Weekend Wrap Up: Mountain Climbing in Arkansas

Happy Tuesday friends :) This past weekend was busy, and we're still trying to recover. I love being able to travel, but it makes for a hectic time trying to get back in to the swing of the week and back in to our routine.

Today, I'm sharing a little weekend wrap up and including all the fun we had from our traveling!

Thursday night, I dropped off Megan at gymnastics, went to the gym, and then Addy and I stopped by Lowes to buy a few flowers for her class garden day. She picked out little flowers and a bell pepper plant. 

Friday, I was able to join her during my lunch break while her class planted flowers. 

She had SO much fun!

After school, Megan made her way down to my room and practiced her headstands while we waited on her big sister. 

We had DJ's car, since he was home packing mine for our weekend trip, and I let this girl sit in the front seat! It won't be long before the girls are arguing over the front, and we have a pretty strict rule that no one is in the front until age 12, but.... DJ's car is a hassle to buckle in Megan due to the tightness of booster seats and car seats, and we were heading straight home, so we made a one time exception. 

We arrived at my parents late on Friday night, and then Saturday morning, we were up early to meet my sister, nephew, and niece to climb Pinnacle Mountain. 

I grew up climbing this mountain and when I turned 35 last summer, I wrote a bucket list of sorts of 35 things I wanted to do when I was 35, and climbing Pinnacle with Gretchen was on that list. 

Here we are at the top. 

Gretchen and I were going to climb alone a few weekends ago, but the weather was cold and rainy. We were happy that this guy could tag along too. 

DJ an I at the top. 

Gretchen had fun pretending she was an only child! 

My niece is in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii (lucky girl!), and was home, so we were SO excited to get to see her!

When we reached the bottom, Gretchen played on the playground, and there was an Earth Day event, so we took home a few free plants, and Gretchen did some leaf art. 

We spent the afternoon wedding dress shopping with my niece, and then we came home to play and cook. 

I love that the girls get to experience the taste of the country. They had a blast jumping on hay bales, picking wild flowers, and jumping on the trampoline.

Saturday night, we had a good ole cajun crawfish boil. 

Yup. that's our crazy crew. 

It was so, so good to see this girl! I'm so proud of the choice she made to enlist in the Navy!

My parents have a dog, Ralph, and Adalyn has been deathly afraid of Ralph for the longest time. He's kind of an ugly dog, and I mean that in the nicest way possible :) She's finally warmed up to him and we found her kissing and talking to him. She's my little dog lover.

And hey, check out this cake my mom made for Shelby's welcome home party :) 

After dinner, Shelby asked all of the girls to be the flower girls in her wedding! They are SO excited! Especially because they get to wear a pretty dress too!

Sunday morning, I walked in to my mom's kitchen to find the girls watching The Greatest Showman on the iPad. 

And we loaded up and headed home mid morning on Sunday. And y'all, if you travel or road trip, then you basically need this oil. One child was throwing a fit because there was "nothing to do" and telling us we are the "worst parents ever".... so, I grabbed this bottle of oil, and swiped a bit on Megan and Adalyn's wrists. It wasn't too long before Adalyn was asleep and Megan had calmed down. 

I spent the rest of Sunday at the grocery store, and lunch prepping, while these girls practiced gymnastics.

DJ went to the gym to run, and I made smoothies for the girls for dinner.

It was a busy weekend, and we're looking forward to another get away this weekend! 

35 in 35

Earlier this month, I celebrated my 35th birthday. Yikes! Ha! I was not thrilled about turning 35. 

A few days before my birthday, DJ and I were running an errand, and I started thinking about how we needed to have more fun in our life. This year, I've really been focusing on myself and making myself a priority. Pouring in to my cup, so I may pour in to others. I also started reading OOLA for Women, which helps find balance in an unbalanced world. 

OOLA comes from the word "oolalala" and focuses on 7 key areas of life, and making sure they're balanced. Faith, Family, Fitness, Field, Finance, Friends, and Fun. After reflecting on my own life, I'm learning where I'm balanced, and where I'm needing to find more balance. 

Anyway, this reflection led me to the idea of having more fun in my 35th year..... enter in 35 in 35. 

35 FUN things I want to do and experience in my 35th year. 

A few weeks ago, I sat down to make a list, and figured out that I would need to complete at least two items on my list a month, in order to accomplish everything in the next 52 weeks. 

 Number one on my list was to hike Petit Jean and see the waterfall. So the morning on my birthday, DJ and I got up and went for a hike. 

 And it was totally worth it! 

So, here's the rest of my list, and what I've completed thus far.....

2. Go to Pawhuska, OK, where the Pioneer Woman's mercantile is.

3. Climb Pinnacle Mountain with Gretchen. 

4. Indoor Skydiving (I'm not brave enough to do it from a real airplane!)

5. Pay off a Credit Card. (we have one card that still needs to be paid off, and we're working our way toward doing just that, and being debt free from credit cards by the end of the year!)

6. Reach 1,000 followers on Instagram. 

7. Achieve the rank of Gold with Young Living.

8. Hire a house cleaner.

9. Take a trip with DJ that isn't football related.

10. Try a new restaurant.

11. Loose 10 pounds. 

12. Run a 5k in less than 40 minutes.

13. Run 1 mile without stopping.

14. Get a facial.

15. Get a massage.

16. Cut out sugar. (Maybe.)

17. Take a girls trip.

18. Have a girls night.

19. Make a new friend.

20. Write a will.

21. Save an extra $3,000.00 (I totally just picked a random number!)

22. Volunteer at Second Saturday. 

23. Leave a surprise gift for someone.

24. "Run" 5 miles on the elliptical.   (COMPLETE)

25. Begin a Bible Study.

26. Go to a Football game without kids.

27. See a waterfall in Oklahoma.

28. Take a trip to Oklahoma City.

29. Shop at Whole Foods.

30. Go camping. 

31. Buy a new piece of furniture or rug. 

32. Have a no phone day. 

33. Go to a concert. 

34. Watch a play.

35. Play golf with DJ.

So many of these are just random, but I tried to find ideas that would fit in to each of the 7 F's, and be fun to complete for myself or with my family. So far, I've completed two of the 35. Technically, I had a girls trip last weekend, but it was with my family.... I want my girls trip to be with some friends ;)

I'll be sharing updates on the blog throughout this year and on Instagram. You can follow along by searching #35in35

What have you done to make your birthdays a little more exciting?