our babysitter, rachel (the sweetest girl ever!) brought goldfish for the boys, complete with tank, accessories and food.  the boys are thrilled.  these are their first pets every.  so far, the fish seem to be thriving.  to tell the truth, i can’t tell them apart.  is that insensitive??  can we really be trusted with pets?  we’ve been talking about getting a D-O-G.  do you have one?  what do you do with it when you’re away overnight?

silly. dream. happy. friend. cherish. hope. forever. love. inspire. now you can wave (or wear) you banner high!  this sweet sterling tag can fit up to 7 characters and is hung from 18″ link chain.  so, so sweet!  you’ll find it here. and for the next two days use code ‘mybanner’ for $10 off. whoohooo!!  what will your banner say?

which won’t be hard since it’s 100 degrees outside.

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and we’ll go out for dinner down by the water.

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and we’ll soak up our time with nana and papa.

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and we’ll spot a jellyfish and a sea lion in the bay.

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and i’ll chase you around with a camera while yelling,  ‘don’t smile, DON’T smile!!!’

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but then we’ll all get really grumpy.

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and remember that we’re tired after our first days back to school.

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so we’ll go home and hit the sack early.

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but tomorrow (since it’s the weekend) we’ll pretend it’s summer again!

for the kids…ferris wheel, carousel, frozen yougurt, train ride, fountains, and balloons.  for the mommies…h&m, anthropologie, target and frozen yogurt.  so basically my three favorite stores–topped with chocolate yogurt with butterfinger.  perfection??  i think so!!

while i got the coffee and chocolate milk, my sweet friend jen started reading ‘harold and the purple crayon’ to the kiddos.  a happy, impromptu moment.  and such a great story about imagination and creativity.

beth allen…I must win this!! I love it! My husband proposed to me on Humphrey’s peak in Flagstaff, AZ and after I accepted (of course) we carved our initials on a tall pine tree. So, of course this would be perfect. I’m so excited. I love it!

and amber…This is so cute (as always)
A + K for my husband and I
We just celebrated 7 years this month!

email your initials and shipping addresses to customerservice@lisaleonardonline.com.  thanks everyone for your fun comments and congrats to the winners!!!

my sweet friend sarah (college roomie and very talented writer) is opening up about her marriage journey.  she is being REAL and vulnerable in the hopes that God will use her story to encourage other women.  it’s a beautiful story that brings tears to my eyes and makes me know that God is BIG and can heal broken hearts.  You can read the beginning of her story below–then link over to her blog to read more.

STIFFLING

I can be stifling sometimes.

I mean there have been times in my life when I’ve chased people away because I’m so intense. I don’t mean to be; I’m just programmed that way.

No matter how many “times out” I take for myself, or self-analysis afternoons I carve out of my schedule; no matter what I actually change in my actions and relationships, when its all over, I might behave differently, but I am still pretty much the same person on the inside. I’m intense.

Its a good thing because so is my husband. He’s almost as intense as I am.

We match each other word for word, hurt for hurt, and love for love equally. We raise our voices together, we debate issues with intelligence, we both ask difficult questions of the other and expect smart answers in return. He’s never shied away from me and I’ve never backed down from my intensity for him either.

We are a good match.

And that is one of the reasons I got into the biggest trouble of my life about nine years ago.

click here to go to sarah’s blog.

Although I see so many blessings in my life, some days I just want to wrap a feather comforter around me and hide away.  Anything from a difficult diagnosis to a bad hair day can make me feel overwhelmed. And it seems to hit out of nowhere.  I remember when David was born…

it’s my day to post at (in)courage.  you can read the rest of this post over here…

so, we flew to birmingham to do a segment on abc’s talk of alabama.  it’s a morning news/entertainment show and it was a completely new experience for me.  overall very very fun (but a little nerve-wracking)!!  i enjoyed seeing the behind the scene production of a news program and everyone was so kind to us.  plus we got to experience birmingham!  thank you nicole for inviting me.  you can watch the clip HERE.

since we all have august birthdays, the four of us do something special each august.  this year we met in santa barbara for some time together.  laughs, a few tears, a so-so movie, a little shopping and some really delicious food.  i am very blessed.  we did a little photo shoot and these are a couple of my faves.

the website is now fully functioning again (um, that was a little stressful!).  hope you’re having a great weekend!