Thanksgiving weekend

Mom, trying to relax after hosting the "big" thanksgiving party

My Dad and Carolina

Roxanne and Cody

The "kids" table at the Fuhriman's

Grandma Mickey and the babies

Reid cutting down our Christmas tree

Trying to cut down our tree

taking a break from our hike

Reid hiking

the kids and I

starting out on our long journey

We had a really fun and busy Thanksgiving this year. Reid had to work at the site on Thanksgiving Day so the kids and I went to the Sargent dinner at 1:00, and then over to the Fuhriman's dinner at 4:00. We definately got plent to eat.

The day after we went to Island park to get our Christmas tree, which was quite the adventure. In all the years that I have been going to get Christmas trees in Island Park I have never seen that much snow. Because of all the snow we didn't take our 4-wheeler, so we had to hike out to find our tree. I am talking thigh high snow that we were hiking through. It was one of the hardest things I have done physically in a very long time. But we finally found the tree we were looking for, and we were able to all laugh at ourselves afterwards. Savanna and Mitch were very strong hikers, while Treyton got pulled in the sled. (Thankfully my Mom offered to watch Carolina so we didn't have to drag her along.)

Savanna's bedroom

This is Reid after sanding. He was a mess, and you can see all the dust in the air. He doesn't like doing the mudding, but decided that he couldn't justify paying someone else to do it.

The closet

You can see the trim

We are very close to having Savanna's room in the basement done. We told her we would have it done by Christmas and it shouldn't be a problem to get it done now. I was starting to worry just a bit about that goal because it seems that Reid is so busy. He has had a pretty big painting job in Island Park, and it seems like he has been spending several days fixing cars lately, not to mention his normal job. But lucky for us he has had a few days here and there that he has been able to focus on the room downstairs. I am so impressed with his ability to get things done and how if he doesn't know how to do something he figures it out. He has pretty much done the entire room by himself, excluding a small amount of help from our Dad's. Reid definately does not get enough credit for all that he does. I love you Reid!

Savanna is very excited to move down to her new room, we just have paint and carpet left!

Mourning the loss of a dear friend

Last night I had a bit of an emotional breakdown. Mitch had his last wrestling tournament in Ririe that started at 5:30, so we had an early dinner and made it over to Ririe in time for the long tournament. They were selling concessions which I broke down and bought some treats for the kids. I didn't eat any of the treats as I am trying to lose weight and so I was "good" and didn't eat anything. When we got home it was 9:30 at night and everyone was starving. So Reid made the kids their favorite treat an eggnog. It's mostly a milkshake with lots of sugar, milk and crushed ice with a touch of egg. They always ask him to make it for them. I was also very hungry but had used up all my points and so knew I couldn't eat anything.

I felt incredibly depressed. I have been doing weight watchers since the end of August and have been pretty successful even though the weight is coming off ever so slowly. I feel that 1 lb or less a week is very slow. The first month I lost it a lot faster but since then it has been a very slow rate. I know in my mind that I am doing this the right way and that I am not doing some kind of "extreme" diet and so it is healthy to lose it so slowly and that by doing it like this hopefully I will be able to keep it off better. But emotionally I feel very frustrated by the numbers on the scale.

The reason for the emotional breakdown is this, I miss my friend "comfort food". Food has always been there for me. I could always count on it to taste good, and to make me feel better. It has been there for every celebration in life, it is there when I am lonely, sad, happy or any other emotion. I have had to put this kind of eating aside for the greater good in life. I want to be healthy, I want to feel comfortable in my own skin. I don't care if I am super skinny, I am past that point in my life. But I do want to be able to put on a pair of jeans and not worry that I look terrible and have to hurry and find a big shirt to cover up my big butt and belly. I don't want to be embarrassed when I run into an old friend from High School and worry that they are thinking "man she has really packed on the pounds." But mostly I want to have energy and feel good while I raise my 4 beautiful children.

This is the reason for the breakdown, last night I wanted to come home and eat some cookies, or ice cream or whatever else sounded good and not worry about it. But I have to give it up (at least in excess) so that I can have a better future. Now one of the reasons I chose to do weight watchers is because you can still eat treats in moderation as long as you stay within your daily points allowance. So I know that I can still have some every so often, but last night I felt sad that I no longer can have all I want of it. I know that doing this will be very worth it in the long run and for this reason i am not giving up. Wish me luck over this Thanksgiving Holiday.

Savanna's baptism

Today was Savanna's baptism. It was a very special day for her and our family. I am so grateful that she made the choice to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She wanted to do it, and she was very excited about it. She got to share her special day with 2 other kids from the Lincoln 6th ward, Ethan Nelson and Jodi Schwicht. It was a ward baptism, so it was kind of neat that members of the children's families got to participate in the program. Savanna's cousin sang "Beautiful Savior" for the program. Reid baptized and confirmed Savanna and did a wonderful job in giving her the gift of the Holy Ghost and gave her a nice blessing. I felt very lucky today to be Savanna's Mom today and I am so happy that she is my daughter!

Halloween 2010

Treyton and his scary "Hulk" costume

Savanna the nurse

Carolina, our cute elephant

Darth-Mitch

All 4 kids

Reid and the kids with their freshly carved pumpkins

The kids and I- I decided that I am rarely in the pictures since I am the Mom so I need to make this happen more

Treyton and Savanna trying to get the guts out of their pumpkins

Mitchel- they love carving pumpkins. I am just glad that Reid is willing to do it, because it isn't my favorite thing at all.

Reid and the kids carving their pumpkins.

Treyton trying on my witch's costume.

Mitch and Carolina getting ready to trick or treat at Melaleuca with Dad. (He took them, and I took Savanna and Treyton earlier in the day because Carolina was asleep when I went and Reid and Mitch had gone hunting that morning.)

Me, Linda, Holly and Andrea- the witches management team at Koala Kids Academy

As always this year the week of Halloween was crazy around our house. I helped with the annual Koala Kids Academy sugar cookie fund raiser which doubles my hours at work for the week. (Always makes me appreciate not having to work full time). And the kids always have lots of extra activities with Halloween at school and at church. But it was a great week, and we all survived it happily. We went trick or treating at Melaleuca on friday, and on Saturday we trick or treated around our own neighborhood and went and visited all the grandparents. It was a fun filled day!