I've been MIA, but Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Except for the Christmas tree, decorations have all come down and been put away in boxes in the basement. I just can't bring myself to take the tree down yet. Maybe this week. I am known for leaving it up until February. We have a fake one in these poor student days to save money, so I can do this no problem and I love it!

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever and it's pretty much true! I miss it, but I just haven't had much time to do it, so I felt like writing just a quick note so I feel more on top of my life!

I have made some new years resolutions and I haven't written them down yet. It's always easier to follow things when you write them down so here goes:

1. make more family dinners, I am a terrible cook! I need a bunch of easy go-tos that I can just whip up any day!

2. sew more clothes for M. I always said before I had her that I would sew a lot for her, and yet I find my evenings being wasted away watching movies and tv shows instead of accomplishing that, and I think I could save us a lot of money of I put a little more effort into it!

3. save money from my new job, my goal is to save half of what I earn each month, it shouldn't be hard, since before I didn't have any of the money at all!

4. read my scriptures more. To be honest, my goal is to read once a week, one good study time each week, where I really read hard. I know this isn't very much but sometimes right now I'll go several weeks without reading, honest. So I think it's a good goal.

5. brush M's teeth daily. I am TERRible at this! I can never seem to remember, I need to work it into her nightly routine for sure so it gets done every day!

6. go on more dates with my husband. this one we'll need help with, but one thing I think we want to do more is swap kids with other couples for date nights, at least 1-2 a month.

7. eat healthier - now for this one I need a specific goal, something to shoot for each day or week, but I haven't decided what it is. We are low on funds so I have to be extremely creative with grocery shopping. I will update this one when I figure it out... any suggestions for how to make yourself healthier while staying on the tightest budget in the world? pretty much any ideas would be an improvement, but I know I have to have a specific goal, because when I just say "i want to be healthier" it never happens, one pan of brownies later... :)

8. clean more regularly. when we first moved into this house I had a specific weekly schedule for what got cleaned on what days and it worked really well, so I am going to start that up again.

9. give more energy to my callings at church. I am relief society enrichment leader, which I do okay at, but Jordan and I are also webelos leaders and we just got our first two boys and we have NO idea what we're doing, so I want to really try hard to get those boys involved and help them love the scouting program, fingers crossed!

10. have more joy in my life, be more patient, radiate happiness, and just all around remind myself to love life more.

okay, so for now that's it... If I think of more I'll add them on the blog so I have some accountability, I love how writing things down makes them so much easier to stick to.

So joy to all of you in this new year... if you didn't get a Christmas/New Year card from us that's because we didn't make any or send any out this year. With my new job and just getting ready for the holidays I guess I just never got myself together... Next year for sure!

Happy Holidays and Joy and Love for you all year long!!