Blogger Meet Up

I've never considered myself a blogger.
I don't write everyday.
or every week for that matter.
and I don't make money from what I do.
I don't have millions of followers.
I don't have amazing tutorials,
humorous anecdotes,
wonderfully delicious recipes,
or inspirational stories of hope and success.

I just have me.
my life.
and the few things that I consider to be important.

But I do,
as of last night,
have blogger friends.

and that is the best thing I could have hoped to have gained
from blogging.

Last night was the 3rd
AZ Blogger Meetup.

And instead of dreading the night,
feeling insecure,
and hoping that I would have someone to small talk with.
I was excited.
I was so looking forward to seeing these
AMAZING WOMEN!

Seriously, I feel so blessed to have been introduced
to the women that I spent time with last night.
They uplift me,
laugh with me,
listen to me,
and let me into their lives.

We spent the night at an amazingly cute boutique
in Phoenix.
Clothes Minded AZ.
There was trendy clothes,
friendly staff,
and tasty treats!

I can't think of a better setting for a girls night.

We spent the night laughing, bonding and being inspired by the
wonderful
Miss Ashley from The Shine Project.
and Christian from Phenomz 
and Maggie from Angie 

They taught us that anything is possible,
and that through our blogs,
and social media our ideas can come to fruition,
and we can make a difference in this world
that is far too often filled with images
and ideas
and feelings
that are far from uplifting.
We can change that.
I can change that.

By smiling to people I pass on the street,
by sharing messages of hope and compassion on my blog,
and urging others to do the same.
By having a Christlike attitude,
by serving those around me.
And just by being me.

I can be the change.

Blogging is great.
It inspires.
It brings people together.
It sparks change.

I'm so glad that I have met the people that I have, and that they are so amazingly wonderful!
You know who you are.

Thank you!
xoxo

Home Improvements

One of the best parts of home ownership is all the fun improvements you get to make. You get to take something bland, or crazy, or even downright ugly and redo it and make it your own.

When I was younger I always hated saturdays that involved more than one trip to Home Depot. But now that I have a home, The Home Depot has become a very dangerous store for Alex and I. We can just wander the isles and dream about all the things we would add to our house. And usually we give in to at least one of the projects we want to take on. Its a problem. And our wallets aren't proud of us. But,  our house sure is gettin' cute :)

One of our most recent projects was to upgrade the light fixtures in our kitchen. When we moved in we had these horrible track lights and absolutely no light over our island.

I had wanted to replace these lights from the second we moved in. But we lacked money and electric wiring skills. But recently we were able to go and pick out some new lights, and my awesome Father in Law and Brother in Law (who are both seasoned electricians) were able to come over and help us put up our lights.

We always love home improvements. I love making the decisions at the store and envisioning what it will look like at our house. All the trips are fun and exciting, but this trip to Home Depot was just a little more memorable. We had to buy a few tools and extra things to help us complete our project. One of these items being a HUGE piece of drywall. We bought it, and even asked the sales people to cut it in half for us so that we could {possibly} fit it in our Honda Civic. But when my father in law and I took the drywall out to the car, we quickly realized that there was absolutely NO WAY that it was going to fit. And so we were preparing to somehow tie the huge pieces of drywall to the roof. But as we were getting ready to lift it on top of the car, we heard someone ask us if he wanted him to haul our drywall for us in his van. We quickly told him that we live pretty far away, but thank you so much for the offer. He asked us what our crossroads are and when we told him informed us that he too lives near there and that he would be more than happy to take the drywall to our house. We were so grateful and my father in law rode with the nice stranger.

When we asked him how he new that we needed help when his van was parked 3 isles away from our car he simply said, 

"God told me. And I listened."

Amazing. 

I hope that I can be as in tune with the Spirit as this man was. I appreciate him and his wonderful act of kindness for a few strangers.

