And all through the house, new matching monogrammed jammies were a hit with everyone but my spouse.

Aren't they cute? (excuse the red eyes  This is as good as it's going to get tonight)  Santa's got work to do.

It has been a long journey with lots of ups and downs, highs and lows. The journey probably started 9 years and 250+ pounds ago. As Marty says, he was a tank. He made the determination that he was going to get healthy and fit. He started by pushing Rylee in a stroller as they slowly walked around the mall. As he was able to walk further he started to walk the Provo River Trail in Provo. He gradually built up his endurance and walked a 5K fun run. Team Christoffersen was there for him all along the way. We cheered him on every step of the way. Many people thought he couldn’t do it, but we knew better and cheered him on.


When we moved to Arkansas he bought a bike and twice a week would bike to the fitness center in Bentonville, swim for an hour and then bike home. The weight continued to come off. However, one day Marty’s knee gave out on him. The doctor told him not to bike any more. Running & swimming was fine, but biking was to be eliminated. Now what?

Marty then set the goal to run a marathon. He wanted to run the Little Rock Marathon in March of 2009. However in January, Marty fell on the ice and broke his hip. Another setback. The doctors released him to slowly start back training in July. He wanted to run the St. George Marathon in October, but missed the deadline to sign up. So the hunt for another race began. When Marty found the Las Vegas Marathon, he knew that he had to participate. And participate he did.

Here is Marty all ready for a chilly start.



For the marathon they closed all 6 lanes of the Las Vegas Strip to car traffic for runners only.



There were nearly 25,000 runners (most for the ½ marathon, but about 6,000 for the marathon) I quickly lost Marty in the crowd.

In true Las Vegas style, there were Elvis runners, a run through wedding chapel, bands, and lots of fun people. I love to watch people. I really wish now I had taken more pictures of some of the people, but this is the only one I could find.

I was able to catch Marty at the 3 mile and 9 mile marker. After that the marathoners turned off the strip leaving the ½ marathon runners behind. I had no way to get off strip to see Marty for the last 16 miles. I then went to Breakfast at the Paris and waited for Marty at the finish line.



Interesting thing about the 9 mile marker. The runners were running on the opposite side of the street from where I was. There was no way to cross the street other than, well, cross the street. I wanted to get closer to him to get a good picture. I was stopped by a police officer and told that I couldn’t cross the street because this was a “very serious event” they had going on here. I explained that I knew it was a serious event and I wanted pictures of the serious event. He let me stay in the middle of the strip and get my pictures.

Here he comes toward the finish line.



As he passed me, he gave me two thumbs up, but due to my excellent photography skills, this is the picture that I got.



Here he is right after he crossed the finish line. He was tired, but said that it was his best run ever in 5 hours 36 minutes 12 seconds.



Marty has been trying to decide what kind of a reward he wants for accomplishing such a great challenge. I reminded Marty of a goal he had set 9 years ago. He bought a leather motor cycle vest in a size XL. At the time he was over 500 pounds. He said that if he could ever fit into that vest he would buy a motorcycle. I asked Marty if he still had the vest. He went to his closet and pulled it out, sure that it wouldn’t fit. He was right, it is too big!!!!! I told him that we needed to buy him a motorcycle for accomplishing two major goals . . . losing 250+ lbs & finishing a marathon.



Anyone that knows Marty knows that he doesn’t like to spend money, especially on himself. He wouldn’t commit to buying a bike. He test drove several and fell in love with one, but just wouldn’t commit. On Friday I took the rest of the money out of my “Miata account” and told Marty that we were going to go buy his motorcycle. He reluctantly agreed, but secretly I know that he is in LOVE!



I haven’t had a chance to get any pictures of Marty (or the girls) on the bike, but I’m sure there will be more time for riding when our daily temperatures get out of the 40’s.

1. I pack WAY too much stuff when I go on vacation. My bagged weighed 49.55 lbs at the airport. Oops, almost had to pay extra.

7. I get way too caught up in what I’m doing to remember to take pictures of anything.

8. Le Rêve at the Wynn is absolutely fabulous!

9. My husband is a stud! He set a HUGE goal for himself and accomplished it! (More on that in a later post.)

10. NEVER take new shoes with you on vacation, especially if you are planning on doing a lot of walking.

11. Beautiful Christmas displays can be made out of live flowers, plants, and nuts. The Bellagio hotel has an amazing display including polar bears, snowman, Santa & reindeer all made out of natural material. I’d show you pictures except I left my camera at the hotel that night. I did take a few pictures on my cell phone, but I can’t figure out how to get them off my phone and on to here.

