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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Week 4: A Family Member

Family means a great deal to me. I have a pretty small family, but married into a lovely, hysterical, and large family! My husbands family is fantastic.


My family, by blood, chosen, and married into, are seriously awesome. I love all of them! But the one I will be telling you about today is my amazingly, awesome, dearly missed, sweet, Godly Nannie.


Nannie Dearest


My Nannie. She was the absolute best person I have been lucky enough to know. So, let's take it from the beginning;

Growing Up in West Virginia


Born Janet Lee Mahan, that we lovingly called Nannie, she was the oldest of (I believe) 6 kids. She grew up in a shack of a house in the backwoods of West Virginia. Her mother wasn't a very present mom, and her dad was, apparently, married to a heinous woman. They called her "Evil Stella". She played mom to her younger siblings, and made sure they had everything they needed to go to school and to eat. Once she graduated high school she moved on to bigger and better things.

Virginia is for Lovers


At the age of 18 she moved to Virginia, where she met my mothers dad, Ronnie. They married and had my mom when my Nannie was just 20. With her high school education she was hired as a secretary at the Pentagon! I mean, think about that now. You wouldn't get onto Pentagon grounds without a college degree, and she only had her high school diploma from a tiny town in West Virginia.

Her and my Grandpa Ronnie divorced when my mom was around 10, and then, eventually, my Nannie remarried my now Popaw, who is an amazing guy. Unfortunately, my mothers dad passed away when she was about 20.

Meanwhile, my Nannie was busy at the Pentagon getting promoted!

Fast forward a bunch of years, my Popaw adopted my mom at the age of 24, my mom was married, moved to California, and had my older sister. She then came back to Virginia, where she had the rest of us, myself, Emily, and Joey. But while Joey was a baby, we found out my Nannie had breast cancer.

She retired from the Pentagon with the highest security clearance you can have. She retired because she found out she had the cancer. Her job was very secret, but from what I can piece together about her position was she was a head of a department that followed and made sure what countries had what parts that can become bombs, or any kind of thing that would be a threat to another country.

How AMAZING?! She grew up in the backwoods, no bathroom in the house, no air conditioning, no real mother figure, only her high school diploma, and she achieved all that!

She had a mastectomy. She was clear of cancer.

Retired to Florida


In 1998 my Nannie, her brother, and their spouses (my Aunt Terry, and my Popaw) decided to move down to Florida, because that's what is cool I guess.

And in 2000 we moved down to be with them. But then came the lung cancer diagnosis. Yup, this amazing woman, who already beat breast cancer, was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Thankfully another round of chemo and radiation, and the cancer was gone.

We would go over to my Nannies house almost every weekend. We had so much fun hanging out with my Nannie and Popaw. They would make us pancakes, and we would swim in the pool almost all weekend.

Then we grew up, and stopped going to their house every weekend. But, we definitely made time for them. We would go to Sunday dinner at their house and we always had Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve at their house. We would sing "Build Me Up Buttercup" to my Nannie and talk about poop at the dinner table.

Then in 2008, going in for her cancer scan, they found more cancer.

Stage 4. Lung Cancer.

Hearing your idol, your biggest fan, the biggest fighter you know with the kindest heart, say and actually come to grasp with the fact that this disease will inevidably take their precious life.

April 10, 2009


My moms birthday. We got the call that she had passed on to Heaven, because only the best, like her, get to go to Heaven. I woke up to my mom, sitting on the couch, and I just knew. My heart sunk. I couldn't see, and I swear I can't remember the rest of the afternoon. We had to deal with all the details with the funeral and stuff. Oh gosh, what an awful day.

Loss is never easy, and quite frankly it down-right SUCKS. I still think about her every day. I see her in my girls. She would love them so much, and she would be so happy to spoil them rotten.

Well, I think I'm done being depressing. Haha.

Love you guys!

Who is someone in your family who you admire? I'd love to hear.

XOXO
Caitie B




Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Week 3: Family

Family

Week 3 of my 52 week blog challenge is to write about family. One of my very favorite topics to talk and write about. I am a huge family person. Family. Over. Everything. I wholeheartedly believe that you can chose the family you want. Family isn't just blood, it's people who have been there and haven't left.

Let's Talk About My Little Family

My very own little family. Is this a dream? I can't believe that I get to wake up to and fall asleep with these three. I love my sweet family, my sweet husband and my two girls. They mean the world to me.

