The eve of my 25th birthday...

This is the strangest birthday yet. 25. A quarter of a century. It just seems so old to me ... I don't like it. Eldon has been teasing me, as well he should because it's funny, that he'll NEVER be as old as I am. :) We had a conversation on 9/11 about where we were when that happened seven years ago and we realized that I was a freshman in college and he was a sophomore in high school. :) Yikes. So anyway, I'm old. End of paragraph.

I do, however, have several goals I'm going to pursue diligently with this landmark. I'm going to:

• Keep a consistent journal (I even want to make a no-stupid-stuff clause and destroy my previous attempts at journal writing).
• Always have a current, specific scripture study program.
• Cook dinner every night. :)
• Exercise daily.
  
• Write more fiction. I really have to make time for that...I love it too much to let it always take the back burner. Someday I might be GOOD if I actually practice.
• Be more frugal. I have to say here, though, that I have made GIANT strides in this department in the last 8 months. Eldon is quite pleased with me.
  
• Let me make a little interjection here (since it's my blog): I have learned, from my wonderful husband, that quiet encouragement and patience is often the very best way to help people change for the better. Eldon never lectures me, and never even participates or chimes in when I lecture myself! He just hugs me, encourages and acknowledges my progress, and lets me be. How grateful I've been, over and over, for his goodness and longsuffering. It's a very Christlike attribute, and I see now why the Lord would want us to be this way. It's easier for me to picture a God who would treat me this way when I have a husband who treats me this way. I love Eldon for that.
• Make a point to multi-task less and let myself just think. I always try to do so many things at one time that I'm afraid I crowd out the joy I could feel if I let myself keep a less frantic pace. (I say as I make new goals. :) But I'm not going to be too hard on myself about it. The journal doesn't have to be daily, and the scripture marking doesn't have to be outlandish - which Eldon has already made me promise I won't do again. :) He knows me well.)
• Plan out every day so my activities are on purpose. There's a reason we do that on our missions...

Anyway, life is wonderful, even with the 25th birthday on the horizon. Eldon asked me what I wanted and I told him I wanted cleaning supplies. Really. :) So Thursday night we went to Walmart and he outfitted me with Mr. Clean, bleach, windex, dryer sheets, Joy, and every other needful and clean-smelling product. :) I'm so excited. I haven't had time to use them yet (full time work and school is a little rough) but the time is coming. And Camilla just told me last night that she'd wanted to get me cleaning supplies for my birthday as a joke. She's the same kind of OCD cleansing fanatic that I am. We're two peas in the same, very odd, pod. :)

Eldon and I also decided that we're going to find out the gender of our baby. We'll know on September 30th. Wow...We can't wait!! He wants a girl, I want a boy, so we'll see what happens. Eldon and I have a few favorites we're playing with. We have a boy name picked out already, but we're still undecided on the girl one. Eldon loves the name Jezebel, and I think it's pretty too but we both know it's impossible. Isabel should be off limits for the same reason, but I like it too much to care that she was Corianton's harlot. Let us know if you have great baby names you can't use for yourselves! :)