What Happend to Seven???

For the whole month of March we were totally dedicated to 7 we were going to decrease 7 areas of excess in our lives and we started with food. It was tough it was a total challenge and I think we accomplished it!! So where are we now in 7 thats the question I keep being asked?? Well embrassingly I have to admit we've probably failed some in the eyes of people watching. We haven't done anything since March we had decide we would take a short break between each area of excess and our short break has turned into a long break. I think in part due to the fact we all think food was by far going to be the hardest. Plus its easy to fail, this challenge is suppose to be hard and when its not a law or a requirement and really were not being punished for not doing it....so why why do it???

Well I'll tell you why.....because it keeps coming back to me the thought of all our EXCESS!!! I have been sitting in my laundry room sorting piles and piles of clothes and I wonder why in the world have I let all these piles build up?? Well to be honest because I can were not out of clothes to wear, we all still have clean underwear, and my girls don't care if they match so there is still clothes to wear. So why do laundry???!! Well one its rather ridiculous the amount of clothes we have, the choices we have, and with all that to me comes stress. Stress of having so much laundry to do, so much to keep up with, and stress when it comes to deciding what to wear. So instead of sitting here being upset about the amount of laundry I have I'm going to do something about it. I'm starting the second month of 7.......7 articles of clothing, not including underwear. When all I have to choose from is 7 articles it makes things much easier in the morning to get ready!!

So I ask that people hold me accontable, keep asking where I'm at in my 7 challenge and encourge me to keep going!! As soon as I get out of the mountain of laundry I will choose my 7 articles of clothing and continue on with getting rid of excess!!!

Loving "These Days"

 We have been enjoying the weather!! We've run through the sprinkler, rode our bikes, and been playing at the park!! The girls are growing up so fast and I'm enjoying watching them learn new things. This past weekend Harper learned to pump her legs on the swing and Teagan learned how to ride her bicycle!! We were all very excited and it is so cool to see the excitement in the girls faces.

Blakely's favorite thing to do is go on bike rides! She loves riding in the trailer and more then anything she loves to wear her helmet. Hehe she is so funny she won't even take it off at the park :) I really have to convince her to take it off to go to bed!

I absolutely love this picture!! Teagan and Harper are soo close and they have so much love for each other. While they do fight and argue over toys, where to sit at the table, who's underwear is who's, and pretty much anything and everything they still have a lot of love for each other!! It's funny when they've been separated for a little while like if one is with Daddy or at a friends house when they see each other again they get soooo excited!!



The weather has been amazing and I hope it stays like this all summer but I have a feeling were in for some hot dry days this summer!!

I know it has been forever since I blogged, but wow was April busy!! And here we are already the 2nd of May??!! Really time flies by so fast!!

We have really been enjoying the weather and being able to be outside! We have already checked so many projects off our list and can't wait to get a few more checked off soon!! I'm loving this, seriously maybe a little too much but this is the first time in 5 years that I feel like I can actually get out and do a few things outside, or its ok if Brandon is outside mowing and geting stuff done because I don't have a baby this summer. My youngest is a toddler and she's able to play and I don't have to carry a baby on my hip all summer (although Blakely would still love that), and I'm not throwing up every hour because I'm not pregnant. It's so cool because I can see God's timing in all of this, I know I can be honest and everyone knows it true.....If I wasn't going to Africa in August I would more then likely be pregnant but instead I'm being obiedent to God's will in wanting me to serve in Africa and I'm being blessed with enjoying my 3 beautiful growing girls and my wonderful husband, and while someday we want to continue to add to our family we are doing a lot of fun stuff this summer!!

