30x30 Giveaway

I dropped out of the 30x30 when life became too stressful during the move.  I was having a little anxiety attack one night and I realize, this was one thing I could drop with out much repercussion.  So I did. 

But I still wanted to support the other girls and join in the giveaway!  So I did.

Maybe just a little cash to help with some Christmas shopping, or to treat yourself during the long hours of shopping and wrapping and cooking and decorating that comes with the holiday season.

And may the odds be ever in your favor (I totally watched Hunger Games last night in preparation for Catching Fire)

The ladies of the Fall 30x30 challenge wanted to get together and thank you for supporting! Using the Rafflecopter below, enter to win a $50 giftcard to your choice of Target, Old Navy/Gap, Loft, or Forever 21!

Dreaming about Someday / justjacq / It’s My Life / you, me & capri / Raising the Rogers / Olive the Things / Fox Tales and Ponytails / Shop School Sleep / Curly Crafty Mom / One Blessed Jess a Rafflecopter giveaway

30x30 Day 1-6

I started the challenge a little before November so that when we were moving I could take a day or two off and just wear work clothes.  Also, we're driving to CA for Thanksgiving and I'll probably want to wear something comfy in the car.

Day 1
October 28
I decided to do this challenge on Oct 27, so I started wearing my items the very next day.  I didn't have them all picked out, but I knew I wanted to include these items.  I only wear earrings for pictures, Axel is at that super fun age where he likes to rip dangling earrings right out of my ear.

Day 2
October 29
I do not like my hair cut (I wanted a pixie and the hair dresser told me no and gave me the worst mom hair of all time) but it's growing out now and I really liked my hair on this day.

Day 3
October 30
I'm trying to learn the ways of not washing my hair every day, so don't mind the braid in both my pictures :) This shirt is actually a pajama shirt from WalMart but I love the length and the sleeves and the price so I got it. 

Day 4
October 31
We went trick-or-treating at Adam's work after morning nap time and I wore this so that if pressed I could just say I was a Barbie (you know, because of the pink)

Day 5
November 1
I started my healthy eating/5k training today and it feels really good!  This is right before I went for my run. 

Day 6
November 3
We got the keys to our house on Saturday so we did some moving and carpet cleaning and I just wore  jeans and a sweat shirt.  So day 6 skipped a head to November 3rd.  We went to church, otherwise I don't know if I would have gotten dressed this day either!

Check out the other lovely ladies participating in the challenge!

Fall 30x30

It's time for the Fall 30x30 challenge!  Warning: This post got really wordy.  Feel free to skim.

I decided to participate in another 30x30 challenge.  I don't think I explained it very well last time, but basically you pick 30 items of clothing and you mix and match those to create 30 different outfits.  It ended up being more challenging than I thought back in May, but I loved packing for my trip using only those items.  We're moving this month so it will be nice to know what items I need to leave out of the boxes.  All the rest can go!  Except one pair of boots I packed up already I want to use this month so they'll probably show up towards the end of the month.

So look, I'm not a big fan of having a ton of pictures of myself on my blog.  But that's the best way to show you what I'm wearing so. . . there you have it.  I know I'm not a fashionista (despite having it embroidered on the back of my Student Gov't sweater when I was a teacher.  Let's just say I was a much better dresser in those days, plus I taught fashion so it made sense) so no worries if you don't want to look at my "fashion" posts.  You can skip them, I wont be hurt.  :)

Unlike most of the girls doing this challenge, I don't really think about the items I pick, I just pick 30 things I love to wear, try to balance out the tops and the bottoms and hope I can make it to the end!  That's the fun of it for me.

Sweaters: This is the main reason I agreed to do this again, I have so many sweaters!  That didn't stop me from buying two new ones on sale on H&M's website.   So I don't even know if they'll look good on me!  Risky.

1. Forever21, 2. Aeropostal, 3. Ruby Moon, 4. H&M, 5. H&M

Tops: A lot of these are layering tops.  I actually plan to use my white layering tops too, but I didn't include them because they're BORING plus I don't know how much action they will really get (hey it's not cheating, Aubrey doesn't even include shoes!)

