So long, 2011!

2011 was a good year.

Not that I have a list of things that made it a good year.
Of course, there were a handful of things that made 2011 kind of tough, particularly for the people I love most. But usually those tough things make the rest of the goodness so much better. The happy things are easier to remember and there is the black backdrop of unhappy things to make them shine.

I'm kind of sad to say goodbye to 2011. It means saying goodbye to a lot of firsts for my first baby. It means saying goodbye to another year of my youth. {vanity alert!} It means moving forward to unknowns, entering full-blown toddler-hood, breaking some bad habits. But I am also looking forward to 2012. All of those unknowns, new habits to form, places to go, things to change are things to make 2012 an exciting year. I really am looking forward to it.

Later on I'll share my ideas for my 2012 goals/resolutions. But since it is still 2011, I'm going to do a review of what my plan was for this year.

This year my word/motto was a quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

“Try a little harder to be a little bit better.”

 see Each a Better Person, Oct. 2002

I am feeling pretty good about how the year went. My biggest idea was that I would stop beating myself up over imperfections. That I would recognize where I needed to be better and do it. This year has by far been the best I've done at that and I'm pleased. I may not have specific things I'm measuring but if I can see a change then that's good enough, right?

I will also tell you what I get to cross off my bucket list from this past year. Rather than posting the whole list again, I'll just post the ones I get to cross off.

8. Enter a photo in the county fair {nothing came of it but I entered}
23. Go to General Conference in the Conference Center {we went to the April 2011 Conference - it was awesome!}
30. Learn baby signs {we learn new ones all the time but it works for me}
38. Learn to make three different kinds of gourmet cupcakes {Strawberry Limeade, Chocolate Peppermint, Caramel & Heath Bar - this works for my definition of "gourmet"}
41. Make artisan bread {it might not have turned out really well but I made it}   
44. Mow the lawn of my own house {I even did it once holding Livie. Yes, I'm insane.}
49. Plant a flower garden {we're going to have an even better one next year. Yea!}


And I'm adding a few more:

• Go to Yellowstone in the spring
• Ride a train
• Read the Book of Mormon in three months {I actually added this one and then did it right away so technically it's crossed off, too}
• Read the Book of Mormon in one month
• Read all four standard works in a year
• Plant a vegetable garden
• Go to every temple in Utah {St. George, Monticello, Manti, Vernal, Provo, Mount Timpanogos, Draper, Oquirrh Mountain, Jordan River, Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Ogden, Logan}
• Ride in a convertible with the top down
• Learn to eat with chopsticks
• Learn to count to ten in ten different languages
• Try snorkeling
• Learn to like a vegetable I don’t currently like
• See a firefly
• Celebrate an Un-birthday

 I hope your 2011 was a wonderful one!

Here's to a great 2012!