Things are weird. It’s Monday and I am at work, the kids are at school, but only for one day this week. I sent them today only so they could pack up all of “their things” and bring them home, because for the first time that I can remember schools are closing down for a minimum of three weeks, and life as we know it is kind of coming to a screeching halt. It’s weird.
I’ve pondered all weekend on what is happening and how everyone is acting in response to it and where my family and I fall in the middle of all this, and here’s what I’ve came up with for me and mine.
I, 100 percent, and am not an over-reacter in situations like these. I always tend to lean on the side of the government or people in charge completely over-reacting and even possibly distracting. I am not scared of the corona virus, and probably wouldn’t have made the drastic decisions that have been made if I were in charge, but y’all seriously thank God that I am not in charge for this and many other reasons. Ha. I do understand the threat to the immunocompromised and elderly, and we will definitely be keeping our germs to ourself during this time. Before the message came that school would be closing, and we were just anticipating that call, I was a bit irritated and hoped that it wouldn’t happen. I have to say, though, when I got the message that school was closing for 3 weeks, I was instantly kind of excited.
So, Saturday I had a conversation with my son that stemmed from him having a horrible basketball game, getting mad at himself and having a horrible attitude on the court because of it. It was probably the first time we had this exact conversation and somewhere in my infinite wisdom I was spitting out😂, came the quote thats been told to me many times, “life is 1 percent what happens to you, and 99 percent how you react to it.” So, when the basketball conversation was over, I realized I had just preached to myself and that’s exactly how we were going to handle the hand we are all being dealt right now.
The decision has been made. School is closed for at least three weeks, we are likely to see an extension on that, and likely to experience more regulations on being out and about in public, and other than being a small business owner and worrying about business during this time, I am excited for this time with my kids.
You see, with three boys, much like all of you with your kids, we haven’t had a day off of some sort of practice or extracurricular since last summer. It’s like that every year. We sign up for it. We love it. It’s literally what I dreamed about when I thought of being a mom. We’ve been doing it for years now., and I wouldn’t trade assignee thing for it. We get a summer break, but it’s filled with camps, schedules, practicing, preparing for the next seasons, and sure some vacation time. We’ve never once been handed, “Hey here’s a three week break, don’t come to school, practice, or go in public if not necessary. Don’t gather with multiple people. Stay home and stay away from everyone and everything.” There’s always social pressure to do more, take the kids more places, do more things, see more people, make sure we see our friends, the kids friends, visit family and so on. While I am a fan of all of the above, it’s entirely too much sometimes, and it’s hard to find the cut-off line. The place where we say, “no more.” But, here it is. Wrapped in a horribly ugly, virus-like, package.
So, here’s what I am claiming: a God-given break. A “break” like none other I’ve ever experienced and more than that, one my kids may never experience again. While worry exists in my adult mind of work, business, and logistics, and while I’ll be praying we stay healthy, our friends and family stay healthy and that this whole sickness dies off as quickly as roared in here, we are going to embrace the break.
We are going to get dirty, play outside, cook our favorite meals, watch our favorite movies, build fires and look at the stars. We’ll go camping and fishing and hunting (turkey is almost in season😏). We’ll be ridiculously silly and laugh as much as possible. We’ll have no expectations of mastering skills, but I have full confidence that things will be learned way beyond the scope of a classroom or ball practice. Y’all, it’s baseball season, America’s Favorite Pastime, and I CAN NOT wait for some baseball games, but this break is going to go by so fast and life will be back to normal in the blink of an eye. We’ll play baseball in the yard, throw the football, probably even tackle, and play basketball, too. We have groceries, but not stock piled. We’ll probably even catch our own fish and have a fish fry. I have lysol, but the same bottle I had from last year most likely. We’ll go outside, play in the dirt and get fresh air. It’s worked for us for years now, and I’m banking on it continuing to. I fully plan to make memories that my boys will remember forever. I hope when they are 30 they’ll be able to tell their kids “in 2020 we had a COVID outbreak and schools were closed for weeks.. guess what we did.” I even hope that sentence is followed by, “you probably shouldn’t try this, but when we were stuck at home we did for COVID we did (fill in the blank full of stupid boy decisions).”
