Well Zion and I "shredded" today....meaning we did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD.... at least 1/3rd of it!! haha Hey, it's a start!! We couldn't make it through her entire workout this time... it's been a while since I've done it and he never has.

We've been trying to eat healthy REAL food as much as possible, as little processed junk as possible and today we started working out together. We're trying to make sure we're in decent shape to finally go on our long awaited Disney trip in September!! I didn't like what I saw in my Easter outfit yesterday (Bleck @ my belly!!) so I'm VERY motivated to workout again now!!

My boys have very mixed reactions about us working out in the living room, Lincoln jumps around and thinks he's doing it, too.... and Garrison sits on the couch or floor and looks scared with a poochy lip the whole time!!! LOL So funny!! I can't wait to be in better shape, have more energy to keep up with these little characters that the Lord has blessed us with. They're so fun!!! And seriously exhausting!! ;)

Anyway, that's all for now. Here's the yucky picture that motivated the workout intensity!! It's not my favorite, but it's the most current family pic (yesterday!) that we have!! :)

Well "yesterday" was a crazy day. Had a PC show and on the way was driving in my neighborhood and saw a group of probably 30 kids cheering on a fist fight. Jumped out of my car and yelled for them to stop it, and a couple of them started heading my way, so I announced loudly that I was calling the cops as I got back in my car... they seemed to think better of coming my way anymore and decided to break it up a bit. I called the cops and followed the group of 30ish kids in my car from a distance while talking to the 911 dispatcher. All the while being yelled at and cussed out for following them etc. The dispatcher assured me that they were sending cars so I headed back over to the "scene of the crime" where there had been another adult in the middle of the all the ruckus trying to stop it. Turned out she was an old friend of mine from my Holiday Inn days, we're practically neighbors!! Anyway... that was crazy. Time for me to move back out to the safety of my property!!! :P Can't wail till that can actually happen!!!

On a side note, the Pampered Chef party is currently sitting as my second best EVER so far.... and has the potential to become my best so far. :) Yay!

I have not posted or even LOOKED at this blog in simply AGES... been super busy keeping up with my two crazy, energetic, adorable boys!!! I have decided to start posting again, but the focus of it will be slightly different. I will most likely still share antidotes of what happens in our day-to-day lives.... but also, I'm going to post about the journey my husband of 12+ years is on (again)!!! When we said our vows, he was probably about 20 pounds overweight.... within 6 months of getting married, he had ballooned to an impressive 300 pounds!!! Yikes! I'm not really sure if I was that good of a cook, or if I was that BAD of a cook so he was sneaking fast food before I fed him dinner or what.... but either way, it happened. And it happened fast. And it's stuck around.

He has tried many diets and been semi successful with some of them... only to gain the weight back that he lost and then some within a few months of stopping the diet. The last time he had major weight loss was over 6 years ago when he did the Weight Watcher's program. At that time, he was in a competition with his brother to lose weight so he was taking it very seriously. They had a bet going and whoever got to their goal weight first, was going to be given the "pot" (They were each putting $5 a week into the pot). Things were going very well for both of them until Thanksgiving that year. After Thanksgiving, it all went downhill.

He has recently been given an incentive by my brother to lose the weight again.... my brother has pledged to donate $5 per pound once he reaches his goal. My Dad has also jumped in on this little game. (If anyone else wants to "sponsor" him, the more $ he has the chance of getting, the more motivated he is going to be! haha) His goal is to lose 100 pounds or get down to 230. He's a big boned guy so at 230 he should look and feel pretty good!!! :) His 4 year old and 2 year old sons would both like to keep him around for a while, and I'm rather fond of him myself, so we've got to help him get healthy somehow!!!

My sister is a personal trainer and has given us some healthy eating tips and workout advice, and we're working on a whole "lifestyle change" and creating a new "normal" routine. He'd like to lose the weight within the year (we're not going Biggest Loser or anything because he's also got to pay the bills so he doesn't have 8+ hours a day to dedicate to working out! haha) but he'd be thrilled if he got it gone in 6 months or so.

