Mama Loves Papa

Hyundai Santa Fe’s Epic Playdate Weekend

2013-03-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

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What do you get when you combine some of the biggest and best mommy (and daddy) bloggers, the ocean, and camping? Hyundai's Epic Playdate Weekend in Santa Barbara, CA.

Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of camping. I prefer a soft bed over hard ground and toilets that flush, (I also must admit, most of my camping experiences were far from the ocean. They were in the very chilly, bug-filled mountains with babies and toddlers that chose not to sleep through the night. I'm sure these days our camping experiences would be much, much different.) but for this, I would make an exception. I am a fan of the ocean, I'm a fan of playdates, and I'm a HUGE fan of hanging out with awesome bloggers.

Bloggers (Dooce, Mighty Girl, Oh Happy Day, Oh Joy, Say Yes To Hoboken, Girls Gone Child, BoingBoing, and How To Be A Dad) are camping on the beach and hosting epic workshops for kids like an ice cream sundae bar, paint fight, kids’ photography class, hula-hooping workshop, and more.

How much fun does that sound? I would love to spend time with some of my favorite bloggers, let alone have time for our kids to hang out and play together. Hyundai's Epic Playdate Weekend will be April 27 from 9am-5pm in Santa Barbara, CA. Now, don't you want to be there? Now, don't you want to be there? I do and you know what? I think I'm ready to try camping again this year! Sign me up!

You have the opportunity to enter to win a trip for four, so your family can be a part of all of the fun! To enter, you must have a pinterest account and pin a photo from Hyundai's Ultimate Playdate Weekend onto one your boards. When filling out the entry form, you also must choose Clever Girls Collective when selecting how you heard of the contest. (See complete contest details.) Ok, go enter!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Goodbye, Google Reader

2013-03-18T08:52:00.001-07:00

Most of you probably know that Google Reader will be non-existant as of July 1st. Be sure to find an alternative feed reader by that time to continue to follow all of your favorite blogs.

Bloglovin is a great option and you can find Mama Loves Papa there and follow me!

I recently discovered Feedly and have already transitioned all of my blogs there. You don't have to tediously enter each one. With a push of the button they should all seamlessly move into your Feedly feed. I love it!

Oh Yeah, find me on SheKnows!!

2013-03-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm a new beauty contributor over at SheKnows! I'm so excited to share my outfits and where you can find the looks a few times a month over at SheKnows. I've been a huge fan of SheKnows ever since two of my favorite blogger friends, Summer and Stephanie, started doing the Mommalogues. I looove the Mommalogues. You need to check them out!

You can find my recent posts here:
Pleated and Pretty for Spring
Dressed Up Just Enough
Blouse and Booties
Morgan's Mom Uniform

Marriage Series: Conflict Resolution is Really About Me

2013-03-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

This is our second year doing the marriage series and I adore it. I feel like there's so much I need to learn about marriage and, in so many respects it's true, but after being married for almost a decade I've picked up a little wisdom along the way, too. I don't feel feel capable of sharing advice, but I love sharing my story. I love this space because it allows me to share my heart. For everyone who knows me well knows that for everything I'm not, one thing I am is real. I don't have it all together, I make mistakes, I struggle, and I don't want to pretend otherwise. My best friends are people who, like me, aren't perfect but share their struggles and their victories and we can connect on a deep level as real people. Beautiful, imperfect people. Thank you so much for allowing me to share my story and for sharing yours. I admire and appreciate each one of you so much. ______________________

A few weeks ago I was upset about something. I can't remember what, but I was frustrated with Eric, saying something to him, and he just reached over and held my hand. It took me by surprise and I started laughing and it diffused whatever was going on between us. It was a beautiful moment, one I hope I remember. Small gestures of love really aren't small.

If only every conflict was so easy and, by no means, has it been for us. In our pre-marriage counseling we learned about conflict resolution. Our therapist had a lot of great advice, advice that most of us have already heard- don't interrupt, don't use words like "never" or "always," say how you're feeling instead of accusing, you know that stuff, but so oftentimes conflict in marriage is so much more complicated than that. I wish that if I just stopped saying "never" and "always" we'd never have difficulty in our communication or relationship again.

