96th Mommy Mondays - Mom of Care Touch Photography

Meet Local Mom, Tori Caresia of Care Touch Photography and her Thoughts on Being a Mom of Two.

I absolutely love being a mom of 2 beautiful girls! They are two years apart, but couldn't be closer with each other. Being a mom of 2 definitely has it's days, and I always feel that I have my hands full, but when you think about it, who doesn't? Any child can keep us on our toes with complete exhaustion but we can be utterly and completely happy at the same time. It's such a beautiful roller coaster of emotion. I have learned that there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. Even though everyday we tell ourselves that it was an off day, and today will be the day we can do it all. I have definitely learned that priority and care come first, and everything else falls into place. Motherhood is amazing, and I love rocking it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Victoria! I definitely can relate to telling myself that I can do it all. I think that helps to try, but also know that there will be days where we can't do it all and we should just enjoy the moments.
She will be doing Easter Minis in March, more details will be announced on her site later this month.

Valentine "Diamond" Kiss Rings

Thanks to the idea from Keeping it Simple and the tutorial at Mom on Time-out, I made these fun Valentine Rings for my Young Women lesson on adversity a couple years ago.

One thing we talked about was coal being turned into diamonds through intense heat and pressure for a long period of time and how this relates to trials and adversity.

These rings were a little treat to remember that they are each being turned into diamonds by our Heavenly Father. Trials are needed to help us grow, learn, and progress.

132nd Fashionable Fridays - Green & Yellow

In the wintertime, I really like to wear bright happy colors against the blues of winter.

I'm surprised I haven't put these colors together more often. I love it!

Headband - thrifted
Necklace & Earrings - from my mom
Yellow tank - Avon
Green Cardigan - Old Navy

95th Mommy Mondays - End the Mommy Wars

This article that depicts different moms and their different parenting choices has got me thinking about moms in my area. I live in a Mormon dominated community and sometimes there's judgement felt by many moms. During the next few weeks, I'm going to have these local moms share their thoughts on motherhood and raising children. The topics won't necessarily be about those pictures in the article, but I think it will be great to see the differences, the joys, the struggles of those moms in my local areas. I hope you can look at the moms in your local areas with more love and compassion instead of judgement. We don't know all the reasons or what's goes on in the background. I know since I had my second child, my beautiful stubborn daughter, I have learned a lot about I've needed to do to survive, but have faced some criticism for the way I had to do things. It hurts, but has opened my eyes to be more compassionate to others for the decisions they make.

"You make the choices best for you, I’ll make the choices best for me, and while our choices will often times differ, let’s choose to love one another instead of critique,' she writes.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2340533/Lets-end-Mommy-Wars-Mothers-urge-women-stop-judging-parenting-choices-empowering-photo-series.html#ixzz2sHVqcgri
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Books Read in 2013

Here's what I read in 2013!

77 BOOKS! I reached my first goal of 50 and then hit another goal of 75 Some were novellas ---- I didn't count picture books.

This year I have a good start of 15 books! WOW I'm impressed with myself. HAHA!

What have you  been reading? What were your favorites last year?

My favorites were the Matched Series, The Kissing Tree, Edenbrooke, Austenland, and books by Jenni James.