I Have A Story For You

I had been debating on whether or not to post this, but back in the day, I used to post all sorts of comments & deep thoughts & ideas & shallow thoughts & frustrations ... & now that I've gone private, I don't think anyone reads this anymore (besides, blogs are a thing of the past now with Pinterest) & for those of you who do read this, you're all friends, right?

A month before Shad & I went on our cruise, we decided to attempt to lose a few lbs for the trip. A friend of ours is a coach for Medifast (a weight loss program). They mail you your food for 5 weeks & you can have 5 of their meals each day & one 'lean & green' (lean meat & veggie) every day. We both followed it religiously for 2.5 weeks (splitting the 5 weeks of meals) & we both hit our target goals. Yahoo!

Well, after the cruise I had put on 3lbs again, but remained faithful to the Medifast concept: 6 meals a day. Low carb, high protein, 100-calorie meals & a 'lean & green'. I managed to lose the 3lbs I gained & decided after Cashe's birthday that I needed a new project. I wanted to lose the 10lbs I have always wanted to lose since before I was ever pregnant. It may not even be attainable because I'm at a healhty weight, but why not try? And why not try while doing it a healthy way?

So, I ordered 5 weeks of food for myself & I started on November 5th, the day after Cashe's birthday. This time it wasn't as lovely.

First of all, it's a lot harder when you're dieting alone. Yes, Shad travels enough that I am able to stay focused, but weekends are certainly tough & I'm dreading Thanksgiving. I can power through though.

More importantly, I started having stomach issues. I never had stomach issues in August. I did just fine. This time, my tummy is rumblin' & tumblin' almost all day, after every meal & praise the Lord Shad wasn't home because he would've left me (or died) because of all the gas I had.

Thankfully this all subsided now that I'm into day 12 & my body is adjusting (I guess). But heaven forbid I make it through that first week without a story for you.

So, I'm on my usual Tuesday conference call with one of the girls I work with who is training me (& only me) on a program she's put together that I will be using. I'm sitting in the office curled up in the office chair as usual, sipping some tea when all of a sudden, my stomach starts grumbling like Harry (Jeff Daniels) from Dumb & Dumber after Lloyd spikes his coffee with laxatives.

Mind you, I am on mute (thank Heavens), but I have to continue watching my computer screen because she's walking through things (without allowing me a word in edgewise) & every so often asking, "does this make sense?" or "do you have any questions?" There is no running to the bathroom just in case. With my luck, I'd be asked a specific question while I was on the toilet.

I do my best to just sit in my chair & ignore my stomach, but it gets to the point where I am starting to sweat (yes, like on Bridesmaids) & I'm starting to panic & ... before I know it, I'm about to be the bride in the street who just pooped herself, except I'm the girl who's thankfully in her own home, but stuck on a call for work & unable to excuse herself.

And what happens?

Uh huh, the worst. Well, not the worst-worst. I didn't ruin anything, but I had to stand up & seal my shorts shut (just in case) & do my best to struggle through the remainder of the call. AND TAKE NOTES.

Shoot me.

Finally the hour is up & my coworker asks me, "Do you have a minute? I have a story for you!"

WHAT?!?! NO! I DON'T HAVE A MINUTE. I haven't had a minute for about 10 minutes now.

BUT, I did what any good coworker would do & I listened to her potty-training-her-dog-story & told her I had to go because I had an appointment.

And I did have an appointment.

... with my shower. Ick. Ick. Ick.

Now that you've wasted all that time reading about CRAP (literally), enjoy your day! Hope you feel better about yourselves & at least got a good laugh.

Our Little Monster Turned TWO

It's so hard to believe another year has gone by. Everyone warned us that time would fly as soon as Cashe was born & to enjoy every single moment with him. We are obviously learning that for ourselves & passing the wisdom onto others. It's wild how quickly the year flew & how quickly I had to get on the ball for planning another big day for our little man.

This year's theme I found online (before I discovered Pinterest unfortunately ... or fortunately, because I would've gone a little overboard had I see all the extras I could've thrown together for a monster party). The theme was "Our Little Monster Turns Two". No, he's not really a monster. He 'roars' every now & then & he is definitely a BOY when it comes to rough-housing & banging his cars against the furniture & the walls, but he is truly a little angel who is full of joy & lots of giggles. An angel-themed party wasn't abou to suit this guy though, so here's what we went with ...

'Tis the season for pumpkins ("puntins" to Cashe), so we might as well make the most of 'em & celebrate our Lil Monster.

Everytime we're in WinCo, Cashe oogles at the pinatas. I found one at Target that fit the theme, so I didn't hold back.
These are also all the kids' favors: monster squishy balls, monster stickers, eye ball bubbles & eye ball bouncy balls.

The Monster himself.

I couldn't resist a giant poster of these two studs.

Our array of monster joy, including my homemade Monster Pops.

The living room decor.

... another angle.

... and another (in case you didn't get the gist from the 1st 2 pix).

Working for HP rocks! I made this poster of all the events we did this year: starting school; visiting our new cousin, Sage; going to the zoo; going to the lake; taking our 1st shower; going to the McCall Winter Festival; watching Daddy's basketball games ...

And here was a poster of a bunch of people we saw: Auntie Kelly, Grandpa, all our cousins, Kohlman & Ella, Aunt Shauna & Aunt Stacy, Great Aunt Shauna & Great Uncle Peek, the whole Nyquest fam, Auntie Leasha & Uncle Luke, Grammie, Great Grandpa ...

