2016 Wrap Up

We did it guys!  We made it through that beast of a year, 2016! 

I know everyone has labeled 2016 as a horrible year, but on a personal level, it wasn't so bad for me.  We made more than one of my life-long dreams come true this summer by heading to Washington, DC.  We saw Gettysburg, Arlington, panda bears, all the monuments, museums, the Shenandoah river, the Appalachian Trail, and a couple of black bears (could have done without the black bears, though they did make it memorable).  Julia started up the violin and Irish dance (giving me much delight).  Ella finally realized her destiny by starting ballet and tap.  The transition to 3rd and 1st grade has been the easiest transition on record.  We squeezed in a fall trip to Utah, where we got to attend a baby blessing and take Julia to the women's session of General Conference.  Everyone was relatively happy, and relatively healthy.  It's been a good year.

I revisited my 2016 resolutions and discovered that I actually achieved quite a lot.  Here's the rundown:

• Read Jesus the Christ.  

I DID IT!  It's been on my to-do list for years, and I finally did it!  The key for me was to accept that I was going to take it nice and slow.  I read one chapter a week, adding it to my Sabbath day routine.  Some chapters were long and required two weeks.  Some Sundays were full, and required that I read that chapter throughout the week. But by the end of November, I finished it.  And I'm so very glad I did.  I loved reading about the life of my Savior on a deeper level.  My understanding of who Jesus Christ was, and is, and His purpose and mission has grown immensely.  I'm so glad I finally took the time to read this book.

• Finish 30 by 30.   

Ahem.  Let's break this down a bit.  As a reminder, I created a 30 by 30 list, and only finished 25 by my 30th birthday.  I got #26: Visit Chicago six months later (which is funny, because we live here now).  That leaves 4 more: Find a family name to take to the temple; learn to play all the hymns on the organ; learn to play a new song on the guitar; and learn to play the William Tell Overture.

So I didn't do all those things.  But I did do one: I learned to play William Tell.  I picked up that music in October and said, "This ends now."  I tried to play it every day, until things finally started to come together more.  And I conquered the beast.  Not to perfection, not to performance level, but I can play that dang piece of music, and I'm so proud of myself.

• Blog more.

A quick scan of my blog archive tells me that in 2015 I had 16 posts, while in 2016 I had 32 posts.  26 of them were from Light the World in December, but...I did blog more.  Check.

•  Walk 500 miles.

I attempted to go walking every week day that the girls were in school, but I didn't go every day.  In the end I recorded 430.8 miles.  But...I got a fitbit in August, which records all my steps not just when I set out to go walking, and it says I walked 500 miles, so maybe that counts.  Julia says it does. 

•  Read 12,000 pages.

12,615 pages read this year.  Boom.

•  Start my book blog.

I did start my book blog, and I love it, and I hope you love it too.  Bookburger. Check it out.

•  Visit Chicago when it's not the dead of winter.
  

 We went to the Art Institute of Chicago on a lovely spring Thursday in April, fulfilling this requirement.  And I don't think we've been back since then.  I like the idea of the city, but I don't really like being in the city.  I don't like finding parking, or paying for parking, or dealing with traffic, or worrying about losing my children. Sorry Chicago. 

So there you have it.  I did just about all of the things I set out to do.  Stay tuned for the 2017 resolutions!