1. Forever 21, 2. Shade, 3. Bella Bird, 4. WalMart, 5. Old Navy, 6. ModBod

Cardigans:

1. Nikibiki, 2. Target, 3.Target, 4. Target

Skirts: I thought about choosing more skirts, but since I pretty much only wear them to church on Sundays (I change diapers on the floor and skirts make that difficult!) I just stuck with two.

 1. Made by me, 2. Bella Bird from WalMart

Dresses: Now short dresses with leggings, those I can wear any day because the leggings give me a little more modesty and the dresses are loose and give me more range of motion.

1. Target, 2. Calvin Klein via TJ Maxx

Pants: I'm including a pair of leggings in this category because they're thick and can be worn as pants (yes, yes, only with LONG shirts, I know) but I'll probably use other leggings this month too, just more like tights. (if any of that makes sense. . . )

 1. Forever 21, 2. I don't remember!, 3. Thrifted, 4. Thrifted (because if you are hoping to lose weight there is no sense in buying new jeans) 

Shoes: Not everyone includes shoes, but I think it's part of the fun.  I pretty much live in my boots in November, but I included my Toms and some heels in case I wanted to change things up.

1. Gift (maybe JC Penny?), 2. Toms, 3. Gift (I have no idea where)

I have a few items missing.  I haven't had time to do all of my fall shopping so I haven't been able to pick my last few items, plus a pair of shoes that I packed in boxes before deciding to do this challenge.

Here are the other ladies participating this month!

30x30 Looks 25-30

The long awaited finish line has arrived!  I did the worst this last week because of the dang flu that my babies and I all got.  I wore 30x30 outfits every day, even though I didn't put on mascara (my eyes were too watery).  But I didn't take pictures because of the mascara and stuff, so all of these are recreated!

DAY 25-Saturday
Today was my dad's surprise birthday party.  He didn't seem curious when my mom started baking plates full of chocolate chip cookies, and he didn't believe me when friends of his started showing up that they were there for a party for him!  (We weren't creative enough to pull the whole "SURPRISE!" jump out part)  We had a great night playing a trivia game with so many of his friends, old and new.
I went with a little gray on gray action here.  I added the belt to break it up.

DAY 26-Sunday
I was sick today.  I didn't get dressed, but this is what I was going to wear, and what I did wear to church one week later.

DAY 27-Monday
Happy Memorial Day!  We mostly hung around the house trying to get better and eating vegetarian corn dogs and hamburgers.
Holy not good picture.

DAY 28-Tuesday
This was supposed to be the day we drove home to Salt Lake, but I wanted one more day to make sure we were all healthy for the drive.
I just love peach and blue together.

DAY 29-Wednesday
We made the long drive again!  This time we managed to make it in 12 hours instead of 13 1/2.

DAY 30-Thursday
The final day!  Axel had his 4 month check.  I was so sad that he just got healthy and now he had to get shots and feel crappy again.

If you ever want to participate in this challenge, let me give you a few tips:

• Pick items that are true to you.  I don't wear that much color most of the time so I don't know why I picked so much color.  I wear mostly black and white, I should have stuck with that.
• Pick items that are very different.  I had two pairs of colored pants, peach and red.  They are way too similar!  If I wore them both with the same top, you probably wouldn't notice they were different pants unless they were side by side.  
• I need more accessories.  Adding a belt or necklace added so much to my outfits to make them feel different than every other outfit I wear.

And with that being said, I never want my picture taken again!!

Here are all the other wonderful ladies that did this challenge with Kelly:

30x30 Looks 19-24 (and a SURPRISE!)

The 30x30 challenge continues.  Lot's of pony tails this week, that shows you just how crazy of a week it was!   (make sure you go all the way to the end for the surprise. Skim or skip down if you have to!)

DAY 19-Sunday
Church and family day as usual.

DAY 20-Monday
What a day!  It cool and rainy so I was excited to finally get to wear my corduroy jacket.  Poor Axel Baby got sick and needed to be held all day.  Thankfully this jacket covers up all the drool and spit up on my shoulder :) 

DAY 21-Tuesday
I got all ready for our trip to California.  I also took Axel to the dr, since he had developed pink eye.

