Oh Hey, Friday {4} - July Favorites

With today marking a new month (can you believe July is gone already???), I wanted to pick out some of my favorite moments and photos of July.

one | Last weekend was the only one in July in which we were able to spend the whole weekend as a family; me, Mitchell and Palmer. We tried to take full advantage of the gorgeous weather! We took in the Farmer's Market, Broxburn Farm's and spending time outside. Check out more about it here.

I love this photo of the two of them. Both have genuine smiles! Priceless!

two | Palmer turned 18 months this month! I can hardly believe it! I was able to capture a few great shots of her in a mini 18 month shoot. Here are my two favorite photos. See the rest of her 18 month photos here!

three | Date night. For the first time in awhile, Mitch and I were able to get out for dinner and a movie sans baby. Of course it's nice to be able to do things with Palmer but it is equally nice to have date night, enjoying each other's company.

four | Playing in the water - whether its the splash park, sprinkler or the pool, we love it. Summer is one of the greatest times of year and we want to take full advantage of the hot sun. No better way to do it than by cooling off in the water! We have had a few spray park dates and many afternoons in the back yard! I talk about some playdates here.

five | This past week, Palmer and I went with a few friends to the petting zoo. Palmer loved it. She loves animals and was having such a great time feeding the goats! Check out the pics here!

P.S. Did you check out my guest post over on Ashley's blog this week?

What were your favorite July moments? Any plans for making great moments in August?

Thanks to these lovely ladies Karli//September Farm and Amy//The Farmer's Wife, for hosting the new Friday link-up!

And Rebecca// xoxo Rebecca
Also linking up with Lauren//The Lauren Elizabeth

A New Summer Favorite!

With Monday being my last day off for what seems like 2 straight weeks, I wanted to take full advantage of the fantastic weather we've been having.

In the morning, Palmer had her 18 month immunizations, and took it like a champ!!! So, after, we headed out to a petting zoo about 20 minutes out of town. To say she loved it would be an understatement! She loved all the animals! She especially loved feeding the goats!

This guy got a hold of her finger. Just startled her a bit.

I think we will definitely be going there again!

Currently {2}

Tuesday I am doing a guest post over at Ashley's blog// Life on the Parson's Farm. She has been doing this great little series, Toddler Tuesday's. Go check it out for lots of great toddler tips, tricks, and adorableness!!!
_______________________________________________________________

{CURRENTLY}

// thinking about // How great our weekend was! We had a lot of great, much needed family time doing lots of fun summer things.
Saturday morning we went for coffee and headed over to the Farmer's Market. I always love going there - fresh produce is the best! We headed over to Broxburn Cafe for a bit. We were hoping to pick some berries but there were slim pickin's so we will head back in August. So we played on the giant slide and had lunch instead.
Sunday morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast (made by hubby). We spent the afternoon playing outside. I love summer. And I love spending days off with Mitch and Palmer.

sour lemon face

// thinking about  // How much I love having weekends off. It's the only time we get to spend full days together as a family and I can't get enough of them. I have to work the next two weekends, so it seems like forever before we get a weekend as a family again.

// thinking about  // How our little Palmer is growing up so fast. She is becoming quite the little character. Her own little personality is certainly shining. Like this morning, she came around the corner with her winter hat on. It's 27 degrees today. She makes these little giggles like she knows it's silly Love her!!!

// thankful for // the fact that I didn't lose all the photos I thought I did last week when our computer crashed. They weren't able to get any files from the computer, but thankfully, I did a back up of important things and all our photos at the end of May, and I hadn't deleted any of the photos off the camera card since then!! So, I only lost some of my edited photos, but I have ALL the originals!!! And I was able to save a majority of my favorite edited pics off the blog, like this one, one of my favorites!!! I'm so happy!

Linking up with Jenna//A Mama Collective for another week of Currently.

Oh Hey, Friday {3}

This is easily one of my favorite posts each week, so, back with another Oh Hey, Friday...


one |  This week was an extra long, exhausting week at work. Every day seemed to be never ending.

