Visiting My Childhood

This week we went to Port Elgin to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Pether, me Luke and my mom. Luke was there when he was 2 months old, but this trip would be different because it is summer and he is doing so much more.

I have so many great childhood memories of Port Elgin as a child and with my grandparents. To me, Port Elgin is a place that allowed me freedom, adventure and time with my family. My grandpaents home is a special place for me too, it has this smell that brings back memories of Christmas with my cousins in a heart beat. I remember coming home from trips to their house and my pillow would smell like their home. I didn't want my mom to wash it because I loved the feeling that smell gave me.

The beach and Port Elgin harbour has so many fun memories too! Me and my cousins would swim and play in the sand, play put put golf, ride the train and eat ice cream while we walk among the boats in the marina.

It has been a few years since I have been to the beach in Port Elgin. As we walked around with Luke, I was so excited to share my special place with him and help him create some amazing memories of his own.

As a mom now, I get to visit my childhood through Luke. The experiences we share will leave him with different memories but sharing things from my childhood with him, will give us a deeper connection.

I have always loved adventure and have always seen the beauty in the small things but the world is so much brighter because of Luke, and it is so fun to share adventures with him. Our adventures are simple, like splashing in the waves, exploring a new park and getting silly in the car to make the ride more fun, but their our adventures and I hope these experiences help him to always enjoy the small things, that this beautiful life has to offer.

I hope your weekend is filled with childhood wonder and some simple adventures that leave you with special memories.

Happy long weekend friends!

Current Makeup Favs

I got together with my makeup loving cousin, to talk about our current makeup favs. If you want to check out any of the products for yourself, you can find the product details in the YouTube information box. We would love to know what makeup you are currently loving, please comment below. Thank you for watching!

I Am An Affiliate

I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my blog, watch my videos, read my posts, comment, and share them with your friends, I love sharing my story. My blog and online presence is becoming an even larger part of my life and business.

My blog is a place where I share honestly, I learn about myself and I put my trust in you. It can be a scary thing, to lay it all out for people to have opinions on but in my experience, the good far exceeds the bad. When I started my blog almost 4 years ago, I was just trying to sort out the thoughts in my head and now my blog has become a passion for me and something I have big dreams for.

You will notice ads on my site from time to time, or links directing you to sites if you are interested in  learning about the products I am talking about. These are marketing and affiliate partnerships that I have formed with specific brands.

I want you to know that your trust, is the most important thing to me when it comes to my blog and I would never share something with you, if I myself didn't believe in it or wouldn't spend my own money on it.

When you purchase from an affiliate link, the affiliate often makes a commission on the purchase or a set amount on the click, depending on the contract. By shopping from the links on my sites, for products you are interested in trying, you are supporting my business.

Anything I share with you, is a product that I would, or already have purchased with my own money and is something that I have tested before sharing with you.

I want to always be honest with you and share openly. Thank you for reading my blog and sharing my joinery through life with me, its a great ride and I am so happy to share my story.

xoxo
Audrey

Adventure Day - Parks Blueberries

This week we went on an adventure to Parks Blueberries, a blueberry farm about an hour from our home. Luke is loving blueberries, I cut them in half for him and he just swallows those little bites right down. Anyways, its blueberry season, I wanted to stock up and I have been wanting to visit Parks for awhile now.

They have a cafe, bakeshop, country store and an amazing, beautiful farm where you can pick a variety of blueberries (I didn't even know there was more than one kind of blueberry until this trip). Luke and I went with my sisters and our friends Marie and Mya.

Can I just side track for a minute and say, thank you, to all the aunts and friends without children who choose to hang out with their friends who have children, on their days off. You are life enhancers, you allow us to do extra cool things, that without you, would not be as fun!

Ok, back to our blueberry trip. We of course tried to time naps with our drive which kind of worked out. Both children fell asleep about 15 minutes before we arrived at our destination so we drove around Bothwell for a little while to let the babes sleep. Bothwell is a pretty little town and is also where we go to cut down our Christmas tree, in the winter.

When we got there we had lunch. I enjoyed a fresh salad with a blueberry dressing which you can pick up in their store so you can enjoy it at home. I had blueberries on my salad but if you ordered a meal like a sandwich, you got a big pile of blueberries on the side, who doesn't love that? Everyone enjoyed their meals and Luke entertained the crowd by waving at everyone the whole time we ate (waving is currently his favourite thing to do and its just the cutest).

After lunch, we headed outside to pick some berries. Before we started picking, we were able to sample the four kinds of berries that were currently fresh and available. The young man working gave us the run down on which berries were best for baking, eating, freezing and so on, we picked the Reka variety.

Compared to strawberry picking (which is the only other kind of berry picking I have done) I would say that blueberry picking is really easy. The bushes are tall so you don't have to bend down if you don't want to and the berries come off the branches really easily. We filled our buckets pretty quickly but not without snapping some picks of the marvellous landscape. As I picked, I couldn't help but think how blessed I am to live so close to a place where I can pick fresh fruit, our little corner of Ontario is pretty great. I was so happy, I did a little singing while I picked, which was enjoyed by others blueberry picking near by.

I picked two buckets full of berries and Luke ate two buckets full of berries of the ground, just kidding:). On our way out, we all grabbed some baked goods from the bakeshop. Not only do they have delicious treats made with blueberries but they also have brownies and cookies. Tyler and I have been enjoying a classic blueberry pie for dessert all week and now I need to learn how to make pie.

I would say that our Parks Blueberries adventure day was a huge success! I froze a bunch of my berries for baking and smoothies. When the colder weather rolls in and I am enjoying blueberries, I will be dreaming of the sun on my face in the blueberry field and our day at Parks Blueberries.

Beauty

In this video I discuss my thoughts on beauty and it has nothing to do with makeup.

Thank you for watching! I would love to hear your thoughts on beauty, please leave me a comment.

Once You Know

I have always had a strong inner voice that lets me know when I have done something wrong. When I was a kid, I would admit to my mom, if I had done something I knew I shouldn't have, because the guilt was too much to bare. I use to think of this trait as a burden but as an adult, I am grateful for the guidance of my conscience.

I don't get it right all the time, I mess up everyday but as soon as I do or at least shortly after, I am made aware of my mistake. I now know, this is the Holy Spirit working in my life. It doesn't feel good to know I messed up or to admit when I was wrong but if I didn't know I was wrong, I would not be able to grow and improve.

Recently I have been learning about how to better control what I say so that my words can do more good than bad. I recently told a story that I shouldn't have told and the words were actually challenging for me to share. I went against what the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me not to do and before the words were even out of my mouth, I knew I had done something wrong.

You don't know something until you know something but once you do, you are never the same.

I am grateful for my inner voice, that lets me know when I should have known better.

What are you grateful for? I would love to know.

Beach Days

I have been heading to the beach as much as possible on these hot summer days. Its my first summer with a baby and while going to the beach is a little more work that what I am use to, its so much sweeter. Last week while we were at the beach, Karli and I marvelled at the beauty thats just a 15 minute drive from our front step. I am grateful for our beaches and the summer sun and how sweet the summer is because I get to experience all four seasons.

I grew up on the beach, my summers were made up of bathing suits, bare feet and swims after every meal. It is so awesome, to now share this with Luke and know that he will have is own special memories with the beach. 

Just being near the water makes me feel at ease, even if I am checking on Luke every two seconds to make sure he isn't eating a rock, there is no other place I would rather be, than near the water on a hot summer day. 

I hope your summer is going great and you can make it to the water this weekend.