{pinch me}

I have no idea how lucky I got.

I have a fabulous husband, who happens to be a fantastic father to our most amazing little baby.

She is precious and perfect in every way.

Our conversations revolve around how much MORE we love her every day. How she has the best personality, the best outlook, the sweetest sense, and the best disposition ever.

As her first birthday draws near, I cannot help but pinch myself. My life, albeit far from perfect, is so wonderful.

Everything I imagine my little family doing this time last year while I was pregnant...we are actually doing.  Saturdays mean the world to me to spend time with my family all day.

I'm so in love. More, everyday.

Girl's Trip '12!

Over the Labor Day holiday weekend, 3 of my friends and I went on an ALL DAY shopping trip! I mean, we shopped till we literally dropped! We shopped the outlets for 9 straight hours!! Are you kidding me? I cannot tell you the last time I did that! We had no strollers, no babies, no time limit in sight! It was soo nice...and kind of weird!

Now, don't get me wrong, I sorely missed my Harpie and Brian, but, it was such a wonderful and short get-away. Just what the 4 of us needed together!  Maegan, Mary, and Sara went.  We all used to work together at the same school for several years and it was so awesome how we just seemed to instantly connect with one another.  I mean, how many of you can say that about your co-workers?  Well, last year, a few changes happened and we were worried it would affect our friendships.  But what we've learned over this year is that when you have true friends, a little distance won't change anything! Sara now works at a different school and Maegan is staying home with her son, Collins!

After we shopped for 9 hours (silly us, we thought we'd have time for IKEA, too! Nope!) than we checked into our hotel (that we got downtown Cincy...Labor Day weekend...for $75!!!), got ready, and went out! After going to a not-so-hot-place...we found ourselves at the Mynt Martini for some fabulous food and then a nightclub! We danced the night away {or until 11:30...} and then stumbled in our big high heels none of us are used to wearing back to the hotel.  As we fell asleep we giggled and laughed about old memories, new memories, and the thought of all of our steal-deals from the shopping trip!

beginning of the night...

end of the night...

Maegan and Mary

Sara and me

Thanks Ladies! I loved that my first trip away from H & B was with you all!! XOXO

Our last trip together was Spring Break 2008! Um, hi, can I PLEASE be that skinny again?!

{we missed you, Tiff!}

"give Momma a kiss"

Love her ;)

{please do not listen to my voice. really. i have no idea how kids listen to me talk all day, but i must say my voice sounds worse on camera!}

the {family} room

My family room is finally *closer* to the way I've imagined it and I just have to share!

Hubby promised me new furniture if I would go back to work after having Harper {his way I think to make me keep going every day last year! haha} so we began looking everywhere for a certain look.  After we couldn't find what we were looking for, we decided to get custom made chairs in a tan houndstooth fabric.  I'm so in love!  A little boutique shop in town created the yellow pillows in the pictures and the green pillows are from Kirklands.

I'm loving the new look! Of course, toys line every extra space we have in this room, but I took the pics before Jordan's shower, so they are hidden a bit!

I didn't get a pic, but the other corner opposite the side chair and beside the fireplace is another houndstooth chair with ottoman.  The chair holds a square green pillow with a large button that is similar to the long one on the couch.  The side table stayed with same with the horse photo, Keeneland lamp, and Harper photos! :)

I'll post soon about the rest of our new additions and now Harper-friendly areas in the house!

Hope you all have a good week! Thanks for making all my guest poster's feel welcome! Hope you found some new blogs to follow, and thanks for my new followers, too!  Hoping to get back to posting a few times a week again! Fingers crossed! :)

Waltz With Us {guest post}

Hey Friends! Here is a bloggy and real life friend! Maegan over from Waltz With Us is here sharing a post on what's important!

