Cell Phone Dump

Cell phone dump for the month of June :)

 

The window at Daycare where we wave our goodbyes! Oh & it was Superhero Day :)

Look who got a new bike - Spiderman, of course! 

Looked out the front window one morning & saw these two beautiful animals in the front yard! Now I know where all the bird seed has been going! 

Took the afternoon off for a little pool-time & a cocktail! 

Who got a hair-cut??? This cutie pie :) 

Who knew watching movies inside forts would be so much fun?  

 Fun with co-workers & the Snapchat app!

Taking a stroll around the neighborhood in his truck!

Sick Bubba :(

Bentley (aka: Bubba) is 11 years old now & lately has definitely been showing his age :( He has been slowing way down, has trouble going down the stairs to potty & has been passing out for no reason for the last couple of months. It is pretty scary when he passes out but will usually come to after a long, scary couple of minutes.

It has started to happen more frequently so I decided it was time to make an appointment for him to see the doggie Cardiologist.

Waiting to see the heart vet :)

 

We went to Blue Pearl Vet Specialists (who are amazing by the way) & the vet tech went over everything they were going to do to Bubba to assess his heart & overall health which was an EKG & an Echocardiogram. He was back there for about 30 minutes & then the Cardiologist talked with me about his results.

 

Turns out that Bubba has been passing out due to an irregular heart rhythm called ventricular tachycardia. While he was hooked up to the heart monitor the Dr. said he was in & out of this rhythm quite frequently & definitely explains why he would pass out. Then she told me the Echocardiogram showed he had a cardiomyopathy, right-sided heart failure & coronary artery disease which is all pretty normal for an aging 11 year old bulldogs heart. Add the irregular heart rate to it & it makes for a bad combination. He is at an extremely high risk for sudden death.

 

Luckily for Bubba there is medications he can take to help stop his fast heart rate, to help strengthen his heart muscle & increase his pumping function. And lucky me all his heart medications I can get at Target pharmacy as a generic for $4.00 each - win win!!! He will be sent home with 4 heart medications & we are to go back in a month for another EKG & see if the medications are helping.

 

In the meantime, we will continue to take good care of him, love on him as much as we can & smooch those flaps until it is time for us to say goodbye!!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to one awesome Daddy!

This little boy already looks up to this amazing Daddy & loves to "help" him in the garage & the basement, play Hide & Seek around the house with him & spends many hours "tackling" each other. He loves to ride in Daddy's "big, black truck" & tells everyone he knows that his Daddy works at P.U.S (which is actually UPS :)

Mase made this super cute picture for him at daycare & on the back the teacher asked him several questions & this is how he responded:

1) My Dad's name is: Shane
2) How old is your Dad? 8 years old
3) What do you like to do with your Dad? play with him
4) My Dad is as strong as: the Hulk
5) What is your Dad good at? playing superheroes
6) My Dad likes to eat: yucky stuff
7) My Dad likes to drink: pop
8) What does your Dad do at work? drives the big brown truck with Jason
9) What is something you would like to tell your Dad? that he is silly

SO fun - can't wait to read these back to him when he is much older! Hoping you all had a wonderful Father's Day with the special men in your life!

Date Night

It doesn't happen as often as it should, but this evening the hubby & I had plans for a much-needed date night. I ended up taking a 1/2 day at work today so after lunch I headed to the nail salon for a pedicure & got my toes done in my favorite OPI shade...Cajun Shrimp!

Then I headed home & met my Mommy friend Sara at my pool for a couple of hours of relaxing & cocktails. It made me realize that I should be taking more of these "Heather Days" & soaking up a few hours of time to myself more often!

Awhile back I had gotten concert tickets for the "Lover's Night Out Tour" featuring R&B artists Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill & Joe. Shane & I loved listening to Joe back when we were dating so I thought it would be a fun date night to get tickets & go. I had told a few of my Mommy friends about the concert & they were interested in going as well so we all decided to make it a fun night out.

