Retreat Week

Three years ago I discovered the joy of retreats. I am talking about taking time out for yourself to reflect and mediate. The first year I only did a couple retreats and most of them were one day retreats on a Saturday. The second year I went on a work retreat. The first day we covered work items and reflected on our jobs and how we could make them better. I had the opportunity to stay over night at a condo in Heber City. I made the second day a personal retreat. The third year I tried to do a retreat every month. That only lasted about four months. One Saturday a friend and I went to the spa and had a spa retreat. That was by far one of my favorite retreat. For one of my goals this year I decided I wanted to revive the monthly retreats. Goal #3: Take time for myself. Plan retreats! I have created a schedule for the year and my retreats are marked on the calendar in ink. My retreats will vary in the activities and things I will be reflecting on. In January my retreat day was all about setting my goals for the year. I made my list and reflected on what I wanted to do in 2009. I always choose a scripture as my theme of the year so I spent some time reading through scriptures to find my theme scripture. I chose my word of the year. (See my blog post "One Little Word" January 5th). In the afternoon was my spa day at home. A facial, manicure, pedicure and a nap. It was great. In February I decided to do a Retreat Week. I will be starting tomorrow. I am so excited for this week. I have had the itinerary for this retreat planned for years and I have never completed it. I found it on a website two years ago and it is meant for a weekend. I decided to break it down over a week because I am unable to take a weekend off and go to a cottage or hotel somewhere and just spend time alone. We will see how if it works.

A New Favorite Quote

"Life is to be enjoyed.
Not just endured."

More Christmas Photos

Here are few more photos from Christmas Day.

Christmas morning. It's not quite the same as it was when we were young. It's actually about 9:30am instead of 6:00am. No pajamas. It's still the same excitement though.

Me and my calendar of my favorite place.

After the great opening of the presents. The three single adults living at home.

Ethan with some of his new toys from grandma and grandpa.

Ella and her new doll set.

Putting together the doll stroller. "I think it goes like this."

Ella feeding her new baby while she waits patiently for the stroller to be finished.

Ethan and the Batmobile.

One Little Word

One of my favorite scrapbookers and artists is Ali Edwards. Each year she selects one word as a point of focus for the year ahead. As I began thinking of what word I wanted to choose for 2009 the word Simplify came to mind. I have been trying hard to cut back on things in my life that are not important. I am currently cleaning out my scrapbook supplies and keeping only those supplies that I really enjoy using. I have finally discovered the way I want to scrapbook and it is very basic. I am able to complete pages faster which means it is working so now I am going to simplify my scrapbook supplies. The changes we have experienced in the world the past year have everyone living on a tight budget. As I focus on saving all I can I am trying to live a more simplified life. There are so many areas in my life that can be simplified. I am finding that life is less stressful when I live in this way. I don't have to search through a pile of "something" and my routine is a lot faster. It just makes sense. My word for 2009 is Simplify!

Long Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away

Christmas Day is my favorite day of the entire year. I love Christmas. This year was the first year I didn't wear pajamas while opening my presents. I am 35 and I guess I decided it was finally time to be an adult. I really just wanted to look good in our pictures. It was a great Christmas morning. Trisha, Brandon, my parents and I opened our gifts and then Jared and his family came over and we spent the entire day playing with the kids toys. It was so much fun. Trent and Anne went to England to be with Anne's family for Christmas so we were minus two people this year. Instead of boring you with a bunch of words I am going to let the photos tell the story of Christmas day.













Ethan's Christmas was all about Star Wars and Ella's was about dolls. It took her a little while to open her gift. Ethan was done before she even had two strips of paper off her package. It was worth it when it was opened. She was so excited to have her own baby with a stroller. She didn't want to be apart from her doll, she even had to eat dinner in the high chair with Ella. It was so fun to celebrate Christmas with my family this year. I will have to get my mom's memory card for more photos. I was behind the camera for all of these. She snapped a few good ones of me and my siblings. That will be for another post.

December in a Nutshell

I am very behind on my blog. I can't believe how busy I got this month. The problem is I can't remember all that I did that kept me so busy. This is what I do remember. December 5-9 my sister and I went to Disneyland. It was a fabulous trip. I am a Disney Commando. I plan everything and I am very crazy about it. I have about 15 books about Disneyland and I have several websites I read on a daily basis. I know all there is to know about Disneyland and I love to share. I have been to Disneyland 15 times most of which was in the last 10 years. You would think I have seen and done it all in Disneyland. I have not and I discovered there is still more that I haven't seen so I bought an Annual Passport and I will be making another trip in 2009. I was able to do all the things I had planned and more. I have had a dream of celebrating my birthday in Disneyland so on December 8th (exactly two weeks before my actual birthday) I celebrated in Disneyland. It was so much fun. I will admit that I cried a lot that day. I got a birthday pin to wear and everytime someone would wish my a Happy Birthday I would get teary. It just made the trip extra special. It was so fun to be there during Christmas as well. If you have never been to Disneyland during Christmas plan a trip right now and the best time to go is during the first week. Not the weekend but the weekdays if you can manage it. Monday and Tuesday the parks were empty. Here are a few photos from the trip. If I can ever figure out how to add a slide show I will add more photos.

The next week or so is a bit of a blur. I just remember working a lot to make up hours from my vacation. I remember thinking that I needed to get my Christmas cards sent out and get my shopping done. On Wednesday night I was supposed to go ice skating with the Young Men and Young Women in our ward but I was so exhausted that I skipped it. At around 8:00 I received a phone call from our Bishop. I was caught skipping out on my calling. The punishment or rather the real reason for the phone call: I had to speak in church on Sunday. Needless to say I didn't get anything done for the next three days except for my talk. It went fairly well. Let's see that brings us to the week before Christmas. Another busy week at work. And yet another blur. I do not remember much of this week. My luggage was still sitting in my room partially unpacked. Again I remember thinking I should send out Christmas cards. Saturday before Christmas I was out with all the other 'last Saturday before Christmas' shoppers trying to get all of my Christmas shopping completed in one day. Mission accomplished in an hour and a half. I hit some great sales and found exactly what I was looking for. My mom also accomplished her mission of finding me a birthday present. I attended a wild and crazy family Christmas party that night. Sunday was the Ward Choir Christmas program. This is the second year in a row that I have been able to sing with the choir after 7 years of being the Choir Director. Monday was my 35th birthday and it was a wonderful celebration. My family is so nice to me. And then three days later Santa came to visit our house. Christmas Day was a day of fun. So much fun that it deserves it's own post. So more to come but maybe not tonight because I have some much needed cleaning to do.

Temple Square Lights

Tonight we went to see the lights at Temple Square with my brother Jared and his family. The lights were beautiful and it was actually not freezing cold. I like seeing the lights when we can take our time because we are not cold. The kids loved to see the different nativities and all the colors. It just a fun tradition.