My Challenge Fail

Not too long ago I decided that I would do a 365 Photo Challenge for myself. That lasted about 2 days... I've been getting down on myself because of that. Some days I took a photo and didn't post and some days I didn't even take a picture. I came across this blog post today and it made me feel better that at least I took more photos than I normally would have without challenging myself.

I am going to try and post photos as frequently as possible through the rest of this month. On January 1st I will start a Project 365 along with some other photographers. Join me if you would like!

Here is one of the pictures I took and didn't post. :)

Cindy

Freezer Meals

I hate it when I am in a crunch and I can't figure out what to cook for dinner. It's a never ending battle. Half the time we give up and just eat out which is not great for our budget. So, tonight I tried out one of the Velata freezer meal workshop plans and filled my freezer with ideas! There are eight recipes split into two since only Preston and I can eat solid food. ;) That made up 16 meals!!! Whoa. Can you imagine having 8-16 meals already planned out for you with only two hours of prep?  Pretty amazing to me! I can't wait to eat them!

Family Time

I love spending time with my family. I especially love the times where we are intentionally spending time with each other. No distractions. No cell phones, no iPads, no TV.... So much of our time is spent with our faces in other things distracting is from those around us while we "connect" with the world. This morning we just got to hang out. Marshall fell asleep to Preston playing guitar.... it was peaceful. Today was a good day despite sickness in our house. :)

2/365

Taking the Challenge

I'm not a writer. I can't describe things to save my life. I would rather read a book than write one. That is why my passion is photography. I don't have to describe anything. Like the saying goes,  "A picture is worth a thousand words." I just let it do all the talking. ;)

If you know me well you know I don't talk a lot. I don't say much unless I'm really passionate about something. I would rather have a day to come up with a response for something. High school discussions didn't go well for me. I like to spend my time one on one with people that way I don't feel like I have to compete to get a word in edge wise.

So, with my challenge instead of challenging myself to write every day I am challenging myself to post a photo every day- whether it be from my phone camera or my Canon. Most of the time I will probably write something with it but I am also allowing myself not to have to explain. My son is almost 6 months already and so much has changed! He has already cut TWO teeth! I get pictures most of the time but I want to remember the day-to-day. Not just the big moments.

So here it goes.... :) Today I tried to give Marshall rice cereal for the second time by spoon.... He's not a fan... However, he had fun making a mess! I hope he stays liking solids soon.... He likes to eat A LOT! (Yes, I know, that won't end soon. I do have a husband,  ya know! ;) )

Day 1/365

Our Scentsy/Velata Story

In September of 2013, Preston and I joined the Scentsy family after I hosted my first party. I had wanted to host a party for quite a while but never had the "perfect" time to. In that time period Preston and I got married and for our wedding present Joel and Jari gave us the Crinkle plug-in and some bars. I LOVED IT! :) A little while later I went to a silent auction where someone had donated a warmer and other wonderful Scentsy products. I HAD to have it. At first I was the only one really bidding on it. Then, towards the end it came to me and one other girl. As they were counting down the last 10 seconds I was writing down my last bid. PHEW! I got it! You have no idea how excited I was. (I had even gone a little over-budget... Oops.)

I had told myself that I wasn't going to sign up for Scentsy. I had convinced myself the moment that I had heard of Scentsy that I wasn't going to sign up. Then, after having a VERY successful party and having my consultant, Jari, offer me to start out by giving me the orders I had received from my party I couldn't say no. The party was fun and easy and a great time to spend with friends. No one was really obligated to stay for more than 20 minutes. That was nice.
Recently, we have also become consultants for Velata, part of the Scentsy family. We love food and spending time with friends and family! Velata is bringing those times back and we want to be a part of the beginning of it.

Scentsy and Velata started out as just some fun money but now we are looking at it more seriously to become something bigger. We would really like to own our own house someday soon and I would like to be able to stay home with our son, Marshall. This is our way of making that happen.

Getting Serious

It's been awhile since I posted anything again and I'm hoping to get out of that habit in my life. I tend to start things and not finish. I don't like that about myself and I am stating it here that I am going to stop that now. I want to be a better wife, mom and business person. I am getting serious about all roles in my life that I have chosen and going at them full-force. This is my journey and I don't want to look back and wish that I had done more. I want to live my life to the fullest.

To update you on my last post, first off, I gave birth to my wonderful son, Marshall on May 29th, 2014 at 5:30 AM. He is the cutest little guy. I just love him to death! :) After 27+ hours of labor and being 10 days late, he decided he was finally ready to come into this world. :) Here is a little pic of him, what a cutie. ;)

Second, I don't have a lot of news about my brain tumor. I went in and got an MRI in June, after I had Marshall, and it appears to be smaller. I have another MRI in December to check on it again and see what the progress is since June. I haven't had any more "episodes" so all is good on that end. Pray that it continues to be that way and it continues to shrink.

I WILL be posting more often. I may not be able to post every day like my friend, Jari, but I will at least try once a week. I am determined to share more of me and not sit on the sidelines.

A Crazy Few Months

Written December 17, 2013

Well, the last few months have been pretty crazy. A lot of the expected has happened. Morning sickness in the beginning, getting bigger and gaining weight, constantly having to pee.... Yes, it's joyous. Something else has happened that was a little unexpected as well. A lot of you know this but about a month ago I went to the hospital with stroke-like symptoms. It was one of the scariest things that has ever happened in my life. I take that back, it was probably THE scariest moment in my life. But really, in that moment, I wasn't even that concerned about myself. I was worried about my baby. If whatever was going on was going to cause me to lose my baby or have serious side-affects on him/her, I would be devastated. I couldn't imagine that.

About two hours after this had started happening my body became functional and I could think clearly again. During that time they had done tests on me and concluded that I had not gone through a stroke but that I had a benign tumor in my brain. At this point they don't know much about it since they cannot give me they dye they use for the MRI. They think that some of it may have been caused by being pregnant with how blood gets thicker and probably added factor of being dehydrated. They also could see some calcium around the tumor so they think that I've had the tumor for awhile.

The news of this is a little shocking to me. You never think that you will be "that person." I have accepted it though. It is A LOT better than it could have been. I thank God every day that it wasn't a stroke or even cancer and I pray that I don't have another "episode" like the last one.

The best thing after this all happened was going and hearing the heartbeat and then shortly after seeing an ultrasound of our baby. It is a little miracle. Even at 13 weeks you can see a little human forming. How anyone could give that up is be crazy. It is nice to be able to see your child since at that point you can't really tell that they are there. They joy that I felt when seeing my baby.... I would think that it is a joy that only a mother or father feels towards her child. My heart swelled with happiness and excitement (and a little nervousness too.) :) It is amazing what God can do.