Best Summer Product

My boys are little fish and want to be at the pool all the time.  (I'd rather be inside dry and in the AC.)  Walker likes to splash around in the shallow end and Charlie likes to dive to the bottom-goggles on and full force.  

At the beginning of the summer, I was trying to figure out how exactly I was going to pull off 3 kids at the pool.  2 being all over the place and 1 hip baby.

Enter the best invention ever:  The Stekki Bebe aqua wrap.  Oh I love it!  The Crew man is a hip baby all the way, so this baby wrap allows him to be close to me and helps me to be hands free for the other boys.

Aqua wrap in deep navy c/o Stekki Bebe

The wraps are easy to use and make pool time a lot easier for me.  (They also come in several really cute colors.)  I'm using mine away from the pool as well!

For the next 2 days, you can visit Stekki Bebe's website and use the promo code DWA10 to get $10 off your own wrap.  (This would also make a great gift too!)

I'd love for summer to go on for as long as possible......"but these are days we dream about when the sunlight paints us gold."

I hope y'all have a great weekend!

back in the day

Let me give a little bit of a disclaimer to start.  I have really great boys.  Yesterday, while I was taking care of a few things, Walker was playing with the baby on the bed, and Charlie was making everyone peanut butter and jelly sandwiches downstairs.  They pull weeds and put away their own laundry. They ask to be excused from the dinner table.  They still kiss me goodbye. They're fantastic.

I guess that since the majority of the time they are so well behaved and act way older than they actually are (5 and almost 4), I have really high expectations for them.  

I try and give them opportunities to serve, I try and take them to serve with me, BUT I feel like there's a certain aspect that a lot of kids have where a lack of appreciation comes out every now and then.  (The "I don't like this food" type thing makes my head SNAP.)

Our Primary presidency hosted a Pioneer Day Activity ^ this past Saturday, and it was perfectly timed.  It was inspired, for sure, and the boys came back from it and said, "It. Was. Awesome!!!"  They played games, learned how to make butter and wash their own clothes by hand, planted seeds to grow their own veggies.  What a great day for them. 

The activity opened up an ongoing conversation about how blessed we are to be living in a time and place where we have AC, food easily accessible, and mainly fun things on our daily agenda.  ........and every time I get some back lash on something, I'm quick to remind them of that. (and myself, of course, when I'm feeling kinda squirrely that day.) :)

Different outfits...different links

Top: ON clearance (but these tops are killerrrrr), Jeans, Shoes, Necklace

If you ever stop by my house, I will be in gym shorts and my Les Mis shirt.  If you see me out with my children, I will probably be wearing a maxi skirt with Jack Rogers or a pair of jean shorts.  BUT, if you see me out on a date/girls' night/not with children...this is the outfit. :)

Also...

-Need this shirt

-Love this wedding

-Played this song (from Astronaut Wives Club last week) a hundred times

-Obsessed with this baby

-Read and reread this article.

Girls' Night

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and EDWARDS®, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #EdwardsPies http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”

This has been one of my favorite summers so far.  The boys and I have been doing a little bit of everything. Camps, movie days, pool days, trips......  All really fun, but our schedule is different day to day.

One thing that HAS to stay consistent, though, is getting together with girlfriends (women need girl talk regularly...it's been proven- I'm sure of it!) I feel fortunate to have a lot of great ladies in my life, and it's so good for my soul to get together with different groups of them often.

Something that I've become a ton better at over the years is not putting too much pressure on myself.  This applies to many different areas, but one in particular is when I have people over.  I don't worry about little things these days, so I make sure the food part of dinner is easy. That way I can focus my attention on the most important thing, which is enjoying time with my friends.

These EDWARDS® Whole Pies are ridiculously yummy, (I always get the EDWARDS® HERSHEY’S® Chocolate Crème Pie), and all I have to do is pop over to Walmart and pull it out of the freezer to enjoy it. No 100 dirty bowls and rushing around to prepare a treat..it's already done.

^Sneaky boy trying to get a chocolate treat and be part of girls' night.  

What are some of your tips for having a low key night with friends at home?!

