2019 New Years Goals

Happy New Year!

Every year we create a poster with our goals for the coming year. This is one of my favorite traditions! The rules for the annual 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. 

First, I like to review how we did on our goals for the previous year. To be perfectly honest, we didn't do so hot this year. 2018 was a year of upheaval for us. At New Year's we didn't know where James would be working post graduation, so a lot was up in the air. As things coalesced, some of our goals changed or fell by the wayside. 

James:
Did marvelously with his Duolingo study this year, he's been making great progress in Spanish. He did read (or listen to an audiobook) every day. He did obtain a post-graduation job. He did not practice the piano every day.

Joel:
Learned to read! Of course it's still a developing skill, but we love to hear him read beginning books to us, it's awesome. He's still working on his roundhouse. =)

Xander:
His goals were ones that we neglected this year.

Valerie:
I did not work on my novel "Allspeaker" this year. (Although I did make some progress on "The Seventh Guardian" fortunately.) I did pretty well with my photography challenge. Duolingo totally fell by the wayside for me. I did finish my poomsae challenge in time for my black belt test in October. Bike riding didn't happen as intended. But I definitely got pregnant!

Family goals:
We successfully moved to Utah, a location which meant we didn't need to find a new martial arts school, haha. We went on one of the two camping trips we'd intended. James and I did attend the temple three times. We are still working through the Book of Mormon together. We're terrible about walking our dog, but at least we've been on a date every week!

And now I present our goals for 2019!

James:
-Daily Spanish study
-Daily reading/audiobook
-Settle finances
-Create and follow personal exercise plan
-Weekly video journal
-Bake 12 new recipes

Valerie:
-Earn 5th Dan
-Finish "The Seventh Guardian" revisions
-Project 52 with Clickin Moms (ie weekly photography project)
-Journal weekly
-Read 5 new books
-Finish Duolingo Spanish tree
-Take a yoga class

Family/Couple goals:
-Successfully move to Colorado
-Family camping trip
-Go star gazing
-Find a new martial arts school
-Trip to Tennessee
-Create a family budget
-Attend the temple (number of times to be determined when we know what part of Colorado we're moving to)
-Weekly "Come Follow Me" family study
-Weekly date night

We also want to add "Plant a tree" if we end up buying a house this year. But we'll have to see!

We decided not to set goals for the children this year. We've decided  to wait until they're old enough to set their own goals. We feel like we shouldn't be forcing our ideas of what their progression should be, but should let them discover their own interests. Of course we'll be working on things together, but it's a little different when we're setting up checkboxes on their behalf. So we'll revisit those in later years.

We are excited about this coming year. We've got some big changes ahead for our family. Hopefully our move will go well; we are looking forward to settling down at last and hopefully not moving again for a while! =) 

We wish you a happy New Year and a great 2019!

Spring Break

Last week, James was out of school for spring break, so we ran away to Tennessee! It was a wonderful excursion.

My in-laws moved to Tullahoma last summer, and we just love their house. They have 21 acres in the middle of rolling hills and fields. I took some photos of the property last August when we visited for the first time.

Unfortunately, the weather did not favor us. The temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s for weeks, but for our spring break, they were mostly in the 30s and 40s, and it rained the first two days we were there. Boo! It denied us a few of the outings that Momo and Papa had planned. But we still made the most of our trip!

Monday and Tuesday we did a lot of relaxing. (It was raining, so not much opportunity to go outside.) The boys watched movies with Momo and Papa. James did schoolwork, and I worked on my novel. We got to hang out with James's brother Nicholas and his wife Jo. Joel and Xander spent lots of time playing with Papa. =)

On Tuesday evening, James and I got to go on a date! (Without the kids!!) We went out to dinner and then saw Logan.

Shadow has mixed feelings about visiting Momo and Papa's house. On the one hand, there are more people to snuggle with, which he likes. On the other hand, there are three other dogs there. He does not really love Baron, who is a sweetheart and just wants to play! Joel, on the other hand, loves ALL the dogs very much.

Shadow, Baron, and Liath.

On Wednesday morning, Papa took us and all the grandsons to the local hands-on science museum. It was surprisingly fun! There were tons of interesting things to toy with. Joel absolutely loved spending time with his cousins. Then we all went to Chick-fil-A, and who can complain about that?

The only photo I got at the museum, on my phone. (I was too busy building a miniature train.)

Thursday may have been the highlight--we went to the Nashville Zoo! It's just over an hour from my in-laws' house. Many of the animals weren't out, because of the cold, but we still had fun. I took loads of pictures. (My version of fun!)

Our last day was St. Patrick's Day. I completely neglected to pack anything green. Oops! That evening, James and I made dinner. It was quite a party! Momo and Papa, Nick and Jo, Victoria and her three boys, plus the missionaries! James made burritos, and I made a traditional Irish apple tart. I even had a (somewhat misshapen) shamrock on top!

What an excellent trip! We can't wait to visit Tennessee again in May. Hopefully it will be much warmer!

Fondue Night

I love fondue.

I can't remember the first time I had fondue. It was not something my family did, but I seem to remember being introduced to it during high school sometime, or maybe it was during college. But my first oh-my-gosh-I-love-fondue-! moment came on our honeymoon, when James took me to The Melting Pot in Salt Lake City.

You guys. It was amazing. It was almost (another story) the most expensive meal I have ever eaten. It was decadent. It was delicious. It was delightful. And I was forever changed.

The first thing that James and I bought with one of the gift cards given to us by amazing people who came to our wedding was an electric fondue pot.

It's been ages since we had fondue, so James and I decided to splurge and have it for dinner this week. I used this recipe (see below). I'd found a number of delicious-looking options, but all the ones I looked at first called for alcohol. While I do not object offhand to alcohol in recipes where it will cook out, James asked me to look and see if I could find a family-friendly recipe. I followed it precisely, and it turned out fantastic.

Here is my (very slightly) modified version:

Ingredients

• 2 cups lightly packed shredded Gruyere cheese (about 8 ounces) *
• 1 1/2 cups lightly packed shredded Swiss cheese (about 6 ounces) *
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup low-sodium, good-quality chicken broth
• 1/8 teaspoon lemon juice (don't leave this out! I just gave a quick squeeze of a lemon without properly measuring)
• 1 tablespoon finely minced or pressed garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black or white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• Dash of paprika

Directions

1. Place both the shredded Gruyere and Swiss cheeses in a gallon-size resealable bag with the cornstarch and shake until evenly coated.
2. In a medium saucepan (or stovetop-safe fondue pot), bring the chicken broth, lemon juice, and garlic and to a simmer.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the cheese, a small handful at a time, stirring constantly, but not briskly. It works best to use a wooden spoon and stir in an S-shaped motion, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot so it doesn't burn.
4. Once the cheese is melted and begins to just barely simmer, add the remaining spices and move it immediately to the table in the fondue pot. It should be the consistency of warm honey.
5. Serve with your favorite fondue dippers. Our favorites include bread, apples, and cubed ham.

*Do not use pre-shredded cheese. The consistency is very different!

Fondue night this evening was a hit! Joel loved the finger foods (he did not get any of the cheese) and James and I had a great time dipping away. :)

Weekend play

We've had a couple of eventful weekends! Last weekend, we had plans to go camping with Patrick & Shaylee (James's brother and his wife). It turned out to be something of a catastrophe! First of all, we weren't able to get a campsite. There was a snafu with trying to reserve one, and by the time we all got off work, all the first-come-first-served sites were taken. So, we ended up camping in our backyard: "Camp Holley."

As we were getting set up, however, James and Patrick discovered that their tent (borrowed from Shaylee's parents) was broken. Guh. Fortunately I was able to zip over to my parents house and borrow one of their tents. Meanwhile, Shaylee was working on dinner, which unfortunately was taking forever--we discovered that the fuel on my campstove was running low, which was why things weren't cooking. However, it was getting pretty late by the time we got it all figured out--about the time that the boys finally finished putting up the tent, after a couple of tries. So, it was about 10pm by the time we ate!

Shaylee had made homemade fries to go with the burgers that James and I made. When she finished with the fries, we needed the campstove, but her pan of grease/oil was still hot. So she laid the pan down on the patio to cool while we continued making dinner, intending to dispose of the grease once it was cool. But after dinner, we went straight into our campfire--the one truly pleasant part of the evening. We roasted s'mores and Starbursts and watched birds (we think) flying back and forth in front of the stars.

James and I had already settled down in our tent when we heard Patrick and Shaylee rustling about for awhile--dealing with their belongings, I thought at the time. But the reality was a sad state indeed. It turns out that Shadow had consumed most of the pan of grease, and proceeded to vomit several times in the house, as well as in Patrick and Shaylee's tent. They hadn't noticed when they first went in and it got everywhere. It was awful, James and I were so embarrassed. After they got cleaned up, we got them settled in our guest bedroom for the night.

Needless to say, our "camping trip" did not turn out at all as planned. The next morning, we dropped the pretense of camping, and determined to just enjoy the rest of our time together. We had breakfast, played games, and hung out most of the afternoon, which was a much more pleasant experience than the evening's adventures!

Sunday evening, we had decided to make our first attempt at Chicken Bryan, our favorite dish from Carrabba's. We get the same thing every time we go. So we decided to try to make it ourselves! (And so maybe we can try other things when we go next time.) It turned into a very special evening for us. We got all dressed up. We ate from our wedding china and silver, with candlelight. And to our delight, our chicken bryan was delicious!

This past weekend started off with a trip to the Call's new house. A few days ago, I posted a plea on Facebook--James and I have wanted to go swimming all summer, but it just hasn't happened. We finally made some time, but lo and behold, it turns out that the pools have limited their hours because school's in session, and we wouldn't be able to go. Fortunately, we have awesome friends! The Calls were very kind and invited us to their house to swim. Their pool is warm enough that Joel got to give it a try! He was not a fan of the life jacket, as you can see, but once we took it off and just held him in the water, he enjoyed splashing for a few minutes.

After classes on Friday, we got to visit with our friends the Estradas. It's been AGES since we've all hung out, since before Joel was born, in fact. We had a blast playing games and whatnot. But one of the best parts of the evenings was watching our babies interact! Savannah is 2 1/2 months older than Joel (though he's bigger!) and just on the verge of crawling. They were so cute together!

Saturday was a day that James and I have been eagerly anticipating. We had tickets to the national tour of WICKED, playing up in Salt Lake. We were so excited to see it! Of course, there was some nervousness attached--we had a babysitter (non-family) for the first time. I was a little anxious about it, but everything turned out great. The show was amazing, and we came home to a happy baby.

It's just nice sometimes to have a great weekend. =) That's all!

Music, Food, Books, Writing, and Thoughts

I've been wanting to write a blog for several days now, but I've been struggling with a lack of anything profound to say. So welcome to a rambling blog about a bunch of random (and mostly unimportant) things that have been on my mind.

1. Music

I have a complete obsession with The Piano Guys. I've been following them pretty much since they got started two years ago, and I was a huge fan of Jon Schmidt long before that. Their music inspires me. Their music unfailingly makes me happy. I really enjoyed their newest video, a cover of "Home" by Phillip Phillips--a song that I insisted go on our wedding playlist, even when James protested that it didn't really have anything to do with a wedding. But I won that one, mostly because we both like the song so much. And even though I don't prefer TPG's version over the original, I like it equally well for different reasons.


2. Food

I get bored with food easily. Eating the same things over and over again without alteration makes me crazy, and if I don't get something different, I feel utterly lackluster. The problem is that is often ends up with us eating out more often, because that satisfies my need for variety, however, it creates the problem of us eating out too much.

