Christmas in pictures

Some of my favorite things about Christmas are:

1. The Food!!! I could never diet around the holidays.

2. The Family time. I always love spending time with my family. This time of years gives me the chance to force everyone to get together.

3. The decorations.

4. The magical feeling that Christmas brings.

5. The spirit. I've always loved talking about the birth of Jesus Christ.

6. The kindness! I do feel like it'd be nice to have the cheer and happiness all year round... but for now, Its one of my favorite things about Christmas.

Christmas Eve we went to my In-Laws for dinner and fun. Here is Reese trying to sit up in her high chair.. (we had to take her out of the highchair 5 seconds after the picture)

Reese wanted so bad to play on her dad's video game, She kept making him die on pacman.

Reese's outfit here
Top & pants : walmart (I know so not expected from walmart)
Bow: gift 

 

Don't mind the blurry

Christmas Morning!! ( Just noticed Oakley, our dog, looks psycho in this picture. She wasn't even barking... maybe eating though...  We may never know).
My top: Express
Reese's PJs: Walmart

Reese loved opening gifts, and trying to eat the wrapping paper

She may have liked it more than the gifts them selves?

Christmas apparel for the munchkin

Bow: Hobby Lobby

Onesie: Target

Pants: gift

 

This is one of our minute to win it games, I'll post more about those tomorrow. They were so fun!

Sad to end this great day! But was for sure tired... if you can't tell... from all the excitement and fun.

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas day!!

Christmas/Family Photos

I have always loved to take pictures. Maybe not in a professional way, but in a way where I can savor the memories. When I can, I even like to print the photos off of my iphone so I can put them into a photo album. When I was younger I LOVED looking through the photo albums of my brothers, parents, grandmas, grandmas, and who ever else is in there. One of my favorite pictures (pretty sure it's my dad favorite too) is of my dad wrestling a bear! Now seriously who would believe my dad wrestled a bear if there was no photo to prove it?

Another favorite is again of my dad and some of his friends... Bet you can't guess which one is him.

 

As I got older I knew I'd want lots of pictures of my kids and family to look back on. Josh tends to think I'm silly since I want a picture of everything. I always know though that he'll be so happy I took them. He always has this same attitude when we take a family photo. Even when we got married he didn't understand why I wanted so many photos taken at the reception.

 

So a few weeks ago we had family photos taken. Josh was not too excited about this... especially because he knew we'd be taking pictures for a few hours. Me on the other hand, I was ecstatic! Not only was I excited to do more pictures of our little family, but I was excited that my best friend ever was taking them for us. She is a very talented photographer.

 

So now that I am finished rambling...Here is the finished product!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I believe this was the point where she said we were done taking pictures.

To see more of Alexandra's work, visit her blog Here

Pure Happiness

Christmas time has always been my favorite of favorite holidays. I love the music, the family time, the lights, and the over all the spirit that comes along with it. Usually gift giving is involved.. and trust me, I definitely enjoy giving gifts and receiving them. This is year though has put a different mindset on the whole gift giving tradition. We may be giving a few gifts, but because of our troubling times surrounding us, there wont be many. At first I felt like man this Christmas is really going to suck. Then I realized that I was thinking about this the wrong way.

 

When things are going perfect in our lives, we(by we I mean Josh and I) don't usually get the chance to take a look around and just be grateful for the things we DO have in our lives. We are usually focused on wanting what we DON'T have. And maybe, just maybe this is why we had to experience what we've been experiencing. It has definitely humbled me to see life in amore optimistic way. We have so many things that we have to be grateful for this holiday season! We can think of them as gifts if you may. No matter how you think of them though, they are things we can be grateful for.

 

So lately I've had to stop stressing and just pray that something will happen and pull us out of the situation we are in. This is not easy to do for me since I've always had a hard time giving up my power in a situation. I want to control every situation possible. But when things started going south this holiday season, something I read once came to mind.

 

 

I love this saying so much, I read it a few years ago on my husbands grandma's fridge. It has made me take a step back from all the stress, and craziness. Why do we need to worry so much anyway?

 

Now, no matter what is happening this Christmas, good or bad, I am focused only on the things that really matter in my life. I hope you all can do the same!

Merry Christmas!



Dry Shampoo

So just recently, I have fallen in love with dry shampoo. I mean, I've heard many people say how amazing it is.... but seriously, this stuff is AMAZING!

The reason why it has taken me so long to use this magical hair product was I didn't want to spend money on something I may not like. This is also why I usually order the same thing every time at restaurants (don't judge me). Luckily for me I know  someone with expertise on hair care. I told her I wanted to get a dry shampoo, one that worked great AND didn't empty my wallet. So she recommended this! 

So I may or may not know what you are thinking. My first reaction was this... "Suave?" with a look on my face like I just smelt something bad... But I took her advice anyway. She told me this is in fact what she uses herself! Plus for only $2.88, I figured it wouldn't kill me to try it.

So, on day 4 of not washing my hair, I am proud to announce, it is still down AND doesn't look like I'm on day 4 of not washing my hair! Woohoo!