DAY 22- Wednesday
Possibly the longest day of my life!  It deserves its own blog post.  I drove with my two babies from Salt Lake to Lancaster CA.  I love road trips in skirts because they're comfy and cool, especially this maxi which is almost like wearing yoga pants!  I cheated for the first time and wore shoes that aren't part of my 30 (for shame!!) But since I took this the night before we left for CA I didn't want to wake Axel by digging my flip flops out of the closet (that's his bedroom, ha!) so I am bare footed.

DAY 23-Thursday
We spent the day playing with Grandma and Hannah and then we had Chipotle for dinner for my dad's birthday!  That night while Hannah and my dad were at a church function, my mom babysat my kids while I went to my choir teacher's final concert.  This also deserves its own blog post.  (Not in love with my hair here, but for the concert I pulled it up into a. . . you guessed it, a pony tail)

DAY 24-Friday
Such a relaxing day!  With my mom taking care of most of Olivia's needs, I remembered how easy one baby was to care for.  After Axel woke up from a nap and I nursed him, he played with my pajama shirt while I napped next to him.  Later my mom, dad and sister Hannah walked to the park and had dinner while Axel napped in the stroller and Olivia played on the playground.

And now for the good part. . . I give you THE. . .

The ladies of the 30x30 Challenge would like to gift you with a $60 shopping spree to a store of your choice! Winner will be able to choose a gift card to one of our favorite stores—Loft, Old Navy, Gap, Target, or Forever 21! Use the Rafflecopter to enter! Good luck!
   a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open from 5/27/2013- 6/2/2013 and the winner will be announced on 6/3/2013. Entries will be validated. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected

Thanks to Jacquelyn for organizing this giveaway!  Also a very big thanks to Kelly for organizing this whole event!  Its been great fun to get to know all these sweet ladies through this experience.  :)
And as always check them out here!

30x30 Looks 13-18

And the 30x30 challenge continues. . .

DAY 13-Monday
It ended up being such a warm day that I rolled up the sleeves on my navy cardi.  As if showing three inches of my wrist is going to keep me cool.  As.  If.

Not sure what I was doing with my neck/chin here.  Just when I think I'm getting better at posing. . . 

DAY 14-Tuesday
Thanks to Axel waking up several times in the night, I was super drained on Tuesday.  We had to make an emergency run to Target for toilet paper and soap.  I did manage to make one of the best dinners of my marriage thus far (cheese burgers and potato salad) so it wasn't the worst day ever.

DAY 15-Wednesday
Not sure if these two pieces go together or not.  But it was comfortable and quick. 

DAY 16-Thursday
I woke up to horrible allergies.  I made dinner for my sister-in-law who just had a new baby and later that night I watched The Office series finale.  Between the sneezing and the tears, I looked a wreck.  So I had to recreate this outfit another day!

DAY 17-Friday
Date night!  We're trying to save money for a house, so funds are tight.  I wanted to surprise Adam with ice cream and a DVD, but it was raining and I didn't feel like going outside with two babies.  So I called and had him pick up ice cream and Lincoln.  No surprises but he was still happy (he's been wanting to see Lincoln for a LONG time!)

DAY 18-Saturday
 I had a massage in the morning.  Adam finally made me go (it was my Valentine's Day gift!) by making the appointment for me.  Next time I have a massage I will make sure I have nothing to do the rest of the day because I just felt tired and dizzy and yucky from all those toxins that get released.  I tried to drink a lot of water, but I still needed a nap!

As always, make sure to check out these other lovely ladies that are no doubt doing a better job than I am!  :)

30x30 Looks 7-12

A couple of things to start: My head looks weird in a lot of these pictures.  I swear its not that pointy.
Second, if you're as observant as my high school students were you might wonder why I don't wear a wedding ring (They thought I was divorced).  Basically, it doesn't fit and even when it does (some days I guess my fingers are less swollen??) it's too big and scratches Axel and Olivia. 

DAY 7-Tuesday
I picked four skirts/dresses so I would have plenty of church options, but the only skirt I will wear on a non-Sunday is a maxi.  I spend so much time sitting on the floor changing diapers that I can't worry about modesty!  This is one I don't think I would have put together if it wasn't for this challenge.  Sadly, I didn't put any flip flops in my 30 items and that's what this outfit really needed.

