I say it every month, but I cannot believe it’s May! Looking at my checklist, it doesn’t look like I did all too well for April, but I promise you, it feels like I’ve been very busy and productive nevertheless!

1. Read one book and keep on keeping up with the Book of Mormon 90-day challenge. The 90-day challenge has been feeling a lot more challenging lately… I’m still making an effort so that’s good enough for me.

2. Do two more crafts. I did just ONE real craft this month.

3. Choose a pattern and get supplies for Peanut’s quilt. I finally decided on the quilt I want to make, and Joann’s is having a sale during this next week, so I’ll hopefully get over there to pick out my fabrics and get started!

4. Make four more new recipes. 

5. Order the space-saver bags and go through Kaya’s closet. I’ve gone through her 6-12 month clothing and it’s in a bag!

6. Check ten things off this spring cleaning list. Haha. I did my regular weekly cleaning but didn’t do any deep scrubbing this month…

Goals for May:

1. Get Kaya’s closet organized. With two little girls living in there soon, we really need some kind of shelf/cubby to store things. The outgrown clothes are just about under control now, but there are still books and random objects that really need a home.

2. Sort/wash/organize newborn and 0-3 month clothing and cloth diapers.

3.Complete the front of Peanut’s quilt.

4. Get all of my 2013 photos off the laptop and onto the external hard drive. I LOVE Adobe Lightroom… but let’s be serious. My photos can’t just sit in there forever. I need to get them all organized and clean up our laptop.

5. Complete the 90-day Book of Mormon challenge.

6. Donate old clothes.

There are probably a million more things I should add to this list… but I don’t want to make it too overwhelming. Hopefully I get all this done, plus some!

I am so pleased with how well I did for March:

1. Don’t buy any sandwich bread. I baked bread from scratch all month long and I’m SO proud of myself for it!

2. Finish reading two books. I read one novel and I’ve been keeping up with the 90-day Book of Mormon challenge so I’m crossing this one off.

3. Complete two craft projects. One involved fondant, and the other involved sewing. I’m excited to show off both here soon!

4. Try four new recipes. I think we made at least six new ones. Mmmm!

5. Start going through Kaya’s baby clothes. Um. Oops. I still have time to do this so I’m honestly not too stressed about it.

And now on to April (how are we already a quarter of the way through the year?)!

1. Read one book and keep on keeping up with the Book of Mormon 90-day challenge.

2. Do two more crafts.

3. Choose a pattern and get supplies for Peanut’s quilt. I’ve looked at about a million different ones and still haven’t made an official decision. My mom-in-law helped me make a quilt for Kaya (which you can see in this post), so I’d like to keep up the tradition and do one for this baby too.

4. Make four more new recipes. This might seem redundant, but it helps me keep cooking, which is something I easily slack off on when I’m pregnant!

5. Order the space-saver bags and go through Kaya’s closet. For real this time.

6. Check ten things off this spring cleaning list. I do some of these items weekly, and some obviously don’t apply because we live in an apartment, but I’d like to do a little deep-cleaning around here before baby comes.

So… I completely neglected to make any goals for February, which means that I’m still talking about January’s goals (and I feel like I didn’t do so well with those, either). Here’s how it went:

1. Book of Mormon 365. Obviously, it will take a year to finish this, but we are still going strong and reading together!

2. Make some felt food for Kaya’s play kitchen… or get started on a quiet book. Grandma made her a quiet book, and I decided we already have plenty of play food to clean up at the end of the day, so I tossed this one.

3. Get rid of things we aren’t using. I have piles and bags… it just still hasn’t gone anywhere.

4. Get some space-saver bags for all of Kaya’s outgrown clothes. Whoops.

5. Make homemade bread. DONE! Everyone loved it.

Hopefully I do a little better in March…

1. Don’t buy any sandwich bread… which means that I’m compelling myself to make it. I’m really hoping that this will help me master the art of bread-making and get into a routine with it.

2. Finish reading two books. I am loving the Kindle Paperwhite I got for my birthday, so this should be an easy one.

3. Complete two craft projects. I have about a million ideas pinned on Pinterest, and I also have a few things I really want to make for Peanut (I already feel like I’m running out of time to finish things… although my due date is four months from tomorrow!)

4. Try four new recipes.

5. Start going through Kaya’s baby clothes. I need to take inventory of what we have and what we might need more of. I want to go shopping, but I just can’t until I really know what we’ve already got packed away.

We had a wonderful, relaxing month of December, so I’m ready to get back on the goal bandwagon for 2014!

For January…

1. Book of Mormon 365. This year Michael and I are reading The Book of Mormon every day, with the hopes of finishing by the end of 2014. This awesome Instagram account divides up the reading for you every day (and come on, if you have time to check Instagram and see it on there, you should have time to read your scriptures)! It’s been really fun so far and I know that by the end of the year it will feel great to have accomplished reading it as a family.

2. Make some felt food for Kaya’s play kitchen… or get started on a quiet book. I really just need some kind of project to do! Kaya could definitely use something to look at during church, or some play food that she can put in the oven… so I’m thinking a play pizza or muffins might be the answer!

3. Get rid of things we aren’t using. Whether this means recycling, donating, or trashing stuff… it needs to be done. The decluttering bug has bitten me hard with the start of the new year. I have a bag of clothes and a box of books to donate, and a small collection of light bulbs and batteries that need to be recycled.

4. Get some space-saver bags for all of Kaya’s outgrown clothes. There is just not enough room in her closet for everything to be loosely packed, and it’s driving me crazy. I need to just get it all packed together!

