A T T H E P A R K ' S

So this is one of those topics that I've shied away from sharing, at least here on the blog, in large detail. However, over the last few months, I've felt like I've needed to share my story. Not because I want sympathy. Not because I want pity. If anything, because I'd like to share how God is working in my life and in our lives as a couple and as a family. In case you're new to this blog, here is the quick backstory. After our first year of trying to expand our family, getting pregnant , our loss , and eight tumors later, we had to wait about five months after the second surgery  before we could start trying again. After another year of negative pregnancy tests, in January of 2016, we decided to go in for infertility testing. Here we are a year and a half later (almost five years since we first started trying) and our journey continues. Before I share what's going on currently, let's go back to January of 2016 when the infertility testing beg...

The further down the path of natural health I go in dealing with my autoimmune disease and the repercussions of it, I'm finding more and more ways to take control of my health. My goal has been to slowly eliminate chemicals as best as I can in my personal care products. So today I'm excited to share with you my zero waste, all natural, three ingredient DIY toothpaste. Not only is this toothpaste super quick to whip up, it will save you money from buying drugstore toothpaste and will be much better for your oral health. OK, let's get into it! Ready? Go! INGREDIENTS 3 TABLESPOONS OF COCONUT OIL 1.5 TABLESPOONS OF BAKING SODA (OPTIONAL) 10-15 DROPS OF PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL The original recipe I found here , though I've decreased the amount of essential oils. Measure your coconut oil and baking soda, then mix together in a glass dish. I didn't need to warm up the coconut oil because our apartment was about eighty degrees when I made the f...

Over the years, I've found that if I buy a tote bag, I'll likely fill it to the brim. If I purchase a cross body bag or even a clutch, I'm forced to carry only the essentials. It's the same in a physical space like our homes and it's the same in our digital space.  Today I'd like to share with you steps you can take to simplify and declutter your online life. Recently I came across the term digital minimalism from  No Sidebar  and thought the term was perfect for what I was trying to encapsulate. Digital Minimalism is a mindset of questioning which digital communication tools are necessary for your happiness. Whether it be email, social media, or general internet consumption, the purpose of this philosophy is to question whether or not they add value to your life. -No Sidebar What I'm about to tell you might shock you or even cause you to have pity on us. JP and I got rid of our smart phones in April of 2016 and we haven't looked back...

As we're nearing the RV move-in date, I am preparing and planning where we will store our belongings and what we'll need on a regular basis. Once we get settled into the RV, we'll need everything, but mainly the kitchen, to be incredibly streamlined. Since we won't have a dishwasher in the RV, we'll be hand washing everything and we'll need quick access to soap. So of course I headed to Pinterest to get some inspiration and as usual, was not disappointed. I found this little DIY from Almost Makes Perfect and wanted to replicate it. In all of the DIY projects I've done, this is my favorite. And the easiest. Sometimes the simple ones make the biggest impact! Let's get into it! BOTTLES STICKERS Make sure your bottles are clean before adhering the stickers. Just like Molly (from Almost Makes Perfect ), I used D for dish soap and H for hand soap. One thing I will say is that I found glass bottles to use rather than ...

Since we're trying to share our renovation progress on the blog, here is a look into what we've done most recently. We still have a bit to go before we move in but we're encouraged with the progress we've made. So let's see what we've been up to! JP dug a trench on the property where we're parked (wonderful family has offered to let us park on their acreage outside of Bend) in order to lay the piping so we could feed the power hook up. We hired an electrician to install an RV power outlet (50, 40, and 30 amps on post). We prepped the walls for painting by spraying them with TSP (you can now get phosphate free I believe!) so that the paint would adhere better. We filled all holes in the walls with plaster putty. We started painting the bedroom and living/kitchen space. We still have the toy hauler, the bathroom, the loft, storage area, and part of the kitchen to complete. We ripped off the plywood and wood veneer around two o...