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What were you able to accomplish this month that is moving you towards a September to remember? For me, it's been waking up earlier. It's been a game changer!

Download these FREE printables HERE!

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"Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity." – Khalil Gibran


For this Month's Celebrate:Friendship, Girls Day Out, we chose a morning hike.  It was the perfect way to really re-connect with my girlfriends.  We were able to walk and talk, and share goals and give support and encouragement.  We also had the opportunity to find peace and beauty out in nature, and go home to our families feeling energized and grateful.


I packed up a morning snack of yogurt and trail mix to bring along, which gave it that special "get together" feeling, even though it wasn't a typical get together.

"Love is friendship that has caught fire."  -  Ann Landers

Challenge 5 for the #sweet16sparklerssummer is to have fun with your relationship.  Summer love is the best type of love.  I remember a few summer flings, growing up, (I happened to marry one of them!) and they were so exciting, innocent and thrilling.  Bring that feeling back to your marriage this week by planning something fun and spontaneous.

Go park and make out.  Go lay under the stars.  Share a shake.  Go skinny dipping.  Bring back some fun and dare to get a little wild with your date night.  Pass up on dinner and a movie, and do something a bit more adventurous.  Spark your summer!  Spark your relationship!

Some of my favorite childhood memories involve the drive in.  My family would usually go with a few other families, and we would all pack up some blankets, food and games and head to the drive in. There is something magical going to the movies and watching from the car makes it just that much better.

Here are our Top 10 reasons you should hit up the Drive-In this summer.

1.  It's cheaper.  The price to get in is usually a few bucks cheaper than going to the movie theater.
2.  You get TWO movies for the price of one!
3.  The snack stand food is less expensive than at the movie theater.  (I always spend more on food than the actual price of my ticket at the theater.)
4.  At the Drive-In you can bring in your own food.  YUM!
5.  You can sit under the stars.
6.  It's romantic.  If you are without the kids!
7.  It's kid friendly.  You don't have to worry about a screaming baby, or a child who has the wiggles.
8.  You can stay out extra late.  Something about being out later than usual is exciting!
9.  It's an event.  It's something out of the norm and a memory maker.
10.  You can talk.  I know some of you are talkers, and you won't get shhhhh'd at the Drive-In.

Have you been to the drive in lately?  What is your favorite thing about going?

Headed to a 4th of July Parade this weekend?  Keep the kids cool and happy with this fun and easy pail of goodies.  We got everything from the Dollar store, making this a one stop shop project.

We just filled the pail with bubbles, sunglasses, flags and streamers to wave, a water bottle, a squirt bottle, some licorice and Cracker Jacks, a pinwheel and some fresh wipes.  This pail was a life saver last year.  No asking when the parade was going to start, no complaining about needing a snack, and it kept them cool which meant less cranky!

Do you go to the parades?

I love Memorial Day Weekend.  It's the official kick off to summer fun.  But more importantly it's a day to remember what was lost to enjoy our freedom.

We usually start our day at the cemetery, bringing flowers to our daughter, Aria's grave.  (Her story here.)  I LOVE the cemetery she is buried at.  Before her, we would drive by this hilly cemetery and I always commented on how beautiful it was.  Now it's even more beautiful to me because a part of my heart is there, between the fourth and fifth tree.

I like to add a little bit of seasonal decor to my home, to help my family feel festive.  Sometimes I go all out, like on Halloween and Christmas.  But for occasions like Memorial Day, I just like to add subtle touches.  I'll get out my red cake stand, I'll display a few flags, I have a few fun patriotic pieces, but nothing too over bearing.

This year, I designed this "Land of the free because of the brave" printable to add to our gallery wall.
Adding something as simple as a printable to your decor can help you embrace the season.

I know you want this framed for your home too, so I created a free 8x10 that you can download for yourself.  You're Welcome!

I went from excited to devastated within just an hours time.  I was just starting my third trimester, getting another ultrasound done, and we were told that my baby no longer had a heart beat.

Knowing that I would be delivering my gone baby (I don't like the word dead) I anticipated it to be the worst moment of my life.

But honestly, the actual birth of my daughter was the single most sacred, beautiful experience I have ever had.

May 19th, 2011 Aria Dawson was silently born.

I can still hear the silence.  I know that sounds crazy, but silence does have a sound.  It's like a fuzzy foggy sound.  It sort of rumbles.  It kind of rings.  And when life is too hard to deal with, you focus on the silence.  It gets loud.  Really loud.  I can still hear it.

I was admitted to the Labor and Delivery ward, and was in labor for 10 hours.  My Doctors and Nurses kept checking on me, but we had not idea when I would actually deliver her.

I knew it was happening.  I woke up my husband and said, "The baby is coming!"  He went to page the Doctor, but I didn't want him too.

