A full heart after a quick weekend.

I got a last minute invite to hang with two of my favorite girls on Friday, so after a quick dinner at home with Caleb, I was off. I love that these girls could've been doing anything with their friends on a random Friday night, but they wanted to hang out with me! I'm so thankful for them and the fun we had together! We watched RV (seeing Robin Williams on screen nearly made me cry!), learned a little bit of John Legend's "All of Me" on the keyboard, and of course, played with every last Snapchat filter there was!

Caleb texted me and told me he went to my Aunt and Uncle's to watch Hacksaw Ridge (again) with my Uncle since he hadn't seen it, so when I left the girls, I went over to their place and watched it with them! Seriously, such a good movie.

We slept in Saturday and after Caleb made breakfast we each worked out. I REALLY didn't want to, but Caleb convinced me that I'd feel awesome afterward, and of course I did, so I'm happy I did it! We really just lounged around all day doing a lot of laundry, cleaning and napping.

I made some BBQ Chicken Stuffed Peppers for us for dinner and they were SO good! You need to click this recipe and make it tonight!

After dinner we spent the rest of our evening with some of our best friends doing what we do best; GAME NIGHT! Erin and I of course won our traditional puzzle race (yes, those are a thing in our households), we played a hilarious game of Disney Monopoly and I discovered my love of Racko!

Sunday was pretty freaking incredible. We slept in (whoops) and even got to cuddle our adorable nephew for a while and hang out with E&J some more!

THEN! I was able to photograph (actually, I was one of about 10 photographers that were split up into 4 groups) TWO styled shoots at a local venue called Urban Artifact. This was a project we'd been working on putting together for a couple of months through our Tuesdays Together group, and it was so fun to see it all come together. I haven't uploaded all of my own current photos yet so for now you get this google photo to paint a picture for you...

via

The point of these two "styled shoots" was to showcase all of our creative talent within the group and to give everyone more portfolio material! We've got everything from photographers to videographers, florists to calligraphers, bakers and event planners! You name it, we've probably got it. It was so much fun to spend a few hours snapping away and getting to shoot alongside some other photographers! The point of this group is "community over competition", and it was really cool to see everyone work so hard on something and see how BEAUTIFUL it turned out.

Over a month ago one of the sweet event planners reached out to me to see if I knew anyone who'd want to model for us and I had an answer for her right way; Olivia and Sean! They are adorable and so SO in love and it was so great seeing her yesterday!

If you want some awesome behind the scenes footage check out The Rising Tide's Instagram story from yesterday! It was a lot of fun! Since I don't have them uploaded/edited yet, here's a quick #backofcamera sneak peek!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Of course it went WAY too fast, but what else is new?!

Friday Favorites!

This week has been jam packed and last night was the first time Caleb and I really got to just "be". It felt amazing. We made a healthy dinner, we watched the latest This Is Us, and we unplugged and just talked for about an hour. It was awesome. Unplugging from the world, not even knowing what time it is, is kind of my new favorite thing.

Speaking of favorite things... lets take a look at my week so far;

Favorite Meal: (although it wasn't healthy) By far it was the Chicken Alfredo Bake I made for my family on Monday! Tonight we're making another healthy, simple sheet pan dinner but it's perfect because it can also double as our lunch for tomorrow! Leftovers rock.

Favorite Read: I'm still knee deep in Wild At Heart and it's been really great so far. Next up, finishing The Magnolia Story! I started it and then got so busy and I seem to do that a lot!

Favorite Funny: This is killing me. How true?!? "Are you dying"

Favorite victory: resisting the birthday cupcakes in the kitchen at work and sticking to my ever-exciting cheese stick instead. #smallvictories

Favorite post: (not that I found out from her blog, but...) My SIL/BIL announced their big move yesterday on her blog and we're still so stinking excited for them!! They've worked so hard and this new house is going to be incredible!

Favorite quote: DO IT SCARED. This is something that God put on my heart this week, and wouldn't you know it? This also popped up in my newsfeed this week AND was quoted at our young adult meeting by one of the girls... I hear ya loud and clear, God! ;)

Favorite person: okay so I just threw this in there so I could have a reason to put his face in my post...I'm so thankful for this stud! He's so good to me!

I hope everyone has lots of fun planned for their weekend! ENJOY!
Linking up with Amanda today!

Things I'm Loving {Volume 6}

Since I'm the worst blogger in history and I have no prompts ready like ever, I decided to come back with my 6th edition of Things I'm Loving. See the latest one here!