Maybe this is just me, but I think the biggest lesson for me is that most of the time the conflict isn't about Eric and I, but about me. I know it may sound silly, because you can't really have conflict without two people, but there's always something in it that's just for me. As a Christian, I believe that marriage isn't to make me happy or to fulfill my needs or to give me a partner in life. Those things are all good and true, but I truly believe that marriage is ultimately to strengthen me, as an individual, and to draw me closer to God.

I don't think I'm alone in this, but I don't like to be the first one to apologize. After Eric's already said he's sorry to me, then it's really easy for me to say it and admit that I was wrong. To do it first is incredibly vulnerable and uncomfortable. I'm putting myself in the position for him to accept my "wrongness", but not admit his own. If I was apologizing for Eric's sake, then I probably would never say it first. But, I'm not. I'm saying I'm sorry for me. I'm humbling myself, I'm admitting I'm wrong, and I'm growing from it despite what Eric does.

Despite what my husband does. My attitude towards him, how much love I show him, how much I serve him shouldn't be dependent on what he does for me or how he serves. I do these things as an act of worship to God.

Ultimately, I believe that conflict resolution, just like everything else in my life is about me. For me, everything is about me. I forgive the people that have hurt me because I don't want to be a bitter, angry person. I show love and compassion to people that don't deserve it because I want to be a loving and compassionate person. I humble myself before my husband, I confess when I am wrong, and I ask for forgiveness, no matter what Eric does, because I want to be a humble person who grows despite my mistakes. I try to speak kindly, with love and gentleness, because that's the person I want to be no matter who or what someone else is.

So, tell me friends, does is your attitude and personality dependent on the person/people you're around? I'm working hard on being the person that I am, all the time, despite who I'm around or what other people may be doing or saying. (And, I mean this is general terms, no necessarily just in marriage. I'm not sure why this side of "conflict resolution" came out while I was typing...but, it did. I guess it's on my mind and heart.) Are you successful at this? Have you ever even thought about this?

What I'm Doing and Where I've Been

2013-02-26T13:37:00.001-08:00

Hello again! You've probably noticed that I haven't been around these parts much. I've been super busy with homeschooling, homemaking, and photography. I've also been re-thinking what I want my relationship with this blog to look like. I have been feeling like I need to step back from blogging. I need to do what I can do and, as much as I'd like to, I can't do everything. I love blogging. I'll probably never stop blogging. I cherish the memories have been documented here, so they won't be forgotten. Instead of blogging five or so times a week like I've been doing I'm going to cut it down to 2-3 times a week. Or, whatever I feel like at the time. I'll no longer be accepting sidebar ads, but I will continue to do reviews, outfit posts, and some sponsored posts (that fit with my values and the aesthetic of the blog). I have a few more projects in the works in other spaces, so I'll keep you updated on those.

You can also find me a blogging a few times a week on my photography blog. Here are a few of my recent posts:
From the Beginning (how we started our wedding photography journey)
Eric's Trip to Arcata
Spring is Coming!
My February Wishlist

I'm still using instagram, but I changed my username to @themorganfairchild (just morganfairchild was already taken and people always ask, "are you the morgan fairchild?").

As always, you can also find me on facebook (blog and business) and twitter (business twitter account...coming soon!).

I'll be back tomorrow or Thursday with the next and last post from the Marriage Series! I'm thinking of doing a series each month. For next month- parenting/motherhood, homemaking, or Spring style?

Marriage Series: Life Changes

2013-02-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

Judah looking on at my last midwife appointment before Samuel was born.

When I think of life changes in my marriage the first thing that comes to mind are the births of my four babies. Sure, my husband has changed careers three times, runs a business, helps me run my business, and is in the middle of buying a business, we've lived in eight homes in nine years, and bought a house, and, of course, had many changes in our extended family, but the most monumental changes in our marriage were having our children.

The transition when Judah was born was natural and easy. He slipped into our family and our tiny apartment seamlessly. I was 21 when he was born, I turned 22 a month later, and was definitely young and naive. I was, by far, the first of my close friends to have a baby, so I didn't have any expectations of what life as a mom would look like. Eric had quit his job and gone into full-time ministry a few months before Judah was born, so while money was extremely tight (we were definitely poor) Eric had a lot of time to be home and help out. I would do all of the night feedings (I exclusively breastfed all of my babies, so Eric couldn't do much, anyway) and Eric would wake up early with Judah so I could sleep in.

It was eight years ago, so maybe I'm romanticizing it, but having our first baby wasn't hard. Don't get me wrong, everything wasn't easy and perfect, but overall it was good.

