you are not your dream.

As I was reading my "You're Made for a God-Sized Dream" inspirational daily calendar today's message was:

"An odd thing can happen on the way to a God-sized dream. Somewhere along the way we can begin to confuse our dream with who we are. You are not your dream. Yes, it's an important part of your life and calling but it's not your identity."

This had me really thinking..there are a lot of times I want to try to be my dream, I get to wrapped up in how I want to be like others and and I'm not being my true self. 

Time to change, time to start being my true self, I challenge all of you to be your true self as well!

Time to reflect

As I sit outside watching Matt grill pork-chops and Mason stuff his face with Cheerios handfuls at a time. The leaves are slightly blowing and cars are passing by. 

I think about how thankful I am for many things in life that I truly take for granted.

It's disgusting how satan always tries to temp us. This morning in church they talked about how hard Sunday mornings are. Isn't that the truth. This morning we didn't want to get out of bed at 730 when usually I get up at 630. Then off the bat a small fight started. We got to church right at 830(which is late for me). The 2nd song we sang, Lord I Need You. We all need him all the time, every day.

I'm thankful for a relaxing weekend, family time at the orchard, for my husband to cook dinner so I can just relax even more and for the beautiful view of God's creation.

getaway experience

Bundled in sweaters

hands pulled in

ears so cold 

we wished we wore coats.

but...we sure did enjoy our getaway days in Duluth, MN.

Day One: 46 degrees in the rain.mist

we put on smiles.

enjoying the fall colors,

quality time with only 

the man I call "hubby"

Day Two: Beautiful 62 degrees 

 this was our view on our drive in from our hotel

beautiful.

if you're heading up North

stop here

simply delicious

to wrap up our final day.night

what a gorgeous view

Our Duluth experience was simply

beautiful.breathtaking.unforgettable.mesmerizing(hubby's word) 

take.me.back.

a glimpse of our time well spent

a glimpse of our Labor Day weekend...

while at grandpa and grandmas, Mason enjoyed hanging out in the chair outside while we took down the pool. Life is tough at 14 months!

Mason got to have a special treat after supper, a cupcake, he enjoyed every lick of it!

Electronic Monopoly with my niece and nephew! 

Matt got to play video games with someone other than people online! 

Currently this is what our kitchen looks like, a disaster. A gate to keep a babe out(who loves the cheerios in the background), tape on the trim and a room that is half painted! 

relaxing afternoon spent trying to share our toys outside and be nice to our friends! 

over all it was a great weekend, it was nice to be home a full 2 out of 3 days and sleep every night in our bed for the whole weekend for the first time this summer! 

Birthday Weekend Comes To An End

As my birthday weekend comes to an end, here I am hanging our swimsuits and towels out to dry! I couldn't be more grateful for an amazing weekend! We sure found out in the last few weeks we have a swimmer on our hand! Mason loved every minute of Wild Water West and we have also been going to the YMCA! He also loves the water slide! 

Dinner at the Hitching Post followed by a couple games of Dutch Blitz with some great friends. A day in Sioux Falls with some tasty food, good shopping and laughs while swimming.

Praising God at Church followed by a Kids Eat Free meal at Dickey's**already buying kids meals for our "little guy" he eats like his dad!! :)** and a swim at the YMCA! 

Now for finishing laundry and cleaning up supper...then Relaxing! 

Lots of "first"

As many of you know we went to PA to visit family a few weeks ago. Mason had his FIRST plane ride and did amazing! They only time he cried was when we were landing in Atlanta for our 25 min "layover". I quote it because our plane was late getting in, the stroller wasn't ready, and we had to RUN to get to our next gate(down a long hallway, down an elevator, on a tram and to our next gate, our only breathing point was on the tram!)

A little glimpse of what it looked like when we arrived at my parents house. In case you aren't sure what the first picture is, it's a light switch. Yes very old house but it is homey feeling. My parents were so excited they got all these toys out for Mason to play with! 

I have been to PA almost every year since I was born however I wanted to check out some new things! I pinterest some ideas before we left and came across this beautiful park "Ohiopyle State Park" Little did we know that our first point I wanted to see was over a mile hike..if you know PA it's NOT flat! Everyone was drenched with sweat by the time we got done(sorry too much info??) It was well worth it && so beautiful!! 

The next day we went to my cousins pool, and this was Mason's FIRST time swimming! He loved it! It was also great to see my dad in the pool with him having fun! That really put a smile on my face!! 

Mason is ONE! Where has the year gone!!?? Seem's like just yesterday we were going in for our 41 week ultra sound! 

He woke up with balloons(thanks to Auntie Nola for the idea!) We then all had our FIRST train ride to go around Horseshoe Curve! He also had his FIRST piece of cake at Hoss's and then back home for a birthday party at Nana & Papa -- he had his FIRST Gob(I will include the ingredients at the bottom of the blog post!) So grateful to be with our PA family for his birthday! 

We woke up on 4th of July and wanted to take Mason to meet the family that wasn't going to be with us. It was very emotion for myself as I had never seen where my grandpa was laid to rest, I never got closure with my grandma as I didn't get to go to her funeral and my aunt's life was cut short unexpectedly just months before our wedding. But after Mason had got to see them I spent some time alone talking(more like crying) with them. I know they were listening and they are watching down every day on us. Watching our family grow and we will have so many stories to share with Mason(and our future kids) about them! :)

Then we went to the Blough Family Reunion! It was awesome to see a lot of the Blough family! It has been years since I have been to a reunion and Mason sure did enjoy the attention! 

My Grandpa Saylor's birthday is also on the 4th so we celebrated that and then went to the fireworks in Johnstown! It was a great way to end our vacation! :)

Mason's 1st Birthday!

7/3/14

Mason Matthew:

-20lbs 7oz -- 29.5 inches

-We have got him fully off formula and eating table food!! yahoo! :))

-Sleeping 10-11 hours at night 

-Loves to walk around the couches 

-Loves to clap 

-Size 3 diapers

-9-12 Month Clothes

- Loves to talk(da-da is his favorite)

**Photo Credit: Kandice Mae Photography - Mason 1 year pics**

**Photo Credit: Kandice Mae Photography - Mason 1 year pics** 

 7/3/14 - 1st Birthday in PA --

  7/3/14 - 1st Birthday in PA --

  7/3/14 - 1st Birthday in PA --

  7/3/14 - 1st Birthday in PA --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

  7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

11 Month Photoshoot

6/3/14

Mason Matthew:

-20lbs 14oz -- 29.5 inches

-Eating 6-7oz of formula every 3 hours, eating fruits and veggies and have started table foods.

-Sleeping 10-11 hours at night 

-Loves to walk around the couches 

-Loves to clap 

-Size 3 diapers

-9-12 Month Clothes

- Loves to talk(da-da is his favorite)

a little bit of relaxation

I have an obsession with moving, yes you read that right, moving. Maybe not so much moving but more I have never been "content." Since graduating high school five years ago I have moved thirteen(13) times. We moved to Marshall 2 years ago, so yes that was thirteen times in three years that I moved! 

When we moved to Marshall, Matt and I were two months away from getting married and we moved into the house I grew up in. Which happen to be the house my parents still lived in. Wedding stress to us both starting new jobs to living back with your parents after you moved out three years previous -- it was crazy and stressful! 

Shortly after we got married my parents moved to Pennsylvania where the rest of my family is and we started to slowly hang up some pictures. However, they were only up for a few months until I got the urge to move again. We listed the house for sale and took down all the pictures we had just put up six short month prior.

Well we have never had what has felt like a home, so we decided to take the house off the market after seven lonngg months of  it not selling it. To finally start making it our home, starting with our bedroom! .. Where to start right? Well good thing there is Pinterest and good friends! 

A huge thanks to my hubby who puts up with my instant must haves(when I get an idea it needs to be done right away!) and to Katie G.(click here to check out her blog) and Karen H. for helping with the design/decorating. Also thanks to Pettis Family, Macey and Isabella for helping paint/watch the kidos!

Paint - Gray Ghost by Pittsburgh Paints 

Headboard - DIY :)

Comforter - Gordman's

Night stands - Garage sale and stained/spray painted

I still need to make closet curtains, stain our storage chest and dresser, get a desk and make pillows but it is finally starting to feel and look like a home(even if it is just our bedroom so far!)

10 Month Photoshoot

5/3/14

Mason Matthew:

-Didn't have a chance to get his weight or height :(

-Eating 6-7oz of formula every 3 hours & loves eating his fruits/veggies! 

-Sleeping 9-10 hours at night 

-Loves to pull himself up and stand! 

-Loves to clap and crawling everywhere

-Size 3 diapers

-6-9 Month Clothes

- Loves to talk(da-da is his favorite)

(We tried pictures 3 different nights and this was the only good one we got!)

AdvoCare - Cleanse

In the middle of March we decided to sign up and give AdvoCare a shot. My main reason was for changing our diet as we were eating out or eating extremely unhealthy every day. When I say unhealthy I mean we never had fruits or vegetables in our house, our "side" for meals was a bag of chips split between the both of us! We would go through at least 2 cases of pop a week(48 cans) and we would eat a lot at one sitting. I didn't/don't want to raise Mason like that and I knew we had to brake the habit. So we decided to do the cleanse.

We weighted in on 4/6/14 pm:

Matt: 290

Halie: 194

10 days of EATING healthy, no we didn't starve, AdvoCare isn't a diet, you aren't going to starve. We now have breakfast every morning, 2-3 snacks, lunch and supper! We haven't had pop in our house since the middle of March, we have ONE spark a day, Matt if work is really busy will have 2. 

Weighted in on 4/17/14 am:

Matt: 280

Halie: 182

Matt lost a total of 5.5 inchs

Halie lost a total of 13.75 inchs

We feel amazing, we are continuing on eating healthy, yes we will have chips just not as much as we used to eat. Our portions are now reasonable and we are having fruits and veggies every day!! Check out my AdvoCare Recipe tab for you picky eaters! 

9 Month Photo Shoot

4/3/14

Mason Matthew:

-Weighing 18lbs 3oz

- 27 inches long

-Eating 6-7oz of formula every 3 hours & loves eating his fruits/veggies! 

-Sleeping 9-10 hours at night 

-Loves to pull himself up and stand! 

-Loves to crawling

-Size 3 diapers

-6-9 Month Clothes