Life Update

Hello everyone! It has been a while. :)

Little Miss Sunshine is growing up so fast and is talking a lot. She's starting to pick things up from the people she's around-- it's funny and also embarrassing sometimes. We have to be careful what we say! She wants to be just like mama and daddy.

I don't know if I mentioned that hubby and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in October. We hope to be able to go on a nice trip this next year to celebrate!

We had family pictures taken about a month ago. They turned out really cute.

This is my favorite of Little Miss Sunshine!

I have made a lot of friends this year and I am very happy about that. It's about time, huh? I think it is easier to make friends when you have kids because it gives you something in common to talk about.

Of course, I do have friends without little ones and we have plenty in common too.

I've mostly been keeping busy with my Thirty-One business. I'm currently working on earning a cruise for hubby and myself! It would go to the Bahamas-- which is one of my favorite places. I'm on track to earning it, but I just need a couple more people to sign up to sell Thirty-One. So if you're interested... Sign up here, or join my Facebook group and ask me any questions! ;)

I'm really proud of the fact that I've personally made over $10,000 this year-- on my own and from home. Not all of that is from Thirty-One, BTW-- since I've only been selling Thirty-One since July, but a large chunk of it is! I hope to increase that in 2017.

It seems like there is never enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do, so other things fall behind. I'm still trying to figure out how to better manage my time!

Anyways, there's a personal update-- not a lot to share! I will be back with a health update soon.

4th of July Weekend {Pictures}

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Our little town has fun festivities and there's always so much to do. Plus, my family usually comes to visit.

This year, my parents brought along my niece and two nephews. Little Miss Sunshine absolutely loved having other children to play with. She was so excited about everything going on. It was pretty cute.

We kicked off the weekend with a trip to hubby's parents' farm. The kids love to go out there and experience it all since they live in the Chicago area. It's not something they get to do often! Little Miss Sunshine was very happy to show them everything.

We had a delicious home cooked dinner and then spent time outside keeping the kids entertained! Hubby took them on four-wheeler rides.

And they requested a ride on the old tractor. They wore their bike helmets because they said they would get in trouble if they didn't. Hubby drove slow and everything!

It was a beautiful and cool evening and fun to be outside.

It's always nice knowing that it's a safe place to run around. Lots of open areas to explore without having to worry about cars and what not.

I love this picture of my parents!

I woke up Sunday feeling sick and that lasted all weekend. I was still able to enjoy the holiday though. I just didn't eat much-- which isn't a bad thing!

The festivities began Sunday evening. We started with the kiddie parade. Hubby and I walked with the kids as they scootered and hubby pulled Little Miss Sunshine in the wagon.

They all enjoyed playing at the park after that. Each of them got a free ticket for a ride, so they took advantage of that.

And then it was time to relax a while. All of the grand babies just love Grandma!

We didn't participate in the 5K this year, maybe next year. We started the 4th of July watching the parade.

The older kids got way too much candy! They had a lot of fun and the competition to get to the candy first was fierce!

The kids spent the majority of the day at the celebration in town. They were spoiled by the grandparents!

We tried out a Star Wars volcano toy and it was cool for a couple of seconds. It was like one of those science experiments where you use vinegar, baking soda, and dish soap to make the volcano "erupt".

While we waited for it to get dark outside for fireworks, the kids painted!

I have started painting a little bit and I love it. I'm no artist, but it's really fun and is therapeutic. Here is a piece I'm currently working on.

Once it was dark, we enjoyed the fireworks! The kids had fun playing with their glow sticks and sparklers. Little Miss Sunshine loved the fireworks. She was so excited and Oohing and Ahhing the whole time.

It was a very busy weekend! We had a lot of fun.


How was your holiday? Did you do anything special?

Mini-Vacation to Nebraska

We took a long weekend and headed to Nebraska for a mini-vacation. Hubby's cousin graduated from high school so we took it as an opportunity to get away and also attend her graduation party.

{A beautiful ombre sky on our drive.}

It was great to get away and just spend time together as a family. We spent the night in Sioux City and did a little shopping the next morning before heading out to the graduation party.

Little Miss Sunshine was super excited when she spotted this carousel at the mall. So of course I had to take her for a ride while daddy shopped at Scheels. She loved it.

She doesn't like having her picture taken and will turn her head away if she notices me taking a picture...

After the graduation party, we headed to Omaha. Fun fact--I was born near Omaha, Nebraska. We didn't have a lot of time to do any exploring, but it looks like it could be an interesting place to visit and spend some time in the downtown area. 

The next morning, we headed to the Omaha Zoo. Hubby and I visited the zoo shortly after we were married and that has been almost 10 years ago! It's a really nice zoo and rated one of the top zoos in the world. Little Miss Sunshine was so excited about going to the zoo.

The mom of the year award goes to me--I packed everything we would need for this trip and then left most of the essentials at the hotel. Way to go, huh? 

So we ended up having to spend $10 for sunscreen at the zoo and to buy Little Miss Sunshine a hat too! It was a really sunny day and I didn't want her getting burned! I felt so unprepared! As you can see, she didn't like the hat and wouldn't keep it on--so more money wasted.

