A little late...

As I was trying to delete pictures off my phone to make room for more photos, I realized that I never made a post that I promised MONTHS ago. Months ago might be giving myself more credit than I deserve even.

The last few years on the day after Thanksgiving and the following weekend, my mom and my sister have come to spend time at my house. We spend a whole day making all sorts if Christmas goodies. It's kind of like our test run of the things we want to make for Christmas. 

So little sister, here are the pics that I promised back in November.

My medium size crockpot had gone to work with my Husband this day for an employee potluck, so we used the football pot to melt our Almond Bark for our delicious, dipped goodness. 

The Statue of Liberty... Or something like that..

Dad and the Dog, our taste testers/quality control.

Couch to 5K

Last October we attended the first annual "Huxman Run 2 Sweat" benefiting the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias (http://huxmanrun2sweat.com/ & http://www.nfed.org/ ). The event is organized by some family  members of mine, so, we made it priority to be there even though we knew we couldn't run the race (we were far too out of shape). At the Huxman Run 2 Sweat, there is a 1 mile run/walk, a 5k, and a 10k. We collectively (me, my husband, my sister and my mom) decided we would walk the 5k race (we were glad that others made the same decision). So, we walked the 3.1 miles. We had fun and supported family members and a great cause. After the race we (me, my husband, and my sister) said, "maybe we'll run it next year". And then.... we did nothing about it.


At the beginning of summer, I decided it was time for me to do something about getting in shape. I started by going on walks. I recruited my sister to walk with me. On one of our first walks we talked about how we were going to walk the 5k this year, but we were going to train and improve our times. Next, on my mission to getting in shape, I recruited my husband. We started taking nightly bike rides. Many nights I would go ride bikes with him and then go on a walk with my sister. I was determined to keep myself going, and wanted to keep them going, so I would do whichever kind of workout they wanted. During this time, I also decided that I wanted to run some. So, when they weren't available to workout with me, I started working out with the Couch to 5k workout. It's a workout I've started several times, but never stuck with very long. Somewhere during this time period I got myself an accountability partner. (My cousin Cathy has been great! I'm sure she has no idea how much she has helped me!) Then, summer came into full swing, and it was still over 100* when it was time for us to workout in the evenings. So, instead of getting heatstroke, we joined a gym!

About the time we joined the gym, we all decided that we weren't satisfied walking the race this October. We would train so that we would be able to run at least half of the race.


That race was this past Saturday. We went to Moundridge at stayed the night at Grandma's the night before so we were awake and ready on the chilly (or as my dad would say, invigorating) Saturday morning. My brother-in-law and his wife came to run it with us, too. We all finished the 5k and didn't even have to walk! My brother-in-law came in 2nd overall and my sister-in-law got a medal in our age group, too!

Anyway,  I just wanted to share an updated and about our experience. I'm so proud everyone!


My sister, Kendra, and me

Sister-in-Law Megan, Brother-in-Law Casey, Me, Cory

The Next Becky?

A few weeks ago my family took a trip together. My mom and I decided we were making a stop at Hobby Lobby, the boys (my dad and my husband) decided they were going to take that time to check out the golf equipment at the sporting goods store. That left my little sister to decide which store she was going along to. She decided to stick it out with the ladies and head to Hobby Lobby. She's not usually ecited about a trip to Hobby Lobby, and I don't think this trip was really much different. I made it my goal to help her find some goods to work on a project. Like a lot of other people, we've joined the website www.pinterest.com. She picked something that she had pinned, a bullitin board for her bedroom. The orignal pin had a bullitin board covered in scrapbook paper. When we dicussed how we wanted to complete her project, we decided that fabric would be a better option to cover the board because on paper each time you push in a pin, there would be a premenant hole showing. After we decided how we were going to go about the project, the next step was to pick the fabric. With the fabric chosen and other supplies purchased it was time to get started.

We took pictures along the way to show mom. Here they are:


Cutting fabric is hard work. (She's going to kill me)

Sewing all the pieces together.
"We're not taking this to the 4-H fair, right?"

Ironing the seams open.

Showing Mom and Kyzer what she did.

The finished product. At least for now.
We may add some ribbons to it.

Becoming Becky Homecky

I've had this blog for years. Every year I resolve that I am going to do better at keeping it updated. And every year, I fail.

I thought this would be a good time to talk about my journey to becoming Becky Homecky. For those of you who have known me, you know I've had no business being in the kitchen, and creative wasn't a word I would use to describe myself.

Within the last year or so some of these things have begun to change. I remember one day I told my mom, "I want to bake a cake. But not just a normal cake in a rectangle pan." The next time I went home I borrowed my mom's round cake dishes. I went home and baked my first 2-layer cake, and that was the start of it.



Bow for my niece

My next inspiration were my beautiful nieces. I thought it would be fun to make hair bows for them. So, whether or not they (or their moms) like it, they've gotten several different bows.



