Sunday, December 31, 2006

For the Family

As I previously blogged, my family had someone come over last Sunday to my sister's house to take pics of all of us together. We had not had pics like this ever, I guess except for weddings. As you will see from some of the last pics, we had some fun while taking the pics too! Something I learned after doing this....I am NOT good at taking pics AND it is kind of hard to get a good pic when there are 13 people in the pic!! There were 91 pics taken, so here are just a few of them for you guys to look at. Also, I am going to mail the pics and CDs to everyone. All 91 pics are on the CD, but she only printed off about 60. Anyway, enjoy these and look for the rest in the mail sometime this week...






























It's That Time of the Year Again...

It's that time of the year again where everyone makes all of these goals for the year and most of the time(if anyone else is like me) about a month down the road the goals are forgotten. I thought I made some realistic goals for myself last year, but there were some that I still did not live up to. Here are the goals that I posted last year...

New Year's Resolutions Current mood: blah

Well, it's that time of year again where we all make promises to ourselves that are rarely kept more than a few months. Even though this is true, I still like to make them anyway, so here are some of mine for the new year.

1. Of course everyone is always wanting to lose weight, so that is my first one. I want to lose about 10 lbs. over the next year. I don't think this will be too hard to accomplish at all, but I just need to be more disciplined in my eating and exercising.
(Well, this goal was not kept and not because I didn't try, but because I got pregnant! SO, I guess that is the best excuse for this not happening. Now this year I need to lose more than 10 lbs!!)

2. I want to finish the changes my husband and I have started on the house. We have done major changes to the house and now we have those last little things to do that we have just procrastinated on, so it is my goal to have a long term goal of having the house done within the year. This will be accomplished by setting and meeting smaller goals from month to month. (cross your fingers!!)
(While LOTS of progress was made on the house this year, it was not completely finished. However, I feel like in the past 3 months, Antonio have done more on the house than we did all year, so I feel like we are on a good track right now.)

3. I want to start cooking more at home. I hope to cook 3 balanced meals a week throughout the year instead of eating out so much. My husband works 2nd shift, so it's hard to cook at home for me to eat for supper and then have him eat leftovers, but I think that is more of an excuse than a good reason.
(This goal, well, it just did not last more than a month. I just have no cooking abilities, and I have very few things that i can actually cook, so after the 3rd to 4th time having speghetti for the month, it gets old!!)

4. I want to be more dedicated at work. I have done very well with my company over the past year (I am #1 at my location in Memphis), but I know with a little more dedication I can make a major difference in my income for the next year.
(I feel like, for the most part, I kept this goal. Our fiscal year at work ends at the end of May, so I finished our fiscal year as the #1 rep in Memphis. However, as our 2006-2007 fiscal year started, I have lost LOTS of ground due to being off about 14 weeks. I DID make more in 2006 than in 2005{about $8,000-$10,000 I think!!!}, so I am happy about that.)

I am sure there are many other things I need to work on, but that is my list for now and I will add to it later. I don't want to make too many promises to myself if I truly don't plan to keep them

SO, those were my New Year's Resolutions from last year. One other one that I added later on that should not have been a resolution, but I felt I needed to be better on it so I added it was

I wanted to be sure to give my 10% at church EVERY WEEK at the minimum!! I know this is something that I am SUPPOSED to do, but at the end of 2005 when I got my statement from church showing how much I gave and when I gave, I was VERY embarrassed at my lack of giving. It's easy to give when you have money and easier to not give(and make excuses for it) when you are short of money. This, obviously, was not the right attitude and I needed to change it, so long story short, I kept this goal and gave much more than my 10%! It was actually easy and I don't know why I had not done this before, but anyway I hope to never go back to the not giving part of my life!

Okay, so those were the ones from last year....now I must list my ones for this year.

1. By December 2007, I plan to have lost 30 pounds!! That's right, 30 pounds!!! Now, I don't have much more to lose to get back to my prepregnancy weight, but I want to lose more than that, so I am shooting for 2.5 pounds a month(VERY doable if I stay focused). I am going to get my lazy butt up(yes LAZY butt) and get on the treadmill that currently sits in my house with dust on it!! I am NOT going to join the gym because, well, I will never go! I always say I am going to eat better, but I am just going to be truthful this year...I will eat what I want and do more portion control. I know if I restrict things from my diet then I will just want to eat them more, so I will try to add more fruits and other healthy stuff in my diet, but if I want some chocolate cake one night, then I am going to have it!! My motivation? I went home to my parent's house this week and saw some pics of me from 3 years ago and BOY was I bummed out after seeing them!! I was SO skinny back then!! Everyone keeps telling me I was too skinny back then, but I don't really agree. I LIKED the way I looked, but to be sure I only want to lose 30 pounds instead of the 40 that would get me back down to where I was 3 years ago. I was in shape and skinny. That's what I want now. Is that too much to ask!?!?! LOL

2. I would like to make a goal of running a half marathon this year, but once again, that seems a little crazy for me since I have NEVER been a runner in my life, so instead, I just want to be able to run a mile without stopping. I have NEVER been able to do this(don't laugh). I grew up playing sports and I am sure I ran a mile playing in basketball games, but running on the treadmill or outside on the sidewalk is just not the same. I think it is more of a mental thing that keeps me from being able to do this, but I am going to do it this year!!

3. My sister and I have thrown around the idea of participating in some 5k Run/Walks in town, so I am going to officially put that on here so MAYBE we will do them. She is MUCH more likely to do them, but I need to not make excuses and get out there with her!

4. I need to learn to balance life between working/being a mom/being a wife/etc. I don't want any part of my life to lack. I hope to give 100% in all areas of my life, I just need to figure out how to balance it all! (Any suggestions on how to accomplish this are welcome!!)

5. Like any other girl out there, I like to shop. However, instead of shopping for me these days, I LOVE to shop for Tatum now!! SO, my goal is to get a budget, and more importantly, STICK TO IT!!! If Antonio, Tatum, or I NEED something then get it, but don't overdo it!

6. Figure out a new hobby and find time to do it. I am not sure what this is going to be(maybe it will be working out or scrapbooking or something else), but find something that I enjoy and more importantly, find time to do it!

7. Evaluate how I am doing on my New Years Resolutions maybe every 3 months or so. If changes need to be made, then make them. If adds need to be made, then do that too!

Anyway, I know this is WAY boring for most of you to read, but this blog is more for me than you(sorry). I hope to repost this every 3 months so I can keep these goals fresh in my mind. We will see how these go....wish me luck!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Christmas Festivities Recap-Monday

Monday(Christmas day) Antonio, Tatum, and I were still on the go. We loaded the car and left the house around 10am to head to Antonio's parents house. When we got there we did presents and ate. Below is a pic of their beautiful tree. And if you look closely..you will see how his dad likes to give gifts every year(thru cash!!!). Everyone gets one.



The pic below is zoomed in a little so you can see better that Antonio's dad is very generous and because we had an addition to the family we got 3 this year instead of 2! What will he do when we have 10 kids!! We may just break his wallet!


Our niece Gabby got a guitar. She quickly opened it, Antonio tooned it, and then she sang us several songs!!


Next is Eliana and Tatum.


Tatum also had her own Christmas tree that was decorated pink and brown.


After opening presents and eating, we stayed for a little bit to play games and visit and then we left there around 4pm to head back to Jackson to go to my grandmother's house. Below in the first pic is my uncle and aunt.


In the next pic is my sis in law, Jennifer, my sister, Laurie, Mckayla, and my new niece, Mya in the bouncy seat.


Next is a pic of all of my grandmother's presents.



Who loves their daddy? I will give you one guess....


My grandmother, Gran, got to spend some time with Mya. I think they both really loved talking to one another.


Then Mya slept in Tatum's bouncy seat. I hope Tatum shares like this later on when they get older...



Mya got comfortable and went to sleep in her Gran's arms.


After all the presents were opened and all the food was eaten, Mckayla played hide and seek with Marleigh and Mitch. Below is a pic that Cyp took of Mckayla hiding in the closet. I thought it was so cute!!


And then Cyp decided to scare Antonio when he came out of the bathroom, so that is why Antonio has that weird look on his face...


Antonio, Tatum, and I had a wonderful Christmas. We were blessed with so many gifts, but more importantly, we got to spend time with all of our family. I must admit, I was a little glad for it to all be over though because we were all worn out! I think Tatum slept all day Tuesday trying to catch up on lost sleep. We have one more get together Friday and then it is all over until next year.

Christmas Festivities Recap-Sunday

Sunday was full of fun too! Antonio, Tatum, and I started our day by going to church at Hope with my sister and her family along with our parents. The service was wonderful and the music there was AMAZING as always. Antonio and I decided to take Tatum to the nursery for the first time. We signed her in and got a pager and off we went to church. I must admit I was a little nervous even though I knew she was in good hands. Anyway, after church we went and got her and she did great.

Then we headed to my sister's house to get our family pics taken by a lady that did some pics for Antonio and I and his sister's family last year. Everything went great except little Tatum decided to be a little fussy during the whole process. The photographer was great though and really worked with us. If you are in the Memphis area and need pics taken, let me know because she is not only an awesome photographer, but she is VERY reasonably priced. We already plan to use her again next year. Whenever we get our pics back I will be sure to post some of them on here. She took over 100 pics for us!!

After that, we made supper and ate very well and then opened presents. I know there are LOTS of members in our family, but it is crazy how many presents are opened when we get together. I took lots of pics so I could share them. There were so many pics that we barely had anywhere to sit! Anyway, below are several pics from Sunday...















For the next picture, I had to go upstairs so that I could get a good shot of ALL of the gifts. It was really unreal how much was in the living room. Our families are VERY BLESSED!





This next pic is my bro in law, Cyp. It looks like he is pretty happy with this gift.



And Tatum decided to quit being fussy and give in to sleep. She slept in the swing the whole time we opened gifts.




My mom got the biggest can of green beans from Cyp. I guess it is so she can make LOTS of green bean cassarole? Not really sure.


And after it was all over, Tatum found a comfortable spot on her Grandaddy's lap.


The next pics are what I blogged about earlier. It is a few pics of Mckayla putting out reindeer food so that they will know to stop at her house.






And finally, Mckayla left out 3 cookies(to the right) and a diet coke(in her hands) for Santa. come to find out...Santa ate all the cookies and drank the diet coke and even left her a message to be VERY CAREFUL with her new bike.



We finished the night by playing some games and visiting and then we had to head home to wrap presents for the next day and put Tatum to bed.