Bucket List

It's time to make my 2016 Bucket List public knowledge so I can get to working on it and living life to the fullest.  

So, here goes nothing -- In 2016, I'm hoping to...

1. Make DVDs of all our videos (this is staying on here until I finish it!)

2. Overhaul the craft closet (again...it will be listed every year until I do it!)

3. Take a weekend road trip to somewhere new (since we didn't last year)

4. Make a recipe binder (already started on this!)

5. Read 12 books (or listen to...same difference!)

6. Sew something 

7. Go one full week without Facebook

8. Make a homemade pie

9. Get a massage

10. Start a gratitude journal (again) and stick with it

11. Try 6 new restaurants with the family

12. Send a care package to someone each month

Where does time go? Goal Time!

How in the world can it possibly be the start of a new year already?  I have so much to catch up on, but first, I want to reflect on the goals I made for last year and make new ones for 2016.  That's the way we grow, right?  By making goals, working on them, and charting our progress.  So, let's reflect shall we?

I had four main goals for 2015, and looking at them now, realize I had mixed results.  I wanted to get back to blogging, and for the first half or so of the year I felt like I was doing well!  But, looking at it now, I realized I had fewer posts than even in 2015, so I obviously failed.  And that makes me sad.  I hate that I'm not documenting the specials we spend as a family, and hate that I'm not even using my camera much at all anymore.  My iPhone has taken over.  So...looks like blogging will be a goal yet again in 2016.  

The other three goals I made - to be better at budgeting/saving, to cook more with the kids, and to continue to be a healthy role model and gentler parent - were successful.  I spent a lot of time compiling price comparisons so I could make sure I was getting our groceries for the best prices, started using the Ibotta app to help me save even more on our groceries, and did really good with our weekly budgeting sheets until October.  I'll have to try to make it through the holidays this time!  

While Gavin doesn't cook with me often, I have started having him help out in the kitchen more at meal times so he's involved.  He'll get silverware out, or drinks for everyone, for example.  Where I excelled with this goal would be with Riley.  After just a few times in the kitchen with me, she caught the bug and helps prepare meals probably four days out of the week.  For Christmas, she asked for an Easy Bake Oven and 'cooking stuff' and Santa brought her a bin pull of her own, kid-sized cooking tools, like whisks, tongs, spatulas, and adorable measuring spoons and cups in the shape of hearts and butterflies.  She is learning so much and I cherish those moments in the kitchen with her.  

I am proud of the fact that, while not perfect, Jarrod and I continue to model healthy lifestyles for the kids with our fitness and nutrition.  They love to exercise with us, and that makes me happy.  Of course, they're kids, and so they don't always eat healthy and I wish they loved vegetables more, but I think it's a win that they both love to have salad with dinner.  Baby steps...we'll get there.

So, how did I do on my bucket list...

1. Make a DVD of my Flip/iPhone videos - second year in a row that this did not happen, but we're getting closer.  I at least know now that Walmart will transfer all my little tapes from our old video camera to a DVD...I just need to organize them and do it.

2. Overhaul craft closet - Um, yeah...again, a repeat task that didn't get done.  I've decided that this one won't get accomplished until Riley's in school full time and I can be in the toy room all day by myself most likely.

3. Complete a half marathon - CHECK!  While my goal was to finish in until 2:30 and without walking, I finished in 2:34 and did have to walk because my knee gave out in the downhill portion around mile 11, but I crossed that finish line and felt great about it!

4. Take a weekend road trip to a new place - Another fail.  Boo!

5. Print another blog book - CHECK!  Done.

6. Grow Team AIM to at least 15 coaches - Nope.  Instead, I determined that while I loved coaching, Beachbody wasn't the right fit for me.  

7. Make an effort to have two dates with Jarrod (outside the home!) - CHECK!  I think we did more than two actually...maybe three.  Haha!

8. Back up all my photos and create a system for organizing them - CHECK!  All my photos are now backed up and organized on Dropbox.  It was a huge task, but I am glad it's done.  

9. Read 10 books (and actually keep track!) - CHECK!  I did read 10 books last year.  In fact, I read 13 (that I kept track of...maybe more).  I joined GoodReads this year so I can be sure to keep track. 

10. Donate my hair to Locks of Love - CHECK!  Cut 9 inches off in September and donated it to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths.