Mason ended up spending the night at our dear friend Maggie's house so we had the entire evening to whoop it up like we were college kids once again.

I got in from my relaxing afternoon at the pool, got all dressed up for the evening & made our way downtown to the Power & Light District where we met our group.

We clean up nicely :)

My Mama Tribe

 

We made our way into the Sprint center, grabbed a drink, took our seats & patiently waited for the concert to start. It was to start at 8pm & by 9pm it still hadn't started. People were starting to get upset & the crowd was booing.

 

Around 9:10pm the lights go down & the crowd goes wild. We all thought the concert was about to start & then a comedian walks out on the stage & proceeds to tell jokes for 20 minutes. RIDICULOUS!

 

We didn't think the concert was ever going to start. Around 9:45 the concert got going & the first to open was Joe. He was the main person Shane & I cared about seeing out of the 3 groups so I am glad he went first. He is still an amazing singer & sang all of our favorites!

 

After Joe played the comedian came back on again for another 20 minutes. People were starting to get pissed & boo & it was just awkward. Johnny Gill finally came on & he was just ok....nothing too exciting. After he was done here comes the comedian once again....UGH!!! Keith Sweat finally got started around 11:15pm. Half our group decided to head home & Shane & I stayed for 3 songs & bailed out of there ourselves.

 

Overall, the concert was pretty disappointing. I was glad I didn't pay a lot for the tickets & I felt bad for putting everyone through such a horrible concert. Shane kept saying to me throughout the evening "you owe me". It was just awful.

 

Oh well, it was fun to get all dressed up, go out with my man & have a date-night together despite the awful concert! We had fun hanging with the Mama Tribe & a couple of the husbands as well.





Melvern Lake

With a super busy month of May behind us, we finally got to get the RV out & spend a weekend camping! We headed down to Melvern Lake late morning which is about an hour south of where we live so not too far away. We had invited our friends Mike & Kristi along with their 3 kids to join us & they actually have a pontoon that they keep at Melvern Lake so camping & boating were on the agenda!

Once we arrived it only took a couple of hours of setting up camp. We had an awesome site with a ton of room for a tent & room for the kids to play. We hadn't been at this campsite before but as we ventured out & walked around we soon decided it was going to end up being one of our favorites in the future. 

There is a huge fishing pond separate form the lake you could fish in or kayak in, lots of park equipment, walking nature trails, big roomy sites & inexpensive to stay.

I have a sad story to share & after reading this the people of PETA may or may not come after us but honestly there wasn't anything else we could do.

We store our RV about 20 miles south of our house. Shane had gone to pick up the camper early in the morning & brought it to the house so we could load her up with our stuff. As we were loading it up Shane kept complaining that some bird had pooped all over the hitch & caused quite the mess. I didn't think anything of it & honestly just tried to tune him out.

We got going down the road & stopped at the Walmart to get some ice & a few groceries. Shane was checking to see that everything was hooked up correctly & thought he heard a bunch of birds chirping but figured they were in the tree we were parked by. Again thought nothing of it.

We get to the campsite an hour down the road, back our RV in, drop the legs, unhook it from the hitch & we discovered this:

Baby birds inside the hitch pissed off, hungry as hell & chirping at extreme decibel levels. The best part - the Mama was 60 miles away. I felt sick. Shane was upset. Mase had no idea what was going on.

We sat there for an hour googling baby birds, what to do to save them, how to feed them, how to rescue them, how long they would live without food...all the meantime they are chirping extremely loud because they are literally starving to death. It was awful.

 

So with all our research we discovered that:

1) the Mama bird feeds them every 20 minutes during the day

2) they can live 24 hours without food or water

3) you can't give them water from a dropper because they will drown

4) they eat chewed up worms only

5) our baby birds were Robins & were about 10-11 days old

6) holding wild birds in captivity is illegal

 

We both knew deep down what the end result was going to be & unfortunately we didn't want to have to listen to them chirp & die a slow death for the next 24 hours. Especially with the kiddos around.