-Today is my sweet friend Ashley's birthday! Ashley was my first official blog friend back in late 2012 - crazy to think it's been so long! I'm so thankful for our conversations (both fun and sometimes deep), for her honest love of all things chocolate and how adorably stylish she is! I hope its the best one yet, pretty girl!

-The most amazing (and definitely not healthy, don't judge, we had family over) meal I made on Monday; Chicken Alfredo Bake. Even my picky younger cousin LOVED it and grabbed seconds. I was pretty proud! Recipe can be found via Buzzfeed here! Pin this, like right now! You won't be sorry.

-My SIL's snapchats of my sweet nephew...I mean, he's the cutest kid alive. #notbiased

-The Golden State Warriors. I have to say, a few years ago I never liked the NBA that much...but once Caleb decided on a basketball team to like back in 2013 and I was forced to watch it...I really started to like it ;) it's fun to have sports we can watch together when Football is over!

-That although our schedule took our lives over like crazy this week and busy-ness got in the way of working out the last few days, I'm not falling off the wagon! For the most part, we've stayed pretty healthy this week and are picking back up the cardio workout tonight! Woo!

-Finally getting my hair done last week, it always feels so great to get pampered!

-The new young adult group that Caleb and I are leading. It's been so great to not only be challenged in our faith, but also be able to sit around with these friends for literally hours and just talk about movies and TV. We walked out of Panera around 8:30 last night but stood outside and continued to talk for nearly an hour, ha! Those are my favorite conversations!

-Daily inspiration snapchats with Becky...it's been great to keep each other motivated this new year and to also give each other grace when we've sucked ;)

-This song. I love when Caleb will sing in the shower upstairs and I can hear him belting this out while I make dinner. Such an amazing song!

-Hacksaw Ridge. I know I said it yesterday but seriously. Go watch!

I am so thankful for a night at home tonight. The last few nights have just been go-go-go, and while it's been so much fun, we're a little exhausted. Our plan is to go for a run, make a good dinner together and just unwind with a good book afterward. I seriously cannot wait! Hope everyone has a great day and an even better weekend planned ahead!

Hump Day!

Anyone else sometimes just get overwhelmed at having to think of a new blog prompt so you just don't blog at all for like a week?! No? Just me!? ;)

I'm back, and we're already halfway through the work week. I actually had my annual review with my boss this morning and for some reason I always let my silly nerves and anxiety issues build up right before I walk into those meetings. I basically tell myself to expect the worse, and assume that I did a terrible job all year. Hows that for self-love? ;) Anyway, it couldn't have gone any better. Woo hoo! She gave me better scores than I gave myself and had nothing bad to say. It really started this Wednesday off on a good note!

Back tracking to the weekend here...
Our last Saturday was so full of NOTHING that it almost got us into trouble. We stopped by our favorite thrift store (that we KNEW would be having puppy adoptions...) "just to look", and I think a piece of my heart is still there. We had to talk ourselves out of almost adopting a puppy like 7 times, HA! We both know we really want a puppy someday, but just not yet! The rest of our day consisted of running around town filling our free time! We love days like that! We ended it at home by watching Hacksaw Ridge with some popcorn and guys let me tell you, it was SUCH a good movie. It's definitely one of my new favorites! I highly recommend it #allthefeels!

Sunday was definitely the polar opposite of Saturday. It was jam packed! We photographed some new marketing/website photos for our church bright and early until about lunchtime. Then we grabbed a quick lunch and celebrated one of our sweet youth group gals 13th birthday! We count ourselves blessed to be able to spend so much time with so many of the teenagers in our church. These are some amazing kids!

We swung home, changed clothes, and then spent the rest of our evening with the youth group.

When we got home we watched the latest episode of This Is Us (so, so good), and as sappy as it sounds, it just made me really excited to grow old with Caleb. I've always known it, but there is something so special about a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. I'm so thankful for that guy of mine!

I hope everyone's had a great week. I'm trying to get back into my old groove of blogging consistently, and really write about what's been on my heart. Excited to sit down and just write some more!

Happy Hump Day, friends!

Cleaning schedule: HELP

I don't know if I mentioned it here or not, but my employer has a daily radio show as well as a news spot on our local news everyday. In February they are covering reviews of subscription boxes (like Graze, Stitch Fix, Blue Apron, etc.), and they chose me to do a review of Stitch Fix! Which means they want to come to my house Friday morning, record me opening it and get my opinions, and also show a snippet of my current closet. Which means co workers in my house...not only in my house...but in my bedroom. SO this means I need to get busy cleaning. Like yesterday.

