A Little Spot of Joy!

My family and I have been so busy the last several months, that I haven't even had a chance to get some of my fall decorations out.  This evening I needed just a little time to put together a little corner of joy in our dining room.  Our dining room is definitely one of my favorite rooms in our home.  My mom always made it a priority for us to sit down and have a meal together each and every evening and for that I am grateful.  We also make that a priority in our home and it's such a special time to reconnect from the day.  I will admit there are still evening meals where the kids are flopping in and out of their chairs and evenings where we might be terrified if we counted how many times we have to ask our kids to 'eat their supper,' but it's worth every minute!

My dear husband gave me such a hard time for purchasing a new house plant today as I haven't had the greatest history with keeping them alive, but I'm determined to prove him wrong!  So here goes...  Last weekend the kids and I went to Kansas to visit my Mom & Dad and while we were there, my Mom, Kylee and I went to Salina to surprise my sister in law on the opening day of her store CJ's Creative Marketplace.  While we were there, I found this cute 'FALL' banner.  It was such a joy to see the smile on her face on this special day!  If you're in the Salina, KS area, I highly encourage you to check out her store!!!

This table has some other very special pieces placed on it.  My mother gave me the bread basket in the picture below, the milk glass was my great grandmother's and this camera was my great grandfather's first camera.  My grandparents told me a couple years ago that they had this old camera.  They knew how much I loved pictures and cameras, so when we were there this summer we looked and looked in their basement to find it and the pure joy I had when we found it was absolutely priceless!

What may just seem like a table is a very special corner of joy for me, full of love, memories and the encouragement to create new memories!  Thanks for letting me share just a little corner of joy from my home.  May you also enjoy a little corner of joy in your home!

Blessings,

Krystal

Just need a little break!

Sorry I haven't been writing much lately, sometimes we just need a little break to just experience life and experience God for a while.  My little girl and I also need a little break and just enjoy some precious time together.  So I took off from work a little early, picked up my girl and headed to Buffalo Mountain Pottery to do some painting!

Kylee just loves anything that's related to music and art!  She may discover other things that she enjoys but for now, these are the types of things that she just loves.  She is typically a little reserved and quiet in some situations, and music and art have helped give her confidence.

Kylee was on a mission to paint something for her Nana for her birthday.  At first she was going to paint a plate, but then she saw a horse and just knew Nana would love it.  Her Nana taught her how to ride bareback just a few weeks ago, which made this piece just perfect!

I really struggled on deciding what to paint.   I'm in the process of redecorating our home office/reading area to be full of running inspiration.  It's the place I sit to scrapbook, blog, schedule my workouts and enjoy my quiet time.  I'll be finding ways to encourage and inspire myself and my entire family through our love of running.  I'll be displaying all of our medals, bibs, pictures of us all running, scripture, etc.  I thought it only fitting to make a platter with one of my favorite verses to display in our new running inspired office/reading area.  I'm not very creative, but it's more about the journey and this special time with my daughter!

Kylee really enjoyed picking colors and getting started on her horse!

The conversation was so sweet and we even enjoyed just the quiet while we both painted!

We'll have to schedule another time to go finish our projects and just force ourselves to enjoy some more time together!  I love you Ky and love these special moments with you baby girl!

Stay tuned... we'll share our finished projects when they're done!

Blessings,

Krystal

  

A Menu Planner that FINALLY works for my family!

I have tried many different styles of menu planners including magnets on the fridge to write on, printed menu planners, one's that are emailed to me.  And for various reasons they just didn't work well for me or my family.  After a lot of discouragement from prior attempts, I decided to look for some other ideas.

When researching menu planners on pinterest I came across this menu planner from 'Life {Sweet} Life'

I just loved the concept of this style of menu planner.  It's adorable and extremely practical to have the cards printed and ready to choose when planning for the week.  I contacted my dear sister in law with 'Dippity Dot Creations' to see if she could create a custom menu planner for me.  I wanted one that was a little bigger so that it could include all 7 days of the week.  I couldn't be more thrilled with what she came up with!!!  She made it so that the pins are magnet as well as the little drawer on the bottom to hold the cards.  This makes it so easy to take them off and plan for the next week without having to take the menu planner off the wall!    

To make the cards, I just typed up various meal ideas (including leftovers, eat out, etc.) and printed them on some heavy cardstock.  Then I used the punch below to cut them out.  Plus it will be easy to add meals in the future!

Now once a week I have my daughter go through the cards and pick out what we're having for which day.  This makes it so easy to plan for groceries, eliminate the questions from everyone as to what's for dinner and my little girl just loves being a part of the meal planning process.  One lesson I learned through this simple task of trial and error with menu planning is, it's okay to try a process and fail at it or discover it doesn't work for you or your family.  What works for one family, may not work for another.  Please don't get discouraged or frustrated when it doesn't work.  I made that mistake and was way too hard on myself too many times over something so simple as menu planning!  Grant yourself some grace just as God does!

Blessings,

Krystal

Remodel = A Strengthened Marriage

This post is not about my running journey but a little about a journey with my dear husband. 

The journey to this one little corner of our home.

Deciding to remodel parts of your home can be such a challenge.  Through this challenge a marriage can be strengthened so much (and strained a bit at times as well)!  And remodeling with two little people in the house can add some additional challenges!  A year ago my dear husband was busy working on some remodel work on the inside of our home.  We replaced carpet with wood floors and tile, we painted the walls, changed the trim, changed the doors, etc. It was a long and stressful process but I am so incredibly grateful for the hard work he did and the way it strengthened our marriage.

We are currently getting ready to put a porch on our house.  We're excited and a little anxious all at the same time to dive into another big project!  This time I'm excited to be more involved in helping my man!

Here's a picture of Joshua working hard to install the wood floor in our dining room last January.

Here is a picture of Joshua and his baby girl dancing on Valentine's Day last year. You can see an awkward corner in the background during mid-construction.  I've struggled with how to decorate it since the very day we moved into this house. 

After some of the remodel was done, I felt like I had a blank canvas to decorate.  It's still a work in progress, but isn't having a home ALWAYS a work in progress?  I was so excited to finally come up with an idea for this awkward corner.  I contacted Trista with Heritage Design to design and make a sign for my family.  I was absolutely amazed and loved what she came up with.  Here's the sign she wrote (photo also by Heritage Design), designed and put together (I've blurred out the years for privacy purposes).  The sign says 'God Blessed One Day.  He made me for you and you for me.  We made a vow and sealed it with a kiss, a baby came and brought us bliss.  Another came and made us whole.  Praise God for those ONE DAYS that blessed our soul!'

After hanging the sign on one side of the corner, I decided to gather pictures of each of us at 1 year old and our wedding picture and hung them in a variety of frames to represent each of these special dates that God has truly blessed!  It's so fun to look and see who our kids look like and a constant reminder to

 'Praise God for those ONE DAYS that blessed our soul!'

Here's the baby pictures!

I just love walking by this corner multiple times a day and being reminded of how God blessed so many days (actually every day) leading up to today! 

When decorating I continue to look for ways to be encouraged and blessed. 

Blessings,

Krystal