TBT Stories

TBT: May 2004

With Shane & my 10 year anniversary coming up, I thought it might be fun to dig up some old photos of that time-frame & post them for TBT. I came across these little gems from my bachelorette party weekend.

Me, my sister & several of my closest girlfriends had rented a beach house in Myrtle Beach, SC for a super fun weekend of bachelorette festivites. It was the most fun & amazing weekend & so many memories were made that will last a lifetime. 

On the first day, we had lunch at a this super fancy seafood restaurant on the beach where the girls had a bridal shower for me complete with gifts & this classy cake:

No that isn't the letter T or an L. That would be a "side-view" of the male anatomy. Nice.

That evening we had dinner at a great Mexican restaurant & laid low at the house for the evening.

 

The next day was spent lounging on the beach & Saturday night was the "big event". The girls kept telling me to keep an open mind & that anything was "game" as far as to how they were going to dress me & what we were going to do. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit scared as to what they had in store for me but it was all in good fun so I just went with it.

Here is a pic of all of us before we got our "bachelorette accessories" on for the night:

And here is the bachelorette after they had their way with me :)

The veil they had me wear was ridiculously long & I had so many beads around my neck you would have thought I just came from Mardi Gras - but again, it was just one night of good fun so I went it. 

Before the limo came to pick everyone up there were a few rounds of margaritas being poured, more "inappropriate" gifts to open & jello shots for all:

And then this happened:

Meet Juan. He was a hispanic blow up doll complete with painted on chest hair, slicked back plastic hair & a creepy porn mustache. After dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, he was handcuffed to me the. entire. night. Out to eat, in the car, walking around the pier, in the bar, on the dance floor, to the bathroom, late night stop at Walmart - everywhere I went Juan went. He was quite the conversation piece - everyone LOVED Juan. 

Later in the evening I managed to get free of Juan for a bit & that party animal ended up on the dance floor...

 ...dancing between two guys. It was then that we found out Juan preferred men. At one point we saw him up in the air body surfing amongst the dance floor crowd & somehow during the night he had ended up wearing a pair of boxers. We had no clue who's underwear it was - EW. He also ended up on this Harley for a ride around the parking lot before we left the bar:

 

That Juan had a good time - always a smile on his face & he sure knew how to be the life of the party.

Now some of you may be wondering what ever happened to Juan - since this event occurred 10 years ago?! Well during his time here with us Juan made a couple of guest appearances. My sister-in-law's bachelorette party, a glamour shots photo session. He even tried to sneak into our guest bedroom on those rare occasions when I had friends spend the night.

It was the evening of my friend Keri's bachelorette party when I realized Juan was getting too old to participate in such event's. He was going to suprise the girls & come along for the evening's festivities so earlier in the day I had buckled him in to the backseat of my car so I wouldn't forget him. 

Later, when it was time to go, I looked in the backseat & I see Juan bent over, face down in the seat. It was then that I realized Juan's body had failed him. He was deflated & his spunk was gone. It was a very sad day :( 

I carefully deflated the rest of his little body, folded him up ever so gently & thanked him for all the fun times & memories we made together. He was put to rest in the trash & to this day his memory still lives on. RIP Juan.

*sigh* such good times!! 

The festivities for the night ended at Walmart - of all places, around 2am. We stopped in to get some snacks before we headed back to the beach house & I remember we were all posing with Juan while Lynn was taking a bunch more pictures - none of which I have ever seen to this day. Hmmm - I wonder if she still has them?? 

Hard to believe this happened 10 years ago as I remember every detail so very clearly. It was the very best bachelorette party a girl could have ever asked for & I love & miss those SC girls dearly!!

Next week's TBT....10 year wedding anniversary!

Mothers Day

Motherhood is a choice you make everyday to put someone else's happiness & well-being ahead of your own. To teach the hard lessons. To do the right thing, even when you are not sure what the right thing is. And to forgive yourself over & over again for doing everything wrong.

To all the mother's I know - including my own mother, my grandmother, my sister, sister-in-law's, aunts, cousins & all my girlfriends who are mothers - Happy Mothers Day to you all! 