When Judah was about six months old we decided we wanted to have our babies close together. When he was just nine months old I got pregnant with Samuel and he was born when Judah was eighteen months. Samuel, thankfully, was an easy-going, mellow little guy. Just an all-over easy baby. Nonetheless, having two babies at once was crazy. I struggled with the baby blues and figuring out how to be present and meet the needs of my toddler and newborn. By this time Eric had started his tile business back up. He was in the middle of a job when Samuel was born, so he was back to work just a few days after his birth. That whole time is kind of a fog in my mind.

During Silas' birth we were very heavily involved in our church (remember, we went to the crazy cult church, so we were pretty much required to be doing church activities several times a week) and then after Finley was born we had just left the church and were struggling with that. A week after she was born an acquaintance was very traumatically killed and I pretty much had an emotional breakdown. During all of these changes, during all of these beautiful things and difficult things, there was a huge strain on our marriage.

There are a lot of things I wish I could go back and do differently. I have been emotional and hormonal for most of our marriage (I was pregnant and/or breastfeeding for almost nine years straight...no breaks). Eric...had a lot to learn being married to an emotional and hormonal mess. There's times that we sailed through and times that were hard and the times that we're easier were when we were intentional.

The times that we gave each other grace, that we understood where the other person was coming from before demanding to be understood, the times that we loved instead of giving criticism, and the times that we were selfless instead of being selfless were the times that strengthened our relationship and our love for one another. I know that we're at the very beginning of our marriage. We have lots of big and small changes coming over the years and I want to look back on the other side of those things and see a stronger marriage. I don't want to look back and see the toll they took on our relationship, but to use the changes, the challenges, the difficulties, and the triumphs to draw closer to my husband. To love him better.

Marriage Series Posts: Friendship and Romance Working Together As Partners

Technology + Photography

2013-02-20T13:26:00.002-08:00

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As a photographer and a mom of four small children life can get busy. Or, life is always busy. I relish the creative freedom I have as a wedding photographer and the joys of taking care of my family and raising my children, but I’ll take any help I can get as far as organizing my life and streamlining my work flow.

I can’t imagine the days when photographers organized their calendars on paper, dreamed up their shoots using magazines and books (thank goodness for Pinterest!) and, as beautiful as film photos are, I’m thankful to be able to photoshop my images.

The next few months are my, “booking months.” Many couples have gotten engaged over the holidays, so I’ll be meeting with them to discuss details and book their weddings. I love meeting in coffee shops, over a cup of tea or coffee, to listen to their story and answer their questions.

You can read the rest of the article, and see of photo of me taking a photo, by visiting Life Scoop.

Marriage Series: Working Together As Partners

2013-02-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

I kind of wish that I had this marriage thing all figured out. Maybe one of these days I will, but I don't expect that to come for many, many more years...if ever. The thing that make this topic challenging for me to write about is that Eric and I are still figuring out exactly how to work together, what our roles are, and what it looks like to build our home together.

No matter where we are in this process, in the midst of the mundaneness or challenges in life, I try to remind myself that we truly are partners. We're on the same team. We're working together, not against each other, to build our home and to take care of our family.

Let me give you a little bit of background. Eric came from a family with four children close together. His dad worked and his mom stayed home and homeschooled the kids. Eric was homeschooled until high school and lived at home, with his parents and siblings, until even after we started dating (!!!). For most of my life, my mom worked full-time, raised my sister and I as a single mom, and took care of all the in-home and out of home jobs (as as a mom now, can I just say how much I truly admire and appreciate my mom?).

Our home life now looks very similar to Eric's did growing up, but we came into our marriage with drastically different life experiences and expectations. It's been challenging to work through the differences, but the more we communicate about our expectations and the more we both strive to serve one another the easier it is to work through our roles and our tasks in our home and family.

I struggle with the topic of "roles" that men and women should have. I don't want to alienate any working moms or single moms or any wives or moms, for that matter. Do I believe men and women are different? Yes. Do I believe we each have individual, differing, yet equally as important giftings? Yes. Ultimately, I believe the roles in a marriage and what it looks like to work together as partners is as unique and different as the two people making up the relationship. Put simply, do what works for you.