I think, just maybe, social distancing is what we’ve all been praying for, and God is granting us a remarkable opportunity here.
We are going to embrace the break for what it is, because it’s weird, but it’s the hand we’ve been dealt and life is ALL about how we REACT.
….. and don’t ya come back. Or come back. Whatever. We came back, but there we’re times I’d say we would’ve definitely considered not coming back.
So, back in the summer when we came back from our “out west road trip”, I had quite a few people ask for our itinerary or schedule of how I mapped it all out. I started writing it out then, but never finished everything. Honestly, the details of the trip were so fresh I started writing and would’ve continued to write for dayyyyys because it was amazing, until I realized no one cared to read that much. Then, after I did re-cap of the year on facebook I started getting some private messages again about the trip and schedule, etc. So, here’s my official breakdown of our trip and how it went for us.
Things we debated and decided not to do: 1. buy a camper and pull it the whole way 2. rent a camper and pull it the whole way 3. rent a camper once we got out there and return it on the way home.
Things we are really happy we didn’t do. 1. ALLLLLLL of the above.
When we started planning this trip, Wyoming, Montana, & Yellowstone were the where we wanted to go and the reason a road trip discussion began. We knew we wanted to drive and make the most of stops on the way, and we knew we could pull off about 2 weeks of traveling. I don’t do anything half heartedly though, so my sweet husband left me alone with planning for a few weeks and I came up with a big plan. The straight shot drive from Gallant, Alabama to Jackson Hole, Wyoming was going to be a long and seemingly boring one. There isn’t much on that route that we wanted to stop and see, so we we’re just going to be wasting lay-over nights in places we didn’t really care about seeing. It only took a little bit of research to realize that we could go all the way across the South, throw the Grand Canyon into the mix, and then head North and only add 3 hours to overall drive time. We love National Parks, and this trip was all about camping, being outdoors as much as possible, nature, wildlife and exploring for us, so adding another NP to list was a-okay! Since, we decided against all the avenues of having a camper with us, we did buy a camper shell for Clark’s truck. We tent camped and we put a piece of foam in the back of the truck and sometimes Clark and I slept in the bed of the truck and the boys slept in the tent. So, here’s the plan we went with and I’ll tell you more about each place as we go. We left with a plan to return in 14 days and I had a place booked for us to camp 6 out of those 14 days when we left. I was definitely nervous about that, but researching and planning I knew we would want some room for leeway once we got out there.
DAY 1- WE LEFT GALLANT AND DROVE TO AUBREY TEXAS- just north of Dallas, and stayed 2 nights with family there. This worked out perfect as first stop. The boys enjoyed getting to spend time with their cousins, we had plenty of good food, showers!, and good rest on an actual mattress! (We loved getting to see the fam, too)
Day 3- WE LEFT AUBREY, TEXAS AND DROVE TO ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – This trip was a 9 hour haul, but this was the first day that we started seeing scenery that we hadn’t seen before (excluding Clark). He had driven all of that area plenty of times before, I had flown over all of the states but never driven around in them, and the boys had never been that far west! We saw lots of windmills. LOTS OF WINDMILLS. The boys really enjoyed seeing the landscape change, and I was amazed at how much nothing there was. Everyone told us to be prepared to just seeing nothing for miles. I severely underestimated that. They should have said for hundreds of miles. We did make one pit stop on this day to see Cadillac Ranch.
Day 4- WE LEFT ALBUQUERQUE AND DROVE TO THE GRAND CANYON. We stopped on the way to see the Petrified National Forest, and then made our way on to the Grand Canyon. We also got to explore some of the old Route 66 on the way!! The Grand Canyon began our camping adventure. I had reservations at the KOA there for two nights. We spent one whole day exploring the Grand Canyon, and decided when we got back to camp that we would only stay there one night and get up and go somewhere else the next day. My plan was to leave the Grand Canyon and travel to Utah and stop at Bryce Canyon or one of the other parks. After talking to so many people about how awesome Utah is, we decided we would make another trip sometime later just for Utah National Parks so that we had more than just a night there. Instead we made last minute decision to go a bit further west and see the Hoover Dam and stay a night in Las Vegas.