Mothers are someone who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take!

May you all enjoy your day with God's greatest blessings....our children!

Farewell

One of my favorite Cardiologist's is leaving the hospital I work at & heading to Dallas, TX for a job opportunity that was too good to turn down. Tonight we had his "surprise" farewell party at the Grand Street Cafe on the Plaza & it was a lot of fun.

The theme was "country/western" since Dr. Steve Marso is a lover of country music & cowboy boots. So I did my best to dress the part. Thank you to my friend Jilly for loaning me her cowgirl boots & my neighbor Susie for the kick-ass western belt!

I had picked up my dear friend Leann at her house & we made our way to the party:

Leann is a co-worker of mine whom I have gotten alot closer to lately. She is pregnant with her first child & I have been her "go-to" person ever since she found out she was expecting. My sister was my person, I was that person for my dear friend Jen & now I get to be Leann's person. I just love being able to pay it forward & help a sista out - especially when it comes to pregnancy & babies :)

Steve had no idea we were all there waiting for him so when he walked through the door he was in total shock. It was a perfectly planned surprise by this guy:

Dr. Steve Laster - who proceeded to sit Steve down & then the "roasting" began. If you have ever seen a celebrity roast done on Comedy Central then you have an idea of what we did to our dear Doctor. Several of us took turns "roasting" Steve, sharing funny stories & embarassing him to the crowd & there were SO many laughs & even a few tears.

 

Steve is part of a group that we like to call the "trifecta". Basically when these 3 Cardiologist's are scheduled in the lab together it is sure to be a sh!tty day full of chaos, craziness & a late night. Sad that he will no longer be part of this little group :(

After the roasting festivities were done, we all enjoyed cake & Steve opened several of his gifts. He has always been a whiner in the lab & could be a real baby at times so when he opened this gift it was priceless:

It says "In case of emergency break glass" & there is a pacifier in the middle of it. It was hilarious & you can tell by the picture he was not amused :)

 

Steve & I started working at the hospital the same month & year - June 1999 & after soon realizing that we both were from South Dakota & grew up 1 hour from each other we formed a quick bond. He loves country music as do I & it would make people bitter when we worked together & always had country music playing. We went to the Kenny Chesney concert together - along with our spouses & had a great time. He became a good friend these past 15 years, was very supportive & a listening ear during my IF journey & my numerous losses. He always refers to me as HT & the lab often jokes that I am his "binkie" as he was always a calm, nice person when we worked together in the lab. Steve is a well known Cardiologist for all the research he has done, a wonderful man, husband, father & friend. Steve may not be missed by everyone but he will definitely be missed by me.

Farewell Steve Marso.

TBT

Mason or Mommy??

That would be Mommy! This picture was taken back in August 1973. It was my 1st birthday & I received a Siamese cat named Tasha for birthday - hence the kitty in the picture with me! 

Obviously we can all see where Mason get's his good looks from :)

Throwback Thursday

TBT: 1988

Alright - let's just get it out there - the hair. I know - ridiculous, right? It was big & it was large & it was the typical 80's, B-school, mall hair & I rocked it. Ok, can we move on now?

This is me & my high school BFF - we were inseperable. Her name is Heather also so since we shared the same name we had nicknames for each other. My last name was Freier so she would call me Fry. Her last name was Murphy so I called her Murf. Everyone knew us in high school as Murf & Fry & we still call each other this to this day.

This picture was taken on my 16th birthday. I remember it well as it was the summer of my 16th birthday & I was grounded - the. entire. summer. When I was younger I had a habit of ignoring curfew & not coming home. School had recently gotten out for the summer & one night I chose to stay out until the wee hours of the morning. Pretty sure I was already grounded when I chose to do this?! So when I was confronted by my parents the next morning, I was informed I would be grounded until school started. We lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere & I wasn't allowed to go anywhere unless it was with my parents. Friends could come visit me but I couldn't leave with them or meet them. Let me tell you that was the longest 3 months of my life. Did I learn my lesson? Probably not. Pretty sure I continued to be late for my curfew at least once during the next 2 years until I graduated!?

Heather & I are still very good friends to this day. She is one of my girlfriends that I have known the longest....since 7th grade. Here we are at our 20th high school reunion a few years ago:

Wow - have we changed!! I am so very glad to still be friends & in touch with Murf! Can't believe how long we have been friends - 30 years!!

Game-Night Friday

Yesterday was a crazy, busy day at work & I was stuck there until 7:30pm :( Shane had picked up Mason from daycare & was on "Daddy Duty" for the evening since Mommy was working late. Our game-night girls were also gathering for our monthly get-together so knowing Mason was fast asleep already,  instead of going home I stopped in for a much needed cocktail, food & caught up with these lovely ladies.

Several girls from the group were unable to make it & as I looked around the table I realized that those of us present were the original 5 girls from way back when game-night started. It's been almost 8 years since this group started our monthly tradition & love that we are still able to meet up & enjoy each other's company.

Erinn was our hostess this month & her husband joined in the festivities by making the ladies sushi. I'm not a sushi eater but I must say that Jeff did an amazing job & according to the other girls it tasted as good as any restaurant if not better!

As always there was a great display of food being shared amongst friends & we ended up playing a really fun card game called Cards Against Humanity. It is like playing Apple to Apples but a more "adult" version of it if you will. There were lots of laughs & "oh my's" throughout the game & we all agreed to play it again in the future!

Shortly before everyone left, Michelle & Keri's husbands joined the group & finished off the rest of the sushi. We of course had to include them in our monthly game-night photo!

Melissa informed us that Rob's eyes were closed so we had to take another pic:

Um yeah...this happened! No wonder we heard so much giggling during this picture! It's a good thing the little blonde in the plaid shirt is married to the tall guy in the camo shorts :)

Thanks so much Erinn for the much-needed girls gathering! Looking forward to next month :)

40 bags update

So the Lenten season has come to an end & so does my 40 bags in 40 days project. I tried my very best to get rid of one bag per day but sometimes it was all I could do to attempt to fill a bag once Mason had gone to bed. Some days I got rid of 3-4 bags so it made up for the days that I missed. All in all I am happy to report that my house has been downsized from ALOT of junk & clutter & it makes me feel SO much better having gotten rid of so much crap!

As promised, here are a few pictures of what I have accomplished these past 40 days! First up, the freezer. We have a chest freezer in the basement but for some reason I find walking down there too much work so everything I buy that needs to be frozen goes in our small freezer in the kitchen. Everytime I would open the door something would fall out so it was way past time to organize it! 

Before pic on the left - after pic on the right! SO much more space & nothing falls out when I open the door - YAY!! I ended up getting rid of 2 grocery bags full of old, frozen, unedible freezer-burn items!

Next was a couple of drawers in the kitchen that have become "junk" drawers. Nothing all that important in them other than lots of "junk". You know - the drawers you throw stuff in when you clean up just to get it out of sight or are having company over?! Well, in the past 10 years these drawers have accumulated lots of stuff so it was time to organize.  The before pic is a chaotic mess & the after pic is much more organized with a bunch of stuff thrown out - 1 grocery bag worth. There is even a little bit of room in the back of the drawer for more junk stuff!

Here is the 2nd cabinet drawer I cleaned out. Everything in this drawer got put away in its appropriate place but the majority of it got thrown out - another grocery bag full! Now I have an empty drawer waiting to be filled!
After cleaning out the drawers, I tackled the closets. I ended up cleaning out 4 closets & got rid of 4 garbage bags full of clothes for Goodwill & another garbage bag of junk that got thrown away. I also cleaned the cabinets under the bathroom (2 grocery bags full) & kitchen sinks (2 grocery bags full)& packed away all the clothes that were getting to be too small for Mason (1 large bin full).

Even Shane got in on the fun. He took our very messy, cluttered computer desk....

....& turned it into a clean, neat & tidy area as well as painted it black & gave it a fresh new look:

Getting rid of all this stuff has been so very good for the mind & I am blown away by all the stuff we got rid of. Now I don't have to worry about A&E showing up at our house wanting to film an episode of Hoarders :)

Throwback Thursday

This TBT photo was taken back in 1997:

This picture was taken while on a cruise to the Western Caribbean with my dear friend Martha. We were on one of the decks sipping on $12 margaritas, having the best time without a care in the world - good times!

Miss Martha is another dear friend of mine who is also included in the "SC girls" group & she was the very first TRUE southern girl that I ever met. She was born & raised in SC & taught me so much about her southern roots & culture while I lived there. 

She introduced me to cheese grits, collard greens, cornbread stuffing & oysters - none of which I eat to this day, took me to my very 1st Master's golf tournament & showed me what the hype was all about, attended my 1st horse race called the Carolina Cup where we wore the appropriate attire of a huge southern hat (need to find that picture :), took me to my first college football game - the SC Gamecocks vs the FL Gators & showed me what there is to love about Hilton Head & Charleston, SC as well as the beach. She is to blame for my love of the South & am so thankful she was put in my life to experience so much!

Easter Weekend on the Farm

It's Easter weekend & Mase & I are off to South Dakota to spend the weekend on the farm with my family. Unfortunately Shane has to work so we ended up making the 7 hour drive alone. I left at 530am & Mason slept for almost 3 hours. Once he woke up we stopped to stretch our legs, have breakfast & then back on the road. He was in the car seat chilling the rest of the way playing with his books & toys & we stopped again for lunch around noon. By 1:15pm we had reached our destination - Grandpa & Grandma Farm's house. 

We were both pretty happy to be out of the car:

The first thing Mason saw when we got out of the car was the sheep & all the baby lambs. He was fascinated by them & loved to sit & watch them.

He could have done this for hours! We spent the next couple of days playing, coloring, reading books...

...watched more lambs & had fun trying to feed them corn - even though most of the corn ended up on the ground!?

On Saturday evening we dyed eggs for the"Easter bunny"with my nieces Kyra, Joslyn & nephew Lane. My sister-in-law & I were talking about Pinterest & all the cute Easter egg ideas on there & then we started talking about what produced the brightest colored eggs - the dye tablets that come with the kits or food coloring? So we put our skills to the test, tried both & it was determined that the food colored eggs were by far the brightest. 

This was Mason's 1st time dying eggs & didn't quite get the concept of it so Mommy stepped in to help. We did 4 eggs - each with our initials on it & one extra for the doggies.

Later after all the kids went to bed, the Easter bunny's "helpers" stuffed plastic eggs with candy for the Easter egg hunt the next morning. The "Easter bunny" hid them all outside early Easter morning & the kids had so much fun finding them all. It didn't take Mason long to figure out what this egg hunt was all about. He watched his cousin's picking up these oval shaped objects, putting them in their baskets & before long he was picking them up himself.

And yes, my kid is still in his PJ's....classy I know :)

Later that morning Mason discovered his Easter basket & loved going through it pulling out all the fun stuff inside. He got crayons, a coloring book, a stuffed lamb, a baby chick that chirps when sitting in your hand, a wind-up bunny that hops, bubbles, 2 books & eggs filled with vanilla goldfish:

Around 11:30am, my grandparents, aunt, uncles, a few cousins & our dear family friend Mary Ellen came over & my mom ended up making an amazing Easter lunch. We all stuffed our bellies full but not too full for dessert. As always, their is dessert after every meal in my mom's house which this time was coconut cake & cupcakes which were oh so yummy:

I may or may not have went back for 2nd's....maybe even 3rd's :)

We spent the rest of the day being lazy, watched more sheep, blew our new bubbles outside & got everything ready to head back to KS in the morning. 

We left super early Monday morning & the trip back to Kansas went just as smoothly as the trip to SD. Mason is such a good little traveler! We were sad that Shane wasn't able to spend the weekend with us but managed to have a great time with my family. Mason loved being on the farm & we are looking so forward to coming back at the end of August.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter & was able to spend some time with their own families!!

