Christmas!!!

Santa came to our house!

The girls coming into the living room. We always make them wait until we're settled before they can come in.

Santa even brought the animals some stuff. Roxie got a squeaky bone, a rope toy, and a snowman squeaky toy. She loves the yellow squeaky bone the best. The cats got toys too.

Deanna got an electronic sign for Christmas this year. Jason got it for her and had programmed "Merry Xmas Deanna" By the end of the day she had programmed it at least 3 more times.

B'Elana got a cupcake maker, a camera, and Hannah Montana stuff. She also got Littlest Pet Shop bubble bath.

Jason wore his University of Utah Santa hat all day :)

Relaxing and talking after all the gifts had been opened. We also went to see "Bedtime Stories." That show is so cute. I'd love to go see it again.

After the show we went over to Shelly's and opened presents. A very nice and relaxing holiday.

Christmas Eve

The girls opened their traditional one gift of pjs.

Deanna got tinkerbell jammies and B'Elana got Disney Princess jammies. After presents were opened, we left Santa some cookies and milk and sent the children to bed.

Visit with Santa

After a perfectly blissful night's sleep at the hotel, we went to breakfast at Denny's. We then dropped Jason back off at the hotel and then headed out to South Town Mall to see the Big Guy. (I heard rumors he was also at Fashion Place, but we went there a couple days before and couldn't find him. Turns out he was at both Fashion Place and Gateway! Lesson learned, I suppose).

It took quite a while to actually get off the freeway, but once we were in the parking lot we were able to find a space pretty quickly. We got in there and were promptly informed that Santa was going to be going to lunch before we would be able to see him, so we settled in for a nice looong wait.

The whole area around Santa was set up as a Santa Tracking station, and they had lots of cool information about how NORAD tracks Santa on Christmas Eve.
The staff at the Santa Tracking station were awesome. Even though I wasn't purchasing pictures, they really didn't try to rush us out of there. B'Elana asked for Hannah Montana stuff and Deanna asked for a book.

Our New Holiday Tradition

We created a new holiday tradition this year. We stayed at a downtown hotel, went on a carriage ride, went to P. F. Chang's for dinner and went to the temple to see the lights.

Slagle Family Christmas

I took a lot of pictures at the party, so I decided I should do a slideshow. If anyone wants a copy of specific picture let me know and I'll e-mail them to you.

Cheerleading starts again...

The girls had their first two competitions this weekend, one on the December 13 and the second one on December 15. They did really well in both of the competitions. They got 2nd place in the first competition and 1st place in the second. The message I got from Kelsie said that the girls need to work on their jumps, so we need to make sure she's working hard on all her jumps. The next thing is the Christmas Concert on Friday, then the next competition is in January.

Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees is one of my favorite traditions for beginning the holiday season. Seeing all those beautiful trees always puts me in a holiday mood. When we went to the Festival of Trees in Des Moines we usually ended up with a tree. We hadn't been able to do that yet since we'd gotten back to Utah, but last night Jason surprised me and when he said we could buy a tree.


I wanted to get this one:


But it was sold, and just a little out of our price range ($33,000). Check out this cool video of how it was made and the sycronized light show that went along with it.

Making of a Glass Christmas Tree from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.


Deanna would have gotten this one if it was available:

It was titled a Cullen Family Christmas...bet you'll never guess why she wanted it :)

B'Elana wanted one of these.....but alas, these were also sold.

So this is the one we saw that was still for sale, and we could all agree on:

Isn't it beautiful?!?!?

5 Months and counting

Since I keep getting harassed to post an update today I will.

It's been 5 months and 6 days since my surgery and things are going well. My intake volume has changed over the last 5 months and last month a had my band filled to a very restricted level. The result is that in general I'm only able to eat about two ounces comfortably per meal, though occasionally depending on what it is I can get 4 - 6 ounces.

I'm very happy with my weight loss which depending on the scale is just over 100lbs with a significant increase immediately after the band tightening, but it has tapered off the last couple weeks. Of course, during those last couple weeks I also spent 8 days in Las Vegas and found numerous ways to cheat (on my diet) while I was there. And of course I come back from vegas and it's thanksgiving. But I even did quite well over the holiday.

My health overall is pretty darn good. I have had problems for the last couple of months with dizzy spells and the occasional blackout, but those can somewhat be attributed to me not drinking enough water. At a minimum I should be getting 64oz, but really I should be drinking twice that and I haven't been. Working out the last two months has been difficult because of the dizzyness, in fact with my personal trainer just last wednesday I had to cut it short because after each set I was to say the least a little wobbly. And lets face it, no one wants to catch me as I fall over. Since I got back from vegas I haven't been able to keep much food down either and it gets pretty painful when I try, but I'm moving back to my soft food diet for a few days and we will see if that helps.

