beauty things / skincare.

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     I have a secret love for beauty products. I find shopping for little things like face wash + makeup so enjoyable and I love browsing the beauty aisles to pick out a new product to try. I go through phases of binging through beauty blogs / vlogs and I love seeing what others are doing in their everyday routines. I thought it would be fun to start sharing my opinion of the things I try since I love when other bloggers share about everyday drugstore products and I feel like it's hard to find honest reviews of products that aren't all high end! Are any of my readers closet beauty fiends as well?

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    This post is about a few skincare products that I've been using lately. This year has definitely been one of the worst years for my skin!  I've never had any terrible skin concerns but I do struggle with on and off breakouts. My stress level has been at an all time high and in turn my eating habits have been horrible. I am sure that those two factors are playing an added part in breakouts for me. I can't say that I've had any ultimate success with a skincare routine but I like knowing that I'm taking care of my skin regardless!

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1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5  // 6

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1 // Julep Bare Face Cleansing Oil - My sister-in-law is an avid couponer and she sent me home in December with a huge bag of beauty products from her stash which was so awesome! I was excited to try this product after being inspired by the whole Korean Skincare Routine ( here's the post that got me interested ) which believes in cleansing your face with more than one product. At night I've been removing my makeup with this oil and then following up with a cream cleanser as well. In the past I've tried removing makeup with coconut oil and it had a negative impact on my skin, but this product which using rosehip seed oil, has been fine for me. ( Maybe because it isn't just straight oil? )

2 // Clean & Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser - I think I bought this at Rite Aid along with the Biore cleanser because I just wanted to try a couple new face washes maybe hoping to find something amazing? This stuff is "minty" feeling which bothered me at first but I got used to it. I didn't have any problems with this cleanser, just a basic run of the mill face wash.

3 // Clean & Clear Foaming Facial Cleanser - Previously whenever I was breaking out I'd buy a face wash with salicylic acid as the main ingredient but it always just dried up my skin. This product was a game changer for me because after trying it at my sisters house and loving how it felt on my skin I realized I needed to branch out from the salicylic acid idea in face washes.

4 // Biore Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser - I kept hearing about the trend of charcoal in face washes and I have to admit; I loved the idea of charcoal magically pulling out impurities in the skin! Doesn't it sound amazing? This face wash also has a minty feel. I'm down to the last of this bottle and it's worked just fine as a cleanser but honestly I'm not feeling any magical pore-clearing-charcoal-action going on. It just feels like a normal face wash to me.

5 // Aloe Vera  - I love using aloe vera on my face and have done it for years. I've always been drawn to natural products and slathering aloe vera on my face gives me this feeling that my face is sucking in moisture and vitamins. After doing a little research, I've come across lots of cool facts about using aloe vera on your skin to treat wrinkles, to moisturize, to heal acne scars etc! I'm definitely onto something here but I would like to find an aloe without any added color! It annoys me that they even add green dye to this - why??

6 // Yes to Carrots Daily Facial Moisturizer - I haven't had a moisturizer with SPF in it for a while even though I feel like wearing sun-screen everyday is so important, so I picked this up at Wal-greens to remedy that. I chose the Yes to Carrots brand because I wanted something more natural if I was going to be putting it all over my face everyday. Honestly when I first put this on, the small bothered me A LOT. It smelled like ... well, carrots maybe? The smell doesn't bother me now, so maybe it was just unexpected at first? Like a lot of all-natural sunscreens this stuff is kind of thick, it doesn't smooth on as well as some lotions but it isn't too bad and it hasn't caused me to break out or had any negative side effects. I do wish it had a stronger SPF than 15 though, I'm going to look for a stronger SPF in a product next time.

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     So please, share - which skincare products have you had success with?? Any advice for a girl struggling with breakouts? Gimme every tip you've got in the comments!

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valentine's day.

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happy valentine's day, all!

<3

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3.

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The other day I had a revelation that 3 is the absolute, perfect age. Then, I kind of freaked out because I realized that Asher will be 4 this summer. I mean I will have a 4 and 7 year old. I can't believe that I will be a mom of two little boys. Where did my babies go?

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I settled down after realizing that Asher's 3rd year is only halfway up. He is still very much my baby. He is still so little and sweet and cuddly.  He plays with my hair ( his hair, he says, it's his ) and needs me in the most baby of ways. He is learning so much and doing all the hilarious wonderful 3 year old things. He loves when I tell him how awesome and wonderful he is - he lights up. He brings me a pillow and says, "I wanted to do something nice for you Mommy!" He runs around the playground but stops to yell out, "Mommy..... I love you!"

