As Trevor and I navigate our new world with our oldest daughter, Shayela having her first serious boyfriend we find ourselves contemplating what makes our marriage not just work but what makes it thrive and grow.

We have talked for many years about the desire to never allow our marriage to become stagnant. We never wanted to be the couple that got married young, had a bunch of babies, and when they all grew up didn’t know who the other person was.

Let me tell you, it takes a lot of effort. It takes intentionality. It takes late night date nights. It takes trust. It takes honesty. It takes a lot of understanding.

I will probably talk about this a lot in the coming weeks and months as we continue to walk through this with Shayela. However, the first word that comes to mind when I think about what we do that might be different than a lot of people is that we simply adore each other. We have a very deep love AND respect for each other. We make sure to nurture this part of our lives, never take it for granted, and never get complacent.

Back at it…

In the beginning of November I made the conscious decision to not diet until the new year. I knew that between birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas parties I would drive myself crazy and have a lot of self guilt if I tried to diet and failed. I knew that for me, making the choice early would be better for my anxiety and self love than if I failed.

I didn’t over indulge and tried to keep the sweets to a minimum and I am happy to say that I have only gained back 5lbs!

Today I am starting again (Not starting over, because it was my choice to press the pause button) and I am excited to be back on the KETO wagon.

What if we could have kids teach each other about topics they are passionate about…

One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is that my my girls home with me while I teach preschool. Yesterday Dani spent a few minutes teaching the kids how to draw people. It was so awesome to watch.

To see her using her teaching skills to share her passion of art with a younger group of kids was wonderful. Can you imagine how different our public school system would be if we used this technique?

Putting older kids in a leadership role, using a skill set they already have, to teach other kids about something they are passionate about…. I think the results would be mind blowing.

Preach the Gospel at all times

This is a great reminder that we are not only called to profess with our tongue that we love Jesus and believe he is the son of God, but we are called to live our lives in a way that reflects Jesus.

That means that we are called to go where Jesus went, love the people that Jesus loves (spoiler alert: it’s everyone), and do the things that Jesus did.

It’s easy to show up to church on Sunday and sing worship songs alongside the people that think exactly like you. It’s easy to forget that we are supposed to,”love the least of these.”

I challenge you this weeks to do your best to quiet your tongue and LIVE your life so that people will know you follow Jesus without you having to say it outloud.

Remembering 9/11

Do you remember where you were? Who you were with? What you were doing? I’m sure most people over the age of 25 remember where they were on that fateful day.

I had slept on the couch the night before, while my 2 month old baby slept in her cradle in the living room. I remember waking up to the headline flashing across the television screen “America Under Attack?” I distinctly remember thinking that it was a movie so I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. When it hit me that it was not a movie I got up just in time to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

I was only 16 years old and I was terrified. I woke up my family and we watched the news together until I had to go off to school. At school the news was on in every classroom. I remember the principal coming into my U.S. History class and telling my teacher to turn off the television. As soon as the principal was down the hall my teacher turned it back on. After all, it was U.S. HISTORY!

The next few weeks were surreal. I had never before and have never again felt so close to the other people in our country.

I still mourn for those that lost their lives in the attacks, the first responders that gave their lives saving others, those that died on Flight 93, and all the other that have died as a result of that day. I would love to hear your story. Where were you?

Picture credit

Maiden voyage on the PF-Bobber

For the last month or two our family has really enjoyed fishing together. We pack up all of our fishing poles, tackle boxes, snacks and head to what my Hubby decides is THE BEST place to fish that day. It could be one of many places along the Columbia River, the Snake River, the Yakima River, or even a random pond around where we live. When we get there we set up our little fishing spot, pull out our fishing gear, and fish and fish and fish. Usually without any success. Although, Perry has been known to catch a frog or two.

So, for the last month Trevor (Hubby) has been doing countless hours of research on different boats and rafts. He was convinced that if we just had a small boat to get out ON the water we could start catching fish. So, for our anniversary last month I surprised him with the Excursion 5 from Amazon.

Of course, with our busy schedule we weren’t able to get it on the water until yesterday. We decided to go to the local mud hole and got it all set up. We were pleasantly surprised with how much room it had. It fits 5 of us pretty easily and it’s even pretty easy to maneuver. The first time off the dock it was just Trevor and Perry rowing with Nora, Dani and Stephie as their passengers and they didn’t have any problems (We bought an extra set of oars).

After a few times around the dock, us girls left Trevor and Perry there to fish ON the water. Low and behold, about 30 minutes later I got a text with the next picture… Perry caught a fish!

We all agree that the $125 price tag on this boat was worth it! Trevor even let me name it because I bought it for him. I had several names on my list of options but finally settled on the PF-Bobber.

We anticipate many more adventures on this little boat and highly recommend one for your family if you are looking for some easy and cheap family time.

How do you spend family time? Do you like to do things on the cheap like us? I’d love some more ideas.

Cheat sheet for menu making

This will be our first year homeschooling our twins and we are SUPER excited about it. I am not used to feeding them breakfast and lunch throughout the year because they have always eaten at school, so we sat down and came up with a cheat sheet for my menu making.

We started with the items they like to eat for breakfast and focused mostly on foods they can make themselves. Part of homeschooling for us is teaching them independence and self sufficiency. Instead of simply adding cereal I asked them for specific types, this way it will be easier when I do the grocery shopping and I will not need to guess what kinds they want.

