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Not Just a Mom
I want people to feel more authentic, free & alive.
Have you ever had times in your life when you haven’t felt that?
I felt that when I became a mom. I knew things wouldn’t be the same but not realizing what that looked like was so unknown to me. From not being my typical size, not having the freedom to go do whatever, from being tired & just learning this new role. It was a BIG adjustment and honestly no one talks about it & a part of me felt that this new role as mom sort of made me give up any other identity I might have had. Then after kiddo #3, I decided to live life more authentically, which meant letting those areas of my life that I was deeply missing come back to life.
Even though I loved being a mom, somewhere along the way, the wife, athlete, traveler, adventure, creative self of me was gone. God created so many unique things that make us a whole person to shine for his glory, but sometimes the lies we allow ourselves to hear create lost souls with missing pieces. We walk around half full, unfulfilled, comparing our half lived life to the best part of other people’s lives. No wonder why I felt so incongruent with mine. When I made a choice to abide in things I was created for, I really felt alive. Not necessarily in material things, because those will never be enough, but in God and the things he has designed for me. I felt more authentic. I chose to seek out friendships that challenged me to grow as a individual, traveled more, joined a running group, even counseling!Now, my kids not only get a mom that gets to share things that she loves & is good at with her kids, but they get a whole mom without missing pieces of herself. And the best part about this journey is that I have chosen to invite my kids to be a part of the adventure, creating more memories. Over the years I have seen that there are so many other women that feel the same. The biggest reason why I still surround myself with the dreamers of Isagenix. Sometimes you just need a little encouragement & a vehicle to allow you to learn how to love all the things about yourself & help others do the same. The world needs more love. People loving themselves enough to use their God given gifts to love others.
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The Rise of Entrepreneurship
If you have pulse and are breathing, you probably have noticed more people getting involved in entrepreneurial type endeavors. And more than likely you have been either been involved one or has had someone approached you to be involved in one or at least try their products or services. No matter your thoughts on this, times are changing and then need for additional income, flexibility and creativity in the workplace is greater than ever before. Gone our the days where you work at the same job for 40 hours a week for 40 years and then retire. There are many parts to why that equation is gone, but it would be naive to think that model works for our fast pace, do more with less mentality that we see across the board. Thankfully, the freedom for entrepreneurship is at your fingertips to bring back life to the workforce and for many the excitement and creativity to do what they love. But choosing the right avenue is definitely key. The right product and/or service that is needed at the right price and of course stands out from others paired with the best compensation to build your dream really make a difference. Insert, Isagenix into my equation. I have always been passionate about health. Hence, one reason why I went into health care and got my bachelors of science in nursing. Even though, I loved learning about the body and how to treat and care for it, a huge gap I was seeing is on the preventativie side. Have a long list of meds and medical conditions seemed to be the norm for the people would see on a daily basis and it just seemed to be accepted as ok , we have med for that on the medical side. And granted, its really hard to help people that don’t want to be help or don’t want to make changes, we owed it to ourselves to do better. So that’s where Isagenix fell into my life. Creating simple solutions for people ease the physical buderns that are ailing by nourshing their bodies with the nutrients they need and letting the body work as it is made to. As soon as started nourshing my body with Isagenix. I knew that this was a game changer, not only for me but could help so many people . The reason I started to pursuse this as a side hustle intially. And what I had come to find out was it was much more than prodcuts, but truly a mission to help people . So these past couple days I was fornutate to be able to travel down to Arizona for a leadership retreat with our team.
Dreaming, collaboratig, learning from each other as well as getting pretty spoiled at the corportate office. This company loves working with people in the field and getting feedeback from their associates. Not many billion dollar companies take time to meet with their associates and collaborate with them to better the future of not only the company but the customer experience both current and future.
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Gorgeous Hikes
If you live in the PNW, we have an abundance of beautiful hikes. Put Silver Star on your list to hike in June! You will get to see beautiful wild flowers as you hike up to the top where you are able to see 5 mountains that are a part of the cascade range on a clear day . Hiked this recently with some friends and was totally refreshed by the views and being out in nature.
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Birthday Twinning and Freebies
This year, I celebrated my birthday with my birthday twin and we hopped around Portland taking advantage of our birthday specials. There are actually quite a few places that offer free items for your special day and we made a little route in SE Portland with a few of the places.
Follow along on our journey!
First stop Denney’s for a free Grand Slam Breakfast. You just need to show your ID
Next stop, Dutch Bros for a free drink. They are always so friendly here, but you feel extra special on your special day.
After that we were quite full already, so we made a pit stop at Mt Tabor and walked around and took in some lovely views of the city while we digested some of your food…because , well, we needed to make room for other things!
3rd stop. The Waffle Window on Hawthorne. This was my first time here and it was sooo good. They offer sweet and savory waffles and I of course choose a sweet one for the occasion. This one you need to sign up in advance but it’s so worth it and will definitely be going back.
Next, Fat Cupcake. The names seems fitting since we were feeling like one so far…and keep in mind it’s only 11:00 in the morning! All you need is an ID with your birth date on it and you get to enjoy one free cupcake!
5th stop… ok we needed to slow down. So I got a pedicure and Carmen got a manicure. Super relaxing and drank mimosas. Not too shabby!
Then off to Nothing Bundt Cakes. This one you had to sign up in advance, but totally worth it! With a May birthday, they had a seasonal strawberry bundtlet that was sooo good. And I am not a big cakey type person but this was delicious!
After this we spit ways and I met up with my husband and we headed off to Pastini. This cute little pasta place in SE and we hit in time for happy hour too, so discounted drinks and apps, along with my free entree of my choosing made for a pretty snazzy evening. You also need to sign up for this one in advance and I would definitely go back to this place.
Last stop, and I barely made it, but Cloud City Ice cream in Woodstock. You just need your ID for this and you get a free scoop! Birthdays are not complete without icecream and this place is da bomb with their homemade ice cream.
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Thai to Go
Anniversary trip to remember
Marriage is sure not easy. It’s daily choosing to love your spouse more, choosing to see the best, choosing to serve and wanting the best for the other person. Some days we get it right, others it’s a work in progress. But continuing to work at it, breathe life into will always reap great results. So for our 10 year anniversary we knew we wanted to go somewhere. A place we hadn’t been and do things we wouldn’t normally do or couldn’t do because we had the kids with us or budget reasons. When I saw a timeshare spot open in Thailand , we went for it. Not really knowing anything about Thailand except that we liked the food and they have some beautiful beaches. We only had 11 days at the beginning of February to spend there, so we made the most of it.
We started our trip the northern part , in the city of Chiang Mai. I actually knew a gal that lives there with her family and she was able to help us out with tips and also picked us up from the airport. It’s the largest city in northern Thailand, that is bustling with people, markets, and temples and not to mentioned amazing Thai food that was so inexpensive. The currency of Thailand is called baht and for about 32 baht equals 1 US dollar at this time.
Day 1: Actual day 1 because the first 2 included flying across the pacific and into the next day. So for real day 1, it included taking a taxi to old town Chiang Mai. We walked around the temples. And ladies, make sure your legs and shoulders are covered while walking around the temple grounds and in the temples. We opted to try out both Joel and mine’s favorite dish, pad Thai, and for 60-70 baht we got delicious pad Thai with shrimp. There are tons of markets around with people selling food, clothes, bag, shoes, artwork, soap… you name it. So we took advantage of the different markets to buy souvenirs for our kids and for our parents. Oh and maybe a few for ourselves. Basically day 1 we played tourist. Most people spoke some , English…at least enough to get by. And we always brought the business card of our accommodations that was in Thai so we knew we could always get back
Day 2: Elephant day! This was on my to do list forever! Now there are many sanctuaries throughout Thailand where we could have seen the elephants but some were not the best caretakers of the elephants. We were recommended Patara Elephant Farm and we cross referenced it with Trip Advisor and after being there I would say it’s a must. A lot of the elephant were rescued from other places and now they have acres upon acres to roam free. We signed up to be the elephant owner for the day. This included feeding, brushing , bathing, and playing with the elephants. It also included a short ride on your elephant to the swimming hole where the elephants played in the water and so did we. They also fed a delicious meal of fried chicken, rice and fresh fruit. Transportation to and from your hotel too! And they too amazing pictures of our day free of charge!
