A lot has happened since I've blogged on this bloggity-blog. I'm not going to update you all at once, but suffice it to say I'll be blogging a lot more soon!
Here's a teaser....
- We have a 1.5 year old!
- We're having another baby in 10 weeks!!
- I'm not teaching this year
- Possible other blog adventures are in the works
- I'm sewing and crafting a lot and I love it!
So, faithful followers and newbies, I'll be back soon.
We ran away to Vegas for the first half of Spring Break!
The Hubs and I haven't traveled together out of CO or NE since we went to Hawaii in 2013! We also haven't been to Vegas as a married couple. :) We went a year before our wedding for a Bachelor/Bachelorette Party.
We didn't have a lot of plans, except WIN BIG! I wish I could say that we did win big, but upon return Ryan had to go to work.
I play the MyVegas Rewards Game on my iPad a lot, so we were able to enjoy some comps through that. We ate at buffets, 2 for 1, and went to the Beatles Love cirque du soleil show. All in all it was a great time!
Oh, and while we were there, I made Elite in my doTERRA business! That was a BIG WIN as it was my June goal! To make it three months early was pretty awesome!
On the plane, leaving DIA
On a pedestrian bridge.
Yummy cheese cake a the MGM buffet
Mimosas and brunch at MGM
Excalibur
Bellagio Fountains--My favorite!
Our goal is to stay in a room that overlooks the fountains next time!
I follow a blog called Goal of Losing and she posts her goals in her blog most weeks to help keep her accountable. Since today is March 1st and we are going to Vegas in 20 days I thought I'd borrow her plan and try and post some goals each week for getting back in the gym and on track!
Goal 1: 10,000 Steps A Day!
I have a Garmin Vivofit that tracks my steps, but as you can see from the picture below, I've been slacking lately.
Next week's picture will show all green bars (meaning I reached the goal that Garmin set for me) and all at 10,000 steps!
Goal 2:Go to the gym 3 days!
I have a gym partner, we work out on Monday's and Wednesday's. I need to go one additional day this week!
Goal 3: Get back on track with food!
I've been a slacker about planning meals and often end up flying by the seat of my pants. As I type this I'm in Nebraska with my mom and have nothing planned for the week at home except the text I sent the hubs asking him to take the pork chops out of the freezer. I need to get back at pre-planning my day and packing my lunch at night--well as much as I can.
Well there you go! Three goals for the week, and some accountability because now all of you on the Internets know it too!
On January 27th my life changed pretty dramatically. After I got home from a basketball game and a team dinner my husband told me that my mom had called and my dad had died. I didn't believe him! I had talked to my mom on Monday and she said dad had gone to the doctor, had a UTI and was on antibiotics. She and dad had been at the farm house discussing their new kitchen. It couldn't be real. But it was, my dad was with Jesus and I was 8 hours away!
We packed up and headed to NE the next morning and Ryan didn't even have me drive. We got home and met with the Pastor & funeral guy that evening. It still didn't seem real. It just felt like dad was at work and would be returning home.
Thursday we picked out his casket, planned for his funeral, and again, it didn't seem real.
Friday night at the viewing it became real--walking into the funeral home and seeing him, as we often saw him, "sleeping" in his casket is something I wasn't prepared for. The rush of sadness was crazy overwhelming and I stood there wrapped in the arms of my husband, brother, and mom wishing I was anywhere else.
We had requested that memorials be sent to the fire station in lieu of flowers. We were shocked at how many flowers there were despite this request!
We had dad's coat on display and used his helmet on his casket spread instead of flowers. Dad wasn't a flowery guy, but the greenery with his helmet were perfect. Dad loved to be outside working at the farm and loved serving as a fireman.
On Saturday we headed to the church for the funeral at 9:30 AM. I thought I'd be okay, the worst had to be yesterday, right? Nope. I was setting up a slide show on the projector, turned around and saw my grandma and lost it.
The funeral was done very well and the Pastor did a great job of pointing to Jesus during his sermon. Since my dad was active in the local volunteer fire department the firemen, from THREE departments, were present and standing at attention while dad was carried out of the church.
SIX fire trucks lead the processional from the church to the cemetery. It was pretty neat.
At the cemetery the firemen again stood at attention while the pallbearers--firemen in their coats--took dad to his final resting place.
I took this picture after the graveside service had ended. Maybe it's weird to some, but I knew that if I didn't take pictures I would never have the opportunity to take them again, so I did. I could hear my dad grumbling as I took it--he wasn't big on getting his picture taken, but he entertained me often and let me take selfies with him, or would pose with me if I asked. Often with a grumbled look on his face. :)
Here are some of my favorites of us!
My dad was pretty great! I have many memories of him that will last a lifetime. I'm so glad he got to walk me down the aisle. My husband is a lot like my dad--they are both measure twice, cut once kind of guys. My mom, brother and I tend to be measure, cut, and make it work kind of people. :)
I remember him taking me to Wal-Mart one weekend because I really wanted to go shopping and my mom was working. I whined all weekend I think, and finally on Sunday, later than he probably should have, he took me to Wal-Mart. I don't even know if we bought anything, but he took me.