 

After 2 hours of deliberating what to do a park engineer just so happened to be walking by so we told him our situation & asked what we should do. He offered to call the park ranger & he said he should be able to take care of them for us. About 20 minutes later he shows up with his bucket & shovel & removes the baby birds.

Mason was in the camper watching a movie so he didn't see what was going down outside & our friends hadn't arrived yet so that was good. I couldn't help but feel so sad for these little birds & especially for the Mama who was flying around trying to find her babies. It was SO upsetting & kind of put a damper on the day.

 

The park ranger was able to rescue all 6 babies & drove off with them. I like to think that he took them back to their office where other wildlife is rescued & fed, rehabilitated & raised them until they were ready to fly on their own but deep down we all know what happened to them :(

 

So after that "Debbie-downer" incident we decided to get away from our campsite  for a bit & go for a walk to take our minds off of what just happened & explore the campsite!

Ugh - RIP baby birds.

 

Mike, Kristi & the family ended up getting there around 6pm & we spent the rest of the evening setting up their tent, eating supper, making a campfire, having smores & then sent the littles into the RV to watch a movie so the big kids could hang around the campfire & have a few cocktails!

 

The kiddos went to bed around 11pm while the adults stayed up until at least 1am. We all slept in late the next morning & got a late start to the lake which was a-ok! 

 

Mike & Kristi had bought a brand new pontoon boat last year & keep it slipped at Melvern Lake. So we spent the day Saturday on the boat & had a great time. Shane & Mase even got to drive which Mase thought was super cool!

It was a beautiful day out & we had so much fun hanging with this awesome little family :) 

After we got back to the campsite, we fired up the grill & threw some brats & hotdogs on for supper. We got the kids fed first & while they played the adults got to finally eat! That evening we made more s'mores around the campfire & the kids ended up going to bed earlier than last night as did the adults. For some reason, everyone was super tired?!

Sunday morning we all slept in again, had breakfast & then Kristi & Mike started packing up & made their way home. We ended up hanging around the campsite until mid afternoon so Shane could do some maintenance on the RV.

While he was doing that, Mason & I took a walk & stopped by the lake to throw some rocks into the water. That boy would throw rocks all day if you let him!!

We headed back home around 3pm & said goodbye to Melvern Lake. This campsite & lake area was awesome & we can't wait to book another weekend here in the future!

Cell Phone Dump

 Went in to Children's Place to exchange some jeans for Mase & walked out with 2 cool superhero t-shirts AND tattoos! He is going to be SO excited!!

Me & my Mama - Happy Mother's Day

 

 I walk in on Mase like this a lot while sleeping - LOL! Such a boy!!

It was a beautiful day to fly a kite!

 

Strawberry-picker extraordinaire!


Mother's Day with my little man!

12 years

 

12  - the number of years I have been married to this guy :)

 

And just like that we are celebrating yet another anniversary & 12 years have managed to escape us. It has been a ride full of ups & downs but there is no one I would rather have by my side than this guy! How he puts up with me some days I will never know but am so very thankful he does.

 

Looking forward to another 12 year run X 3 or 4 :)

 

Happy Anniversary to my better half - xoxo







Miss Katie, RN

Miss Katie has been a very important part of our family since Mason was 4 months old. She was Mason's daycare provider in the infant room at his daycare & in the beginning spent more time with my son than I did.



Miss Katie & Miss Alecia with Mase (7 mos old)

Miss Katie would leave at 3pm & then her mom Miss Maggie would take over & they both grew to love our child as if he was their own.

Katie left the daycare in August when Mason was 7 months old & went away to nursing school. Luckily for us she wasn't too far away & would come home on the weekends & babysit for us whenever we needed her. If Katie couldn't do it then her Mom Maggie would.

