New Year's Resolutions 2016

Don't be fooled by the Jack-O-Lantern in these pictures; we were just finally putting it up in the attic and the boys grabbed it and were playing with it during these pictures. We took these on New Year's Day while we were cleaning up all the Christmas decorations.

I was feeling really excited about New Year's Resolutions this year, because I could feel that I NEEDED them right now. I had fallen into a lot of bad habits over the last half of last year--mostly time-wasting ones. I'd gotten into the necessary "survival mode" of the newborn stage, and never fully gotten myself out of it, even though Graham is now older, easier, and sleeping through the night (and has been for a few months now). When you're barely sleeping and barely coping with the crazy demands of two little kids, worrying about time management and personal development isn't really high on the list. It's all about trying to keep your sanity. But I had moved past that stage and wasn't taking advantage of it. So I needed a reset to get me back on the horse, so to speak. 

My New Year's resolutions this year include:

- Going to the temple once a month. (Sad that this is a difficult goal. When I was newly married in Provo I thought I would go to the temple once a week FOREVER. Times and seasons, my young self. Times and seasons.)

- Do a triathlon. An easy one, but a triathlon. I have lost all of the baby weight (what!?) so I need a different exercise goal to keep me interested. Step 1: Buy bikes.

- Stick to a grocery budget. And just a budget in general. Less impulse spending.

- Do weekly/monthly planning sessions for FHEs, weekly calendar, preschool with Dane, and goals. When I plan ahead, I do better and do more. I want to plan more.

- Go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. Less lolling around in bed. There's no excuse now that we're (mostly) getting full nights of sleep.

- Read. I've got a few different reading goals up my sleeve this year. But mostly I want to get back to having reading be my main go-to for free time. I got into the bad habit of veg-ing out and watching my TV show a lot of nights, which was totally fine when I needed it to save my sanity but now I don't need it. I only want to watch TV when I'm exercising or folding laundry--multitasking TV watching. 

It was pretty cute this year--we had our first FHE be about New Year's resolutions and we used these prompts for getting some goals out of him. We talked about how we like to try to make choices to make us be better people, and then we asked him what he thought about each of these prompts. Some of the ideas came from us, some of them came from him. He's thought about them and talked about them since, which is the point of resolutions anyway, I think. He's really thinking about learning how to pedal on his trike ever since we talked about this. So cute.

This year, I want to learn: how to pedal my trike.
I want to read: about Thomas and Winnie the Pooh and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

I want to make: cookies.
I want to visit: my friends.
I want to change: be better at obeying.
I want to be better at: writing my letters and cutting with scissors.
Most of all I want: to play with Graham and be a good brother.

I feel really motivated right now to be better about staying on top of things. We are past the hard newborn stage and I think getting to a normal life routine. I'm starting to teach again next week, and I think it's going to be good for me because when I'm busier, I'm more productive, less time-wasting, and generally happier. I'm feeling like 2016 is going to be a great year for us!