Anyway, wish him luck. Thanks for reading!! And we'll keep you posted!!! :)

Well it's been a very busy, hectic few days uP in Mansfield. PWe're making some real Progress on getting the store setuP, though, so that's a PLus!!! (The first day I wasn't sure we could POssibly do it all by our oPEn date of the 20th, now, PI think there's a chance!!! haha The first day we didn't get much done at all because we could barely make hide nor tail out of the setuP instructions!! hehe) We're currently back in PLima packing uP all our stuff so we can move uP to our rental house in Mansfield today. =) Very excited about that!!!! =D Well, I've got alot to accomplish and not alot of time, so I'll POSt again later....

Yesterday we drove to Mansfield to receive our truckload of shipment for our store!! There were over 20 pallets to unload... including the fixtures which are HEAVY!!!! :) Thankfully we have some great friends who came down and helped us out or we would have never made it in the two hour deadline!!! We're still not sure when we actually can move down for the season, but we're gonna have to get there soon to get the store setup and ready to open on the 20th!! Please pray for a miracle for us!

Well the PASt couPLe days were Pretty crazy... we went to the zoo, we had church then went to the Pumkin PActch for a hayride and to Pick out some PUmkins... then came home and had a bonfire with the family before HeeP and Becca and their kids headed off to West Virginia this morning and Zion and I head for Mansfield (still in OHIO this year!!!) this evening. (Well, Zion's already there actually, but I'll be going this evening to helP unload our TRUCK!!!!!! ACK!!! We have an inline store this year so we have an entire semi truck of shiPment comingP!!! YIKES! hehehe) =) We had alot of fun and got lots of really cute PICtures, here's a samPLing.

(For those who don't understand what's with the nutty uPPercase "P's" in this POSt, my comPUter was squirted with saline solution by Lincoln while I was on a date with Zion for my birthday and ever since then, every time I tyPE "P", it's uPPercase!! Plus, everytime I hit shift, it puts in a "P", too.... very strange and slightly annoying, but I guess that's life with an onery 2 year old boy in the house. :) You have no idea how many "P"s I've deleted in the POst to make it legible!! LOL

Well, we decided about a week ago that we were going to go ahead with Calendar Club again this year, so we are "moving" to Mansfield, Ohio for 3 months this fall and winter!! We were once again on of the last signups, so we didn't get a GREAT store, but we think we'll make out okay. Next year we are going to request our store much earlier in the year to ensure a better location!! I'm really excited about this years season, though, for a couple of reasons. 1) We get an "inline" store this year instead of a kiosk... apparently it's alot more work in the beginning and end, but I think it will make it easier overall.... shipments won't be quite as big of a pain!!! lol and 2) we're only gonna be about an hour and a half away from home, so I will still be able to go to SOME church services (when the weather is decent) and be home for Christmas!!! Yay! Plus, I can still do Scotchguard! =)

Okay, so the past couple weeks have been both horrendous and fantastic and super dull yet lots of fun! haha Let me explain:

The horrendousness stems from having probably the worst cold/cough of all time, coupled with still living with my parents and the cherry on top, we haven't had a working car in almost 2 weeks. =/ It's hard to only get to go grocery shopping on someone elses schedule!!

The fantastic part, as always, I have the best two little boys in the world. =) Even when sometimes THEY are the cause of part of my stress or are testing me or whatever... they are seriously THE BEST!!! Take yesterday for example, we went to the Children's Garden/ Allen County Museum and right before Mom got back to pick us up Lincoln told me that he had to go peepee... the museum and library had already been closed for about 20 minutes by that point so I was contemplating walking back to McDonalds when Mom got back to get us. Well he didn't want to go to McDonalds... so we went ahead to Jo Anns (Mom's redoing the church flowers...) and since Garrison was asleep in the car I said that I'd just stay in the car with the boys while Mom ran in... completely forgetting that Lincoln hadn't "gone" yet. A couple minutes after Mom went in, Lincoln reminded me by asking to go into the store... as soon as I remembered he had to go peepee, I said aloud, "Oh yeah, Mommy completely forgot, I'm sorry, Buddy! I forgot cause I'm a terrible Mommy!" (Or something along those lines.... he responded, "No you're not... you're a good Mommy!!" *Melts*