They were both there for his 1st birthday, have included him in Christmas & birthday presents every year for the last 3 years & have been a part of every milestone in his life. Maggie will ask to keep Mason on a random Friday or Saturday night just to get some one-on-one time with him & because she thinks of him as one of her grandchildren....even though she doesn't have any yet :)

They are such a huge part of our family & we love them so very much! Well, this weekend Miss Katie finally graduated from nursing school! I planned on going to her graduation & last minute had decided to bring Mase as a surprise to the both of them. He was super excited to see Miss Katie graduate & even more excited about the cake & ice cream at her party!

We ended up sitting next to Miss Maggie, her husband & the rest of their family! During the ceremony I don't know who shed more tears....me or Maggie as Katie walked across the stage with her diploma! I was so very happy for her!

After the ceremony we all found Katie outside & she was SO excited to see Mason! We of course had to get a picture with the new graduate & then I ended up taking a few of Katie & her family.

Miss Maggie, Miss Katie & Randy

Afterwards we all headed to BB's Grill for Katie's graduation party & Mason was excited to finally get to eat his cake & ice cream....along with about 4 of those pretzel sticks - LOL :)

Lucky for us Katie is working at a hospital nearby in the Labor & Delivery department so we will be able to see her often. She may not be able to babysit as often but we have already been informed by Miss Maggie that she is available anytime!!!

We are so very lucky to have these two amazing ladies in our life & continue to be blessed by their friendship, their kindness & the love they have for our Mase Man!

Stitch Fix #6

Stitch Fix #6 arrived today & I was SO excited to see what was inside that white & green box. Sadly, I wasn't impressed with the findings inside :(

I checked out everything & finally got around to trying everything on a few days later but was in a hurry because I had to get what I wasn't keeping in the mail the next day.

 

Needless to say, I didn't take any photos (which I am glad to have spared you) & only ended up keeping the mint green shirt which I wore to a graduation the next day (more on the graduation in a future post).

I don't know...lately I have gotten really frustrated & discouraged with Stitch Fix! I just feel like the items in the box never work for me & the items are a bit overpriced. I usually end up keeping one thing as to not lose my $20 fee & sometimes I don't even love that one item. I have been thinking of taking a little "break" this summer from requesting anymore packages. I am having much better luck shopping at Nordstrom Rack for 1/2 the cost of stuff that I know I am going to like & wear!

 

Maybe I will start up again this fall when I am in need of some cute sweaters or booties but until then you will more than likely find me shopping at Nordstrom Rack :) If you don't happen to have a NR then let me take a minute to express my condolences.

Strawberry Picking

It is May & around here that means that the strawberry farms are open & ready for picking!! We made our way down to Gieringer's Orchard & Berry Farm today to pick some strawberries & had the BEST time!

 

We had never been to this farm before so we were unsure what to do but quickly figured it out! We were handed a cardboard tray, instructed how to pick the strawberries off the plants, were escorted to a row & told "happy picking"!



After a few minutes had passed, these two were pros & our tray started to fill up quickly!

 

 

 My boys doing a little "taste-testing"

 

After about an hour of strawberry-picking we had a full tray & made our way to the check-out booth.



They weighed our tray & we ended up having over 11 lbs of yummy, red goodness! I was so excited to get home & start making some goods with all our berries!

Once we arrived home, I washed all the strawberries & got to work. I ended up making 12 jars of strawberry jam & some Strawberry Crisp for dessert after supper - YUM!

Even after making all that, we had about 4 lbs of strawberries leftover which didn't take long to eat up. I had plans to go back to pick more berries so I could make more jam but sadly we never did get back & then the strawberry picking season was over. They have blackberries available to pick but unfortunately, I am not a fan of blackberries. In the fall they have peaches so we may head back & pick some of those.

We had so much fun picking strawberries for the first time & can't wait until next year to come back & pick more!

Mother's Day Weekend

It's Friday & it's Mothers Day weekend!! I am so excited that my own Mother is coming to visit for the weekend & as an added bonus, her sister - my Aunt Jan - is also coming to visit us from Atlanta.

