Help Please!

It's Monica again......does anyone ever even check Lisa's blog anymore??? Well if you do, I'm asking a favor. Last week our family had pictures done by Sally at Sweetly Simple Photography. I think they turned really well. So, here is the favor..... if my mom gets 20 comments on Sally's blog she'll get a 11x14 print. So if there are any of you still out there, would you mind popping in and leaving a comment HERE??? We'd all really appreciate it!

Not a bad looking bunch, if I do say so myself......

and a pretty cute little family too!

The Wedding Cake Maker

Since Lisa has become MIA as a blogger, I figured I'd be a nice sister and let you all know what she's been up to! (yep, this is Monica, and yes, I did hack in to post on Lisa's blog).

Lis has been doing quite a few weeding cakes lately, and I must say she is quite the talented girl.

It's amazing to me what she can do with some cake, styrofoam and some fondant!

Each one is so different and unique.

This is the latest one, from just last weekend. For some reason this picture makes it looks short, but believe me it wasn't. The entire cake was real, and that baby was heavy! This one isn't fondant either, it's butter cream and I was amazed at how smooth she got it!

{Treasures, I Tell You}

Ok, yea... I know it's been awhile since my last post, and well, this post isn't really mine either. Mo posted this on her blog today, and I liked it so much I just decided to copy it and use it too!

We had an interesting sacrament meeting in our little town last March. It didn't start out different than any other week, but about fifteen minutes into the meeting the pager of one of our firemen went off, and out he ran. Ten minutes later someone came in and got a young couple, a few minutes later their parents, then some family friends. By that point, I felt bad, but I don't think many of us were hearing the speakers, but were wondering what was happening. It turns out there was a fire in the home they were renting, a home that has been in my family for generations. My Grandpa's, grandpa built that home over 100 years ago. As long as I can remember the house has been owned by Uncle Orrin, who is actually my Grandpa's Uncle. It was a summer/weekend home for his family. I have so many memories of sitting on the front porch visiting, playing in the yard or playing Chinese checkers when the cousins came to town. Uncle Orrin always called me, and any of the other girls Matilda, and as a child I could never understand why. My parents rented that house the summer I was born, and I lived there the first 3 months of my life. That Sunday was a sad day for many. In the many months since that day, I've driven by the old Beckstrand home daily and been so sad to see the shape it's in.

For weeks after the fire, the bricks stayed wet from the water used to put out the fire.
These pictures honestly don't show how bad it truly looks.

Yesterday, I noticed some cars there and wondered who was there and what they were doing, since I'd heard that the family was selling the home. Lisa and I were visiting for a minute when she came to pick up Tylie, and my grandma called. She said the family was closing on the house in just over a half hour and had asked if there was anything she would like from the home, she said, "No, but I know two girls who would love to come look." We jumped in the car and ran right down. I don't know which I noticed first, the treasures or the devastation? We just stood there, with melting snow dripping on our heads, looking at the amazingly detailed mouldings and beautiful doors amid ashes and damage. I would have taken all of them, if the buyer didn't plan to try and restore it. But, in the middle of the living room floor were two huge old cabinets. Cabinets that had been there as long as I can remember, cabinets that have a bit of smoke and water damage, not to mention age damage, cabinets that the family wasn't taking and were offering to us!
Tonight we got a crew together and went to pick up our treasures......treasures that the guys (Derrick, Dad, Shad, & Ky) joked should have burned with the house. How could they say such a thing? I guess the old saying is true "One mans trash, is another mans treasure". They are both made from solid old barn wood, with old square nails, not to mention are very heavy. While the guys went to drop off Lisa's cabinet (the multi-colored one, we drew to decide who got which one). I visited with my grandpa. He said that the cabinets had been in the house as long as he could remember, even when his Grandparents were there.....meaning these belonged to my great, great, grandparents!

TREASURES I tell you!
I can't wait to get to work on them, and I have just the spot picked for mine!

Weekend Run Away!

Me, Jen, & Brandy


This weekend I had SO much fun as I was able to run away with some of my good friends for a little r & r. Can I just say there wasn't a dull moment the entire trip! But heck, there never is when we get together :)

Brandy picked me up Friday afternoon and we headed up to stay at Jen's house in Clinton. We got there and headed out on the town... ok, so we just went to dinner, did some shoppin, and rented ourselves a movie for the night. There's nothin better than some good 'ol belly laughs! And we had LOTS of em!

Sat. morning Jen got up and made us YUMMY breakfast burritos, then we got ready and headed out for a FULL day of shopping! We shopped all day long and it was a blast. We decided we'd hit a movie, "Couples Retreat" and we laughed some more!

Sunday we got up and headed home. I have to tell you that I have the BESTEST husband in the entire world! I got home and my house was spotless... not just picked up, but he did some serious cleanin while I was gone. I am SO lucky, he is SO good to me, and such a great dad to our kids! It was the perfect ending to the perfect weekend! Thanks girls for the much needed break from life!

I'm Back!!!

Ok, so I know I have been totally been slacking on my blog... I have at least 1 person per DAY ask me how come I am not blogging anymore. Honestly, I just haven't made the time to do it! But I am going to try REALLY hard to start again, and keep up on it! So here goes...

