just a saturday in the back yard

the weather was AMAZING this past weekend. cool in the morning and evening but warm and sunny during the day. we spent most of our saturday outside... playing, working, learning.
we felt it was time to take raelyns training wheels off, she wasn't so sure it was time, but brenna thought it was a great idea. garret helped her take a lap around the yard.
we had a picnic lunch outside (you can still see jori's lunch all over her face) and jumped on the trampoline.

raelyn did take a try at the bike with daddy's help

brenna almost got it!. just look at that proud smile on her face.
a laid in the grass with baby kitty in my lap. anyone want a kitten. we are trying to get rid of 4 more kittens!
my handsome guy looking all grown up
just talking together on the tree fort
you can see it on her face...sweet joy of us just spending time together.

thankful for:

weekends spent in the back yard

our amazing backyard we have to enjoy

getting work done together as a family

eating a picnic lunch

making banana smoothies

watching my girls try new things

beautiful lady

growing up my friends and i would get all dressed up and do home made "Glamor Shots". Glamor Shots was a place in the mall where you could go and they would do your makeup and hair and you had outfits to choose from, then they would photograph you and make you feel super pretty. i have always struggled with self esteem, but looking at my Glamor Shots photos, i always felt pretty. they always did a great job of telling you that you looked great and just really boosted my self esteem. so sometimes, my fiends and i would make our own homemade glamor shots. i enjoyed making someone else feel the way i felt at the real studio. i wish i had some photos easily accessible to show you. they are pretty funny now, but we sure enjoyed doing it.

one of my goals, when i do a photo shoot is to make the lady in the photos feel good about themselves. almost every shoot i do, the women are hesitant and say they don't care for photos of themselves. i hate this for them, as i know exact ally how they feel, BUT when i take their photo, my goal is to change this! i want them to look at the photos and feel beautiful, if it is a family shoot, i want them to be able to see how important they are to their families.

i had a blast last weekend playing "glamor shots" shots again with my friend kara. she is beautiful! i hope she sees it in these pics.

check out more of this REALLY FUN shoot here.

thankful for:

FRIDAY

for date night with my hubby and friends last night

meds to make my little baby feel better

a house and bed to sleep in, even if i didn't get much sleep last night

amazing weather

getting out of the house peacefully this morning with the kids (not always the case)

thursdays...i pinned it, i did it

diy silver polish

while getting ready for my craft sale i have been on the search for diamonds in the rough. i found a few silver pieces at a consignment shop for a buck. they were in pretty bad shape but they were cheep so i thought i would give this a try. the recipe is simple and you probably have all you need already in the house. here's what you do:

To polish silver: Wash items, then place on aluminum foil in the bottom of a pot. Add a baking-soda solution (¼ cup soda, a few teaspoons salt, 1 quart boiling water) and cover for a few seconds. The result? A chemical reaction that gets the black off the gravy boat.

click here for the original link.

my pieces were large platters so they didn't fit in a pot, i used a baking dish and had to do the process a few times rotating the platter each time. two of the pieces had rust marks and the rust even started eating away at the silver. this process did nothing to take the rust off. however on my piece that was just tarnished it worked GREAT. totally worth a shot if you have silver that needs polishing.

also i LOVE this wall display

so I don't mind to much that one of my pieces still has the old patina on it. i will be on the look out for a few more. maybe i can hang them on my kitchen wall.

ww...favorite book

another inspiring momma

one of my best friends from high school, found out recently that the life she is carrying inside her will not live for long after delivery. the condition is called anencephaly. just typing these words brings tears to my eyes again. my heart is so heavy for my friend. after reading One Thousand Gifts a while back i try my best to look at all situations knowing that God is in complete control of them and will use EVERY situation to bring glory to himself if we allow that to happen. my friend Leah and her husband ARE allowing that to happen. already, they have ministered to my own heart and i know they will be touching many more with their story. a story of grace, and love and peace that only our heavenly father can give. it is something that just blows my mind. please read her blog. she is an amazing writer, so honest and also funny. please also keep her and her family in your prayers during this time.

thankful for:

friends that have a strength from the lord that ministers to my own heart

the GOOD i KNOW he will bring from leah and onans story

it warming back up just a hair

garrets teacher continuing to be such a blessing to us

free bedroom makeover

it is so hard to believe that it is OCTOBER! the new year will be here before we know it. this time of year always seems to fly by for me.

i wanted to share my FREE master bedroom switch up. not really a make over, just switching some things i already had around to give our room a slightly new feel. i love to change things up in our house and for the past few years i have switched out the bedding in our room. for six months i use my spring and summer stuff and for 6 months i use my fall and winter stuff.

the top picture is of the room done up for fall and winter and the bottom is of how it looked for the spring and summer. all my bedding coordinates with each other so just switch a few things around, same pillows just they are two sided, same throw but it is also two sided. the shames on the bed in the spring really go with the comforter i use in the fall and vice versa.

it is really hard to get a good picture of the color of our walls. it is more of a gray than is shows in any of these pictures and each one even seems to have a different tint. originally when we built the addition i wanted to do our room in grays and yellows, but i knew i already had these two comforters that i loved and i didn't have the budget to buy all new bedding. when i found the throw bellow i fell in love and it had grey, yellow and brown in it so i could still use the bedding i have had for years.
and a bonus was that it was reversible. i love things that have a double duty. my favorite pillow on the bed is reversible too. one side is plaid the other is the embroidered flowers.

do you switch things around to tend to love what you have and leave it? maybe my artsy brain gets tired of looking at the same thing.

thankful for:

a huge consignment sale that is going on in greeneville this week

cooler breezes

a relaxing and fun photo shoot with a friend this weekend

new couples attending our sunday school class

a warm house

inspiring momma...

i want to share a blog with you today from a friend i met through MOPS. her name is courtney, she is a wife, mother of 4, and has a heart seeking out the lords will in her life. she is preparing to leave on a missions trip to africa, with an organization called Sweet Sleep, in about a month. i would love for you to read her story. truly inspiring. please join me in praying for her trip and if you can, support her financially too. i know God is doing great things through her. alright enough of my own words.... click here for courtneys blog.