I know how popular Stitch Fix is and I've always been a little intrigued by it. Although I love new clothes and accessories like any other sane person, Caleb and I (at least while we're still in debt) don't go shopping all the time and spend money on clothes we don't really need (unless its a really, really good deal). But still, my company is paying for this Stitch Fix box so, I accepted their offer ;)

Sooo that brings me back to the fact that I need to clean our house...bad. It's mostly "surface clean", as in, non-cluttered in most areas, but I'd like to deep-clean it tonight. This made me think of starting a cleaning schedule for Caleb and I to ensure we never let our house get gross again! There are seriously thousands of them online and every one is so different and some of them are a little overwhelming. Who has time to vacuum every other day?!?! I don't want to scrub my shower every 3 days! Am I the only one who doesn't wash their sheets every 7 days exactly?! Now I feel gross, ha! #dontjudgeme

This one appealed to me the most and I'm excited to start keeping up with it next week! I kind of like the freedom that it doesn't say "Monday do this, Tuesday do this", and I can fit it in anytime that week that works within our schedule.

via

There is just something so awesome about having a clean house. Unexpected company arrives? No worries. No stress over last minute cleaning before having guests, etc.! I also just sleep better at night knowing there's less crummy stuff in the cricks and cracks! 

Anyone have a nice cleaning schedule they keep up with?! I'd love to know!

Feeling relaxed!

This past weekend was surprisingly low key. We had a few plans, all of which fell through, and that left us with a whole lot of down time but we kind of LOVED it.

Friday consisted of a much needed rest day from working out, which meant cooking a healthy meal together. I have to say, chopping veggies is so therapeutic. We cut our prep time in half since we both helped! We spent the rest of our evening unwinding from a long work week.

Saturday we were supposed to go to a birthday party but sweet little Nora had a fever so they had to reschedule. Instead we worked out, then cleaned the house a bit. That evening we ended up planning a cheap, last minute date night! Aka lettuce wraps at Jimmy Johns, a long walk around Home Goods and then saw the movie Sing!

Not going to lie...we both wanted this painting BAD.

I've been a pretty big fan of Halo Top for a few months now, but I have to say, there are only a few flavors I like and I think actually TASTE like what the flavor says. I've only tried like 5 of the flavors, but so far I only like Mint chip, Birthday Cake, and the Choc Chip Cookie Dough! Even though its not terrible for you, we try not to buy it often because we truly could eat the whole pint, lol!

As I mentioned above, we saw the animated movie Sing. It was ADORABLE, you guys. Let me remind you, we have no children, we just really wanted to see it!! It was so so good. I highly recommend seeing it, it was so fun for all ages and the singers were amazing! I'm a huge Reese Witherspoon fan, too, so that helped!

Sunday was so great. After church we did our groceries then meal planned/prepped for the week and that always starts my week off right! I guess we needed the sleep because we took nearly a 3. HOUR. NAP! What?!?! It was amazing and I can't remember the last time that happened. Youth group that night was a blast. Those students are honestly the best and we count ourselves lucky to get to spend so much time w/ them!

Pictionary for the win!

I hope you all had the best weekend, and have an even better Tuesday!

Tone It Up {Week 2}

Happy Friday, friends! I can't tell you how happy I am it's almost the weekend! Between house repairs and endless edits, I'm excited to have a couple of days off to unwind.

Week 2 of the Tone It Up plan (#lookforlove) is almost over and I'm finally feeling a little stronger (and still very sore, which I kind of love)! I'm really happy because even though the daily moves are still insanely challenging, I somehow find a way to finish them! Last night was another 45 minutes of cardio and the video I chose had a "power move" of 10 burpees w/ a jump in a row and I was able to do 9 in a row without stopping, which was huge because last week I could only do about 5-6. It's cool to see non-scale victories, too!

Yesterday I jokingly tweeted about my quick Target adventure. I went in with a very small list of "two dumbbells, a card and a pack of gum" and that. is. all. I. got! Can you believe it?! I was in and out of there in 11 minutes. I think I deserve an award. Or maybe coffee. I'm starting to miss my morning cup of french vanilla ;)

Caleb and I stayed up way too late last night, but it was worth it because we were with family. What's even better is this morning, my day started out on the right foot by getting to visit with Erin and the cutest nephew in all the land!! :)

Caleb and I had another great week of cooking at home;
Sunday: garlic peppercorn grilled chicken breast w/ broccoli
Monday: one-pan grilled chicken breast w/ broccoli & asparagus
Tuesday: (this is the night our power went out) ham sandwich on whole wheat bread & veggies w/ hummus
Wednesday: ground turkey taco salads
Thursday: Meatballs
Friday: TBD. Hopefully something delicious like salmon. I'm craving seafood! Caleb, if you're reading this, you might have to make a Kroger trip ;)

I hope everyone has fun plans for their weekend!

