have with Merrill.

This all stems from another great lesson I learned from Christie, who also brought me a yummy treat today :)... Thanks buddy!