Tuttle Tales

Tomorrow, my little boy will be ONE

2012-01-31T16:27:00.000-08:00

I remember exactly what I was doing a year ago... being the over-achiever, dedicated, NPPC employee I am... I went to work (in a snow storm) the day I was going to be induced. I'm pretty awesome, if I do say so myself! ;-) It was a 1/2 day but still! I went mostly because I would've been a wreck sitting around the house all day. It was kind of funny because all of my fellow co-workers ~~a bunch of guys~~ really thought I was going to delivery at any minute. Anyway, I digress!

I had a moment of panic prior to Pate coming, the panic wasn't for myself or Reed, but for Kailee Rae. Her only child world was going to be flipped upside down and I was freaking out about it! ~~should have thought about that 39 weeks sooner!~~ I got over it though when remembered that lots of people have younger siblings and they turn out just fine. I mean, look at MY sister.... I can't imagine what her life would be like without her baby sis in it! Actually, I can... she probably would have gotten her ass beat up, I protected her, damn... she owes me.

Back to Pate... the weather was awful, snow storm, blizzard conditions, we were suppose to be checked in at 10:00pm, it was a 20 minute drive from our house so we left 2 hours early. Naturally, right? Well, it's a good thing we did because we were only early by about 20 minutes. See, told you the weather sucked.

Upon arrival the nurses ~~made us wait forever~~ took us right to the room to get settled in for a relaxing night of sleep, af~~ter they tried to kill me with the IV's & monitors~~. I was given the pitocin and was quickly reminded how bad all of this was going to suck. Not because contractions started, because I thought I was going to get sick just because of the IV. I'm ~~a big pansey~~ pretty tough.

Needless to say, the IV didn't kill me, I was actually able to get a pretty good night's sleep (though I can't say the same for Reed who slept on a pull out couch). Contractions started at 6AM ish and shortly after there was painful contractions, cussing, and then a GIANT NEEDLE they stuck in my back, which shortly after I ~~and probably more so Reed~~ thanked heavens for. Despite the painful needles and the few cuss words, it was fairly quick and easy.

Payton was born at 12:41pm weighing... 9lbs 9 oz... yes, I delivered a toddler and today he is 30lbs! I know everyone always says this but the past year has gone by so fast! I can't believe when I look at him that he's already a year. Here is a run down of different stages, cause you all care right?? ;-)

11 weeks- Rolled over for the first time
5 months- Got up on his knees to attempt to crawl
- Did the worm instead.... it was amazing
6 months- Crawling... everywhere!
8 months- stood by himself
9 months- started walking one day
- started running the next week
Somewhere in between 7-9 months he started saying Mama & Dada... but I'm a slacker and didn't write it down, whoops. #secondchild #parentingfail
11 months- started saying "Hissss" which is Pate speak for "Horse"

All joking aside he is amazing and we have been Blessed! Love him and couldn't imagine life without my baby Bronco.

Happy Birthday, Baby Pate!!!!

On a side note, it kinda only just a little rocked Kailee's world but she loves her little brother ~~most days~~.

Blogger Fail

2012-01-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

Not that I've ever been a real great blogger, in terms of being consistent, but 2011 was by far my worst year for blogging. Will 2012 be any better? Probably not but I'm going to give it a whirl ~~I wouldn't bet on it if I were you~~ . I just haven't felt motivated to blog.... which is why this post hasn't even been edited and is very "rough looking" ~~damn I suck at this!~~ It's because I'm so busy ~~lazy?~~

I'm very optimistic about this year... I feel change on the horizon.. maybe not major changes, we aren't moving and no I'm not preggo! But good some small changes. We'll see!

Being that I'm still not super motivated today or feeling very creative this post will be the tradition recap of the previous year. Here goes!

January- Lots of playing in the snow, prepping for baby Pate, and Mom "moved in" (she stayed with us for a couple months)... did I mentioned she's the best????? The picture of the three of us was January 31st.

At 10pm on January 31st I checked into St E hospital in Lincoln and at 12:41pm Payton Reed was born! Hard to believe that was almost a year ago. The picture of Kailee and him is the moment she saw him.

March- Kailee is shed hunting with Dad here....

Kailee got her hair cut short in April, she looked too grown up! Kristin, McKenna, and Mom were all here for Easter!

In May we spend the month watching Pate grow

June we traveled to the panhandle to spend the week with the Tuttle (and soon to be) clan. This is the weekend when Liz and I officially became Outlaws!

At the end of July we traveled back to NM and were lucky enough to be able to attend/be part of the Boyle wedding! It was great to see our friends get married and we had the best weekend with family/friends!!!

August was crazy... it included two full weeks of travel for me and when I returned we packed up and moved! We (all of us including the horses) have room to run now!

September- Pate has a new obsession with horses, live ones and fake. He loves them. My long lost bf came up to visit... love her!!! September was scary for us though, Kailee spent four days in the hospital with a kidney infection. She was a trooper though and I stayed by her side the whole time... we had fun playing board games and cuddling in her hospital bed. Turns out this may be a life long issue she has to deal with but we'll face it as it comes!

In October she turned five!!! We spent the day at American Girl store where she picked out her new friend "Julie". I turned 27... but we won't talk about that.

November was full of family!! Tio and Outlaw came to visit us. It was so great to see them! For Thanksgiving we traveled to Kentucky where there was LOTS of jumping on/off of furniture, great laughs, game time with family, and yummy food thanks to mom!

December seemed to fly by, we spent Christmas at home, just the four of us and lucked out... the weather was beautiful. Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Beyond Thankful

2011-11-24T12:21:00.000-08:00

These two are what I am most thankful for.... I mean, look at them!!!

House

2011-09-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

This post is mostly for the couple friends and family who've been asking to see house pictures, here are the upstairs & living room. Still some things I need to do but almost done, also some of these pictures were taken with my phone so the quality stinks.

Living Room

Before

After

New carpet and fresh coat of paint

Pate's Room

Before

After

Kailee's Bathroom

Before

After

No changes really... just with her stuff

Kailee's Room

before

After

Play Room

Summer

2011-09-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

*I wrote this post in July and for some reason never posted it or finished writing! Here ya go.

S'mores, front yard fishing, road trips, and slip & slides!!

I love my life!

Pretty sure we'll get used to this place!

2011-08-27T12:19:00.001-07:00

I don't have time to update on the move other than we're slowly digging ourselves out of chaos and moving box hell. The biggest problem now is decided where to hang things on the wall.

Reed and I went on a ride this morning around some of the property. It was so much fun!!

I'll leave you with the below picture, it makes my heart happy....

Judge me

2011-08-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

I may or may not do this... 99% of the time.

A nice quiet Sunday with the Tuttle's

2011-07-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure the first rule of being a blogger is blog. Seeing as my last post was in February is it safe to say well... I fail.

After hearing a brief description of a Sunday evening gone bad my sister (check her out... she's a good blogger!) told me I need to blog about this one... so here goes.

After dinner on Sunday Reed was outside working on some projects and I'm sitting feeding Pate while Kailee is taking a bath when all of a sudden I see my horse and the pony go running down the drive followed shortly behind by my husband.

**Insert explicit four letter word here**

I lay Pate on the floor in the living room and yank Kailee out of the tub and throw a towel around her. As I ~~run like a mad woman~~ ever so calmly walk out of the house I yell to her... "Go grab some jammies, watch your brother... there's his bottle, and do NOT come outside." You can go ahead and nominate me for the worlds greatest mom. I mean... who doesn't think it's a stellar idea to leave their naked dripping wet four year old incharge of the baby you just threw on the floor???

As I run out the door I of course grab the most prattical shoes I have, pause... not. The only shoes I have to shove on my bare feet are my work shoes.... those would be steel toes. Totally ~~NOT~~ okay to run down the road chasing horses in. So, outside I have no idea where the two wild animals or my husband have gone but I head for the barn to grab a hatler/lead rope and a bucket of grain, at least I was kinda thinking here.

Find husby (give him the bucket) and the horses.... they (horses... not husband) are running through our landlords corn field.... FML he's going to kill us! We precede to walk calmly up to them... thinking okay... they really love us and want to listen. WRONG. Whenever one of them would act like they were going to give in the other ass would take off running thus another chase occurs.

They took off running towards the highway at one point and I yelled for the husband who ~~was doing god only knows what because it took him a hour to get to me~~ came as soon as I called. We took off running to try to get in between them at the road...I'm in my steel toe boots (no socks) and capris. I cannot imagine what the passer by's were thinking. I do know what I was thinking "thanks for the help jerks". Pretty sure if I saw horses running on the side of the road and some crazy people trying to catch them I'd stop but that is just the kind of person I am. :-)

This went on for about one hour and included me taking off up the highway in the truck so I could stop them from making it to the next town, Reed running through the church parking lot, our horses destroying corn fields, eating the Pastor's flowers, and our landlords driving by and wanting to talk about it, this is really not a good time!

