I took this off Facebook

so I have no idea who started it...

1. What is the color of your hair brush? --black

2. Name a food you never ever eat. --SO many! I would say salad since it's not common for most people.

3. Are you typically too warm or too cold? -- too cold.

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? -- working.

5. What is your favorite candy bar? -- Snickers. or Kit-Kat, Nutroll, Twix, Nutrageous... :)

6. Have you ever been to a professional sports event? -- yes. NFL, MLB, & NHL.

7. What is the last thing you said out loud? -- Love you, bye. {talking to Adam on the phone}

8. What is your favorite ice cream? -- a chocolate shake from McDonalds {I'm fancy, I know! ;}

9. What was the last thing you had to drink? -- drinking a Mtn Dew right now. {shocker, right?!}

10. Do you like your wallet? -- I love it! I've had it for years! It's leopard print from the Coach outlet. It's this one and I'm pretty sure I paid less than $100. If it broke today, I would buy this one {$15!!}

11. What was the last thing you ate? -- a piece of breakfast pizza that my coworker brought.

12. Did you buy any new clothes last weekend? -- nope! I haven't shopped on a Saturday since I had kids!

13. The last sporting event you watched? -- well not much thanks to the Corona. I think it was the SuperBowl.

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? -- white cheddar or this.

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to? -- my sister.

16. Ever go camping? -- I have, yes, but not often. I would go more if I could convince my husband...

17. Do you take vitamins? -- every day!

18. Do you go to church every Sunday? -- not every Sunday, but every Sunday we are home.

19. Do you have a tan? -- In my dreams!

20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza? -- no way!! #PizzaLoverForLife

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw? -- nope! I'm a straight from the can kinda gal!

22. What color socks do you usually wear? -- black. These are the best!

23. Do you ever drive above the speed limit? -- in town I do.

24. What terrifies you? -- losing my babies.

25. Look to your left, what do you see? -- my heater, a pink water cup, & my phone.

26. What chore do you hate? -- cooking!

27. What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? Adam saying 'put another shrimp on the barbie' haha!

28. What’s your favorite soda? -- Mtn. Dew for life!

29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? -- drive thru

30. What is your favorite number? -- 13

31. Who's the last person you talked to? -- my coworker {I'm eating lunch in my office today}

32. Favorite cut of beef? -- filet

33. Last song you listened to? -- Chainbreaker

34. Last book you read? -- When Life Gives You Lululemons

35. Favorite day of the week? -- Friday nights & Sunday mornings. :)

36. Can you say the alphabet backwards? -- nope!

37. How do you like your coffee? -- I don't like coffee :( Wish I did.

38. Favorite pair of shoes? -- I wear these all.the.time. Although I wouldn't say they are my favorite. as in I have some beautiful heals I love most, but they aren't practical for the day to day. :)

39. Time you normally go to bed? -- 10

40. Time you normally get up? -- 6:30ish

41. What do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? -- sunsets

42. How many blankets on your bed? -- just 1

43. Describe your kitchen plates: -- these in cream with these bowls in charcoal.

44. Do you have a favorite alcoholic beverage? -- this wine, but I'm cheap so I usually just drink these or a vodka/sprite.

45. Do you play cards? -- I love it

46. What color is your car? -- well the car I drive is silver. but the car I call mine {Adam drives it} is white. :)

47. Can you change a tire? -- nope!

48. Your favorite state? -- well I do love living in Iowa, but favorite states I've visited are South Carolina or Florida.

49. Favorite job you’ve ever had? -- when I worked at a hair salon as a kid. so fun!

50. How did you get your biggest scar? -- I fell off a stool at school in 7th grade.

If you fill this out, make sure to message me so I can check it out! ;)

21 Random Facts About Me

1. Do you make your bed every morning?

No -- I would, but Adam is still in it when I leave!  He does not make it. 

2. What was your first car?
Well it was 'the third car' but it was a goldish Mazda MX3 hatchback. Manual.  Ugliest thing ever.

3. What two grocery items do you never run out of?
Cheese & Crackers

4. At what age did you start doing your laundry?
21

5. If you could, would you go back to high school? 
No, but I enjoyed it when I was there. 

6. Can you parallel park in under three moves? 
Yep!

7. A job you had which people would be shocked to know you once had? 
I worked for John Deere

8. Can you drive a stick?
Yep

9. Guilty TV pleasure?
The Kardashians

10. Tattoos? 
several

11. If the world ends do you want to be one of survivors? 

Nope

12. Sweet or Salty?
Both, but not together

13. Do you enjoy soaking in a nice hot bath? 
Yes!

14. Do you consider yourself a strong person?
Mentally, yes.  Physically, not so much! ;)

15. Something people do that drives you nuts? 
Whistle! Ugh!

16. Do you have any birthmarks? 
Two, one under each cheek.  You can only see them in a swim suit

17. Favorite childhood game? 
Flashlight tag, hide & seek, Skip-bo

18. Do you talk to yourself? 
No

19. Do you like doing jigsaw puzzles? 
LOVE!

20. Tea or Coffee?
Mtn. Dew! ;)

21. First thing you remember wanting to be when you grew up? 
A teacher.

1828

The number of days Adam had his first wedding ring.

Two days after our 5th Wedding Anniversary, it joined my first iPhone at the bottom of Lake Ponderosa.  

My 5 Biggest Time Savers...

The following are all mentioned in terms of parenting, because that's where I use them most, but they could all be applied to 'non-parent' lives as well...

Now that school is in session and we're all getting into routines again, I thought I would share five places in our everyday life where I save myself a few minutes...

