The Rehomesteaders 2019 Goals

There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. ~C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things about the transition from one year to the next is the feeling of a fresh start, which makes it the perfect time to set new goals and review past ones. We’ve been setting goals for several years, and it’s been fun to see what we’ve already accomplished–some of them have been unexpectedly accomplished as opportunities have arisen, and some may be lifetime goals that take time and means to achieve them, and some still are reoccurring (like family portraits, for example). Whatever the case may be, we love setting goals, and seeing where the year takes us!

See goals from 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012!

The Rehomesteaders’ 2019 Goals

Personal (mostly just for fun!)

• Sign older kids up for 4H Evelyn had another year of robotics! Completed Aug 2019
• Correctly make croissants from scratch I did it! Homemade Croissants 27 April 2018
• Make pasta from scratch
• Visit Yellowstone
• Take a helicopter ride
• Sign up kids for and complete a summer reading program Everyone read a lot, especially over the summer! 2 June 2019 Summer Bucket List Recap
• Be a participant on The Amazing Race
• Learn to paint with oils
• Sign Kate up for ballet Kate makes a beautiful ballerina! 24 Nov 2019 Tiny Dancer
• Index 1,000 names
• Make a custom bed frame
• Visit a black sand beach
• Visit all 50 states
• We’ve lived in Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, and Indiana and have visited Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. Recently, we visited Tennessee, Alabama and Florida!  More to come soon (I hope!)
• Learn to water ski
• Visit every continent
• Make shoes
• Attend the filming of a game show
• Enter an art competition
• Cook at least one new meal once a month Here’s our list! January (Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken), February (Egg, Ham & Cheese Cups), June (Veggie and Ham Egg Bake)
• See the redwoods
• Donate hair
• Make ten different types of bread
• 28 Jan 2019 Artisan Sourdough Bread
• 27 April 2019 Homemade Croissants
• 9 June 2019 Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread
• 4 Nov 2019 New York-Style Bagel
• Become a better knitter
• Get professional family portraits
• Take a family backpacking trip
• Master watercolors
• Refinish the piano
• Enter a writing competition
• Build a porch swing
• Construct a birdbath
• Volunteer as a family
• Build a teeter-totter
• Take a family hike A little scary, but we made it! 16 Dec 2019 One Dozen
• Sell something on Etsy (or another similar online craft site)
• Build or purchase food storage shelves
• Go canoeing
• Make a permanent Family Home Evening chart
• Attend The Nutcracker
• Donate blood Donated via Indiana Blood Bank in July 2019
• Bank or donate cord blood How cool that the hospital took blood and placenta donations! That’s A Lot of Cake 3 May 2019
• Blow glass
• Take the kids to Disney World It was an experience for sure! Crashing Disney World 27 Dec 2019
• Downhill ski
• Take a train ride
• Learn to crochet
• Take a family vacation to Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks
• See the Northern Lights
• Build a piece of furniture
• Be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune
• Take up photography
• Go back to Montreal (and swing by NYC since we’d be close anyway!)
• Enter something in a State Fair
• Paint a portrait
• Be an extra in a movie (preferably on horseback)
• Attend a major music concert (other than MoTab)
• Go to the Kentucky Event…again!
• Take up pottery
• Buy a boat
• Buy a 4-wheeler/farm vehicle
• Take a tropical family vacation
• Restore Jack’s Mustang
• Invent something functional and useful
• Visit France (and I suppose the rest of Europe looks pretty fascinating too, haha!)
• Rock a short haircut
• Sign the girls up for art camp
• Attend a theatrical performance
• Attend a melodrama Went over the 4th of July in NE! 30 July 2019 Partied Til You Dropped
• Take another self-defense class
• Make or buy a dressform
• Go on a family bike ride
• Ride on the Polar Express
• Design and sew an outfit
• Sew a quilt
• Go to a theme park With FREE tickets even! 25 Aug 2019 Kings Island
• Digitize mission and family photos
• Make everyone a personalized stocking
• Have a sugar free week
• Have a year of food storage
• Make the girls dresses
• Visit an observatory Went over the 4th of July! 30 July 2019 Partied Til You Dropped
• Start the girls on piano lessons
• Make homemade yogurt It wasn’t as hard as I thought! 1 Feb 2019 Homemade Yogurt
• Make homemade cheese
• Be able to do the splits….
• Prepare at least a four generation family history chart I love remembering those who’ve gone before. 5 May 2019 Four Generations, Done!

Home Improvements

• Kids’ Rooms
• Carpet or flooring Kids have carpet. 🙂
• Paint
• Replace doors
• Our Room
• Carpet or flooring We’ve got carpet!
• Paint
• Replace doors
• Kitchen
• Paint
• Build shelf for farm supplies
• Build broom closet
• Family room
• Paint
• New blinds
• Downstairs room
• Paint
• Tile
• Carpet or flooring
• Build toy shelves
• Build coat/shoe rack
• Build a closet
• New exterior door
• Hang a world map
• Decorate “picture wall”
• Storage room

• Hang drywall
• Paint
• Flooring
• Build shelves
• Kids’ Bath
• Install double vanity
• Hang larger mirror
• Install bathtub
• Sitting Room
• Refinish floor
• Build half wall
• New banister
• New curtains and area rug

• Exterior
• Paint doors
• New front door
• New deck/patio in back
• Backyard fence
• Build playground
• Paint garage doors
• Install gates and fencing at front of property
• Make a bigger beach for the pond
• Cut down dead ash trees in the forest
• Redo front porch
• Redo landscaping
• Paver sidewalk out front
• Install jacuzzi tub
• Pour driveway loop
• Master Bed and Bath
• Build new garage
• Build master bed
• Build master bath
• ETC, ETC, ETC

• Gallop a horse on the beach
• Register Dancer
• Rim ride at the Grand Canyon
• Trail ride in Yellowstone
• Build a floating dock for the pond
• Purchase a horse trailer
• Purchase an auger
• Purchase hay baling equipment
• Professional horse portraits…again!
• Take Stoney and Dancer on a trail ride
• Dye, spin and knit an item from homegrown wool
• Tin barn and other outbuildings
• Build riding arena
• Purchase skidloader
• Enclose larger chicken run, install swings, dust bath
• Get a peacock and peahen
• Install automatic waterers for the cows
• Fix paddock fencing
• Fix back forest fencing
• Build goat enclosure
• Get some goats! Or maybe sheep…
• Purchase a child’s saddle
• Build a bench to overlook the pond
• Get a harness and cart for the horses
• Take the girls to a leadline class
• Tap trees for maple syrup Thank goodness we get something to eat in winter 17 Feb 2019 Produces in Winter
• Plant a garden Already looking forward to next year! It’s a Start 22 Sept 2019
• Construct a woodshed
• Build a greenhouse
• See wild horses
• Plant an alfalfa or hay field Got our hay cut twice this season. 21 July 2019 Four Miracles 
• Plant a berry patch
• Get another hive
• Purchase/cut hay for winter 21 July 2019 Four Miracles
• Purchase a horse trailer
• Teach Stoney and Dancer to pull a cart or carriage
• Get pigs
• Breed Dancer
• Cut cattle on horseback
• Run barrels
• Go on a cattle drive
• Buy a log splitter
• Swim with a whale shark
• Have yearly wood supply for fireplace Thanks to the kids for their help! 17 Nov 2019 Better Together
• Get a beef steer
• Swim with humpback whales
• Ride/Work horses 52+ times in a year
• Build a goat/pig, etc enclosure
• Build a round pen
• Ride an elephant (for more than three minutes…)
• Feed sharks/dive cage with sharks
• Go scuba diving
• Hold a koala
• Hold a sloth
• See the salmon run
• Watch a cheetah chase down prey
• Do a polar bear expedition
• Swim with dolphins…again!
• Take a whale watching expedition
• Be in a dog sled race
• Ride an ostrich
• Ride a camel

