Friday Favorites

It's Friday and I'm back today to share some of my Friday Favorites! 

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Dan and I are going to redo our back deck this spring.  I was online browsing outdoor furniture and came across this pretty sawhorse table from Pottery Barn.  Isn't it fun.  Well, as much as I would like to just order it, it's pretty pricey.  So along with fixing up the back deck... I want us (Dan) to build this table.  Actually I think it would be fun to build 2 of them, for all the family that we have.  You could push them up together to make a long table, or you could even use one as a serving table.  I don't think it looks like it would be too hard.  The hardest thing I think, would be to find chairs to match.  Maybe if I bought chairs first and then stained the table to match...  I don't know how it will all go down, but I'll be sure and post pictures.

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My Sister in Law knows that this is one of my favorite sayings, and she was sweet enough to put it onto a mug for me.  Love it!  I love surrounding myself with tons of scripture and other fun and inspirational sayings. 

When I was in Hawaii last October, I got suckered into one of those little booths/tables in the middle of all the shopping.  You know the ones that you try to walk by and make sure you don't make eye contact with the sales person.  You know.  Well... I tried and didn't make it past.  They introduced me to this line of product that I'd never heard of.  I was adamant that I wasn't buying anything.  Well about this time, a Mom and her kids walked by and she smiled over and said, "Do it, you'll love it!"  Do they pay Mom's with kids to advertise for them now or something?  Ha!  Anyways, I relented and bought this facial cream and love it.  The problem is, I'm almost out and starting to freak out a bit.  I'm trying to find out where and how I can get my hands on some more.  It's called KAI Mineralogic.  It's a moisturizing day cream.  It's enriched with dead sea and volcanic minerals.  It's good, and did I mention it's almost gone!   If you all happen to sell this, call me!!!!!  OR... I could just go back to Hawaii to get some more...  :)

I really don't need another bag, but this is just the neatest color.  It literally screams, Spring or Summer.  Isn't it fun?! 

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And because I'm always on the look out for new and fun blogs to follow, I thought I would share one of my favorites with you.  Here is one of her latest posts that I loved.  It's called, What will they remember.  This is written by Ashley and she is one of my all time favorite bloggers.  Check her blog out and I guarantee you will love it.  She as an amazing photographer and the most laid back and fun mother out there.  I'm constantly challenged to be a better Mom and photographer by almost every single post of hers.

We don't have a lot going on this weekend.  We are hoping to get some yard work done and then we've got Junior High basketball tournaments to watch tomorrow.  Do you all have big plans for the weekend?  It's supposed to get up to 70 degrees today.   I'm stoked!

Today I'm linking up with Andrea & Erika

 

& Amy

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Lots of babies!

Spring is definitely here.  Everywhere you look, there are babies.  Whether you are walking down the street or scrolling through Instagram.  Out here on the ranch, it's the same thing... babies, babies, babies, and I love it! 

This Mama cow is making sure her baby is staying close by. 

Look at all that green grass!  Seeing signs of Spring, does my heart good.  It's crazy to think that it's time to start servicing the lawn mowers and getting them ready to go.  We could end up with a couple feet of snow still, as it's only March.  But with as mild as our winter has been this year, I'm thinking we better make sure we are ready just in case. 

Have a blessed day!

Good intentions...

Good intentions... I usually have them.  Do they always get me very far?  No!   But then, I tend to pat myself on the back and give myself a little pep talk.  After all...  I try!

Monday, was my day.  From the moment I woke up, things were going my way.  I was motivated.  I was conquering my to-do list.  I was getting the house whipped up and into shape and I was feeling great about it.  Then I get a call from the school around noon, and that is where my good intentions failed me.  I spent the rest of the day with one kiddo who ended up with an eye issue.  Another kiddo who tried out for the school play and ended up crushed because she wasn't picked.  :(  (Hard lesson to learn when you're only 7.)  Spent the whole next day out of town so we could see the Optometrist, for said eye, and before I know it a day and a half has gone by since I started out with good intentions. 

If only good intentions were just a little bit more helpful.  I surely wouldn't have minded if my good intentions had helped me get caught back up on laundry or maybe if they had worked on cleaning out that one closet I was wanting to get around to, or even just mopping the floor for me.  That would have been helpful.  ;)

Do you all have days like that, where your hopes are high and you've got good intentions for getting things done, and you feel like you are conquering the world and then your day just falls apart and you are left standing there thinking, "What just happened?  I was doing so good". 

Well if you are in the same boat as me, grab an ore and keep paddling, even if some days it feels like you are heading upstream.  I just hope that one of these days, my good intentions finally get the job done.  ;)

Spring Break

And just like that Spring Break is over, and it's time to get back into our routine.  

For Spring Break, we took the kids down to visit Dan's parents in Palm Springs.  It was such a nice getaway. The weather stayed between 85 and 90 degrees everyday.  Perfect weather for the kids to swim and for me to lounge by the pool.  

We got up early Saturday morning and made it to the airport.  My girls didn't seem to mind having their picture taken, but Jesse wasn't having it.  Ha!

