Barbell in the Kitchen: Family

Aria is Three

9:02 AM

Aria is three.. and has been for almost two weeks - and that right there is one of the thousand reasons behind the hashtag #momlife..

The day of her birthday, we had so much fun. She picked out her favorite dress, we then headed to the cutest little bakery where she picked out four cupcakes for our little celebration at home that night. The fun continued all day as we went to pick up balloons, run some quick errands for her party the next day and even ended with a fro-yo date topped with all the sprinkes & gummies.

Her party was the next day - cue the Costco platters as I made the cupcakes. A post-naptime celebration would ensure everyone was in a good mood and minimize meltdowns. However, 2:15pm and we hear Aria rustling around in her room followed by the sound of her vomiting.

Oh no! (you should know there were some other four letter words mixed in there.. ;)

Her party was set to start at 3:30pm - we had planned to wake the girls at 2:45pm so we could arrive early, but we played janitor as we called all the families to let them know the party was rescheduled. We covered her in Tummygize and she seemed better later that night and she recovered over the next few days.

Since then, we've been doing our best to enjoy the sunshine which shows itself a few days at time.

It's been a blur, but to think I became a mama just a couple years ago to the sweetest little girl - one who's too smart for her own good, has more sass & attitude than any three year old should but the biggest heart and sweetest soul; makes me take a step back and wipe my happy tears.

Over the past year she has become a snuggler, which I can't get enough of. Every night we read stories and talk about our day - and every night she can tell me more, using bigger words, understanding and conversing with me - it's bittersweet because I love each phase a little more than the last, but I long to hold onto those days she'd fall asleep in my arms.

To see how she loves her little sister makes my heart melt. Insisting on giving her kisses at naptime, bringing her pacis, blankies & sippy cups.. and already convincing Emi to do her dirty work.. gets me every time.

Happy birthday sweet little Aria. We love you more than words can say. Stay little.. stop growing and all that mushy mom stuff. xoxo, Mama

Essential Oils

Oola for Women | Book Review

10:28 AM

Conquer your fears.

Build the bridge to your dream job.

Have more fun.

Restore balance to our lives.

Those are things we all want right? Those things are Oola.

Oola - that’s what life feels like when you’re in the sweet spot, when your life is balanced, and growing in the 7 key areas of health and well-being – what is referred to as the 7 F’s: fitness, finance, family, field (career), faith, friends and fun, as defined by "The Oola Guys", Dr. Dave and Dr. Troy.

Oola is:

A state of awesomeness
A life that is balanced and growing in the key areas of health, finances, career, relationships, and well-being
A destination (i.e. getting to Oola)
Describing actions, insights, and goals that lead to a balanced life (ex. That’s so Oola)
The ultimate plan for achieving balance in an unbalanced world

As women, our roles are vast – wife, mom, chef, maid, nurse, chauffer, employee – sometimes all those hats are worn in one day. We juggle work, kids, family, and home life – hoping there’s room left in there somewhere for 5 minutes to ourselves - without fingers reaching under the door.

And if you put on that mompreneur hat, you’re juggling clients, customers, sales, marketing, professional events, and so many activities that your 24 hours per day are stretched to the max.

That’s a lot to handle. Insert an emotional roller coaster and chaos control.

In Oola for Women, they tackle all that tough stuff; fear, guilt, anger, self-sabotage, laziness, envy, and lack of focus that all contribute to stress that keeps us from living the life we dream of.

There are also elements and feelings such as love, gratitude, discipline, integrity, passion, humility, and wisdom that contribute to helping us live a more balanced life – they dive into how to help us uncover and embrace these factors.

You’ll learn why these seven areas are so very important. What I really loved was how reading this helped me determine which areas are getting too much of my time and which aren’t getting enough - what is hindering me from balance and things that will help to achieve balance.

Oola for Women contains lots of personal stories, all from women, along with helpful tips, guidance and confirmation for when you’re on the right track. It’s all about finding balance in your life, that feeling that everything is as it should be – like that rare moment where the last piece of laundry is put away with the washer & dryer empty but on a much bigger scale.

This is a MUST READ guys! Even if you’re on the right path and feel confident that life is in order (that’s called “living Oola”) you can always take steps to learn how to keep it there, make it better and stronger. If you’re a Young Living member, we have an entire line of essential oil blends that coincide with the Oola concepts and reading this book will help you understand the background behind them.

