oh hey, friday! | life lately

Friday, February 27, 2015
the good news - we all survived the little getaway to scottsdale. we had an absolutely wonderful time and i'll be posting a little recap next week.

the bad news - i got food poisoning, i probably should have splurged on a neck brace, it's taken me an entire week to recover...and probably more. i'm still tired.

but before i dive into that...a quick recap of our week.

first...

1. grab this here snazzy valentine button and link back to September F A R M.
2. link up your post at the bottom of this post.
3. have a fantastic friday.

MY  F I V E | W E E K L Y  R E C A P

1 | these two. sawyer loves her farmer and her farmer is head over heels for his little gal. i love when my farmer is with sawyer because it frees me up to pay all my attention to kaye. 
speaking of kaye...

2 | my gal kaye has hit a new level of ridiculously awesome hilarity. she is talking like crazy, which i feel like we waited soooooo long for. but now that it's here, it's more wonderful than i could have imagined. she's so so full of personality and a source of nonstop entertainment. it makes me want bitty to grow up so we can all really start to have some fun together. 

i mean, just look at her. driving her tractor in heels. 
3 | while in scottsdale, one of my cousins dug out some old photos of my dad, sister, and me. not only am i having hair envy of my sister, who at four had waaaay more hair than i could ever dream of, but the fact that my dad is rocking some seriously rad, nude shorty-shorts makes me miss the 80's...a lot. 
thank you thank you, sara, for gifting me these shots!
does anyone else think i look like a chubby kaye?
4 | yesterday our farmer came and snagged his gals. we had to check a few things out on the farm, which is also a wonderful opportunity for kaye to get some exploring in.

but when it gets too cold, i'm super happy to snuggle her back to the truck. 

5 | lastly...i hope everyone had a chance to check out this months group giveaway! if you haven't had a chance to enter CLICK HERE!

or...if you want to get in on the march group giveaway use the code GIVEAWAY40 for 40% off the gal-face group giveaway ad space. 

L I N K  U P  T I M E !

          THE GOOD LIFE BLOG

SAWYER | FOUR MONTHS

Thursday, February 26, 2015


my gal. my sawyer muffin is four months old as of tuesday. and with four months we have a new set of skills, but most notable would be her voice.

our bitty still isn't much of a crier...which is so so glorious. we can only have one crier in our house...our farmer. kidding. it's kaye. she's our emotional gal.

so back to that voice. sawyer is a talker and a yeller and a yammerer. if she doesn't have a binkie in her mouth she's letting us know all about something. it's not that she's unhappy, or needs something...she just likes to hear herself. sometimes it's ear-splitting, especially if both girls are carrying on, but it's nice to have some noise in the house...and it really makes me appreciate bedtime when the house is quiet and i can think a complete thought, such as, "i haven't brushed my teeth today." 

bitty also makes practice of rolling over from her back to tummy, tummy to back...and sleeps on her side every time.
S A W Y E R  |  4  M O N T H S

nicknames | muffin, bitty, bitty mc-bittles, bittles, sister

the very best is when kaye yells and points, "SISTER!"

height + weight | 
we have sawyer's 4 month appointment tomorrow, and we'll get to see where she is on the charts. my guess is she'll weigh about the same as kaye at that age, but will be a bit shorter.

kayw was 14 pounds, 8 ounces and 2 feet, 1.5 inches.

sleep | sawyer is a great little sleeper. she sleeps right through the chaos that goes on during the day at our house, which includes: mama/kaye dance parties, kaye jumping off furniture, kaye screaming with delight, and kaye throwing fits about nothing...to name a few.

muffin takes naps at about 8 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm, and then takes a little cat nap somewhere between 6:30 and 7 pm. she's usually ready to go down for the night around 8:30 pm which is working well for us now since kaye goes down at 8. i'll be excited when kaye drops her day nap and then both girls can go to sleep at 7 pm.

napping has been a bit trickier. i've been really lax about getting her on a napping schedule because we've been on the go so much lately. i have noticed that she definitely takes a nap around 9 am, 12:30 pm, and again around 4 pm...but those naps happen in super random places. sometimes she's on her little pod pillow (which apparently is a big no-no), sometimes in her crib, and sometimes in her car seat. oh well. once farming starts and we're home more, our schedule will be more...scheduled.

