We Moved!

 Its been a few months since I sat down to write up a blog post. We have been quite busy over here in the Olson household! Over the last few months, we made a really BIG change. WE MOVED TO ARIZONA!

I know I know. It sounds a little crazy right? I mean moving from Minnesota to Arizona isn't really a "normal" move. LOL! SO... I'm sure you are wondering WHY at this point. What made us decide to pick up and travel all the way across country to start a new life in the desert?

Let start with a little back story!

Flash back to January of this year when Jackie started college and I started working again... Jackie was a stay at home dad in college and loving his time with the kids but he kept saying that he just wasn't liking school. Which I get it- school is hard especially when doing it with TWO kids! Working for me was hard. I missed my kids, I didn't feel myself. I wished everyday I was back at home taking care of the family, and my home. We were just not happy. Things were off! Roles were reversed and let me tell ya... We like our roles normal!! 😉 Just a little gender roll humor because I always have to be controversial!

His first semester of college was coming to an end and it was time for him to pick his next classes and schedule. Work for me was getting really crazy- we lost a lot of employees and i was having to do the work of 3 people. Work that I was not trained to do yet! Jackie asked me if he could go back to working and I said of course- anything you need! He wasn't really actively looking, he was still going through with college and I just kept on working. One night J and I were laying in bed watching a movie and I paused it and said to him "we're moving to Arizona this year". To say J was shocked would be an understatement. I had told jack from the beginning of our marriage that I never wanted to move back to Arizona. I had ended that chapter and didn't want to go back. BUT something over the last few months kept pulling me there. I felt like there was something missing and honestly that missing piece is my dad. BUT every time I thought about what could fill the void Arizona popped up in my mind. It helps that Dad is buried here too. His family is here and so is Jackie's. My best friends are here, my best memories as a kid are here. 

Jackie was all in. He loves AZ. He has been wanting to move back since before we married. We didn't because of my needs. Now we decided that what our family needed was a change, a huge change. AZ it was. 

We made the decision to move on  April 28th. The house was sold a day later. Jackie had 2 job offers the next week. All that was left was to pack, find a house in AZ and to tell my job. LOL- I waited far to long because honestly I was terrified of leaving my job. I loved my coworkers. They were all so happy for us though! I mean they cried but they were happy for me. Packing was honestly way easier than I expected it to be. We did it slowly (well had to be done within a month) packed a room at a time and got rid of SO MUCH! We were downsizing for sure. We had a 4 bedroom 2 story house with a basement so we had A LOT of junk. Two living rooms, 4 bedrooms of stuff and a whole lot of toys! We probably donated enough furniture and household items to fully furnish 2 small apartments. I mean y'all we had a lot. Any who, we donated, trashed and pack our lives up. We talked to the kids about this change and explained to Camden that we were going to have a new house in AZ (where Nana and Papa live) and that we have to put our things away in boxes so that we can have them in our new house. We showed him photos of the house, talked to him about his new room and he was generally excited. A little confused. He was so sad the day we left that Blue house. We all cried. We loved it so much. That house was everything I ever dreamed. We built it to our specifications. We truly were heart broken about selling. But we knew that this was what was right for our family.

Jackie's mom and step dad drove up to MN on June 13th, they brought 2 trailers with them and we started loading our stuff up. We got the trailers loaded up and on the 16th of June we were headed out. We kissed the house goodbye. Literally. I kissed every wall, every door, every countertop, my fridge, gas stove- okay you get the point. I cried and cried. I'm even crying now thinking about that house. Oh blue house. 

The drive was long, exhausting and emotional. We were all stressed. It took 3 days 2 nights of driving. We are so thankful for Jen and Lloyd for all of the help during this move an still now. They have been absolute angels. We couldn't have done this without them. We are forever grateful! We camped along the drive, to save money and make it easier on the dogs. Overall camping was good! The first night was rough on McKinley because she was hot and tired and couldn't relax. But I sang her to sleep and held her hand and she eventually slept. The second night was waaaaaay better. No humidity and the kids slept great! The days were long though. We had to stop every 3 hours for gas and snacks, diaper changes, potty breaks and energy! So our driving days were about 8-9 hours. We survived though, with almost no big hiccups. Crazy talk I know. We only had one throw up event, 2 poop blow outs and 3 big tantrums. 1 of those from me...