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I still have half a year of 3 and I might need to have more babies one day, so that I can get a chance to do 3 again.

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mountain drive.

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     I snapped these photos the other day when we took a little drive through the foothills behind our house. One thing that I love about taking photography classes is that since I am a horrible procrastinator, it forces me to have these, "crap I need photos for tomorrow," moments where I do things that I wouldn't normally do such as take quick photos of the mountains through a dirty windshield or of the sunset through blinds in my bedroom. Then later I'm like oh wow, I like those! I love the feeling I get looking at these photos, it's the feeling I truly get when I'm in the mountains as well - peace and freedom and happiness, a breath of fresh air and a reminder of true everlasting beauty. <3

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cord blood banking / lifebankUSA.

( Asher, a few days old )

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     I'm partnering with LifeBankUSA on my blog again today to share a little bit about cord blood banking and to tell you about another great giveaway they are hosting!

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     The right to make choices as a parent is an issue that is heavy on my heart lately with all the talk about vaccination in the media. We are lucky to live in a world where as parents we have the freedom to make many choices. One thing I have learned though is that this freedom of choice doesn't come without an uphill battle. I will tell you from experience that whatever choice you make as a parent, someone will have a problem with it and someone will tell you all about it - especially if you go against what society is comfortable with. At the end of the day, no parent is perfect and we all have to make the choices that are best for us and for our family.

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Cord blood banking is a relatively new choice that we have the option of at the birth of our children. LifeBankUSA is a private cord blood banking company and they are also one of few companies that offers placental tissue banking as well. Collecting and storing stem cells from a newborn's umbilical cord and from the placenta at birth could one day be used to treat serious illness in your child or a family member!

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     Private stem cell banking is a little pricy but LifeBankUSA offers a lot of payment plans to help out. Financially, cord blood banking was not feasible for us when our babies were born. With Asher, I planned to not cut his umbilical cord immediately following his birth which would have additionally cut out cord blood banking as an option for us. However, his cord did end up being cut fairly quickly because of complications that required a NICU stay so looking back I wish I would have at least donated both of my babies cord blood. The science of using stem cells from birth to treat illness later in life is absolutely fascinating to me. I definitely recommend doing a little research into cord blood and placental tissue banking if you are expecting!

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LifeBankUSA is currently giving away 3 Uniden Lullaboo Video Baby Moniters (valued at $105 each!) on Facebook! So seriously, go check it out and while you're at it head over to their website and educate yourself a little bit on the latest in cord blood and placenta tissue banking!

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Did you chose cord blood banking for your children? Have you received any negative feedback because of choices you've made as a parent? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments below!

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Also, when Asher was born our midwife noticed that he had his toes wrapped around his umbilical cord and encouraged Aaron to take a photo - such a sweet and special moment! <3
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I was compensated for this post; thanks for supporting my family by reading!

raising boys.

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     i must say that having boys has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. i grew up as one of 3 girls and really had no idea what little boys were like. having the opportunity to raise two boys has opened my eyes to this secret little world that i knew nothing about and it has been so rewarding and so, so much fun. my boys are sweet and tender and loving and they are also filled with a crazy rambunctious energy that can be incredibly entertaining and of course majorly tiring as well.
     we have tried our best to raise these little boys without over-powering them with gender stereotypes. it has always been a huge aggravation to me that boys are labeled as little men and wear khaki pants and play with trucks from birth and that's that. our little boys have been raised with dolls and kitchen toys. they've worn leggings from the girl's section of target and my blog has received hits from google searches for "boys wearing nail polish". they have tea parties and have fallen in love with cute little stuffed animals babies.
    having said that, it has equally been a joy to see the gender differences that i do believe exist in my sons emerge and i love embracing those qualities as well. these boys bounce of the walls like nobody's business. they jump off the dressers and do complete flips onto the bed like they've been studying gymnastics for years. i don't ever remember a kind of high energy like that growing up with sisters. it's hard on one hand because i'm a grown up and my natural disposition is not to want to run around like a crazy person all day. but man when these boys pull it out of me, we have so much fun together. we have dance parties on the bed and i chase them around the house being "kissy monster." and gosh, that joy on their faces and their fit of erupting giggles when i (literally i do this) pile them up under couch cushions and then fall with all of my weight on top... it reminds me that i'm raising boys and i couldn't be happier.
     it's a tricky world we live in right now, sorting through stereotypes and differences and figuring out what is and isn't okay to say and think. we're evolving as a culture and as with each evolution there is good and there is bad. of course i do not believe that as a whole girls are one way and boys are another. everyone is different and unique and there are exceptions to every "rule". i also feel strongly about not wanting to completely lose sight of embracing the uniqueness of gender differences and the beauty of being able to appreciate them for what they are.
     so one one hand i'll continue to teach my boys that no matter what the other kids at school say, it's ok to have a monster high notebook and watch my little pony - but on the other hand i'll spend an evening lying on my back flinging them off my legs as far as i can and i might think to myself, "they are such boys," because they are, and it's absolutely wonderful. :)