eats | sawyer is still loving the b. milk. we started kaye on solids at four months because she already had four teeth and was showing all the signs of wanting to eat. but our sawyer is still toothless, and i don't see any trying to poke through. we'll hold off on the solids for awhile longer.

sawyer nurses seven to eight times a day, depending on if she sleeps through the night or not. the nights she sleeps through make for excellent days...for me. it's amazing what a night of uninterrupted sleep does for a mama.

loves | getting her ribs chewed on (she's quite ticklish). talking. yelling. waking up from naps. sneezing. her sister.  sawyer loves her sister. she watches everything kaye does. i can see my future now. sawyer is going to follow kaye around like a little puppy, wanting to do everything she does. i just hope kaye will have the patience to be a good teacher.

dislikes | sawyer still has major disdain for water, but might be getting slightly more comfortable. at the pool in scottsdale she didn't cry, she just looked extremely concerned. progress. our bitty also cried for the first time in her carseat. i really hope this doesn't become habit. i would like to continue to have one of those magical babies that is totally content during long car rides.

our sawyer-muffin continues to make farmer and me look good as parents. like we totally have it together...which we don't at least 50% of the time. 

i'm absolutely shocked that we have a 2 year old + 4 months and a 4 month old. these gals own my heart. they are the most beautiful, energetic, funny, little balls of joy. i'm in love with their big, blue eyes and their tiny noses. they have the sweetest, little lips that are perfect for kissing. 

sawyer is so patient with kaye's rough love, and kaye loves loves her sister. it's pretty much the best.

O U T T A K E


fail | keeping the turtle busy

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

sooo...i've been working really hard at trying to decrease the television time for kaye...but it's proving difficult since i'm parked on the couch 27 times a day with sawyer.

girlfriend has to eat, so there's no getting around that.

during my pinterest browsing i saw this awesome art activity that i just knew was right up kaye's alley, but more so mine seeing as how it kept everything nice and clean. love that.

all you need is some tape, white paper, several paint colors, and ziploc bags (any size would work i'm sure...but i used gallon size).

1 | place your white sheets of paper on the table or other hard surface.

2 | position the ziploc bags over the sheets of paper.

3 | pour several colors of paint (i used two per bag) in each ziploc.

4 | secure bags over white paper to the table with strips of tape.

setup took about five minutes. a total snap.

the only problem with the whole project occurred when my turtle played with the super snazzy art project for LESS than five minutes. wtf.

instead she'll play with an empty suitcase for nearly two hours. huh?


whatever. i win some, i lose some.

we'll log this under the #pinterestfail category.

thanks for nothing, pinterest.

in other news...we've entered the awkward smiling phase.

$105 paypal group giveaway...don't enter.

Monday, February 23, 2015


don't enter because i would really like to increase my odds of winning.

if only for the fact that i need to make back some money after the number of piña coladas i drank this past weekend. they weren't cheap. but after getting my a** handed to me on the flowrider i'm going to need to invest in extra strength advil and a neck brace.

people - there is a reason you only see children on the flowrider. it's because kids are made of rubber and it doesn't matter if they get tossed around like a rag doll.

just check out my farmer. i was fairly confident he'd be really good at the flowrider. he can snowboard. he can surf behind a boat. he can wakeboard. both farmer and i were reassured that the flowrider is exactly like all three of those activities. "piece of cake," we were told. "not a problem."

lies.
while farmer and i will be licking our wounds and looking for our dignity somewhere between scottsdale and the farm...get entered below and check out all the wonderful, lovely ladies!

what will you be spending your $105 on?
chelsea | karli | vicki
tawnya | sydney | kasey
samantha | kaelene | chelsee

oh hey, friday! | where am i? what's my name?

Friday, February 20, 2015
as expected...i'm in bad shape. i think it had something to do with the mixture of champagne, beer...and then there was a tasty drink at the end called a mango mule.

anyway...

don't be lame like me. get linked up!

1. grab this here snazzy valentine button and link back to September F A R M.
2. link up your post at the bottom of this post.
3. have a fantastic friday.

hello sunshine + 80 degrees. i've missed you.