Flash forward to today! We are settled into our rental, really enjoying our new live here in AZ! The kids love it! The heat is really not that bad. ITS A DRY HEAT! 

We are so excited to be raising our family here in the desert, and excited to see what else life has to offer us! This new season of life is so amazing!  

Jackie is working for Gray's Engineering. He is thriving. He loves it! I am back as a stay at home momma, and LOVING IT. Don't get me wrong though - the transition has been a little rough. Pretty dependent on coffee and diet coke lately. HAHA! Camden started preschool 2 weeks ago and he si doing absolutely AMAZING! I am so proud of him! McKinley is walking- yup walking. Who gave my kids permission to grow up?

Life has sure changed for us. However, we are loving the changes and all the adventures to come!

There you have it, our update on life. We love you all and thank you so much for the support! Hope you enjoyed this blog post!

Talk to you soon! Love,

Momma Olson

My Morning Beauty Routine

 Good Morning!

I think every female knows that one of the most important steps to any beauty routine is what you do in the morning. Making sure you have a solid start to your skin routine in the morning makes the biggest difference in how your skin will be for the rest of your day, how your make-up will lay, and whether your skin breaks out. 

The first thing I do to my skin every morning is cleanse it. I like to do a double cleanse, starting with a gentle foaming cleanser to get any leftover serums, makeup, and grime off of my skins surface. Than I like to do a exfoliating cleanser. I prefer a non-abrasive one and more of a fruit enzyme or a gentle chemical exfoliator. My favorite cleansers are the Buttah gentle foaming cleanser and the Bliss Jelly Glow Peel fruit cleanser. Both of these leave my skin so smooth, refreshed and clean. 

After cleansing my skin I will go in with my toner and serums. The toner you use is definitely going to be different for every skin type and personal preference. When choosing a toner you need to decide whether you want a toner for your overall skin appearance or if you want a more targeted toner. You could want a toner for breakouts (acne), brightness, wrinkles and fine lines, or a combination of reasons. There are a zillion toners out on the market that say the are the best out there and it can be so super overwhelming and hard to really know which ones are best. I always look for toners with these ingredients in them.

*Glycerin, hyaluronic acid, rose water, lecithin, vitamin c, antioxidants, vitamins. 

These are all great for hydrating your skin but also brightness, helping breakouts and over all texture and appearance. My favrorite toner right now is the Farmacy Deep Sweep 2% BHA pore cleansing toner and the Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Hyaluronic Toner.. These toners are so good, they really do work. 

Toning is so important because it basically gives your skin a clean fresh base to start from. I mean when you have a good tones things normally go better. Right?! 

Serums! My favorite part of my skin routine is serums. I know serums can be scary. Where do you even start? I get a lot of questions on how to choose the perfect serum regime. I always start with 3 basic serums and then move up from there. Hyaluronic acid serum, vitamin c serum, and a retinol serum. The rule of thumb for serums is to apply the thinnest one first and finish with the thickest of the serums. 

I am absolutely in love with the Artnatural Serums. They are so pure and inexpensive! I also love to add other serums like glow serums, or stronger age targeting serums. 

Now that we have really worked on cleaning our skin, toning and applying our serums we can finish off with moisturizer. I like to go really basic with moisturizer. My favorite is the Ponds dry skin mositurizer or the First Aid Beauty Moisturizer. Lastly is my eye cream! I am absolutely obsessed with the Elf hydrating eye cream! Its so so so good! 

That is my morning skin routine! If I ever miss a day where i dont do this my skin feels it and I literally start breaking out! If you don’t already have a skin care routine- today is the day to start! Start simple! Try adding in a cleanse, toner and moisturizer! Once you have that down add in your double cleanse, and serums! You won’t be sorry! Your skin will thank you! 

What are your favorite skin care products? I’d love to try them out too! Leave them down in the comments! 

If you have any questions about my routine or skincare in general leave a comment! Share this with your friends too - everyone should have a skin care routine! 

See you next time, my loves! 

Meghan! 

Arizona Chronicles: The Flight

Bragging time. My kids are angels. I can’t even begin to explain how proud I am of my babies. They are fabulous travelers. We’re there hiccups? Maybe one or two... 

