The First Annual New Year's Writing Retreat

Hello! I'm just finishing up the First Annual New Year's Writing Retreat, attendance of 1. As it so happens, we needed a one-night stay at a Holiday Inn Express in order to earn enough points for three nights worth of stays, and I bravely volunteered for the job.

As part of the retreat experience, I went to Barnes and Noble and found a book I've been wanting, (fighting through hordes of people who got gift cards for Christmas and wanted to use them) wandered around a few stores I've been wanting to check out and almost bought this:

Superior Owl: He thinks he's better than everyone else.

Ate not one, but two hamburgers at In-n-Out, read the book I bought, watched some HGTV while reading my book, used not one, but two towels after showering, and ate a nice breakfast I didn't have to fix.

Austin sent me this cute picture:

And I almost went home because I wanted to see my cute kids and it was too quiet in a hotel room by myself. I thought I might get made fun of though, as I frequently whine about needing a break.

The best part of my whole experience was lining up my writing project for the year, which I shall reveal to you shortly. My New Year's goal this year is to write at least one hour a day, so I'll let you know how that goes too. (Research shows that you're more likely to keep resolutions if you share them with others)!

Was my retreat a success? Yes! Admittedly, there was more "retreat"ing than writing, but I don't really see that as a negative. I got a clear handle on my goals for the upcoming year and I'm excited to see how it progresses. Here's to 2016!

The Disappearing Year

In 2014, we started off our year by finishing up the renovation projects we had let sit over the winter. Then we travelled a bit, then fixed up our cute old house some more, then decided to fix up a gutted 70s house, then sell our old house, then we went on more trips and kept working on houses until....hey! It's 2015 already! I'm supposed to be having a baby in 46 days! Where did the last year go?

On the bright side, I spent a large portion of 2014 thinking I was 28 years old, when in fact I'm only 27, so it's kind of like I get a do-over.

We just got back from 3 weeks of Christmas travelling last week, and this week we're getting our house appraised, so my mind has definitely been on unpacking and getting sorted. You know those puzzles where you have to slide pieces around to finally make the right picture? I'm not sure I've ever successfully completed one, but that's what unpacking feels like. I keep moving things around until it all ends up in the right area.

Starting with Austin and I's week vacation to Hawaii over Christmas break, I've also tried to start concentrating on Baby #4 coming. I'm planning on doing home water birth again, and I really feel like planning for a natural birth is like planning for a marathon--you want to train hard and peak physically, emotionally, and mentally at the same time as you are supposed to run the marathon. With the added aspect of bringing a human soul into the world, I would add being spiritually prepared as an important component to being ready for natural birth.

So how am I doing? Embarrassingly bad. With all our moving and travels and three small kids I've had fun but also been treading water most of the year, trying to meet my family and I's basic needs and keep it together. Keep it together! Keep it together! Time to train. Having Charlotte was a wonderful experience, but wonderful experiences usually take effort and work. I think it would be unrealistic to expect another great birth without working to prepare physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Here's to 2015. May it be a wonderful year to prepare for your dreams coming true.

Lofty Goals

I started out my new year by calling our dentist's office and demanding to know why the email I got from them said my appointment was on the 13th. The receptionist calmly explained that the 13th was a Sunday, at which point I realized I was looking at the year part of the date. I could tell she thought I was a total idiot, but I take solace in the knowledge that she said her name was Eunice (I think).  And on that note, Kellie, here's my Bucket List.

Carve something

Okay, I don't really want to carve something. I just want to buy a fertility goddess. No, I haven't gone over the crunchy natural-world cliff, I just love the way a pregnant woman's body looks--it is the embodiment of true womanly sexuality. I equally hate how uncomfortable and dowdy many pregnancy clothes are. If it were 76 degrees warmer here and it were socially acceptable to wander about without clothes on, I would be all for that. But since neither of those things are happening, I want a naked statue. I guess I just want to remind myself I am beautiful. ??? To be honest, I'm not really sure where this is coming from, I just know what I want. Unfortuantely, the best one I found on Etsy costs 500 dollars, and isn't even that amazing. Plus, I'm not sure where I would put it in my house. I may have to carve my own statue with one of the 15 pocket knives Austin owns, never uses, but refuses to let me throw away.

Throw away Austin's pocket knives

Just kidding, hon.

Become a gospel scholar

I will read one church-y book a week. That's 52 books. My Utah library has a bunch, so this shouldn't cost me a lot of money. I will blog if I come across anything worthwhile. (This week I'm reading N. Eldon Tanner's biography. I like biographies and people who initialize their first names, so I think it was a good pick.) I'm not very focused with what I want to read, I just want my religion to become a bigger part of my life on a daily basis. I am open to reading suggestions.

Keep track of my spending

This sounds boring, but I'm actually pretty excited about it. When I don't keep track of my spending, I feel guilty when I buy things, because the money's for the whole family and I'm not sure if we really can afford what I'm buying. With my new keeping track goal I am accountable to myself and can save up for the things I really want. So far I've bought a pregnancy yoga DVD and some maternity tops, and I don't feel guilty about spending the money, because I know what percentage of my total household money for the month my things cost.

Have a baby

And get that baby to sleep through the night much, much sooner than Cici.

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And there you have it. I now have physical, mental, creative, and spiritual goals for the year.

Epic New Year

Sammy at Cici's current age (14 mo.)

The year 2012 didn't begin in a very epic way. The non-epic-ness of our New Year celebration, which basically involved going to sleep, was topped only by the non-epic-ness of my parents' celebration, which involved reading a Nancy Drew book together. To be fair, Austin and I have been dealing with a rash of sleepless nights (Thanks kids!) which is why we turned in early. Good thing, too, because we were woken up by Cici around 1:30 on New Year's Day. At least she wasn't up at midnight--supposedly whatever you're doing at midnight is what you'll be doing the rest of the year, and I can't handle another sleepless year.

On a more positive note, my goal for this year is to do something for my mind, body, and spirit every day. Something fun I've been doing for my mind is memorizing the countries of the world. (Hopefully I'm not the only nerd out there who thinks this is fun.) I found this free website for country quizzes and a pronunciation guide for countries like Kyrgyzstan. For my body, Austin and I have jumped on the P90X train and are shredding our way to fitness !!! while stuffing our bodies with more vegetables and protein than we've eaten in the past year combined. On the spiritual side, I want to have meaningful personal prayer, scripture study, and one act of service each day.

I'm excited for this year. I'm excited for my plan: mind, body, spirit, because it can be as simple or as complicated as I'm feeling up to for the day. This year may not have started out in a grandiose way, but I have a feeling it's going to be an epic 12 months. I'll keep you posted!