Weight Watchers Report

I cannot believe that another week has gone by. I am disappointed that I didn't get to the gym like I needed to and am bummed that I haven't been feeling well. Anywho, I really don't want to post this, but I will. . .My Official weigh in for the week of April 19-April 26th is a gain of 1.4. I will be back with a great report next week. You can count on it!! Later, Melissa

My first time clipping into my pedals HILARIOUS

Well, today was the day. I took my bike off my trainer and reintroduced it to the great outdoors. (For those of you who don't know a trainer is something you can hook your bike into so you can ride your bike indoors during the winter months. You know like a stationary bike, but it is actually your real bike.)

I have mentioned in previous post about my AWESOME biking shoes that I got this winter and have been using to clip into the pedals on the spinning bikes at the YMCA. (Again, if you need a refresher, these are shoes that actually attach to the pedals, so you are one with your bike. This way not only can you push down the pedals you can pull up as well causing the ride to be sooo smooth and you get more bang for you buck. If any of you biker people out there would like to give a more technical explanation please do so in the comment section, but alas, I digress. ) I decided today was the big day. I would be clipping into my bike for the first time outside. I have clipped in a few times on the trainer, but it is not quite the same. On the trainer you are held up, outside you are not.

So I'm all ready and get on my bike, grab onto my mirror on my mini van, balence and get my right foot all clipped in. I mean, this foot is not about to go anywhere, so I start biking and head into the local subdivision, so I can work on clipping in my left foot before hitting the open trails. Here I am riding around in circles, with a bunch of kids, trying my best to get my left foot in when I finally give up. I decide I will bike with one foot clipped in and keep working on it the whole ride, so I head off to the trail in the distance. I'm still working on the left foot when it goes in a little. I'm excited, so I start pulling up on the pedals and D'oh, my left foot comes out, so I try again, give up, stand up to get going fast and VIOLA, my left foot clips in. I'm so excited I almost fall over. I finally make it to the trail and have my sites set on a Dad and his kid in the distance. I think to myself, I WILL PASS THEM. I'm closing the gap and am all excited that I'm about to beat an 8 year old kid and his old man, when out of nowhere a bug flies into my right eye. I was so going to catch up and pass this kid and his Dad, but the bug incident slowed me down and then they take a left and I needed to go right, so I decide that it is time for me to stop and take a little rest and make sure my eye is ok. I realize my feet are still clipped into the pedals. Before falling over I manage to get my right foot out, but my left foot is stuck now.

I see a fellow biker riding really slow, I think he was making sure I was ok and I notice that he is clipped into his pedals wearing the same cool shoes I have. I asked him if he had a sec and he did so I asked him about clipping in and that my left foot felt stuck and he showed me how I could loosen the clip on the bike when I get home and we talked for a minute and then he wished me good luck and we were off. The exciting part is that when I got back on I was able to clip the right one in right away and the left one only took about 2 minutes this time, just in time for a big hill, well, not really that big, but I hadn't been riding in awhile, so it felt big. :-) I make my way home all proud of myself and make it to my driveway, almost fall over, and finally get my right foot out. I then realize that my left foot is REALLY stuck in the clip. I mean I was almost spraining my ankle just trying to get out of this pedal, so I wheel up by the front door and start yelling at the door, KEITH, KEITH, KEITH. No answer. So I start again, KEITH, KEITH, when I hear my son, Parker, yelling through the door, MOM, YOU OK OUT THERE? He doesn't bother to open the door, so I tell him to open the door and he does and I tell him to get Daddy, so Keith comes to the door and I say, Honey, I'm stuck in my bike and he gives me this priceless look, so I have him hold my bike and I'm almost breaking my ankle at this point (ok, that's a little exaggerated), so finally I have him undo the Velcro on my shoe and I take my foot out and really have to tug to get my shoe off my pedal. It was pretty funny and then when I walk in Parker says, MOM, good thing I was going potty, we never would have heard you." I was glad too. I really don't know how I would have gotten out because I had just raised my seat and I don't think I could have reached the velcro.

So, there is the story of my first time clipping in to my pedals. I wish I had a great falling over at 0 miles per hour story, but this one was fun and now it won't be so bad next time. If anyone has any advice, great stories or better technical explanations than I gave feel free to comment. Also I have written a couple Hiakus (Haikus are short poems that have 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line and then 5 in the third line. They are a lot of fun to write.) dedicated to the whole experience. If you would like to write a Haiku for me I would love to hear it too.

