Blessing Box

Last weekend my mom whisked me and my sister away for my birthday to the Women of Faith conference in CT.

This was my first official time leaving Adalyn!

I had left her one other time before in February, but that's when Mr. B and I had the stomach bug and my mom came to rescue her so I feel like that time didn't really count seeing as how my time away was spent with the toilet.

Mr. B happened to be away this weekend too so I was leaving Adalyn with my dad and my brothers. 

Cue slight panic attack.

But here's the thing...my dad is a...dad.

Of four.

So I'm pretty sure he can handle a couple days with a toddler. 

My eyes only watered when saying goodbye and the rest of the time I did great!

Oh yeah, and so did she.

And my dad. 

It definitely helped that I was busy with awesome worship by Gateway Worship

great speakers

Angie Smith- blogger celebrity. 

She's our good friend... she just doesn't know it yet. 

Cece Winans brought down the house.

Junk food was consumed.

Unfortunately extra sleep wasn't had. 

That's a definite complaint I have about these conferences.

Hello WOMEN of faith.

MOMS of Faith.

TIRED moms of faith who would love nothing more than to sleep in in a nice dark hotel room. 

C'mon now. 

Can I get an amen?!

Anyways, the next day consisted of more speakers, more awesome worship and a little Third Day concert. 

We finished off our time away with a yummy steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse. 

It was a fun and refreshing time away! 

There's a first time for everything and now I think I can handle a full weekend away sans Adalyn. 

My dad also did a fantastic job at keeping me updated which helped a lot!

He was always texting me pictures, videos or sharing little stories.  

He was in heaven and it was the sweetest thing.

Through this time away I realized how much of a blessing it is for me to give this time to others to be with Adalyn without me- it's nice for everyone. 

It was a special time for them and they all loved it! 

We ended up getting home a little earlier than expected so with that and daylight savings I was able to soak up time with my girl before bed. 

We spent the night at the farm and then I got to wake up to her excited for church and singing her favorite worship song.

{She stopped singing when I recorded, but started back up :) }

Talk about blessed, right?!

Blessed to have an awesome dad who was so very willing to watch Adalyn and soak that one on one time with her. 

Blessed by that time away with my mom and sister.

Blessed to be surrounded my so many women of faith {no pun intended...}

Blessed by a time of worship with so many believers.

Blessed by the words the Lord put on the heart of the speakers.

Blessed by these opportunities! 

What have you been blessed by this week?? Grab the code, link up and share! 

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Blessing Box

This week I was blessed with a weekend away with my little fam!

I was hoping to post about that, but I'm too tired to edit all the pictures tonight so I'll {hopefully} post about it later this week. 

Which pretty much translates into never, but we will see what happens. 

So today I'm just going to post about the blessing of an impromptu night with my family. 

I am so blessed {and thankful and love} living close to my family! 

Last night we went outside for a little and ended up playing in the leaves.

Adalyn had a blast!

I love these sweet moments filled with fun and family. 

It doesn't get much better. 

We are so blessed! 

There's so much joy in the simple things. 

Grab the code, link up and share how God has blessed you this week! 

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Blessing Box

Another week has come and gone. 

Just like that. 

Time goes by so fast and it's getting to be a bit ridiculous. 

And slightly annoying. 

Once again, I'm linking up with Natalie and some sweet friends for another week of the Blessing Box. 

The blessing box has become a blessing in and of itself- for keeping me accountable with blogging AND looking for the joy and good in my week. 

Win-win-win. 

Everyone should join!

Period. 

This week I was blessed by the fair. 

Sounds a little silly, but I'm blessed by events that are out of the ordinary and that give us an opportunity to make memories and cherish some special family time. 

We were torn about going to the fair this weekend- it's kind of far, semi-expensive, during naptime, during the football game, etc etc- but we did it and I'm so glad that we did! 

We enjoyed delicious food {duh}. 

{Insert yummy chicken tenders and fries that were devoured before getting a picture}

Watched a dog show. 

Met some farm animals. 

And enjoyed our time together.

At this age you really start to plan activities for them and their excitement and it's so fun to see. 

A sweet age where they want their independence, but still want you by their side. 

Just not right by their side. 

We've been hearing lots of  "Me. No, me" lately.

Okay, big girl. 

But there is one area where she does need us right her side 

and I was beyond blessed that Daddy was with us so mommy could "stay with the stroller."

 As we were leaving the fair {and sitting in traffic}, I was noticing that everyone had at least one person in the car with them.

I mentioned to Mr. B how awesome it is to have special things like this that bring people together. 

Whether it be friends or family-and Lord knows everyone and their mom attended the fair this weekend!- it's such a blessing to have these opportunities to have fun, make memories and enjoy the simple things!

How have you been blessed this week?? Grab the code and link up!

