Guest Post: Cait from Fit, Fierce and Fabulous

Guys!!! I'm so excited to have Cait be guest blogging for me today!!! :) She's a rockstar and I'm thrilled to have "met her." I'm heading home for Spring Break and I couldn't be more excited! Make sure you go visit her blog and tell her I sent you!!

Hey All! My name is Cait and I blog over at Fit, Fierce and Fabulous. I tend to blog about my daily life including tips on healthy eating (and not so healthy), my family, my crazy life as a Graduate student, my fiance and exercise tips. [Image] Speaking of which, Emily and I were talking about NO ONE wants to work out when the weather is cold outside! Believe me, I'm def someone who'd love to curl up under the covers with a hot cup of tea and watch re-runs of Boy Meets World (Duh LOVE that show!) so working out would be the last thing on my mind! However, it is something that needs to continue during the colder months so your body can continue to stay fit, fierce and fabulous <-- like how I added that in there ;) Tips to Working Out in the Winter If your a huge shopper like myself, it may nice to go to the mall early before any of the shops open and walk around. Think of it this way, if you window shop while you walk you're multasking and we all have to do 32387  million things at once Consider joining a gym. I just joined a gym about 10 months ago and it was the best thing I've ever done. Specifically. my gym has a rock climbing wall which I love to use to switch up my work out routnines.  Take advantage of going outside with your kids, if you have them. There is nothing that works your body more than  trying to build a huge snowman or snowfort with your little rascals piling on top of you! If you like to be outdoors, maybe you want to try a new sport like snow shoeing or cross country skiing. I'm still trying to get my butt out the door to do this since my mom LOVEs going cross country skiing. She always comes back after 2 hours saying it was the best work out she's ever had! I hope all of these tips have helped! And if you'd like come on over and say "Hey!" to my blog too We all know you love Emily's already ;)

Guest Post: Random Roommate

Hi Lovers!! I'm busy getting settled into college and all the new transitions! I'm SO excited to have Lauren guest blogging for me today! She's so cute and I just love her blog! Make sure to stop by and say hey!!! 


Hi! My name is Lauren and I blog over at Life.Love.Lauren and I am stoked to be apart of Emily's blog! So while Emily is getting settled into school, I thought I would relive some of my first entering into college.

I went to New Mexico State University and graduated in December 2011 with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. I swam competitively in high school and looked at many schools with swimming scholarships. But somewhere in all of that I decided that I wanted to major in nursing and that my education came first before my swimming. So therefore I got a full ride academic scholarship to NMSU. I wanted to come out of school with no debt. It also helped that my boyfriend (who turned out to be my husband) also chose to go to NMSU. (He was super smart and got offers from UT Austin, MIT, etc in engineering.) 

I remember I decided to go with getting a random roommate because I wanted the experience of meeting someone new and not messing up a current friendship by finding out that I couldn't live with that person. So in comes Karla my freshman roommate. She had never done laundry before (No worries, I taught her) and came from a totally different place than I did. She was definitely nice enough and we end up getting along. That is all you need! You don't need to make a best friend out of every person you meet, but just enjoy every experience you have. If it wasn't for Karla I wouldn't have met one my best guy friends!

So without further ado, let me embarrass myself with pictures!

Me walking out of my dorm the first day of school. Yeah I would kill to be that skinny again!

And yes my side was the clean side.

Karla and I taking a ski trip

Well thank you to Emily for letting me relive a drip of my college experience. I wish you the best Emily with what the next couple of years have to offer you!!

Guest Post: Ashley from Ashley's Carnival Ride

I'm super pumped to have Ashley from Ashley's Carnival Ride guest blogging for me! I'm in the middle of graduation madness; my brother's college graduation, my graduation, and lots of parties! Huge shoutout to Ashley for writing this post! 


oxoxoxoxox

Hey y'all! I'm Ashley, and I blog over at Ashley's Carnival Ride. I was so excited when Emily asked me to guest post for her! She is super sweet, and I just love having her for a blog/twitter friend! Today, I'm sharing some of my pictures and memories from my senior prom.

I grew up in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma, and I attended my senior prom waaaaay back in 2004. I'm so old :) I went with my group of friends, and we had a fabulous time!

The theme was Hollywood Nights. At our school, we had a prom banquet, which was a nice dinner before prom, then the actual prom itself a couple of hours later.

