New Years Resolutions

Happy New Years Eve! 

2013 has been the greatest year of my life. I became a mother. As a child when I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said "a stay at home mom" and now, that's exactly what I am. I could not think of a greater blessing than being a mother. 2013 is definitely a year to remember. I expect 2014 to be a productive year for me and my family. To get to the point, I'm going to list some of the things I expect for me and my family in 2014.

New Years Resolutions:  

 

1. Work on our fitness and health
I know, I'm sure everyone has this on there list, but it is something we need to work on as a family. We eat healthy for the most part, but we have way too many cheat days for my liking. So I would like to find some amazing paleo recipes in the new year and eat home cooked meals as much as possible. I would be happy if we could just get completely away from all fast food. I want to start working out again, I stopped after I had my son because "I didn't have enough time" (worst excuse ever). Our gym has a mommy room that I could easily take him to. I have a jogging stroller and 3 friends that live less than a mile from me and I usually drive to one of their houses every morning. Besides, Joshua loves his stroller, but I cannot say the same about his car seat. So, no more excuses. I want to be happier with myself and my body so I can be a better mother and wife. My boys deserve it.


2. Become stronger in our faith
Me and my husband both know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have had our son dedicated through our church, and we attend church regularly; but we could all put more into our faith. I would love for us to pray together more as a family. We usually pray together at dinner time, but I am hoping to start praying together before bed and in the morning when we wake up. I want it to become as natural and as needed as breathing to us. I also want us to start doing a year of daily devotionals as a family starting January 1st. I want to include the Lord in every aspect of our life.


3. Plan some family vacations
Last year we were unable to take any vacations. I was pregnant and tired the first four months of the year and after that we had a newborn to take care of. So, we just never planned any. I seriously don't think it ever even crossed our minds. This year I am hoping we can plan a few. I'm not sure where yet, but I know we will probably wait until the summer to go anywhere. 


4. Start a home business
I love sewing/embroidery. I would absolutely love to start a business selling baby moccasins, leggings, cloth diaper covers, cloth diaper wet bags, and embroidered shirts and onesies. Who knows, by the time I start selling, I may have so much more to offer. Right now, I am still practicing. I am not planning on selling anything until I think my creations are perfect. Hopefully by the end of 2014 I will be confident in my creations and have a small business going.


5. Better ourselves as a family
 We love being parents and of course we only want whats best for our family. But, I am hoping to get more involved in each others lives (not saying that we are not involved). I just would like to talk about things more and sit down at the table every night for dinner. Our marriage is incredible, but some days we are both just so exhausted and not really on the same page. I hoping talking about how our day went on days like that will better our understanding of each others feelings.


I'm sure I will come up with more things to work on in 2014, but for now this is our list.
Hope everyone has an awesome New Year!

The Pieces of Me

Hi. I'm Kelly.

And this is my family.

I'll start from the beginning..

This is the love of my life.

We met through two wonderful mutual friends who were not expecting us falling in love to be the outcome of introducing us. lol. From the minute I met him, all I wanted was him. AND I GOT HIM! How lucky am I!? We started dating in July and got engaged December 24th of the same year. We took this picture two years ago to the date, and yes, we have both changed, a lot, in mainly good ways I would say. Anyway, this was 5 days after he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, and of course I said yes! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my life then by his side. We got married on March 19, 2012, then two weeks later he was leaving his new wife for 8 weeks of military basic training for the Air Force. After that he went to tech school for another 8 weeks, luckily we were not but four hours apart and I could drive down every weekend to see him. Once he finished his training he got his first assignment and we were finally able to be together on the sunny beaches of Florida! A few months after we moved here..

we found out we were expecting! No, we weren't planning it, but after we found out we were so excited. From the start we knew it was a boy and we knew we wanted to name him after his daddy.  My pregnancy was normal for the most part. First trimester was hard on me, I ended up losing 20 lbs due to morning sickness. After that, pregnancy was fantastic. I loved every part of it, especially when I started feeling little movements and when we found out he was definitely a boy, like we always thought he was. Towards the end, of course, it started getting rough, and I started to become a Drama queen. But, it didn't last long, because..

 

Joshua Lee Jones Jr arrived, all 6 lbs and 13 oz of him, on April 26, 2013 three days before my due date. That was the best day of my life. Labor was incredible. I may sound crazy, but if I could relive that day every day for the rest of my life, I would. It was love at first sight. He was perfect, and a breastfeeding champ, might I add. We were so ready to take him home and start our new life as a family.

Our handsome little baby grew so fast. He was learning, laughing, and just an all around happy wonderful baby. We decided after he was born that we really wanted him to have a sibling close to his age. We are a military family and will be moving very often and we wanted J to always have a friend. So, we decided the time was right to start trying for baby #2! And after 3 months of trying..

 

We found out we were expecting, again! (this was our reveal photo) Oh, we were so excited! We even moved into a bigger house so we would have more room for our little babies. Unfortunately, our excitement was short lived. During the week of our move I started feeling strange, so we rushed to the E.R. and after spending 6 hours there, found out our little angel went to be with the Lord. We decided to send the baby off for chromosome testing to see if we could maybe find an answer and weeks later found out it was a baby girl, and there was no medical issue they could find that would have caused me to miscarry. Best way put is "it just wasn't meant to be." We coped and accepted the loss. We know our baby is with the Lord and that there is no better place for her. We sure do wish she could have stayed with us, but we know this is God's plan. We were so happy to have Joshua to help us through this. His silly little ways keeps our minds and hearts occupied. 

 I don't really take selfies too often anymore so, this picture will just have to work. I guess I should write a little bit about my interest and hobbies.. So, here it goes.. I believe in Jesus Christ. When I have down time I craft or sew. Sewing is my favorite thing right now. I didn't realize how much I loved it until my mother in law got me a sewing machine for my last birthday. So, I am fairly new at it. Right now I am working on hand stitching, though, I have just started making baby moccasins. I have to say, I am pretty good at it and hopefully will be able to start a business selling my creations within the next year. I love the beach, hopefully Joshua will share my love for it so we can be there every day next summer. I love to take baths... with lavender and salt, which is where I got the name for my blog. I'm a lover of animals, I would have a thousand pets if I could. My husband and son are my best friends, but I have 5 great girl friends.. & that's just about all there is to me.

These two make my world go 'round. I couldn't imagine life without them.

My boys are the pieces of me.

And if you read all of this, I commend you.