Blogspiration

It's a new year. It should be an exciting year! I'm fairly certain our lives will change forever this year. However, I'm following the trend and reflecting on last year.

In looking back through the year as it relates to my blog (and thinking about where I want to take it this year) I have a few thoughts. I made 77 posts, at least two per month and significantly more in the summer. There are a lot of life event posts and only a few thoughtful posts, with the last half of the year being primarily life event/vacation/baby only.

In starting this blog, or rather in getting serious about it, my primary goal was to journal and capture my thoughts in a more organized, spell-checked and searchable way. Part of journaling is remembering life events, but probably with more of a focus on the emotions and thoughts behind the life events. I still want this to be one of the purposes of my blog.

However, as time goes on, life gets busy and family continues to be far away, I'm okay with an increase in life event posts. Especially now that our family is growing. It's a good way for extended family to keep up with what we're doing when we don't see them every week.

So, in true new year fashion here are some goals for the year, in no particular order:

Have a baby (hey sometimes you need a sure thing on your to do list)

Make time for hobbies. I know that sounds funny, but in having some more personal time throughout the last half of 2012 I realized how hard it is to make time for things that basically only matter to me. Knitting, crocheting, reading, blogging and even photography don't have a place in my weekly routine (neither does cleaning the shower.. but you can't win them all) and therefore they get pushed off to the random Saturday morning when I don't have an agenda. My goal this year is to find a way, even with a new baby, to build these things into my routine. Case in point, it's taken me 12 days to finish this post!

Spiritual depth. I've been doing pretty good with reading my Bible but I'd like to have a little more depth to it and actually study and learn as much as read. Along with this I'd like to be better about spending more purposeful time in prayer. I really want a Spirit-led life and I feel like these things need to be more of a priority.

Eat more green vegetables. And a greater variety than spinach, broccoli and green beans... okay, and the occasional kale. Fruit, no problem.. green vegetables however are harder to work into the daily diet.

And because what's a post without pictures.. here are some favorites from the past year.

January

Blake turned 30!

February

Apparently nothing interesting happened in February.
but here is this pretty sunset picture I took with my cell phone!

March

The first picture. I {finally} got my new camera!

April

Spring Break in Mexico with the Sauras.

Family Easter on Bainbridge Island

May

Home for Mother's Day

 

Memorial Day with the Sauras on Bainbridge

June

Early birthday beach trip with Sauras

I finished my second job in Pendleton

Weekend home to celebrate father's day and
turning 29 (this is also when we decided
to move up our baby plan)

   July

We celebrated my cousins' marriage

We moved!

We made it to the beach with the Beasleys!

We hiked up to Adam's Creek Meadows

August

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary

 We went on our big backpacking trip and found out that the Sauras are expecting!

September

We went camping with cousins for Labor Day weekend

We celebrated my cousin's 30th b-day and my dad's 56th.

 

October

Woo-hoo! We are expecting!

We made it to Rome!

 

November

We toured Israel!

 

December

We enjoyed telling everyone we could that we are expecting!

We had a great Christmas!