Happy New Year!

     How can it possibly be 2010?! This means so many things… but the biggest one is that Sam and I are old!!! 2010 means:

• We graduated from high school 10 years ago*
• Sam left for his mission 9 years ago and has been home for 7 years
• I left for my mission 7 years ago and have been home 6 years
• Sam and I have been together for 5 years (the 29th marked the first time we met after high school and when we started to hang out)
• I graduated from BYU 4 years ago
• We’ve already lived in the NW for 8 months

*Can I just point out that I’m going to be 8 or 9 months pregnant at our high school reunion? That, or I will have an itty bitty newborn and still be all pudgy fat. That sucks. Given the two options, I suppose hugely pregnant is better, but either way- this is NOT how I wanted to look at my reunion. Why couldn’t it have been this last summer when I was 123 pounds?! End of digression*

     I can’t even fathom how different our lives are now than they were this time last year. We were both still in Provo, Addie was 6 months old, and we had no idea how everything was going to work out after graduation. But graduation came! Sam graduated with honors and got the dream job! This summer and the move was absolute crazyville, but it was amazing all the same.
    I guess everything feels weird now. I feel like I’ve been working on the same goals for the past 2 decades… get into a good college, get married by the time I’m 23, graduate college by 25, have my first kid by 25, have our first house by 30. I only barely made my college, marriage, and kid goals by my projected dates… but I beat the house goal by 3 years, so I think that makes up for my other close calls.
     But yeah, everything my life was working towards for so long has now happened. It’s the weirdest realization! I don’t feel any different, but there is a definite shift in my priorities and a vagueness about where to go now. I suppose it’s time to set new goals… but I don’t really know what goals grownups make, since I haven't been one for very long. Here’s my best shot though…

Short term:

• Scan all of our family photos from growing up by the end of this year
• Have the entire interior of our house painted by the time the new baby comes
• Learn/remember how to sew and to crochet
• Paint ceramics and canvas paintings more often
• Lose all of my baby weight and be 130 pounds again by next Christmas

Long term:

• Go on a vacation to Europe with Sam by the end of 2012 (when we’re 30)
• I’ll start a professional photography business by 32
• I’ll become a certified doula by 33
• Be done having kids (probably 4) by 35
• Live in our permanent house by 35

          There are a few of these goals that I could probably do now, like doula training and starting a photography business, but I’m really happy just focusing on my family and myself right now. I’ve worked full-time for other people for the last 10 years, and I’m quite happy to take some time for myself and my kids for the next 5.
     Anyway, that seems like a good start, right?! I’m excited for this next year and all of the possibilities it brings. I hope you all have a great new years eve and new years day and that 2010 will  be a great one for you!

In closing, here’s our 2009 card sent out to everyone. I assume everyone has seen this either in real mail or by email by now, but if not, here it is!