Pinterest Moms

After working on Darrow and Ione's Halloween costumes and Trunk or Treat decorations, Cameron told me "You know, you can't post that online. Your Pinstrosity people will hate you. You can't be one of the Pinterest Moms" And I got a little offended by his comment. But I knew it wasn't meant harshly, and it wasn't worth getting worked up, so I brushed it off. Then last night after laughing over the results of Darrow's birthday cake (he requested a black cake) he said, "You can show this one!" I wasn't offended this time, but it did make me stop short. 

Can we talk about "that Pinterest Mom" for just a minute? 

You know her. The woman who just blew up your feed with the pictures of her perfectly executed themed birthday party fit for a rock star. Or she's the woman who is always posting pictures of the cute and educational things she is doing with her children. Or she's the woman who is posting about her kids quietly playing in their room while she does her hour of yoga and meditation. Or she's the woman who always looks on point and gorgeous. Or she's the woman who always has the cutest date night pictures of her and her "bae" (really...where did that come from?!) and their cute and perfect relationship. See, you do know her. 

We all know her. Or a few "hers". And for some reason so many of us feel threatened by her. Enough so that "Pinterest Mom" is becoming a derogatory term.

Now I know that there are some exceptions, but really for the most part, I don't think these "Pinterest Moms" are out there doing their thing to make any of us feel bad. That's not their point at all.

And you know what...none of them have it all 100% together. I know I don't. I know that none of the amazing women that I know have it all together. Some have it more together than others, but none of us are spotless and we all are hot messes in various aspects in our lives. But we compare our hot messes with our other's shining successes all too often. Of course there is going to be a disparity in that comparison! 

We have to stop it. Stop the comparison. Stop the "Pinterest Mom" shaming. Her success is not my failure. Say it with me. Her success is not my failure. We each have strengths. Every single one of us. We also all have thing we're not so good at. 

I make a mean cardboard Mater, but can't make a pretty cake. I take my family out on day trips, but I really dislike sitting and reading stories to my kids. I love making bouquets and wall hangings, but I can't keep my house clean ever.  Would I like my weak points to be stronger? Of course! But just because I am a crappy housewife, doesn't mean that now I can't buoy up and cheer on those that are fabulous at that. 

"Real" is such a buzzword right now. I love the movement of showing real life and not putting up a fake front, but don't get so enamored with real that you forget that talents are real too. It's okay to be a Pinterest Mom. It's okay to not be a Pinterest Mom. We all have our differing abilities!

So here's your Pinstrosity homework: 

If you find yourself putting anyone down for something they did well...stop. Stop immediately, and find a sincere compliment you can give. Even if you were just putting them down in your head, stop, and tell your Facebook friend that you love how happy her kid looks at her party, or how beautiful the quilling was on the card she just made, or how fun the sign is that she holding at her child's game, or that you are so glad they get to go on date nights. Be sincere. And soon you'll find that your outlook will change, your mindset will morph, and you will be happier! 

We can do this! We can lift each other up instead of tearing each other (and ourselves) down! 

Keeping Up Appearances, a Year Later

It's been one year since we relaunched the blog. One year since the rebrand. One year since our "Keeping Up Appearances" Project. One year with the new Pinstrosity!

Last week, which was supposed to be my week for posting on the blog and Instagram, I took a "sabbatical". It was the opposite of the Keeping Up Appearances project. I wasn't trying to show how ridiculous it is to try to live up to social media standards (the point of the KUA project), instead I was forcing myself to take a step back from it all because in the months following the KUA project I got sucked back into the "I can do it! I can live an Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook perfect life! And if not, I obviously don't have anything worth sharing."vortex. 

It wasn't consciously. It definitely wasn't on purpose. But when I realized what was going on it felt like I'd been sucker punched. I wasn't even living up to our own "preaching". I'd meandered away from "Life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and neither are we!" mantra. 

This collage of photos pretty much sums up a large portion of my life. If I had a picture of one of them crying to put in the collage, it might have made it more real life. I love these people and I truly do love the life we are building. But it isn't all pretty days and happy trails. And often when things are smack in the middle of diapers, grocery runs, bills, keeping the kids fed, getting people to sleep, and building a business, it is hard to look at it all and feel like there's anything to share (because as cute as I think my kids are, I'm pretty sure you all don't need or want daily doses of my children and their pretty normal antics ). It gets easy to see all the very non-glamorous parts of life and feel like that's all there is. So then hopping on social media and you see everyone else's best 5% of life that gets posted, it's hard to remember that they are sloughing through the mundane parts of life too. It gets hard to feel like what you're doing is going anywhere. 

So I took a week off. Well, sorta. It ended up being a crazy week, but I didn't blog. I didn't post on Instagram. I didn't post on Facebook (well, beyond a few groups I'm in when I needed to ask a question). I didn't plan posts or blogs. I just lived. And it was great. 

The week took me all over the state, and gave me a lot to think about. Directions I want to go with my online posts. Messages I want to rally behind. Things I want to incorporate into my life. Stories I want to share with you all. 

I follow a great account on Instagram called A Home Made for Hosting. This account follows the home building dream and story of a photographer husband and wife team I follow. She just did a blog post about fear of showing their house online because they are afraid that people will judge their house. This home is beautiful, and will end up being a huge blessing to so many people (they are incredibly giving and have serving hearts, and have designed their house so that they can use it to bless others). But without knowing the heart and the why, some people may send nasty-grams their way about it (which really is ridiculous that people do that). I feel much the same way, only on the opposite side of the spectrum. 

I feel fear about posting about my life because too often I tell myself that I don't have the experience I need to have a voice. I fear that people will look at my life and dismiss this "redneck" girl from the sticks. I fear that I don't really have anything to share, and that everyone feels that way too. 

But, as this same photographer stated, fear is the opposite of faith. Fear holds back. Fear restrains. And in this case, I'm using fear as a pity party. I'm using fear to tell myself that I don't have anything worth sharing. 

We did the Keeping Up Appearances project to show just how ridiculous it is to try to live a "perfect" life. We didn't realize the opposite end of the spectrum though. The Keeping Up Appearances project wasn't just to say "We can't do it all, and that's okay!" but it also was to say, "Our lives have worth and meaning, even when they are not 'perfect' or dazzling!" 

This past week wasn't "beautiful" as far as imagery goes. But it was exactly what I needed. It gave me perspective. It gave me time. And it gave me motivation. I didn't get ahead on blog posts in the least bit. I didn't plan out social media posts. I didn't keep a perfect house, make amazing meals, or try new make up. But I did spend more time with my kids. We just got done with an at home game night date night. I finished an audio book. Skeins of yarn were actually used. And the neighbors got to witness the crazy lady running around the yard in her pajamas at 6:30 in the morning because there was fog outside and it had to be documented accordingly (fog in AZ is not a common thing).

And sitting here typing all of this I'm realizing that even with all the craziness that was last week (16+ hours in the car for eye appointments, hair appointments, grocery runs, etc), I wouldn't trade it for a week full of "social media worthy" activities or life. I lived life not worrying about how to blog what I was doing, or how I could show it on Instagram in a way that would fit into my feed aesthetics, or worrying about what people would think if I showed my life. I lived. I put myself back into my life, and it was glorious. 

This past week reminded me about life, about family, and really about the heart of this blog and the heart of the new direction we took with it last year. Life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and it doesn't have to be Pinterest Perfect to be worth sharing about. Our lives won't resonate with everyone. It's just not possible. But through sharing our lives, our fears, our goals, our failures, our triumphs, our quirks, and our love, maybe we can find a tribe of people, our sweet Pinstrosipeeps, who might need our voice (and who's voices we'll need in return, because you guys blow us away with your love and support and we are so grateful for you! You buoy us up!). 

So welcome to Year 2 of the "new" Pinstrosity, in which we relearn old lessons, grow in ways we didn't expect, try new things, fail a few times, laugh a lot, cry a little (because we're girls and that's just what we do), and adjust our tail feathers. We're so glad you're here on this ride with us! Buckle up, keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times, and hold on tight, because we're not exactly sure what this ride is going to bring, but we know it's going to be worth it! 

The thing I realized my toddler craved: Control

Facebook showed me a memory from 2 years ago yesterday. It went like this: "Darrow may look like Cameron, but I'm pretty sure that just now when I pulled him off the bookshelf for the 10th time in a row in a series of 2 minutes and yelled, turned his back to me, banged his head on the floor, and then gave me a dirty look as he crawled back to the bookshelf, that it was 110% me. Neat."

And that statement has been proven true time and time again over the last 2 years. But, I realized something about a month ago that is making a huge difference. And I feel like a dork that it took me nearly 2 years of butting heads with a toddler to realize. 

