It is hard to believe that I have been blogging since November 2011. Wow. I wanted to share some recent thoughts I have had about blogging. If you are a blogger perhaps you can relate and if not maybe it will give you a behind the scene glimpse into the blogosphere. I have had my content stolen by other bloggers, mine and my children's images used without permission, and most recently my entire blog was hacked. If you visited here last week and were redirected due to the hack I would like to apologize. I never thought this would happen to my blog. I am so happy to be back up and running thanks to Ryan and the amazing team at Southern Web. If you need any help with your website or blog I highly recommend them! When I first started blogging I overshared. I cringe when I look back at some of my posts. Most of which have been removed from being public at this point. And the area that I overshared the most was discussing my children. Thankfully I felt convicted on this more and more … [Read more...]
What Happened When I Eliminated Eggs, Sugar, & Caffeine For 28 Days
This post could have easily been titled "I Gained 15 Pounds in 2018" because I did. Towards the end of 2018 between numerous bought of sickness that spread like wildfire throughout our home and the ridiculous amounts of baking I did over the holidays I discovered I had gained 15 pounds after ringing in the New Year. I was actually fairly surprised because I didn't really feel heavier. I honestly hadn't even been paying attention to how I looked in the mirror. When you have 4 kids time management becomes very important. I could probably win a gold medal at this point for how fast I can go to the bathroom, change a diaper, and get myself and all the kids dressed ;). In February I knew I wanted to overhaul how I was fueling my body and also commit to exercise more consistently each week. So here is what I started doing. WHAT I ELIMINATED FROM MY DIET I eliminated 3 main things from my diet that I knew weren't helping me. Eggs. Added Sugar. Caffeine. Eggs I had been … [Read more...]
The Greatest Showman Halloween Costumes
This year our family decided to do a group costume from our beloved movie The Greatest Showman for Halloween. We had so much fun last year dressing up as The Incredibles that we wanted to keep the good times rolling. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to actually find these costumes or an easy way for me to recreate them. And that is how I found myself at Hobby Lobby in the sewing department looking up patterns. I hit the jackpot because the day I went the McCall patterns were on sale for $1.99. I purchased M6143 a patriotic pattern that looked like it would work perfectly for a P.T. Barnum inspired coat with tails and fabric, thread, and buttons. In total I spent $8. Everything was on sale and super cheap. The last time I sewed anything was in middle school, thankfully my grandma is an expert seamstress extraordinaire who lives 5 minutes away. She was thrilled to help offer her knowledge and surplus of items that helped me finish this project. Here is my grandma … [Read more...]
Boyce Thompson Arboretum
We ventured to Boyce Thompson Arboretum for the first time this month. When we left I was already trying to figure out when we could visit again. I loved it and can't believe I have never visited this gem before. And I wish I would have taken more pictures. This place was so pretty. We saw a few other people meandering about but for most of the two hours we felt like we had the entire place to ourselves. We brought our double jogging stroller for the two little ones and the older two walked with us. There are two parts on the main trail that narrow and our stroller wouldn't fit but we still felt like we were able to see a good majority of the arboretum. If you are going with toddlers I would recommend a stroller. It was helpful to be able to contain Jesse at times, especially by the Cactus Garden. He walked a good portion of the time we were there but it was nice to have the stroller. The day we went we had just finished a week of study in Genesis 1:1 learning about what God … [Read more...]
My Most Read & Loved Fiction Books
I love reading. My husband bought me a Kindle tablet last year for my birthday and I didn't realize how much I would use it. I think I am reading more now because I have such easy access to books. I really enjoy having Kindle Unlimited too because for $10 a month I have access to loads of books I can read for free. Below are my all time favorite fiction books. It was hard for me to narrow it down but all these books are either books I have read multiple times or books I am planning to read again in the near future. Uncharted by Angela Hunt "I'm beginning to think the island wants to keep us here." It was supposed to be an adventure. A little time off to honor the memory of a friend and complete a service project in the tropics. Do good deeds while getting a tan. But when a storm rocks their plans, five long-time friends from college find themselves hurled onto a desolate island, and relief fades to fear. Here nature rules with a vengenance. The lone shelter from raw … [Read more...]
How & Why Our Family Became Licensed to Provide Foster Care
Earlier this year our family became licensed to provide foster care and we took our first placement soon after our license became active. The last 6 months have flown by and our foster care experience has been so different from what we were expecting. And I mean that in the best way possible :). Foster care is temporary and an amazing opportunity to love and care for a child and be part of the ministry of family reconciliation. When you provide a temporary home for a child it allows for the possibility of a permanent reconciliation to happen within a family. I enjoyed reading and learning from other foster families when we were starting this process. Below are the steps we took to become licensed in Arizona and also the reasoning behind why Josh and I ultimately said yes to becoming foster parents. THE PROCESS Our journey into becoming licensed as a foster family started all the way back in November of 2015. Our kids at the time were 4 and 2 years old. Josh and I knew we … [Read more...]
