40th Par-Tea

My sister in law and I both turned 40 this July, and my mom wanted to celebrate. When we turned 30 we went on a birthday cruise, which was fabulous and we said that we would do it again when we turned 40. But, with work and health, and all of the other things that get in the way, we just weren't able to make that happened. So, my mom decided to throw us a surprise tea party. Except, it wasn't a surprise for me. Ha! She had to tell me so she could convince me to make the drive home to Arkansas. We told my sister in law that I was coming up to drop off two of the girls for their annual "Camp Gee" and that we would go shopping Saturday to celebrate our birthdays. When she walked in the house, she was surprised with a tea party with so many of our close friends and ladies that have impacted both of our lives. 

My mom did a fabulous job setting everything up. She use to collect tea sets and has a great collection and was able to decorate 3 different tables. This one in her kitchen had blue tea cups and flowers. 

The kids table had a smaller tea set with a few flowers. 

Her dining room table had more tea sets, hat boxes, rose bowls, and flowers. It was gorgeous.

She picked up a strawberry cake for my sister in law. 

And a chocolate cake for me. 

We were "kissing our 30s goodbye" and all of our guests were able to take home hershey kisses. 

Another table view, along with the balloon garland. 

She served chicken salad, fruit, scones, chips, cucumber sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches, and pinwheels. 

She also made the most delicious punch. 

We were all there waiting on my sister in law to arrive so we could "go shopping."

My mom had crowns and made sashes for us to wear. 

I was so thankful that my mother in law could make the drive down to join us. 

We had the best time eating and chatting. 

Big thanks to my mom for throwing a 40th birthday bash! It was so much fun and worth the drive home. 

 

Amazon Lately

It's been a while since I've shared an Amazon Lately haul, but with summer winding down and back to school around the corner, I've found some finds that I thought you'd enjoy!

Here's a look at what we've grabbed off Amazon Lately. 

Gretchen asked for a soft pencil case. She looked on line and found this one, so we ordered it for back to school. It has lots of different pockets and space to hold everything she'll need for high school! 

Have you heard of dry brushing? I had heard of it years ago, and thought it sounded cool, but never got around to doing anything about it. In May, some of team young living was doing a lympatic challenge, and talked about how dry brushing can help your circulation and support your lymph system, and it's great for cellulite. So, I hopped online and ordered this dry brush. I've been using for a few weeks now, and just taking some time to self care has been so nice! 

We ordered this inflatable bowling set for Adalyn's birthday and it's definitely something we'll use over and over again! 

I love using roller bottles to make rollers with my essential oils. Plus, these are great to give as gifts to friends who might need to try something, or when the kids need a roller whipped up for school. are my favorite! 

I know I'm not the only parent that has a hard time finding goggles for their kids. My kids are so incredibly picky about goggles. This set was recommended by another blogger, and I immediately ordered them. Once the girls received them, they fell in love with their new goggles, and I'm not hearing them complain at the pool anymore. 

Rustic Maka is my favorite deodorant brand with clean ingredients that won't leave a rash under your arms. 

And finally, I ordered an immersion blender to mix quick drinks and supplements in. This one came with two different attachments. 

That's it for Amazon Lately! I would love to hear what you've ordered lately! 

 

DJ's 42.....

Over the weekend, DJ turned 42. We low-key celebrated his birthday, but we were just thankful to have had him home over the last two weeks. 

Saturday night, we went out to see Where the Crawdads Sing. I read the book when it first came out and loved it, and had been waiting for the movie. I honestly thought it would be one that I would just go and see myself, but when he said he wanted to see it too, I was like, heck yes! Let's go. So we went to see it Saturday night, and it was good. 

Sunday morning we slept in, so I didn't have time to cook breakfast, but we did make it to church. He said he just wanted to go out to eat for his birthday, so we opted to go after church. When we were walking in, Gretchen grabbed his hand, and I knew I needed to snap a pic, because this may not happen much more as she gets older. 

We went to County Line BBQ, and fed the turtles while we waited for our order. 

