Fabulous Finds!

What a fun morning in blogland. Isn't it neat when you stumble from one blog to another and discover someone that you know you should be meeting for lunch...unless of course you discover that they may live 2 or 8 states away? I had that happen this morning...
From one followed blog to a link in their post to another link in someone else's post, I can't even follow my footsteps to tell you how I found this adorable blog...Oofa Luffa Le how cute is that? The name is super sweet and I just love finding someone funky, fun, outgoing, and to make it even better...her love of the Lord posted on the page totally draws me in!!! I love that!

She is also hosting a giveaway of some fabulous summer styles! Run over there and check her out! You won't want to miss her blog! :)

My giveaway comes out tomorrow FOR SURE! Get ready!!!!

Sarah

Reflections in the midst of Chaos!

This summer has been flying by already! I can't believe we are so close to August! My husband and I have been on fairly different schedules because I have been doing a lot of hard labor around the house (painting, staining, organizing, etc.) making us tired at different times and not allowing us our full evening of down time like school provides us when the kids are in bed at 9pm. When you have a 13 year old and 15 year old pleading to stay up until midnight...baseball games ending at 10pm...hanging out at church and rehearsing until almost 10pm on Wednesdays...you get the idea, normalcy is the new rarity!

In reading a beautiful post over at Lola B's is stirred up some feelings for me. I absolutely adore and cherish my husband, but honestly how often do we pour over our wedding vows or think about the first emails/notes/cards we wrote and received in those floating, dreamy first months together. For us it actually did last years where we could lock eyes and disappear into our own world, tearing up as we latched onto each others eyes and knowing each moment together was a blessing! But as the kids get older there is more recognition that they will be grown before we know it and we try to give them priority and a voice. (What a balancing act a family and marriage can be!) So as I read the post from Kasey today, it reminded me of some of the things my husband wrote in his vows. We wrote our own and he had such a way with words that I wished I could rewrite mine quickly and have a "do-over"! I can still remember when he started it and said my name and I got goosebumps! (I will interject here, there is a mention of another child, I was not pregnant, we just knew we were going to have a child together, I was actually chastised quite a bit at my reception by my friends who swore we were keeping a secret, but Kaiden made his appearance 11 months later!)

Here are his vows:

"Sarah, we have been given this Gift of our love for one another. A love built on a Strong foundation of friendship. Together, we discovered the Miracle of our destiny. To be united. You and I, soul mates, now complete as one. The final piece of the puzzle has been found and I am NOW at peace. This journey we have been on has Proven to me that dreams Do come true. My wishes Have been granted. You have given me happiness beyond Anything I could have ever imagined. Our undeniable link and connection has lead us to this day. Today I stand next to you, in offering of my life, my love and my soul. Sarah, I will love you, cherish you and respect you. I will hold you tight and comfort you. I will be a faithful husband, devoted to you, our life and our children, S, B, M and D. And when we are blessed with our New child, I will be by your side everyday. I promise this to you my precious bride, until my last breath. And when I breathe no more and leave this place, I will be waiting for you with open arms, so we may be together again, forever.... I love you"
I am completely emotional again after reading those words again and remembering that day. It seems that we have to track back and remember the beautiful parts of why we are together and bring those pieces with us or they can be forgotten or stowed away in a pretty little box that doesn't do it justice! Today, I hope this inspires you to find a piece of your past that helps you thrive in the present and the future. I know my husband's vows do that for me and I am now realizing I should have these printed and on display somewhere in my house!

Even amidst the chaos of summer, busy life, kids, and the many roles that we play...we need to find the time to reflect on the beautiful journey we have been on in our life.

Much Love! I will be floating for the rest of the day! :)
Sarah

Glimpse Into Reality

Mine that is! Here are some shots of what I have worked on recently. I hope you will enjoy them!
















Here are some views of the hallway and stairwell that I painted two days ago. The acrobatics I did to accomplish this were ridiculous, but I love the new color! I also think I will need to invest in something better than duct tape and a broom handle to get the 12-15ft high ceiling areas from now on!
You can't tell the color on these pics very well, but it has been white for 6 years and I painted it a gorgeous color #7517 China Doll by Sherwin Williams. We used the Harmony paint which I can't say enough about! It dried fast, has NO VOC (harmful chemicals) in it and you could barely tell I was painting, barely a trace of scent at all! I scored majorly on the paint too, I was able to double up on their 30% off sale for the 4th of July plus I had $10 off $50 coupon from the Entertainment Book, so I bought two expensive gallons of paint for $53!



















I can't take it...I have to share a sneak peak at our bedroom. Here is an up close peak at our new bedding...














Have a great day!
Sarah

Almost Done!

I am so excited to tell you all that I will be unveiling our bedroom remodel within the next week! I really think you girls are going to love it! I am waiting on the chandelier because I need someone electrical to help us out, so that last step will be the lingering change...

In other news, Dakota is prepping and learning many things for his upcoming California trip for Scout High Adventure this year. He is going to so many cool places! Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, San Fransisco, Alcatraz...I am really wishing I would have believed that God would have provided someone to watch my youngest so I could have tagged along. BUT I believe this will be another growing experience of seeing my boy go off and become a young man in a short amount of time!

We are finally done with birthdays, Father's Day, end of the school year parties, and now the 4th of July. It should be a relief but I am feeling like summer is gone all of a sudden!? Why is it as a mom you have to learn to shop for swimsuits while wearing long sleeves, purchase back to school clothes in July, school supplies too...and spend August exhausted knowing the kids are busy, headed back to school and wondering if they actually got a full vacation from it all?