11. Make a recipe binder/notebook - Nope...not yet.  

12. Put cash into my savings envelopes every week, no matter how small - CHECK!  Having cash for vacation and Christmas shopping was quite helpful.

Now...on to 2016!

My big goals for 2016...

1. Keeping blogging on the list.  This one is important to me, and I'm sad I didn't do better last year.  

2. Less Facebook and more 'face time.'  I've realized lately that as the kids get older and we're not in playgroups and Mom's Club anymore, I'm spending less time with MY friends and I want to make an effort to have more time with other moms.  Also, more FaceTime with family and friends that are far away.  

3. Purge and organize.  We're hoping that a move will be in our future in either 2016 or early 2017 as we're finally able to buy another home, and I would love to have less to pack.  Getting rid of unnecessary things and feeling more organized would make me happy.

4. Be BETTER.  That's pretty generic...but when I think about what I want, it really sums it up.  Overall, I don't feel like I have a lot to change, but I know I can always improve.  Be a better mom, a better wife, a better friend, a better AUNT (first time I can say that!), a better sister and daughter.  Be better at communicating. Be better with Phoebe.  Be better about using my time wisely.  Just be a better version of Jen.  

I'm still working on my bucket list.  I'll add it here soon so I can hold myself accountable.  2016 can be amazing...make sure you take advantage of it and live every day to the fullest.

Spring Break Visit and RACE DAY!

Happy April 1!  I can't believe the year is already 25% of the way over.  It kind of sucks to think of it like that, doesn't it?  Time to get cracking on those goals!  I really want to focus on my photos and videos over the next couple of months, making sure everything is backed up and work on making a DVD of the videos.  I long for the day that I can sit on the couch and watch old family movies like we used to do when we were growing up - you know, when you had to connect that big video camera to the tv or pop that tiny tape into the adapter and put it in the VCR?  Oh, the good old days.

Last week was spring break for both kids and we were so excited to get a visit from my mom and dad for a few days.  I was so thrilled when my mom called to offer to come down during our race weekend to help out with the kids.  I mean, seriously....when we've never hired a babysitter ever, how exactly would we find someone that we trusted enough to be at our house at 5:45am on a Saturday?  It was a great excuse for my parents to visit and I was so relieved.

After some spring break haircuts, the kids and I parked it on the porch to enjoy the beautiful weather and wait for their arrival.

And to say everyone was excited when they finally arrived is an understatement.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't going to be that great while they were here so we took advantage of the few hours of nice weather and played outside.  Dad fixed an old kids' fishing pole that was in our garage and they practiced casting it from the porch, and Riley had to show off her bike skills.  It was so nice...relaxing and just fun!

 We came in as the rain moved closer and I was inside prepping dinner when a tornado warning started.  I knew we were expecting storms, but there hadn't been talk of tornadoes so it kind of caught me off guard.  We spent a few hours watching the radar and trying to keep updated on the path of the storms, but luckily we didn't have to get in our safe place at all.  

Thursday morning I woke up and did a quick two mile run, we stopped off to visit Amy and let my parents see the younger girls, and then we headed out to a chiropractor visit for me before having a pretend birthday celebration for Gavin.  We did lunch at Chickfila and then took the grandparents to Fast Lanes, where Gavin will be having his party later this month.  The kids had a great time playing games and trying to earn tickets for those oh so popular arcade prizes.  Last stop was a visit to Target where Gavin was allowed to pick out his own gift - and he chose Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.  It was so cute to watch him play with Beepa!  He can't play without jumping around and moving with the controller.

Friday, Jarrod took the day off and we treated our guests to dinner in the smoker.  Once we got the pork all set, we headed off for a lunch date.  Check one of our two dates off my 2015 Bucket List!  We did a little shopping, went for pizza at Peddler's Pub, and then stopped and picked up our race information. 

Friday was our usual family night - dinner and Family Movie Night!  It was Riley's pick, so Mom and Dad got to watch Tangled for the first time.  We headed to bed somewhat early in preparation for our early morning.

Unfortunately, we knew the weather was going to be a bit chilly for everyone to come out and cheer us on for the race with Riley's allergies being so bad (she gets a horrible cough), but we hadn't ruled anything out for sure.  Then we woke up at 5am and saw the forecast had changed to include RAIN!  Really?!?!  So, Jarrod and I ate our bagel and banana, did some stretching and headed out after leaving my parents a note telling them it was probably best to just skip coming out at all.

