The Websters

First Swim Meet

On Sunday Gwyneth swam in her first swim meet.  She discovered her love of swimming this past spring and summer, and started swimming on a local swim team when school started this year.  It is all for fun and great exercise!

She participated in her first swim meet, the 41st Annual Thanksgiving Invitational, hosted by the Boise YMCA swim team.  Gwyneth's good friend, Emma, also was swimming in her first meet, so it was nice to have a buddy.

 

Gwyneth swam in a 100m relay, 25m backstroke and 25m freestyle.

View of the pool during warm ups.

Emma and Gwyneth warming up.

Gwyneth doing the backstroke.

Getting ready for the 25m freestyle.

There she goes!

We are so proud of you Gwyneth!!!!

Holiday Spirit

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Gratitude

On Thursday at Gwyneth's Brownie meeting we discussed "Gratitude".  My good friend, Patty, lead the meeting, and she did a wonderful job helping the girls learn how to think about what they have to be thankful for.  Even on the worst of days, there is always something to be thankful for. She gave each Brownie their own "Gratitude Journal" and asked them to write down 5 things each day that they are thankful for.  She also gave them a small pad of paper and asked that they give each person at their Thanksgiving dinner a piece of the paper and ask them to write down one thing that they are thankful for.  The girls can then keep those papers from family and friends in their Gratitude Journals, and refer them them when they are struggling to write something that they are thankful for.

I think it is a great idea to think of 5 things a day that you are thankful for.  My five things for today are:

1) My first cup of coffee in the morning

2) My crazy kitty mug that I have had for YEARS that I must have my coffee in at home, otherwise it just isn't quite right

3) TiVo-one of the best inventions ever!

4) The Internet

5) Sharpies-I love my pens and paper products!

OK-as you can see, they don't always have to deep things, just things that you love and are thankful for.  Obviously I am thankful for my family, my home, yadda, yadda, yadda.  But sometimes it is fun to think of the little things that make life so much fun!

What are you thankful for?  

Success

Tomorrow is the last day of my 10 week journey at UBC-the Ultimate Body Challenge.  Today our lead instructor weighed and measured us.  It has taken me MANY years to get over "the scale".  Basically, I don't measure my success by the scale any more.  So even though I did have to weigh myself this morning, we also took body measurements, did push ups and sit ups for a minute, etc.  I am happy to report that in the 10 weeks I lost 9 lbs of body fat and gained 9.5lbs of muscle.  I'd call that successful!  One of the best parts of this program was the time I got to spend with my girlfriends doing it.  There was a group of us sweating it out every day-pushing and supporting each other.  What a great team!  I also made new friendships with our instructors; a great group of people who have our best interests and health at heart.

Congrats to all my girls who sweated it out for the past 10 weeks!  I am so proud of all of us.  We are certainly healthier now than we were 10 weeks ago!  Let's ROCK our 30s and 40s!!!!

Here is our UBC crew out celebrating my girlfriend, Kristin's, birthday yesterday.  Our trainer for T/Th, Jason, aka our Renaissance Man, joined us.  What a stud!

WAY TO GO LADIES!!!!

Before:                                     After:

                        

Out of the Mouths of Babes

GWYNETH:  I'd like to watch "A League of Their Own."

FRED: Um...I think there is some cursing in it.

GWYNETH:  You mean people get cursed?!

Frederick the Mouse

Our little mouse friend is back.

Nigel figured out he was back before the rest of us did.  We didn't figure it out until Fred found holes in his protein shakes packets that were in the cabinet by the sink.

We caught him and released him, but he was a little cold, so he lounged in the sun for awhile.  He reminded me of Frederick.

I know he's a nuisance...but he is SO CUTE!  Of course the kids wanted to keep him as a pet.  Needless to say, Fred laid down the law and said, "No!"  I might have given in...I'm a softie.

GNO

Fun Saturday night out with the girls makes for a lazy Sunday.  Good thing I don't drink!  I am having a hard enough time recovering from the 2am bed time! Thanks ladies for a fun night!

First Snow Fall

This morning we woke up to our first snow fall of the season.

It is beautiful, but I don't know if mentally I am ready for this.  Guess I'd better get ready.  We live in Idaho, and it is mid-November-snow is imminent.

On another note...we are fixing up the entry to our house.  Here is what we have done so far.  Our neighbor is doing the work for us, and he is doing a great job!!!  All the flagstone came from a useless area in our backyard, so our only expenses so far have been the sand for the base of the stones and his labor!  Love it!!!  He is going to create a burm behind the stone area, and we might add some large pots for decoration.  All suggestions are welcome!!!

Unconditional Love

No matter what has happened during the day, Lola and Nigel are always happy to see me and offer up a happy growl and some love.

I shared this before on my Facebook wall, but here it is again, if you haven't seen it.

First Lost Tooth

Big day for Mac!  He lost his first tooth!!!  Maybe next time he looses a tooth he won't feel compelled to come announce it to Fred and I at 5:30am!!! :-)  He was just a little excited!!!

He will get his first visit from the Tooth Fair tonight (if she remembers!!!!)!