I may have yelled at an airport gate employee for not letting a mother and her crying newborn on with the first boarding group. The baby was starving and tired and needed to be fed. However this man said no you have to wait for your group. I was furious. People. Come on. What does it matter if she gets on a little sooner. She is tired, stressed and that baby is starving. Let the poor woman on. Have a heart. It broke my heart. There are times when I truly feel like society is failing. The order of boarding truly is not more important than a hungry newborn. To that momma- I see you, I feel the pain you felt, I hear your cries for more accommodations in place for breast feeding mommas- and mommas in general. We truly all must do better. 

Okay, I ranted. I am good now. Now let’s get into the fun stuff. Ahhhhh ARIZONA! Our home town. We left the blizzards in Minnesota for the warm sunny cactus Christmas in Arizona! 

Like I said at the beginning. The flight was really great. The kids were well behaved. Camden wore his mask and the baby slept a lot and was very calm. Camden loved the thrill of the plane, watching the bags get loaded. Seeing all the different people in the airport. The moving floor in the airport. Watching out the window as the plane took off and landed. It was the coolest day ever in his book. Jackie and I were so thrilled watching the excitement and joy in his eyes. It was a good day. Can we please talk about airplane pretzels? Why are they so much better in those tiny foil bags? The salt, the crunch the yummies. Ahhh I could bathe in those. Okay okay was that too far? With all seriousness - I truly look forward to those pretzels when flying! 

Holy cow y’all. Traveling with 2 kids is no walk in the park. Air travel with kids is definitely a lot of preparing and stuff. Oh the stuff. 2 car seats, 4 suitcases, 4 carry ons, 1 stroller- the bottles, the diapers, the snacks, the toys, the clothing. THERES SO MUCH. I definitely wouldn’t change this for the world though. I love taking my kids on trips. Seeing the awe in their eyes with every new thing is just a huge reminder to me at how fragile and precious life is. Watching the world through my kids eyes makes the world seem way better and more beautiful. Kids have this way of finding joy and beauty in the smallest most mundane things. Camden reminds every day to sit down, slow down and enjoy. Soak it in. We won’t be here forever. 

Thank you to my father-in-law for getting us safely to the airport and helping us carry our 537 items to the check in counter. I’m sorry for the crumbs in your truck... and the crackers thrown at your head while driving. Camden wanted to leave a piece for you to remember him by in your truck! LOL!! 

Getting checked in went great, I forgot our car seat check bag in my car that I left at my father in laws... BUT the nice guy checking us in said he couldn’t remember how to charge us for one so gave it to us for free. How sweet! What a great little Christmas gift! 

Quick side note: Traveling on Christmas Eve is not recommended — there are 700 people in the airport and FYI the flights are completely

Packed. Full capacity. 

All checked in, Camden is now convinced himself and us that he can walk through the airport by himself with his own backpack! He is soooo big! We’re on our way to security. Hooo boy! That is frightening. Lmao! Each airport is different so some make you take every single food item, bottle, electronic, watch, bracelet, belt, etc out of the bag and off before sending it through the scanner. Yup. 72 fruit snacks have to be taken out of the snack bag and placed into their own bin. Oy. Is. Right. Why is every security check point man so freaking grumpy when families with kids come through? Do they enjoy making our lives more stressful? We got through security after about 20 minutes of unloading and reloading our 4 bags! And off we went to our gate to check in and get on the flight! The first flight was absolutely amazing. Camden loved it! He got a snack, watched out the window and played with his toys so well! 

Once we landed in Denver we definitely were getting hangry! Pizza was the choice of the 3 year old! We filled our bellies, and off again on the plane we went! The second flight was fast and sweet! Both kids and Jackie slept and I wrote a blog, edited some videos and photos and kisses the heads of my 3 sweeties! I also ate all 4 pretzel bags!! Yummy! 

Y’all, I can’t even begin to explain how proud I am! My kids are so wonderful!! (Just wait for part 3 to hear me change my mind about flying with kids haha! JK!) The travel part to Arizona really went swimmingly! We arrived and Lloyd was there waiting for us! He was so happy to see his grandkids and we were so happy to be on land again! 

Just wait for part two of our Arizona Trip Chronicles! 

See ya on the next one! 

Love, Momma Olson 

Finding Balance

 Hello my loves!

