Getting into the swing of summer, one good thing at a time.

Hi everybody! I hope you are feeling the good side of life this summer. It took me a day or two to process that summer is here. During the school year I am extremely disciplined with my time and chores 24/7 and it works for us and helps our life as a family function and thrive.  So at the start of summer I felt a bit weird about letting my focus shift towards a more relaxed setting, each day's schedule being different than the last, and me not watching the clock every hour like it's my job.  You know, time to do a craft, clean out the closet, or get in the kitchen and actually cook.

It only took me a few days to wake up and realize though that summer will be over in a flash. It just really will.  So I'd better hurry up and enjoy this new pace while it lasts because August will be here so very soon.  The last 4 or 5 summers I've either been worrying over my job and if we would have enough numbers for me to work full time or in grad school or both.  All that to say, it has taken some work to feel fully relaxed and in summer mode.  This year feels different. 

Here's what's been good and caught my attention in the best possible way this week! 

Starting with the picture above-I had the best catfish sandwich this week.

Dressed for a swimming hole. You know it's summer when my Bass Pro hot pink hat comes out.

Drives through the country are my favorite! 

Swimming holes are our absolute favorite! This is only about 30 minutes from our house, free to visit, and feels so good when it's hot out.

Lunch with a view in Eureka Springs! We've been to Eureka 3 times already this spring/summer. We just love that little town.  

It has been foggy or rainy several times this week and as I'm typing this it's even cool outside. What an absolute treat for an Arkansas summer! It definitely won't be like this in August so we're soaking it up while we can. This is the view of our garden in progress.  

No filter or editing here. My favorite feeling in the world is at night after I've washed my face and put moisturizers on.  My favorite brand of moisturizer is Laneige by far. I started buying this stuff a year or so ago, as I realized I was inching closer towards 40. I'll be 40 in about 3 months. 

A rain drop splattered in my coffee as I took this! I put the tiny plants out in the rain to get watered.

Stopped by my school's Little Free Library to put some favorite chapter books inside earlier this week. I bought these at Potter's House in Fayetteville. They have an incredible book selection which I highly recommend checking out if you like to purchase used books like we do. 

Apples to Apples is one of our most favorite dinner time games! We don't always play a game at dinner, but a lot of times we do or we'll pull a conversation card to talk about. Just takes the conversation away from only discussing the day or the problems. We also like to light candles and play music at dinner. We don't do everything well in our house because who does? But we do dinner together really well I think.

Caught at the garden.

Brett also captured me taking a video of this fuzzy stuff from a thistle. Sara in the wild!

I do love to step outside in the summer mornings and watch the sun come up. We're always rushing during the school year so this is a really nice treat.

Isn't this just gorgeous?! I thought it almost looked like a blue rainbow.

Late afternoon snack, sitting by the garden with Brett. A little mini date. This is the non-dairy Skinny Pop. Our family's favorite!

I purchased this FABULOUS book, to help me feel better about turning 40. It's working. :) 

Probably my favorite capture I've ever taken of Brett! Just took this with my phone. In fact, I guess all of these photos are from the phone this time. He was hot and tired I'm sure, from cutting hay but came on the porch to spend time with the girls and I. They still love bubbles being blown for them. This captures the joy Brett takes in being dad perfectly.

Dirty floors and house, but my goodness that magical little piece of light. Isn't this just true for how life is? I think so. Really hard and messy parts mixed right in with big, magical things.  What we're really good at and the news and the loudest voices sometimes is the hard, the hate. What I'd like to see more of and the reason why I blog and journal, is the good that really is there.  

I love these pesky weeds. The butterflies do too!

Summer produce has been such a treat! We've enjoyed apricots from Sam's Club, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

An outfit I wore to take the girls to the mall. Our mall is just not what it used to be at all and honestly I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I sound old!

Haha. I found this at the thrift store and took a picture to show Brett because we are celebrating our 15 year anniversary in a month or two.

Interesting yard finds. 

Brett's garden! I say his garden because he put in these concrete blocks, fencing, and everything this year to totally redo the garden. It's still a bit of a work in progress but should keep the many deer we have out. Last year we didn't even get to can tomatoes because we had so many deer eating up the garden.

Early morning art journaling scene. 

I paid for and printed off some things in color from the Illustrated Faith's Print and Pray shop to use in my art journal.  I liked the combo of them here, along with my own painting scrap.

Another day in a striped shirt from Wal-Mart.

We got to visit my grandparents in their new house last week!

One of the girls made dinner for us this week and it was so good! I am getting them in the kitchen more this summer, while also having them do dishes and laundry, organizing their rooms, etc. My girls are both in middle school now and we're trying to teach them responsibility and how to take care of themselves well.

Our front porch! This pic above is totally accurate with the kettle bell sitting on the table. I exercise when and where I can. Sometimes that's on the porch at 8:00, other times it's on the treadmill at 9:00 at night while I watch a show. I've shifted from running miles and miles and instead am doing a handful of other types of exercise, while also still running on the treadmill some.  As we get closer to fall and winter I would like to up my miles again and train for the Hogeye Half Marathon in April.

I read a workout on Instagram by one of my favorite people on the platform, Mallory Ervin. The workout was to put the treadmill at the highest incline it will go and walk at 3.5 for 30 minutes. I've done it twice now and it is almost too hard for me to finish. It is a GOOD, very effective workout and 30 minutes really isn't that long for the burn I feel afterwards. I had sweat literally dripping onto the treadmill after this.

Grey hair coming in strong!

I don't look very happy here, but I really was! Trying out a new spot for outfit pics.

An outfit to take my mom-in-law out for a day on the town to celebrate her birthday.

We went to downtown Siloam Springs and had the best time shopping and eating!

The downtown was having a Mary Poppins themed Girls Night that night so there were themed things everywhere. I always tease that I am practically perfect in every way like Mary Poppins, so I just had to get this cookie.

I really, really love walking around a downtown and exploring while taking pictures.

We had our favorite ice cream in Northwest Arkansas, Pure Joy!! The black colored ice-cream is actually flavored lemonade and is slightly sour. SO GOOD. There isn't anywhere in Fayetteville that sells dairy free ice-cream (that I know of) so it's always a bummer to miss out. Regular ice cream makes me feel really sick after so I stick to dairy free. This is why I enjoy blending frozen bananas and eating that like ice cream so much.

The lighting here was perfection. A quick photo tip that maybe you already know? Always face the window/light.  

Mystery egg found at my mom-in-law's house. Anyone know what this is? She's found a couple of them around her yard. It's actually a small egg, this photo was just taken very close up. 

Absolutely gorgeous flowers at my mom-in-law's! 

We ate our local Mexican restaurant tacos for dinner one night last week and they were SO good. I had been up past midnight the night before with a girl who couldn't sleep and was wearing exhaustion like a blanket. So we ordered tacos, slowed our pace way down and tried for good sleep the next night. 

We have our church's VBS (called Summer Extreme) coming up this week and I'm going to be a crafts teacher. We also have several playdates, errands to run, and a birthday girl in our house! Life is full.

I'm off to make a list for the day, which I always do even in summer. I want to paint my nails and toenails, exercise, clean, craft, and do some organizing. What are you up to?