Last night we pulled out the family resolution book– a red velvet covered notebook my sister gave me where our resolutions have been recorded since 2001 (and wow, Hans has learned to read since then and Xander’s potty trained). This year, on the suggestion of our Stake Relief Society President, we made COMMITMENTS. Stuff we are actually going to do.
I gave my little lecture on our family commitment– DEFAULT: KINDNESS. You can figure it out just by the title. Our factory setting, our first reaction should be kindness, patience, thinking the best of others.
Mary and I made a goal to read the Book of Mormon together by following the Instagram group bofm365. Look it up if you haven’t heard of them. They give a daily assignment and hold a discussion every day. It’s the perfect way for Mary and I to read together.
As we discussed more individual goals, Hans spiced up the conversation by saying, “I have another family goal: pick up your own stinkin’ messes.” he went on, “Actions speak louder than words, and you say you love mom but you leave messes all over the house for her to clean up.”
Really, I could have kissed him. And he insisted Mary write stinkin’ with the apostrophe, no g on the end.
But you’ve read enough of goals, resolutions, commitments. Moving on to one of our new favorite traditions– in no particular order– the best surprises of the past year. None of these can be things we knew about previously like Ben coming home or Stefan going to Russia (though I might find a way to cheat and include those). They have to be surprises– events, objects, people, happenings large and small we could never have predicted at the beginning of 2013. I highly recommend making a list like this of your own. We’d forgotten some of the wonders of the year before making this list.
1. Ben coming home. OK, I told you I was going to cheat. We knew Ben was coming home, we knew it would be fabulous, but we didn’t know an advertising agency in the UK would buy the rights to segments of his video (as soon as I get all the dreaded paperwork filled out).
But truly, I’m only using the video as an excuse to name Ben’s arrival home as the happiest event of the year. You should see the way Gabe rests his head on Ben’s shoulder at any opportunity, the way Hans and Ben laugh together, Mary and Xander’s teasing and playfulness with him, and for Erik and I, talking to Ben as much and as often as we like.
3. We’d planned out trip to Ben’s mission in Italy from about the time he left, so we can’t count that as a surprise this year, but who’d have guessed we’d stay with our friends, the Bradfords, in Switzerland? And shoot a book preview? We were thoroughly and completely spoiled.
4. Shall I just lump all the travel surprises together? Erik arranged some business in Italy while we were there (because it’s nice to write off at least one plane ticket). I didn’t think much about it; simply assuming we’d enjoy any experience in Italy. But I was hesitant about letting our Italian friend Davide make hotel reservations because I’m pretty careful about our travel budget. Imagine my delight in staying at the most luxurious, but least expensive little hotel in a tiny Italian hill town. We were in a part of Italy where Americans rarely venture– every hill was once it’s own kingdom with a castle and a cathedral. We visited Davide’s plant where the make giant mixers, his father’s winery, longingly stood outside the Ferrero-Rocher factory (think Nutella and everything else wonderful), ate incredible food and swam in the local pool (Italian public pools require everyone to wear a swim cap. Kind of brilliant, really.) We love Davide’s family and will consider them friends for years to come.
6. His voice always rang through the house, but we didn’t know Hans would try out for and love performing with the Skyline Men’s Troubadours. He takes his responsibilities as a lead seriously and can often be found at the piano singing and playing. If he’s accepted into Madrigals this year, it really won’t be a surprise.
7. Perhaps the single factor improving Xander’s happiness this year (besides growing six inches and his voice dropping an octave) has been taking classes at Skyline High. In our area ninth graders stay in Junior High, which is something we love. But Xander’s schedule necessitated taking math at the high school and since they run on an A B schedule (four classes on A days, four different classes on B days), he needed another class at Skyline to even out his schedule. With much finagling and begging we managed to land Xander in AP European History where he’s taught by an incredible teacher and invited to study groups by lots of cute junior girls. Sometimes it’s worth fighting for your kid’s education. Hmm, this subject deserves an entire blog post too.
8. As fans of everything British, we’d heard of Dr. Who, but never given much thought to watching the series. We made the mistake almost everyone does when first looking up the series: we went to Netflix and watched the first episode they have listed. Don’t do this! The first episode listed, the first season, records some of the worst writing this 50 years series ever endured. Skip to season 2 (2006) or better yet, season 5 (2010 and then work your way back if need be). We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve eaten Jammie Dodgers and fishsticks with custard.

My favorite episode: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe and if I haven’t convinced you to ‘give it a go’ yet, watch this excerpt from ‘Vincent and the Doctor’ (Season 5, Episode 10) where the Doctor takes Vincent Van Gogh forward in time to see his art hanging on the wall of the Musee D’ Orsay. You will cry. And then you’ll probably get a sonic screw driver of your own and start saying, “Bow ties are cool.”
9. No one was more surprised than me to hear I was chosen Utah’s Young Mother of the Year. C’mon, who would have thought? I’ll write about this in more detail later but it’s been a delight to represent mothers and humbling to examine my own mothering. As a bonus, I made dozens of new friends in the American Mothering sphere.


12. Gabe and Xander thought I’d forgotten their fabulous Christmas gift in my post the other day. Not true. I was simply saving their work of art for the year’s best surprises. Words are my love language and an entire book of poetry dedicated to me was the nicest, sweetest surprise. The dedication reads: To Mom, We wouldn’t be here without you. Literally.
See what I mean?
Favorite new movie: FROZEN our hands-down, all-family favorite. In fact, Hans has a new favorite movie line, “Let’s go kiss Hans!”
Favorite new (to us) restaurant: Pizza Limone. If you ask where I want to go to dinner or lunch, this has been my answer. We took so many friends to Pizza Limone this summer; the walls are filled with happy memories.
Favorite colors of the year: turquoise and red
Favorite song: We can’t choose. But I can tell you we played Gone Gone Gone by Phillip Phillips, Classic by MKTO, Let It Go from FROZEN, Best Day of My Life by American Authors, 93 Millions Miles from the Sun by Jason Mraz, Counting Stars by One Republic, Story of My Life from One Direction, Our Song my Matchbox Twenty, The Giving Tree by Plain White Ts, Icarus from Bastille, Young and Beautiful from Lana Del Rey and everything from Imagine Dragons about a thousand times.
Favorite book: Global Mom: Eight Countries, Sixteen Addresses, Five Languages, One Family I’m not just saying this because I love Melissa. It was one of the few book our entire family read and our unanimous favorite.
Favorite new pet: Bunnies!! And I predict more a few more hopping through our lives in 2014. “Bunnies can have 60 babies a year. Which makes us 60 times happier!”
Grandma Honey
LOVE this post! I got so many great ideas from it…especially the Book of Mormon online group. I’m starting that tonight. I had no idea.
ellen
A wonderful post. 🙂
Jeanelle
I loved this post. I love the idea of a factory standard and a family commitment to kindness. I loved seeing more pictures from your trip. I love the list of favorite songs because I’m always on the lookout for new ones. And finally, your films are beautiful…like you.
Jordan
Mary’s sewing space is lovely! I loved this post and I can’t wait to see all the wonderful things and people 2014 brings.
Julie
So wonderful. Thanks for letting us peek in on your life.
Deneal
Would you mind sharing where in Italy you stayed? I’m trying to plan an Italy trip for our family this year and would love to go there!
Unknown
Oh, Michelle how I have missed your blog! With 3 little kids I haven’t found enough time in the day to check in. Lucky me I am nursing surprise baby #4 and I can catch up. I literally cried over Ben’s video. I can FEEL your joy in him coming home.
Looking forward to catching all the way back!
Kira P.