In case, you were wondering in the middle of all of this I did manage to run back to the house and pop my head in the door. Pate was playing on the floor as happy as could be and Kailee Rae was still naked with hair dripping wet standing in the window watching the drama unfold. I again told Kailee to put some clothes on as I ran out the front door again.

This time I grabbed another bucket of grain because Reed put the other down somewhere along the way, I drove over to the church parking lot and jumped out. At this point I could tell they were tired and decided Fatty Mcfatterson aka Mater would really want to eat something. Sure enough!! Mater comes walking over, followed by Drama (man... maybe we should not have named her that) and lets me put a halter on him. I throw the lead rope around Drama and wait as Reed comes over with another halter for Drama.

We were lead our ~~devil~~ precious horses back to the barn. They were lucky the landlords stuck around for the show or else we may have just shot them both right then.

By the way... Kailee had clothes on when we came back in.

Lazy time is over!

2011-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'll be the first to admit that I was uber lazy during this pregnancy

but now it's time to get my butt in gear and start working out/running again. With the help of my trusty nikes, my ipod with some kick ass tunes, and my trainer at Build Peak Compete I'm off!!! Wish me luck.

I'm ready....

kinda

It's melting

2011-02-14T13:46:00.000-08:00

So, after a long cold winter (which I'm sure isn't over yet) the snow is melting and the temperature is warm enough to go out and play. Which means....

EVERYONE is MUDDY!

But oh so happy to be outside playing!!

I had a baby

2011-02-08T14:33:00.001-08:00

and I think he is pretty damn cute!!

Payton Reed was born February 1, 2011 at 12:41pm. He weighted 9lbs 9oz and was 21.5 inches long. Yes, I delivered a giant and he was a week early! Thank the Lord my doctor knew he was big and induced me early- love him.

Despite the fact that he was big and my pregnancy was much harder this time around the delivery was EASY (don't worry I'm going to spare all the details) but really... my contractions started getting bad about 2 hrs in so I got an epidural. No pain- check! Then my nurse went to lunch when I was at 4 centimeters came back 1 hr later and I was at 10. Then TADA 15 minutes and he was here!! Also, very little pain after and feel back to normal now . He is ~~please do not let this jinx me~~ the perfect baby... sleeping 3-4 hrs at a time and eating good. Almost makes me want to have another.... haha right!

Everyone is so in love with him and his big sister ~~who could be super spoiled~~ adores him!!! I was a little worried that he was going to turn her world upside down but she seems to be doing great.

I am a planner

2011-01-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

This post may or may not be a pity party for me, so if you don't want to hear it then stop reading now.

So, I'm a planner. I like to have a plan, I make list and love check things off. Even more important than having a plan is IF there is a plan/schedule... I have to follow it or my day is ruined, no matter how hard I try not to let it affect me I can't help it.

Anyway, here was my simple schedule/plan I had all laid out in my mind when my alarm went off at 4:45am this morning.

-Get self ready, watch latest weather report, start laundry

-Have Kailee's breakfast ready prior to trying to get her out of bed

-5:45am wake Kailee

-Get her dressed, feed, etc.

-6:15 leave house

-6:45 drop Kailee

-Work a respectable 9 hour day

-Drive to pick up Kailee

-Kailee to cheer practice

- Home to finish folding last load of laundry, pick up Kailee's room, & run vacuum one last time.

-8:30pm Mom to arrive!

-10pm Reed comes home! Whoop Whoop!!!

-10:30 All my stress be gone because everyone is here and now the little guy can come out whenever he is ready.

Here is what really went down (and yes sometimes minor mishaps throw me for a loop when I'm stressed)

-Get self ready, watch latest weather report, start laundry- Check!!

-As I'm pulling out a pair of maternity jeans I notice a long string, pull it off... no biggy.

-5:45am wake Kailee... she begs me to stay in bed just a little longer she's exhausted and I feel really bad for having to wake her. I let her sleep 10 more minutes- A little later than planned but Check!!

-Got her dressed-Check!!

-6:15 we were ready to leave the house when Kailee dropped something and I bent down to get it.... I figured out where that string was attached to as my pants ribbed up the back side. Nice! Also this makes a pregnant chick in her last couple weeks feel real great. I should have known that nothing was going to go as planned after this.

-6:20 leave house- Only 5 minutes later so Check!!

-6:45 drop Kailee- Check!!

This is were things don't follow my plan

-We had auditors in house today and I was put in charge of supervising/coordinating this visit

-Run around at work because of the temps. buh.

-Call from mom that she got a blow out on her car... got it changed but because of the delay in time won't be making it in tonight... bummer but glad she's okay

-End up working over 11 hours (while being punched in the ribs and bladder all day... Baby Bronco was super sweet to me today, let me tell ya!)

-Leave work... out of windshield washer fluid which is not a big deal to you New Mexicans but when it's 14 degrees out and you have snow/slop flung on your windshield it's a good thing to have.

-Find out from Reed that he didn't leave Denver until about 5:30, meaning he won't be in until about 1-2am. This after a very long weekend with little sleep and a long day today. Now I'll be up all night worried about him driving

-Pick up Kailee and have to explain to her that we missed cheer tonight because I had to work late. Of course I totally blame this on someone else... don't want her to be at ME! She is bummed but not mad at me. Whoop.

-Phone is dead... stupid battery won't hold a charge ~~suppose to have a work cell LONG time ago~~ I don't have a charger in my car (husby took it). Hope we don't get stranded on the side of the road because it's 14 degrees outside ~~did I mention winter sucks~~ and no one would be looking for us.

-Almost hit a huge herd of moose!! Okay, so maybe your right, there are no moose in Nebraska.... and it may have been just one. Small doe. But still she was crazy and scared the crap out of me.

-7:40pm arrive home after 13+hours to two crazy hounds

-~~Reed comes home! Whoop Whoop!!!~~ FAIL

-Find out Reed's coworker (while Reed was sleeping) drove 85 miles in THE WRONG DIRECTION. WTF. Who does that??? Oh yea think Dumb & Dumber.

-8:30 ~~All my stress be gone because everyone is here~~ super stressed because now I have to worry about Reed driving late at night when he is tired and apparently if the other guy is driving they could end up in Canada vs Lincoln.

This little kid dude better not come out yet.... because I also didn't finish up the last of my chores. My solution. Bed Time for everyone!! Good Night!

A picture tells a 1,000 words

2011-01-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

He has to stay for one more week but then.... I'm ready to serve him his notice.

Peace Out 2010

2010-12-31T16:43:00.001-08:00

I almost didn't blog about the New Year. Everyone's blogs end up being the same thing... where did the year go... I did this/went here ... next year I'm going to do this... really? Does anyone care about your resolutions besides you? Nope, not really... they are just ~~pretending~~ being nice. Don't get me wrong I'm about to do the same thing but know that I'm the only one who cares and the only one it really affects. I'm doing it because just like my loving super sarcastic sister KFun I enjoy ~~talking about myself~~ blogging. So, sit back and enjoy a trip back through my 2010 and the big plans for 2011.

First and foremost, 2010 was a great year for me! Here it is in pictures:

My cute little goof ball!

New Mexico in January

Superbowl Sunday

We had lots of snow!

Easter

Husby found me a pony!

Reed did lots of hunting this year

We moved!! Check out our new view!

Lots of riding this summer

Kailee made (and so did I) new friends!

It's a boy!! Whoop Whoop!

We are all excited to welcome the little cowboy to our family!

Pumpkin Patch

Business trip to Saint Louie where I got to see my friends from WI!

Too cute

Prepping for her party with Mammaw.

We got spend so much time with my mom this year!!

Little peeper turned four!!

Great weekend in Cruces visiting as many friends as possible,
eating yummy food, and hanging out with Bestie!

Moving on up!!

I got a promotion!

Kailee got to see the ocean for the first time over Thanksgiving.
We got to see family we haven't seen in years, it was great!!!

Kailee and McKenna snuggling.

Kailee Rae became a cheerleader (minus me- it runs deep in her blood) and loves it!

We spent the best Christmas warm and cozy just the three of us!

What do I want for 2011? Good question!

First off I would like to stop getting ninja kicked in the ribs! This one I know will happen, he can't stay in there forever!
I'm excited for my mom to come stay with us for a while!!! She's pretty bad-ass!
Excited to head back to Cruces with the whole family in May for my S.I.L.'s college graduation. We're staying for a week!
Get back into running... I had just started enjoying it before becoming PG.
Get to Kentucky this year, I think 2010 was the first year EVER that I didn't make at least one trip. WTF.
Continue my quest to grow in my relationship with God. I have so many wonderful people that inspire me with their faith.
Lose this baby weight + some! I had lost 20lbs prior to finding out I was knocked up.
Help Kailee to grow in her relationship with God.
Run a 1/2 marathon. That was a goal of mine see previous post but again... baby bronco. I know lots of people continue to run/train while pregnant but I wasn't at that stage in my running for it to work out so well.
Focus on family... be the best mom (of two!!!) and wife I can.