And besides, he helped make our kitchen look a heck of a lot prettier :)

Nanny Diaries

So I have been meaning to get on here and write about so many different things. Some serious, some funny, some simply for my own enjoyment and remembering. But today I think should just be a generic update on life.

So, i don't know, but maybe something like 2 months ago my bosses told me that they were planning on moving and that they had found a great new house mansion in Paradise Valley. We quickly mapquested it, and i was shocked to find that my new commute was going to be approximately 55 miles each way; over 100 miles a day. Talk about stress. My bosses saw my face, and told me that we could talk about the details of the commute later, but that they definitely wanted me to continue to be their nanny.

Fast forward a few weeks. I had talked to them a lot about the commute and had decided that it was just going to be too much for me. They completely understood and said that they would hate for their worst enemy to have to make that commute, and that they would be shocked if i had actually continued to work for them. I suggested that they start looking for a new girl to take over for me. a feww weeks later and house is all packed up, they have the keys to the new mansion... and they have hired a new nanny. A girl named Sarah. They found her at a restaurant that they frequently visit. They had worked it out so that I could train her, and then she would take over for me once they moved out to the new house. Everything seemed to be going just fine. Except for the fact that nothing was fine at all. I would cry almost everyday. At work, on my way home, to my husband, to the girls, to my mom. Anyone who would listen knew how heart broken I was to be leaving the girls. I honestly felt like i was leaving a piece of my heart behind for no reason.

(Side note: Obviously i know that I will someday have to leave them to have my own family. But honestly that doesn't seem like something that is in our near future, so i hated the fact that I was going to be done working for them for seemingly no reason at all.)

Anyways, I knew that i had to come to terms with the fact that once Sarah was competent, I would be done. But she never really got competent. She was lazy all the time, forgetful and somewhat lacking in what i like to call 'street smarts'.  I could tell that  it was going to be a rough transition for everyone, but as much as I love this family, i didn't think i could make that drive everyday.

Fast forward through the training process. Its my last day, A wednesday, and i'm still feeling hesitant to leave for good. But I do. I say my teary goodbyes and promise the girls that I will be at birthdays and Christmas parties and that they can call me whenever they want. I told them how much i love them and walked out the door.

My in laws knew how upset i was by this whole scenario so they graciously invited me on their family vacation to the Grand Canyon. It was a blast and i am so blessed to have such wonderful inlaws that love me so much. We were having a great time, so i was concerned and shocked to see Dorian (my boss) calling my at 7:00 am on friday morning. I was greeted on the phone by a crying boss telling me that they NEEDED me back and that things with Sarah just were not working. Sarah had apparently left Kennon, 5 years old, alone in the pool the day before, and they had just found out that Sarah also has 5 DUI's on her driving record. All of this, mixed with the fact that she simply wasn't a good fit personality wise with the family, had made for a pretty drastic phone call.

I told Dorian not to worry, that I would be back on monday and that we can figure this whole thing out together. She said she was so grateful, told me she loved me, and hung up.

I immediately called Alex and we discussed the possibility of me making the commute to Paradise Valley everyday and all of the Pros and Cons that go along with it. And after much discussion and prayer we decided that with family this loyal and wonderful I didn't have a reason to be done just yet.

On monday when i arrived at work I was met with happy tears and a pay raise. They told me that they couldn't imagine life without me and that they wanted to do whatever they could to make it so that I would stay. I gladly accepted and told them that I always kinda had a feeling I would be back ;)

So now it has been about 3 weeks since I have been making the long commute, and honestly it isn't that bad. Sure getting up at 5:25 everyday isn't great. But the traffic isn't bad at that time so I can make it work in under 50 minutes which is way better than I anticipated. The raise helped a ton with gas money and then some! and i still get to see my babies everyday! so all in all i think things worked out the way that they should have.

I just wanted to keep everyone in the loop since i know i had mentioned before that i was leaving this job. :) but now you know, i'm just way to valuable of a nanny to lose!

I'm so so glad I get to stay with these munchkins for a little while longer!