Holiday Tidbits

As always, Christmas was a blast. We spent loads of time with family eating, laughing, watching sports, and having an all around good time. Most of Hilary's extended family was in town for the holidays which was, as always, extra fun. We were able to spend time with them for a few days before Christmas. This year, I had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas day so our little family celebrated the holiday in Logan. It was the first time since we've been married that we spent Christmas away from our families and although we missed everyone, it was very pleasant.

In between my morning shifts, we sang some Christmas songs and opened gifts. Finn was most excited that we cleared room under the tree so he could lay underneath the limbs and attempt to stick electrical cords in his mouth. We then spent most the day gorging on copious amounts of chocolate and I made a potato casserole with the assistance of our sweet new food processor from Oma and Opa Frazier.

Finn getting some Great-Grandma love.

One thing that is great about this time of year is that we tend to reflect on life and the Savior and think about how to squeeze a little extra sugar out of life during the coming year. And by that, I mean we usually think about setting some goals. I figured I would share some of my goals with the blog-o-sphere so I'll have a little extra motivation to fulfill them. I'll make a blog post about each of them during the coming year. So here it goes:

• Goal #1: Become an expert at making thin crust pizza (b/c Hils loves it and it is the bee's knees of all pizzas).
• Goal #2: Become an expert at making Brazilian rice and beans and pao de queso.
• Goal #3: Don't be clumsy. Lately I've been getting clumsier. I've been breaking dishes, knocking over bottles, and doing idiotic things. Today I was cleaning the blade of our immersion blender with my fingers while it was plugged in and I had my other hand on the "Go" button. If the clusmy fairy had sprinkled idiocy dust on my finger at that moment, it would have been a terrible afternoon.
• Goal #4: Simplify. I was doing some organizing today and realized we have tons of stuff. I realized I need to prioritize my life a little, buy less stuff, focus my energy towards less things, and get rid of things that take up lots of space. And this may include selling a couple bikes (**Ouch**).
• Goal #5: Learn to run without getting hurt. Every time I run consistently for a few months I tend to get a sore knee or a stress fracture in my foot.
• Goal #6: Learn Spanish and CLEP out of the first 2 Spanish classes.
• Goal #7: Learn to use coupons when grocery shopping.
• Goal #8: Make slow cooker yogurt.
• Goal #9: Create 2 pieces of art per month.
• Goal #10: Study scriptures 365 days this coming year.
• Goal #11: Learn how our DSLR camera works.
• Goal #12: No candy, soda, or cake (except on birthdays) for a year. I know this goal has something to do with my perpetual tummy ache I've had since Christmas.

12 goals. 12 months. 12 posts. That works great.