That's it... I'm setting realistic goals for myself that way I don't suck it up this year!!

I hope everyone's year is blessed and that you/yours are happy and healthy!

Scrooge is gone!

2010-12-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

I am over my Scrooge-like behavior and totally psyched for Christmas!! Everything is ready... yummy food, cookies for Santa are made, and there are lots of presents under the tree! I can't wait to see Kailee's reactions, she's so in awe of everything this year!

This is the first year that we've ever had a holiday (besides Easter) just us.... and no offense to our families but I can't wait for it to just be the 3 of us... focused just on each other, no dealing with lines at the airports or the weather while traveling, we'll be on our own schedule for opening gifts, eat what & when we want, no stress...just relaxing and playing with new toys!

Another reason that we're excited for a quite Christmas at home is because this is the "last

chance" for it to just be the three of us. Reed works a lot of weekends so we don't get a chance for the three of us to spend time together plus January will be crazy! I'm going to be stressing out preparing for leave, Reed will be working more weekends, he is headed to Denver for Market the 13th-18th, my mom is coming, and then lil Cowboy will be here to turn Kailee's world upside down!

Things/Traditions I'm excited for this year:

Reed having 2.5 days off! Whoop Whoop!
Opening up gifts from extended family on Christmas Eve
Reading the Twas the Night Before Christmas & the Story of Christmas to Kailee before bed
Putting on our Christmas PJ's, making ~~the secret Tuttle family recipe for~~ hot chocolate, and driving around to look at lights with Kailee & Reed
Watching K. Rae open her gifts from everyone
Watching Reed open his gifts
~~Opening presents for myself~~
Putting out cookies & milk for Santa
Carrots for the reindeer!
Seeing the excitement after Santa comes Christmas morning
Yummy food!
Bumming around in my PJ's and playing with all K's new toys
Re-living my childhood Christmas' through Kailee's eyes

Visit to Labor and Delivery

2010-12-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

So last night I was feeling pretty good (i.e. my back wasn't hurting) when I got home from work so I decided I would go out and feed the horses/goats.... ya know be nice so the husband wouldn't have to feed after dark in the cold. Well, long story short ~~no more favors for that guy~~ I stepped on some bales of hay and threw the hay... when I went to step off I slipped then I was on the ground.

Nothing major... I didn't land on my belly.... I caught myself on my right side (hip) and hands.

By the time I finished feeding the animals and got inside I had some back pain/twinges the rest of the night. I laid on the couch and took it easy. I woke up is morning with my back feeling a little better so I went ahead and headed to work. By the time I got there my back was really hurting. It was a couple hours of back pain/hobbling around and then pain in my lower abdomen started so I called the doctor.

I expected (okay... I hoped) them to tell me that there was nothing to be concerned about as long as I wasn't having contractions, no spotting, etc. and I was waiting for a "take it easy". Well.... that isn't what they said.

They sent me straight over to Labor & Delivery, no questions asked, do not pass go, to be put on the monitor (& possible ultrasound) for observation.

They hooked me up to monitor baby and me. They checked me for dilation. But the most exciting thing about it... my room was so peaceful and I had to just lay there that I was able to sleep for about 40 minutes... until the damn monitor started alarming because it lost the connection.

Baby looked good, I was dehydrated- which BTW makes no sense because I drank about 32 oz of water while at work.... anyway... they gave me some good drugs for my pain and sent me on my way with instructions to take it easy and come back to the hospital if the pain doesn't get better.

I am ~~TOTALLY~~ kinda over doctor/hospital visits and complications (even though Thank the Lord they have been minor).... when I was pregnant with Kailee I literally had no complications. No extra visits to the doctor and didn't go to the hospital until the night I went into labor. This little boy is killing me!!

I'm ready for this guy to to get out of my belly! :-)

Bah, Humbug!!!

2010-12-16T16:16:00.001-08:00

I've felt like such a Scrooge the past couple days and not Scrooge McDuck (who is still slightly lovable but the nasty old man Scrooge).

This week has consisted of a ~~excessive~~ few random crying spurts in which my oh so loving husband was ~~planning his escape far far away from psycho pregnant lady~~ supportive.

A few of my VERY LEGIT reasons for loosing all control the past couple days:

Christmas gifts I'd already mailed as of last night = ZERO (thankfully these were mailed today with the hope that they make it by Christmas)
The fact that we haven't sent out our Christmas cards yet... my solution this year.... sorry folks you aren't getting one! I don't feel the need to stress myself out about taking the family picture, collecting any addresses of family/friends that I ~~have managed to lose~~ don't have, and mailing them knowing that they'd be late! So judge me, you aren't getting one. However, you can expect a baby announcement in a couple months.
Not sure exactly what I'm cooking for Christmas Dinner... I have a turkey & ham in the freezer but we're thinking of doing something different this year, just not sure what yet.
I have not done any baking yet this year.

A few non-Christmas related freak out reasons:

Work is stressing me out! Who decided it was a good idea to give a lady in her 3rd trimester a promotion?? Which so far as equaled more work and more stress.... not to mention I now get phone calls in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep.
*Disclaimer: I'm very happy I got a promotion to a manager position!! It just didn't come at the best time for my sanity*
This baby in my belly has no name! Minus the very ~~ridiculous~~ loving names given by my stellar cohorts at NPPC. Jayrk, Taco, Cactus Jack, Baby Bronco, etc.
The fact that my doc keeps telling me that he thinks lil Bronco is coming early and I'm so unprepared! We do have a crib, a retarded amount of clothes ranging from 0-9 months, a changing table, toys (Kailee thinks her brother needs to be just as spoiled as she is), a swing (whoop whoop Team Jefferson!), a few other small items and ~~thanks to my nagging~~ the baby's room is now painted. That's it though... no crib bedding, decor on the walls, or anything else we need! It stresses me out to be unprepared.

All of these reasons (plus many more) have resulted in me being a complete B to anyone in my path... I apologize (Reed, co-workers, the two guys behind the photo counter at Wally-World, lady at the post office, etc.) and will try control myself, though I can't make any promises! ;-)

Wish List

2010-12-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

I don't want a lot of things for Christmas this year but I was thinking about it and discovered that the things I do want cost a pretty penny.... which means I'm not getting any of them.... damn!

1. I've wanted this camera for a long time but I am really bad at saving money for things for myself.... so it's still on my wishlist.

2. A treadmill....

3. New diamond studs.... I lost mine last year. No idea where but the last time I wore them was on vacation in Texas. So if I see my B.I.L's girlfriend wearing them I may have to kill someone. ;-)

The City of Crosses

2010-11-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

I (yup, all by myself) just got back from a fun filled weekend in Las Cruces. I stayed with my bestie and her hubby. I got to see a lot of my friends, have a shower for Lizzy, and just enjoy being "home"...

Me and my bestie!!

Hanging out at a winery... great place for two pregnant chicks, right?

Laughing about old times!

We painted bibs & onesies for Lizzy's baby.

Good time with old friends!

Took a couple pictures around town while I was there...

Love this bar.....

I miss this street!

My old house.... the paint job is different but still... this is where I grew up.

Better late than never

2010-11-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

The past month has been insane (but fun) around here! So I am just getting around to blogging about Kailee's 4th birthday. Which by the way.... how do I have a 4 year old? I cannot believe that she is so old and mature for her age! We had her first "real" birthday party this year, inviting her friends from school and from cheerleading. She had the best time and was such a helper getting ready for all of her friends. A month before her birthday she decided she wanted a Halloween party & next year for "my 5 birthday" she wants a cowgirl party.

So, let the festivities begin...

she was locking me out because I was going to tickle her!

Marshmallows and tortillas from Momo & Granddad

She wanted to put candy corn in cups for her friends

Mammaw & Kailee working hard!!

Time to do dishes!

Kailee's cups! She was so proud of them!

Goody bags!

cupcakes

pony rides for her friends

Her cake was so yummy! (no, I didn't make it)

Presents!!

Dinner with friends after the party was over

"Mom, I'm so tired and they are making me run"

Sunday we opened family presents!

with all her loot

Little Tinkerbell herself

Home for a pit stop...

2010-10-31T05:24:00.000-07:00

or so it feels since I was gone last week and leave again Thursday! I spent all week last week in St. Louis for work. Which, despite the fact that I worked for 11 hours on my birthday and actually had to wear heels it was a lot of fun! I got to see all the people I was a trainee with in Jefferson, along with others from our "trainee class" that I haven't seen in ages! We had a good time.

My fellow trainees from Jefferson

Dessert & milk at the bar! Oh the life of a preggo lady

having a ball in the hamster wheel at STL City Museum

in the cave at City Museum

Preggo Update

DATE: October 31, 20100 Happy Halloween!

How far along: 26 weeks tomorrow

Total Weight Gained: 15 pounds.....ugh!

Maternity Clothes: I have two pair of Cruel Girls that I can still wear... and am holding on as long as possible. But.... everything is maternity.

Sleep: Waking up about 4am these days....

