Resolutions for 2014

I never blogged about New Year's resolutions last year, which is sort of a bummer because I like looking back on them and evaluating how I did.  Or how I didn't.  My guess for this past year is pretty lousy.  Oopsy.

Anyway, for 2014 here are the resolutions I am thinking about:

Physical
- Run a legitimate race like a 10k or a half-marathon.  One where I actually pay an entry fee and get a t-shirt or something like that.  I did really well this past year working on my overall fitness and have consistently been going to the gym 3-5 days a week the entire year (not that I lost a lot of weight or anything in 2013 - I lost some but I have an unfortunate tendency to feel like I can eat anything I feel like just because I put in some mileage or did a kickboxing class that day).  I haven't done tons of racing in the past and I know I am crazy slow, but still, I like the feeling of race days.  I like being with other people, feeling athletic, and being a part of something.  Not sure when and where and how I will accomplish this goal, but 2014 is the year I am going to make it happen.  Maybe I'll even get really gutsy and do two races. 
- Get some control over my sweet tooth.  I'm not about to "give up" anything but I'm going to scale back on desserts.  I started down this road last year and did great for the first three months of the year before backsliding.  What seems to work well for me is to save the sweets for the weekend.  I don't know why I seem to think that every meals requires some sort of dessert to be complete because it totally isn't true and I know that, but I don't live it.  Time to make that lifestyle change and stick with it.

Spiritual
- Read the scriptures daily.  For reals though.  Not just like, "oh, I'm going to do this" and then I bail on it because I find myself going to bed late or on vacation or whatever.  I plan to do it Every. Single. Day.  I set this goal every year and then do okay for a while, then slack for a while, then get really good again, etc.  It is a vicious cycle and we all do it, but I always feel more patient, happier, and more capable of handling the stresses of life when I am studying the scriptures on a daily basis.
- Go to the temple at least quarterly.  Before Clara was born we made it every month for a long time, but we have really struggled to get to the temple since she has come along.  Maybe we can find a group of friends in similar situations (parents who struggle to get to the temple because of young kids) and work something out to help each other with this goal. 
- Do family home evening every week.

Financial
- Revamp/overhaul our budget and then stick to it for at least 3 months. 
- Set better savings goals as part of that budget.

Mental
- Read 2 books each month.  At least 4 books this year have to be non-fiction.
- Be a better patron of the arts.  Go to at least two musical/theatrical/operatic/symphonic productions in 2014. 
- Develop a talent.  Enroll in a photography workshop or practice the piano and/or guitar on a regular basis or write more.  The sort of thing that requires learning and stretching and challenging my mind.  I'm still brainstorming this and how I want to accomplish it.

Personal
- Print blog books for 2011-2013.
- Keep a journal.  Even if it just a little something in addition to this blog.  Somewhere that I can record more of my personal feelings than what I put on display for the internets and blogospheres. 

Family
- Do date night with Paul at least twice each month.  We did a pretty good job with this last year thanks to an arrangement with our neighbors to swap nights for babysitting but I want to make sure we keep it up this year too.  I don't know that we can commit to weekly date nights what with all that is going on for us right now but if we can do more than twice per month that would just be a bonus. 
- Plan special family outings once a month (vacations count or going to the movies or a picnic in the park or going to the beach or something like that - just something that is different from the routine that we all do together). 

For Clara
- Learn to count higher than 12 and to recognize the numbers 1-10 by sight. 
- Figure out how to "ride" her purple balance bike that Santa brought her for Christmas.
- Start a new activity in addition to gymnastics - maybe soccer and/or ballet after she turns 3. 
- Help out with household chores.  She is already good about helping to set the table and clear the table so I think we are going to add in unloading the dishwasher (at least parts of it), picking up toys (we probably should have started focusing on this one a lot earlier), and maybe some others (not sure what chores are exactly best for a 2 1/2 year old to 3 1/2 year old but I'm wondering about teaching her to wipe counters or sweep the floor - all suggestions would be appreciated if other people have had success implementing chores for tots.)
- Continue to work on foundational reading skills (i.e., recognizing letters and the sounds they make).
- Learn how to properly hold scissors and crayons/pencils.

I think that all of the above is good for now.  I might add to this list as we go on in the next couple of days but I figured I would post this now in case I just don't get back to it.

Oh, and I do still plan to blog about Christmas and post photos, etc.  It is just going to have to wait a bit since we are still too busy enjoying our vacation time to bother with uploading pics and such.