The BIG reveal will come...

This is a picture of our master bedroom:

While I have to admit that it doesn't ALWAYS look like this, sometimes it does!  I wanted to take a before picture of our room, but I had already started organizing clothes and bins of paperwork by the time I remembered to take a picture.  So, you get the raw, unedited picture!  I can't wait to show you the room tomorrow!

Finding Your "Happy" Place

What are your hobbies?  What do you like to do as a family?  Our family LOVES to fish!  This past weekend we joined some other family members up at our family cabin.  While we have been MANY times before, this was the first time that we were able to just sit back and relax.  We all enjoyed each others company and we were able to nap, read, and spend time with one another.  We are ready to go back to our "happy" place.

Our cabin is located in the White Mountains in Northern Arizona.  The recent Wallow Fire kept us from visiting our favorite fishing spot, so we found a new spring-fed stream that only the "locals" know about.  We had a wonderful time, as we were pulling in fish left and right, and there was a HUGE shady tree for us to relax under.  Here are a few pictures from our fishing adventure:

Remember to find joy in the small things!  It is the little things in life that create a lasting memory!  Get out and enjoy the outdoors!

Perfection

What do you do when you realize that no matter what you do, you can't keep your house clean?  What do you do when you realize that you yelled at your children more today than you ever have?  What do you do when you realize that no matter how hard you try, your husband still annoys you?  What do you do when you finally realize that you aren't perfect?

Perfection.  What is perfection?  According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfection perfection is a state of being complete and flawless.  When was the last time you felt complete?  When was the last time you felt that you did everything flawlessly?  I know for me, the answer would be never.

Never.  Never have I felt like I do everything perfect.  I mess up.  Time and time again.  I diet.  I do good for a week and then I fall off the bandwagon.  I research new parenting techniques online and then turn around and snap at my children as they fight in the other room.  I devise a new "behavior" plan for my children to follow and then their chart sits there with two or three stickers on it.  I fail.  Time and time again.  Am I happy?  Certainly I must be.  I have two beautiful children, a loving, stable marriage, a house, two cars and name brand clothing on my children.

But what brings happiness?  What brings that feeling of completeness that is the definition of the word perfection?  I think I have found the answer, actually, I know I have found the answer.  Finding joy in the simple things.  Even in the imperfection, finding what truly makes me happy.  No, I am not happy go-lucky every single day, but I strive to be.  I am trying to say "yes" more than "no."  I am trying to be intentional with our activities, our meals, and our schedule.  Yes, it will sometimes backfire and yes, I will sometimes be too lazy to get up and go swim in the pool.  However, I feel that as long as the good times override the bad, that we will all be okay in the end.

Join me as we journey to find joy in the simple things in life.  Mini vacations.  Weekend trips.  Day trips to the lake.  Playing catch on the front lawn.  Nightly strolls to the park.  I am here to hold myself accountable to making the most out of life.  I am here to give you ideas for activities to do with your family.  I am here to say that we are not perfect, but we can certainly find joy in the journey!

A Memory That Will Last a Lifetime

We recently went on a short vacation and as part of our vacation we decided to visit my brother and his family in the San Franscisco area.  I had never seen the northern coast of California, so we decided to take the "long" way home.

Not knowing the exact way to get to the ocean, we plugged in "beach" into my husbands phone and soon found our way towards the beach on the 92 out of San Franscisco.  This was the most beautiful road. Gorgeous trees and quaint little farms lined the highway.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the area, but I didn't.

We soon found ourselves in Half Moon Bay, a quiet little town on the coast of California.  We grabbed a bite to eat and headed down the coast on Cabrillo Highway.  I was in awe.  The ride was gorgeous, as was the weather.  We rode with the windows down, "oooohing" and "aaaawing" at the beautiful ocean views!  If you ever have the chance to do this drive, I DEFINITELY recommend it.

The kids were BEGGING to play in the ocean, so we eventually pulled off at a marked beach.  The wind surfers were out in full force, but we still grabbed our buckets and ran for the water.  It was then that we spotted this poor creature:

a beached seal.  He was still breathing!

Cadence and I begged Daddy to help him and so the two of them got to work soaking the seal.  Within minutes he began looking much better, making noises, and moving a little bit:

While he was moving around, every time he got close to the waves of the ocean, he would turn and move away from the water.  We saw another dead seal nearby and so we finally exhausted our efforts and decided that he probably didn't have the energy to swim.  I would love to know this poor seal's outcome, but it was time to move on and head home.  While we don't know what happened to the seal, we can at least hope that what we did made a little bit of difference.