Why I love to dance......

When I was about 5 years old, my babysitter Vicky would come over and teach me how to do ballet. I remember those days of admiring how beautiful she looked, how graceful her movements were. They are some of my favorite childhood memories. I knew then it was going to be a life long love. In my wee little pink tutu I would swirl around, pretending to be a famous dancer. Making my stuffed animals, parents, friends, relatives neighbors be my audience. I am sure my parents got a kick out of my little productions, they ranged from ballet to dancing to MC Hammer, so you can guess they were pretty Legit:)

In middle school I really got into dance, taking about 4 or 5 classes. Filling my every night and weekend with dance, dance and more dance. I spent a lot of my childhood in a dance studio. even dyeing my hair in between classes. It totally freaked out my teacher! And then when I was in the 7th grade I got my big break, we would be dancing for Sesame Street. It was the coolest for a kid. Up on stage with Big Bird, Oscar...I mean seriously I about peed my pants. So for years I danced in any production I could do. From the Nutcracker to Annie, to freestyle to point. I loved it, soaked it all in and tried to learn as much as I could.

But it all changed for me in high school when I began to dance to worship. Nothing gave me greater joy then to dance for Jesus. Take any emotion I had and turn it into dance. Finding my one way to express my gratefulness, my love for the One who loved me so much.  Dance turned into not just something I loved to do but was part who I was and am.

Then my Junior year of school all that changed. On my way to my youth leaders home I got into a terrible car wreck. Totaled my car and the crash left me with a ton of scar tissue and back pain. It was pretty devastating for me. I had to leave my dance studio, and leave the life I knew so well behind as well. It took many years for me to realize that even though I couldn't be a "real" dancer I could still dance. Cause that is what I am, its programmed into my heart.  It can be rather painful to dance sometimes, but back is still out of whack. But nothing brings me greater joy. So starting about 10 days ago I decided to to dance for 100 days. To get people to get moving, to have some fun, and maybe through it decide to get back to something they let go of. Yes, I may not be as graceful as I used to be, or have the dancer body but my feet can still move and my heart still feels the music. 

A mommy on a mission......

About 5 months ago I started on a journey to finally take control of my body and get off the unwanted pounds I had put on in the 3 1/2 years I was having babies. With my first pregnancy I put on 65 pounds. So I went from 125 to 190 in six months....no body should be able to stretch that far but it did. And after a c-section and long labor my body was pretty tore up. I remember crying cause I didn't have any idea how to really function in my new body. I was pretty lost in a lot of ways and would never made it through without the love of my family and my God. Then after two more babies, both within the next two years...I was not at the 200 mark but pretty dang close...and man I was wiped out. I recovered poorly after my last baby and it took me a year to not to be in pain anymore. And then I decided this was it, I was going to take control and get my body and self back. As all women we struggle with weight on a daily basis, constantly bombarded by the media that to be beautiful you must also be thin. We are all beautiful, we are all different....and I refuse to give in to being anyway else but who God made me. With a lot of prayer and support by people who love me, I found a place were no matter what the scale said I just wanted to be healthy. I wanted to be a good example to my babies, I wanted to be me again. I never expect to be like I was when I first got pregnant but I do know now that I can be healthy in my everyday life. And make the decisions that will effect myself and my family. Since taking that first step I had the privelege to take others with me as I became a Fitness/Nutrition coach and so far am down 25 pounds and feeling pretty dang good. I feel like ME again.

Love what you do, be who you are....

I recently started reading Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, and man I got to tell it has gotten me fired up! It talks alot about leading with your passions in life, whether that be worms(his illustration:)) or feeding the hungry. We were all designed for something, something unique, something amazing!! I know in my own life I have found things that always stick out to me. The biggest is HELP. Helping others reach their goals, dream big, love deep, feel fufilled. I have also always had a passion for color/art and finding beauty in the mundane. I mean every since I was little I have been painting, redesigning and creating. I love change, love it!! I love seeing change in people's lives, and I love seeing change in our surroundings. So lately I have been praying alot about what this all means to me, how I can make sure that in my life I never give up these passions. But instead use them evey day, as my job, as my day to day. So watch out cause here I come, and I won't give up till I reach my goals. :)
We are all made for different things, I mean I would make a terrible Deputy like my hubby. I would probably be in the fetal position in most circumstances, just not my cup of tea!! And I am cool with that.
God is the ultimate creator, he made us unique for a reason.....we just need  to accept it and embrace it!!

