Fourth of July

I hope you all had a great 4th! I'm pretty sure I say this every holiday, but holidays sure are different with kids. Granted, last year I was 38 weeks pregnant, so I wasn't lighting fireworks and running for dear life like usual - I was waddling and sweating. This year we were home early, got our little miss tucked into bed and prayed that our jack-wagon (my new favorite swear word) neighbors didn't wake Kess up with their obnoxious fireworks. (did that make me sound old?)

Our 4th was actually really great! We had a BBQ at my sister's house, had lots of family over, the babies got to play in the mini pool, play with toys, be the center of attention and have the crap scared out of them by fireworks. We lit a of those pretty colored smoke bombs for the babies, thinking they would love them... they didn't really care. I, of course cared very much because I really wanted to get an "Instagram-worthy" picture of Kess with pretty colored smoke in the background... eh, such is life! ;) We also lit a few (what we thought were) sparkly fireworks, but they ended up going off like a car back-fire and Kess clung to me for dear life, bawling. It was awful! We felt so bad and thus ended the firework fun. So we all gathered in the living room with lots of toys and let the babies play until their hearts content!

We made matching shirts for the BBQ. Because everyone needs a 4th of July shirt, right?! Yes. We decided to sew these cute little pockets on... trickier than it looks. Don't look to closely. I have moderate sewing skills, remember? ;) It was actually a fun little project, but might have to wear it for a couple of years to make up for the trouble (and seam ripping.)

Sunday we went to church in the morning and relaxed all afternoon! It was so nice to not have a thing to do. We watched movies, Kess napped well, we played fetch with Kane and went for a bike ride. I scored a bike trailer at a yard sale. Kess loves it!

And, the most exciting of the weekend shenanigans... Kess took her first steps!! It was so exciting! Obviously, more for Matt and I, but still! She did so great. She's still wobbly and defiant. We try to stand her up to walk and she won't put her feet down. I wonder where she gets that from? We are super excited for this next milestone! It's so fun to watch her grow and learn! We've been practicing lots over the last few days so she'll be running away from me in no time! ;)

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July with your loved ones! Stay tuned for Kess' birthday fun next week! 

Shop Beautiful Effort

It's official! You can now SHOP Beautiful Effort graphic tees! Designed by yours truly! I am so excited to move forward with the blog and to be able to earn a little bit of extra money without having to leave Kess. I love doing hair and will more than likely always carry a small clientele, but in order to make more money - I had to leave Kess with a sitter or bring her with; which became challenging because a baby at a salon is a little crazy & I always miss her when I leave her! I'm a wuss! Isn't that the craziest thing? We always want a break and then we miss those darn kids! ;)

I had been thinking of ways to create a little extra income while staying at home. I have mediocre sewing skills and I'm not very crafty. But, I love to design - I like to think I have an eye for it, plus I have been loving all these trendy adorable graphic tees I kept seeing all over social media. Then I decided I had a few ideas of my own up my sleeve and gracefully did a swan dive
"cannon-balled" in.

It's had a few glitches, frustrated moments and doubts along the way - I'm sure I will see many more as we grow. But, I have also been really excited, happy and blessed to see this come about. Thank you all for being apart of this with me! I truly couldn't do this without you! I love this community of friends, wives and mothers that I get to be in touch with every day! Thank you for keeping my life real, honest and uplifting! You are all awesome! Have a great weekend!

To purchase a Beautiful Effort tee click SHOP on the right hand corner of the screen! Follow @beautifuleffort on Instagram for discount codes, giveaways & more designs to come!

Father's Day 2015

One of my favorite pictures from Father's Day weekend!

Looking back at Matt's first Father's Day - I don't think I spoiled him enough! Although, we did celebrate all weekend long - so I think I'm in the clear ;)
We had a lazy Saturday, I went for a (almost died on my) run in the morning and Matt built Kess a fort - it was adorable watching them crawl in and out of it! We hung out all afternoon and then did a BBQ with Matt's family that evening. It was fun to catch up with family we hadn't seen in a while and the weather was quite perfect! Not like the triple digit insanity we are dealing with lately ;)

Pretty proud of her fort - seriously, that grin kills me!

 That little bald head is my favorite! 

Sunday morning, we rolled out of bed, hustled to get ready for 9:00am church. Matt was teaching a lesson that day, so that kept us pretty busy. Kess was all over the place by 3rd hour - so we were ready to go home and take a nap ;) We did, however sneak in some family pictures before nap time - these might be my favorite!

