I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions. In fact, I don't really even like it when someone tells me to set some goals. Almost all of the change that I have seen come about in my life, and inside of me, in my character, has come at moments when I wasn't expecting it and wasn't looking for it. I seem to hear something or read something and then I have a realization and then I never go back to who I was before. This wasn't so great for me as a missionary, because missionaries set TONS of goals and I found I had to tweak my goal-making. So instead of setting a goal such as, Give out 10 copies of the Book of Mormon, I would make it more along the lines of, Give out MORE copies of the Book of Mormon. Still measurable. Still achievable. Therefore, a legitimate goal. And one I could accomplish. (This is still the way I do exercises. One more push-up than I did yesterday. Run for thirty seconds longer than yesterday. Etc. It works for me. I figure, well, I've already done it. I can do one more. So it seems easy, and I do it.) The only goal that I remember from my mission was the one to take a picture every day. I loved that goal. I did it for a week and it resulted in some of my favorite pictures from my entire mission, because I started carrying my little camera everywhere and snapping photos of unexpected things. I have one of us tracting, my companion doing a handstand, some flowers an old woman was selling...candid ones that I would have just walked past until that week.

So. This year. One photo every day. THAT is a goal/resolution/life-affirming choice that I can do. It's sort of like a photo journal. So far, it hasn't been very hard. But it's only January 25th. I've had to resort to taking pictures of things in the house a few days because the boys were already in bed when I remembered (and those boys are by far the most photo-worthy things in the house.) In just a few weeks, however, I have realized a few things. I want to be in more of the pictures. And I need more pictures of Brian and me, together. I am by no means a photographer, and our house has lousy lighting, but that in itself is a kind of record of our life. And if I take more than one picture in a day (which sometimes happens!), then I get to pick which one will be the photo of the day.

Without further ado, the year in pictures, so far.

1/1-a walk in the beautiful sunshine on the coast. We saw our bishop and his family and he took our picture.

1/2-Vader gets to come inside now. She is incredibly happy. Except for when Joseph chases her. This spot was her refuge last year, but now Joseph can climb up on the couch, so she's in trouble.

1/3--Joseph watching Sesame Street. He watches a show while I'm in the shower.

1/4--Gideon loves being in his seat because he can see everything going on.

1/5--He also, like Joseph, has a head that is too big for this hat.

Also 1/5--Joseph got mail! It was a cute picture from his cousin Rhett. (Okay, 2nd cousin.) He loves it. He decided to put it on the fridge. There are stickers of Sesame Street characters and cars, two of his favorite things.

1/6--Sunday night at G&G's house. There is a little boy under that blanket, pretending to be a ghost.

1/7--When I looked at our breakfast dishes in the sink this morning, it made me think that we are like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, where everyone has one in their own size. Not only did each of us have a bowl a different size, but our spoons were, too. From top to bottom: Gideon, Joseph, Mommy, Daddy.

1/8--Joseph got this electronic Cookie Monster for Christmas. He loves it! You feed him cookies and he talks about them.

1/9--This was a present from Brian's mom for Christmas. They "kidnapped" the boys for a couple hours to get these pictures. I love it.

1/10--Gideon is only happy in his bouncy chair for short periods of time now. He's ready to be active, out and moving around!

Also 1/10--Joseph has awesome bedhead from his naps some days.

1/11--Moss growing on our driveway. I love Oregon. This stuff is thick and luscious. I could sleep on it. If it weren't so wet and cold.

1/12--A perk of having Daddy home on the weekends: someone new to read stories!

1/13--Whenever Joseph wears something with a hood, he wants it up all the time.

1/14--Happy boys. This is the standard right now: Joseph reading, Gideon rolling around.

1/15--It has been chilly the last few nights (or weeks, really) and here is some of our ivy all frosted over.

1/16--Oh man, do I love this little boy and his rolls! Yay for toes!

1/17--Reading time! Sorry about the blur--it was on a timer so I don't know what happened. (Maybe the coffee table was shaking from me running and jumping on the couch before it took the picture!) I love Joseph's monster feet slippers.

1/18--The latest haul from the library for me. I think I need to start checking the page numbers of the books I put on hold. I don't know if I can get through these in just three weeks!

Also 1/18--Joseph on the swings. Okay, it is HARD to get a good picture of a kid on a swing! We had a beautiful sunny Friday so we took a jaunt to a favorite park. He pretty much ignores the play structure, tries to take over other kids' sand toys, and then he loves to swing!

More pictures to come (when they get downloaded.) No promises on when that will be...but we're hoping for sooner rather than later.