Money Saving Mom®

Kaitlynn highlighted my hair at home for the first time and she did it in just a little over two hours and she did a fantastic job! It’s pretty amazing to have a live-in hairstylist now!

It was so fun to get to see how she mixes up color – I had never seen her do it before!

Silas walked in and was like, “Whoa!! How many foils do you have in your hair??” I realized he had never seen what it looked like for someone to get their hair highlighted.

The end result!

David walked all the way to the car at church on Sunday! This was such a big deal and we were so proud of him! See a video of him here.

David walked all the way to the car at church on Sunday! We’ve been working so hard with him on independently walking and not always wanting to be carried when we walk long distances and this was a huge victory for him!!

What I’m Reading…

The Compassionate Christ – This is a beautiful devotional that brings to life so many stories of the Bible in fresh and meaningful ways. Listen to my podcast episode with the author here.

What I’m Watching…

Jesse and I started watching this show two nights ago and we got so sucked into it that we stayed up past midnight watching it – which we rarely ever do any more! It’s pretty clean – there’s just a little bit of language, but we found the gamesmanship to be so engaging! And I’ve been watching Little House on the Prairie with the kids.

What I’m Listening To…

The kids have really been loving the David movie and so they are always requesting that we listen to the soundtrack in the car.

I am loving summer with these 4 little people so much! Baby girl is becoming quite the honorary member of our family and we are all attaching to her fiercely and so grateful we get the privilege of helping with childcare for her!

Kierstyn has been loving reading The Boxcar Children books this summer!

It’s easy to say “I trust in God” when life is going well. But is that still true when you’re in a deep pit of struggle?

When it feels like the rug gets pulled out from underneath you. When the thing you hoped and prayed for doesn’t happen. When a friend deeply betrays you. When your bank account is nearly empty and you don’t know how you’ll pay your bills.

When you don’t get the job you so desperately hoped for. When your child gets devastating news. When you experience years of secondary infertility. When someone you love walks out of your life and you haven’t heard from them in months. When the door you were so excited to walk through gets slammed in your face.

We’ve walked through a lot of heartbreak the past few years in multiple areas of our life — and very little has been stuff I’ve been able to share online. Maybe someday, but for now, I want you to know that the faith I talk about on here isn’t just something that sounds good when life is easy. It’s been tested. Over and over again.

And every single time, God has been there with us. He has been faithful in the hardest, darkest, most uncertain moments of our lives…and I trust that He will continue to be.

He has been. He is. And He will be.

Question: Please remind us if you are using an app to help you train.

Answer: I’m using the Runna app. I really love it – you put in how far and fast you can currently run, how many days a week you want to train, what you are training for and when your race day or goal is, and what days you want to have your long runs on and it generates a customized plan for you complete with different types of runs each week, tips, encouragement, and tapering for the race, etc.

I was VERY happy with how it helped me prep for the 10k! They gave me a code – CRYSTAL2 and it will give you 2 weeks free if you want to try it out. I feel like you could get a really good feel for if it could be a good fit in that timeframe.

Jesse set a goal months ago to compete in a CrossFit competition — and he did it last Friday and he did better than he expected to!! One of my favorite parts of the competition was watching our kids cheer him on. Two weeks ago, they came to cheer me on in my first ever 10k and this past week they got to cheer Jesse on in his first ever CrossFit competition.

I hope it inspires our kids to see their parents doing things that are stretching them far outside their comfort zone… at 44 and 45 years old. You’re never too old to try something new and to do things that scare you.

Kierstyn lost her very first tooth this past week – she was SO excited for it to fall out that I guess she woke up in the night and worked hard to wiggle it out.

But it was in the dark so then when it came out, she then couldn’t find it.

So she woke us up at 4:30 am excited that she had lost her tooth and in a panic that she couldn’t find it!

Gratefully, we found it and she’s very excited for her first tooth fairy visit. She did request that I be the tooth fairy and that I give her more than a dollar. She’s learned some bargaining things from her older siblings, I think.

In Case You Missed It – Links From This Week

Rooted in Wonder author interview — Want to instill a love of nature in your kids? Don’t miss this conversation with Eryn Lynum about how to nurture your own personal faith and your kids’ faith through enjoying creation.

You Don’t Need More Time; You Need a Difference Perspective — You keep thinking life will finally calm down… someday. But so often, that day never comes. Because the issue usually isn’t just your schedule. It’s the pressure of feeling like everything depends on you. In this podcast episode, I share what I’m learning about time, priorities, and surrender while balancing my various roles — and I hope it’ll help you live with more peace, joy, and intention! (Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.)

Summer Movie Coupons and Cheap Movies — Looking for some frugal fun for the kiddos this summer? Be sure to check out this round-up of all the best discounts on summer movies for kids!

Amazon Prime Day is Coming Soon — June 23 – 26 will be Amazon Prime Days! If this is anything like last year’s Prime Days sale, we will see deals that are as good as or even better than Black Friday deals! Learn how to plan ahead and maximize your savings in this post. 

Easy Baked Chicken ($10 Family Dinner Idea) — This baked chicken recipe with corn and watermelon is your new go-to summer dinner. It has fresh flavors, minimal prep, and maximum crowd appeal!