9.16

Holy moly! September is already over! I say it every month, but this year has seriously FLOWN by! September was a busy month, a whirlwind; both good and draining! I was busy every weekend and felt like I didn't have much downtime, but I was able to do some fun things! 

Highlights from September: I ran the Big Cottonwood Half-Marathon and got a new PR, I enjoyed a birthday hike up to Willow Heights, I went to the State Fair with my family, Oktoberfest with my family, had a JJ camp reunion, went up to Millcreek Canyon multiple times, drove the Alpine Loop with Trevor and David, and my sister-in-law got married.

I really only have two goals left that I can work on finishing up before the end of the year, so I will start prioritizing them a little more than I have been. 

As I said, I ran a half marathon in September, so my total for the year so far is 4. 

No new traveling in September, just getting so anxious for our cruise in January! 

My running total for the year is 759 miles

I started teaching in September and I LOVE it! I always forget how much I love teaching until I start doing it again! I definitely want to do it again next semester and will probably apply to teach two classes starting next fall. I feel fulfilled knowing I am using my master's degree, which makes it all even better. 

I have attended the temple 17 times so I am behind by one trip. I am hoping to go three times this month. I did go to the SL temple in September which I haven't done in years, so that was pretty cool. I also FINALLY bought a new temple dress with some birthday money and I 100% regret not buying one sooner. Having a comfortable temple dress makes such a huge difference! 

My reading goal is coming along okay. I am behind with it, but only by about 3 books. I will have to read an average of 5 books a month for the next 3 months to finish on time, but that should be manageable. 

Goals not fulfilled this year:

I was really hoping we would be able to foster, we had talked about it and planned on starting the process around this time. With my job, I am not able to foster as it is a conflict of interest. I was so disappointed when I found that out. We are looking at some other options which I am sure I will blog about at some point. 

We had also hoped to buy a house this year. We figured we were both done with school and had the potential to get better paying jobs and the ability to "move up in the world". It took us too long to get jobs and since Mike is still building up his client base, we decided this was no longer realistic for this year. We are moving into a duplex and hope that maybe this time next year we can buy. The good news is we will be saving a lot of money, so maybe we will get to travel some more instead! 

This year really has been a good year. Every month when I sit down to blog about my progress, I am reminded how much I have really tried to stick with all of my goals; the ones listed and my overall goal of creating a happier lifestyle. I have learned that happiness is a choice and it is my choice. My life is far from perfect and not at all what I had planned it to be, but I am still happy because I choose to be and because I purposefully do things that make me happy. I have learned to do things on my own and to find people who like the same things as me. I don't hold myself back from opportunities. I don't sit around waiting for tomorrow or for the weekend. I take a few minutes everyday to think about all the things from the day that made me happy. All of these things have truly changed the way I see things. I wasn't unhappy before this year, but I can truly say that I am happier. 

It's never too late to start making the choice to be happy.