Caitlyn

Honeymoon Contest

May 6, 2021 by Caitlyn

Hello all!

Short post to give you guys information on voting in our honeymoon contest.

Since we are not accepting gifts for the wedding we decided to set up a way for people to donate for our honeymoon. With a twist. For our honeymoon, we are going to pick a direction, point the Jeep in that direction, and go. Getting to spend a week together in our jeeps doing what we love is going to be the best part for us. Now you can have a say in which direction we go.

When you donate just add in the comment which direction you want us to go. North, South, East, or West. Whichever direction raises the most money is the direction we go.

For an added bonus, you can also vote on which Jeep we take. Mine, Jackson or Tyler’s, Jeff. Just add the name in the comment as well.

We are so excited to see all of you at the wedding and to be able to include you guys in this adventure. Thank you in advance!

https://paypal.me/pools/c/8zdVKYYYZj

I am so excited to see which one wins!

With love,

Caitlyn aka Pretty Lady

“Protect Your Noggin Kid.”

March 28, 2021 by Caitlyn

Hello all!

A blog post is long overdue. If you are still watching the page/Facebook thank you for sticking with us! Hopefully this summer we will be able to be more active on here. We do have our wedding in July and a week together in one of our Jeeps with no real destination. Speaking of wedding, if you have an RSVP please get that sent to us soon. We have to give the venue a final guest count soon. We haven’t even received half of them back yet. Yes, this is me giving all of you stern talking too. Moving on folks!

Last night while giving Grant a bath, he was rolling around and hit his head on the side of the bathtub. This was the third time of the day that he had managed to hit his head. I told him that he needed to be more careful and that he needed to protect his noggin. He then gave me a very confused look and asked me, genuinely, “Why?” I couldn’t help myself, I laughed. Hard. He genuinely was asking me why he needed to protect his head. I told him that your head is very important and that you need to be careful with it so you don’t hurt it. He seemed good with that for an answer.

As I thought about it last night, that was good for the moment since he is only 4. I also realized that I am going to have to teach him about protecting his noggin mentally too. That his mental health is very important and something that he should learn. Right now he is 4 so let’s try to just survive his daredevil phase. But one of the best ways that he can learn about mental health is by me and Tyler modeling taking care of our own mental health. So I am going to tell you about what I have been doing to help mine. Will, he ever read this? Maybe, maybe not but the act of me writing it and putting it out there is important not only to become the model I want to be for him but also for myself.

A few weeks ago, I took a HUGE step towards taking care of my own mental health. I signed up for therapy through the app Better Help. Currently am in week 10 and Tyler was the only one who knew about it (Thank you love for always supporting me through this). I am so incredibly happy that I took this step and made the decision to do something solely for myself. Leaving my toxic marriage, moving to Bloomington, going to school, all of those things were for Grant’s benefit. Truthfully. I did those for Grant, not myself. But talking to a therapist once a week, I did that for me. I have gained so much insight into my mental health and also why somethings are the way they are in my mind. We also created some techniques for me to use and she has given me some great books to read in my spare time (which is almost never now haha).

I don’t think I am ready to fully talk about what I have learned but I will one day. I know that I don’t have to but I think it would be beneficial to my healing. That is going to be my next step I believe with my therapist. Last session she told me to take some time to figure out where we needed to go next or if this was the end of journey. I have seriously made some amazing progress. Tyler can be the biggest advocate to that. But I believe that I need to now figure out where I go from here. Now that I have discovered what the message is that causes me so many issues, I have come to a cross road it feels like. Do I continue living my life like I am now or do I make some changes and possibly confront some people? I truly do not know, but I have never felt more like I was heading in the right direction. All because I took a leap on myself and taking care of myself mentally.

To wrap things up, if you have seen ads about the app Better Help and are questioning if it would be right for you, take the leap. For a while now, I knew that I needed too but one I was scared that my ex-husband could use it against me somehow with custody of Grant, and two because it is expensive. With Tyler’s help, I realized that no one is going to see me talking to someone once a week as a bad thing or a reason why Grant is not in the best hands. Better Help is super affordable and if you fill out a quick form you can get it at an even more discounted rate. So check it out. Even if you don’t have a mess of things to sort through as I do, it could still be a beneficial thing for you.