Best Moment of the Week: Coming home Friday to snuggles from Kailee!

Movement: yup

Prep: We've decided on a theme, well we've always known it'd be cowboy but now we are going vintage cowboy. Should be really cute!! I've been searching the internet for the perfect fabric for his bedding!

Food Craving: This week I've been on a dessert kick... which is NOT a good thing. Apparently, I need to be on a lean red meat kick because my doc told me Monday that my iron is a little low.

Food Aversions: None- I actually tried different foods this week in St. Louis. I was pretty proud of myself. haha

Morning Sickness: none

Gender: BOY!

Symptoms: my back hurts... what's new??

What I miss: buttons on my jeans

What I'm looking forward to: Trick or Treating tonight and New Mexico on Thusday

Picture:

25.5 weeks

Preggo Update

2010-10-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

*** Typed this up last Sunday but never got around to posting it***

I should have started this much earlier and did write some things down in a pregnancy journal but I've decided to do a weekly (or probably bi-weekly) update on how things are going in the world of baby boy Tuttle.

DATE: October 10, 2010

How far along: 23 weeks tomorrow

Total Weight Gained: 15 pounds

Maternity Clothes: I can still fit in to some of my regular pants and survive the day. Others though I could still squeeze in have been retired for the next several months.….still wearing regular shirts with some maternity ones thrown in there too

Sleep: doing better the past couple of weeks. In order to (at least attempt) not to wake up to pee in the middle of the night I'm not drinking anything within 1.5 hours of bedtime and peeing at least twice before bed. Sometimes this works... sometimes it doesn't.

Best Moment of the Week: Kailee singing to the baby- ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Movement: oh yes….always! Though I've noticed he is really active around 8:45-9:30pm and also around 1-2ish in the afternoon.

Food Craving: Cereal... I would eat cereal right now for 3 meals a day. My poor family.

Food Aversions: not really any that weren't there before

Morning Sickness: nada, I feel fine

Gender: BOY!

Symptoms: my back hurts! After sitting in my chair at work for an extended period of time and by bedtime at night it's pretty bad.

What I miss: shopping for normal clothes and sleeping through the night!!!

What I'm looking forward to: going to NM and seeing Lizzy pregnant too! Two pregnant woman in one house... her husband is lucky he'll be out of town.

Picture: To come

For four years

2010-10-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

my life has been consumed with everything pinks & purples, princesses, & girlie! I've absolutely loved it but we found out on Tuesday that it will all now be about blues, trucks, getting dirty, and balls.

It's a boy!

Just for the record... I knew... but no one believed me. I'm now two for two. Maybe IF (notice that is a big if) there is a next time my husby will believe me when I tell him what the sex is. :-)

We took Kailee with us to the ultrasound appointment. Which on a side note I can't believe how mature she is (she's only 3- yes I know she will be 4 in less than I month but I'm holding on to 3 until the last day!) but she seems to understand all of it. I made sure to tell her that the picture will be a black and white picture and kind of hard to tell what the baby looks like so she wouldn't think her sibling was going to look like an alien.

Her response- Mom, I know that... the baby will look like a real baby when it's ready to come out, duh. (which I don't know who taught her that word... but thanks! ugh) .

Me- Okay, well Kailee we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet but I don't want you to be sad if it's not what you wanted.

Kailee- Ugh, mom... I know we have to wait to hear what the doctor says. Sometimes I want a brother and sometimes I want a sister. So it's okay if it's a boy or girl. I don't care I just love the baby.

Me- Well okay then. Glad we had this talk.

At the doctor's I laid on the table as the ultrasound tech checked out the baby. The tech told us it's a boy and I looked at Reed who was beaming and then at Kailee sitting on his lap. The two of them looked like they were about to burst! It was the best moment ever! Reed had convinced himself it was a girl, I think so he wouldn't be let down if they told us it was. He (we) wanted a little boy so bad to complete our perfect family. Plus, he needs someone on his team and I'm going to try my best not to ruin this little boy (not that it will work but I'm going to try)... I'm not saying anything bad about Kailee other than she is my clone! I will leave it at that but if you know me... you know why this is hard for Reed. haha.

Back to Kailee being super mature & the sweetest (which just for the sake of argument we'll say is part of the cloning of me) girl. After we found out while the tech was still looking around checking out the baby Kailee climbed down off of Reed's lap to stand by the table. She stood there and held my hand... smiling. Another moment I don't ever want to forget.

After we left it was time for the phone calls to begin. We called everyone- smiling ear to ear!! Everyone (almost) was just as excited as us! As soon as I was done with my appt the sis called from her oh-so-fabulous trip to Indonesia (almost midnight there) to hear the news. :-)

Now, we play the figure out what to name him (which I think we know but aren't telling yet), register for baby stuff, shop shop shop, decorate, and paint!

More to come!!!

On a jet plane...

2010-09-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

I bought my tickets this week to head back to Cruces for four days (the first weekend in Nov) of fun and quality time with my friends!! I'm so gitty about it!

Here is what my long weekend will include... in no order:

YUMMY Mexican Food!!! Can't wait... I plan to eat all weekend!

Gorgeous Sunsets!!

My wonderful friends!! (disclaimer....I am only putting a few pictures so not all are included in these pics)

All things baby showers/baby shopping for Lizzy and me!

Naps & Relaxation= Spa!!!! (My bestie is pregnant too so she will totally be down!)

Just being "home" and taking it all in because I won't be back until next May

Updates to the farm house

2010-09-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm posting pictures of Kailee's room even though we didn't make changes (I was walking around taking pictures of the house and Kailee wanted me to take pictures of her room too) -just moved her stuff in... which all happened to be pink. The walls were already pink, those blinds were there and that "fabulous" carpet was already in there... lucky us!! :-/ I would love to paint her walls white & but she loves it and that is all that matters, right??

Her room from the door:

From her closet:

Living room- duck hunting border and paint on the bottom half... yes the carpet is green:

Another view of the living room... I hate the carpet but we couldn't talk them into changing it because it's actually in pretty good shape:

Living room after:

Another view of living room:

Dining room view from kitchen... nasty peeling wallpaper:

Dining room view from front door:

Same view of the dining room from the front door after wallpaper was taken down and wood paneling was painted:

Here is the kitchen (looking into the dining room) before we painted:

Here is the kitchen after painting & new carpet (looking into the dining room):

Another kitchen view... oh how I'd love to paint the cabinets!

There you go...

2010-09-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been since May that I last blogged! I kept thinking I need to update but so much as changed that this blog could be so long. I'm going to kept it short and sweet or else you'd get bored reading and I would get bored of writing! There have been two major changes in our lives that I'll just touch on. (more detail is to come)

We're pregnant!!! We found out the first week of June after I'd had a couple crazy mood swings and one day of not feeling well. We couldn't be more excited and Kailee is absolutely ecstatic to become a big sister. I can't wait to see her with the new baby... she is the most loving and nurturing little girl I've ever met. We find out Sept 28th the gender!!!
We moved. We moved about 40 minutes away from where we were living in Lincoln to southeast of Lincoln in the country. Literally... we have two neighbors both about 1/2 mile away. We are able to have to horses out here and love it. I took before & after pictures of some of the rooms we redid... I'll post sometime. It is so peaceful out here!!

This is the view from our front porch

My weekends and evenings are spent with things like this now...

It takes all sorts to make up our camping neighbors

2010-05-31T05:35:00.000-07:00

For the first time in forever Reed had a 3 day weekend!! It was wonderful! We went camping at the local lake... literally 20 minutes up the road but it sure was interesting when we looked around at our camping neighbors.

It all started when we were setting up our tent, the people just over from us stared at us the whole time we sat up camp, awkward! They had all their friends there, 3 different camp sites set up and 7 fishing poles set up along the banks (including in our lake spot which made the husby mad he couldn't fish there). From a far they looked pretty redneck, I found at later in the day when he came over to see our dogs that is exactly what they were. All of them had skin that looked like leather from the sun, she was approx 200lbs (& short) and wore items of clothing that I believe fit her 20 years ago. There dog was named Freckles, he was a cocker spaniel and he has chained up to a tree... on a chain you'd expect to fine some ferocious animal on the other end of. They had 2 paneled vans that we swear they were hanging out in to do something illegal, honestly who would set in a hot vehicle on a 90 degree day! Moving on (I'll come back to them when we meet there buddy)

The young couple who decided they didn't have to use an actual camp site, which I'm sure means they didn't pay to camp. They showed up 1/2 way through the day on Saturday and plopped their stuff in between ours and another family site (this family seemed normal!). They didn't speak English very well but had two very pretty girls, who I later figured out where not sisters and barely knew each others name- obviously mom & dad haven't known each other very long. The girls kept coming over to our site to play with the dogs and the parents seem to careless that they were playing with strange dogs. Whatever. The one story I do have about them is that Reed was fishing and glanced over to their site only to see the girls playing and "dad" sucking on "mom's" toe. Not real appropriate.

