Hi friends! Happy Friday! What’s going on this weekend? We’re meeting up with friends at Mt. Lemmon, P has a basketball game, and Sunday, we’re celebrating Easter and my brother Trevor’s 30th bday with the fam. The Pilot has been traveling a ton, so we’re looking forward to having him home for *most* of the weekend.

Our Spring Forward challenge starts on MONDAY. If you’re looking for a little wellness reset, this is the perfect opportunity. Sign up here – it’s totally free and everything is delivered to your inbox.

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

4.18 Friday Faves

Fashion + beauty + random:

Wrapped up a second week of homeschooling. Did the usual subjects and for P’s science project, she worked on an egg drop.

NCL Senior Recognition! They hosted a gorgeous garden party at Hacienda del Sol, and it was the perfect way to celebrate graduating seniors. Liv and I have really enjoyed our experience with NCL this year. It’s given us the opportunity to participate and volunteer in the community, while providing leadership opportunities for Liv, new cultural experiences, and the opportunity to make new friends.

This dress is from last summer but this year’s version is here:

Our roses have been blooming like crazy! They smell amaaaaaazing.

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Hello!! I hope you’re all having a great week! I thought I’d pop in and share some healthy summer party and grilling recipes if you’re planning any fun family nights or get-togethers.

I LOVE grilling season, it’s such an easy and healthy way to make dinner. The best part: very little cleanup. Something about veggies and meat on the grill lets us all know that summer is officially here. We have some fun get-togethers planned over the next couple of months, and I’ve started to brainstorm and remember my favorite summer grilling and party recipes.

Here’s a little list if you’re looking for inspiration, too!

Healthy Summer Party And Grilling Recipes

Party Grill Recipes For Summer

Appetizers

Goat Cheese Queso With Green Chile

This appetizer is melty, cheesy, and oh-so good. It’s perfect to snack on while waiting for the main meal, and, it has turkey bacon! Even though I grew up around Mexican food, the appetizers aren’t my strong suit. But I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make and how much everyone loved it!

Eggplant Pizzas

Eggplants—I love eating them, I love incorporating them into dishes, but actually cooking them feels like a whole ordeal. What I forgot though (until making this recipe) is that eggplants really don’t need that much to taste good—these egg plant pizzas prove that! They’re also super nutritious which is always a plus.

Marinated Grilled Vegetables With Avocado Whipped Feta

Struggle with eating vegetables sometimes? We’ve all been there, I’m guilty myself! But all you truly need is a grill and good, flavorful marinade. I’ve had this appetizer for an actual dinner a time or too, but it’s lightweight enough to serve as a side or a pre-meal snack.

Chicken Manchegos and House Guacamole

Not only is this appetizer SUPER good, it’s even easier to make! It’s got the protein, the veggies, and the gooey manchego cheese. If you’re having people over for a night of grilling, set this out for them to try.

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sharing more about how long we intend to homeschool, and why the heck we’re doing it with just a little over a month left of the school year. 

Hi friends!

I hope that you’re having an amazing week and I’m so pumped that so many of you have signed up for our Spring Forward wellness challenge. Make sure to sign up here – it’s totally free and it’s going to be a ton of fun. If you’re looking for a blast of motivation as we head into spring, this is the perfect way to do it!

For today’s post, I wanted to share a little bit more about our homeschool journey and what’s going on. I’ve alluded to the fact that we’ve had a rough time the past few months and it’s been difficult to navigate how and what to share. I’ve always been open with you guys when it comes to my life, but the purpose of the blog has always been to share MY experience; not my children’s. It’s a tricky line to walk, especially when they’re a huge part of my life and I feel like so many of you are a part of our family. At the same, I never want them to feel like their privacy has been invaded by what I share here, so I’ve always tried to take a delicate approach to my content, especially as they’ve gotten older.

The nutshell version is this: we ended up transferring Liv to another private school in January. We were all struggling with the mind-boggling amount of homework, tests, and assignments. It was especially hard with her competition dance schedule. We switched studios and cut her hours in half, and she was still up until at least midnight every night (for the past 2+ years) trying to finish everything for school. I’m a huge believer in hard work and I think academic rigor has its place, but it was too much for everyone. So, she switched and has been thriving.