Day 3: Thai cooking day. Now we are official Thai chefs…or I like to think so but I have yet to recreate this meal at home since we have been back. This is a must! We chose Thai Farm Cooking School They have a great set up . They provided transportation to their farm where they have little stations set up so everyone can have their own cooking spot. Classes are small and they take you set by set. There are 2 different menues to choose from based on what day you go, but you do get a cookbook for both menues to take home . We made curry, a soup, pad thai, stir fry, bananas and coconut milk. They also served green papaya salad and the most delicous lemongrass tea. You also got to learn about the different ingredients…especially the peppers. Woah, thai peppers! Don’t worry you can make your dishes Thai spicy or tourist spicy as they say it. All classes are done in English and you get to meet people in your class from all over the world. Very fun and highly recommend it.
Day 4: We sponsor a kid through Compassion International and had the privledge to visit him and his family . Will post more details in a later blog. But truly grateful for that experience. Day 4 also included a short flight down south to Krabi and onto Koh Lanta where we started our beach vacation.
Day 5: Relax. We stayed at the Twin Lotus Resort. It’s an adult only resort and we rented a private villa on the beach…umm , it was so nice amazing! We enjoyed a free breakfast and they had all types of breakfast items from around the world. We definetly took advantage of big breakfast ! Day 5 included hanging out at the beach and boy was the water warm. It was like bath water and so clear and the water was so calm. Very enjoyable to swim in . We walked around the beach and then booked an afternoon kayaking trip in the Andama Sea around a few islands. We were able to see some monkeys in the wild. Althought they were pretty friendly.
Day 6: Snorkeling day. We took a boat out on the sea and headed to 3 different snorkeling spots. I wished I had brought and underwater camera so for now you’ll just have to imagine. The coolest ones were starfish. We saw red, blue, white and purple ones. Oh and we also found Nemo and his family and many neon, tropical looking fish. The water was so clear, warm and it was simply perfection out on the white sand beaches. I could get use that lifestyle.
Day 7: We rented a scooter and drove around the island and did what ever we wanted. Thailand drives on the opposite than what we are use to in the US, so it was a little weird but we got use to it. We ate some more, swam some more, played tourist some more. I ended up wearing a mask by the end of the day because I was tired of breathing in the exhaust and dirt while on the scooter.
Day 8: It was really a continuation of day 7 since we had an overnight flight from Krabi to Shanghai and it left just after midnight. Slept a little on the flight and then we landed in Shanghai and took advantage of a long layover and went out into the city. Not without a little excitment while trying to get a 24 hour visa to enter the country but that story I’ll save for another time. Let’s just beauccracy at it’s finest. We did a little sightseeing and went up the 2nd tallest tower in the world, rode the fastest train the Maglev which is a magnetic train, bought some chinese souvenirs and of course ate some chinese
Day 9: A long ass travel day that included us not getting our bags that were left in Shanghai. Oh language barrier and the fact they weren’t tagged to our final destination. But we did end up getting them a week later and the kids got their souvenirs and get all our stinky, dirty clothes.
It definitely was a whirlwind of a trip but was so worth it. And any time you take to invest in your marriage will always be worth it !
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Financial Peace
With a growing family, especially boys, typically equates to a growing amount of money out the window. But it doesn’t have to be. Joel and I started on a quest for a debt free living last January. I was excited and to get rid of some loans and just focus on saving and our mortgage. Joel on the other hand had different thoughts and ideas about money. Which is why we decided it was time to speak the same money language. It’s not that we disagreed on debt , we both didn’t like it. We just had different views on how to get out of it and really start planning for the future better. So we started Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. We committed to going to a class through our church. I cannot recommend this enough. We had done some financial planning in the past but this class enabled us to not only have tools and resources to plan our financial future, it also allowed us to think and dream bigger about the impact of how we spend our money does matter. And most importantly, we were speaking the same money language. We committed to our goals, utilized the every dollar app, which I still use to track and tell our money where to go instead of figuring out where the money went at the end of the month…can anyone relate?? We budgeted monthly and got creative to make some extra money. We still planned for vacations and fun outings out because that was important to our family…although I was totally on the beans and rice bandwagon to knock down our debt faster, but I was the only one and there still needs to be some compromise when you plan your goals together. In a years time we paid off a little over $12, 000 using the snowball effect and Dave Ramsey’s baby steps and we got rid of a lot stress we don’t know we were carrying because of it. We are excited now to see where God leads us utilize that extra money and see what comes from it.
