Birthdays and Weigh-In

Well hello again. I am a week late updating you, but hey better late than never! The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy. I have hosted a birthday party for my husband, learned how much I hate the government and its stupid regulations (HUD-1 forms in particular), started volunteering with Awanas, and traveled to Missouri while battling the urge to eat everything in site.

I married an older man, 5 years to be exact! Since I was taking a bar exam last year and planning a wedding, we were not able to celebrate his 30th birthday the way I wanted to. To make up for my lack of acknowledgment last year, we had to celebrate his 1st Anniversary of his 30th birthday this year. Plus it helps that we have an amazing backyard and I selfishly wanted to show that off! We are very blessed, Daron's best friends from all stages of his life were able to come and help make this day a special day. Without further ado.... here are the pictures that better describe the day than I could with words!

Daron's great friends Stu and Phil

Connie made a new friend... Some of the cutest kids

Nate chillaxin

She LOVED the camera

There were intense conversations going on

Two of my favorites

No party is complete without bean bag toss... nice form Chris

 

The two birthday kids

The awesome cake made by Connie

We had a GREAT time and are so happy to have the friends we have.

Weight Loss Update: The first week I lost 4.2lbs! I was so excited and shocked, however, that also means that I had a lot to lose :(. The next week I gained 0.2 lbs but I am considering this a victory because I went home for the long weekend and fought really hard to be good. Hopefully this week I can lose a pound or two. I appreciate all the encouraging comments. If you have good recipes I would LOVE to try them.

I am hosting a football party today on our new outdoor tv....... tune in next week to see pictures of our new back porch!

Thanks and gig em!

Hayley

Weight Watchers: Week One

I know I have been negligent with blogging........ but hopefully I am back and will be more consistent with my posts. Thank you for being patient with me. 

NEWS FLASH: There is such thing as the Newly Wed 15. It is a well kept secret that you are guaranteed to gain 15lbs in your first year of marriage. Your new clothes you bought for your honeymoon, will no longer be cute, and all the dress clothes you bought for your new job will be extremely tight. Because of this well kept secret I was surprised and disgusted as the scale kept rising.

Once this realization hits, you vow to yourself you will start doing better. You don't need fad diets because psshh you know how to eat right, you just have to make yourself do it. This is what my husband terms my "Start Monday" plans. Every Monday I am going to start eating healthy, change my life, and quite drinking soda. For those of you with a morsel of discipline, this works, for the rest of us, you are setting yourself up for failure. Somewhere in the week, sometimes within the first hours of Monday, you fail by going out to eat or eating that bag of chips that you told yourself would stay in the cabinet. Plus, I am in the running for wife of the year and making scrumptious meals is one of the categories. Ask Daron how I am ranking...........

After 11 months of trying to lose it myself, I finally decided to go back to old tried and true: Weight Watchers. I realize it is not for everyone, but for some reason this program really works well in my lifestyle and I need the constant reminder that everything that goes into my mouth counts. Plus, I am a very competitive person, so having to go weigh in each week makes me try all the harder. So I have resolved to try this for three months to lose those well earned wedding 15lbs. It is time to make a lifestyle change for real, because I was not gifted with an incredible metabolism or long legs so I will fight with weight for the rest of my life.

The Plan: Due to my competitive nature, I am going to add double incentive to my eating well by posting each week what I lost. That way I not only have to show the ww weigher what I did, but I have to tell you too! Hopefully this will work and in three months I will fit back into those adorable clothes AND be able to buy clothes for winter since I moved to the coldest place in America. (For those of you who live in colder places I am exaggerating, but to this Texas girl of six years who forgot what cold was like from her days in Missouri, I do not have warm enough clothes to survive a cold winter)!

SO come back next week to see how weigh-in went and find out what yummy things I found to eat that fit within the points. I have decided to try and fix WW meals for both Daron and I that he doesn't even realize is healthy! Still trying to go for the Wife of the Year Award! 

Who Ya Gonna Call.......... Moth Busters

Over the last couple of weeks - it seems like an eternity but some say I may be a bit dramatic about this - our house has been invaded by moths. It is the closest thing I will get to understanding the story in Exodus of the 10 Plagues in Egypt (DISCLAIMER- I realize this does not compare to the 10 plagues nor is it really applicable, but it puts the story into perspective nonetheless). While our water is not turning to blood and our livestock are healthy, we are being invaded by what I am SURE is 10 different types of moths all at once. After this "minor" plague I am yelling LET MY PEOPLE GO - people meaning the Huyser's.

Each night we spend anywhere from an hour to two hours killing between 50 to 100 moths in our house. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!! We have hundreds in our house, thousands in our garage, millions in our soffit on the porch, and trillions in our attic. Everyone keeps telling me they will be gone in a week due to migration........... but that was four weeks ago..... they lied to the new girl......... Secretly I am wishing the moths would migrate to those people's house so they realize the error of their assertions.

