the view from the top of Wasson Peak was stunning!

It's been super slow over here on the blog this summer.. I think the slowest since I began. But there are alot of reasons behind that, so I thought I'd share a bit about what we've been up to. Our schedule has changed to where the girls are in preschool one full day a week as opposed to a more daycare style care that was three mornings a week. This has left me (dancing in the kitchen of a quiet house!) and trying to get as much as I can done all in one day so I can focus on the girls the rest of the week.

We have more projects than ever happening right now, which leaves us in a bit of constant transition. Although it has been super busy, it's been a really fun season. We seem to alternate days packed with activity; playdates, early morning and evening walks, trips to the farm, picking blackberries and a few last trips to the pool or splash pad while we still can with days where we don't get out of our pajamas - but enjoying the summer in every way we can.





Aria is speaking full-blown sentences using logic & reason and it's constantly surprising me.
It also makes me realize how she is turning into a little girl, her own person.. and less and less a baby. Bittersweet for sure; "mama, hold on a minute.. let me finish this first" as she builds a block tower as slow as possible to stall having to brush her teeth for another minute. ;)

Emi is my ever-wild child. Her favorite thing right now is to trampoline-style jump along the length of the couch.. and as I tell her to sit down, she lands by throwing her feet out straight into an 'L' shape in front of her, landing on her butt, then rolling over to hide her face in the cushions. She only has a million little bruises.. that you fortunately never see because she's always running somewhere with a big smile on her face. Her vocabulary is expanding, and it's quite polite with "thank you" and "bwess yoooou" topping the list of frequent words, followed by "no!" and "all done!".


As far as our projects go, many of you have jumped over to my happymamaessentials page and joined us in our adventure with oils. You guys, this has been the most fulfilling thing  - to share wellness, sleep and a way to have a chemical-free home, all while connecting with families across the country. Truly a home-business that I'm so passionate about. These oils have been life-changing and I want them for everyone! I do find that as our team grows I am dedicating more time to them, and I love it.


Since our app launched last December, we've continued to see crazy growth and find ourselves working to improve the app and provide more for our users. Seth is really the brains behind this thing and seeing him diving into courses and working this side-hustle that falls right in line with our passion for fitness has been so great.

And with more fitness & food related things, I've always wanted to compete in a bikini competition and recently had things fall into place to make it all happen!! I'm super excited and will be sure to share a bit about the preparation in the coming months.

With all the fires here in Oregon, we were cooped up for a few weeks, but this past week brought rain and our very first trip without the kids (whaaaa!?) to celebrate our best friends getting married!!


The days have began to feel Fall, where the mornings are crisp, I can leave the windows open all day long and throw a few fun decorations up. I felt a little uninspired over the summer, but I have lots of fun things in store in the coming months. Thank you for reading, sharing and all your sweet notes of support. I'm so thankful for you all! Here's to an amazing week ahead!! xoxo

Twenty Eight.. I don't mind. And that's the honest truth, mostly because I find myself looking forward to the future more than I ever have before. There's been lots of change in the past year, things that motivate me, push me and drive me more. I'm always sharing about the girls, and not so much about me, so here's 28 things about me for my 28th birthday this week:

If you're reading this my assumption is that you fall into at least one of the above categories.. or maybe all three like I do. I take dozens of pictures each week and even though many are featured here and on Instagram, there are always many more that I love. So here I've complied my top apps that I've used over and over to edit, print and compile into something I love. So let's get to it..

1. VSCO: Top of the list for a reason. It's also the top hashtag on Instagram (over 115 million!). Edit like a pro with gorgeous filters that play up your pics. Brighten, highlight and play with the contrast and clarity without the grain. Edit the perspective if you took a flat-lay thats a bit crooked. You can purchase professional "preset"packages, but the free version is killer all by itself.

2. Afterlight: I used this prior to discovering VSCO. I still use it at times because it does offer a few editing features that the other doesn't. You also have the ability to save a personal preset, so if you have certain steps that you take every time you edit an image, you can save those steps to save yourself time. This one is the best .99 cents you'll spend on an app.


3. Facetune: This one was one of the first apps I downloaded when I first stepped into iPhoneland years ago. Remove blemishes, whiten teeth, blur crows feet.. I've even used it to get rid of a coldsore, because really.. who wants those in an otherwise cute picture? The original Facetune is $5.99 (this is the version I have. They recently launched Facetune 2, which is free to download, but offers specific packages and some new features broken down into their own in-app purchases. For what you get, I personally prefer the original.

4. Studio Design: Use this every week. Create text overlays for your images. Great for bloggers and instagram and be as creative as you want. Game changer for design - that's free!

5 & 6. Onto the Video Apps:  Splice & Quik are rather new to me, but I've created several videos with each of them and can't belive I've gone this long without them. They do the same thing, except Quik automates creating a 'movie' of sorts. Select your videos & images and then select a layout from a series of of options, then edit the music over the top. With Splice, you are more in control; choose how you want each video to fade into one another, choose from a wider array of music, change the music at any point in the video, trim, edit and customize from beginning to end.  Both produce a high quality video for free, perfect for compiling event clips like birthday parties & holidays or for putting your workout clips together for Instagram ;). Nice job GoPro.

7. Pic Stitch: If you are looking to put together before & afters, comparisons, or to feature each of your tiny human's faces in anykind of collage layout, this one's for you.

8, 9 & 10. Now you have all these gorgeous pictures, what do you do with them?  Chatbooks, Shutterfly & Tinyprints. All three are on my phone. Chatbooks (watch this hilarious video!) offers custom, adorable (and inexpensive) photobooks . Set it up to use pictures from your Instagram or your favorites from your camera roll and they send you a new book every 60 images (their logo is perfect - "like a magazine subscription of your life").

Shutterfly & Tinyprints are my  go to for prints for family members, anything I want to frame, or if I want to make something fun like a new coffee mug or canvas print.


11 &12. For all you bloggers and professional Instagrammers out there; Later & UNUM are serious game changers. Laters is well known and established and offers you the ability to manage & plan multiple accounts, and if you post around the clock, you can setup reminders for you to post. While UNUM is my preference for Instagram design, you can drag and drop your images until the grid is as you like it, as well as tile an image out over 9 squares for a business feed.

I prefer finding and using apps by word-of-mouth... or text. I'd rather try something that someone has tried and loved themselves. I don't have any affiliate or sponsored app links with this*, I'm just sharing my favorites in hopes that maybe one of them makes your life easier. To capture a sweet moment is the best, but to turn it into something else that you love is even better.

Comment at the bottom, I'd love to test out your favorite app!

*I did add a referral link to Chatbooks - if you sign up for a series, you and I both get a free book! :) 

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