We then added lunch items. Again, focusing on items they can make themselves. For lunch we will make a schedule and we will take turns making lunch for everyone. Doing it this way will cause less mess in the kitchen, teach them life long cooking skills, and show them how to be part of a giving family.

Last but not least we added snacks. My number 1 tip for snacks is to divide them up into snack baggies as soon as you get them home from the store. That way if someone (you included) needs a snack they can grab a bag instead of being tempted to mindlessly eat out of the box.

From this list I create a menu that is hung on the fridge each week so there are no surprises. The kids know what to expect and I am not having to stress each day about what to make.

At the end of the day when you are feeding an army the trick is to plan ahead and get input from the troops.

Here are pictures of our list and one of our menus. I would love to hear some of the items you add to your list.

Oregon Coast or Bust!

We are packed and ready to head off on our next adventure. You see, the Oregon Coast is our happy place! It is the place that reminds us that God’s mighty hand needs to be the guiding force in our lives. The ocean reminds us that we are so small and God is so great. Do you have a favorite vacation spot?

I’d love to share with you my most recent ah-ha discovery when it comes to packing for 8 people. Bins instead of luggage! It’s brilliant right?! Everything stacks nicely and I can fit 2 kids worth of clothing and shoes in one bin. As you can see some of the family has not bought into this idea yet but I bet they will by the next trip. I also packed all of our toiletries, curling irons, meds, etc into separate smaller bins that also stack great in the back. Add the stroller, a few odds and ends, and Monster’s metal detector and we are on our way.

Do you have a favorite packing tip? I’d love to hear from you.

Family Dinner

Do you make family dinner a priority? 

About 4 years ago we moved into a new house that had a big enough dining room to hold a dining table big enough to fit all 7 of us (my mom ~Grammy~ lives with us). We made it a goal to have dinner together as a family as many nights of the week as possible, usually at least 4 nights a week. These have become some of our most cherished times together. 

While we don’t usually make new memories around the family dinner table we definitely reminisce about old memories, talk about our day… the good and the bad, and simply take the time to be present in each other’s lives. It is also a very good way to teach kids how to pray.  

This weekend we are camping and put 2 card tables together to make a family table.

If you have a hard time coming up with things to talk about I found this great list of questions here. 

If you have any great family dinner topics or questions please share them….

Visit Boise Idaho without breaking the bank!

This last weekend we decided to take a small family trip to Boise from our hometown in southeast Washington to visit my father who has been in the hospital for a couple weeks. With some money saving ideas we were able to visit Grandaddy and make it a vacation. I wanted to share a few of the ways we were able to take this trip with a family of 6 (plus my mom) without spending a ton of money.

• Look online and plan out your hotel in advance. I was able to find a hotel for an average of $117/night for 1 room (we needed 2 because Grammy joined us).  I was able to get this rate because I did the entire booking online. That was a savings of almost $100/night. It included a warm breakfast including waffles, sausage, eggs, etc, a very nice indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room, and workout center.

• Get a cargo carrier for your vehicle. In the past when Grammy joined us on vacations we needed to take a second vehicle (we have a Toyota Highlander that seats 8) because we couldn’t fit all of us and our luggage.  Recently I found a nice soft cargo carrier at a yard sale for just $20 and on this trip alone it saved us at least 2 tanks of gas in Grammy’s car. Ours is a lot like this one and as you can see it’s worth the savings with just a couple tanks of gas you didn’t have to buy.

• Research gas prices along your route. I will be honest I am not the one in our family that does this part, hubby does it. For instance on this trip gas was cheaper in Washington and Idaho so he was very careful not to need gas in Oregon. It isn’t a huge savings but a little bit can go a long way.

• Plan your meals. Obviously we were able to save a lot of money because the hotel had free breakfast and for dinners we got food we could cook at our hotel in the microwave. The first night we ate frozen pasta bowls and spent less than $3/ person on dinner. The second night we went to the store and got some finger foods and shared them in the hotel while we watched a movie. For lunches we did eat out because we were going from one attraction to another and didn’t want to take the time to make food. So one day we went to McDonald’s and the last day we had our first Chick-fit-A experience. Also, be sure to take along snacks so you aren’t tempted to pay convenience store prices.

• We were able to visit three of the main family attractions in Boise, World Center for Birds of Prey, Aquarium of Boise, and Zoo Boise. We were very impressed with the prices of each of these attractions and you would not have to do all of them in a single trip. The Birds of Prey exhibit was very neat as it houses many endangered birds and teaches about the importance of conservation. The Aquarium of Boise had a lot of touch pools with many different types of fish, sharks, and sting rays. Zoo Boise was my favorite. We have been to a few zoos in our day but this zoo offers a much more personal experience with the animals. We were able to be within a few feet of some of the most amazing animals on earth, where at bigger zoos the animals are a fair distance away and you don’t necessarily get to see their size and colors up close. We also got to feed a sloth bear for just $3 (we bought one cup of meal worms and shared) and you could also pay $3 to feed a giraffe (we weren’t there long enough for giraffe feeding time)!

• We also really like to take advantage of small stops on our way to and from our destination. On our way home from Boise we found a beautiful bridge with a gorgeous view in Perry Oregon. Had we not been willing to go a couple miles off the highway to this view point we would never have see this part of God’s beauty.

  If you have any great ways of saving money on family vacations I would love to hear them!

~Amanda