12 Days.

12 days since my sweetheart left this earth, and moved on without me.

Today is the first day that I have woken up to a new “normal”. The last week and a half has been filled with friends and family, visits, and to do lists. Making sure my kids and the babies are ok. So many things to do.

Today is just Monday.

Clean the house. Laundry. Feed the puppies….

It’s fine until I see his shoes waiting to take us places that we will never go. A bucket list that we will never fill together.

Mike fought so hard against the cancer that slowly consumed his body, yet his soul grew to immense proportions. Even as he suffered so much pain and the medications made him a little confused, his heart softened and that sweet part of himself that he hid for so long came out and showered us in it’s beauty.

Today I am heartbroken.

Life will go on, and I’ll figure it out… but it can wait another day.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you all. All of the prayers, kind thoughts, good vibes, and love sent our way over that last 2 and a half years have been the only things that kept us going forward. We felt every one.

Mike and I talked often about how grateful we were/are for the people that love us. Those who constantly checked in and have been so kind. All of the messages, phone calls, meals, and visits… so many little acts of kindness… We didn’t understand it…. we’re nothing special. We are so loved.

There truly are angels that live among us, and those sent on the errands of those angels.

Dear family, framily, and friends…. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving our family, and for loving Mike. We are truly blessed and full of gratitude.

Don’t let a day go by without telling someone that you love them. The days pass quickly, and time is short.

A new interview….

Smart Watch faces, anyone????

I am so blessed by the people in my life. A few months ago, one of my very best friends gifted me with an Apple Watch.

I had no idea how useful it would be for me. It’s helped me to respond to emails , texts, and phone calls so much faster!

It also gave me the idea to make my own watch faces. I started out using my Personalized Melonhead, and made a watch face

with my husband and I on it. (You can see it on my arm in the picture above) I was hooked!  I’ve since made a bunch more, and

have faces for Apple, Galaxy, and Versa watches. If you’d like to take a peek,

CLICK HERE.

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things that I have purchased or puton my wishlist from Amazon. The accessories are endless!

I’ll add some Affiliate links, just click the picture to go straight to Amazon!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

It’s almost Halloween Witches!

Spooky Season is here!!!!! As per my anual tradition (yup, I made my own tradition for my own self, lol) I ran to the craft store, and grabbed some pumpkins. This is LITERALLY my FAVORITE part of all the holidays.

This year, however I am doing something different with them. This year, all four pumpkins are looking for a new home.

YOU CAN WIN ONE!

It’s been a really long year and a half at our house. Mike is FINALLY nearing his last cancer treatment. He’s done. He’s tired, and he’s feeling pretty nasy, but he did it. We did it together as a family. I’m so proud of him. Now we move on to dealing with the cost of cancer financially. Over the next little while, I’ll be posting clip art sets (and possibly other stuff too), to start taking bites out of that massive nugget, lol.

Here’s the deets:

I have four clip art sets, that are in my shop. If you purchase one of these sets, you will automatically be entered to win the coordinating pumpkin. Purchases must be made by October 8, 2022. The winners will be announced here, and on social media (Facebook and Instagram). Winners will have 1 week to contact me via email (melonheadzillustrating@gmail.com) , to claim their pumpkin!

Links to each set will be below the picture of each one. The coordinating pumpkin will be below.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers, thoughts, and support.

All our love!

Nikki and family

To purchase this set, and enter to win the pumpkin below,

CLICK HERE

To purchase this set, and enter to win the pumpkin below, 

CLICK HERE

To purchase this set, and enter to win the pumpkin below,

CLICK HERE

To purchase this set, and enter to win the pumpkin below,

CLICK HERE

A podcast interview! HOLY COW!

I am BEYOND excited! I am so blessed to announce that I had the opportunity to be a part of a podcast. When Monica approached me with the idea, I was floored. Honestly, I don’t think I’m that interesting, lol. Thank heavens a podcast hides the fact that I hadn’t had a chance to shower, and was still in my pajamas at noon, lol.

Monica was very kind, and guided me through the process, and I’m so thankful!

 If you’d like to listen, and learn more about me, and Melonheadz, CLICK HERE. Be sure to follow her on your favorite podcast spots, and all of your social media! She is AMAZING!

There is a link for a little FREEBIE from me there too.

BIG hugs!!! xox

Latter Day Saints General Conference is almost here!

Today I’m tired.

Today is the anniversary of my dad’s death. My dad had colon cancer and died from liver failure. Seven months to the day after my Momma died from pancreatic cancer, and liver failure.

