Welcome....

Don't Bother Wiping Your Shoes

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas 2009: What it's like to be Jason's wife...

I should have known....things like this happen to us on a regular basis. Why wouldn't we have an "incident-free" holiday?

Christmas morning, J got off work from the fire-station and headed through the snow-covered city to get to his parents house so he could put Riv's present (a battery powered Princess Toyota FJ Cruiser) in the back of his truck and bring it home. We stored it there so she wouldn't ever guess we had it :).

7am: Jason calls. Our dirt road is completely covered in a 6 foot snow drift and the nose of his jacked up big-wheeled Deisel engine 4x4 Dodge is buried in the drift. He didn't realize how deep it was. There's no other way in or out of our road due to the bridge over the river being washed away in a flood 2 years ago. There's nothing he can do but start walking home in a wind-chill below zero. I sat by the window, sipping my coffee, wondering if someone was going to steal her gift out of the back of the truck. Who, on Christmas morning, was going to come plow our road? Finally I saw him walking down the road. Trudging through the snow, half frozen. After he made it inside, he fell onto the kitchen floor and thawed out. We hesitated but didn't know of any other option but to call our good friend and neighbor, Mr. Winzer, for help. They managed to cross a couple fields, through several creek beds, through several cattle gates and meandered their way to the highway that our road comes off of. The took both trucks and the gift in the back of one back through the way they came, only for our Mowing Truck to lose it's 4x4 and get stuck. (It's an old "piece" if ya know what I mean...) But, alas, he got the gift home, thanks to Mr. W and Riv recieved her gift on Christmas morning.

Now, Mr. W is a wonderful man with a wonderful family, but he and J are two of a kind. This is why they get along so well. They live in the same world :)

Later on, Christmas afternoon, J saw Mr. W and his wife driving down our road.

"Wonder where they are going..." I said.
"I know what they're doing. They just want to see how far they can get down the road before they get stuck." J says. Jason then goes to get the tow ropes and chains and by the time he catches up with the Winzer's, they're stuck :) You see, two peas in a pod! Karen feels me, right?

Later on that evening Mr. W came over for a Christmas dinner and fellowship. My dad was able to come as well, since the plows were able to make it down our road at about 4pm. Jason's dad came out as well and put his turkey carving skills to good work...and he also brought some chocolates :). At the end of the evening, I think J decided he would figure out his stuck-truck situation the next day.

So, today, Jason figured he should probably go see if he can get his Mowing Truck out of the field it's in and at least get it home to fix the 4WD. Heading out, he remembers the winter storm wind took his ground blind and blew it almost into the river. Well, with Jason's luck, why wouldn't you go cross-country in a field with snow drifts to try and recover it...I mean, that ground blind is soooo much more important than a truck, right?

(Are feelin' me here? THIS is what it's like to be Jason's wife ;)

Yes, his truck gets stuck in a huge snow drift. So, of course he needs help getting out. It's Mr. W's property, so naturally, him and his always-willingness-to-help-Jason-out-of-a-really-bad-situation good heart, decides to get his 4WD vehicle and help pull J out. Well, what do ya know, the tow rope pulls off a hitch on the bumper and a power-steering somethin' or other, etc....

It's 12:40, I don't know what my husband and Mr. W are doing right now, but I'm going to stop worrying about. They'll figure it out. They always do. Who knows what they'll conjour up to get themselves out of this pickle, this time...I'm just glad we have such good friends who live so close and who we can always help get out of certain pickles since they get us out of certain pickles...

And this is only 2 days worth of "pickles"...
Merry Christmas Winzers, we love all of you!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

THE POWER OF SIN

Impression...on my mind
Seduction...the temptation, way too blind
Interruption...of my life's path
Suppresion...of pain, my emotionl wrath
Corruption...of my heart
Damnation...is bound to start
Vegetation...of my soul
The Completion...of one big painful hole. - Kendra

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light...the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

Monday, November 16, 2009

a dream i had last night

We were on a boat, a really nice one. It was me, Jason and someone else. In another boat was a driver, another person, and Michael Jackson. We were racing them. We turned real sharp and all of our cows in diapers flew into the ocean. We turned back around to rescue them and as the guys were pulling the cows into the boat I was trying to explain to them why we should just keep the soaking wet diapers they were wearing on them and save the clean, dry ones because the wet ones could still contain "things" until we got to dry land. Then when there was no chance of the cows falling overboard, we'd put the dry ones on.

Friday, November 6, 2009

convo's with Riv

River: Mommy, we made omelets at school today.
Mommy: ooh yum. did you use eggs and cheese?
River: yes.
Mommy: did you put some ham in it?
River: No, we put hog in it.

Riv' BF Jenna: Dinosaurs are real but unicorns aren't.
Riv: Yeah, there's no more dinosaurs. Some people think a meteor killed 'em.
BF Jenn: They probably ate each other up.
Riv: Yeah, or a earth-crack got 'em. Do you know what a earth-crack is?
(Me: laughing so hard inside I didn't hear the rest of the conversation.)

Me: Who helped you with this project at school?
Riv: Miss D.
Me: Which one is she?
Riv: the perfect one.
me: Why is she perfect?
Riv: She's not fat like Mrs.* She's not really really old like Mrs. ** and she doesn't have a really big forehead like Ms. ***.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

When God answers a prayer

Yesterday, something wonderful happened. God's grace is amazing! Lately, Riverlyn is starting to understand prayer and how to pray. And when she prays, she has such faith! Well, it was raining outside and Riverlyn wanted to go outside with her umbrella. I was feeding the baby in the nursery. After being out in the rain for just a couple of minutes it started pouring. I could imagine her trying to get in the door with the cold rain beating down on her as her precious 5 year old hands try to open the door and get the umbrella in. It simply wasn't going to happen. That's when I hear her open the door just a little and holler at me inside to come help her. I couldn't respond before the door slammed shut. She couldn't hear me now. I was going to tell her to put the umbrella down and just hurry inside. So, that's I started to pray "God, she has so much faith in you! Lord, please let her say a prayer and ask you to stop the rain so you can stop the rain and just give her a light of your existence and love for her."

