Back in April of last year I decided it was time for me to figure out a way to lose some weight. I was pushing 200 pounds and that scared me. I decided to eat better and work out some. So I started eating better (so I thought) and I started walking on the treadmill. I lost 17 pounds from April to June. I was so happy that I had lost 17 pounds in a little over 2 months.

Then I got sick and couldn’t work out for 3 months. I was in sever pain and spent about 9 or so days in the hospital. I had a hysterectomy at the end of June. On my birthday to be exact! What a birthday present, I know. But with the pain I was in for two weeks out of every three weeks, it was worth it.

After that I thought for sure it was going to be a struggle to lose weight. I will tell you, it hasn’t been a struggle since I started Weight Watcher’s. I have a great support team. They are my husband, my mom, and my sister. They are so helpful and full of encouragement. So between the Weight Watcher’s, the workouts I do every day, and my awesome support team, I’ve lost 20.5 pounds since November 11. Since April when I started my weight loss adventure I have lost 37.5 pounds.

Earlier this week I decided I needed to go clothes shopping. The main reason was due to my pants almost falling off when I stood up. LOL! I have dropped 4 pants sizes and I’ve gone from an XL (which was tight) to a S/M. My husband wore 2XL shirts and even those were getting to be to small. How scary is that?

I feel wonderful and there is only more to come. My goal is to lose another 47 pounds. It may take a while to get there, but you know what? I’m determined to get there. I will look great and I can’t wait.

The pictures below show a loss of 35 pounds. I will update it again soon.

Each year on New Year’s Eve my Grandparents would have a party to celebrate the New Year and my Grandma’s birthday. We would all get together at my grandparents house and eat food and have fun. Here are a couple of pictures that were taken.

The picture below is of almost all my cousins and cousin-in-laws. We were missing 6 kids I think.

The picture below is of my cousins and we were missing a couple.

The holiday’s at Grandma’s are always full of adventure and excitment. My grandparents have 5 daughters, 22 grandkids, and 18 great-grandkids. Grandma’s house is quite small and so we are VERY crowded when we get together, but we always have so much fun!

Basketball starts the week of February 2 for my youngest son and I think it starts the middle of February for my oldest. I can not wait. We purchased scrapbook stuff for basketball so we can put that together for our youngest. I made one for our oldest and gave it to him for Christmas. He just loved it. We bought a better camera right before Christmas so I can’t wait to use it.

Looking forward to watching my boy’s play basketball this year. It will be our youngest sons last year with the Boy’s and Girl’s Club. Next year he will be in 5th grade and will play for the school. I’m not sure what he will do with soccer since they don’t offer that in the school district. I guess we’ll see what happens. LOL

We woke up at 6:30 am this morning to our 12 year old crying. He heard something downstairs and came to see what it was. He didn’t turn the light on above the stairs and fell down them. His wrist was swollen and looked like it was starting to bruise. We took him to Urgent Care as soon as they opened and they said he sprained it. Thank goodness for that. We were really worried that he broke it.

He starts basketball in 4 weeks and this would have prevented him from playing or at least starting the season. Wouldn’t have been good, that’s for sure. He loves to play basketball and this would have devastated him.

So praise God he only sprained his wrist and has a brace for two weeks.

My hubby bought me a ring for Christmas. He said the ring we bought 16 years ago was to small and was never good enough for me. He told me that it never really was what he wanted, but it was all we could afford at the time. Now 16 years later he gives me the one below.

Isn’t it just beautiful? I cried and cried when he gave it to me.

December was busy with business and the holidays. January is turning out to be busy as well. When you are a business owner that is what you want more than anything. Busy is how you reach your goals and dreams as well.

I’m looking forward to the New Year and everything it has to offer. I am very excited about how 2009 is going so far and how it is shaping out to be.

Here’s to a wonderful 2009!

Corrie

My youngest son Josh was part of a team of other 4th, 5th, and 6th graders that made up the Lego Robotics team at his school. They had a competition on Saturday. They had so much fun and they even one a trophy. They took 15th out of 60 teams and they took 3rd place for team spirit. Here is a picture of the team trophy.

Here is a picture of Josh and one of his team mates running the robot and making it run the course.

After the event on Saturday our local newspaper ran the article below. Josh beamed from ear to ear when he read it.

By the Star-Tribune staff

Tuesday, December 9, 2008 8:39 PM MST

Dozens of robots built LEGO levees, lifted LEGO houses, and gathered LEGO people on competition boards at the Casper Events Center on Saturday for the annual First — For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — LEGO League Championship.

Attendance increased from last year, too, said Jim Nations who helped organize the event.

Total participants numbered 3,269, up 25 percent from 2,614 in 2007, he said.

Here are the winners:

Champions Award: 1. Mean Green Machines, Lusk Elementary School; 2. SAM’s Rappers, Casper St. Anthony’s; 3. Laser Blazers, Casper Oregon Trail Elementary School.

Robot Design Award: 1. The NXT Generation of Eagles, Gillette Sage Valley Junior High School; 2. RoboEagles, Casper Centennial Junior High School; 3. Robo Joes 2.0, Laramie Snowy Range Academy.

Teamwork Award: 1. Geek Squad, Buffalo; 2. Nerd Herd, Casper Classical Academy; 3. The Purple Herder Robotic Stampede of Lightning Fury, Glenrock.

Research Quality Award: 1. CO2s, Casper Park School; 2. Environmental Einsteins, Casper CY Junior High School; 3. Technical Difficulties, Jackson Middle School.

Innovative Solution Award: 1. Terabyte Tigers, Casper Paradise Valley Elementary School; 2. Spiderbots, Casper Poison Spider Elementary School; 3. Fire Blazers, Pinedale.

Creative Presentation Award: 1. Beetlebots, Casper Manor Heights Elementary School; 2. Flying Monkeys, Casper Classical Academy; 3. Mission Possible, Gillette Sunflower Elementary School.

Robot Performance Award: 1. The NXT Generation of Eagles, Gillette Sage Valley Junior High School; 2. Flying Polar Bears, Jackson Journeys School; 3. Techno Spartans, Clearmont.

Team Spirit Award: 1. Rocky Wolves, Casper Frontier Middle School; 2. LEGO Legends, Kemmerer Middle School; 3. Biodroids, Casper Pineview.

Outstanding Volunteer Award: Carrie Gomez

Young Mentor Award: Leland Hepworth

Adult Mentor Award: Kristi Hibbert

http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/12/10/news/casper/77ce07f79ff067e88725751b0004a46b.txt

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