The Best

This year my goals started out being about temporal things, like food storage etc, then we decided to move every few months and live out of boxes. Not going to work for gathering and saving food storage or planting a garden. So my goals have changed and I have been really focused on finding the best for my family. I want us to always be surrounded by the best ideas, things, and habits. I want my children to learn to be discerning when they make choices and know why they chose them.

I started by eliminating tv and movies for the kids, they really are not the best activities for the kids to be spending their time on. And guess what, it makes a big difference in their mood, obedience, and their thought processes. It really wasn't that hard either. It is so fun to see what the kids come up with together when they have to be creative and find something fun to do. I also organized two bins in the hall closet full of activities like play doh, moon sand, coloring, painting, magnets etc. They love being able to pick an activity out of the bin and it is so much better for their brains. We have also been spending a lot more time outside, granted it is summer now but I try to make an effort to let them play outside for a good amount of time everyday. Having a playground right outside the door really helps. (I should say that the kids still sometimes watch movies when friends come over or when I'm gone and John lets them watch one.)

I read Simplicity Parenting over the last couple weeks, by far my favorite parenting/child raising book I have read, I really recommend it. Almost every concept in the book I had been contemplating before reading it and now I am so glad to have reason and research to back up my previous thoughts. It really helps you remove all the excess things in your children's lives so that they are left with the opportunities to really learn and grow like children should. We went through our toys and got rid of a bunch of them, keeping only the things that stimulate and encourage imagination. It is so nice to have only a handful of toys for them to clean up and they have an easier time choosing and sharing what they have. They also seem to get involved in deeper play with fewer toys, I love it.

It is so liberating to simplify possessions and habits and to learn to live with less. It really feels good. I cant wait to get home to all of our things in storage the get rid of most of it . . . not really but probably a lot of toys, books, and clothes will go, and all those things we have been saving because someday we might possibly use them. I don't want to think about, spend time on, or spend money to store those things.

Also, Im pretty sure the longer Mae's hair gets the curlier it gets. Check out these ringlets, my goodness.

I'm Lucky

I am really glad that John made me be his girlfriend when I didn't want a boyfriend. I am also glad that he waited a long time to tell me that he loved me because he knew I wasn't ready, and I wasn't. Now six years later I'm glad that John drags me all around the country moving from place to place without a real home because I secretly love it. We have a lot of fun together and I certainly have a greater life than I could have ever dreamed up on my own. Life is coming at us pretty fast and sometimes it is hard to keep up but whenever we can find a quiet moment together we always end up amazed at all the blessings we have been given.

I think in the past year and a half we have really been able to figure out how to work together to make the things happen in our lives that we really want. I think there is a lot to be said about vizualization and making goals. Goals and future planning are a big part of our relationship and I feel like we have a lot of power to achieve the things that we would like to see happen for our family. Of coarse really our relationship is three people including our Savior, and when he is involved that is really when we see amazing things happen. We both have this scary but exciting feeling that we have some big and unexpected things ahead for our family, and I think that as long as we are open to the risks and opportunities that come our way then we will be ready for them. I guess risks and challenges might be similar but I look at them more as risks. Both can have a positive outcome but I think you can choose risks and challenges are sometimes just given to you. Anyway, I think that John and I have been able to take on some calculated risks in our lives in the last little while that have really turned out to be very big blessings, and sometimes it's fun and exciting to take on something new and unexpected. Well I guess I better stop before this gets too long. Here is the first picture ever taken of us, john is so darling (not so cute of me) his smile kind of reminds me of Mae's.

Inspiration

I have been inspired by so many things lately, good books, friends, family, and conference. Here are some of the things that I want to work on and incorporate:

I want others to walk away from me feeling good about themselves

My favorite quote from conference: "Never suppress a generous thought" Elder Uchtdorf

Pick one thing a month to change and work on it for that month

Organize my freezer, stock it with premade meals

March thoughts

I really enjoyed the Relief Society lesson last Sunday and I have been thinking about this quote by Joseph Smith ever since:

"Now, in the world, mankind are naturally selfish, ambitious and striving to excel one above another; yet some are willing to build up others as well as themselves."

I am so glad that I have known people who have been willing to build me up while trying to learn and grow themselves. I hope that in my struggle to become more like my Savior that I can be one of those people someday to others. I hope that I can learn to rise above the tendencies of the natural man and see all the people around me in a more positive way.

On a different note; John sometimes plays a computer game called "Call of Duty" and Wes must have picked up on this because he randomly walks around the house saying "Duty Calls" with a sigh.

Yesterday Wes had an imaginary phone call with himself that went like this: 

the silver kitchen play phone was up to his ear and he was pacing the floor in the family room and didn't know I was watching him, "Hewow? . . . Daddy here? . . . No . . . Working . . . Ok . . . Bye Bye." 

I thought it was pretty funny because I had never seen him pretend to be on the phone other than to just say hello and then move on to another toy. I told John about it when he got home and he thought it was pretty funny too. Wes always seems to be so concerned about where John is. He is always asking me: Daddy working? Daddy mail? Daddy driving? Daddy sleeping? if he doesn't know where he is.

Goals

We decided to have themes for our goals for 2009

Our family theme is :: Petersens follow the Prophet :: easy to reference as we make family decisions and goals. I think we will have it as our family motto, not just for this year. We made a sign to hang up so that we see it often. I think we will focus our energy on health and try and incorporate these ideas: 

• eat slower and enjoy our meals as a family

• pay attention to hungry and full cues, especially with Wes

• drink a glass of water instead of snacking and stay hydrated

• have a veggie salad or a good serving of veggies everyday

• eat sweets sparingly (this will be hard)

• exercise five times a week, getting out of the house and going to the park for Wes once a week

• use as many fresh ingredients as possible

• eat a low cholesterol healthy breakfast everyday

• get to bed early (early to bed, early to rise, makes a family healthy wealthy and wise)

My personal theme is :: A House of Order :: which I would like to achieve using these four goals

• Consolidate and Donate :: get rid of all the stuff we don't need, use, or want and organize what we want to keep. So far we have done tons of this and it feels amazing.

• Food Storage :: organize an emergency plan and gather all the necessary food and equipment. 

• Budget :: get a system down that allows me to track and use a budget for our family expenses.

• Journal :: keep a record of our everyday joys, inspirations, and experiences, which I will do using this blog, hence this post and other recent and future posts.

John told me that his theme for this year will be :: Get Rich or Die Trying :: no other explanation necessary. Seriously though, he does have a lot of career plans for this year and he does such a great job taking care of his family.

Well so far so good, we have been working hard and are excited for this new year and our new adventures. 

Goals

January 10

January is all about simplifying and goal making right? My mom gave us girls a book called Absolutely Organized for Christmas. It talks a lot about doing one major chore each day, even if it takes you several hours, that way you aren't worn out by the end of the week from cleaning everyday. Here is my attempt at simplifying my schedule and so far it has worked really well. I went out and bought a new mop and organized my cleaning bucket and shined the house on monday. It was pretty fun, and the best part is that I don't have to clean the house again until next week. I have a few other personal and fitness goals I have made too and I think this schedule will help make time for the rest of them.