project 52:25 - sweat equity

Working out...not my favorite thing to do but I have a very best workout buddy & motivation.  It's sometimes an act of congress to get schedules figured out & I really have to weigh which is more important-folded laundry or burning 700 calories.  But I want to stay strong, stay healthy for my family. Besides, they require me to get in a swimsuit 3 months out of the year!  

Working out...like motherhood...follows the principle of "you get out of it what you put into it."  I'm running this race to win!

project 52:24 - date nights

The sacrament of marriage has to be put ahead of the vocation of motherhood in order for everything to function best.  We were told when we got married to "always have a weekly date night!" but when you have kids, it's not that easy to hold to that idea.  We had to come around to the concept that you don't have to go out to have a date night.  Since starting our weekly date night, we have loved having time set aside together & really look forward to it.  We are also pretty committed to it & try to not schedule something over it, unless it's a night out together! 

We picked up a tradition of making homemade pizza on Friday nights from our sweet friends Tim & Ginger...and then we added another element to it-making it a date night.  Homemade pizza is perfect for this!  The kids help me with theirs & they are excited to sit down & eat what they have made.  Then, when the kids' bedtime rolls around, I pop our pizza in the oven & we get to eat a fresh, hot grown-up pizza all by ourselves.  We pick out a movie together & enjoy our date every Friday without the expense of a sitter & restaurant.  

project 52:23 - persistence

After a year or more of trying to get Ava to eat & like scrambled eggs...she decided today to do just that.  

There's so many things that you can't just give up on when you take on the responsibility of raising kids...even when the issue seems futile, or it would be way easier, or you feel you just don't have the strength to carry on.  Maybe harder than not giving up is making that decision...so that everything isn't a battle.

But little by little, just like trying eggs for the 100th time, your persistence can pay off & you start to see little changes.  They learn to make it to the potty on time, or how to tie shoes, how to make the sign of the cross or to not run away in a parking lot.  Sometimes the progress is hard to see, but when I do notice, it encourages me that we are doing a good job in this business of raising kids!

Howdy partner!

We escaped for the weekend up to our mountains...it was just what we needed.  We took some walks, read some books, partook in several naps, and enjoyed our little family.  It was a perfect ending to our May.

But, there was something else some of us did...

Something that some of us haven't done for a very, very long time...and was talked into by a sweet-talkin' eight-year-old...

I love horse ears...they are so fuzzy, alert...they beckon me to rub them but seldom does a horse like this.

I went on a horseback ride with Macy.  It wasn't too hard to talk me into it...I mean, look where we are headed.  And, when the wrangler said this horse was named Tucker, well, I knew it was meant to be.  I hoped for kindred spirits in this beautiful animal (but REALLY hoped he minded better than my pooch!).  Such a sweet creature-he was slow & steady (just what I needed) & really listened for my every command...every time his ears twitched at the slightest sound, I thought of Tucker & his smelly, velvet ears that never missed a sound either.  

It was a beautiful ride through the mountains and streams with my chatterbox daughter (who kept trying to get her horse to trot-I think she saw her hair blowing in the air like a scene from Flicka) and my sweet horse.  

Now...you should be impressed that I took pictures while riding on a moving horse & did not fall off.  It's a challenge!  However, the video I took is hilarious-you can tell just how bumpy the ride is!!

project 52:22 - fun in the sun

The lazy days of summer...we spend a lot of time outside, soaking up the sun, especially in June when it's not unbearably hot & the mosquitoes haven't descended.  But water just goes with Texas summers...going to the pool, playing in the backyard pool, or even just sprinklers or water guns...it just feels so good when you are so hot!


We are enjoying our time at the pool with our friends and loving to not have to be somewhere at a certain time!  Summer is here-did you hear that contented sigh?


(I had to really think about this verse...but it really fits-I am so blessed with friends that are like the sun...warm, dependable, strong & sure, a shining light, and always there for me)