Then, immediately, the rain completely stopped. It was dead silent. The door opened, she came in and wiped her feet. Her feet pitter-pattered through the house and she ran into the nursery huffing and puffing. "Mommy! It started raining really hard and I couldn't get inside so I asked God to stop the rain so I could come inside. And He did! He made it stop!"

And this is just one of many prayers He has answered immediately like that for me.

We were created to love and be loved.
He is our Father. Do you want to be His child?

Pray for your children! Pray for their health, relationships and safety. Pray for their hearts and ask the Lord to let them feel the Holy Spirit and know it! Pray for help from the Lord to guide you as you raise your children. And always, pray with them and encourage them to pray.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

my loves...
















Okay, so I'm totally skipping out on my chance to take a shower just to update this darned blog. Here some more baby pics! She's 4 weeks old now! Can you believe it?










Quick birth story:
Early that morning my back had the familiar back ache...I figured today would be the day, so...I took a shower, put make-up on :), checked my bags and got ready just in case...then the contractions started very mild. I pulled River out of school early, took her to in-laws, and waited for J to get off work. Contractions were getting closer but nothing I couldn't talk through. He got off work and we decided to go to the hospital to see if they wanted me to stay, if they did we'd call family and let them know. They said stay. We officially checked in 5:30 pm. They said I could get the pain meds whenever I was ready but I didn't want it too soon and decided to get it when I just couldn't take it anymore. At 8:25 I said I was ready, she checked me and I was at a 6 and 100%. We were waiting for the epidural-giver and the dr. called. Said she was on her way and to go ahead and break my water. As soon as my water broke, she turned me on my side to get ready for the pain meds. That's when I said she's coming now and the nurse freaked out. There was no time for anything, no dr., no pain meds, no time for scrubs to be put on, i started pushing as they were telling me not to. Screw them, that's what my body was telling me to do! At 8:44 she announced herself as a dr. from another part of the hospital slid in to catch her just in time. (J was there just in case though :) )





Friday, September 25, 2009

Monday, September 21, 2009


It's not quite finished yet but I wanted to put her name out there now.
She'll be here soon!
Tekoah Rose: hebrew; trumpet blast
Biblical place on a hill.
Birthplace of Amos.
Only olive oil from this place was allowed in the Holy Temple.
Riverlyn picked her middle name.

Monday, September 14, 2009

updates...

Well, baby girl is not here yet. On nights when J is on duty I'm staying at my mother-in-laws in case labor comes in the middle of the night. Considering I live about 30 miles away from the hospital! 12 days away from my due date.

Hey everyone, I've been facebooking and trying to keep up on here so if you have a facebook come befreind me. I tend to go there more often now. And I'm pretty sure I won't be having any journal entries from this year's bowhunting season. If I do it probably won't be until December.

Hope the next time I post here it'll be a birth announcement!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

4 weeks left. My freind Kelly has 5 weeks left. My freind Michele has 3 weeks left.

Good times.

Friday, August 21, 2009

5 weeks left!

Yes,we are nearing the end of the worst pregnancy ever. Would you believe I'm still puking! I have no idea how I've gained any weight but doc says I'm super healthy.

So, I've missed my blog! That stupid Facebook. Sometimes it's cool, but sometimes it's so stupid! Quizzes are funny....catching up, making conversation, etc., is cool. Receiving a "smile" and a "flower" ???? huh? That's one of the cheesiest things ever. Facebook "smiles and flowers and stars" are like when e-mail first came about and people forwarded those messages that said if they didn't forward it they would wind up dead in an alley or monkey would fly through windshield.

Oh wait...

People still do that huh?

Losers!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Almost....there......

6 weeks to go 'til baby girl gets here! And in that 6 weeks I have 2 baby showers, 3 birthdays, school starts, Wednesday night fellowship starts, YoungLives Club, Luncheons at Southeast, Riv's dance class starts, and hopefully I will remember 2 anniversaries...which I probably won't. so...Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad, Happy anniversary Kacy and Danny. Oh yeah, and I have to let my sister leave me. She's moving to Iowa. I will miss her!

So which one would YOU cut out if you were me and 6 weeks left to go in a pregnancy.

( Oh yeah, and, I'm taking care of group of chickens while our neighbors down the road are out of town. ) chickens bring me great joy. I would NEVER have chickens of my own, but I love it when I get to boss them around. They have their own little personalities and attitudes. Remember the movie chicken run? That is exactly how chickens are. Hope the 'coons stay away 'til the owners get back. I don't want to deal with chicken parts. I get to eat all the farm eggs that are laid this week!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Random Updates...

7 weeks left until we meet our baby girl! Sure wouldn't mind if she came a little early!

Our camera broke about a month ago and we decided we'd get a new one but haven't gotten around to it yet...so therefore, I have no pictures to post. :(

Riverlyn starts the Early Childhool Education program at Bluestem Elementary School in Leon this fall. She turns 5 after the cutoff so she can't go to kindergarten. Instead she gets to be a Peer Model Student for her ECE class. It's quite the honor though as they only accept 4 Peer Model Students each year. She will be helping the other kids in the class who might be a little slower at learning and she'll set the examples of how to act in line, and how to follow directions, etc. I think this will perfect for her to use her leadership skills and self-esteem, and also to learn compassion for children that learn slower.

Loki, our boy boxer has doggy lupus. Hehehe. It sounds funny huh? But it's not really. Poor guy lost all his pigment in his face and his nose peels. This kind of lupus is an auto-immune disease. His body's immune system attacks it's own skin cells ultimately killing them. Luckily, it's treatable.

Kylie, bless her heart has lost 3 grandparents in the last 9 months and her grandfather left her grandmother. She's coping good...they were all much older and I guess it wasn't completely unexpected. I took her school clothes shopping today. Just me and her, no River tag-a-long and no daddy, just her and I. It was fun. She's getting to the age of being very trendy and particular about things and it made me excited to go shopping for myself here in about...oh....a year. Ya know, post-baby body....

Well my garden is finally taking off. I'm glad I didn't plant it as large as last year. Harvesting is tough, squatting, bending over, drenched in sweat, all while pregnant. Not ideal. Needless to say, Jason has really been doing alot of the garden work. It irritates me when I can't do my things I always do but ya know, baby is worth it of course!

