10 Ways We Try to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint at Home

 Good morning friends and happy Friday! So I was listening to a podcast the other day about the many benefits of buying food that is locally grown and one of the benefits was reducing carbon emissions. I am always looking for ways to try to help our family be more green and thought "I should write a blog post about that!" Maybe you are looking for some simple ways to be more green in your home too? We of course do the basic things like turning off lights when we aren't in a room and bringing our reusable grocery bags to the store, but we do a few extra things as well.  

Every single one of these things we do around our house was a simple change and honestly ends up saving us money in the long run too. Fewer carbon emissions AND saving money? Sounds like a win/win to me!

1. Stop Buying Plastic Water Bottles/Using Plastic Straws-- We try very hard to always bring a water bottle or cup with us wherever we go. 

Our Trip to Siesta Key, FL Part 1

 Good morning friends! Today is all about our trip to Siesta Key for Spring Break! We had a wonderful time playing with the kiddos on the beach and also a good amount of one-on-one time for just Dev and I. It was honestly the perfect trip and I am so excited to share it with you! I had originally planned to turn this into one post but realized I had wayyyyy too many pictures for that. Two posts it is!

Before we begin, let me tell you that back in 1985 my parents bought a timeshare on the beach in Siesta Key for a steal. Their thought was "well we hope this works out, but if it doesn't at least we didn't put too much money into it". I think they would be the first to tell you that it was one of the best decisions they ever made. My family has visited this beach for our two timeshare weeks every year since 1985 and it has become our home away from home. I have some of the best memories from here growing up and it makes my heart melt to think that my own kids can have those same experiences. Here's a look at our trip:

 

Not Just a Mom-- Favorite Family Memories

Hi there! I hope you all had a happy weekend and are looking forward to a nice week ahead. We are back from the beach and are struggling to get out of vacation mode and back into "real world" mode. Thank God for coffee!

Today Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne, Sarah and I are hosting our monthly Not Just a Mom link up and the theme is Favorite Family Memories. I can NOT wait to read yours too so if you have a blog, please link up with us at the bottom! If not, please leave a comment telling me one of your favorite family memories. I'd love to hear what makes your family happy :)

 As I was writing this post I kept thinking to myself "I wonder if everyone else's are similar to mine?" I have a feeling several of us might have some commonalities with our memories today. Mine seem to have a similar theme of us spending good quality "unplugged" time together exploring new things. Let's have a look:

 

Goals for the Month of April

 Hello friends and happy April!!!! With the start of a new month comes some new monthly goals. Let's have a look:

- Freeze It Friday-- I know I'm not the only one this happens to, but we throw away produce in our house weekly. I really hate food waste, so this kills me! I have gotten a lot better about only buying things we will eat and doing our best to use them up, but sometimes the food just goes bad before we can get to it. I have decided that every Friday this month, I am going to go through our fridge and look for produce on the verge of going bad. If it isn't going to get used in the next 24 hours, I need to wash, chop, and freeze it.... hence "Freeze It Friday". I love to pull out frozen veggies to add to soups, pasta sauce, etc and obviously frozen fruit is great in a smoothie.. there's no reason not to do this! Here's hoping I can eliminate even more food waste (and possibly end up spending less at the grocery store too!).

- Read 4 Books-- I am hoping that while we are at the beach I will be able to get a book or two in! My book list currently has 42 books on it-- I need to make a dent in it!

- Spend 15 Extra Minutes In Prayer Each Afternoon-- For Lent this year one of the things I decided to do was add an additional 15 minutes of prayer into my day. I already had my quiet time in the morning and love to pray at night with the kids before bed, so I figured a good time to add additional prayer would be the afternoon while the kids are napping. This has been a game changer! Don't get me wrong, I love starting and ending the day with prayer, but I am also tired/groggy/out of it and I struggle to focus. Throughout Lent I would put the kids down for their nap, make myself an afternoon cup of coffee, then sit down with my Bible, prayer journal, and devotional. I am really loving this and am hoping to keep it up now that Lent is coming to a close.

-- Get Our Garden Fully Prepped and Ready-- As you all know, our family loves to garden! I love getting out there and getting some sunshine while growing some of our own food. I especially love the kids helping by digging around in the dirt next to me. My mom has some lettuce and cherry tomatoes growing in pots in her sun room and Lily Grace loves to go over there and make a salad from Nana's garden. I  love that she's excited to eat salad. 😉 We have big plans for everything we want to grow this year and I just can't wait!

 

Simple but hopefully attainable goals this month! Notice what I didn't have on there this month? Any fitness goals. At the beginning of the year I had super high hopes of getting back into exercising regularly and doing some form of workout 300/365 days this year... well I have failed MISERABLY at that! I'm pretty sure I can count on both hands how many times I've been able to squeeze a workout in since January. Our gym finally just opened childcare back up this week, but I'm going to ease myself into it. I feel healthy, I am healthy, and that's what matters right now. Maybe in the second half of 2021 I'll have time to get back into a routine with exercise... but it sure isn't happening now!

 

Please share if you have any goals you're setting for the month! I always love to know other people's goals because it might inspire me to make better choices too!

Today I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites. Have a nice weekend!

What's Up Wednesday

I know, I know... We all say it every single month... but where did this month go?? I feel like with the weather warming up this month just flew by. Our weather is feeling consistently like spring around here.

Thank. The. Lord. 

Anyway, here's a look at what's been going on around here with us: