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!

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. =)

Bring on 2016

We are a little late this year with our traditional New Year's poster. What with our trip to Utah and then getting settled back in afterward, we waited until tonight's FHE to assemble our goals for the year.

Each year, James and I set individual goals, and we set goals for our family. We require our goals to be quantifiable--they have to be things that we can check off. We also try to create a mixture of mental, physical, and spiritual goals.

First, let's review the past year. Unfortunately, I threw out our 2015 poster before remembering to photograph it with the accomplishments checked off. But here's the photo from the beginning of our year:

We were about halfsies on our goals this year. James started law school, earned his 3rd Dan, and read 6 out of his intended 10 new books. As a family, we moved to Durham and went on a family camping trip. James and I went on a date every week, and met our temple attendance goal. As for me, I earned my 4th Dan, read 5 new books (+started a sixth) and learned to make sushi (simple rolls, at least). Plus had a baby!!

This year, I feel like our goals (mine, at least) are a bit more modest, and at the same time, a bit more realistic. I present our 2016 poster:

For James:

• Obtain a 1L job (aka legal internship this summer)
• Obtain a 2L job (for next summer)
• Read 10 new books
• Change oil in car
• Read the Book of Mormon
• Join a legal journal

For Valerie:

• Referee at the NC State Championships
• Read 5 new books
• Create a photography portfolio, utilizing monthly blog posts
• Read the Book of Mormon
• Teach Joel the alphabet
• Win NaNoWriMo (aka write 50,000 words)

For our family:

• Family camping trip
• Washington D.C. trip 
• Donate 4 handmade blankets to a charity
• Take Joel & Xander to the zoo
• Go on a date every week
•  Attend the temple at least thrice

It promises to be an interesting year! Candidly, the main focus of my life right now is my children. Mothering is a full-time job for me, so anything else I get done on the side is a major accomplishment. Still, I look forward to 2016. I can't wait to see what it offers us.

Our Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

The biggest event of 2014 for our little family was the birth of Joel Riley Holley on April 15^th. He was born at home, a healthy 7lbs 12oz. He has grown so much since then! Now 8 months old, Joel's favorite activity is crawling around and getting into everything! He also enjoys pulling himself up to standing. He's still getting used to solid food, but loves peas and especially bananas. Joel is generally a very happy baby. He gets along very well with our sweet dog Shadow. Sometimes Joel pulls Shadow's fur, but Shadow usually repays him by licking his face (which we try to discourage!) 

 

James graduated from BYU this month, magna cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, and a minor in Computer Science. He has done very well in school, but is definitely ready for a little break! He took the LSAT and got an excellent score, so has applied to several of the top 10 law schools. We should be hearing back in the next couple of months. It is very likely that we will be moving next summer for James's schooling, which will be quite an adventure!

Both of us continue to be busy at our taekwondo studio. Valerie cut back after the baby was born, but we each still teach about 5 hours a week, in addition to the classes that we attend ourselves. We love our work at the dojang, and enjoy seeing our students progress and grow. We also enjoy competing together, especially on our studio's demonstration team. We competed at several local tournaments this year (including one when Valerie was 8 months pregnant!). Valerie also had the opportunity to referee at several events, including the National Championships in San Jose during July. James and Joel got to spend some quality time together that week, and they did great—better than Mommy did away from her boys!

We are loving our beautiful house, and have made a couple of big improvements this year. In the spring, we renovated our back deck. It was in pretty rough shape when we bought the house, but now is quite lovely. Then this fall we hired Valerie's brother Kyle to tile our kitchen. He did an amazing job, and we absolutely love having the tile floor.

Our big adventure at the moment is preparing for Black Belt Testing, which will take place at the end of January. Valerie will be testing for her 4^th Degree and James for his 3^rd Degree. There's a lot of work that goes into it beforehand, and the test itself is going to be pretty intense! We're really looking forward to it.

Thank you for reading, and thank you especially for being a part of our lives. We love you very much! We hope that you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

Love,

The Holley Family

Christmas 2014

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!

Summer Happenings

It's been a busy summer so far, and whenever I think it's going to slow down for awhile, more things come along to keep us hopping!

The summer kicked off with Joel's baby blessing on June 1st. We finished our deck project just in time to have our family and friends over after the blessing. It was a beautiful day! The blessing that James gave to our son was perfect. And it was a delight to have so many loved ones join us at our home.

The second week in June, we went camping with my parents and cousin Ben. We went to Payson Lake. My parents have a canoe, and we all enjoyed paddling around the lake (except maybe Shadow). We played games at the campground, and enjoyed being outdoors. Baby J did awesome. We took his pack 'n play, which fit remarkably well in our tent, and his little swing for him to hang out in. It was a blast!

The week after that was perhaps the most stressful of the summer thus far. At our taekwondo studio, we have a daycamp each summer where students can earn their next belt in a week (Belt Jump Camp). It falls the same week as our regular Color Belt Testing, which takes place in the evenings during that week. But this year, these took place the same week as the Utah Summer Games, a tournament down in Cedar City. That meant that in addition to everything else we were doing, we had an additional 6 hours of demo team practice that week. We were at the studio 10+ hours almost every day leading up to the tournament, and then headed straight down to Cedar City for the event--where we were busy the entire time. Poor Joel didn't get to see much of his parents that week, though he made lots of new friends!

Then it was our "week off"--from the studio, at least. James started Summer Term that week, so he didn't really get a break at all. I keep busy too, with meetings with my coauthor and editor about our third book, with cleaning our poor neglected house, and with prep for the following week. That weekend, James ran in the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay with his father, brother Matthew, and the rest of the "Ragnar Ruh Roh" team. James was totally beat by the end of it, but had a great time. He's trying to talk me into doing it with him next year!

James and I took on a big responsibility this year of planning our studio's Leadership Conference. We took our Leadership Team to Bear Lake, where in addition to camping, swimming, and playing, they received 8+ hours of instruction on a variety of leadership and life skills. We had a great time, and learned a lot.

We had a day at home, during which we celebrated Independence Day (James almost set our fence on fire with a stray firework) before I took off to San Jose, California for the USA Taekwondo National Championships, where I worked as a referee for three days. I'll admit, I had a really hard time leaving James & Joel. (And trying to pump while refereeing was nightmarish.) But I also had a great time refereeing. I got to meet new people, see old friends, and see some excellent martial arts. 

James did great with the baby while I was gone. Though he does say that he appreciates me more, he kept up very well--he took care of the baby and the dog, watered the plants, did the laundry, bathed the baby, and kept up with his homework. He said it was "excellent father-son bonding time."

 

And here we are! We have lots more fun things planned for the summer, including some more camping, a family reunion, play tickets, and our Black Belt Overnighter that will launch us into our testing cycle for my 4th and James's 3rd degree Black Belts, which we'll be testing for in January. We're looking forward to having a great time!

#Babylove

I'm just so in love with this baby!

As of Thursday, our baby Joel is one month old. He has been doing quite well. With rare exception, he is an angel baby. He sleeps well, getting up once or twice a night. When he's awake, he's generally content, unless dirty/hungry/etc. And he just love snuggles!

The biggest challenge so far has been breastfeeding. It's been an interesting adjustment, particularly because I haven't really had anyone in my immediate circle who has exclusively nursed. As I was adopted myself, my mother unfortunately doesn't have experience of her own. So it's definitely felt, at times, as though I'm floating along like jetsam.

We had some challenges right at first, figuring out how to latch properly, and then overcoming the bruises Joel gave me during the process. Fortunately that resolved quickly. 

I guess the biggest adjustment has been figuring out how to nurse in varying degrees of public. I've never really paid a whole lot of mind to the issue, but now I'm neck-deep in it. To tell the truth, James has become my greatest champion, encouraging me when it's been difficult, cheering me when it's been awkward. I've discovered that our society is very strange with its views on breastfeeding. But I've slowly gotten more comfortable with it, both functionally and emotionally, and Joel is flourishing.

At his two-week appointment, Joel weighed in at a stout 9lbs, which actually made us and the doctor question his original birth weight (7lbs 12oz). It's pretty unlikely that he'd have grown that much so quickly. Regardless, it was nice to confirm that he is growing and healthy. We weighed him again this past week, and he was up to 10lbs!