The Children's Museum/ Garden story is what brings us to "super fun"... we've done a few things recently that have been photo worthy and lots of fun!! For instance, Lincoln and Zion went "camping" in the backyard the other day... it was a very impromtu campout/ bonfire since Zion didn't suggest it until after he got home from work (he's helping Dad on a big job with my brothers...) and we'd had supper. He and Lincoln were outside a few minutes later and I found the tent and started bringing out sleeping bags, pillows, marshmallows, jammies, flashlights, etc. while they got the tent setup and fire going. Garrison and I hung out for the bonfire and marshmallows, and even for a little while in the tent for storytime and jammies, then we headed inside to our nice, comfy, king-sized bed. ;)

Recently (which I guess has already been a month ago now, wow!) we also went to the Allen County Fair. Lincoln and I got a ride bracelet so we could go on all the rides as much as we wanted to! It was alot of fun and since Becca got a bracelet for herself, too, we were able to ride a couple of the "bigger" things together.... nothing too big, just like the scrambler a couple times and the strawberries without the kids!! That was alot of fun, but we mostly were riding with our kids... which was also a ton of fun!! You haven't lived until you've looked at life through the eyes of your child. :)

Plus, we're going to the Ft. Wayne Zoo next Saturday (fingers crossed our car is good to go by then!!!!) so we're looking forward to that. Lincoln is very exited about it as it's his first time! He can't wait to see the lions, and he's pretty excited to see the monkeys, too!! I'm guessing that the morning of, he'll say he doesn't want to go see them, that's what he did about the fair and riding the ponies (he loved it when he actually did it!!) and even about the Childrens Garden!! hahaha He cracks me up!! (Oh yeah, hilarious story about THAT, too!! Yesterday in the car on the way to the museum, he was telling Mom and me that Zion had driven a bobcat... but we couldn't figure out what "bobcat" was cause the way he was saying it sounded like "backpack" so I say, "Daddy drove a backpack?" (Hey, have you ever seen Diego? HIS backpack turns into ANYTHING, so he CAN drive it!!) :P) and he just smiles and says, "No"... so Mom and I are looking at each other trying to translate this mystery word and figure out what it is, so she asks, "Did Daddy drive a dumptruck?" and he looks and sounds like he's talking to an insane person and says, "Noooo, Daddy didn't drive a dump truck!!" so Mom and I both start laughing (while still trying to figure out the mystery word! hahah) and Lincoln says from the backseat, "I crack you up!!" LOL That really got us going!! We finally figured out that he was saying Bobcat cause I started asking Mom what those things they sometimes use at the jobsites are called, cause I knew he drove one the other day. After she came up with "bobcat" I asked Lincoln if that's what Daddy drove and he said yes.... just a little put out since he'd already said it like 10 times! hahhaa Life with a two year old, never a dull moment!!)

Oh, and the "super dull" part is simply that I haven't gotten out of the house much the past couple weeks due to cough/cold/ no car.... staying in gets kinda old when it's days on end.

Garrison just took his first step without holding onto anything!!!! He's not quite 10 months old (3 days away!) that's pretty early!!! Can't believe my little guy is getting so big already!!! And, he has 6 teeth now! (4 on top and two on the bottom) He's getting to that "not so much a baby more a toddler" stage..... =)

Well it's been a while since I've done an "actual" post... so here goes.

Things have been crazy busy here because I finally had my first ever Scotchguard meeting (you can see what I'm talking about at www.Scotchguardgirls.com for those of you who don't know… and want to!!) at the end of August then Lincoln and Garrison have both had pink eye plus Lincoln has ANOTHER ear infection... as if that wasn't enough, I have a sinus infection so it's been lots and lots of eyedrops , Dr. visits and prescriptions the past week. Garrison's also teething (getting two more top teeth in... for a total of 6 teeth so far!!) and has been coughing. He’s usually such a happy little guy, that this new, fussier, clingy little man is really wearing me out!!! It's all been exhausting!!

