My Daunting Task for 2015

Ahhhhh yes. How the picture in my previous post rings so, SO, true. (You can read the previous post here) Lets just say I'm tackling a goal I had set since Talan's 1st birthday. 4-1/2 years and 2 brothers later. I figure if I not only write it down, but put it out there for the world to see, I may just accomplish it.

I used to consider myself a very organized person. I mean, I was on top of things. Organized or pack rat, same difference. I saved and filed EVERYTHING. (I just threw out pay stubs I've had since 2000 and utility bills, from I don't even know how long ago, before we moved. Travis INSISTED on me downsizing my files.) I mean, I even have all of our candid shots taken at our wedding, in photo albums. It's seriously amazing to think that I not only got CD's of our pictures from people, but I PRINTED them AND stuck them in a photo album!

Then came the year of our precious Talan David. Holy Moly first born son, you were the bees knees and we probably took 5,000 pictures...in your 1st month. How in the world would I print all these cute and adorable pictures and fit them into photo albums where his first year of books wouldn't take up a few bookshelves in itself? By month 6, I remember buying the biggest photo album I could find and filling it FULL of months 1-3. Wait, what? 3 months? I have 18 years with this kid and one photo album is only his first 3 months? That's when my obsession with pictures and the drive to stay organized with pictures came to a screeching halt.

I don't remember if it was when we graduated high school, or when it was, but I do remember my mom going through all of our pictures and dividing them out for who's picture should go to whom, and the 4 of us kids receiving all of our beloved childhood pictures, in a box...with a brand new photo album to put them into ourselves. I LOVED these types of projects, but that's also when I had in my mind, at possibly 18 years old, how organized I would keep my kids' photos and how exciting it would be to hand them over one day. Funny. And the pictures I received in a box, by the way...was about the same amount as what I took of our first born in his first 3 months of life. Oh how I have a love/hate relationship with this new digital world we're in. Do you really think our parents whipped out a camera the 1st time we ate spaghetti!? Doubtful. Do I have a picture of the first time Talan ate spaghetti? Absolutely!...along with his first rice cereal taste, first blueberries taste, first yogurt experience. I mean the list of his first foods is ridiculous, but I sure have proof that I fed him and was introducing him to new foods! Did our parents take pictures of our new shoes EVERY TIME we got a new pair? And I mean, JUST the shoes. That would be a NO! Do I have pictures of just Talan's shoes out of the box and then just his feet in his new shoes? Duh! I mean, they are so cute and little, and HELLO...stylish!

This is when I realized not only do I have a problem, but also...I am NEVER going to put all these pictures in a blessed photo album; which is when a light bulb went off. Shutterfly books! I would choose the highlights/favorites of each year and make a book for every year! (How would I choose favorites? They're ALL worth highlighting and being put in a book, right?) Well, this task has been on my list of goals at the start of every. single. year. since Talan has turned 1. And the number of books I have?...ZERO! I am now NINE years behind! How am I nine years behind you might ask? Talan is 5, Grayson is 3 and Kylan is 1. And that's not even including if my husband and I want to remember all those precious years and have books for ourselves.

So yesterday I got to work. I am officially overwhelmed. I plan to work on 1 book a month. That gives me 9 months. What will I do with the remaining 3 months? Work on their current years of course. As they will ALL  have had birthdays this year. Oy. Why can't I freeze time?...or be a night owl or a morning person so that I can accomplish this task when I have no interruptions? By the time 2016 rolls around, don't be surprised if I never take a picture. ever again.

To all you overachieving Pinterest moms, please don't judge me. I wish I were just like you :)

Flush Your Fears

It's been a while. One of my goals for 2015 is to blog more, do facebook less. Problem is, I can't force a blog. I need something to be inspired about. To make the words flow. To write something meaningful. Something that will want people to come back for more. I probably over think it, and that in itself, may be a fear. That my blog is boring and uninspiring.
As I woke up this morning to the most wonderful birthday posts on my facebook wall, I was scrolling through my news feed and one particular post caught my eye, and must have struck a chord in me that goes so deep, I was, and still am, holding back tears. It was a post by a fellow Younique presenter/leader about 'flushing your fears'.
Many of you may see my posts and think I'm the one that will post daily about funny antics my boys do or say. I laugh. A lot. I love my life with my boys, husband included. I take and post pictures. Probably post a motivational and inspiring quote here and there. Throw in some recipes and posts about my Younique business, and that's my life. All rosy. Easy peasy. Right?

I've always loved this quote. You probably see other people's posts, and have different views of others as well. Everyone creates their own "facebook image". It's easy to hide behind a computer screen and create this image of bliss. But lets be real for a moment.
We all have fears. What you may not know about me, is that I have many fears. I say silent prayers to God throughout the day. A lot. I struggle to overcome my fears daily. Fear is a powerful thing. It's what can hold us back from our full potential in life. That's why I love the New Year so much.
It's a time where I can allow myself to be fearless. I feel like I can conquer the world. I even write my goals down as if nothing will get in my way. And then...January 1st happens. Fear gets in the way. The fear of not accomplishing what I set out to do just the night before. The fear of failure. This particular post I came across on January 1st really hit home...as much as it also made me laugh.

But it also hit home in a good way. To finally put my fears aside and just go for it. So, as this picture shows, I got one SMALL task out of the way that I had put on my "goal" list since 2011. The year Grayson was born...(and no, it wasn't a fear, but more of a procrastination. Ha)

Yup, pretty silly. I finally sorted out all of the boys' Christmas ornaments and got them their own, individual box to store their very OWN ornaments or decorations in. Something they can look forward to every year, the way I remember looking forward to going and opening MY OWN box of MY ornaments. It was a magical feeling every Christmas. But even FINALLY getting around to do this one VERY small task, felt awesome. It felt like I could move on to something a little "bigger", possibly something that IS a fear. The point of showing you this, is the same point Dave Ramsey makes when you work on your Snowball debt. Paying off your smallest debt, no matter how small, gives you a feeling of accomplishment and like you can move on to something bigger. Right?...Which may in turn mean accomplishing a fear!

So my 'word' for 2015 will be 'Fearless'. We will always have fears. It's a part of life. But it's time to conquer some of those fears. My wish for each of you, is to have a fearless 2015.