Weekend at the Whites

Saturday we headed up north to visit my best friend Teresa and her family for the weekend. We had the best time. Alexander loves that they have toys he doesn’t have and a dog and cat in the house. We are the only people I know that can put away an entire bag of tortilla chips in less than 30 minutes! LOL!

Saturday we just hung out at their house and had dinner and drinks. Sunday, we headed out after a yummy breakfast to Chad’s parent’s lake cottage. We spent the entire afternoon on their pontoon with the kids, playing in the lake. We had a ball! Captain Chad took us for a long boat ride around the lake before we headed back to their house for dinner and unfortunately our drive back to Indy. The kids asked all the way back why we had to leave. So sweet!

State Fair Fun

Last night we journeyed to the state fair...most people know the state fair is my ultimate favorite. I wait for a whole year to eat that food! We decided this year we'd shake it up a bit and eat some different things than normal so we started off with a lamb burger which was delicious. Alexander couldn't get enough of that. We also ate collectively a polish sausage, philly cheese steak, dill pickle popcorn that Krystal bought, lemon shake up, elephant ear, deep fried veggies, vanilla ice cream, and an apple dumpling. Now, mind you we didn't eat all of that ourselves...well I ate the entire elephant ear myself but like 2 bites that Krystal and Ricardo had and I don't feel bad about it. Red Barn Elephant Ears are the only place to get them! YUM! We played games and Alexander even won a stuffed dog and Mel and Krystal won a fish. Of course, we enjoyed petting the pigs, horses, and goats. Alexander really enjoyed the animals this year. He really loved and seemed to embrace everything about the fair this year especially since he decided that sitting on the back step of the philly cheese steak was the right thing to do - he's a carnie now . Definately a successful visit.

A goodbye to my dad!

Most days in your life you never stop to think how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away. Last week I realized how each moment of each day needs to be taken advantage of and no matter how difficult things may be there are always ways to do more. Last week my dad lost a sudden battle to a health issue he didn't even know he had, nor did his doctors. He went from feeling fine to in the ER, to cardiac arrest in a matter of hours. There was no warning and no time to say goodbye. Thankfully my step mom was with my dad when he passed.


Words cannot express the sadness you feel over a loss of a parent and a life but the overwhelming thought that you could and should have had more time. More time to spend, more time to learn from him, more time to give Alexander to know his Grandpa Vernon. That will unfortunately never be.


Over the past few days I have had time to reflect on this experience, pray about it, and think about how I can learn from it. I know my dad would have wanted me to learn something, to take away something to use in life. I can tell you that each moment should be taken advantage of...that each person in your life no matter how they have treated you...regardless of how much you don't look forward to getting up each day to go to work, driving the kids to their 500 activities, or even paying your bills, you better appreciate that those people are alive, you're breathing, and your kids are healthy enough to be in those 500 activities because in a blink of an eye it can all be taken away. I don't mean one day it's here the next it's gone, I mean in a snap, a blink, an instant, gone. I went to bed on Wednesday night and 2 hours later I was being called by my sister telling me our dad was dying.

So, my lesson in all of this is to always, always, always find each second of every day - of every moment, precious. Do everything you can no matter if the other person doesn't reciprocate...because in the end you need to be able to say you did all you can, you did everything you could to make each moment the best moment.


I am thankful that despite years of dealing with a strained relationship with my dad that I did have time to spend with him in Arizona, at my wedding, and right after Alexander was born, just to name a few. The lives of many people have been instantly changed but hopefully dispite the challenge that this will bring, they will learn and take forward something my dad would have wanted. I realized last night after my sister decided to scare the crap out of me at an ATM by pointing her finger in my back that my dad wasn't around anymore to hear those funny stories and how much he would have laughed that she did that. I could hear his laughter as soon as she did it, bellowing. That is the laughter that we all need each and every day. Relish in it because it can all be over. Here's to you dad - laughter, fun, and cheers with a really great margarita!

Never a dull moment...

As usual we had a weekend full of activities. Friday night we dropped Alexander off at Aunt MeMe's and Ricardo and I headed out to dinner - ALONE! We actually had adult conversation and adult drinks! Aunt MeMe decided that her and Alexander should have dinner out too so they went out to eat with some friends and then headed back to one of their houses to play with her daughter...by the time we showed up Alexander had made himself quite at home and wasn't overly thrilled to leave.

Saturday we had a pool party to attend at some friends from the karate school. We had a fabulous time hanging out and watching all the kids play. Alexander had the best time in the baby pool right beside the big pool. Later one we fashioned one of his little friend's floater suites which proved to be hysterical. I referred to him as Michael Phelps just so it didn't seem weird. LOL! There was some loss of bets and one of the moms had to show off her diving skills...with her clothes on. Then, one of the dads had to do the same. Several times there was a resounding "OHHHHH" when it sounded painful. HAHAHA! And, a few games of cornhole took place between the guys...there was a lot of hooting and awing but none of us gals even bothered to see what was going on. :)

After the pool party we ran home, changed, and headed to Big Guys BBQ...another friend from karate. He had a smoker out front and a bounce house so needless to say we sat at the resturant outside for 3 1/2 hours just chatting while the kids played. Alexander only wanted to leave because exhaustion had set in. He had a blast playing with Beau, the baby Mastiff. At only 5 months old but already 67 pounds...he's going to be a big boy!

Sunday, Alexander got a hair cut and I did yard work. Nothing exciting!

Another Baby in the Family

No, not in my immediate family but for the Berkshire clan. This weekend we celebrated the upcoming birth of our newest member Joslyn to our family. We had a fun shower on Saturday and then on Sunday she decided it was time to finally be born. At 9 pounds, I'm sure Katelin was glad too. We spent the whole day of the shower in my hometown eating all of our favorite foods. Alexander woofed down 3 hot dogs at B & K and tried root beer for the first time. He wasn't a huge fan though. I got to drink a Bob O Link Coke, eat Cindy cake (YIPPEE), and then finally Brunos Pizza. It couldn't have been a better day! You can see from the pics that aunt Melanie spent her time during the shower in the church nursery playing with the kids and clearly disgusting my son with a tea party. He finally relented and played along and poor Noah was also drug into the twisted scene!