When she switched schools, it was the first time P hasn’t had her big sis at school, which was challenging for her. The Pilot also retired, which was a huge transition, and she started to have more frequent stomachaches. (Her stomach has bothered her on and off for years, which has always worried me since she had severe reflux as a baby and was on Prilosec and Zantac, which has been recalled for terrifying reasons.) She saw multiple doctors, had an ultrasound, her stomach was deemed “healthy,” and their only suggestion was to put her on a PPI again. She was also doing CBT weekly, and sometimes twice a week. Her stomach pain and anxiety got so bad that she missed many days of school, and we were here trying to keep up with the insane amount of homework, classwork, and tests.

The Pilot was home for retirement and was teaching her the content, making sure she completed the huge packets of classwork, and taking her to school for tests. He had go back to commercial airline training and I couldn’t fathom solo parenting, working, and trying to keep up with all of the school work she was missing, so I asked her to either choose to go back to school or we could pull her out, and she said, “Please homeschool me.”

I never intended to be a teacher, but I’ll do anything for our babies and if it’s what P needs right now, I’m going to do it.

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Sharing the details for our Spring Forward Wellness Challenge. The fun starts on April 21, it’s totally free, and you can join here. 

Hi friends! I hope that you’re having an amazing morning. If you’re feeling a little blah and looking for a motivation burst, I hope you’re join us for this year’s Spring Forward wellness challenge. All of the details are below!

I’ve been running fitness and wellness challenges on my blog since the very beginning, and every year they evolve into something different and better than the year before. This is 100% in thanks to all of you: your support and shared motivation with one another, check-ins and awesome comments keep this thing going. You help each other along the ways to your goals, and as your cheerleader from the sidelines, it’s heartwarming and inspiring to see.

What is the Spring Forward Wellness challenge?

What to expect:

We rock and roll Monday, April 21.

When you sign up, everything is delivered to your inbox: 2 weeks of workouts + video tutorials, weekly plans and guidelines on structuring your week, recipe pack, and a full two-week meal plan for healthy eating inspo. You can start with us on April 21, or if you’re ready to go for it now, start whenever you’d like!

Your goal is to complete 10 workouts in 14 days, take the wellness tidbits I share each day in your inbox, and see what works for your life. My goal is for you to feel energized and amazing – to spring forward in progress and momentum.

How to set yourself up for success:

Gather your supplies.

You’ll need the following tools for a successful challenge:

1) A notebook or tracking tool (app) on your phone.

I like to kick it old school and write down my workout and life in a notebook. Find what works best for you, and practice this week writing down your meals, workouts, water intake and how you feel each day. If you plan to track your macros, download My Fitness Pal or Chronometer.

2) Dumbbells.

The workouts are going to be dumbbells and body weight ONLY, meaning you can do them anywhere at any time. For beginners, I suggest 3-5 lb weights to start, intermediates 8-15 lbs and advanced 15 lbs +.

Find a challenging weight for you, and consider investing in a light and heavy set. Y

Hi friends! Happy Friday! What’s going on this weekend? We have an NCL event, two birthday parties, and are meeting up with friends at the pool for dinner. I’ve also been slacking with my IHP 3 studies, so I’m planning on doing some major catch-up.

(nothing like a decaf Americano and a gluten-free donut)

It’s already in the 90s here but I’m kinda loving it. SO ready for summer. I hope that you have a fun weekend ahead!

Last week was our Carmina Burana performance and it was epic. (Check out the article here and a little clip from our chorus practice.) It was such a gift to be surrounded by so many talented musicians and the venue was FULL; almost completely sold out for Sunday’s show. The Pilot brought the kids on Friday and Madre and Nani came to the show on Sunday. Liv also had a dance competition at the same venue, so I was Mrs. Doubtfire-ing it between sympony performances and dance mom life.

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

4.4 Friday Faves

Fashion + beauty + random:

This week was our first official week of homeschooling P. (Liv is happy and thriving at the school she tranferred to in January.) I’m working on a blog post with all of the details – it will be up on Tuesday – but it’s going even better than I was expecting. We’re able to spend some quality time together, learn, and also have freedom to adjust the plan as needed. I never intended on being a homeschool mom, but am loving it so far.

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