Black Friday

I have had a week off of work and am now getting geared up for the infamous Black Friday. I only work three days before the big day. I don't really understand the lure of getting up before the sun, but lots of people do it. The deals are really good (at JC.Penney anyway) and worth coming in before one to get the deals, but I have to work at 4am. Granted I did choose the early shift, but still starting at 4am I am getting off at 3pm. Yikes! As much as I will hate getting up so early, I must admit that the atmosphere of Black Friday early in the morning is an exciting one. The music is soley Christmas music and most people are there because they want to be and are surprisingly in good moods. So think of me when you wake up on the 27th because I will have most likely been at work for a few hours! Hope to see all you Black Friday shoppers there, and if you do show up stop by and say hello...

Fitness

So, since the beginning of July I have been on a fitness mission. At the beginning of July I was 122 lbs and 23% body fat. Now, I know that isn't bad and was on the healthy side of the spectrum, but I was on a mission to "tone" up. Here is a picture of me from May:

Now I will repeat, I know I wasn't "fat" but I wasn't happy either, very "soft". I always wanted to get into shape, I even joined a gym. I just didn't know what to eat to tone up. So, I consulted with a friend of mine from high school who helps people with diets. It was really easy, she very slowly started introducing new parts of the diet. I am very happy to say that it is now a habit, not just a "diet". I am now 109 lbs and 15% body fat. My goal is to be 12-13% body fat, I don't really care about the weight! Anyway, here is a picture taken of me I think in August. I have lost more weight since then, but I think you can totally tell a difference:

Sad News

I know, I haven't updated in forever and it has to be with sad news. I just found out last night that one of my good friends daughters passed away. She has had medical problems for awhile now and she had a kidney disease that they hadn't been able to diagnose yet. The kidney disease let to swelling and a blot clot in the heart. She would have been three next month. If you pray, please send out some prayers for this family!!

Mothers Day

For Mother's Day we went to Mt. St. Helens. It was such a beautiful day, the kids had a great time!! Kellen had so much fun learning about the volcano!!! He has been talking about it ever since. It was such a nice way to spend my Mother's Day!!

Mother's Day Tea

Yesterday Kendall had a Mother's Day Tea at her preschool. It was so cute, the kids were all dressed up and sang us songs and gave us presents. My mother-in-law was able to make it too. Of course, I have some pictures to share!!

Kids...ya gotta love 'em

Yesterday, as I was getting Kendall dressed and ready for the day, I pulled her hair into a ponytail and saw that some of the hair wasn't going in the pony. So I we it down and then noticed that it wasn't going in because it was shorter than the rest. Me: "Kendall, did you cut your hair?" Her: (with big brown puppy eyes) "Uh Huh". Oh dear! I went into her room to see where this chopping took place. There on the chair of her arts and crafts table are beautiful strand of long curly blonde hair. Luckily, all I have to do is talk sternly to her and she is crushed, no spankings!! Well. last night after examining I decided that I would just cut her bangs to even it out. I got them all cut and straightened and it looked so cute. I asked her if she wanted to look and she said yes. Well, she immediately started crying and saying she doesn't like it and she looked funny. Great... now she looks like a poodle because she won't let me pull the bangs straight and they are just a big poof at the top of her head, right up front. I guess it will be a while until those family pictures are taken!!

So...

The answer is YES I have been using the gym. Granted, it has only been like a week, but so far so good. Although, I have noticed that when I really exert myself with weights I am extremely tired all day long (I have been waking up at 5:15 in the morning to workout). And I don't mean just a little tired, I mean dragging all day tired. Well, today I did a spin class and didn't have the same problems, I felt pretty good all day and am still holding my own at 9:00pm.

For those of you that don't know ( I think it is pretty much everyone who reads my blog, because I don't usually talk about it much) my older brother is in prison and went before the parole board for the second time (the first was two years ago and was denied). Well, we got word today that he was granted parole!! I am so excited, he has been in prison in Nevada since 2002. He has never met my almost seven year old son, nor my daughter. He will be living with my parents about three hours away in eastern Washington. I just hope and pray that he is truly ready!!

Well, that is the latest from here. Next week is spring vacation and I get to spend a couple days with the kids and my parents are coming at the end of the week!!