From the title you can see that today's blog will be about finding balance. This is something that I have always struggled with. Figuring out the prefect recipe to make every aspect of my life work smoothly and be perfect. Reality Check!! There is no perfect recipe to perfection. Perfection is near impossible. Instead of trying to be perfect, I have slowly come to realize that what I really need to be is balanced. There is a recipe to balance- but here's the catch... it is different for every person and every family. No two people can balance the exact same way. Just like in cooking or sports you have to follow a general rule or routine but you have to adapt that routine or rule to fit your specific needs. This is the same for life as well. 

If there was a set recipe or cheat code to finding the perfect balance to life-- life would be so much simpler. But life shouldn't be simple. Simple is boring. Life should be fun, challenging and constantly engaging. We should strive to keep our lives exciting and adventurous, and find simple ways to maintain a balanced life. OKAY OKAY -- HEAR ME OUT!!

When I say constantly engaging, adventurous, exciting and fun I don't mean that it will always be- but we should strive for that. We should try and fill our daily routines with things that will keep us going and our cups full. At least half full.

Let me preface it this way; Let's say on your todo list you have: Groceries, laundry, dishes, cleaning the bathroom and getting gas. But also in that day you have to work 8 hrs, take care of kids, and find time to eat, shower and play with the kids. Does this sound intimidating? Does is look daunting? Does this sound fun and exciting? How can this be BALANCED?

    Good morning! Its 7 am- I have to work at 9 am which means I leave at 830 am. Okay let balance this morning out. Lets check items off that list and lets have a FUN morning!! It can be fun, balanced and productive. *Turn on some jams- upbeat music with a good message. *Make a coffee, and see how many eggs you can crack into bowl while your coffee is brewing. Boom breakfast is started, coffee is on.✅✅ Now lets get those kids up and shower for the day. Go into their rooms- get them up and give them a challenge. Say "can you get dressed and brush your teeth before I get out of the shower?" Now GO!! The race is on! Boom- 3 more items are checked off! ✅✅✅

    See how simple can really be to add some fun into your busy morning? It can really make that morning so much more enjoyable. Your day has started on a great note!

For me I realized I needed to change my lifestyle when my son was starting to act out because instead of playing with him I was constantly cleaning the house. My home was spotless but my son was missing me. I was home 24/7 yet he was missing his mom. He wanted me more. He wanted to learn and help and play yet all I did was worry about the other things around us. This is when I adapted this whole balanced life thing. It wasn't easy at first. After a week or two I really noticed how much happier we all were. Just by using the awake hours of the day to play and teach my children and the sleep hours to clean the house. I would only give myself a couple hours at night and after that I waited until the next day. I did this so my schedule wasn't so intimidating. 

Y'all balance can seem intimidating at first, I get it. I am not always balanced. I'm only balanced like 82% of the time. But just by being balanced 82% of the time- my life truly is so much more enjoyable. My daily life isn't as daunting anymore. I feel better knowing that balance can be achieved in very simple ways. 

My message to you all is this--

When you wake up everyday, instead of seeing all of these tasks and things as scary and daunting. See them as a chance to create a challenge and balance. Try to find a way to give yourself 30 minutes to clean and 30 minutes to eat and play. Equal time for everything. If you cant give equal time to all tasks cut one out and move it to the next day as a new added challenge. Don't worry if the dishes aren't perfect and clean. Just live, and enjoy and remember that you truly only have one life. Don't spend your life scrubbing away- spend your life in a balanced way. 

Finding balance is not something that has to be an all at once thing either. You can really start with one thing at a time. Start with your mornings and once you balance those try lunch. Move up your day and schedule until you find what works best for you. I promise you it is doable and it will be worth it. I believe in you- You've got this! 

Its okay to fall, and start again. Balance takes trial and error. Just take it one step at a time! 

I love you all, Thanks for reading. See you next time 

Love, Momma Olson

Be The Change

*I will preface this by saying this is in no way a political post*

Its officially 2021. I am not sure whether to be excited or nervous about what 2021 may bring. To be real- the worlds' events are definitely swaying me toward the anxious side of things. BUT--- If you know me you know that I really do try to see the positive in things or at least find something else to be happy and positive about. There is so many scary things and unknown things happening in our nation that I truly am rattled. I don't know what the future holds, neither do a lot of others. I'm sure there are millions who are as confused I am. I want to say that finding the positive in the current events is really hard and it has taken me a few days to really process it all and find my words. 