It's all about the control, ('bout control, 'bout control -just channeling my inner Meghan Trainor there).

See, I like when I have everything under control in my sphere and with things relating to me. I like to plan my own day, have my space the way I want it, and things going the way I planned. It took me 2 years, but I realized that if Darrow is like me (and he's proven that over and over again), then it only makes sense that he's feeling the same way! He wants control. He doesn't want to be directed. He needs to feel like he's in charge of his sphere.

That light bulb was huge for me. I don't know why, but it was. You'd think that'd be an easy one, but it wasn't.

So I've been working to make some changes around here, and guys...it is hard! Giving him some control means me giving up some control. But isn't that what Motherhood is about, giving up what we want because what your child needs is more important?

Now, we're not just giving him carte blanche around here. There are things that are non-negotiable, such as staying in the yard, not playing with the oven, no throwing toys at Ione, not running away when we call him, etc. But I've found areas where if I give up some of my control over the situation, he can then exert his control. And it has made a world of difference! This is a much happier boy lately.

The first big one was bedtime and naps. Darrow is a night owl through and through (also a trait he got from me). Bedtime was often a huge fight. We'd put him to bed, he'd get out. We put him back in bed, he'd get out. We tried all different methods over the 2 years from various articles. Silently putting him to bed with no eye contact, calmly explaining why he needed to stay in bed, spanking, lying by him and wrapping our arms around him so he couldn't get off the bed until he cried himself to sleep, sitting down the hall and getting after him every time he got off the bed, and the list goes on. Nothing worked. Naptime was the same. He needed a nap, but it was a huge fight. 

So no instead of bedtime and naptime he has afternoon quiet time and bedtime quiet time. The rules are he stays in his room (in the afternoon it's a designated 2 hours-which is how long he usually naps). That's it. At night we get him in his jammies and do his nighttime routine (brush teeth, read a book, sing a song, prayers, kisses, milk, water, you know covering the excuse bases), and then he goes in his room for nighttime quiet time. During quiet time he gets to choose what he does and it's fine as long as he's in his room. The first 2-3 days he didn't nap, he just played in the afternoon, and at night he stayed up playing until 10 or midnight. But then the novelty wore off. 

Now for afternoon quiet time he plays for a little bit and then probably 4 times out of the week he'll climb in his bed and take a nap. At night he goes in and plays and probably 4 nights a week he is asleep by 8:30 or 9, with the others being up playing until 10-11. And then he sleeps later! Hallelujah! We moved Ione out of the room (she's an early riser and would wake him up before he's ready), and that's made it all even better. 

Everything we read said that kids needed a firm bedtime and a firm routine and having that nighttime schedule was important. So we tried to get that in place for 2 years and it just never worked. Darrow needed to feel that control. That one change has made the biggest difference out of everything lately. 

Beyond that I try to remember to let him choose things as much as possible. Are we playing in the front yard or backyard. What he eats for breakfast (I decide dinner and half the time lunch, but he gets to choose what he eats for breakfast). Which way we go when we take walks. Stuff like that. And it is enough that he feels more in control of his surroundings. 

On my end it means a lot of biting my tongue to keep from getting after him for things that are minor or trivial. Like smashing his sandwich flat before eating it (wiping up the bit of mess is easy, I can do that), or dumping all his toys out in his room just after we put them away, or flipping the curtains around, or carrying our shoes all over the house. I'd rather he didn't do those, but he's not being bad, he's not being destructive, and it's something I can just relax on and not be so uptight. 

So that's it, that's been the magic trick to a much happier, more well behaved, and much more rested Darrow: me giving up complete control so that he could have some control of his own!

Trauma and the Creative Process

Hello!

My name is Em and I am the other half of this team.

"Wait, what? You don't blog here! I have been reading this blog for months and I don't even know you!"

If you are new, or if you are one of our long time faithful followers, you may have forgotten or didn't even know that I blog here. I do blog here though I promise! I have been on somewhat of a hiatus.

Let's chat.

Some of you may remember my husband Chip, he's legitimately the best. I don't know who I bribed to get such an awesome partner in life, but man I did good. Chip and I have been married a little over 5 years. They have been both the best five years of my life and at times some of the most trying. Some days life throws some really difficult challenges at you. Lucky for me, Chip has been right by my side through them all.

Over the last three years, and more prominently over the last year one of those challenges for us has been infertility.

Infertility.

I said it.

It's funny how one little word can have such a huge impact on our lives.