I delivered Aria with just me and my husband in the room.  I just had this feeling that I wanted to do it, ........just us.  It was beautiful.  At the exact moment my heart broke, I was also filled with so much love.  I loved my husband.  I loved my daughter.  And I knew that my Heavenly Father loved me.
That room was so quiet and reverent at that moment.  She was born into peace, love and adoration.

She was beautiful.  She looked just like my other daughter.  Long legs, bald head, long eyelashes.
She was perfect.

We got to spend a few hours with her.  Dress her.  We had pictures taken with her.  My husband gave her a name and a blessing.  I sang to her.  "You are my sunshine."

I promised her that I would be a good Mom to her brothers and sister.  I promised her I would never forget her, and I promised her that I would LIVE my life.  I would choose joy.  I would be happy, for her.

It took me a LONG time to get here.  I was lost for so long.

But I kept trying.  I knew I needed to do something with my life to honor her.  I've changed since becoming her mother.  How could this experience not change a person?  I wanted it to be for good.  I needed her existence to have importance and beauty to it.

All she EVER knew of this life was the love she felt inside the womb.  All she knew was that I loved her.  All she knew was that her brothers liked to talk to her, and her sister liked to sing to her.  All she knew was her Daddy's voice telling her how in love he was.  All she knew was good.

They say "Time heals all wounds."  It doesn't.   My heart is still broken.

It took time for me to figure out how to be happy again.  I needed time to figure out how to live joyfully and what I wanted out of this experience.  I needed time to figure out how to live my authentic life and to live a life of love and celebration, for Aria.

I decided I wanted to help other women find joy in their lives too.  It's easy to lose that spark.  Life is hard, and we all have our own unique trials to face that take our breath away.  Heartbreaking, painful almost impossible trials to overcome.  But I want others to know, that you can live a life of joy again.
You can find blessings from any trial.  You can find a new purpose in life after things have fallen apart.

Trials can become blessings, if we look for the beauty in them.

So today is her birthday!  She would be five!  In honor of Aria, I want to celebrate life!  I want to go for a walk and notice nature!  I want to give hugs to my friends and tell them how special they are to me.  I want to hold my kids and tell them I love them.  I want to kiss my hubby.  I want dance in my kitchen and sing into the vacuum.  I want to smile and help out a stranger.  I want to be the good in this world that Aria knew.

She knew good.  She knew love.  I want to be that good and love for others too.

The key to making this gathering succuseful is to put extra attention into every detail.  You are celebrating the love between friends.  The bond between mother and daughter.

I feel really lucky because for the most part (except for ONE first grade teacher) my kids have always had great teachers.  Teaching is so hard, and putting up with our little darlings day in and day out has got to be so dang exhausting!

With Teachers Appreciation Week next week I wanted to get something for my daughter's teacher that she could help me make, and something that her teacher would appreciate!  I work down at the school a lot, and so I've talked with many of the teachers down there and they honestly ALL said they like things made by the kids.  How cute are they?

So we went to the craft store and bought this sheet of stickers and this globe was from Tai Pan, but I've seen globes everywhere, from Target to Hobby Lobby.

Every year teacher appreciation week sneaks up on me.  This time of year seems to be moving at warp speed and we all have summer on the brain!

I only have one kid left in elementary school.  That seems so weird to me!  Why do they grow up so fast!!??  We always do a gift for the elementary teachers.  And my boys (High School and Jr. High) usually don't do anything for their teachers, unless it's a favorite one!

We've compiled a list of some of our favorite ways to celebrate those important people in your child's life.  Something to let them know that you appreciate their effort and care they take with their class.

If you prefer an Easter Brunch, then this rustic farmhouse setting is an easy get together to pull off.


We set the table with baskets filled with eggs.  We used wooden candlesticks and cake holders to add that rustic charm.   We used a vintage floral sheet as the table runner.  Then we pulled out
Grandma’s china to set the table.

We placed some small nests on the table, along with bunny salt and pepper shakers.

We made a bunny garland, complete with pop-pom tails.   The centerpiece was the naked cake, (Recipe found here) topped with a nest and some candy eggs.

We like to pull everything together with fresh cut flowers placed in tin pails.    We just love how everything turned out.  It was the perfect mix of old and new, fancy and shabby.

To make the bunny garland:

Take a few different patterns of pastel colored scrapbook paper.  Find an image of a bunny on your computer and print it off.    Cut the shape and then trace onto the scrapbook paper.  Cut out a few bunny’s and string on a piece of  yarn.  To make the pom-pom tails, wrap a long piece of yarn around a fork abou 20 times.  Then tie a piece of yarn around it to hold it together, then trim the loops.  Perfect little bunny tails.

