Resolution Recap

I had a nice Christmas day-fabulous actually! And I have pictures I want to share and stories I want to tell...but I'm in CA with my family. No access to my pictures (that's what happens when you get good at putting them on your computer :)). So, even though it might make my head explode, I'm going to do things out of order and reserve the right to go back and update on Christmas later.

RESOLUTION TIME!!!

1. Actually thinking about resolutions at the end of the year rather than just at the beginning: Check-so that's something-first time for that for me. And I like the website joesgoals.com. It's simple but effective.

2. Train for/run a 5K: Check

3. Exercise for 30 minutes a day: Okay, so I did Wii Fit, 30 Day Shred, and the 5K thing (and even went to the stake aerobics...twice)-but alas, I gave this one up in August. I don't think that was the last time I exercised but it was the last time I tracked it and let's be honest, if I was doing it then I would have written it down

4. Write in my journal daily: Um....does blogging count? Probably not. I didn't totally fail on this one but it's the closest I came. I did it in short fits and spurts. ldsjournal.com was my friend for a while but not often enough. Does anyone have recommendations for improvement in this one?

5. Food Storage: My goal was a hearty, well fleshed-out 3 month supply. I certainly worked on it and not a week went by when I didn't buff it up a bit (sometimes a very small bit). AND I got my first 2 of 5 needed 55-gallon drums but I am a long ways from feeling secure on this one.

6. Be a better friend to my sister Erin: This, this, this and this certainly helped. Us both being mom's helped. Me trying my darnedest to not be bossy or excessively opinionated did the most good (even though if that was a goal all on it's own I wouldn't be owning up to it). This isn't really a pass/fail resolution but I feel good about it.

7. Finish reading all the Newbery award-winning books: I started this (for the 2nd time) in 2008!! (July) And I STILL haven't finished. But I'm only like 6 away so almost....

8. Catch up on my scrap-booking by doing 7 pages a week: In my mind this would work-I don't take pictures every day so by doing the equivalent of a page a day then I would eventually catch up. I think in theory it would work. I don't know about in practice because I only did this occasionally (and it was a mid-year resolution addendum, not a New Years) so I'm basically as far behind as I've always been. A year and a half backlog means that Eliza doesn't even enter in the scrapbook register...sad

So this list makes me a little depressed BUT I will try to look on the bright side and say that I'm a little bit...not a lot...but a little bit better than I was at the beginning of 2009. Good on me. Maybe I should do a la Wally Whipple and make at least one more d0-able resolution:

In 2010 I will eat more Mexican food: done

Merry Happy*: On the 19th day of Christmas

I would start this post with the requisite "I'm so sorry I haven't posted" but I don't really believe in that since my blog should be fun for me, and I doubt anyone was waiting with bated breath for my next post :).

So December! AHHHHH. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone feels this way but oh my goodness, it is a crazy month! We have had lots of fun. Also, lots of stress. Despite my best efforts and daily resolutions I still don't know if I'm always focusing on the right things or being warm and loving to my family the way I should be. But...enough of that, let's focus on the fun positives. **Warning: This is my recap of my 19 Days of Christmas so far-so it will be long. But remember, if you read it, I will love you.

1. Sent off half of my Christmas cards. I ordered from a couple of different places to get the best deals (like 12 free cards here, 30 cards half off here, etc). Financially smart...but more room for error and I accidentally sent one batch to VA-um, yeah. So Snapfish finally received them from my renter and I should have them in time to send New Years Cards!

2. The first weekend in December we went to our annual City Christmas Party-which was AWESOME!! It's two events over a weekend. Friday night was the hot air balloon glow, lighting ceremony and a carnival. My kids had an absolutely (freezing) blast. There were boat rides, and car rides, and a huge obstacle course-which I went on and was more scared than them. It was a lot, lot, lot of fun.

Aren't we cute?

But she's cuter!

3. The next day was the second half of the party. This was the party last year that we rode an elephant. But this year, we rode a camel!! Okay, Eliza and I rode a camel because the two other kids wimped out (like an Elephant is so much less scary!!)

And Samantha performed because she takes dance through the city. She was so darling...but SO cold!

There were pony rides

And train rides

There was also and awesome petting zoo and fun booths. We love that our city does this!!

4. We've also had a couple of personal parties to attend to. At this one there was a gingerbread house contest. We won "Most original" Can you tell Tom has a camping background?

5. GOODIES!! I've been making loads of goodie plates. So far I've made 6 batches of poppyseed bread (yield 30 usable small loaves and 3 burnt-to-a-crisp ones). 4 batches of fudge and 4 batches of chocolate dipped peanut brittle. I absolutely love this part of Christmas. I think it's so fun.

6. We've watched a couple of Holiday shows:

Some classic

And some new (LOVED this-very cute and clever)

7. Had mutual at my house where we proceeded to wrap 3 million -okay, 3 hundred-caramels and make snowflakes for the "Santa Room" for the ward Christmas party

8. Went to the mall to meet the big guy (no picture because they want to charge you 35 dollars for a wallet size or something like that). But they enjoyed the play place.
9. Samantha had her winter dance recital. Marshmallow world! She was darling and I think she's a little more "with it" than her first recital. Tom's extended AZ family came so that made it even more fun.

10. And of course, the Daddy Daughter dance. If you remember the summer one, the moves are basically the same but the music is different. I think that's funny.

11. Went to the above mentioned Ward Christmas party. It was lots of fun. The kids met Santa again, and in Arizona-he's Latino :)

12. I contended with the great leaning Christmas tree. After spending well over 2 hours combined working with it and having it fall over three times we decided to shove it in a corner-more rooms for presents right? It's a gorgeous tree, just kind of stupid.

13. And I obsessively read this book series until the wee hours of the night. I recommend the first one, "Poison Study" and the next ones are okay, not great, but okay.

14. Tom found his new true love:

15. Between Samantha and I we've had four gift exchanges. This is what we got in return:

I forgot to grab the fuzzy pink flip flops which were the most fabulous but I didn't want to have to take another picture

16. Made 12-count 'em-12 homemade bread bowls to help out a friend. Used this recipe. I loved it so much I made another batch of 4 to have friends over on Sunday

17. Saw several of my friends sing in the Hallelujah Chorus for our Stake. If I had to choose, music is my favorite part of Christmas.

18. Attended the Temple which was finally something that truly focused on the meaning and real reason for this time of year. Tom and I switched off so that afterwards the kids could see the lights. They were very pretty.
And that's not even everything, but it's certainly the main highlights. It's crazy, but that's part of what makes it so fun.

*"Merry Happy" is from a show called "Community" which if you're not watching, then you should be. "Fall Finales" on television have also been a big part of this December for us as well. (19)