A Beautiful Sunset

While my mom was here we stopped by the beach on our way to eat dinner with family and got to experience an amazing sunset. We live in FL and I'm kind of surprised that we dont go to the beach more often or even go watch the sunset somewhere. Its pitiful I tell y'all!

The Newest Addition to Our Family

Settle your horses down because no we are not adding another baby to this family yet, or a furbaby, but we did add this.....

I am now a proud owner of the Nikon D3100!! Y'all I am so in love with this camera its ridiculous! I spent months researching and looking at the best option for us me and its been so fun the last few days!

I CHOSE THIS BECAUSE....for our budget it was a great buy, it had excellent reviews, great beginner dslr, it has an HDMI input, does HDR video and so many more fun things!! My hubs really wants to do a worship video blog, and this baby will help him do what he wants. 

This camera is a 14 megapixel camera and takes stellar photos! It also does great videos too! 

We have messed and messed with this thing and while I still have a lot of learning to do, I feel like I finally understand this thing and can do what I am wanting to do. I need a lot more practice shooting in manual mode, but we will get there!

The BEST part about this camera is that even though we bought it off of craigslist, it is completely brand new, never been used at half the price of a brand new one! I have been watching craigslist for months on this thing and was about to just give up when I saw one post last week for lower than what I was wanting to spend and luckily, the guy still had it and well, we looked at it, got the price even lower and now it lives in our home :) AND the guy we bought it from was amazing! He was an older gentleman, told us he was a christian and well after an hour of talking with him, and messing with the camera, the hubs and I both left in tears! We went to buy a camera and left completely touched by this gentleman. Stuff like this doesnt happen every day, but God knew exactly what we needed last week. It was a divine appointment!

I am one happy camper! Happy early birthday to me!

Besides Greater than Gatsby and Florabella does anyone have any recommendation on more photoshop actions that they love?? I am highly addicted to actions right now :)

All the photos posted below, here and here are taken with my new found joy! 

Can you tell that Paisley will be a featured little one??

Love this photo my hubs shot last night while Paisley was looking at ornaments, which she totally loves!!

The hubs and I also did our Christmas card photos and I am in deep deep love with how they came out!! {Post to come}

Surprise Date Night!

Lets just say that this date was way looooong overdue. I have been asking the hubs for months if we could steal away or a few hours, but with working on this house it left no time to do anything all, and lets just say I was overly excited when the hubs called yesterday and said get dressed up and be ready by 4:30! I somewhat went into panic mode thinking of having to get myself ready and a little one ready by a certain time. Since having Paisley, being fashionably late is how we roll!!

All that to say, we had a wonderful time, and I somehow came back feeling refreshed again. Its amazing leaving your baby behind and how young you can feel in those few short hours. I felt like a young high school girl again, getting to go on a special date with her boyfriend :) Anyone else ever feel like that when you get a night out as just grown ups?

The hubs took me to a great dinner place on the water that had amazing seafood alfredo and cobbler, then we drove to the beach and sat and watched the sunset. We live in FL and I was so quickly taken back by how peaceful and serene the water is and how we have not made it to the beach in months. I almost forgot how much I really love the beach. After dark, we ventured on over to Publix to grab candy and Promised Land milk, because no night is ever complete without candy....well at least in our house! And we topped of the night by catching up on our shows and eating candy!

The hubs did a great job! I am one lucky wife :)

Firsts of Many

{Source}

Today was my first day of being able to teach voice lessons and for being as nervous as I was, it went well! I got blessed with a great student who is very talented and reminds me a bunch of myself. She's good and has a great natural talent! I cant wait to see where our lessons take us and I cant wait to be able to teach more lessons. I have always wanted to teach vocal lessons and be able to make a difference but I have always been afraid. The hubs and I were asked if we wanted to teach lessons for our Church's Academy and we said yes thinking it would be a fun opportunity. I was praying all the while that maybe I wouldnt have to teach, but then I got an email a few weeks ago and decided I needed to put the fear aside and just do it. So glad I did! I have had some amazing teachers and I just want to give back all that they have taught me!