The race started at 7 and I surprisingly wasn't as nervous as I was expecting to be.  And, I was doing really well!  My goal was to stay under a 11:30 pace, and I was actually staying under 10:45 for the first 9.5 miles.  Perhaps it was that faster speed that did me in, but when we got to the downhill segment, it felt like my right knee started to buckle under me.  And it hurt.  A lot.  I ended up spending the next two miles switching from a very slow jog to walking, trying some stretches along the way.  I was feeling so defeated.  I had worked so hard and I was so frustrated that I wasn't going to be able to finish without stopping, which was one of my goals.  Once I got to the flat path trail, I was able to start my run again at a somewhat decent pace and even made it up the dreaded hill at mile 12 without needing to stop and finished about 5 minutes past my goal of 2.5 hours.  Again, somewhat disappointing, but it could've been a lot worse!   I, of course, wish my parents and the kids could've been there when I crossed the finish line, but at least we got a picture when we arrived back home!  {And the screenshots are of us approaching the finish line taken by the race photographer.}  Jarrod finished in 1:58, and my time was 2:34.

 

 

 

Thanks, Mimi and Beepa, for holding down the fort for us so I could cross this off my Bucket List, too!  We love you.

 After showering and warming up, we all headed out to enjoy the day, which turned out to be beautiful after about 10:00.  We did lunch in downtown Rogers, did some shopping to finish up our bedroom makeover, and then headed back home to play outside.  

Our evening capped off with a birthday cake for Gavin's pretend birthday, board games with Mimi and Beepa, and lots of last minute hugs.

Because of all the outside time, Riley struggled with her allergies that night and couldn't seem to stop coughing.  Around 9 I ended up bringing her out on the couch to sit up with me while we just watched some tv and the grandparents got to witness her cough so hard that she puked all over me!  That was fun.  I'm sure Mimi loved helping us clean up puke, and Beepa was lucky enough to have to sleep on the part of the couch where a little vomit landed.  Oops.   Talk about a long night...I'm exhausted and so sore from the race and I ended up with a coughing three year old sleeping on top of me all night.  Truly, you can't make this stuff up!

My parents headed out bright and early while the kids were still asleep, and we ended our spring break with a lazy day of napping and staying in our pajamas.  Just what we needed!

8 Posts and other Goal Updates

One of my big goals was to blog more in 2015.  8 posts so far?  I'm not sure I'd call that a success, but I guess it's better than nothing.  Part of blogging more would mean that I either a) take my camera out of the closet and actually use it, which I haven't in months! or b) start transferring my iPhone pics and videos more frequently.  I know the family reading this really wants to see the pictures, huh? :)

I thought I'd take a few minutes to check in with my goals for the year.  I have four main goals and a bucket list of twelve items.

Goal #1 - Get back to blogging....and I'm making an effort, can you tell?  I'm actually thinking about starting another blog, too.  More on that another time, though.

Goal #2 - Budgeting and Saving - this one is going well!  I do our weekly budget, I have my cash savings envelopes that are getting filled and Jarrod's bonus will pay off the credit cards we want to get paid off so we'll be back to saving more.  Woohoo!
Goal #3 - Cook with the kids more - I'm kinda iffy on this one.  We've cooked together, and both kids have actually come in and asked to help with dinner on their own once, but I think we could do better.

Goal #4 - Healthy role model/gentler parent - chugging along!  They see me running and are cheering me on as I prepare for this half marathon.  We have had a few rough weeks with a lot of sibling fights and not listening but I'm really trying to remind myself to take that three second pause before reacting.

And for my bucket list...

1. Make a DVD of my Flip/iPhone videos - Haven't started

2. Overhaul craft closet - Worked on it, but still have more to do

3. Complete a half marathon - Will be checking this off in 18 days

4. Take a weekend road trip to a new place - Nothing planned yet

5. Print another blog book - Plan to order one with the next coupon code

6. Grow Team AIM to at least 15 coaches - welcomed one coach

7. Make an effort to have two dates with Jarrod (outside the home!) - Plan to surprise him with a lunch date soon

8. Back up all my photos and create a system for organizing them - Got all photos onto the external hard drive, but need to work on old laptop

9. Read 10 books (and actually keep track!) - three books done!

10. Donate my hair to Locks of Love - It's growing....still needs to get a little longer

11. Make a recipe binder/notebook - Haven't started

12. Put cash into my savings envelopes every week, no matter how small - success so far!

I hope you're all doing well in 2015, too.