Day 5- WE LEFT GCNP AND DROVE TO VEGAS. We stopped to see the Hoover Dam, made it to Vegas for an awesome lunch at Pampas; we swam at the hotel, got good showers, washed some clothes, and rode around the strip to do all of the Vegas sight-seeing once it got dark.
Day 6- WE DROVE FROM LAS VEGAS TO JACKSON HOLE. This was the worst day of the trip. We were very ambitious in deciding to do this drive in one day. Overall, we’re glad we did, because we didn’t have to spend the night anywhere we didn’t want to. The drive was rough though. A ton of miles of nothing. We wound up in area with no place to get food for a while, everyone was hangry, and we didn’t see ANYTHING the whole trip except Salt Lake City. We only stopped for gas a couple of times and no other stops, just to trying to make to most of time. Jackson Hole was one of the reasons the trip was born, so we were super excited to get there. We battled a bit of altitude sickness. ( I think ) Jackson Hole isn’t at a real high altitude, but I think it was mainly from the fairly quick change in elevation in a short period of time. We had gone from 800ft – 6800ft – 2000ft – 6500ft in about a day and a half. We camped at a KOA in JH, had a good dinner downtown, and explored all the places we wanted to see there. We even got to grocery shop, and prepare for the next few days off the grid!
Day 7- WE HEADED INTO THE GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK FROM JH- Easiest drive! Less than 30 minutes and we were in the park. This was absolutely our favorite park, favorite place. Of all the places we went, GTNP was a MUST GO BACK! The landscape, scenery, wildlife, all of it was amazing. We hiked and explored and camped at Colter Bay. National Park campgrounds don’t offer showers in bath houses, or electric hook up. So, all of our camping was in whatever temps it was outside. This was the first night that the temps were COLD. There was snow on the ground and dropped into the low 30’s at night. So, we sat by the fire LATE into the night got as warm as possible, used all of our gear to keep us warm, and were awake and beside the fire again at daybreak. I’ll add here that for trips to these NP’s bear spray is a must! We didn’t have any scary encounters, but saw plenty. The general store at Colter Bay was cool. We ran into a girl from Alabama who worked at the store. We also got showers on this stay! Yay! It cost us about $40 for everyone to get a shower though. We stayed here for a couple of days.
Day 9- WE DROVE INTO THE SOUTH ENTRANCE OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK FROM THE TETONS. The Tetons border Yellowstone at the South entrance of YNP so this change in location was considered a “no drive” day. We basically just enjoyed the parks as we swapped locations. We made a big leap in elevation on the first day in Yellowstone and saw a ton of snow. There were plenty of snow drifts that were taller then the boys! We visited Old Faithful on the way in and had reservations at Madison Campground. We drove around, and hiked around Yellowstone for a couple of days. The weather was perfect. Between YNP and GTNP we saw black bear, grizzly bear, elk, antelope, and what seemed like thousands of bison.
Day 11- WEST YELLOWSTONE. We left the National Park out of the West Entrance and stayed in the city of West Yellowstone for one night. This was not part of our plan, but we needed a break from camping and some good food and showers! ha. We left a piece of heart there. It was such a cute little town. My best description is it was like the cowboy/western version of Gatlinburg. We walked around town and did all of the things we needed to, spent the night in a cute little hotel, and headed back into the park for more day in Yellowstone.
Day 12- This was the only day we had a hiccup in our plans. We spent a few hours in YNP and then were ready to head out. We had no plans for when we left YNP or exactly how we wanted to get home, other than the boys did want to go through South Dakota and see Mount Rushmore. So, we were close to the West Entrance and I decided to make reservations to stay a night in Big Sky, Montana. We took our time getting there and arrived after 5 pm. It wasn’t ski season so apparently the town of Big Sky SHUTS DOWN in the off season. The condo I had rented had a person available to check us in until 5 pm only and there was no way to check in after that. (Insert eye roll-no one told me this while booking earlier in the day). Oh well, we took a quick tour of the town and got back on the road with new plans. We drove to Bozeman, Montana and did some sight seeing and then on to Billings, Montana to stay the night. At this point in the trip, we had realized there was a significant storm brewing and we were just about a day ahead of it. Although, Clark would have loved to see a tornado out there where you could see for miles, the boys and I were totally against it, and we were trying to move fairly quickly back toward home.