YoungLives will be a little akward this year...it will definitely take a little while to figure out what I can and can't do with River's school schedule in Leon and meeting the girls in Wichita. Anyhow, WOW how God is doing amazing things with this ministry. When I first started doing it last fall my friend told me how some of these pregnant and parenting teens would just break your heart. Well, I totally get it. Some break your heart because you see them not wanting Christ in their lives. Then the others break your heart because you see how sweet and loving they are and they're trying their hardest to learn all about Jesus and learning how to raise their babies with love. It's wonderful. I might be going to a different group of girls this year which will be awesome, but I will miss a few that I was just getting to know so greatly!

Well, enough about the Nelson homefront. I'll try to post more consistently for my family regarding baby stuff.

ttfn

Monday, July 13, 2009

I hear wedding bells

This is my dad (he could never deny me, hehe!) and his fiance Tobe. He proposed and she said yes! Dad will soon be moving to Wellington and I will soon have a new step-mom and 2 step-brothers. It's another chapter in Del's book of life.

Congratulations Dad and Tobe!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Just touchin' base

Isn't this cute?I finally bought the nursery bedding. I ran across this at Bass Pro. You might get a better view at bassproshops.com.


Thursday, July 2, 2009

I before E except after C

We are off to Tablerock again. This has to be the last time this summer I have to travel for 4 hours in a car while preggo. Happy Independence Day everyone! Cherish it now; with Obama as president, your independence will soon be gone.

Oh yeah...I've been wanting to point this out for quite some time now but haven't gotten around to it. Why do I coninually spell the word "friends" wrong? I always spell it "freinds." Don't ask me....I just always have and probably always will as long as I type it. Now, if I write it I don't misspell it. Wierd huh? Did I spell wierd right? See, the thing is my fingers have a super hard time allowing me to make one hand type the "i" key before the "e" key so it's just a lot easier to just keep my flow and keep on typing. So, this is my disclaimer. I know how to spell f-r-i-e-n-d. But I may just choose to type it however it comes out. K?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Nesting may be setting in.

In the last two days I have
1. Gone through and cleaned out Riv's closet, dresser and toys, bought bunkbeds so the girls can sleep in the same room when Kylie's here;

2 Went through my closet, dresser, shoes, linens and towels;

3. Went through all winter stuff;

4. Packed up clothes in tubs to keep for baby girl when she's 4 and 5.

I ended up with 5 large trashbags of clothes / stuff for the Goodwill Store.

Mission Accomplished.
Next Mission??
Get Jason to load it in the truck,
Get Jason to put together bunkbeds,
Get Jason to go through his winter clothes in what is soon to be baby's closet,
Get Jason to put crib together.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Happy Anniversary honey!

Bowfishing on Tablerock Lake, MO 24 weeks pregnant. ( I never caught anything....imagine that...) J was soooo patient with me as I had to look in every cove possible. He went as slow as possible for the whole day so I could get something and the chance never came.
I fished in this raft at the mouth of the Roaring River because the boat was too big to get to the good spots. I did bowfish here...which was pretty funny. I shot my arrow only to hit the bottom of the river. When I retrieved it, the broadhead was gone. After assuming it broke off upon impact, we found it on the floor of the boat. Which means it wasn't screwed on tight enough, so it fell off. Good thing I didn't get a fish, there was no arrow to kill it. Hehehe! Happy Anniversary baby. I can't believe I kept you around for the last six years. Or vice versa. (j/k)




Whoa! Where's this hottie's face at?



Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A special girl



This is my friend C. I met her as a mentor through YoungLives. She just turned 18, graduated high school, and her daughter just turned 1. God placed her in my life. On graduation day I took her to get her hair done. She graduated with an infant and she deserved something special. I pray for C everyday that she would feel the presence of the Holy Spirit knocking on her heart's door. I pray she allows Christ in so that He can start leading her down the path He has for her and her daughter.
Love you C!

Several posts in 1...because I'm leaving town for 4 days to find my sanity and celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary on Table Rock Lake

Kylie was in town last weekend and all last week. One night the girls spent the night with Mimi so Jason and I had a night alone. I've been soooooo busy with stuff I left 2 days worth of dishes in the sink because I simply wasn't available to get them done. I've never left a sink full of dishes overnight, much less 2 days worth. So, my husband took it upon himself on our "night alone" to build a dish assemblage. I have to say, being an artist, I'm super impressed! The bowl on top was a challenge, but he finally got it to stay.








Sisters in Mimi's pool
Summer fun: washing the camper and playing in the water hose. (Only my husband washes the camper...he must get it from his dad.)

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Tonight, I'm completely overwhelmed. So much to do, so many appointments and dates to keep, and so little time to do it. It seems like no matter what the situation, there's something that's going to be physical challenge and I'm not used to having these physical challenges. Yesterday I realized I was out of dog food; so I went to the store to get a small bag since J wasn't there to carry the 44 lb. bag. Of course the oh-so-lovely Wal-Mart of Augusta didn't have any small bags, but I have to drive 11 miles to the nearest shopping center so I was NOT about to turn around. When I got to the pet aisle and realized that I would have to get a big bag of food, I had to walk ALL THE WAY back to the front of the store and get a basket. Considering my day had already consisted of picking up the house, cleaning the kitchen, doing 2 loads of laundry, taking Kylie back to Emporia and driving back, cleaning out the girls arts and craft cabinet, and texting countless texts to a teen girl having a crisis, the very last thing I wanted to do was walk all the way across the store again.

But I did, waddling like a penguin on tennis balls the whole way. The days worth of "stuff" along with gravity was setting in. I managed to get the bag of food pushed into the basket from the shelf. When I got to the truck with the food, my husband's already too large truck on a lift was just the right height to heave and ho the bag of food to the floor board (which was level with the top of the basket.)

When I arrived home, I then had to feed the dogs. I looked at the bag of food, realized there was no way I could actually lift the bag, I just ripped it open from frustration, filled up the dog bowls and just left it there, in the hot smoldering heat of a closed up vehicle. I didn't even care. I just had to remind myself to tell J it was there the next day.

