goodbye & hello.

another year over, another year beginning.

it's strange to me that we're now in 2016. i mean, 2005 doesn't seem like it was that long ago, does it? but it was 11 years ago, and that seems like a long time. time is a weird thing.

i don't have the time or energy to spend on a complete recap month-by-month of the least year (although i wish i had documented it a little more completely, but life, ya know?)

**so we started 2015 still recovering from the heartache of losing our sweet baby a couple months before. it was a long hard few weeks but we were feeling ready to start the new year and not have too many expectations and just see where the year took us.

**in the middle of march, i started a new full time job at LDS and also kept my part time job at primary children's. another time in my life when something just kind of randomly happened that i wasn't necessarily expecting or looking for, but it happened and i just took it as a time to trust the bigger plan for me. it was a hard transition for the rest of the year to say the least.

**on april 1st (of course) we found out we were expecting again. i was equally crazy excited and happy as i was terrified of losing the baby again. we just tried to stay positive and rely on our faith to remember so much of it was out of our hands.

**come june, jae randomly mentioned his curiosity to see what kind of equity we had in our house (we bought our house 4 years prior and completely gutted and remodeled it). i decided to indulge and talked to our neighbor/friend/realtor about an appraisal. within about 3 weeks (and after much deliberation and prayer and back and forth), we had our house listed on the market (not to mention under contract within a week). it was totally out of nowhere and kind of a little crazy. we had no idea we'd be selling our house or where we'd even move to.

**after the first offer falling through, going back on the market, and getting another offer less than a week later, we closed on our house the beginning of september. after a LOT of house hunting during that time (but nothing working out), still not quite sure what we had gotten ourselves into or why or what we were going to do from there, a few things started to fall into place. we moved into my sister's rental house and made plans to buy my grandparents house (they both passed away a few years ago - it's a long story).

**once we moved into my sister's house and finally had a better vision for what the future looked like (sort of), i felt like i could finally put more time into focusing on this new baby that was coming. and coming soon! it seems like i hardly remember or experienced this pregnancy because there was just so much going on. october and most of november came and went, and our lives were changed again on the 27th of november with the addition of little lola.

**we closed on our new house december 4th (lola was one week old). it's been a process working to get the house cleaned up and demo done and remodels started (yes, it's another project house. more on that later). there is still much to be done and we're not sure on an exact timeline for moving in.

**christmas came and went and was as magical as i imagined with a brand new heaven sent newborn to snuggle.

i'm not great at resolutions or tackling lofty goals. so i've learned i do best when i make a list of a few simple goals for the year for myself personally and for our family. i was able to check everything off my list for 2015.

here's what i wrote down for 2016:

.remodel & move into new house 

.temple once a month (either by myself or with jae)

.go on a family vacation

.family prayer at least 3 times a week 

.be healthy

.meal plan/make dinner at least 3-4 times a week 

.be present

here's to a happy, healthy (less eventful) new year.

a new year, a new outlook, & some changes.

 

 

here we are, 2015. 

after my first full year of being a momma (and a wife and working full-time...), i've decided there are few things in life that are really necessary. there are few people that are truly worth my time and energy. there are (very) few social media sites that need checking, few 'extras' at the store that need to be bought, and a few too much that we try to pack in our days just because it seems like we should be able to check off 173 from our to-do lists in a 24 hour period.

that is why, for this coming year, i want to really strip everything down to the basics and keep one thing always in the back of my mind:

simplify & focus.

this has been something that has been irking me for a few months now, and i've already started to kind of simplify things in the last few weeks. but it's not enough. 

we have enough going on with both jae and i working full time and little 1 year old gracie girl and our fur baby zo. we need to just focus on us and the things that are necessary for growth and love in our little family and let the other stuff go.

 

a few specific goals in mind:

-less time on social media 

honestly, i've already started this one. the only things online that i check at least semi-regularly are facebook and blogs (no, i don't have insta or pinterest or anything else, and i don't have them for a reason! this reason!). i deleted my fb app from my phone a few months ago and can i just tell you, it has been such a good thing for me. instead of being able to so easily scroll through my news feed any time of the day i want, i have to go to my internet and log in that way if i want to see it. and as silly as it might sound, it's a lot more work and takes more time and i honestly don't do it very often! a couple of times a week is all, usually. it feels awesome. as for blogs, i've narrowed down my 'must-read' blog list a lot, and only check the ones i truly care to read. ones i get something out of, or ones of people i know personally. and guess what? i don't miss any of it one bit!

-finances

 this is one i need to work on, and i need to work on it a lot. i have always been great at handling expenses and paying bills. the part i'm terrible at is saving and spending 'excess' money wisely (or not spending it at all..?). since building our new garage this past year, we have left ourselves without much wiggle room. but the garage is something i finally came to terms with as a need for us if we want to be able to stay in our home long-term, so we did it. and it is/will be a wonderful thing for years to come. with that said, we've got to learn to buckle down on spending and enjoy a more frugal season of life.

-family/friend social events

 not that we're exactly social butterflies these days, but sometimes trying to please people or work around others schedules becomes too much. and sometimes you just need to say no. i love spending time with our families and our friends, but i need to make sure to recognize when too much is too much. sometimes things needs to be skipped. and that's ok. i need to do what's best for myself and my family.

-homemaking

i'll be the first to admit, i'm not a great homemaker. it's still something i'm working on and an area i'm  constantly learning and growing in. in the way of simplifying life, i want to purge all the excess stuff in my house! i tend to hang on to stuff or just not find a permanent home for things or get something because i'm sure i'll find a good place for it in our house. i want to get rid of the stuff!!! i have also sort of started this one already - many trips to the DI over the last few months, as well as selling a few things online or in jae's mom's yard sale. this new garage will help a ton with storage (since we currently have nothing but a couple of small closets in our house now), so we can get the stuff that needs to stay out in the garage in proper storage and get the rest out of the house, whether that's to a new home or to the dump. i just want a simple, clean, happy home. it feels freeing already :)

-being healthy
i've never been consistently healthy. i am one of those roller coaster people that does good for a certain amount of time and then just stops out of nowhere and doesn't make much effort for another x amount of time. i've never been terribly out of shape or unhealthy, but at this point in my life (post marriage, post baby), i feel like i am at one of the unhealthiest points i've ever been in my life. and i know making lofty goals of exercising daily and not eating any chocolate chip cookies ever again just isn't at all realistic. so I'm not going to. instead, as part of my i want to be healthier but also trying to simplify things and make life easier, i have put together a little work out schedule for myself. a couple things i've discovered from past experiences that i work/don't work for me and working out - i need to go to a gym and i need to try taking classes. this encourages me both to go (paying for a membership) and actually get a good workout in during that precious sixty minutes I'm there. so, here it is: Tuesday morning is yoga, Thursday morning is cardio, and Friday morning is cycling. that's it. three days a week. all early morning (hello 5am!) so I'm gone while gracie is still snoozing but back before jae leaves for work. i am not going to cut out chocolate or the occasional dp from my life, but i am going to try to eat less of those things and more salads and whole wheat bread. and that's that. it's easy and consistent and something doable.

 

i feel like if i can put my efforts into simplifying my life in general, it will help me focus on what's really important and deserving of my time. as crazy or stressful as things can get sometimes, i love my little life and little family and wouldn't trade it for anything. i'm excited for the new year and really working hard to make it the best it can be!