Prayers for Aurora, CO

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People say I am fearful and crazy with my thoughts... but for years, I have tried to stay away from theaters. I really only feel safe when I am on military base theaters, which in this day and time shouldn't even be the case anymore. When I was younger it was the fear of sitting on needles that people had strategically placed on the seats to give you a disease.. whether that could really happen or not, I remember hearing about it and fearing. I have ALWAYS felt the seat to make sure nothing is in it. 

As I got older I have always feared someone opening gun fire or a fire starting in the theatre while I was in there... Anytime I go I always sit near an exit and come up with a "plan" to get out of there fast if anything were to happen. All honesty, I normally think of a fire happening. 

Waking up to read about this horrific even in Colorado today broke my heart. ALL of these people that have died have family... they ALL have someone that knows them and loves them. They all have people crying and grieving for them as we speak. I skimmed an article this morning, turned on the TV for like 10 minutes.. and then I was done. I had to go on with my day...

As the kids began to rest today, I pulled up articles... it kills me. Having lost a brother that was so dear to me, these kinds of things KILL me. I have to set apart a time and a place to read about things like this... about people dying or begin sick. As I read it angers me. It ANGERS me that someone would do this.. take the lives of these people for no reason. Then my anger turns to HEARTACHE.

It was this blog that hit me so hard this afternoon.. This brother lost his sister... just I lost my brother in 2009. 

As I sit here in tears.. my heart ACHES for these families... I just can't imagine. When we lost Shane, a part of me died. It will always be dead. That part of Cassey will never come back. Period. I remember talking with Brittany and our mom that weekend and we were so grateful that at least we knew what happened.. at least our only questions where WHY? Why didn't you buckle up, Shane? Why didn't God save you, Shane? Why did you have to stay late at work that night, Shane? Why, Why, Why!! Our hearts were grateful that he had not been murdered or harmed by someone else.. 

Even today, 2 years and almost 8 months since our brothers life altering death.. I hurt.. I grieve... I get mad... I question.. and when things like this happen, it brings it all back. But as I sit here thinking of that time in our lives... I really, really hurt for these families. These families are ALWAYS going to question why this had to happen to their loved one. Why did they have to go to THAT theatre? Why the midnight showing? Most importantly, why did this other human being thing he had any right to do what he did? Why would someone do that? Someone that didn't even know them. 

To be honest- I have barely read any of the articles... it isn't good for my heart or mind. They already hurt so bad for those families. They will never understand why... just as we don't. But to me.. there lack of understanding is on a whole different level. Shane was killed in a car wreck- a ONE car, car wreck. It doesn't make it easier.. no. But these people, like so many in our country... were killed by another human... on a murdering adventure. 

I honestly just can't handle it. 

Please pray for these families!

-Cassey
Big Sis

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Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

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Who doesn't LOVE Chicken Pot Pie? I remember as a kid how we would always have frozen pot pies and how I loved them. I was always SO very sad at how long they took to cook, but man, I loved these things. I never thought to make my own until we lived in Japan. One of our friends there made a killer homemade chicken pot pie... and I loved it. I loved it so much that she brought us one when our son was born to the hospital with his initials. 

Isn't that so creative and precious. Needless to say, the whole thing was eaten. It is just so creamy and sooo yummy. I love to make chicken pot pies and freeze them. Also, when I am going to make a meal for a family at church or something I always go to the pot pie. It is semi-quick and I know how yummy it is. And the fact that it is so different from the normals of lasagna or spaghetti. I love making it. Just recently, when making the ones below, I actually made THREE of them at one time! They were all so yummy. 

Normally I use the deep dish, frozen pie crusts in the dessert section of your local grocery store. I used them for two of the ones that I last made and then I ventured out to make my own pie crust. This is the one that we kept. Making pie crust has always, ALWAYS intimidated me. But it was not bad at all. I was shocked at how well it turned out and how yummy it was. Now I wish that the two pot pies that I gave away had my homemade crust on it too. In a blog post to come, I will tell you all about making my homemade pie crust. 

It may not be the prettiest thing in the world.. but I still made it myself! SO EXCITING!!! I have a lot of practice to do with my pie crust, but man how it added to the flavor of the chicken pot pie. I wish I could take the credit for my chicken pot pie, but I can't. I honestly have not gotten away from this recipe... and I am glad. Because it is just too great for me to mess up. I will share where I get it from at the end. 

