REVIVE

All of the wonderful speakers and people that put the conference together!
via Elan Photography
the other weekend i have the opportunity to attend the REVIVE Blog Conference put on by the awesome girls of Junk in the Trunk Vintage Market. 
it was a lot of fun and a much needed break for me :) 

i went with Janel and Chrissy which i was so grateful that they agreed to go with me cause i always get nervous meeting new people, especially bloggers. 

the conference was awesome! 
it was just for a day but i left feeling very inspired and excited about my goals & ambitions for this little blog. 

what i probably loved most about it was all the amazing people i got to meet.
some of the people that attended didn't have a blog (but were thinking about starting them), only had their blog for a little while, or had their blogs for a long time. 
but they all came with the same goal in mind: how to make their online space the best it can be. 

sometimes with blogging i feel like i'm back in high school, like i have to try really hard to get the "cool people" to like me and if they don't like me then i won't get very far. 
and the only time they will really like me is if i prove i have cute clothes and high numbers. 
does anyone else feel like that ever? 
or is that just me? 
[did i just make this post a little depressing....?]

anyways, my point is that REVIVE felt nothing like that!!
we were just all there trying to learn together, better our crafts, and altogether be better people. 
they set up lots of fun games to network and talk to the people around us and i loved it!
i didn't feel like i was judged by my numbers or traffic statistics. 
but instead we were actually getting to know each other and help one another with our common goals.

annnnnnnnnd we got to dress up in awesomely hilarious vintage outfits and no one judged me for referencing Bye Bye Birdie and almost breaking out in song. 
{remember how i'm awkward?} 

top left: Chrissy and Janel
top right: my sweet Bye Bye Birdie outfit
bottom left: notes
bottom right: me and Chrissy [stolen from her Instagram :)]
along with all that, we got to hear from some amazing speakers. 
i learned a lot from them and loved how honest & real they were about their journeys.
the speakers:
Becki from Whippy Cake
Steph from City Moms Blog
Jeremy & Adrienne from Dream Book Design
Ashley from The Shine Project
Kimberly from A Night Owl
Karen from Elan Photographie

i'm so grateful for the Junk in the Trunk Market girls for putting together a great conference!
thanks for letting me come! :) 

boys will be boys


Adam has been on break this last week and it has be so wonderful!! 
i love having Adam home {and getting to sleep in, holla!!} and Elijah loves any moment he gets to be around dad and try to be just like him. 

this last Tuesday Adam had the idea to take us shooting with our friends Dallin & Emily. 
i was extremely extremely nervous of the idea of bringing Elijah along. 
if i thought i was feeling lots of anxiety last time, getting ready for this trip was even worse.
i just had horrible images in my mind of Elijah running away from us unexpectedly right when someone pulls the trigger and getting shot in the head. 
what made it worse was when we realized that 1. Elijah isn't very good at listening when we would say, "stop!" and 2. even he was good at listening to us, he couldn't really hear us because of those cute, oversized earmuffs he had on to protect his ears. 
so yeah, i was kind of freaking out. 

surprisingly, Elijah did very very well and stayed close to us the whole time. 
we talked to him on the way out there that he was supposed to stay by mom and dad and listen to us because it was very dangerous. 
when i would ask him to repeat it back to me he would say,
"ZaZa floor with mom. Danggberous." 
pretty good! 

it was one of those moments where i realized maybe i don't always give Eli enough credit. 
when he wants to be, he is actually really really good at obeying the rules. 
it's just that most of the time, he doesn't really want to ;)

but he he did really well at standing by us with his arms folded as Adam and Dallin shot at the clay pigeons and he knew he wasn't allowed to touch the guns.  
he even kept those ear muffs on most of the time because i think he saw how crazy our faces looked every time he took them off and realized we weren't kidding around. 

even with all of our nagging and extremely cautious hovering, Eli LOVED it!! 
[and let's just say if i wasn't convinced of the innate gender characteristics of boys vs. girls, i am definitely convinced now!]
he got soooooo excited when we would get ready to shoot and yell, "Again, Dad!!" 
and he is still talking about it days later.
"Mama shoot gun. Dada shoot gun. Erimy (Emily) shoot gun. Dawwin (Dallin) shoot gun. Zaza shoot wid Dad."
[also, Emily and Dallin are his new favorite people. he asks to see them every day. it was definitely a bonding experience for him, ha.]

all in all, i think it was a very successful we-are-pretty-awesome-parents kind of day. 
i mean, it says so all over this picture. 


oh, those boys.... 
keeps this girly girl on her toes that's for sure!

HAPPY FRIDAY!