On not apologizing – part one

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This post was definitely inspired by Rachel Hollis….not necessarily her books which are great for a lot of women but don’t light me up a whole lot, but her general vibe and life content. I love her podcasts, daily livestreams, and I got to watch her speak live at my Doterra leadership conference. It inspired me to think about things in my life that I have once felt some guilt around or impulses to hide away my feelings or shares about because of how others might accept or respond. Even in posting these things, I have hesitations and fears and am summoning some major courage to cement them in my blog history for all to read.

Pieces of my world I won’t apologize for or feel shame around:
1. My husband taking the helm as “single husband” during volleyball seasons.
I go all-in with my volleyball teams each Fall (in both hours of time and emotional investment) and although some different life choices have made that season easier in the last couple of years, I am so indebted to my husband for taking over our household and caring/uber-ing our three kiddos around during this season. He is my biggest fan when it comes to coaching and all of my pursuits and he proves it between August-November each and every year.
2. Making more money than my husband.
This is a lower level one for me in my mind but for some reason saying it out loud feels terrible. I don’t mind talking to people about incomes and money and I am super proud of my career success. Plus, my husband is also quite proud of this aspect as well which makes my heart burst with pride. When we get to sit at tables for big purchases and he passes the financial paperwork over to me, it’s amazing to me some old gender biases that come out from salespeople that we get to help disrupt.
3. I chose a career early on in my life and am now doing just that.
Each goal I set for my life way back when in high school, I have now completed. Do I still have goals within those careers? Absolutely, but I truly mean it when I say I have already gotten my dream job(s).

Easter birthday weekend!!!

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Happy birthdays to my biggest and littlest men. Who I love completely and will always be rooting for. A few thoughts about Easter service from my Instagram (follow me @rootedwell). Happy Easter friends!!!! Sitting with this crew while hearing messages of forgiveness, grace and washing clean makes me so grateful and filled with loving purpose. Trying to change my perspective on all the recent broken rules, lying, and aggression to see them as chances to teach about relationship building, repairing and God’s (and ours on a good day ??) grace. Love me some holiday Snapchat filters.

Happy 11 years WB!

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Favorite part of your 10th trip around the sun: School because I’m learning a lot.

New learning this year: I learned the sport of volleyball and Mama coaching me is kinda weird but I kinda like it. I want to be a setter and I just started jump setting which my Mom said is awesome.

Favorite TV show: No Good Nick

Favorite movie: Infinity War

Dream career: To be a good person.

Goal for this year: Get my grades up and control my rudeness.

In true pre-teen fashion, he wanted no part of this interview. Off to ride his new bike and enjoy his friends birthday party tackling the trampoline park!

On teaching our Wonders about money….

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Have you heard of the Greenlight debit card for kiddos???

It’s a card that you can control from your own phone including setting limits on where your child can spend amounts and how they can earn $ for certain chores. It teaches them about saving for bigger items and tracking their spending when on a card of any sort. Since we don’t do a regular allowance and offer money chores (but never have cash to actually give them) this is a great solution to keep track of their earnings/spending and keep their motivation high to earn and save!!!

Both Scott and I can add money at any time and if our Wonders are out and about or with friends that can request money if needed from an ATM or other source. WonderGIRL saved and bought a beautiful puzzle at a toy store we love in Friday Harbor. I could tell she loved the independence of handing over a card and signing for it herself. That adulting life is so fun right?!?!

Check it out by signing up with my referral link and we’ll both get $10 on our new accounts!

On the Grey’s Anatomy episode…

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….that wrecked me.

1. When I see parts of WonderGIRLs life both from her past or from what I imagine is in her future I dive in and become obsessed with the outcome even if it’s just on a show or movie. A while back I read this book about a Moms journey with her severe premie daughters birth and all the complications and I was enthralled in the story and hoping some details from that story could bring me closer to what I missed out on being a part of in her life story. So when the character in the show goes searching for her birth mother I imagine my own daughter doing the same thing and wondering what closure/trauma/emotions that will bring to her vulnerable heart. And it wasn’t a happy ending In the show and it left more questions than answers and that will most likely be true for WG too whenever she decides to venture after that curiosity.

2. The sexual assault storyline. First, I love that GA showed the pain and horror and resistance of a victim to go through a sexual assault crime kit. The scene where the women lined the hallways so she wouldn’t be triggered by male faces was simply beautiful (and ugly cry inducing).
And the consent portion of the show was amazing. I think parents know they need to talk with their kiddos about it but aren’t sure what to say and how to say it always. And truly that doesn’t matter….just say something and relay what consent is (and more importantly, what it ISNT). Need more ideas on what to say? Click here.

