Looking Back on the Year

As I look back on 2010, I am amazed at how much living goes on in one year. I didn't do a very good job at journaling on a regular basis, but there are a few good things I did manage to capture. I will try to be more a more faithful family historian in 2011.

The year was full of ballgames and practices, school and work, and lots of family outings. Although we do our fair share of bickering in this household, we have at least an equal amount of fun together. I like to think that the good, fun times, greatly over power the grumpy times, but I like to practice positive thinking, too.

Like right now, the entire family (minus myself, because I'm writing this) is playing the wii as we wait for the new year to ring in. Lots of bossing going on, but laughing and cheering, too. Good noise.

Some significant things about 2010:

Todd is finally having less back and leg pain. This is a huge blessing.

Amber is growing into such a fun young woman. She participated in the ARISE Youth Spectacular this summer. For six months she faithfully went to practices. She learned a lot about commitment, doing things as a group, and met a number of fun friends through this activity. Hard, but rewarding in the end. (A lot of parental and leader encouragement/listening to whining was required.)

Jacob participated is so many fun things and a few not so fun things. Football (one of his loves) was a disaster for him this year. Lots of drama. He learned through experience the importance of self-control. It was a difficult experience to watch as a parent, but I was impressed with his maturity in dealing with an unpleasant situation with courage and humility.

Jesse has started to move out of his older brother's shadow into his own confidence. He is often hilarious and fun to listen, too. He actually enjoys school now (thought that day would NEVER come). He has great friends and it has been great to have them over and see him just be Jesse no matter what.

Dallin is moving into the realm of the "Big Boys". His smile is awesome. He struggles to be positive about himself, but we are making progress recognizing "stinking thinking" and trying to identify the good he does.

David has exploded intellectually this year. He is an amazing reader, so curious about everything, asks lots of questions and just loves learning. It is difficult for him to be the youngest. He feels picked on a lot and tries to hard to be "big". To me though, he'll always be my baby.

Me? Well, I have spent a lot of time mothering. I hope I'm getting better at it. Although I wouldn't want to start over, I wish I knew what I know now when I started out mothering.