And the best picture doesn't show my shoes, but I'm wearing the black heels.  

DAY 8-Wednesday
Wednesday was our Mother's Day dinner with Adam's family.  We went out to dinner at Brio and Olivia got a babysitter (which is pretty much her favorite thing ever!) This is my take on a chambray shirt.  It's really just a light blue broadcloth, but sometimes you gotta use what you got. 

DAY 9- Thursday
Olivia and I went to a Mother Daughter picnic at church.  In my mind it was going to be such a sweet bonding time.  In reality it was me chasing her around a larger area than normal, with more stuff for her to break/trip over/people for her to annoy.  I came home exhausted and Axel had cried almost the whole time I was gone (poor Adam!) and Adam was sick (see told, ya, poor Adam!).  But even so he took my picture.  So sweet.

And just because she's so dang cute, here she is all dressed for our outing.

DAY 10-Friday
 Adam got really sick in the night so he was home.  In the afternoon I went shopping with my two kids for Mother's Day gifts (sorry I wasn't on the ball enough to give you your present while you were in town mom!)

I was joking around while we took these, and sadly this is the best one!  So I probably wont wear this together again because it wasn't very flattering on me.

DAY 11- Saturday
 Adam took Olivia to get our Bountiful Basket in the morning and then decided to take her to play with some cousins.  I got a LOT done.  I don't know if it was my "meds" kicking in (I take vitamin D to deal with my PPD.  I've forgotten to take it for a while, but when I remember it makes a HUGE difference) or if it was Olivia being out of the way (probably both).  After they got home and Olivia had lunch and a nap we went to the park and then dinner and shopping at IKEA.  After I got my kid to bed (we each take one) I went grocery shopping ALONE.  It was pretty much my perfect day, which totally took the pressure off Mother's Day!  We took this picture after all of that, so I'm looking a little hot and sweaty, but it was worth it.

DAY 12- Sunday
Happy Mother's Day!  Axel woke me at 6:15, and thanks to him being exclusively nursed, Adam had no choice but to continue sleeping and letting me care for him :)  But he made me yummy Swedish pancakes before church.  After church I made dinner for his mom, who has no daughters so the only time she's had someone make her dinner on Mother's Day is when I do it.

This dress is from my honeymoon in Fiji.  It is seriously sooooo comfortable.  

And this picture to show you what my head really looks like.   Less pointy.

As always, check out the other lovely ladies doing this challenge in May! Wordpress:

30x30 Looks 1-6

DAY 1-Wednesday
So the day before this all went down, I joking tweeted Aubrey (In response to how I was going to handle the crazy weather we've been having in Salt Lake): "Layers! And a cute jacket. But I'm hoping the snow is behind us now. (Did I just jinx it?)" And then. . . SNOW the next morning.

So I got one chance to sport my corduroy jacket. . . and I wasn't feeling it.  So I wore the long sleeve cardi.  Don't judge the photography to harshly, we're a work in progress :)

Something about this hair do was giving me a weird head shape. 

Some new people were moving in during this.  It was only a little awkward.

DAY 2-Thursday
I went for a romantic look here (as in the romantic era) Lace, curls, pastels. . . That being said it was kind of boring.  I like it, but it was just a shirt and jeans.  Gotta burst out of the comfort zone!

Its been a looong time since I've curled my hair, and Olivia thought I was a Disney princess.   She kept giggling and wanting to touch it.  Slowly, but surely, she's growing her own hair :)

DAY3-Friday
I got to hang out with my sister Kellie on Friday.  We took pictures earlier in the day, so the lighting wasn't great BUT Axel spit up on me so much later that I had to change into a T-shirt, so I was glad it was already photographed.

DAY 4-Saturday
My family was in town.  We hung out and ran errands and went to dinner.

 DAY 5-Sunday

My brother blessed his son Wesley, so we had a great time with family all day.

I know its blurry, but it was my favorite one.  Deal with it. :)


DAY 6-Monday

So this is my version of the momiform.  I live for my cardigans and tanks.  It was hard to narrow it down to just six of each! 

Don't mind my crazy hair.  I can't see the top of my head until Adam takes a picture of me from a higher angle.  I was going to blame this on my height, but I'm guessing its the same for everyone. . .