I have been so anxious to finally get the virtual school computer and curriculum shipped out to confirm that we are standing on our own two feet for homeschooling. We barely touched them last schoolyear at all but there was a glitch in their system and they didn't send us labels so we had the supplies all year long even though we withdrew in October. As exciting as it will be to put back up our own computer and make more space with our own curriculum, it is also making me realize I need to find time to start planning out my curriculum but at the same time trying to enjoy swimming and outdoor activities with my kids! I am praying that God will guide me on what to keep and what to use throughout the year next year. I have also been very blessed with people sharing supplies and older books and such, that helps tremendously!

What a busy, busy summer! What are you busy doing this summer? I have stained, painted a hallway into a vaulted ceiling stairwell, planted, weeded, mowed, sold things on craigslist, cleaned part of our basement, taken a ton of things to goodwill, shared clothes with girlfriends for their kids instead of donating them or selling them. Seems like I have been doing a lot of work all of a sudden! :)

I will be posting pics in the next few days and I WILL finally be doing my first giveaway! Sorry for the letdown a few months back, I just couldn't get it together with everything we had going on!!

More soon!
Sarah

Home Decor Choices

I am so anxious to show you all pictures of our bedroom remodel, but we haven't painted yet! I should tease you but with painting needing to be done and a bench that is possibly on the way from my parents, I will wait. I will ask...
Gray/White bedding, black silk curtains, gray walls, silver accents, black bench...what color should I paint my pine nightstands??? I am between white and black??? I am really anxious to give this a shot and hopefully have it turn out great using spray paint! The nightstands do have plastic inserts that I can't get out of the drawer, so you can see the stuff inside...wondering if I could rough sand them and paint them liquid silver or something...ideas are stirring. What do they say to you? Or maybe white with the gray insert or black with gray...
That one can be done fairly easy next week so I need some aid in choosing colors, what stands out nice to you?

I did think I should take a minute and share a recent pic, my husband was majorly appreciative when he took these pictures and realized it isn't every wife that will let you set up in your rec room/computer area....

Have you ever done anything that you looked back on and realized what did I sign up for? That was kind of my initial reaction after I saw all the gear set up next to my computer desk! :)

Sarah

Past Winnings

Due to my computer going down after Easter, I realized I didn't get a chance to post a great win. I won some beautiful stationary note cards from The Note House.
Go check out her website, it is hard to choose! Even winning my choice was tough to pick one that I liked the most!

Recently, I am excited to share that I also won a contest at the IE Mommy, you can find her button on my side bar. I won a free shirt for boys/men from 191 Unlimited in my choice of size. Not sure which one they will send me, but I am anxious to get it and add to my boys back to school collection of clothes. My husband actually vetoed the shirt saying he doesn't do designs, which is something I know of him, stripes are about as decorative as he gets! :) I really hope we win one of these:



God also blessed us recently, my husband bought new drum heads for his drum set and then asked if he could get new sticks for our "gig" coming up this weekend. I asked him to wait and then on Father's Day after get home from church we have a msg on our answering machine....Guitar Center called to say I had a $20 gift certificate waiting for me. It ended up just being because I was on their customer list for some reason, but we were able to get his expensive sticks (3 pair) for $8! That is SO God! :)

Just wanted to share to remind everyone to keep entering those contests! You never know when or what you might win, but it won't happen if you don't enter! :)

Have a great day!
Sarah

Summer Breeze

(Is it just me or is there something so beautiful about his teacher's hair, numerous moms mentioned how much they liked her hair!)



This past week has flown by! Kaiden thoroughly enjoyed his time at Vacation Bible School...the cutest memories are hearing him sing the songs and doing the motions. Seeing him dressed up in his robe although I rarely got a chance to get his picture. Then my favorite was him coming home not once but twice with fresh made bread that he sprinkled cinnamon, sugar, honey and garlic powder on. Uhm, yum. This is not representation of how I cook, honest! We just realized the first time he did it we thought it was so funny, we forgot to tell him those don't work together! Whoops!!

As I went to pick up Dakota from Scout Camp on Sunday all I could think of was Goofy saying his infamous line from The Goofy Movie..."That's My Boy! Huck yuck!" There was my son who had turned 11 that day, but actually did seem older, more mature, covered in dirt, tired, a little sunburned, with new bandages and wounds but so at ease with himself. He came back to me a new boy. I fought back tears as he lined up with his troop and they all used teamwork to get the trailers unloaded, teasing, helping, mustering up strength they barely had left. Once they finished unloading and grabbing a piece of equipment to take home to clean, Dakota walked over and put him head into my neck and chest and breathed "Hi Mom" into my ear like he was little again. The emotion I felt at that very moment can't be expressed in words! Although I had been busy all week with Kaiden, my heart swelled and overwhelmed me. It was his birthday after all, but a big part of me wanted to take off with him alone for the day to enjoy this new boy that had come home...

but alas there were balloons, notes and brothers and dad at home to greet and celebrate with so that was not an option! Sigh!
We had two birthdays this weekend...Bennett turned 13 and he received a bunch of clothes as he has grown and asked for them. He also received the workbench he asked for. My husband was super responsive and actually mounted our Yakima in the garage when I asked him to so we have room in the basement now for the workbench area! Yay!

This week has been filled with another birthday, my girlfriend Angi. So we brought gifts and food to her house and spend a fabulous day Monday with her and of course her fabulous puppies! Even better, my husband came out after work and held puppies and celebrated her day as well! Here are more pictures of the puppies because I know they are so hard to resist!!! They are getting big and doing little growls in their sleep now! So precious!!!



































I am so in love with him and add a puppy and my heart soars!

This weekend our worship band is playing an outdoor event at a church for a few hours. Keep your prayers with us that our performance goes well and reaches many.