Merry Christmas!!!

This year we had a small Christmas on the day of with just Dad, Mom and I. We did go out and visit David and Amy's families at their homes in the morning to see what Santa brought everyone. Then we chilled the rest of the day at home and had a nice dinner with the Crooks and Wetzels. Then Sunday morning we had a Pajama Breakfast with the family! Here are some random pictures from the day. It was fun getting together with everyone in their new PJ's.

Here is the family picture from the day. We did miss Ryan and Alisa but it couldn't be helped as they were in Washington with their new baby! Owen Scott Harrison was born December 24, 2009!!! Congratulations to the new little Harrison family!

Candlelight Christmas

Last week I went with Diane to This Is The Place Heritage Park for their Candlelight Christmas. They put Christmas lights on the houses and in each house they had different things going on. They had a puppet show, crafts, printing of the first Christmas card, stories about the decorations, an elf village and you could write a letter to Father Christmas. Here are a few things that I learned from the night it was the British Royal Family that first came up with the idea of Christmas cards and had them printed. It used to take two days to go from Salt Lake City to Provo and people would have to stop at a half-way house in Draper for $1 a night. (That just seems crazy to me since now it takes me 45 minutes to go to Salt Lake City from Provo.) Before the mail system was really in place children would write letters to Father Christmas and then they would burn them and the smoke and ash would carry to the North Pole to Father Christmas. Have you ever heard about the Christmas Spider? I had never heard the story before, if you want to read it go here. I didn't get a lot of pictures but her is what I have from the night. It was a lot of fun to step back in time and learn new things.

I'm back!

Hello all! I know that it's been A LONG time since I've blogged but I am back (well, I am going to try to be back.) I decided to start from today and go backwards, I am going to try to put the correct dates...so you will need to keep scrolling down to see the posts. Oh and...HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow!!!!

Welcome Winter (I guess...) I really do think that snow is beautiful when you can be at home watching it snow from the comforts of your warm house. Too bad that wasn't exactly the case this morning with waking up to our first measurable "powder". I took some pictures to document the occasion. Last night I watched the end of "White Christmas" so all I could think of this morning when I saw all the snow was the song "Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow!" I'm not going to lie...now it officially feels like Christmas that everything is white. I can't wait to see the Christmas lights with the snow!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year there we had a small Thanksgiving gathering with just the Hanks Family. It was different but nice to all be at one table. We had a great time even though I had to leave the party for a little while to make a quick visit to Urgent Care. The sweet potato rolled out from under me while I was cutting them. But in the sweet potato's defense they turned out really good. Have a look at the recipe here . As hard as I tried NOT to go to the doctor it didn't work.

I went and came home with 8 stitches. I guess it was a good thing that I went to the doctor... :P Overall it was a great Thanksgiving! I just had to add a little adventure to the day. :)

The Biggest Loser!?!?!!!?

In February I decided that it was time to start a healthier life style. I decided to go back to Curves, do yoga and eat healthier. I feel SO great!!!! I really am loving this new life style that I have chosen. At Curves they asked me for a "before and after" picture to put up. It wasn't difficult to find a before one. This is not one of my favorite pictures, but then again...are "before" pictures supposed to be? This was taken the end of February when I went to North Carolina right at the time I decided to make this change. (By the way, my friends did think that I was a little crazy for not experiencing all of the yummy Southern food while I was there. But as you will see my efforts have paid off.)

When they asked for the an "after" picture which I had them change to "now" (because I'm not done yet) I asked my friend Becky to take a few pictures of me so I could give a current picture. I am not going to post ALL of the pictures she took but here is the link to Becky's photo blog. She posted the pictures there. It's fun for me to see the difference and I am totally enjoying shopping more these days. It's SO much fun to go and be surprised at what I CAN fit into now!

In September Curves had a two month challenge that I signed up for. I had to go to a couple of meetings about healthy topics and exercise, workout there at least 3 times a week and weigh in once a week. That's not too difficult for me to do. As the challenge went on they added different things for you to be able to earn points. Well, one of them was 1 point for every pound that you've lost and maintained in 2009. When I saw that I was like, I have a pretty good chance of winning. About a week before the challenge was over they posted on a whiteboard The Biggest Losers of 2009 (so far). I am proud to say that I'm standing alone at the top and by their records as of mid-November 46.5 pounds and 27.25 inches (from the end of March to mid-November.) Can I just say WOO HOO!!!!! That definitely helped me win the challenge along with the points from all my workouts and my Mom joining my Curves. This is what I won from the challenge...they had the members contribute to the basket. I thought it was pretty dang cool!

So, to date I am still up top of The Biggest Loser board at Curves, it's getting time to weigh in again. I am doing their next challenge of to lose weight or at least maintain over the holidays. Did you know that the average person gains 8 pounds over the holidays? Well, my goal is to lose at least that much if not more. Oh and my totals are a little bit higher then Curves because I had them weigh and measure me later then when I started my weigh-ins at home. Let's just say that by my calculation I am passed 50 pounds and working hard on my next 10! :)

Halloween

I broke my pattern this year and decided not to go with a Pirate costume..instead I wore one of my Punjabi Suits from India.

Mukesh was an old wizard.

Jenn was a Peacock and Stehpanie was a Black Widow.

