San Francisco Here We Come!

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We are headed off to San Francisco this afternoon for a little weekend getaway! While I've stalked all the bloggers that call San Francisco home for their local eats and hangouts I'm curious if anyone has a place we must see or must eat! Hopefully we will come back with a little sun on our cheeks and pep in our step! Happy Weekend!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

I looked back through this blog and my family blog to reminse over past valentines and in every post I declare Valentines my favorite holiday. I just had to laugh at myself because I know so many people don't like Valentines and most don't even consider it a holiday. However I couldn't help but be very impressed with how much effort I have put into our Valentines day. This will be our 7th Valentines day and I'm not sure what has gotten into me this year, I haven't done anything incomparission to years past.

This morning we went to a brunch and then later this afternoon we passed out these cookies to some friends, and tonight David is making me dinner at home and I'm sure we will just relax. We are keeping it very low key and for once I really don't mind.

Hope you have a wonderful night spending time with the one you love, whether your a believer or not.

Home

A Home:

We've started the slow hunt for a home! Four walls and a roof to call our own. While this is so so  exciting it's also very disappointing. I didn't realize buying a home was such a game! How am I suppose to compete with an offer having no clue what the other offer is? These sellers are pulling at the heart strings of poor families just make a few extra thousand. It's pitiful. I'm also just grumpy because we lost a home to this exact scenario, the home that would have been absolutely perfect for us.

But now that more than twenty four hours have passed and I'm not as sad as I was last night, I have faith that something better will come along, and hopefully something we don't have to stretch the budget for. I've gotten so caught up in the look of my home I need to remind myself what really makes house a home.

Because what really makes the perfect home? Surely it is not the price tag or location, but rather a place where there are enough rooms to fit all my future babies. Where they can spread their legs and run and be free from the cares of the world. It is a place where the kitchen is spacious enough to hold all the laughter frustration and tears that will come its way. A backyard large enough to hold camp outs, water fights, and a kitchen table to eat our dinner under the summer sky. Where a garden can be grown and a little puppy can call home. A dining area big enough to hold all the friends and family for Thanksgiving dinner, and a living room spacious enough for us to gather around at the end of the day and spend that precious time together as a family. 


Most importantly home is a place where we can come and feel safe from the world and know that it is here we are loved and cared for. That here the most important things are celebrated, Family.


*My amazing sister-in-law made this for me for Christmas using water color and cut out each and every little flower. It's so beautiful and amazingly detailed. If you want one of your own family she is starting her own shop. E-mail her at seafoamandevergreen@gmail.com

Dancing with my Baby

Jeans: Gap Jacket/Shirt: J.Crew Necklace: F21 Shoes: H&M

One of my new year goals was to cook more, usually I just wait for David to get home and he cooks us up something while I play with Rivers or clean up the mess Rivers had made through out the day. But this usually results in us eating later than we want and by the time we eat I've gotten so hangry (being angry because you're so hungry) that dinner is no fun for anyone. Or we ditch making dinner and go out to eat which is no good for the budget or our waistline. So this week I've been starting dinner around 4 which makes that last hour of the day go by much faster and no one is hangry.

Usually Rivers plays in the living room destroying the book shelf or whatever else he can find, but today Rivers would not take his afternoon nap and was probably getting a little hangry himself so I had to hold him while making dinner. Usually music is playing while I cook and in an effort to soothe my little baby I began to dance with him and for a few short minutes my sweet baby boy nestled into my shoulder and let me sway with him to the sound of the Iron & Wine pandora station playing from the small speakers of my iphone. And even though I was frustrated with him for not taking his nap and for refusing on a daily basis to not take naps in his crib but instead in my arms, I was reminded for a moment that all the hard work I do and all the naps that do not get taken are worth it for those short moments where he shows me how much he loves me and I can feel that he knows I love him just as much if not more.

2014: A Year Of Change

I'm a little behind to just now be talking about the new year but happy new year none the less!

When I look back over this past year I can check off some pretty big life goals. First I became a mother making it the biggest check off in my life's timeline ever. Second I graduated from college with my bachelors degree, a goal I wrote down in my childhood journal years ago. So you could say I did a lot and accomplished a lot in 2013, however I can't help but look back and feel like I did nothing, nothing but sit around and wait for my situation to change.

It was a very difficult year for me some of which I feel like I have already touched on here some I've still kept to myself because I'm not sure how to explain it. I'm still learning the ropes of motherhood and all the things that includes, I've struggled a lot this year and I don't want to anymore. This change in my life has been the most magical glorious thing to ever happen yet the most difficult and I feel like these struggles have held me back without me realizing it. I was afraid and I don't want to be anymore. I'm still not sure how to explain this but I want this year to be much different, I want to look back at 2014 and feel like I progressed, I feel at a huge stand still spiritualy, physically, and mentally.

I want to stop being so negative about my situation, I want to change the things that can be changed and let go of the things that can't. I want to travel, cook, read, and document my little ones life better. I want to be a better mother and wife. I want to be more grateful for the things I have and stop worrying about the future so much, things will work out! 

I want to have more fun! I feel like all I've done this past year is stress, I want to let go and enjoy myself more. I want to be more committed to my faith. I feel like the challenges I've faced this past year have pulled me away and I hate that. I want to love my husband better. Let him always know how much I love and appreciate him better. More date nights would be nice too. 

I want to unplug from this wonderful awful internet more and be in the present moment. iphones are a curse and a blessing, I just need to be more disciplined. 

Overall I just want to live a full life, fill each day with love, gratitude, and joy! I am in control of this and I can make it happen. Having written these goals out right after the new year on my phone I feel like I have already made some pretty good progress and hope to keep it that way!

Happy New Year! I hope it's been wonderful so far.