2018 New Years goals

Hello, dear abandoned blog. I hadn't realized until I pulled up the blog just now that I haven't posted since June. Ooops! But, it's time for our annual New Year's post, so here we are.

Every year we create a poster with our goals for the year. This is one of my favorite traditions. The rules for our poster are A) the goals must be achievable in one year, and B) they must be quantifiable, as in, they have to be things we can measure and check off. Let's review our goals from 2017:

I will take a photo of our checked-off poster when I get back from Utah.

James:
He has not yet obtained a job for after graduation, but is in process. He has been applying, has had some interviews, and will be having more. We're still waiting to hear back from some of his first interviews. It's an involved process! James did not meet his weight loss goal. He did, however, complete Camp NaNoWriMo (twice)--he wrote 22,000 words of a story that he plans to complete after graduation. =P He has nearly finished his book-reading goal, and gave himself a grace period to complete his last book (he has a long flight this coming week with no kids!) He did not create something to donate. He has been very diligent about his daily scripture study.

Kids:
Joel potty trained this year! Yay! We tried early in the year, and it was a struggle, so we put it on hold until this summer. The timing was right at the end of June, and he did it! He night trained at the same time, which was extra awesome. He has not learned to read yet, but is in progress, and we are renewing that goal for this year, and doing the same for Xander's ABCs. Given that Xander is still learning to talk, that one turned out to be a bit ambitious for this past year.

Valerie:
I did indeed complete the first draft of "The Seventh Guardian" over the summer, which was a gigantic triumph. I did not meet my weight loss goal. I have also not completed the 100 Challenge yet, but I gave myself until Black Belt Testing in two weeks, and I'm on track to complete it. I did read the New Testament this year, and I won National Novel Writing Month in November. I completed a 52-week photography challenge, and I did read 6 new books this year. Yay.

Family:
We did not create a budget this year. =P We did go on a camping trip, to Falls Lake in September. James and I attended the temple 5 times this year. We did not walk Shadow twice a week, though we definitely have been walking him more than we had in the past. (We're terrible fur-parents.) We did go on a date every week this year. We did not practice taekwondo 2 hours every week, but we came pretty close.

Presenting our goals for 2018!

When we get back from Utah, we'll make an actual poster and update this. =)

James:
-Meet daily Duolingo goal
-Read 10 minutes daily
-Get a post-grad job
-Practice the piano 1 hour a week
-Secret goal that I (Valerie) am not allowed to know about yet

Valerie:
-Write the first draft of Allspeaker
-2018 Photography Challenge
-Finish Duolingo Spanish course
-New 100 Poomsae Challenge
-Weekly bike ride

Joel:
-Learn to read
-Learn to roundhouse kick

Xander
-Learn the ABCs
-Play a (very short) song on the piano

Family
-Move to: ?
-Find a new martial arts school
-Camping trips x2
-Attend the temple x3
-Read the Book of Mormon (nightly companionship study)
-Walk Shadow at least once a week
-Go on a date each week


We definitely have some repeats. Some, like walking our dog and going on dates, are important for us to maintain, and having them on our poster helps keep them a priority. We've dropped the number of temple attendances this year since we have no idea, as of right now, where we'll be living during the second half of the year and what our proximity will be to a temple.

Despite the uncertainty that our future holds right now, we are excited for whatever 2018 will bring! We hope that you also have a wonderful new year. =)