We got to see the two baby elephants at the zoo--they were so cute!

I didn't get a lot of pictures, which is fine because we've all seen zoo animals before.

It was super busy the day that we went. I heard one person say, "I haven't been in a line this long since Black Friday at Walmart". Hahaha. Yep, pretty much explains it!

One of my favorite parts of the zoo is the butterfly exhibit. You walk into a greenhouse type environment and there are all different kinds of butterflies flying around. There are these beautiful bluish purple butterflies that live in South America. It's so pretty in there!

We made it through most of the zoo, but not all of it. There's only so much that a two year old can handle before she's ready for a nap! We did a lot of walking, but would you believe that I didn't even get credit for it on my fitbit? Ugh--I hate that it doesn't track when I'm pushing a stroller and I forgot to put it in my pocket!

I guess the trip to the zoo really tired me out too because we went back to the hotel and I took a four hour nap. Whaaaattt? I felt great when I woke up though.

We stopped at Jethro's BBQ in West Des Moines on our way home. I've always wanted to give it a try but we're usually in the Des Moines area on the weekend and the wait is too long. It was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if Little Miss Sunshine wasn't being so naughty! So is the life of a parent...

So that was our trip! Nothing too exciting, but it was so nice to get away.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Here are a few pictures from our day. Sorry they’re not the best quality but I’m choosing not to spend time editing them today!

I made a Snickers apple salad. It was really good and I’ll definitely make it again for a special occasion. The dress I’m wearing is a Gwynnie Bee dress—not one I’ll be keeping, but it was comfortable.

 

 

Here I am with my sister, nephew, and my mom.

 

Love this pic of my parents.

 

 

Hubby and me.

 

 

BIL trimming the turkey and dad overseeing.

 

 

Nom Nom.

 

 

Matching shirts for the girl cousins.

 

 

Showing grandpa her book. This was before I realized I had dressed her with her shirt on backwards.

 

 

And this was a common scene over the holiday! This is my brother with my niece and nephews.

 

 

How was your Thanksgiving?

Our Annual Trip to the Apple Orchard

This year we decided to try an apple orchard at a different location, although it is owned by the same family—we were really happy with it and will probably go again next year. Plus, they had apple cider slushies—how delicious!

The one we usually go to gets so crowded and it can be difficult to look at everything because there are so many people. This other location had all of the things that we like to buy (apple cider donuts ha), also had a petting zoo, and wasn’t crowded at all.

There was a lovely selection of squash and pumpkins. They were selling an “apple gourd” which I had never seen before. I didn’t think to take a picture of it, but you can see one that was dried and decorated in the background.

There was a nice selection of gift items. All we bought was a little book for Little Miss Sunshine. It’s always fun to browse though.

It was a beautiful fall day—sunny and just the right amount of chilly. It made for beautiful scenes of colors beneath a bright blue sky.

There were two beautiful dogs on the property that were very friendly. I’m not sure what kind they were. As soon as we sat down to enjoy our apple cider donuts, one of the dogs came and just stood in front of us staring at our donuts. At one point, I looked away and he grabbed the donut out of my hand and ate it!

It was a little awkward because we had two dogs and a cat sitting there staring at us by the time we were done. Little Miss Sunshine loved it though. And I miss having a mild mannered dog like these ones so it was fun to pet them.

These traditions are actually getting more fun now that we have a little one. Looking forward to many more, God willing!

Things I Love Thursday

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links to some products.

I’m starting to look forward to posting the things I love on Thursdays and I hope you enjoy reading just as much.

Grandkids Picture

For the first time in four years, my entire family got together. We’re all spread out across the U.S. and it’s hard to get everyone in one place at the same time. We took family pictures and also a picture of grandma and papa with all of the grandkids. I’m loving this picture!

 

Oreo Thins

I might be telling on myself here, but I love these Oreo thins better than regular Oreos. I don’t typically buy Oreos, but when I saw these advertised I wanted to try them. Four Cookies are 140 calories. They are a satisfying sweet treat. You could buy a pack of 12 on Amazon for approximately $3.16 per package, or just go to Target or Wal-Mart where they cost approximately $2.98.

(photo source)

 

Birds Eye Steamfresh Pure & Simple Veggies

I used to always buy fresh veggies but recently came across the Birds Eye Steamfresh Pure & Simple Veggies and fell in love with the convenience. They’re simply the frozen veggies without anything added. I can just pop the bag in the microwave and the veggies are cooked in minutes with no prep.

(photo source)

 

Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression by Brooke Shields

Thanks to Tom Cruise, we’re probably all at least aware that this book exists. I just finished this up and I really enjoyed reading this while I am still recovering from PPD. I was able to relate in many ways. I plan on writing a full review of this book in the future. You can find it on Amazon.

My New Fake Wedding Ring

My real wedding ring doesn’t currently fit, thanks to the weight I gained during pregnancy, etc. I miss wearing it. This is my second fake ring since pregnancy; the first one started to tarnish so I didn’t want to look tacky. Thanks for the bling, Wal-Mart! ha.

 

What are you loving this week?