Hello Monday

Hello to a wonderful Mother's Day last weekend! 

Hello to extra loves for this brave girl who had to face yet another surgery. This one for her hip. 

The official surgery was called: right hip varus rotation ostestomy, acetabuloplasty, external oblique transfer, abductor posterior transfer. 

did you get that? 

let's just say, it was a doozy ...  

Hello to trying to smile through the pain. 

Hello to her pale face because she lost so much blood during surgery. 

Hello Angels Baseball player Hank Conger

Hello to the day after surgery, getting in the wheelchair and having a fun visitor come by who brought with him a signed hat and got our girl to smile! 

Hello CHOC

oh how we love you!

CHOC has been amazing!

From the most loving and kind staff, to the hospital geared around children and making their stay there as pleasant as possible. We are SO thankful for Choc Children's Hospital! 

Hello to being home!

Hello to a hospital bed in our family room.

Hello to a huge reclining wheelchair.

Hello to a bedside commode.

Hello to shower chairs.

Hello to a six week recovery. 

Hello to a sweet sister, Ella, who chooses to sleep on the couch next to Katie at night. Who helps take care of her sister in the sweetest, most loving way.

Hello to feeling SO thankful for their sweet sisterhood.  

Hello to still being on Cloud nine from the fun had at Elevate.

Hello to finally blogging about it here. 

Hello to an afternoon break in Seal Beach with Ella.

Hello to the sweetest husband who sent us on our way to enjoy the beautiful day and get a little break!

Hello to getting our nails done, having lunch, taking walks, visiting friends and ending our fun day with some cold stone overlooking the water.

Hello to how wonderful and much needed that was! 

Hello to a great husband and partner through this journey. We have had to do some major team work as moving Katie is a two man job. We have cried and laughed a lot together this last week. Thankfully we can still find the humor in things, even when it's tough. 

Hello to Headbands, the game.

Hello to Katie laughing again as it hurt to laugh the first few days! 

Hello to sweet, sweet friends who seem to just know when to come by right when we need them most! 

This week has been full of answered prayers and miracles. 

What a journey this is, but man, it sure is a special one to be on. 

Hello to one week of recovery down, five more to go.

Hello Monday! 

Elevate Blog Conference

A few months ago Summer emailed me and asked me if I would speak at the upcoming Elevate conference in Newport Beach. I remember seeing pictures from last year and thought it looked like such a great day, that I quickly said yes to the opportunity!  

However, once the other speakers were announced, is when the butterflies set in. Sure, I have blogged for the past seven years and I host a boutique a few times a year... but I am not a full-on-famous-blogger like the rest of the speaker line up. I can hardly keep my blog up to date these days, so I started to get pretty nervous about speaking at a blog conference and wondered what on earth I could contribute to the day!

 To be speaking with Kimmie, Ashley and Erin was quite the honor. These girls are as real as they come and are even more amazing in person. Speaking of awesome bloggers, the hosts of Elevate are awesome with all sorts of amazing talents! I could not believe all the details that went into putting an event like this on! They (Summer, Jen and Nicole) did an incredible job!

Just take a second to soak in this dessert table. The decor, the food, the sign, oh my! Perfection! 

Many of these pictures were taken by the talented Lora Knight.

Hoop graciously gifted to the speakers by the talented Nat from Take the Cannoli 

So, I started this Oh So Happy Day bright and early at my dear friend Megan's house. She is so fun and talented and we have the best talks, so going over there to get ready was a great distraction from my nervous stomach.

Megs working her magic on the atrociousness that I often show up with! Bless her heart, she helped me do my hair and make up and figure out the final touches on my outfit. Thanks Megan! 

Bryant took me out early Mother's Day shopping the weekend before. Top, skirt and Jeffrey Campbell shoes are from Nordstrom. I'm more of a Marshalls/TJ Maxx shopper, so this was out of my comfort zone, but a special treat. It's always fun to have a few special items in the closet. 

 

The event was held at the beautiful Newport Dunes in Newport Beach. When I walked in, I was in awe of the gorgeousness of it all!

 

The day started with a fun ice breaker game and then it was time to go inside to start the conference... (eeekk).

I was the first speaker of the day. I was glad I got to go first to get it over with. I spoke mostly about Katie's story and how it lead me to blogging more about disability awareness and then eventually the boutique. Now it's all a blur, but hopefully I made a little bit of sense. The main point I tried to encourage was sharing your story as you never know who it is going to affect. 

With the Elevate gals after I was done speaking. 

Next it was time for lunch! Can you even handle these darling napkin holders sewn with lace! I die! 

  

After lunch we networked and mingled. I so loved meeting the beautiful Nina from Momma Go Round. I have followed her forever and she is even more fabulous in real life! Love that girl!

So loved seeing Kimmie again. She was another speaker and has a beautiful story and did amazing! Her heart is so big and she is so genuine. Love her! 

Beautiful Robin from Three Water Babies was such a joy to meet. Such a sweet, beautiful gal! 

Back inside, Erin from Living In Yellow had us on our feet and dancing during her incredible talk! So much fun and such a neat blogging story. 

'

Jen then explained the craft to us and sent us on our crafting way.... 