Shoes click into bike
I have fun getting them out
At least I fall not

Yelling at my door
I'm stuck in my bike no more
After Keith saves me

I like to bike ride
I like the wind in my hair
Don't like bug in eye

Have a great night.
Melissa

PS. Oh yeah, about the whole weight gain last week. I'm over and so remotivated after my bike ride tonight. It's great to be out in the fresh air again.

Weight Watcher Report

I had a rougher week than I realized. I knew that I had gained, but how much was a surprise. My official weigh-in for the week of April 12-19th was a gain of 2.6. I was very proud of myself because I didn't want to go and weigh-in, but I remembered that I blogged that I would be blogging my progress, so I didn't want to skip and have to blog about skipping the meeting, so I guess putting this on here really does hold me accountable. I know exactly what I haven't been doing and am so remotivated tonight in my journey. Gotta go get my prune boy out of the tub and in bed. Thanks for listening or should I say reading?

More Pictures of Luke

Here is little Luke. He is such a happy baby, well at least for 10 minutes. After he eats he is soooo happy and his Daddy calls it his 10 minutes of happiness.

Here I am with Little Luke. For those of you who don't know all my nephews and nieces call me Aunt Meepa. That is because when my 23 year old little brother was learning to talk he couldn't say Melissa, so it came out Meepa and it has stuck.

Here we are, proud Daddy and Proud Auntie. Ahhhh, he sleeps like a baby, wait a minute he is a baby!! If you would like to see more pictures please check out the proud Papa's blog at www.pastorkarl.com.

This is my 100th post and it's exciting!!

We have exciting news in our family. My brother, Karl, and his wife Sara are Parents. They have been praying for 10 years to have a baby and Easter Sunday their prayers have been answered. They are adopting a beautiful little boy named Luke Given. It is an exciting time for our whole family. Here is a great picture of Dad and Son. Enjoy! There will be more pictures to follow of my new little nephew. Have a blessed day!!

Pictures of the kiddos

Here is a picture of Parker right after he received his White Belt in Kung Fu. He received his uniform after this picture was taken. He now has 2 stripes. You need 10 stripes on your belt to move up to the next color.
Here is Parker with Shihan. Shihan is the title above the more commonly known Sensei. He is a great teacher and a great match with Parker. He is tough on him, but very kind as well. When Parker prays at night he always tells God how grateful he is for Shihan. This is right after he received his belt.

Here is Tricia on her first day of Skateboarding getting some advice from her teacher Anthony. She really likes him and he is very helpful and thinks it's cool that she's into boarding.

This next picture is of Anthony helping Tricia get ready to DROP IN. Lookin' good kid. Anthony got her feet already and was reassuring her that if she trusted him and leaned forward everything would be ok.

So she trusted him and DROPPED IN, literally. Hey, it's just the first week of class. She did Awesome and has been back to the Skate Park twice since class. She can't wait for me to take her to Kohl's where they have a line of Tony Hawk clothes. She also can't wait to get to the Skateboard store to check out the shoes. Who knows maybe we have a future X-gamer on our hands, afterall, she already has a snowboard on her Christmas list.

Weight Watchers

On wednesday nights I attend Weight Watcher meetings to help with my weight loss journey. I decided on Wednesday nights I will be posting if I gained, lost or maintained. I know that I need accountability in this area, so this will help me.

Official Weight Watchers Report For the week of April 6th-12th: Lost .2 pounds. The Weight Watchers scales are very accurate. :-) I will let you know next week how I did. Keep on keepin' on.

Later Gators,
Melissa

It's been over two months!!

Hi Everyone! I cannot believe that it has been over two months since I've blogged. As you can tell from my last post I was missing my Mom. I figured out that I haven't really grieved her and had a tough time there, but am doing better. I am doing better emotionally there, but had a setback with working out and weightloss. With my Triathlon right around the corner I am getting back in the swing of things. About 4 weeks ago I started swimming lessons. My teacher cracks me up and keeps lessons fun. I have my last lesson on Monday and will probably sign up for 5 more. This week I feel like it all clicked. I never realized how much there really is to swimming. I am going to get my bike off my trainer after Easter. The weather has been gorgeous, so it has been hard not to go biking, but I have 25 people coming over to my house on Easter and am distracted enough as it is. I don't need my bike to be an added one. :-) I'm starting a running program next week. It is called FROM THE COUCH TO A 5K IN SIX WEEKS. Considering I don't run yet this seemed like a good place to start. We will soon see. My goal for my first Triathlon is to finish and after that set time goals, so that's pretty much where I am on the Triathlon route.

