Christmas 2009

Christmas was wonderful. We finally got our little tree up three days before Christmas so we could be somewhat festive our first Christmas in our new home. :) While originally planning on spending Christmas with the Ferguson Family, my work schedule wouldn't allow me to take the time off for us to be in Oregon with them. Mom and Dad Ferguson gave us a gift card to Hastings, with which Burt is dying to get an Xbox 360. :) I'm not opposed, as he has been languishing over not having a gaming system since I have known him. Lol, plus it will be great fun for parties. :) I received a gorgeous locket from Burt's sisters, which was very exciting for me since I have always wanted one. While disappointed we couldn't visit Grandpa Ferguson for Christmas, we are glad that the rest of the family could go.
We spent Christmas Day with our Lee Family, which was wonderful. :) We got to open presents with the family and Mom and Dad were very generous and provided us with lots of tools that we are in need of for our new home. Meagan gave us 2 hours of "slave labor" to use in our remodel process, and Nate always generous, gave me a scarf and glove set, and Burt a Rubbermaid tote for storage. As always we ate too much, took an afternoon nap and watched GI Joe when we woke up. :) It was a great Christmas.

December 2009

What a crazy month! So much happening and so little time! First, we hit finals week. These two weeks were filled with all nighters writing papers and studying for our last tests. In the midst of it all, I finally caught what was going around the office - a nasty cold. Burt had been slightly effected prior to me getting sick, so who knows where it came from. Needless to say, it knocked me out and being sick was definately not what I wanted to be during finals at school.
Frustration has been building as our home remodel and unpacking has been delayed. I cannot stand chaos and uncleanliness, and this is exactly what our home has been since we've moved in. Burt and I spent a whole weekend sanitizing the kitchen so we could being cooking out of it. Yuck! I seriously do not understand how people can live in such nasty dirty environments. It is gradually getting better. We now have carpet chosen and paint narrowed down. The wall retexture has begun and we should be painting shortly. I told Burt it was more work than I wanted to deal with, but he seems dedicated to the idea of retexturing the whole house! :) I am supporting him in this endeavor.
Burt has begun training to be a night shift supervisor at work, and although it is trial training before officially receiving the title of supervisor, we are both very excited for this opportunity. :) I see him as being a great leader and am so proud he's decided to try out for the position.
Our new ward/congregation at church is so awesome. Burt and I both agree that we have never felt so warmly welcomed into a ward, EVER! We could hardly walk down the hall without a hello and welcome from every person we passed. While slightly apprehensive about the difference in age demographics, (we were really hoping to have some young married couples in the ward) we are very excited to be here in this new congregation.
The Big Fat Losers had our first meeting with outstanding attendance. I am very excited for this support group to help me acheive my fitness goals.
Also, our nearly cousin Royce was married on the 23rd to a sweet girl. We are so excited for them to be part of our family!

Big Fat Losers

Due to my personal frustration with my fitness/weight, I have decided to create again for myself a personal accountability system for my weight loss and fitness goals.

I created a similar program for myself 2 summers ago and was very successful. I felt great and looked better than I have in a very long time. My confidence increased and I felt in control of my life once again. Now I have reached a turning point in my life and am looking to achieve that again.

Being unable to afford a gym, aerobics classes, fancy diet plans etc, I am pulling all of my knowledge I have gained from past programs and incorporating them into my Big Fat Loser challenge. :)

Program Elements:

www.sparkpeople.com will be used for personal tracking. The site offers free menu plans, fitness tips, calorie and fitness minute trackers.

Personal folder kept for progress charts and goal sheets.

A photo journal of progress will be an option, as well as video progress as well.
Weekly group exercise sessions.
Weekly group encouragement sessions.

Biweekly or weekly weigh-in's - whichever is preferred.
Measurements as well as weigh in's are encouraged.

The biggest perk - A support team to keep you going! :)

Please feel free to invite as anyone who might be interested. Also, if you have any elements you feel would be beneficial, please let me know. I would love to have your input.

Target start date for my Big Fat Loser program is Dec 15, 2009.

Thank you,

Savanna Lee Ferguson
onesavvysweetie@gmail.com

Happy Anniversary + Our New House

Here is the very long story short version of our home search and purchase. :) Burt and I began looking for a home back in February of 2009. We had a lot of indecision going on with what we had wanted, condo or townhome, townhome vs house. We looked at a lot of crap within the limited price range that we were looking at. With forclosures on the rise, homes that were available listed within our price point had been trashed by previous owners. We debated since we knew that to fix a home up is very expensive, and if we under-bought, we would still be sinking a ton of money into fixing up the house. At which point, we may as well have spent a little more for something a little nicer and not requiring as much repair.
We took a break during the summer to decide whether or not a home purchase was really right for us at this point in life. In August we decided to look at 4 more homes, we found a cute little tri-level that we really liked and put in an offer on it. After only a week, we withdrew our offer. the listing agent for the home was extremely difficult to work with and we had a feeling that he was being somewhat dishonest.
Burt and I were done, we figured if it wasn't meant to be for us to be in a home then why continue to pursue it. Our realtor, Garrett Rice, wanted us to view one more home that was only two streets over from the one we had placed an offer on. We hesitated, but agreed to tour that last home. Me, Burt and my little sister Meagan drove out and met Garrett at the house. One look and we decided that it was the house for us!
We did continue to think about it for almost another entire week before making our offer. And at one point we almost backed out. But finally on August 31,2009 we submitted our offer, and a grueling 2 1/2 months later we closed and moved in.
While the house needs a bit of updating, we are excited for the projects and the potential it has to make it our own personal paradise. :)

