The Great Outdoors

25 things I ♥.

{about camping}

1. swimsuits instead of underwear

2. lakes

3. paddle boats

4. dirty feet for days

5. campfire smell

6. sunscreen

7. french press

8. spaghetti on a paper plate

9. peeing in the woods

10. hiking

11. being in nature for three days straight

12. peanuts

13. licorice

14, judging the time of day by the sun in the sky

15. no cell service

16. no facebook

17. cereal all day long

18. justifying Shasta grape soda

19. pretending like lake water makes you clean

20. waking up with the sun

21. NAPS

22. watching Ben fish

23. being kinda scared of animal noises at night

24. new tunes for the trip there

25. s'mores with Reese's

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Going camping this weekend at 3 creeks lake with some friends. So excited for a much-needed break from the world!

Do you camp? How do you camp: roughin' it or fancy pants camping?

Blanks + Friday = fill them in.

Fill In The Blanks
(because its Friday and I said so)

1. A very nostalgic place that reminds me of being a kid is

Tennessee. I have lots of fun memories of being at my Nanny Marshall's house. I could go on and on but now is not a good time to be gushing out memories.

{see}

2. If someone really wants to show me how much they love me

they should do something thoughtful for me. Something that i know they put a little effort into. It doesn't have to be fancy or elaborate. For instance...once for my birthday Ben got me an art easel and some canvasses, paint and really nice brushes. TOTAL surprise. i never said i wanted this, but he knew i loved art and it would be special to me. thoughtful.

3. Lately I've been wondering a lot about

what our life will look like in one year.

4. When it comes to saving money

I am getting better. I always assume we don't have a lot of extra to save, which is not true. God bless my husband for the budget. I'm with Lauren, I don't live out of my means. I want to save up for important things...scratch that...experiences. vacations, parties, dinners, events. Things that make memories, not possessions.

5. I'd prefer

tent camping

over

fancy camping

any day!

i hate when i see people camping with tv and refrigerators. But to each their own.

6. I wish I knew how to make

gardens grow. When i have space for one, I want to grow all my own veggies and have a hen to make me some eggs. That way if the economy falls apart and the grocery stores are empty, I will know how to take care of my family...pioneer woman style.

7. I'm just waiting for

the next season of our lives. ;) I have a certain itch that I would like to scratch before too long.

♥ ♥ ♥

Thanks Lauren, fun fun. Go to her blog and link up your answers if you please!

....

I go bye bye now.

oh wait...its 2 pm on Thursday. nevermind.

one of these days...

This wall of flowers will be present in my house....with smelly little kids in those beds.

{see}
♥

25 things I love.

love

I am in a group with 5 or six other newly married gals studying through a book by John Powell called "The Secret of Staying in Love". Its such a wealth of good wisdom on all relationships through communication. The book is out of print, but if you can wrangle up a copy, I highly reccommend it (nerd-alert). Anyway, one of the ladies in my group told us about an exercise that she and her husband did at their pre-marital counseling that sounded fun. They both separately wrote down 100 things that they love. it could be anything. colors. food. places. smells. anything. Then they gave it to the other person so they could always have some help to think of something special to do for the other person. Sometimes I think i expect too much of Ben...like he is superman and is supposed to be sitting around all day long thinking up exciting dates and cute things he can do for me that he knows I will love. get real. Do I spend all day doing that for him? Probably not. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to start compiling a list, 25 at a time. It puts you in a suprisingly good mood, dwelling on the things you love.

25 things I ♥ :

1.Time with Jesus in nature

2.family camping

3.babies

4.houses in the country

5.hardwood floors

6.Ben's itchy legs when he crawls in bed.

7.peaches

8.wildflowers

9.bunnies

10.fluffy shirts

11.antique furniture

12.almost anything in Anthropologie

13.coffee with vanilla cream

14.dresses that twirl

15.red

16.Christmas socks

17.my doggy

18.turquoise glass

19.going away on the weekend

20.dates

21. yellow

22.pink nail polish

23.Purell

24.India

25.tire swings

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

its pretty wonderful listing things you love.

try it!

time for a break.

My life is going a bagillion-mazillion mph.

Here's what my schedule this week looks like:

Tuesday: work, softball game, fold laundry, make dinner, bed.

♥

Wednesday: work, run home and stuff something in my stomach, house church til 10

♥

Thursday: work, book study, grocery store, pick up Tangle's flea medicine, make dinner, gym, budget

♥

Friday: work, gym, dinner with friends

♥

Saturday: RUN, clean my house, take pictures of Becca and her cute family, pick up Ben.

I notice a lot of work...and absolutely no "nothing" time.

Ben and I have really been working on slowing things down a little bit, but I think we have come to this consensus:

Life is busy.

relationships take effort and time.

Time for yourself doesn't fall in your lap.

you have to choose to relax, it doesn't just happen.