One of my posts talked about my Friend, Chris in Iraq that was hurt. He has been home for awhile and is doing AWESOME. In fact as soon as he can get the doctor's ok, he will head back to Iraq as early as June. He still has guys over there so I understand that he wants to go, but don't like it. :-)

Tricia is doing great. She started Skatebording lessons last Saturday and is doing great. She is the only girl in her class, but has no problem with that and the teacers are great with her. I will be posting pictures soon.

Parker started Kung Fu about a month ago. He is a White Belt with 2 stripes. He loves it and it is teaching him great discipline. Again, I will post pictures of him soon.

I'm off to volunteer in Tricia's class. It feels great to be back. Blog more later, Melissa

My Mom and Me

I was cleaning through the basement and found this great picture of my Mom and Me. As most of you know my Mom, Patti, died 9 years ago this passed Christmas Morning. She was my everything and for some reason I am having a hard time with her being gone lately. I'm reading a book called Motherless Daughters, which is helping me work through this latest wave of grief. I've been praying a lot and reading my Bible, which is also helping. I think I figured out that my son losing his first 2 teeth probably sparked it this time. Please enjoy this picture of my Mom and Me. It has a glare on the picture, but it is a great one. :-)

Fun in Michigan Part 2

At the end of my Fun In Michigan post I put that you had to stay tuned for the highlight of the trip for me, so here it goes.

Parker has been dying to lose a tooth for the longest time and a couple of months ago he lost tooth #1. Recently he had been telling me that another tooth was loose. The Morning we were leaving for Michigan he showed me how loose his tooth was so we gave him an apple. No luck. I thought for sure he would lose it at school, but no such luck.

Afterschool we headed off to Michigan knowing that he would lose it on this trip. He was wiggling it with his tongue, but was getting to a point where he was starting to not eat because it hurt so bad. Daddy had even spent some time wiggling it for him.

At the end of our trip we went out for Ice Cream with Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jordan before leaving town.

After we were done with our Ice Cream we were sitting there visiting and I noticed that they sold ROCK CANDY so I bought the kids some telling Parker to bite down on it and his tooth will come out. He didn't want to, so finally I said, "Let Aunt Kelly take a look at it. She's a dental hygenist." So he actually let her wiggle it and pull it out. This picture is of her in action and the funny part was I closed my eyes while taking it because I couldn't look.

This picture is afterwards. Check out that smile!!

He was telling people the next day that his Auntie yanked out his tooth. He will always have this fun memory with his Auntie. Thanks Aunt Kelly for being a fun Aunt to our kids.

My Buddy in Iraq has been hurt and is on his way home!!

I wish this was a post about my kids or my triathlon training or how my weightloss is going, but it isn't. It's to let you all know that my friend, Chris, has been hurt in Iraq. If you have known me long enough you know Chris is a household name which is spoken daily. Tonight I logged on my computer to find an email that Chris had been hurt in Iraq. This was his 2nd deployment. He left before Christmas and was supposed to be there a year to a year and a half. Well, he is on his way home via Germany. Here is the blog post from his wife, Melissa.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

He's going to be okay.....
Hello again,Well, I guess this isn't the best way to inform everyone. I just didn't know how else to get this done in a timely manner other wise. I received a call from Chris this morning. He is in Baghdad waiting transfer to Germany then onto the states. He was out on patrol yesterday (it was around 3 a..m. My time) and his humvee was hit by an IED. His tank crew and him are fine. His driver had minor injuries. His loader has burns on his face and various parts of his body. His gunner who was standing up out of the top of the humvee has a pretty messed up ankle with burns to his face and some to his hands. Chris has burns to his neck, hands, shoulder, and various parts of his body. He had to get 18 stitches on the back of his head from where debris hit him. He is in pain but has lots of medication right now. He still has his up beat happy go lucky personality and trying to stay tuff for his guys. He said I am Superman I can't die....so you know he is hanging in there.From what I know right now they are sending him on to Germany tonight or tomorrow. Then he will be coming to San Antonio for burn treatments after that. I don't know what they will do from there. He said it all depends on how bad his burns really are and how fast he can recover.I am sorry to post like this but I just wanted everyone to know what is going on and I will post as soon as I get more information that I can share with you all.