12. Marty is not only willing, but happily will go with me to a cowboy expo. The National Rodeo Finals were in Vegas the same time we were there. There were cowboys EVERYWHERE! My dad’s brother and sister happened to be in town for the rodeo so we met them at one of the many expos. Marty even bought something at the expo :)

13. Not only can they, but they do, cancel shows after you have purchased tickets. We had tickets to Phantom of the Opera for 7:00 Tuesday night. We showed up at 6:30 to be told that they had cancelled our show. No reason was given, just that they had also cancelled on Monday. I was crushed. That was what I was most looking forward to. I was surprised by how disappointed I was. It was too late to get in on any other shows, so we were out of luck.

14. When you are SUPER sweet, you get really cool things! We decided that we would sacrifice sleep on Wednesday night (we had to get up at 3 am for our flight Thursday) to try to see Phantom. We called the box office to see if it was running and if there were tickets. We were told that it was showing but seats were very limited. We asked if we could trade our Tuesday tickets for Wednesday tickets. They informed us that our Tuesday tickets had been refunded, but if we came to the box office they would see what they could do for us. So, off we went. Marty turned on the charm with the box office attendant and explained how disappointed we had been to miss the show the night before. The lady said she would talk to her manager and see what they could do. She came back to let us know that they didn’t have seats left in the section we had purchased (second to the last row in the balcony) but they could get us seats in another section if that would be acceptable. We asked where the seats would be and she showed us seats in the fourth row of the orchestra section right on the inside aisle. She informed us that these seats were available but at a different cost. We asked her what the difference would be…… $25 less than we had paid for the original tickets!!!!! These seats were so close to the stage it was amazing. Many of the scenes had parts with the actors standing in the aisles inches from us! Phantom sang so close to Marty he was tempted to reached out and touch him.

15. I have large calves. I always have. When I was a gymnast and a hurdler it came in handy. Not so much for boot shopping. I found the most amazing pair of boots, but I couldn’t get them zipped up. Truly depressing!

16. $5 is cheap entertainment in the penny slots. I can spend hours in front of the penny slots and never go over the $5 limit. Over the week we were there I actually ended up winning about $13. Not bad 1¢ at a time.

17. I can re-distribute my things into Marty’s suitcase and come in well under the limit for the return flight home.

18. I love to spend time with my husband. I am so blessed to have such a great man in my life!
orry, I had to share this last picture!  This was the messiest cupcake ever!  We were both laughing so hard that most of my pictures turned out blurry, but this one is just too cut!

A friend of mine is having a tour of home blog contest.  So, here is my entry.

This year I really struggled getting the motivation to get all the decorating done.  Rylee finally asked if she could do it.  A HUGE thank you to her.  I owe it all to her expertise.  (Not bad for an 11 year old.  I think she might have a career in interior design ahead of her.)

You'll see that I like three things about Christmas.  Snowmen, Santa's and Nativities.  This is a small sampling of each.  I actually have over 15 nativities.  I love them!

ENJOY!

Merry Christmas!

Watch carefully, it's snowing!  Virtual snow is so much better than the real stuff.

By far, my most favorite holiday of the year is Christmas. I love everything about Christmas. I love the smells (cookies, candies, pine, cinnamon), sounds (music, laughter, crackling fire), & sights (lights, nativities, trees, holly, berries, Santa, nativities, presents, glittery papers, bows, nativities). I think you get the point. I love Christmas.


For years I worked in retail stores that made Christmas a very busy part of the year. I never got a single day off from Thanksgiving to New Years. So that I could still enjoy all the things that I love about Christmas, I had to start early. Now that I have a little more free time during the holidays, I still like to do the preparation early and enjoy the rest of the season that much more.