Day 13- WE LEFT BILLINGS … and drove All.The.Way. across South Dakota. We did stop and spend some time at Mount Rushmore- which was really cool, but then quickly hit the road again. We made it to Des Moines, Iowa for the night. Y’all that drive was loooong and boring. 14 Hours!! Once again, we were trying to get ahead of the storm!
Day 14- HOME! We drove from Des Moines, Iowa to Gallant, Al. We stopped in St. Louis, and we stopped at the hunting land in southern Illinois, and made a pit stop to see Superman in Metropolis. We talked the whole way home about the trip, our favorite things, and made plans for more road trips, camping trips, and definitely getting back to the Grand Tetons. The best thing of all was that the boys LOVED it, and we got to spend a whole bunch o’ time together! 13 hours later, we made it home! Those last two days were A LOT of driving. We would have definitely added another sleep night if we weren’t rushing to beat bad weather.
Places that almost made the list, or were close on the route I planned that we debated or researched and decided not to go. All of these are places that I would like to go, would’ve enjoyed adding to the list, but for time’s sake or because of travel distance- we didn’t include.
Denver, CO
Cody, WY
Asoen, CO
Roswell, NM
Carlsbad Caverns NP
The plan for coming home was to catch an MLB game in Kansas City or St. Louis but the weather messed that up for us.
Tips: If you have any plans to visit multiple National Parks in one year, the National Park Pass is a must. It’s good for entrance into all the parks and is good for you and everyone in your vehicle!
Our travel dates were the last week of May and the first week of June. The weather was perfect everywhere- a little cold in the high altitudes but we did want to see snow and we got to!! We were in the National Parks about a week early in the season for summer water sports, and too late in the season for snow sports. We didn’t mind that because the crowds were much smaller than peak season. We definitely didn’t mind being early for summer water sports because that’s something we can do here at home. I would like to go back and be able to do some of the snow sports, like a tour through the parks on snow mobiles although, when those things are available many of the roads are shut down for winter. So, all in all it was the perfect time for a first trip.
I was super worried about not getting campsites we wanted because everywhere online talked about how far in advance you needed to book, but because we didn’t have a specific set schedule I was afraid to book too much, because of the chance of something going wrong and us not making it to the locations I had booked each day. In our experience, if you can arrive to the campground you want before lunch each day and secure your spot, they’re were plenty of availabilities. We never got turned away from a full campground. They were full by early afternoon, though.
Fun facts: The speed limit for most of trip past Texas and definitely all the way through South Dakota was posted at 85 or 90 mph. We didn’t see any police officers once we left Texas until we got back into Nebraska. (Except for in Las Vegas) Municipalities out west apparently do not believe in guard rails. <–One reason I am sooooo glad we did not pull a camper. The boys traveled exceptionally well. They NEVER asked us to stop for a bathroom break. Thank goodness, because bathrooms were few and far between! I typically had to stop before anyone and would try to make everyone take advantage, but sometimes the boys wouldn’t even do that. They never once complained about drive times. I was and still am so impressed with how well they traveled. When we got into the national parks, we let them ride in the back (camper shell), and that possibly could have been the highlight of the trip. During our time at the Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone we had no cell service, no wifi, no heat, no showers and honest to goodness it was absolutely our favorite. The boys ran and roamed, hiked and explored, we sat by fires, looked at the stars from a place we had never been and LOVED every minute of it.
recap…or if you skipped down just to see this version, here’s the route we went:
Gallant, AL -> Aubrey, TX
Aubrey-> Albuquerque, NM (Petrified National Forest)
Ever have those days where you’re indescribably happy and content, and kind of have butterflies inside “just because” ?? I’m there today. I just absolutely love what I do, and I love looking back on wedding days and reminiscing the day’s events, and the joy of seeing couples start their lives together!
On the blog today is this adorable couple from back in the fall.