    As a mom the first thing that pop into my brain when anything happens is "how will this affect my children?" Now normally the event that happens is minuscule or wont truly affect myself or my children, unfortunately that is not true for the most current of events that took place at our Nations Capitol. My social medias, news outlets and notifications have been flooded with hundreds of different opinions and perspectives of the events. It took me days to truly comprehend what the he** took place and why. One answer will truly never be fulfilled for me no matter what anyone tells me. In my mind violence of any form or any manner is not necessary and just escalates things further. 

    In the last 8 months there has been many times where I turn on my phone to check my social medias and instead of seeing silly memes, cute animal videos or family posts; I see horrific photos and videos of violence. Unsettling news articles and headlines. I see fear, I read fear. Fear has been everywhere. There are people hurting, clearly broken and trying to speak up and speak out. Unfortunately there are extremists that turn the hope for peace into a roar of violence. The pain of those hurting is overshadowed by the unfortunate events that have taken place in multiple different places and settings. To those people hurting: YOU ARE HEARD. YOU ARE SEEN. We aren't afraid to speak out and incite change. Change will happen. It must. We must unite, grow and listen to our fellow Americans. Its imperative for the future our children. 

    From a Pandemic that locked our nation down, broke many families, destroyed businesses, pushed our front liners to the brink, and swallowed us alive; we moved straight into the presidential race that completely divided our nation in half. We were no longer unified. We were exhausted, broken and confused. How were we supposed to feel? How were we to react?

                 

                NOT THE WAY WE DID.

Moving forward my message to you all is that change starts at home. Our children are the change, they are our why. We have to start behaving the way we want our kids to. We need to make a place that we want our children to grow up in. The current way our society is behaving and working is not what I want for my kids. Now is the time to speak up, make a change and encourage those around you to stand up and and make a positive change in our nation. The future in our hands. We decide the future of our country and the future of our children's country. 

    Acknowledging the events that have happened in the 8 months is imperative. You must know what has gone on. Anger has started rallies that have not only harmed things but people. Fear has awaken monsters. Control has divided a people that have worked hard on creating a safe and unified home. There were the events that took place in Minneapolis, an unfortunate death, unfairly treated people, lack of equality, police and law enforcement complications (bad and good) to the most recent event that took place at our capitol. I have acknowledged, have you? I am truly and completely heart broken over these events. I am confused. Like many others out there I do not know how to react or to feel. But what I do know that I feel pissed, I feel enraged, I feel hurt. I feel ready to make a change. I feel ready to speak out. I am ready to make this country a safer place for my children to live. There cannot be anymore of this. No more fear, No more violence. We must talk and we must LISTEN. Not only hear but listen to the needs and the fears. Listen for the change. Make the change heard. 

CHANGE STARTS AT HOME. CHANGE IS IMPERATIVE. 

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas!  Can you believe how fast Christmas came!? I feel like we went from carving pumpkins and scaring people; to buying gifts and singing Christmas carols around the fire within a week. Even though this whole year has dragged on and on and on- Christmas season just ran all of the red lights and arrived super punctual! 

Do you and your family have any specials traditions that you do around the holidays? Do you decorate cookies, build gingerbread houses, decorate your Christmas tree in your pj’s or wear matching pajamas on Christmas Morning together? 

Growing up- my Dad was huge on Christmas. He LOVED it! Having the whole family together, laughing, spending intentional time was his favorite thing in the whole world. I can remember every Christmas Eve he would make sure we had a big dinner, and then eat some cookies for desert and make sure to set out the yummiest looking ones for Santa with a big glass of cold milk. He even left out a plate of carrots for the reindeer- boy did they LOVE THOSE! Santa always seemed to make a mess though- crumbs everywhere. Silly Santa! Once we were in bed, Santa always shimmied down the chimney and left stockings full of treats, the tree completely surrounded by gifts, a sweet hand written note thanking us for the cookies and carrots. Waking up on Christmas morning was magical to my brother and I. It was always so exciting and something we looked forward to every year. For us though, it wasn’t the gifts it was the pure joy we saw on my dads face every year that made it the most precious holiday memory now. 

