Welcome 2013

One of my favorite things about a New Year is resolutions. So I will warn you now that that is pretty much what this entire post is going to be about. I love them and Hunny thinks they are 'poppycock'. But we discussed it and think we came to the cause, and a solution, to the problem. His thinking was, "Why wait till the New Year to better yourself?" and people seldom finish or hold to their goals. And that second thought got us thinking; is there a difference between a resolution and a goal? Are resolutions more of a change of person or habit and a goal is more measurable and 'attainable'? I told Hunny that you don't have to wait till the new year but it is a good marker to start so you can look back and see. For some it is better to start and fail then never start at all. I think we start with good intentions but set the aim so high or too many that we get burnt out fast. We are still on the Christmas high and thrilled with celebrating the New Year and have been out of school or work long enough to forget there is more to do then we thought. Life takes over and our good intentions are forgotten or lost.

So, we ended up making a few goals. We decided goals were better than resolutions because they are measurable. We will be able to see our progress. Let me explain. My goal this year is to start and keep a family scrapbook. But none of those frilly pages, stamps, markers, stickers and what not. :-p Just a physical spot to put all our ticket stubs, awesome recipes, fun pictures, and print out some blog articles and overall record our family activities and memories. Kind of like a junk journal for us. I am super excited about it. In fact, I couldn't wait for the New year to start, I put it together Dec 31 so it would be ready for me to succeed.

As a branch (congregation at church) we have a goal to take 1,000 ancestral names through the temple to make a "Stake in Heaven". Oh I am so thrilled!! Though when I initially heard it I thought he was saying 1,000 works done, that it didn't have to be each name. I'm still unsure what the details are, all I know is it is a GREAT way to encourage us to go to the temple, which will in turn cause other 'goals' to be fulfilled. So, I took this idea and tailored it for our family. Between Hunny and I, we want to do 1,000 acts of family history. Whether it be finding a name, that's one; baptism, one; confirmation, one; endowments, one. ANYTHING counts. Between the 2 of us, I think we can pull it off. That is roughly only 20 acts a week. I'm gonna make a chart and we can color it in to not only see our progress, but remind us so we don't fall off the wagon.

Another family goal is a establish and follow a family budget. We haven't really kept track of our money since getting married and as a result have been somewhat loose with our spending. We always have extra for savings each month but, I have heard that it is a lot less stressful, and actually freeing, to know how much you can spend each month because then you don't have to ask yourself if you can buy something or not. You just ask, Is it in the budget? Yes, you can buy it, no, put it back. It prevents you from getting things you don't really need. Plus, it was kind of fun sitting down with Hunny and looking at the numbers and setting a test month budget for this first month. I already feel more free and easy buying things because I know it is in the budget. :) This budget goal actually came from Hunny's goal to have a specific amount saved before the end of the year.

So some of these might sound like a lot. And there are other small things that we are going to try to be better about. A lot will boil down to remembering and NOT BEING LAZY!

Oh, I guess I should tell you about our New Year's Eve. Some wonderful friends invited us to their homes to play Bunco. It was my first time and it was so fun. So much food too. But what is a get together without food? We played four rounds through. After that we just sat around talking, eating, and laughing with the two other families there. I never knew they were SO funny. We toasted in the New Year, enjoyed a New Year's Kiss, and then had to skedaddle to make it home by curfew (darn curfew).

6:20 AM came a little fast. Hunny wanted to celebrate the New Year Korean style. They wake up and watch the first sun rise of the New Year. I think it would also be appropriate to watch the last sunset at the end of the year don't you? So we got up and despite the snow and over cast skies we got  ready and started the climb up Namsan mountain up to N Seoul Tower. We made it a little late but weren't going to go halfway and call it quits. But it was slightly disappointing to get to the top and see people taking down tables and signs from an event. We missed it! Oh well. We enjoyed the trip and the time together. At the top we found some books at the gift shop and got them. Coming down was even colder but more fun because we ended up running most of the way since it was so snowy and steep. It was a great way to start the New Year. I like that tradition and hope to keep it in our family.

What did ya'll do for the New Year? What resolutions or goals did you set? Better question - what are you going to do to make sure you keep them?

We look forward to sharing more of our adventures with you in 2013.