24 Days

Holy cow.  I knew the half marathon was later this month.  We've been talking about that.  But, when I get an email and the subject line is 'Half Marathon - 24 Days Out' the anxiety hits.  Winter weather came late here, and with the abundance of snow days on top of sick kids, I'm so behind.  I've missed many training runs, and my longest run has only been 8 miles.  I have a lot of work to do.

I'm so worried that my legs are going to buckle under me while I'm running.  I'm worried about how my knees are going to handle the run because of some discomfort I've been having.  I'm worried about making it the entire run.  I'm worried about it taking forevvvver for me to finish. 

But then, when I'm out there running, I imagine how it will feel to cross that finish line.  I know in the moment, I won't care how long it takes me.  I know there will be this overwhelming push to keep going from the crowd and other runners.  And I know there will likely be tears.

So, please....let today and tomorrow be our last winter weather occurrences and let the weather take a turn for the better.  I will be spending the next three weeks running.  And running some more.  And the next three weekends running long runs, listening to podcasts, and logging the miles that will help me get to 13.1.  Thirteen point one.  What an accomplishment that will be!

 

Reflections and Goals!

I'm all about making goals and tracking progress, so this time of year is always exciting for me.  I was eager to check back to see what goals I'd made for 2014, what things were on my 'bucket list' and to see how I'd done.  Admittedly, I wasn't very good of keeping those things at the front of my mind this past year.  It seems that 2014 was full of changes for me and I know I spent a lot of time over the last year with my mind spinning with ideas and thoughts and I was just trying to make sense of it all.  It feels really good to have taken time over the past couple of weeks to reflect and make decisions about what I'm looking forward to in 2015.

That being said, first I want to go back to those four goals I made for 2014.  I vowed first to become a healthier person, and I think I nailed this one.  We definitely eat cleaner than ever before, Jarrod and I both exercise regularly and are active role models for the kids, and I even accomplished that goal of wearing a bikini in Cancun!  I took this goal further by starting up as a health and fitness coach with Beachbody and have been blown away by the amount of satisfaction I've gotten from helping others on their healthy lifestyle journey, too.  It's been so amazing to be someone's motivator.  Love it.

Goal #2 was to spend less on groceries, and while I failed to do a good job at tracking that through the year, I'm pretty confident I didn't succeed in that area.

It was hard to make goal #3 because it meant that I was admitting that I'd become a 'yeller' and I didn't like it.  I promised myself I'd be a kinder, gentler mom in 2014.  The dynamics of our family of course are ever changing.  Having a three year old around means a lot of aggravation, if you know what I mean!  But, we definitely have all worked on this goal and we're doing well...still have progress to make, so it will continue to be a goal in 2015.

And lastly, I wanted to be sure to connect with friends and family more in 2014.  Like #3, I know I could do even better, but I am happy with the progress I made in this area.  There are still friends I wish I had more frequent contact with, and I want to do more to initiate conversations with my siblings, but I am proud of my efforts in 2014.

Next comes my 'bucket list' for 2014.  I love making a list to check off through the year....but I didn't do great!  :-/

1. Road trip to Kansas City - YES!  And it was so fun!

2. Read 6+ books - I think so :)  This was one of those areas that I didn't do a good job tracking, but I can remember four books for sure that I read, and I'm pretty confident I made it to six.

3. Earn the consistency bonus every quarter with TS - NO...but that's because of changes I made...more to come.

4. Learn yoga - YES!  And probably one of my favorite things I did in 2014

5. Run a 5K - while I technically ran many 5K, none of them were organized races ;)

6. Make DVDs of my Flip/iPhone videos - NO!  And this will be on my list for 2015.  It's so important to me, but so overwhelming...

7. Overhaul my craft closet - NO :(  Will work on it this year

8. Sew something for myself to wear - NO...I didn't sew much at all in 2014

9. Promote to Team Mentor by the end of 2014 - NO, again because of those changes

10. Redecorate the playroom - Sort of...not as much as I wanted, but we did start

11. Paint something on canvas - YES!  And I loved our Santa painting as part of our holiday decor this year

12. Create and implement an allowance system for Gavin - YES!  And it worked great in the beginning, but he slacked off.  I'll be better about that this year.