In an effort to resolve the issue, I've started seeking more creative meals to make at home. Nothing that I haven't made before, I just have to think about it a little more. Recent efforts have included homemade pizza, salmon & asparagus, and just last night, chicken salad on croissants. All have turned out well, satisfied my cravings, and made my husband happy. :)

3. Books

I recently read "Bitterblue" by Kristin Cashore, which is the sequel to a novel called "Graceling" that I read sometime last year.

I really enjoyed the first book, and while I found "Bitterblue" to be engaging, it was also really messed up. At the same time that I picked up "Bitterblue" from the library, I also got the prequel, "Fire." James asked me last night if I'll be starting to read it, and I replied that maybe I'll pick it up again another time, but after the psychological nastiness of "Bitterblue", I'm a little iffy about another book in this series. At least for the time being.

On the day before Mother's Day, James took me to Deseret Book. I picked up "Choosing Motherhood" at random, and could not put it down--even after taking it home!.

I am in love with this book. It's a selection of stories by women (mostly from Yale) who all had education and successful careers, but who each, through different circumstances and series of events, chose full-time motherhood instead.

I love the idea of choice. None of these women felt like they had to be stay-at-home moms. None of these women caved into pressure from family or church leaders (indeed, most of them felt the opposite sort of pressure from their coworkers and colleagues). Each of them sacrificed their own personal goals and ambitions for their children--and none of them regretted that choice.

I strongly identify with these women. Not because I have any difficulty with the idea of becoming a mother; on the contrary, it's something that I am anticipating with great excitement and eagerness. No, I identify with the choice. I desperately crave our children. But having them, staying at home with them, will mean the sacrifice of other things that I greatly enjoy and value. I have a full and rich life, I have talents with great scope, I have prospects and ambitions. I want to be an acclaimed author. I want to become an international referee in Taekwondo. I want to serve as an adoption advocate the way I have in the past. There are many other things which I hope to accomplish in my life. And the thing is, I know that if it is God's will, I will accomplish those things. But there is a time and a place. And when my children are in my home, my place is with them. My time is for them. I choose to give my life--my time, my talents, my education, everything the Lord has blessed me with--to those precious souls He entrusts to me.

My sister-in-law Shaylee blogged (raved might be a better word) about this book, "The Gift of Giving Life" and so, having sufficiently piqued my interest, I decided to pick up a copy. I'm still only about a third of the way through it, but I'm finding a lot of things that I really enjoy and appreciate about this volume.

There is great emphasis placed on natural childbirth, though I notice the authors are careful to caveat with the notion that any birth experience can be a spiritual one. It's been interesting for me, because I have always believed strongly in natural childbirth (though I will probably always deliver in a hospital. Both James and I are of the "just-in-case" mentality) and I really appreciate feeling like I'm not a totally backwards nut for not wanting drugs and interference when I give birth. I do have to say (don't take it personally, Shaylee!) that some of the ideas presented in "The Gift of Giving Life" are a little weird for me to digest (blessingways? I can't quite get my head around that one) but overall, I'm really enjoying the book, especially the spiritual and scriptural connections that I've been making.

4. Writing

I should actually call it Publishing, because I haven't really been doing a lot of writing lately, but I have been doing a lot of detail-follow-up nonsense with regards to the publication of my second book, The Scourge of Narak. I received the almost-final draft of the cover art a couple of days ago, and I'm really excited--I'm looking forward to sharing it soon! I've also been seeing drafts of the new maps, which is nearly as exciting as the cover art. There is just something special about seeing artwork somebody else has created based off ideas from my head.



I guess that's all for now. I will probably have some big-ish news next week, but in the meantime, live life to the fullest, and have a great day. :)

Life is good!

Last week was Spring Break at the studio. While James still had school, this still opened up a lot of free time for us both--of which we took full advantage!