But look at that pure delicious-ness. The thing that takes the longest in this whole process is cutting my carrots, celery, and onions. The awesome thing is if you don't like those veggies, you will probably not even know they are there because they are cut so small and cooked with everything else. If you don't like them, I would dare you to go ahead and add them... and see if you taste them!! 

My next goal is to make personal chicken pot pies and to freeze them. Trying to figure out how to exactly do that though... without breaking them coming out of the individual baking dishes.. tips?

You can find the AWESOME Chicken Pot Pie Recipe that I use right HERE! I hope you will try it out and let me know what you think... 

Check out our Linky Parties page to see where all we are linking this up! 

-Big Sis

*Don't forget to go enter our GIVEAWAY for some AWESOME Coconut Oil*

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What's going on with the Natural-Nesters!?!?

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Hey everyone!! We just wanted to let yall know about some things that are going on here at the Natural-Nesters. 

GET TO KNOW US!

In the next few weeks we plan to spend some time posting things about ourselves on here so that YOU, our readers can get to know us, Big Sis & Little Sis a little more personally.  For starters, yesterday we were apart of the Me, Myself & I blog link up party! You can check out that post to learn some random facts about both of us.  We will be doing more things like that in the future! We would love to get to know you more too, so if you do anything like that be sure to link it to the Naturally-Nifty Party, or put the link in our comment box!!

JOIN THE PARTY! 

Right now, and every week (Tuesday-Friday) we are hosting our Naturally-Nifty Party! We invite all bloggers to stop by and link up their favorite posts from the week! We love reading about what yall are up to and being inspired by your projects or thoughts, so have fun and link up as much as you want...and tell your friends about the party! Each week we also feature some of our favorite posts...it may be you!

WIN SOME COOL STUFF!

At this moment, and for a few more days we are hosting an awesome GIVEAWAY! One of our lucky readers will win a bottle of Gold Label Coconut Oil! This stuff is so good! And you can do so much with it, it is so good for you to eat, use on your skin, and more! You can read our post about ways to use it, and sign up to WIN while you are there! 

COMING IN THE FUTURE

Each day our readers increase, and we are loving it! We love getting to meet new bloggers, and make friends, and join together for fun bloggy world stuff.  And right now we are edging our way closer to 1,000 fans on our facebook page, and as soon as we hit that we plan to have the First EVER Natural-Nesters group GIVEAWAY to celebrate! We are so excited to team up with some of our favorite bloggers to put this on for our readers, but we need your help first! What can you do you ask? Well if you haven't already, stop by and LIKE our page.  Then while you are there, SHARE our page with your facebook friends and tell them to like us! That will do so much!! 

We love all of our readers and are so thankful to get to interact with you and get feedback from you, and also follow along on your blogs too! It is because of you that we enjoy writing, because we know that we are making friends here! Thanks so much for being great, and we look forward to getting to know each of you more in the future! 

Blessings

-The Natural-Nester Sisters

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Me, Myself & I

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This week we are joining Breanna from My Beautiful Crazy Life for the Me, Myself & I Linky Party!! 

So enjoy having some fun and getting to know a little more about the Natural-Nesters! 

Big Sis

1. If you could relive any day of your life, what would it be?

I would relive the day I left for Japan in June 2008. It was such a beautiful day.. just my family. My mom, step-dad, sister, brother, his wife, nieces, and nephew. Everything about that day was perfect all the way down to my crying because they said my luggage was too heavy... to my step-dad and brother fixing it. I remember the way Shane, my brother, comforted me. He kept telling me to calm down that they would fix it.. and they did. And I got to take all of my stuff. If I had known that day was going to be the last day I would EVER see my big brother alive or hug him again... I wouldn't have worried about the retiredness of having to pay for overage on my luggage. I wouldn't have cared anything about .. well anything except enjoying Shane's presence a little more, hugging him a little tighter, and fighting the urge to run into his arms and let him keep me in Texas vs. getting on the plane to meet my husband for our move to Japan. We all miss him and we all hurt. But sometimes when I am feeling sorry for myself I get angry.. Angry that I am the only one that missed out on so much of his life and our life together in the year and a half that I spent in Japan before he died. We were so excited to see each other and we had already made plans... that never happened. If I had known the next time I would see him we would be planning his funeral, I would have spent a little extra time planning his Christmas and Birthday gifts .. I would relive that day in a heartbeat. That day is tattooed in my heart and mind and I can never get away from it... I could go on and on.. Enough.