I decided that year that I was going to be different and wear a short dress instead of the long poofy ones that were super popular. I loved wearing something different, and I just LOVED the little pops of pink! My hairdresser who has been doing my hair my entire life fixed my hair up so cute! These were the days before very many people had flat irons, so let's just say my hair was normally...not cute. At all.

Before prom, we all met at Randa's house to take pictures together.

Me with  my best friend Jessica!

We have SO many pictures throughout the years posed like this! We started it our freshman year of high school, and we take one for every significant event in our lives!

The whole group!

After finishing up our pictures, we were so surprised to find out that Randa and Michelle's parents had rented a limo to take us take us to prom!

We took a few limo pictures before we headed to the banquet. The limo driver was a weird little man, and before he took us to banquet, he drove us through Sonic and asked for grey poupon, because he said he's always wanted to ask for that!

Dinner was great, and after banquet was over, we went riding around in the limo for a little while longer. Prom walk-in was a huge deal, and we could NOT be the first people to arrive!

We had a great evening together! It was so much fun to get all dressed up and hang out with my favorite people! Our friends Randa and Kyle were even named Prom King and Queen!

Our official prom photo

After-prom breakfast was at 3:00 a.m., so after we decided to leave, Jessica and I went back to her house to hang out until time for breakfast.

What a fun night we had! It was so great to have one more big night all together before we all went our separate ways for college. Sometimes I miss those days!

Guest Post: Emily from Just to Keep in Touch!

I'm so excited that Emily from Just To Keep in Touch is guest blogging for me today. This post was perfect timing! I hope you love it as much as I did. I'm on my way to Arkansas right now on the first part of my adventure to Israel. Arkansas to Texas then to New Jersey and on to Jerusalem! I will be back Monday the 19th! 


Please go over and say hi to Emily on her blog!

Love you all!
OXOX
Emily 

Jesus Calling-Keep Your Eyes On Me!

I haven't ever really been a "fearful" person. I have somewhat prided myself in not really thinking about all the bad things that could happen in situations. Some would call it naive-I call it faith...placing my trust in the Lord and know he will guide me through.  Even through the loss of a child I never really felt I went into over -protection mode with Wyatt. (which is a common thing that happens in our situation) Until a few weeks ago...I began having these "thoughts" these terrible images. They came at all hours of the day and sometimes even throughout the night when I was laying away or in my dreams/nightmares. 

I didn't want to tell anyone I was having these thoughts. Thoughts about bed things happening to people I loved, getting into terrible situations, even history repeating itself in our lives...I knew they weren't from the Lord. I wanted so badly to control my mind...Mark began to ask what was wrong I knew I couldn't let the devil have a foothold. 

My mom gifted me the "Jesus Calling" app a few months ago. It has been nothing but PERFECT everyday. It's almost one of those devotionals you are nervous to read because it's so right on EVERY time. LOL! 

I talked to my mom about these feelings one morning. She gave her faith-filled, amazing,  perfect motherly advice (the advice I pray I can give my children some day). Once I hung up the phone I began my daily routine-I opened the app...and read this:

"Keep your eyes on me! Waves of adversity are washing over you, and you feel tempted to give up. As your circumstances consume more and more of your attention, you are losing sight of Me. Yet I am with you always, holding you by your right hand. I am fully aware of your situation. Your gravest danger is worrying about tomorrow. If you try to carry tomorrow's burdens today, you will stagger under the load and eventually fall flat. You must discipline yourself to live within the boundaries of today. It is in the present moment that I walk close to you, helping you carry your burdens. Keep your focus on My Presence in the present. "

I am pretty sure I had to pick my jaw up from the floor. I mean, could that have been any more perfect? As a family we have had less t.v. time and more music time. We have kept all stations turned to the local Christian radio station at home, in the car, even while taking evening walks. We have bathed ourselves in prayer and tried to spend lots of time in the Bible. The Lord is good...ALL the time-no exceptions! 

As this pregnancy comes to an end and another chapter of our life closes a new one opens. We will enter this with our FULL trust in the Lord and pray he prepare us to be equipt with the tools needed to handle each situation we encounter the way HE would want us to. 

I pray if you are reading this and the devil has tried to get a foothold, tried to create fear in you....that you remember it's NOT from the Lord. Take control ask the Lord to fill you with his spirit!