The Bright Eyed Brunette

 Happy Monday friends! We are coming off of an awesome weekend here on the homestead. We celebrated our favorite little girls' birthday on Saturday. Of course it was Barbie themed! Makena did a great job on the banner. A bounce house and Barbie themed...Yes please! Obviously, this was her pose of the day! Wrenley and her bestie, John Robert I love this little smile! I love her! Two pretty girls On Sunday, Trey got to preach a Sunday Morning service at our church. He was pretty nervous but did amazing and had improved since his last sermon. I am proud of him. He is definitely not ready to be a pastor but already has another engagement set up on the 27th of September. He even did a good job of dressing himself today! This was also our 5th Sunday, so we had potluck with singing after that. It was such a sweet time to come together as a church family. During our singing we had all of the men get up and sing (Trey played the guitar) and then we had all of the ladies get up and sing (my ...

Getting older is a funny thing. When you're younger, you think 40 sounds old. Then you get 40 and you realize you were clearly very confused. And somewhere along the way, birthdays start coming around a whole lot faster than they used to.  There are definitely things about aging that I could do without. The random aches and pains, needing reading glasses to see a menu, and realizing that staying up too late and requires a recovery period all come to mind. But there are also some really good things about getting older.  You know yourself better. You care a little less about what everybody else thinks. You start figuring out what-- and who -- is actually worth your time. And hopefully, you begin to realize that aging well isn't really about trying to stay young. It's about taking care of this life you have right now. So instead of talking about wrinkle creams, gray hairs, or trying to turn back the clock, I thought I'd share four ways we can age well-- body, mind, heart, ...

 Well guys, I'm back with another easy crock pot recipe! When I tell you I am a crock pot girly, I'm not lying! My family loves a good seafood boil, but so often, time just doesn't allow for it. Thankfully I saw this recipe on TikTok! Now let's get to the ingredients! Ingredients 1 lb. Andouille Sausage (cut into 1 in. squares) 1 1/2 lbs. Small Red Skinned Potatoes (cut in half) 3 ears Corn on the Cob, shucked and cut into smaller pieces (I cut into thirds) 1 Tbs. minced garlic 2 Tbs. Old Bay Seasoning 1 Lemon (cut in half) 4 c. Chicken Broth 2 lbs. Raw Shrimp (peeled and deveined with tails on) 4 Tbs. Butter (melted) Parsley Leaves (chopped) Instructions Step 1: Add potatoes (cut in half) and corn on the cob (cut in thirds) into the crock pot. Step 2: Add sausage and minced garlic on top of the potatoes and corn and then sprinkle the Old Bay       Seasoning. Step 3: Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over everything, then place the lemon halves into the crock pot. ...

 Hey friends! Today I am linking up with  Shay  and  Sheaffer  for another What's Up Wednesday! What We're Eating This Week... I have been pretty lax when it comes to my cooking lately, and as hot as it has been, I've been trying to use the grill and crockpot as much as possible. But Makena has been making these amazing overnight oats for our breakfast lately. She usually drizzles honey on hers, but I tried them plain today and they were still tasty! What I'm Reminiscing About... This week I find myself reminiscing about this tiny baby that will celebrate her fourth birthday on Saturday! Four years has flown by just as fast as it did with my own kids.  The sweet little girl who made me a BeBe And now she is almost 4!  Happy Birthday Week, Princess!! What I'm Loving... I recently found these vintage chairs (there are two) from a duck club that was getting rid of some furniture. The bottom is leather and the back is upholstered western print. It goes per...

Some weekends are packed with plans, places to be, and plenty to talk about. And there are weekends like this one! We didn't go anywhere exciting, there were no big projects or celebrations, and I'm pretty sure no one would be lining up to make a movie about it.  So, there may not be a whole lot to recap this Monday but grab your coffee anyway. Here's a little look at our perfectly ordinary weekend... Carl started rice harvest on Thursday of this week, so his weekend was pretty much spent at the farm or at the rice mill taking the crops in, oh and changing bean water. It' literally never ending this time of year! Headed to the field! Waiting in line to get dumped. Storm clouds rolling in I kept Wesley here at home on Friday. We had a great day. Just hanging out and getting all the baby love I could get💙 He is literally the sweetest baby in the world. This made me laugh out loud.  He looks like a little man just laid back in his easy chair watching Elmo 😊 On Saturday I...

Happy Friday, friends! Today I am linking up with  Andrea  and Erika  for Friday Favorites! It has been a long week here on the homestead. We have just been busy working, babysitting, and dog sitting :) I feel like I am next-level-tired. And this heat, ya'll. The Natural State has had 9 consecutive days of temperatures meeting or exceeding 100 degrees. That makes anything outdoors miserable. But this is a Friday Favorites post, so let's get to it! Evening Walks With My Girl One of my favorite things lately has been taking evening walks with my youngest daughter. There's just something about walking together at the end of the day that makes conversation come a little easier. We talk about whatever comes to mind-- sometimes important things, sometimes absolutely nothing important at all.  When your kids are little, you spend so much time with them that it's hard to imagine what your relationship will look like when they're grown. And them one day, they're adults, ...