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mondays with mom.

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our schedule has changed significantly for the second half of the school year and so far it's working out well, we'll see. now on mondays i am at home with asher while aaron is at work and roman is at school. i don't often get to spend time with just asher and it really has been nice. when roman was little it was always him and i spending the days together while aaron worked. these mondays with asher have reminded me a little of those days and of the simple things that i love to do with my babies: take a trip to target to browse, see wooden trains scattered across the floor and take a few pictures in the morning light. :)

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( asher shirt: old navy clearance - similar here )

random friday things.

happy friday, world!
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so, the classes that i'm taking this semester started this week which was nice. i'm overanalyzing things but also a little excited for what i'll be working on and to be back to school. i'm kind of just wasting time right now while i try to figure out where i want to transfer. ugh. living in the moment, right? who cares, right?? right? ;)
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i started watching the bachelor.... i used to watch this show way back in high school when it first came out and i got a wild idea to watch this season. and then i may have gone to amazon and bought a couple seasons to binge watch. i know, i know, not my proudest moments here people. is anyone else fascinated by the bachelor? like so many thoughts, so many thoughts!!
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it's been kind of  warm the past couple of weeks which was pretty lovely i must say. i've definitely taken advantage of all the end-of-winter sales to stock up on a few winter things that i need... okay want. seriously, there are some good clearance deals out there right now! even though i consider myself a warm weather kind of person, i kind of hated how the day after Christmas we started putting swimsuits and spring clothes out at work. it depresses me how our culture is always pushing and pushing for the next thing. it makes life extra exhausting.
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that photo up there? i was the photographer for my brother in law's wedding which was over a month ago and i haven't even started culling through the images. oh lord. also, i need a new external hard drive because i left mine on the train. ( true story ) does anyone have any good quality / low price suggestions for me??
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have a great weekend everyone! <3
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"monster mode"

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anyone who knows asher in real life will know how much sense the following photographs make: asher is such a unique child with the most peculiar habits, one being that he loves pretending he is a monster. it kind of started to battle moments when he felt shy or uneasy; if a stranger compliments him he will counter with jutting out those bottom teeth and growling. this happens often and makes everyone laugh. he also loves to chase roman and his friends while pretending to be a monster and on the playground he will waltz around in "monster mode" saying, "i want to scare everybody!" it's really quite hilarious and it's simply everything asher in it's entirety so i'm glad to capture and save a few memories of it here. <3

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boy style // FabKids

Roman with no arms... ;)

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     I really do love doing photoshoots with my boys and it's one of my favorite things in the world, but man is it hard to find that balance between fun and infuriating! 

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     I love the outfits that FabKids sent us for January, a perfect mix of neon / colorblock + stripes: my faves. I had a cute idea planned to use these fuzzy mustache stickers that I picked up at Old Navy for a photoshoot this month. The boys really had a lot of fun with them but I didn't get a lot of the side by side, sitting on the steps picture-perfect photos that I'd planned. It was more like a lot of dancing and tumbling around and the outtakes, I must say are absolutely hilarious. 

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     So there was a lot of frustration but also a lot of fun; the golden sun setting over the mountains was peaking over the railing just so and I ended up with these gems. All in all, we have a lot of fun doing "photoshoots" and my boys put up with me thankfully and give me so many pictures and moments tied with them to treasure for always.

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Recognize this shirt?

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Be sure to check out FabKids subscription clothing company
for kids: here and get 20% off your first purchase!

"owly".

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     i brought these little owl stuffed animals home from work for the boys last week. i hoped that they would love them so much with their sappy sweet little boy hearts - and they did. roman named his "owwy" and asher named his "owly" and they cared for them and played with them all day long. there isn't really anything else to add or more interesting to say here ... but i just love the big, full hearts that my boys have and i love sharing moments like this with them as their mom.

<3

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