Overthinking It All

My fabulous sister-in-law, Katie, has been blogging for a few months now and I just love reading her posts. She mixes in stories of parenting the cutest kids (I might be slightly biased), her faith journey, and dealing with anxiety. She has great insight and reminders to let go of the little things and focus on the big picture and the little people. She calls herself the chaos coordinator of Camp-Run-A-Muck and she handles it all with such love and grace that I am constantly in awe. Some of my favorite posts: Who You Say I Am Moonshine Ridge Anxiety Check out her blog- Camp-Run-A-Muck and let me know what you think! (Pictured L to R: Katie, Me, Kristen, and my mom)

Last September I finally caved and ordered Rodan and Fields Reverse and Lash books after seeing so many amazing results on Facebook and Instagram. (I do not sell Rodan and Fields, but have TONS of friends that do, so if you need a consultant, I am happy to point you in the right direction!) I am currently 38 and have started noticing my face aging faster that I would like. I have always hoped I would end up like my mother with great skin and looking younger than all my friends, but that didn't seem to be working out genetically for me. So, I decided my $10 face cleaner wasn't making me look amazing and with a 60 day money back guarantee, I decided to go for it. I think the pictures speak for themselves, but seriously, I am so happy with my skin (and lashes) now!  My skin texture is so much better and the redness is almost all gone! I couldn't believe the difference once I put these pics together.  I am adding my no make-up selfie that I posted on soc

We had Summer Moody take our photos again last year for our Christmas cards. I had this idea in my head of exactly what I wanted and how these were going to look. I had the perfect location and all my stuff gathered, and then it ended up being an overcast drizzly day. We decided to still go for it since we were cutting it really close to get them back in time to get Christmas cards out. You can definitely tell by the size of my hair which pics were taken earlier in the shoot because the more humidity, the bigger and crazier my hair gets! :) These didn't turn out like I pictured in my head (surprise, we aren't professional models with totally photo-shopped bodies), but I still love how they turned out!

I have recently started following  Simply on Purpose  on Instagram and Facebook and it has been encouraging to hear her approach to parenting and finding a way to raise your kids with purpose. Her current push is on being the kind of mom that God created you to be and finding your strengths and embracing them (and not beating yourself up about the things that you may not enjoy). It has made me take a step back and think about the kind of mom that I am. It is so easy to see the gifts of those around you and to compare and feel like you are not "good enough." It is so much harder to see those things in ourselves. If I had to list my strengths, is it a list that I am proud to admit and embrace? Is it OK to let go of some of the things that I wish were different? My one mom label that I feel like is a strength would be that I am a "reading mom." I love to read to my kids, encourage them and provide ample opportunity to get new paper books from the library and audio bo

Sometimes I just need to process some of what is happening in my head and in my life right now and this feels like a safe place to do that. God has me currently in a valley. I have been on some amazing peaks and some low valleys throughout my life, but He has always been faithful. The last few years I have hit some snags on the "happily ever after plan" I created many years ago. My expectations and reality are very different and I am struggling to find joy in the reality. I had this vision of me being a happy and content stay at home forever, just like I was before my kids started school. However, after my kids started school, that was not my reality. We live in a small town and frankly I still feel a little like an outsider and I was bored and lonely staying home. Then I took a job working at the elementary school hoping that I could get more plugged into our town and have a reason to get out of the house. Being a working mom was never on my radar and to be honest, I am no

Once a year I am able to talk my family into coordinating outfits for family photos that make me SO happy! :) Having these pictures to look back over the years and see how we have grown and changed is the best thing. These photos were taken by one of my favorite people Summer Moody.       Is there anything better than the joy of kids playing in the leaves? I love when we are able to take pictures and have fun as a family at the same time.