My husband is 29, and in November he will be the big 3-0!! I'm so excited, I want to throw him a big party with his buddies so he can see how much he's loved.

Harper is 2 and Emerson is 10 months. Isn't it funny how they can be so little and still have such huge, different, silly personalities? Harper is my laid back, go-with-the-flow type girl. Emerson is a little bit more high maintenance. She just likes to be held, and be entertained a lot of the time.

My Not-So-Big, Crazy, Awesome Family

I grew up with 2 sisters (one older, one younger) and a little brother. My mom and dad split up when I was older, about 23, and now my dad lives in Texas and my mom is only right the next town over.

My sisters, Becca and Emily, are my best friends. We share pretty much everything. I love being close to my sisters and having that bond. But, don't get me wrong, we're quite different at the same time.

My older sister, Becca, 31, is a Medical Assistant at a Pediatricians office, and she's definitely our most protective sister and the most blunt sister of the three of us. Never out of being ugly, she's just not afraid to speak her mind and that's something we love about her.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Week 2: Spouse / Significant Other


I am beyond thrilled to talk about this subject. #hearteyes

Here's a little of our back story:
My husband and I met almost exactly 7 years ago (on the 28th to be exact) on a dating website (I know right?). We met at a little Beef O' Brady's in between our two cities. We ate, and when the check came, he asked me to draw a picture for him on the receipt. I drew a picture of Mary Poppins, which he still keeps in his wallet today! *heart flutter*
If I'm being completely honest, the day I met him I knew he was the one. He took some persuading though, not a lot, but some.

Babies. 2010.

I am such a lucky lady to have this man to share my life with. He's 100% the ying to my yang, the peanut butter to my jelly, the sunshine on a rainy day. And more corny relativities. All of them.

He works all the time to make sure we have everything we need and want. Long, hard days. He's a crane operator for an electric company in Tampa, but does everything from digging holes to sitting in his crane doing intense pole positioning. He's up and out of the house, most days, by 5am, and doesn't get home until around 430-5.

I've never seen a greater dad. I'm not sure what I was expecting when we got pregnant, but he's beyond every expectation I ever had. Which made me fall even deeper in love with him. He lives for his girls, and it's the cutest thing ever! He's going to be the fun dad with all of their girlfriends, and the super scary dad to any "boyfriends" we have beating down our doors for our girls.

Having a partner in life the way I have him is the greatest thing I've ever experienced. We've been through a lot of trials and tribulations, but we have always kept each other the priority.






"I wish I could explain your eyes, and how the sound of your voice gives me butterflies. How your smile makes my heart skip a beat and how everytime I'm with you I feel so complete"

XOXO
Caitie B

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Week 1: Why Start This Challenge?

Hello you guys!


I sure hope the beginning of 2017 has been wonderful for you. I can't believe it's already been 4 days. I'm not sure if it's the whole being an adult, being a parent, or being a living individual these days that makes it seem like time is just speeding by. I plan on trying to post every Wednesday on these weekly challenge topics. Thankfully I can get it done this week because I'm super duper busy this weekend, I have 8 people, 3 different places, 2 services, 1 day, and about 3 hours of travel between all of it. NUTS!

So, let's get to it.


The reason I'm doing this challenge is, in fact, to challenge myself to post more and to also be more grateful for the things I have and the things I can attain.

I'm starting this challenge because I feel like I have stuff to share with people. I have dreams I want to achieve. I have stories to tell, friends to make, a family to make proud, business to do, happiness to spread, more mommy moments to laugh at.. You name it.

I'm starting the challenge to be purposeful with my time and to share things I am currently doing/have done/will be doing. Whether it be family adventures, decorating, bragging on my sweet husband, cheering on my friends, interesting new purchases.. I never know what I'm going to be getting into from week to week, so I'm sure it'll be interesting to see the progression at the end of the year!

I love my life and the people around me. I want to be able to spread all the positivity I can! I have found what works for me to keep a positive mind set and I also have found how much it has helped me in my life and I'd love to share those things with you. Little tid bits of information or suggestions to help you stay positive.

In the past few sentences I have said "I" way too much for my liking, haha. In all honesty, I don't like talking about myself too much. I love telling stories, laughing, enjoying life, etc.

Here's to 2017!

XOXO
Caitie B