And this is how every day has seemed to be for the last month. Today was just as crazy with one truck getting tires put on leaving me to drive the mowing truck (hilarious if you only knew the details...but that's another post...), a quick trip into Wal-Mart to grab some dancing tights for Riv's dance rehearsal, dance rehearsal starting at 9am, not ending until 3pm, all which included pictures, hair, make-up, tap dancing outfit changes, blah-blah-blah, then, I miss C's graduation party. When I got home, I still had to do the normal duties. So here it is 11pm and I have church tomorrow (which I feel obligated to go because I've missed the last few Sundays due to out of town trips and previous exhausting days) then all the hair, make-up and outfit changes for the dance recital tomorrow evening. Then I get to start Monday with just as much "stuff" to do.

By the looks of my calendar, I think I'll have August to start planning for baby. Exhausting.

I'm exhausted.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Shell Knob, Missouri

Yeah, so I don't know what got into me with that last post. Lack of "posting material" I guess.

I'm at Tablerock Lake this weekend. One of my favorite places! It's so beautiful here. The people are nice as can be...but they are true hillbillies. They can't drive, they can't talk, dress, or spell here...but dang they sure do love to be friendly! . Jason and I saw a sign and this is what it said in spray painted letters: FIRER WOOD

Hilarious. But they're politeness and friendliness are so great!

I got my first real sunburn of the season. I bought SPF 50 and made sure to cover every inch of skin. I get real dark but not first thing coming out of winter and spring. Then, I covered the girls. I kept reapplying it to them and forgot to reapply on myself. My back and my chest are bright red...just what I needed, more uncomfortableness.

J and I have been fishing almost non-stop since we've been here. OF COURSE, I haven't caught a thing. But, he's only caught 3 little bass so I don't feel so bad. I hear this is a tough lake to fish.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Just for fun! this is cheesy.

So I was thinking about "life" the other day and how much has changed in my life and how much I have changed ( for the better!) and all the things that made me who I am. I was thinking about some things in my life that people might not know about. Here's some things about me and my life that you find interesting; and if you are reading this, tell me things about you that not a lot of people know.

1. I'm a black belt in TaeKwonDo (I have both ACL reconstruction surgeries to prove it!) I got to train with the Olympic head coach, and the Olympic team while we lived in Colorado. Then we got stationed to good ole' Kansas. I haven't done TaeKwonDo in 10 years.

2. I can put both feet behind my head (well, when I'm NOT pregnant I can.)

3. I got to be a co-driver in my Papa's semi-truck when he hauled a load of beef from Oklahoma to Missouri. His handel was "The Dutchman," mine was "grasshopper legs." My NeeNaw and my sister stayed in bunk of the cab and colored the whole time.

4. I started school in Japan and didn't move to the U.S until I was 10.

5. I can count in English, Spanish, Japanese and Korean.

6. I've only put any type of color in my hair twice in my whole life; about 5 years apart from each other. Then I realized how materialistic and stupid I was to actually spend that much money on hair only to have to turn around and spend the same amount to touch it up again 6 weeks later. No thanks. Thank you God for my blonde hair.

7. I got my nails done at a Salon once. No wait, twice. Once for prom, they were gone by morning, and once for my wedding. They didn't hold up so well on the 4-wheeling excursion and the river rafting trip on our honeymoon. Plus, those things hurt. It's not in my nature to put plastic on me to make me look good when in reality it's stupid expensive, you can't do everyday household duties, and you sure as heck can't have any fun with them on. Quite frankly, I keep my nice, strong, healthy nails just that way by not covering them in glue and ripping them apart.

8. I think this post turned into a rant...woops!

9. I'm a mentor to pregnant and parenting teens.

10. I thrive in 110 degree weather.

11. I got suspended in 7th grade for depantsing someone in gym class.

12. I've been in a lot of fights, all but one was inside the ring while sparring. When I was 12 I got my butt kicked by my 40 year old grandmaster. It was all in training for the Junior Olympic Team.

13. I designed my wedding ring.

14. I can have conversations with my dogs. Really. They talk back too.

15. I, Me, Kendra, the one writing this, actually held an office job. Once in a bank (where I actually moved up the ladder!) and once for my father-in-law's investment firm. Can you believe it? I did that.

16. I, Kendra, am hosting a baby shower for my way cool new freind K* who's having a boy and is due 6 days after me. Me! I'm going to plan a baby shower. This is huge people. But I will not do my hair and nails for it. Sorry. But we are going to rock n' roll this party, because K* rocks.

17. I have one brother who's a vegetable and has been for the last 13 years. (Brain annurysm ) sp?

18. I have another brother who was emmancepated (sp?) at 16, spent time in prison and we don't even know if he's alive most of the time. (It's a step-brother, I must clarify, there's no blood relation.)

19. I grow my own vegetables. And I eat them.

20. I have a husband who blows every man out of the water in terms of manliness. YESSSSS!!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Held accountable by my 4 year old

Driving in the car:
Kendra: (looking in the rear view mirror): "Geez lady, do you want to eat my bumper?"
Riv: What's wrong mommy?
Kendra: This lady is riding my rear-end! I can barely see her car at all and that's dangerous! Back off lady!"

I turn at the stoplight, the lady keeps goin down the road.

Kendra: UUHHH! Finally, geez!
Riv: Do you forgive her mommy?

Monday, May 4, 2009

My new fishin' pole, and the gags

Where's the motivation? Where's the excitement? We tried so long to have another child so I should be sooo happy. Don't get me wrong. I'm so thankful for my soon-to-be-here new daughter. I just can't shake the ickiness feeling! I've been doing so good the last few weeks and then on Thursday I puked ALL DAY. The baby is really in an odd spot making it hard to sit for more than 5 minutes, but yet the back ache is already starting so I can't stand for too long either. Driving anywhere from my middle-of-nowhere house takes at least 10-15 minutes to get to the nearest town and that's almost all I can handle.