So, what works for us? As a stay at home mom my main role and responsibility is our home and children. I do almost all of the homeschooling, cooking, and cleaning. Eric works and provides for our family and helps out where needed and when necessary. He's always willing to cook a meal, do dishes, move the laundry along or brush teeth and give baths, but I am mainly in charge of all of the domestic responsibilities.

Cleaning a house or cooking meal after meal can feel like a tedious and thankless sometimes, but I try to remind myself that I am incredibly blessed to have a home and a family to take care of. These jobs that I don't particularly like are an act of service to my children, my husband, and, ultimately to God. That's why I do them and that's why I continue to try to do them with gladness.

Don't forget to visit Courtney and Gina for their posts on Working Together As Partners!

Last week's post: Friendship and Romance

Our Proposal Story

2013-02-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

My engagement ring, chosen entirely by Eric. Sweet and simple, just like him.

My proposal was sweet, simple, and a litle bit quirky. Kinda like the guy I married. Want to know the story?

Like many couples, Eric and I had talked about getting married and our timeline to do so, so while the moment and day was a surprise the general time wasn't. I knew it was coming sometime and I was hoping for sooner, rather than later.

A few nights before the actual proposal Eric had made plans with me to go on a hike at a waterfall. I don't know if Eric intentionally made those plans to throw me off or if it was just happened to want to go on a hike at that time (it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't even realize it), but either way it definitely confused me. I was expecting that hike to be the day.

A few nights before we were supposed to go on the hike, Eric called me in the evening to see if I wanted to watch the sunrise the next morning. He said we would have to leave at 5 or 5:30 or something crazy like that. Not being a morning person and not expecting a proposal (remember, I was expecting it at the hike) I rolled out of bed minutes before Eric came to pick me up. I was wearing my pajamas and I definitely didn't do my hair or make-up.

We took the freeway exit that would take us up the hill to get a good view of the sunrise, but we turned off at the street leading to the church. I didn't say much, I thought, maybe this was is, and I started to get really nervous. We pulled up in the back and Eric led me out to the "island." There is two streams on either side of a lush, green island area. It is beautiful. As we walked up I saw the gazebo glowing. As we crossed the bridge and got closer to the gazebo I realized there were hundreds of tealights lit all around the edges.

Eric led me to the middle of the gazebo, got down on one knee, and after declaring his love asked me to marry him. Of course I said YES! and the two of us were SO excited!

Now, here's where the quirky part starts...

I'm not sure exactly when, I think we had already started to drive away, Eric described how he went about with his engagement plan. He woke up early and him and his twin brother, Scott, had lit all of the hundreds of candles. Scott was even hiding somewhere taking pictures of our engagement. I felt bad for poor Scott, who wasn't even acknowledged, so we drove back to share our excitement with him and he took a few more pictures for us.

After the pictures Scott asked us if we wanted to go out to breakfast to celebrate. After calling our family members and stopping by my mom's house Eric and I met Scott for breakfast. The three of us celebrated our engagement....at Denny's!

Now, tell me your engagement story. Was it what you'd imagined?

Little Girls' Valentine's Day Dresses

2013-02-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun putting together the Valentine's Day Date dresses that I thought I'd put together a little collage of Valentine's Day dresses for little girls. These would all make perfect Easter dresses, too!

1. Thief and Bandit - 2. Adorn Me Girl (Finley's Easter dress!) - 3. Matilda Jane - 4. Crewcuts - 5. Gap Kids

Valentine's Date-Worthy Dresses

2013-02-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Single Ladies, The Valentine's before I started dating Eric I went out with a bunch of girlfriends. There was about 15 of us all dressed up, dining on hamburgers and fries, and going out to frozen yogurt after. It was pretty great. Don't let all this talk about Valentine's Day discourage you. Love, Me

So, I don't know how many single ladies actually read my blog, but I had to put it that out there. Some people aren't a fan of the day and I totally get that. As for me, I love anything that involves pink, chocolates, hearts, and love. One of my favorite parts about Valentine's Day is celebrating with my kids. The kids and I love any excuse to celebrate.

So, whether you are celebrating with your man over candlelight or with all your ladies at a pizza joint here are a few pretty red and pink dresses to inspire you. I would love to wear any of these, for any occasion.

1. Old Navy - 2. Ruche - 3. Madewell - 4. Anthropologie - 5. Modcloth - 6. Lulu's

Will you be going out for Valentine's Day? What will you be wearing?

Our Website is LIVE!