Matt got to open his gift and then we relaxed until we went to my parents' house for a little BBQ. We got to stuff our faces with delicious food and chat until it was Kess' bedtime. It was a relaxed, mellow day - I think we all needed it!

Honey, I have loved watching you become a dad! I always knew you would be great, but I didn't understand how amazing you would be at it! Kess loves you more than anything; she lights when she sees you! I am eternally grateful to be spending forever with you.
Happy Father's Day!

Summer Cookin'

I don't know what it is about Summer, but I love cooking "summer meals" more than I like cooking "winter meals"... call me crazy!

Of course, since starting the blog I've ventured out and have tried lots of new recipes. I will keep adding to the list and keep sharing with you, as well!
I'm all about quick meals. Right before dinner time is when Kess is losing her patience with me (or the other way around) and Matt is making his way home, so I don't have a lot of time to slave away over the stove.

Here are a few of our favorites so far!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
 I wasn't sure the hubby was going to like this, mostly because it's a lighter meal - he loved it. We ate the entire pan. I could did eat it out of the pan with a fork. No lie. *I ended up using ground turkey, because ground chicken was significantly more expensive than the turkey. I think it tasted great, so you have that option :)

Carne Asada 
Matt is a Carne Asada lover, so I decided to try my hand at it. I nailed it, in case you were wondering. This marinade is pretty quick to make, despite having quite a few ingredients. I only let this marinade for 15 minutes and it was insanely delicious - next time I'll pay better attention to the directions and let it sit longer. *I used pre-minced garlic - because it's easier.

Chili Lime Steak Rub
I actually used this one skirt/flank steak and diced the meat to make "street tacos". Add your favorite taco fixin's and some corn tortillas - perfect summer meal! This has a tiny kick, but nothing too spicy. Kess even had a bite or two with no issues - but that girl is a bottomless pit, she isn't too picky! ;)

Hope ya'll love these Summer favorites of ours. What are some of your favorite summer meals? I would love to try them!

The Purpose Behind the Name

This post as been a long time coming, and I've struggled to write it because I honestly can't remember every detail about how the name "Beautiful Effort" came about. I knew I wanted a meaningful name for my blog as I wanted it to resonate with my audience and to capture their attention, but I struggled to come up with something for a while.
With that in mind, let's start from the beginning, shall we?
In October of 2009 I started dating Matt. We fell fast and we fell hard. We spent every possible minute we could with each other. So naturally, we depended on each other for almost everything. At the time we were both college athletes, trying to prove ourselves and constantly seeking more playing time. I remember feeling like I was constantly falling short. One day Matt said to me, "Kierra, there is beauty in effort." From then on, that was something we would say to each other when the other was struggling. We have found this little quote of ours to be fitting for almost every facet of our lives.
Christmas Day 2009, I drove over to Matt's parents' house to spend Christmas morning with them. Matt gave me a Boise State jersey with my soon-to-be new last name on it. I gave Matt a hard copy of one of his favorite books and a tile plaque that said, "There is Beauty in Effort." Something for us to display in our new home... we knew we were going to get married, but we hadn't made it official yet. Little did I know, Matt had a plan in place and proposed later that day... Read our love story here...
As we grew closer, fell deeper in love and decided to get married. He promised me effort. To always try. To always give his best. And on the day we got married, we promised that to each other. To always communicate, to always give our best effort to our marriage, our lives, and our children.
Then life happened. We spent years finishing degrees, buying a home, starting a business, building careers, starting a family... life got hard. In hopes of building a better life for each other, our marriage was set on the back burner it seemed. When I was pregnant with Kess, Matt worked more than he has ever worked. He was pulling outrageous hours just to get a tiny bit ahead before Kess arrived. I was scrambling to be prepared for our little girl, wrapping up my clients before I started maternity leave, taking birthing classes - you name it, we were drowning in it. We were both exhausted. There was some distance between us and we both felt it. I began to worry about what this meant for our new little family and if it would ever be better.
On our 4th wedding anniversary, I came home from running errands to a beautiful bouquet of flowers on our doorstep. I got teary-eyed as I read the card. "There is beauty in effort. Happy Anniversary. I love you!" What an amazing reminder to put my marriage above all else. We both had struggled, we both had been working so hard to make our lives better, which is noble and all, but not enough when your marriage is taking 2nd place.
As I toyed with starting this blog, I was struggling to find passion, happiness and love. I loved my marriage, my husband and my daughter, but I needed a little something for me. I talked with Matt about starting a creative outlet, and as the blog came about I struggled to pick a name. I thought about how much effort this was going to take and how difficult it was to put myself out there and to step out of my comfort zone. Matt kindly reminded me, "There is beauty in effort..." And there it was. Beautiful Effort was born in February of 2015.
Thank you all for joining me on this journey, I have found a peacefulness in my life that I was looking for. I have found more joy in my life by just putting in a little bit more effort. I truly believe there is beauty in effort. We may not always succeed, come out on top, or win in this life, but that isn't the purpose of this life. We must try, we must put forth effort and we will truly live.
If you are new to reading Beautiful Effort, you can start from the beginning... The Purpose Behind the Words