J O S H + L A U R E N
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
I have known Lauren, her mom, and family for many years, so when they asked me to help with their big day, I was honored. Nestled away in small town Alabama, these two began their married life at a beautiful barn venue- Walter’s Farm of Ragland.
See…I told you. Beautiful.
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
The amazingly talented Mrs. Lydia Thrift of LPT DESIGNS , as always, captured the day perfectly through photos. It is always an absolute pleasure to work with Lydia, and I wish I could post every picture in Lauren’s album here. They are ALL delightful.
As a planner, life is always “about the details”, so when I get the link to view clients professional photos from their wedding, I am almost always drawn to the detail shots immediately. The details of this day were stunning in real life and captured perfectly.
I love floral art.. so i had to include this one. I just couldn’t scroll on by it.
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
SWEET, TEARY, TRADITION.
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
One of the main things I loved about this wedding was the family. Sure, most all weddings include many family members, but there was something a little different about this one. They were all involved, all decoracting, hustling and bustling around, gettin’ things done, but all so focused on Lauren and Josh and their day! Even more than that, the flowers. All of the florals were done by Lauren’s Grandmother (maid of honor) and her entourage. They were perfect. Seriously perfect.
Beautiful lady + Beautiful flowers
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
Do you see all the goodness? Can’t you just smell it? I mean, what a talented grandmother.
PHOTOS BY LPT DESIGNS
Also, the family. Again. I said before that I have known Lauren’s family for forever, but it was so sweet to get to meet Josh’s family for the first time. I love, love, love to watch grooms dote over their brides and spend all day anticipating ceremony time. His adorable little niece was the flower girl, too, and did I say adorable.
I’m a big fan of the navy suit trend, too.
See.. adorable. And that flower crown.
PHOTOS BY LPT DESIGNS
What’s a beautiful wedding without an awesome reception, right?? The food from Local Joe’s Catering, and the cakes from the lovely Lorraine Smith of Edible Memories were happiness in edible form.
PHOTOS BY LPT DESIGNS
Now, time to share my favorite parts!!
T H E K I S S.
DUH.
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
Oh, and this part. Aways generates giggles and I love it.
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
Ladies + gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Wood.
It’s gettin’ hot in here. Steamy.
PHOTO BY LPT DESIGNS
I’m so thankful to have been the Wedding Planner for Josh + Lauren. I wish ou them all the happiness their hearts can contain for the rest of ever.
It’s almost time for weddings to start popping up all over the place, and I just LOVE wedding season. This is a wedding I did last year, but am just getting around to blogging about. Morgan and Hunter’s big day was just perfect. Look for this article I wrote and beautiful pictures from the wedding day in East Alabama Living’s March edition.
For Morgan and Hunter the Best Day Ever began the morning of May 23, 2015. The weather was perfect for a most beautiful wedding at The Hay Barn in Collinsville, AL.
Morgan first had her eyes on Hunter three years earlier in a math class that she dreaded everything about except for getting to see Hunter. He obviously had the same feelings as they shared their first date on a weekend hunting trip to Selma. Morgan knew from the first date that there was something special about Hunter and knew she did not want to spend a day without him.
They began dating in October before Morgan lost her very best friend in the world, her Paw Paw, in January. In the years to come, Morgan and Hunter ran her Paw Paw’s business together. Morgan knew she would honor her Paw Paw on her wedding day and did that by lighting a candle for him, carrying a small picture of them around her bouquet, and leaving the ceremony in his Chevy.
After hours of preparation, the big day finally arrived for Morgan. The bridesmaids, groomsmen, and families arrived early at the barn to finish all of the decorations and to get ready for the ceremony. Morgan spent precious time getting ready with her bridesmaids as did Hunter with his groomsmen. Morgan’s Maw Maw arrived with loads of the most perfect flower arrangements that she made herself. The family scurried to adorn the barn with all of the decorations and flower arrangements. Tristan Cairns Photography arrived to capture special moments in bridal and grooms suites, Morgan’s first look with Hunter and with her Dad, and pre-ceremony pictures of the bridal party and family.
