Friday Favorites #69.

It's Friiiiidayyyyy!!  And we have a 3-day weekend after two exhausting weeks of getting back in the swing of things with school so this mama is pumped!  (To be fair, most people are pumped for 3-day weekends though, right?  Ha!)

Today I'm linking up with my girls Andrea, Erika, and Narci for another list of Friday Favorites!

Here we go!

WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY!

Happy Wednesday, friends!  

It's the monthly What's Up Wednesday post where I link up with Mel, Sheaffer, and Shay and discuss what all we've been up to lately!  I think it's been awhile since I actually did one of these so I'm excited to join in this month!

Let's get to it!

Baseball & False Alarms.

Baseball season is officially in full swing around here!  (See what I did there?)

Both boys are playing baseball and Mason is also playing football (flag).  So things have gone from fairly calm to super busy.

DRUNK ELEPHANT SKINCARE REVIEW

Happy Friday!!  Today is a special day because I've got a product review for you!  I haven't done one of these in a while so I'm excited!

Today I'm sharing all my thoughts on the Drunk Elephant Skincare line and y'all...it's kind of amazing.  And I'm not the only one who thinks so.  This product line has amazing buzz and reviews right now.  I know it won't be the last time you hear about them.

INSTANT POT SHRIMP & SAUSAGE JAMBALAYA

I've got a recipe for you Instant Pot girls today!  But first...

#hiRyan

I just couldn't resist.  ;)

Back-to-School 2018

Yesterday, was bittersweet.  I sent my two baby boys back to school but y'all...it couldn't have come at a better time.  I love my kids to death but it was time.

I'm going to be super honest and let you know that this mama was giddy for the first day of school.  My kids are older now so it wasn't dramatic.  Fifth and third grade.  They were ready.  I was ready.

My HOUSE was ready.  

I am so over the Nerf darts scattered throughout the house, the Legos that are hiding in the carpet and half drunk water bottles laying everywhere.  We won't even mention the wet bathing suits all over the place and the random items of clothing dropped carelessly in every single room.  Why is there always someone's underwear in the middle of my living room?!  And why is it not on your body!?  (Mason...)

Over it.

ORANGE BEACH, ALABAMA | PART 3

Welcome back, y'all!  In case you missed it, I've been recapping our trip to Orange Beach, AL and today I've got our final days.  Sigh.  I already want to go back.

If you need to catch up, you can find my previous posts here:

PART 1

PART 2

If you are thinking you might want to check out the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores area at some point, be sure to pin this so you can come back to it when you go to plan your trip.

Now.  Let's move it along to Day 5!

ORANGE BEACH, ALABAMA | PART 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of our beach trip recap!  I meant to have this posted yesterday but I could not get my pictures to load for anything.  Computer issues make me CRAZY so I decided to walk away before I threw my computer across the room.  ;)  #goodcall

Thankfully, all seemed in working order when I tried again yesterday so here we go! 

Technical Difficulties.

Today was supposed to be Part 2 of our Orange Beach recap but I had all kinds of issues trying to upload pictures yesterday!  I kind of wanted to slam my head into a wall.  So I gave up and went to the movies to see Crazy Rich Asians with a bunch of my girlfriends and decided to try again later.  

The movie is SO CUTE by the way!  Even if you weren't a fan of the book(s), give the movie a shot! I didn't love the book, mainly because I couldn't keep all the characters straight, but the movie made me want to read the rest of the series.

By the time I got home, my pictures were uploading like normal again but it was too late to get it all done by that point.  So I'll have Part 2 for you tomorrow.  We had so much fun on days 3 & 4!

If you missed Part 1, you can find it HERE.

Happy Thursday!!

ORANGE BEACH, ALABAMA 2018 | PART 1

What a week!!  We are back home after our much-anticipated summer vacay to Orange Beach, Alabama and we had an absolute blast!  And unlike years past, I had no major #momfails (whoop whoop!), no one got stung by a jellyfish (or bitten by a shark--I worry about that a lot!) and I only wanted to hide in the bathroom to get away from everyone a couple of times.  It's a LOT of family togetherness and sometimes mama just needs some alone time.  Right?!

Our family typically takes one big vacation a year (although we're going to Disney in November!) and for the past 6 or 7 years, we have been dedicated beach rats.  ;)  It is our happy place.  The sand, the sea, the sun, the salty breeze, the sunsets... (We don't wake up early enough to see the sunrise or I would have included that too.  I mean, we're on vacation, people!  So maybe I should throw in one more "s" word---SLEEP!)

We've been to several different beaches over the years (Destin, Ft. Walton, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores) and we loved them all but each one has it's pros and cons.

For the past 4 years, we've been in the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores area.  The boys love it there and have their favorite spots and at this point in our lives, our family vacations are all about our kids.  So even though I may wish for a quieter beach trip to somewhere like Seaside, I just can't convince my kiddos to go anywhere else.  They started crying when I suggested going anywhere else.  So that was that.  We'll have plenty of time to take more adult-friendly vacations when these kids grow up and LEAVE ME.  (Wahhhhhh!!!)

DAY 1

So last Monday, we packed up the car and headed out!

THE REWIND SERIES | BEACH LIFE

Hey hey friends! It's the night before we leave for our annual beach vacay and I know I said I wasn't posting this week but I thought this was the PERFECT TIME for another segment of my Rewind Series!

If you aren't familiar with this series, it's basically just me sharing throwbacks from my past.

I've only done a couple so far.  You can find my Pregnancy Post here and my Bahamas vacay from 2009 here.

But today, I'm just throwing out my links to last year's beach vacay recaps because I was looking over them last night and they got me feeling all mushy.  My kids have grown so much over the past year.  And it's just all going by so fast.  I'm so happy that I have this blog to document all our memories!

So if you want to check out last year's beach trip, you find those recaps below!

DAY 1-3

DAY 4-5

DAY 6-7

We had the greatest time and I'm praying that we live up to that or outdo it this year.  I'm also praying that we check in to the correct condo this time and that no windshield wipers fly off during a downpour on the interstate!  Eeek.  #sonotfun

 I'll be a chronic over-poster this week on Instagram so you can follow me over there @amandanall if you want to see what we're up to this week! 

I'm not sure if I'll be back oo the blog any this week but I'll keep you posted on IG and in my FB Group!  Have the best week, y'all!!

Linking up with the Hello Monday girls!

Friday Favorites #68.

I am super excited today, y'all.  All Etsy orders have shipped so I am finally on VACATION!  Whoop whoop!!  We are in full beach prep mode so I'll be spending a lot of time this weekend making lists, shopping for all those last minute things, organizing, and packing before we head out next week!

If you want to check out our vacay from last year you can find it HERE.  We had the best time!

I can't wait to stick my toes in the sand!

July Book Review. {2018}

It's Book Review day, y'all!!  So open up your Amazon carts, your library lists, your Audible store...however it is that you read...and get ready because you may want to add all of these!  It was a good book month!