Resolutions-End of the Year Update

Here it is, the end of 2014.  How did that happen?  It went by so quickly.  I decided to recap and see how the year went as far as my resolutions go.

 1.  I want to run 1,000 miles this year.  I was about 50 short this year.  I think if I add a mile a week that should be close to hitting the 1,000 mile mark.  I want to keep doing races, but the races won't be part of my resolution.




I was able to meet my goal of 1,000 miles.  Partly it helped that I decided to run a marathon, and the training for that gave me the miles. 

 2.  I want to read at least 10 books this year.  I get stuck reading magazines or the newspaper, and I don't read that many books.  I want to change that and do more book reading this year.


I didn't read 10 books, I think I read about 5.  Again, I just get caught up reading my magazines.  I will probably continue to work on that, as I do enjoy a good book when I can find one.

 3.  Continue giving away at least one bag of things a month.  I fell behind last year, and since we will be moving in a year (or two), I'd like to get rid of more stuff!


We have given away a lot of stuff, it usually happens in clumps and not necessarily a bag a month.  We did end up moving, so that has prompted us to give away things.  Since we haven't unpacked completely, I will continue to go through boxes and probably give away more things.  And even after all of that, I will continue to evaluate our things and say, if we don't need it, let's give it away!

 4.  Continue spending time with Jeff on a regular basis.  Last year it was trying to get away at least every other month without the kids.  I'd like to continue that.



We did pretty well for this during the first half of 2014.  But due to things outside of our control, Jeff and I have had to put our time away together on hold.  We've had some family things come up, which has made it hard for us to get away.  And with the buying of a new house, we needed to save our money.  But hopefully this next year we can make this happen again.

5.  More blogs!  I want to keep writing.


I did write more blogs.  I hope to continue more writing in 2015.  Especially since I'm off Facebook, I use this as a way to keep people informed as to what we are doing.

 6.  Go off Facebook.  I will be deleting my account on January 1.

I successfully went off Facebook and really never thought about it again.   I didn't miss it as much as I thought I would.  I've tried to reach out to people more in an individual way.  At this time I have no plans to go back onto Facebook.

I hope you all have had a wonderful 2014, and I wish you the very best in the New Year!

Zoo Lights

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to go to the Oregon Zoo where they decorate the entire zoo with thousands of lights in the shapes of animals and fun decorations.  They also have a train, which wasn't running last year because of the new elephant exhibit they are building, but this year the train was up and running, so we had to go ride the new train.  We thought we would be clever and go on a Monday night, when we thought they wouldn't be that busy, but we were wrong!  The lines were quite long, but we stuck it out anyway and rode the train.  The train ride itself was lots of fun and the lights were beautiful.  Here's a look back.

The boys

The boys find a furry friend

Trying the hula-hoops

On the train

Elephant Lights

Bird Lights

Play Time

Daniel's class was in charge of chapel a couple of weeks ago.  They did a cute play/reading about the Christmas story.  The children enacted the play as the narrators read the story.  Daniel was one of the narrators.  He did a really great job, and I was so proud of him.  Simon's class was also part of the performance.  They acted the part of the angels and came up on stage for their one line.  It was cute.

Simon, getting ready

The Cast

Daniel, with friends Abiola and Siddanth

Daniel with friend Grant

Daniel with friend Cody

Daniel with friend Jakob

Holiday Train Ride

This year we added another adventure to our holiday season, a train ride.  It was about a 40 minute ride, going one direction, then back the other direction, then back again.  We rode on old passenger cars from the early 1900's and were pulled by an old steam engine.  It was so exciting for the kids.  And then, when they thought it couldn't get any better, Santa and some of his elves walked through the cars, saying hello, taking pictures and handing out candy canes.  The boys were overjoyed, as evidenced by the huge smiles on their faces.  I hope you are enjoying the holidays too, I know our family is!

A Photo with Santa

Simon & Jeff

Jeff & I

Christmas Tree

The boys and I with our tree

What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been.  I haven't been able to sit down much since moving, but I can say we are in the house and enjoying our new home so much!  I have lots of things to say, but for now I will talk about getting our Christmas tree this year. 

For the past few years we go out to a farm north of here.  We select and cut down our own tree.  Then we enjoy a little hot chocolate around the fire.  We try to get out early before the crowds hit.  Then we come home and decorate.  We had to unpack our decorations and locate them.  And we've slowly been putting up things around the house and outside too.

We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.  Take a moment to breath, and take it all in.  Enjoy!

Daniel helps push while Daddy cuts

Some hot chocolate for Sam

Simon working on the selection process