Fold Laundry While Watching TV | I can't tell you the last time I sat down and watched TV without folding laundry {or editing, but since most of you aren't photographers, that wouldn't apply!} I pretty much do a load of laundry each night.  It works great for us, because I pretty much only stay up long enough to fold one load of laundry after the kids go to bed, before I go to bed.  :)

Clean The Bathroom While The Kids Are Taking Baths | We bathe our kids every other night, so one {or two} nights a week I use this time to clean the bathroom.  I usually have just enough time to clean the mirror, dust, and scrub the counter, toilet, & floors before one of them is ready to get out. On the rare occasion they're playing really nice together and behaving {not wrestling in the tub, taking toys from each other, or dumping cups of water onto the floor--true story!} I'll also use the time to tidy our room {which is connected to the bathroom}.  Also, now that they're a little older I use the other bath night {or two} to put clothes away or unpack bags from the weekend. {again, within eyesight of the bathtub}.  And I'm always listening for it to get quiet--quiet is rarely good in our house! :)

Book Appointments In The Car | Utilize car time!  I use Bluetooth {speaker} in the car to book appointments and reorder prescriptions while stuck in traffic {or at stoplights}.  With a family of four {plus a dog on several medications} we're constantly at appointments {eye, medical, dental, vet, specialists, etc.} and filling prescriptions.  Bonus for me, Adam drives 99% of the time when we're together, so I use that time to respond to emails and make phone calls.

Listen To Books While Working Out | I talked about this one here, but it had to make this list.  I would probably read 5 books a year if it weren't for listening to books on my kindle.  I listen to books while running {bonus::makes the time go by 462864286 times faster!} and also while I'm driving to and from work and photosessions {the kids aren't in the car}.  Also listen to books while editing client photos, but again that won't apply to most of you.  Because of this, I've read over 80 since January.  Best.invention.ever!

Prep The Kids Clothes For The Week | This one is so easy and is such a time saver for us!  Sunday night, when I would normally lay Monday's clothes out for the kids, I grab clothes for the whole week. Takes me like 5 minutes longer, but saves me at least 20 minutes a week.  I happen to have an old locker room wire basket that fits the weeks clothes just perfectly.  I was forgetting to lay clothes out some days and letting the kids {Jordyn} pick out their outfits each morning is a battle I don't have the energy to fight takes forever.  Doing this all on Sunday saves me {Adam} about 5 minutes each morning {& 5 extra minutes in the morning is a big deal!}.  *One suggestion is to have the weather forecast ready {especially this time of the year} or to have a bonus {warmer/cooler} outfit in the basket for the days the weather changes.


>>What advice do you guys have for making the weeks go by smoother?

What I Say About MY Loved One...

After this post, I figured I should fill you in a bit more on my loved one.  Sometimes I forget that you guys don't all know us in real life, so you don't know the everyday stuff.  So here are a few things you would know if you've met my husband in person...

Adam...
--misses his truck
--will always help a friend, family member, or stranger out
--makes dinner every night
--gets Murdock & Jordyn ready and dropped off at daycare each morning
--is a night owl
--has a beautiful voice [& is the lead singer in a band]
--was my best friend for a year before we started dating
--LOVES TV
--will eat or drink almost anything
--is better about keeping up with our friends & family than me
--has a HUGE heart
--enjoys hunting, golfing, fishing, boating, poker, & smoking meat
--loves to host friends & family
--is only serious when he needs to be
--knows pretty much every song, the words to it, & who sings it
--hard-working and determined
--LOVES our lakehouse!
--makes Jordyn laugh & smile like nobody else! {I refuse to take her photos without him there!}
--is learning the guitar and is interested in the harmonica next
--prefers to make dinner over eating out
--likes sour candy, but prefers meat/potatoes over any dessert
--loves live music
--has tons of friends
--tells me I'm beautiful often
--will help with anything I ask him to
--don't attend church regularly, but can school most people when it comes to bible knowledge
--used to sing to me every.single.night before bed {yanno, when we used to go to bed together}
--talks to his mom every day

Okay...I should stop.  I'm sure you guys don't care as much as I do...haha! :)  Basically he's the perfect match for me.  I always say {and totally mean!} he is the half the makes me whole.  We are each other's opposites.  He brings out the fun in me and I add structure to him! :)  I don't know what I did without him!!

[new] balance

So...Adam and I watched something interesting on the History Channel last night about New Balance [the shoe company]

NB has 5 plants

ALL in the United States

They make 1 shoe size per plant per day

NM donates personalized shoes to all areas of the military 

They shared so much more than that, but that was enough to make me want to trade in my Nikes for NewBalance...and yes that makes me feel old, but that's okay! :)

Just Thursday!

Another Thursday already...where do these weeks go?!

In just 4 weeks I'll be laying on the beach in Mexico!

Outside my window..it's cool and crisp

The time is..4:43am

Today I feel..ready to rock

I am thinking.. we had a great nice celebrating Adam's 30th Birthday

At the moment, I am thankful.. for all of our friends & family that came to Adam's party 

I am going..to relax tomorrow

I am wearing..jammies still

I wish..we didn't have to DJ this weekend

I am reading..Eat.Pray.Love, blogs, and magazines

I am working on..a photobook to recap all of Adam's 30th birthday parties

I am hoping..Saturday goes fast!

I am hearing..silence

I bet you didn't know..Yahoo stands for 'Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle'

One of my favorite..magazines is Redbook

Weekend Plans.. 

[Thursday] Relax

[Friday] Unsure

[Saturday] DJing a wedding

[Sunday] Relax

Man...If if wasn't for DJing this weekend would be perfect!

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Thanks for playing along!!