He built me the most amazing lofts when I was in college for me and my roommate. We had enough room to stand under them and the ladders were removable so that we had a whole living area in our room. We only used them one year, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were still around at CUNE!
And this Christmas, for probably the first time ever, he smiled at his Christmas gift and smiled when he opened it. Most of the time he would tell us that we didn't need to get him anything.
My dad would give you the shirt off your back if you asked. I remember one time he picked up a hitchhiker when we were on our way home from town. My mom chewed his butt because we were with him, but he said he knew the guy. I still am not sure if he really knew the guy or just knew of him or what. But the fact was, the guy needed a ride, so dad gave him one.
We saw just how many lives my dad touched at the viewing and the funeral. I'm pretty sure there were 180 plus present at both.
I love you daddy-o, and hope you are enjoying all the midnight snacks you want in heaven! ;) I miss you!
This is the song I found to play in the background of the slid show. I've heard it one other time since dad's funeral and lost it all over again. How great it is to know that because of Jesus we will be together again with no pain or sorrow!
I think that's a lyric from what is probably a bad country song. But it's the truth.
Here's another truth...I like blogging and want to be a regular blogger, but feel like I have nothing to blog about so then I don't, but then I think a million things to blog about and am over whelmed, so I don't. See the problem?!
Well, good news. I'm going to make this work! Or try really hard at it. Why? Because I want to, and I enjoy it, so here are some things that are going to be appearing on the blog soon...
So last year I started reading about Essential Oils on the Anderson Crew blog. I was intrigued by all the things she said, but also wanted to know myself. I wanted to talk face to face with someone. So until then I kept reading about how wonderful they are.
Then this summer I overheard in the office that one of my teachers was having an Essential Oil Class and I wasn't invited. I cornered her in her classroom and asked her if I could come. She seemed shocked. She told me she didn't really know if it would be worth it but a friend of hers sells them and she was just trying to be nice...etc. I told her to stop trying to talk me out of it and tell me when it was.
So I went to the class and I was hooked! She sells DoTerra Esstial Oils. I signed up right there to be a Wellness Advocate and ordered my Family Physician and Slim & Sassy kit. I couldn't wait for it to arrive!
When they finally got here the first thing I did was made Ryan an allergy bomb and put it on his toes that night! When allergies are in full swing he's poppin' Claritin, Zantac, or whatever allergy meds he can get over the counter. Unfortunately each season they seem to be less effective. So I started rubbing the allergy bomb on his toes. And it worked! Every night I mixed my lemon, peppermint, and lavender in my hands, he would smell it and then get a foot massage, primarily on his toes.
You can see that our sinuses, nose, and throat have reflexology points on our toes, which is why I rubbed it there.
I also made some anti-itch spray that I tried on Ryan. He wasn't convinced it would work, but after a few minutes I asked him if his bites still itched and he replied, "Oh, I guess not" with a smirk on his face telling me that his doubt in the great essential oils was fading.
Since I got my first order in June, I've ordered a few more times. :) I'm sold! They are FABULOUS!
Pinterest might be the worst/best thing since Facebook. I graduated college in May 2004. I don't remember when I joined Facebook or how it came about, but I remember that Hannie made me do it. :)
Then, in 2011, Hannie came to CO to run the Bolder Boulder with me. She introduced me to this new thing...Pinterest. She showed me hers and told me it was by invite only, but she'd invite me. At first, I played on it here and there...then it started to take over! Here's a little screenshot of my pinterest page, and some of my boards were cut off, after I reduced the size of the page!
That's a lot of boards. I have baby boards, both for a boy and a girl and a general baby board. I have crafting boards--Christmas, Fall, and general. I have school boards--Teaching math, grammar, writing, civil war, art, Back to School, and School. Then I have cooking boards, recipes to try, sweet recipes, crock pot recipes. I have dream boards--next vacation, next house, beautiful backyards, gifts I'd be okay getting. And I have a board for my DOG and husband. I like Pinterest. Maybe too much.
This year as I prepped for going back to school I dreamed of making the perfect planner. One that allowed me to plan my lessons for school along with my meal plans and so much more. But then I panicked that I couldn't do it and when I stumbled into Office Depot one July day and saw a beautiful lesson planner starring at me with rainbow colors and awesomeness, I decided that it would do. You see, I use my phone/Google calendar for EVERYTHING. If it's not in my Google calendar, I'll probably forget that I have to do it. But it's still not enough. I like writing things down. I like crossing things off lists.
With the great meal prep of Sunday I wanted that dreamy planner that I envisioned in my head for school/home/LIFE. So I searched on Pinterest. I haven't found it yet, but I've found plenty that are inspiring.
So, my plan? Create the dream planner that I've always wanted. :)
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