family ever after– guest post

I just love Kristen. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her in April at SNAP, a blogging conference. I attended her amazing photography class, and she even took some headshots for me. She is so talented. Not only that, but she is funny. And good. You know how there are just certain people who you just know are good, nice, genuine people? Well, that’s Kristen.

I was invited to share a favorite childhood memory. So should I talk about the time my mom and us 5 sisters made a cross country trip from Kentucky, to Texas, to Utah, to California, then all the way back? We drove a pink van and even had a porta-potty in it. Don’t want that story, do ya. Ok, let’s talk about the time my dad and I got in a water fight, which started with a glass of water, and ended with the hose… inside the house. Ok, not that story either. We could talk about the time my sister vacuumed my hair which was almost 2 feet long, but that’s such an embarrassing story for both of us, I will spare you those details as well.

Honestly, my most treasured childhood memories involve my family, traveling, and being outside. One of my favorite summers was when my mom and sisters and I sat down and made a plan. Our dad was in the Army, deployed somewhere (sometimes I get those details mixed up). Missing him was not the fun part. What made it a good summer was how our mom handled it. She sat down with us, and we made a plan. I can still remember all the fun things we did. We had a scheduled outing for each day of the week. It was something like: Mondays- ceramics, Tuesdays- library, Wednesdays- cleaning, Thursdays- shopping, Friday- swimming. Ceramics day was my favorite. I just remember the feeling I had that summer- we woke up early, did our chores, and were up and going. One morning, my sister and I did our chores, made muffins, and went on a walk all before 9:00am.

Here’s a picture of my sis and me.

Because I have such fond memories of that summer, I created a loose schedule that I hope will help my kids and I have a great summer also. Kristen has a great summer schedule posted on her blog too, which reminded me to make one too. I hope you all have a wonderful, exciting summer!

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