End of September 2009 Poster

It is the end of September. Time for a poster update. Fall is definitely in the air. It has actually snowed here today and it is cold.

Making progress

Added one more month!

Tannerism #13

The other day I was on my Facebook. I noticed that the 'Farm' on there that Tanner usually takes care of for me was getting a bit overrun. I decided I would take care of it by deleting a few things and rearranging and then readding things back on. Tanner walked in while I was doing it......

"Mom! What are you doing?"
"It's getting over crowded so I'm rearranging it."
"Why are you getting rid of the plants. I don't want you to delete them!"
"But I have to for right now. We'll put some more back on. I'm going to make it bigger and rearrange things so they fit. It's too crowded."
"You're deleting them. I told you I didn't want you to do that."
"But I told you I needed to."

He turns his back and sticks his foot out in a very teenager sort of way and says in a sing-songy way....

"I'm not done not liking you right now."

I couldn't help it. I cracked up. It was too funny!

And he did like the 'farm' when I got it rearranged.

Happy Happy Birthday Drewann Dear!

Today is Drewann's (Drew) 22nd birthday! I can't believe it's been that long. She was my right-hand for so long, it's hard to have her all grown up. We're taking her to Las Vegas on Thursday for an interview to work on a Cruise Line, so she gets to pick out her present there. But we did celebrate with cake and ice cream, family and 'roommates'.......

Drew with her cake and the roses are from the 'roomies'

Veronica, Lindsey, Emily and Drew

'The Roomies'

The picture my dad put on his birthday email of her.

Drew and Gary in Lexie's sunglasses

Happy Birthday Drew!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my Dad's birthday. I don't get to see him much, but I love him!

Dad and Andy showing off their hats at Andy's wedding

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Good To Go For Another Year?

I had my annual doctors appointment today. I have had enough female/health problems that I don't go to the doctor. Literally. Wynn has always had to make my appointments for me, and then take me to them to get me to go. Seriously. I kid you not. And then in November of 2007 we found my current GYN and his PA. Can I just say.....Hallelujah!!!

They have never treated me like a stupid female. Two years ago the PA listened to my problems and told me it wasn't all in my head, it wasn't normal, everybody does not go through this, etc, etc......I had never said what the other doctors had been telling me, but this is exactly what I had heard my whole life. I literally started crying in the office. The PA put her arm around me and gave me a hug and told me they were going to help me. She wished she had met me 20 years ago because there were so many things she could have done for me. But at that point, there was really only one option open to me....to have a hysterectomy. I was fine with that. So the very next week I was in to see the GYN, the did some tests, I followed up the next week and was scheduled for surgery for one month from my first visit to them.

It has been a long road since then. My weight was up, ugh, which caused my blood pressure to be up, double ugh, and I was severely anemic. I was put on BP meds (1/2 pill once a day) for 3 months until I lost about 5 pounds and my BP went down. Then I was taken off of them, knowing that I needed to get more weight off and if my weight went up at all I would be going back on the meds. So started the long process of getting the weight off. I exercised, counted calories, watched as I did Weight Watchers with Wynn and he lost 25 pounds and I lost 2. It was hard. But the weight has started to come off. It's just such a slow process. When you basically eat healthy to begin with, no chips, sweets, pop, junk etc, there's not a lot to cut out to lose weight. It can be very frustrating.

So a few months ago I made my appointment for today. Yes, I made the appointment all_by_myself and today I went there all_by_myself. I was nervous about going because my weight is not to the goal we made. And although I take my blood pressure regularly just to make sure it is staying down, I was having Doctor visit anxiety. So on to today.....

They all raved about how good and well I look and how much weight I have lost. Then I went into 'the room'. Of course they wanted to get my weight and blood pressure. I_was_EXTREMELY_nervous for this. Drum roll please........My blood pressure was a good number. Yeah! My weight was down 12 pounds! Yeah! But even better was the fact that I had gained 4 more pounds after that appointment that they, of course, didn't have recorded. So I have lost 16 pounds. Hooray for me!!! Of course I still have to get to the goal weight I have set with the PA, but she was very impressed and very happy with my progress. I just know I can't slack off knowing I won't have another appointment for a year. Next year I know I can be at my goal weight if I just keep at it. It's not going to be easy, but I already feel so much better I can't wait. Plus I'll HAVE to get a new wardrobe. There's the best plus! Now we just have to wait for the blood tests to come back because she doesn't think I'm anemic anymore. Gosh. Once I finish getting the weight off, I'm gonna be a whole new me!

And It Starts

Tonight was 'Parent Night' for the Marching Band. That means that Sky View and Mountain Crest both perform their routine for competitions this year for their friends and family. That means it is the start of the competition season. They each perform their routine twice. Can I just say, it was cold. Not as cold as last year though since the wind wasn't blowing. Last year it was at Mountain Crest, so this year it was here, at Sky View.

Mountain Crest performed their routine. They are still polishing it up. It was a little rough still. Then they did their second performance. It went better. It was interesting. It should be good once it's a little more polished.

Then it was Sky Views turn. I must say, when Morgan walked into the living room with the new Color Guard uniform on.....I wasn't impressed. In fact I was a little worried. But as they walked out on the field I was happy to see that it looks soooo much better out on the field than just in the living room. In fact, it looks good out their in their performance.

They took the field and I was excited that I had remembered the camera. I gave it to Wynn to video the first performance up close and then go up to the top of the bleachers to video for the second performance. That way we could get Morgan & the second one would show the formations. As he was videoing, we noticed that it just stopped. We then found out that my card was full! Remember my computer being down? Yeah. I haven't been able to download my pictues forever! We did get the computer back tonight, but now I don't have anything from their performance tonight. Sigh. It looks pretty good too.

So I will get the pictures downloaded soon and hopefully get caught up on my blogging.

Volunteering

Today I started the volunteer hours for AmeriCorps. These are the 25 hours that are in the 'not comfort zone' area. For 5 hours today I volunteered at the Special Olympics. Not just me though, Morgan, Lexie and Tanner went with me. My hours go toward AmeriCorps, Morgan and Lexie's hours are for a Value Project for Young Womens. Tanner's are just so he learns to serve others.

I was very nervous this morning as we were headed there. Talk about out of my comfort zone! I didn't know what they were going to have us do. I didn't know how Tanner would do. I knew it shouldn't be a problem for Lexie, she does Peer Tutor at school. (that is where for one period of school a day, students go to class with a child with special needs and help them with their class. Lexie goes to Science with the student she peer tutors. She absolutely loves it!)

The Special Olympics today were held at the University. The event was swimming. We got to time the races. Morgan was in the big pool area (along with my friend). Lexie, Tanner and myself were in the small pool area. Each of us had a lane we were responsible for timing, except Tanner, who helped me with my lane.

It was so fun to watch the athletes and see how excited they got when they finished. Notice I didn't say when they won.....but when they finished. But, yes, they were excited when they won too. They had such great sportsmanship, they were truly role models in how to behave at a sporting event. It was also exciting to see how Tanner cheered for them & laughed as they splashed us as they got to the wall. There was one boy that, when Tanner would see him would say, "Look mom, it's the guy with the really big splash."

If my kids learned nothing else today, I hope they learned that we can always learn something from everyone. Even if they are different than we are. Though we were there to serve them, they truly taught us plenty, and in that way, served us.

We will be doing more hours for Special Olympics. I'll be posting about each of the events we get to volunteer for. I know I'll be nervous again next time as well. Maybe it won't be so out of my comfort zone by the time I get my hours done.