25 Wishes

I just turned 25 and it is one of those birthday milestones that make me feel like I am getting old!  I know it really isn't that old and I have been realizing how I still think of myself as a lot younger than I am.  I see people graduating high school that seem like little babies to me.  I mentioned that I graduated in 2006 and that was 7 years ago!  What?!

I do feel like I am growing up a little though...that's a plus!  

Here's my wish list for the year of being 25...

1. I feel like I need to get back into playing music...and more than the recorder (I have that one "mastered" already right?)  :)  I want to get back to playing the piano and I would love to learn the guitar.  
2. Exercise...this is a tough one.  It is easy to forget, easy to sleep in, easy to let a day pass and tell myself I will make it up on Saturday.  But I have been doing really good for the last 2 months exercising 5 times a week!  I go running through my neighborhood, or do Insanity workouts at home if I don't wake up early enough to go on a good run before David heads off to work.  Pushing 2 kids in the jogger is intense...and there are not enough flat places around here!  AND there's Soccer!  There is an informal group that meets up every Wednesday and Saturday to play and I had to retire my cleats from high school to get a new pair and they have been heavenly!  My feet are thanking me!   It is so fun to be playing again even though I am usually the only girl.  I sweat like a man, so I might as well play with them...TMI?
3. Make time to keep the house in order.  I have never and probably will never be a spotless home type, but I get too frustrated when I can't find things, or when I feel like I am drowning in our own stuff.  Sometimes I live with the mess and I should care more and clean it up, but sometimes it is tough to keep up with the mess!  I just want to make time for more order.
4. eat well...I want to make healthier food choices, but also I need to remember to feed myself. When I realize at 3:00 that I haven't had anything for lunch and then decide that a peanut butter and nutella sandwich heated for 15 seconds in the microwave is a good idea...this is a problem area.  I do so much better with a plan.
5. get to know people...I am in a new place with new people.  I want to seek out some good people and find out what makes them who they are.



Katelyn's Favorite...Alice the Fairy

6. read...read the scriptures, read with my kids, read the scriptures with my kids, and read fun books without falling asleep after the first paragraph.
7. serve others...I want to get to know people so I can serve them.  It might be my time just chatting, it might be my time making a meal for them when they are sick, it might be my time watering their plants...My mom says that she is happiest when she is serving others, or something like that.  My family counts too...I want to do more for them too!
8. I am realizing how parenting requires so much selflessness.  My bad days are nearly always linked to days when I am selfish with my personal space and time.  I am trying hard to give my time to these kids and take my full-time job as their mom.  Katelyn and Davy need me.  They are capable of learning and doing so much and I don't want to just "get through" each day, but I want to dedicate more time to nurturing them and enjoying them.  
9. blogging...this is my family journal.  I love having our life documented and seeing the things we do and the phases we go through and I want to keep track of it all.  I love it when I keep up with it!
10. take a ceramics class...I loved the year I did in high school and I wasn't half bad either!
11. Quit throwing food out!  I hate it when food goes bad...especially produce!  It is a pet peeve of mine and I want to pay attention to what I've got, or meal plan better...something.
12. Sew for myself...I started sewing a dress for myself this week.  I made up the pattern from a dress that I already have.  It is fun to create and I have a bunch of ideas for more dresses and skirts for me. 
13. Save money...I want to simplify so that we can save more and do more with the money we have.
14. I can be such a home body and part of it is because of laziness, and sometimes I just like to be home where everything is calm and contained.  But I want to be outside more.  Go on walks and just talk, let Katelyn ride her bike, go have a picnic at the park, go explore, or anything like this.  We all love it and I like spending time out and about together and want more of it.
15. I dyed my hair blonder...I wanted to do it and I like it.  My hair has been getting darker and darker with each kid...or maybe just time going by and me getting older.  I missed my blonde hair and now I have a head start on the summer blondeness that comes each year.  I have a feeling part of me did it because I want to feel younger, and I am okay with that.  Changing my hair wasn't that big of a change (I didn't go crazy with the blondeness), but it was a big thing for me so even though I already did it, I am putting it on this list :)
16. Memorize the Articles of Faith.  I challenged my 8 year-old primary class and I want to make sure I know them all too.  I remember most of them, but I have some iffy spots that need a tune up.
17. Pay attention to birthdays and anniversaries.  I love it when people remember and acknowledged my birthday and anniversary, so I want to make an effort for others too because they might like it too!
18. Paint something.  I have had a blank canvas for over a year now and I want to paint something on it, but I am not sure what. I think I want to paint Katelyn's face in a way that I saw my friend, Terryn, do her son.  I think I could make it look like her...if not, then I will take a picture of it and then paint something else.  
19. Date my husband.  Too often we spend time on our laptops, phones, or iPad or in separate rooms doing our own thing.  I want to focus on the time that I do have him home and have fun with him.
20. Have more game nights...We have so many good games and we need to have people over to play or just play with our own little family.  Katelyn is figuring out UNO and Trouble and is loving them.  We all love games!
    
    
    
    
21. FHE...we are very sporadic and I want to be more consistent.  It is healthy for our family.  I like having time to set goals for the week, and Katelyn is soaking up so much of how this world works right now and I want her to know this gospel so that she can love it and know that I love it.
22. See more of the east ...Niagara Falls, Gettysburg, Pittsburgh, Philly, Palmyra...there are cool places out here!
23. PLAY...I love roller coasters and water slides!  I am not pregnant this summer (my parents won't ever believe me again since I tricked them last summer when I got off the plane nearly 7 months pregnant)  and there are so many fun theme parks calling my name out east and out west!  Hershey Park, Silverwood, Roaring Springs, King's Dominion...I "need" to go!
24. Do some Family History.  I want to get some people's stories recorded before they are gone!
25. Convince myself and David that it is worth it for me to be in Kennewick for Gold Medal peach season because they might be good enough to leave my husband stranded for a couple extra weeks while I get my juicy peach fix!

My birthday fell on a Wednesday...a Wednesday that David was in Baltimore (for the whole week) and I wanted to feel bad for myself since I was home alone with the kids another day and it was my birthday, but that's part of being a grown up.  I decided to make it a good day with a walk through the neighborhood finding flowers that were being towered over with weeds...

The kiddos both took a nap at the same time!

I made my favorite dinner...Breakfast!  Crepes with strawberries and cream!

And I skyped, texted, emailed, called and was facebooked from so many wishing me a wonderful day and it really did turn out to be a great day! 

That weekend, David and I left the kids with the Iwaasa's and went to play...laser tag (David out-scored me 3/4 times), mini golf (David won by 2 strokes...maybe only one, but I can't entirely remember, so I will let him have 2), and my favorite...go carts!  I was so stinkin' fast!  I figured out how to hit the brake around the corners to get my go cart to do a tight u-turn and I snuck past David every time with that trick.  We did a lot of mini races between us which meant I had to keep stopping and letting him catch up to me once I got far enough ahead to say I beat him that round ;)  He probably won't admit to that, but I was good!  And those go carts had the speed I was hoping for.  My hair was flying horizontal and would whip around the corners with me...loved it!  It was a fun date! 

We ate "Better Than Anything and Everything Cake"  with Brittany and her family...it was her birthday the day before...and David made it for me.  I might have forced him to make it for me, but he did an awesome job!

Birthday's are good...and this one has been good to me!