Thursday, February 19, 2015
source
i really really wanted to title this post sayonara bi*ches, but no matter how i shook it, it just came off a little too abrupt...a little too harsh.

so instead i'll just hide it in the body of the post. sayonara bi*tches!

i mean...it's exactly what i would say to my very best gals...so it's totally okay that i say it here.

the farmer, sawyer-muff, and i are headed to sunny scottsdale, arizona for a little wedding, some fun and good food, and maybe even an adult beverage or five.

farmer is beyond jazzed to try this out...
source
i'm beyond excited to take pictures of him eating it face first in front of a bunch of people. but seriously...i really do love him.

we're leaving the wild wild animal, we lovingly refer to as kaye, here on the farm. she's going to hold down the fort with nana and grandpa. it's guaranteed she's going to have more fun with them than she would in scottsdale. these are the facts.

oh hey, friday! is still happening tomorrow. last week we had 192 wonderful ladies link up...and we'd still love to break 200, am-i-right? let's do this. just grab this little button, and we'll see you back here tomorrow!


i'll leave you with a little picture i snapped during our walk the other day. we may have to change muffin's nickname to cheeks.




4 gals | one of my very most favorite feature posts

Wednesday, February 18, 2015
we have a feature post on the blog today...and it's definitely not one you'll want to pass up as i'm telling you all about four gorgeous gals! i mean...one lives in iceland. so exotic! (ps. kaelene...if you post any more ridiculously gorgeous pictures i'm coming to visit.) 

just sneak a peak at their blogs and you'll see why you should love them...just like me.

B O N U S - i asked each one of these gals an embarrassing moment...and those are always fun to read.
bloglovin' | instagram | twitter | facebook
As a foreigner in Iceland my life is full of embarrassing moments! This past year I have been trying my best to learn Icelandic and not make a complete fool of myself. Just when I think I have it all figured out someone asks me a question, I panic, and in front of a large group of people say.... well your going to want to read this post to get the whole story.

F A V O R I T E  P O S T S



Going back and reading some of my old blog posts, that was embarrassing. But in all honesty, I don't take myself too seriously and have had a lot of embarrassing moments that I just have to shake off and laugh about. The most embarrassing being when my husband first took me to a dinosaur museum/dig site I didn't know that dinosaurs were actually real...he still gets a good laugh out of that one.

F A V O R I T E  P O S T S



facebook | instagram | pinterest | bloglovin'

I can often be the queen of embarrassing moments, but I just try to roll with it...the best that I can! Becoming a new Mom this past year has taught me a lot about patience, that you cannot control everything, and you honestly do just have to roll with the punches. When my son was 4 months old, I headed to Vegas for one of my girlfriend's bachelorette party. I was super excited because I definitely had the Vegas itch and was so excited to celebrate with my girlfriend; but I was a little nervous because I did not know anyone else who was going to be at the party that weekend. I was also super nervous because I was still exclusively breastfeeding my son and was going to have to keep up with pumping all weekend while we were at pool parties and having fun out on the strip. Throughout the weekend, I suffered quite a few uncomfortable times and even though I didn't know any of the girls, we were all having a blast together. Well, our last night in Vegas we had bottle service at one of the clubs and we danced the night away. Before I knew it, I was in the bathroom and had leaked through the pads in my bra and I was SO uncomfortable. There really wasn't anyway for me to go all the way back to the hotel and then come all the way back to the club so I decided having more champagne was the key to surviving. We finally rolled in to our hotel room about sunrise and I immediately set to pumping. The bathrooms were being used so I set up shop in the corner of the room hidden from the girls. I started pumping and let out a sigh of relief and the next thing I knew I woke up to two of the girls sitting right in my face. I looked down and there I was pump still going but clearly not on my boobs and my boobs just hanging out, leaking might I add, for everyone to see. They said "Lindsey, your boobs fell out" and burst out laughing. The champagne had definitely gotten the best of me and I passed out mid pumping session with my boobs just hanging out among all these girls I barely knew. I thought these girls would think I was crazy! I didn't really care but didn't want to offend anyone pumping out in the open; but they thought I was such a trooper and hilarious. Like I said, motherhood has taught me a lot, specifically, that it is extremely difficult to go to Vegas and keep up with your pumping!

