New Year's Resolutions

I know, I know- it is totally cliche to post about New Year's goals, but since I view this blog as one of my lame attempts of keeping a journal, I thought it would be another good place to write my goals down. I have them on 3x5 cards in my scriptures, on my closet door, and as my bookmarks. Goal setting is one of my very favorite ways of progressing- I suppose it fits fairly well with my OCD-ish tendencies. I have divided my goals for this year into different catergories, which will make it easier for me to make appropriate monthly goals to get closer to accomplishing them. Also, I think knowing that all of you (all 2 of you. . .) are seeing them will help to motivate me to keep them. I am all about peer pressure in situations like this!!

Physical- I know this is another New Years cliche- but I would like to lose weight. I never did lose all of my baby weight from Emma. I was kind of lazy about it because I knew that I wanted my first two kids to be fairly close together in age and I just didn't see the point in working that hard to lose weight that I was just going to put on again. I think that was one of the more logical reasons I have ever had for avoiding working out (some of my former roommates know some of the more ridiculous ones). I have gained 30 pounds so far this pregnancy, and am projected to gain about 5 more before Sara's due date. I will most likely lose about 20 of those shortly after the birth (that is the approximated weight of baby and fluid). This means that in additon to the 15 pounds I wanted to lose before I was pregnant, I will have about 15 to add to that. I would like to lose those thirty pounds by November so that I can put them all back on during the holidays :). In addition to following a fairly lenient diet (basically less sweets and portion control- that is all the discipline I have when it comes to my good friend food) I am planning on joining a gym and a step-aerobic class. This time working out may very well be the only me-time I get this next year, so I think that will make it easier for me to enjoy and even look forward to that time. Ross has agreed to watch the girls when I go do this. Whether this willingness stems from him being the best husband ever, or from him wanting the tiny wife he married back I am not sure. Either way, I am grateful for his support.

Spiritual- I want to attend the temple twice a month- at least one of those times with Ross. If Orem is going to get its temple, and it will- then I need to do my part in increasing the need for it. I also want to read the Old Testament again.

Mental- I am going to take a night class at BYU in the fall. I also want to read one informational book a month. Most of those will probably be financial type books because I don't like how ignorant I feel when Ross talks about his work.

Emotional- I am going to make sure that Ross and I get a date night ALONE every week. We always get a date night, but more often than not, Emma is our little tag-along. I think that especailly after the baby, we are going to need at least a couple hours a week without our little ankle biters.

Familial- I am going to hold much more formal Family Home Evenings. Ross and I usually take some time to read a conference talk and eat cookies or something- but now that Emma is getting old enough to understand routines and lessons, I think it is time for us to implement Family Home Evening more regularly. This will be greatly helped by our wonderful Christmas present from my sister-in-law, Melissa!! She gave us a really cute Home Evening chart thing with vinyl lettering and little pegs for family names to hang from. She actually does all kinds of cool signs professionally and sells them. I will put the e-mail address for it up here as soon as she gives it to me. (She keeps giving it to Ross, not realizing that most of the information of that type that enters his head is soon lost amidst a crazy swirl of thoughts about sports, work, his AMAZING wife and other tid-bits that I don't care to know about). I am also going to be more valiant in my journaling efforts. This means the blog should be updated fairly regularly, and my digital scrapbook pages will start getting printed off.

Monetary- Ross and I just set up a good budget and cut up our credit cards. Between Ross's employment instability (which is now resolved- yay!!) and his medical problems, we ran up quite a balance on a couple cards. Now that we have a nice and steady income, we are on track to be out of debt by Christmas 2008. My goal is to find some extra ways to bring in a little bit of money and to cut some fat out of our budget to put towards the debt. I am hoping that these extra efforts can move that pay-off date up to August. Brittany- I may need some tips on getting extra cash from home. . .

Motherly- I want to have Emma completely potty trained by August- her 2 1/2 birthday. She is half way there- she uses diapers when we are out of the house and for over night. Progress in those areas has pretty much come to a stop. Hopefully I can find some ways to break through that block. She is using less diapers now, and when we are home she is really good at getting to the potty in time, so I am pretty happy for now. I also want Emma to be able to write her name and know the alphabet by the end of the year. We have been learning the song together, and she is really good at recognizing the letter 'E' for Emma- so I hope that we can continue to get better in those areas. As for Sara, I want her to stay healthy and happy, and I want my two girls to love each other. I want Sara to be on a much better sleep schedule than Emma ever was. I also want to avoid having her in our bed for as long as Emma was. I was really bad at indulging her cuddling wants at night when she was first born because Ross had been gone for almost a year, and I wanted someone to cuddle with in bed too. This led to some bad habits that were hard for everyone to break. Hopefully we can avoid this from the get-go with Sara.

I think that there is enough here to keep me busy this year. I love the chance to start over this year with a fresh perspective. It is nice to look back on the past year and see all the progress I have made- and especially to see the areas where I am still highly lacking. Hopefully these goals will make those low areas higher so that I can work on other areas next year.