I have been MIA from the blog mostly because of this life challenge. Now, this post isn't to ask for sympathies, or tell my sob story, this post is about what is going on in my life. Real time. This blog is about us, our journey, what we are learning, what we are struggling with, whatever we need it to be. Today I need this blog to be a conduit for my process.

We had been suspecting that infertility was a very real thing happening to us for a while. We had been to one doctor, had a horrible experience and shied away from that route for a while because of the bad experience. We finally drudged up the courage to go back at the beginning of this year and our fears became our reality. This process of starting a family was not going to happen by our own accord.

For us, this was devastating. There is an entire world of infertility that I won't go into (at least not at this time), but all this to say that this whole process of doctors appointments, tests, waiting, research etc. has completely and I mean completely zapped my creative process.

Every spare inch of energy I had went to being ok, to being happy despite our circumstances, to keeping up with this time intensive process. All of this left little to no room for my soul to express itself creatively.

How do you create and make and craft and enjoy when at the time it all feels really frivolous and every waking second you are constantly thinking about something that you aren't capable of accomplishing?? 

You don't. 

Your creative process ceases to exist. Your body goes into survival mode.

Trauma doesn't have to be a car crash, or anything of that nature. Your body, mind, and soul can go through trauma in other instances as well. Say, three years of mourning something that won't happen, that would definitely be considered trauma.

 I know that at one time or another each of us has had some sort of trauma. Whether it be losing a friend or relative, having to have some sort of long recovery surgery, chronic illness, divorce, infertility, having loved ones who are seriously ill, financial burden, loss of job, natural disaster, family issues, childbirth, big or frequent moves, being in the throws of being a parent can often be traumatic, etc.

 Any of these scenarios would be one that could very easily zap your creative process. We go from care free and easy going to merely trying to survive in the blink of an eye.

I am here to tell you two things:

First: It is 108% OK to not be creative during this time of stress and healing.

Heck, if you can get up and put on pants, you deserve a cookie. Life can be really really hard. There is pride in getting up, dressing (up), and showing up. Don't let anyone tell you different. There may be a few days that it is all too much to get out of bed. We all have days like that, and if I didn't have a job, that would have been me for some of the last three months. It's ok to take a day or two to do that, but don't let it become a habit. Beds are quicksand for our get up and go, don't let them suck you away.

Second: TRY. Try being creative, you may be one of those people who thrive creatively during times of high stress. Think of Van Gough, all of his work thought to be genius, and he went through serious bouts of mental health crisis in which he still painted. Despite how he felt on the inside, his outside creative work was stunning. I imagine he felt some therapy from painting, as many do. Give your creative self a try, you may just be a creative crisis thriver, one whose work is even better during times of high stress and trauma because you use it as an outlet for yourself.

I am not one these people. When it feels like everything around me is crumbling, I feel the need to be in control of something and when my current project isn't pure perfection I have a breakdown. Recognize if you are one of these people and know your triggers.

Please know that even in worst of the worst, the depths of the muck, and hardest of the trial, that at one point you were in another trial and eventually, despite all the odds, it passed. Something changed and it eventually ended. I can't tell you how it will end, but I know that in some way shape or form, things will get better. Until then, strap in, hang on tight, find a good support system, and weather the storm. I'm pulling for you. (Think High School Musical) We're all in this together!

All of this to say, I'm sorry for being so out of the picture here, but please know I am doing my best. The blogging Em had to take a beat so that pay your bills, remember to eat food, still go to work Em had a fighting chance. I am 110% ok with that.

There are ebbs and flows to life, and right now my life is flowing in a direction of survival. With that being said, now that I have recognized that I was in a creative process crisis I will better be able to deal with said crisis, and can start to get back in the saddle. I hope that maybe this post helped someone. Please know that for you who are struggling, I see you. I wish a post like this had been here for me over the last year, so if any of you are in a creative crisis right now, know that I am pulling for you! I am cheering you on! I am you! We are here for each other. We can do hard things. We will prevail!

I love you guys. I have dearly missed my Pinstrosity family. This blog is an important part of me, and I am blessed to have the platform that I do. I hope that this can help someone, even if it is just one person, that one person is so unique and important! If you know someone really struggling and you feel like this could help them, please share.

I love you Pinstrosipeeps!

