"On the whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet as I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been had I not attempted it."
Progressing towards a goal brings me so much happiness and fulfillment. Here's a look at my 2014 goals...
Spiritual
1. Keep the Sabbath day holy by not playing on my phone or using social networking.
This goal has made a tremendous impact in my overall spiritual and mental health. I realize that sounds cheesy, but disconnecting from social media on Sundays has let the holy ghost be more of an influence during the most important day of my week. I feel more refreshed and ready to start each week when I'm not wasting time on social media. I wasn't always perfect, BUT a lot of Sundays I was and the positive affect this had on me was huge. I plan to continue this goal from here on out.
2. Continue reading the Book of Mormon and finish journal.
I did it! I finished my Book of Mormon journal. It took me 2 years, but I read the Book of Mormon and summarized/wrote notes for each chapter. I'm so happy I finally finished this goal! Maybe one day that journal will be something I can give to one of my kids?
Social
Plan something once a month to look forward to, something just for me.
I wasn't great at planning something specific each month, but I did make it a point to get out every month and do something fun for myself. I enjoyed this goal so much that I organized a book group and joined a bunco group for 2015. I've learned that I need girl friends and feel so uplifted when I spend time with positive women. I'm working on putting more time into the new friendships that I have here in Utah. I saw a close Arkansas friend a few weeks ago and it was really emotional seeing her! It was great, but I was so sad thinking about my sweet friends that are there and how much I miss them! I realized I have really great friends here and if I put more time into developing those friendships I could have what I had in Arkansas. Living in Arkansas was hands down a time in my life where I had the most growth and self realization.
Physical
1. Eat cleaner and transition family into cleaner eating.
Again, are we perfect at this? No. Have we progressed? Definitely yes! The other day Tony, very sadly, told me that his stomach can no longer handle "the dollar menu anymore." Ha! We have felt so much better as we have cut a lot of junk and processed foods out of our diet.
2. lose baby weight.
Woot Woot! I did accomplish this goal. It took me the whole year, but I did it.
Marriage Goals
1. Accomplish the financial goals we've set for this year.
We learned a lot about financial planning this year. We did really well. We learned places that our money goes that we didn't expect. Our 2015 financial goals will be even more successful after all that we learned this year.
2. Attend the temple together 4 times.
Tony made it to the temple 3 times and I made it 4. We had planned to go the last Saturday of the year, but then my mom got sick and couldn't watch our kids. Lesson learned? Next year we won't put it off until the last weekend.
I will say I felt we did pretty good this year considering we had a baby and I was nursing almost the whole year. I'm excited for next year.
3. Date once a month.
Pretty sure we went out every month except June. We had a babysitter lined up, but Joey got the stomach flu so we had to cancel our plans. We've had fun making dating a regular habit this year.
Family Goals
1. Go on 4 family hikes.
Yep, we did it and loved it. I know 4 doesn't sound like a lot, but how often do we assume we're going to do something and then end up not doing anything at all? This goal helped us realize how often we are getting outside and playing as a family.
2. Daily Scripture Study.
I changed the way we do family scripture study and it has been very successful. We read at dinner time and try to go with a theme for the week. We read 1- a few scriptures regarding that theme. Before we were doing a straight read through of the BOM and it just got boring to be honest. With little kids we weren't able to read long enough to make the timeline understandable. Reading scriptures by theme as worked great for us. The past couple of weeks we have been reading scriptures about the Savior. I'm so amazed by what kids can learn when we teach them! One day, I was talking about the second coming and asked the boys what we needed to do to be ready. Joey's response? "Be baptized in the water!" I was shocked. I can hardly get him to answer any question regarding anything. This was such a testimony builder to me that time needs to be spent in teaching young children gospel principles.
3. Take a camping trip.
Our ward camp out counted as this trip and it was great!
Looking forward to 2015!
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