New Years!

I love New Year's time.  For a lot of reasons really; I love our traditions of being together on New Year's Eve to ring in the new year; I love the fresh new start of a new year; I love reflecting on the past year and the growth we've made and considering where we'd like to be in another 12 months. 

On New Year's Eve, my family gets together to go bowling.  We've done it now for a handful of years, but last year, we changed where we go and we sure love it.  They hold a family party from 6-8pm, with bowling, food (hot dogs, chips and soda) ringing in the new year at 8pm, complete with party favors.  I'm kicking myself that I only got 2 pictures the entire night, but we sure had a good time.  My brother and sis-in-law came in from Idaho Falls to join us and there were 15 bowlers, with 5 more attendees who just watched.  My dad even bowled with his boot on his foot (he had surgery on his foot a while back and has only been able to walk with a hospital boot on for a week) which was quite a sight to see. 

All three boys watching the ball travel down the lane.

 

Chad and Tyler ringing in the new year (at 8pm) with my dad. 
 
After bowling, we head each year over to my brother and sis-in law's house.  Everyone brings treats and there is always so much food to enjoy.  We watched a movie on their big screen, worked on a puzzle, played a few games and even a little Kinect.  I was shocked that my boys did so well.  In years past, I've left early to get boys in bed, but even Greyson made it till midnight, although he was fading.  Tyler fell asleep in my lap at around 11:30, and Chad cried when we left, saying he hadn't been able to play long enough (6 1/2 hours!!!). 

On Monday, our little family met and reviewed our goals from last year.  It was exciting to see that we had met virtually all of them, even those that we didn't know how we would achieve them when we set them.  Then, we set some new goals as a family for 2012, as well as personal goals.  Chad set a goal to run a 5K (that was his own idea) and Tyler set a goal to learn to ride his bike without training wheels.  We hang our goal sheets on the fridge the whole year, and we go back to them several times in a family discussion to see how we are doing.  Chad is also good at reading them aloud to us during breakfast and reminding us what we still need to do to accomplish them. 

So here's to 2012-whatever it may bring!  Hope you all had a good celebration as well.