J tried to cheer me up yesterday and it worked, until it was over. He got me a new fishing rod and reel. It's the Ugly Stick. I've been wanting one for awhile so we planned a fishing trip to the pond yesterday. After we got the line strung and River's pole set up with a hook and worm that we dug up, that girl caught 3 fish ALL BY HERSELF! She's always been a good caster, but she's never had the feeling of casting by herself, catching a fish and reeling it all the way in all on her own. She was yelling like a champion everytime she got one. "Daddy, I got one! Daddy, Daddy, I got one!" Of course we won't let her take the hook out of the fish's mouth yet, that's a little too dangerous still. We're still working on getting her to hold the fish the right way to get the hook out. I think that might a little while coming yet. Jason (the sucker) caught fish everytime he casted. (Is it cast, or casted?) I think we stopped counting at 20. He used lures all day. I put shad on my pole and let it sit on the bottom, then used the old pole with lures. I wanted to get a catfish but none of us caught catfish yesterday. Jason's pole he had shad on didn't catch any either so I didn't feel too bad. :) In fact, I only caught 5 all day long. But we won't talk about that. We all caught bass, and only just a couple were of any relevant size. We threw them all back. River was not happy we weren't going to have a fish fry. So, that's an excuse for another very soon family fishin' trip.

I think this was the happiest I've felt for awhile. Truly enjoying myself, my mind was taken off the fact that I'm so uncomfortable. I love seeing my daughter coming into herself and her personality. She's so diverse and I love that.

Then we realized it was 7pm. It was a school night, we hadn't dinner yet, there was a bath to be had, and Jason still had to load up his trailer. So we called it quits. I went to bed pretty darn happy, and super excited to go fishin' again. Then this morning, it's all about fighting the gags. Yea. At least the sun is shining.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

IT'S A GIRL!!

The doc says these are girl parts. This is the only time you'll see genitals on my blog. You have my word.

Check out these long legs...definitely our child.


We'll name her "birdman"
...or "skeletor"







Or we could just call her "skeletor birdman"
"I see you lookin' at me!"

Monday, April 27, 2009

Wish'd I couldda jumped bail, too.

Check out my sister's blog, http://thepioneerslovemaynard.blogspot.com . Kacy is cRRrraAzZy.

Yeah, that's what we do for fun in the country.

Hope you can find calf 129. or whatever # it was.

Oh yeah, and I'm really jealous Kacy. Bummer I couldn't jump bail with ya'll. I'm pretty sure my preggo belly wouldn't have liked that very much. Last time I was pregnant I rode horseback. But...I probably won't be doing that this time either. And last time, I also rode the jetski, went tubing and bungee jumped (okay, not really on the bungee jump), but I'm pretty sure I won't be doing those things this time either. I will be camping at 8 months pregnant though. Wish me luck. I can see myself backing out of that trip.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

17 weeks down, 5 months to go.

I'm officially 17 weeks pregnant and my ever-growing belly seems to be expanding at an alarming rate...at least to me anyway. I had my 4 month dr. appt. and everything seems to be okay after my "scare." I think I'm starting to feel a little back to normal...accept for my brain. Good thing I have a 4 year old to remind me where we are going, where I left my purse and what day it is. My energy seems to be picking up but the headaches have become overwhelming and relentless. My nausea comes every once in awhile and that can be controlled with my Zofran, but I will still have a no-warning up-chuck or dry-heaving session. Let me tell ya, driving 70 mph down the highway is NOT the time to start throwing up. Pulling over on Kellogg to get out and throw up on the side of the road is quite embarrassing. I've just accepted the fact that I will be sick the whole pregnancy. There will be good days and bad days. For now it's just day by day. I change my clothes 14 times before going somewhere...it's hard to try and look cute and happy and when you don't feel that way, and it totally sucks to do everything in cotton pants and a sweatshirt. I don't want to be a frump; but for now, I really don't care. This too shall pass.

The flip side: In one more week we have our sonogram to find out if we are having a boy or girl. We are praying for a healthy baby. Girl or boy it doesn't matter; although I would love for Jason to have a boy because I don't think we will have anymore. Pushing 30, my body is telling me I better be done. If I had a full time job during this pregnancy I would have had to quit, no doubt.
Jason needs a boy for boy reasons. He has a very special relationship with River and there's nothing compared to the daddy-daughter relationship they have. They hold a special place in each other's hearts that can never tapped into. River like to fish, go on 4-wheeler rides and run outside the second he's heard coming down the road. She runs out the door and starts cheering "daddy, daddy, daddy," as he pulls up the drive and has her special duties she helps him with while he's unloading for the day. She gets to push the dump-bed buttons to dump the grass. She gets to play on the trailer while he's putting up the mowers. During this time she tells him all about her day and what it entailed. When the mowers and trailers are all taken care of for the night, they jump hills and go exploring on the 4-wheeler. She's just like her father, it can 40 degrees outside and neither one of them have jackets or coats. There's too much fun to have to stop and put a coat on, geez. Riv's other side is dress-up, Barbies, and pretend. Jason just can't connect with that, and I guess you can't expect a man with beaten, split, grease stained hands to understand why Barbie doesn't play war games. A boy could bring out that side of him...and I sure could use a break on Barbie's.

But a healthy baby is most important. Our friends had a baby 2 years ago with spina-bifida and it really hit home that it CAN happen to you. Whatever God's plan is will be fine with us because it's His plan.

Well, I'm off to watch the pre-school parade. I'll stand as the pregnant frump amongst the other mom's with their make-up, colored and trendy hair styles and designer name brand clothes and hold in my gags as best as possible. I'll show them one day, you just wait un-pregnant, beautiful other moms!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Bah Humbug

Happy Belated Easter. Mine was cold.

Hannah Montana was a great movie; not at all what I thought it was going to be like. We will probably end up with the movie and the soundtrack. Really was cute.

and that's all for today.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Tehehe, like totally!!

On Friday I'm taking my girls to see the new Hannah Montana movie...or will it be Miley Cyrus? Hmmmm.....

But SSHHHH! don't tell them, it's a secret!

Oh yeah, and don't laugh at me....I'll be watching it too. Only because they are too young to go by themselves (okay, okay, and, I'm dying to know which identity she chooses to be for the rest of her life because, ya know, it's really hard to figure out if you want to go through the rest of your life looking like a plastic diva in a wig or be totally cute and cool.) I'm sure they'll be too young to go by themselves until they're like, 25.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Redneck chicks are cool. I wouldn't quite call us hillbillies, 'cause we still have all of our teeth.

