New Year's Day

You will not believe what I saw yesterday!

Steve & I were driving Jared to a friend's New Year's Day Party and we couldn't find the address (come to find out, Jared had written down the address wrong), and as we rounded a corner we could see something big and dark in a tree way up high. As we neared we could see it was a bird. We started thinking maybe it was a hawk, no, too big; maybe a vulture, no, holy cow it's a bald eagle! It was a Bald Eagle! Steve had grabbed the camera before we left home so that as we were out and about we could take pics of scenery, thank heavens! So I grabbed the camera and took these pics (I'm glad for my camera's optical zoom of 12x, because I needed it!):







Look at these pics. This was the beauty I was seeing as we were driving him. Western scenery. Isn't it beautiful?





Western scenery. Isn't it beautiful? I left the above image clickable so that you can see it a bit bigger.

So, I'm glad that Jared got the wrong address or we wouldn't have seen these beautiful things yesterday.

After we dropped Jared off we went to a local Chinese Restaurant. It was yummy! And while we were there I wrote resolutions.

They weren't the typical resolutions. I was a little surprised as things kept popping into my head that I hadn't even thought of, but that will help the organizational level in my house tremendously. Now if you are the mom of a big family and can keep up on laundry, make healthy and nutritious meals from scratch daily, and your house is an organizational wonder these goals might seems like little baby steps and maybe they are, but they are exactly what I need. I think that they are divinely inspired.

So here are mine:

~Read scriptures everyday. This is a biggie for me. Otherwise I forget what is most important.

~Be creative daily. Whether it be in writing, photography, poetry, sketching, crafts, sewing, quilting......

~Prepare weekly menues in advance.

~Teach my kids how to cook & utilize their help more.~Involve them in all aspects of food preparation:
planning
buying
preparing
cooking
presentation

~Teach all of my kids (minus Michael - but he can help me) how to wash their own clothes and make laundry easier for them with organization (their own hampers, baskets, etc.). Anybody else struggle with the endless baskets of laundry?

~Keep a house project going at all times - work on organization/finishing of 1 room at a time.

~Have healthful goodies available at all times. This is my weakness. I don't value food much, and that shows. When I was young I ate to live, and now I'm back at that point. This isn't a great way for a homemaker to be. I just read something in the book Small and Simple (a Christmas present from my mother and father in-law - Thanks Mom & Dad!) that talks about food making people feel more safe and secure. It made me think.

Have the main goal of my house be to bring Peace & Rest to all inside.

Remember Balance.

These are the ones I'd been thinking of throughout the last week, some are the same as what I came up with yesterday:
Goals for 2009:

Lose down to ideal weight. For now, that will be about 7 less pounds. My ideal has already changed once, so it might again.

Read scriptures every day.

Exercise daily. (Maybe I should spell it exorcise – Out, out you bad, flab demons!)

Do something creative every day, whether it be photography, sketching, crafting, sewing, or quilting.

Organize my bedroom (boy does it need it!) and my bedroom closet. Rechelle’s project got me started thinking about the possibilities!

Prepare for things more in advance instead of waiting until the last minute.

So that is my list. I'm excited! I can do it!

I love the tradition that I have (maybe nobody else realizes it is my tradition but Amber, who babysits for me while I do my tradition) of going out with Steve to eat or get hot cocoa and write down my resolutions. I love it! Thanks, Steve, for going with me yesterday, and Thank You, Amber for babysitting for me while I take some much needed time off.

Do you have a tradition for New Year's Day that you love?