Take care of your mental health folks. Protect your noggin kid.

With lots of love,

-Caitlyn aka Pretty Lady

Kitty cuddles, 240 ft up, and some changes

January 21, 2021 by Caitlyn

Kitty cuddles, watching Disney’s live-action Aladdin and making a blog post to update you guys on our lives. Not a bad way to spend an evening if you ask me. Grant has had a bath, a story and is now in bed. Tyler is going to be late getting home tonight so figured I would take some time to update you on some new things. Where do I start?

Tyler is currently working 240 feet up in the air at Lucas Oil Stadium. The pictures alone are enough to give me a heart attack. The long days are the hardest part. He leaves before we get up and is usually home when Grant is in bed. I do like having the bed to myself, makes laying diagonally much easier. Now for my turn!

I have news! News that I am very excited about. I have been offered and have accepted a job with a local credit union. I will be starting at the credit union in February. It is full time, as well as comes with a lot of opportunities for growth. This credit union is getting ready to expand and grow. They are looking to build up internally before they expand.

I looked for a full-time position for a couple of months now. Out of the blue, they reached out to me. Leaving Royal South is hard for me. I have been there for almost two years and have enjoyed my time there. I started there right after I started my journey at Ivy Tech. They were instrumental in my success to be able to go to school, raise a toddler, and be able to work. They would work with me around my schedule when they would make their schedule. When I would work I could work on my school’s assignments and homework. If you are a college student in Bloomington or know of one looking for a part-time job, send them to Royal South. The ladies in the office are all amazing and will do what they can to help you succeed in your life.

I am very excited to see where this new journey will take me. We will continue to update you guys as well as “regularly” as we are now with updates.

Now go have your own adventures and tell us about it!

-Caitlyn aka Pretty Lady

Christmas Letter 2020

December 22, 2020 by Caitlyn

Merry Christmas all!

Time for us to take a look back on the year and share a summary of what we have done this year. My apologies that this is not coming out till 3 days before Christmas. I kept asking Tyler if he wanted me to write it starting like 2 weeks ago but no. Somebody was certain that he would have time. Also couldn’t get past the first line that included the fact that 2020 was a “dumpster fire of a year”.

Now while we all know that this is true, 2020 was a hard year for many in so many different ways. I would like to argue that 2020 was also a good year and had a lot of things to celebrate and be proud of. If you keep up with our blog you probably already know what we have been up to. From the hardship of Tyler losing his entire industry overnight, to potty training in a pandemic, all the way to me finishing my degree.

Tyler and I also got the chance this year to really connect and grow together. We’ve had to learn how to work as a team, how to compromise together, and how to raise a toddler together. We were blessed in that no matter what was going on in the world, even with the chaos, our home was our safe harbor. I had always heard of relationships where it was like that. Where it was you guys against the problem. Not you guys against each other because of a problem. My favorite thing about us is that we can be ourselves unapologetically around each other.

So let me try to sum up some of our biggest things from this year in just a paragraph or two. Tyler created a company with his father in our garage called DeLong Rigging Solutions. Grant was potty trained. Hallelujah!! I managed to finish my degree and will hopefully have a graduation ceremony next year. Tyler and I finally picked a venue for our wedding in July.

The three of us also got to go on some wonderful adventures this year. We piled into Jackson for a two-week-long adventure in Colorado. This was a wonderful trip and I have fallen in love with the Rocky Mountains. This is where I was able to rekindle my love of photography. We also spent some time in the Smokey Mountains this year. Tyler and I did a long weekend together camping. Then me and Grant spent a week down there with my family. This is what sparked my idea of us looking into getting married down at the Smokies!

Well, those are the main highlights of our year. Truthfully, if you want to hear more or get more details, go look through the blog. We give detailed accounts on the blog and they include pictures.