2013-02-07T15:45:00.001-08:00

Eric and I have been working hard on the branding and design of our photography website! Our very first blog post just went live!! And, also? If you know of anyone getting married and is looking for modern and romantic photography, we'd LOVE it if you sent them our way!

Marriage Series: Friendship and Romance

2013-02-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Welcome to our second year of the Marriage Series! I'm hosting the series again this year with lovely ladies Gina of Contemplating Beauty and Courtney of Vintch. Be sure to check out their blogs and see what they have to say about each of the topics.

We would LOVE to have your interaction and input on each of these topics- no matter what your relationship status or situation is. The comment box is an open area for conversation and is a place of openness. Feel free to share your story or ask a questions. If you'd like to blog about the topics, be sure to leave a link in the comments, so we can read along. Thank you SO much for joining us for such a vulnerable, real, and fun topic!

Eric and I will be celebrating our tenth anniversary this June, and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but it's taken me almost this long to figure this out: 95% of a healthy marriage falls is in the "friendship" category.

A few years ago a friend and I were talking about another mutual friend who was engaged at the time. Both my friend and I had been married for several years and had multiple kids, but this other friend's constant facebook love proclamations of, "I'm SO in love!" or "My fiance just gave me a dozen roses....for the tenth time this week! or "I miss my fiance soooo much! We haven't seen each other in TWO minutes!" (Ok, maybe those are exaggerations, but just slightly.) made my other friend and I suddenly insecure about our own relationships. Why weren't we missing our husbands right after they left for work? Where were our romantic gifts and gestures? Why weren't we going longer than two minutes without holding hands or making out? What was wrong with our marriages?

In last year's series I talked about expectations and this was definitely an unrealistic expectation. I think it might have been on our honeymoon when Eric told me we would always sit next to each other when we were out to eat. "What about when we have kids?" "Yep, even then. They can sit on the other side of the table." Well, several years and several babies later I reminded Eric of this and his response was, "Yeah, I didn't realize exactly what that would look like or mean." Things change, baby.

Stefan Sagmeister, at Alt Summit, showed a graph of two couples and the happiness of their marriages over time- one based on passion and one based on friendship. The first graph showed the first two years (I think) and the happiness level of the couple whose relationship is based on passion dramatically goes up and happiness level of the couple whose relationship is based on friendship looks pathetically lower as it just sails along in the middle of the graph. The second graph shows the happiness levels over fifty years. The passion couple's happiness level dips down until it's at zero and the friendship couple continues to steadily climb upwards. In other words, a relationship based on passion quickly dies down, but friendship remains steady and even increases over time.

That's not to say that I don't think romance and passion are a necessary -and fun!- part of marriage. Romance has seasons where it's more important and seasons where it takes the back burner to other things in life. There are seasons when you have to hold onto the memories of romance and look forward to the future ones and there are seasons where you need to cultivate and fight for romance and you need to be ok with both. You need to be ok with the season you are in in your marriage because the grass is always greener mentality can lead to discontent, which can lead to bitterness, which can eventually lead to the dissolution of your marriage literally or figuratively and, obviously, none of us want that.

There are some ways that Eric and I try to maintain and cultivate romance between us: each year we try to go out of town alone, even if it's just for one night. There is something so peaceful and fun and romantic about being able to focus on just the two of you and not on sibling squabbles, messy houses, and bedtime. On a smaller scale, we try to have a regular date night. Some of our friends have a weekly date night, but this isn't realistic for us. Our goal is to have one date night a month and, something new that we've started this year, is that we take turns each month planning the night. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

For every ounce of energy that you use to maintain romance in your marriage, work twice as hard (or more) to maintain friendship. A few things that we try to do are: have interests in common. Most of our interests aren't the same, but we try to make the effort to have common interests that we can talk about and do together- hiking and photography are two of ours. Even if a hobby isn't the favorite of one of us, we try to be interested in what the other person is doing. Be affectionate. This could probably fall under the "romance" section, too. Sometimes I don't even think about physical affection after a long day of taking care of kids and sometimes I just really want to have space, but each night Eric and I sit on the couch together, drink tea, watch a show or movie, and hold hands or cuddle. It's simple, but it's a good way to connect after a long or tiring day.

Is friendship or romance more challenging in your marriage? Do you have any questions or tips to share?

(Don't forget to visit Gina and Courtney to read their posts on Friendship and Romance.)

