Ringing in the New Year

New Years! I was trying to remember past New Year celebrations and I really can't remember that many of them. I think that would have to make this one my favorite. I guess it could only compare to when Max and I would go to church New Year's dances together as teenagers and dance with each other the whole time. Yup, pretty magical. Anyway, I loved this year because of the simplicity of having an in-home date with the man I love most. Last year was kind of a bummer because Max had a deadline with some homework and had to spend pretty much all hours working on it so he took a 15-30 minute break to ring in the New Year then went back to work. (Alright, so I guess I am starting to remember past celebrations)

So here is a little bit about what we did this year and some of the highlights of 2013

We had random snacks for dinner. Please note that the meat is Venison actually caught by Max's brother. We haven't tried our venison summer sausage yet, but this one is sure delicious. We also, had soup, garlic bread, and canned peaches for this random dinner. 

We felt absolutely NO DESIRE to keep Charlie up until midnight. We thought that maybe we could keep him up until 9 to celebrate East Coast New Years which would commemorate our East Coast trip of 2013. We were able to do this but he was completely ready for bed and about to lay down to sleep. We put him down and started our in-home date, which actually started with our "square one" tidying up (dishes, toys and other things that are left out) and Max climbing in the attic to connect a vent...then our date really started. We showered and reviewed the goals that we had made the previous New Year (as part of our 15 minute celebration last year). We had never done this before and decided that it would be a great tradition. We had a lot of success coming from these goals. 

 

1. Weekly Planning: We both did this when we served missions but didn't really continue afterward. With our schedules getting busier we decided we really needed to make a time to go over our week. This was a huge success this year. Every Sunday night after we put Charlie to bed we go over the calendar, make goals and checklists for the next week, do meal plans, make a grocery list, balance checkbook, pay bills, balance the property ledger and enter receipts. This has been so wonderful for our family's organization and we are happy to continue it into this year. 

2. Job: Max started working with Grow Construction last January and it has been great for our family.

3. Preggo: Yup, that happened. 

4. Healthy Weight: Max and I both made significant improvements to our health and fitness. 

5: Max get Diploma: He officially finished his last undergrad requirements and got his diploma last January. Within 24 hours of finishing his last final, he was offered a job where he is working now. What a Blessing. 

6. Charlie will walk: He was 13.5 months last New Years and still not walking but definitely strong enough to do so. He started walking a week later after we purchased a living room rug. 

7. Family outings: This we have definitely improved on since we are no longer students and Max didn't have to work crazy salesman hours during the summer. Our outings included 3+ trips to the beach, hikes, 3 camping trips, lots of OMSI, Target trips, Tacoma trips, rafting (without Charlie) Washington DC, New York, Gettysburg to name a few.

8. Visit the temple every other month: This was not completely achieved but we made significant improvements since last year thanks to our baby sitting exchanges with Kerri and Corbrett and my mom always willing to babysit.

9. See Les Miserable. We got tickets to see the movie last Christmas so I was pretty excited to go see it. 

10. Paramedic certification: This was not completed. Max still wants to get his national certification. (His previous/current certification is only good in Utah)  

11. Finish house: We have lots of projects still to do in our house so Max was kind of bummed when he saw this goal. On the bright side, we have a functional upstairs bathroom and the yard is much more under control. Also, Max has had to put many more hours into the other houses on the property that were in worse condition than ours. He has had to deal with 2 dramatic eviction proccesses and flipping 2 houses that needed significant repair work. When it comes to fixing our stairs or cupboards or getting good renters in the other houses, the renters come first. Point is, huge wonderful changes and progress have happened on this property and 2014 will be the year for carpeted stairs and functional kitchen cabinets in our home.

 12. At least 3 pages of Rhapsody in Blue: I think I gave this goal up by March. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is the hardest song I've ever attempted to learn and it is 30 pages (15 minutes) long. I set this goal because I didn't have much reason to make myself practice the piano and I hated that I wasn't using my talent. I did learn to play through those 3 pages better but still not fluidly. Since then though, I've started playing for our church choir and giving piano lessons so I know my talent is not going to waste. 

Alright, so I'm sure that is more detail than you wanted to know about our goals and successes of 2013 but I'm glad I wrote it down for my personal memory. It also helps me really see how blessed we have been in this last year. Life is so good. 

Anyway, back to our Ringing in 2014 celebration. 

Max and I decided to play a game because that is not usually something we make time for with just the two of us, and we both enjoy it. We played Would You Rather, I think we made up half of the rules but we had a wonderful time and laughed until our stomachs hurt. It was then just after 11pm so we decided to indulge and make new goals for 2014. 

Sparkling Cider and Chocolate covered strawberries with my Love, it doesn't get any better than that. 

Just so you know, Max and I rarely drink carbonation so sparkling cider was enough to get us tipsy! 

 And here are some more goals for 2014 we'll see what we can get done! 

   

I don't think we wrote this down but I'm pretty sure we should add "more late night in-home dates" because we truly had so much fun. I think we'll especially need them as this new little boy comes to join our family!

Happy New Year to you all...Life just keeps getting better!