Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Scout our Elf

This year we had the Elf on a Shelf visit our house! Spencer was thrilled that he came and in the way he did. Our Elf actually dropped in and crash landed into our Christmas tree with a parachute!


Then came the process of trying to figure out a name for our Elf. It was quite the long process, because we had no idea what name would be best! Spencer at the last second came up with the best name, Scout, because he is an elf scout for Santa. 

So, here are some fun places Scout hid around our house every day to spy on what we all were doing, and seeing if we were doing what was good or bad.

The shower caddy.

 Spencer's stocking.

 Spencer thought this was great that Scout was playing Jenga with some of Spencer's stuffed animals. 
 Hanging around in the kitchen.

 Watching Elf...Buddy is probably a friend of his.

Resting on one of our African paintings.

Uh-oh, we caught him sneaking some marshmallows!!!

Hanging out in Spencer's backpack.

Hiding behind some candles.

Just hangin' around. 

We loved having Scout around in our house, and he even followed us to Grandpa and Grandma's house until Christmas Day to make sure Spencer was being good!!! Hopefully we'll see him again this Christmas. 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

New Year

The new year is upon us, and already the first month has almost passed without me doing one blog post. Sorry about that. We had lots of fun with Tyler's family over Christmas, and then we came home and were all sick. An awful cough that would not go away. Poor Preston had it for three weeks. He didn't eat or sleep well, so that made me worry a lot, so I didn't sleep well and didn't get better. But alas, we have all survived and are well enough now that I really should be catching up with the blog posts.

The first one for this year is always our goal one. We have changed up our goals this year because we wanted it to be more focused and we are having this year be Our Family Year!!! Thirteen is our favorite number, so 2013 seemed ideal to do some grand things with our little family and accomplish some goals together. 

I'm writing these out because I want to be accountable for it all. I know I most likely will not get every one of these done, but I'm pushing to get most of them done. 

First Tyler's goals:
1. Be most in tuned with the Spirit.
2. Be healthier
3. Learn more

Now for each of his he has multiple things to do, but I thought I would just give the overview of it all. 

My goals:
1. catch up on blog; blog more about the city
2. cross stitch
3. Get going on Preston's baby book (a digital one); and also catch up on 5 years of Spencer's
4. Finish up the African coffee table book of all of my favorite photos I took while living there
5. Do a family book for each year Tyler and I have been married (digital)
6. READ (at least 24 books). For January I have already finished Pride & Prejudice and am now halfway through The Perks of Being a Wallflower
7. Finish writing/editing my novel
8. Lose weight/eat healthier--which I REALLY am trying to do after having Preston
9. Relax and stay calm
10. Save money (we have lots of trips this year, plus a move we'll be doing)
11. Catch up on the Christmas scrapbook (not digital)
12. Read our church magazine the Ensign each month
13. Do special things for Tyler throughout the year
14. Try out a new blog idea....this one would take LOADS of time, so I'm still trying to figure out if I'll do it or not. 

Spencer's: 
1. I will play longer with Carson (our next door neighbor)
2. Play with my Christmas presents
3. Help my Dad juice (which he did while Tyler juiced at the beginning of January)
4. Help Preston walk and crawl
5. Write in my journal 
6. Exercise 50 pushups, 50 sit-ups, 50 seconds for wall sits
7. Read more
8. Learn more
9. Spend more time with my family
10. Finish my comic
11. Help Mom clean
12. Think of something cool. 

Preston's: (I'm pretty sure he'll do all of his)
1. Learn how to eat (which he is eating carrots like a champ!)
2. Learn how to crawl
3. Learn how to talk
4. Learn how to walk
5. Sleep more (maybe that is just Dad and Mom's goal for him)

Our Family Goals:
1. Read the whole Book of Mormon together this year. (which we are doing pretty good with!)
2. Serve others more; we are planning three service projects this year to help others
3. Be together and have more fun together. We try to have more movie nights together, more trips together that we all enjoy too. 

So that's it! Think we can do it?? I'm pretty sure we can. I'm excited about our goals, and I'm excited that I have things that I REALLY want to get done this year on my list, which makes me think I will be able to get them all done. Next up I should be able to catch up with all that has happened since mid-December. Hope you all have your goals in order, because then you will definitely grow more throughout the year if you are striving to do something better, bigger, or more positive with your life. Good luck!