A year in review

First- Happy New Year to my brother and sister-in-law in Australia since it is already 2010 for them

Second- Happy birthday to Sharon. I can't believe which birthday it is for her because in my mind she will always be part of "the little girls", even though she is not that much younger than I am. Still, realizing what number this is for her took me by surprise. In my mind she is closer to 25 than the actual number she is today.

Third- I am going to go over my list from last year and see what I accomplished, or not.

Here is the list from Dec. 31, 2008 and today's comments in red.

Things to do in 2009

• Send Donovan and Trevor overseas for a year long "desert vacation" Hey, they get great looking clothes and lots of accessories and Trevor gets to drive a cool vehicle. Sounds fun, huh? done and over YAY! and they came home early
• Complete 8 more classes for my masters degree. Done. 16 months to graduation. Oct-May of next year will be internship so the class load will be reduced. But I do have a major decision to make regarding my internship. More later.
• Greet my new granddaughter Done and she is beautiful and smart and cute and I am totally in love
• Finish my granddaughter's quilts and booties before she gets here done
• Shop for my grandkidsEverywhere I go
• Spoil my grandkids Working on this one
• Have a Grandma day at least once a month didn't go as planned. Jordan and I did this for a while in the summer, but school seems to be getting in my way. I will have to move this one to the new list
• Find my desk in my office and not lose it again A work in progress. I do have a floor and desk and I rearranged all of the business stuff when I closed UB. I still have filing cabinets and the kids' desk to work on, but it is better than it was.
• Read David G. Woolley's new book and if I'm lucky it'll be autographed Will move this one to a new list. David has things going on and the book didn't come out yet. But when it does I will be first in line to get it
• Build my Urban Botanic business even more Well, not quite what I had in mind, but I was doing well until the company closed, thus turning this into a hobby instead of a business for me. And that is ok. In fact it turned out to be a blessing for me as it took some of the pressure and stress I was feeling off of me. However, I am still looking for a way to replace the income it generated for me.
• Join ward choir (this is the scariest one of all, but I promised Kathryn). I joined, I sang, things happened and I had to quit. I am still going to go when I can.
• Read the Book of Mormon through again Done plus the New Testament as well
• Study the Sunday School lesson before going to church even when I am not teaching I did great those 3 months I taught the 15/16 year olds
• Learn to be more healthy (it would be nice if I could get rid of most of these meds- especially the one that makes me itch) Down to 2 daily meds and 1 weekly injection and the rest are now 'as needed' which is not very often or seasonal allergy meds. I have also learned more about foods, additives, healthy ways of eating, new recipies, substitutions and how to listen to my body and I feel so much better (most of the time)
• Decorate excessively for Christmas even though I say I won't I actually didn't do this. My decorations were sparse this year because I had no energy after the surgery
• Try and go to New Mexico for Christmas Done and so happy we did. We had a blast while we were there and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The only downer was the long drive there and home. Too bad we don't have a transporter device.
• Attend weddings for my nephew and niece Showed up at nephew's reception- turned around and headed home to greet Jordan because she was in such a hurry to get here and see her daddy before he shipped out. Missed niece's wedding because we went on vacation to San Diego instead.
• Build this for my "laundry room" Done and wondering why I didn't do it sooner
• Find curtains for the basement, even if I have to make them Found them, now I just need to hang them
• Finish the fairy garden with Brandi (shop for most of it at Linden Nursery. I love this place. Remind me to tell you why) Another work in progress. It looked good at the beginning of summer, but I saw some things we need to change and do different.
• Go the Matthew's high school graduation Honor student
• Send Matthew to college Done
• Learn to change the oil in my car- all the boys are leaving and I don't want to start paying for it Totally forgot this one was on the list.
• Family Party Did we have one?
• Visit with Dustin and Cindy Done- it was good to see them
• Take pictures with my family of origin Still on the list. We were never all together in one place
• Welcome Donovan and Trevor home- I'll have to go to California for this, but maybe I can squeeze a trip to Disneyland or San Diego in at the same time Welcomed them home, but in Salt Lake. I am so glad to have them home. Now if Trevor could just find a job...

There are things I want to put on that list, but I am afraid that if I do the Lord will take me seriously and give the opportunity to do/learn, so instead I'll put them on my maybe list

• learn to be happy (well, this one has been mentioned in the last 3 blessings I have recieved so it is probably already on the other list)
• learn to be less critical and more accepting of others
• be more positive
• Learn to rely on the Lord more- really scary because that means letting go of trying to control everything myself and last time I said this it was not fun and took me a long time
• Learn to tear down the wall that is around my heart because the problem with walls is that they don't let others in and it gets lonely

Those things better stay on the new list because I still need a lot of work on them. You know how sometimes your plan and the Lord's plan doesn't match up? That seems to be my life lately. I want it to be like a wish machine- I draw up the plan, tell the Lord and He makes it happen. Ya, doesn't work like that so I better leave these things on my list until I can make my plan match His.

Things not on the list that I accomplished

• Lost 20 lbs
• Had a story published
• Family vacation to San Diego
• Started a jewelry business (hobby?)
• Got 100% in one of my classes
• Learned about soccer and found I enjoy it

"The grand and the simple. They are equally wonderful. We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are.” ~Marjorie Pay Hinckley~

And there it is- my year in review.

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Indeed.