Zion has been working with my Dad, Justin and Jariah most evenings on a big construction job (storage unit) that Dad got... even though he's not technically still "doing" construction (he has a day job driving a cement truck for another company) he gets the occasional framing job… which is GREAT because it should pay for the concrete that we’ve been waiting on for our house!! None too soon, either, as my birthday will be here before you know it!! My birthday is the deadline that I gave to Zion a little over a month ago to get me out of my parents house… for my sanity as well as his (and theirs!)… not that I’m saying my parents driving me to the brink, the situation however, is. =P A grown woman with a husband and two children of her own is not meant to live with her parents for over a year; no matter how great of people/ parents they are. =)

About our house, people have been asking about it, it’s very slow going. We haven’t accomplished much of anything on it because we haven’t been able to move forward financially with the concrete yet. (Thankfully that should not be the case in a week or so… Praise the Lord!!) Right now, it’s just the shell (4 walls and a roof) that was already there, and we’ve gotten the plumbing ready underground as well as the gravel on the “floor”… we JUST decided to make what will eventually be our foyer/ guest bathroom, but for now will be our family room bigger by 4 feet so Zion has to build forms for that and spread the gavel along the wall that was extended. We have pretty much everything else we’re going to need to finish it (minus a few relatively inexpensive items such as kitchen countertops, some light fixtures, mud and paint to name a few…) *Stephanie, if you’re reading this, I want to know how to get free paint!!!*

So since we’re getting close to the “finishing the concrete” stage, (we are using the concrete as our flooring, I’d seen it done out in AZ and it looked really cool!) I’ve been busy trying to decide for sure what colors we want to stain/ paint that with… along with trying to get an image in my head about what paint colors I might want on the walls. (Don’t worry, I’ve told my Mom not to let me get TOO crazy! Hehe This is a home after all. ;) She’s doing her best to tame some of my wilder ideas.)

I’m not making it easy on her as far as decorating goes, because I have two very different styles that I like; Medieval (like my wedding) and a more Modern, kind of funky with lots of lime green thrown in. I have lots of decorative things in both of these styles already because while I was living in AZ I was starting to kind of switch from the Medieval style the the more Modern style… but I didn’t have enough of the modern looking, bright things to make it seem finished. At first Mom suggested I just sell all of my more medieval stuff and use the money to go buy more modern items if that’s the look I was going for… she was thrown for a little loop when I said I couldn’t do that because I still loved all of my medieval stuff, too. =P

My old plan was that when I built my “real” house, (it’s a 2 story with a basement that my Mom designed for me YEARS ago! Probably more like a “Dream” house than a “real” house… but, hey! It’s all good!) I would have all the medieval stuff on the main, more formal floor… and all the bright, crazy stuff would be used to decorate the basement where we would spend most of our time. So I didn’t want to sell it. And I didn’t want to store it, either, because I really don’t have room or money to store a bunch of useless stuff. =P For a while she didn’t know what to suggest… but then she was inspired by a movie she watched and claims that she can make it all work together and it will look really awesome!!! Woohoo!!! I KNEW she could! (And I wasn’t really giving her a choice… ;) teehehehe)

Well, that’s all I can write about for now… my life is calling… =)

Some days I wake up wondering, "What did I ever do to deserve this..." other days, I wake up thinking, "What did I ever do to deserve this?" Seems the same, huh? You're not reading it right. =P

Garrison just said his first word!!! "Mama" =) I've been saying that to him over and over for weeks now.... totally worth it!! lol

For those who have been on the edge of your seats wondering how Garrison's doing with his whole, "Learning to crawl" thing..... he's learned. He has been doing it really well now since my last post, and has even started working on walking now, too!!! It's crazy!! (He JUST turned 8 months on the 19th!!!) He pulls himself up using ANYTHING at the point (The vacuum cleaner, Lincoln's little riding zebra, the couch, his pack-n-play... name it and he can use it to stand up!! haha) and whenever I want to sit him on the floor so he can play and I can go do something, it's a struggle cause he doesn't wanna sit, he wants to stand and practice walking!!! Seems too young to me, but he's determined and he's a strong little dude... and I think he wants to run around with his big brother!!! =)

