Five Places I Want to Visit

My friend Laura tagged me on her blog - http://our-munchkins.blogspot.com/ on January 16 and I am finally responding. I'm so sorry, Laura. I'm really not trying to be rude. Getting the house painted really made things crazy around here and things are just getting back to normal. I have several posts I want to do so I'll try to catch up this week. She asked me to share five random things about myself, five places I want to visit or revisit, or five things I never imagined in my future when I was 25 years old. I chose to share five places I want to visit or revisit. I am excited about this one since I haven't really traveled much. So here they are:

1- I want to visit New York City. All of my siblings have already been there. I want to see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, and Ellis Island. I would also like to see a Broadway musical and maybe even go to a show taping like David Letterman or Conan O'Brien. Lloyd and I will make it there some day.

2-I want to go to Europe. I haven't done enough research to know where I would like to go, but I would be interested in seeing Italy, France, or Denmark.

3-I want to visit Nauvoo with my all of my children. I hope we can do this before Courtney graduates from high school.

4-I want to go on another cruise with Lloyd. We went on a three-day cruise to Ensenada in 1999 and it was the best! I don't care where we go on the cruise, I just want to go again. I really recommend it; its a more afforable way to travel. My friend just won a cruise and I am so excited for her and her husband!

5-I want to go back to Hawaii. Lloyd and I went there on our honeymoon in 1994. Thanks to my mom and Jay this dream is coming true in July. They are taking my family and all of my siblings' families to Hawaii! I haven't thought about it too much because it seems too amazing. I really can't believe it. Lloyd and I only went to Oahu, but we are going to Kawaii this time. I feel so lucky!

Good Bye Cookies!

Well, I was so busy last week I didn't mention my weigh in. I actually weighed in on Thursday which was Valentine's Day. Lloyd and I went out for the holiday and I didn't want to worry about a weigh in the next morning. I lost .8 so that brings me to 8.4 from my goal. Unfortunately, I didn't make the best food choices over the holiday weekend and I know I am going to pay for it. I also have 1200 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my garage! I've eaten at least an entire box of mints, but I'm going to be good now. I've promised myself no GS cookies until March. My tip for the week is not to have junk in the house. When treats are at your finger tips they are too hard to resist. I can't wait to get rid of these cookies!

I'm in the Single Digits - Only 9.2 to Go!

I am amazed, I lost 4.2 pounds this week so that means I only have 9.2 pounds to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. It's been really crazy around here since we've been painting the entire inside of our home. I guess I haven't had time to eat too much. Also, Conner is really not nursing a lot so I think that contributed to my weight loss. With losing this much in one week, my goal for next week is to maintain what I've lost. My tip for this week is sugarfree gum. It's great for a snack or after a meal when you want something sweet.

President Bush at SFO

Hi Everyone! Kristi encouraged me to put this on our family blog. The following pictures are of Air Force One. President Bush visited San Francisco the other day for a couple of hours to raise money for the Republican Party. I had the opportunty to be a part of a group that escorted President Bush's security detail on and off the airport. It was a neat experience and one that I hope to experience again. The above pictures were taken from a friend of mine at work who is an avid photographer. You will notice there are no pictures of President Bush as we were not allowed to take any photos of him as he exited Air Force One.

Many of you already know that I work at San Francisco International Airport. One of my job duties entails escorting special VIP's, dignitaries from other countries, professional sports teams, and high profile politicians. In this case it was President Bush. Our facility on the airport was literally crawling with secret service agents, white house staff personnel, the police, and the CHP. We were wall to wall with people ordering us around and demanding requests. At one point our supervisor who was incharge of the escort was ready to toss them all outside. In one incident, a group of secret service agents came into our building and flashed their credentials and demanded to be escorted onto the airfield. Our supervisor, bless her heart, flat our told them... NO! It was hilarious! Everyone around her became uncomfortably quiet. I give her credit, though, she held her ground. The agents had to call their supervior to get approval to enter the airfield.

The security there was so tight that it got to be intimidating at some points. Especially when Presdient Bush exited Air Force One. We were ordered not to move. We were all instructed to keep our distance. My co-workers and I wanted to get as close as we could but still could only get within 50 yrds. We had to squint to even get a good look. When he exited AirForce One he had secret service agents on every side of him. It was hard to determine who was actually him. In one of the pictures, Air Force One is shown from behind. To the left is a building with three personnel dressed in black fatigues standing on the roof. These individuals were three of six snipers with long rifles aimed in all directions.

Overall, it was a great experience. It was only his second appearence in San Francisco. When it was all said and done it seemed like a lot of work, fuss, and headache for only a two hour visit. I overheard someone stating that the secret service agents can put in up to eightteen hour days. Not something I would want to do for a living. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the slide show.

The following link will take you to an article and some more photos about President Bush's visit.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/31/MNOVUP2Q5.DTL&hw=President+Bush+Hillsborough&sn=001&sc=1000

Slow and Steady

Well, I made my visit to Weight Watchers again today. According to their scale, I only lost .4 this week. According to my bathroom scale, I lost more than that, but I'm going by my Weight Watchers weigh ins. Anyways, I'm feeling motivated and would rather lose .4 than gain .4. Cameron was sick yesterday so I didn't make it to the gym. I also took a couple of friends out to breakfast for their birthdays. I did have some pancakes, which I haven't had for a long time. I think it's important to give yourself a little treat so you don't constantly feel deprived. My tip for this week is to not eat before bedtime. I try not to eat anything after 7:00. The first couple days are very hard, but your body eventually gets use to it. I have to admit, I have woken up in the middle of the night with my stomach growling, but luckily I can go right back to sleep. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about mint GS cookies. The thought has occurred to go buy some Grasshopper cookies at the store which taste just about the same. However, I am remaining true to my goal. It will be hard when I'll have over 1000 boxes of GS cookies in my garage (my troop sold 1200). I am shooting to lose a least a pound next week. I think I'm finally in the groove of this weight loss thing.

Santa Pictures

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was a tradition for me growing up that my siblings and I would take a picture with Santa every year. We took one every year until I was 17. I'm still not sure if I'll make Courtney continue until she's 17. Well, here's our collection of Santa pictures so far. Lloyd put this slide show together for me. We wanted to post it around Christmastime, but we got busy!