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By Alyssa, January 3, 2012 3:19 pm

I got this idea from my friend, the Lazy Homesteader.  I know, I know… another list, but I was inspired by our Christmas card post and figure this is another way to visibly keep me thankful and on task.

My 100 goals for the New Year include:

Blog-From Military to Mom

1. Finish college story by 31 January 2012 and back-up data
2. Finish El Paso story by 30 June 2012 and back-up data
3. Finish Colorado Springs story by 30 November 2012 and back-up data
4. Keep the “My Story” section of the blog current through 2013 and back-up data
5. Post a veteran interview
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Self Improvement 

11. Turn to God first instead of trying to plan myself to exhaustion
12. Complete my devotional each morning
13. Run a 5K under 25 minutes
14. Finish Breaking Free devotional by 1 February 2012
15. Forgive always and judge never
16. Research options for Masters with GI Bill
17. Less cleaning of the house
18.
19.
20.

Blessing Haus

21. Save up and buy him a new wedding band (he’s too fit for the one he had)
22. Run a race together
23. Ensure he gets a hunting trip
24. Pray with him daily
25. Celebrate our anniversary with a group date night
26. Take a kid-less weekend away
27. Go out on monthly date nights
28. Make his lunch for work daily
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.

Blessing my kiddos

36. Finish Zeke’s one year scrapbook
37. Teach Bubba to ride a bike
38. Make Little Princess’ quilt
39. Teach Little Princess sign language
40. Sign up the boys for advanced swim lessons
41. Start Little Princess’ one year scrapbook
42. Attend a field trip monthly
43. Teach the boys to roller skate
44. Run in a race with the boys, maybe this one
45. Visit the Denver Children’s Museum
46. Visit the Denver Art Museum
47. Visit the Colorado Springs Zoo
48.
49.
50.

Travel

51. Take a family vacation
52. Visit our friends in Kansas
53. Take a family bike ride
54. Go on a family hike
55. Go to an outdoor concert
56. Go watch a parade
57.
58.
59.
60.

Home

61. Plant a garden
62. Plant shrubs in the back yard
63. Paint the boys’ bathroom
64. Replace the sand in the sandbox
65. Pave a sidewalk from the front to back yard
66. Decorate Little Princess’ room
67. Redecorate the downstairs bathroom
68. Fix the rocking chair
69. Paint the master bathroom cabinets
70. Tile backsplash in the kitchen
71. Download old CDs to our iTunes
72. Put all recipes in my recipe app
73.
74.
75.

Childbirth Education Business

76. Research CAPPA certification options
77. Volunteer to doula one birth
78. Send birthday postcards to former students
79. Make an 8-week class outline
80. Organize a one-year class reunion
81. Research meeting place options for classes
82.
83.
84.
85.

Financial Goals

86. Research investment options
87. Plan out kiddo’s college fund
88. Continue to contribute to 3-6 month emergency fund
89. Start paying extra on home mortgage
90.

Army

91. Complete 42H classes
92. Research ILE options
93.
94.
95.

Other

96.
97.
98.
99.
100. Finish 100 goals!

As you can see, it’s actually pretty hard to come up with 100 goals.  Or at least it is for me.  Feel free to comment if you made any goals this year.  I would love to hear them.

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By Alyssa, December 25, 2011 1:00 am

Hey friends and family!  Here’s a recap of our year:

Photo by Karma Hill, SimpleMauiWedding.net

January- Pregnant! We found out we were pregnant with #3 only a few weeks into the new year.

February- Alyssa started teaching natural childbirth classes at a local baby boutique.  She met some amazing couples and had even more fun a few months after the classes meeting their sweet babies!

March- The whole family celebrated Auntie C’s wedding in Maui.  After almost a decade, Haus finally got an “in-law” to join him in the circle of trust!

April- Alyssa became Major Mom after receiving a promotion in the Army National Guard.  Both sides of the family and many old Army friends visited for the ceremony.

May- Haus quit his job and took a contract Engineering position in Portland.  He drove up to Oregon right after seeing ultrasound pictures of Baby #3.

First day of school

June- Haus and Alyssa celebrated their 10th Wedding Anniversary!

July- Summer travels included Zeke and Alyssa to Idaho, Bubba in Seattle, and the whole family reunited in Portland and Seattle for a family reunion.

August- Sweet Zeke turned 3!  Bubba started homeschooling Kindergarten.

September- After four months away, Haus started a new job as an Engineer in Denver… hurrah!  We sold our first car and paid cash for the first time ever to buy a swagger wagon.

October- After a whirlwind labor and delivery, Baby Girl was born!

November- Bubba turned 6!  Thanksgiving was spent in Idaho with Alyssa’s fam.

December- We’ve spent this month enjoying Advent, snuggling during snow storms, and loving that our family of five is together for the holidays.

I’ve never listed our big events before, but it might become a tradition.  I’m encouraged by God’s providence in our lives.  Merry Christmas and blessings to your family this new year!

Photo by Lauren D Photography, Boise, Idaho

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By Alyssa, December 23, 2011 11:58 pm

Is buying the car you always wanted with cash possible?  Is it feasible to live without car loans?  Yes, but it takes some work.  Our planning started a little more than three years ago.  In the summer of 2008, we owned a 1998 Toyota Camry and made payments on a 2005 Toyota Tundra at $400 a month and payments on a 2007 Subaru Legacy at $250 a month… $650 worth of car payments per month.  Buying into the car payments for life nonsense, we planned on selling the paid-for Camry and keeping our “new” cars.  Then sitting in our Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class, we watched this video:

Even if we didn’t get a 12% return on our money, we liked the idea of cars for free. With my decision to stay home with our kids, we didn’t need the third car we were lending to a nanny, but why sell the payment-free car?  Convicted, Haus made the final call.  Although he loved his Subaru, he decided we were done with car payments.  We sold the Subaru a month later and set a goal to pay off the truck loan by the end of the year.

