2019 - In Review

Highlights:

• So much running! I ran two 10Ks and two half marathons. I ran about 300 miles. (I didn't keep track of my non-GPS runs, and I deleted some of my wacky GPS runs where my app gave me more mileage than was accurate, so I'm not exactly sure on the total.) I am in better shape than I've ever been in my life.
• Felicia's talking really took off in the last two months.
• Trixie started preschool and loves it.
• Ike and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos (but didn't quite summit due to wind).
• Ike is learning that working hard to accomplish something difficult feels awesome, even if the process itself can be really disheartening sometimes. (Thanks, piano!)
• Ike and I went to the BYU vs USC game, which BYU won in overtime. It was Ike's first BYU football game, and my first time back since 2007.
• Felix's reading has really improved, and he is starting to enjoy reading on his own a bit more.
• I went to my stake's Young Women's camp, and it was awesome.
• Eric's student loan forgiveness came through, after initially being denied. (It was a huge relief.)
• Doing "Come Follow Me," our church's scripture-study program, through the year was fairly consistent and gave us lots of opportunities to talk about spiritual things with our children.
• We had several opportunities to help build our children's faith this year. It started when Eric's loan forgiveness was denied (despite him having taught at a low income school for five years). As we discussed what to do about it, both of us felt prompted to be open with our children about the situation and ask them to pray for their dad's loan to be forgiven. (Trixie once prayed instead "for dad to be alone.") When the loan forgiveness came through, our children could see it as a direct correlation to their prayers. We also had a lot of family prayers for Eric's shoulder to heal so he wouldn't need surgery. (It did; he didn't.) And for Felicia to learn to talk. (She did!)
• I'm like a decade late to the trend, but I started drinking green smoothies, and it's so much better than skipping breakfast or eating whatever desserts we have lying around. (Who knew?)
• I did some things to wrangle my mental health, and I am doing so much better!
• We took lots of friends canoeing on the Jordan River (even more than last year).
• We have a group of friends for fairly regular date night outings.
• New flooring in my entire main floor! Before that we also painted the living room white, bought new curtains for the living room and dining room, and bought a new sectional! The old couches went to the basement, and the TV is down there too. Re-doing the living room was a big deal this year!

Places in 2019:

• Three trips to Jackson Hole - Once for the Fourth of July (my brother had taken my boys to spend a few days with their family, so we had to go pick them up); once for a missionary farewell, and once for a missionary homecoming.
• Moab for a canoeing thing with lots of friends.
• Capitol Reef National Park - Possibly my new favorite.
• Bear Lake, with friends - We started this trip on our own but then found out a bunch of friends would be there at the same time. It was a great little trip.
• Ginormous family reunion in Heber - Eric's grandma's last time to host one with all of her six children, her 26 grandchildren, and 54 (or 52?) great grandchildren. (I could name them all for you, and figure out the exact count, but I've got other stuff to do right now.)
• Great Basin National Park

Birthdays/Traditions:

Nothing new to report here. Birthday ice cream at Cold Stone on the Monday after a birthday. We did two shepherds' meals this year, one with friends, and one with family. Fondue on the last day of school. One new tradition is Hawaiian haystacks for dinner on the first day of school.

2019 Goals (copy and pasted from last year's post, with the results bolded):

• Redecorate my living room. DONE!
• Run a 10K? DONE!
• Read more books on paper and Kindle. Not really.
• Read more books with my kids, especially chapter books with the boys. Probably comparable to the year before. We did read scriptures more, though.
• Maybe get around to finishing up those 2018 goals. (And with commitment like that, clearly I'm on the right track.) Well, we all saw where that was going, didn't we?

2020 Goals:

I'm still working on these. Right now I've got:

• Run a sub-30 5K. I don't know exactly how fast I can run a 5K right now, but the last time I tried (end of November) I ran it in just under 33 minutes. I'm pretty sure I can shave off those three minutes.
• Log 400 miles of running (outdoors and treadmill). (I have a new Garmin, so it is easier to log my treadmill activities to the same location as my GPS activities.)
• Catch up on all the books I have downloaded to my Kindle. There are so many.
• Read the Book of Mormon as a family. We can do it!
• Start a social media hashtag called #forrealfriday where people take pictures and post about real-life stuff, not just the beautiful stuff. Be on the lookout.
• Crochet 20 beanies for a service project run by a family in our ward.
• Crochet 15 new snowflakes for my Christmas tree.

I'm excited about this new year, and the new decade.