63. Make a slide show movie of Luke's first year

I ended up compiling all the videos I have taken of Luke into two full length videos set to music.

I am very happy with the way they turned out.

I love watching them already.

56. Finish Luke’s memory book

It’s complete!

I got this book for a gift when I had Luke and never thought I would use it since I scrapbook, but it had some really great things in it for recording memories.

Things I usually don’t scrapbook about so I decided to do it.

I have kept up on it every month.

Hopefully Luke will enjoy reading it one day.

41. Send out Christmas cards each year

Christmas cards sent for 2010.

6. Give someone the 12 days of Christmas

Even though we got caught by accident on the 3rd night, it was still fun!

89. Visit my grandmother's grave

It’s my Grandmother’s birthday today.

And boy do I miss her SO MUCH.

She has been gone for 11 years.

She passed away right after I graduated High School from cancer.

I like to think that she waited until I got home from my Senior Trip before passing so I could say goodbye.

It was a hard day.

You see no one is like my Grandma. She is Super Grandma and I am not kidding.

I was hoping she would send Luke to me on her birthday, but she decided to hold on to him for an extra 4 days. I didn’t mind.

I went to visit her grave yesterday. It has been a long time since I have visited it.

I wish I was better about going.

It was such a cold and rainy day that I couldn’t stay long with Luke out in that weather.

It was also super windy that I didn’t dare leave her birthday present on her grave in case it would be blown away, but I will be back to bring her a gift.

We love and miss you so much.

I am glad Luke got to meet you again. Keep my other babies safe for me.

17. Take Luke to Disneyland for his birthday

We made it! It was quite the eventful trip.

It was full of yummy food, fast rides, lots of walking, and some sleepless nights, but it sure was a blast!

7. Make spray painted pillows

I am deciding to change this goal.

When I first made this list we were living in our other place.

We had a futon in our office and I wanted to make spray painted pillows for it.

When we moved into our new home, we left the futon for our tenants, so bye bye pillows.

We do, however, have a small chair in our office.

I had leftover material from the curtains so I made a pillow for the chair.

Maybe one day I will make the spray painted ones, but for now I am calling this complete!

65. Sew curtains for the office

I finally got around to sewing curtains for the office.

I am patiently waiting for a sewing machine of my own before attempting to sew a dress or a skirt.

I made the curtains out of a shower curtain.

I love the Damask fabrics, but they can get really expensive. So when I saw this material as a shower curtain I snagged it up.

These were super easy to make because it is just a simple valance, no fancy work involved.

61. Dress in coordinating Halloween costumes as a family

Complete!

91. Take Luke to a pumpkin patch

I have been able to take Luke to a couple of pumpkin patches this year.

The first one was called Country Farm Fest. He picked out a nice round pumpkin.

The second place was at Vineyard Garden where we spent the day playing with friends.

I even let Luke paint his pumpkin

Which ended pretty quickly when all he wanted to do was eat the paint.

We will try again with the paints next year.

39. Take Luke camping

We made it camping this year!

Wahoo!

Even though we were able to stay in a cabin with a heater, bathroom, kitchen and TV, I still consider it camping.

We had a great time and Luke did very well.

 
Getting ready to ride

The beautiful lake and mountain scenery behind us.

There will be many more camping trips to come, this is only the beginning!

15. Teach Luke sign language

Luke has been signing MORE the last couple days. I think we are on our way!!

25. Go to a concert of an artist/band I've never seen

We finally made it to a concert of an artist I have never seen!!

We went to Darius Rucker & Brad Paisley.

And it was so good!

We had such a great time.

After all the mess of postponed concerts, missed concerts, and not so fun concerts, it was all worth it.

23. Reconnect with an old friend

For awhile now I have been wanting to get in contact with a girl I have known since first grade. She lived just down the street from me and we played all the time together.

Then she moved to Richfield.

Since then, we have been in contact off and on throughout the years. I usually see her every Labor Day in Payson Park and I visited her a couple times at Snow College.

Once we both got married the visits were more rare.

When I was pregnant with Luke I ran into her at the mall and was thrilled to see her again. We were going to exchange numbers, but then got too distracted by our conversation. We found out we have a lot more in common than we ever thought we did.

After this meeting I have been wanting to get in contact with her again, but had no way of finding her.