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New Year, New You
I love this time of year. Where hopes and dreams are high, motivation for success is contagious and people are willing to try something new. Each year I do set goals. I write them out, place them around the house and choose people to help keep me accountable to them. With these things in place, I am more likely to hit those goals.
This year, I am choosing to gain new results rather than out of reach resolutions.
I am choosing gratitude. Reflecting everyday on what I am grateful for gives me a better perspective on how far I have come and what I have and accomplished thus far.
I am choosing to hit specific financial goals as well as help grow my team members financial goals.
I am choosing to live bigger this year, because I know I am made for a greater purpose.
One thing I love about my company is that they have a New Years Kick Off. It gets me excited for the new year and also allows me to reflect on the past year and where I want to go this year. I love that this company is truly a health and wellness company. It basically is a personal development plan with a paycheck and a healthy body attached! Can’t complain about that! Not only do they help you grow as an individual but you get to surround yourself with people that help better each other, speak life into and really about finding that inner passion and desire you were made for and being able to using the opportunity with Isagenix to pursue that as well as help so many people be free from physically and financial pain.
What would an extra $500 dollars a month do for your family this year? What would more energy throughout the day look like? It’s possible to live your best life. You just have to be willing to take the first step. Start here, with results you can’t get anywhere else.
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With Brave Wings She Flies
I had the honor and privilege to attend Earn Your Wings this year. It is an exclusive leadership retreat with my team that was held in sunny San Diego. I was so excited to attend. One thing I have learned from being a mom, is that you cannot pour from an empty cup and going to events like these fill me up! There’s nothing like being surrounded by positive, confident women that build each other up, cheer each other on and help each other be the best versions of themselves and therefore able to give the best of them to the people in their lives. I may be a boy mom, but I want to show them that women are capable of so much. I want them to see that I am confident in who I am, that I am not afraid to follow the dreams and desires that God has place on my heart. That it is ok to dream BIG for yourself and that I have so much power and the ability to go for it. To not be ashamed or afraid of failing because it just means that I was trying something new or hard. And this was what this event was all about. We had five amazing women putting this all together for us and totally spoiled us. They have such big hearts for serving other people and helping them succeed. We started it off with a White Party, where I got to mingled and meet some other powerhouse women. The next morning we enjoyed the beautiful sun and walked around the marina with an icebreaker session, followed by a some amazing speakers that talked about leadership. We had a little friendly competition between our tables and had to be creative with a scavenger hunt around the resort. Let’s just say nothing was off limits except don’t break any laws…lol. Day 2 certainly did not disappoint and got my butt worked with some bootcamp on the beach. What a way to get the blood flowing! The second session was learning how to work with different kinds of peoples and really utilizing strengths within the team and a bunch of brainstorming and collaboration. Our session ended with a special ceremony. We got to release baby butterflies outside as watched how they learned to fly. The process to become a beautiful reminds me of life’s journey and here they finally Earned Their Wings and flew…. It was such special moment to witness. I’ll always remember that behind every beautiful and glorious moments in life, there were sacrifices and tough times that got me there and If I hadn’t pushed through, I may never have experienced those special times.
Earn Your Wings Bossbabes 
Scavenger Hunt 
Beach Bootcamp 
When biz partners become friends 
Our team doesn’t have any fun! -
Demo Day
Here’s an update on our crazy journey. It’s been almost 100 degrees here and with doing demo , I am beat! But we are seeing some progress. And let me tell you… this has been totally grossed. I have found dead mice, bees and who knows what growing in the nooks and crannys here. It will be so nice to start fresh in this house. But oh Lord, help us! This is getting real!
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Fixer Upper
Move over Chip and Joanna, you got some competition. Ha, I wish! I wish our plan was to flip this house that quickly, but in all reality we will be on the 5 year plan to get in all done. We found a very well loved used to be rental house outside of Portland on just under an acre. The yard will be perfect for our 3 growing boys and we are excited to get out of the city. The boys are excited to be part of the adventure and help with the demo and do what daddy does every day. I, on the other hand, am more excited about it being done. We will be living with family for the next few months while we gut the whole upstairs and basically start from scratch. We are heading into summer, so long, hot days will be in the forecast. Wish us luck and if you own a hammer, we just might recruit you!