January Goals {now that we're 12 days into the New Year}

It hit me with the hustle and bustle of the New Year I never blogged about my goals for January. I'm excited about the new planner I found at TJ Maxx, I love that it has a month long to-do list as well as a goals section! I'm very much a list person and writing them all down has made me a lot more intentional.

Lose 4-5 lbs. Trust me guys, I know the scale isn't everything, but for me? I know where my wedding weight was and I know where I am now, so I'm excited to be working hard to get back there. I've already seen a little progress, too, which feels amazing!

Book a new wedding. This is kind of the season of booking for photographers, a LOT of people get engaged over the holidays and so Caleb and I are hoping to solidify a wedding or two before the month is over!

Track what I eat. I've been writing everything down in my fitness journal. All of my food, my workouts, how I felt that day, my prayers! It's been awesome. Also makes me think twice about what I'm putting into my body!

Workout 15-20 times. I think this is one that I can accomplish, WHICH IS CRAZY for me because for the last year, I've been lucky to workout twice a month, here and there. I've worked out everyday this year except Sunday to get some rest! Hopefully I keep it up!

Cook more often. We are still loving being in the kitchen together, and trying new things! I'm finally feeling semi-comfortable in the kitchen! Woo! Guys, this is huge progress for me.

No coffee. Coffee isn't something I depend on while I'm at work, but I started to get in this subconscious habit of making a 10:30 cup of french vanilla EVERY DAY, mainly to avoid eating something sweet in the break room. I didn't need the caffeine (well, lets be honest, some days I did), so I decided to try and do away with it this month and drink more water! We don't even have a coffee maker at home, so that makes it easier!

Finish this new book. I mentioned yesterday that Caleb and I are reading new books, and I'd like to finish this one before the month is up. I started like 3 separate books in December, so I'd also like to work on putting a dent in those one at a time.

Pay off a chunk of debt. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... we've got this!

Tell me, what's one of your January goals? Happy Thursday, friends. It's almost the weekend!!!

I'm bad at blogging.

I'm not sure what happened, but sometime last Fall I just started to let go of my blog a little bit. I used to blog 3, 4, sometimes even 5 times a week...now it's more like 2 MAYBE 3 times a week. I guess my mind has just been in other places, preoccupied with starting our business and starting our new young adult group at church. We've definitely had a lot going on but life really is slowing down a bit which feels great. Having free weekends makes my heart sing, ha! I do still love to blog, but I do have to say I just miss opening up a blank post and just writing. While I love link ups and favorite things posts, I'm going to try and write a little bit more from the heart like I used to.

I also just think blogging has changed a lot over the last few years, and I miss 2013 blog days, ha! It seemed so much easier. My SIL Erin wrote about that here and basically took the words from my mouth! It's crazy, but I'm thankful for everyone who comes back to read my silly little space on the internet :)

So what's new with us?
-We've had a few new consultations for our photography business which has been so so awesome. We're meeting some of the sweetest people!!!

-Update: OUR HEAT IS FIXED. Hallelujah! I got that glorious notification yesterday while I was at work and was over the moon I wouldn't have to go home to a chilly house. Seriously guys, it got down to 60 in our house. IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER! Yikes. Not what I'd call fun!

-However, our power went out last night due to high wind conditions (sadly it was in the middle of making dinner, but I'm happy my workout was at least done), but it helped us to unplug and be together. We popped in a movie in Caleb's laptop (that luckily had a full charge, still) and then read for a while under candlelight. The power was only out for a couple of hours, thankfully!

-My sweet friend Anna could have her baby ANY DAY NOW and I'm dying of excitement! She says I'm on the "must call" list when something happens, and I have to say I'm honored :) blogging has given me so many GENUINE friendships!

-I'm still going hard on the Tone It Up workout plan (#TIUteam) and week 2 is just as killer as week 1. I don't know how I made it through 45 more minutes of cardio last night after the daily moves, but I'm loving all the free workout videos I'm finding via Youtube! Shoutout to Becky for doing this challenge w/ me! ;) our daily workout snaps keep me going!

