2014 in Review.. What a year! ((Part 1))

 

2014 was the year our biggest prayer was answered.. actually, it was answered twice. Our struggle with infertility was something I opened up about a year ago, sharing this very personal journey with hundreds of friends, family members, and even strangers. Now, looking down at my 23 week pregnant belly and constantly feeling the kicks and movements of my two precious girls...
I can honestly say I have everything I've ever wanted in life.

 

I have an amazing husband who is perfect for me, a huge family and group of friends that support me during the highs and lows, and my two growing blessings in my belly.

I have a beautiful home with space to grow into as our family expands by four feet this May.
I have a crazy Weim, Smokey, who completes our family and loves us unconditionally.
I have my health.
I have my parents.
I am blessed.

I'm blessed beyond words can describe and can't believe this is how I'm beginning my 29th year. With such a great start to 2015, let's look back on my 2014 Goals.
 
Career Goals:
 1. Master my new position as a Health Fitness Specialist in Coverage with NIFS.
In August, I accepted a promotion with NIFS to become a Manager of my own corporate fitness center; NextGear Capital. I've loved the transition to corporate fitness from commercial fitness! Starting a fitness center from the ground up and getting it running has been great experience and I love coming to work everyday!

2. Build my Advocare business to the Gold level by February 2014. 
This is a definite failure. Our Advocare business has slowly decreased over 2014 with our focus being on starting our family. We continue to love the products and take them daily, but aren't actively recruiting new distributors. Advocare has been an amazing blessing of a Plan B income that we continue to generate today. Right now, we are enjoying our 40% discount and will see where it goes once the twins are a little older :)

Wifey Goals:

1. Prep all 10 of our lunches for the week every Sunday and plan out our week.

This goal has been a huge success over the year.  Some weeks are better than others...but for the most part, meal prepping is just apart of our Sunday routine.

2. Have a house cleaning schedule and perform 20-25 min of daily cleaning

FAIL! I need to recreate my cleaning schedule from our old house to adapt this to our new house. I do have a new routine that does work well (when I do it!) I will update on this soon.
 

3. Reduce our spending (ex. coupons, sales, etc)

Our focus has been on reducing spending a lot lately. With the thought of adding in two new family members this May and a hit in my salary for at least 3 months, we continue to look at new ways to cut costs in our budget. Our most recent success was switching from AT&T to Sprint, which will save us $30/month!

-$360 a year-
If we invested this little $30 difference over 10 years this will generate $5,697.15!

Next move...cutting cable?! Stay tuned

 

Fitness Goals: Maintain 125-128 lbs and 18% body fat

Looks like I'm going to have the same goal as last year! I'm currently tipping the scales at my heaviest weight with these girls growing by the day. I'm trying to keep my weight gain slow and steady by eating healthy (most of the time) and staying active at work. It's a huge mindset change to be happy about the scale increasing and isn't always easy to watch your body change, but I remind myself daily how blessed I am to be in this situation!

Before babies

 

 

22 weeks pregnant with twins

       

 

Part two of my 2014 Goals: Part II will be posted soon- Check back for that and more pregnancy updates.
-xoxo-
Sarah

 

 

 

 

"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try"- March 2014 Recap and Goals

The beginning of 2014 began with three long, freezing cold and snowy months. After the grueling winter we had, it felt like Spring would never arrive! I'm so excited to see the flowers starting to come up through the ground, the grass starting to turn green, and some 50-60 degree days!  

Here's a rundown of March 2014 for the Gardner's 

March started off with my 90 day review at NIFS. My manager had nothing but great things to say about my performance my first three months with this company! I was very excited to hear this. I LOVE my position as a Health Fitness Specialist as I'm gaining new experience in the field of Health and Fitness!



The second week of March was our first appointment at Midwest Fertility. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Luckily, we now have an amazing Doctor that Barry and I both really like and are working on a plan to hopefully conceive in the coming months!
 
The weekend of March 15th-16th was extremely busy! We headed out to Brownsburg High School around 9am on Saturday morning to help set up for the Riley Dance Marathon. We then traveled to cheer on the Brownsburg Bulldog basketball team at Regionals. After a disappointing loss, we headed back out to Brownsburg for a fun afternoon/evening at the Riley Dance Marathon. We ended the night by celebrating my Mom's birthday over at my parent's house :)
               

I Faced My Fear on March 19th and found out a possible cause for our infertility. Barry was off work for two weeks starting on Friday, March 21st-April 4th. We allowed ourselves some extra room in the budget (since we didn't go to Fort Myers with our friends) and had some fun shopping, going out to dinners, and staying the night at the Embassy Suites in downtown Indy.


Now a recap of the 2014 goals I set back in January. If you haven't read that yet, click here ---> 2014 Goals<----

1. Debt: We started our debt talk back in November 2013 when I ordered the free copy of Advocare's Debt Buster System. We never really worried about debt since we could pay our monthly payments and even had extra money over for vacations, trips, etc. What we didn't realize was how much money we were wasting each month on useless purchases that were keeping us from truly getting ahead in life and building wealth. 



After reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, our entire thought process shifted. We now do a written budget each money where we spend every dollar before the month begins. (We aren't perfect, but getting better each month!) This helps us to stay on track and hit our debt payment goal each month.

 

Our debt snowball has been put on hold during February and March in order to save for our kitchen remodel project and a new driveway/front porch! After seeing so much progress on my student loans the first couple months and cutting my student loans in half, it has been hard to not see the amount decrease these past couple months. We were hoping to delay the driveway project, but Old Man Winter had different plans! I know that paying cash for both these projects will feel amazing, but I can't wait to get back on our Debt Snowball this month!  



2. Advocare: Building an Advocare business is simple, but not easy! We have an amazing team of over 90 champions and are currently earning a residual $1,000 a month! This has been a huge blessing! We are throwing every penny we bring in through Advocare at our debt. We love the products and take them daily. I love helping others reach their health, fitness, and/or financial goals with this company and look forward to many more amazing experiences in the coming months and years! 


3. Dogs: My baby/puppy fever may be at an all-time high. I had a dream the other night that Smokey gave birth to 10 puppies (LOL) First, Smokey is a male. Two, he is fixed. Three, I may be starting to lose it. Even though probably four times a week I ask Barry, "Can we get a puppy?" I know it's not the best time. As soon as we got another Weim, I would probably get pregnant and we would then have a new puppy and a newborn...
uh, no thanks! 
So for now, we are spoiling Smokey and enjoying our peaceful house. 

                      

4. Baby Making Plans: Last month we met with Dr. Will at Midwest Fertility in Carmel. Barry and I both really liked him and had a great conversation about all we have been through the past year and a half. He had some routine tests ordered and we found out that my thyroid levels were slightly elevated (2.89). He said he would like them between 1-2 to conceive and maintain a healthy pregnancy. I started a thyroid medication the next day and will have that rechecked this month. We should have a game plan for May after a couple more tests this month :) 



Are you still working towards the goals you set for 2014? What process have you made? What set backs have you encountered?
- Sarah 

2014. Debt, Advocare, Dogs, and Making a Baby :)

 

Most people begin the New Year celebrating with friends, excited about leaving a year in the past and ready for a fresh new beginning. It's a time of reflection, goals, and resolutions. It's a cleansing time, really, like an artist looking at a blank white canvas ready to paint with an array of colors and brushes. When you are so hopeful and can't help but feel like, "This is the month.. This is MY month" the let down never gets easier...

 

 I had already planned how I would tell Barry. I should know by December 30th so it was perfect timing. We would be at Dawson's with all our friends while I "pretended" to sip on champagne throughout the evening. I can picture being in the back room, dancing, singing, and laughing... just waiting for the countdown to begin. It would start "5,4,3, 2... "I'm pregnant!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"I pictured the look on his face and his excitement knowing how long we have hoped and prayed for this moment. 

Instead, we both struggled through the evening, trying to put a smile on our face, and enjoy the evening. We left an hour or so after midnight and drove home in silence. I knew he was hurting and as he knew I was, yet nothing either of us could say would make things better. We ended up in tears soon after walking into our house and just let it out. All the frustrations, anger, disappointment that was built up over the past 14 months finally came out.  We realized how much we tried to hide our feelings from each other in order to protect one another from hurting even more and vowed to keep our communication going strong. This journey will only continue to bring us closer as a couple and stronger in our marriage.  while we tried to continue to look on the positive side of things and keep looking ahead to a New Year. 

 

After our much needed talk on New Year's Eve we came up with many positive thoughts/ideas to focus on in 2014:

1. Debt. We never saw our debt as a problem or an issue. I always thought it was "normal" to have a mortgage, car payment, or student loans, yet since reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover we now have a better idea as to what we want our future to look like.  We have a high goal of paying off $60,000 this year, which include my student loans (Boiler Up!) and both of our vehicles. This enables us to sit down every week and discuss our progress while giving us a focus/distraction and will create a better future for our family. 

 

2.  Advocare. This gives me more time to build my Advocare business to the level I need to replace my full time salary. We are currently at the Silver level, but a Gold level would represent the option for me to become a work at home Mom which is something I believe I'm going to want very much. One of the things I love most is that I get to help so many people achieve better health, income, and see them grow into amazing leaders. 2014 is going to be an amazing year for our business.

 

3. Dogs. I warned Barry not long ago, "You either give me a baby or another dog!" LOL Smokey wasn't adjusting well to my new schedule since I started full-time with NIFS and we are thinking he needs a buddy! This is still in the very early stages of planning so please check back for updates on this decision. P.S. How cute is this?!

 

4. Baby making Plans: We are currently in the 3rd cycle of 50mg of Clomid. My doctor doesn't think anything is wrong with either one of us and thinks the Clomid will help give us the boost we need to conceive. We shall see!