Sunwashed Linen

June 2022 Garden Tour

Posted on June 1, 2022May 28, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Happy June! I hope you all had a good long weekend!

Gardening is one of my favorite things to do in the summer. I spend so much time poking around the gardens outside, seeing what’s growing, admiring how things grow together and interplay. Every summer, I try to give you a little peak at how my gardens are growing this year. So here’s my first installment of the Lane family garden 2022. There’s still work to do, but you don’t fully appreciate the work and growth without the ’before’ pictures.

The west side garden. This bed gets full sun. I love zinnias as fillers of this garden in between the peonies and other annuals. I’ve added a few more perennials this year. The lime green stonecrop in the front of the beds is an annual, and I planted white supertunias in between each one this year. The clematis on the trellis is in its second or third year, and looks super full and gorgeous.

Friday Favorites {05.27.22}

Posted on May 27, 2022May 26, 2022 by Lauren Lane

It’s Harrison’s last day of “school uniforms” for the year, and in daycare terms, I think that officially marks the start of summer for us! We don’t have much in the way of plans this weekend, but I’m hoping for lots of time outside with the boys.

I’ve been tucking our littlest to bed under his amazing quilt my Aunt made him. Nightime moments rocking the boys and putting them to bed, while sometimes feel overwhelming and like one more thing to do before I can relax, I always enjoy those moments with my boys the absolute most. Listening to Harrison talk to me about whatever is on his mind. Watching Jonathan fight sleep and finally give in to his heavy, droopy eyelids. It’s the most precious time as their mama right now.

What’s Up Wednesday {05.25.22}

Posted on May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Edit: My heart is heavy and shattered given the events in Texas yesterday. The fact that we’re here as a nation weeping again at the loss of innocent little lives in America. That we did nothing as a nation to change the course of the future after Newtown makes me sick to my stomach. That we live in a country that it seems the risk we take with sending our children to school in this country includes a higher risk of being shot and killed in their school than every other developed nation. It’s inexcusable. Exhausting. Heart wrenching. It makes me want to hold my babies close to me and never let them out into this seemingly cruel world.

I’m not tone deaf. And truthfully, I considered just pushing delete on this post. All of it was written before this horrific event. But it’s written. And it’s fun to read. So I’m going to leave it here because these are my memories that I want to be able to go back and read for myself. But where I’m personally at tonight, as I sit here in my pj’s having tucked my precious boys into bed, is a mess. Angry. Pleading with my fellow Americans. Can we please compromise to do something to move in the right direction to fix this. We must be better than this.

My favorite post of the month! A post with a little bit of everything. A little bit of food and recipes, a little bit of books, a little bit of looks at family, and lots more! I can’t believe we’re at the end of May getting ready to gear up for summer.

As always, I’m linking up with Shay and Sheaffer to share with you what’s going on in our life!

1: WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK:

I can not stop. You guys, I love these Chicken gyros, and they are on the menu again this week. AHH. So good!

Some homemade pizza and sundried tomato pasta with creamy burrata rounds out the week. Yum!

2: WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

Another fun soccer season for our little man!

We’ve had so much fun watching Harrison play this spring. He truly loves soccer. Every day he comes home and asks to play soccer, so we’ve had so much fun watching him get to do something he really loves with his friends. He may be the most into it four year old soccer player on the team, but we love every minute of getting to watch him!

May 2022 Book Review

Posted on May 24, 2022May 18, 2022 by Lauren Lane

You want to know how I know the weather started to improve in Kansas City, my children weren’t sick for an eternity and home for school, and I spent time on walks and gardening? I read four books this past month. Because I listen to all of my books, I stick in AirPods usually once a day if I can, and spend 20-30 minutes on a walk or outside gardening, and listening to a book. And this month there were some really good ones!

Ye Old Mom Guilt

Posted on May 20, 2022May 18, 2022 by Lauren Lane

I married a good guy. Nathan sat down with me back around the Christmas holiday, as I spiraled down on my to-do list, and feelings of being overwhelmed, compounding with thoughts that I wasn’t being the best mom I could be to the boys. And said, quite simply, “I need you to be happy. If you’re happy, I’m happy, and the boys are happy. So what’s missing for you right now?”