Here's to many more lessons and more students!!

How to Make Blog Buttons

Hello Blogger Friends! 

So many of you have asked or were curious how to make your own blog buttons. I wanted to share with you the tutorial that I used to make mine. I am still experimenting and trying to get it all figured out, but for the time being I will include the buttons that I have made so far. They are easy to make, and kind of fun, kind of addicting. I was able to get it on my first try and for someone who doesnt do a whole lot of coding and such this was a big deal! I just followed the steps to a tee and voila, you have a button that you can now swap, or maybe feel more official :) 

Without further ado here is the tutorial that I used: Blog Button Tutorial

Follow the steps for picmonkey and its super simple! 

If you are wanting a white background just save a white background image from google to your computer. Just make sure that it is big enough to do what you are wanting. 

If you have any questions please feel free to email me or comment below so I can help you. I will generally respond later that day :)

Here are the ones I have made so far:

200x200

200x200

150x150

180x180

300x150

There's lots that you can do and lots to experiment with. Am I overly satisfied with what I have made so far? Kinda. Could be better, but its a start at least AND best part about it is that I did it myself!!

I am still figuring out how to include the box code for each button in this post instead of just adding it to the sidebar. I will update as soon as I figure it out ;) OR if one of you passing by reading this knows how, please let me know!

Hope this helps some of you!

Silver Linings Giveaway @ Mackey Madness

Today, one of my favorite bloggers, Mackey Madness is hosting the greatest giveaway known to man!! If you love vintage and jewelry, stop by and enter the giveaway and or check out her Etsy Shop. Her pieces definitely don't disappoint!

My favorite piece!

{via}

One, Two, Three, Go.....

For A Good Laugh

Paisley Grace has become a growling machine. It gets me every. single. time!!

Funniest part is that she loves to watch the video and she just screams and growls at herself in excitement :) She's too cute!

Liebster Award

Alycia from Crazily Normal has nominated me for the Leibster Award! The Leibster Award is a peer-nominated award that is given to new, up and coming bloggers (under 200 followers) for a chance to "meet" new bloggers and find new blogs. 

The Rules:

1. Link back to the person that nominated you

2. Answer the 11 questions asked by the nominator

3. Choose 11 bloggers, each under 200 followers and nominate them for the award

4. Come up with 11 questions for your nominees to answer

5. Contact your nominees and notify them of your nomination

Here we go....

1. Describe your perfect day....The perfect day for me would be getting to spend quality time with my Husband and our daughter Paisley Grace. We dont have to even do anything special but just get to enjoy each other. 

2. What can you do today that you werent capable of doing a year ago...In all honesty, I am able to not get my feels so hurt when things dont pan out my way or someone says something that they didnt handle in the correct way. Offense is a terrible road to travel down, and with much grace, I feel like I am better able to handle the "big" stuff a lot better than where I was a year ago.

3. If you had to teach something, what would you teach and why....If I had to teach something I might teach on Music. There is so much about music that I love, and I hope one day that I will be able to change the face of worship just like Jesus Culture or Hillsong has done. Big dreams!!

4. What is your most beloved childhood memory....My most beloved childhood memory is getting to spend every Thursday with my grandma. I use to go with her to a town called Salida, to get her hair done, go to walmart, pick where I wanted to eat, which more than likely was McDonalds since we didnt have one in our small town, and get to pick something special out at walmart. Best day of the week ever!!

5. Describe your life in a 6 word sentence...crazy, chaotic, busy, beautiful, joyous, happily ever after

6. What is your favorite blog post written. Link to it so we can all read it....favorite blog post ever written was the one I wrote when Paisley first said "Momma." You can read it here. 

7. Describe yourself in one sentence. I am down to earth, sometimes silly, sometimes funny, sometimes quite, sometimes opinionated and sometimes too head strong.

8. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now....I hope with another baby or two, our house completely renovated the way that we want, taking on more of a worship leader role and mostly out of debt!! Hallelujah!