Except…

I knew she would be in Payson for Labor Day.

I went hunting her down, but we never were in the same place at the same time. I did however get her number from a family member I ran into.

I decided to finally get in contact with her the other day. I was a little nervous for some reason?

She said she comes up this way about once a month and we need to go to lunch.

We have a lot of catching up to do.

Cross your fingers our lunch date will happen so my goal will be complete!!

42. Try a new haircut

I have been trying to find a new haircut to try for the past couple of months.

NOTHING has sparked my interest.

Every time I went to the Salon I would ask my hairstylist if she recommended anything new.

We both came up short (no pun intended).

My problem is when it comes down to it I really don’t want to cut it short.

I don’t mind my hair short, but it always grows too fast so I am constantly having to get it cut so it continues to have the style I want.

Which is just way too much work for me.

I usually end up just growing it back out since this is the way it has always been.

I hate all the awkward length stages it has to go through to be long again.

So where am I going with all of this?

Well last appointment I was complaining I just needed something new without cutting it short.  

She decided to give me new layers and a show me a new way to style it to mix it up a bit.

So here it is:

It is just a simple wavy look, but I kinda like it for a change once in awhile.

What do you think?

44. Invite friends over for a night of fondue

So I am going to change this goal a little bit.

Why?

Cuz it’s my goal list and I can.

Last weekend we invited some friends from our old ward over for a shrimp boil.

Most of you have heard me talk about a shrimp boil before.

They are a staple and a tradition in my family.

Our friends had heard us talk about this boil as well and wanted to see what all the hype was about.

So instead of fondue we decided on a boil.

It was also our way of saying thanks to them for helping paint our new place.

It was a really fun night with full bellies and lots of laughter.

I forgot to take pictures of everyone while they were over, so all you get is a picture of the food.

26. Cook something new every night for 1 week

Done!

Ok, I actually cooked 8 new things.

Maybe it wasn’t every night for a week, but every night I did cook it was something new.

I decided to do this goal right during labor day and Jared being out of town so even though it took me a couple of weeks to finish, I am still calling this goal complete.

Here is what I cooked:

Meal 1: Thai Peanut Quesadillas

I have to admit I was hoping these would be really good because I got the recipe at a cooking class where a couple people loved them,  but it was a major disappointment.

Let’s just say cheese and peanut butter do not go hand in hand.

Meal 2: Sesame Summer Salad

Yummy! This was really good. It was a great salad for summer. I have taken it to two get-togethers already and it has been a big hit!

Meal 3: Sweet Pork

I have a sweet pork recipe I really like, but I decided to give this one a try since it only required 3 ingredients. It turned out so good. I used the pork to make burritos. The next night we used it to make pulled pork sandwiches. This recipe is a keeper!

Meal 4: Flatbread Tacos

I forgot to take a picture of this since I made them for guests to eat during the BYU game. Everyone seemed to like them. I will have to make them again so I can give them a try.

Meal 5: Chicken Chimichangas

These were pretty good. Tasted a lot like an enchilada, but crispier. You bake in the oven instead of deep frying so at least they were a little healthier too!

Meal 6: Honey Ginger Chicken

Delicious! Super easy. And who doesn’t love grilled chicken?

Meal 7: Chicken Curry

Again, I forgot to take a picture. But that’s ok because it wasn’t very good. I love chicken curry so I was pretty disappointed. If any of you have a yummy curry recipe I would love to have it.

Meal 8: Beef & Broccoli

Jared said this was delicious. Which actually means a lot because Jared never says much about food. He isn’t like me where my life is centered around what there is to eat.

He even asked me the other day when I am going to make this again so this recipe must be keeper!!

If any of you are dying to try any of these recipes let me know and I will send them your way.

53. Send homemade birthday cards to everyone in my family for 1 year

Failed!

August is such a hard month to remember birthdays. There are too many birthdays and I fell behind on sending out cards.

I have no excuse, a message is sent to me a couple days before reminding me and my cards are already made.

Sorry Jex & Isaac, I think I missed you guys.

So here is my plan.

I am going to start over again starting in September and go through August of 2011. (Sshh, don’t tell,  but there are no birthdays in September so I have it made for awhile)

Hopefully, by next August I will be a pro at sending out cards.

