This is always my favorite post of the month. They’re the most fun to go back and read, it’s a little bit of food, a little bit of my Timehop addiction, reading, watching, all wrapped up in one post.

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’m trying a new Half Baked Harvest recipe for my resident shrimp lover in the house (Mr. Harrison): Garden Herb Shrimp Scampi. We’re going to attempt to brave the heat this week and grill some burgers and hot dogs, and taco stuffed sweet potatoes, which I’ve never done before either! We’re rounding out the week with a couple of fun sweet treats for the boys to help me make: watermelon popsicles and blueberry cobbler, so I can use up some of the blueberries we picked and froze last month!

2: WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT: It snuck up on me, but my littlest boy is turning 2 this weekend! This past year seemed to fly by, and it’s amazing going back and watching videos of our Jonathan at this time last year. I think we always think about so much changing the first year of life, but my goodness! They change so much in year 1 to 2! Walking, talking, becoming so strong-willed and independent. Love my little guy so stinking much, and watching the boy that he is becoming now!

Isn’t he so stinking cute?! So biased, I know.

3. WHAT I’M LOVING: I came back from our trip to South Dakota feeling like I needed a diet reset. Too much good food and good drinks! I’ve been loving having Honey Greek yogurt in the morning with blueberries, sprinkled with flax seed or chia seeds. I had forgotten how much I loved this filling breakfast!

And it’s tomato season here! Between my sister’s cherry tomato plant and our tomato plant, I’ve been snacking on all of the tomatoes! There’s not much better than fresh tomatoes, IMO.

4. WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO: We spent the week around the Fourth of July visiting my parents at their cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

We had such a good time, and it was so nice to be able to just be in nature, relax, and do generally not much of anything. 🙂

Aside from our trip, we’ve been going to the pool to survive the heat in KC right now!

Hanging with our cousins…

And just goofing around and enjoying summer!

5. WHAT I’M DREADING: Potty training. I potty trained Harrison when he turned two. In fact, I started potty training him on his second birthday. What a birthday treat for him! I’m kidding, of course. We were in the middle of the first lockdown of the pandemic, and he was home full time with us out of daycare, so it was honestly as good a time as any.

But with Jonathan’s second birthday on the horizon, I’m thinking about when I want to tackle potty training with him. It’s just not my favorite task. Mostly for the monitoring of potty-ing that comes for seemingly weeks and months after the initial teaching to help them be successful….and I’m just kind of dreading it. I think we’ll wait a little longer before we start, because I’m just not mentally ready to tackle it yet.

6. WHAT I’M WORKING ON: Planning a second birthday party bash! We’re doing a joint party with cousin Holden, my sister’s littlest, who is only 12 days younger than Jonathan. I’m so excited to celebrate our little boys with friends and family!

7. WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT: The gardener in me is eagerly awaiting zinnia blooms! I directly seeded zinnias into the ground this spring, and they are just about to bloom. I can’t wait to see what colors ended up being successful in seeding! Here’s a picture of the very first one…

I don’t remember sowing an orange zinnia at all, but there it is.

8. WHAT I’M WATCHING & READING: We just finished watching…

Keep Sweet on Netflix. Fascinating mind blowing stuff about Warren Jeffs and the FLDS.

On our to watch list, though, is…

The second part of Stranger Things. We still haven’t gotten around to watching the second installment of this season. Is it good??

And I posted my monthly book review yesterday!

9. WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

I’m listening to Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio now. Does anybody else enjoy business/economic books every once in awhile? 🤓

10. WHAT I’M WEARING: Currently I’m wearing gym shorts and a cheap Target t-shirt. That’s my summer uniform!

My Nordstrom sale purchases, though, are starting to roll in…

Loved this lightweight Madewell sweater. I purchased in an XS thinking it would be the perfect weight for early fall when it’s still pretty warm out, but wanted something that looks more “fall.” Also of importance to me, it can go through the dryer. I love a sweater that can be dried…it’s the simple things in life.

Did you all shop the Nordstrom Anniversary sale this year? I’ll share the other things I bought as they come, but I didn’t buy much this year.

11. WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND: Saturday is Jonathan’s second birthday! Cupcakes are for sure in order to celebrate our little guy!

12: FAVORITE AMAZON FIND THIS MONTH: While my husband restocked on literally everything on Amazon Prime day and made up for almost a year hiatus since he had bought anything on Amazon by purchasing ALL THE THINGS in one day, I only bought one thing that I’ve had my eye on for years….

The Shark hair dryer. I’m hesitant to call anything life changing, but it’s significantly improving my life and drying time of my hair, which takes aaaagggggges to dry. #curlygirlprobs

Also, drying my hair is another time that I spend listening to Audiobooks. Stick those AirPods in and turn on something interesting!

13. WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH: We have so many fun things coming up in August! Jonathan’s official birthday party is in August, the first day of “school” where Harrison will start Pre-K (hold me. He can’t possibly be that old!), and we have a very exciting trip coming up in August!

Happy Wednesday, friends!