Ready, Set, 2014!

Here is one of the bad photos I took on our recent trip to Zion National Park. I will unimpressed you with more in the next post! Something to look forward to!

As I wrote down the goals I want our family to focus on for the year 2014, it somehow morphed into more of a mission statement. Which is great! We can build on this for years to come. I'm sure we will tweak it a bit to get it just right as time passes. It is a good foundation though.

Each family member has goals within these goals. Individualized with numbers and time charts specific to them. For instance, my Will needs motivation to get going on his after school responsibilities in a timely manner after getting home from school. So his goals will include a time frame for that. I need to be more mindful of the free time I have to get my scripture study and personal prayer in. I also want to get back on my no carbonation kick. I went 2 1/2 years, and then I fell off the wagon. Del and I have specifics in mind financially, and so on and so forth.

Along with these goals, I am going to try to bring what we learned in 2013 along with us into the new year. And really, we learned a lot!

 Del felt like 2013 was a year he made some mistakes in running his business, and I feel I made mistakes in my parenting. But at the same time, it was an amazing year! With more opportunity and growth than ever!
It was a year of numerous changes in Del's industry, and adapting a company to a whole new strategy has some growing pains. We are just forever grateful to have a company to tweak!

We have been listing to Dave Ramsey's Entreleadership podcasts lately. He stresses over and over again how mistakes are a training ground. To be grateful for them.
Make mistakes, just don't make the same ones twice!

 He also talks a lot about how if you aren't making mistakes, it means you are not trying new things. You are not moving forward. I LOVE that advice!
 I do feel that our mistakes are valuable. Dave Ramsey didn't get to the point of success that he can share a leadership series by never making a mistake to learn from! As long as it's not fatal, it's teachable.

I tell Del ALL the time that he must be in training for something either really fabulous, or really terrifying, because I am not kidding when I say there is ALWAYS something crazy going on!

Especially when it comes to his career. It's been like a life span of industry changes and challenges squashed into a decade! We move from one head shaker to the next around here!
We have seen everything from people we know going to jail, to people we know needing to go to jail, and not going to jail! Ha!
But I guess I love it in a lot of ways.  Because we also see a lot of good, and we know a LOT of really impressive people doing right in this world. I have to remind myself of that when it seems that all of humanity has taken a lunatic pill! 

Understand that I am not complaining! I wouldn't trade my bad days for anything. They are worth too much. Because of the bad, I know what good it is that I do value. That is most definitely how most people see it, I believe. Plus my bad days are not full of the physical desperation of hunger, cold and war. Nor are they full of the spiritual desperation of being lost with no answers or direction.
We would all pick our own problems.

So now... after that unexpected ramble, here is our list of family goals.

We value routine. 

This year I am going to be better at reinforcing our routines.  We have much need of improvement when it comes to teaching kids to work. Routine is key in that. After school chores need to be done, piano and violin need to be practiced, homework needs to be given the attention it deserves, and swim practice, basketball, and scouts, and any other activities we sign up for,  need to be taken seriously. We have committed to these things, and we will follow through. We will serve diligently in our church callings, and strive to make service the norm. We need this foundation in our home. I want to raise kids that work hard, with purpose!

We value the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 Scripture study, family prayer, Family Home Evening, church attendance and service need to be central to our family life. It can be tough to fit the daily habit in, I must admit. Del leaves before the rest of us wake up on most days, and I am not so keen on getting my kids out of bed at 5 in the morning to catch him. Our nights somehow turn into a desperate push to get everyone in bed. But this year, we will read the scriptures, and pray as a family before bed with far more regularity than we have up until this point. It is vital to the Spiritual well being of my children. And there is nothing I want more for my kids in this life than to have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is where all strength lies. We will pray for, and prepare for opportunities to share what we know about our Heavenly Father's plan for us, his children.

We value our physical health. 

We will take the time to make healthy and yummy meals. I want my kids to continue to see the preparation of meals in our home, and thought going into them. We will set goals for the activities we are involved in. We won't be afraid to try new things, and hopefully find a niche that gives our kids a sense of belonging, and confidence along the way. 

We value places.

We love exploring! We will take advantage of the opportunities we are given to explore new places. We will learn something valuable about each of those places, and where we see need, we will do our part to fill it, along the way. We will use this to create family memories and traditions.

We value friends and family.

We are each other's number one! We will be kinder to each other in our home. We will make our home a training ground for good manners, and love for our neighbors. We will diligently keep in touch with friends and extended family, and show kindness to those who may not have the blessing of family in their lives. We will make our home a place of structure, and peace that others are welcome in. We will value each other and guests by using calm voices, not fighting, sharing what we have, being patient, asking for, and extending forgiveness, and expressing our love for one another. We will constantly be focused on our goal of trying to be like Jesus.

We value financial peace and security.

We will constantly acknowledge that all blessings come from Heavenly Father. We will continuously  take responsibility for our finances. We will take our financial beliefs and practices to the next level by saving double what we did last year as a household, and individuals. We will not go into debt. We will continue to pay 10% tithing and other offerings to the Lord, and we will encourage our children to earn money, and pay their tithing. We will be generous with our time and money, and help others. We will learn about habits and strategies to being financially independent, as a family so it becomes engrained in our children. We will delay instant gratification.