Next we have the family that showed up Saturday evening. Seemed normal. Then Reed quickly pointed our that the young girl (though I'm not sure it was a girl) who was acting very strange had her pet Cockatail in the tree she was standing by. That's right, she brought her bird camping and that is all she did was play & mess with it. Didn't look twice at their dog they'd tied to the tree on a approx a 2 foot leash but played with the bird the whole time. Why even go camping? At dark a gentleman (I use this term loosely) in a wheel chair came over to the edge of the pavement near our site and started yelling at us to see if we'd seen the blonde that tied the dog up... no no I hadn't seen her, not like in a couple hours anyway. He got very frustrated that we hadn't seen her (honestly, at this point we were trying NOT to look around us at the other sites). He proceeded to cuss us under his breath and wheel away. Also, he was wasted, very obvious. As soon as he left she stood up in her tent (almost like she'd been hiding from him, idk).

We took a walk towards the dock just to check it out when we finally met the friend of the hilly billy's. He was very friendly, I'll give him that but I found a picture that I SWEAR is him, or his twin brother. No joke. His teeth REALLY looked like this.

Despite all of the craziness near us while camping we had a wonderful time. Kailee and I had the swimming beach all to ourselves Saturday morning and it was awesome. She had so much fun... so did I. Here are some pictures from the fun.

They are best buds and sat here for about 30 minutes. Kailee talked, he listened.

Camping is rough on Kailee... and no, that is not dirt or a big bite, just chocolate from the
Smores the night before.

Daddy cooked a yummy breakfast

She was much happier after breakfast!

Impromptu Drive

2010-04-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Monday night we decided to jump in the car and drive 15 minutes up the rode to a lake we've never been too!!! We could have gotten there at a better time....

I'm falling in love.

2010-04-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

We call her Drama, (long story-I named her before we got her for various reasons and it fits) and I'm falling in love with her.

They are already best buds!

Watching the horses run

She works pretty nice

Grooming her pony.

He is Risen!

2010-04-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter this year! Infact I'd say it was probably one of the best that I've had and for no other reason then we spent it praising our Savior and spent it together. Saturday evening Kailee and I made Easter Story Cookies. I saw this last year on Darby's blog... (http://www.flythroughourwindow.com/2009/04/try-this-holy-week-cookies/)- which by the way I love her blog! I've never been disappointed when copy a recipe of hers and am continually inspired by her.) but thought Kailee was too young to understand, we did it this year and she (okay we both) loved it!! She is still talking about what the "bad soldiers" did to Jesus and them putting him in the tomb. I plan to make this an Easter tradition at our house.

The first step is to have your little helper crush, smash, and beat the pecans and while they do it share with them that this is what the Roman soliders did to Jesus' body. Read John 19-1:3

Kailee was stunned as I read to her

After tasting the salt

Easter morning we woke up and of course the Easter Bunny had left Kailee all sorts of surprises, including a bunch of eggs hidden outside.

After egg hunting it was off to church!! In all honesty we haven't been very good about making it to church since we've moved but I really do love this one... and when we move out to the country this summer, I'm going to miss it.

I love these two! Though they make it very tricky to get a good picture since they are such goofballs!

I am pretty sure Kailee believes her life is the movie Grease. It consists of lots of dancing & singing all the songs.... all the time!

Afterwards it was a day of family, food, horses, and fun.

First Love

2010-04-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

There is nothing cuter than a girl and her pony!!!

She is helping him find the best pieces of grass

The start

2010-03-07T07:52:00.001-08:00

I've been slowly getting back into shape and in the last 3 wks have already lost 7 pounds which I'm pretty excited about, especially considering I'm doing a Biggest Loser Competition with the guys at work and I have to win!! I made a decision this week... I'm going to start running. I haven't really ran in a long time & only did it then because our trainer in the athletic depart. made me, I was awful then too! So, I'm signing up for a race in September (picked this particular one only because it's in Omaha so there won't be a major trip required).... ahhhh!!! There, I said it.... no turning back now!

This morning I suited up in all my old Aggie workout apparel, my Nike's (shout out to my sister @Kfun for free shoes!!! whoop whoop!), grabbed my dog and headed out. I thought it was going to be extremely painful and I'd be back in 10 minutes but I actually surprised myself and did really well, considering. Don't get me wrong there was walking but there was more running (or to steal from my sis jogging with a soft J) then walking. I jammed to everything from Miley & Lady Gaga to Nitty Gritty Dirt Band & Jason Boland.

Incase you were wondering what my running experience looked like please reference the picture below.... that pretty much sums it up, beauty and grace plus a rocking body

HAHAHA! Right, it was more like this plus add a crazy hound running with me:

Nonetheless I did surprise myself and need all the support and motivation I can get!!

So much to say, too impatient to do it

2010-02-12T15:56:00.000-08:00

I am so frustrated right now. I have tons of blogs and pictures to post, however there is something (okay probably lots) wrong with my blog and/or computer. I try to post and it doesn't work or if it does post the spaces (hince the paragraph spacing on previous post), fonts, etc. are totally messed up! Stay tuned as I have about 3 blogs in my drafts for when I have the time to fight with my computer!!

2010... Where did you come from?

2010-01-02T13:39:00.000-08:00

*** I really did start this post on 1-1-10 but things came up and I never finished...figured 21days late was beter than never, right?? ***

I know, everyone always says it and it's very cliche but where on earth did 2009 go? So much happened in 2009, here is a brief run down:

-My sister and B.I.L gave me (yes... she is mine) the cutest niece ever!!!! I love little McK Fun and only wish I would spend more time with her.

-We finally got out of Wisconsin (I know... my job is good but I hated that place). So glad I met the people I did there but glad to be out of there.

-We moved to Nebraska. Though the winter here is still cold we are really enjoying are time here and hope that in the Spring we can experience more of what this state has to offer. I really like working at the Crete Plant, it's nice to finally have responsibility/accountablily!! We'll see what '10 brings for work.

-My grandad passed away in September. See blog --> <http://lktuttle.blogspot.com/2009/09/meeting-mckenna-and-that-amazing-man.html>. This is unbelievably sad for me but I know that he and grandma Jean are dancing again in Heaven. Which brings warmth to my heart.

-Reed left Eddie Bauer and is back to what he loves. He is a manager at The Fort Western, he loves it and is doing awesome!

-My little Kailee Rae turned 3 years old! Time is flying and I can't figure out how to make her stay my little peeper forever!

What I want for 2010:
(in no particular order)
Grow in my relationship with God... find my purpose.

The standard that everyone wants: lose weight (*30lbs*).... and just be healthier in general. I miss working out in the gym (stress relief!!), my old favorite jeans (yes, I still have them in a box downstairs), the energy I used to have, etc.

Focus on my relationship with my husband. We spend so much of our energy and time on Kailee that we probably don't spend enough time with just each other. We need scheduled date nights this year!

Read at least 2 books a month. I know it's not much but it's a start right?

Take more time to enjoy the little moments with K.Rae

Be more patient with Reed and Kailee... so, I'm a little OCD and I have a short temper.... the combo of the two don't mix well. Ask anyone in my family

Try to keep a schedule better at home.

Be more gracious to others!

Go to Vegas in December with my bestie and our husbands!

Take a vacation, just the three of us. We have never done this, we alway go with or to visit family. It's time for us.
My list got shorten because I decided I'm going to make a bucket list!!!

Already out done and I haven't even started yet...

2009-11-27T06:00:00.000-08:00
Geez. I had planned to do a post this week about what and who I'm thankful for but my older-should-have-been-a-comedic-writer-but-picked-cheerleader-for-life-instead-BF of a sister decided she would use her week long (jealous!) vacation to mess around on the computer and write numerous blogs to include a " What I'm Thankful For" blog. See here: http://kfunston.blogspot.com/2009/11/gobble-gobble-gobblethank-you-thank-you.html problem with this?? Nothing I write now will even compare!

Here goes anyway:

Kailee Rae: She's my little cowgirl-princess (yes, they go together)... she loves putting on her boots and spurs and riding Mater Boy for hours but will come home and throw on her princess dress and tap around the kitchen in high heels! There has to be a fine mix of girlie-girlie and cowgirl right? I love this!Kailee Rae is my world she is sugar with a WHOLE lot of spice but sweeter than anything I could ever imagine. She is so funny and the biggest goof ball ever! I'm thankful for her and blessed that God chose me to be her mama!

The husby: For those of you who know me well you understand that Reed is a God send! He puts up with me and all my little antics and.... (for the most part)... just takes it with a smile! He works hard and is the most amazing father ever!! He can always make me laugh, he is my best friend and the cowboy I always wanted!!

My mama: I call my mom almost daily... partly for her, mostly for me! She's pretty awesome and the BEST babysitter ever!!! ;-) She's K.Rae's favorite person (next to me of course... and McKenna is right up there too!)... best Mammaw ever award goes to her! She is a wonderful mom who'd do anything for us (this includes all the kids and kid-in-laws!) I'm so thankful for everything she's done for me!! Oh... and her amazing skills in the kitchen!!!