5. Make homemade bread. This has been on my list to do for a while. I want to see if I can do it, if it tastes good, and if it’s worth it. I don’t know if I’ll make our own bread forever… but I want to be able to say I tried it.

Happy January!

And today we have a special birthday message for Kaya’s most loyal follower…

Here’s how I did for October:

1. Keep doing ab workouts 3 times per week. Rocked it! Thankfully, this has become a habit now (FINALLY) so I am not going to list it as an official goal. Here is one of my favorite new videos!

2. Throw a Halloween Party! We did it! We spent a lot of time crafting, decorating, and cooking, and it was so fun to have our friends all together.

3. Make our Halloween costumes. It turned out that our costumes were not “handmade”. We went to Goodwill and saw the cutest little elephant costume for Kaya for $2.95 (seriously… how can you pass that up?), and so we decided to be a zoo. We threw together some random clothes to make Michael a zookeeper and me a zebra. So no… no sewing or painting involved, but it still got done (cheaply)!

4. Try 3 more new recipes. I think we tried maybe 5 or 6 new ones? This could be a whole separate post, so I think I’ll share our favorites then 🙂 I could be wrong, but I think we only cooked meat once then entire month (and yes, it was tacos). We’re not going 100% vegetarian, but I have been trying to use more beans instead (they’re sooo much cheaper and more heart-healthy)! I’m actually amazed that we went most of the month without meat and didn’t feel like we were missing out on anything.

5. Go apple picking/make and can my own applesauce. This one didn’t get done, and quite honestly I’m not too disappointed over it. We were busy on most weekends, and the weather cooled off really quickly.

6. Take family photos. Done! We definitely got more goofy ones than anything else, but we have a few shots that would be acceptable to hang on the wall. So… ta-da!

And now on to goals for November:

1. Overhaul our closet. Our hamper broke… and it’s a disaster in there. We need to pick a hamper that isn’t the Walmart special (because those only ever end up in pieces for us)! I also want to go through our clothes (donate/trash/reorganize).

2. No technology use after 10 pm. Is it sad that I have to make this a rule? I find myself mindlessly looking at things on the internet when I should just be asleep. This means I need to journal and listen to my scriptures for the day before then. (I’ve actually already started doing this and it really seems to help me get to bed at least a little earlier! Also, this is a rule only for me. I can’t make Michael do it- his work is all on the computer and he is an online seminary teacher.)

3. Figure out Christmas presents. I need to decide what I’m making, what we’re buying, etc. because I don’t want to be a big ball of stress in December. I feel like I’ve started stressing out too much around the holidays these past couple years, and I just don’t want it to be that way.

4. Clean the car (inside and out). It’s not suuuper disgusting… it’s not like we keep trash in there. Just the everyday dirt and gunk that needs attention.

5. Project 365. I’ve wanted to take one of these on for what seems like forever… so I’m just jumping in. We’ll see how it goes (but I am excited to be deliberately shooting every day)!

It’s September 8th, and I’ve already started working on my goals… I just haven’t actually posted them!

Here’s how I did for August: (do I win a prize or something for 100% completion? No? The real prize is in  completing the goal you say? Hmm.)

1. Deep clean my refrigerator. I really don’t know why I dread this so much… It wasn’t that bad and took hardly any time at all.
2. Plan Kaya’s first birthday photos/outfit/cake.
3. Complete one “crafty” project.
4. Finish editing Kevin and Tori’s wedding photos. Can’t wait to show you these!

And here’s what I hope to do in September:

1. Do ab workouts 3 times per week.

2. Try 3 new recipes. We are in a beef taco rut lately… and there are so many delicious fall foods just waiting to be eaten!

3. Practice working with fondant (and hopefully use it for Kaya’s birthday cake).

4. Take Kaya’s first birthday photos.

5. Make a few decorations for her party and her birthday outfit.

6. Plan our family photos.

7. Decide on Halloween costumes.

I know, I know… August is half over. But I’m blaming my tardiness on the fact that we were away from home for the first quarter of the month. I’m going to just count August as a “vacation month” and make only a few simple goals instead of a whole slew of them.

Here’s how I did for July:

1. Keep doing great with early scripture reading. Honestly…I probably scored about a 50% on this one this month.
2. Do abs and arm workouts twice per week. Hardcore!
3. Clean up the closet in our room and donate unwanted items. I did make up a bag of clothes I want to donate… just haven’t donated them yet. But we also decluttered by getting rid of my old dresser, so that feels pretty good, too!
4. Complete two sewing projects. I actually did THREE (count ’em, three!) little projects. Kaya’s shorts, Jax’s bandana, and alterations on my dress for the wedding. Boo-yah! 5. Eat a salad (or any big serving of vegetables) every day. YES! I have done so well with this goal and my body feels so good! 6. Read a book. Nope 🙁
7. Get in bed by 11 pm every day. Again… this goal seems like a joke.
8. Practice piano for 15 minutes on Wednesday and 15 minutes on Saturday. I came up 20 minutes short for the whole month. That’s still pretty awesome so I’m counting it as a win.

Goals for August:

1. Deep clean my refrigerator. Is it sad that this is a goal? Unfortunately, this is one place in my home that gets forgotten…

2. Plan Kaya’s first birthday photos/outfit/cake. This includes getting any supplies needed for her photos. (And for the record… how is my sweet baby already turning ONE?!)

3. Complete one “crafty” project.

4. Finish editing Kevin and Tori’s wedding photos.

See you again in just two weeks!