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was.  I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory.  I was naïve.  I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.  It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with:  that I am nobody but myself.  ~Ralph Ellison

New finds......

A new king size comforter!!

Flower holders for the wall.....love the color.

And the ultimate breakfast in bed tray.....

Got all these in the last few weeks, and think I spent like 15 bucks on all of it. And with a little elbow grease, they are all looking good and add a little more character to the house!!I love little treasures.

Stressed out Mommy....

I know you have all been there, a place we all hate to go but it just seems to happen out of nowhere. Your blood pressure rises, your head feels like it is going to explode. And then you look down to a child who once was always so cute and cuddly, into the face of a kooky, crabby three year old. Who ever said its the terrible twos got it all wrong, its the threes that will make you want to crawl in a hole sometimes, its the threes!! And that my friends is what is causing this momma to forget to take showers,  and drink way to much coffee. I just don't know where my sweet little Remi has gone sometimes. I mean most of the times he is my fun loving little tank of a boy. But once in awhile it is like he loses his brain and something else takes over. Like the other day we had some of our good friends over who also have three kiddos. As we were sitting around the pit talking, we noticed that Remi was no where to be found(and then we noticed Sky was missing too!) So we went into panic mode, I took apart the house and Jesse jumped in the car to look for him. And you want to know what that little stinker was doing......he was hunting bugs. With a magnifying glass stuck down his pants and his little sister in tow. Remi had managed to run all the way down the street and into a neighbors backyard. If I wasn't so stinking scared and mad at the last time I would of laughed. Cause to Remi he was just on another adventure and nothing was wrong. Oh, what to do with a three year old sometimes, what to do!! The highs are awesome, but the lows are the hardest to handle as a parent. Thank goodness I love that little face of his so much!!

Fire!!!

So the first thing my husband and I worked on when we moved into our home was to build a fire pit. We live on the edge of the country so we can have a fire as long as its contained. And we do try are best to keep it that way, though when a two grown men get together and try to burn an entire Christmas tree, things do get a bit out of hand!!But alas our home still stands despite my pyro of a hubby sometimes. We just love our pit, we built it all by ourselves, and nothing is better then smores and chillin with family/friends. Oh, the smores that are consumed is amazing, well just last night we made over 40 smores for us and our friends. That's like 20 crackers, 40 marshmallows and 120 pieces of chocolate, I know good math eh! I will be doing a lot of extra calorie burning today, but that's cool it was worth it.:)

Everytime we have a pit I send out a text to all of our friends and just wait to see who shows up. Always different and always fun. It is just so nice to get people together, sit and watch a fire burn. Everything from goat milk(yes one of our conversations last night) to the end of the world get thrown around the pit. I have had some of my favorite talks in the light of a fire, it just seems to calm everyone around it and brings out the best discussions. I think Jesse would have a fire pit every night if he had the chance. I have found him out there in the middle of winter, all bundled up smoking his pipe and reading beside the fire pit. That is his element, fire and books...does his body and mind good:)

Craft night with the ladies......

Here are pics of a project our summer ladies group is doing to help raise money at a garage sale to benefit http://www.findingchurch.net/.

So easy to make:

Supplies:
100% polyester fabric
scissors
Circle(three sizes,S,M,L)templates
thread
candle
buttons

Steps:
Cut out three different sizes of circles. A L, M and S size using a template you make out of either cardstock or poster board.

Burn edges with a candles, just enough so that the outer edges are solid and won't unravel.

Stitch a circle in the middle of each fabric circle and pull tight, in order to ruffle the circles a bit.

Place each size fabric circle on top of eachother, doubling up sizes in order to cause depth and more layers. Place button in the middle of top S fabric circle.

Stitch on either a headband or clip using button as center and stitching till all layers are secure.

And there you have it, so cute and super easy.
Can't stop making them!!!