15 Resolutions for 2015!

2014 was a big year for Tristan and I. I would argue that it was the biggest year of our married life so far. I'd say it was the year we became grown ups. And I'm slightly terrified to say goodbye to it. Not that I'm not excited for everything that could happen this next year, I just don't have anything planned to happen, and I'm a planner so the unknown is terrifying.

This is [hopefully] my last time looking back on 2014 but I wanted to share the 10 pictures that define 2014 for our little family:

^ Europe trip ^

^ buying our first home! ^

^ graduated! ^

^ trip to Florida ^

^ goodbye to Andrew :( ^

^ welcome home, nate! ^

^ miss you, tata nadia ^

^ our biggest trial this year but also our greatest source of growth ^

^ thanksgiving in Vegas ^

^ California, plus this guy... my whole world... he makes every year the best year^

And finally, my 15 resolutions for 2015 to make it another great year:

1. Stay up a little later. Inspired by our fun NYE with Ashley, Ki, Tiff, & Jake. Turns out, I can stay up past midnight every here and then. Turns out, it's totally worth it. This year I hope to put my old lady ways (aka 8:30 bedtime) to the side more often for more fun times with my hubby and friends.

2. Do more of what Tristan loves. I don't really like watching movies... I know... who doesn't like watching movies? Apparently me. I just can't sit for that long. But, Tristan loves watching movies. He has seen every movie out there. This past year I noticed that I stopped watching movies and I also noticed Tristan's disappointment each time I said no, I don't want to. So this year, I'm going to make an effort to not only watch more movies with Tristan but do more of what he loves to do in general.

3. Make a realistic budget and start saving. I used to have a killer budget and I followed it like a hawk. I'm a penny-pincher. I love to make money and I love to watch it accumulate. I hate to see it slowly decrease. Back when I had my budget I was bit of a nazi-wife and poor Tristan was constantly under scrutinization. Hence, why I stopped budgeting, stopped looking at our accounts and let Tristan take the wheel. I've grown a lot since then and I think I can finally make a budget and help us stick to it without being rude about it and without letting it stress me out. So here's to a year of budgeting and saving. I can't wait :)

4. Organize our house. Our "office", aka the dump site, is getting out of hand. This year I want to organize it and come up with a system to keep it organized. [suggestions welcome.] I'd also like to organize our basement. Right now it's not finished so we just put everything down there. That's fine, I'd just like to have it so that we know exactly where everything is. Maybe going through my closet and getting rid of clothes would be a good idea too...

5. Work on our family scrapbooks. I'd love to say "catch up on our family scrapbooks" but that doesn't sound very realistic so for now I'm going to skip year two and three of our marriage and work on finishing year four and starting year five. My ultimate goal is to be completely caught up by the time we have kids so that I can just focus on their scrapbooks.

6. Start doing yoga again. It used to make me happy. It used to make me stress less. And this year I want to get off my lazy butt and let it work its magic again.

7. Take Kacee on more walks. She loves them. I love them. They make her really happy and when I see her that happy it makes me really happy. I'd call that win-win. So this year I would like to set a goal to take her on a walk everyday that I don't have work. That should give us four walks a week.

8. Learn something new.  This is the first year that I can remember where I'm not in school. I don't know what I want to learn yet... maybe how to knit, a new language, photoshop or how to use code (for the blog)... but I want to continue learning.

9. Call, text, send a letter and get together with friends and family more often. I'm the worst at keeping in touch. I'm horrible at answering the phone and even more horrible at calling people back. This year, I'm going to try a little harder.

10. Go on a trip or two. I don't know where and I don't know when but I know it needs to happen. I have a few ideas but we will have to see what we can afford and how much time we will have off work.

11. Continue to build my blog and commit to at least three posts a week. I love to write and I love the friends I've made through this blogging community. I want it to continue to be a priority as we head into 2015.

12. Attend church, read scriptures, daily couples prayer, and temple attendance. Tristan and I are better at some areas and lacking in others. Overall, I'd just like to improve all the way around as far as spirituality goes. Ever since I started my new job and work every other Sunday I feel like I never get to attend church. Does anyone have the same problem? And what do you do to feel less of a void because of it? I'd also like to become more involved in our community, make new friends, and be a good neighbor.

13. Don't use my phone before bed and right when I wake up. I have a horrible habit of my phone being the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning. I hate technology for the addictive effect it has and this year I'd like to break that. Who cares what people posted on instagram while I slept!

14. Start cooking again. It's been awhile since I've done my wifely duties of cooking dinner. Tristan and I have already set up our meal plan and gone over what days I work to decide who is cooking when. This will help with our budget (no more eating out because we have nothing to make at home), this will help with eating healthier, and this will help with spending time together.

15. Be happy and push past the hard times. We saw Unbroken last night. Have you seen it yet? It's slightly depressing. Don't get me wrong, it was really good but things just never got better. Yet, it is the perfect story of persevering and forgiving. And it has inspired me to keep trying even when things are hard. Depression is real. Anxiety is real. Everyone has trials. I want to be happy more often than not.

What are your new year resolutions? Do we have any that are the same? I'd love to know, so that you can help me stay on track :)

H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R !