We've Moved ... Blog Sites.

Sorry Blogger, I'm not paying a boatload of moolah just to keep my family & friends informed of our happenings, even if I am using a bazillion gigs of space in the internet world to do so!

So, with that being said, I used the advice of some friends & continued our blog at: www.shadandnicole.wordpress.com. 

Because I am so far behind on my weekly updates & I'm working through how to operate this new site, it'll take me a day or so to get things going again. 

Happy Reading!

We're Outta Room!

Sadly, I went to post pictures from last week for our weekly update & Blogger informed me that I no longer have enough space on our blog to continue posting there. 

I attempted to create a new blog to continue Shad & Nicole, Our Story; however I was told that I no longer have enough space to continue any blogs without purchasing more space.  Seriously?! 

Rather than going through all the hoops of creating new gmail accounts & new urls, I think that may be our sign to retire from blogging. 

Instead, I will go back to sending our monthly photos via email like I used to do.  If you are interested in receiving these emails, please let me know at nnyquest@hotmail.com. 

Thanks to all of my faithful, loving readers.  You will be missed!

November 2012: Week Three

I'm losing my touch.  I was doing well at taking pictures at every waking moment of every waking day to stay on top of my weekly posts & I dropped the ball this week.

 

Our week started as usual. 

Guess where? 

You guessed it.

Monday morning preschool co-op.

 

This week was at Miss Alexis' house & Cashe made a turkey hand & said he was most thankful for his 'mama'.  Awe.  Sweet boy.

 

[NO PIX - Lame, I know.]

 

The rest of Monday & Tuesday were pretty mellow.

 

Wednesday, I had a doctor's appointment with my new Ob in Twin.  I was worried about switching it up because I loved my girl in Boise, BUT I do have to say I don't think I've ever had so much fun at an annual exam.  Uh huh, weird, I know.  I laughed so hard & walked out of there grateful that God showed me the right way to good girlie care!

 

[NO PIX - Not so lame.]

 

That afternoon, Cashe & I had a date with the Holdeman kiddos & Miss Jessica at Hop2It.  It was our first time. 

 

Yes, we were quite spoiled with the fancy bounce-house facilities in Meridian & Boise that served espresso & had big fluffy couches, but Twin has a musty old warehouse full of bounce-houses that is just as fancy ... for a kid ... who doesn't care.  (I wouldn't mind a latte & a comfy couch, but whatev.  We still had fun.)

 

[NO PIX - Lame, I know.]

 

Thursday we had BSF, where we learned about the Tower of Babel (Cashe & me both).  If I haven't mentioned it before, I am a leader in the Infants & Toddlers class.  The infants & toddlers don't follow along as well as the older kiddos, but we still tell them the stories & sing hymns & teach them the Main Truths of the morning. 

 

Cashe is in the Twos & Threes Class & he is learning a ton!  He does the Pledge of Allegiance every week & now points out all the American Flags he sees.  He knows exactly what a Bible is & who God is.  How awesome to know that the time I spend serving in this ministry truly benefits Cashe as well. 

 

[NO PIX - Lame, I know.]

 

Friday, we headed to Boise because my sweet husband bought me tickets to the Eric Church concert a month ago for Columbus Day. 

 

"You celebrate Columbus Day?!", you say.  Um, no.  If I need something (more like, WANT something), I tell Shad, "you can just get that for me for the 4th of July or Flag Day or Memorial Day or Columbus Day or Veteran's Day ... or ... or ... or ..."  This time he took me seriously.

 

He coordinated having the Bradleys watch Cashe-man & he took me out for dinner & headed off to the show!

 

After our lovely dinner at Goodwood.
Man, I miss that place.

This is us at the concert before Kip Moore (the opening act came out).

It beats me why I am such a diehard Eric Church fan, but I have always, always, always loved his music.  I think he's really passionate about what he sings about & he seems so genuine about his lyrics.  I can relate to a lot of his songs in some way, so they must hit home, I guess.  I don't know. 

With that being said, I have absolutely every single one of his songs memorized, so this concert was so special to me.  What a special gift from a great guy for such a random reason!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... the kiddos played non-stop.  I don't think Cashe takes a breath while hanging out with these two. 

Cashe is showing "Kohlella" (Kohlman + Ella) his favorite iPad games.

Then all the kids helped Shad & Robert build a firepit in the backyard while Jen & I cleaned inside.
(Man, we're almost the epitome of a polygamist colony.)

Kohlman givin' his bud a big hug.
Cashe follows that sweet boy around all day & Kohlman has so much patience for him.

He even takes the time to push him on the swings.
What a great big brother he is!

Slide time!

Here comes Ella!

And here's the Lilster warm inside.

On Saturday, after a long morning of manual labor for the boys, some light cleaning for us girls & a few random errands, we met the Lovins for dinner at Gino's.  It was so good to see them too, because we've missed them almost every other time we've been in town.

 

[NO PIX - Lame, I know.]

 

After dinner, Jen & I came home to browse Pinterest on our phones while the boys stayed at Jay's to play poker. 

 

All was going so well & I was catching up on my sleep (after having been out late the night prior at my rockin' concert) until 5:30 a.m. rolled around & Cashe threw up all over himself, Shad & me.  Sick.  Sick.  Sick.

 

Another hour of a few more puke sessions & he was up & running around with the kids like normal.  We did our best to clean up the yuck & then decided to get on the road & head home.

 

[NO PIX - Not so lame.]

 

Once we were home, we napped to get caught up on some much-needed sleep & then I went & hiked the Falls this time & this is what I saw:

 

Gorgeous.
This is basically right in our backyard.
Seriously!?!  Unbelievable.

Another great shot. 
So beautiful.

 

November 2012: Week Two

The week started with Preschool Co-op at our house, & with Selah on vacation, I felt a bit out-numbered with all my boys: Cashe, Carson & Hudson.  There was a lot of testosterone in the house that morning, but we had a great time playing cars, learning about the color white, the letter I & we practiced gluing by making some cotton-ball-polar-bears.

 

Then, we spent a lot of the week playing with our new birthday toys: 

 

Playing with his Goin' Fishin' Game from the Petersons.

Coloring his giant Chuggington coloring book from Nana.

In BSF, we are learning about Noah & the ark. 
We got out the ark Auntie Leasha & Uncle Luke sent a few years ago
& learned more about the animals & Noah & the true meaning of the rainbow.

Wednesday, after his 3-year wellness exam, Cashe & I headed over to Becca's
to celebrate Caroline's 2nd birthday with some fab, pink zebra cupcakes.

That night, Cashe-man joined Shad & I in the office in his pjs
for some ice cream in his little chair (that used to be my brother's naughty chair!)

 

We also used the gift card from Auntie Stace & Uncle Steve to pick out some
new talking Cars cars: Lightning McQueen, of course & Francesco.

(Is anyone noticing a green theme this week?!  All of Cashe's shirts & pjs seem to be green!)

 

There were a few random events throughout the week where no pix were taken.  We met Miss Jessica & little Alexis for coffee Friday morning & another afternoon, we went to the CSI Craft Fair with Jessica & little Katelyn too.

 

We got to celebrate Rich's birthday with he & Bekah at the Outback on Saturday night, which was way fun & super yummy. 

 

And, aside from that, my sweet hubby humored me by allowing us yet another photo shoot this year (yeah, yeah, we had one in May, I know, but I had great ideas for these Fall shots, sooo ...) 

 

So, we met Glo downtown for some fun, urban shots.  Yes, it was a whole 25 degrees outside, I think & probably a whoppin' 12 degrees with the windchill factor.  But, we got ourselves some Starbucks & attempted to take some great shots while warming up in the car between each shot.

 

Cashe & Glo critiqued the shots on her camera while warming up.

And HERE .... is a sneak peak ...

(I can hardly wait to see the rest!)

 

 

 

 





Look at this sweet boy?!?!
I just LOVE this pic of our handsome little man.

So fun!
Merry (early) Christmas!

I ended the week with a hike up the grade while listening to my Saddleback message.
I took this pic of the canyon wall on my way up.
Normally, it's got water trickling down the side of the wall.
Winter's almost here; that water's frozen!

November 2012: Week One



This week started with a date night.  We had hoped to go to a movie, but our babysitter was at church late, so we settled for coffee & dessert at Carino's. 

 

Love.

 Monday morning started with preschool co-op at Vanessa's this week.

Having a little peanut butter toast for breakfast. 
See any peanut butter?!

After the kids did their lessons, all the moms went back to Vanessa's for lunch & pumpkin-painting.

That evening, we met Glo at the gym & gave her wigs back to her.
Before we gave them to her, we had to have one last pic with one on.
What a beauty!

 

Cashe's new favorite snack: carrots.

Halloween night, Cashe wore his costume for a total of 15 minutes maybe, so we took a few quick pix before we just stayed in & passed out candy. 

Cashe would "help" by giving the kids their candy & then peeking in their buckets to see what candy they had.

