28 While 28

I'm crazy. I realize this. But I've done pretty well this year at not letting it get too out of hand. Except for that one time in November, but that's another story (and one that won't be told any time soon). ANYWAY. So I took a long hard look at 2013, the year I was 27. And I really didn't like what I saw. It was a particularly trying year, and one that I don't wish to repeat. But I do not believe that I can just say, "Don't repeat that!" and then do nothing differently and expect something amazing to happen. So I'm MAKING my year as a 28-year-old a great one. And I think I started it off well enough:

For my birthday I wanted to run a 5k. I'd planned on charting out my own course and inviting several pals to join me, refreshments and medals at the finish line. But a week before my intended fun run I twisted my ankle really badly on some ice. There was a pop. I'm still not sure if it was my ankle or the ice... But I stopped with five minutes left to my run. I was really disappointed because I'd been feeling really great and was going to try and extend the run by a mile. Oh well. My plans changed. Fortunately, my baby sister wanted to come up and see me for my birthday more than she wanted to run. Though she was a real sport and we still went, just the two of us, and froze our behinds off as we jogged through some serious ice and snow. Thanks to my parents I no longer worry about slipping in the snow, they got me some amazing "snow chains" for my shoes. They are  AWESOME! And really, what better way to start out my next year than by doing something fun and healthy. Wahoo!

So my next step on MAKING my year great: I cam up with lots of goals. 28 of them, actually. Goals are something Matt (my therapist) and I have been talking about a lot lately. I'd sort of lost interest for a long time in any goals. He encouraged me to make a few, to plan out a future, and start working towards that. It started out simple: get running again, sew something. Once I did those two things I remembered how much I love working on projects and goals. So here we are, my 28 While 28:

1. Read the standard works (Jonathan set up a facebook group to act as motivation, you should ask him about it. Also, I'm reading some out of the Bible and triple combination every day, I'd burn out by Chronicles if I tried to read the Bible on its own.)
2. Finish a quilt
3. Lean a new piano piece for fun
4. Run a 10k
5. Run a (sprint) triathlon (I'd been training for one before I got pregnant with Peter and was doing really well, I think I'll be ready by July)
6. Finish one Christmas gift a month
7. Send everyone (family) a birthday card
8. Help David to Tiger
9. Read a work of fiction
10. Read  a work of nonfiction
11. Read an historical piece (I'm thinking autobiography...)
12. Hold FHE at least 3 times a month
13. Hold family scripture study at least 5 days a week
14. Write in a journal consistently (have a great journal jar for that!)
15. Get rid of one bag/box of extra stuff each weak
16. Work into a 10:00 bedtime, and keep it for a month
17. Work out 5 days a week for 4 months
18. Work out 6 days a week for 4 months
19. Attend the temple at least 12 times this year
20. Read all the conference addresses for the year
21. Post blogs 3 times a week for 3 months
22. Be consistent with menus (vague, but really I need to get us eating so Andi can hear again)
23. Experiment with one new crockpot meal a month
24. Participate in a Block of the Month Quilt-along
25. Complete the 30-Day Shred (a favorite workout video of mine, but I want to actually do it 30 days in a row)
26. Take time to spend individual time with the kids each month, i.e. Mommy/kid dates
27. Learn to cross stitch
28. Make my bed 30-days in row

And I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't get through this whole list. Honestly, I've tried the standard works in a year. Chronicles killed me. But I might as well try. :)

I also have a lot of really great things to look forward to this year! Chandler's Christmas present to me is tickets to fly down to Tx and go to Time Out For Women in September. Holly and Henry are coming to Michigan in May (Emma wants to make it up for that trip, too!). We're planning on visiting family in November for Thanksgiving. My daycare opens this month (!!!!). Jonathan takes the bar. David turns 7, Andi turns 4, Peter turns 2, and Jonathan and I will celebrate 8 years. It will be a year of memories. Lots of work, probably some more pain and crap to wade through, but then I guess that is life. And we just make the best of what we are given. So I'm really going to try and MAKE it the best.