One thing we did this year is we took a step and invested in bikes, bike trailers, and helmets. One of my greatest memories is riding bikes in Newton with my parents, even as I got older I enjoyed riding with my dad. Last night we got to go on our first family outing and not much has changed except for I'm a lot older, out of shape, and I was willing wearing a helmet. We kind of laughed as were all wearing helmets and Brandon and I still feel like total dorks wearing them but hey being an ER nurse and setting a good example for our kids were wearing helmets! Honestly I wish it was a law to wear a helmet and not because I want to take away a freedom of you being able to choose (I mean if you want to risk getting a head injury thats your choice) but I wish it was a law so that some part of my parenting was easy, I wouldn't be the mean mom that says I don't care that none of your friends wear helmets your wearing one....(I can already hear me saying that and its a few years away before I have to do that) Right now they just do, they don't really think much about it, and its not uncool. In fact Teagan thinks its totally cool and whenever we see helmets she asks can I get one like that??! Oh well I haven't found one part of parenting easy so why start now right??

Since I lasted blogged I celebrated a birthday I only have one more left to celebrate until I turn 30 then I can be one of those people that can say I'm celebrating my 29th birthday for the 5th time. Ok not really I will never be one of those people, and honestly I could care less about turning 30 I don't really find it a big deal...yet but then again who am I to judge I'm not there yet. So this year I had a great time celebrating my birthday with my family and I got two of the best presents and they are totally on the opposite ended of the spectrum (sorta, I'll explain more) but I got a Kindle Touch, and my awesome husband built me a clothes line which sad but true I love!! I've fallen in love with reading again and I hate clutter so my Kindle is awesome, and my clothes line its perfect, its the right size, it looks really nice, and its simple!! So why I've decided these two things are more a like then you might think is because everything I've been reading lately is all about simplicity. My life seems pretty hectic most days and so I love to read and learn about how I can simplify my life. I think I continue to feel convicted about all our busyness, materlisism, and just "stuff" we don't need and I truly want to live a more simple life, one that doesn't seem to be so hectic and filled with "stuff". I want to slow down and enjoy this time with my family because we all know it goes by WAY to fast.

Here is a few pictures of what are summer has looked like so far :)

Nurses For Africa

A day doesn't go by that I don't think about Africa. I love love to talk to anyone that's willing to listen about my trip to Africa. My girls are starting to talk about it more and more and Teagan asked me tonight if I would bring home a little girl from Africa :) (and oh how I wish I could bring all of them home ). As I sit in my room and I think about how my room is about the size of their house it makes me appreciate what I have but even more I'm excited about the opportunity that I have to serve the people of Zambia. Wow what an amazing thing it is that God has chosen me to be a nurse and to serve others. Brandon and I are both really excited to see how God is going to work in our lives to serve other people. This has become a family adventure and although my family isn't coming with me on this trip to Africa they are a huge support and I hope that we will be able to go together someday soon. Some people dream about taking trips with their kids to Disney World, I dream about taking my kids to Africa. I know not everyone is called to go to Africa and not everyone is as excited about the trip as I am but I really do feel like this is what I'm called to do.

This week I have started to send out letters for help in supporting my trip to Africa. There is no way that I could go on this trip without the support of friends and family. Thank you to everyone who has already supported me financially and through prayer. Please if you would continue to pray and if you feel led to support me either contact me and I can get you the info or I have a previous blog on the foundation and how to send money.

Family Weekend!

 We had a great time last weekend. We took a weekend break from 7 foods and we celebrated family. We had a great time celebrating Grandma Kennedy's birthday and Harper's 3rd birthday. It's always fun trying to get 5 grandkids together for a picture :) Harper loved getting some new lala loopsey stuff and Teagan had a great time trying to learn how to ride her bike. Learning to ride a bike is quite a challenge with no training wheels and I have the attitude of "My dad wouldn't let me have training wheels my kids don't need training wheels either" But let me tell you I think it's harder work on the parent or grandparent then it is on the kid!! Wow I got my work out in!! It is always fun to see my nephews that I don't get to see often enough and watch them grow up sooo fast!!!

Then Sunday afternoon we got to continue the fun at Grandma and Granpa Sowers to celebrate Harper's birthday with them. The Sowers side is a whole lot of crazyness with 5 granddaughters but a lot of fun! The weather couldn't have been more perfect I think it was like 80 degrees sunny and no wind. The girls played outside on their Grandma and Grandpa's new swing set and trampoline.

These 3 are going to have a lot of fun over the years growing up and being so close in age!!