And let me tell you, I wasn’t prepared to answer the question. The truth was, I needed more time for Lauren things, and secondary to that, to not feel guilty about it.

The Basics of Peony Care

Posted on May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 by Lauren Lane

I can’t remember a time in my life that I didn’t love peonies. They remind me of my mom’s garden in the spring during childhood. Flowers filled our house for two weeks as they bloomed in the spring with big, beautiful fluffy ruffles.

All of my peonies (and peony knowledge) relates to herbaceous peonies, so that’s what I’m going to cover here.

How I Stay Active: A Q&A

Posted on May 17, 2022May 18, 2022 by Lauren Lane

It’s taken me awhile to get to a point in my life that I have a good routine going around staying active. Through all of my growing up years up through high school, being active was just simply part of life. I was a dancer, and spent sometimes 20 hours a week at the dance studio. But like so many, college came, and that routine went away, and it took me awhile to figure out what worked for me again. I’m sharing a few Q&A’s about my active lifestyle now, including the grace I give myself in this phase of life.

When did you start getting on a consistent exercise schedule as an adult?

I think like a lot of people, in my early adulthood, I went through phases of exercising. I’d go through a phase of doing nothing at all. Followed by a phase of going to the apartment complex gym every day and doing 30 minutes of elliptical. Then there’d be another phase where I’d do nothing.

Lauren’s Favorite Dresses for Summer

Posted on May 13, 2022May 11, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Every spring, I find myself on the hunt for some new spring and summer dresses for date nights, dinners with friends, and backyard bbq’s. If I’m honest, I spend almost all of my summer days with the boys wearing sweaty t-shirts and shorts. Running around and keeping up with two little boys lends itself more to the shorts and t-shirt life. But I love throwing on a dress in the summer with some lipgloss to make myself feel more put together for a quick happy hour or date night.

Here’s some of the dresses I’m eyeing for summer!

Let’s Look At…My Hometown

Posted on May 11, 2022May 10, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Harrison’s favorite song for the past year has been “More Than My Hometown” by Morgan Wallen, and whenever I look at this prompt, I think of that. It makes me smile.

I love this link up. A fun little prompt sharing a little part of our lives. As usual, the link-up is hosted by two of my favorite blogs (Shay @ Mix and Match Mama and Erika @ A Little Bit of Everything). Before we get to this month’s prompt…a look back at what we’ve looked at this year:

In February, I shared what we ate in a week.
For March, I shared a look back at college life.
Last month, we looked at how we plan date night

Today, I’m sharing a bit about my hometown. My hometown is just a few miles farther south than where we currently live. I grew up in a Kansas City suburb called Overland Park. That would be the very technical answer for my hometown, but quite frankly, there isn’t much difference between my hometown and the city where we currently live and are raising our kids, Prairie Village. And they are all just suburbs in the same general area of Kansas City.

Kansas City, while the city proper that most people associate with KC, is in Missouri, the Kansas City metropolitan area actually straddles the state line between Missouri and Kansas.

I loved having grown up in Kansas City, and now raising my own kids in KC. Having lived now in several other cities, I’ve realized that I’m truly a midwestern girl at heart. The people are kind and helpful, for a mid-size city there’s a lot of fun things to do, and it continues to grow, and it’s hard to picture ever loving another place to live more than this one!

SPORTS: Kansas City is home to many professional sports teams. Most popular are the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals. I have many fond memories growing up and over the years going to many games.

Lanes Lately {May 2022}

Posted on May 10, 2022May 6, 2022 by Lauren Lane

I was wondering what I should write about today. I had a weird assortment of things that were on my mind, or I wanted to share with you all. So a Lanes Lately post was born! Hope you guys had a good weekend!

MAKING: Chicken gyros with homemade taziki sauce. You guys. These are SO GOOD.

Taziki sauce recipe HERE + Chicken recipe HERE.