Exciting News!

My dear friend, Blaine Cook Turk, has nominated me for an award.

If you haven't heard about it before, the Leibster is an award for inspiring bloggers with less than 200 followers. It’s a way of finding new blogs, new voices you may not have found otherwise. It works kind of like a chain letter ... if you get it, you pass it on to 5 blogs that you like, who can also pay it forward and we can all find new, awesome blogs to read!

The rules of the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed (see below)
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Here goes:

1. Blaine, I love you for doing this (and a million other reasons)... but don't you know you're way more inspiring than me?! Thank you, thank you.

2. If you have a chance, head over to Blaine's blog and check it out. Laughs and enjoyment guaranteed.

3.

4. I am nominating the following blogs:

#1 Mike & Steph -- Maybe my favorite blog, but I might be a little biased. In fact, she could have 200 followers for all I know, she's very popular. Steph is my sister, and has the cutest little punks in the world. Plus, she is always great to share tips and ideas she comes across. Love it.

#2 Brandon & Jillyn Larsen -- Jillyn is a great friend of mine, a CANCER SURVIVOR!, and pretty hilarious. Not to mention, great photographer and pretty darn great in general.

#3 Ben & Amber Walunas -- I went to high school with Amber and she always had the cutest style and personality. Nothing has changed. Even though she lives far away, I still like to check out her cute style (and she has the best dog ever!)

#4 Live My Life Project (by Ela) -- Ela is the SIL of my dear friend Lorien, and is becoming quite a great friend. Her blogs are fun and inspirational, and she's the founder of the Hen Movie Club!

#5 Ashley & Dizzle -- Someone I don't know in real life, but I love her blog. Ashley is a serious runner and does Crossfit! She has an awesome attitude about everything, and always has the cutest running outfits ... what an inspiration!

Hopefully you have a chance to check some of these out - they're great!

PS Thanks again Blaine! Love you!

father's day

Happy Father's Day to the best men I know:





{my father-in-law, Pat (and Paula!), my dad (and mom!), and my wonderful husband practicing with Steph's kids}

I'm so lucky to have these men in my life, plus so many others. Happy Father's Day!

Look at these things

I found this website: wittlebee - like Birchbox, but for kids clothes! Now I just need a kid ...
Wait, everyone has joined Birchbox, right? Click here if you haven't ...

Here is a super awesome talk from Elder Ballard about the importance of families.

Hilarious craigslist ad. Chances are you've probably seen it, but it's super funny ... those hipsters ....

This website - discounts on gift cards!

More kids clothes shopping ... like Kid to Kid but online ... has anyone tried this?

A list of Birthday freebies - My birthday is coming right up, $30 Benihana gift card? Yes please.

Speaking of my birthday ... we're contemplating a family vacation for that week, to here:



We should go, right? Even if it's only to hang out with those punks.
PS Thanks Ellen for the pics :)

that boy

I'm dedicating this post to my wonderful husband, Lucas P Kane.
His birthday was last week, which was awesome. We celebrated with family at my mom's - dutch oven and outdoor living. The best. Then we had a lovely dinner with some of our closest friends. It was a great weekend of celebrating.

My mom and Lucas have a weird cat greeting card feud going on ... I don't understand it.

Machete from the brothers. Yes, it was wrapped in a towel.

Little girls doing Heavy Heavy Hangover.

My cute mom and cute Asher.

One of Brok for good measure.


Lucas is my best friend, and I'm really lucky to have such a great guy.
I just love when he practices his Dad skills (thanks to baby Link):



Also, we had the most awesome trip to San Francisco for an anniversary ... photos coming soon.

opportunity to give

I recently found the cutest blog (thanks to Jamie Oliver) - It's called Never Seconds.

Martha Payne, a 9-year-old from Scotland, was not pleased with the lunchtime offerings at her primary school: Stingy on the portions, too few vegetables, poor taste. So she did what any child of the 21st century would do – she started a blog.
from this article
So this cute little 9-year old gal is making a pretty big impact on the internet world, and has recently started a pretty neat little fundraiser - check it out here. She's trying to raise £7000 to build a kitchen with Mary's Meals. Mary’s Meals is an international movement that sets up school feeding projects in communities where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education. The charity now feeds more than 600,000 children every school day and it costs just $16.80 to feed a child for a year!

(picture from neverseconds blog)

You should totally donate.