I have had a lot of friends that have told me that I am totally missing out on Thanksgiving. I am skipping over the holiday. I have to say, that I can't disagree more. What a better way to give thanks than to be surrounded by all your favorite things to remind you of what to be thankful for! So, I'm going to start a small list of the things that I am most grateful for. (I write this as I am mesmerized by the twinkling lights on my Christmas tree)



1. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

2. My loving Heavenly Father

3. My fantastic husband.

4. My 3 gorgeous girls (if you haven't seen their latest pictures & spent time with them lately, you have no idea how gorgeous they really are, on the inside and out)

5. My warm beautiful home

6. My rewarding job

7. My friends (both online and in person)

8. My opportunity to live in Northwest Arkansas (I don't know if my AR friends are grateful to live here, but I think it is a beautiful place to live with amazing people)

9. My great neighbors

10. My supportive ward

11. My fabulous shoe collection

12. My new Miche purses

13. My ever expanding wardrobe

14. My scriptures

15. My calling

16. My dog (I can't believe I just typed that)

17. A refrigerator full of food

18. A well stocked pantry

19. A year supply of chocolate (ok, so this one is just on order, but should be here in the next couple of weeks, and I am most grateful for that, as I currently only have about a 3 month supply)

20. Music

21. My cute red Miata

22. My freedom

23. My health

24. My family's health

25. Sunny November days

26. Chirping birds

27. Warm showers

28. An endless supply of hugs and kisses (not the chocolate kind, but the real kind from sweet girls and their dad)

29. The priesthood

30. Love, peace, hope, & joy

My list could go on and on, but no one really has time to read through an infinite list of gratitudes. As we all celebrate the next two holiday seasons, always remember to give thanks in all things, at all times.

For weeks now, Marty has been telling me how much I look like the day time anchor on CNN.  Since I work, I don't get to watch during the day, so I had no idea who he was talking about.

Finally, yesterday I googled her to see a picture.  What do you think?  I'm not seeing it, but I think it's an incredible compliment.

In our family room, we have these beautiful built in cabinets.  I have really struggled with making these look the way I want.  I have looked at magazines and websites for inspiration.  I have seen a lot of different styles that I like, but re-creating them has me a bit overwhelmed.  The other challenge is finding things to add to it that fit in my budget.  I have found that I have expensive taste, but a meager budget. 

The style that I like the best is a combination of a lot of different patterns, heights, textures all grouped together.  Perhaps a bit eclectic.  Hard to describe (which may be why I am struggling to replicate).

I decided that I would just start looking for different pieces that I liked and start adding them to my collection.  With a little tweaking, perhaps I can make it my own.  So, this morning I headed out on a mission to find a few great pieces.  I left with $13 in my wallet.

During the trip, I found 6 iron candle holders ($3), a wood plate??? with 3 decorative balls ($1) and four wooden plate charger ($1).  I found a lot of other things that I loved but the price was just well beyond the cash in my wallet so that was all I ended up with.

Here's the before:

I think I'll try to tackle a shelf a week.  By making my purchases at a garage sales and mixing with what I already own, I'm sure to come up with a really unique look on a budget.

I am not very good at remembering to take pictures of my kids in their day-to-day events.  I show up and support them, but ALWAYS leave the camera at home.  I don't think to take pictures of them as they do funny or silly things around the house.  It isn't that I don't think it's important to take the pictures; I just get too involved in the moment to pull myself away and take the pictures.

For this reason, I have always bought the girls' school pictures each year.  I figured that at the least, I'd have an annual picture of the changes that the girls have made.  I also want to be able to have a picture to send to Grandmas and Grandpas. 

This year, the picture forms came home.  I was AMAZED at how expensive the school pictures have become.  Just to get the basics to send 1 picture to Marty's parents, 1 to my parents, 1 for the office, and 1 for home was going to be nearly $60.  YIKES!

I still wanted to have the pictures, but that just didn't fit into the budget.  I asked the girls if we could start a new tradition.  Instead of posed, expensive school pictures, what if we went on a photo shoot.  One girl at a time, in a location of their choice, and they could even do a change of clothes if they wanted.  The girls thought this sounded like a fun activity.  So, over a two week period we headed out to the "great wall of Centerton" and took some fun pictures.  (Jessica chose this spot first and the other two loved the location so much they too wanted to go there.)  We took over 150 pictures and had a ton of fun along the way.  I promised the girls I wouldn't publish the "fun" pictures.  We did get some beautiful pictures though. 

I have had them at my desk now for nearly a week.  Several people have literally stopped in their tracks to look at them.  They are growing up so much.  It's kind of scary!

I like these pictures so much more than the posed school pictures.  I'm glad that I stopped one tradition and started another.


RYLEE ANNE