 Joel is a very expressive little boy. His most common facial expression is a furrowed brow. His smiles are coming more frequently as time passes, but they are still pretty rare, and therefore, rather precious.

I love watching James interact with the baby. It is very sweet to watch them snuggle. But James also enjoys dancing, jiggling, and--against my protestations--tossing baby J. It's clear that Joel knows who his daddy is, and their relationship is adorable.

Life with a baby is challenging at times, but incredibly rewarding. I love being a mother, and I just love this sweet little one. He is truly a blessing in our lives!

Our Ninja Nursery

Early in our pregnancy, James and I went out to dinner, and the wait time was 40 minutes or more, so we wandered down to Babies R Us to idle away the time. It was amusing; we scoped out cribs and rocking chairs and enjoyed the giddiness of prospective parenthood. At one point, we walked along looking at the bedding sets for cribs. James commented that all the little boy stuff seemed to either be cutesy animals or sports, neither of which he particularly cared for.

Some time later, when we began discussing what we wanted to do with Baby J's room, we talked about some different color schemes we could go with, but we kept feeling dissatisfied with our options. Footballs and whatnot were definitely out. I was thinking that I could resign myself to puppy dogs, but James was not satisfied with this, and I definitely was craving something a little more...unique. And through the course of our brainstorming, we found it.

Ninjas.

We began in January with painting the room. We had settled on red and black, but I feared that if the entire room was painted these colors, it would be overwhelming. So we decided to paint the top half of the room red, leave the bottom half the tan it was already, with a thick black stripe through the middle.

Getting started (the view from the door)

Getting started (the view of the door)

First coat of red

Now for the black stripe

We were anxious pulling the tape off, but it looked great! This picture doesn't do it justice.

It was amazing to me how much the color added warmth to the room. However, even though I wanted to hang out in the room all the time, it wasn't very comfortable with the uncovered window. (I don't like feeling like I'm in a fishbowl!) So next I approached my mother about making some curtains. (My mother is a curtain-making wizard.)

Turns out, Mom had already found some ninja-themed fabric online. She'd been hoping to find something less expensive, but nothing had turned up, and this particular fabric was just too perfect to pass up. In short order, the window was measured, the fabric purchased, the design decided, and Mom set to work. A few days later, this joyousness joined us:

Isn't this fabric perfect?

 
One of the most important parts of the nursery for me was a chair. Seeing as how I'm going to spend a lot of my time nursing, I wanted to create a comfortable space in the baby's room. I think I tried out every chair at RC Willey looking for "the one." You have to understand, because I'm short, a lot of chairs aren't that well suited for me--you know, I wanted to be able to have my feet touch the ground, which is sometimes a challenge! But I did find a chair that I loved (and it was on clearance, even better!) and though I was worried (rightfully) about the color clashing, I could not deny that this was the right chair for me. So we brought it home.

Fortunately, some of the color issue was mediated by the arrival of our next addition:

There is just something about having a crib in the room that really makes it start to feel like a nursery. Our beautiful crib came as a gift from James's mother, for which we are incredibly grateful!

Next came a purchase of our own, to match the crib:

The dresser, having been shipped from Amazon, was somewhat of an adventure to put together. LOTS of pieces. But it came together perfectly, and we love it!

The next addition (one of my top favorites!) came from Patrick & Shaylee, our brother- and sister-in-law, as a baby shower gift. Could not be more perfect for our ninja nursery!

But the best part of all came this week. A few months ago, I asked my dear friend Ashley Stubbs, an incredible artist, if she would be willing to create ninja "chibis" on the walls of our nursery. To my delight, she took on the project with great enthusiasm! On Wednesday she came over and drew the ninjas on the walls, and today we undertook the painting of them.

The fabulous Ashley Stubbs!

And here you can see the finished pieces:

"Ninja star guy"

"Ninja Guardian" peering over the edge of the crib

"Swingy guy"

"Kicky guy"

And behold, the finished product at last! I tried to get a couple of different angles so you could take in the full effect. =)

We are absolutely in love with our ninja nursery! Now it's time for our ninja baby to show up!!