New Year (2024) + Goals

We are going into 2024 like.... 

smiles and enthusiastic optimism. 

We had a great time celebrating New Years Eve and New Years Day with the Peaden Family in West Jordan.  It is such a blessing to be surrounded by people who love you, who support you, who inspire you. We are grateful for all of our family and that we always get to start the new year after being surrounded by both sides of our wonderful family for the weeks leading up to the new year. It's the perfect way to end a year and start the next. 

We already have a handful of things planned for 2024 and we are very excited for them! 

-Disneyland in March (shhhh! It's a surprise) 

-Peaden Family Nauvoo Trip in June

-Lydia's 12 year old Trip (details to be determined) 

-Monthly Cousin Weekends

-Manti Temple Open House 

-Summer Olympics (Paris)

-David officially becoming a National Assurance Office Partner in May

-plus lots of little things, too

Ever since 2020 I feel like I have to add a disclaimer or caveat that although we are looking forward to a good year, we realize that there will be hard things and that there is the potential that it will be a crummy year, yadda yadda. Ha. Especially where this year is another election year that is already proving to be as divisive as 2020 was. However, we look to the future with faith and optimism and we know that within the walls of our home built upon our foundation of Jesus Christ, there is hope and happiness in our future.

I love looking back at these first posts of the year, with my end-of-year perspective. I smile as I read about the hopes of that January family as we optimistically started a new year together. It warms my heart because whether it's January or December - these are the people I want to spend my days, weeks, months, and years with. 

I love the start of a new year as an opportunity to make goals and create a vision for what you want the year to be. I love the Children and Youth program and how it encourages kids to make goals for themselves and emphasises that Jesus Christ cares about ALL of the aspects of their lives. Lydia and Austin and I sat down (individually) and reflected over some of their goals from last year and wrote down a few things they want to accomplish this year. 

In similar fashion, here is the follow-up from our goals from last year and our new goals for this year: 

Shantel
2023 Goal: Learn how to make really good sourdough bread.
2023 Word of the Year: Foundation

Reflection: making sourdough bread was REALLY hard. I consistently made it through about August and then by the end of Fall I had given up. So, did I accomplish this goal? Not totally - but I put in a LOT of effort and believe I could make sourdough bread again if yeast disappeared as it did in 2020. But until the survival-skill is needed, I think I'll stick with yeast bread. As far as my word of the year goes, I feel that I did a good job putting in the work to create the foundation I want for myself and my family. We are making time for things that matter to us and living a life in line with the things we believe in.

2024 Goal: Learn how to Curl 

Curling is a sport David and I surprisingly loved during the 2022 Olympics. (See "World Curling": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOk9SVzqHsk). Most of the time my start of year goals are very serious and thorough. Last year, I really enjoyed having one goal that I was focusing on for the year. This year, when pressed for what goals I was thinking about - I decided I wanted to pick one goal and I wanted it to be fun. As soon as I learned that you could take curling classes at the Olympic Oval, my goal was decided. 

This is why this somewhat random goal is a good one for me: I enjoy trying new things. It will take time and effort to schedule and attend the lesson. It will be fun. 

I have a lot of things that I am putting my heart and soul into on a daily basis: motherhood, homeschool, homemaking, being a wife, friend, daughter, my stake primary calling, taking care of myself. I have a to-do list a thousand items long and am actively working towards those things. However, adding a fun goal feels doable and exciting. 

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David:

2023 Goal: Learn how to make birria tacos

2023 One Word: Intentional

2023 Spiritual Goal: Seek First the Kingdom of God

Reflection: I did not make Birria tacos this year, but did eat a lot of birria tacos this year. Does that count? Hopefully I can make that happen sometime this year. I hope that I was more intentional last year, but that is hard to measure. I also worked hard to make sure that the focus was not on financial gains, but growing and focusing on my family. 

2024 One Word Personal: Prayerful

2024 One Word Work: Grateful

I want to be more prayerful in 2024 and also for work I want to be grateful for the opportunities that I have and the people I work with.