Looking Back at 2015 and Looking Forward at 2016

 What a year 2015 has been. Sometimes in the day-to-day grind of daily life and bills and stresses we forget to soak ourselves in all the good stuff. And boy, has this year been full of the most incredible blessings and experiences!! I can hardly believe it when I look at this year as a whole. Chris got hired in his degree, and has spent a semester teaching choir, at a school he wouldn't have imagined being lucky enough to end up at. We are living in a HOUSE. Thomas has grown from sweet baby to happy, exceptionally bright little boy, talking up a storm. We've been blessed by family and friends with opportunities for some AMAZING trips, including Tommy's first experience at the beach, Chris's first experience at Six Flags, and me being able to attend my best friend's wedding in Hawaii. We've had difficult trials. Everyone does. Sometimes I get tunnel vision with anxiety and fear about those trials, and I need to work on not only remembering all the blessings, but also trusting my Savior (and myself) to get through hard things. Here's to working on that in 2016. ;)  Here's to 2015, and all the good and bad it held. And here's to 2016 - may we become better people, people who love more, laugh more, work more, and live more!

Goals and Hopes for 2016

It is my goal to: 

• Consistently, daily read my scriptures and the current General Conference address.
• Live a healthy lifestyle in which I eat nourishing foods, exercise, and live free from sugar addiction.
• Attend the temple once a month,  go on a date night once a month, and have family night every week.
• Organize and use my time wisely in order to be an engaged mom, keep a clean home, and be an effective teacher.
• Grow my children's performing groups into a thriving, successful, enjoyable program.
• Go to bed early and get up early.
• Treat everyone, including myself, with greater kindness and acceptance.

It is my hope to:

• Raise Thomas to be a happy, healthy toddler who feels loved, enjoys learning, and feels the Spirit in his daily life.
• Create a home environment that is loving, happy, clean, orderly, safe, rich in learning, Christ-centered, and filled with the Holy Ghost.
• Support Chris with kindness, service, and loyalty as he works and leads our family.
• Prepare myself spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially and physically for the possibility of another child in the future (see how vague that is there? ;) Be prepared for another post for further elaboration).
• Come to know God more. (See my next post).