Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Every New Year provides an opportunity to start over.

It gives us a chance to change and become a little bit better than last year.

Ben and I were discussing our New Year's resolutions and I was definitely more into this resolution game than he was....but that was to be expected. :)

I found myself being more interested in making a resolution than in previous years. Maybe it's because I have more time to think about it. Maybe I've just had enough. Probably a little bit of both, but either way, I am really excited about my new year's resolution because it is realistic and something I have been working on for a bit already.

Let's check out Ben and Sara's New Year's Resolutions!

I will start with Ben. He is a pretty straight forward guy. When I asked him what his new year's resolution would be, these are the answers he gave me. :D I love him.

Goal #1: To not die

{I can chuckle at this because he's nowhere near that but has felt like

 he wanted to a few times this past year. Don't take this seriously. ;P}

Goal #2: Go Camping more

{Great goal! I like it!}

Goal #3: Build up his Trucks and Jeep

{Hmmm.....this was a surprise.}

Now for Sara. I have really been focusing lately on becoming who I want to be

 so that is my new year's resolution this year.

Resolution: Become who I want to be.

Life itself is intended for progress so I don't expect this to be "checked off" the list at the end of the year but I would like to say that I am a step closer to my goal (if not a lot of steps closer).

Besides, life would suck if you didn't like spending time with yourself!

To be able to become who I want to be,

I figured I should break my resolution down into some achievable goals.

Goal #1: Be Relaxed

I have been working on this for a while and I actually feel I am pretty good (or at least a lot better than I used to be) but I do recognize a few things that could make this even better,

which leads into goal #2.

Goal #2: Get Organized

I eluded to this before in my last post. An organized house nurtures an organized mind. This is definitely true for me. I love to be organized but somehow my inate instincts (or as some of my family call it, "the genius" in me) make me a very disorganized person. My excuse has always been that it's organized chaos. But no more! Goodbye Entropy. Hello finding my shoe!

Goal #3: Make my Home Sweet Home

I still feel like I just moved in. I know I am not the only one who has lived where they are for a few years and still haven't unpacked everything. I just really don't like looking at rooms of boxes and am at the "I've had enough" point. It's time. I want to create an environment that nurtures family and the spirit. I would love to have this done before we grow our little family. I want to create a safe haven and a cozy home. We love our house and it is cozy and warm but I think organizing it and actually setting up the rooms (and putting things up on the walls) would help it tip over into the

 "We live in a cozy home and love it here" phase

rather than the

"We move every 6 months so we don't even bother unpacking" phase.

My mom always created a wonderfully cozy home for us to enjoy

and I want to do the same thing for my family.

Ben and I also decided to have a combined resolution for this year.

Family Goal: Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

I know that we can do a better job at keeping the sabbath day a holy day to give us more time to study and reflect on our being. With all the hubbub and drama of worldly daily living it can be very easy to lose track of our eternal goals and relationships with each other and our Father in Heaven.

I really like the quote, "Be in the world but not of the world," and I know for a fact that taking the time out to study, learn and meditate and make right choices on an hourly basis will help us to easily achieve that goal and will allow our 'body' and 'spirit' to coexist in peace..

One thing that has always helped me is the thought below:

"The longer we follow a path, the easier it becomes."

This is true in all aspects of life, no matter which path you choose.

So follow the path that will allow you to become who you want to be.

Happy New Year.