9. What are your 3 favorite simple pleasures....laughing, blogging, music

10. If you had to move 3000 miles away, what would be the one thing you would miss most...Hands down, my family. I would miss my parents, my grandpa, my brother, my sisters, and my niece and nephew. Its already hard having them in CO and us in FL. 

11. When you have a random hour of free time, what are you usually doing....blogging or doing housework ha!

I am Nominating:

Ashley from A Nelson's Nest

Lizzie from Multi Purpose Mama

Tawnya from All of Life's Little Adventures

Sarah from Moske Monkey Business

Becky from This is Happiness

Stephanie from Never the Same Spice Twice
Katelyn from Imperfect Perfection
Hannah from My Delicious Adventure
Elizabeth from The Bradley's
Madison from Newly made Momma
Jennifer from First Comes Love

Questions for my nominees:

1. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

2. What is your greatest accomplishment thus far?

3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

4. Who has been the greatest role model in your life?

5. If you could meet anyone, who would it be and why?

6. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what is the one thing you must have?

7. What is your favorite book?

8. What is your favorite blog post? Link to it so we can all read!

9. What has been the greatest moment in your life?

10. What is your favorite hobby?

11. Who is your favorite blogger?

To My Nominees:

Send me a comment and link back to me when you have done this :)

Getting to Know Me: 5 Things

I was tagged by AshleyRose from A Nelson's Nest in this special edition of getting to know me. Are ya'll ready from some inside info??

Five Things I have a Passion For:

1. God

2. Being a wife and mother

3. Crafting/scrapbooking/creating/Design

4. MUSIC

5. Shopping

Five Things I Would Like to do Before I Die:

1. Travel the world

2. Spend Christmas or NYE in NYC

3. See my children grow up

4. Make history doing something

5. Lead worship for thousands of people

Five Reads I Love/What I've Read Lately:

1. Anything Mitch Albom

2. Summer Sisters

3. The Resolution for Women

4. Wife After God {Reading/doing currently}

5. Anything Angie Smith

Five Favorite Movies:

1. Fried Green Tomatoes

2. The Wedding Date

3. Life As We Know It

4. The Odd Life of Timothy Green

5. Father of the Brides

Five Places I Want to Travel:

1. NYC

2. Tahiti

3. Maine

4. Ireland

5. Paris

Happy Wednesday

So you know how before summer started I did Workout Wednesday?? About that...summer has been so chaotic for us and to be honest, working out has kind of gotten thrown to the waste side. Starting next week {when Hubby returns to work} I will be back up and getting back on track. Lord knows my body desperately needs it :)
Till then I want to leave you with a little something...

{Via}

Happy hump day! Have a great rest of your week friends!

Flea Market Finds

We took a little trip to the Flea Market and happened to pop into one of the most "stuffed" little spaces of books. If you are a book fan, then Sam's Books is definitely the place for you! Im pretty sure she has every copy of every book ever made. THAT is how much stuff she really has! Its quite insane if you ask me!

I was able to stumble across a few books that I loved as a child, and a Fancy Nancy book. Each book was $2 except for the little Bisquit book which was a $1. I am quite impressed with our Flea Market finds. You can guess that when Paisley is old enough, we will venture out to Sam's Books a little more often :) Paisley might just have the biggest collection of books one day. I will let her decide...

Books are:

1. Fancy Nancy: Fanciest Doll in the Universe

2. Corduroy Goes to the Beach

3. Guess How Much I Love You: Pop up Edition

4. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

5. Amelia Bedelia and the Baby

6. Bisquit Visits the Petting Zoo

What are some of your favorite child books?

Home Sweet Home

Aaron and I decided last minute to come home for the 4th of July. With two days to get ourselves packed, tickets changed and a ride to the airport we managed to pull it together really quickly and arrived home on the 3rd. We had a great time in CO with my family, and while I miss them, it is so nice to be home!

I cant tell you how great it felt to sleep in my own bed with my own pillows. 

