Breakfast with Santa

Well, the past couple of weeks have been eventful! That first week after Thanksgiving and decorating for Christmas, I got really sick with a stomach bug one night. I was throwing up a ton and ended up having Daniel take me to the hospital, which ended up being just an expensive mistake. It was the middle of the night, I was tired and not feeling good, and I thought I was throwing up blood. So I went in, and it ended up being nothing. They hydrated me, gave me some anti-nausea medication, and sent me home. It took a few days after that to feel back to normal. I didn't throw up anymore, but I was out of energy, exhausted and had moments of nausea.

Saturday the 5th, there was a Ugly Sweater Christmas party at the Faucette's house. It was a nice party, with food and white elephant gift exchange. We had a good time.

Daniel's been taking a bunch of work off lately. He took a day off when I was sick to help me take care of the girls. And he took another day off last week. They still haven't been giving him much to work on, so he figures he might as well take the time. We're drinking it up now, because once busy season hits next month, we won't see much of each other.

This past Saturday, the 12th, was our Ward's Breakfast with Santa. Chelsea Bulkley had really decked out the cultural hall. The theme was the Grinch, and it was so fun and cute. We had breakfast and talked with our friends; Brooke did some Christmas crafts; and then Santa came and I stood in line with Brooke to see Santa. She was SO excited to see Santa, she was having a hard time waiting. When we finally got up to Santa, she went right up to him and he put her on his lap and she had no problems talking to him. He asked her if she'd been a good girl and if she helped her mamma, she said yes, of course. She told him about her newly painted nails. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and she said, "I like the Grinch!" She was so cute.

It's been a fun Christmas season so far! And we're so excited to go to Oregon next week! I can't wait to see my family!!!

Goals

Over the past few weeks, I have been considering my life as it is and where I'd like it to go. Which leads me to start thinking about goals. It is an appropriate time of the year to be thinking about goals, I suppose. It's the ending of another year, and we have a new one, with all kinds of new possibilities, right on our tails.

So, today, after a few weeks with it on my to-do list, I sat down, with a pen and paper, and started thinking about my long-term goals. I realized, as I did this, that I have accomplished almost all of the goals that I had growing up: I attended BYU and got my degree; I went through the temple and made covenants; I fell in love with an amazing man, and a returned missionary, and got married in the temple; I've started a family -- 2 beautiful, wonderful babies, hopefully with more on the way; and recently, I ran a half marathon. There are a few things I didn't do: serve a mission, which I'd planned on doing; and have a successful career. I thought that it would be important to have some kind of respectable career, as the world sees things. And I'd planned on that. However, I have chosen an occupation, and I truly love my occupation and do not, at present, feel the need for something else.

I find it so wonderful that I have done nearly all that I had set out to do in my youth! I'm living my dream! But, in discovering this, it begs the question ... what next? And so, I wrote out a list of the things that I really want to accomplish in this life. It's probably what anyone would expect: I want a bunch of kids -- happy, healthy, good kids; I want my husband to be happy; I want my house to be in good shape and for us to be prepared for ... whatever; and I want to always be working on myself -- staying healthy and well, close to the Savior, and always learning new things and new skills. I do have other dreams: I'd like to travel one day; and serve a mission with Daniel. And there are other things that I consider, but haven't decided about, like homeschooling my kids or going back to school myself. But if these things never happen, I don't think I would be heartbroken. I suppose that I don't care too much about what it is that I do in this life, so long as I achieve my ultimate goal of eternal life in the world to come -- and so long as I do something good. I just want to follow God's plan for me, and I suppose I'm not sure what all that entails.

Which brings me right back to goals. There are so many good things that I could be working towards. But what do I want to work towards? Training for my half marathon was really good for me. I had something concrete to work on and a real goal in mind. I was focused and confident. But since that's ended, I feel like I need something else to work on. Too much that I could do. Not entirely sure what I should do.