Oola for Women hits the shelves tomorrow, so you can preorder NOW for 40% OFF & order after 5/2 from here. It's the best $10 you'll ever spend.

*This book was sent to me for free in exchange for my honest review. These are my own opinions and thoughts. This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link I make a small commission at no cost to you. This helps keep my blog running so thanks for your support!

Family

30 No-Cost Ways to Show Love

12:45 PM

Love is supposed to be effortless right? When you fall in love, start dating, decide to get married and start a life together, it's pretty easy to look at the other person you are sharing your life with and get all twitterpated about them.. you put in all sorts of effort to make sure everything is wonderful.

But with that journey you're embarking on also comes real life. There are all the things you have in common, but there are many things that make you an individual, subtle or not to subtle differences about one another, you grow as a couple and you continue to grow as an individual. Then you decide to start a family and have kids (then you become a under-caffeinated version of a human being with baby spit up on your clothes and sweet potato in your hair and figure you should try out as a zombie for the walking dead.. JUST KIDDING!!)

Where I'm going with all this is that its easy to forget yourself, let alone forget that you are sharing in this crazy roller-coaster ride with another person! Kids always come first for us, but taking a minute or two to do a little something for each other makes everyone's day a little brighter and can make you feel a little more connected with life is nothing but disarray.

Valentine's day can put on the pressure, so that's why this post comes after the fact. Showing that special someone that you love them, and putting emphasis on continuing to build that foundation together should be something you do on a regular basis, not just one day of the year. It doesn't have to cost money, doesn't require a babysitter. It's the little things that go the furthest. So here's my list of no-cost ways to show that special someone that you love them and are thinking of them.

Pick them up their favorite beverage or treat or a simple bouquet of flowers randomly. Surprise them.
Really listen to them when they're talking. Put your phone far away.
Learn to care about something they care a lot about.
Sit next to them as often as possible. At the dinner table, on the couch, in the restaurant booth, etc.
Keep a running list on your phone of things they express great interest in or say they want. It makes for amazing holidays (or just because moments) when you have that kind of for-thought.
Sincerely express your thanks for things they do for you.
Brag about them when they can hear. Show them you're proud of them.
Get up with the kids (if you have them) and whisk them away so he/she can sleep in.
Get yourself ready just to be at home with them. Do your hair, or spray on their favorite scent, etc.
Do something around the house that is normally only their 'job' or chore.
Hold their hand as often as possible. In the car, in the store, at the table, etc.
Send them off unexpectedly to get a massage or a pedicure, or some other type of special treat.
Be the first to apologize.
If you can and want to, set up a babysitter for a standing weekly date-night - and just get outside together.
Stick up for their choices and actions to others, especially family and friends.
Give them that perfect bite of your steak or your piece of pie, the first spoonful of your ice cream :)
Ask them about their dreams and desires. Dig deep and really pay attention
Backrubs and foot rubs are always a good idea.
Play the newlywed game. Find lists of questions online and learn more about one another.
Sit and talk with or help them while they do a chore, cook a dish, change a tire, etc.
Smile at them whenever you catch their eye.
Get their car detailed.
Grab their hand and pull them into a slow dance. In the kitchen is always romantic:)
Make something meaningful for them such as a photo book, a framed letter, a special mix CD or playlist, etc.
Send them texts randomly through the day saying sweet, funny, or encouraging things.
Pick old photos from the beginning of your relationship and compile them in a frame or collage.
Tell them about the moment you knew they had won your heart.
Put their needs ahead of your own as often as you can manage it.
Leave little notes in places they'll find them. Sticky notes in the car, lipstick on the mirror, etc.
Randomly share with them traits or talents of theirs that you adore.

Have some other ways you show love? I'd love to hear them below!

Family

New Years & the Wrecks that Followed

1:01 PM

We made a last minute decision to head over the pass this weekend to join our friends and their Great Gatsby celebration to kick off the New Year. We had planned on traveling halfway to Bend to play in the snow on New Years anyway, so another hour over for a night to do all the fun things made sense to us.

The party was so fun. 1920's fashion, the lights, the drinks..flapper dresses for the ladies, tuxes for the men.. and all the fun props. I wish I had dresses for the girls, (last minute decisions..lol!) irregardless, we all had fun!

Pictures became grainy as the night went on.. and some just plain blurry - so bear with me. ;) Aria made it to 10:30pm, but Emi, that little party animal, took a series of catnaps and made it until 11:55pm.