-We're still eating healthy at night, which was always both of our biggest downfalls. Last year, the routine/schedule of our 9-5 style work days kept us healthy and on track, then we'd get home and do a lot of late night snacking, so its been nice holding each other accountable and seeing results!

-Caleb and I started new books that really give each other insight on WHY we are the way we are. No matter how much I love my husband, there will always be things he'll do that I'll never understand, and vice versa! So he's reading a book called Captivating which is kind of like getting a peek into a woman's soul, and I'm reading Wild at Heart, which is more about why men are the way they are. I have to say it's been really cool and eye opening. They also bring us a little closer to God with each turn of the page, which we love!

-I haven't had coffee all year (this is where it sounds like it's been forever, when in reality, we're only 11 days into the new year, HA). I normally only had a small cup at work to curb my appetite before lunch so I wouldn't eat something sweet, but I'm trying to replace that with water for the most part.

-I didn't splurge on a big name-brand planner this year. As much as I LOVED my Erin Condren planner last year and think it's worth every penny, I wanted to mix things up. I surprisingly found the cutest 2017 planner at TJ Maxx and it even came with a buttload of stickers/extras! PS, check out my SIL & her friends sticker biz and get yourself some!! I know I will be, soon!

Hope everyone is having a great start off to their New Year! Remember, if you've maybe relaxed on your NY goals, it's never to late to get back on track! You've got this!

Weekend got me spinnin.

Spinning...literally. Caleb had the bright idea Friday night to ask another couple from church (who also attends our gym) if they were planning on taking a Saturday morning class or not. When they said 7:30 AM spin class, I was scared, ha! So went to bed at a decent hour Friday (after a fun date night in) and woke up before the sun the next day and met them there bright and early. This class was no joke! After 65+ minutes and 25 miles, I was surprised my legs were still intact! But it was fun to have my workout finished before we'd normally be awake on a Saturday!

After the class, we had a nice healthy breakfast at home and discovered that our heat was out. It was blowing out freezing cold air. Someone from the maintenance team came over pretty quickly and determined out entire system needed replaced (one perk of renting; we don't have to pay for it), but brought us a tiny space heater to hold us over. She even replaced our thermostat to a digital one, and replaced the old gritty dial one we had from the 80's. We have no idea when it will get fixed but we're praying that it's soon!

We enjoyed the rest of our day lounging, playing games, editing, and then we made dinner. We used spaghetti squash both Friday and Saturday in our recipes and it was pretty tasty!!

Sunday was a normal mix of both low key plans and relaxation. It's weird not having my Bengals on TV to watch anymore. I miss it!

I have to say, being at home makes me really happy. I've really never been that kind of girl who goes out on the town very often, and I'm finally realizing that I like it that way. Sure, here and there is fun! But mostly, being at home with Caleb is my happy place (preferably with some popcorn in hand and a good movie)!

What did you get into this weekend?! Hope it was fun!

Tone It Up {Week 1}

Thank goodness its Friday, even though this was only a 4 day week, it kind of seemed like a 6 day week. I'm ready for the weekend!

I corralled a few friends to help go through this 6 week fitness challenge (through Tone It Up) with me so its been fun to check in with them everyday (I'm looking at you, Becky!)!! This week's workouts had me just as sore as I was after my first half marathon, which I was NOT expecting! Not that I'm a big "runner" anymore, but that's all my muscles were really used to. I hadn't done workouts like this that were so targeted to specific areas (other than lifting), so it felt good to be trying something new.

The workouts have been so different day to day, which is definitely keeping me on my toes. Some days it's all about toning the abs, or the legs, or a rough 45 minutes of cardio. I think my favorite part though, has been tackling the different 5 moves each day! Sure, I'm exhausted and as sore as ever, but I know if I skip a day or put it off, I'll fall off track! So it feels really great to follow through on it all week!

In the past, the hard part has not been working out, but in eating clean. I can workout like crazy but then ruin it with a donut the next morning, so this New Year was really exciting as a clean slate, to do better! I know I mentioned earlier in the week, but Caleb and I have been cooking together more, and it's been so fun. Even when its something as simple as tacos, being in the kitchen together has been awesome. Here's what we had for dinner this week:

Sunday: taco salad

Monday: garlic herb chicken breast w/ asparagus

Tuesday: quinoa w/ chicken & kale
Wednesday: teriyaki shrimp w/ brown rice & fresh green beans

Thursday: lemon pepper salmon w/ asparagus & brown rice

Friday: TBD! Probably something involving shrimp because apparently we're on a shrimp kick ;)

Caleb and I both have small goals we're trying to hit, so we don't get overwhelmed with the big picture, and once we do, we'll finally have ourselves a little cheat night (which is Texas Roadhouse because duh gift cards and hellooo loaded sweet potato)!