Dad: growing up my dad "drug" (if you will) all of us around the country (one of the perks of the Amry)... I hated moving... and it was all his fault! But with each move he'd assure me that I'd like it here, have new experiences, and make new friends. Thanks Dad! You were right (ugh... I hate saying that!) I look back now and realize how much I gained from living and traveling to so many places! My dad is one of those who I can call for anything to get advice. I remember when I found out he was moving telling him "I'm just going to miss you so much" and it's true (I know I'm a grown up and all) but I miss my daddy on a daily. I'm so thankful for him.

Meine Schwester: What would my life be like with out my sister. Most people look at us and think polar opposites but that's not true. We are more alike then anyone would think... even our little tendencies- (for instances... we both love maps and calendars, neither one of us will eat the last bite of a pickle, etc.) When we were little I would beat people up for her (still would), I went to every cheer practice (at TK) and game she had. I wanted to be just like her.... I secretly always loved that she would tell people (mostly at parties- they are the most gullible) that we were twins... and they believed her... (suckers). She is so funny (as seen in her blog), I will always look up to her... Kristin's the most wonderful sister ever!

Bryant: Bryant is the best B.I.L, he takes care of my sister and my beautiful niece. He's gotta be one of the funniest guys I've ever met and just loves to have a good time. I never thought when my sister told me "he lives up behind the hospital, maybe? And I think he drives a dark colored truck.... let's go find his house" that guy would be the bouncer at my 18th b-day party, supply me with tons of laughs, be such a good friend and become my brother. He kicks butt!

Mckenna: I'm SO thankful for my niece! Can't wait to watch her grow up and hope I can spend lots of time with her!! She's the most precious little one, I love her and how much Kailee adores her as well. I cannot wait to spend Christmas with them.

Al: This year has been 15 years since I first became friends with Allie Barnes. Hard to believe. I love this girl! I don't think there has ever been a time when I called Allie to "cry on her shoulder" and she didn't completely sympathizes and try to make me feel better!! She wrote a poem about our friendship in high school- it's hanging on the wall in my hallway.

Lizzy (aka Bestie): she's awesome. She is the kind of friend that whether we go 1 day or 3 weeks without talking/seeing each other we pick up right were we left off. We survived all the drama (and maybe created our own) for 4 years on the team, we have a similar "view" on sistuations/people. She introduced Reed and I... for that I'm forever grateful.

"The Orginals": these are my best friends from the EQ team (including bestie), I have so many wonderful memories with these girls. Each of them is unique.... even though I don't talk to them as much as I should they are truely special to me and I miss them!

For the rest of my family (brother, inlaws, cousins, aunts/uncles, etc!) and all my friends (because I need to start breakfast and don't have time to write about everyone). I'm so thankful for all of them, they are all so unique and awesome!!! I miss them!! I'm so lucky to have fabulous people in my life!

Funny picture

2009-10-14T23:00:00.000-07:00
My sister made fun of me after she took the picture below... this was the first time I held McKenna! And apparently the face I was making was funny.

Recently, we've been cleaning out old boxes, reorganizing, and throwing things away. I digress- so I found pictures from Kailee's birth and this one picture I came across:

This was Kristin's reaction the first time she held Kailee Rae.
Notice the face she is making!
BUSTED!

Better cover your mouth & wash your hands or else...

2009-10-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

Swine flu will hit your house too!!

So, it's not a comfirmed case but Kailee and I just got back from the doctor and the Doc thinks Kailee has H1N1. :-( Her doctor said that she'd do the test if I wanted to but didn't think it was really that nessacary for a couple reasons. 1- the test it's self is only 10-60% accurate 2- No need to put Kailee through it 3- have to submit to insurance (don't really care about but...)

Anyway, she said it really didn't matter if it's a confirmed case or not I do the same thing. Fluids, fluids, fluids, ice cream, popsicles, Ibuporfen, and rest.

This means Kailee really shouldn't go back to the babysitter for the rest of the week... so daddy and I will be taking turns on who is taking off from work. I get today and tomorrow... Reed is taking off Thursday and Friday.

Poor little miss.

Bless her little heart

2009-10-13T07:20:00.000-07:00
I figured it was time for another post- it's been a while now! I don't have anything super exciting to blog about but since I'm home from work today I thought I would do an update.

First, Kailee Rae is sick today- running nose, awful cough, she didn't sleep more then 1 hour at a time last night then would wake up coughing and sneezing! Which means mommy didn't get to sleep either, the only way she would sleep last night was if I slept with her... today she is not much better but still going strong. I was really hoping for a nap by now but no such luck.

Mater is fitting into our family really nicely. Kailee adores him and he is going to be a wonderful babysitter! :-) If Kailee could get over her cold we'd be out there!!

This is Kailee trying to talk Mater into coming with her instead of eating all the grass.
We went on a walk with him and had a picnic for supper.

Mater wasn't too happy about this

I can't believe it's already the 12th of October, I absoulety love this month! The weather, the colors of fall, all the wonderful birthdays! My father-in-law, my best friend from the past 15 years, my great-aunt Chris will be 96 on the 18th (yes, she still drives and gets around just fine!!), my sister-in-law, Uncle, and of course mine and KAILEE RAE'S! I can't believe me little peeper will be 3 this year. I've had so much fun buying her gifts and planning out fab birthday weekend! It's even better this year because she gets what it is all about. I love it!

Mums!

So much for nice fall weather, we woke up to 3 inches on Saturday

No worries though, it melted by the afternoon!! Yay!

New addition to the family...

2009-09-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome Mater!!

We've been looking for a new horse for Kailee... not really looking for a pony because of the bad rep they can have about being stuborn, etc. A guy I work with knew we were looking and said he had a pony we should come look at. "Mater" seems to be bomb proof and I think he'll be good for Kailee, he is only six so they can grow up together!! We are all pretty excited about him. Though, he is a little round and will be going on a diet shortly!

Meeting McKenna and that amazing man everyone loved...

2009-09-13T05:25:00.000-07:00
NOTE: I wrote this post over a week ago but just didn't get around to posting it.

For Labor Day weekend K & I headed to Memphis so I could meet my adorable niece and spend some time with my fam. We got there Friday night- I can't begin to describe Kailee's excitment about meeting McKenna. She was literally jumping up and down giggling as we were walking off the plane! When she saw Mamaw and Kristin waiting for her she covered she mouth "ohhh" with excitment and took off running towards them. It was SO cute!!

This is excitment on the plane

I was pretty excited too....
She loves her little cousin and wants to do everything for her, feed, change, hold, etc. She's such a good little helper. At one point she was holding McKenna on her lap (with my one handed assistance- since in the other hand I had the camera snapping away) and she leaned down, put her hand on Kenna's check and whispered "Kenna, you the best girl ever". I thought my heart would melt!

This was the point when she said that to McKenna

Our time in Memphis was cut short though, Saturday morning my mom got the call from her sister. My Grandad had passed away. So, I booked a flight for Reed that day and he flew to Memphis then we all headed up to Kentucky to be with the rest of the family to remember him....

He had been struggling and bouncing back for some time now but Thursday (early AM) he fell out of his wheelchair- right onto his head. He ended up breaking his 6th vertabrae and at his age (91!!!) surgery wasn't in the cards.

By Thursday night he had bounced back, and even said so to my Aunt. He was sitting up and even ate an entire bowl of soup. Then on Friday he started to fade away, he had fought for a long time going through ups and downs. There had been lots of times over the past year+ we had thought we'd lose him at any point then he would be up and walking around the next day! He was such a strong man.

The funeral was Monday afternoon, Labor Day, very fitting for him. He grew up a farm boy from a rural part of Western Kentucky. Went off to War were he served our Country for 4 years straight during WWII- the stories he told would captivate you. He came back to home and met my grandma Jean- the most wonderful lady I've ever known. He bought himself a farm where they raised 3 kids and countless head of cattle, hogs, chickens, horses, you name it, they had it.

My grandad was a farmer, a woodworking- he spent so much time in his shop, a stand out community member- he helped build a lot in his community including the major nursing home, softball/sports complex, etc, he was a loving dad, a husband, and a wonderful grandad with amazing stories to tell. As I got older my appreciation and respect for him grew as I learned the story that made him who is was. My grandad had 8 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren! He was so proud of each and everyone of us for the people we've grown into. He always told stories of us and if you knew him you knew his family. He ALWAYS carried pictures of his family (wife, kids, grandkids) in his shirt pocket and showed them to anyone who'd look. I'm posting the below picture because it is one he always carried of me.

This was my 3rd place finish at Nationals in 2005
My G'pa was so proud of me...

We took this picture last week...
I just know he would've carried this one!
He loved that Kailee loved horses
I will miss my grandad so much but I am happy that he is no longer suffering and that he has made it home to be with my grandma- he didn't want to live without her... they were married for 58 years! There is not much more I can say about this amazing man. I love him and he is missed.
Shelton Likins
May 8, 1918- September 5, 2009

Big news at our house!