Nae is my best friend. She finally got on blogspot instead of myspace, facebook, blogspot, copying and pasting one post to several different places and then e-mailing the rest of the world. Way to go! If you check out her blog, Nae's Place you can see why we get along so well. We only get together about once every other month...if we're lucky. Our friendship is probably different than most. It's definitely one of those God things. He knew what he was doing, and just in case we were going to miss it, He made it clear we wouldn't. Here's the scoop.

2001: there's a girl in my spanish class. we're obviously the only one's who have common sense in the whole classroom. On the first day we are wearing the same type of boots, hoodies, both have red bandanas on, and on break we go out to our vehicles. We both notice each other, but don't say anything. I go to my Geo Storm. She walks to her Geo Storm. *weird*....in class we sit in opposite diagnal corners in the classroom. We make sure we have an eye on each other throughout the next couple of weeks. Ya know, just to see what the other is doin'. Then we have something in class we have to work on together, so we obviously hit each other up as a partner. And from then on, we've totally hit it off. We continue to find very blatent similarities and really wierd things that we have in common.

I grew up in Japan, she grew up in Papa New Guinea.
We both grew up in very religious upbringing.
We both ran from "religious" type stuff, only to grow up get common sense about the whole thing.
We both have raised dogs.
We both have traveled....A WHOLE FREAKIN' LOT.
We both have come back to the country-girl at heart that we really are.
We both have redneck (and might I add sexy) husbands.
We both love to camp.
We both love to fish. (Although I think Janae is a way better fisherman than me.)
We both have 2 big dogs.
We both have 2 children.
We both love guns.
We both get along better with the guys than with the girls. Whichis why we click so well.
After not talking over a Christmas break in college, we both came back to school and had both gotten rid of our Storm's and purchased Ford Explorer's. *so weird*.
She texts or calls or e-mails at the most random times right when God has laid her on my heart and vice versa.
We both have so many other things like this but there's just too many to remember after 8 years.

We have tele-communication with each other.
We teach our children about firearms, hunting, wildlife, and manners.
Our children can cast a fishin' line better that most fishermen.
Our children will grow up thinking they are cousins. I'm aunt Kendra, and she's aunt Janae.
When we hang out, we are true hillbillies at heart.

One time we thought we were storm chasers. Only to get hailed on in a major way. I guess to do that kind of stuff you need some kind of knowledge or training. It was quite the adrenaline rush though...which is what we lived for. But we have kids now.

We've never been camping, together. *hint hint* Nae!

We'll go to the ends of the earth to find a good fishin' hole or a horse to ride.

Nae's cool. I love her.

Oh yeah, the first time we ever hung out at her aunt's house, her great dane ate my face off. Literally. I saw dog tonsils up close and personal and I think I bloodstained her bathroom. But luckily, I have great healing elements in my skin. (even though I had a bacteria breakout infection for like a year after that in my forehead. hehe.) But no hard feelings. So, Nae, aren't we overdo for an Atwoods visit soon?

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Title? There is no title for this post....after thinking about it for 5 minutes and coming up nil, I figured it didn't need a title.

2 Fridays ago: Head to grandma's...need to relax.

the following Saturday: Drive the 2 hour drive home with baby-to-come in a very uncomfortable spot. I get a phone call from a YoungLives girl who needs me to take her 9 month old, teething, sick daughter over night. I agree, but won't be able to take baby back until 5 o'clock the next day..Sunday.

Saturday night: Teething baby wakes up in the middle of the night, I go to get her and feel a "gush" of something come from a place where it shouldn't when your pregnant, I thought I pee'd myself until the next morning when I found blood everywhere.

Sunday Morning: Bleeding stops. Call the nurse on call...twice. and wait....all day. At 5pm take baby back to her mom and head to my dad's to take him to his surgery apt. at 7 am. on Monday morning. 11pm Sunday, wake up with massive headache and a ridiculous amount of blood....and I still haven't heard from the doctor.

7am Monday: Take dad for a preventative routine surgery (nothing major), wait for him to come out of a local anesthesia and take him to get lunch.....still haven't heard from dr.'s office so I call again, leave 3rd message. Bleeding stops from night before. I get dad back home.

Noon Monday: Dr.'s office calls and says "you need to get to the Wesley E.R as soon as possible.
12:30 Monday: Arrive at Wesley.
2pm Monday: Go up to desk and ask how much longer....they can't tell me.
3pm Monday: Go to desk again, and ask again....they still can't tell me.
4pm Monday: Girl come into ER with a tootheache...waits 20 min. and goes to see the dr., right behind her a girl come in, has scratches on her arm from a fight, waits 30 min. then goes back to see dr. I go up to the desk and ask if that's more important than a possible dead fetus inside of my body and they tell me there's nothing they can do about it. Are you **&%$&#@* kidding me? Jason gets mad, calls insurance co. to see if we're covered at a different hospital's ER...insurance co. can't beleive what they're hearing and tell us to go somewhere else. We go to hospital in Andover.

5pm Monday: Get to Andover hospital, get a room, get a gown, an IV, they draw blood, and get a sono going. Blood work looked okay, sono looked even better, but said i'm at risk so that means bedrest until next apt. Was out of that hospital within an hour.

Get home from hospital Monday night and see roof shingles all over back yard. Great. Then, Jason tells me the brakes on his work truck went out completely and the only thing that got him home were his trailer brakes and downshifting. Great, that's even better.

Tuesday: J finds out it's probably going to cost around $1000 to get his truck taken care of, and decideds since the insurance deductible is also $1000 that he's just going to nail the shingles back on until an even bigger storm comes along and takes more roof, or worse, the whole thing. His buddy calls and says he can do the truck for around $600. We pray for extra work he can do to pay for this stuff. Then, God sends a winter storm. THANK YOU GOD! HE ANSWERS FAST!

Friday: Weatherman forcasts all the ice and snow, and J will be working all through the night and all through the next day to make money that wouldn't have been there. Then....where we live gets 2 in. of ice, then rain, then snow, then my power goes out....for 4 days. I get my food outside (so it doesn't spoil in the warm refrigerator and heck, it's like....30 degrees outside right?)
Head to in-laws.
Sunday: still no power, and the temperature rises to 70 degrees. What?!? Hurry home, put food in coolers with snow and ice that hasn't melted off the deck yet.