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The Blessing Box

Today I'm linking up with some of my favorite bloggers that have become my closest friends! This was originally Natalie's link up a few years ago and we are bringing it back with a new look and new friends. Copy the code at the end and feel free to join in and share the ways that God has been blessing you this week! This week I've been blessed with the blessing of a church family.  Something I've always wanted and something that I know will continue to grow and be strengthened overtime.  Included in this is also the blessing to go to the same church as my immediate family.  I love that we can all worship together on Sundays.  I love that our family has been extended and we now have a church family outside of just our family. Was that enough "family" for one sentence? I'm not sure... We have all branched out and formed our own relationships and it's been wonderful.  We had been hurt by our previous church, we church shopped a bit and we have been going to our new church for a little over a year. It is exactly what we needed- for both my family and my little family. God knew.  We were craving the community.  The church family.  And now we have it.  On Sunday after church we went to a park and played Ultimate Frisbee with some church friends. And by "we" I mean Mr. B, my two brothers, sister and dad. Me, my mom and Adalyn ate french fries and watched. Just keepin' it real.

Adalyn is so loved at church.  You can usually find a little group of older kids around her at any moment and it blesses my heart. I am so thankful for them, the love that they have for her and also the love that she has for them.

I'm blessed by my group of mom friends from our church. Another thing I had always craved.  Not only can we get together and have fun, I know I can count on them for anything. To have friends to turn to, that can back you up in prayer, is such a blessing! 

There's so much blessing in church community. Church family. Friendships founded on the Lord.  If you don't have that I'd encourage you to step out, get plugged in and find it! 

You will be blessed! 

On a sidenote: Today is the first day I didn't have to wake up early and have strange men banging on my house all day! HUGE blessing, let me tell ya! The siding is finally finished and I'll post pictures after I get the fall decor/flowers up and it looks all pretty! Grab the code, link up and share how the Lord has blessed you this week! And be encouraged as you read how He has been blessings others!   

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Misc. Monday

Another 2 weeks have come and gone and I'm back at it with a bullet point post. 

I am on a roll.

Go me. 

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This weekend we finally cashed in some gift cards we had and went out for dinner at Longhorns.

It's been a while since we've been out to a real restaurant! 

It was delish, as always. 

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Yesterday was my little brother's first ever football game.

I was so nervous for him- worried her would get hurt {Friday Night Lights anyone??}, worried he didn't really know what he was doing, worried that he was doing it more for my other brother and my dad- but he was totally amazing. 

I hate to say we were all shocked...but we were all shocked. 

He scored three touchdowns and two 2 point conversions.

My little brother, the video gamer couch potato, did that.

I was beyond proud of him!!

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If your husband asks for these cupcakes

just.say.no.

Ain't nobody got time for 50 step cupcakes.

Next time I see "premium" I will know that it's not for me. I'm perfectly content baking "average" cupcakes.

Maybe, maybe, in my housewife, newly wedded bliss life I would have been more enthusiastic about such things.

Four years in and with a toddler, the last thing I want to do is line the pan, melt the butter, mix the graham cracker, cover the bottoms, mix the cake mix, put a little in each one- not too much not too little, carefully drop in marshmallow mix-avoiding the sides of the liner, cover the marshmallow mix, bake, frost, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs. 

I'm good, thanks. 

And the end result?

Something you'd love to hear after wasting an hour of your life....they taste like s'more poptarts.

Awesome.

Never making cupcakes again. 

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In other news, this dinner was so yummy!!

I had planned on making pineapple fried rice and while I was at the store I found this sauce for the chicken. 

Can't wait to have it again, it's just what I wanted!

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Tomorrow starts a new link of with some of my favorite blog friends!

I'm looking forward to it! 

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We've been having cool fall weather and it's been wonderful!

Also excited for the fall shows to kick off- Ellen starts today! 

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Adalyn fell at a friend's house and hit the side of head/ear on a coffee table.

Through this we discovered that ears can bruise. 

Probably something we should've known and that is most likely common sense and something we really did know deep down, but initial reaction was a bit surprising. 

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I'm trying to grow my hair out again. I've made it through the dreaded flip-out phase {praise the Lord}, but now I'm in the always-in-a-pony-tail-phase-so-might-as-well-have-it-short-and-cute phase.

But at least her hair is growing fast and I can make one of us look good

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Two weekends ago we finally finished unpacking/cleaning out basement. 

It's not what I envision the end result to look like, but at least for now it's presentable and no longer embarrassing. 

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We are getting the siding done on our house and new windows put in. 

I feel like it's taking for.ever.

In the meantime, I feel "trapped" at home even though we would be home anyways and I'm unusually exhausted because I know I can't nap. It's a bit ridiculous how the mind works.

It will look so good when it's finished and I'm looking forward to putting up the fall decor!

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My first official overnight trip away from Adalyn is booked.

I'm freaking out about on the inside.

And a little on the outside.

I have 2 months to process/prepare.

She's almost 2, I realize this is also filed away in the "Ridiculous" category. 

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I'll finish this off with another Timehop memory- a year ago today Adalyn took her first steps!!

So incredibly crazy how fast time goes by!

Something I think I'll always be in disbelief of. 

join in on the random shananigans: