Every year in December, I like to do some reflection on the previous year and look ahead to what comes next. I’ve been using the Powersheets goal setting system since 2014, I think!

My husband and I talk through it all together. Some of the prompts are really illuminating and fun to revisit each year:

What worked this year? What didn’t?
What do you want to say ‘yes’ to in the coming year? What’s going to be a ‘no’?
Where do you want to be in a few decades, and what will it take to get there?

Reflection and goal-setting help us keep things in perspective, revisit what’s important, and get on the same page about how we want to spend our time.

This process also helps us course-correct anything that needs a little nudge in a different direction.

Last year I designed client projects, taught a new online course, and filled a leadership role in our Navy spouse community. Our kids didn’t go back to school full time until the fall, which meant lots of time helping them at home.

It was all good stuff and time well spent.

But as I look ahead to 2022, I want to carve out just a bit more time to focus on our family - our home, our experiences, and our memory keeping.

I definitely felt stretched thin in 2021, and I know 2022 is going to be busy and full.

The goals I’m sharing in this post aren’t huge changes, but just small efforts to be more intentional about the things and people that matter most to me.

1 / Make memories

Sunday games & plans

Our boys love playing games as a family, and rather than let that be an afterthought, we set a goal to play games and do some planning each week while we play.

We’re targeting Sunday nights - just once a week. Life is busy, so one night a week feels sustainable and will give us some consistency.

When I talked with our older son about it, he came up with the name “Games and Plans.” My husband added that it’ll be the night we “game-plan” our schedule as a family.

So far, it’s working out great. We’ve spent several nights playing games, we decluttered our game cabinet, and I’m getting help with meal planning.

We’re all really enjoying the time, and it’s helping all of us get on the same page as a family while we do something fun together.

Get Family Fun on the calendar

My husband’s work schedule can be really unpredictable and demanding, so I resisted making a lot of plans in 2021. We got out and did some fun things, often at the last minute, and sometimes not necessarily as a family of four.

This year, I want to focus on being more intentional with planning family fun, rather than letting our busy work and sports schedules keep us from getting away as a family.

We’re moving to the east coast, and I’m excited to plan weekend road trips, a spring break trip, and the holidays.

Lean into our time in DC

I’ve only been to Washington DC twice in my life, and now we’ll be living about 25 minutes from the White House! We’re excited to explore a place that has so much to offer.

We don’t know how long we’ll live there, so our plan is to jump in feet first and really lean into the experience.

2 / Get organized

Digital declutter

This one’s been on our list for awhile, and this is the year we’re going to do it.

We have photos backed up on hard drives, but we don’t have a Cloud system that houses all of our memories in one place.

So Nick and I are planning to organize our digital catalog together - and we’ll be walking through the process Miss Freddy lays out in her Backup Bootcamp course.

I’m excited about this one!

From digital files, to digital photos, old computers and phones, hard drives, and the Cloud - our goal is to go through everything, make sure we’ve backed up what we want to save, declutter what we can let go of, and set things on autopilot so we have a plan moving forward.

Sentimental items

My favorite thing about moving is the big declutter that always happens around our house. And since it’s been awhile since we moved (four years!), we’ve accumulated quite a bit of random “stuff.”

I find a lot of those unidentified objects carry sentimental weight, making them hard to let go.

We have systems to deal with those types of items. I just want to take a hard look at what we have, let go of what we can, and be thoughtful about what we keep.

I’ll be sharing the behind-the-scenes on Instagram stories (@catsaunders).

3 / Pocket pages

School albums

I love working on pocket page layouts, and I have a little catching up to do on the boys’ school albums, so that’s on my list this year.

I plan to carve out some time this summer to work on their school albums. It’s something I really enjoy, and I only need to create a few layouts, but I have to make time to make it happen.

December Daily 2020 & 2021

Again, this project brings me so much joy every year, but I just can’t get to it in December.

I have some of December 2020 and all of December 2021 to document. This isn’t a hard one for me to get inspired to do, but it’s something I need to give myself time to tackle.

So, it’s on the list this year.

4 / Photo books

I have some family photo books I just haven’t made time to tackle over the last couple of years. Here’s what’s on my photo book to-do list in 2022:

Europe

I want to publish one Europe photo book. These photos give me so much anxiety because I feel a lot of pressure to “get it right.” It’s time to get over it!

Covid & Command

This is the photo book documenting our last two years - from Covid to Change of Command. This will encompass the pandemic, lockdown, school closures, and deployment.

Lots of memories to document as part of one big story. I’ve started pulling photos and am excited about this one!

5 / Our move to DC

I want to be intentional about documenting our current home, the road trip across the country, and moving into our new home.

Every time we move out of a house, I take photos and a video of it just before we start pulling things off the walls to prepare for the movers.

This move is a big one for the boys. Lots of emotions. So I want to capture the process and the journey. I think memory keeping helps mark big moments in life.

Sometimes social media can make it seem like everyone has it all together.

I certainly don’t! I wanted to share these goals to let you know that I’m definitely a work-in-progress.

It’s never too late to make a course correction, start a new tradition, or do something special with your memories.

If you’re looking to document your memories but aren’t sure where to start, download my free guide!

It’s a simple PDF with 15 ideas for “catch up” projects. They’ll inspire you to jump in no matter what your season of life or how many memories you want to document.

Anyone can do this - including you!

My Goals for Photos and Memories in 2022