Throwback Thursday Stories

Today I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner who has linked up with The Mom Creative for the first installment of Throwback Thursday Stories. I have decided that I need to add a little more spice & flair to my blog as it has become pretty boring the past couple of months. I contribute that to working full-time, being a full-time mommy, wife & along with all my other domestic duties. Doesn't leave much time for a social life or for blogging but I am working on it!

So every Thursday I am going to try & post a new "Throwback Thursday" photo along with a little story behind the photo. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what "Throwback Thursday" means, it is when you post a picture from a "while" ago on your social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. I always enjoy seeing everyone's pictures from years ago so I am hoping you will enjoy seeing mine as well. Trust me - there are some interesting & crazy photos out there in my collection to share with you all!

Today's TBT photo was taken back in 1996:

Wow - hard to believe that was over 18 years ago! I remember taking this picture like it was yesterday. This was taken in Columbia, SC at Providence Hospital which was my very first "real" job out of college. We are all posing with our lovely lead aprons since we worked in x-ray all day long in the Cardiac Cath lab. I absolutely loved the print on my lead apron...it was a jungle theme & had the cutest little monkey's, elephants & giraffe's on it. I have always regretted not stealing taking that lead with me when I left.

I spent 5 wonderful years working at this hospital & learned SO much about myself, about work ethic & about being out on my own. The girls with me from left-right are Stacey, Michelle & Amy. Us three girls did everything together those 5 years that I lived there & it was SO very sad when I left our little group & moved to Kansas City. 

To this day, these 3 girls are still very near & dear to my heart & we have remained very close - even after 18 years! I refer to this group of friends as my "SC girls". Stacey & Michelle still live in SC & Amy has since moved to PA. Even though we don't see each other as often as we would like, with social media like Facebook & Instagram we are able to always keep tabs on each other & check in with each other whenever we want.

1st Haircut

Well it's official: at 14 months old Mason had his 1st haircut. He went from looking like a baby boy to a BIG boy in less than 5 minutes. 

***cue the tears***

Up until the day of, I had mixed emotions about getting his haircut as did my husband. I kept telling myself it is just hair, it will grow back. Except I wasn't really upset about it growing back. I was more upset of the fact that the hair on his head had been growing since he was a newborn & I was about to have it all cut off. As well as the fact that you can't change the remarkable transformation that occurs from baby to little boy when they get their first haircut.  

Sounds silly I know, but at the time it seemed like a big deal. That crazy, curly, matted mess in the back of his head was starting to resemble a mullet & was needing some serious attention so it was getting to be time.

We ended up taking Mase to a cute little kids salon called Sugar & Spice. They have a "1st haircut package" that included a before/after photo, a locket of his hair & a special keepsake certificate for his baby book. The salon had cute little cars & motorcycles for the kids to sit in, TV's at each station with cartoon's playing to distract them & the staff was super nice. 

Mason chose the red car to sit in & remained perfectly still the entire time the girl cut his hair. 

 

She took a tiny bit off the top/sides & took 3 inches off the back. Doesn't he look handsome?

A before pic: Mason's mullet

And a post-mullet pic:

And here is the adorable certificate they made with before & after pics along with a little baggie of his hair in the upper left-hand corner:

And now he's the most handsome little man on the block - in my humble opinion ;) With every new "first" that comes & goes, Mason is becoming more of a little boy & less of my little baby. Yes he looks older after his haircut & yes my heart wants to break a little but I am glad we went through with it & love how it looks!

3-21

Today is 3-21. It is a special date that was chosen as World Down Syndrome Day for its symbolism. The numbers 3 & 21 represent the third copy of chromosome 21 present in Trisomy 21 which is the most common form of Down syndrome.

Today we celebrate all those who are blessed with an extra copy of the 21st chromosome - especially my beautiful niece Dana Jo:

I invite you to help me raise awareness, provide support & recognition of the dignity, rights & well-being of people with Down syndrome across the world as well as their abilities & achievements.

There is so much that we can do as a society to ensure people with Down syndrome have the opportunity to enhance their quality of life, realize their life aspirations & become valued members of welcoming communities.

Remember that ALL life is worthy of dignity & love. 

Happy World Down Syndrome Day - celebrate life!!