a new year

It's the start of a new year! I love this time of year for all the new beginnings. It's a time to reflect on life, to set goals, to reevaluate my attitude & how I spend my time. It's a time to look back & celebrate the acomplishments of the year before, but more importantly, it's a time to look forward & decide how to improve as a mother, wife, friend, daughter of God . . . . It's a time to embark on new adventures, grand ones & seemingly small ones from my every day. It's a time to develop talents & to take on new challenges . . . or old ones with renewed force.

While thinking about things I wanted to focus on this upcoming year, I decided to set very few lofty goals. Instead, I'm breaking them down one month at a time (one week at a time if necessary). Planning for an entire year is daunting, but planning for a week or a month is doable.

our JANUARY family goals:

- read the scriptures every night

- do FHE each week

- take a family photo (it's nice to have evidence that I'm in this family too :)

- make a weekly meal plan & make one big trip to the grocery store each week instead of mini trips scattered throughout

- do one bigger family activity (I'm leaning towards sledding. Will's never really played in the snow, & I bet he'd love it!)

- get a bedtime routine down for the kids

- POTTY TRAIN WILL!

my PERSONAL goals for january:

- do my 10 on 10 photography assignment

- complete my weekly photography theme assignments

- set up an Elevate photo shoot (a fine art challenge) - If it's not obvious, I'm really jumping into photography this year with both feet, hands, & my head - completely submerging myself (without losing focus on my family & home!!!), so I can improve in technique & creativity.

- focus on decluttering my house for 15 minutes a day, rotating zones each week (you can't organize clutter!)

- read my January books - Matched, The Happiness Project, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Night Circus, The Greatest Knight