Calder’s the keeper of our resolution list. For years now he’s the one who motivates the discussion as we’re all sitting around the table on New Year’s Eve. As we share our goals for the coming year, he writes them down, and then reads them during the same discussion the following year. He’s also become a little too good at adding truthful remarks into the resolutions as he’s writing them. What do I mean?

I looked at the list that we put together last week, and on one of my resolutions he noted that I may “not necessarily enjoy it”. On other resolutions that someone says year after year and then fails at year after year, he’s been known to add the “stop laughing” suffix. As in, “take a weekly yoga class. stop laughing.” or “reach 150lbs mofos. stop laughing.” And then, of course, we’re all laughing at whoever set themselves up to fail again that year. We’re a bunch of dreamers over here.

It’s a tradition that’s become a lot of fun, and the fanfare of the discussion and review has made me take the idea of a resolution much more seriously. Although, you wouldn’t know that based upon my record for 2015. It was a fantastic year, there’s no doubt about that, but I think I failed miserably at almost every resolution!

Above are my 2015 resolutions, and as you’ll see, their underlying intentions aren’t much different from my 2016 resolutions. I’m just going to keep knocking away at them and see what happens.

So, don’t laugh, but here are my resolutions for 2016 :

• Get outside even more. We spend a lot of time outside, but it’s never enough in my books. Towards the end of 2015 I made a concerted effort to explore more of the parks in Boulder, and I’m so glad I did. We discovered a few that have now become solid favorites that we visit weekly. This year I’m hoping to branch out even farther and explore more open space areas where I can take the boys to have them exploring trails and creeks.
• Plan a big camping trip. We’ve done a few simple trips with the boys, and we’re always so happy when we’re camping, but somehow we’re lazy when it comes to motivating to actually get out there and do it. This year I have the goal to plan one multi-day camping trip for us that’s in a part of Colorado that we haven’t visited yet.
• Run more. Between being pregnant and then having a newborn, I barely ran this year. But I really should do more, because even though I’m not the best, it’s an exercise that always leaves me feeling so happy.
• Do more yoga. This is one that got laughed at on New Year’s. I’m always making this resolution and then never taking the time to actually do yoga. Sarah had a great suggestion this year – do one sun salutation every day. I can do that! And so far I have :-).
• Nurture our family even more. Feed us good food. Get us outside. Encourage mountains of creativity. This is pretty standard for us, but I want the good stuff to keep happening and even multiply in the new year.
• Make more healthy snacks. I feel like our meals are ok, but I’m often stumped when it comes to snacks. We don’t snack often, but it’s nice to have something ready we’re stay at a park longer than expected or when dinner’s running late. In my book, a healthy snack is as simple as a handful of nuts and an orange, but somehow I don’t always feel prepared or even remember to put that option on the table. This year I’m hoping to make it happen.
• Incorporate more music into our days. We now have a house packed with instruments, and I’m making a solid effort to make sure that we play some music (even poorly) every week. Calder pressed me to come up with a more specific goal, so this year it’s as simple as mastering two new songs on the violin and two on the ukulele. BUT a new fancy keyboard arrived at our house yesterday, so I may add two piano songs to that list.
• Read an average of one book per month. I kicked this off with Grandma Gatewood’s walk, and now I’m on to Other People We Married.

What about you? Any big goals for 2016? Or just putting one foot in front of the other right now? That’s cool too, and like I said yesterday, Grandma Gatewood made her name and found her peace by taking one step at a time.