2009-08-22T19:30:00.000-07:00
We are in day two of Potty Training! Kailee has been doing good and I have to say the only accidents she's had are probably my fault- I wasn't paying attention to her or checking to see if she needed to go. I know, we're probably a little late considering she will be 3 at the end of Oct... but she honestly wasn't ready. Last summer she was using the potty at least once a day (like before bath time then all of a sudden she was over it and has wanted nothing to do with it??? Seriously- she would cry when we talked about it??? In fact she cried yesterday but I am so over this diaper thing. She is okay with it now, since she's been doing good. For some reason she just doesn't want to be a big girl. Really! "Mom, me NEVER be a big girl, never.... me baby!" Who knows. But we've convinced her that being a big girl is so much more fun, plus I told her in order to go on the plane to see McKenna (her new cousin!) in two weeks she has to be potty trained. She agreed.

I picked this weekend because Reed is working and Kailee and I could just hang out and play, no errands, no cleaning, nothing but play and potty time. It's actually been so relaxing and nice not running errands and worrying about anything but her. I need to spend more time doing that... she has been a little angel yesterday and today!

We did have fun today painting pictures on the deck:

It all started out so sweet.....

Then I went inside to get some paper towels to clean her fingers.....

I came back to this:

This is when I stripped her down and told her that her bath was ready!

The painting!

All I see for 100 miles is cows, pasture, rodeo, and my lil cowgirl

2009-08-13T17:34:00.000-07:00
Just as we are getting settled in our new house we decided we go on a road trip to see Tres (Reed's twin) so we loaded up Kailee, the dogs, our boots and off we went to the panhandle of Texas! 8 hours later-at 3 am we arrived! Here are some pictures from our trip:

Sassy pants

Kailee checking the cows at Tio's feedlot

Tres, Kailee, and Daddy at the XIT days

Kailee with her aunt Traci at XIT Rodeo

Ropin'

We've been busy

2009-08-05T17:49:00.000-07:00
This is going to be a picture blog... pictures since we've moved to Nebraska!

Ready

2009-08-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

As much as Reed and I love our mothers... we are ready to be alone in our new house. When we moved from WI my mom flew in to help out with Kailee (i.e. keep her entertained so that we could unpack boxes, etc) then drove to NE with us- she stayed with us for 3 full weeks. Then two days after my mom left, Reed's mom came for two weeks. No offense to either of them but that is a long time to have company. It will be nice just be able to have our own routine and adjust to our house and our new life in Lincoln.

We had a big Friday night, well Kailee and I did.

Shortly after we moved here I heard the Wiggles were coming to town- for those of your who don't know who they are... google them! Kailee loves them. Reed and his mom didn't go, it was just a mommy/daughter thing. I was fully prepared to endure 2 hours of pain but I can honestly say that is one of the best times I've had. Not because I enjoy listening to the Wiggles sing and dance but because Kailee sang and danced the WHOLE time... she was in hog heaven and it was so much fun to watch her. We moved from our seats (which were about 10 rows back on the floor) to right in the middle of the action at the stage.

The most exciting part of it all is that she got to meet 3 of the 4 Wiggles and give them high fives! She was so excited and hasn't quit talking about it. It was tons of fun and worth every penny.

Unload that truck, I've got boxes to unpack!

2009-07-06T22:00:00.000-07:00
It was nice to be able to get stuff done without our stuff in the way, but a week living without your stuff is long enough!
Mammaw and Kailee ate lunch at the window so they could watch the movers unload the truck Hitch really wanted in but they got banished to the back yard for the day

Kailee was pretty excited to help unpack!
"All my stuff here!!!"

The fireworks lasted an entire week! It drove all of us crazy, they started at 7am and didn't stop until 3am. On the 4th of July we had plans to go see the fireworks the city was putting on but soon discovered that if we just pulled up some chairs in the driveway the entire neighborhood spent TONS of money on fireworks. It was much more convientant, we bought some small ones of our own, and the dogs got to enjoy it too.... well Brew was hiding under the stairs- Hitch on the other hand was in the middle of it!
He kept inching forward....
"Mama..... stop it!" Kailee was tired of me taking pictures. haha
Watching fireworks at home allows for snack time and PJ's

The big move!

2009-07-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's time, finally, for the big move! We found a house, in the perfect little neighborhood in Lincoln. It's a four bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, fenced yard, kids all around, deck out back, and daycare across the street!
We got to the house two days before the moving truck, which turned out kind of nice. It gave us time to clean, paint some rooms, and clean the carpets before we had to tackle boxes!
Blue carpet.... a silver fan... and yellow walls. Let's see what we can do about some of that.
Yes, it's pink.... it turned out a little brighter than we thought it would but she loves it!
I will post another picture once all her stuff is in her room.... hope it turns out cute!

Little Projects

2009-06-14T09:21:00.000-07:00
We've been doing little things around the house lately to get ready for the move! Cleaning out closets, throwing stuff away... yesterday I filled a trash bag full of papers, old bills, old documents/etc that I shredded. It feels really good to do deep drawer/desk/closet cleaning. Right now Reed is in the garage organizing all his tools and also making a bar for his "man cave". He is pretty excited that he is going to have an area of his own. haha.

One mini project Reed did this week was to strip the paint off an old cedar chest we have. It was painted yellow (it was painted like 8 years ago to match my old room in high school)... he painted it a "burnt red" and it looks really good! I'm pretty excited about it.

Here is the before (taken on Kailee's B-day- spoiled!):

Here is the after:

We are going to do Kailee's room in Pink and Brown at the new house.... for Christmas she got two bookends that are pink/brown and while we were in TN for Easter my mom bought her a sign:

So, the pink and brown has come about by accident and I think it'll be cute.

What we've been waiting for...

2009-05-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

Last Monday afternoon I was called into my boss' office, along with the HR manager. With the recent events at my place of work... this wasn't looking good. Ekkk! I sit down, half nervous/half excited.... it could really only be 1 of two things.... Promo/transfer or FIRED!!?!?
Well.... we've been waiting for this for about 1.5 years now..... WE ARE MOVING!!! I was told there is a job opportunity in Crete, NE (about 25 minutes from Lincoln). The HR manager told me they wanted me there to visit, "sometime this week". I immediately went back to my desk, called the Crete HR manager... then booked a flight. I left Wednesday afternoon! The trip went great... I really like my new boss. The plant is A LOT different there... lots going on, lots of QA issues... holds, etc! Not at all like the JFR plant but I'm ready for it and ready to be challenged. It's sink or swim! I think it'll do me good to get out of the Jefferson plant... though I'm going to miss this plant. As much as I do complain about Wisconsin (still hate this place).... I like my job. I work with some great people who I'm gonna miss.

Now.... we just have to find a house!!! The little things, right? lol. Oh yea.... and they want me to start June 29th..... we have 4.5 weeks to find a house, find a place for the horses, buy a new horse trailer, pack up/move our house (well... the company does this!! Thank the Lord!), get there....then start my new job.... oh the stress!! But it's gonna be wonderful and we are up for it!! It's exciting to start all over again.

I THINK Nebraska will be a better fit for us??? More rodeo, closer to home, not Wisconsin, not as much snow,etc. We will only be 8 hours from Reed's twin brother.... 12 to his parents. We are currently 20 from his bro and 24 from his parent's. That also means we will 16 from HOME!! (Las Cruces). The only down side is it puts us 4 hours farther away from my mom! :-( But that's okay... she can hope on a plane and be there in no time!

Wish us luck!

My best friend's wedding

2009-05-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

I spent the past 3 days in Cruces... it was a whirlwind trip and now I'm sick because apparently I can't hang anymore! haha. Here is the breakdown of my weekend:

Thursday-

3:30am (Central Time): Woke for work

4:30am- arrived at work

9:00am- watched the clock and tried to keep myself busy

12pm: Left work

**Ran errands like crazy, tanned, walmart, etc.

6:00pm- set in traffic in Chicago wondering if we (me and the puppy) were going to make our flight.... damn Chicago!

6:30pm- arrive at airport... run from parking spot to ticket counter

7:00pm- flew out of Chicago (2 hour drive from our house)

7:05pm- Heard little Joe (lab puppy) crying underneath in the Cargo area.... wheew! He made it on! Now I can relax

10:00pm- Arrive in Cruces after my sister inlaw picked me up from the airport

10:05pm- started drinking with some of my best friends!! Then off to the bar....

Friday

4:30am (MTN time)- Lizzy and I finally stopped talking and passed out!! I miss my friend!

7:30am- Woke... not sure why?

10:00-12: Mani/Pedi with Lizzy!!! the only time we relaxed!

12:00-5pm- ran wedding errands

6:00-10:00pm- Rehearsal & rehearsal dinner

10:05pm- headed back to the hotel room.... we were pooped!

11:00pm- Decided we wanted to go to the bar!!!

Saturday

3:30am- Sleep

6:30 am- Wake....again, why??

8:00-3:00 wedding stuff.... de-stressing the Bride!