2. Name the songs on your lives soundtrack.

When You Say Nothing At All: Alison Kraus
Turn Back the Hands of Time: R. Kelley
Praise you in this Storm: Casting Crowns
Everything I do, I do for you: Brian Adams
Fancy: Reba McEntire
My Redeemer Lives: Hillsong
Come Now Fountain
Sanctuary

3.  What is your biggest phobia?
Death.

4. If you could stay one age forever, what would it be?
26. When I was 26, my brother was still alive (for a little over 2 months) and I became a mom!

Little Sis

1. If you could relive any day of your life, what would it be?
I am going to change this question to which day of my life would I change and relive...and the answer to that is my wedding day.  And the change I would make would be that my brother would have been alive and been able to be there.  My brother died in a car wreck about 2 weeks before I got married in December 2009.  My wedding day was perfect except that he was not there.  One thing that makes me the saddest is that I have wonderful family photos and I was so beautiful on my wedding day, but my brother is not in any of my pictures.  (pictures are very important to me) My brother was a big part of my life, he was the older brother that always took care of us...that beat up on us as kids, but took up for us and would let no one else hurt us :-) So I was looking forward to my wedding day when I was all dressed up.  I was literally looking forward to my brother hugging me and telling me how proud of me he was and how beautiful I looked...and I never heard him say that.   So that is what I would change and relive!

2. Name the songs on your life soundtrack.
All of the Rascal Flatts songs
Empire State of Mind by Jay Z (although I don't listen to a lot of this music, this song is so inspiring lol and makes me want to be in New York....I have never been)
Shane & Shane music
**sorry I'm really broad lol

3.  What is your biggest phobia?
Being chased....lol when I was little I had a reoccurring dream that men on motorcycles were chasing me down my driveway.  I would try to hide in the ditch or under my trampoline...anywhere, but I could never get away.  I never made it to the part of the dream where they got me...Thank the Lord! But that is scary!


5. If you could stay one age forever, what would it be?
Maybe 21.....not for any big reason, that was a good year though...I was engaged and planning my wedding which I LOVED...and my brother was still alive, so those are very good reasons.

Don't forget ALL of our Going-Ons

1. Make sure you enter into our GIVEAWAY for the awesome coconut oil before it ends in a few days.

2. Be sure you go like our FACEBOOK Page. When we get to 1000, we are going to have a huge group giveaway! 

3. Don't forget to link your awesomeness up at our LINKY PARTY!! 

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Naturally Nifty #23

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*Don't forget to go enter our GIVEAWAY for some AWESOME Coconut Oil*

Here we are at another fantastic Naturally-Nifty Linky Party. We just love these. Every week we are seeing such new and awesome ideas that we both have every intention of using or trying... It is always so hard to find our favorites and it seems every week it only gets more and more difficult. This week we have some really great things to share with you... We hope you enjoy them as much as we did! 

If you were featured be sure to pick up a button to brag with!

(the link is in our button tabs)

**Remember part of being featured is that we pinned your post on our Pinterest! So be sure to check it out and follow us there! 

Our friends over at Just Us Four showed us this awesome way of gathering all of the utensils needed for picnics or meals in a creative manner. This is very organized and cute. I love this and think I could use a modification of this for my daycare kids. I am trying to teach my 2-3 year olds to have more independence and I think a caddy such as this would really help. Of course, it helps that it is so adorable. I love the use of the basket, bucket, and especially the planter pots. Be on the lookout because I will be making some variation of this and posting it soon! Thanks for sharing!! 

Thank you, Vanessa, from Nifty Thrifty for sharing this awesome DIY cake stand with us. This is one of those items that I don't have-but wish I had-but am too cheap to buy... This is so adorable and so creative. I will begin looking at yard sales for a creative way to make a stand. I love how the top comes down and just looks so cute. Using two different items is unlike me.. but I truly think this is adorable.. again, we should be on the look out because this is something I will be doing too. Thank you so much for linking it up with us! 

Our friend over at NZ Eco Chick is always up to sharing some great, natural, homemade products with us. Because I strive to be as natural as I can be in my home (work in progress) I love the things she shares. This time is no different. Homemade Botty Balm for Baby.. yes, please! The awesome thing is.. she uses coconut oil. Another way you could use that awesome Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil that we have in our Giveaway! She also tells us that this can be used as lip balm. Thanks so much for sharing... 

