2014!!!

The past two years, I have decided to not have "lose weight" as my New Year's resolution.  I had that as my resolution for so many years and was constantly disappointed in myself.  It has been exciting to say that the past two years I have been successful in my resolutions!!  It pays to refocus a little!!  In 2013, I wanted to celebrate things.  Chris and I have been horrible at that over the years.  We celebrated Valentines Day (with Brady of course :)).  We went out to eat and bought a new treadmill.  Exciting stuff!!  We sent Brady to Carroll for our birthdays and went out and had such a fun night downtown.  And we went out to eat somewhere new (with Brady of course :)) for our 10 year anniversary.  Success!!  I have to say though that my resolution for 2012 was LIFE CHANGING.  I wanted to be more positive and verbalize every day something positive.  I 100% believe in the power of positive self talk/thoughts.  That has changed my life.  I see the positive, not the negative now.  I am more grateful, happy, content.  The glass is 95% of the time half full for me and it used to be the opposite!!  I love how this has changed my life.  I hope that's one quality Brady picks up from me! 

I have a page of resolutions for 2014, but I won't be overwhelmed.  They are just a guide this year.  A few things are even related.  Finances - this year was financially tough.  We need to get rid of some debt we acquired and I am sticking to an iron-clad budget.  No matter what.  With a baby on the way and a 10 year old house starting to need some tender, loving care, we can't afford to be frivolous.  I would also like to tithe (even just a minimal amount).  I want to volunteer more and sometimes do this with Brady or as a family.  I want more "family dinners" with TV off, prayer before, talk about our day and teach Brady to clear his dishes and proper table manners.  His wife will thank me someday for the clearing table part.  :)  I want Brady potty trained soon, but he's just not getting it.  Maybe we'll try it again in a few weeks.  I hope to get Brady signed up for a two-day preschool.  I want to tackle more house projects that need to be done and of course, I want us to all be more active and healthy, like always.  I want to get Brady on Juice Plus vitamins too since he is such a poor eater, but I need to look into the cost.  Last year was a big year for us with a new vehicle, the loss of our dear Drake and fertility treatments.  This year will be a big year too!!!  We are going to make it a great one though!!
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On a side note, I've turned my addiction to Facebook into a positive thing,  I've decided to control / filter what I see on my Homepage in a positive, healthy way.  I'm pretty sure people think it's weird all the health/food/fitness people I 'Like' and Follow on Facebook but I love seeing all the healthy food and tips as I scroll through instead of all the Pinterest (fattening) recipes, etc.  I could never get rid of Facebook because let's face it, I'm a gossiper and love thinking and discussing human behavior so being able to keep up on everybody is fascinating to me.  :)
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We had MidAmerican come to our house to do a home check.   Our house does need some work, but our habits are BIG TIME money wasters.  We have a lot of work to do. 

Christmas morning (2013)