26. Cook something new every night for 1 week

This is the week for new recipes!

2 recipes down, 5 to go.

Stay tuned for the results…

25. Go to a concert of an artist/band I've never seen

This isn’t working out for us too well.

First, Bono cancels the U2 concert.

Then, we missed Country Throwdown because of the rain. Which ended up as a night of blue skies just as the concert was starting and we were pulling back into our driveway.

Next, we went to Tim McGraw and sat by drunks. However, this concert doesn’t count because I have already seen Tim in concert.

And just a couple of weeks ago we completely spaced that it was the Toby Keith Concert and missed it completely. UGH! (I can’t say much more than this because I am still too upset.)

Let’s just say it is not our summer for concerts.

My only hope of completing this goal this summer is the Brad Paisely concert on September 24th. Can someone call and remind me so I won’t space it this time?

Sigh.

17. Take Luke to Disneyland for his birthday

We are all booked and ready to go. Can’t wait for November!!

90. Learn how to edit photos using Photoshop

I had to change this goal a little.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a girl in my ward and we were discussing digital scrapbooking. She told me I should use Picnik.com to edit my photos. She said it is very user friendly and free.

I decided I needed to try it out because I wasn’t getting anywhere with Photoshop. I have to say I am converted as far as editing goes.  I am not a photographer, I only use a digital camera so I didn’t need much, but it is nice to be able to edit the pictures a little bit.

Here is a picture I tweeked just a little to give it a rustic feel.

 

50. Buy a house

Well, it is actually considered a townhouse, but it is still a house and we are so very excited about it. It will be finished at the end of August and then the fun begins…moving.

14. Bear my testimony 4 times in one year

Second time done…and it isn’t getting easier. This time I chose to bear my testimony again in RS. I just absolutely loved testimony meeting in Sacrament on the 4th of July. It was a very powerful meeting. Every testimony touched me very deeply and strengthened my own testimony that I needed to say that in RS. Hopefully the next time will be in Sacrament. It will just need to be a time when emotions aren’t close to the surface, no one wants to see that :)

10. Get caught up on digital scrapbooking

I don’t think you can ever be caught up on scrapbooking as long you are still taking pictures, but I would like to be working on pictures from the year we are actually living in.

Recently I switched over to digital scrapbooking and I love it. It still takes me just as long, but without the mess. I just got my first book printed to give to Jared for his birthday. It was a book dedicated to our dating months. I think it turned out great, however we dated in 2008 so I am 2 years behind plus a baby book to do. I have a long road ahead.

Here is a little preview of how the book turned out:

77. Take a picture of Luke everyday for 1 month

I started doing this when Luke turned 6 months. Today Luke is 7 months old. It has been fun taking a picture of him everyday.

Here is the picture from day one:

Here is the picture from today:

He has quite the personality. Here are some of my favorite throughout the month:

I am going to try and continue to take lots of pictures of Luke. I love going back and looking at them. I have slacked off on taking video of him though so now I need to catch up on that!

22. Get stomach looking like it was pre-baby

Yesterday I had a Dr.’s appointment and they had to check my weight. I was happy to see that I am officially back down to the weight I was before I was pregnant. Hooray!!

Sorry no pictures will be taken of my stomach :)

33. Save more than I spend at the grocery store

Grocery Bill: $10.31

Coupons: $5.62

Spent: $4.69

I know this wasn’t a big shopping trip by any means, but I still made my goal. It was cool to see the price as $10.31 then have the cashier say “ok, your total is $4.69”. I wish I could cut my bill in half when I go buy groceries for the month. I still haven’t even come close to cutting that bill by half, so this might be my only victory on this one.

Let me know if any of you have been able to do this goal with a big shopping trip.

92. Send 5 people "Just Because" cards

These will be in the mail tomorrow.

Check your mailbox to see if one is for you!

44. Invite friends over for a night of fondue

No, we didn’t invite friends over for fondue, but I did make it.

Just need to make sure it is good before inviting anyone over, right?

Next time I will make a chocolate fondue also.

Let me know if you want an invite.

31. Hike the Y

In preparation for the “big hike”, Jared and I hiked the “G” this last Saturday.

To be quite honest, it was a little steep and gave me a pretty good work out.

It made me realize I am in terrible shape.