We have decided to choose the relationships that are the most important and valuable to us and pour into them. And make time to do what is important to us. So, we have started to make a plan for EXTRA saving (aside from our regular savings, thank you Dave Ramsey) for things we want to do.

First on the list:

We don't have a camera, our last three have all pooped out on us, so the next one we get will be a fancy one (i don't know anything about cameras, i don't even know what that picture is..but it looks neat and impressive!).

second on the list:

a..

...VACATION.

maybe somewhere like this:

with a little of this:

or maybe this:

and this:

or, perhaps this:

we'll just have to see what we're in the mood for! :-)

What are you planning for?

Fill in the Blanks...(sans clever play on words)

Fill in the Blanks!

1. My favorite thing about this week has been

Seeing Ben work so hard at his new job. Seriously, he is doing so great, he's going to be one of the best they have ever had...I think he is working harder than anyone else alive...14 hours a day without complaining...just looking at the long-term benefits. I'm so proud of him! (not to mention he looks pretty dashing in his suit and tie).

2. The weather this week has been

SO amazing. Its so hot and it smells like Tennessee (which means it smells hot)

3. The last (interesting) item I received in the mail was

my Better Homes and Gardens. Cute little summer party ideas. I wish I could garden and then maybe I would be able to actually read the other 50% of the magazine?

4. The last movie I saw was

My Sister's Keeper. Ummm...if you want to cry for two straight hours go ahead and watch it, otherwise...don't bother. Its kinda depressing.

5. If I could be doing anything I felt like today I would

♥have about three hours of quiet time

♥turn the temp down about 10-15 degrees

♥go for a run

(my legs don't look quite

this awesome in running shorts)

♥make something exciting for lunch

♥paint my whole bedroom

♥go to Ikea

6. As a teenager I was

a little too ready to grow up.

7. I wish I could trade lives for the day with

thats too hard. I love my life! I would probably trade lives with Laura Ingalls because she had an awesome life full of cabins and gardening and pioneering.

Happy Friday!

Raise your hand if you're glad today is Friday!

(hand raise)

Dont forget to go to Lauren's blog and link up your answers here!

Cute as a Button

uhhh, can you say cute?

These little cookies are destined to be the staple at my next girly gathering

(i don't actually know when my last "girly gathering"

was, but I'm sure I will have one someday, right?)

this little recipe from forty-six at grace

via how about orange I even have this little Demarle Silpat baking sheet, a gift for my wedding from my dear friend Lindy.

Dare I say...my most useful wedding gift?

I think so.

jusssst darling, don't you think?


♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Cowgirls and boys

Its already Wednesday!!!! That is an amazing fact that I just had to share, and also the fact that I have not posted anything since last Friday. woops. Well, Friday night for TJ's Birthday we had ourselves a gigantic homemade southern dinner of the following:

fried chicken.

mashed potatoes.

corn bread.

watermelon.

baked beans.

sweet tea.

cupcakes.

Then I got to go pick Ben up from the airport after his week-long trip to AZ for work. I missed him!!! I had such a full tummy when I went to pick him up I thought I might fall asleep on the way to the airport...I even made him drive home. :-) (for safety, of course).

Saturday we headed to the beach for some AMAZING weather which we were not experiencing at home. There was not a cloud in the sky and we caught the most amazing sunset after some pizza and arcade games...yes we are awesome, and ten-year-olds. (i have no pictures because i was having too much fun to take any. sorry. use your imagination, kids.

Sunday, for the 4th we put on our boots and bandannas and went to the St Paul Rodeo! I have been to some Rodeos before, but boy did we stick out like a sore thumb at this one! HA! I was informed multiple times my "boots were outside my jeans", and that I "can't ride a horse with my boots like that", and that my "boots have silver trim on them".

Thank you.

cheese.

hipster rodeo?

cowboys.

"please do not take photos with our hats"

uhhh.

seester

(the iPhone takes way better pictures, huh?)

We caught the fireworks from the parking lot right over this HUGE wheat field...we were so close I thought debris would fall on my head.

Oh, and I ate a corn dog, which was the highlight of my night obviously.

Looking forward to a HOT rest of the week and a beautiful weekend!

Have a fantastical Wednesday.

Happy Birfday Teedles!

Happy birthday to my bro today...

Trenton Joseph (TJ) Newell.

He's 20 and he did it!

TJ is not only a strapping young man of God, he is also a leather-working extraordinaire! He and his pal Ian have started making homemade leather pieces and have created quite the little business for themselves.

intorducing:

RELIK; trinkets and doo-dads.

the family

eight quarter pouch

the smallet

card pouch with red safety belt

He made me the ladies envelope wallet for my birthday back in May and I love it! I get tons of comments on it. Its all hand sewn, burned, and stamped.

Check out their creations, become a follower of their blog HERE, and pick one up for yourself. All one of a kind and totally original.

Maybe I'll host a little giveaway too? what do ya say? hey hey hey?

k, that's all. Happy Birthday TJ,

I Love You,

ya old fart!