 

My mom arrived yesterday & today we are picking up my Aunt Jan at the airport & road-tripping to Fort Riley, KS. My Mom & her sister Jan both lived on the base with their husbands & were also pregnant together during that time. Sadly, my Aunt had complications with her pregnancy & ended up delivering her baby boy too early. He passed away 5 months before I was born & is buried there in the Fort Riley cemetery. My Aunt hasn't seen his gravesite since he passed so this trip we were making was a very special one.

 

After we picked up my Aunt we made our way down I-70 & had a couple of hours to catch up in the car. I just LOVED listening to my mom & Aunt - they love like sisters & bicker like sisters & it was super entertaining to listen to :)

 

We arrived at the base early afternoon & it was quite the ordeal trying to actually get on the base. Took us about 45 minutes of filling out paperwork, getting our pictures taken & cleared to get on the base but we jumped through all the hoops & were on our way in no time.

 

Once we drove through the gates, we drove past Irwin Army Hospital which was the hospital I was born in as well as my cousin. They are presently building a new hospital up the road & sadly will be soon tearing down the old hospital. It was kind of neat to see my place of birth & know that 43+ years ago my mom & her sister were living their lives here on the base together.

 

We found the cemetery & it didn't take us long to find my cousin's little gravesite. My mom & I bought a bouquet of white roses & baby's breath for my Aunt to lay at the gravesite & they ended up being a beautiful addition to the site.

As we were looking at the gravesite my Aunt pointed out that they don't put the mother's name on the faceplate - only the fathers name. What the heck? That just seems all sorts of messed up to me.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day & the cemetery there on the base was so quiet & beautiful. I sat quietly behind my Aunt while she sat at her sons' gravesite & just took in the moment. I enjoyed listening to my Aunt & Mom share stories & reminisce about their pregnancies, my cousins birth, their time there together. It was an amazing couple of hours that I will never forget.

We left the cemetery late afternoon & started to make our way back to Kansas City. Once we got back to our house we all ate supper & just chilled the rest of the evening. It was such a nice afternoon & was thankful for the one-on-one time with my Mom & Aunt.

 

Saturday morning came & we all had a lazy morning of sleeping in & eating a late breakfast. My brother & his family were coming over in the evening for supper along with my good friend Stetson & his wife so we spent the day hanging around the house & getting the food prepped for later.  

 

Everyone arrived late afternoon & we grilled hamburgers & had lots of yummy sides. Since the weather was nice & sunny out, we all gathered outside on our patio & ate supper out there. We all had a great time catching up & eating good food. Then it was time for dessert....



 

My amazing friend Stetson delivered once again - White Chocolate Raspberry & Chocolate Caramel Cheesecakes & YES - they tasted just as amazing as they looked.

It was awesome seeing my brother, his family & catching up with them all. Even though he only lives an hour away from me, it seems life is always getting in the way of seeing each other more often.

Sunday - Happy Mother's Day!!! It was so nice having my Mom here to celebrate this special day with. I can't tell you the last time I was actually with my Mom for Mother's Day.

We all woke up early, got showered & made our way to church. After an awesome service, Shane took us Mom's out for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants - Jack Stack Barbeque.

My Aunt Jan & my Mom

We stuffed ourselves full on ribs, burnt ends, baked beans & fries - YUM! Then once we got home we posed for some Mama's Day pictures....

 Me & my sweet little Man!
 

 We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the covered patio, drinking coffee & playing a few games of Scrabble while enjoying the afternoon rain showers going on around us. It was a super relaxed, awesome Mother's Day.

My little Scrabble-helper

 

 Keeping score :)

 

Sadly tomorrow morning these ladies are heading back to their homes while I am heading back to work :( It was been such a great weekend hanging with family & am looking forward to seeing these two lovely ladies in South Dakota over the 4th of July weekend.