At first Daron and I were grumpy about our uninvited house guests and were taking it out on each other. I am assuming this is the same thing that happens when your spouse invites "his" friends to stay over for the weekend but forgets to tell you they are coming and you had other plans. They were so bad one night that we packed our bags and went and stayed at the in-laws. My husband says it was because he was tired and did not want to deal with my dramatic whining......... believe what you want but he still left and said he would not have slept that night for fear of a moth attack. Someone who was just doing this to get me to be quite would not make those statements!! That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Much to our dismay, we only had one fly swatter to our name. I became resourceful and used the Angus Journal. For those of you not familiar with the Angus Journal, it is like the size of an Atlas and has major killing power. That lasted for a week until our one and only fly swatter finally broke in half. It was at that point we had to reach into our reserves and spend $2.00 for his and hers fly swatters. We became deadly moth killing machines......

One night my husband stayed at the feedlot leaving me to face the moths alone. The whole drive home I was praying that they had miraculously LET MY PEOPLE GO and left the premises. Much to my dismay, I opened the door only to discover they had multiplied. All that stood between my home and the moths was me and my handy dandy pink fly swatter. GAME ON.... after I said a few words under my breath about my husband leaving me to battle alone. With perfect swatting form, I began one by one killing the 100 moths that had invaded my home. Over an hour later, my house looked like a battle field. A 1000 moths lay in various states of dead all over my kitchen, dinning room, living room, and entryway. All hail the mighty victor. Before I began burying the dead, I waited patiently for my husband to return to pay homage to the victory that was mine.

If there was a school of moth killing, Daron and I have just received our PhD. Just call us Doctor Moth Killers. Daron has received recognition in the field for his backward swat killing technique and I am famous for my squeal and kill move. We are in the process of starting a training school for dogs on learning how to be deathly killers of moths.

I am sure at this point in the story, most of you are asking how do you get rid of them? The simple answer is: YOU DON'T!!! At least not at this time of year, the damage has already been done. The time to remedy this situation was in the early fall with larva killing spray. My poor husband had the task of breaking this dreadful news to me, which you can imagine I did NOT take well. So for now I must rely on soapy water under a lamp and our newely acquired swatting skills.

Sincerely,

Doctor Moth Buster

P.S. I think there is light at the end of this moth tunnel. I am happy to report are numbers are dwindling to around 20 a night........ maybe there is some truth to this migration thing..... our the moths have been talking about the Huyser's swatting skills!!

This is me..... Legally Branded

I am a small town girl with big dreams and a love for wide open spaces. I recently graduated from law school, took the bar exam, got married, moved to Nebraska, and started a new job. Change is my middle name. Here is a glimpse into my crazy, but blessed, life as a wife, attorney, cattle rancher, and dog owner. Welcome to Nebraska and welcome to my life!

I have struggled writing my first post because so many things have happened to me in the last year. In order to catch you up with my life, I am going to follow my home states motto and "SHOW YOU" what I have been up to. (I am from Missouri, the SHOW ME STATE). They say a picture is worth a thousand words! 

May 2011: Graduation In may I graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law. Unfortunately, I have no good pictures to show of this because graduation regalia is not my best look.  Take my word for it, I graduated.

July 2011: Bar Exam This was a painful experience and I refuse to show you any pictures. Needless to say I spent the entire summer in workout clothes and no make-up. I learned a lot about the law and studied harder than I have ever studied in my life. Read November to see if it paid off!!

September 24, 2012: Wedding

I had the most perfect day. God blessed me with the perfect man to spend the rest of my life with. I will always remember this day and the people who shared it with us! If you let God lead your life, this is what happens........ you get happily ever after! (Of course it isn't going to be perfect, but it will be joyful)

November 2011: Twin's Wedding

My poor parents had to host mine and Daron's wedding at their house and then six weeks later drive to Galveston, Texas for my twin brother's wedding. It was an absolutely gorgeous occasion and I acquired a sister!

I PASSED THE TEXAS BAR EXAM! All our hard work paid off, plus I was smart enough to study with the person who scored the third highest score on the exam.

December 2011: I am now a quarter century old.... 

I have been fortunate enough to celebrate all 25 birthdays with my other half. I would like to mention that I am the older, more mature twin.... by two minutes :)!

February 2012: I became a Nebraska attorney

The great State of Nebraska thought I was worthy enough to be licensed to practice law in Nebraska. It was a great feeling to finally be done with all of the paperwork that detailed every place I have lived and worked in the last 15 years.

March 2012: 1st Annual Elwood Area Foundation Spring Gala

Shortly after I arrived in Nebraska, I became the Executive Director for the Elwood Area Foundation. With that position came the task to put on the first ever Elwood Area Foundation Spring Gala, which included a silent and live auction. We had three months to put this together. With the help of 23 dedicated volunteers, we managed to sell out, have over 100 auction items, and raise over $50,000.00 in our first year!! I am happy to report there will be a 2nd Annual Elwood Area Foundation Spring Gala.

May 2012: Diamond H Cattle Company Calves

In October, I became part owner of Diamond H Cattle Company. While I am not sure what exactly I own (the number keeps changing at a rapid pace), I do know that we have several adorable baby calves and I am about to get my husband back as we have only 10 left that are yet to calve. In case you were wondering, it is a safe bet that most nights at the Huyser house, Beef: It's Whats for Dinner!!!

Present: Happily Ever After

Stay tuned for my crazy journey in Nebraska.....