I know it is the end of January, but I'm just now getting to writing down my goals. I've been thinking for several weeks about what goals I want to make this year. So here's what I've come up with and my plan to accomplish each one:
1. Read 100 books this year.This is a standard goal of mine. I read 68 books last year but I'm going to try again this year.That breaks down to around 9 books a month. I've been reading a lot lately so I've just about made my goal for January. I also have decided to try recording my books on Goodreads as I read. I'm not necessarily going to do a review for each book I read anymore--that just seemed to be too much for me. I still may occasionally do a review on my book blog when I really like a book.
2. Do fun things with my kids. Right now that looks like rotating through the kids to take them to BYU basketball games. I have 2 season tickets so I just rotate through each one going with me. It has been pretty fun. I'm also going to have more Saturday Sewing Days at Grandma's. We did that on again and off again last year and the kids love it. Lastly, I'm going to try to take my kids at least once a week, all together, to the library. We like participating in the library programs and I love that the kids love the library, even if it costs me money in lost books and stress in keeping track of the books. It's totally worth it.
3. Earn my DMBA cashback award. This pretty much means exercising most days in a week for 30 minutes and completing their little individual challenges. I feel like I'm already on top of this one. I'm half-way through my first challenge. I also used my $200 from last year to go towards a membership for John and I at the Rec Center. I like going there and they have inexpensive childcare so I can go when the girls are at school and take Noel. My training goal right now is to successfully complete a Lazyman's Ironman in a month. That's when you do all of the things for an Ironman within a month's time (112 miles biking, 26.2 miles running, and 2.4 miles swimming). I've been trying to do this every month for about 9 months. Like my 100 books, I haven't done it yet, but I'm getting closer every month. Some day I'll get there.
4. Make something for each of my own family's birthdays (John and the kids). I'm well on my way to making Adam's but I'll have to get thinking for everyone else. Fortunately, we don't have our first birthday for a while yet. I would also like to remember to do something like a card for extended family's birthdays. I did that for my brother and sister that had birthdays earlier this month, but I've missed quite a few people in John's family already. I'll have to do some catch-up.
5. Read the Book of Mormon this year. Our bishop challenged our youth to do this and I figure I can do it too. Reading the Book of Mormon is always a good thing. I try to take a few moments each morning after I take the kids to school to read. It works out ok, I just need to be more diligent about it.
6. Have Family Home Evening consistently. We have a hard time sometimes. But we have a new plan and I'm hoping it will work. We've teamed up an older kid with a younger kid and are going to work through the Nursery Manual for lessons. We'll see how it goes.
7. Have Family Scripture Study more consistently. We're going back to reading scriptures over dinner. That has been our most successful approach and I'm going to try to be better about it.
8. Finish 5 quilts this year. I have a quilt over half-way quilted and another that is all ready to start quilting so I feel like I have a pretty good start.
9. Write in my journal at least 5 days a week. I'm still trying to write in the morning, but I may need to tweak my approach because lately it hasn't been all that successful.
10. Cook at least two meals a week for my family. That probably sounds funny to some people but I kind of jumped off the cooking bandwagon. John started cooking and he is a lot pickier than me (because of health concerns) so I got a little frustrated. But I'm feeling better about things lately and I find chopping very relaxing so I'm ready to try again. I also have come to really like crock pot things that I can do during the day and just serve at dinner because our afternoons tend to be really hectic. We'll see how it goes.
11. Transcribe at least one more year of my journal. I've done the first five years of our marriage, and have a pretty good start on the next couple of years, but I really want to buckle down and get the next 10 done. I write in my journal quite a bit so it is not an easy task but I love the book I made of the first 5 years and would love to get a sequel ready. Plus it is always fun to review my journals and remember all the good things that have happen to us over the years. This will require some more diligence sometime during the day to being productive. I'll have to figure that out.
12. Write on my blog at least once a month. Life is kind of crazy but I think I can make time at least once a month on Sundays to do some kind of update of what has been going on in my life. It is good for me to write and think and I like it. And I already have January's done. Look at me!
13. Lastly, this year, I want to strive to be more open to promptings from the Spirit about how I can help those in my family, and people around me in general. As part of that, I'm going to put cards in my car so that when I feel like someone could use a nice, encouraging note, I have one at hand. I'm also going to think of more ways that I can make it easier to think of others and make room in my life for the promptings I may receive.
