We celebrated David’s birthday last week! Happy 6th birthday to the boy who has turned our world upside down in the best of ways. ❤️
The way he is looking at me in this picture absolutely melts me. David often comes and gives us kisses now and it’s the sweetest thing ever!
David Mateo Paine… getting to be your mama is one of the greatest privileges of my life. And also, my heart breaks that you can’t be with your mama and family every day. 💔
This year, you learned to communicate through taking our hand and leading us to wherever you want to go. You have decided you like food more (praise Jesus!). You are obsessed with paper bags and beg for every single one you see! 🙃
You graduated from the early childhood program you’ve been in the last three years and get to start Kindergarten in a few weeks.
You have very strong opinions on what you want to wear and eat. You love toys that light up and make noise. You have the BEST laugh and it echos through our house constantly and brings us so much joy!
You love playing with your siblings and are a really big fan of your three oldest siblings — often taking us to their cars to ask if you can go on a drive with them.
(Also: look closely at this photo — David went through a phase this year where he was obsessed with the maxi pads package and wanted to carry it around wherever he went! 😂)
We love you, our sweet boy, and can’t wait to see what this next year holds for you!
One morning this week, my friend came to drop baby girl off for us to watch her and our house was a MESS.
Like, piles of dirty dishes, stuff all over the counters, toys strewn about, and a whole box of crayons dumped all over the floor…
I greeted her with sweat dripping off of me because I’d just gotten back from a run. And I welcomed her in!
10 years ago, I would have never let someone see me or the house in that state. But here’s what I’ve learned…
In this season of life, if I wait until everything is organized and in great shape, I’ll never invite people in.
I try to have good systems and keep things fairly clean most of the time, but with a large family and lots of people in and out + multiple young kids, life is messy.
Bringing home 4 babies in 2 1/2 years while running a business and having three older kids taught me that I could either be stressed and frustrated about the house or I could chose to lower my standards and change my perspective.
Here’s the truth…
In 25 years, my kids probably won’t remember much of what the house looked like, but they will remember how it felt.
I want to focus on creating an atmosphere of peace and joy — where people feel seen and valued and loved.
The dirty dishes in the sink. The toys on the floor. The pile of laundry. The fingerprints… these are all signs of the full life happening here.
And I look around and I’m grateful for every minute of it.
Our house might often get messy, but it’s also full of love and laughter and life. I wouldn’t trade the mess for the world!
So I fling the door open and invite people in — even when it’s messy. Because relationships and people matter way more than a spotless, sparkling house.
I didn’t get a chance to share this last week, but I had so much fun getting to have Hannah Capps in town for two days to shoot a bunch of pictures and photos for my new book (it comes out September 15!) plus to shoot a bunch of pictures and videos for other projects and things we are working on!
We went to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO this week. It always shocks people when I say that our older kids prefer it over Disney.
But here are some reasons we love it:
It’s a lot less expensive than Disney (you can get a two-day ticket for $100 a person right now).
The rides are a lot bigger and thrilling (if you like thrilling rides!)
The live music is so fun & the Cinnamon bread is amazing.
The lines are much shorter (if you go week days and earlier in the morning or later at night, you can often walk on a lot of the rides with no wait or very little wait – which means you can ride a lot more rides and many of them you can ride multiple times in a row if you’d like!)
It’s less crowded and smaller so not as much walking, waiting, or exhaustion.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Disney, but our older three kids much prefer SDC to Disney and I love that they’ve found their own Happiest Place on Earth that holds so many memories for them!
We went on Mystic River Falls (one of my favorite rides!) and my kids gave me what for for pulling out my poncho… but let me tell you, I was the only one who was dry after the ride! 🙂
Jesse and I got to go ride a few rides by ourselves on Friday night — which was so fun! As many of you know, Jesse and I grew up going to Silver Dollar City, so this place holds SOO many memories for us and we had fun reminiscing about some of those memories from our teen years while we rode together!
Oh how I love this man! We celebrate 24 years of marriage in January… but we met when we were 9 and 10 and were good friends in our teen years so it’s feels like it’s almost been my whole life. And I am just so grateful for all the life we’ve lived side-by-side. Sometimes it’s been a metaphorical roller coaster, but there is no one else I’d rather have next to me on this wild and wonderful journey of life!
