Friday, May 22, 2015

Royal Gorge and May days


 We are gearing up for summer!  I surprised Cooper one day after school to go to the Avengers movie.

My friend Jim came into town for a few days and one of the things we checked out was the Royal Gorge!  It was incredible. 




Sadly we are also getting ready to say goodbye to our good friends as they move to LA. We've had lots of time with them and it's sad to say goodbye.

Monday, May 18, 2015

First camping experience! For Cooper and ME! Cub Scouts Camp out 2015


It was rainy, cold (39 degrees at night) but THIS KID LOVED it all!  He is now a Bear Scout!











Saturday, May 9, 2015

End of school fun- Last days of 1st grade...part2


Our days are numbered for our 2nd year of 1rst Grade!  I have so loved this bonus year, with a new job (which I am LOVING by the way at Walsworth Yearbooks), it's been such a blessing to have Cooper in the same classroom with the same teacher for the second year in a row.  He really belongs here with his peers, all 7 year olds like him and I am glad I chose 1st grade as the year to get him in line with his peers.   He's been doing a lot of reading and LOVES participating in all the spirit week activities at school. 

(mix match day)

 (time travel day, Cooper chose 1950's)

 ( he loves watching movies at night on his iPad...Grammie it's still the BEST GIFT EVER!)

(we love all the kids in his class this year and whenever we can even walk home from school with them we do!)

Young Authors and Artists night was another fun event at school this year.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Easter 2015

 This Easter Weekend was packed with FUN!  We went to Disney on Ice (this show had a huge Toy Story part and I knew that my days of these kinds of events are numbered as I now have a 7 1/2 year old boy!).


We went to Focus on the Family's Easter Egg Hunt with friends.



And of course the Easter Bunny came and did not disappoint!  We went to church and had our neighbors, LeeAnn and her kids over for dinner :)








Tuesday, March 31, 2015

March Madness


March has been a busy month.  With snow/sunshine, work travel and spring break it was full of fun madness :)

I got to get in some fun hiking with Chrissy.



Traveled to Scottsdale on my 42 birthday for a 3 day work trip were I got to enjoy nice dinners, the spa and just a few meeting :)


Rob came to stay with Cooper while I traveled so he was here for Cooper's Spring Break. The weather wasn't great but we did get a day to go up the Cog Railway to a submit on Pikes Peak.



Monday, February 16, 2015

The Fringe Hours- Making Time for You



"Honey, you need to take care of yourself"

This is something I have heard all my adult life to which I often shook my head and said "Oh yes, I know,  I promise I am" but secretly screamed to myself..."HOW???? 
Eating ice cream out of the container at night is really the only way I know how to make myself happy right now."

The worst part...when life got really REALLY messy, it got worse. Not only did I suffer, but those who loved me the most did to.  On days when I couldn't stand myself, I am sure no one around me could stand me either. 

At least I started to see it and admitted that "Sometimes I am not ok", but no one hands you a road map to self care. 

I LONGED to learn how to take care of myself. Once I did start to feel better and passionate about things in life again and started to attempt to take care of myself something BIG popped up.... I always had this terrible feeling that I didn't deserve it. 

That last sentence took a long time for me to admit.  Why didn't I deserve it?  My mind always told me "you can't spend the money on yourself you have debt to pay off", "you are a single mother, you don't have time for such time luxuries that other moms get" and a slew of other falsehoods about myself and others around me that drained me and isolated me. 

Once I figured that out, I filled my night stand with books to remind myself that I am worthy of that love and time but I wasn't sure the HOW of it all yet.

So this year, Jessica Turner had a pre-release launch for her book "The Fringe Hours". I jumped at the chance to be a part of it not only because I have followed her blog, The Mom Creative, for years but she seemed really happy.  Like JOYFUL all the time.  She was honest that life was hard to balance, but she had a JOY to her that as someone who never met her in real life could see through my laptop screen.  

THAT really had me scratching my head.

Enter her book and my chance to get an advanced copy to read.


Guess what it is? A ROAD MAP!
 Yep..the one I was searching for and had no idea how to find.  
AND that joy she has?

She's really happy.

Why?

Because she makes time for things that matter to her and MAKE HER HAPPY and figures a way to MAKE it happen, no matter what. 



Groundbreaking right?


No seriously, that "Honey, take care of yourself" you get from your mom or whoever? This book literally allows you to figure out what that means for you and how to do it.



Oh, and that nagging voice I heard in my head all the time, judging me and other's around me....come to find out I am not alone. And that voice needs to be shut down. 

The one thing that really stuck with me after reading this book was how much time I DO have.  I have been wasting it not only in literal hours doing other things that don't make me happy but IN MY THINKING.  That was the big take away for me from reading this book.  

The book goes on sale for full release February 17th and I highly recommend picking it up! 

It's a MUST HAVE for any women in your life who needs not only the road map guidance for discovering her passions in life, but also gives her a place to rest in grace. 

Making time for yourself is not an optional thing for women...it's a requirement for a joyful life. The other great thing the book points out is self care isn't about alone time, it's community, family time etc.  It's about being intentional in spending your time in ways that make you happy, daily. 

Just realizing and working on that goal is enough to change your life. 

I have already seen that adding up all those "fringe hours" I have carved out for myself daily, GUILT FREE, have changed my attitude and how I am living my life. 

I hope you pick up a copy and find your fringe hours to uncover the joy in your life too :)

This book officially releases Feb. 17 and can be ordered from Dayspring where there is a full product line or on Amazon 

#fringehours






Sunday, February 15, 2015

February Love


I LOVE that by baby wakes up early on 
picture day to dress himself "handsome" every year.


I LOVE that we can bike together now.
(this week the weather was so great we biked to the coffee shop for Valentine's breakfast)


I LOVE that Cooper is embracing all sports and trying out new things all the time.

 This month...SKIING!