What's the Best Age to Get Married?

2013-02-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Our Wedding - 2003

Eric and I started dating when I was 18 (he was 21), got engaged when we were 19 and 22, and married at 20 and 23.

I've read that, statistically, marriages are more likely to last if you wait until your mid-twenties to get married. Don't wait too long, though, because getting married after your mid-thirties increases the likely-hood of divorce also. Of course, age is just one thing in a long list factors involved in the health and success in a marriage.

We were young and naive and in love and have pretty much grown up together. We had our babies young (I was 21, 23, 25, and 27 when they were born) and I don't think that waiting a few years to get married would have changed any challenges we've faced. I don't regret getting married young, but I don't necessarily recommend it, either. I guess it just depends on the couple and the circumstances. It was right for us.

How old were you when you got married? Has it helped or hindered your marriage?

(You can read more at Focus on the Family or Cosmopolitan. Two very different publications. ha!)

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I'm SO excited about this month's Marriage Series! We'll start Wednesday with Friendship vs Romance. I'd love to have each one of you, with your unique perspective, join the the conversation and even post about the topics on your blog, if you'd like. If you weren't here, you can still read last year's Marriage Series.

Spring Color

2013-02-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Sweater- Urban Outfitters, Jeans - c/o Lee, Boots- Target

Have you seen that Pantone's 2013 color is Emerald? I was reminded of that when I picked out these Kelly jeans from Lee. I'm pining for Spring and I think these will be the perfect addition to my Spring wardrobe.

(Lots of my real-life friends have asked me if I actually like Lee jeans, because I'm typically a designer brand jean wearer. My advice is, if your in between sizes or even if you're not, to order down. When the jeans are more fitted they're more flattering. These definitely aren't "mom jeans" and I always giggle when a young, stylish college girl compliments me on them. I just say, "thank you," but I'm thinking about how they have no idea they're made by Lee. So, yes, I do like them. For real.)

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my baby sister, Miranda and happy first day of February to you all!

Ad Space Giveaway WINNERS!

2013-01-31T13:35:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to #1 and #2- Laura and Hanna, winners of the large ad space. (#1 and 2...how random is this?) You'll be seeing more of these ladies in the next two months! (Email me so I can get you all set up.)

If you're interested in advertising on Mama Loves Papa for February (It's the month of LOVE - we'll be talking all things love, marriage, and relationships) there's still time! Email me at mamalovespapablog@gmail.com or visit the sponsor page for rates and information.

Three Boys and Bedroom Organization

2013-01-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

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When we bought our house six months ago we went from four bedrooms to three. We also went from a small city lot to an acre, so the downsize was definitely worth it, but we had to figure out a new configuration with our bedroom situation. Three bedrooms for four kids isn't your standard set up, but I definitely think it is doable.

In our old house our two older boys (ages eight and six) shared a room and our two little ones (ages four and three) each had their own bedroom. Before we moved we had planned to keep our older boys together and then to have our two little ones share, but on their own, our three older boys decided they all wanted to be in the same bedroom. We were thrilled that they wanted to share a room, but we knew the dynamics of three little boys and all of their clothes and toys would be...interesting. It's definitely a challenge to keep their things organized and their room clean (but, who am I kidding..it's just as hard with their sister and she has her own room).

In an act of full disclosure and vulnerability I'm going to reveal to you the "before" pictures of the boys room:

I didn't get any photos before my husband put together our new organization rack from Trinity Home Storage, but I did take them before the organization of the closet. Just picture the closet without the rack and with all of that stuff on the floor of the closet (see other closet). I'm sure he put it together before I took the photos as an act of desperation. This room obviously needed some help. (And, according to him the rack wasn't hard to put together at all.)

After the rack was put into place we went into full-on work mode. I acted as foreman instructing each of the boys what to do and we managed to get their room looking pretty nice. We've already been struggling with upkeep. (Any suggestions?)

Here are the after pictures:

Overall, I'm really happy with Trinity rack and crates. Their products are great quality with great prices and just what we needed for our bedroom organization. Trinity offers free shipping on all orders and right now they are offering readers 15% off their entire purchase through February 17, 2013 by using the promo code: CLEVER0113.

_____________________________________ I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Win Two Months of Large Ad Space!

2013-01-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

Guess what, we're switching things around here on Mama Loves Papa. I'm no longer offering the small ad space, just the medium and extra large, to streamline the how things look. I'll be updating the navigation (those ugly words under the banner won't be there for long) and make things look all over pretty.