I so loved sitting at the table crafting with these dolls. What a treat it was to just craft and chat together. 

Emmy and Nichelle. I met Emmy a few months ago at a Power of Moms retreat. She spoke there and I loved her heart. It was great to see her again at Elevate! I read Nichelle's story a few years ago and I was instantly drawn to her positive outlook and happy spirit. 

and

my favorite loves Nina and Nay. Such fun, sweet gals!  

Oh my gosh, these girls had my heart from the moment I met them! Darling gals who traveled from Utah and Arizona to come to this conference. I seriously died over their cuteness and warm hearts. These girls are moving mountains with their amazingness.  

Chrissy, Nichelle, Elise and Katie

I so loved meeting Little Miss Mama, Ashley, who was also our final speaker. What a joy it was to listen to her share her heart and her story. She had sound advice and was a remarkable speaker! 

 
Another highlight of the day was learning more about Sole Hope and the service project that followed. 

The day ended with Minute to Win it Games which were hysterical and had us all cracking up so hard! 

Such an amazing day spent with amazing gals!

And... the Swag! Holy Smokes! This bag was filled with goodies from the following: 

Royal Design Studio - The Twinery  - DK DeleKtables - Coldstone Chocolate - Edeenut - Cut It Out - Kustom Kissers - DecoArt - Scentsy - Mary Kay - The Pink Elephant Bowtique - Sassy Lemonade - Bubba's Basics - Elise's Pieces - Julep - Life with Lovebugs - Charmed By Wine - Expressions Vinyl - Little Penelope Lane - Cloud Nine Designz - Stuck in the Coop - Little Mrs. Crafty - Laura Hernandez Photography - Red Heart - Lisa Leonard Designs - Evie Ivy - Salty Bison - Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke - Take the Cannoli - Barn Owl Primitives - Kara's Party Ideas - The Glitter Revival - Austenland Accessories - Sew What by Saira - Jo Totes - Love Sparkle Pretty - Fairly Fabulous - jessica N designs - Spoonful of Imagination - Love Stitched - Dogeared - Beach Blues - The Gingerbread Blog - David Vevia Photography - Shaun Andrews Photography - Poppy Seed Projects - Madison Design Studio - Lora Knight Photography - Silhouette - Newport Dunes - Once Upon a Cupcake - Take Two, Etc. - Meringue Bake Shop - Sensitive Sweets - Velata - Nothing Bundt Cakes Huntington Beach 

Once again, a huge thank you to Jen, Summer and Nicole for all their hard work in putting together and amazing conference and day! 

Help Give JOY this Mother's Day

The gift of a wheelchair not only changes the life of the individual, but often changes the life of that person's family and especially their Mother. Please consider giving this beautiful gift, even the priceless gift of mobility, in honor of Warrior Mothers around the world.

Only A mother would cradle her 7 year-old daughter like a 7 month-old, would quit her job to nurture her child 24/7, would carry her child everywhere on her back because her child couldn't walk. Only a mother loves like this. Thank you for loving more than 682,000 mothers and their children.

Being a mother is a challenge—being a mother in the developing world while working through disability is an even bigger one. As we gather around the mothers in our lives we want to extend our love and appreciation for them and their hard work, to others around the world.

Help give joy this Mother's Day.

Rockin Boys Club Launch

Last week this little guy and I were invited to attend the Rockin' Boys Club launch. It was held at Sky High Sports in Orange County. When we got the invitation, I told Carter about it and he could hardly wait! A date night with Mom, just the two of us, at Sky High! He had a count down until the event and we were both so excited to attend. When we arrived, there was a fun red carpet, backdrop and fun photo props that we took advantage of. 

Right away, I saw some of my favorite blogging Kyla, Jaime, Elizabeth and crafty friends. I have not seen these girls for a while, so it was great to catch up with them while all our boys bounced the night away! 

Carter bounced and bounced and flipped and bounced for hours! A few times I went out there and bounced with him, but did not last too long (that was a lot of bounce for this mom)! He made some new friends and bounced with them through out the night. 

 

SO FUN to meet Jill, the founder of Sandy Toes and Popsicles (a blog I have read for years getting fun ideas to do with my kids around Southern California) and now she has launched the Rockin' Boys Club too! What a super woman!! We have so many mutual friends and have known one another in the blog world for years, that it was crazy we had never met in real life. Finally, the day came and it was awesome! She is so great! Thanks Jill for being awesome!!!

Our outfits (since I am also linking up for WIWW)

Carter: Tommy Hilfiger button up from Macy's

Shirt from Target, Shorts and shoes from Old Navy.

Me: Top from Red (local boutique)

Jeans: Khols

Shoes and bracelet: Target

I also got to meet Julie (THE Angry Julie Monday)

 She is awesome! It was great to sit and chat with her (she was able to step away from CSI for a bit to swing by). A Mom, Crime Scene Investigator, blogger, runner, this gal does it all! 

 Superhero Repair Kit!! Too Cute! 

(printable and instructions can be found HERE)

What a fun night spent with my little guy who sound asleep by the time we got home. 

We had a blast at this fun event! Thanks to the Rockin' Boys Club gals for hosting such a fun, fun night!