Words to live by...

Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered. this one is a bit tougher than the first prompts for this challenge. I have had some amazing examples, gotten wonderful advice and and heard countless awesome sermons but while thinking more about this one moment kept popping up in my mind.  

Coming up in just a couple weeks my husband and I will be married for 4 years (I can't believe it!) but my grandparents are now married for almost 54! They celebrated their 50th anniversary just weeks before our wedding. At our reception my grandpa took us aside and gave us a blessing... and some words of advice... and they have come back to me time after time.

Forgive always. Don't always have to be right. And bring her coffee in the morning (which my Nana seconded!) Most of all, keep God at the center of your relationship. 

so glad the moment was captured! 

Because of the distance we don't get to see my grandparents as often as I would like, but their example and advice has meant so much to me. Desmond and I often say we want to be like them.. still holding hands 50 years from now! 

What advice have you gotten that has always stuck with you?

xo Carly

Get my passport ready!

Blogtember day 2... I love this topic... basically day dreaming out loud :)

If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do? 

Well I'll start by saying I love my life... I'm really very happy with where I am at now (not that I don't have tons more that I want to do/accomplish... but you know) but if someone forced me and offered to pay of course! I would travel a whole lot..

... I'd go visit all my family in the States! my grandparents, aunts and uncles and of course my little brother out in AZ...

... and my parents in Ireland.. (oh wait, I AM going to do that in 2 weeks)...

i can't wait!!

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... and finally take that trip to Paris with miss P(and leave the kids at home!)...

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... and travel to all those places that we have dreamed about going.. Kenya.. China.. Italy.. Australia...  

and some island getaway with this guy...

Hmm.. he probably won't be 
thrilled about this picture going up on here...
but thats what he gets for always hiding from the camera :)

and since I'm dreaming here I would take some time first to shop for a whole new travel wardrobe of course! 

The thing is.. I hope to actually do these things one day.. so I'd like to think its not so much if, but when :)

(ok.. except for maybe the new wardrobe..) 

What about you? What would you do if you had 3 months off and a big fat bank account?

xo Carly

Wait... where am I from?

Lately I have been wanting to get more consequent about blogging more often but it seems things always get in the way... the list of excuses is really long.. but when I saw this "Blogtember" challenge over at Story Of My Life I thought it might be a good chance to start blogging more. I won't be doing every day... but I will do as many as I can! 

Today is day one and the topic is to describe where or what you come from. Seems like the perfect place to start! 

There are so many sides to this topic but lets start with the where. I am very proud to be an American. Its definitely part of who I am.. but I have now spent more than half my life living outside the states. When I was little my parents became missionaries to Lithuania and now for the past 4 years I have lived here in the Netherlands! 

Each place I have lived has really influenced who I am in so many ways. I am still very proud that I come from the most amazing country on earth (in my opinion) and I know that being brought up in an American household has formed my ways of thinking in a lot of areas. an outgoing attitude. a can-do way of thinking. and yes.. a strong sense of patriotism. 

  Our years in Lithuania also taught me a lot as well.. about adjusting. about what is really important. about how just because things are different doesn't make them wrong. I spent my teen years there and it changed me forever. 

And yet I continue to learn and grow and adjust here in Holland. It helps that my husband is from here.. and that the culture is so diverse.. and that I have an amazing support network of friends and family who are there on the days when I don't feel that I fit in. 

I have gotten a thicker skin. Grown a tad more sarcastic (it rubs off on you after a while :)).. I've grown up and become more independent. more reliant on my relationship with God. and I have fallen in love with this country and the people here. 

I have the feeling sometimes that I don't necessarily fit in anywhere. But instead of trying to focus on that part of it I try to take the best from all the places I have been in my life... and let it form me. hopefully for the better. 

I was also planning on writing today about the "who and what" part of where I come from but I feel I have rambled on for long enough already. 

I hope you enjoy maybe getting to know me a little better this month. Have a wonderful day! 

xo Carly

linking up at SOML! 

Washi tape.. Part 2

Next week we will be heading to conference in Zwolle.. It is always such an amazing time of fellowship and awesome preaching and so I am REALLY looking forward to it! This will be our first time traveling with Jason.. and even though its not that far from home we will be staying there the whole week. [I just started making my packing list... man he uses a lot of stuff for such a little person!!]

But anyhoo.. One really nice treat of conference is that they have nursery for the babies during all the services.. I am hoping he will do well since he isn't really used to that.. but I also really appreciate the ladies who will be watching him! So I decided to make some little presents to let them know how much it means to us!

I decided chocolate was a safe bet since most people like it but I still wanted to do something more special than just hand them a chocolate bar.. so I decided it was time for more washi tape! :)

I just used simple printer paper and the tape... but I think the effect is kind of fun! what do you think?

just getting ready makes me really excited for conference!

hope you have a wonderful day!

xo Carly

Washi Tape.. part 1

Since Jason has been born time I get on pinterest or blogs is really a treat but thankfully he is getting a better nap schedule.. which means I have more time to do my own thing. One thing I have been seeing a lot of all over the place is cool crafts done with washi tape... like these:

decorating craft letters

book marks

jazzing up notebooks

cute cards

tealight candles

and so when I spotted a bunch of cool designs at a euro store here I had to get some and try some things out!