Summer Bucket List

I've been trying to think of some fun things that Kess & I can do this summer - we will include Matt too! ;) ...when he isn't slammed at work! 

Without further ado... the Summer Bucket List 

*not listed in number of importance* ;)

1. Pool day #errday ... I can't pull that off, can I? OK, go to the pool as many times as we can!

2. Go to the zoo

3. Eat a SnoCone

4. Light off "mini-fireworks" on the 4th of July (before Kess' bedtime)

5. Make "mocktails" 

6. Take Kess on a bike ride

7. Blow lots of bubbles

8. Go on lots of walks/runs/stroller rides

9. Finger paint

10. Can our garden

11. Go to Hyde Park & get a treat at Goodies

12. Go to the Boise Farmers' Market

13. Walk on the Boise Greenbelt

14. Stand on the BSU Blue Turf

15. Go to the Fair

I will be posting on our Bucket List adventures on Instagram @beautifuleffort as we check them off our list! You can find them all under #BEbucketlist

What's on your Summer Bucket List? Share with us, we are always looking for a new adventure!

A Forever Family

The morning of May 2nd, Matt and I dropped our sweet Kess girl off at my sister's & headed to the Boise, Idaho LDS Temple!

Matt and I were civilly married May 14th, 2010 - so getting sealed in the temple has been a long time coming! It has taken us a while to study, learn and prepare for our endowment. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the endowment, it is an ordinance ceremony that helps us prepare for the afterlife. Part of the ceremony is a scripted reenactment of the fall of Adam & Eve. We also make multiple promises with our Heavenly Father. The temple teachings are done through symbolism, which is pretty incredible. 

Before this ceremony we were given our garments... (here is a little video that explains the garments that endowed Latter Day Saints wear.)

As we were waiting to go into our endowment, I felt eternally blessed to finally see Matt wearing all white. So clean, sacred and pure. 

The endowment session was pretty overwhelming - lots of information coming at you in a short amount of time. Matt and I didn't have much time to discuss what we had learned because we were set to be Sealed to one another right after. By this point, my sister has brought Kess to the temple, so she could be sealed to us after Matt and I were sealed together as husband and wife. 

Our sealing was incredibly spiritual and gave Matt and I such an uplifted feeling. We were very emotional, much more emotional than we were on our wedding day. I don't think either of us could believe that we were finally here; finally each others' forever. No longer "Until death do us part."

After we were sealed, one of the temple workers brought Kess in; Matt and I both lost it! She looked so beautiful in her pretty white dress. For those of you who have kids, you understand how much love you feel for your children - this was amplified by knowing that she would be ours forever. Kess was a little overwhelmed by our family and friends who were with us, and that fact that she hadn't seen Matt or I for a few hours. She didn't want to let us go. My mom held her during the sealing. Matt, Kess and I held hands as a little family of 3 and were sealed for all time and all eternity. What an amazing gift that is. I am eternally grateful for making the covenants that I have made, not only with Matt and my family, but with my Heavenly Father as well. 

The temple ordinances are extremely sacred, hence my vague description of the day. If you want to know more about eternal families, temple ordinances or the Latter Day Saint religion please feel free to ask me or go to mormon.org

*I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of everyone who came to our sealing! I should have slowed down & got a quick shot of everyone who made it - because you were all so important and instrumental in our journey to the temple! A huge thank you for coming to support us!*

 Matt's family - Mom's side

Matt's family - Dad's side

My siblings, parents and grandparents