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• Lose baby weight
• Run another 5k Ran an early morning race with Claire! Pacing 3 Aug 2019
• Run a family race We sorta did. 😉 2 Jun 2019 Summer Bucket List Recap
• Run in a Fun Run, Color Run, etc
• Run a 10k
• Run a half marathon
• Run a full marathon
• Complete a triathlon
• Take Dancer to a show
• Compete in a dressage show
• Compete in a jumping competition (either showjumping or hunter classes)
• Compete in a two-day horse trial
• Compete in a three-day horse trial
• Compete internationally (a girl can always dream...)

• Pay off Rachael’s student loans
• Pay off Jack’s student loans
• Build a one-month emergency fund
• Build a six-month emergency fund
• Open a savings account for the kids
• Buy new van (preferably with cash)
• Buy a work truck for the farm
• Pay off mortgage

• Read 25 books in a year
• Meet Your Match by Lindzee Armstrong
• Relatively Normal by Whitney Dineen
• Bayside Mistletoe by Stacy Claflin
• Home for Christmas by Daphne James Huff, M.F. Lorson, and Kayla Tirrell
• Shoot for the Stars by Rachael Eliker
• Become a Successful Indie Author by Craig Martelle
• The Betting Groom by Taylor Hart
• Just One Kiss by Susan Hatler
• Make-believe Fiance by Vivi Holt
• Katie’s Chance for Romance by Jessica L. Elliott
• Written in the Stars by Rachael Eliker
• Only a Night with a Billionaire by Ellie Hall
• Austen Unscripted by Britney M. Mills
• Mistletoe So Sweet by Juliet Bardsley
• The Sister’s Spell: A Halloween Tale by Rachael Eliker
• Abundantly Blessed by Rachael Eliker
• Christmas at Holly Wreath Inn by Rachael Eliker
• Read 12 chapter books with the kids
• A to Z Mysteries: The Missing Mummy by Ron Roy
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
• Reach 1 million blog pageviews Made it this year!

• Reach 1000 FB likes
• Reach 1500 FB likes
• Reach 25,000+ page views in a month
• Attend a book signing
• Design bookmarks
• Get blog professionally designed
• Guest blog
• Have a guest blogger
• Reread The Book of Mormon Finished (then restarted) in Feb 2019!
• Reread The Bible Studied the New Testament as a family through the entirety of 2019!
• Reread The Doctrine and Covenants
• Reread The Pearl of Great Price
• Run a Bookbub ad Got my first international Bookbub on Dec 31st, 2019!
• Publish an article online or in a magazine
• Finish writing a series
• Write eight books in a year (So Close!)
• The Sister’s Spell: A Halloween Tale by Rachael Eliker
• Abundantly Blessed by Rachael Eliker
• Her Horse Racing Billionaire Groom by Rachael Eliker
• April Showers: A Seasonal Romance Anthology by Rachael Eliker et al
• Shoot for the Stars by Rachael Eliker
• Written in the Stars by Rachael Eliker
• Christmas at Holly Wreath Inn by Rachael Eliker
• Hit a bestseller list (New York Times, USA Today, etc)
• Become a hybrid author (Self-published and traditionally published)
• Get books into a bookstore
• Get books into a library
• Write a book with the children
• Write a book proposal for The Rehomesteaders Memoir
• Publish The Rehomesteaders Memoir
• Write a children’s picture book
• Illustrate a children’s picture book
• Publish a children’s picture book
• Write a young reader chapter book
• Publish a young reader chapter book
• Write a middle-grade book
• Publish a middle-grade book
• Write a young adult novel
• Publish a young adult novel
• Write an adult fiction novel
• Publish an adult fiction novel

What are your 2019 goals?