F A V O R I T E  P O S T S


bloglovin' | instagram | twitter | pinterest

Being a new Mama comes with a ton of embarrassing moments. I was preparing for my first outing with my son by myself and I made sure everything was packed. We made it to Target, my favorite store, and my son decides to have a blow out. I went to the bathroom to change him, but the only thing was that I forgot his diaper bag that I spent 30 min. packing, at home. I decided I could wrap him in layers of paper towels and try to get to the car. We made it to the parking lot and my son had another "episode" and not only did it come running out of his pants, but onto my shirt and pants. The only thing I could do was laugh and keep walking to the car. I almost made it to my car and I had a fellow Mama tell me to keep my chin up and that it gets better. Thanks Mama!

F A V O R I T E  P O S T S




valentine's day on the farm | 2015

Monday, February 16, 2015
did everyone enjoy their weekend? was it full of love and spoiling oneself?

i typically try to spoil and love myself every day...so it was pretty much old hat.

except...

my farmer pulled off quite the surprise, which is rare because...

1. i'm a snoop.
2. i'm a snoop.
3. i'm a snoop.

so when that hunk of burnin' love pulled out DIAMOND EARRINGS...well let's just say it shocked the hell out of me. i was actually shaking. i was more surprised by those diamond earrings than i was when he pulled out my engagement ring six and a half years ago. i couldn't wipe the stupid smile off my face. this can be capped off by saying...i'm not the girl who likes jewelry. i'm lucky if i remember to wear my wedding two days a week. but my diamond studs have been gracing my ears nonstop. they make a girl feel pretty.

but my surprises didn't stop there.

my farmer ended up taking kaye skiing on friday and saturday, which left me two toddler-free days to workout, shower, drink hot coffee, make cookies, make a valentine's day card, update our seasonal chalkboard, have a photo shoot with sawyer, clean, switch out sawyer's 0-3 month clothing for her 3 - 6 month duds...oh...and i got to sleep in until 7:30 am two mornings in a row. sweet sweet sleeping in. that'll also make a girl feel pretty too.

sawyer and i started off with her photo shoot. i was super excited for this because i put miss muffin in the exact outfit kaye wore two years ago. bow and all. i then proceeded to send their pictures to all our family because...well...i can't help myself. these girls own my heart.

K A Y E

S A W Y E R

next on the agenda was to get some sweet treats made. kaye has some friends on the farm that we all just adore. i thought it the perfect excuse to make some cookies for the blog, eat some dough, and deliver some valentine cookies to kaye's friends. oh...and eat some more dough.
i found a delicious sugar cookie recipe via the pioneer woman. it includes orange zest, and i also added in a little almond extract. uh, yum. just don't bake them one second longer than what's called for.
the frosting recipe was medium. i mean...frosting is frosting so it tasted delicious. but i've definitely had better. my farmer said he liked it because it wasn't too sweet and it was light. i can also say it piped quite easily...so there's that. you can find that recipe HERE

all this to say...they were definitely edible. more than edible, actually. truthfully...i want six right now. 
next on the agenda was to update our seasonal chalkboard. i had every intention of doing this weeks ago...but it just didn't happen. you know...i was doing other unimportant things like feeding my children and pumicing my toilets. 

regardless, as silly as it may seem, i love updating our chalkboard and seeing how closely i can copy someone else's creativity. i pinned this chalkboard ages ago and finally got to use it. speaking of pinning...if you want to follow my boards feel free to do so HERE.

it wasn't my finest effort...but muffin-bitty was being awfully noisy, swinging her fists, and kicking her legs like a crazy woman. it all proved to be quite distracting since i can't help but to kiss her neck, face, cheeks, nose, etc, etc. she's just so damn cute.

and lastly, i used to make my farmer a corny homemade card for different applicable holidays. i don't know if he even likes them...but i think it let's him know just how much i adore and admire him. i haven't made him a card for nearly two years and knew the time had come to bring back the tradition. 
again, with sawyer thrashing and exercising her new-found voice...i got my craft on. the card ended up being pretty cute and now we have one more love note to add to the box.
 
kaye and our farmer got home late on saturday night, so yesterday evening we had a quiet celebration. kaye got a balloon and some chapstick (she's obsessed with the eos brand) and my farmer received his favorite meal of meatloaf. thank you barefoot contessa for that beyond delicious recipe

farmer and i will continue our valentine's celebrations in scottsdale, arizona on thursday! i can't wait to celebrate my cousin's wedding! i've never met his bride, but according to my facebook research...she's a stunner!

@karlibellmeier