Picking Blueberries

If there's one thing that I love: it's blueberries. And there's two other things that I love: free things and fresh things. Add all three of those things together and that makes for a pretty perfect day. After my friend's shower this past weekend, we got to go out and pick fresh blueberries from their yard. We each filled up ziploc bags full, although some of us (Melissa!) filled up two four bags full.

It was so nice to literally pick a blueberry and be able to eat it right there on the spot. We probably had a little too much fun and we ended up being out there for about an hour. The berries were delicious, too, so juicy and sweet. I finished the last few off today and now I'm ready to go back for more. Lucky for me we are picking again next week for her wedding. I'll definitely share pictures. 

Dear husband, let's have blueberry bushes one day. 

His Word

God's word is rich and full, containing everything that we need at every moment that we need it. You just have to read it consistently to find it.

I've been praying a lot lately about reading the Bible. I've prayed for dedication in reading, passion to read it and guidance for where to read each time that I sit down. It's amazing how you can read something that relates exactly to the situation you are in right now. God is faithful.

Here's a few verses that I've bookmarked lately. Read His good word.

Spur one another on in the Lord. We all could do that more.

Forgiveness - give it freely and without question.

God can do ANYTHING. He sustains.

Sometimes and Always #28

Sometimes: I forget to eat before I go grocery shopping. 

Always: That's what happened yesterday. Now we have Oreos and chocolate chip cookies. 

Sometimes: I have so much fun intentionally annoying my hubby (like last night when he was watching some horrible loud war movie). 

Always: He doesn't even get mad...he's a champ!

Sometimes: I decide not to clean my house for a week...or two. 

Always: When I can see the layer of dust on everything, it motivates me to clean. 

Sometimes: I try to think of a complete and healthy meal for dinner. 

Always: I prefer to snack...like with this whole bowl of guacamole. Yum. 

Sometimes: My heart aches because of all the pain and suffering in the world. 

Always: I'm so glad that through Jesus we are freed from it. 

Sometimes: I laugh when people say, "YOU have a PIT BULL?!"

Always: He's the biggest baby ever...such a momma's boy. 

Sweet Diesel. 

Now say a little hello to my sweet sponsor (and friend!) Anna as she shares a few Sometimes/Always with us. She loves her hubby...and she's a nurse...and she's funny...so that definitely makes her one of my favorites! : ) She's also the cutest thing on a bike that I've ever seen. She actually makes exercise seem like fun! Don't miss out on her sweet blog!

Hello there, soon-to-be-friends! I'm Anna, I blog over at The Days When I'm Not a Nurse. Just to warn you, it's going to get all bikey on my blog soon. Husband and I are participating in our first charity rides this summer and I WILL be posting about it. Plus, we both celebrate our birthdays in the summer (June for me, July for him), so there will be cake involved. :) I promise, I do talk about other stuff too. Like being a nurse. Intrigued? Come over and say hi, I love to meet other bloggers! 

Sometimes: Dinner fills up my belly.

Always: I can squeeze in dessert. 

Sometimes: I watch TV when I go to the gym. 

Always: It's on the Food Network channel. 

Grab the button from my sidebar and link up with us today!

Celebrating Love

One of my best friends is getting married in June and this past weekend we had a little bridal shower to honor her. It was thrown by her sister and it was just adorable, including sweet mason jars, burlap and twine and enough delicious food to feed a small army group of hungry women. 

We played the bride/groom questions game and raced to make the cutest toilet paper wedding dresses, all the while shrieking and having quite the best time...with stuffed bellies, of course. 

Dress: Kohl's / Necklace: c/o Across the Pond

Crunchers recipe via

It's always fun and inspiring to rejoice in the love that two people have found with each other. These two are super precious and I can't wait to be a part of their wedding. Now I just need to diet for the next two weeks to make the bridesmaid dress fit. Wish me luck!

Treasures

I've mentioned it a few times before, but we are looking/hoping to move this summer. There's a few reasons, but the biggest one boils down to the backyard. We have a small little rectangle of a yard...and three 80 pound dogs. Needless to say, we would love to have a huge yard for our pups and for babies down the road. We yearn for land and stretches of trees and green grass. We also want something that is a little more price friendly for me to be able to work less when there are babies in the picture. We have always said that we never want to be slaves to our house. We want to live within our means, not above them. 

We have been blessed with a really beautiful house, though. It was new when we moved in and it has all of the "pretty" features, like granite counters and wood floors and walk in closets. This is where the hard part comes in. We are trying to UPsize our house size and land and DOWNsize our price. That basically means that the inside of the house is not going to be quite so...pinterest looking. 

And I'm okay with that, most of the time. I know that pretty doesn't make up for things like fresh air and space. I would rather watch my pups be able to run around freely than have pretty floors. But there are some days when I'm looking through houses online and I find a house with the land/price that we want...and I see inside pictures...and I think oh gosh, that kitchen hasn't been updated in 100 years...and where would all my clothes go...and those floors sure would look prettier in dark wood. That's when my materialistic desires creep back in. 

Lately I've been praying for the Lord to take those desires away from me. It's not about the actual final decision on a house, because we are committed to choosing space/land/price over prettiness. But I want to be satisfied and proud with where the Lord leads us to that is appropriate for us. By golly we didn't have granite counter tops growing up and I loved our house all the same. A few nights ago I asked the Lord to speak to me through His word and He led me to this verse, which I've heard before, but haven't spent much time praying over until recently. 

There's my answer. Why obsess over treasures on Earth, when the only treasure that matters is in Heaven? I want the desires of my heart to be the Lord and His work. 

Faith, family and friends...that is what really matters.