Getting through Denver International Airport was the most stressful part of our trip, well, one of the most stressful parts. Took forever to get our boarding passes, get through security and just as we are almost to our terminal I look down and Paisley had completely blown out her diaper. Back and sides were completely done for. It was the worst blowout we have had to date, and it ended with me throwing the outfit out. I was THAT mom  in the restroom almost in tears because it was such a mess. I really hope we dont have to endure that one again, but on the bright side, at least it happened BEFORE we got on the plane.

Paisley did great on our flight home, though we hit bad weather and they re routed us causing our flight to be a lot longer than it was scheduled for. Darn FL rain! So proud of my little champion!!

We took these pictures with Kylar and Bentlee right before we left. How could we not get a photo op of all the cousins?? Kylar had no idea what to do with two girls :) Poor guy!

Sisters and our babies :)

Kylar telling Paisley Bye

Bye-Bye Colorado. Till next time!!

Happy Birthday Harley!!

In August it will be two years since we got our precious puppy. We found her on craigslist for $100 and decided to give her a new home despite, how very shy she was, and the horrible living situation she was coming from.

When we met the girl to check out Harley, we basically were told she doesnt do anything but lay around. 

They never gave her toys, treats, love, and to say the least they had her eating the WORST dog food you could ever feed a new puppy!

Harley (named shade then) was so scared of us (still is very scared of EVERYTHING), she basically refused to go to us, but when I got her and took her to the front yard and tried to play with her, she nudge just a bit and it was enough for me to say give her a chance.

Harley. She is a black, golden retriever lab mix and is about the sweetest thing you will ever meet. She is kind, gently, mellow, loves to play, eat, and get lots of treats.

She adores her baby Paisley!

Today she turns two! She was the BEST $100 we ever spent and we have been through hell and back with this little girl.

Back in October (a week after moving to a new place), got scared and ran away. I thought she would come back that night but we spent hours and hours looking for her (in the pouring rain) and to no avail she was gone. I thought we would never see her again. My heart was sick and so broken hearted when Harley went missing. Its a feeling that I never want to experience. For 19 days straight we spent day and evening searching and looking for our lost puppy. I placed ads on Craigslist, posted on FB, posted ads in the newspaper, on sherriff websites, checked humane societys, checked shelters and posted flyers and signs everywhere in our area. I truly had believed after a week that she was gone for good, but we prayed and we prayed hard for her to be safe and for us to find her. After several weeks, a lady had spotted her on her way to work a mile north of where we live. So we checked that area constantly. We drove for our hours calling her name, taking her doggie friends with us to help get her to come out. Phone calls came in almost every day saying they had seen her in a preserve and she was living there. Every time she came out we would go place her food in the places she had been seen so she could eat. A few days before we found her, someone sent us a pic of her roaming around near a little pond. So with the help of my father and mother in law and their dog, Nevada. 

We set out on a Saturday morning to see if we could get her in the swamp area where she had been seen all week. I prayed we would find her before the vet closed at noon. We left a little before 11 that morning. My husband and father in law went to one end and my mother in law and I went to the other end. We called her. Set out food and shortly after, she came right up to us and because I got so excited she ran towards the area my husband was in. We called quickly, as I cried, and moments later my husband had spotted her and picked her up. We had found Harley by 11:30 that morning after many, many (LONG) attempts previously and 19 days later, our puppy was safe and sound! She was home and she was so happy! 

Morning we found her

We took her to the vet and despite the millions of ticks, a few fleas, and a lot of weight loss she was perfect! After being gone for 19 days in a swamp nonetheless and with alligators, racoons, snakes, bobcats, wild boars, and other nasty creatures it was a miracle she was in such great shape and ALIVE!! 

We were determined to find her and never gave up. I am so glad we were persistent because it paid off! 

Harley is part of our family! Dont know what we would ever do without her, because that time we were apart was the worst few weeks of my life!

Happy 2nd Birthday Harley Jane! We love you!!