***All this being done with the simplest, slightest, slowest movements considering I'm supposed to be resting. The mental frustration at this point is overwhelming and I reach the point of exhaustion.****

Monday: Temp. is warm enough to go home. I sit on my butt with feet up all day (I did that all weekend at my in-laws too...) waiting for electricity. Monday evening the power kicks on, this time to stay.....but the furnace doesn't. OH NO!

Tuesday morning: Furnace is obviously broken, overnight temp. is going to be in the 30's so I call Heating company....they can't come until Wednesday. Whatever! At this point I'm a total pioneer. Oddly enough, I go to the store and they are sold out of all the fake fire logs. Imagine that. Just my luck. I actually expected them to be though. We didn't have real firewood, and if we went to chop some it would be too wet anyways. Oh well, just one more night.

Wednesday: Heating company comes. Looks at furnace for about 5 minutes, flips a hidden switch and TA-DA, furnace kicks on.

God is good. I'm so thankful that my "problems" are so small. They could be so much bigger. I'm so thankful these things are all I had to deal with. It could have been a tragic accident, a fire could have taken my home, a family member could have been diagnosed with cancer, my husband could have lost his job, I could have lost my baby, my daughter could have been gravely ill, any other crisis could have occured.....I know the Lord will see us through things, but I'm thankful HE chose to only give me this week of curveballs with a purpose of testing my faith in Him, my Trust in Him, and my patience. Thank you God for your grace, an undeserving, just-enough grace. Thank you for such a simple life. thank you Lord.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Girls with Guns

Nae came over with her boys and she brought her guns. That's what us girls do when our husbands are working. We break out the guns and the ammo, and whatever good enough target we can conjour up. This time, it was tin cans and plastic bottles.

This day was extra special. I got to teach River how to shoot. I never thought I'd be the one to teach her and it was pretty cool. I thought she'd be scared. I asked her if she would like to learn and she wanted to. So we went over the gun first (yes, and all the safety steps to be taken) and I explained everything to her. The gun is a rifle.


Bolt action....


and here's the safety:



Now aim, and shoot!


And then did it 3 more times! That's my girl.

One thing I learned this day...when I shoot a rifle, it's addicting; but when I shoot a shotgun, all I can think about is "only a few more shots and then I can rest," and then go home with a bruise on my shoulder. What have I been doing shooting a shotgun this whole time? I need a rifle.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

3 months along...

and only 6 to go. I've been sick for the last 3 months so I have not been very motivated to do any baby stuff yet...any shopping, putting the crib together, taking names seriously, you know, all the stuff you do before you have a baby. I hope that starts kicking in soon. I think it will once I find out what I'm having. Well, my husband just mentioned food so I'm going to eat some more...seeeee yaaaaaa.

Monday, March 2, 2009

getting there....

Well, just yesterday I told my mother-in-law that I had not vomitted in over a week! And then, late last night and this morning, I let loose, again. But this time, there was no nausea, it just came. Now that, I can handle. I'm still taking my miracle medicine, Zofran and it works.

On a lighter note, I haven't posted on anything else for awhile, but I finally got some pictures downloaded of our much needed family time last month. It was a beautiful day and at the beginning of my nausea and vomiting so I had still been having a few good days here and there.


Sisters....






Finding shells and rocks at the river is a really big deal.



That's Isaiah, a freind's son...don't ask me what he's doing. Never ask a 9 yr. old boy what they are doing when they're at the river. You just might not want to know. And, Jason has an itch to scratch.




Sasha loves the water, she's a great swimmer with no fear. Loki, on the other hand, will barely get his feet wet. But he's only 1 and hasn't been on a family lake trip yet. This was his first trip to the river and it was pretty cold. I have a feeling he'll warm up to the idea when he's the only one left on dry land this summer.


We love hiking through the woods, we do this very often. You never know what you'll find. Kylie, however didn't wear jeans (hiking the woods wasn't in the plans that day...) and she toughed it out. She only had half as much blood running down her shins as she used to get. She's getting good at this.

This is the scary Black Locust tree, or "thorny locust", or Crown of Thorns tree. If my sources tell me right, this is the tree they actually made the "crown of thorns" that was placed upon Jesus' head when he was crucified. If you have ever seen one up close and personal it makes you cringe. If only my photography skills were better to capture it's intensity.

Oh, so beautiful...nothing like a seeing a group of rubs like these. Those of you who know me well know how much I love, love, love, rubs. I've said before on a different post in my Hunting Journal that I wish I could take them home and put them on my wall. Somethin' 'bout it....

Hopefully, next weekend I'm going shed antler hunting. Maybe I'll have some more cool pics.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

neverending nausea

If it wasn't for my daughter I'd be one majorly miserable person. I'm still throwing up at the very minimum of 4 times a day. That's on a good day. I've figured out that lemon juice is the only thing that actually tastes "good." Otherwise I just eat to absorb nutrients before it comes back up. You know how you feel when you get off a real bad carnival ride? That's how I feel all day every day. But here's something funny:


Mommy: Hey River, in 7 months you will be 5 years old!
River: Can I be 5 tomorrow?
Mommy: Nope!
River: Will I be 5 the next morrow?
Mommy: No, honey.
River: what about the next morrow?


another convo:

Mommy: Riverlyn, you are really pushing my buttons right now!
River: What buttons? You don't have any buttons momma.
Mommy: Riverlyn, just stop, okay?
River: But I'm not pushing any buttons!

River: Daddy, what does pushing your buttons mean?
Daddy: It means your getting under her skin. It's a figure of speech.
River: Like this? (she proceeds to lift Jason's hand and put it on top of her head.)
Daddy: ah geez.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Where have I been?

I've been hugging the toilet, passing out in parking lots and getting a gut.
I sound like a drunk.
No, just pregnant.
Sleep, yak. Eat, yak. Sleep, yak. Eat yak. Eat, Eat, EAt, EAT, EAT.
I had thrown up so much last week that my doc prescribed an anti-vomit medicine. It knocked me out right before I was about to go into the store. I had just taken my daughter to school, went to Dillons, and the next thing I know I'm waking up at 11am. School was out at 11:15, and the Lord woke me up just in time. I was scared though. I'm not taking that medicine anymore.

I'm 7 1/2 weeks today. My belly looks like it is 5 months pregnant. Of course the only thing I have to go on is my pregnancy with River 5 years ago. I think I was in much better shape then. I'm already having TERRIBLE growing pains.

