Welcoming 2009: fireworks, family, & finding ways to achieve

How did we welcome 2009?

Fireworks...


...and friends.


The "boys" playing with their "tools".
Bobby is thinking: Come on, Steve...I've got a lighter.


For a brief moment in time, all the kids were mesmerized by the fireworks. Of course this didn't last, but for that one moment...life was still...and the stillness was beautiful. :)


B lighting her first firework.
(All the kids thought "punk" was a funny word. And I'm pretty sure the adults overused it since it was funny to us too.)


Of course, K had to get in on the action. What a punk.
(See, told you we overused it. But it is funny.)


After frozen fingers (at one point, lil man comes up to me and says: "Let's go inside, Mommy. I be bery fweezing!), warming them up again with hot chocolate, and letting the kids run amuck...K and L decided to liven things up a bit.

They loaded up each fan blade with as many stuffed animals as would fit, we flipped the switch, and the fun just flew all around. :)

After our friends left, lil man went to bed, and the rest of us stayed up til midnight playing games and watching the Disney Channel's countdown to the New Year. I did get to flick over and watch the "must-see" ball drop as we all counted down. We ended our celebration with family prayer and a promise to discuss our resolutions (revolutions, according to K) the next evening.

One last picture of our fun night together.


Okay, maybe one more.


And since lil man missed the late night festivities, I had to get a picture of him for the New Year. Starting off the year with such cuteness is always a good thing...

~

Moving on to the motto and mantra of 2009...

Family Motto:

Try a little harder to be a little better.

I love this quote by Gordon B. Hinckley. We introduced it to the kids just a couple of months ago. It is now our official Herwig Family Motto.

The idea behind it is simple: No one is expected to be perfect.

Everyone is expected to at least try in making better choices.

If there is something one of us needs to work on, in any aspect or capacity, we only need to try a little harder. Each time we push ourselves just that little bit, it carries us on the path to making things better. After a while (sometimes it takes longer than others), we will notice a change...for the better. Every little bit of trying harder will eventually add up; and one day it (whatever "it" may be) will be markedly different...it will be better.

Our Family Motto is not designed nor intended to overwhelm or diminish; it is in place to encourage and motivate. It is our daily reminder that all choices (good and bad) matter; and if we only try just a little, we can indeed make a difference...a difference for ourselves and for each other...for the better.

~

Personal mantra:

I'm just trying to matter.

I won't go into great detail here. Many of the specifics I will be focusing on are personal. I only need my own determination and the help of my Father in Heaven to succeed.

A couple of things I will share are these:

I want to make better choices...for myself and for my family.

I want to feel , at the end of each day, that I did the best I could.

~

The plan is to not set unrealistic goals. I don't want to feel like a failure by mid-January. I want to feel like I am doing the best I can with what I am and what I've been given. If I am always trying my best, I can never look back and wish I had tried harder or done more. I don't intend that to mean that I will overload myself with projects...I mean that in terms of being a better me. A dear friend sent me the following quote (it applies perfectly): "Please don't nag yourself with thoughts of failure. Do not set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. Simply do what you can do, in the best way you know, and the Lord will accept of your effort." -Pres. Hinckley

~

I plan on "doing what I can do" to be a good me...a good wife...a good mommy...a good daughter...a good friend. I'm not reaching for perfection. I'm not planning on succumbing to pressure and feeling like I'm just not good enough. I have great potential. We all do. It is infinite and it is precious.

~

So this year, I am just trying to matter...positively and irrefutably.