I want to caption Seth "yeah.. see!" like an old 1920's mobster ;)

Up the next morning for coffee and to pack the car for some fun in the snow, we headed out as snow began to fall in Central Oregon.

More and more snow fell and traffic slowed as we reached the Sno-park. We bundled up several layers deep and busted out the sleds. It wasn't long before the girls turned into little snow-monsters. Gloves + toddler + cold, melting snow = toddler meltdown. The guys got a final run in and we headed to the Lodge to warm up with some snacks and hot cocoa.

We hit the road to head home. We've drove the pass dozens of time in the Winter, and felt like we've dealt with all the possible conditions, but that would soon proven wrong.

Following an old F350 that was having a tough time, we hung back and took it extra slow. We came to a downgrade, single lane traffic when the F350 caught the snowbank and fishtailed, we attempted to brake, but caught the ice combined with gravity and found ourselves having to deal with an inevitable impact. Seth and his awesome driving skills did the best he could to minimize the impact & damage; I braced myself as we caught the snowbank to slow, from there the driver's side of our trailblazer hit the passenger side of their truck. Adrenaline was kicking in as I looked back to ensure that the cars behind us were able to stop. My worst fear was that we would be sandwiched.

We exchanged information and caravanned with our friends for another 20 miles or so when we reached a point that traffic was coming to stop. Cars were sliding on their own accord and oncoming traffic was blocked by cars who took to the opposing snowbank. As we came to a stop we found ourselves involuntarily sliding to the left, downhill and into the oncoming lane, unable to stop. Seth made several attempts forward and to the right to get into the snowbank in our own lane, just so we could stop, but afraid we were going to hit our friends in front of us, we just went with it and slid, Seth navigated to the only open space between two cars, bumping each just enough to exchange paint before we halted in the snowbank that was as high as the trailblazer is tall.

I fell apart. How were we going to get home!? All I cared about was getting our girls home safely. I just wanted to be home.

We were among at least 30 other cars & families, many of which were stuck.. both willingly to avoid a collision, and many against their will as the ice proved to be in control.

With the help of some wonderful people who busted out shovels and chains and helped a Trooper push and navigate our car out of the snowbank, we were on our way again.

We made it home, so absolutely thankful that none of us were hurt. It could have been so much worse. We were mostly just shaken up, although tense & in shock. The next morning all I could do was cry thinking about how the accidents could have been so much worse. Our trailblazer, the car that we purchased just a month after we were married, and that has never been in an accident, has now been chewed up, but that can be fixed. It did it's job as an SUV in keeping the precious cargo, our sweet little girls, safe.

With that, our New Years was interesting, and eventful. I hopeful for a quiet & mellow January. A new year brings new opportunities, a fresh start, a chance to reflect and an open door for so many amazing things to come.

Here's to a wonderful new year to come!

xoxoxo

Family

Our Christmas & December Highlights

6:41 AM

It's 5:45am, my second cup of coffee is halfway finished, the house smells like a York peppermint patty (Stress Away + Peppermint) and Bubble Guppies are already apart of my morning. Our day started at 4am when both girls decided it was time to wake up. I never know if it's a tiny human collaboration, a Thursday morning mutiny or the result of one's noise waking the other.

Probably all three.

I took a little break from social media and electronic devices in general over the holiday and it felt so good. I literally made an effort to leave my phone in the back room as much as possible and realized I should do that more often. Christmas was upon us a little too fast, and after our power outage, where the hours seemed to creep by, left us realizing the holiday was literally only a few days away.

One afternoon was reserved for a little Pajama Christmas Party for the Aria and her little girlfriends to decorate mini gingerbread houses and play while us mommies enjoyed coffee, cocoa and a little wine. I only wish I took more pictures - but toddlers & icing + sprinkles required a little more involvement, it was SO fun.

After a solo late night trip to Target (which I highly recommend ;) and a gift-wrapping marathon, we were all set.

Christmas morning was here and Emerson was clueless as to why were were encouraging her to rip the paper, because scaling the packages was the obvious task at hand. Aria, though was beyond excited. The fact that Santa was coming and bringing presents seemed to be a little more understood the 2-3 days prior, which only added to the magic & fun of the morning as she unwrapped each present.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. I was briefly sad to be done with Christmas, but our tree was a crispy critter waiting to ignite, so it had to come down. I seriously could do candy-cane hunts with Aria and top Emi's baby cheeks with Santa hats all year. But it felt so good to clean and organize the house as we took down all of the the decorations.