I wanted to share some pictures with you so you could put a face with a name. Here is Chris with his kids the morning he left for Iraq. Blake and Destiney are hanging on to him and Mason is next to him freezing. It was 4:30 am. The next picture is of Chris and a 26 day old Iraqi baby. Sorry the picture is so tiny. This was how his wife put it on her blog and I don't know how to make it bigger. Keep scrolling down.
Here is Chris and the Iraqi police that they work with. Chris is the American that is kneeling down.

Here is Chris with a group of Iraqi kids. It's amazing how quickly they will follow you when you are feeding them sweet tarts. Look how beautiful these children are.

I just got done IMing Melissa, Chris' wife. I let her know how much I love them, how much I am praying for them and that I am letting all my friends and family know, so they can keep them in your prayers. Please pray specifically for her as she tells her children. She has not told them yet. She wants them to finish out their school week. Thank you so much for letting me share my friend with you. Please scroll down for a poem I wrote.My Internet Soldier turned friend-By Melissa

I have a friend named Chris, who is serving in Iraq

He is like a brother to me, but it wasn't like that when we met

See he was just a name in a computer data base

and I was a civilan in the crowd with no face

I signed on to a website, it was just another day

Said I wanted someone in Iraq that I could support in every way

The next day my email read, we've got a soldier for you named Chris

I read it over and over, no detail to miss

I started writing letters and sending packages to him

He responded back and that made me grin

I started talking and emailing his wife

I could tell after a while this was going to change my life

See as time marched on our friendship grew

I not only supported him, I supported his family too

Even after he got home after his first time there

We stayed in touch, we were friends now, we all cared

We talked about the kids and Chris' BIKE

We talked about Church and the things we liked

That's why when he got the call to go back

It was a lot harder, we had all become attached

See I used to tell people I met this soldier on the net

But not anymore, he's a friend and that's that

Fun In Michigan

This past weekend we went to see my little brother, Jordan and his wonderful wife, Kelly. They move to Toronto this next weekend. Jordan got a job for MLB.com as their beat writer for the Toronto BlueJays. I am really proud of him, but will miss Kelly and him when they move. WE had a lot of fun seeing them before they move.
The pictures are a little out of order, not sure why that happened. :-( We started off at a Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun. A highlight for me was going in the basement of the museum where they were having career day and getting to talk to a naturalist. After he was done talking he asked if anyone was scared of snakes. We answered no and he grabbed this huge python out of a rubbermaid container. That is my sister-n-law in the black sweater, Parker on her right and Tricia on her left. Keith is on the end in the striped shirt.


After the museum we went out to lunch, to some cute stores in downtown St. Joseph and then on to the bowling alley. Jordan and Kelly have a fierce rivarly going on at the lanes. Here are our results.

KELLEY'S LANES - ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN
GAME 1 Adults with no bumpers:FIRST: Kelly 129, SECOND: Keith 112, THIRD: Jordan 94, FOURTH: Melissa 74
Kids with bumpers: FIRST: Tricia 81, SECOND: Parker 80
GAME 2 Adults with no bumpers:FIRST: Jordan 123, SECOND: Kelly 116, THIRD: Keith 107, FOURTH: Melissa 78
Kids with bumpers:FIRST: Tricia 72, SECOND: Parker 68

No comments, I never said I was a good bowler and for the record the kids had bumpers so they did not beat me. :-)

Tricia waiting to see if she has success. Tricia and Parker were so cute. Parker would do these dances after throwing the ball. I think he was trying to will the ball towards the pins. We would clap even if he only got one pin down and he would cheer. He was soooo cute.
Parker back at the Museum having fun in a kaleidoscope mirror. I look at this and think, "AWW man, am I glad I don't have triplets."
Kelly and Jordan waiting for their turn. AWWWW aren't they soooo cute!!
Jordan in action. Just look at that form. I'm impressed. Jordan is so fun to bowl with. When he is not doing well, he gets all pouty and ticked off at himself. When he does well he gets this little grin. We are so competitive in our family. Luckily I just stink at bowling, so I didn't have to worry. :-) If you would like to see more pictures of our weekend in Michigan check out Kelly's Blog www.kellybastian.blogspot.com or for a more in depth coverage of our bowling see my Sport Journalist, brother's blog at www.jordanbastian.com and click on MY BLOG.

The highlight of the trip came right at the end. Stay tuned. . . .

Snow Day

After a very mild start to our winter we finally got snow!! I'm so excited. It was really hard to drive in last night when I had to run to the store. I mean there was no visibility at all, but once we woke up the storm had passed and we were left with such beauty.

