Shish-boomers!

Ok, so I don't know if "shish-boomers" is an actual word, or if my dad just made it up, but Connor, Mylie, and I went skiing this past week, and they were both real shish-boomers! We have the Utah Pass of all Passes, which was an incredible deal, getting us season passes to both Seven Peaks waterparks, all UVU home athletics, both Trafalgas, and weekday skiing at Wolf Mountain (all for only $30 each!) We had never been skiing anywhere but Pine Creek (outside Cokeville), but we decided to go take advantage of our passes and try out Wolf Mountain, which is near Huntsville, UT. We LOVED it! They were a little short on snow, like all the resorts are, but it was a fantastic kid/beginner hill and a beautiful day! It was some of the best fun we'd had together in awhile.

This is Connor 3rd year of skiing. He's only been about twice each year, though. Skiing is an expensive hobby!!

Mylie was afraid to ride the lift at first, but after her first time up, she loved it!

Connor was excited to use his new skis, boots, and poles that Santa brought him this Christmas. It took a few times down to feel comfortable with the poles and longer skiis, but once he did, he was flying by Mylie and me!

It was only Mylie's second time on skiis, and she did great!
We can't wait to go back again--and hopefully Tony can come with us next time!

Resolve

On New Year's Day, it was my turn for our FHE lesson. So, I did what anyone would do on New Year's Day, and had a lesson about goal setting, complete with us setting three family goals for the upcoming year. (And then we watched "17 Miracles", which is a must-see, if you haven't seen it yet!)

Here is what we came up with:

1. Honor thy father and mother. (Surprisingly, this one came directly from Connor and Mylie, who both realize that they have some work to do in that area!)
2. Read the scriptures even on non-school days. (We do really well on school days, because it is first in our morning routine, but whenever we don't have school, we can't seem to remember. Definitely something we need to work on this year!)
3. Go on at least one family vacation. (We truly believe this is important. Look for another post on "why vacation?" coming soon.)

Everyone agreed that we can work toward these goals this year. I concluded the lesson by suggesting that we could also set individual goals for the new year, but that I would leave that up to each person to do on their own. I figured that I would set some, Tony might, but that would be as far as that went. That night, however, Tony came out from putting Connor to bed and told me that he had been in his room writing down his personal goals for the new year. I had to see them myself, so once he was asleep, I snuck in and opened his journal. My heart was touched as I read his three goals that he came up with all on his own:

My 2012 gouls are?
1. be a good freind at school.
2. Study scriptchers more.
3. Treat my sisters more cind.

This was one of those reassuring mom moments when you realize that maybe you're not failing as badly as you thought. Maybe they actually are hearing something you are saying. Maybe they do have righteous desires, and just need more practice at making their actions match those desires. At any rate, I've felt good about this experience all week.

I also set some goals for myself in 2012. I tried first of all to remember my last year's resolutions, and since I never wrote them down, I have no idea what they were, or if I even set any?!? So finally, 6 days late, I am going to write them down, right here on the blog:

1. Read the Ensign cover to cover each month. (I've done this several different years, and it's always such a good one. I can't wait to do it again!)

2. Finish "The Kingdom and the Crown" series. (I read Book 1 last spring, and need to read the next two!)

3. Develop friendships outside my family. (I usually set some kind of goal about being friendly, since this is a weakness for me. I've always been very content with just one or two close friends, and I still am. So my friendship needs are fulfilled just within my family. However, I know that there are those out there who need a friend, and if I'm that comfortable in my life, I should be reaching out more!)

4. Get caught up on the Tony Micheli family history. (This comes in 2 forms--my digital scrapbooks and our home videos. I finished our 2010 book last night--yippee!--, and want to complete 2011 by the end of this month. By the end of February, I would like to have all our home video, which is currently either on VHS or on our computer in short clips, onto DVD's that we can sit down and watch together as a family. I'm taking a movie making class right now so I'll know how to do the computer part, and I've asked Tony to take care of the VHS to DVD portion.)

5. Spend quality time with my husband and children. (This is always a goal, of course. But it's something I need to always be thinking about because it's easy to slip up!)

6. Attend the temple once a month. (This is a goal Tony and I set years ago, but we haven't done very well in the last year. Gotta get re-focused!)

So I know what I WANT to do, but apparently last year, that's as far as it went. This year, I RESOLVE to complete these goals, and I suppose that taking the first two steps of writing them down and sharing them with friends, are two steps in the right direction.

Highlights of Christmas Break

Although we dropped the ball Christmas morning, and only managed to take two pictures of the big day (both boring pictures of the girls unwrapping a gift), we did take pictures of some of the other fun and exciting things we did over the break.

Connor, of course, kept his priorities straight and played plenty of basketball over the break. He even shoveled off his outdoor court.

Our trip to SLC was fabulous once again! First we went to Trafalga for the first time, which was a lot of fun. Well, it was all fun other than this sad experience.

Our regular restaurant, The Mayan, was shut down recently, so we had to try something new. We decided on Tucanos, and it was a hit with the whole family! And, of course, the lights at Temple Square were spectacular this year too!

The kids had tons of fun on Christmas Eve, acting out the Nativity with a full cast of Micheli cousins.

We also got to ride on the Polar Express! (Okay, so it was actually a horse trailer, complete with poop on the walls, but everyone had a blast!)

And at the end, each of the kids got their very own bell.

A few days after Christmas, the girls and I headed to Cokeville for a few days. I forgot my camera, but we had tons of fun gaming, puzzling, visiting with family, watching basketball, and for Mylie, learning how to ski! We made it home on New Year's Eve. I didn't think we had any plans for the night, but Tony suprised us with Tucanos at home! He had a couple different meats, grilled pineapple, and even the Brazilian Lemonade!!! (And the kids didn't care much, but I also loved that he had vacuumed the house and cleaned the bathrooms! Wow, I love him!)

And now, we are back to "normal." Tony and the kids went back to school today, and Mariah and I cleared out all evidence of Christmas. Sigh.