Do you use dry shampoo?

3 Months Reese Taylor

Wow! I can not believe I forgot to post about Reese for her 3 month update! My greatest apologies for depriving you from this adorable little girl.

She's laughing more and more and getting cuter by the day! She is soooo long! this girl is going to be tall for sure!

3 New things about Reese:

*Her pouty face

*Her little belly laugh

*They way she wraps her arms around you

 

 

Weekend play by play!

This weekend was such a blast! Excuse all my pictures that have horrible lighting!

Our whole family drove up to Santa Monica, CA for my Aunt Christine's Wedding.

We got there Friday afternoon.

 This is my nephew Richard, Reese and I in our hotel room. See how Reese and I kinda match?! I thought it was pretty cute.

This is how my dad fell asleep when he got up to the hotel room...

 That night my Aunt took us out to The Olive Garden. This was my dessert! My dad could not believe I  was still hungry after our huge dinner. What can I say? No matter how stuffed I am, there is always room for dessert.

 After Dinner, everyone hung out in the hotel room. Here is my brother trying to get Reese to laugh.

 Here is my other nephew trying to play with Reese.

 On Saturday, We got ready, and headed off to the wedding!

 This is Reese's party dress

 Enjoying the view while waiting for the bride.

 

 Here is where her reception was held!

 

 

 

How fun to do this instead of just signing in a guest book. This guest book can be played!

What they did was have everyone sign there Jenga pieces.

 

Just enjoying ourselves! Reese wanted to seriously eat her dress.

 

Sooo pooped after all that celebrating!

 

On Sunday, We stopped at my Aunt Rexene's house ( which has the best decorations I think I have ever seen ever!) This was the first time Rexene and Al got to see Reese! 

 

We were so happy to have our family help us get to California this weekend to celebrate with my aunt Christine!

 

Skincare

 

 

 

So I've been trying to figure out what I should base my blog posts on. I like to write about things that inspire me, things that move me, things that I LOVE. I love fashion, I love hair styles, I love music, I love books, I love skincare, I love makeup, I love my family... I love lamp... (See what I did there?)

Today I'm going to talk to you about skin care. I am all about skin care. I maybe a little obsessed with skincare... but I'd rather be obsessed than not care at all I guess.

I started caring about my skin about 5 years ago. My mom has always told me how important it is to take care of your skin, and I believed her. But I was pretty much lazy. I would wash my face every few days.... EEK I know. Then I came into the business of skincare and decided it would probably be a good idea to use the product like I'm supposed to. Also I kinda would like to stay youthful for a while.

I'm not here to try and sell you the skincare brand I represent. I'm just here to give you an idea of what cleanser, moisturizer, make-up remover, eye firming cream, SPF, and dark spot remover I like to use.

First off... if you are going to wash your face at all, be sure to do it at night. That way your skin has a chance to breath and repair any damage made from the day. I use the Marykay timewise 3-1 cleanser for normal to dry skin (be sure to use the right cleanser for your skin type).

 



Second...off? ALWAYS always always, use moisturizer. Dry skin and Oily skin both need to be using moisturizer. Be sure to be using the write moisturizer for your skin as well. If someone with oily skin uses a moisturizer meant for dry skin, it may cause a break out. If you think you have oily skin, and have not been using moisturizer, you may in fact have dry skin. When you do not use moisturizer, your skin produces more oils to make up for it. So that could be causing you to have more oily skin.... I use MaryKay Timewise moisturizer for normal to dry skin.





Third-ly.... taking off your eye makeup at night is so important and I don't know how many people have told me they don't wear waterproof mascara because they can't get it off... Well... today is the day you find out about this magical bottle of pure awesome (unless you've already known about it).... MaryKay Oil-Free Eye Make-up Remover. This stuff is the best ever! and it  takes off your waterproof mascara with ease.  

P.S. It does not burn your eyes!!!

 

 

So, I don't know about you, but I am crazy about getting wrinkles, meaning I don't want them ever!! I use this firming Eye cream. I know its a firming EYE cream... but I also use it between my eyebrows (the wrinkles that could possibly show up due to my perma scowl...),I  use it for around my mouth. and of course, my eyes. This stuff is magic.

 

One other thing that is so important is using SPF on your skin... even if it cloudy! The SPF I use is called day solution AKA the Ick factor. It keeps all the dirt and junk off my face when I go out. It has 35 SPF in it and isn't thick so you don't feel like you've put an extra layer on your skin.
 

 

 

Last, but most certainly not least, I use this even complexion essence. It's meant for the dark spots from maybe a break out or dark spots from pregnancy. I mainly use it for my STRETCH MARKS!  I do know that my stretch marks are not located on my face... but one day, I got a crazy idea to try this stuff on my belly to see if it would help them go away. AND it has!! they are continually getting lighter and lighter!

 

Now, these are all my opinions from these products. I've been using them for quite some time and just love them. They work best for me, but I would love to hear what products work best for you and why!