So there it is. Now I am on the line to follow through! Putting things in writing may come back to bite me! If we can just pull out of these -42 degree wind chills, I'm sure we will be much more efficient at putting them to work! Happy New Year!

Christmas Card Family Photos 2013

Ta DAAA! The 2013 Family Christmas card.

And the inside of the card. The card scanned with kind of a funny sheen from the paper on it. I had a hard time getting a quality result. Hopefully not so much in person.

We had tried this downtown Chicago family picture idea before.
Twice.
Two attempts to get the city line from the Lakeshore.
Both ended with squinty eyes, hair blowing all over the place, and crying, freezing kids.

 This time, I planned ahead better. We did our pictures in mid September, when there was still some warm weather hanging around. We avoided the Lakeshore all together, and instead, went right into the thick of it. Michigan Avenue!
And for a little bit of drama, we shot right in the middle of the street!
Now we finally have our Chicago city shots, and any time we manage to pull off the feat of family photos that are not only usable, but kinda cool, we call that a major success!

Bright and early on a Saturday morning, you manage to avoid having too many pedestrians and cars in your photos. But it is just fine when they are there, because that is just part of the vibe!
Georgia was up sick all night in the hotel room. That girl manages to get sick the night before family pictures, EVERY year!
A little positive reinforcement in the form of bribery with a small stuffed animal for forty five minutes of smiles, did wonders!
Then, she threw up in the car the whole way home.

We used Stacie Kemp Photography in Chicago, for photos. She was totally game when I told her I wanted to try to get shots of our family of six in the median in the street. Love that! She knows just the right angle to get for that shot.

Michigan Ave. headed North.

Headed South.

The car headed for us in this photo contained a really ornery Chicagoan. She started honking at us right about the time this frame was shot, and didn't lay off the horn until she was well past us as we stood watching her on the sidewalk. Will she ever forgive us for making her think she MAY have to touch her foot to the brake? Go Bears?

Georgia has so many more teeth since September!

Will is one of those photogenic people. He did NOT get that from me!

Walker was not being cooperative. Until we saw a couple walk by with their dog, and Del asked if he could pet it real fast. Walker jumped out of Del's arms, and baby talked that dog for a while. That really cheered him right up! He turned to the camera, put his hands in his pockets and gave a us a big smile, and we didn't even have to ask!

I am so grateful for the beautiful family I have!

Thanksgiving 2013

I have many pictures of our Thanksgiving table, and next to none of the actual people who ate the meal.  That is the exact reason I took pictures of our table setting long before we ate. It always gets crazy, and pictures are the last thing on my mind.

We invited some folks from church who don't have family around. We ended up with a very eclectic mix of people, with all kinds of different life experiences. Unfortunately, due to some unexpected things coming up for them, many had to cancel. It ended up being a quiet day, and that is also nice.

My neighbor told me last week that he had ordered their Thanksgiving dinner from the club house. You better believe I jumped at the chance to remove the cooking stress from my list. The next door neighbor was even kind enough to actually go and pick up our food and bring it to us! I only made Brussels sprouts as a side dish! I barley had to lift a finger! Awesome! The bad news, despite my telling them I had a nut allergy, some of the veggies came with walnuts on top as a garnish. Del immediately took that dish out, and threw it away. While it was obvious they were there, and I did not eat them, the wrapping of the food must have been done by the nut toucher, because after opening all the food tins and containers, I was an itchy mess! There must have been some cross contamination with the oils. I had to go upstairs and wash all my makeup off, and scrub myself down. I was okay after that. Thank goodness!

We went with the ever popular chalk board theme, and our chargers were mini chalk boards at dinner.

Individual cranberry sauce servers.

We sent all our leftovers home with a dinner guest after we realized the containers were irritating me. Then we loaded up and went to see "Frozen" in our town's newly remodeled movie theater. They have switched the bell chimes in the square to play Christmas music on the hour. It is so charming.

Green, white and calm. Oh, and some black and white check always adds warmth.

No pictures with Del. Poor guy.
I am so full of gratitude for these growing people, and Del. I am also so grateful for our healthy bodies, and the ability we have to accomplish what needs to be done day to day, without much thought as to how we will manage physically.
I have such supportive and exemplary in laws and extended family. My Grandma Clark is about to start treatment for her newly diagnosed stage 3B breast cancer. I am so thankful for her in my life! She is amazing. There is no other word for her!
It has been a good, but challenging year for us! We have learned a lot, and we have become mindful of all the blessings that could easily go overlooked when in the middle of a struggle. Even when it seems the hits just keep coming, we realize that we are being sustained in an amazing and miraculous way, that is impossible to explain!
I am so thankful for employment, and the peace and ease it brings to life to be provided for. So many don't have that security right now, and I am grateful for the work we have.
 I have learned a lot this year about patience and moving forward, even when things seem unfair. I am thankful for that perspective. I hope I have learned something this year about gratitude and faith.

Now we need to get busy preparing for our upcoming venture West to see our family members. We are also learning to be thankful for moments of happiness and health with those we love, and don't live near. It is time to go take advantage!