I'm here...

I'm here.  I've survived the holiday madness. It felt like I was riding on the tail of a comet; It was fun while it lasted, but I have to confess: I.am.so.HAPPY it's over!  I can breath. Finally.  No holidays to decorate for or HUGE feasts to prepare. No birthdays to celebrate .  No doctor appointments to drag our boys to. No vacations to pack for or unpack from.  I have practically have NOTHING on the agenda for at least another month AND I have to say, it's GLORIOUS!!!

Of course I'll find ways to fill my time... I've taken down all of our Christmas decorations and now my house looks naked--- I'll be busy conjuring up new ideas for how to fill in spaces and decorate it. The garage needs a little cleaning {hopefully I can get this done over the long weekend}; I found stale Kix and Goldfish crackers littering the floor of our car, which means it's time to clean it. Wait, forget that! I just remembered I received car wash vouchers for Christmas from my in laws. Yay! I'll be heading to the car wash tomorrow immediately after the puppet show performance I'm taking the boys to in the morning; I can't handle a having a dirty car... I probably ought to patch up and paint over nail holes I've made this past year; I've also been meaning to sand, prime and paint the baby crib now for the past year and a half- perhaps I'll actually get it done THIS month and I want hang more pictures up around my home--- trouble is, deciding WHICH ones to use and WHERE and HOW to hang them is the dilemma I face. Indubitably, the boys and I will probably find ourselves at the aquarium {we went there this past Wednesday} or the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point {we're headed there this afternoon with friends!}; possibly even the Children's Museum in Salt Lake if I choose to renew our passes there.  We visited the Bean Museum down on B.Y.U. campus yesterday... Noah's been hoping to go ice skating,  so perhaps we'll give it a go and if the weather continues to stay warm as it has been, we may even visit the farm at Thanksgiving Point again like we did last week.  A week ago we visited to the zoo in Salt Lake with grandpa; we spent 3 hours there... 3 hours!  Even during the Fall or Spring time when the weather is usually mild, neither too hot nor too cold, we never spend more than an hour there!  I suppose my boys just enjoyed their freedom after being cooped up inside the house most of December due to freezing temps... It's exciting being able to get out and enjoy the fresh air during this time of the year- keep in mind, we have some major inversion right now- so the air isn't necessarily all that "fresh", but ANYTHING beats being stuck inside the stuffy house {I have to keep reminding myself it's NOT Spring- Summer is NOT right around the corner... we still have another 6 more months before the pools and such open- BOO!}--- sunshine filtering in through my windows during the day is so much more appreciated than the January gloom we typically have.  My only complaint about the weather is if it continues to stay this warm and sunny, I wish that the nature I'm surrounded by didn't look so darn drabby!  Everything's dead! I wish the flowers would start blooming and the grass would turn green again--- because otherwise, the deadness surrounding me, sans snow, makes me remember I live in a desert.  YUCK!  This weather is REALLY making me wish I could road trip it down to see my folks in San Diego- like THIS WEEKEND! I'd totally do it.  I'd have our bags packed and all 5 boys strapped into their car seats, this afternoon, right after Noah gets home off the bus from school--- we'd be on the road in no time and I'd stay there all month IF I didn't know that Spencer would object.  Being the sensible guy he is {keep in mind he's a teacher}, he'd encourage me to wait until Spring break... namely because he wouldn't want any of our boys to miss school. Okay, so I suppose I can wait until Spring Break before making any road trips with the boys--- it's only 3 months away or so, right?!  Perhaps not though- if I have to hear any more news from my friends and family in San Diego that it was another gorgeous sunny day in the high 70's, low 80's, I might just split and run to the beach myself! 

Okay, so I just had an "ah hah!" moment... I've just realized that I like to contradict myself... here I am- absolutely thrilled because I have no real set plans for this month--- I'm LOVING it, because I can relax- FINALLY- BUT on the other hand, by nature I'm NOT one to relax... I like to go, go, GO!  Adrenaline fuels my body and from the moment I wake up in the morning until the second {literally} my head hits the pillow at night- I'm on the move.  This isn't to say, I never ever have time to relax- I do, but when I do, it's strange--- I hate feeling like I'm not being productive... this all sort of leads me to the resolutions I've made for myself this new year.