Jenn, Stephanie and I at Sandie and Matthew's (I didn't get a picture but Sandie and Matthew were In-n-Out workers.) before we went to This Is The Place Heritage Park for their haunted village. I have to say that I am not a fan of haunted things but they did a good job with the haunted village. It was fun to go out and do something different.

Diwali - Festival of Lights

In India Diwali is a very big festival. They had a little celebration for it at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. I totally had to go check it out and it gave me another reason to wear one of my Punjabi Suits that I brought back with me from India. So, they had some performances, did a thing with lights by the pond and then they had dancing. Now you all will be shocked but I did actually participate in the dancing. I learned Dandia and Garba and I had a great time.

Corn Maze

This year I finally made it to a corn maze. Jenn, Stephanie, Mukesh and I had a lot of fun getting lost in the maze. We did really well in the first part of the maze, the second part gave us a little bit of trouble (we only missed one number post...not too bad). In the end, we are all really happy to see Victory Bridge (mainly because walking around the corn maze in the dark is not exactly the safest thing to do with the uneven ground. I was just happy to make it out without hurting my ankle again.) :)

After the going through the maze we found the slide and one BIG rocking chair. Now that's what I call a rocking chair. ;)

Playing around....

Back in July I was a "model" for my friend Becky. She is wanting to get more experience with taking pictures...so I willingly agreed. There were SO many to choose from but I was good and only posted a couple. But don't worry there will be more photo shots to come, because "practice makes perfect....right?"

Thanks Becky!!! I had a great time and can't wait to do it again! :)

4th of July

I love the 4th of July, I think mainly because of celebrating it with family. This year we were able to get the whole family together for a picture. It was great to all be together again, I will miss having everyone live in Utah Valley. The past two years have been wonderful with the whole family living in Utah Valley.

I went and got a new pedicure the day before and they asked me if I was going to do something festive? I let them come up the design....I love it! I really love my pedicure place I always have the cutest toes. :)

Alisa was trying on different baby slings to see what ones she wants. Spencer was a great model for her. I think it's a fun picture of Alisa, Spencer and Amy.

Here are a few other random pictures from the party. They had a costume contest, bubble blowing contest, the kids drew pictures on the drive way with sidewalk chalk, the coke and mentos, really yummy food and of course fireworks. Fantastic party as always Leishmans!

40 Years!!!

In June my parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary, so we had a BBQ to celebrate the occasion. Debra made a cute sign...she's so creative in that department.

My Mom and I just hanging out on the deck.

Here are some random pictures from the day. They had a friend from California send up the Mickey bride and groom hats, since my parents are huge Disneyland fans. Amy put a book together with notes from family and friends for them, it's really cute! It was fun to get together and hear stories about my parents when they were dating and some stories from their years of marriage. Happy 4oth Anniversary Dad and Mom!!!

Memorial Weekend

This year for Memorial Weekend I went to Las Vegas with Diane, Jill and Becky. We had a great time just chilling, doing a little shopping and then of course checking out the happenings on the strip. We had a lot of fun people watching....it was free and very entertaining. Becky flew down later so that's why she's not in some of the pictures. I can never make up my mind as to what pictures to post....so I again made a collage (love them!) It was a fun girls weekend and it's always nice to be out of Utah for a little while. :)

Here is my collage of places on the strip...so pretty!!

Amy and Ryan's Graduation

How lucky we were to have both Amy and Ryan graduating from BYU this Spring? Amy called and got permission to walk with Ryan so it was just one ceremony for us to go to...plus I think they had a good time sharing the experience together. Here are some pictures from the day. Congratulations to both of you, I'm SO proud of you guys!!!!

My Birthday!!!!!

This year I decided that I was going to get out of town on my birthday. I made plans to go to Colorado but due to snow and a few other complications that plan didn't work out. So, then I needed to come up with another plan because I was already in vacation mode and had the time off from work. So, as it turned out Becky had a buddy pass that was going to expire the end of the month and it would be a shame to have it go to waste. We were able to put that buddy pass to good use and arrange a last minute trip to Las Vegas!

So, we got to Vegas first thing Monday morning and we went to go pick up our rental car and the lady at the counter said she could give us a deal on a convertible Mustang if we wanted and we could choose the color. Well, that was NOT a hard decision, especially since it was my birthday!!! I needed something fun to cruise the strip in (especially since it was Becky's first time in Vegas.) Here are a few pictures of the car...it was SO much fun!!!!

We had to take a self-portrait in the Mustang. We had SO much fun just driving around in the Mustang. It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Although, having it get a flat tire when we left the Rio late that night. Thank goodness Becky is SUPER Woman and she changed the tire all by herself! Go Becky!! But it was fun and just added to the adventure. :)

I was having a little fun with the camera before we went out. :)

I couldn't decide which one I liked better. ;)

Becky and I ready and waiting for the car so we can go out and celebrate! (Love valet parking in Vegas!)

Then on Tuesday before we left as we were driving down the Strip I saw a place that did Hennas...and of course I had to go. I think it's fun for just a couple of weeks!

It was a great last minute trip...we had SO much fun playing, shopping, driving, hanging out and relaxing! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday! Thanks Rich for watching your kids so that Becky was able to come play with me in Las Vegas!