-Em

*Picture Credit Marquette LaRee*

Kett Files: My Magic Routine

Guys, I think I've found the magic routine for the day. It makes a world of a difference. I discovered it a few months ago and was going to wait until I had the routine down to habit and was doing it all the time and could tell you the great things it's done for my life as a whole. 

But let's get real here. I haven't even had a full week where I've stuck to my routine perfectly. And I'm realizing I probably never will have a perfect routine week, because that's life. 

What does this routine do for me? I'm able to keep the house from being disgusting, Darrow behaves better, I can get my photography business done, and even have a little family evening time. Boy, I sound like a commercial. Sorry. But really, this routine is a life saver and I know if I'd just stick to my guns and get up and jump into it every day that everything would go more smooth...but the lazy shoulder angel sometimes shouts the loudest and his idea sounds best. Darn it. 

This routine isn't perfect. There are still things I want to implement in. But for now, I'm seeing good results from it (when I do actually do it). So let me tell you about it. 

The main rule that all others fall under is no computer before noon. That's it. If I had an office job, it wouldn't work, but I'm at home so this is key. Before noon is my time to clean the house, organize, make appointments, get some one-on-one time in with Darrow (why is that so hard?! Mom guilt.), and making things for the house. At noon we have lunch, and then Darrow has quiet time in his room, Ione sits in her chair or swing by me, and I get to work on the computer with editing, doing my classwork, behind-the-scenes business work, bills, and anything that needs to be done on the computer. 

And that's the main idea of it! I want to refine it more to get in specific exercise time, and specific couple time...but for now I feel like I'm doing really good if I do this routine 3 days in a week. 

It's crazy how much this routine helps, but man it is hard. I didn't realize just how addicted to technology I am until I tried implementing this. It's so easy to just tune into the world wide web and to let your duties, responsibilities, and life just kinda blur in the background. If I get on the computer early in the day, the rest of my day is just shot. It's done. Darrow's picked up on that too! If I get on the computer early in the day, his behavior tanks. If I stay off until noon, he is generally much better behaved. 

So, this week I'm going for 4 days out of 7 following the routine (lets see if I can get my posts pre-written and scheduled so I can really stick with this). Because I know it helps make my day better. I know I'll be more productive and efficient. I know my kids will be happier. I know I'll be more likely to cook and that will make Cameron happier. It just makes us all happier. I can do this! 

____

What is your magic routine? I know this won't work for everyone, so I'm excited to hear from you what works in your home and your life! Maybe there'll be ideas you see from others that feel like something that would work for you. We'll help each other build magic timelines! 

Lesson Relearned: Find Joy in the Journey

For the first time in a year, Emilee and I got to spend time together. It was pretty much a live version of "Chicken Soup for the Pinstrosity Soul". There were snow cones, hugs, laughs, late night pizza, amazing root beer, dogs in tutus, a floating lantern, a husband running after the floating lantern to catch it before it went into the trees, hair coloring, real and raw conversations, tulle dresses and skirts, and breakfast burritos.  Could it get any better? Only if there'd been more time. 

We've both experienced things the last little while that left us feeling drained, uncreative, and unsure of what to do here on the blog. Do people really want to hear our life? Do we really have something worth sharing? Are we doing any good? It's been a bit of a blogging identity crisis after the first few months of the relaunch. I know I have gone through weeks where I felt like I really didn't have anything worth writing about because my life is just not really exciting. 

But that time spent together retaught us so much. The whole point of this blog is to remind all of us that life isn't Pinterest Perfect, and it doesn't have to appear so to be worth living and sharing. We don't have to have fast paced, mountain climbing, world traveling, daily DIYing lives before we have anything worthy to share or find joy in. 

What we do have is our journey. Our journey through life. Our journey through adulthood. Our journey through marriage. Our journey through family. Our journey through creativity. And you know what. They are amazing journeys. Just like yours! No journey is too ordinary, too mundane, or too "normal". Every journey has growth, and every journey has joy. Sometimes the joy is easy, and sometimes we have to really work to make it. But it's there. 

Sign by @handcraftedbrunette

And that is what we are excited to share with you and experience with you. We want to share in your joys, and share our joys with you. 

10 Tips on How to Be an Adult

Raise your hand if, as a child, you ever said, "I can't wait until I'm grown up!" or "Grown ups have all the fun!" 

Okay, now that we most of the internet with their hands raised, let's ask this question. 

How many of you want to go back and slap 10 year old you because that kid had no idea what was in store! Good, I see I still have many of you with me. 