The smell of fresh hot cinnamon rolls, coffee, bacon filled the house on Christmas morning. We would usually wake up before our parents and the rule was that we couldn’t wake them up unless it was after 8 am. 8:01 am was when the magic began- the aromas of the holidays, the smiles, the carols, and the race to get the cinnamon roll with most frosting! 

Oh do I miss those days. The days when my whole family was sitting around the Christmas tree together. Christmas was never the same for my family after my dad died. It was his holiday. Christmas became a day of mourning for us. We mourned the joy, because he was our holiday joy. My dad made it what it was. 

Flash forward to now. I am married to the love of my life and we have two beautiful babies. The holidays as a mom are very different. I feel as if I have a reason again to celebrate and spread joy. This year Jackie and I decided that our traditions for Christmas will be cutting down our own tree, decorating gingerbread houses, doing Christmas crafts and spending so much intentional family time together. The gifts don’t matter. The time is what we can never get back and we want as much as possible. 

This year we have all been through more than we can imagine. It was a hard year for so many people. The one thing this year did provide us with was time. We all had time to truly enjoy our lives, the people we have and everything we are lucky to have. Even though we did have a lot of separation from others it made us all realize how precious life was. How precious our time truly is. We learned what was important in our lives. Joy, time, grace, love, patience, health, family. Those are the things the matter most. Not eating out, shopping, or seeing movies. It’s the time that runs out far to quickly. 

My wish to you all this Christmas is that you get your time. You enjoy your time. You cherish your time. Be joyful. Be happy. Spread cheer. 

Merry Christmas! 

From mine to yours.

Love, The Olson’s. 🎄

Top 10 Makeup Products

Hi again! I know you’re wondering how I could possibly limit myself to 10 favorite makeup products... right? Trust me it was NOT easy to pick only 10. I really struggled with this haha. I love so many products- so so so many. I just love makeup, always have! 

To make this easier I will list things in order of the type of product it is. For example I’ll group the eye things together, and the face products together. Still only 10 products. 

Without further ado - let’s do this. 

Let’s start with eyes:

#1. Elf Wow Brow Fibre Gel- This is a pigmented eyebrow setting gel. It is amazing and really makes your brows fluffier, more natural and sets them all day long! 

#2. Maybelline New York The Matte Bar Eye Shadow Palette- the colors on this palette are so beautiful, very pigmented, natural shades and they blend so nicely. There isn’t any shedding with this formula either. 

#3. Elf Brow Gel and Powder Palette- this is such a cool product! Using an angled brush you dip into the gel and then into the powder and line/fill your brows. The gel helps to set them all day and the powder gives a more natural finish. 

Now for Face makeup:

#4: Maybelline Fit Me Translucent Loose Setting Powder- I love this powder because it has no fragrance, it doesn’t create a huge cloud and it doesn’t feel heavy on your skin. 

#5: Elf Poreless Putty Primer- THIS PRIMER IS LIFE CHANGING! Seriously. So silky, literally makes the most even base for your makeup and truly helps your makeup stay on longer. This is a less expensive dupe to the Benefit Primer.

#6: Benefit Cosmetics PoreFessionals Primer- By far the silkiest, moisturizing, long lasting primer I have ever used. The price is little more expensive but definitely worth it. 

#7: Seint Makeup- Seint is a personalized palette created just for you- 3D foundation of highlighting and contouring to create the flawless face! I am obsessed. 

#8: Tula Blurring Primer- This primer is more of a tinted moisturizer in my opinion. I prefer to wear this in place of makeup because of the beautiful glow and color it give your skin. A natural finish that blurs out your pores and evens your skin tone. 

**I might have a weird obsession with primers**

Now time for the kissers! 

#9: NYX Powder Puff Lippie- This lip gloss is almost like a crayon sponge of color for your lips. The formula is so moisturizing even though it is a matte finish! Beautiful pigment and long wear. 

#10: Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink Lip Sticks- These lipsticks are so great. For a long wear, no smudge product these are not drying at all. They don’t flake, they hold color and placement for hours! Like 8+ hours. Amazing. 

There they are! Ten of my favorite make-up products. I have so many more but of course 300 would take far to long to list. I will link them all below for you! 

Wow Brow Gel Eye Shadow Pallet  Brow Pallet Elf Primer Benefit Primer Seint Tula Primer NYX Lip Super Stay Lip Stick