13. Have family photos taken - YES!  And I love them.

14. Surprise the kids with a trip somewhere - YES!  Disney was amazing!

Like I mentioned before, 2014 was full of changes.  Jarrod got a new position that made his schedule different.  Getting home early enough for me to schedule parties flexibly became difficult.  Soon, my party schedule with TS became non-existent and I was keeping my business going solely online.  Because of my changes, my sales were not as high, meaning I didn't earn my bonuses, and not being in front of groups on people regularly at party made growing my team extremely difficult, so promoting was not possible.  It took a long time for me to be ok with those changes.  TS has been a part of my life for six years now!  It's hard to make changes.  But I've accepted that my path is taking a new turn and TS can still be part of my life, but in a different way.  I've officially 'retired' from being a party consultant.  I'm not stressing each month to try to get online events planned.  I'm simply going to help my current clients with their orders and continue to enjoy our favorite products at a discount. ;)  And it feels good to be ok with that and be able to breathe a little easier knowing I'm not disappointing my team.

So...after all those reflections, it was time to make some plans for 2015.  I thought long and hard about where I want this year to take us...and my focus on just being happy seems to come up in everything I think of.  (Hence my AIM for Happy adventure...happiness is so important to our well-being!)  Each of my goals will bring happiness into my life in some way.

Goals for 2015

1. Get back to blogging.  It was a sad realization when a friend called me out and made me aware of the fact that I hadn't blogged in months.  I'm promising myself to change that.  Why?  Well, I started this blog for one reason - to keep our friends and family involved in our everyday lives when we moved away from Ohio.  While that's why it started, it turned out to be an amazing way for me to document our lives!  I turned from scrapbooking to blogging and I love my blog books that I print and know one day, I'll cherish having these memories recorded.  So, knowing that I've slacked and missed a lot makes me sad.  Time to amp it up, and I'm going to be sure to schedule blogging time in my weekly plans.

2. Be better with our budgeting and saving.  Nothing stresses me out more than to feel overwhelmed with financial stuff.  We were doing a really good job and then Disney happened and the holidays and several other bumps in the road and I stopped working on our budget weekly like I had been and I feel like I lost control...so I need to get back.  Doing so will also help me work on that goal that failed on in 2014 - spending less on groceries.  I know this will also help us save more, use cash more, and overall, I'll be happier knowing that things are back under control.  Remember that happy theme!

3. Cook more with the kids.  I have a distinct memory of Jarrod and I cooking together in our little house on Carolyn Dr., music playing, and me saying to him that one day, we'd be cooking together with our future kids.  Well, fast forward to the future...we have those kids, and often times there's still music playing when I'm cooking, but that tends to be the time that I let the kids turn on the TV, mostly to keep them out of my hair while I'm trying to get dinner on the table. Better planning and starting to prep dinner earlier than really needed will allow me to include them more in the cooking and having us all in the kitchen together will be a happy time for us I'm sure.  Looking forward to this one!

4. Continue to be a healthy role model and a gentler parent - I think focusing on the type of parent I want to be is key to my happiness.  If I'm not healthy and I'm constantly raising my voice and getting frustrated with the kids, of course I'm not going to be happy.  Plus, when I'm modeling these behaviors, the kids follow.... win, win.

I'm also continuing with my 'bucket list' idea.  I really love these!  And I'm posting this list in my 'life notebook' that I've started using daily so they're always present.

1. Make a DVD of my Flip/iPhone videos (sound familiar?)

2. Overhaul craft closet (hmmmm???)

3. Complete a half marathon

4. Take a weekend road trip to a new place

5. Print another blog book

6. Grow Team AIM to at least 15 coaches

7. Make an effort to have two dates with Jarrod (outside the home!)

8. Back up all my photos and create a system for organizing them

9. Read 10 books (and actually keep track!)

10. Donate my hair to Locks of Love

11. Make a recipe binder/notebook

12. Put cash into my savings envelopes every week, no matter how small

Phew!  That felt so awesome to get all that out!  I'm so excited for this year...it's going to be outstanding.  Let's do it.