Speaking of his big brother, Lincoln has been really exerting his will this past week or two (or year..... hahaha) and really wanting to "do it himself!!". "It" being EVERYTHING we do in our daily lives... (opening the door, getting the juice, pulling up his own shorts, picking out his clothes, deciding WHEN to put the clothes on, etc, etc, etc....) it's been, ummm.... interesting and exhausting at times! ;) The past week or so, he's also been on this, "I don't like it" kick where no matter what I suggest we do, or eat, or watch, or go, or whatever.... his response is always the same... don't like insert whatever here. Me: Wanna watch Diego? Lincoln: No, don't like Diego! And I'm scratching my head as to why we watched Diego for 3 hours yesterday if he hates it so much... it certainly wasnt' MY first choice!!! hahaha Oh well, keeps life interesting, I guess! ;)

Overall, life is good.

Last night "Teetee Becca" was upstairs and asking Lincoln some questions.....

Auntie Becca: What's your favorite color?
Lincoln: Red!! (Hey, I had not heard that before so that's good, useful information!!)
Auntie Becca: What's your favorite food to eat?
Lincoln: I like to eat all kinds of food..... (hahaa)
Auntie Becca: What's your favorite toy?
Lincoln: I like all toys.....
Auntie Becca: Who's your favorite person?
Lincoln: Lincoln! (Yeah..... that seems about right. ROFL)
Auntie Becca: Who's your favorite Grandma/ Grandpa/ Mommy/ Daddy/ Brother?
Lincoln: (all said very clearly) Sharla/ Gary/ Jeshanah/ Zion/ Baby Garrison =)
Auntie Becca: Who's your favorite cousin?
Lincoln: Baby Olivia (I gotta admit, I was a little shocked by this one, lol.... I was expecting Brandon or Janessa.... oh well.)
Auntie Becca: Who's your favorite aunt? Favorite uncle?
Lincoln: Aunt Jess (I had to give him a list of options for this one, but still, go Jess! haha) Uncle Jariah (with no hesitation *shrug* haha)

Well I learned alot about my almost 2 and a half year old last night and now you guys know too!! (Plus, I can reference this blog later when I'm working on my scrapbooks so it's really a win win!! haha And if I'm 100% honest, most of what I do is for scrapbooking later anyway....... so =P )

Okay, so Garrison's not officially crawling or anything yet, but he is CLOSE..... right now he's laying on his belly behind me and he keeps getting himself up on all fours and pushing himself forward.... it might happen today!! He's scooting everywhere.... my life is about to get even more complicated!!! lol He and Lincoln are watching Baby Einstein together..... (Best birthday present ever!! haha) while I work on some stuff for Scotchguard and Family Camp. =)

Oh for those of you who may not know yet, I'm starting a little girls club for the "Message" girls in our area.... I'm calling it Scotchguard. You can visit my website www.Scotchguardgirls.com for more information if you are interested. =) Jeremy Sanders started a boy scout type of group a few years ago for the boys called Vanguard.... and I jokingly told him clear back when Rapp was getting married that I was gonna start one and call it Scotchguard. I didn't really think it was gonna happen at the time.... but no one was doing anything for the girls and I guess I felt that burden so I'm making it happen!! =) (As long as I get enough people to sign their girls up, that is!! ;) hahaha)

Oh yeah, and I did laundry today, too. ;) =P

Oh the agurments you can have with a 2 year old.....

Lincoln: Go outside.....
Me: You have to put your underwear and some shorts on first....
Lincoln: (Whining) Goo ouutsiide.....
Me: You CAN go outside, just let Mommy put on your underwear and some shorts......
Lincoln: (Ripping OFF the underwear that I JUST put on him) GOOOO OUTSIDE NAKED!!!!
Me: No! You HAVE to have underwear and shorts on to go outside.....

(This continues for several minutes until finally he calms down.... puts HIS OWN underwear and shorts on..... with my help and heads outside to play.)

Hahahaha.... Crazy day!!!