It was a lofty goal but we were “gazelle intense” as Dave Ramsey would say.  It seems miraculous looking back, but we were able to pay off the entirety of our Tundra loan in less than 6 months, almost $18,000, and started 2009 with no car payments.  We loved both of the cars even more knowing we owned them free and clear.  The real pay off came when we decided to look for our first big cash purchase, a swagger wagon.

After finding out in January we were pregnant with number three and realizing three car seats wouldn’t quite fit in the back of the Camry, I started scouring the internet for a Toyota Sienna.  And not just any Sienna.  I wanted an XLE with leather seats and All Wheel Drive (AWD) preferably sold by a private owner instead of a dealership.  I searched and searched and almost gave up.  We had the cash which felt like it was burning a hole in my pocket, but, because it was hard earned cash, I really wanted to wait for a good deal.

With my due date in October looming, I checked Craigslist for the hundreth time at the end of the summer and was shocked to find a potential vehicle.  A private owner in north Denver was selling a low mileage 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD for a really great price.  We arranged to meet at our Toyota mechanic to check out the van.  I don’t buy a ton of cars, but I’m so glad I had our trusted local guys check the vehicle out for us before deciding to purchase it, especially knowing we would be dropping a lot of cash.  Our mechanics gave us the green light.  The only outstanding issue we saw was a dent and scrape on the rear right side panel which was part of the reason it was being sold at such a low price.

We negotiated for about a week and our luck seemed to continue as we realized that the owner was retired Army and even more apt to sell to us when he realized I was in the Guard.  Paying with cash was a little tricky as we don’t have a local bank, but luckily we used the same military credit union as the sellers and ended up being able to transfer the agreed upon $14,000 from our account to theirs.

Two years ago if you would have told me I would be able to drop $14,000 cash for a car, I would have laughed and told you that was crazy.  But we are proof that it is possible.  It was sad to sell the Camry after ten years of use, but I am loving my upgrade to heated leather seats and All Wheel Drive.  Cool thing now is that we know without a doubt we will never make a car payment again.  Ever.  We paid cash to fix the swagger wagon’s dents and Haus detailed every inch of it so I don’t see any reason why we won’t use our “new-to-us” van for the next ten years.

Inspired to give up your car payments?  I hope so.  Pay off your current car, save up the cash, and wait for a deal when you want a new vehicle.  It’s worth it!

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By Alyssa, November 27, 2011 8:57 pm

Are you a procrastinator like me looking for Advent activities for your kiddos?  I updated this calendar just in time to start Advent with our kiddos today.  These are all activities that realistically can be completed with a newborn, our current stage.  Hope you enjoy!

(Light the 1st purple candle this week.  This week’s theme is HOPE.)
November
27- Decorate a Christmas tree with Grandpa
28- Introduce the Advent Candles and the meaning of Advent (Here’s a great website with Advent Information)
29- Read Matthew 1:18-24 (Angel appears to Joseph)
30- Make an Advent Chain (red and green paper chain) to count down to Christmas
December
1- Read Luke 1: 26-38 (Angel appears to Mary)
2- Talk about all of the things we hope for at dinner
3- String popcorn garland for our Christmas tree and watch Polar Express

(Light the 1st and 2nd purple candles this week. This week’s theme is PEACE.)
4- Invite new friends to dinner
5- Make a Donkey puppet (We’re using this template.  The donkey is a symbol of peace and humbleness.)
6- Read Luke 1:57-66 (Introduce John the Baptist)
7- Have a Christmas carol dance party
8- Read Luke 2:1-7 (Discuss Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem)
9- Talk about other places in the world that are at war
10- Create Christmas cards and send them to Soldiers using resources from this website

(Light the 1st and 2nd purple candles and the pink candle.  This week’s theme is JOY.)
11- Take a drive to look at Christmas lights
12- Address Christmas cards and watch Christmas cartoons
13- Read Matthew 2:1-12 (Discuss the wise men’s joy)
14- Make Christmas presents for grandparents
15- Read Luke 2:8-20 (Introduction of the Shepherds and Angels)
16- Attend our Homeschool Co-op Christmas party
17- Watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas and talk about the true meaning of Christmas

(Light all three purple candles and the pink candle. This week’s theme is LOVE.)
18- Make and decorate heart sugar cookies
19- Deliver cookies to our neighbors
20- Make paper snowflakes
21- Memorize John 3:16
22- Say a prayer for the families that sent us Christmas cards
23- Act out Luke 2 together
24- Attend our church Christmas Eve service (Light ALL FIVE candles!)
25- Birthday cake celebration for Jesus’ Birthday!

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By Alyssa, November 21, 2011 11:16 am

I’m deactivating my Facebook account today. I realized that although the website makes me thinks I’m building and maintaining friendships, in reality, it keeps me sitting by myself at my computer. I love getting updates from my military friends on the site, but again, most of those friends comment on this site.  I also researched the privacy settings or lack thereof and didn’t love the results.  I’m only deactivating, not deleting as I want to see how the rest of the year goes without it before I decide on permanent deletion.

I truly miss writing more regularly here and find myself spending way to much time sifting through friend’s Facebook picture albums instead of posting.  It was a surprisingly difficult decision.  I tried for a few months just not to visit the site.  I cut my friend list down to local friends I saw all of the time and out of town friends that I would stay with if I were in town.  Alas, I’m weak, peeps, and as much as I thought I could have a Facebook account and never look at it, I just don’t have that kind of will power.

I’m curious to what others think about Facebook. Do you love your account or do you feel chained to it?