HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Barlow clan! There we all are in Jerome, Arizona last week. The temps were a tad chilly but the skies and our dispositions were sunny and we just had a ball together.

And now, welcome 2008! Oh, how I love a new year! Here are some of my goals for the year:
- healthy up my lifestyle
- get back to a more productive routine
- put some of my creativity to both purposeful and productive use
- prepare for the arrival of Matthew and Martha to the eastern half of the USA!

Perhaps my word for the year will be: productive! :)

A short review of the year 2007:
- the loss of my dear father-in-law, Chris's dad on January 25th
- a big surprise for my Mom's 80th birthday, including me, in person on May 13 and 14
- the wedding of Matthew and Martha on June 8
- big projects accomplished around the house due to aforementioned wedding
- Dustin moved closer - only 10 minutes away!
- a Thanksgiving trip to Madison for Chris and I
- a Christmas trip to Arizona for Chris and I and, surprise, Dustin, too!

I'm excited about beginning some on-going "creative" projects as well. I'm going to do what's known as an "ATC" or Artist Trading Card once a week using a deck of - yes, 52 - cards; I'm going to participate in 365 which consists of taking a photo each day (365), scrapping a page a week from said photos (52) and journaling once a month (12) about the experience. I'm going to get caught up on my "This is Me" journal as well. I plan to take at least one more digi scrapbooking class and I'd like to do a digi page a week, or at least 2 a month. Finally, I'm going to start taking action on seeing if I can earn some money from my scrapping somehow, which, if I would get some projects comissioned, would blow the rest of the plan out of the water. Hey, nothing's written in cement in my life!

So, though there are some changes planned for the future, I'm sure my life will remain simple. Because I just like it that way! Hope all your hopes and dreams for 2008 become reality for you as well!