MCC Heath Kit Bag

My next desire was a sewing machine. I used to sew when I was in 4-H, until I ruined an outfit I was preparing for the fair. After that experience I swore off sewing for the rest of my life (at least that's what I thought at the time). By my last year in 4-H, I had decided that I would make one more sewing entry for my last fair. I expected that to be the last of my sewing.  Years later.. I found myself wanting to sew something. Nothing specific, just wanted to sew. Mom wasn't willing to give up her sewing machine like she did her cake pans. I got very excited when I looked in the Black Friday ads. Mom, my sister, and I always attend the Black Friday "festivities". So, in the middle of the night we headed out to Wal-Mart with our store map in hand and strategy planned out. I stationed myself at the sewing machine pile waiting for the go-ahead to load my new prize into my cart! My first project was making bags to fill with health kits for MCC. Filling these bags at Christmas is a family tradition, and I was glad to help Grandma in the construction of the bags. My next project was an insulated dish carrier for my Grandma for Christmas. My computer desk has now been changed into a home for my sewing machine (the computer has been exiled to the basement). I probably got a little too excited the day that happened.

It's been fun finding my inner Becky Homecky. My poor mom gets phone calls of silly questions all the time, while I'm brainstorming new ideas. And pictures of projects sent to her phone at all hours of the day (and night). I was a child that could not stand a trip to Hobby Lobby, now I find myself dragging my husband into Hobby Lobby every time we drive past one. It's funny how things change.

In the future I'll update on my projects. Thanks for reading. :)

Been a while

Well, when I started thinking about what I was going to write in this blog, I thought that there wasn't much to update, then I looked back to realize I haven't updated since Apirl, oops. Sorry I don't do a better job keeping this upated. It's always my intention, it just doesn't happen. So, since the last post...
Cory has accepted the position as Store Manager at Hastings in Hays. So, we are commited to Hays for the forseeable future. He just found out this past week that he will be gone to Texas for a week in October for their company meetings.
I started my new job at Sunflower Bank. I spent the first few days at training in Salina, then began may days workin in the branch. Since then I've spent another week in Salina for addtional training. While I was there, my mom came to visit one evening. We got to do a little shopping, and had dinner with my aunt.
In the last post, I had gone to a baby shower for Cory's brother's Fiance' Ashley. Since then, Baby Brooke has joined our family. We adore her! We love being Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Cory to our nieces!
Also since the last update, we've purchased a new car. Unfortunately, it wasn't because we decided that it was time for a new car. On his way back to work from his lunch break one day, Cory was hit by another car. This has turned into another fiasco all it's own. We were making great strides at paying down our debt. We had Cory's car paid off and had intentions of driving it until the wheels fell off, which I guess pretty much did, considering tires popped and wheel mechanics were part of the repairs needed for the car.

Upcoming: On October 1st we plan to attend the Huxman Run 2 Sweat in Moundridge. It is an event with intentions of raising awareness and money for the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias (NFED). I have a couple of relatives affected by Ectrodactyly, Ectodermal Dysplasias Clefting Syndrome (EEC Syndrome). (www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/deannhuxman/huxmanrun2sweat )We're looking forward to the event.
Just this evening, we booked our stay for a January vacation to Mexico. We are looking forward to that trip, and will have more details in future posts (providing I get it updated).
I think for now that gets you pretty much updated on our lives.
Hope this finds you doing well!

Changes

Spring has arrived, and I hope it’s here to stay! We have enjoyed being able to take Kyzer out for walks in the evening after work the past 3 days, and hope that it is something we can continue to do. If we could just get the wind to stop the weather would be almost perfect (in my opinion!). I’m ready for BBQing, evenings in the back yard, and my best attempt at the flower garden in the front yard. Along with the seasons changing, there are changes coming for us as well! Cory’s training is continuing. After being gone to Texas for a week and a half or two weeks out of each of the past 3 months, with any luck, in the next week or so, he will travel to another store to take his boards to be eligible for his promotion to store manager. It is looking more and more like we will be staying in Hays! Assuming that that this the case, Lindsey has accepted a new job. After working at Simply Charmed for five and half years, this coming Saturday (April 16) will be my last day. I started as a Sales Associate and worked my way up to Store Manager. The last couple of weeks have been crazy. Just before turning in my two weeks notice, my boss made the decision to change some of the inventory of the store. Simply Charmed will no longer be carrying beads. Thursday will be the last day that customers are able to bead in the store, and Friday morning, all the beads will go on sale, starting at 50% off. Last week, and the week before we spent plotting our strategy for the sale and how to market the sale. Then we had to make our marketing materials (e-mails, postcards, in-store posters, and Facebook posts). Then this week so far, we have been busy with customers rushing in to make their last projects in the store. I am supposed to be showing my boss all of the things I do in a typical day, and where all of the files I use on the computer are, but we haven’t had time for that yet. Yesterday I had to help write the job description for my position so that someone new could have the duties laid out in front of them…that was a little weird. Saturday my boss said that we will have refreshments in honor of my “going away”. But, Enough about Simply Charmed, and moving on to the work I will be doing, beginning Monday, April 18th. I will begin at Sunflower Bank as a Teller/Customer Service Representative. I am excited about the possibilities that now lie ahead of me and the new career potential I will have in the future! I don’t really have a lot to say about the new job yet. I guess I’ll save that for the next post. In the last few weeks we’ve been making a lot of trips back and forth between Great Bend and Hays, etc. About 3 weeks ago, I drove to Lyons to attend my best friend from high school, Ashley’s, Baby Shower. We both went home to enjoy a BBQ and the Basketball championship at Chris and Claudia’s house, that Sunday we attended the Spring Expo in Great Bend. We also enjoyed spending some time playing with our niece, Sohpia. This past weekend I went back to Albert for another Baby Shower, this time for Cory’s brother’s fiancé’ Ashley. This week, I will go back to Great Bend again to help with the Eagle Radio Auction on Friday. I think for now, this gets you pretty much up to date. Thanks for checking in!

