Grand Canyon Trip

On May 17th, Eric and I celebrated 3 wonderful, amazing, crazy, learning, BLESSED years of marriage! To celebrate, we took a road trip 4 hours north to the Grand Canyon to get some alone time, camp out, and do a little hiking. Let me tell you... putting up a tent is definitely like a marriage counseling session. You work through some issues, haha! But watch the sunset at the Grand Canyon and snuggle in a blanket by the fire under the stars, and everything is good again. :)  It was chilly at night, but gorgeous during the day as as hiked 3 miles down into the canyon on Saturday... and 3 miles back up. It was a great little get-away for us - so enjoy the pictures :)

Beautiful view off the road outside of Flagstaff

Smores!

Catching Up

I don't want to even know how many days it has been since I last blogged. Not that I am a slacker... trust me. I've been busy buying a new house, packing to leave for our trip home to Indiana this week, working on my graduate class, working 40 hours a week, etc. BUT, I have missed blogging! So this will be a catch up blog - and will include some Thrifty finds!

Tomorrow, my hubby and I are headed HOME to INDIANA! We haven't seen our families in a long time and we'll be spending a week with them! My sister-in-law is getting married next weekend and we're both in the wedding! I'll post in a blog when we get home about our trip. But later this week, I'll be blogging about our trip to the Grand Canyon last weekend along with pictures. It was gorgeous!

So for starters... we're buying a house!!! We put an offer on a 2 story, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home in Sun City (Peoria School District though) and it was accepted! We should be moving in mid-June, so I will have a lot of packing to get done in the next few weeks! I feel like I am a pro, however, with moving across the country around this time last year. I pack up our entire house, by myself, in Indiana, when my husband had to head to AZ before me to start work. Yep... I think I can handle packing an apartment. Here's some pics of what the house looks like!

Front of the house

Kitchen

Eat in Area

Master bedroom

Master Bathroom

I think the first thing my mom said, "Wow, you're going to have a lot to clean!".... thanks Mom. Now I am aware of that. But it will be worth it! It's a great house for our children to grow up in, in a great school district, so I am so thankful for God. He intervened on this house hunting process in a great way!

In addition to the happy home buyers... I also am a happy clearance shopper lately. And here is why:

Super soft cream shirt: Target Clearance $4.94

Headband: Charming Charlie's $3

Cream Shirt: Target Clearance $3.98

Black Pencil Skirt: Target Clearance $4.94

Headband: Charming Charlie's $3

Love those cute headbands I got at Charming Charlie's for $3 each!

Setting Goals: How am I doing...

So usually on Tuesdays, I write about the different goals I've been wanting to achieve. And today I'm going to be completely honest and let you know how I am (or am not) working toward these goals. I have to say... there are things I'm let myself down in and it just means I'm going to have to work that much harder to be intentional in achieving these goals. There are a few things I've been working harder at and being intentional in my efforts, so I can say I'm a little proud of myself, but there can always be improvements made.

So... Let's review the first two categories of goals... shall we? Okay!

Spiritually and in my marriage:
1. I want to be intentional in my walk with Christ by praying and digging into the Word on a daily basis.
*Praying is definitely happening everyday, all the time! Actually diving into my Bible... that's a different story. Maybe once or twice a week? I know.. not cool, Kelly. This has always been a weakness of mine, but I love when I do read and find something God is using for me at the exact moment in my life. Something I do love doing is writing in a prayer journal.


2. I want to be intentional in my respect and have a servant's heart for my husband and in our relationship.
*I have prayed for a long time to be a selfless wife; to serve my husband, love him unconditionally, and to be his supporter. I feel like this will always be a work in progress depending on what we face. But I do hope my husband sees how much I respect him and want to serve him as the leader of our home. He's a great man.


3. I want to be intentional in praying for our marriage, specifically for each other, for our future children, family, friends, our home, and our jobs.
*With the exciting, big things that have been happening in our lives, we've been praying together everyday! Sometimes several times a day! Between Eric's new job, looking for a house (and putting an offer on one!), our families trials and health, and celebrating with those who are being blessed... we are faithful to pray!