BYU - Marriott School of Business...Denial or Acceptance

Lots has been happening with our lives lately. My company brought in a new manager and have given me the opportunity to move up to the corporate office level. There are many things that would be advantageous by me moving up. For starters, no more working weekends! Flexible hours and the opportunity to travel, lower stress level in the office, etc... However, increased pay would not be one of these factors, in fact it may be a bit of a pay cut. This wouldn't affect us that much if we weren't looking to buy a home, but we are and that is now a piece of the puzzle to decide on.
In July I received a statement from BYU's Marriott School of Business which informed me that I had been denied acceptance, in spite of excellent academic performance. So I shifted my education goals to the University of Utah.
The downer is that I have spent my entire college education moving toward the goal of being a BYU graduate. Interpretation - 2 semesters worth of prerequisites to finish before being able to apply to the U's David Eccles School of Business. I figured I may as well get started with that, and proceeded to attend orientation, visit with academic and financial aid advisors and tried to figure out the best method to complete my education requirements for the University of Utah.
Late in the afternoon I received a phone call from a 422 number...hmmm, it looked familiar so I answered it. The man on the other end of the call told me I had been accepted to the Marriott School of Business. I informed him that No, I had not and I had received a statement saying that I had been denied acceptance. He reassured me that although that was the original decision due to the number of qualified applicants, that they had recently had space open up and if I was interested I could accept the admission.

WOOOT! I told him he was amazing! I am so excited! Although, I am somewhat nervous, and there are so many things to cancel that I had already signed up for with the University of Utah, and so much more to settle with BYU. At least I can start my program now!

Get Together!

Confusion! First off, there was a bunch of confusion with the date because my stupid phone delayed sending the reminder. Two people that I know of got the reminder the day after I sent it, "Reminder, Get Together is tomorrow night" Well, obviously if it sent a day late then there were people wondering where we were at in the park. MY APOLOGIES!

For those who got the reminder in time, we had a great time, getting together with old friends and playing some games while catching up. It was really good seeing everyone again. :)

Those in attendance: Natalie, Clint, Alyssa; Anita, Greg and their two little ones, Tonya and Kyle, Shane and Dorothy, and Tony and Marie! We had a great time with Cranium.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple and a day with Momma

Momma and I went to the Salt Lake Temple this morning, early after dropping Burt off for classes. Typically the temple isn't open on Mondays, but they have started being open for morning only on Mondays, which is good because it is my only day off during the week.

Momma and I were talking about how amazing the building of the temple was. Originally constructed in the mid 1800's, and completed 1892 the saints built the temple with channels in the stone walls for future electricity and plumbing to be run, and even left empty shafts straight through the building which easily enabled elevators to be installed in later years. At that point in history, I'm sure no one could have ever anticipated how important those features would be in our world today. God inspires and shows a way clear for His plans to be fulfilled.

When Burt got out of classes he met us at the Lion House Pantry on Temple Square for lunch. It was wonderful and we all got the Malibu Chicken. :) Delicious! The people there are so kind, I'm glad Burt has such wonderful people to work with. The Lion House was Brigham Young's personal home that has been preserved as a museum and restaurant for visitors to enjoy. It is a beautiful home, and it is interesting to see how much smaller people of that time period were. You can see it in the size of the stair cases, and the beds, rooms, furniture in general. We have become modern giants in comparison.

Burt made reservation online for us to visit the Oquirrh Mountain Temple at Daybreak, we drove down there promptly after his classes got out. This must be my favorite temple...maybe...it is sooo very beautiful. The theme seems to be stars and circles, I have always loved stars. They seem to me a peaceful reminder of all that this world can hold for us if we reach for the stars, and work to acheive our dreams. This temple had stars and circles frosted into the glass of the window panes throughout the building. The building also had many different elements of metal throughout the interior, from little brushed nickle circles set into the tile in the restrooms, to a copper pattern formed in the wallpaper. There were patinas of brushed nickle, oil stained bronze, and the golden gleam of brass and gold. Green! I so love the color green, it brings peace and life to our earth, and this temple was filled with earthy tones, green, golds, browns, aqua accents, and many different types of wood trimmed the temple, the floors were almost all what looked to be a limestone. Very beautiful. :) Last, but not least, there is a perfect view of the entire Salt Lake Valley from the base of the Oquirrh Mountains were the temple sits. Absolutely breathtaking.