the me in 2012

I have been thinking so much lately, thinking about where life has brought me, where life has been, where I've been, who I am....just thinking.  With New Years approaching I've been also thinking a lot about resolutions.  I have never really made any resolutions and the reason is pretty terrible.  You see, I have always had goals for life but didn't want to say, "This year I will________" because I was afraid of setting myself up for failure.

This year all of this thinking has brought me to a point where I'm excited to make some resolutions.  Success, to me, has always been measured by my accomplishments and physical things.  Graduating college, getting my teaching credential, getting married, landing a teaching job, working on my masters, buying a new car, taking trips....

This year I want to take this image of success and tear it down.  When I measure my success solely on my accomplishments in this matter, life doesn't feel hole some.  One book has had a major impact on my thinking lately...

As I've read through this amazing book so many of my weaknesses have been brought to light, God has been speaking directly to my heart, and God has challenged my thinking.  This book has made me vulnerable and opened up my heart.  My goals for this year are very different than in years past as they are centered around me and not my accomplishments, but who I AM.  They are a work in progress...

Goal #1: LOVE who I am, and love me for me.  

A big weakness of mine is to compare myself to everyone else.  I worry that I'm not doing enough or being enough because of this and it causes me to loose focus on who I am.  

               

"When I get an overly idyllic view of someone else's circumstances, I often remind myself out loud, "I am not equipped to handle what they have-both good and bad.""

"When I compare myself to others and focus on wanting what they have, it quite simple wears me out trying to figure out how to have more, be more, and do more.  That's why Jesus instructs worn-out people, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest in your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30)."

Goal #2: Not be so hard on myself.

I have this vision in my mind of who I am supposed to be but this vision comes from everywhere else.  This goal along with goal #1, but when stress hits or something doesn't go quite right my mind enters into this state where all I do is harp on myself.  This year I want to daily remind myself that I am ME, accept that, and ask God to help me love me.  I have to give up some expectations I have for myself and realize that I do my best each and everyday, and that is enough.  

 Goal #3: Stress LESS

My life is defined by business, and it is eating away at me.  I'm still working out the kinks on how this will unfold in my life.  I'm praying and asking God for his vision for me, asking God to show me how to weed out the unnecessary, and giving over my schedule to Him.

Goal #4: Shine!
This past month I have been inspired to live out the life that God has called us to, serve Him and love others.  I want my love for Christ to shine through me.  My goal is to pray that God would bring more opportunities in my life for me to SHINE for Him and inspire other. 

Shine Your light so all can see it
Lift it up, 'cause the whole world needs it
Love has come, what joy to hear it
He has overcome
He has overcome

Happy 2012!

christmas part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of our Christmas!  If you didn't read part 1 click here, pronto!

We squeezed in as many memories as we could in just two and a half days with family.  Here's some more memories...

Drinking lots of mimosas in the morning, along with crepes, oh can my grandpa make some good crepes!

Drinking coffee out of our rooster mugs!!!  Seriously?!?!  I promise that I will let you all in on the rooster joke very soon!

Taking pictures with Bubba, the giant cactus in my grandma's backyard.

Trying out the halo braid on my cousin, how cute is that?!?!

Spending lots of time playing with this little one.  He fell in love with Daniel and followed him around, begged us to play, and even played tricks on me-my husband is teaching him while he's young. 

Going out to dinner and cheering to our amazing family.  My family was joking that he looked like he could be our son, so this is our future family picture.

Taking lots of self portraits with mom and grandma.  

She gets it from her mamma!  

Taking a crochet lesson from grandma and making this beauty-an infinity scarf.  Holy smokes, it was super easy and I did it in just about 2 hours...and it's super warm!

Drinking lots of homemade lattes, making foam mustaches, and wishing that we never had to go home.  

christmas part 1

Greetings from Reno!  

We went from one state to home back to another and are loving every minute of it.  I didn't realize it but it has been forever since I have blogged last.  As soon I got around family for the holidays everything else faded, and all that mattered was soaking up every ounce of time.  A huge blessing for the husband and I is this vacation.  He has from Christmas all the way till New Years off work!  We're making the most of our time and are now in Reno visiting great friends of ours for New Years Eve.  

I wanted to show you all how we spent our Christmas and ended up taking lots more pictures than expected.  So, to ensure you don't feel overwhelmed I'm breaking it up into two posts.

On Christmas Eve night we loaded up my parents' car (and I mean loaded it up), we had gifts and bags in every corner of the car.  Then we drove to Arizona to my grandparents' house.  My grandma is the cutest and has been baking for a week in preparation for our trip and welcomed us with cheese platters and wine.  

Christmas morning we woke up and exchanged presents with my parents and grandparents and then headed to my aunt's house where we got busy cooking dinner.  This Christmas was extra special as it was the first time EVER that my mom's side of the family was all together.  We rarely spend holidays together since we're not all in the same state.  My uncle and his kids drove from central CA, we drove in from SD, and all of my cousins and aunt live in AZ.  We spent Christmas day eating, watching football, playing football at the park, going for walks, and sleeping....YES, my body crashed on Christmas day.  After we ate I took a 2 hour nap, then another nap after that, then fell asleep on the way back to my grandma's!  I think that all of the stress from the end of the semester of work and school along with cleaning and getting ready for Christmas finally took a toll on me.  I was able to relax and my body just shut down.  It felt amazing!

I'll let the pictures tell the rest...

All of the cousins with the blankets my mom made.  

Love him!

Jorday, my cousin's son...he's just to cute!

She's ready to shake it!

Piggy back rides

Afternoon walks

Cousins!

My uncle- my goofiness definitely comes from him!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!