The last two weeks have been seven months long. Mike had surgery to remove his spleen and half of his pancreas. His 3 1/3 hour surgery took over 8 hours. After about 4 1/2 I started to get a little panicky. I’m lucky to have a daughter that dropped all of her responsibilities to come and sit with me, as well as a multitude of prayers and good vibes. I’m happy to say that they feel like they got all of the tumor. Now we move on to treatments. Not sure what that will entail at this time.

He’s home. He’s healing remakably well ( he always does), and I’m beyond grateful. It’s funny how just listening to him run water in the kitchen sink fills my heart past full.

He came home to 4 out of the eight of us with hand foot and mouth, one with a sinus infection and pink eye, and a puppy about to cross the rainbow bridge. Happy Thanksgiving to us, lol. It’s a little overwhelming, but you just have to laugh a little. Life is handing us a poop sandwich. It’s a good thing I have more faith than sense most days.

While I waited for the surgeon to work his magic, I took a few things with me to do. A blank canvas of sneakers helped me to pass the time for a minute or two. I picked these up at Five Below.

I really hope to never have to add any more stinkin ribbons to the back of these shoes. 

I’m gonna wear these stupid shoes every chance I get. I’m gonna wear them to every treatment, every appointment, and all the other crud that we walk through till Mike has conquered this hiccup in his path.

I’m so grateful that every day is a new beginning. I’m grateful for every day that we wake up and start over. Kinda like a blank pair of shoes, and every day hands you a new set of markers. It’s all in what you chose to do with them, right?

You are BRAVER than you think, STRONGER than you seem, and LOVED more than you know.

Today I’m tired.

Tomorrow will be better. 

A little bit of Faith and a Cactus

It’s especially hard at times to hold on to faith. Trials are here to test that, right? It’s the whole reason God sent us to earth. 

As I was trying to come up with a theme for my Faith Edition for Book of Mormon Journaling, I had some pretty interesting conversations with 2 of my kids. Cactus came in from one, because they’re trendy and pretty , and grow where nothing else does. The other one brought up the fact that cacti are stabby on the outside, and protect what is on the inside.

My kids are pretty smart, and both were 100% right!

Life is sometimes rocky. There are days when I feel particularly stabby, and shut down and isloate myself from others. Somedays I pull away quickly… I probably seem rude, or snobby…. but really it’s because I don’t want you to see me cry. 

Some days it’s easier to hide away, than to stop and visit. Hugs and love are wonderful, and needed! SO NEEDED! But they also remind me that we are facing BIG things. Mike isn’t sick. It’s easy to pretend that everything is as it always has been. We can ignore it, and life is good….. till we remember. Till we let ourselves think about it.

Please forgive me… forgive us, if we throw out some prickles. 

Now…. where would we be without trials? Would we understand fully the love that Heavenly Father has for us? That those around us feel for us? I don’t think so. I think without a rocky environment, we would fail to bloom. We would fail to thrive, to grow. It’s uncomfortable and painful to dig below the spiny prickles that protect your heart…. your faith… your very soul….. but it also teaches you to reach. To look to Heavenly Father for guidance. For blessings. To accept the love and service of others. (That one is particularly hard for me.) I’m a helper and a giver, not a taker.

Boy, does it teach you quickly to value what is truly important. To not take things and people for granted. You find that even though things are hard, there is good. Laughs are sweeter. Love is softer. Grace is needed. Humility is your constant companion. 

Faith is key.

Things won’t always be like they are right now. This is but a tiny part of our story. It’ll get better. It’s gonna be ok. We will make it through this, even if we have to stand on that stinkin’ cactus to do so.

If you’d like to see more pictures of the finished book, 

CLICK HERE

and scroll to the bottom.

If you’d like to dowload the PDF for the printables to put in your own book, 

CLICK HERE

An unwanted path, a miracle or two, and

a little grace…..

If you haven’t met Mike yet, you probably should. He’s pretty awesome.

He’s crabby, and stubborn, and scares most adults… (This is him smiling by the way, lol).

If that’s all you see when you meet him then you need to look a little deeper than just his surface.

He’s fiercely loyal. If he loves you, he REALLY does, and he’ll do anything for you. He is super protective, and cooks some mean BBQ. He’s strong, and gentle, and stubborn. He hates snakes and loves moonpies.

Mike has been diagnosed with 2 forms of cancer.

 Thus, our unwanted path.

I’d like to tell you why we feel the need to share this information with all of you.

For YEARS Mike has lived with back pain. It finally got to the point where he needed to have something done. He picked an orthopedic surgeon and made an appointment. For over a year, we went to see this doctor. The doctor told him he needed to lose weight. “Lose more weight and come back next month” went on for over a year. He couldn’t sleep. He woke at all hours of the night with leg cramps. He couldn’t sit or stand. He lost over 60 pounds. He was miserable.