The family is extremely supportive in the whole process, to a fault at times. Now that I'm healed I can drink a little carbonation but a certain 12 year old daughter who will remain nameless will have none of that and keeps doing her best to prevent it. I have made some very dear friends all of which have had WLS as well and they add a lot to my support system. We keep each other honest and act as a conscience to each other when we need it. It's important to have the family support and the support of those going through it as well.

My clothing doesn't fit which is great. I did go out and buy myself a pair of pants that fit because my wife pointed out I couldn't wear sweats when I go visit clients. She also pointed out that my favorite shirt absolutely drowns me, and to think six months ago, it was almost too small for me.

So far this journey has been easy and I know that I'm now heading for the hard parts and I can see myself starting to struggle a little already. The band is just a tool and I have to keep up with my diet and my exercise for that tool to work. Most failed banders start to fail at about six months, and foolish me timed it so that my six months is the holiday season. But with the support system I have around me, both family and friends I know I can do it.

2008 Things I'm Thankful for....

This list hasn't changed much since last year, but there are a couple things I'd like to add:

1. My family: My girls can be the most frustrating in the world, but when they get along it is a beautiful thing. Jason and I butt heads, but we love each other. And I'm not sure that there is anyone else in the world that would put up with either of us :)

2. My job: I complain about it, but I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to work and contribute to our family's financial welfare.

3. My friends: I have the best friends in the world. Whether I've met them through my association with Salt Lake City Mommies, volunteering at the school, football or work, I've met some of the best people since we came back from the Midwest. They have saved my sanity more than once!

I'm also extremely grateful for teachings of the church. I don't get to go right now, but having the knowlegde that we can be together as a family forever was very comforting when Grandpa Bud passed away this summer.

Young Women in Excellence Celebration

The theme for the celebration was that all the girls were born to be Queens. They presented a short program about becoming royalty and presented the Young Women values. Each of the girls was crowned.
They sang a beautiful song called "Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God"
Deanna was born to be a queen.
Deanna and her Young Women advisor.

The entire group.

The End of Football Season

Today was the official last day of the 2008 football season. The team started out really well. By the time they were halfway through the season, their record was 3-1. The last half of the season didn't go as well, but the boys did get better each game and had fun (mostly). They did a great job in the Jag Bowl. They lost the first game, but they played really well, and then they won the second game 36-7.

I have to say a couple things about getting this picture. It took about 15 minutes to get them all arranged. Jason made the comment that it was a wonder that they were ever able to get any plays off because they couldn't seem to line up for the picture :) Also, I didn't notice until I was looking at the pictures to post, but all the coaches were looking at me, and all the kids seem to be looking at someone else with a camera. That just made me laugh!

Election Day

I am so grateful to live in this great country that allows us to have freedom to choose who we want to vote for. I just wish that the elections didn't get so contentious. I was thinking I would be voting for one of the major party candidates today, but I'm rethinking that decision. I'm not sure either one of the candidates will do a good job as president, and I absolutely detest both of the candidates choices for vice president. I'm wondering if it would be better to vote for a candidate that has no chance of winning.

Either way, I will go vote. And I believe that every adult that can should get out and VOTE! Truly, it doesn't matter to me who you decide to vote for, as long as you get out there and DO IT!!!

November already!

I am shocked and dismayed at how quickly this year has flown by. I can't believe it's November! Soon we will be running around like crazy with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and cheerleading seson ramping up. I know Deanna also has the Kearns Holiday Open, which is a big swim meet that is hosted by KYAT. I'll be blogging as much as I can, but with such busy days ahead, I'm not sure how much I'll be on the computer :)

Halloween

Happy Halloween! We followed our yearly tradition of going over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for chili and hot chocolate, although it wasn't nearly as necessary as usual. When we first got there it was about 60 degrees outside. It did get a little chilly when it got dark and during the times it sprinkled on us, but other than that it was one of the nicest nights for trick or treating that we've seen in a long time.

Deanna didn't stick around for very long. Her friend Tay invited her to a party, so she went and hung out will all her friends. Alot of her friends from 6th grade were there, even a few that don't currently go to Churchill.

I wish Halloween could be like this every year. The weather was perfect!

Cornbelly's

We took our annual trip down to Thanksgiving Point to visit Cornbelly's. This was one of the most fun times we've had.

B'Elana was being a bit of a grump when we got there, but threatening to turn around and go home got her spirits up. The first activity we did was the Gem Mining. We did that first because I was afraid it would get dark fast and wanted to make sure we did that before it was dark.

The girls were concentrating really hard on making sure that they got all their gem stones.

Look how big we've all grown:

Obviously, I haven't gotten any taller, but Deanna insisted that I had to have my picture done if she had to have hers.

I thought this huge rocking chair was so cool. Deanna gave me a bad time about how I climbed up into the chair. Apparently it was pretty comical, so I'm glad my video camera wasn't available for her to get the evidence on video.

Farmer Pride!