Looking Back at 2011

This past week has been wonderful! It has been so nice to be out of school and have the kids home and be able to catch up on some things. One of the projects I worked on was getting all my pictures from 2011 printed into books by Snafish.com. They came a few days latter and I LOVE them! Another thing I did was burn all the video I took last year onto DVDs. So by doing all of this, I was really able to look back at 2011 and reflect on the things that happened. The conclusion I came to was that 2011 was a GREAT year for our family! Of course there were some downs, but mostly it was filled with lots of ups and some great memories. Here is my list of some of the things I will remember about this year:
Downs
1) Our roof started leaking and we had to pay big bucks to get a new one. Luckily, we found some really great roofers who did an excellent job and our insurance payed for about a fourth of it.
2) Our water heater leaked all over our basement and we had to get a new one of those too. In the meantime, we went about 3 days with no hot water and did a lot of boiling of water to take showers etc.
3) Really, that is all I can think of.
Now for the Ups (and there are a lot of those!)
1) I got my braces off and I love my teeth
2) Traveling/Camping
Zions
Goblin Valley
American Fork Canyon/Timponogos
Las Vegas
Yellowstone
Canyonlands
SeaWorld/Legoland
3) Being a Ma and Pa on Trek
4) Not one visit to instacare or the pediatrician for sickness or injury
5) Getting a part time teaching job that I love and having Mike still be employed
6) Meeting new people in our new ward (I guess a down was leaving all the people in my old ward)
7) My last Girls Camp as YW president
8) Seeing my kids do well in school
9) Watching my kids play sports, enjoy them, and improve
10) Spending lots of time with our families
11) Being healthy and continuing to go to the gym every morning
12) Celebrating birthdays and holidays
13) Having movie nights with my kids every weekend while snuggling on the couch
14) Max's Baptism
15) Miles learning to talk (a lot!)
16) Mason graduating from preschool
17) Mitchel reading the Harry Potter series and loving it as much as I did
18) Realizing that everyday is a blessing
I am looking forward to 2012. We already have a few camping trips planned and I know I will continue to enjoy watching my boys grow and learn. My goal this year is to let go of guilt. There were many times this last year when I just didn't feel like I was measuring up and it hindered my progress to move forward. So this year, my goal is to just do the best I can and not worry about how the world is judging me. All that matters is doing what I know is right and letting Heavenly Father be the judge. If I feel all right with him, then I know I am doing okay. Our other goal as a family is to read from the Book of Mormon every night. If I expect my boys to be missionaries someday, then they better understand the book that our whole religion is based upon. I hope they gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and I hope my testimony and understanding increases as well. We've been giving the promise that if we read daily, the Spirit in our homes will increase, conflict will lesson, there will be more obedience, more joy, and more peace. So we are going to put that promise to the test. Here's hoping for a great 2012!