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.

I Scream, You Scream

We all scream for ice cream!

Last week, I took my two princesses to Provo for the Princess Festival. We had fun there, but probably just as fun was meeting up with Olivia for ice cream at the Creamery!! Mmmmm.

My Grown-Up Christmas List

For those expecting a deep post here about my desire for "no more lives torn apart, that wars would never start, and time will heal all hearts," I'm sorry. This isn't that kind of post. Rather, I'd like to talk a little bit about my actual Christmas wish list I wrote up about a month ago. It seems that every year in November and December, I get asked by my mother, a sibling, or Tony, "What do you want for Christmas?" I usually answer with, "I don't know," since in that moment I really can't think of anything. But this year, I decided to be prepared for that question by writing a few things down for reference. Nobody asked, and I kind of forgot about the list. Until the other day. And when I glanced at it, I had a flashback to my childhood. Every year, my mom would get some sort of domestic device for Christmas and seem truly happy about it. I couldn't understand why she acted that way, since in my juvenile mind, I figured that what she REALLY wanted probably fell into the wardrobe, accessories, or toys and games categories. But maybe it really was what she wanted, since my grown-up Christmas list (at the ripe old age of 31) looks like this:

wash cloths

earrings

good knife

electric griddle

apple corer/slicer

bread pans

Pathetic, right? I thought so for a few moments after seeing the list the other day. But then I realized that it's not pathetic. Although I am still Taffy, I have grown to love my role as wife, mother, and homemaker. I have embraced it to the point that when I think about what I'd like to have, many of the items are things to help me fulfill this homemaker role a little better than I currently am. I just need a little better tools, I guess. And the Taffy inside me would like a couple pair of earrings--I even like the dangly kind!

Best Friends

These two girls have become self-proclaimed "best friends." Mariah really does fine when Mylie is gone to school, but from the minute she gets home, they are inseperable. Last Friday Mylie didn't have school, and they literally played together all day! They play really well together, too, rarely getting in a fight or argument.

In fact, they say that they are "almost twins" since their names both start with M ("like twin names"), they both have blue eyes, they sometimes wear the same clothes, and they kind of look alike.

Both of these cuties have had birthdays recently. Mariah turned 3, and Mylie 6. Hard to believe. They're growing up so fast!

One thing these two friends love is to have "girl parties" with their mom when Tony and Connor are gone to basketball practice or games. Last week we had two girl parties. The first one was an ironing party. Sounds fun, huh? Well, they loved it! And I got my ironing done. :)

Then this weekend we made some fun (and incredibly easy!) Christmas treats. They had fun making the different shaped rice krispie treats and decorating them with sprinkles, or sparkles, as Mariah calls them.
Gotta love these girlies!

My little GQ

I mentioned a few posts back that Connor's interest in clothing has increased. Well, in true Connor fashion, he isn't going halfway with this one either. He has turned into a full-blown GQ! He hasn't missed one of Tony's basketball games yet, which isn't unusual, but this year, he looks just like the coaches each game, complete with dress pants, shirt and tie. He has had Tony teach him how to tie a tie, and his clip-ons or zip-ups are no longer good enough for him, so he has resorted to borrowing his dad's much superior ties.

Here's my handsome man this morning before boarding the bus for Lander.

(By the way, Tony's team is 4-0, which has everybody pretty excited since last year they won 4 games total, and the year before that, the big 0!)

THANKSGIVING

This year, my family (minus my two brothers, who we really missed!) all got together in Cokeville. This was the first time in a LONG time that we had all been together, and it was fabulous!

The first day, my brother's friend, Michelle, took our family's pictures. She had them back to us by Friday, which I was thrilled about! They turned out so great! I already have one as my blog header, and new pics of the kids on the sidebar, so I'll spare you the entire shoot and leave it at that.

In addition to a fantastic feast on Thanksgiving Day, we also had fun playing basketball (although us has-beens got pretty sore), coloring and crafting, playing cards, sledding, and decorating cookies. The cousins all got along great. I can't wait to all get together again--hopefully sometime soon!

The kids showing off their fun snowman cookies

Climbing up Test Hill can be a pain . . . (although Mariah was really a trooper!)

. . . but it's totally worth the ride down!