By early afternoon the decorations had all found their own perfect place, pictures were wrapped up, and Morgan and Hunter were tucked away into their separate rooms to send the last few moments before their “I do’s” with the people most special to them. Guests began to arrive and fill up the church pews, chairs, and loft. The time came for the music to begin and the bridal party to gather outside. The mothers and grandmothers were escorted to their seats first, followed the bridal party and flower girls and ring bearers. Finally, Morgan and her Dad took their place behind closed doors. The music started, the doors opened and John took his litgirl’sirls arms in his and led her down the aisle to light a candle for her Paw Paw and then to meet the love of her life. Her Dad gave her away and Hunter took her hands as they vowed before God, their family and friends, to be each other’s partner for the rest of their lives. They chose to assemble a unity cross during the ceremony that they could display in their home. The preacher, Morgan, and Hunter each had a piece to place together symbolizing the Father, Son , and Holy Ghost as a basis for their marriage. Finally, the preacher blessed their marriage; Hunter got to kiss his bride and lead her out the back exit.
As the sun was setting the guests made their way to the patio and lawn as they anxiously awaited seeing Mr. and Mrs. Billingsley for the first time. The band, Teenage Daddy, announced the new couple and played “Thinking Out Loud” as the couple shared their first dance. Morgan and her dad danced to “Daddy’s Angel” and Hunter and his mom danced to “I Hope You Dance”.
The guests enjoyed food catered by Breaking Bread, drinks, the happy new couple, and the dance floor for hours. Into the night, Morgan and Hunter left the ceremony in her Paw Paw’s Chevy under a banner of ribbons flown by friends and family.
I am very thankful to Morgan and Hunter for allowing me to be a part of their special day.
I first wrote this last Friday and held on to it because I shared a blog post on Thursday, and nobody likes an overachiever, right? Ha!
I shared this video yesterday with the caption, “needed this today”. You can find it on my facebook page. facebook.com/immori.dixon The song is an old gospel hymn called “What A Day”. Yesterday the message to me was, no matter how hard the day is and how exhausted this daily grind can be, there is coming a day when “there’ll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear.” The “all is peace forever more” link stuck with me all day.
The song is an old gospel hymn called “What A Day”. Yesterday the message to me was, no matter how hard the day is and how exhausted this daily grind can be, there is coming a day when “there’ll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear.” The “all is peace forever more” link stuck with me all day.
But, today. This morning, I was scrolling through FB and saw where I had shared the video yesterday and clicked on it once more just to hear it again real quick. It got me this time. Big time. I hope I have the words to accurately depict where my mind went with this. I hope you can go to the same place I did while listening the words.
This is one of those old songs that we don’t really sing in church as often anymore. I can sing every word (not beautifully, I might add), but one word in the whole song just did something to me this morning! MY.
The chorus says, “what a day that will be when MY Jesus I shall see”. I sang it, and then it hit me, and I couldn’t sing another word. You see, think about the people here on Earth that we refer to as “mine”. MY parents, MY kids, and MY husband come to mind first. These people are directly associated with the love I have for them. My parents are the first people I ever knew, and ever loved. The love I have for my parents is a reciprocal love. They loved me well as an infant and I returned love almost subconsciously. Loving my parents is an easy, natural, and respectful love. My parents showed and taught me love in it’s purest form, and the love I have for them is the basis of the love I have for the rest of the world. The Bible teaches us to love our parents through honor and respect,
Children obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou may live long on the Earth. Ephesians 6:1-4
The love for my husband is a chosen and committed love. It is sincere and pragmatic. It’s a love that I naturally desire to give; It’s a love that grows exponentionaly over time. It’s a love for another person so great that I would rather “join two hearts as one” and do life as one with him than by myself.
Then, the love I have for my child is a love in the most natural form. It’s effortless, and forgiving, and sacrificial. It’s a love so strong it physically hurts.
Now, think about the way you love your parents, your spouse, and your children, and the fact that all of those types of love do not hold a candle to the love “MY” Jesus has for us. There is a supernatural, omniscient, omni present, supreme being, that puts all of the love I have for my most precious earthly possessions to shame. He loves me not because he birthed me, or I birthed him , or because I married him, but because He WANTS to. He loves me sacrificially (you know- that whole dying on a cross thing) and abundantly better than my parents, better than my husband, better than my kids, and inspite of my daily failures. In fact, the love I have for my mom, my husband, and my son would seem as hate compared to the love MY Father has for me. I can call that MINE.
