My first Convention!

Going to our National Convention has never been something on my radar. I'm quickly approaching my 4-year anniversary with Usborne Books & More, but for some reason I've never had a strong desire to attend. Of course, the one year when life was extra chaotic and money was extra tight, I DESPERATELY wanted to go. First of many shout-outs to my amazing husband who supported me 100%. I can't tell you how many times I had a panic attack and said "I'm just not going to go" and he just made me book my flight!

I can't even express what an amazing time I had. I had never left the boys for more than an overnight trip with Jeremy and I hadn't traveled by myself in like 10 years. Life was extra hard back at home while I was gone and Satan worked extra hard at attacking us to ruin my time, but it didn't work! I met my work friends for the first time in real life, which made them even better and deeper relationships. I had me time to just laugh and have fun. And best of all I was able to dig deep, focus on my business and gain some incredibly valuable tools.

Plus, it was our 30th Anniversary!!!!!

I won the consistency award and crowned a prom queen! 

Christy Wright was AMAZING!

I'm now working towards an all expense paid trip to HAWAII!

Peter Usborne himself!!!

(Edited to add) Convention after hours was the best.....

I got to tour the home office warehouse to see how they get all of our books out to you guys!

My chocolate treats were very motivating!

And then there's this guy!!! Waiting for me out of the gate with flowers, when he told me he'd just be waiting in the car! I'm so thankful for him, all he does for me and all the ways he is supportive!

I already can't wait to go back next year, Lord willing and for all that this year has in store for me, my business and what it provides for my family! Thank you all for your continued support ❤

7 years!!!!!

If you had told me 3 months ago, after we had 7 showings on our house and 6 offers on the table to consider, that today we’d have our 4th contract terminated and we’d be 1,000 miles away from that house, having already moved us to NY.......I’m not even sure what I would have done or said. 

But here we are today in that exact situation.

But today I’m also celebrating.

Today marks 7 years.

7 years ago I married this stud and became a wife.....

Life the past 7 years has been an adventure. 

It’s been full of wonderful trips, memories and babies. It’s been full of celebrations and heartaches. It’s been full of success and failures. Chaos and confusion. Moments of shouting from rooftops to crying in the valleys. 

I’m not even sure what label I would put on the last 5 months. I think I can say it’s been the hardest season of our marriage. It’s been emotional and stressful. Full of hard decisions, BIG decisions, heartache, loss, anger and confusion. 

But it’s also been a season of huge growth. And I couldn’t be more thankful for anything else than to be standing next to you, Jeremy, as we navigate our family through this huge season of transition. I wouldn’t be me without you. I wouldn’t be okay without you. I wouldn’t be here without you. You are my rock, my support, my partner, my rock, my life. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to fully express to you how much I love and appreciate you. Words don’t even exist. But I hope today and every day to follow you can feel just how much I do. Because oh, I do. 

Yesterday, today and every day to come it will be you. It’s always you. 

Happy Anniversary, my love ❤

Our June

Now that it's August, I suppose I should back track to our June, so that I can also post our July! Half the time I don't even know what day it is right now. I keep saying that I feel like I'm in the twilight zone and there's no sign of that ending anytime soon. But none-the-less, we've made memories and have cute pictures to share!

Most of our month was chaos between getting the house ready to leave, our travels and me being gone!

(can you spot the kitty in the fort?)

Grandpa and Grandma came to help us get the house ready!

The boys (and Phoebe) did an incredible job on our trip up to NY! We let Phoebe out of her carrier for the first time and she sat so well and quietly in between the boys. Normally she cries the whole time she is in her case. We purchased a DVD player and it was the best $60 we ever spent!!! That and snacks helped us all survive! 👐👐👐

Hotel life.......

I've had this post drafted for a while as I tried to figure out what to post about the people we said goodbye to. We didn't have a huge crowd, but we had our people. Which is just the way I like it. I don't need to have a mass surrounding me, just a few tight-knit friends who do REAL life together. Who get me. I had that....and I'm thankful that I'll always have them, no matter the miles between us. It's those friends that go the distance and last a lifetime. Our foundation is built on the good, the bad and the ugly. They've seen me at my worst and at my best. They've celebrated with me in the blessings of life and picked me up from the pits of it. Saying goodbye to them has been one of the hardest things I've done. The tears I've cried in the months leading up to it, during and after have been many and this transition has been incredibly painful. But.....then again, to the people who truly have our hearts, it's never goodbye. You know who you are - and you are loved. And missed dearly already.