And hey, I'm by no means saying that we shouldn't have nice homes/things. Like I said above, it's just about living within our means (your means are different from our means) and ultimately ensuring that our life glorifies the Lord above all else. 

Cue ending of the longest post ever. Happy weekend, y'all!

Husband Points

Today I'm going to brag on my sweet husband. I think it's so important in relationships that we talk/think GOOD about our significant other as much as possible. There's enough things in the world that are trying to bring marriage down, so we have to be the ones protecting it! Sometimes my hubby does things that just make me feel so blessed and so appreciative and I just wanted to take this post to remember a few...you know, for those days when he's driving me crazy. ; )

- Coming home from work and the house is sparkling clean. 

- Watching him roll around on the floor and play with the puppies. 

- The fact that he rarely, if ever, gets mad or loses his temper. 

- Getting surprised with a drink when he comes home. 

- Allowing me to take a million pictures "for the blog." 

- Walking in the bedroom to find the bed made because he knows I like that. 

- Holding hands and praying together. 

- Letting me be lazy at home sometimes while he runs errands. 

- Not complaining (too much) about having to watch my reality shows. 

Now here's the challenge for today: think less about the negative and more about the positive. Let the little "annoying" things slide and think about the things that really matter! Appreciate every act of love and make sure that you return the favor. Men like sweet surprises, too!

What's something sweet that your significant other has done for you lately?

I Need a Personal Chef

Confession time: It's been awhile since I've cooked. 

And by awhile I would say...two weeks. Cue shame. But I'm dedicated to getting back into the meal planning game, especially with my dad's heart stuff going on. I told him that I'd use Pinterest to help him find some new and healthy meals...and now I'm hungry...and I've decided that I could eat healthy if I had a personal chef to do it all and just present me with the finished product. 

I need to make a lot more money off this blog if that's going to happen.

Or one of y'all could just come live with us and cook in exchange for free housing. Apply for said position through email. Be ready to make dishes like this:

Sweet potato veggie burger via 

Grilled zucchini pizza via

Pineapple shrimp fried rice via

Skinny buffalo burger quesadilla via

Southwestern stuffed sweet potatoes via

Pineapple bliss cupcakes via

Greek yogurt chocolate cake via

Is anyone else starving yet? 

I'm linking up with the adorable (and newly pregnant!) Michelle. Go congratulate her!

Sometimes and Always #27

Sometimes: I wish that fast food places served healthy alternatives. 

Always: I'd probably still choose french fries. 

Sometimes: I notice that I keep buying the same color nail polish over and over. 

Always: They tend to all be from the pink family. 

Sometimes: I wish that we had a pool. 

Always: It just feels better cooler to lay out in a pool. I can last at least 10 minutes that way. 

At my aunt-in-law's house. 

Sometimes: Parents get sick unexpectedly and it's scary. 

Always: I'm glad that God is a healer. 

Sometimes: My favorite tv show (cough, cough: Grey's!) kills off someone that I really like. 

Always: I cry throughout the episode. Like a baby. 

Sometimes: I can't believe my hubs and I took our three 80 pounds puppies on a road trip. 

Always: It makes for an interesting (and cute!) car trip. 

Now say hello to my sweet sponsor Amanda from For Love of a Cupcake as she shares a few Sometimes/Always with us. Her blog is full of everything that I love: wedding inspiration, cute puppies, love and stylish outfits. Fun note: she met her fiance' at the gym! She also has an adorable shop full of colorful bracelets. She's basically does it all...and looks precious doing it. 

Hi there!! I'm Amanda! I'm a goofy, crazy, random gal! Currently planning my dream wedding and living in a household with two crazy pups and a health nut! Oh what am I saying...I'm kind of a health nut as well...with sweets sprinkled in!

Sometimes: I don't feel like getting up at 4:30 am to do Crossfit and workout. 

Always: I feel so much better about myself afterwards...even tho I may be walking like a granny!

Sometimes: I crave chocolate.

Always: I crave any type of sweets/dessert!

Grab the button on my sidebar and link up with us! 

The Best Kind of Wedding

This past weekend, among running back and forth to the hospital to see my dad (he's doing good!), I went to my best friend's little sister's wedding. That's a mouthful, huh? 

It was a church ceremony and a backyard reception and it was absolutely precious. Totally Pinterest worthy, in other words. ; ) The couple both were at seminary together and it was just really clear how much they loved the Lord and loved each other. And those are the best kinds of weddings...where you can not only see, but FEEL the love in the air and you just know that it is a God-given match. 

Dress: TJ Maxx

That cake was fork-licking good. 

Stunning wedding, right?! They are just the cutest. 

Now I want to get married again...to the same guy, of course. 

Three Things

Three things I'm thankful for this Friday:

- That my dad's surgery went well. Praise Jesus. 

- That my job is flexible enough to allow me to be with him right now. 

- The support and love that all of y'all have given us in the last two days. 

It's so hard to see a parent sick, but I am so thankful that my dad is through surgery and on the way to a full recovery. God is good, all the time, all the time. 

Have a great weekend. I'll be back around soon. 

Scenes from Mother's Day

My dad is having open heart surgery today, so please say a prayer for him. We are spending today and tomorrow at the hospital, so I thought I'd go ahead and share a few scenes from our Mother's Day weekend. It was a difficult day for me personally, but still an absolutely beautiful day because I love to celebrate my mommy. There's just something so nice about making your mom feel special. 

This is my grandma's yard...amazing, right?!

BBQ for lunch. 

My sister and I. 

Red velvet cupcakes. 

Dress: Kohl's / Cardigan: TJ Maxx / Necklace: Kohl's

All in all it was a great day spent with family. That's what makes days really special.