 

Our sweet little killer whale, who called himself a shark.

So sweet.

After the Halloween festivities ended, the birthday festivities began ...

Cashe started opening gifts that arrived by mail.
Here he is opening his gifts from Nana.

Thursday afternoon, we hosted a birthday party for Cashe at a yogurt shop in town, Kiwi Loco with our Twin Falls friends.

We kept it pretty low key & decorated their party room ...
that we didn't really use.

The birthday boy & Dad anxiously awaiting all our guests.

Time to get started!

Helping himself.

Becca & girls getting started too.

Such a handsome birthday boy.

Miss Lilah & her yogurt.

Sweet Adelaide & her yogurt.

Little Miss Natalie with her yogurt.

Sweet Zade & his yogurt creation.

Cutie sisters, Kiana & Taylor.

Cutie pie, Chase.

Cashe-man & the preschool gang.

Big blue-eyed, Hudson.

The party room was put to GREAT use for running & chasing each other.

Go!  Go!  Go!
Good thing it was late afternoon & Kiwi Loco was pretty slow so we could rule the place.

Cashe paused for a brief moment to check his new pumpkin 'murse' (man-purse) for my phone.

The sweet Daly girls came too!

Along with Miss Katelyn & the Westling girls.
Look at all that pink!

Our buds, Asher & Hudson.

Miss Glo came too & broke the 'no gift' rule.
Here Cashe is digging into his gift with the help of Asher & Selah.

A new Toy Story car?!  COOL!
Thanks, Glo! 
We love you!!

Friday was quiet & Saturday, we headed over to Boise to celebrate Cashe again with our Boise friends.

 



Before any partying could get started,
I got to have lunch with my sister-wives, Amber Joy & Jen (& a little USwirl).
 

Sunday was the big day.  Little Mister was turning the big 3-years-old.  Woohoo!

This year's theme was a fish/shark theme, "Cashe is o-FISH-ally 3" because of the Halloween costume Cashe chose.  We chose The Little Gym as the venue to host & it turned out fabulous! 

The kids had a ball bouncing & running & tumbling & jumping while the adults had lunch & watched.

Everything was scheduled & on time & the girls who worked there made everything transition smoothly & perfectly.  Praise the Lord for a fabulous day!

Cashe helped himself to a few snacks before his guests arrived.

The gift table & posters of our little guy.

Patiently waiting.

Miss Dianne showed up with his shark sugar cookies & cupcakes, so we let him dig in!

... & then the fun began!
Balancing with Dylan & Joel.

Miss Ella.

Sweet girl. 
Cashe & Ella have SO much fun together when we're in town.

Monkey Monkey.

Twirly boys: Joel, Aiden & Kohlman.

I swear, little Anna never stops smiling. 
She is SUCH a happy girl!

Mr. Milo was checkin' everything out before he decided to dive in.

Cashe was NOT about to participate in circle time, even if Mom tried coercing him to.

... on the other hand, parachute time ROCKED.

A few of the boys watching their kids ... & the Lilster too!

Half-way through the afternoon, Anna & Cashe SOAKED themselves in the drinking fountain! 
Not sure how I didn't catch Cashe on camera, but here's a GREAT pic of smiling Anna.

Anna & Hailey swinging around.

Sweet Aiden.

Monkey girls: Anna & Ella.

Jumping across the bouncey bridge was WAY fun: Aiden, Joel & Cashe-man.

Melissa, Lily & Heather.

Dianne & Jen.

Kristin & Amber Joy.

 

The whole gang!

"Happy Birthday to Cashe!!"

After all that playtime, NOW we can finally eat!

Our little family.

Cashe diving into his shark cupcake.

All of us mamas diving into our shark cupcakes!

Time for presents!
COOOOOOOOL!

 

Cashe gets just as giddy when we pull into Boise each time. 
He misses "Kohlella" (which is Kohlman + Ella, kinda like "Brangalina")
Look at that love.

AND, he loves his sweet babysitter, Madi, who came to the party too!
Cashe smothered the poor thing in lots of sloppy kisses.
Love that girl.

WHAT. A. DAY.
We had a 2-hour drive home, which made for a perfect naptime.

And once we got home, Cashe was inundated with all his new gifts.
What a blessing to have such special friends.

He put on his new pjs from Milo.

And helped Dad set up his new basketball hoop from Mom & Dad.

Shot a few hoops.

And had some Coldstone for dessert.
Any more sugar, anyone?!

Thank you, Lord for another incredible year with this fabulous little guy.
Happy Birthday, sweet boy.  We love you.