The 23rd already?

I can't believe it's already December 23. Man, this month has just flown by. Here's what's been happening with us.

I now have a job at W.I.M.P.S. Fitness. Janet and Ron asked me to cover for them when they have school things they need to be at for the boys. I was very excited to accept. I love the fitness center and think it will be fun working there with Janet and Ron. I actually started walking on the treadmill and doing the bowflex. I never thought that would happen, but it did. And, Ron had me working slow enough that I didn't hurt too badly the day after.

I celebrated my 39th birthday for the fifth time on the 14th. I went to lunch with some dear friends and had a good time. I hadn't eaten chinese food for awhile, so it was fun to be able to do that. Karen gave me a necklace that I really love and Christine gave me a beautiful plate which I will put up in my office after we paint it in the spring. Shirley bought my lunch and Janet came which was awesome!! I just love my friends and am so very blessed in the friendships that I have.

All month, I've been guest CTing for Jacque Larsen and Meg Mullens and have had a blast doing that. It will be sad to leave Jacque at the end of the month, but it was fun. As for Meg, well, I don't have to leave because she asked me to stay on full time!! I am super excited to stay on with her. Cori Gammon retired from designing which is super sad, but I hope that all works out for her. Traci Reed also had a call which I applied for, and I am anxiously awaiting the results of that.

We had a little contest in primary last week. We had the bishop come in and judge our singing contest and the kids won. I know it says we aren't supposed to have contests, but I think that directive meant between kids and not kids vs. teachers. It was a good way to get them excited about singing and singing well, which they did. We're set to sing on Sunday. I love being music leader in primary.

The ward party was a huge success. We had a man come who is thinking about buying the funeral home in town. That would be wonderful if he did. He was a nice man and I hope he gets to move here with his family. The food for the ward party was delicious and well worth the entire day I spent there getting things ready. We had a lot of compliments on the food, which made me feel good. It was my last big soiree as ward activities chairman, and I am so glad it was a success. The Bishop actually came up and told me later that it was exactly what he had envisioned.

I have the missionaries coming for dinner on the 30th and will make a second batch of tamales. The first ones were SO good!! I enjoy feeding the missionaries and hope they have fun when they come over. I do miss our missionaries from last year - Elder Swank and Elder Naegle. They are both home now, but I am Facebook friends with them.

I do hope that you all have a very merry Christmas and a joyous new year. This year is going to be a little sad since it will mark the one year anniversary since my grandmother's passing. It's going to be a hard one, but I know she's in a better place now and I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

30 Days of Thankful

I am SO glad that October is done!! It was a horrible month! The worst part was that my uncle passed away on October 22. His memorial service was on the 30th, but I wasn't able to make it. Our trunk or treat was that night at the church and it was a HUGE success!! We had hundreds of people there!! I always love it when we have good turnouts!

Ok, so I started this yesterday on Facebook, but I'm gonna make my list here too!!

Day 1: I'm thankful for the 6 lbs I lost at my weigh in making my total loss 62 lbs!!!

Day 2: I'm thankful I can make my voice heard through voting!!

So, the last high school football game for Zakk was last week. It was pretty emotional for all the seniors. Three boys ended up hurt: Zakk with a broken finger; Jake with a broken elbow; and Tyler with a broken foot. It's a good thing it was the last game, since our team was shrinking each week due to injuries!

I've been scrapping, but haven't posted any LOs here. I need to I know, but I just haven't yet. LOL This month I get the honor of guest CTing for Jacque Larsen! I am super excited!! Next month I'll continue with Jacque and I also get to guest for Meg Mullens at Sweet Shoppe Designs!! I am super excited about that!!

I've been working on Zakk's best friend's genealogy. I've found a lot of information for him. It's nice to be able to work on something and have results. I have so many brick walls that it gets a little discouraging. But, that's all part of the hunt. I am glad that Dylan is enjoying seeing his genealogy and knowing that these people are real.

Janet and Ron came over today and took me to the new gym. I am super excited about it! She said it should be opening in a few weeks!! I am really getting excited to see it all finished. The space is really nice and it's going to be fantastic when they get it all buttoned up and beautiful!! And it's less than a quarter mile from my house!!

I think that's all the news that's fit to print right now! LOL I'll be back later to post LOs that I did last month! It sure feels good to be scrapping again!

Updates

The news about my uncle wasn't good. His cancer has spread to his liver, lungs, and lymph nodes. At this time, there is no news on what stage he is in. I am so sad, but I will continue praying for him and his family. My aunt is taking it hard, it just makes me so happy that my dad is there with them.

We had a home game last Friday and we won 60-0. It was AWESOME!! I enjoy watching my son play. It sure makes the games more fun to be able to watch him. Tomorrow's game is also a home game. I love it!!

I have been scrapping more lately. It's been nice to get back to my scrapping. I enjoy being able to scrap for me and my family and not for others. Don't get me wrong, I loved being on the CTs that I was on, but at times, it was hard to scrap. Sometimes a kit just didn't speak to me, or I didn't have the right photos. I am on four CTs now, and am seriously thinking of scaling back two of them.

I have also been working on my genealogy. I think I have finally broken through a brick wall. It's so nice, and I'm working on connecting the lines, but that will come. Now, I have a starting point in which to look. I have also been helping my sons friend with his. It's nice to be able to find stuff and build a tree for someone.

The diet has been a roller coaster. For the past month, I've been gaining one week, losing one week, and so on. It's been getting irritating. So, I've kicked it up a notch and now I am walking a mile a day. I really am feeling good. At times, my body hurts, but that will go away after I've been at it longer. I am working hard on staying on program and there are times it's really easy and times it is so hard. But, I'll keep going. I want to lose 100 lbs by the time my son graduates high school which is May 30.

I guess that's about it. I have to go and cook dinner. I think we'll be having some baked chicken and rice with veggies. That sounds good to me.

Homecoming and more

This past Friday was Homecoming in our little town. We started it off with a pep rally, which by my standards, wasn't too peppy. I grew up in Texas and we screamed and hollered at our pep rallies! This was not like that. But, it was still neat!! Then we had the JV football game and we won 28-8. Then the big football game!! It was so neat to watch my son play and what's better - we WON 48-6. Woo hoo!! That was an awesome game!!

I got some seriously sad news this weekend. It seems my favorite uncle has been diagnosed with cancer. He is supposed to go in on Monday to see if there is any spreading and what stage he is in. If it's a low enough stage and no spreading, they can do surgery. If it's a high stage, then they won't be able to. I am going to be on pins and needles and not the good kind waiting for the text from my cousin.

Church was wonderful yesterday. It was fast Sunday because our semiannual general conference is next weekend. I love hearing testimonies and yesterday, all the testimonies were very good and uplifting. The women's broadcast on Saturday was fabulous!! I just love hearing the leaders of my church speak and all the talks were so good, especially President Monson's. His talk was centered around not judging people and following the Lord's commandment to love one another. He told a story about a lady that always looked out her window and she would see her neighbor's laundry on the line and it was always dirty. She would say, "Why doesn't someone go and teach her how to wash clothes?" and "Doesn't she know how to get clothes clean?" Then one morning, she got up and looked our her window and was pleased to see that her neighbors laundry was nice and clean. When she asked her husband if he had seen someone over there doing the lady's laundry, he replied: "No I haven't, but I got up early this morning and washed our windows."

I just love that story!! We need to make sure our own windows are clean before we make judgements on anyone else. What a wonderful and simple story to illustrate the importance of not judging others. It makes me very excited to hear what they say this weekend at the general conference. I love this time of year.

Well, it's time to go and purge my office. I hope I don't get buried alive in there.