Yasmine, Goodbye 2015, and January the First. (In Which Surfing is Still Awesome.)

January the first.

Starting again.

First item of business: this girl.

Right smack dab in the middle of our business for a whole night.

I loved every minute of it.

To my niece, Yaz Ma Taz: When you are a rich and famous Broadway star, you still have to claim me and send me free tickets to your shows, and there isn't much you can do about it.  That's just how family rolls, and you are mine and we are yours.

Love.

Next up, we kicked 2015 outta here in style, because it was a year that was good to us, despite the fact that Casidee, Brynn, and Cali decided to move in with their dad (though Cali came to her senses and came back home), aside from that little tidbit, which is not so little, but putting it aside, 2015 was good to us.  So very good.  I'll be trying to catch up on year of posts that have been neglected, but it was a year worth remembering so hopefully I can jamb the highlights in here soon-ish.

Plus, also, New Year's Eve is my wedding anniversary with The Man so that in and of itself requires some pomp and circumstance.

We hung out at home with snacks, games, and The Circus.  But don't be fooled, after getting my butt handed to me by Brynn in Settlers of Catan (that game!), we did get fancied up with cookie cocktails and midnight kisses.

Proof that Pinterest doesn't always fail.

We also found a long forgotten bag of hats and noise makers that Papa Mike gave us a few years ago and those came in quite handy as well.

Sorry to our neighbors on both sides who have babies...  Happy New Year and all.

AND, The Man had lost/forgotten about Christmas presents that he had bought me as he had stashed them around the house.  Merry Christmas to me on New Year's Eve (or perhaps happy anniversary?) as he found a bag of York Peppermint Patties in his car and this shirt in his desk:

He amuses me.

He also gets me.

This is why we're married.

This brings me to January the first.  Today.

For Christmas we gave The Circus a day pass to Provo Beach, where The Man and I had gone before (here), but had not yet taken The Circus.  (Also, I was happy to see that the golf simulator was gone; replaced by laser tag which is a million times more enjoyable.  Times a million more.) I joined the email list in hopes that a deal would show up at some point where we could go again, and Cyber Monday did not disappoint.

Merry Christmas kids, you have to spend time with us.

Which, thankfully, is something The Circus has not outgrown.

Yet?

We'll see.

But not if I have anything to do with it.

So today we drove down to Provo Beach where Cas and I watched everyone high above the ground on the ropes course (we know where our feet should be... safely on the ground), and we all joined in on great croquet tournaments, laser tag games, bowling, and arcadia bliss.

Plus ice cream.

And Coke.

Oh, and surfing.  How could I forget the surfing already?


Cue onslaught of pictures:

January the first, I think you've set a solid standard for 2016.

Bring it on, we're ready.

A Fresh Start.

31 December, 2014.

Happy 5 year anniversary to my man.

It's seems like it's been a life time together.  

I look forward to a lifetime more.

...

Lately I've come to enjoy the a.m. crunchwraps at Taco Bell.  It's a treat I let myself get every now and then on my way into work.

When I don't ride Trax, that is.  And with this 3 degree weather, I'm not riding Trax.  I don't have enough dedication to stand at the bus stop in subfreezing temps.

So with this morning being my anniversary, and with it being New Year's Eve, and with the simple fact that I was already a half hour late to work (let's face it, no one else is even going to be there) I stopped in for a crunchwrap.

The thing about doing this is that the employee who is always there in the morning is super awkward.  I'm pretty sure she's trying to flirt with me and I am beyond uncomfortable with the advances.  Yes, I said "she".

After having it happen yet again this morning, I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to find a different Taco Bell.  I can't take it anymore.

...

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions because I feel like if I want to make a change, then I'm going to do it, I don't care if it's the 1st of January or the 21st of April.  But it just so happens that I want to make a change.  And it's New Year's.  So let's call this a resolution, shall we?

First of all, I want to love my body.  

I know that this is going to take some time getting to know my treadmill and my free weights again, but I also know that this a mental struggle and not purely a physical one.  

I'm going to figure out meals that I actually enjoy eating, but are clean.  No more crap.  And this is really hard for me, because I love my crap.  *ahem* a.m. crunchwraps and McD's Coke *ahem*

I also have two half marathons on my calendar this summer so I'm going to be training for those as well.  I'm thankful for my friends who ask me to run marathons with them.  

It holds me accountable for getting myself there.