On a completely seperate note, Thank you Stephanie for the suggestion to check out http://www.regainyoursanity.com/ It's an awesome read and I'm inspired!!!! =) Thank you to David for writing it!! I absolutely LOVED it and I think it's really, seriously gonna change my life forever!!! =) People who are wanting to lose weight should totally check it out!!! =)

Well THAT was interesting!!!!!

Something I NEVER expected to happen in my life......

But I guess that's life with a 2 year old who's still learning to "go"!!!!! =P

This evening Lincoln peed in the Wal-Mart parking lot. LOL I was thinking as we were checking out that I should ask him if he had to go before we got in the car..... but I didn't so of course when Zion was busy reinstalling Garrison's carseat in our car (Garrison and I went to town in Becca's car because his seat was already in her van from earlier in day....) Lincoln grabbed himself.... got a really worried look on his face and started to whimper..... I asked him right then but I knew we weren't gonna make it back into the store...... He started to go about 3 seconds later, on our front seat, so Zion said, "Lincoln stop!!", grabbed him up out of the car, stuck him on the parking lot and pulled down his shorts!!!! ROFL Lincoln stood between the car, car door and Zion and finished his business (just wet, in case you were worried that it was worse!!! haha) and we changed his clothes (luckily I'd brought a spare outfit for just such an occasion!!) finished installing Garrison's seat and hit the road!!!

Okay, so that diet only lasted a day and a half..... it was really terrible!!! lol I seriously almost passed out so I had to eat!!! I have 7 pounds left to lose to get back to pre-Lincoln weight, so I'm back on weight watchers.

Garrison is 7 months old, teething and refusing to wean!!!! Ack!!! Lincoln was sooooo easy to wean that I thought, cool, no biggie..... well Garrison's proving to be more difficult in that regard!!! lol This little man loves to nurse and it makes it really hard! I know what my problem is.... I was more comfortable with nursing in public with Garrison than I ever was with Lincoln (with Lincoln anytime I was out and about, I gave him a bottle, so he was completely used to it...) but since I'm not as nervous about it with Garrison, I've only ever given him like 5-6 bottles!! Mostly when we were in KY and I would go work and Zion would keep him at the hotel for a couple hours!!! That was MONTHS ago!! I weaned Lincoln at 4 and a half months old..... I'm gonna try to cut Garrison off in the next 3-4 weeks. Wish me luck!!!!

Lincoln is getting SOOOOOO BIG!!!! It's kind of freaking me out!! haha I can't believe some of the stuff he does and knows and says!! It's incredible!!! Last night (Father's Day) he and Zion went outside and hunted some fireflies, they caught two of them in a jar and we watched them light up as Lincoln fell asleep. =) He thought it was pretty awesome. Well, while we were laying there watching the fireflies light up, and after saying their prayers, Zion was gonna sing, "Jesus Loves Me" to Lincoln and started out.... "Jesus loves me this I know" and Lincoln sang the next line before Zion could take a breath and get it out!!! LOL Then Zion sang the next line, and Lincoln finished the verse!! They both sang the chorus together. It was really cute!! =) Zion and I didn't realize that Lincoln knew that song.... he really is a little sponge!!! haha

Lincoln has also passed another milestone before reaching 2 and a half years old..... he is potty trained!! WOOHOO!!!! Only have to use diapers at night!! It's awesome!!!!!! =) Yesterday was his first whole day without a single accident (Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!! lol) and that includes going to church in the morning and Wal-Mart in the evening in big boy underwear and staying dry the whole time!!!! He's been #2 trained since we were in Kentucky this past winter..... but he's finally figured out the "wet" part!! =) I'm very proud of my little guy, and he made it very easy on me!! All I've had to do is give him stickers as a reward (or sometimes icecream or some very small toy like bubbles!) and he's done he rest!!! He's the best!! =D

Broccoli for breakfast? Yeah, it sounds wrong to me, too!! But that is what I am having because I'd rather that than the soup for breakfast!!!! =P On the plus side, I lost 3 pounds yesterday!!! Wooohooo!!!!! =)

Separately, Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Dad, and my fabulous husband!!!! As well as my fantastic brothers, Justin and Jariah, and Brother's in law, John, Israel, Danny, Sam, and Josh!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful day!!! God bless you all!! =)