Resolutions 2018 Recap and New 2019 Resolutions

New Year, New Goals! It was a bit harder for me to decide on resolutions this year - I couldn't decide what I really cared about enough to set a goal for. I think I've found a few good ones, though, and no matter what happens, I'll come out better than I am now!

First, a recap of last year's goals:

Spiritual
1. Indexing once a month. Done! I actually have one month that I didn't mark, but sometimes I forget to mark things. So I'm going with yes. If not, I definitely did it 11 out of 12 months.
2. Attend the temple twice a month. Done (I think)! Again, I had a few months I think I forgot to mark, but this goal helped me get to the temple pretty regularly which I'm thankful for.
3. Memorize The Living Christ. Done! I had a plan that was going to help me get it memorized by Easter, but then I lost momentum. I picked it up by the end, though, and finished right before New Year's. Now this year I've just got to maintain it!
4. Do an act of kindness/service every month. Nope. I lost steam with this one after a few months. Of course I did do acts of kindness after that, but I stopped tracking it by June. 

Personal
1. Read all the books on my nightstand. No. I think I got through 5 or 6. I've realized this year that I really struggle with reading non-fiction books quickly. I just get bored and it takes me forever to get through them. Most of the ones I'd chosen for this were non-fiction, so that didn't help. I'm hoping to finish them this year. 
2. Blog twice a month. Done! This was a huge achievement for me and has helped me get caught up. I think there was one point this summer where I was actually completely caught up with the most recent pictures. Now I'm usually working a month or two behind but that's pretty good and definitely manageable.

Financial
1. Pay off debt and fund emergency savings account. Debt - done! We paid off our last debt in December, and it feels so good! We've started on the emergency fund but have a few months left in that. We did have a few unexpected setbacks that kept us from getting through the savings this year like we'd hoped, but I'm still incredibly proud of the progress we made and so grateful for the way the Lord has taken care of us and made this possible.

Physical
1. Lose 30 pounds. No. I did get 20 pounds off but I'm sure I've put a few back on over the holidays. My motivation has come and gone, but I also have found it's not as easy to lose weight now as it used to be. Age. :(


2019 Resolutions

1. Study “Come Follow Me” curriculum once a week. I'm hoping we'll be able to do this together each week, but I can at least do it myself if we aren't able to.
2. Get 25 blue dots in Weight Watchers app each month. I've been using Weight Watchers for a while and it works really well for me when I actually do it. I like the flexibility it offers. Within the app, you get a blue dot for each day you're within a target points range - a little above or a little below your daily allowance. My goal is to stay within that range at least 25 days of the month. It'll give me a few days of leeway but keep me on track for the most part.
3. Practice piano once a month. I don't have a piano at home anymore, but I teach seminary and can easily stay after to practice at the church, so I plan to do that once a month. I want to be able to play more hymns, so that's what I'll be focusing on.
4. Read with Jackson twice a month. I want to strengthen my relationship with Jackson, and reading together is something he usually gets excited about doing. I don't really read with him at all right now, since Brandon puts him to bed, so I want to make time for that twice a month. He's learning to read now, so maybe he'll be able to read to me, too.
5. Spend time with in-laws twice a month. I still don't feel very close to Brandon's family, and I want to change that. He sees them a lot, but I don't, so I want to make a point to spend time with them at least once a month to strengthen those relationships.
6. Keep a prayer journal. I've wanted to do this for a while, so I'm going to do it this year. Nothing too big - I just want to keep a journal by my bed and write down things I want to pray about. I feel like when it comes time to pray, it's often the same stuff and there are so many other things I care about and want to pray about. Hopefully this will help me keep my prayers more meaningful.
7. Save $17,000. We've got our debt done, so now we're looking to savings. We're hoping to get through our emergency fund and then start throwing money at retirement and a down payment for a house.
8. Go to the temple once a month alone and once a month with Brandon. Repeat goal but want to keep myself accountable - tracking it helps me make it happen.
9. Indexing/family history once a month. I haven't been doing a lot of family history because I'm so behind on temple ordinances, but I want to work that back in with my indexing this year.
10. Blog twice a month. It worked so well this past year, that I want to keep it up!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve

My parents hosted their annual New Year's skating party on New Year's Eve. We didn't have Jackson this year, but Brandon and I went and skated with friends and family. It's so fun to see the kids improve each year as they become more coordinated.

My cousin Melissa and her family had come out from Utah to visit her parents in Kentucky, so they came up for the skating party. It was so fun to see her, and always fun to see our friend Chrissi Harris who lives in Columbus.