So now it's time for the party!! We hope that everyone will have some fun, and invite your friends to come join us!! We would love to see our numbers at the parties rise!! 

ALSO, if you haven't already LIKED our facebook page head over and do that, and share it with others to like! We are getting closer and closer to 1,000 likes and as soon as we hit the mark, we will hold a huge group giveaway! So get to LIKING and get to SHARING!! 

Enjoy the party and be sure to check out our Pinterest page for more awesome ideas! 

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Color Run

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*Don't forget to go enter our GIVEAWAY for some AWESOME Coconut Oil*

Big Sis here.. and I need to admit something... Little Sis is the one that is SO on top of things with this blog. When she left for her Mission Trip she made it so easy for me... I am so blessed to have her. I love writing on here, but I have to be honest and tell you that the person behind all of the hardcore work is her! I am so glad that she doesn't get too mad at me when I forget things... such as... my latest blog post. You see, we have become super organized and we have a calendar that we both have access to and we have put our blogs on there and even color coordinated. I was so proud that I have all of mine on there, because you see, I have a lot to talk about! :) Well... yea, I woke up Saturday morning in a HUGE rush to get out the door for our RACE... and I get a text that says:

"are you going to post about the cookies"

{UHHHH!!! Cookies? Cookies! I am going for a run}

In which I responded...

"I am running late, I don't have time"

At that moment I felt SO bad. I had committed via the calendar to have this blog ready. But I couldn't even remember that. My brain was going every which way about this blog as I was sorting [rather throwing] clean clothes everywhere looking for my Nike shorts. (No, Nike did not as me to say that)... when I receive:

"well is the post ready?"

{UHHHH!!! That is EXACTLY what I was trying to figure out in my head...}

In which I responded....

"no......"

"I'm sorry...."

"You just posted yesterday..."

{That is my FAVORITE thing to say to Little Sis when she is on my case asking me about my blog write-up.

In all seriousness.. I felt so bad. I did not have time to come to the computer and even check to see if I had finished the blog. I didn't have time to barely do anything. I was running late and we were leaving for San Francisco within the hour... and my little man was still sleeping! My excuse, people, for my crazy head with forgetting blogs, running late, being tired... is:

L.I.F.E.

Life has literally taken me by the hair this past week and just thrown me in circles!! I have been overly exhausted and feel like I just can't catch up. Not to mention the charger to my laptop went CAPLUNK again... sooooo.... I finally napped today with baby boy after church... From 3-545pm... It felt great. However, it is almost 230am here and I am wide awake... writing a blog that should have been posted this morning and sweet sister didn't even ask me about sharing my strange thoughts with you.

But I will tell you all.. we got out of this house in record time with everything we needed, two strollers, three babies, a kiddy potty, and stopped for gas and STILL made it to San Francisco in time to park, get our stuff, and get in the run... We were lucky! :) So.. now on to the reason for this blog...

The San Francisco COLOR RUN!

Daddy fixed little man up with a face.. he asked for a 'stache'..
This stache was the hit of the run.. so many people commented
on it.. who wouldn't? Isn't he adorable?

IF you have not ran one of these- you should. San Fran had two runs on  Saturday. An 8am one and a 1pm one.. We opted for the later one since we live two and a half hours away. It was perfect. There were 1000s of people there.. and I MEAN 1000s... they were letting groups go in waves of 1000 and we were in the 5th wave.. and there were plenty more behind us.

We each got a packet of color for the After Party!
"Happiest 5K on the Planet"

e are thinking the color they throw on your is like corn starch with food coloring. It is so cool. You start a 5K and at different COLOR points, they just throw color all over people so you are literally running through a cloud of color. Everyone wears a white shirt so it can get color all over it. I mean, I knew what I was expecting... but this is not what I expected! :) This was awesome and Great. Little man had an AWESOME time. I don't think it would have been near as fun if he had not been with me.

After we got ORANGE! He loved it!

 We finished our 5K in our Color Run and went in to join the after Party. The kids had a blast.. we let them continue to throw their color on other people, they ate ice-cream, danced... and just had so much fun! They were a mess, as were our strollers, but nothing a little water couldn't cure... and I think the color gives our stroller more character! :)

Throwing his color at people during the after party

It was SO funny... people just coooo'ed over these kids. They asked to take their pictures... and just had a great time loving all over them with high fives, pictures, and talking to them. It was so cute. It felt like we were in Japan and Thailand again! My little blonde haired, blue eyed little lover enjoyed every bit of the attention and ate it up at "his race."

