Sledding

Today we had a party with my family because on Christmas not everyone could come because of the snow. We had a blast!!! We went sledding and here are the pictures. You just have to love these kids!!! This is my favorite picture. There is a slide show on the side of the rest of the pictures.

Christmas Day

This Christmas was great. Mark and I really felt the true meaning of Christmas. We were able to help a family in need and it was fun to see them happy on Christmas. Mark and I have been trying to start some of our own traditions, so on Christmas Eve I got the Cragun stockings put together there is a picture of them. I don't know of any other family that does stockings like this but they sure are fun. We latter took gifts around to some neighbors. We stopped at one of our friends house in the ward and ended up staying there and helping them with Christmas for their kids. It sounds weird but we had a blast. We latter went home and went to bed. I woke up early and put our presents out. We didn't get much but that was okay. I cleaned the house and we got ready for the day. We opened presents and then had hot chocolate together. We then went to Marks Moms house for breakfast. It was kind of funny because when I had talked to her at the family party earlier that week we were to only ones coming and she had said that it will be nice to just make breakfast for just four. Then when I showed up there were tables up and there were about 18 people there for breakfast. Everyone Loves Genies Christmas morning breakfast. Then latter that day we went to my parents and just hung out all day. It was wonderful. Jessica's kids played in the snow, so they were in and out all day. Everyone just seemed to be having a lot of fun. We really had a great day. Here are some pictures of the day. Oh, Mark surprised me with an Ipod. Yea, just what I wanted. I even got Sam some Christmas presents.

6 lbs yea!!!!!

Well, the weight is starting to come off. Yea for me. I have lost 6 lbs since I have started working out and I feel better already. I love going to the gym. I have to admit some days it is hard getting up at 4:30 in the morning but I always feel better when I do. Some of the things that I have been doing that I think is really working is: I have been making better choices in my food. I have been trying to eat more protein then carbs (this is hard for me I love those carbs) and eating smaller portions more often. I can't say that I really have been dieting because I still will eat my favorite things just less of them. I truly think that is the key. If you diet and don't let yourself eat what you love then you truly will fail. I am not in a smaller size pants yet but my pants sure do fit a lot better.

It's funny how life works.

It's funny how life works. You can pray and pray and keep praying for something and be told no over and over again, and then one day it seems right. I love the power of prayer and how it can strengthen our lives. I have to admit I hate it when the answer is no, but God seems to know just what he is doing. We just always need to remember that he does things on his time not ours. This is a hard lesson that I am still trying to learn. I have to trust in our Heavenly Father. I have been really trying to put my life into his hands. It's really hard for me to have someone else lead the way. I like to know exactly where I am going. So my thought for today is to let life take us by the hand and lead us. Trust in our Heavenly Father, he really does know the bigger picture.