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Hi all! :)

SO excited to be a part of this guest blogging frenzy! I went to high school with Megan, taught with her for 6 years, and now we share this incredible bond of mommy-hood. So far, I think sharing mommy-hood with Megan has been the best so far. It's been fun to share stories, ask for help!!, have play dates, and watch our two little ones grow into these beautiful toddlers. We both share a love for Christ and that's #1 in our lives. He has been SO faithful to both of us and we are so humbled by his goodness!

Collins: almost 19 months {my wild sweetie} & Harper: almost 1 year {Meg's cutie pie}

So, when Meg asked me to do a blog, I had no idea what to write. I started that first paragraph up above and then it hit me.

The sermon Sunday morning. It has just stuck.

I'm the farthest thing from being a minister and the last one to tell you what to do. But, the sermon on Sunday is something I want to share and I hope you can benefit from it as well. It was simple. Beautiful. The truth. What I needed to hear at the very right moment. I love how God knows what we need right when we need it. :)

The sermon was broken up into 3 parts. 

First: Life in the Lord is a blessing, not a burden.

Because it's all about what HE does, not what we do or what we are supposed to do. He gives...in Jesus His love, His pardon, His kindness, and His care without ever expecting anything in return!

Second: Our relationships with one another matter more than the rules.

This is what the Lord wants and intends on our journey together. The rules He has given us are meant to enhance our relationships. We don't live to try to keep them; they exist to help us so that we can have the joy and richness He wants our relationships to have in Him.

Galatians 5:22-23 The Message (MSG)  LOVE THIS VERSION!! 22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. 23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

Third: People are so much more important than things.

They are to the Lord and he wants them to be to us. With His help, He wants us to make the welfare of others the priority of our life out in the world...to express His care for them by showing that their needs do transcend the priority of our things. It can be our most powerful witness to Jesus!

Wow. God is so good. J Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Thanks for letting me be a part of your blog week Meg! I had fun! :)

Follow the Waltz family at:

www.thewaltzs.blogspot.com

See you there!

Love,

Maegan

Caudill Connection {guest post!}

Following my Guest Posting week...here's another great blog you should check out -
Caudill Connection!  She's a new Momma so her blog is quite similar to mine in our topics these days!

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Hey there Blissfully Burton readers! I am Sarah from Caudill Connection (LINK: http://caudillconnection.blogspot.com/) and I am so excited to be guest posting for you today. Before we get to the meat of the post, here are a few tid bits about me: I am definitely the new kid on the mommy blog block as I just started blogging in May 2012. My lil pride and joy, Raegan, who was born in February was definitely my motivation.  

So let’s get to the point of this post…..new recipes! Megan is great about posting her new recipes on Blissfully Burton but I have to admit this is one of my weak areas. I end up fixing the same quick easy meals over and over and my husband is usually less than thrilled, lol!

So I made a deal with myself that I would attempt TWO new meals each month, read about the previous recipes here (LINK: http://caudillconnection.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-recipes.html). For August I decided to make Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken and Slow Cooker Taco Soup.

 The Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken (LINK: http://www.food.com/recipe/hawaiian-crock-pot-chicken-467722) was from pinterest and it was not a hit in our household. For one I overcooked the chicken, yikes! But the taste just wasn’t pleasant to either of us; I guess to each their own as some of you may love it. I believe we both ended up eating a BIG bowl of cereal before bed this particular night : )

For the Slow Cooker Taco Soup I actually picked a little from two different recipes to make one that I liked because I just couldn’t decide which sounded better ha ha! The first recipe came from here (LINK: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/taco-soup-recipe/index.html) and the other from here (LINK: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Taco-Soup/). This was definitely a winner, YUMMY!!! We actually warmed this up again later in the week and had it for dinner again, ummmm this pretty much never happens in my household so that is a BIG deal! Next time I am thinking of trying a chicken version instead of beef, what do you think?  I need some inspiration here people!

I’d love for you to come on over to Caudill Connection (LINK: http://caudillconnection.blogspot.com/) and follow along as I continue to navigate through this new thing called motherhood. 

Thanks Sarah!