On Saturday, we waited to go until later in the day since it was HOT and we knew there would be a lot of crowds earlier in the day. So we enjoyed sleeping in and then having a chill morning at our condo. When we got to the park, the crowds were starting to thin and we found one of the areas (with lots of kid’s rides) had no wait at all. So we rode and rode and rode rides together!
It started raining when we were there, but we had already pulled out ponchos since we were in line for the Great American Plunge ride, so we didn’t get that wet. And we ended up riding the riding twice in a row since we were already a little wet and it was already raining! 🙂
We closed down the park (at 10 pm) both nights. And loved the new fireworks and drone show they have at the end of the day!
We were sad Kaitlynn isn’t able to join us on the trip to Branson. She graduates from cosmetology school in September and can’t miss any days or she can’t graduate on time.
She’s currently prepping for boards so this week she had to bring her big bag with all her supplies for another board prep class! (For boards, they have to demonstrate a bunch of different skills to judges using their own products and tools.)
How I Make Travel Easier + More Affordable:
We’ve been doing a LOT of traveling this summer. I love to travel and, because it’s something we do a lot of, I have some great systems in place to make it more streamlined.
Because the less time and energy you spend on travel prep and packing, the more time you just get to enjoy the trip!
Here are my top 4 travel hacks:
1. Stay in an Airbnb/VRBO — traveling with 6+ people means it’s less expensive to stay in a house instead of a hotel. Often, it saves us a few hundred dollars or more — we look for a discounted house that has great reviews. Three bonuses: a yard, a full kitchen, and washer and dryer!
2. If you’re driving, buy drinks and snacks on sale the weeks leading up to the trip and keep a cooler full of drinks in your car. We freeze some of the drinks like Capri Sun and water bottles so we don’t have to mess with ice! When you get to your location, stick some bottles in the freezer so you’ll have them for the cooler the next day!
3. Stop by the grocery store or do a pick up or or delivery order as soon as you get to your destination so you can make your own food instead of eating out.
Some of our favorite quick and easy travel meals/snacks are:
Cereal and milk
Pancake mix + scrambled eggs
Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
Yogurt & granola
Turkey & cheese sandwiches
Mac & cheese
Our kids can all make these, they are super quick to make, are crowd pleasers, and they are much less expensive than eating out.
4. Get these vacuum travel bags from Ekster — they are our favorite way to pack a lot more in a lot less space + keep our suitcases organized! (And the clothes don’t wrinkle – I roll them before I put them in the bags!)
Psst… Right now, these are up to 50% off + use my code CRYSTAL20 to get an additional 20% off!
What I’m Reading…
If you are feeling tired, exhausted, depleted, or just in need some souls care I highly recommend Soul Care by Debra Fileta. The chapters are short, practical, and filled with inspiration and actionable ideas. I was so encouraged by reading it to realize all the habits I already have in place to care for my body and soul!
Other books I’m currently reading: Rooted in Wonder, Capable (I’m about halfway through and it’s been fantastic!), and My Friends (note: this book has some really beautiful parts so far, but also quite a bit of raw and gritty stuff in it, including language.)
What I’m Watching…
The CrossFit games! Jesse and I love CrossFit and we’ve loved watching the games this year, as usual! It always inspires me to see people pushing themselves when it comes to fitness!
Kierstyn and I also watched the new version of Little House on the Prairie. Overall, we thought it was well done.
What I’m Listening To…
Kierstyn loves listening to Jonathan Park, so we listened to that a lot while we were driving to Branson and back!
In Case You Missed It — Links from Recent Weeks:
The Best Apps to Make Money Reselling Your Stuff — Between clothes your kids outgrow in six months, home decor you no longer use, impulse purchases, and random items sitting in closets, there’s often money hiding in plain sight. This post highlights some of the best apps to make money reselling, plus details for selling successfully on these sites.
Easy Protein Recipes — Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you’re constantly hungry, even though you just ate? If that sounds familiar, you might not actually need more food — you may need more protein. These budget-friendly and family-approved recipes will help you easily add more protein to your diet!
25 Ways to Save Money on Groceries — With 6 kids and the ever-increasing price of groceries, I’ve learned a lotover the years about how to save money on groceries. In this post, you’ll find 25 of my best, most practical ideas — the ones I actually use every single week, even as a busy mom and business owner.
An Easy Dinner Idea — I’m still working on eating down the food from our freezer. Check out this versatile and delicious recipe I made this week!