FINALLY, we were given a date for surgery to fix the spot in his spine that was compressing the nerves. We were worried, but happy to be getting somewhere to give him some relief. The day came, and we were at the hospital at 6 am. They had him prepped, the IV was in…. and the doctor came in, looked him over, and cancelled the surgery. We were devestated. Defeated. Most of all we were ANGRY.

What we didn’t know at that time, was that it was the first little miracle that would change everything.

Mike had another appointment to meet with the same doctor, to see if we could proceed with the surgery another time. For several days he had been feeling a nudge to find another doctor. It was a nagging voice in his head. Honestly, finding a new doctor is a bit of a process. It’s a pain in the neck. You have to get your file sent over, etc. etc. Thank heavens he listened.

We found a pain management physician that did all he could to try and help, and we found out that Mike had been born wiith spinal stenosis. It’a a narrowing in the base of the spine and causes compression on the nerves. We had no idea. After several procedures, he then referred us to a neurosurgeon. An amazingly talented and humble miracle worker (as far as I’m concerned anyway). We proceeded with surgery, and Mike flew through it like it was nothing. He says he feels better than he has for years.

Around this same time, Mike was nagged again to go get a physical. I’m pretty sure that’s not a favorite activity for anyone. But again, I’m glad he listened. We were stunned when his blood levels came back with a high PSA level. This is an indication of prostate cancer. It took us 2 months to get in to see a urologist. A biopsy confirmed the suspicion. We were then referred to an oncologist. My heart was breaking for my sweetheart. For my kids. For my grandbabies.

Unfortunately cancer is not a stranger. I would need more than my 2 hands to count the family members and friends that we have that have dealt with it.

We had our plan. We were going to go forward with treatments for this cancer, and get rid of it. We had a day to start raditaion.

And then we were sent for a bone scan and a CT scan, just in case.

The bone scan was great! It showed the wear and tear…. broken ribs, remodled hips and knees… a little arthritis.

The CT scan showed a mass on his pancreas.

Pancreatic Cancer. My mother had pancreatic cancer.

And now…. this is where we sit. We are not ok, yet.

Mike is strong, and stubborn, and he’s gonna make it through all of the treatments with a little humor and crabbiness. He’s gonna worry himself with the well being of everyone else, just like he always does.

Had he not listened to that little voice that said find another surgeon, go get a physical…. listen, listen, do it now…. I would be writing a totally different post at another time.

Here’s the why for the post. Mike has a message he wants to share:

Listen. Listen to your body. Don’t miss a chance to have those yearly exams and tests.

Listen to that nagging in your brain. Someone that loves you as His child is guiding you for a reason.

You may not think that taking care of yourself is that important, but to others it is everything.

We would like to ask for some good vibes, and prayers if you have them. We’re gonna come out of this stronger and better.

Literally, the best people I know have fought this beast or loved someone that has.

At this time, we also ask for some grace. We will be busy for a while kicking this stupid, stinkin cancer to the curb. If you need something, please send and email or a message. Please forgive us if it takes us a while to answer you, or help you with anything you might need.

Go get that exam.

With love,

Mike, Nikki, family, and all the Melonheadz

Tis near Halloween…..

I might just have a problem. I REALLY very much LOVE to draw on foam pumpkins. I’ve been trying to hold myself to one pumkin a year, but seriously. It’s a struggle. This year my theme is Hocus Pocus, because, well…. Hocus Pocus! I am actually old enough to remember when the movie came out. 1993. It’s older (barely) than my oldest daughter. I’m still addicted to this movie! I need ALL the Sanderson Sisters stuff.

I used 2 different sized Sharpie markers to draw on the pumpkin.

Jesus Said Love everyone

I had a hard time choosing which of the illustrations that I wanted to share with you, because they are all so special and unique. I settled on this one. I hope that you love it too! 

Fall General Conference 2021

GENERAL CONFERENCE TIME!!!!

It’s almost time for the Fall General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints! Two times a year we gather in person, in our homes, or with our ward families to hear from our church leaders.

This cute packet will help your “littles”to be able to listen and keep busy, so the “bigs” in your house can actually focus on the messages that are being given. It has 15 pages of activities and super cute illustrations that will capture their attention and imaginations!

To purchase the PDF file for the General Conference Packet Printable,

CLICK HERE

Download, print, and color as many times as you’d like!

***This packet was sold in time for the 2021 Spring General Conference as a fund raiser for my Young Women’s group. Thank you to all who purchased the packet at that time, Girl’s camp was amazing!***