May you finish the year strong. Find those happy memories from the year and cling to those. Hopefully this was the year where you really discovered who your people are and are able to keep them close. May next year be a year of more good news than bad.

Merry Christmas from ours to yours!

Now go have your own adventure and tell us about it!

-Caitlyn, Tyler, and Grant

A Month Already?!

December 14, 2020 by Caitlyn

Hello all!

Has it really been a month since our last update? Time is flying by. Our apologies for not getting an update out sooner! Do I have an exciting, great big update for you guys? Well, um, no actually. Life is life right now.

Tyler and Grant

Tyler has been busy creating the One Shot Trainings. Meaning late nights filming and long days in front of the computer editing videos. Those late nights were awful, now that he has been home for 9 months I can’t fall asleep without him in bed. Even with that, I am proud of him. I don’t think I have ever met someone who has such big crazy dreams and then manages to make them happen.

Grant has been busy, well, being Grant. The life of a 3-year-old is so much simpler. He goes to daycare, which sometimes he loves, and sometimes throws a fit when we tell him it is time to leave. Last night he booby-trapped the stair landing by covering it in toys. He is learning new things constantly too. He knows the planets now. My 3 year old can name all the planets. The daycare is working with them on recognizing letters. Sometimes when we are driving down the road and he’ll say “Mommy it’s a (whatever letter he saw)!”

Me!

As for me, I’m in finals week. I have 2 finals and a discussion board left then I’m done. Not just done with the semester but done done. I will have earned my associate’s in Business Administration. If you ask me how I’m feeling I’m going to awkward laugh, shrug my shoulders, and say “I don’t know”. Truthfully I go back and forth between different emotions.

A big part of me is proud and feels accomplished. I went out and got a degree. Then the mean ugly voice in my head likes to remind me that it is just an associate’s degree in business so nothing special, it is from Ivy Tech a community college, and I’m 26 so didn’t earn it till almost 10 years after graduating high school. I have high school classmates who have gone on to earn all kinds of impressive degrees, one is even a lawyer. Therefore I can’t blame my small-town school.

I keep reminding myself that yes while all of this is true, I still accomplished this and that I am allowed to feel proud of myself. Earned my degree while working, while raising a toddler, and while going through an ugly divorce that tore me apart. I may have been earning the degree but I was also in the process of completing rebuilding myself. I probably wouldn’t even recognize myself from 2 years ago.

That is the lesson that I am taking from all of this. Just because your accomplishments look different from someone else, does not mean they are not accomplishments for you to be proud of. I earned an associate’s degree and I am excited and proud of myself. I will also continue to cheer on everyone’s accomplishments they achieve. Is this where I thought I would be at 26? HA! Not even close.

But I am happy. Genuinely, truly, unapologetically happy. I am marrying a man who is my best friend. Grant is happy and thriving. I am working a job that I love and that I hopefully have a future in. And I earned a degree. Do I have people who think I’m a mess and other hateful things? Yup. But I have accepted that that is never going to change. I am not going to live the life they think I should, I’m going to live the life I want too. My main focus is how I feel, how well Grant is, and keeping up with Tyler’s crazy ideas.

Wrap it up, Caitlyn.

Well, that took a turn to a little personal. But I feel better after writing that all out. Who knows, maybe it’ll help one of you who might be feeling the same things I am. Our life isn’t always adventures and fun times. We have the hard moments together too so we are sharing it as well.

To summarize, Tyler is doing Tyler things, Grant is being a normal 3-year-old boy, and I have earned an associate’s degree and am proud of it. If you have accomplished something this year, especially this year (2020, am I right?) then be proud of it! Let’s stop comparing our achievements to other’s achievements and just be proud of ourselves. Go out and celebrate those accomplishments!

Now go have your own adventure and tell us about it!

With much love and appreciation for reading my inner thoughts,

-Caitlyn aka Pretty Lady

Caitlyn

Tyler and Grant

Me!

Wrap it up, Caitlyn.

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