And I just love these two, it is fun to watch them interact......I'm pretty sure this is Blakely saying I can only lift my leg this high...how high can you lift yours? :)

I've turned into my Mother

I came to the realization probably long before today but even more so today that I've turned into my Mother. It's hard to admit that there were times growing up that I thought she was crazy and I vowed I would never do some of the things she did. But this morning as I was getting packed and ready to leave for Newton I had this major realization that those things I vowed I would never do when I was a mom, Yep I did them. 
Okay so my mom was right occasionally and she's not actually crazy or maybe I've turned crazy not sure which. When I was getting ready today to leave for the weekend I was cleaning the house, now I always wondered why my mom got so anxious about cleaning the house before we left, I remember saying things like "sure mom I'll make sure my bed is made for when the robber breaks in while were gone." but here I am 20 years later cleaning my house before we leave. I've figured out that it is really nice to come home when your weekend is over and you have a suit case full of dirty clothes to have a nice clean house.


Now I wish I could say that my anxiety and craziness this morning left my house clean but it didn't in fact our house probably looks like a chaotic mess. While I was packing and cleaning the girls were pulling out and making thing dirty. Teagan can never decide what to wear and is very picky about the material, were in the process of pulling out spring/summer clothes and going up to size 5T so that in itself was a challenge this morning. Then while I was packing and thought the girls were quietly watching cartoons I came out of the bedroom to find that Harper had started getting water out of the fridge and pouring it into the water table which left a big water puddle on the floor in the kitchen and Harper's was soaked!! Blakely was trying to climbed on the computer desk and pull stuff out, then going into the laundry grabbing shoes, clothes, trash can, whatever, then I found her with a marker when I went to get the marker back somehow she made a nice red line straight down the shirt I had just put on. (side note why is it when I'm packing it feels like I have no clothes, while any other day I'm purging and trying to get rid of all the excess?) All the stress and anxiety got to me and I finally said FORGET IT!! Everyone shoes on and out the door, house is going to be a mess for all those robbers! 


Maybe someday my house will be clean......but as for now It's a sweet life in a SOWERS home! 

Our Sweet Harper Turns 3!!

Today was all about Harper!! Harper is our beautiful little girl who turned 3 today. She has a head full of curls that I'm afraid to ever cut in fear that they will go away and she has a personality like no one I know. Harper got to pick today's events which included a donut and chocolate milk for breakfast, a trip to the indoor bounce park in CF with her friends, playing outside, and scratch cupcakes for dessert!!


I interviewed Harper and hope I can get the video uploaded soon but here were the questions and answers.


How old are you today:  3
What day is your birthday: March 20th
What is your favorite color: PINK!
What is your favorite number: 2
What was your favorite present: Lalaloopsy
What was your favorite thing today: Playing outside
What is your favorite thing to do with your sisters: Make Puppets
Who is your favorite person in the whole wide world: MOMMY!! (YAY :)
What is the one thing you sleep with every night: Keepy
What is your favorite food: Broccoli (Way to make Aunt Alicia proud)
What do you want to be when you grow up: A mommy
How many kids do you want to have: 4
What is your favorite dessert: Ice Cream
What is your favorite movie: Tinkerbell


Harper you are the most amazing little girl. You are so smart and it just amazes me how your mind works. I love your curls and reddish hair, your beautiful hazel eyes and LONG eyelashes. You are super sweet and cuddly when you want to be and you have a fierce streak of independence that I know will take you far some day. Sometimes you scare me and I pray everyday that God will teach me how to raise you and I thank him for his Grace because some days I'm just totally lost. You are a total Daddy's girl and a morning person. You are the first one to wake up (besides Daddy) and every morning you ask where Daddy is and then tell me the sun is up so it's time to get up. (Harper just so you know......I am so NOT a morning person!!!!) You could live off of chocolate milk if I let you, in fact you make sure we say God bless chocolate milk at supper. You love playing duck, duck, goose with our pigs and you love being outside. You are a wonderful sister, daughter, and niece. We love you very much!!