They made us a a great Steak and Lobster dinner that first night.  It was so fun to grill and eat outside in  the warm weather.  It is making me really excited for the nicer weather to get here.

The next morning I got up and got ready early and headed outside to enjoy my cup of coffee.   This is something that I could get used to doing every single day of my life.  So relaxing.  I'm sure I would never get anything done if I started my mornings off like this though.  Kids fighting… who cares.  Messy house… so what.  Warm, sunny mornings with a cup of coffee and the world instantly seems like a better place.  ;)

We went to church with Dan's parents again.  It is so different going to a large church after attending such a small church my whole life.  They have a coffee/juice bar where you can get something to drink before hand.  This is part of my crew getting a morning mocha before the service. Crazy!

Dan and his Dad went out golfing the one morning, so the rest of us went for a walk around the area and along one of the golf courses.  It is such a pretty area.

We were supposed to fly home Wednesday afternoon, but our plane was having difficulties and they needed to work on it.  Well in the mean time, we missed our connecting flight.  We decided that we'd at least try and make it as far as Seattle and try and get on an early flight the next morning. Long day and the kids were tired, but they did so good!

I am so glad we ended up in Seattle, because my Bestie and her family had just made it there for a mini family vacation.  We totally crashed their little family trip and butted in for dinner.  We both left MT and both ended up in the same area, and you can bet that we were meeting up.

Dan says I'm maxed out on my traveling quota for the year.  I'm not telling him, but I'm actually okay with that.  It's good to be home and I have lots of little projects I want to start working on, in and outside of the house.

Have a great Monday you guys!
xo

Friday Favorites

I have been away from my blog for the last week and a half, but I'm back.  We were getting all caught up around the house and ready for Spring Break, and then we took a little trip down to California to visit my husbands parents.   They are down there for the winter and it was a nice time to go for a little visit with the kids out of school for Spring Break.  


Isn't this view from the golf course beautiful!  I love the rugged mountains that they have down there and the weather was perfect, but as much as I love traveling... it's always so nice to be home.

I love my Young Living oils.  I haven't researched to see if Young Living carries peppermint beads or not, but I am in love with these peppermint beads from doTerra.  I used up my last bottle of beads and was nervous leaving town without them.  My friend gave me hers to make it through the trip.  I know I can use peppermint oil as well, but these are just so dang easy.  We can be driving down the road or doing whatever and if the kids belly's are upset, or if I've eaten a bit too much and feel uncomfortable, we just swallow 2 beads and feel better quickly!  I guess I need to do some research and see if YL has them as well.

I bought a blogging book a couple of weeks ago and am just getting started on it.  I love the quote that she put in, that says, "Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle", by Jon Acuff.   Somedays, I feel like I don't have anything exciting or interesting to share on my blog, because for the most part it's all just mundane things in my life, but my mundane might just be different to someone else's mundane... which makes this whole blogging world so fun.   


The warm weather in Montana right now has been amazing!!!  Yesterday it got up to 60 degrees.  I know that it's still March and in Montana anything can happen.  It could snow again soon and stick around until June, but we are all soaking up the sunshine and warmth and saying our prayers of thanks!


Our family loves watching 19 Kids and Counting and Fixer Upper.  With all the junk on tv, it's so nice to have good shows to be able to sit down and watch with the kids.  After being gone all week, we sat down and got caught back up on the episodes that we missed.  What did we all do before DVR?   We've watched Little House on the Prairie and I Love Lucy and loved both of those.  We bought both of those series and watched them through a couple of times, but haven't come across anything else for a while.  We like having something light and funny to watch in the evenings while we unwind.  If anyone has other family friendly recommendations, I'd love to hear.

Today I'm linking up with Andrea

 

Amy

and Natasha

 

Have a great weekend everyone and I'll be back next week with a recap of our trip to Palm Springs. 

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday evening, Dan and I met up for dinner with both of my sisters, my brother, their spouses plus a couple of friends of ours.  We stopped down at our local bar and grill.  Which is probably the nicest in our little town.  We tried their Italian apple martini and it was really, really good. Yes, I said "really" twice.  It was that good!  ;) 

It was dark and my phone wasn't taking very nice pictures... oh well.  ;)

Saturday afternoon, we celebrated the twins 9th birthday at the bowling alley.  We love our cousins.

Dad stopped through and it looks like it must have been a cold motorcycle ride.  I don't think you could get me to go for a ride in February.  Eeek!

Sunday, it was back to the bowling alley after church.  It was the kids last day of bowling league.  It was their "fun day".  The league had pizza delivered, and us parents were able to bowl with the kids, which they loved.  

They loved bowling league, and I loved it, because it was something that they could all do together.  We only met up once a week and we didn't have to travel at all.  It was perfect!  Jesse is now trying to decide whether he wants to play baseball or not.  If not, I am hoping we can get our camper cleaned out, and organized in the next month or so, and start spending our weekends out and about.  I guess we'll see.