3:00pm- Lizzy got her hair done... I decided to too. My hair looked awful and Lizzy's sister then had to redo it!

7:30pm- WEDDING! Lizzy was the most beautiful bride I've ever seen!!!

11:00pm- Myself and a few other friends decided it was back to the bar for us!

Sunday

2:45am- get dropped off at Traci's house

3:00am- Sleep?

4:45am- Wake.....

5:00 am- Leave for airport

7:00am- Fly home to my husby and little girl!

It was a quick trip and I'm absolutely exhausted but it was worth every second! I spent quality time with my bestie and got to see some of my favorite girls!!!

It's the little things about being a mom

2009-05-10T11:09:00.000-07:00
Today has been a wonderful Mother's Day... even though at the moment I am sitting on the couch just lounging (Kailee is asleep and Reed is working all day). I woke up this morning to Reed making breakfast. I then crawled into bed and cuddled with Kailee. I told Reed I was going to take a bath real quick and Kailee went to add bubbles... because really, what's a bath without bubbles!?!? Later I got a pedicure and manicure... from K. Rae of course! It's the little things... I don't care about fancy gifts or a day of pampering, I just wanted to spend it with my little girl. It's the "I wuv you mama", the smiles, and giggles... nothing could be better.

I did buy myself a gift last week though.... the new Coach outlet opened and I just couldn't pass up a new purse! ;-)

News that I can' t share with anyone...

2009-05-09T13:01:00.000-07:00
I may be moving!!!!! Woohoo! My boss told me on Thursday that there is a possible promotion and transfer available for me. (with Nestle Purina... management moves around a lot so I've been awaiting this news) The job would be in Crete, NE (which is only a town of 7,000) but we'd live in Lincoln.

It's not a 100% thing yet. The Crete location is trying to create this new position because they really need someone else. We are trying not to get our hopes up but it's hard because we are both just READY to get out of Wisconsin... this place is NOT for us. The bad thing is that Reed just got a big promo/raise and we were hoping to save lots of money with this increased income. I have not doubt that he will find something he loves there though.

Since none of my coworkers don't know this blog I figured this is a good place to share it without really letting anyone know! haha.

Shoes

2009-04-29T13:15:00.000-07:00
I need advice! I'm in my best friends wedding in 1.5 week. The wedding is in Las Cruces, NM (i.e. hot) and outside. Here is the bridesmaid dress (it is knee length):

Here are the shoes that people talked me into.... they totally aren't me but I'm trying to branch out..... do they even go?? I'm totally not up to date with what is in style these days....?? The girls at the shoe store swore these would look great..... as well as friends I showed pictures to... I'm still not sure???? I can take them back and am still thinking about it.

Baby Showers & Easter Bunnies

2009-04-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

We spent the most wonderful Easter weekend Memphis, TN with my sister, brother-in-law, mom, my Cowboy, and little girl! We had a great time! Brief run down of our 4 day weekend: shopped, went to a Grizzles/Suns game, ate good BBQ & drank sweet tea, threw my sister a baby shower, played Easter Bunny, decorated my niece's room... and loved every minute of it.

*Kristin, Kailee, Mom, and Me*

We had finger foods, punch, and CUPCAKES at the shower! Yummy!
I also had the girls decorate bibs and onesies for McKenna. I think they turned out cute!

Home Sweet Home...

2009-01-03T13:29:00.000-08:00
I've discovered that it doesn't matter if I have family in Las Cruces or not... Las Cruces is home. We spent just a few days in Cruces but it felt like we never left. I want to go home...

At the NMSU game "pistols up"

Everyone says it happens so fast

2008-10-23T04:45:00.000-07:00
It seems to me that as you get older your life speeds up and you can't do anything about it. Put that in overdrive when you have a baby... Kailee will be 2 years old tomorrow! I offically have a toddler and not a baby anymore, how did that happen? I know how this sounds but it truely feels like yesterday that I was sitting at my sister's house (2 yrs ago today) waiting for my little girl to come... hoping her due date didn't pass with no sign of her. Hard to believe it was 2 years ago!
This year as gone by so fast and our lives have changed so much!!

*Side Note: I didn't intend for this blog to be about Kailee and not that I think it will be exclusively but... I guess it is just something that happens when you have a kid!

I have become aware, thanks to Reed for pointing things out, that I'm one of "those moms"... I am the one who sings at the top of my lungs to songs she loves (examples: The Wiggles... is there anything better really?!? riiight) and dances around the house & car for her pure enjoyment. She loves it and I will do anything to see her laugh and smile. Yesterday after I picked Kailee up from daycare I became more aware of the fact that everything I do, really is for her. I've started to take a different longer route home just so we can pass 3 different farms with horses and cows so she can see and talk about them. I also know that between 3-3:10 everyday a train goes through town and we will be stuck behind it if we go a certain way, yet I do it anyway just so "we" can see it. She gets so excited!

Blue polyester & steel toes

2008-10-16T23:59:00.000-07:00
Sitting in the lab a few minutes ago I was thinking about how exactly I got to a place in my life where I'm covering someone on a 3rd shift job (10pm-6am), wearing a polyester blue uniform and steel toe shoes. Who would have thought I'd EVER be working in a factory. Not that I'm a line operator and "technically" I don't make it... I work in the department that assures that everything that goes out the door is safe for pets to consume, no more of this recall stuff.

This company is wonderful... the people, the potentional to move up is endless, the pay, the travel, the benefits, the work-life balance, the stablity (I work for the biggest food company in the world, we aren't going anywhere!), everything.... but is this really my calling in life? I've always wanted to be a trainer or farm manager, how did I end up making cat food??? Weird!

Pumpkin Patches & Hay Rides

2008-10-11T22:37:00.000-07:00
I think this season as to be the best season, don't get me wrong I like summer as well but there is just something about fall that does it for me. I love the crisp mornings and having to put on a sweatshirt. I love the colors, the smells, the food, everything!

I spent tonight with my husband and Kailee craving and painting pumpkins, making popcorn balls, eating pumpkin seeds, and just loving life.! Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch with Mamaw where we picked pumpkins, went through the corn maze, and on a hay ride! Kailee had a blast... me too and I took lots of cute pictures.

Observations...

2008-10-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Driving to work today I was thinking about Wisconsin, things I like, things I don't, interesting facts. I decided I should make a list. These are things I’ve learned about Wisconsin and the people here in my 8 months of living here. From my own observations, my coworkers, and the people on the plant floor.

Some things reflect my opinions and others are just observations. Enjoy!

-5 am is rush hour (maybe not rush hour but there is a ton of cars on the road). Not like NM where you’re lucky to see 3-5 at that time and traffic doesn’t pick up until about 7:45
-Contrary to my belief… Kailee is not the only blonde haired blue eyed little girl… not like in NM. -People make fun of you when if say “y’all” or “fixin to” but think it’s totally okay to say “bubbler” and “stop & go” in reference to a drinking fountain and a traffic light. Yea… I know.
-There is no real summer here, period.
-That 20 degrees can actually be “warm” when you’ve had nothing but 0 and negative degree days!
-No one travels to the Southwest or out west at all. “West of the Mississippi?? There is no reason for it.” Are you kidding me?
-Madison is way to liberal for me (and it also has horrible shopping)
-I apparently pronounce the Wisconsin wrong. For those of you who don’t know it’s “Wis” and I say “Wes”
-Sour Kraut is eaten by everyone on everything.
-Not only are there way too many cars on the road at 5am but people (5-10 every day) are out walking and running at this time. Weird.
-People don’t know what roping is…
-People up here are obsessed with their teams. The Packers, Brewers, and Badgers… and talk about them continuously.
-Wisconsin has weird names for cities… just a random sampling: Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Waunakee, Kenosha, Sheboygan, Wauwatosa. Sound them out and that is exactly how they are pronounced… keep it simple- O-Con-O-Moe-Wok
-Everyone goes out for Fish Fry every Friday
-It amazes me (though I don’t know why I’m so surprised) that some people have never been to a rodeo.
-Brats… they are staple here.
-Wisconsinites (yes, that’s what they are called and when I told them people from New Mexico are just called New Mexicans, they found it strange. Hmm?)
PS- People from Michigan are called Yoppers or Trolls (based on what part of the state they live in). Everyone from Michigan uses there hand as a map of the state.
-People think it's strange but "cute" that Reed as a roping dummy.
-Wisconsinites hate Flatlanders (i.e people from Illinois)
-They have a “fest” every weekend during the summer.
-There is a “bring your brat to work day” in Milwaukee. Not as in a spoiled brat, as in a sausage. -My coworkers think that "starching jeans" is funny but cute, wtf.

People wonder why I miss Las Cruces...

I'm going to blog... I think

2008-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00
For some reason I feel the need to start blogging. I mean, why not? If other people have interesting things to say and I'm read them religiously then why shouldn't they read my ramblings!

I am not sure what this blog will become or if I will really get into it but it's worth a shot. Happy Blogging to me!