 Stressful.
Exhausting.
I'm glad I have 3 days off after today!!!


two | I have been working on trying to get the best 5km time I can. I find this is a better way of challenging myself while running than anything else. I am planning a 10km race for September, so I know I will have to start running some longer distances soon, but for now, this is what I have time for and its working. I've been using my Vega Sport Sugar Free Energizer pre-runs. Have you tried it? Check out my review here.

three | I've just been hearing now that there is a petting zoo close by. I HAD NO CLUE! Palmer would LOVE going to the petting zoo. I'm thinking Monday, after her 18 month immunizations, we will get a treat and head out to see some animals!!! I know she will have a great time.

four | Remember my last Oh Hey Friday post when I talked about being worried my computer was going to crash? Well, guess what happened. IT CRASHED! I didn't even get a chance to back up the files I wanted. I thought about it Friday night and thought "Oh, I'll just do it tomorrow." Oops. Wrong decision!
I dropped it off Tuesday in hopes of getting my files back, if not fixed. Cross your fingers!



five | I'm on the hunt for some new summer recipes. We eat the same old boring things and when it comes to summer, BBQ'ing and fresh salads are the way to go for sure! None of this heating up the house with the stove. You have any favorites???

Thanks to these lovely ladies Karli//September Farm and Amy//The Farmer's Wife, for hosting the new Friday link-up!

And Rebecca// xoxo Rebecca
Also linking up with Lauren//The Lauren Elizabeth

Communicating With Your Toddler

I read somewhere once that a toddler, by the age of 18 months, should have a vocabulary of 6-20 words. I use to think that Palmer wasn't saying much, but I realize now that she talks all the time. Most of it is jibber-jabber but there are definitely words there. And Palmer's understanding of words is incredible. The complexity of things she understands is truly amazing.

Palmer is able to follow simple and complex requests. She knows a number of familiar people and objects. And girlfriend knows how to throw down a tantrum when she can't communicate what it is she wants.

Now, obviously, communicating with Palmer at this age can be tricky. She is at the point where she wants to tell you something but she doesn't know the words how. We have a meltdown almost daily around our house and I believe it to be because Palmer cannot express to us what she wants or needs.

|| How Do We Communicate? ||
//Verbal// Verbal communication is the majority of how Mitch and I (an other adults) will communicate with Palmer. We read to her, explain things to her, talk to her all the time. Talking is our best way of communicating.

We are always talking out loud. In the grocery store, we talk about what fruit we see. Going for a walk, we point to rocks, "ba" (birds - I know this is what she's saying because she points to it. Ba can also mean a large number of things in our house - ball, bed, bath, book,...you get the idea) and "daas" (dogs). At home, we talk about objects around us. Anything we can do to build Palmer's language skills is important.

//Non Verbal// I think in our house, non verbal communication is a big part of Palmer's communicating with us. She will point to everything. Because her words are a limited number right now, conveying what she wants by pointing or physically getting what she wants is her main source of communication to us.

//Sign Language// Although we don't use this too much anymore, Palmer is aware of some basic words in sign language (whether the actual sign or made up ones that work for us). Words she knows are: please, thank you, all done, more, eat. This works for us on a daily basis, specifically around meal times.


Palmer's world is a bag of mixed emotions with a steep learning curve; one with communication skills that cannot keep up with her. It's challenging to communicate effectively when a 18 month old is involved, but we are making it work. I know we aren't the only family with toddler tantrums. I know we will get past this. So, for now, we do what we can to teach Palmer what she needs to know, to help her vocabulary grow, and to help her to become a good little communicator.

Linking up for the One Year and Beyond Series
Courtney // Heather // Sarah // Chastity // Hannah //  Jess // Colleen // Laura // Sarah // Leah // Faith

What's Your Rainbow?

I love that inspiration can come from anywhere.

Tonight, I was out for a beautiful bike ride with me favorite fur baby. It was a gorgeous evening. I was taking in the scenery around me when I looked to the right and saw the tail end of a rainbow.

It got me thinking; there is often a rainbow after the rain.

There is often something beautiful after the storm.
 The storm doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to be damaging.

Everyone's storms are different and sometimes finding the rainbow at the end may be hard, but its there.

Whether is a lesson learned.
Days off after a long work week.
Pushing through an extra hard run.
Or something bigger.

As a wife, mama, and nurse, I see many storms. Many struggles. And although the outcomes may be difficult to deal with at the time, and the silver lining may be difficult to see, its there.