Some days I feel like I’m killin’ it at the whole mom life, wife life, business owner life. You know, checking off to-do list items left and right, making things happen, cooking amazing dinners, knocking out homework like a boss, everyone sleeping on clean sheets, lunch boxes prepared the night before and having engaging conversations with my kiddos and husband.
Then, there is this week, where I’ve parked at a gas station two out of four days to take a 10 minute nap before getting kids from school, I’ve flushed my jeep key down the toilet and had to ninja grab it out of pee before I lost it forever (then sanitize E V E R Y T H I N G) , had cookies for breakfast, and scheduled a hair appointment so I knew my hair would get washed and DRYED and look amazing one day this week! Seriously.
Also, I told everyone in my house over a year ago, when we moved in, that we were not eating CRAP for dinner. Dinner is whatever I cook each night, and we live by the “eat it or starve” method. You have to try new things. You don’t have to like them all, but what is served is what you get so make the most of it. This week, I opened a can of spaghetti o’s, warmed it, and served it. I don’t even buy them!! So I also made the decision this week that saying yes to the purchase of said spaghetti o’s was easier than explaining the “NO”. So there’s that.
School started last week for us, so I had all intentions of this week’s blog being about things I want my kids to know, and hear from me, as they go off to school and into the world. I’ve thought about it over and over, have tons of notes, and have told the boys many of them. Then, today our very deep, meaningful, full of wisdom, life skills conversation consisted of, “Momma’s sanity is hanging on by a thread that could break at any moment, get in the car and we’ll listen to Jesus music on the way to school”.
Kudos to the mommas and wives, the daily grinders, getting things done. I see you, I feel ya. You’re doing things and making a difference. I promise. I promise your kids don’t think you’re failing- they love the spaghetti o’s, and they love you, even when they tell you “you’re being mean because you’re making me take a shower”. They love you. They appreciate you, and when you’re really crazy your husband may woo you with words of affirmation because he’s doing all he can to keep you ON your rocker.
We’ve still made it to school everyday EARLY, they haven’t forgotten anything on my watch, lunches are packed, and are healthy, and I assure you they look much more put together than I do. As for me, I’m working in sweats, Chaco’s, and a t-shirt and headed to get my hair done!
Yay!! Finally, a place to land. I have wanted for so long to blog regularly and to have a place where I could post about ALL THE THINGS. A place that isn’t geared toward just one topic. Obviously, I am as far from a one track mind as a girl gets.
I realize that there are about 3 people who care to read about daily life with Immori. One is the woman who birthed me and the others being equally as obligated to care about me and mine.
I, like 99% of most people, am insanely busy, live life in a constant state of chaos, and always have at least a dozen projects going on. I enjoy writing. I also enjoy being organized, or organizing/planning for other people-like weddings, ya know fun stuff. When it comes to organizing my own life, I have a friend for that. 🙂 (insert Staci)
Nevertheless, writing makes me feel organized and that’s why I’m here.
The Immori Board will play host to a smorgasbord of ideas, rants, products, advice, stories and more. I am a wife and a mother to 3 boys. (The source of most of my stories.) I am the owner of Master UnPlanned event and wedding planning (my day job- that I LOVE), and in my spare time-ha!-my husband and I also have Dixon & Co (my night job-Love it too).
A few other things about me that have big potential for blog appearances:
I love hand lettering projects.
I am always the most competitive person in the room. To a fault.
I hate coffee and love green tea.
So, to the few of you who hang around, I’m sure you’ll find something familiar here, I hope you find something encouraging, and maybe even a little entertaining.
See…I told you. Beautiful.
SWEET, TEARY, TRADITION.
Beautiful lady + Beautiful flowers
Do you see all the goodness? Can’t you just smell it? I mean, what a talented grandmother.
I’m a big fan of the navy suit trend, too.
It’s gettin’ hot in here. Steamy.
The Immori Board 