Doing what I value…

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I heard a quote a while back that stated “I do what I value” and it resonated with me deeply as value is my 2019 word. Am I doing what I value on a weekly/daily/hourly basis? Do I show my values to my kiddos? My husband? Coworkers? Doterra tribe?

As I started to feel some guilt about not blogging I flipped that perspective to reflect that I was SO busy (by choice!!!) doing what I valued this month and blogging just fell down the priority ladder and that’s okay!!!! I seriously have like 10 blog topics listed on my iPhone notes….I just need to devote some time to record them!!! Sometimes silence comes right before the surge right?!?!

Some of my high value activities this month:Coaching both my littles and my bigs. ❤️Supporting and loving at our last elementary choir concert. ?Celebrating this wonderful and powerful Mama’s 60th birthday with our entire tribe of funny, awesome, pretzel and cheese-loving folks. Love that doterra focuses so much on personal Development and the leadership conference was no exception!!! All of those high vibe peeps in one place was so powerful!!!!Clean space, clear mind, more purpose and action moving forward!!!And this, every day….lather, rinse, repeat.

Winter highlights

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Gah!!!! Where has my blogging spark gone???? Let me drop in to share a few family highlights/lowlights/goings-on from our crew the last month or so….We’ve been digging in the deep seas of triggers and traumas for these three and it’s been both ridiculously hard and filled with small growth sparks and putting all the broken pieces back together again. We did a thing and bought a trailer! We are excited to take this bad boy out in its maiden voyage….I am quite proud of saving up my Doterra biz earnings to pay for this memory making machine for my family. Enter next pic….My love for sharing oils has been sparked again by the energy of my team and I love how Many families we are sharing the love with. Finally had our banquet to celebrate our #uncironszn. And it was filled with laughs, tears, and inside jokes….just the way any family celebration should be. I love these ladies with my whole heart. Would it be a blog post without a pile of cats pic? Ssssnnnnnoooowwwwww!My little man looks like this famous little man and it shocks me into doing side by side comparisons and posting them on IG!!!We’ve been battling it out with my new U12 crew and it’s been such an amazing journey coaching my son in a sport I am so passionate about. BraveGIRL and her twin watched their older sister and guardian get married and it was beautiful and bittersweet as it marked the event leading to them moving across the country. Grieving with our kiddos as their bio families ebb and flow with life is one of the most straining and complicated part of this parenting journey. I got to take leaders from my HS team to an event encouraging teens to take a stand against sexual assault and creating a culture of consent in their schools, circles and communities. The ideas and drive in these young women inspire me….I’m just here to drive the car. They get to tell me where we go.

5 years as TBD!

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5 years ago a two adorable ragamuffins tumbled into our home and filled it with laughter, grief, joy, pain, and love upon grace upon growth for all of us. Here are two scrapbook layouts I did of our first week together (filled with snow ironically). We have learned so much in these 5 years and still have much to learn but us opening our arms and hearts and home to create Team Brave Dinosaurs and a few years later to expand our family even more is both the bravest and proudest decisions of our life.

Thanks for joining us in this journey and reading along as we stumble through parent and childhood together. And as usual, a genuine thank you to the husband for saying yes, to WG and WB for choosing us as their forever, and to Our extended families (both biological and chosen) for your support, community and connection we’ve desperately needed on this path. I can’t wait to see where the next 5 years take us!


One Little Word 2019

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It took me a whole month to let different words marinate and settle…through some different readings and heart searching, I have landed on the following word to guide my 2019.

A few components of “value” I hope to explore….

I DO what I value – do my activities and schedule reflect my values?

Drilling down – if you have more than 3 priorities, you have no priorities….what 2-3 values mean the most to me? Which values can I operationalize and live out daily?

Showing others their value – I believe so many in my close circle have an incredible amount of value and importance…do I reflect that back to them? How can I value them with my words and actions? How can I let them know their meaning to me?

Right now I am reading Brene Brown’s newest book, Dare to Lead and she asserts that “our values should be so crystallized in our minds, so infallible, so precise and clear and unassailable, that they don’t feel like a choice – they are simply a definition of who we are in our lives. In those hard moments, we know that we are going to pick what’s right, right now, over what is easy.”

My charting to explore my top 2 values from her book:I love that when I landed on growth and connection, all of the other words fit under them for me.

I also struggled with personal and professional values and came to the conclusion after reviewing my list that there was no difference between the two. Whether I’m mom, Coach, counselor or Coordinator, I want growth and connection to lead my actions every choice and step along the way.