Hosting an Easter Egg hunt is fun for young and old alike.  Simple projects that you can do with your kids will turn your dinner table into a special Easter setting.

To make these individual Easter basket place holders, we cut a styrofoam cup in half.  We then hot glued a burlap and lace ribbon around it.  We attached a twine holder and then filled the basket with paper grass.  We made chocolate bunnies, which is a great project to let the kids handle.  Then we placed one bunny in the grass with a few pastel candy eggs.  Your guests will feel special to have their own individual basket, and your kids will love telling everyone that they were a part of the table setting.

To make the chocolate bunnies we bought chocolate wafers from the craft store and melted them as directed.  Then we poured the chocolate into the molds.  After they cooled we were able to pop them out of the mold and eat!


Another project you can get your kids to help with is this festive Easter topiary.  We just took a piece of poster board and shaped it into a cone.  Then you will hot glue plastic easter eggs all around the cone.  After all the plastic eggs are placed, we took some moss and stuffed it in between the eggs to give it a whimsical feel.  This project took about ten minutes and we bought all of the supplies at the Dollar Tree.

Tips for the Egg Hunt

*  Be prepared.  Have all of the plastic eggs already stuffed and ready to go.
*   Think begond candy.  Fill the eggs with toys, erasers, coins,.....the ideas are endless.
*  Let the younger kids start hunting earlier, that way they can scavage the easier ones before the big kids
snag them.
*  Try hosting a glow in the dark hunt this year.  The older kids will especially love starting this new t
radition.
*  Have an egg dying station.  Try the cool whip method.  Place a few drops of food coloring into a dish of cool whip and then swirl the color around.  Place the eggs in and let sit for 15 minutes per side, and then when they are done, they have a cool tie-dye effect.
*  Make sure you have enough eggs.  A good rule of thumb is 20 eggs per kid.  Make sure you enlist help on this.  Have your guests contribute to the hunt.

I love a good table setting.  I literally get giddy setting the table a little extra special for my family.  I think it's because it is something extra.  It's not the usual.  It's something that they notice, and something to be recognized as special.


Life gets crazy and super busy.  My kids are older, ages 10-16, so it's not very often that we are ALL home at the same time to eat dinner together.  And sadly, when we are all together eating, a lot of times it's in the car from one soccer game to another.  I know I'm not alone in this.  Dinner time has become less special, and just one more thing on my huge to do list.

That is why I am so passionate about Sunday Dinners.  It's the one day a week that I KNOW we will be all home, and that I will have a little extra time to make sure that my family feels special.  I show love by creating a happy, safe home for them to escape from their outside drama.  We will often sit around the table LONG after we've eaten and continue our conversation and laughter.  It makes this Mama's heart joyful.

During the rest of the week, we gather once or twice for dinner all together at the dinner table, and I don't go all out on setting the table, but I do make sure that on Sunday, we get that little bit of extra special.  Because Sunday is an extra special day anyways.

Love,
Heather

Most people think of Valentines Day as the day of Love for Sweethearts.  I mean come on, all the commercials tell us that, right? 

Don't buy into the hype that this day of Love is only for Sweethearts!

Is it any wonder that so many people struggle with depression around this holiday.  Not everyone has a "Sweetheart".  And the expectations and expense can be overwhelming.  Well, it doesn't have to be expensive or just a day for sweethearts.

I say we focus more on the part where this is a day about LOVE. 

It doesn't matter if you are married, single, dating, divorced, widowed, have kids, don't have kids, have pets, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, this day is for you too. 

But let's start with the number one person you should show love toward on this day.  YOURSELF!

 Our Father in Heaven loves us, and he wants us to love ourselves.  So this Valentines Day, let's make it about love.  Let's show love to ourselves, our friends, families, kids, pets, each other, our sweethearts, even strangers.

You - Do something nice for yourself for Valentines. Treat yourself to something you've been wanting or dreaming about. Do something you enjoy. Be good to yourself, pamper yourself and remind yourself that you are enough.  
Friends - Make it a Galentines or Palentines Day and get together with friends. Catch a movie, grab a bite to eat, hit the gym or mall or a favorite sporting event.
Kids - Have a special date with the kids. Pack a lunch and have an indoor/outdoor picnic. Go for a bike ride, spend some one on one time.
Family - Send family members a card expressing how much you love them. Call your grandparents or grandchildren and remind them how special they are to you. Plan a brunch and get together and laugh.
Pets - Take them for a walk or a car ride.
Sweetheart - Hold hands, express gratitude, laugh, have a romantic night in with take out and a movie.
Strangers - Smile, give a sincere compliment, show kindness, offer help.

Basically, if your heart is beating, you have someone or something to share Love with on this day.