I have to say I've slept like a rock most nights this week, I have more energy, and best of all? I haven't had a headache all week. I normally get them regularly, but cutting out a lot of the caffeine/sugar has helped, I think!

I hope you have a fun weekend planned! Enjoy, friends! :)

Currently {first of 2017}

Back at it again with one of my favorite link ups from Anne and her co host Jessica today! I always love this Currently prompt; it's a fun way to look at what's been going on in everyone's lives!

Currently I'm...

Gathering: junk. We've accumulated so much crap since we've moved to our town home in 2015 that we can't wait to get a house and have a big ole moving/yard sale. We just realized we have so much stuff that we don't even touch, look at, or remember is there until we randomly come across it. It's funny because I feel like we have thrown away/donated SO MUCH STUFF but I swear, once you start throwing junk out, it's kind of addicting!

Making: new meals. It's been so fun cooking every night. Caleb gifted me a cookbook called "Date Night In" and the couples intro reminded me a lot of Caleb and I. Anyway, they make it a point to spend one night a week cooking together. We've actually been doing this a couple times a week since Christmas and I have to say its been so much fun. One of our goals has been to keep our kitchen table free of clutter and we're eating there together every night. Honestly most night's we just plopped on the couch with our plates on our lap and just stared into the TV; so this is much more intentional and we're both absolutely loving it! Cooking together has been a blast, too!

Sipping: a WHOLE lot of H2O. I'm basically trying to drink my weight in ounces everyday and then some. It's hard, but worth it.

Following: the Tone It Up gals! They have a 6 week New Year challenge going and while there are options you can pay for to "enhance your experience", they also have a free version you can follow. So instead of watching their workout videos, I just google whatever that days prompt is, so if it says 45 mins of cardio, I do just that! They also have a ton of free videos on their youtube channel/fitness section of their website. The 5 daily moves are INSANE. What's funny is I thought that would be the easy part. I yawned this morning, and felt a muscle I've never felt before. The only other time I've been this sore was after running a half marathon. OUCH.

Resolving: this goes with what I said above but Caleb and I truly want to take better care of ourselves this year. I feel like that's just a general goal and might be "cliche" but really, we don't care. We both have new journals and we're writing down everything we eat, all of our workouts, our energy levels, how we felt that day, etc.! I have to say, putting pen to paper and being more intentional with what I'm eating has made a huge difference in my attitude, and its only been 3 full days!

I'm excited to see where this new year takes us! I just love the thought of a clean slate in January! Hope everyone has a great day!

Hello 2017!

Having another short week is such a blessing. I swear, three day weekends just make me a happier person! Friday evening, Caleb had some friends over so I stayed upstairs and had myself a me-night. I watched 2 documentaries (Minimalism and one on Tony Robbins), Zootopia and listened to a 45 minute podcast, all while editing randomly, snap chatting my disappointment that Caleb promised me Chipotle and then brought home BBQ #firstworldprobz... but all in all it was really nice to have a night to myself! I need to schedule time like that more often.

Saturday we slept in and just relaxed all day until it was time to head over to Erin and Jared's. This has kind of become our tradition with them! We love it! This year, their other brother and his girlfriend also joined us! We had a great time playing board games, exchanging funny stories, and ringing in the new year together!

I'm so thankful that Caleb's family are also great friends! We have big dreams for 2017, and we're so excited to get it started!

Sunday we slept in again and since we didn't have church, we decided to clean up like crazy. We took down all of our Christmas decorations, cleaned all the nooks and crannies of our home (I'm looking at you ceiling fan...ew), and relaxed after we finally made dinner. Then we popped in Deepwater Horizon; highly recommended!

Yesterday we were lucky enough to both have the day off and we definitely took advantage and slept in (again), but then got moving with our workouts. I'm loosely following the TIU challenge and while I didn't pay for it, they give you a few specific moves and then it said "45 mins of cardio" so I chose this one and HOLY CANOLI, I thought I was going to die. Can't wait to see where I am in a few months!

Also this morning I was able to get up early enough to swing by Erin's to spend time with her and the most adorable nephew in the world...so you could say this day is looking up! ;)

Hope everyone has a great week ahead!