February is a very special month here, too. It's the month of love and, of course, Valentine's Day (I love v-day, don't hate me) and I'll be continuing the Marriage Series from last year. Are you excited? I'd LOVE to have you join in and post about each topic on your blog (there will be a link-up each week) or just read along and join in the conversation. The conversations should be gooooood.

In order the celebrate the changes I'm giving away two months of large ad space. Because February is already on Friday I'll be choosing a winner tomorrow. You have until noon on Thursday, January 31st to enter.

To enter:
Mandatory entry: Leave a comment here telling me what you would be advertising.

Optional entries: Share this giveaway on any social media site- twitter, facebook, instagram, your blog. Make sure you link back here and leave a comment for each additional entry.

If you are interested in advertising for February, email me at mamalovespapablog@gmail.com. (If you win and have already paid for your sponsorship your money will be refunded.)

Alt Summit Highlights

2013-01-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Alt Summit was amazing. I had the best time and left overflowing with inspiration for my blog, my photography business, and life in general. It was crazy to be in a place with so many creative and successful people.

My favorite part of the conference was traveling with my next door neighbor/friend, Ashley of Lens and Needle. (Her mom was supposed to come, too, but ended up getting sick. We missed her so much!). Traveling with someone and having a buddy when you know only know people online is so nice. I loved our late night (and all day) chats and just having someone to enjoy the conference with. The Hello Social (the very first event we went to right after we landed) would have been so awkward without her. At least we were able to be awkward together. Oh, and did I mention that we like photobooths? Yeah, we do. (Most of you already know I'm obsessed.)

There was another lady that I was SO excited to meet- Kendra of Adornme Girl. Kendra and I have been blogging friends for quite awhile now, so it was so fun to become real life friends. We also got to hang out with her daughter, Sailor, and both Kendra and Sailor are as beautiful, sweet, and fun as they seem on Kendra's blog.

The sessions were amazing. They ranged from incredibly inspiring to incredibly hands-on and applicable to the technological aspect of blogging. I loved all of them that I attended, but here are a few of my favorites:

Jasmine Star is one of my all-time favorite wedding photographers. Just to be in the same room with her was so exciting, but I left her session ready to take on wedding photography and the world. She talked about branding and, specifically, being your brand. If someone loves you great, if they don't then someone else is probably a better fit, but you should always put the real you out there.

Karen Waldrond of Chookooloonks was SO inspiring. She talked about Finding Your Voice. I loved her recommendations like, "practice seeing" the beautiful in your life and make an exhaustive list of what, "lights you up" (what you love to do). I came home with a lot of very fun things that I have to do (like more traveling!).

I loved hearing and learning from Matt and Julie Walker from Tiger in a Jar film production. I have been wanting to incorporate video more into my blog and photography business, so I will be putting to use everything I learned. (Their videos are so beautiful, check them out!)

Stefan Stagmeister, amazing graphic designer, was hilarious, engaging, and so real. I got to see Heather Armstrong from Dooce in person and hear her speak (!!!!!!). Although, James from Bleubird wasn't there meeting her husband Aubrey was a (not so close) second.

Alt Summit was such a great experience and I'm already thinking about next year. Will you be there?

Featured Sponsor: House of Lovelock

2013-01-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hello! My name is Ashley. My husband, Joel, and I are parents to four darlings we call Jude, Zara, Cruz + Ever. We looovvvee Southern California, which is perfect because that's just where we live. We even bought a house last year in hopes we never have to leave! Joel is a full time Academics guy + Professor at a private Christian college (He basically has the best job ever), and I stay home and housewife it up... except weekends when I'm working as a wedding photographer. I work full time for most of the year, but this year I am trying to taking it easy to pursue "less is more". (It's true!) I'm also terrible at blogging anything work related, I'm about 10 months behind at the moment, and awesome at blogging hundreds of pictures of my children for no reason. But please, I mean look at them, how could I not?