I know that you have all missed seeing what my sweet, innocent, angel Tylie has been up to, so what a perfect way to start my blogging again... with Tylie's Tales ;)

So I had the day off work this week and put a movie on for Tylie and decided to take a quick shower, no big deal, right? WRONG!!! If she knows I am not around to catch her in the act of being destructive, she thinks she can just do whatever she wants. This day for instance, she decided to get into my lipstick, the permanent kind! Once again, she wanted to be beautiful as she puts it, and painted her entire face! Not to mention it was the day before Halloween so she looked just spectacular on Halloween!

If that wasn't enough, after I dealt with that, I walked upstairs only to find that she had decided to become an artist in my craft room! Yep, she got a container out, filled it up with paint, and went to town. I now have "fleshtone" paint everywhere in my room! Not a happy day at our house, but of course I had to get the camera out before I attempted to clean it up, which it didn't clean up to well. So sit back, and enjoy the show... I can laugh at it now cause it is over and done, but let me tell ya, she is still one naughty little girl!

Isn't she adorable?

The computer chair...

The computer desk and mouse pad...

My new printer and computer desk...

The kids computer...

The floor and her painting can...

The rocking chair...

And last but not least, herself!

Memorial Day... One Year Later

It's been one year today since Jeremy came home from Iraq, and our family was whole again. It was a day FULL of emotion to say the least. How fitting for them to be able to fly in on Memorial Day. I have always felt that I was patriotic, but going through a deployment, I can honestly say that I am now filled with a patriotism that I never knew before. I am sure that anyone who has gone through this can relate, but there is a sort of respect that you gain when you see the flag, or say the Pledge of Allegiance, or hear the National Anthem being sung. It really hits home for me, and I get cold chills, and get tears in my eyes thinking about the sacrifices that have been made so I can be here today.

Having Jeremy in the National Guard, we had always know that being deployed was a possibility, but it's just one of those things you hope and pray doesn't. I will always remember the day that I got the phone call from Jeremy telling me they had been called up. I was on my way to my brothers house for a family get together and Jeremy called me to tell me he was going to be late. I wasn't being very understanding about that, and let him know that I wasn't very happy about it. He proceeded to tell me he'd had a rough day and we needed to talk about something, but he wanted to tell me in person what it was about. So naturally I had all these things running through my head trying to figure out what he needed to tell me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not the most patient gal, so of course I couldn't just wait for him to get there, I had to know right then. He agreed that he would tell me, but not until I had gotten to Shad and Julia's house and wasn't driving anymore. Now I was really nervous to what he was going to tell me. At that point I was driving past the Golf Course and about to get off the exit. I pulled up and had the kids get out and go in without me. I will never forget what he said to me after that... "I got a phone call today and our unit is being deployed". My heart just dropped, and the tears started to come. How could this be happening??? Then the questions started from me... WHEN... WHERE... HOW LONG? I couldn't believe this was happening to us.

We talked for a little bit and I cried A LOT, and then decided I better go inside. When I got inside everyone was wondering what was going on. All they knew was the kids went in and said, "My mom's talking to my dad on the phone and she is really mad." So they knew that I had been crying and then I broke the news to them. Let me just tell you, the mood went somber really quick. I am SO lucky to have such a GREAT family support. I knew whatever came my way I could handle.

The deployment day came and it was one of the hardest days I have ever had, but I knew that we would be ok. It was a long hard year, but we made it through it.

This is the first time we saw Jeremy after a year of being gone. There were so many emotions that day. Excitement, Pride, Love, Happiness, and Nervousness! I was SO nervous!

They tried to prep us for the reunion, telling us that the Soldier that we sent off would never be the same again. They really focused on PTSD and how real it is. I think that a lot of us wives thought and felt some of the same things. There were a lot of "unknowns" that we were facing and going to have to deal with, but we hoped that things would just be peachy once again. It's been really nice to have made so many GREAT friends with other "army wives" and to have them to lean on whenever we need each other. It is especially hard watching some of my best friends go through some very hard trials in their lives, many of which were brought on by their PTSD. But if there is one thing I learned through this deployment, it's that we are stronger than we ever thought possible, and we will keep pushing on and get through whatever might come our way.

I am extremely blessed to have such a great husband. I am so proud of him for serving our country. I can honestly say that I am a much stronger person having gone through this, and I know that we can handle anything that comes our way.

My little man & his new glasses

Isn't he just the cutest in his new glasses?

Last week we took Bryson to the eye dr. and found out that he needs glasses. The main reason that I even took him in was because he has been getting headaches for a couple months. He missed the day at school when they do the little eye screening, so when Jeremy had an appointment, I had him get Bryson in too. Well, we found out that his eyes are really bad. I have always kind of thought there might be something wrong with his eyes, and I guess the mothers intuition was right. He was really excited about getting his new glasses, but it has been really hard for him to get used to them.

Today was his first day with them at school and my mom was in the faculty room for lunch when someone came in asking if there was a "Grandma Beckstrand" in there. So she went out in the hall and Bryson handed her his glasses and said, "Here Gram, I don't need these. I can see fine without them." So she told him that yes he really did need to wear them and he then told her that they irritate him! Seriously what kindergarten kid uses the word irritate? Well, Bryson does, and quite often too. Everything lately is irritating. What a crack-up he is. So hopefully he will get used to them real soon.