Highlights from 2017

2017.  It was an interesting year.  Hyrum and I both had to really think about it to come up with a few highlights.  Nothing really stood out, but at the same time, I really just enjoyed feeling settled.  We didn't move in 2017.  That's a big deal in our lives.  And no children were born.

The best thing to happen in 2017 was Hyrum coming home 3 months early from his deployment to Eastern Europe.  We didn't know about it until a few weeks before, so that didn't give me much time to anticipate the homecoming, but I was sure thankful to have someone around at night to help put the kids in bed!  He jumped right into another batallion that was preparing for deployment, so that meant being gone for a lot of trainings and working long hours, but it was definitely the right choice for our family and his career.  Hopefully our next assignment has a lot slower tempo.  He said the highlight of coming home was seeing how much the girls had grown.  Tiago changed a little (ie: taller and skinnier) but the girls turned into little people instead of being babies-- they were starting to talk and had huge personalities that emerged.

My highlight during Hyrum's deployment was being able to visit Utah in February/March, to coincide with the Annual Hatch family Valentines Party hosted by Laurel.  I went to the first ones years ago when I was in college, then left for 7 years.  It was nice to be back with the entire family to celebrate Valentines Day with a hilarious white elephant gift exchange.

Hyrum's highlight during his deployment was being able to go to see Bayern Munchen play at Allianz Arena.  When we lived in Vilseck, he connected with the area's fan club president, who organizes bus trips to the games.  He sort of miraculously reconnected with him again and enjoyed soccer.  Plus, he was able to take a weekend trip to Milan.  His deployment was a lot of of work (pretty much 7-days a week) but they snuck in a little fun.  After all, it is Europe.

Hyrum and I took two kid-free "trips" this year, which is always exciting.  Neither was exotic, but we welcome any opportunity to relax and focus on each other without kids whining.  First, we spent a few days in Park City in July.  We spent a lot of time in the saunas, a little time hiking, and a lot of time eating.  And in December we went on a 1.5 day trip to Yellowstone to snowmobile through the park.  Fast but fun.

And lastly, it's always a highlight to spend so much time with family.  In addition to 4 trips to Utah (February, May, July, and December) my parents came to visit during Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Halloween fell during the middle of one of Hyrum's month-long trainings, so I was grateful to have adults around to help us celebrate and enjoy the kids adorable Mary Poppins costumes.  (No one does Halloween quite like my mom.)  And Jenna joined my parents in visiting us at Thanksgiving, just days after Hyrum returned from a training.  We have all taken advantage of living so close to Utah!  (In fact, I celebrated all major holidays this year with family, with the exception of the 4th of July and Easter.)



And one last bonus... I forgot I went to Boston!  That was a great quick trip: family, FOOD, history, relaxing.   (Plus, Courtney and Peter visited in May and Amie and Talia visited in September.)



I'm grateful I had all these highlights interspersed throughout the year to balance out the crappy stuff that happened in 2017: my husband being gone for 6 months (once again missing 2 birthdays and an anniversary), a miscarriage, and a horrible trip to the E.R for debilitating back pain.

How's that for ending on a positive note? haha

Goals

I sat down a few days ago and thought about what I wanted 2017 to look like.  I've heard of others picking a single word to focus on during the year.  The first word that came out in my 'brainstorm' was "survive".  But I hope to do more than just survive, so I eventually landed on the word healthy.

I'm talking about total health, including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social health.  My hope is that each month, I can evaluate how I'm doing in each category and make short-term goals accordingly.

Physically, I'd like to lose a few (or 20) lbs to get closer to pre-pregnancy weight.  (How many years can pass after a pregnancy before you can no longer call it pre-pregnancy weight??)  This includes exercise, but I also need to eat better!!  That will be a focus starting in January.

Mentally, I need to find things to stimulate my brain.  The easy goal is to read... and I generally target 12 books a year.  I also want to find a hobby that helps me relax but also forces me to use my brain in some way or another.  I'm open to suggestions!  Articles I've read also suggest researching interesting topics and doing mind puzzles.

Emotionally, I'm not really sure.  And yet, I feel like this will be the biggest wild card while Hyrum is gone.  I have no doubt that I'll survive this upcoming deployment just fine, but getting through it while simultaneously choosing to feel joy will be the challenge.

Spiritually, I want to take more time this year to disconnect and be still.  I want to spend more time thinking and pondering.  More concretely, I'm setting a goal to finish the Old Testament, which I started (and then dropped half-way through) a few years ago.  I also am committing to reading all of the lessons from the new President Hinckley manual.

And lastly, socially.... again, I'm not really sure.  I'd like to figure out ways to socialize with adults, and develop more meaningful relationships.  But this category could use some work.  (I did find some activities for the kids to get involved in, like gymnastics, so maybe their socializing will rub off on me!)

That's my overall plan, and hope that by targeting my overall health I can be a better mother, wife and friend to others.