Find the brighter side to the problem you are facing.

What's your rainbow??

Linking up with Ashley // Words About Waverly and Jess // Sadie Sky Boutique for The Little Things
Jess//Pig and Dac

Vega Sport Review

I'm not sure that too many of you know, but I am a #SweatPink Ambassador. Its a great group of women encouraging each other through online support and sharing their love and passion for sport and fitness. Go check them out!

Through my Sweat Pink team, I was able to sign up for this free product, Vega Sport Sugar-Free Energizer pre-workout powder as part of their #fuelyourbetter campaign. After receiving this product, my job was to use it in my daily activity and provide a review here on my blog, then of course, spread the word of Vega Sport and their products.


ABOUT THE PRODUCT:

According to the package, these sugar-free energizers are used for workout preparation. They are meant to "increase energy, endurance and mental focus."

"Vega Sport is the first all-natural, plant-based performance enhancement system specifically developed to help athletes perform at their best - before, during, and after training and competition. Vega Sport products are plant-based, dairy, gluten, and soy free and contain no artificial flavours, colours, or sweeteners".

Right away, this catches my attention. So many of the other workout supplements out there are not made from natural substances so immediately, I am more drawn towards the natural.

I believe the dairy, gluten and soy free aspects of Vega Sport products will appeal to many different users. There are many individuals out there with allergies and intolerances, so this product reaches a broad range of people. I don't have intolerances to any of these, so it didn't make or break it for me.

Nutritional Values as taken from Vega Sport website

I have mostly used my Vega Sport SFE for runs or a run followed by a light strength training workout. The instructions state drink the product 20 min before low intensity or short duration (less than 1 hour) physical activity. I did find that giving it 30-45 minutes had a better effect on me.

PACKAGING: I love the convenience of the individual packages provided to me. (There is the option of a multi-use tin) Many of the other preworkout products I've seen our there are only available in one large container and you must scoop out your individual serving each time you use it. These ones fit easily into your purse, gym bag, pocket, etc. Love this.

TASTE: I have to say my flavour, Acai Berry, wasn't the greatest. I couldn't tell if it was the Acai Berry flavour itself (as I'm not really familiar with it) or the sugar-free aspect (you know how sugar-free sometimes tastes??), but there was just a slightly bad aftertaste left in my mouth after each sip. My husband tasted it and said it wasn't bad, so it could have just been me. I could have done with the other flavour, Lemon-Lime.

ENERGY: Since I have never used a preworkout supplement of any sort, I really have nothing to compare these to in that aspect other than coffee and energy drinks.

In my experience, drinking the product about 30 minutes before I began my run gave me better energy. It was a more subtle energy than that of coffee. I noticed I was able to run for a longer period of time, and a few times, I was able to keep a quicker split pace throughout my run. On one of my 5km runs, I was even able to break the 5min/km barrier for my whole last km. And as an added bonus, I found my legs weren't as tired as they normally would have been!

I have to say, I feel like I was able to hold my energy for longer throughout the day too. One negative I found though (only through fault of my own) was that because I often have to do my runs in the evening (often after 8pm), it kept me up later into the night, so for my future use, I will be taking it earlier.

I would even consider taking this in the morning before going to work, instead of coffee, as by the end of a busy shift as a Registered Nurse, my legs are often sore and my body tired.

OVERALL: Overall, aside from the slightly bad aftertaste I had, I would have to say these are a good product. The all-natural aspect of it is appealing. The energy level I was able to obtain after drinking the Vega Sport Sugar Free Energizer was adequate to get me through the workout and lasted throughout the day. I felt as though recovery from my runs were better after taking this product. I would definitely take this product again (maybe testing out the Lemon-Lime) to #fuelyourbetter.

TO READ MORE REVIEWS AND SEE MORE PRODUCTS, USE THE HASHTAGS:
#fuelyourbetter #vegasport #vegafueled

TWITTER: @VegaTeam
INSTAGRAM: vega_team

How do you #fuelyourbetter???

Thank you Vega Sport and the Sweat Pink team for allowing me to be a part of these product reviews!

 
NOTE: This is a personal blog.  I was given this product for free in return for a product review on this blog. The opinions expressed in this blog are honest and represent my own.