Adulting is hard. Adulting is rough. Adulting really should be it's own verb. It's not what most of us dreamed of as kids. But is it all bad? No! Is it tricky? Heck yes! Which is why sometimes you'll still find me in a blanket for with my teddy bear and some ice cream. 

But, despite all the bad rap it gets, being an adult can be pretty awesome. Granted, I only have 12 legal years of being an adult to back me up, but I've come a long ways in those 12 years. I wanted to grow up, got a taste of growing up and decided I didn't like it, tried to pretend I wasn't growing up, and then realized that growing up really doesn't have to be bad!

I've been thinking on this for the past month after receiving an email from Personal Capital about this very topic. So many people want to stay in Neverland, but it's time to embrace adulthood and get our grown up on! It's not as bad as it seems!

So, here are my 10 tips to being an adult that I try to follow. I'm not saying I'm perfect at doing all of these all the time. Far from it. But I find that as I try to follow these tips, my life is better, as is the life of my family. Some are fun. Some are just logical. 

1. Don't Feed the Drama Llama

Drama Llamas. Trolls. Chip on the Shoulders. Haters. Whatever name you want to give them. We all know them. There's often one down the street. And we all have them on our social media accounts here and there. And all we want to do when they post up something offensive, ridiculous, or contrary to your beliefs is to comment and right the "wrong". Don't. Don't feed the Drama Llama. It is always hungry, no matter what. Raise you hand if your convictions were ever changed by an argument on Facebook? Not many hands I see out there. How many engaged in one and left with hurt feelings, anger, or even damaged relationships? Lots more hands just shot up. Don't feed it. Show restraint and maturity and just don't. 

2. Budget

Oooh, the B word. "Dave Ramsey is ruining my life!" a friend joked on social media the other day. Budgeting is hard. Budgeting isn't fun. But budgeting seriously saves your life. We are horrible budgeters. Horrible with a capital H. Why? Because it's hard and we get lazy. Not a good excuse. I know that. So we are working on it. Reading Dave Ramsey. Setting up rules. Trying to do better! Living in a tiny house taught us a lot. It was worth it to save that money. "Live like no one else now, so later you can live like no one else!" -Dave Ramsey And now we live away from the fast food and quick trips to Walmart...which is really going to help us learn to stay on budget better! 

3. Take a road trip. 

Grab your family, your kids, your best friend, your mom, your dog, or your Grandma, and go. It doesn't have to be far. It doesn't even have to be overnight. But get out and go. You've heard me talk before about how doing and seeing new things bonds people together. It's true. Put some good tunes on the radio, grab something yummy (and legal behind the wheel!) to drink, and get on the road. A big key to this one though...put down the phones. You can't make memories if you're staring at your phone the whole time. Talk. Laugh. Enjoy! 

4. Apologize. 

This one is huge. It doesn't happen much these days. When you've hurt someone, physically or emotionally. Apologize. Sincerely. Without excuses. Excuses cheapen the "sorry". Be the first to apologize. 

5. Learn that you don't find Happiness, you Make It! 

Too many get out of college with their big bad degrees and hit the world, thinking they are walking into dream jobs and dream lives. For a few, it happens. For many, it doesn't. And for some this is completely soul shattering. They based all their happiness on landing their dream job with their dream spouse in their dream house. And they can't be happy until they reach their next milestone. If you're waiting for something to make you happy, it won't happen. Choose to be happy now. 

6. Buy a piece of furniture, without going into debt. 

I can't tell you how grown up I felt when we bought our first brand new piece of furniture. Well, something not from Walmart. Choosing the color, the style, and the fabric of the couch felt like such a grown up decision. But even more, buying it and paying cash. Knowing our limit and sticking to it, even though that put the most BEAUTIFUL couch off the list of possibles, was key. We felt proud of ourselves that we'd saved enough to get us a new couch, and one that looked good, and didn't put it on a credit card or start store credit for it. 

7. Plan for the future. 

Make a rainy day fund. Put 72-hour kits together. Set up a retirement account. Learn to can tomatoes. Don't have those resources yet? Keep you car gassed up so you can get to a friend or family member's house if disaster does strike. I'm not saying go mooch off your family and never prepare! I'm saying to do what you can at the moment, always taking steps (even if they are baby baby steps). Gas in the tank can be step one. A rainy day fund can be step two. Take it bite by bite! But plan ahead, because life has a way of stirring things up when we get too settled. Broken pipes and a flooded house. Extended unemployment. Foreclosure. Natural disasters. Retirement. Big family vacations. Nest Eggs. Just plan, and then do the work to make the plan doable! 

