Family + Home

Last weekend Ryan and I had our niece over to stay the weekend with us. She is five and full of sunshine, her sweet sweet soul! We took her to the farm to play with baby animals and ride a pony. She raced the boys around the track on a green tractor. Uncle Ry gave her a ride on his shoulders. We went out for ice cream and took a picnic in the backyard. We played doctor. And watered the flowers. She was fascinated by the family of bunnies that live in our backyard. She took them food all weekend long and tried her very hardest to catch one. She napped in our bed and I spied on her pretending to read my book. She took lavender bubble baths and we read bed time stories. We ate pop tarts and lucky charms and a whole lotta strawberries. We had popsicles on the back deck and we sang "You are my sunshine..." over and over again. She said the song was stuck in her head thanks to me. She made sure we all drank out of pink and polka dot straws at dinner time. At dinner we said a prayer, and she thanked the Lord above for getting to stay the weekend with us. She called the pink koolaid - lemonade - and I smiled inside each time without the heart to correct her. She picked out a new baby doll and we made tents in the living room. She watched the movie Little Rascals. I tried to braid her hair like her momma, but I need more practice. The bedroom smelled of sweet baby lotion at bedtime. We cuddled in the mornings and she tried to love on Mrs. PB. And we laughed, a lot. 























My youngest sister called me yesterday morning. She wanted to hold a puppy. I'm always the one she calls when she needs a puppy fix, because I'm always up for holding a puppy. So after my hair cut my sister, my niece, and I headed to the mall's pet shop. After our puppy fix we shared a fresh cherry limeade (the best I've ever had actually) and some pretzel bites in the courtyard as Lucca played on all the toys. Then they rode the carousel and my adorable little niece was full of pure joy. It was an ordinary day that fills my heart with gratitude. 






My Ry has been away on business all week and I miss him so much it hurts. He comes home tonight, and I can't wait to kiss him. Today I've been doing things around the house. All the flowers I had picked up at Trader Joe's earlier in the week needed fresh water, and I used old jam jars for a few of the smaller blooms. I rearranged some areas as I cleaned with Lana Del Ray on Pandora. 










I whipped up some fresh homemade cleaning products this morning as well. I'm really bad about following recipes, so I started with some measurements and then ended up just doing my own thing. I hope Ry doesn't mind I used some of his Tito's Vodka. 

Each bottle contains Vinegar, Vodka, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and water. I also added essential oils to make them smell fresh and yummy. I used Young Living's Thieves, Lemon, Lavender, Eucalyptus, and Peppermint. 

Now I won't feel guilty when I clean and my hands are soaking up the all-natural product on the rag. 





Later today I'm going to bake some homemade granola. I have recipe that includes peanut butter and it's definitely our favorite. I'll share it later this week. 

This is the lavender we got in Santa Ynez California here. We met the farmer that actually makes it on his land. I'm diffusing it through the house right now and it smells amazing. 

I bought a brilliant book before we left for vacation, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. I've high lighted many pages. 

If we have a baby girl someday, this Secret Garden Romper, is what I envision her wearing on warm summer days.