And So It Begins....

I just thought I would start the year off with a photo of Bryce I took last fall. This is such an amazing place. I hope that they do not succeed in getting approval for the coal mine 10 miles west of Bryce. Shots like this one may not be possible in the future if it is approved, and that would be incredibly sad.

As promised, here is my list of goals for 2011.

What I Plan, Or Hope, To Accomplish, The 2011 Edition

1. Exercise regularly. Merilee and I have a plan in place that begins on Monday morning. We figure if we work on this one together, it is more likely to happen.

2. Write in my journal at least once a week. I have never been good at keeping a journal, so this is a big deal for me.

3. Finish my Arches book. The photos are almost collected, so I just need to take the time to complete the text and layout. Then I have to have the money to have a copy printed.

4. Write creatively. And I mean it this time. Compared to last year, this one will be a success as long as I do it even once, but I am shooting for more than that. I already have a first line; "It all began on a Thursday."

5. Save enough money for a new computer. It doesn't have to be fresh out of the box, just new to me. I got the complete National Geographic (I love National Geographic!) on DVD-ROM for Christmas, but I have to have a Mac with an Intel Duo Core Processor running at at least 1.83 GHz in order to use it. I have an iBook G4.

6. Pay my tithing. I did better this year, but better is not good enough. This has always been difficult for me.

7. If we make it to Zion this year, hike Angel's Landing.

8. Become involved in the community. I'm not quite sure what form this will take, but it is something I have thought about doing.

9. Spend less time playing games on Facebook. I have already taken the first step on this one by quitting all of them. Aside from the fact that they were getting to be more frustrating than fun because they are so slow on my computer, I was wasting waaaaay too much time on them.

10. Enter at least one photo in the state fair. I have threatened to do this for at least the last 10 years. Now that I have officially made it part of my goals, maybe I'll really do it this year.

11. Continue to improve my photography. I figure I have to add one that will be easy for me to accomplish.

12. Plant and maintain a garden. We have planted each of the last two years, but I have been poor at maintaining (also known as weeding), so things have not been as good as they could have been. I want peas and carrots this year, which means more work earlier. It also means figuring out a way to fix the hole in the fence so certain individuals do not trample everything.

13. Visit someplace new here in Utah. I can think of any number of places I have yet to see that I would love to visit. This one shouldn't be very hard either.

14. Be a better friend, husband, and father. I know these are repeats, but I really feel like I could have done better, so they are back on this year's list.

OK, I think that is about enough. I certainly hope this year will be better than the last. I'll try to put last year where it belongs (in the past) and focus on the future. We'll see how it all goes.