I got all of these for 3 euros! score!

I started with some simple projects... and today I will post the first one.. I decided to decorate a candle for our living room.. I got a simple vanilla candle from the IKEA and this project took me maybe 30 seconds.. here are the results

I decided to do some tealight candles too and I think they came out really cute..

I think they would be cute as gifts and they are super easy to make.. and super affordable which is always a plus!

what do you think?

I will post another craft I did with the tape soon.. but I'm trying to think of even more. Do you have any ideas for me?

I hope you are having a wonderful day! (and that I didn't lead you into too much pintrest temptation!)

xoxo Carly

more photoshoot pics

I just can't help myself.. here are some more pictures from Jason's newborn shoot with Janny

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by! I mean.. this was almost 3 months ago!

Once again I want to give a big shout out to Janny... thank you so much! We will treasure these memories forever!

hope you all have a wonderful day!

Xoxo, Carly

look at that belly*

Long before I ever knew I was pregnant I would see these adorable "bump pictures" around the web and on pinterest and so when I found out we were expecting I made a point to try and take more pictures of me... (not my favorite thing)

And while we didn't do it exactly the way we planned... [at some point the pictures became selfies and moved from our living room to our bedroom mirror (with.. gasp... even a bathroom selfie in the mix... I know.. and i'm sorry!)] I did manage to document my growing bump along the way!

Now that Jason is here its really fun to look back and see him/my belly growing.. so I thought I would share.. hehe..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yikes.. that's a lota pictures of me... but fun to look back and see!
*when I look at them I can't help but think of this video someone sent me while I was pregnant..

still makes me giggle...

anyhoo..
hope you are having a wonderful week!

xoxo carly

He's such a model...

Some people are just so talented you know?! For instance a lady from our church in Zwolle, Janny... she takes these amazing photos :) You can head over to see her blog www.lighthousefotografie.blogspot.nl or her photography site www.janny-beimers-fotografie.nl

We were lucky enough to do a newborn shoot with her when Jason was just 10 days old! Her daughter is also a friend of mine who lives close by and we were able to do the shoot at her house. It was really amazing to see how much work goes into these shoots but the results were pretty amazing. I know I'm going to always treasure these pics of our little man...

Here are just a few to show you what I'm talking about :) (although I may post more soon!)

Amazing right? And I can't helped but be amazed by how much he has already changed since then!

If you have a minute be sure to check out Janny's sites and let her know you stopped by! (and if you have a newborn or need a photographer I would highly recommend her!) ;)

hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo Carly

Pictures from week 1

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You guys are going have to bear with me for a little bit while I post a lot about a certain someone in my life.. hehe.. I hope you don't mind :) I'll try to post on some other topics soon but you can expect to see a lot of him.

He was born at a hospital in Den Haag on May 3rd and 4 hours later we were already home!

That night my in-laws passed by..

3 generations of Mr. B's!

I had a really easy delivery and here in NL they do things a little differently. They actually have a nurse that comes to you home every day for the first week to check on you and the baby and help out around the house.

The lady that came the first day got sick though so we had a different lady the second day and then a 3rd lady for the rest of the time. It worked out so well though because we really hit it off with her, Helene. It was such a blessing to have someone here who could answer all my questions AND took care of the house and everything. Even just to have someone who would take care of the baby while I showered and such. She even brought me breakfast in bed-- I felt like a princess for the week!

Mr. J loves the bath.. here is his first one at 2 days old..
we put him in and he promptly fell asleep :)



punk hair after a bath.. and beautiful big eyes.



One of the best part of the week for me had to have been when my parents came though.. It is amazing to have your parents meet your child.. 

Don't you just love it when things work out kind of perfectly?! About a month before my due date my parents realized that they were going to be pretty busy in the month of May.. it actually worked out that there was just one week that they would be able to come visit.. unfortunately you can't exactly decide what day baby will make his grand entrance.. but they went ahead and got the tickets anyways. Jason came just 2 days after his due date and so it was right on time! My mom got to meet him when he was 4 days old and my dad just 2 days later!

nana meeting her grandbaby.. love this.

smiling at nana and grandpa

seeing them off at the airport



skyping with his great-grandmother



The weeks have flown by and I can't believe this was almost 2 months ago!

I hope you enjoy the pics! more to come!

xo Carly

He's Here!

I can't believe I haven't posted at all this year! So I guess its about time huh?

A LOT has happened as you can imagine but the most exciting thing has to be the birth of our amazing baby boy, Jason!! He was born May 3rd and the past month has been amazing! we are doing so well and so, so in love!

I plan on posting tons of pictures and updates soon! So for now just a few! enjoy!

the night before he came..
i'm so glad my mom reminded me to get a "40week" shot!

daddy holding Jay.. minutes after he was born

20 minutes old.. by then he had already totally stolen my heart

many more pictures to come.. :) xoxo Carly