Finally sitting down to write a new post. It's been so long since an update, we'll see if we can't can't you up-to-date on our lives. Since our last post, we celebrated Chirstmas. We had a great Christmas. We were able to spend time with our families and celebrate the season. We had a nice Christmas dinner out for the two of us, a couple of weeks before Christmas (yes, this isn't very traditional, but it's the best we could do). We were given "Christmas Dinner Out" by a friend, which was very nice. And then we spent the remainder of our evening together, and opening our gifts. With our schedules, both working retail, we didn't have a lot of time left to do our Christmas, that's why we did it early, or a lot of energy, which is why we decided to have dinner out, rather than making it at home. We spent Christmas Eve with Cory's family, and then spent Christmas day with Lindsey's family (breakfast at Grandma's {Dad's side} and lunch at AuntKrys' {Mom's side}). In the next week or so, we went back to Great Bend to have Christmas with Lindsey's parents and sister. We brought in the New Year with Chris & Claudia (Cory's brother & Sister-In-Law) and some friends at the Stadium Club, with a live band. Also, on January 2nd, Cory celebrated his 26th Birthday.
At the last post, Cory had just started a new job at Hastings as "Manager-In-Training". Since the last post, some things hve changed. The manager who hired him, and was to train him, accepted a new job outside of the company. A new temperary manager was brought in for a time, to help continue his training, but she has since left to take over her own store. This has left Cory to take over many of the Manager's duties, while still trying to learn what all the duties of the manager are as well as how to perform those duties. As one of these Store-Manager duties, he was required to put together a full financial annalysis of the store for last year, and present that to the President and Vice-President of the company (no pressure...haha). He spent 4 days in Amarillo, Texas during the week he made that presentation. During those days, he also met some store managers from the Amarillo area, and was able to meet with them, and learn some things from them. That was the first week of Febuary. Currently, he is in Amarillo again (for a week this time) participating in the Hastings Leadership Academy. During this time, we will learn to read all the financial documents he had to use to compile the financial analysis, along with other activities that are required of him to become a store manager. After this week is over, he will return home to continue his training, until he trained to do the job as store manager, at which point we will find out if we stay in Hays, or relocate.
As for Lindsey's work, she is still at Simply Charmed. It's been a busy year already. The first business day of the year, is always spent doing inventory. For those of you who have never been in the store before, Simply Charmed has a bead studio, and part of inventory is counting thousands, upon thousands of beads by hand, as well as hand counting all of the additional inventory in the store. After all the employees help count everything, it is Lindsey's job to add everything up and come up witha total inventory number. Things at the store have been so busy, that that has become the project for Lindsey's days "off" the last couple of weeks. After inventory was done, the store was reorganized to sell prom dresses. For the last 2 prom seasons, prom dresses were sold in a seperate building, but this year, will be sold out of the main Simply Charmed building. On Febuaray 5th we had 4 designer fashion shows held in the store throughout the day, with 14 high school models. Last week, we rearranged the entire store, including large fixtures that had been in the same place for 7 years. At the store we keep saying that we have been sprinting, just trying to keep up. Hopefully things will get caught up soon.
During a weekend in February, we traveled with Lindsey's parents and sister to Oklahoma City to see Dave Ramsey Live at the Cox Center in Bricktown. We left Great Bend early Friday morning, made a quick stop at Grandma's house to say hello, then Headed ot OKC. While we were there we toured the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial (an aweing experience). We got there shortly before ticket sales ended and were the last ones to leave the museum for the day. After the memoial, we headed to Bricktown to spend our evening and ate some delicious steaks at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar & Grill. We spent the remainder of the evening plaing games at the hotel. We got up in the morning, and spent a little more time at Bricktown, then went to the show, and then headed home to Great Bend afterwards, arriving home at about 11:30 p.m.
For now, I think this should bring you up to date. Hopefully, it won't be as long before the next update! {I am sorry for any typos or misspellings, the spell check isn't working...}