8. Bake a cake. From scratch! 

(I did not make this cake! Trust me, mine would look disastrous. You've seen our cake attempts! This was made by Cakes with TLC). 

Most of us aren't chefs. Many of us bake a cake that you pour out of a box (and I know I'll burst a few people's bubble here...baking a cake from a Betty Crocker cake mix is not baking a cake from scratch...start with the cookbook and pull out the bag of flour!). Some of us even are able to burn ice. Even if it's not pretty (and most won't be - this is Pinstrosity after all), you'll feel accomplished. And bonus points if you give it to someone. They'll love the extra time and thought that went into it! 

9. Build people up

Think of two groups of people, each stuck in a pit. In pit #1 the people are all climbing and clamoring over one another, pulling each other down in an attempt to climb to the top first and to get out ahead of everyone. The are all worried about themselves. In pit #2 they are all working together to help everyone climb and rise. They give boosts and before long they are all out of the pit. Which pit do you want to be in? Me? #2 all the way! Don't tear people down. It doesn't make anyone stronger. It doesn't do any good. Be the Good in the World. "A rising tide lifts all boats." -JFK

10. Keep building blanket forts. 

Keep your heart young. Growing up doesn't mean putting away your adventures, suppressing your joy, getting stuffy, and living a boring life. Growing up is just the opposite! It's an adventure all on it's own. One that has twists and turns, bumps and bruises, joys and heartaches, and sometimes the GPS doesn't quite work right. It takes work to be an adult (because I believe that being an adult is way more than just turning 18), but all good things take work. And this, this wonderful life we've been given, is worth the work! 

National Park Free Days: Tuzigoot and Montezuma

Did you know that the admission fees to all National Parks are waived this week?! Get out there!

In my "Living a Life You Love" series I talked about why we feel so strongly about exploring where we live. It's such a special part of our relationship as a couple and a family! So this past Monday Cameron took his last day of leave for the school year and we went exploring some new sites in Arizona. And we had a ball! Nothing fancy, but it was fabulous! 

We started our trip by heading down through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. We didn't get out to play in the water, but we still loved the green and the gorgeous canyon.

Our first main stop was Tuzigoot National Monument. After spending 2 summers working for the National Park Service at Fort Bowie National Historic Site, we have a special spot in our hearts for the National Parks. We just bought our 2nd America the Beautiful Pass and plan on using it fiercely this summer. It's great! We don't feel like we have to spend hours and hours at the park dragging around cranky kids to get our admission fee worth. We can just go and spend 30 minutes to and hour and be done because we're not trying to get $20-$40 worth of an adventure out of the experience. Pretty much we just have to hit up 4 parks with a fee entrance and we've make our pass pay off. We plan on hitting way over that number this summer!

But I digress.

Tuzigoot!

This was a great park! We LOVED it! Darrow could run the trail easily, which meant that he loved it too. 

 Of course he's picking his nose. Thanks child. 

 It was soo cool to get to go up on top of the ruins! The view was so pretty! They sure picked a great spot to live!

Darrow is into jumping now and spent a good chunk of the day jumping along the trails. Man he was worn out by the end!

From Tuzigoot we made a detour up to see Jerome. It's a cute town up on the hill!  

From Jerome we went over to Montezuma's Castle. I remember seeing the sign for this as a child and the images I came up with in my head were spectacular! The ruins didn't end up being as cool as my little kid mind made up, but it was still neat to go see them and, again, a perfect place for Darrow.

It's been too long since we were somewhere with trees! Darrow couldn't get enough of watching the shadows go across his arm. I'd almost forgotten that he did that!

Our last stop for the day was Montezuma's Well. We almost skipped this, and we would have regretted it. I think it was our favorite stop of the day! It's amazing to see this bowl in the desert. The water pours into the bowl from the bottom, and then there is a small natural tunnel off on one side that the water spills out of, traveling through the hill and out the side, keeping the water fresh instead of getting stagnant! It's really something!

Here's where the water comes out of the hill on the other side. It's really amazing! 

We thoroughly enjoyed our family day together exploring the state! Winslow is perfectly situated with all the National Parks around. We have so many day trips to choose from! This gave us a taste of summer, and now we can't wait for school to get over so that we can get to all the upcoming weddings and hit as many National Parks possible!