2017 Year In Review & Looking Ahead

It's January 1, 2018!  2017 felt like a great year to me...so many wonderful experiences and memories made!  Of course, there were challenges, but I feel like the blessings far outweigh the struggles.

I asked my family to help me compile a list of the highlights of 2017.  Here's what they came up with:

*Everyone was pretty healthy!
*Gabby loves dance!

*Our trip to Canada...visiting cousins, going kayaking, celebrating Canada Day, having a Nerf gun war, etc. 

*Girls Camp for Michelle, Ella and me:

*Camping Trips to Fremont State Park and to Bryce Canyon, as well as the trip to Arches with Suzy. The girls also specifically mentioned sleeping in a teepee:

*My trip with Ella to upstate New York to Church History sites and to Boston.

*Brenda came to visit!

*Michelle started high school and she is loving it!  Ella started junior high.  Gabby is in 4th grade and her teacher said at SEP conferences that if she had to describe Gabby in one word, the word she would have to use is "perfection."

*Alfredo was able to visit his family in El Salvador and Costa Rica.  Everything went smoothly while he was gone, he had a wonderful visit, and he came home safely. 

*The girls went to Christmas Around the World with Suzy.

*The girls went camping with the Harding family.

*We went to Pineview Reservoir with Patty's family.  We went kayaking and paddle boarding and swam and ate and had a great day.

 

*Michelle and I went to Lake Powell for Youth Conference!

*I went to San Diego with my mom and sister.

*We bought new bedroom furniture for Michelle, Ella, and Alfredo and me.

Our bedroom furniture

Michelle sitting in front of her bed's headboard

Ella's headboard and new dresser.




 

There are many other things that I feel grateful for.  I made it an unofficial goal to invite more people over to dinner.  To try to get to know people from our ward better.  We didn't have other families over every month like I had hoped, but we had people over several times.  Among the families that came to dinner this past year were the Fetzers and Julios,  Rasmussens, and Bennetts.  We have plans to have other families over this year.  I feel so very thankful that we have good friends!  My children all have great friends.  Alfredo has several loyal, wonderful friends.  I have phenomenal friends.  We have great people in our life!  I'm grateful for my family...both my parents and sisters, nieces and nephew as well as my husband and children.  I feel like our family has grown a lot closer and stronger and happier this year. I love the school I'm teaching at and really enjoy the students I am working with.  We have the best neighbors and such a caring and supportive ward!   I am blessed to serve in the Young Women's presidency which I love!  I love the women I serve with, I love the sweet Young Women of our ward, and I love having the opportunity to serve while two of my daughters are YW. 

Another thing I am really grateful for is scripture study.  For years, I have tried to read the Book of Mormon with my girls as well as by myself...with mixed success when it comes to family scripture study.  It hasn't always gone well.  But over the summer, I bought journals from a company  called Red Headed Hostess.  The journals are Book of Mormon study journals and as we read we write down about what we are reading and learning.  They are organized chapter by chapter, often with questions to answer or hints of things to watch for or consider.  It's been so great to help focus our reading, encourage more discussion and asking questions, and I have found it has been pretty motivating most of the time. I've noticed that our scripture study is better than ever before.  But also, I have noticed more peace in our home.  I think the girls are remembering more about what we read.  We are slow...we haven't even quite finished the Book of Mormon this year, we are half way through Ether.  But I know this has been such a blessing for our family.  Some days the girls don't want to write, and I try to encourage them but have not forced them to write.  But most days they want to write.  The journals I bought were for Alma through Moroni.  Since we are getting close to finishing, they asked what we would do when we finished.  I said that I was going to buy the journals for 1 Nephi through Mosiah.  They were all excited and happy about that.  So I think they recognize the value in the journals as well. We still miss days, and some days are a bit better than others...but I see the overall results and they are good.

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A few not so great things from this year:  (None of them are really that bad...and I'm sure there were other hard things that we have forgotten)
*Ella has very mild scoliosis, but sometimes her back really hurts.
*Gabby's foot got stuck in her bike tire as she was riding to school one day and it was very sore and tender for several days.
*Michelle developed tendonitis from dance class. And her AP Human Geography class has a lot of homework.

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Favorite Books of the Year:

Michelle: 
Cinder series by Marissa Meyer
The Siren by Kiera Cass
The Selection series

Ella:
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Return to Sender by
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Gabby:
Harry Potter
Crenshaw

Jenny:
A few book stats for me this year.  I read and reviewed 320 books on Goodreads.  That includes many picture books but also many novels, nonfiction books, etc.  I read 39,732 pages. 

A few of my favorites:
The Contrite Spirit by Bruce Hafen
One by One by David A. Bednar
Worth the Wrestle by Sheri Dew
They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel
What Do You Do With A Problem? by Kobi Yamada
The Blackthorn Key series
A Hope More Powerful than the Sea:  One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss and Survival by Melissa Fleming
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Pax by Sara Pennypacker
The Invisible Library


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Goals for 2018:

Gabby:  Pray morning and night.
Learn more Spanish.

Ella:  Exercise every day for 40 minutes.
   Pray morning and night.

Michelle:  Read scriptures daily for at least 10 minutes per day.
   Pray morning and night.

Jenny:  Exercise at least 3 times per week.
    Have FHE every week! 
    Increase love, peace and unity in our home...through family activities, scripture study & prayer, sincere compliments, avoiding criticism, showing love, and offering forgiveness.  Make sure to have regular date nights and make time for Alfredo.  This is hard to even exactly articulate and harder to quantify or measure.  But I feel like when I have asked, "What lack I yet?" this is what the response has been...love my family better.  Be humble.  Forgive.  Love, love, love...even if it's only at the 100 pence level.