With all of that, I am officially ready for Spring. I wouldn't mind snoozing through January & February. I cannot believe how fast the time has passed this year. To think I was 2/3 of the way through my pregnancy with Emerson at this time last year blows my mind.

I wish you all a wonderful New Years! Ours will most likely be low key with a kiss & a toast at midnight (who am I kidding, it'll be 9pm ;). I also have to say THANK YOU to all of you for reading and supporting this little blog. My little space to share with you all has grown and is growing and I can't wait for this coming year.

XOXO

Family

Every light in the House is on

11:38 AM

Well not exactly - but they should be. We had a powerful ice storm hit us last week which made the Willamette Valley look like a war zone. Huge old trees split in half, and if they didn't break, they bent over themselves touching the ground. Water-logged and frozen limbs came down over power lines, pulled up sidewalks and crushed cars and houses that lay in their path.

If you've never heard a tree fall, it's quite a daunting sound, and more so if you cannot see it, nor know which way it's falling. Right as it was getting dark last Thursday we could hear so many tree limbs falling and cracking, it sounded like the Fourth of July. After several cracks, you'd see the low lying clouds and exteriors of home flash and glow blue as another electrical transformer blew.

At one point I was walking toward the kitchen and hear the unsettling sound of another tree succumbing to the weight of the ice, but with it the ground trembled just enough to let me know it was much closer this time... I ran out to the living room, scooped up Emi, Seth grabbed Aria and we ran toward the front of our house - the furthest we could get from the ten massive cedars and giant maple tree in our back yard.

We sat there shaking for a moment, rattled but thankful that our house was in one piece. We figured the maple tree had broke, but Seth and I looked at each other with same thought, we needed to see what came down. One look outside and we realized that it wasn't one of our trees that fell, but our neighbor's. In the dark we couldn't quite tell what actually happened. Did it hit their house? The branches are over the fence.. they have a sunroom... the fireplace.. they have little kids.. are they okay?

Seth ran next door. He returned a few minutes later after he found that their house was intact, only by couple inches. The once giant oak tree obliterated the backyard, patio and all the contents, snapped the powerline, but did not break the glass or damage the house.

Around this same time - we lost our power, most likely due to another large tree in the distance.

******

For four nights we were without power, prepared for a fifth as the temp outside averaged 28 degrees. I can only explain it as going on a camping trip in the winter that you weren't prepared for. Thankfully, our neighbors across the street never lost power, and had a generator they loaned to us to use. With that, we kept a small space heater going at all times. We bundled up in more layers than I could count, and brought out all the candles, flashlights and blankets we could.

A couple times a day we would disconnect the space heater to heat water in the electric kettle and fill a couple thermos containers so we could sip on something hot and keep our hands warm. We sectioned off our house with a thick blanket nailed to the walls to keep at least part of it a toasty 60 degrees. When we'd venture in the other half, you could see your breath. I could only imagine if we didn't have that generator and heater; we wouldn't have even been able to stay in our home.

Our neighborhood is so kind and generous - bringing us hot meals and coffee to keep us going. The girls were troopers. We played games, did all our puzzles, read stories with a flashlight & snuggled under blankets. We ventured over to our in-laws to shower, do some laundry and warm up a couple times. On Sunday, after spending the afternoon over there to do laundry (and bake some cookies because Christmas ;) - we pulled up to our house. The first thought that came to my mind was that I didn't remember leaving the lamp on in Aria's room - and before I could even finish the thought I yelled out - "oh my God, we have power!!".

It felt surreal. Like this thing called electricity.. is awesome! We realized the power had probably been on an hour or so as our empty freezer was pretty cold and our house was warming up. It was the little thing that made us so happy; to walk into the bathroom and hit the light switch and actually have a light come on. Walking around without my fingers tucked into my pockets or to wear just a t-shirt felt very freeing. To not have to check that the girls fingers & toes were too cold was such a relief.

With all of this also came the realization of how much we take for granted. How easily available everything is for us - all. the. time. But we also learned how little we really need to survive. Shelter & warmth, food, water.. the basics. As a culture, we consume so much and alot of it is unnessesary. So I must be feeling a little nostalgic as I sit here on the computer with only the Christmas tree in front of me lit up, a candle flickering on the table. The girls are napping, the house is quiet and dim, but warm & cozy. So thankful, blessed & grateful.

Merry Christmas.

XOXO, McKenzie