So, lucky you, you get to hear me complain!

But, I've wanted this for so long and now I'm so grateful. I can't wait for the ickiness to pass so I can be excited about it.

This too shall pass, right?

Thursday, January 29, 2009

1. Where is your cell phone? I don't know
2. Where is your significant other? On the bed
3. Your hair color? Blonde
4. Your mother? Excited
5. Your father? Probably snoring in his recliner
6. Your favorite thing? my new dremmel tool
7. Your dream last night? my sister-in-law was addicted to chocolate chips and OD'd and had to go to rehab.
8. Your goal? I already met met my goal....I got pregnant with #2
9. The room you are in? bedroom
10. Your hobby? unfortunately it's house cleaning, then comes creating and 3rd is wasting time.
11. Your fear? being rejected
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Right where I'm at now...maybe with a little more cushion in the bank.
13. Where were you last night? YoungLive's meeting
14. What you are not? materialistic
15. One of your wish list items? an alaskan bear hunt
16. Where you grew up? Japan....seriously.
17. The last thing you did? write an e-mail to my brother-in-law
18. What you are wearing? sweat pants, an old tye-dyed t-shirt and bright pink terry cloth robe...the perfect pregnant woman's wear.
19. Your TV? it's too loud..and has 2 clear channels, whatever the rabbit ears brings in
20. Your pet? Loki is wondering around growling at invisible things...Sasha is asleep on the couch, from end to end.
21. Your computer? should be off.
22. Your mood? Mellow
23. Missing someone? my sister
24. Your car? 3/4 ton Full size Dodge Ram with a tool box and oversized tires...for now, only because the lease on my Vue was up.
25. Something you are not wearing? my wedding ring, i took it off to put lotion on my daughter's pitiful dry winter skin.
26. Favorite story? The Christmas story
27. Your Summer? I pack for a weekend at the lake, get to the lake, unpack, stay as long as possilbe, pack up and come back and unpack, spend the week doing laundry and repacking for the following weekend at the lake.
28. Love someone? Yes, lot's of someone's.
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? Actually it's been a few days
31. Last time you cried? when a special girl accepted Christ into her heart.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Happy New Year, something funny, and Good News!

This is late but...Happy New Year! I'm pretty busy with Riverlyn's school and freind schedule, church activities, weekly cleaning duties at my father's house and my Father's house, and now Younglives. A couple months ago I joined a wonderful group of girls in a ministry to pregnant teens / teen mom's in high school. We go to the school on a weekly basis to encourage them and ultimately bring Christ to them. Pray for these girls, they need it. They are amazing and charming and such a challenge.

Here's the things I had planned for 2009:
-Mexico Missions trip on Spring Break to build a home for a family in Juarez.
-Our annual crazy river rafting trip in May
-Possibly Colorado trip in June
- A leadership opportunity in September with BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman)
-Hunting season 2009

And here's why all of those major events won't be happening this year for me:

I'M 5 WEEKS PREGNANT TODAY!

As most of you know, this is an answered prayer. God listened. I know it's so early so please pray everything stays "okay." This makes new baby's due date right around River's 5th birthday. She's so excited!

And for something funny:
Convo #1:
River: Mommy, you smell like a horse.

Convo #2:
My daughter may only be 4 but she's very aware of gun safety. The sight of one makes her a little uneasy but she's very educated about them and understands the dangers and pleasure of a gun. We talk about it often so she's aware of what it's for, what we do with it, and why it stays under the bed unless we are target shooting. After one of our conversations, I let her hold up the end of it so she could feel how heavy it was. Then I gave her a little quiz:

Mommy: What's the #1 gun rule?
River: Don't shoot it in the house.

(that's my girl!)

Convo #3:
River: Mommy, does God sleep while we're sleeping?
Mommy: No, He never sleeps.
River: Why? Because He doesn't have any sleeping brains?

Convo #4:
Mommy: Aren't you so excited you're going to be a big sister?
River: Yes! And I think we should name it Martha or Enchanting!
Mommy: Uhhhh......hmmmm.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy December

Jason's youngest first cousin from Nashville coming to spend New Year's Eve at our house. These girls have a great bond and they've been inseperable for about 4 days. Matt is Jason's other first cousin. He's Down Syndrome. He is incredibly smart, loving, fun to be around and will never fail to make you laugh. He's also very attached to Jason's brother and who doesn't love a cousin who'll get down on the floor and come into your world once in awhile? Nice move Brian!

My grandmother (85), mom on her 50th birthday, Kylie in front, and Riverlyn who needed to be sure and see every card. Happy 50th mom!


My sister got this dog nose for Riverlyn. She won't have anything to do with it. My sister thinks it pretty cool though!


Riverlyn Paige....ahem, I mean...Gabriella from High School Musical.



Her Christmas shoes. There's a very special story about these shoes so they really mean alot. But don't you love how she dresses herself, very festive!



Lickin the fudge spoon!



Grammy came over Christmas Eve and we made Christmas cookies together! Maybe the start of new tradition?


This my friend the Pink Gorilla. Actually it's my friend Heather. She shows up on people's doorstep unexpectedly and sings them happy birthday and maybe embarrases them a little. She does this for all the ladies in our church. Naturally, she needs someone to drive her around dressed like this. I get that job sometimes.


Our first snow. She had fun!December was a busy month. There was the YoungLives Tea; there was the gathering at Tobe's house (dad's girlfreind); there were Preschool parties, my daughter's friend's birthday party, then there was a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party at church in which Riverlyn was an angel; then there was advent in which I was dressed as an angel and memorized some lines and lit the first advent candle for the children at church; I also spent countless hours in the garage in 22 degree weather working on my gifts for everyone. I made them all this year and I'm going to attempt to do this every year. Then there was Christmas Eve at the Nelson's in which I forgot my camera, and Christmas Day at my house with my family; my sister and I put together a "Surprise 50th Birthday party" for my mom; then there's Jason's family in town from Nashville; and amongst all this, there was the weekly church vacuuming, remembering all the important dates and time, and of course....did you think I would be too busy to make time for hunting? Ohhhh no! There's always time for hunting! Hope you enjoyed your December as much as we did!