That night we hung out at my parents' house and played lots of games and ate a bunch of food. Since we didn't have Jackson, we stayed past midnight to ring in the new year. Thomas brought a new game - Skull King - which was the hit of the night. We all loved playing that, along with our standards Euchre, Ticket to Ride, and Settlers of Catan.

Welcome 2019!

Brandon's 29th Birthday

Brandon's birthday is New Year's Day, so he had the day off. Yay! I set up 5 surprises for him throughout the day, which he found out by popping the balloons at the allotted time. 

We got Jackson at lunch time, so one of the surprises was to go downtown to eat and play glow-in-the-dark mini golf. We had a lot of fun!

He got some other gifts and a few other surprises. We ended the night eating super nachos and watching some college football. Then he sharpened my kitchen knives because he's the nicest. I love celebrating Brandon - he's my favorite person that has ever existed and I'm so grateful to spend every day with him!

Winter Break

I always get the week between Christmas and New Year's off, so I got to spend lots of time with all our family that was in town.

I went down to Columbus one day and helped my grandma hang a gallery wall in her room. She'd  mentioned before that she liked the one I have in my living room and asked if I'd help her do the same. I think it turned out pretty well! Afterwards, we had a girls night. We went to Panera for dinner then saw Mary Poppins Returns in the theater. So cute!

I borrowed a puzzle from my parents in case Brandon and I needed something to do together Christmas morning. We didn't do it then, but I did it later by myself. And then I got puzzle crazy and did two more that week. It's so satisfying to complete it after working so hard! I had to go back to work the next week and didn't have any more puzzles to do, so my addiction hasn't continued, though now I'm getting the itch again!

We went to see Winterlights at Newfields with most of my family - a lights display at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We got pretty lucky and it wasn't raining or snowing and the temperature was pretty mild for late December. The lights were beautiful!

You can't really tell, but that's our little family in front of that tree on the right. And then all of us below.

Cutest little bundle! Alexander loved the dancing light show the best.

Part of the lights tour included an indoor (yay!) tour of the Lilly House, all decked out for Christmas. One of the themes throughout the house were these huge paper chains. I can't imagine how long it took to make them all!

Afterwards, we went to Moe's for dinner. It was so fun to spend so much time with my favorite people!

Christmas

We didn't have Jackson on Christmas morning this year, so we did our Christmas on Christmas Eve morning instead. We woke up and opened gifts together, then had a fancy Christmas breakfast. Jackson got lots of Lego people, which he was very excited about.

He also got a fish tank, which he was not as excited about at first. He was pretty confused, actually, because Brandon had taken him to look at fish at the pet store, pretending like it was for our cousin Noah. So when he opened it, he thought it was for Noah. He was also pretty sick over Christmas (strep throat and an ear infection), so his energy was pretty low to start with. Once we sorted everything out, though, he was excited to get the fish. Brandon set the tank up and they chose a few catfish and one beta fish. They're all set up in his room now, and the tank looks beautiful!

Unknowingly, Brandon and I got each other the same gift - black puffy jackets! We both love them and wear them all the time. Great minds think alike!

That afternoon, we took Jackson back to his mom's then headed to my mom's for our Shoaf family Christmas Eve. We had everyone home this year, which was so fun. We were just missing Jackson at dinner!

Not surprisingly, these two babies were the stars of the show. They're just a week apart in age - they were about 5 months old at Christmas.

Cooper helped set the table and poured the sparkling juice with perfect maitre d' form.

Love these sisters of mine!

And these cute nieces and nephews of mine!

After dinner, we had a short program focused on Christ and all the different roles he plays in our lives. Nalon performed on his flute and I sang with my mom accompanying.

Then it was present time! We followed our standard youngest-to-oldest pattern so by the time the older people were opening their presents, the younger ones had gone off to play with their new toys. It's pretty chaotic at first, but it makes it much more enjoyable by the end. It's getting to be a pretty full room with all of us in there!

Annual sisters pic - the first time we've had Madison in it! Now we're complete!

And the ones who started it all - what great parents, I have. I'm so grateful for them.

Since we'd already opened presents with Jackson on Christmas Eve, on Christmas morning Brandon and I slept in, ate breakfast nachos, and just hung out. We played the new Sonic the Hedgehog game we got for Jackson for Christmas and then headed to Brandon's mom's for Christmas celebrations.

I got to snuggle Nova and Jackson got tons of presents!

Merry Christmas!