I've decided that this new year will be a "Me Year".  Okay, that sounds sort of selfish huh, or egocentric... That's NOT my intent.  I mean, seriously, I have a husband and 5 little kids.. my goal isn't to ditch them and leave them by the way side while I self indulge... No, actually, what I meant by saying this year I hope to make it a "Me Year", I hope to focus a little more on myself... I do everything I can possible to be a good wife and a good mother, but along the way, I've neglected to take care of myself.  It's true.  I need to find the time, or better said, MAKE the time, during the day to STUDY my scriptures, pray and reflect... I need to find my zen.  Trust me, I need a "zen" with my 5 little monkeys I'm caretaker and mother to. I also hope to shed these baby pounds I've gradually packed on over the past 6 years with each pregnancy...  I never gave myself time in between each pregnancy to loose the "baby weight" before getting pregnant again, and I'm at that point right now in my life, where even though I'm 30, I still feel like I'm 23, but I feel like a frumpy 30 something...  I want to look and feel again like I'm 23- it's possible, I know it is... my family has this remarkable canny way of always looking much younger than we really are {for instance my sister Tricia who is in her late 30's with 9 children, yet she looks like she's only 20!}...  anyhow, get the picture?!  I have 5 boys... 5 very active little boys.  I hope one day that they'll all be involved in sports, activities and adventures like hiking, climbing mountains, etc...  I want to be right there alongside them, participating- cheering them on!... I can't do that feeling like a frump, so my goal this year is to get in shape!  One last objective for my "Me Year" will be to learn how to sew.  I've been wanting to learn to sew for years.  I'm not sure exactly how I'll go about learning---  I've considered taking classes, but I don't have the time or the desire to sit in class and learn--- I'd much rather learn by teaching myself to sew... I believe I can do it.  {I mean seriously, how hard can it be with all of the Youtube videos available?!} I have a knack for creating, crafting, constructing and building--- surely I can figure it out--- it's really just the matter of making myself sit down to do it.  So there you have it, in a nutshell, this is going to be my "Me Year"!  Yay, for 2012! Truthfully speaking, I just feel like before I became a wife and mother, I had so many different hobbies, interests and sports I participated in--- I want to resume participating in them again!!! Perhaps I can find a couple of field hockey sticks on Amazon and teach my boys how to play field hockey?! Or maybe I'll start taking them to the batting cages... I can encourage Noah to draw and paint more--- that's something I used to LOVE doing--- maybe we'll paint together or better yet, I can teach all of the older boys to sculpt... I used to LOVE working with clay and I was GOOD at it!  And piano--- it is my goal this year to practice the piano daily.  I took lessons for 10 years, and it's now been nearly 15 years since my last lesson.  I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten SO much of what I learned- believe it or not I was actually really good... I just hope by practicing again daily I can become a decent piano player too.  Spencer and I both want all of our boys to play instruments; Noah will hopefully begin this year with piano, so if I'm going to preach it, I better teach it by example! Of course I have other goals set in mind, like learning to be more patient with Spencer and the kids... I hope to find more constructive ways to discipline our children--- because I'll be honest, getting upset and yelling (yep- I confess, I yell) DOESN'T work... and neither does taking away their toys, or sending them to time out... these might all work at times, but there have to be better solutions... I want to spend more quality time alone with EACH of my boys, doing what they want to do and I also want to spend more time together as a family- going places, together. More alone time with Spencer, whether it be on dates or trips to the temple, would be fantastic!  Sure we're over the honeymoon phase of our marriage, but there's not a day gone by that I don't LOVE him and it's important to express that to him and nurture our relationship- dating more often can do this! It's not an easy feat with 5 little ones. We'll have to plan ahead, ask our family for help and maybe even book a sitter, but the extra effort we put forth pays off with a happy marriage and everyone knows a happy marriage = happy kids, happy kids = happy family, happy family= happy home = bliss! I also hope to be more consistent about holding an actual, legit F.H.E. (Family Home Evening) with the family every Monday evening.  Let's be real here: If I want to, because I have for years now, I could call every night in our home a Family Home Evening; we eat together, play together, read scriptures together before bed and say family prayer together before bed and often times even sing songs together and following practically every supper we eat, we indulge in some sort of treat... so while I could technically speaking, say EVERY evening in our home is F.H.E., I'm not going to anymore. I hope to be more consistent this year putting forth the special effort each and every Monday night to call our family together for Family Home Evening.  The kids will all have assignments and EVERYONE will have a chance to participate. We'll make Monday evenings in our home EXTRA special! I want it to be a night our boys can all look forward to and I want the habit to become engrained in them- because I can only imagine, sometime, down the line, 5, 10 years from now, they'll all have activities they'll be involved in that occupy their time... I want them to understand and appreciate Monday nights as "Family Night".  

Oh before I forget, stay tuned, I'll be posting LOTS of pictures from the past couple of weeks... hopefully I'll get them all posted SOON {fingers crossed!} and I stumbled across these two links below I thought were exceptionally inspiring, particularly since it's a New Year and most everyone I know resolves to have a better year than the last.
The first link is to a post titled,  7 Habits of Highly Organized People... (click HERE to read it). I LOVED this link!  I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I already DO most of the things the writer suggested--- organization is ESSENTIAL if I care to stay sane with our busy little family, but I DO have some room to improve- like meal planning...  planning meals out, rather than at the last minute, would certainly, I imagine, relieve the stress of preparing meals and it would probably also help ease the expense.

This second link was one I found on Pinterest {I heart Pinterest!}.  It's called 25 Rules for Mothers of Sons (click HERE to read it).  Need I remind you WHY I found this particular article/post to be of interest???  Um, little hint... HELLO, I have 5 boys.  No seriously, whether you have 1 son or a dozen--- you NEED to read this.  This woman- or man, (to be completely honest, I didn't even look to see who wrote this, whether it was a he or a she) but whomever it was, he or she, this person was inspired and has most definitely shared some words of wisdom.  I have the article saved on my tablet and I'm printing it out this evening.  I'm not sure what I'll do with it then, other than read it often, maybe I'll just put it in my scriptures to remind me to read it, or perhaps I'll think up some genius way to put it on display in my home.  Either way- I LOVE the advice and I think it's extremely helpful.  I feel like I already do a lot of things the author suggested, but I still have a lot of rules to learn and live by.

Happy New Year all!