Adalyn loves turtles; they've been one of her favorite animals since kindergarten, so she totally loved this experience! Once again, she asked for a pet turtle for Christmas. We just can't convince DJ. 

We were able to walk right in, and our wait for food wasn't long at all! In fact, we were busy feeding turtles, and Megan ran back to the table and found our food waiting on us. 

I ordered the half pulled pork and half chicken, two service of potato salad. (I hate cole slaw). 

DJ is basically a barbeque connoseiur. 

After lunch, the girls had ice cream. I had peach cobbler, and DJ had banana pudding. Admittedly, he does judge BBQ restaurants based on their banana pudding. 

We went home and enjoyed a quiet and somewhat lazy afternoon. 

We were so full from lunch that we opted to skip cooking dinner, and just have cheesecake. His other favorite dessert. 

Here's to turning 42! 

DJ we love you bunches. We are so thankful that you are ours. 

 

Turning 40.

I didn't mind turning 40, but somehow typing this post out makes it feel more real. I have heard for years that the 40s are the best. You know who you are, you embrace it, and you basically live your very best life. So I decided that my birthday was going to be fabulous, and that just maybe, I wouldn't want to stay 29 forever. (I use to celebrate my 1, 2, 3, etc. year of turning 29, rather than actually celebrating 30, 31, 32) Sigh. 

The day before my birthday, we came home from our camping trip, unpacked the camper, did some laundry, house cleaning. It was basically a normal day. DJ and I took my "last night as a 39 year old" picture, which is tradition with our kids birthdays. 

Megan and Adalyn brought me breakfast in bed. After I gave them strict instructions to not wake me up early, and after I told them exactly what to make me. I found over the years that if I didn't do this, then I would end up with the strangest breakfast combos that I wouldn't really eat. You can't even imagine the breakfast in bed these girls use to make up when they were little. The thought is sweet, but the whole act actually drives me insane. Thankfully, this breakfast was exactly what I wanted, and as I was eating, DJ came home with Gretchen! She had been away at church camp the entire week. 

After breakfast and catching up with Gretchen, I showered and got ready for a fun day out with DJ. The great thing about turning 40 and having older kids, is that we don't need a babysitter anymore. 

When he asked me a few weeks ago what I wanted to do for my birthday, I told him that I wanted to explore the murals that are well known in downtown Austin, go out to eat, and go paddle boarding at Lady Bird Lake. So, that's exactly what we did. 

Our frst stop was the Butter Half mural. 

Then we drove to San Jacinto and found this guy. 

We hit up the 6th street mural, which was a little more impossible, because it's right off the interstate access road. 

This mural on S. Congress has always been a favorite, but we never stopped by- DJ always told me the murals were dumb, but he didn't know how much I needed these for the 'gram. #kidding #kindof. 

A view of downtown from S. Congress. When you drive on this street, you head right toward the state capital. 

Another bucket list item- I would love to spend a day at the Austin Motel. 

DJ actually requested the postcard mural. The girls and I visited this spot a few months after we first moved to Austin, but it was during football season and DJ wasn't able to go. 

Afterwards, I asked him to take me to Hayley Cakes. They have the funnest Instagram account and all I really wanted for my birthday was to have one of their iced chocolate chip cookies. This one was perfect for turning 40. 

I also ate every bite and didn't feel guilty about it at all. 

After my cookie, we went paddle boarding. Since we only have one paddle board (I swear we are going to get 2 more), DJ rented a kayak and I kept the paddle board. We paddled an hour out, and basically made it back to Congress street. 

There were so many groups of people hanging out. We basically felt young and cool, even though we are not. We also decided that the next people who visited us in ATX, would have to be taken paddle boarding on Lady Bird Lake. It's a must do, and something we want to do again. 

Some downtown views. 

I loved hanging out with this guy for my 40th, and I'm thankful that he put up with all of my Austin bucket list ideas. It's funny that we have lived in so many spots; we've explored so much, but there's always spots we never get to explore and then we move. I'm trying really hard to embrace Austin and all there is to do here, and all that we still haven't done even after living here for 4 years.