New Year, New Poll

Check it out on the right and vote!

Unfortunately the last poll cleared before I was able to record the votes, but here is a screencap of my ever so witty questions:

For the record, the obvious answers would have been Jack for the top question and Sawyer for the bottom question.

... And a Happy New Year!

2010!  It's a new year (though, some might argue, not a new decade quite yet...), and we're looking forward to a great one.  We had a great time visiting the family and triplets at Mom and Dad's house on New Year's Eve, where we participated in a favorite family activity, the Boys vs. Girls puzzle (which victory the girls took this year, which was exciting for Julie's first time), as well as delicious food (of which I consumed way too much).  We spent our first married New Year's Eve at home, where Seacrest was really smarmy and the ball didn't really seem to drop, but there were fireworks just down the street.  We carried on the Barrett tradition of leaving out shoes for the New Year's Baby to fill (which included, among other things, the awesome drawing above, drawn and digitally painted by my lovely wife), and spent many happy hours introducing The Wife to the eerie depths of the Twilight Zone annual marathon (thanks to which we continue to learn a lot about our DVR).  Not long after we officially closed Christmas for the year by throwing out our lovely tree, which lasted quite a while, but was ready to be retired.  Some people don't really believe in New Year's resolutions, but I don't really have anything against them.  I think the start of a new year is a good opportunity to think about goals and how to achieve them, though I think it's also good to make and think about goals throughout the year.  So, here are just a few I've been thinking about for this year.

In 2010:

• I hope to acquire new employment, which will occur hopefully sooner than later.  I won't bore you with the details, but this needs to happen soon.  Hopefully said employment will involve my field of study in some way, though at this point I'm happy to settle for anything remotely art-related, especially as it may help to build my resume and bulk up my portfolio.  It's always hard to find new work, but we have a couple of ideas and try to remain optimistic.
  
• I would like to purchase a new car.  It doesn't have to be new, but you know, new to me.  I don't have high demands for an automobile, especially since I know relatively little about them in the first place.  (Incidentally, I'm trying to sell my BMW.  Email or comment your interest and we can talk.)
• I want to get into a regular-ish schedule of scripture reading and family prayer.  I don't want to admit publicly how my scripture reading has slacked since I returned from Wisconsin, but suffice it to say that there's room for improvement.
• I hope to visit the temple more often.
• I want to try to wean myself off of (at least) one or two of the shows I used to spend too many hours of my life watching.  Be sure, there are some that I still must see (yes, I'm looking at you, LOST, Survivor and The Office), and there are a few I would like to watch casually (that would be 24 and hopefully V), and of course the new shows that I've been introduced to by The Wife (who could foresee my interest in the likes of Project Runway?), but there are a couple I'm glad to walk away from, including one that premiered this very night which I was not too sorry to miss.
• I would like to keep running, as Julie said on her blog, and participate in some 5Ks and at least on 10K.
• Go to Disneyland!!!  (... World?...)  At least once!  Hopefully around one of the holidays so I can finally see the festivities and decorations.
• Celebrate our one-year anniversary with style.
  
• I think I might like to do a little more reading.  Julie is a really good inspiration in this department, as she is always in the middle of some book or other (which means she should also be a really good source for suggestions as to what to next read).

So I guess that's it for now.  There are also a lot of things I'm hoping will happen in 2010, but they don't really involve my active participation, so I'll leave them off my personal list.  Maybe I'll reassess and re-prioritize mid-year and see how I'm doing in my endeavors, but this gives me a starting point.  2009 was a fantastic year indeed, and I am quite sure that 2010 will only improve upon it.

I will now end by displaying another piece by my very talented spouse, designed to celebrate the New Year, and as response to Elise and Jeff's Christmas card.

Wife, you are 2009, and you will be 2010, and every year ever after.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

Christmas! It was here! It was glorious. We spent a lot of time at Mom's house with family and friends and helping with Emily and her visiting triplets, but we wanted to spend our first Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning together at our little place. First, though, I was glad to show Julie some of the traditional Graham family Christmas Eve festivities (seeing a movie matinee, this year The Princess and the Frog -again!- and with just a few of us; cheese fondue with everyone at Cami's house; opening pajamas/t-shirts from Mom).

(Note the two pregnant sisters belly-to-belly in the middle.

After, we headed back down to Provo. The tree was lit, the nog was poured, the night was lovely. We woke up uncharacteristically early for a non-workday (though uncharacteristically late for a Christmas morning, I guess) and were just amazed to see that Santa Claus had visited us after all, which must have been quite a trick not revealing to us that he was here until morningtime.



We went back to Mom's house for continued Christmas Day gatherings, where I ate way too many pullaparts and Julie fell asleep on me as we sat visiting on the couch, after which I shortly followed suit...

As shown here:
It was the best Christmas ever! And here's to many more! Even though I received my greatest present just over four months ago, it was as exciting as ever to wake up next to her on Christmas morning.

God bless us, everyone!

Three Babies

Here is what Julie and I have been spending one or two nights a week doing for the last little while:

Helping my sister Emily visiting from Maryland with her newborn triplets, Alex, Ruby and Bennett! I know that a lot of nights they're pretty fussy, but we've somehow been lucky enough to be there on the nights when they mostly just sleep and eat and coo and cuddle. Still, while I may have grown up with younger twin sisters, adding one baby really makes a big difference. Emily has her hands full with these little ones, but I know she has been praying for children for years, and her prayers have been answered manifold! She and KC are awesome parents, and while I know they're really looking forward to the time when the kids sleep through the night and can play with and entertain each other, they wouldn't give them up for the world.