Here are some pictures I took around the house this morning.

This is the snowman on our porch. He has been waiting for some snow for quite awhile now. He is very happy.

This is my front yard. I loved how the shadows were casting across the snow!

Here is Keith and I after working about an hour on shoveling and snowblowing. It was a great workout. I was dripping sweat after being done.

Here is the view from our backyard. Again Very Pretty. You can see how high the snow is on the fence.

For more cool snow pictures visit my brother, Karl's, blog at

www.pastorkarl.com

Exciting News: I signed up for my first triathlon today. I'm so nervous now that I'm actually signed up and have fully committed. It is June 25th, 2006 in Naperville, Illinois. Anyone that wants to be at the finish line is welcome to come. I would love to have a whole cheering section.

I'm off for now. Maybe I'll go play in the snow.

Later,

Melissa

Look at Me Baby

Hi I have been missing this picture for awhile and found it today. This was taken this fall at work. I grabbed these pants to wear to work thinking they were new pants and the first time I bent over at work they almost fell off, so a co-worker of mine grabbed a camera and snapped this shot before I safety pinned them up. I cannot believe when I look at this where I've come from. These used to fit. UGH!! I will never go back there.




Also, the fam and I went out to lunch today and we went to SUBWAY. I usually get my healthy sub and some Baked Lays. I ordered my sandwich, grabbed my chips and started eating. I said to Keith, "I can't have these" and handed him the chips. It was then that I remembered that I had given up chips for 2006. I allowed myself to have 1 little chip and I was fine with that. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I am very excited and proud of myself. GO ME!!!

Well, we are off to a Hockey Game and I need to go pack some of my healthy snacks, so I'm not tempted to buy dippin' dots and junk like that. See ya!!

Off to help a friend today

Today I am off to help a friend in need. She is a new Single Mom of 7 kids. Some people from church donated money, giftcards, Thanksgiving Dinner and gifts for them at Christmas, but now 4 of us are going back today to fix drywall and paint. I'm not the one fixing the drywall, but I will be painting. I have a friend who is donating a couch, bed and desk today too. I'm so excited about God has provided for this family. Without all the help and prayers I could have never done what I was able to do.

Friday was my day of rest from the gym and this morning I didn't make it because I overslept. I was really bummed, but realized that helping this family today is more important than making it to the gym. Sometimes we have to let the schedule go for family, friends and life and we cannot beat ourselves up. This is hard for me to do sometimes. So today I am letting go and just enjoying my day and not giving myself a hard time for not making it to the gym. Afterall, I will be lifting furniture, painting, and running up and downstairs all day. This will be good to do today because today would have been my Mom's 63rd birthday. This past Christmas morning was the 9th anniversary of her passing and it was a tough year for some reason, so I'm glad today I will be running around and not just sitting at home thinking about it. Love you Mom!

Usually I do not go to the gym on Sundays because of church and family, but I have decided to make up for missing today I will go tomorrow after church and lunch.

Also, I've had my first real temptation with chips. For those of you who may not know I have given up chips and pretzels for 2006. Hey, I didn't realize that rhymes. I'M GIVIN' UP CHIPS IN 2006. The poet in me comes out again. My hubby does the majority of the grocery shopping and I told him to pick up snacks for the kids lunches. He brings home this bag of 24 small bag of chips in the flavors that I love. He did nothing wrong, but it is hard. So I have asked him to keep things like that in the garage by our fridge out there. So that is where they are going to be and so far, so good. :-) I also decided that candy is even more of an issue than chips, so I am slowly working on the candy issue too. I need gum and I mean need. I chew sugarless EXTRA to help me not snack on other things, so the gum can't go, but I'm working on elimanating the other unnecessary candy in my life. :-) The necessary candy is staying. :-) I'm so glad Christmas is over and I'm proud of myself because I didn't buy any of the sale candy after the holidays.

I'm so glad I have this blog and the family and friends that read it and support me in my ongoing journey of getting healthy. I appreciate you all. You really mean the world to me.

Have a blessed Saturday. A favorite saying of mine is I'M TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED.

Bloglines

I do not know if you guys know about this. I'm still learing a lot about computers, so I am really excited about something I just learned about.

