Happy New Year! The Gift of Pics!

So, we're safely back home and recovering from our trip. We left NM on Saturday and stayed the night in Moab. After breakfast in Moab, we decided to visit Arches National Park on the way home. We were there for about four hours and had a blast. H hadn't been there in about 18 years and me and the kids have never been there. It was really pretty and a good workout after the hikes. H and Mister decided that we should make it a family tradition to visit Arches every New Year's Eve. After we got home, we started a fire and got cozy in the living room. I think I fell asleep at about 11:30 and heard the neighbors set off fireworks at midnight. I opened my eyes, told the kids Happy New Year, and dozed back off. They finished their movie and fell asleep in the spots right away. I remember when I was a kid and wished that I was older so I could go out on New Year's Eve and party all night. Now that I'm old enough, I'm too tired to go out all night. I would rather curl up on the couch with H and the kiddos and watch videos in my warm, quiet living room. I know, kinda boring, huh? It works for me though.

I got back my Praxis scores and guess what?! I missed the passing score by 5 points. 5 POINTS!!! Can you believe it? It's like the GRE scores all over again. Henry pointed out though that I took both the test with almost no prep time, I took them cold. So, now I need to retake it and hope the grad school will believe that I probably passed the second time since my scores won't be back before my application deadline. It's quite depressing, on the spirit and the wallet...these tests aren't cheap. I know the only reason I didn't pass that test is because I ran out of time. That's always the case. And it sucks. I'm still waiting for my second GRE scores.

New Year's Resolutions: I hate that word because it has a stigma and it sets you up to fail a week later. Instead, I have decided to make some "changes". I will wake up earlier, got to bed earlier, do my workout video and do the dishes and breakfast...all before everyone else wakes up (I figured the sound of the dishes should wake them up nicely without all the fuss of dragging them out of bed too), put aside some extra money (for Christmas, trips, emergencies, or just fun stuff), travel more, cook more, clean more, organize the house better, drop at least 20 lbs (what I have gained in the last 3 years) by the end of spring and help the hubby to lose his weight too, and many other things that will be added later. Sound ambitious enough? Well, those are the goals and I will keep you updated on my progress. I plan to start them tomorrow, beginning with the exercising and morning stuff since the kids are starting school again tomorrow and it will give me about 6 days of practice before my classes start. Wish me luck!

The LonDolls plan to get together on Thursday for lunch. Hobby has been in Colorado at a culinary grad school and she's home on vacation. She plans to make us a few dishes to sample that she's been working on. For our part, we will be contributing some of the ingredients. I can't remember the fancy names of the dishes but it will be some sort of spinach/cheese pastry and a carrot soup. Sounded yummy when she was talking about it. The ingredients I'm bringing are spinach, feta, and carrots. Just those alone sound good. I'll let you know how it turns out. I have faith in her cooking. In other LonDoll news, Nobby is officially engaged. She and her boy have been unofficial for a few months now. They made it the real deal over Christmas. I hope she has a ring to show off on Thursday so we can all ogle. They will dream about the day it will happen to them and I will remember the idealistic and hopeful outlook I had before taking the plunge. The catch 22 of being older is that when you've finally grown up enough to learn something that will help those that are still on the path, they don't want to hear your advice or just don't think it applies to them. (I'm referring to my kids and some other young adults I know...not so much about newlyweds, but it's applicable to them too.)

This is the necklace I was talking about that I got for Christmas. My mom saw it and said it had my name all over it. I'm enjoying it.

I also thoroughly enjoyed holding all the new babies, especially my new niece, Patience. Here's a pic of me on the right with her the morning after I had her spend the night with me. Do I look a little tired? She has breakfast at 5am. I better watch out, I look a bit too comfortable with that babe in my arms. On the left, my mom is passing down her tradition of making Christmas sugar cookies to Holly. Later, we decorated them and ate more icing than we used.