Car Ride Home

Car Ride Home

We were a holy mess after.. but it was so worth it. My little boy LOVES to go running and I LOVE that I am helping to instill this into his being. We are moving on to bigger and better things in August as we prep for our 1/2 marathon, in which he will not run with me, but he will train with me. Starting in August I have told myself that I won't do any 5K Fun Runs (Mud Runs, Color Runs, Foam Runs, etc) unless I complete a 10K as well... so this will push me to do the 10K because I love to have fun!

I love this picture of little boy and I.  We made it. I love that we do this together. I love that this is part of our life. I just love it. I love to know that I am a runner again. I may not be the fastest runner, but I sure am a dedicated runner. I truly believe that running and gardening are the two things that have helped me come to terms and realize that this place that we live... is now home. I don't miss what was before (in regards to  Japan) anymore. I miss my friends but I don't like miss it, miss it. Does that even make sense? There were many nights I would spent just feeling so sorry for myself or even crying... but today I can honestly say I am content... and I have been for a few months now. I know that we are here for a reason.. and I am okay with it. The friends I made in Japan are my forever friends, but not being with them will certainly not have an impact on my outlook on life anymore! :)





I am so blessed for the people, such as this gal above, that God has put in my life here in California. I am not sure if I have EVER met anyone so much like met... and so very different. It is so funny. She pushes me to be a better me and I love that. She teaches me about things I have never even thought of or heard of.. and I love that. God gives us people in our lives for a reason.. and I am so glad that He knows what is best. Sarah is probably the first person, other than my mom and sister, that I have met that is SO much like me and that I do have so much in common with. And when I say that you- you need to understand that we have SOOOO many things that are different about us too.. I am telling you it is so funny! Sarah is a gift from God to me and she will tell me like it is, help me want to be a better wife to my husband, show me what being an awesome mom is about, inspire to me to keep working out, encourage me to keep eating right, let me taste awesome new recipes... and the friend that for some reason we can forget to talk for a few days and still we can carry on. I am so thankful to have her by my side as we go through this journey of life together... God is so good to me.

I have a Mud Run this weekend... with Sarah again. But as far as the Color Run... look it up online, find one near you, and GO DO IT! You will not regret it.

Have you done the Color Run before? What was your thoughts?

-Big Sis

{ending this now because I still have to edit and it is 245am and alarm is set for 545am}



UGH! This was up top.. but I can't get it there anymore..

my little man and me! AFTER!



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Homemade Body Scrub

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So excited to share this with you all! 

Last weekend I finally got to make my very own homemade body scrub! 

I love using body scrub, but last time I purchased a container of it, it was around $30.  

I realized that I could make some and decide what scent I wanted it for way cheaper.
 

So when we stayed in a little West Texas town last weekend, I went to a soap store where I purchased some yummy smelling essential oils.  I got the scent Pineapple Lime, it is very different, but very nice and smells refreshing.  

Anyways though, you don't even have to purchase any essential oils to add a scent to your own body scrub. There are so many ways that you can add a good scent.  

-First, the way I make the body scrub already has a nice sweet scent to it

-or you could add a baking extract, for example, almond or vanilla, anything you can get at a local grocery store. 

-you can also use spices-such as cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice

-or you can use a fine grater and grate orange or lemon peels into it

Here's the recipe I used and the different scents I made: 

-1 cup of brown sugar

-1 cup of pure cane sugar

-3/4 cup of olive oil (in the future though I will use COCONUT OIL!)

*You may want to add more oil as you mix it, depending on how moist you like your scrub

-add your scent to your liking

HOW EASY IS THAT!! 

It works amazing too! I have loved using mine.  I made two different types and I keep one by my bath tub and the other in my shower....so I always have it! 

Here's the two scents I used: 

1) I used my pineapple lime essential oil & almond extract together! It is seriously amazing

**You can buy essential oils at Hobby Lobby or Natural Grocer stores, or online

2) I grated lemon peel, which is so refreshing.  Then I also put some Eucalyptus Oil in it.  This one feels so fresh when I use it! It's nice to know that it has fresh fruit peels in it! 

Don't forget we have a GIVEAWAY going on right now! You could win a large bottle of this Gold Label Coconut Oil! Go ENTER and see all the way that you can use Coconut Oil! 

Check out our Linky Parties page to see where all we are linking this up! 

-Little Sis

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