*Also...a special offer.... Save $1.00 on any ONE (1) EDWARDS® Whole Pie by taking advantage of the Walmart EDWARDS Ibotta digital rebate (while supplies last)*

Jorts/Dance/Summertime

This outfit is the same as last week with different bottoms.  I'm telling you...you need a short-sleeve chambray top.  NEED!  And a pair of jean shorts...because that's basically what I'm living in this summer.  (How do you wear your jorts?!) 

And speaking of summertime....so you think you can danceeeeeeeeeee.  Finally, it's back on. I'm in love with everything Travis Wall and Twitch do.  And my heart was beating so hard watching the opening number this week.  So exciting.

The only thing I don't get is the whole stage verses street theme.  They do realize that all of these dancers are stage dancers, right?  It's all choreographed and performed on a stage....stage dancing.  Just wanted to throw that out there.  You're watching this season, aren't you?!

Linking up with the Pleated Poppy

Crew Boo

Yesterday at church, I left sacrament meeting to feed Crew during church.  By the way, the mother's room is the absolute best room at church...it's so quiet and about 30 degrees cooler than any other room in the building...I love it.

While I was feeding him, a man starting singing a solo (there's a speaker in the room so you can hear the speaker/music from the chapel), and Crew stopped eating and started staring up towards the speaker. And then for the remainder of the musical number he stared at me. 

The solo was so beautiful and my sweet baby staring at me just made it a moment that I hope I never forget.

This little sugar is 6 months today.  Best 6 months of my entire life.  

3 easy avocado recipes

Avocados....yum.  I've been trying at least one new recipe each week, and these 3 are some of my favorites.  Easy, quick, and the boys even like them! (It's hard to compete with chicken nuggets.)

1.  Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad.  This is my favorite one.  So much goodness in one salad.

2.  Chicken and Avocado Burritos.  Just a nice spin on a classic.  (I added a little bacon to it.)

3.  Avocado Pasta Salad.  I also added bacon to this because....bacon.  I ate this warm and also cold (the next day) and preferred it warm, but both were really good.  We had french bread with this for dinner, which made things extra yummy.  (breadddd!!!!) 

I'm a huge fan of the slow cooker, but during the summer especially, I never start thinking about dinner until about 4pm.  These 3 recipes were perfect for putting dinner together quickly.

Have a great weekend!!!  (Is anyone seeing the Minion movie?!) :)

Getaway

Top: Old Navy, Shoes: Target, Skirt: Loft

The other night, I just needed a few seconds by myself.  I didn't want to go out and run errands, I didn't want to talk to anyone, I just needed ONE second by myself. (No social media, no getting anyone in/out carseats, no phone calls, no texts.)

I put the boys to bed, came downstairs, and texted Noel (who was upstairs), "going out, be back in a sec." and a few minutes later "do you want a CFA cookie?"  

I took the long way to Chick Fil A, and listened to old school Goo-Goo Dolls (is that redundant?) on full blast the entire way.  The radio was killing it that night.  (Side note: When I got home and told Noel he was like, "What do the Goo Goo Dolls even sing?"  Ummm... "AND I DON'T WANT THE WORLD TO SEE ME, CUZ I DON'T THINK THAT THEY'D UNDERSTAND..." That's what they sing.)

I pulled into the drive thru and had to turn my radio down from volume 20 (volume 20, guys!) to order my cookies and coke.  Snack of champions.

Oh...and this outfit outside the Angus Barn...keeping it klassy and yoga ing it up for my sister's insta challenge.

Linking up with Pleated Poppy

The fun house

We had such a great week last week on the east coast.  Me and the boys stayed with my brother and sister in law for a few days, (they just bought a new house!) and we almost didn't come home.  It was that nice over there.  

We went out on the boat, ate all their yummy treats, sat in their massage chairs, the whole deal. I told Noel to start looking for jobs where they live!  We also spent a day at the beach with Noel's family, and the boys loved every minute of play time with their cousins.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures....

^I took this picture from the massage chair.  Life doesn't get much better than this.  James even got a bouncy house the day the boys got there. 

^Sweet baby cousins!!!  My cousin, Katie's baby, Olivia (isn't she adorable?!) is 2 weeks younger than Crew. 

^From James and Kaitlyn's bathroom.  I almost took it.

I hope y'all had a great weekend and a great start to your week!