Chattin' it up with a few of the mamas & their girls:

Baby Eloise, Jill, me, Baby Anna & Amber Joy.

This child LOVES his pizza ("pitza"). My craving while I was pregnant was fruit & pepperoni pizza & Cashe cannot get enough of either food.

He also loves to eat his pitza upside down & from the middle. Crazy kid.

Finally ... the moment he had always dreamed of in those WinCo aisles: PINATA TIME!

Ella's up to bat!

Jay's helpin' out Dylan.

Macy's helpin' out Joel.

The Birthday Boy is patiently waiting to climb aboard the Magic Tumble Bus.

Anna's scorin' some Lemonheads.

There it is! FUN ON WHEELS. The Magic Tumble bus is a school bus that's been emptied out & filled with gymnastics equipment for kids to climb on.

Since Cashe can't STOP climbing unless he's sleeping, I thought this would be a perfect fit for this year's birthday party event.

And sure enough, it was ...

Ellie had her own jungle gym.

Stunt-man, Kohlman

Bouncin' boys: Caden & Joel

Monkey-man, Dylan

Beauty queen, Ella

Stud-muffin, Aiden

Awe ... some more mamas: Jen & Heather

Sweeties: Macy & Joel

Handsome-man, Cashe

And a tired boy too ... ,

but not too tired to swing around like the big kids:

And not too tired to open all his new toys! ... with much help from his friends.

Could this be why? Sugar overload.

Takin' some time to chill with his new Cars car.

A Few Days Later ...

Opening his gift from Auntie Leasha, Uncle Luke & bebe cousin, Sage.

ANOTHER gift from Aunt Shauna, Uncle Dyl & cousins: Dylan, Jadon, Kody, Kaylee & Colty.

Then, school celebrated Cashe's birthday the day before his actual birthday & we got to bring whatever we chose (meaning, it didn't have to be healthy) for snack.

Since this month's theme is : "I Am Thankful For ...", we made Turkey Cake Pops to represent Thanksgiving & being thankful for Cashe.

They were a big hit, but there was a few left-over so the Birthday Boy got an extra.

YET ANOTHER gift from Uncle Matt & Auntie Ali.

Holy smokes! And ANOTHER from Nana!

We made a giant "2" puntin pancake the morning of Cashe's birthday. He helped.

The final product (could've fed a family of 4).

Then, we had some friends over & got a cool new Toy Story cup from Alesa.

... And a chocolate & M&M doughnut from Melissa.

... Then the biggest package in the whole world arrived at our door from Auntie Stacy!

And we ended our night watching Cars 2 with some of our greatest friends, Ella & Kohlman.

If you're anything like your mom, little man, you'll stretch these birthdays out for an entire month (similiar to what you did right here!) Enjoy every single moment of this coming year, Baby Love & do your very best to prove that the "Terrible Twos" don't actually exist. We love you with all our hearts, Sweet Monster.

Our Last Glimpse of Summer Weather

Earlier this year, Shad & I decided it had been far too long since we had been to Arizona to visit my Grandpa & my Aunt & Uncle, so we decided to schedule a trip before we had to start paying for a seat for Cashe.


Shad flew home from Texas on Thursday & we all set off on Friday afternoon for the 100-degree October weather. I was psyched for one last glimpse of summer heat before the Fall freezing temperatures rolled in.


While we were there, we had a fabulous, relaxing time & spent lots of time catching up. We had gourmet breakfasts courtesy of Uncle Peek each morning. The boys watched lots of football. We ate some of Grandpa's magnificent ribs & met some of his great friends. It was truly, a great trip although Cashe somehow managed to spike a 104-degree fever in the 100-degree weather & freaked us all out. But, a cold bath, a rectal temp-check (my very 1st as a mom), lots of sleep, lots of fluids & lots of love later, he was much better within less than 24-hours. Praise God.

And to remain consistent with all my 'lazy & short' posts these days ... here is the evidence of our great time:

Waiting patiently for the aihplaaane!

On our way!

Cashe-man & his 2nd cousin, KJ.

Cashe-man & the neighbor & super duper good friend of the family, Jeannie & one of their kitties.

Cashe-man & Great Uncle Peek. Uncle Peek's real name is George, but he was notorious for playing 'Peek-a-boo' with me & my siblings when we were very little, so the name stuck. I'm 32 years old & I still can't call him, 'George'.



Cashe-man & Great Aunt Shauna.

Signing Aunt Shauna up for Facebook. Look how thrilled she is that Kylie & I are throwing her into the technological time-waster, Facebook.

Kylie was actually home that week from Virginia. She is currently in the Navy in Norfolk. (She certainly makes all us other cousins look like slackers.)

Watching a movie at Great Grandpa's house.

Grandpa hosted a cocktail party at his house for all of us one night we were in town. We all went over & he invited some his friends too. That night, the granddaughters (Kylie & I) got to go through Grandma's jewelry & take things for ourselves. It turned out to be a really special night.

Grandpa & his great-grandson.

Grandpa & two of his granddaughters.

Making a few calls from Aunt Shauna's phone.

Helping Uncle Peek & Aunt Shauna with breakfast.

Cashe's 1st Puntin-carving experience.

The final product.

The whole gang: KJ, Kylie, Uncle Peek, Aunt Shauna, me, Shad & Cashe.