14 years........

5 months of whirlwind dating

1 week engagement 

We got married in a fever

14 years

5,110 married days

4 awesome kids

2 babies lost

4 deployments 

6 different homes

3 different states 

And all the memories in between them make up our life!!

Insta what?!?!

Just as I was getting used to instagram another insta product came into my life this Christmas! 

So I put the instapot on my wish list awhile ago and then started doing some research on it. I am not going to lie I am very intimidated of this device. (Confession time! I haven't even done the water test because Ben has been at work and I don't want to do it by myself!)

I am hoping that this opens a whole new world of cooking for our family but right now she is just looking pretty on the counter! 

Tell me your best tips and recipes! 

Happy Christmas Eve

The down side of military life

I will be the first to say that there are decisions made for my husband and my family based on the needs of the Marine Corps that I don’t agree with on a daily basis. I try to focus on all the blessings that we have because of the military. New places that I would have never seen, friends that become framily, traveling, an appreciation for selfless service, blooming where you are planted even if it is out of your comfort zone. (Just to name a few )

One thing that I cannot write off is missing family. My children miss their cousins that we may get to see once a year, we miss meeting new family members, mostly just miss what most families consider "normal" family experiences.

I am clinging to our recent family get together where we got to meet our 5 month old nephew and rekindle cousin relationships. We are not sure when we will all be in one place again since Hawaii, Texas, Missouri,  and North Carolina are not geographically close to one another but we are thankful for the memories made and strengthened relationships. 

Isn't he just the sweetest thing?

The sweet sounds of giggles, play screams, hugs, and sweet conversations are still ringing in my head!

Joy

Recently I was inspired by my friend's daughter who is just starting her journey in life and blogging.
It reminded me of why I started this blog 10 years ago. First and foremost to keep a journal of our life for the kids. Secondly was to spread joy.
It has become increasingly more popular to use social media as a way to tote why your political opinion is better than others, air dirty laundry of a myriad of things, complain, on and on.
2018 I hope to get back to keeping my family's memories on here and spreading joy in a dark world.
I hope that y'all will join me on this ride!
Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Day 2 of unpacking the office /sewing studio

I could just leave it right here with this picture. I am so beyond frustrated of box after box like this. My end of first day I hit 22 boxes. On the end of the second, I completed another 14. I have been able to organize a bit too. Hopefully by weekend,  we will be completely in business for good ♡♡ 

As for now, it's time to turn in for some shut eye!!

Old decor...new house

So like most folks, we have decor that moves with us from house to house. You know that makes it feel like home! This is one of those pieces. And of course we add to it with each new duty station too! I love to support other WAHM businesses so I just wanted to give a shout out to Perfectly Distressed. I have had many compliments over the years on this particular decor piece. I ordered the new board before we left California and it was waiting for us at the new house! 

If you want to check our her pieces, you can do so at.....

www.perfectlydistressed.com

New house ♡ new entryway

I haven't posted in awhile. I have a fantastic excuse! We just has a surprise party for Ben! I continue to try to unpack and set up the house to make it a home. It's hard to keep a time perspective. We've only been in the house for a month now so I am trying to persevere and finish strong. 

The entry way is one of my favorite parts of the house. I'm not 100% done with it but it is close enough to post a few pictures ♡

The main wall has our family picture, rules, names, and of course stars!

The French doors house our office/ the Skidz Wife Creations sewing studio. It is wall to wall boxes in there.

The rug was a purchase from a friend in California. We only paid $10 for a 5x7 rug!

Ben got me this sweet, little table for our anniversary at a local antique shop.

This entry way bench is waiting on Ben and I to refinish, rework the wood, and get rid of the broken mirror. I can't tell you how much I want to post after pictures of this!!

This is part of the shelf about the door. I have an idea in my head of how I want it to look when finished. Now I just have to be patient until I find everything ♡

The other side of the shelf. The wreath was made by friends of ours from their grape vine in the backyard.

Looking into the hallway to the breakfast nook/kitchen area.

Obviously the shelf is so not finished but I am happy with it so far!

            ♡ Home. Family. Life. Love. ♡

Honoring Pappy

Believer. Son. Brother. Husband. Father. Pappy. Great-grandpa. Veteran. And so much more ♡

I will miss your quiet presence, your sense of humor, your love of desserts, even your teasing. 

You were there for most of my important events in school. You helped teach me how to shoot, fish, and play cards.

Most of all you showed me the devotion that a husband should have for his wife. Never once did I hear you and grammy arguing.

You were fair and honest. Oh yeah and a hard worker. 

Thankful for the blessing of being your granddaughter. 

The Disease that takes and takes

Alzheimers disease. 

My first experience with it was hearing a lecture in nursing school. I don't remember many individual lectures, but this one just stuck with me. Maybe because our instructor had personal experiences to share maybe not. She said the most important thing that you need to remember about this disease is that it takes your loved one piece by piece. 1 year. 5 years. 20 years. A slow progression of losing someone important to your life.

I worked in a dementia/alzheimers unit at a nursing home for a little bit through nursing school. It was one of the most emotionally taxing times of my young adult life.

Fast forward to a few years ago, when my pappy started going downhill. Some of his early behaviors could have been chalked up to older age unless you knew that he was as smart as a whip. And his very quick wit.

While I haven't been phsically present for his decline, I have talked to my dad on a regular weekly basis to witness the toll it took on my Grammy and my dad. 

I will remember the vibrant, funny, and quick witted pappy forever but would be lying if I said that the past few years haven't left a huge scar.

Here's to the families, caregivers, and the people who have this horrible disease. If you are walking through it right now, I am praying for peace, understanding, and endurance. Praying for a cure ♡

New house, new downstairs bathroom

So y'all know I love some maroon paint right?!? (Not being sarcastic, i really do!)

Well I just found it to be a bit too dark in our new downstairs bath (plus we were going to take the wallpaper border down anyway......)

We chose this cool grey color.

We repurposed the blanket rack from Kenzie's room to hold our guest bath towels.

The flooring has some brown and grey tones in it.

My mom was getting rid of these prints so I snagged them from her. One lady's trash another's treasure ♡

I would still like to get a transition strip for the pocket door entry.

New Dining room

I knew that this was one room that I definitely wanted to make over. Wallpaper borders are not my favorite and I liked the pop of color along the bottom so it snowballed from there.

My parents and husband took the paper down and painted while I unpacked boxes. I am overall thrilled with the results. Most of my decor is rustic so I am trying to tie this into each of the rooms.

The coffee bar

I still need to sand the top down and paint it to match our wood.

We found the greyish-blue wardrobe at a local antique /junk shop. It now houses our wine, glasses, and liquor. 

I was eyeballing this at the same store that we got the liquor chest from and the owner gave it to me in honor of our anniversary ♡