Reflection

2017 was a very interesting year for our family. I feel like in a lot of ways it was a really good year. We set a lot of goals for ourselves and we accomplished almost all of them. We paid off our house and became completely debt free! Tyler received the Melchizedek Priesthood and his patriarchal blessing and we both gained stronger testimonies. We made the decision and started preparing to have our family sealed in the temple. We went on the funnest and longest family vacation to Disneyland and San Diego and had so much fun! The perfect job for Tyler came out of nowhere and allows him more time at home and less stress. Our kids are growing and learning and becoming outstanding kids. They are kind and helpful and think of others. They are fighting and teasing and testing our patience like all kids should. And they make us proud each and every day. But most importantly, we laughed a lot this year and became stronger as a couple and as a family.

But we struggled a lot this year too. My relationship with my brothers and my parents is not as strong as it used to be. I feel like Tyler and I fought the good fight with my family and really tried to do what was best for everyone, but somehow we became the bad people and the outcasts. I look at other families around me and yearn for the support and fun that they have together and wish that was the case with my family. I watched Anna struggle with the loss of her baby, Desi and Andrew with the loos of his wife Mary and it broke my heart. It made me so sad, yet so grateful for my family and our health and it made me realize how fragile life really is.

Looking ahead at 2018, I have so much excitement and enthusiasm for this year. I know it will be a great year because I will wake up everyday and do my best to make it a great day. I have set a goal to do things this year that are healthy: physically healthy, emotionally healthy, mentally healthy, and spiritually healthy. I want to be a better person by being more giving and more compassionate. I want to be more positive and find the good in others. Mary's life and ultimately her death really impacted me and I want to live each day without regrets and truly live. These all sound like cliche statements, but I truly believe them.

We have a lot of goals again for our family. We hope to get sealed as a family in the Spring and I am looking so forward to that day when we will enter the temple together. We are excited to learn and grow as a family as we experience the ups and downs of life. I know that the only way to enjoy the good times in life is to endure the difficult times. I know the difficult times are where we grow the most and where we learn. I really learned a lot in 2017 and I am ready to learn a lot more in 2018.