Am I the only one who makes a random decision at 9:47 one night and then insists that everybody fall in line? This is probably the thing that drives Josh the craziest in our relationship -- the phrase she has a bee in her bonnet is thrown around on a regular basis around here.I've been camping my entire life. Maybe you would call it something else because we summer in a travel trailer, but we always slept in tents when I was a little girl, so camping is what we call it. Josh and I are on our second travel trailer -- we had a tiny one before the girls were born and after renting one for several summers in between, we bought our current trailer. She's a 2007, but we like that she isn't a super new model. The floor plan is more open and there aren't as many cumbersome modern amenities (think ...
Our Love Story | The In Between
Josh graduated high school that same year and left me behind. Well, he still lived at home in the same house, I just wasn't able to follow him around school all day. Although, it was still pretty early in our relationship, it was pretty clear from the beginning that we weren't planning on going anywhere. Thankfully, we didn't have one of those relationships that fell apart and came back together over and over -- we never broke up and I don't remember ever thinking that it wouldn't work out. We talk now about how rare that kind of relationship is and how different life could have been for us -- we are so thankful that it wasn't. It is amazing to look back on seventeen years and see God's hand in our relationship from the very beginning. The decisions we made that helped keep us on the same ...
A February Day in the Life
I love the idea of documenting a random day of the month to show you what life looks like on a more regular basis, but perhaps I should have set a reminder on my phone, or considered that the day I planned to document, was the day after we returned from San Diego and jet lag would completely erase all coherent thoughts from my head. It might not be the day I had planned, but I did at least choose a day when nothing special was going on -- I'm vowing to bring you a random snapshot of our lives each month, not a scripted, activity-filled adventure. Meet February 13th. Even though I've been utterly exhausted, I'm making myself get up early in an attempt to reclaim my regular schedule. I drank too much coffee in the sunroom (the light and view are beautiful in the morning!), while ...
Travel Diary | Carlsbad, California
When I made our travel arrangements for California, I was thinking the earlier, the better when it came to our arrival. Getting to San Diego by ten o'clock in the morning sounded great, but the two o'clock in the morning wake up call was not cool. We managed to get the kids in bed pretty early the night before and get almost all of our bags in the car and ready to go. Fortunately, they were so excited about our trip (and their first flight) that we had no problems getting them up and ready. They giggled the entire way to the airport and were rock stars when it came to navigating the security and boarding process. We even got compliments from a few nearby passengers on how well behaved they were <just insert all the praise hands here>. We actually arrived in the San Diego ...
Coffee with Kristin 008
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that jet lag is a real thing. I have never had a problem adjusting after travel (granted we don't typically fly too far from home), but this California recovery has been rough. The kids bounced back pretty quickly, but Josh and I are both still struggling. I'm getting up at the right time every day, but I cannot go to sleep at night. Eleven o'clock feels like nine o'clock and before I know it, my potential sleep for the night is dwindling away. How do you ever recover? If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that we watched Into the Wild last night and it was GOOD. Josh and I have always been big movie people, but for whatever reason we watched only a handful in 2016 (I blame Netflix). We have started the year strong and have been ...
Little Letters | February
Dear Virtual Friends, I’m so excited that you’re back here again this month. I hope that we can grow this little linkup together and learn all sorts of fun things about each other as we go. Dear New Visitors, This is our favorite new linkup. The second Friday of every month, we’ll be sharing Little Letters together on our blogs. Write a series of letters to anyone or anything you’d like and come back here to link up. Don’t forget to share with your friends. This is one of those times where “the more, the merrier” definitely applies! Dear California, you were perfect. How is it that every trip is just the best? Dear San Clemente, we all agreed that you are the best of what California has to offer. Your sweet white houses with blue awnings are adorable. Your twisty streets ...
Our Love Story | The Prank Call
Weeks before that first basketball game I was home alone when the phone rang. I remember answering and hearing a boy say: My brother is in love with you! Then there was some commotion and the call was disconnected. I never thought much about it or who the caller might be. I always assumed it was a prank call, but I would find out I had assumed wrong. Josh was back at school the Tuesday after our date and our regular routine resumed. We casually flirted at school and talked on the phone after dark. I think we almost always started out on a three way call with Chris, but he would bow out at some point each night. So much of our early relationship was wrapped up in our friendship with Chris -- the three of us were always together and he knew as much about our relationship as I ...
What I Read in January
Disclosure: Affiliate links appear in this post. Any purchases made using these links will earn Taz + Belly a small commission. You can read more about our affiliate relationships here. Not only am I recapping last month's reads today, but I wanted to fill you in on my reading goals for 2017. It is virtually impossible to read much more than I did last year, simply due to my current season of life. Instead of focusing on a year long goal, I want to make sure I'm reading more consistently on a regular basis. This year, I'm going to aim for four books a month and make sure at least one of them is nonfiction. In my review post each month, I'll tally up the total for that month as well as offer an overview on how the entire year is going. Let's dive right in! I love how Leah is ...