Physical/Mental Health

1. I want to be in the gym, working out, 5-6 days a week and start eating more healthy. 

2. Lose 8-10 lbs. by June 1st!

*So #1 and 2 go together... the purpose of my working out and eating better is to lose weight! I am at the gym everyday but Wednesday (usually my papers are due that night) and Friday (date night) usually. I enjoy it, it's hard work, but getting that workout in has been essential to by stress level (the decrease of it that is!)  The weight loss part... well I can tell that I'm toning up more, but I still have a solid 5-8 lbs to lose yet! I have discovered how much I love spinach salad. Yes, mother, this is me talking, your child who HATES anything green and is labeled as a vegetable. I now am loving my spinach, as well the wide variety of fruit that are always in season in AZ! Did I also mention frozen yogurt.. which is usually fat free and low sugar? Can't get enough.

3. Get more organized in my masters degree (a.k.a not procrastinating!) Get and stay organized in our apartment, closets, etc.

*Closets organized- check! Am I still procrastinating? - check! I am doing better about not waiting till the last night before my paper is due... but this is still a work in progress.

So there ya go... yes some more dedication and effort need to be put into some of these areas where I'm slacking and trust me... the encouragement is appreciated! It's not easy to set this many goals for yourself and not expect challenges. But, I CAN do ALL things through CHRIST who strengthens me!

AMEN?! Amen.

Thrifty Thursday!

Happy Thursday friends!

It's time for another episode of.... Thrifty Thursday. I know, I know, I have definitely been slacking in the blogging posts this past week or two. But here I am ready to share some of my great finds! Starting with my outfit today! This was not planned when I put it on, but as I looked at what I was wearing, I thought it was a great example to share with you!

Everything I'm wearing, the entire outfit was purchased for around $42

Starting with my white shoes, just got these adorable little things at Target yesterday for $15. Flat are great for work and just walking around on the weekend. After wearing my dog chewed flats for about 2 years... I knew it was time for a new pair!

Next my grey casual pants are from a GAP outlet.. I found these just before Christmas and they were originally at least $30 and I got them for about $7. (It was actually a Christmas gift from my hubby, but I picked them out!) You can wear them as long pants, or roll them for cropped boyfriend pant look.

My tank top is from H&M... $5

And my blue cardigan is from Old Navy, also a gift for Christmas but was around $15

Of course, I'm also sporting my SHINE necklace, which I got last weekend!

The headband... well it's a hand me down from years ago, so I guess I can call that vintage?

Also a great find yesterday... $4.98 white earrings at Target! Perfect for summer!

Has anyone else discovered some great finds lately?! If so, let us know!

A Shining Weekend

On Saturday morning, I was so thrilled to be able to participate in the first service day for The Shine Project! As I drove up to the domestic violence shelter's donation center south of Phoenix, I was full of anticipation and excitement to meet Ashley, creator of The Shine Project, as well as all the other shining women that would be helping out that day. When we learned about what the center does for domestic violence victims in Phoenix, I was so eager to get started helping in their enormous donation center. The center not only provides a safe place for the women and children who are needing to escape in the middle of the night, but also helps the women to gain back control of their lives. They provide transitional housing for the women and give them the freedom to choose from all of the donated items to put into their new home. A lot of organization needed to be done for clothing, housewares, toys, etc. So it was our job to organize racks and racks of clothing that the women would go through. It was really a blessing to see a group of women brought to together to help other women in need.

I met some AMAZING women who are also bloggers and followers of The Shine Project and finally received my SHINE shirt and SHINE necklace! (As displayed in pics, of course!)  I can't wait for the next Shine Project service day!

ALSO, on Saturday, my husband and I along with our church volunteered to help out with Relay for Life in Peoria. As we stood at the Survivor Table and handed out their free shirts and bags, it was amazing to see the number of people and the vast ranges of ages that are surviving cancer. Everyone from grandparents in their 80s and 90s, to teenage girls and a 9 year old boy diagnosed at birth. The hope in their faces at that event was amazing; to see the joy of those with cancer coming together to support one another and to be surround by friends and family supporting them was incredible!

Sunday... we went hunting. House hunting that is! This is when I kind of wish I called HGTV's House Hunters and asked to be on the show.. I've always wanted to do that! ANYwayss... we did see 8 houses and a potential house to build. We were interested in only 1 of the houses and very interested in the option of building. So we are doing some major prayer time about this and really opening our hearts and mind to what God has for us. More to come......

Has anyone else had experience with building?! If so, let me know what you think about it and if you'd do it again! Any advice will help!

Have a great week ya'll!!