Our Blog: House of Lovelock // Twitter + Instagram: @houseoflovelock

We also have this thing for adoption. It's like it was meant "for us". So we are currently in the process trying to adopt again. (I want 6, Joel still thinks probably 5 - although we are both open to siblings which would be double the fun!) Morgan thought it would be fun if I would share my recent blog series on adoption with you all, so here I am! I know adoption isn't for everyone, but maybe you have a friend or cousin who is adopting and these posts will just help to make you more familiar with adoption so you can know what they are going to do/doing. (And in truth, most of these have great tips for anyone about to be a mommy! Especially Finances & What to have ready posts.) And I would, of course, love to hear your thoughts or questions on adoption too so be sure to say "hi" when you drop by the blog! xxoo

Adoption Posts: What to Have Ready // Names // Finances // The Profile

I Left My Kids and I Don't Feel Bad

2013-01-28T11:38:00.000-08:00

Finley having fun while I was gone.

I left my kids for five days and I wasn't even sad.

I'm home after five days in Salt Lake City for Alt Summit (I'll share some highlights of the conference tomorrow).

I remember the first time I left Judah. He had just turned one and Eric and I went out of town for two days. Leading up to the time we left I was a nervous, sad, weepy mess. I knew he would be fine, but I also knew I would miss my little guy and be thinking of him constantly.

Fast forward seven years and here I am able to leave my kids with no guilt, no sadness, only twinges of missing them. I kind of feel guilty for not feeling guilty. (But, not really, because I know that a little time away is good to rest, recuperate, and be ready to take on the mama role again.)

Of course I missed them, but maybe I just really needed this. Maybe they're older and not as needy and I knew their schedule would be jam-packed with fun activities. I did check in on them regularly and, according to Eric, everyone was having fun and doing good. I came home to excited kids, a clean house, and a happy husband.

(This morning I've already dealt with two purposely smashed bananas, whines about homeschool, two injuries, and fighting. They're taking recess outside right now and maybe I want to head back to SLC for a few days.)

Hi, I'm Morgan

2013-01-23T03:00:00.000-08:00

Today I leave for Alt Summit (eeee!!), so in honor of meeting new friends I thought I'd share a few things about me that you may or may not know.

My photography business was born out of this blog. About a year and a half ago I took a few photography classes with the intention of, "taking better pictures of my kids and for my blog." Little did I know how much I would love it and out of that love my business was born.

I'm a homeschooling mom. I homeschool my four kids- a third grader, first grader, and two preschoolers.

I like style and I like clothes, but I recently turned 30, so I think that means I'm too old to be a style blogger. (Maybe I'm a,"mom style," blogger?)

Of course, we love the occasional splurge, but my family eats mostly whole, local, organic foods.

We recently bought a home in the country. We grow our own food and raise our own animals and have a little hobby farm on our acre.

I've been married for almost ten years and it's been almost ten years of bliss. We fall more and more in love everyday. Just kidding! It's been a lot of hard work, but definitely worth it.

Now, tell me a few things I may or may not know about you!

I'm not sure if I'll update from Alt, but I'll definitely be back next week. Feel free to follow along on my adventures this week on instagram and twitter.

Happy 33rd Birthday, Papa!

2013-01-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Oh hey, did I tell you I'm on instagram now? (@fairchildphotography) I'm kind of obsessed.

This handsome guy, with one complete sleeve and one sleeve just getting started, turned 33 last week. We spent all week celebrating him because we love him that much! We went to dinner at his parents, out to eat a few times, and to a marijuan@ filled concert (I bought the tickets, so I have no one to blame for that one).

We love you, Eric, and are so thankful to have you!

My Favorite Things Right Now

2013-01-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

When I'm home, I never take these my Minnetonka slippers off. And, ok, I even wear them out sometimes. Love, love, love.

I love drinking coffee in the morning. I recently gave up putting sugar in it, which is huge for me, so now it's just coffee, cream, and a pretty mug.

Slippers, mugs, and now a throw. I'm officially an old lady. I don't care, though, because curling up by the fire with a book, tea (I drink chamomile tea with honey and milk in those pretty mugs at night) and a throw is pretty much my favorite.

What are your favorite things in Winter?

Oh, Hello

2013-01-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

Hi friends!

I know I've been a little quiet the last few weeks and that's because it's been busy. Other than starting back and full-time homeschool we've been working on re-branding and re-launching our photography business, Fairchild Photography. We (and we is my husband and I, by the way) made a new logo and re-named out facebook page, joined instagram, and are building our website. We are working with some amazing brides and grooms and can't WAIT to shoot their weddings!

As for blogging, I leave for Alt Summit a week from today and I am DYING from excitement!

What have you been up to?