But I'm also going to make sure that I'm putting my time into filling my mind with positive influences as well.  Which means significantly less social media.  I've already started following that rule of thumb, but I'm going to continue it in the coming year.  I feel I'm easier with myself when I don't have so much pressure to live up to everyone else.  Also, I don't tend to compare myself to anyone else when I stay off of social media.  

This also means that I'm going to increase my time spent studying my scriptures and the words of the prophets.  I tell my Young Women all the time, I never feel so pretty and sure of myself as I do when I'm reading my scriptures consistently.  Which I haven't been lately, so I know that it's problem.

This brings me to my second resolution: I'm going to study and read through all four of the standard works in one year.  I have my reading schedule set out for the entire year and plan on using study guides as I go.

I'm so excited.

And my third resolution is to get myself back in the habit of using my Flylady schedule. Because it works.  And it will relieve a lot of stress and mess if I just take the small amount of time required every day.

I know that these changes are actually big and will require a lot of determination and follow through on my part.  I know that changing habits aren't easy, especially when those habits are rooted from laziness.

I'll use my daily posts to keep myself invested in following through.  I'm too easy on myself and let myself slide from changes with a shrug of my shoulder and an "oh well."  I don't want to be like that right now.  I really want to make these changes.

2015 is going to be crazy.  Casidee gets her learner's permit for driving this year.  Jayme will go to high school in the fall.  Cali turns 10 which makes all my kids old enough to not have any single digit ages anymore.  This is the year we knock out some debt, and actually take a cruise for Christmas.  Hopefully.  I haven't made resolutions on those so we'll see how that works out.  I can't overhaul every aspect of my life in one year, but then again, why not?

For tonight I will simply celebrate my man and the simple fact that he loves me completely. Which is all that I could have ever hoped for.

Our Anniversay. New Year's Eve.

It's time to get back into a solid routine.

I'd like to say that we've been relaxing and playing and enjoying the span of the holidays but in reality, our house has been hit by a nasty cold bug and a few of The Circus as well as The Man and myself have been under the weather for a bit.

It's what The Man gave me for our anniversary, wasn't that that thoughtful of him? ;)

Speaking of our anniversary, as well as the holiday season, we had spent a good solid week sans kids and we were itching to get out of the quiet house for a bit.  Our anniversary happens to fall on New Year's Eve, and living in the Salt Lake Valley, as well as not being a fan of the cold, our options of where to go were limited.

We decided to flee to the south for our anniversary (New Year's Eve) and catch a few shows in Vegas, and hopefully some warmer weather.

We were successful on both counts.

We headed down to Vegas after working half a day on Monday Dec 30th.  We stopped in St. George and met up with my parents for dinner and then made it our hotel in time for a late show.  After the show The Man took me to see Freemont Street, which I'd never seen before.  It was fun seeing the lighted roof down the entire stretch of street, but there were no shows or displays going on like The Man was hoping for; they were too busy getting ready for New Year's Eve which was the next day.  We at a midnight meal in a casino cafe and stayed up way past our bedtime.

The following day we woke to celebrate 4 years of wedded bliss.  6 years together.  We ate breakfast in our hotel's buffet where we met a friendly gentlemen who talked our ears off during the meal.  We were coming down with the nasty cold, and it was hitting The Man a bit harder than it was me, but we hit the strip and wandered in and out of the casinos, looking at the details and themes and decorations.

 We picked up our tickets for a Cirque de Soliel show, rode the New York New York roller coaster and visited the M&M shop as well as the Coca-Cola shop where we found the coolest  activity.

We got to taste test different sodas from different countries, which was a really awesome and disgusting all rolled up into one.

The rest of the day was spent napping, dinner at a Mexican place, and dessert at Serendipity's.

Our show was done by 10:00 and we wandered back down the strip to our hotel, navigating the crowds (all these people celebrating our anniversary with us!).  I grabbed some food court pizza and then we doped up on cold medicine and hit the sack.

 We listened to the pounding of the fireworks outside at the strike of midnight but didn't bother to crawl out of bed to witness it.

I was okay with that.  The booms are the best part anyway.  And being snuggled up with The Man who showed me that love really did exist, when I'd decided that it didn't, was exactly perfect.

New Year's day dawned with the hope of a fresh beginning.  We drove home, taking turns as we fought our colds, and I continued on to get the girls from their dad, spending the entire day in the car.

Finally, our home was full of life again.