On Monday we went for another test flight at the Discovery Space Center in American Fork. These test flights help the flight directors figure out what's working and what's not working, with regards to the controls as well as the stories. Unfortunately, this test flight wasn't nearly as exciting as our last one. But we still enjoyed the company!

That day, I also embarked on Camp NaNoWriMo. This is a 30-day writing challenge hosted by National Novel Writing Month. I am attempting to write 30,000 words of the third book in our trilogy, between April 1 and April 30. It's been slow going thus far, though I have been making steady progress. Goals always help me stay focused better, so I took on the challenge.

For family home evening that night, we put together our 72-hour kit. It's something I've wanted to have for awhile, and especially now that we're married, I wanted to have what was needed for both of us. I looked at a couple of different websites for ideas of what to put in our kit. For example, we did not put any bedding or things like that into our kit, although we did figure out a method for carrying our sleeping bags if we did happen to need them. We looked around at some water filtration options, but didn't find anything we liked within our budget. So we are storing 3 gallons of water alongside our kit, and going from there for now. We did include one spare set of clothing and undergarments, including socks. This is in addition to food, first aid, and other general supplies we pulled from the lists' suggestions. I felt a lot better about life once we had it all put together.

Tuesday was temple day. James got out of school at 2pm, and we drove up to the Draper Temple for a session. James had never been to Draper, and we both found it to be lovely. The woodwork in this temple is particularly beautiful. It was nice to have extra time to spend. Many of our temple trips are on a pretty tight schedule, stuffed in between school and the studio. Being on Spring Break allowed us to linger in the Celestial Room, which is always a powerful experience. Afterward we headed to Carrabba's for dinner. It's a personal favorite of ours, with several important occasions having taken place there.

That evening we took my ring in to get 're-dipped', a process that we were encouraged to have done every six months. Basically they recoat the metal of my engagement ring to make it all shiny again, as well as cleaning the whole thing. Unfortunately, this meant parting with my ring for two days, and after about ten minutes, I thought I was going to lose my mind. (I've gotten VERY accustomed to wearing it!) So James, dear that he is, bought me a substitute ring to wear while mine was gone. However, I'll tell you--totally worth it! My ring was SO much brighter when we got it back. I couldn't believe how much more the diamonds sparkled. We were very impressed.

On Friday, I donated blood--finally. I had attempted to donate blood alongside James several weeks ago, but was turned down due to my low hemoglobin. I was pleased to be accepted for donation this time around. However, my visit resulted in a rather terrible bruise on my arm! This is my bruise, six days later.

My students yesterday decided that I must have been battling with elephants! Of course, my boss (tongue-in-cheek) asked if my husband was abusing me. Either way, it's a pretty impressive bruise for a relatively low-key blood draw.

Over the weekend, James and I watched General Conference. To my surprise, my mother-in-law offered us her tickets to the Sunday morning session. I was delighted! For having lived in Utah pretty much my whole life, I have never actually attended a session of General Conference in the Conference Center. And it was lovely, sans the ticket-beggers and protesters (the former actually bothered me more than the latter, strangely enough). I was glad we got to attend Sunday morning in particular, because I have always loved listening to Music & the Spoken Word prior to that session, and it was even better live. So so so wonderful--as was conference as a whole! I felt spiritually recharged.

On Tuesday night, I decided to reenact one of my favorite childhood memories. Throughout my growing-up years, my mother would periodically make homemade pizza, which was almost always accompanied by homemade cinnamon rolls. I loved this meal, and on Tuesday I succumbed to a hankering for it. Thank goodness for a patient husband! We didn't eat until about 11:30pm that night. But I think he will agree that it was totally worth it! The pizza turned out great, as did the cinnamon rolls that followed! All from scratch.

This weekend, we are headed to Arches National Park for a little camping trip. This is our "spring break" getaway, and our first camping trip together. It's also our first chance to use the sleeping bags and tent that James' mother gave him for his birthday. We're super excited!

Life is good!