I found out from my brother about this website called www.bloglines.com where you can list all the blogs that you read and when someone posts something new it will show up as a new entry. OH MY GOSH, I LOVE IT!! All I have bookmarked concerning blogs is www.bloglines.com I go there click on MY FEEDS and it shows all your blogs (minus my little brothers, his didn't work for some reason) and when one of you have a new post it shows your blog name in bold. It's awesome. Before I would sit there and go through my favorites and click on each and every one of the blogs I was following to see if there is a new entry.

This is really exciting for me, so I'm sorry to bore you if you all knew this already.

The little things in life really do excite me.

Also, I wanted to share a poem with you that I wrote tonight. Enjoy!!
I wrote it to encourage some girlfriends that I went to fitness camp with this summer.

Take care,
Melissa

Weight Loss the Sticks in 2006
By Melissa Black

I look ahead to the new year and what do I resolve to do
Lose weight and be healthy through and through.

Every year it’s the same, it’s come and gone
And I am always left singing the same old song.

So what is so different about this year?
What will make me do it and hold to it dear?

I’m making a plan and changing my life.
I need to do this to end the strife

This weight represents more than just overeating
It’s about all of the areas in my life that are so defeating

So here’s to a new year, and the baby steps I’ll take
To become healthy and fit, this is the new choice I will make

Gone are the days of telling myself I’m no good
And no more beating the blues by turning to food

No more watching TV with endless munching
The only sound you’ll here is carrots I’m crunching.

Too Big for the gym, that’s what I used to say,
but now you’ll see me there day after day.

So what do you want for 2006?
I know for me it’s weight loss that sticks.

Great Weight Loss

Last week I wrote about how I had gained the Holiday 5 pounds. Well, this week I worked extra hard. Journaled everything I ate, drank 68 glasses of water, went to the gym 5 days out of 7 and lost 5.2 pounds. Bye, bye Holiday 5 this girl is back and I'm going to have weight loss that sticks in 2006. WOOOOHOOOOO go me!!

What I am giving up for the New Year

I was reading a fellow Triathlete's blog www.trigeekdreams.com and he blogged about giving up something for the New Year. He is giving up fried foods and Tortilla Chips, so that got me thinking about what I should give up for the New Year. I was thinking about Veggies, but that would be too easy, so I decided to give up chips. I should probably give up Candy too, but that is too hard right now and I cannot make myself give up both in one year. So, I Melissa Black, hereby declare that I am giving up Chips this year, 2006. If I am at your house please do not offer me chips. If I am bringing something to your party please don't ask me to bring chips and if I am throwing a party, please do not let me buy chips. :-) I know this will probably be hard at first, but the more I do it the less I will be wanting them. Thanks Kahuna for the challenge.

The Stroke of Midnight

Nobody in my house stayed up until Midnight except for me. We got home from the restaraunt around 9:30. Tricia made it until about 10:00-10:30ish. Parker was asleep before we even got home. He was dozing off in the restaraunt. Keith said good night at 11:00pm after it was 2006 in New York, so I decided to stay up and watch my new favorite show that I tivoed. It is called Ballroom Bootcamp. It is on TLC. It takes 3 people and teaches them a ballroom dance in 5 weeks. It's great!! I then turned on the Chicago New Years Celebration. Counted down, kissed Keith while he was snoring away and then went and kissed the kids and took these pictures.

Happy New Year little Buddy!!

Happy New Year Babe!!

After that I went to bed and listened to fireworks, neighbors screaming and Keith Snoring!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! HAVE A BLESSED NEW YEAR!! May it be all that you hope it will be. May you reach the goals that you make and have fun while doing it. I know that I would not be where I am today without my relationship with the Lord. I thank God everyday for sending His Son to die for me. I know that he died for me and rose again three days later because of that I will be living eternally in heaven with Him someday. It's the best relationship I have ever had and I cannot wait to have my relationship with the Lord grow stronger this year, in 2006. Have a good one!!

After Golf Dinner

After we went golfing we went out for Mexican. We went to an awesome place called Las Palmas. They had a two man band going from table to table singing. When they came to our table the kids requested Feliz Navidad. They were incredible guitar players and made it really fun for the kids.

Here is Katie and the kids. Katie is their adopted Big Sister and she loves that as she is an only child, so she hangs out with us and gets her kid kicks. Then she remembers why she loves being an only child. :-) She has taught the kids about personal space by telling them that they are in her bubble.
Katie took this picture of Keith and me. AWWWW, aren't we cute?

I brought New Year's Eve cups to dinner where we made a toast. Here's to a wonderful New Year!! Cheers!!