Clements Chronicles

Let’s Go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Myke — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:23:23 +0000

So a few weeks ago, we had the amazing opportunity to take a few days off in the middle of the week and head out to Monterey! We stayed in the beautiful Butterfly Grove Inn, which we highly recommend, it’s a little dated, but if you have kids, the family room is a really nice suite with the king bed in the front room and the queen bed even has a separate bathroom! The main attraction was on Wednesday when we got to take the girls to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for their first time. Let me tell you! They about lost their minds seeing the open sea tank with the hammerhead sharks. We saw everything, and I mean everything the Aquarium had to offer, it’s so fun seeing them experience it for the first time and the absolute wonder! I think their favorites were the Jellyfish exhibit and the octopus exhibit! One cool thing I was able to do, was to capture some west coast beach sunset photos!

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Let’s Bake Rocky Road!

Myke — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 18:04:52 +0000

The Holidays are here and it's my favorite time of year, mostly because it's Rocky Road Season! This is a staple in our family. Every year my mom would make a batch for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. And I would always end up eating at least half of the batch.

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One Blank Wall – A Short Film

Myke — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 01:02:00 +0000

Good Evening! I wanted to share my latest short film “One Blank Wall”. We’ll be posting a little life update in a few days, but as you can tell we’ve moved into a new apartment and set aside some space for some special photos. If you’re wondering these are photos printed on metal from Printique, and in-person they are stunning! A few weeks before we moved I was poking around on the Printique site and got a notification that if I signed up to their email list I could get a free metal print. I ordered one and was blown away by the quality and the impression it left on me. When we were hanging our art on the walls, I knew that I wanted to get some big metal prints for our living room wall. I chose two special photos. The first is a photo I took in South Lake Tahoe, on our anniversary this year. In the last few years, money has been very tight and we had no room in the budget for “extra” stuff. I know that for many people, 2020 was a difficult year, and in some ways, for us it was. However, this year we also saw some fulfilment of the promises of God. Looking back now, I know that God moved us to where we were at the start of 2020 for specific reasons. I’m in an industry that was able to continue operations during the pandemic, we were blessed by our Indian tribe and my video business added several new clients. Even the timing of our move into our apartment has some amazing “God-timing” aspects that we’ll share one day. When you come to the other side of a difficult season, and look back, it’s hard not to feel foolish when you consider the doubting thoughts, and things you said in desperation to God in your times of prayer. Looking back you can see the path, and you realize “Oh, that’s why I went through that” or “That’s why the answer to my prayer wasn’t ‘yes’ at that time.” When you’re in “The Valley” it’s hard to get perspective, but once you ascend “The Mountain” you can look and see your path. In these “Ah-ha” moments, it’s important to think about the next difficult season and set reminders for yourself. To make you remember how you felt during the last difficult season when you didn’t believe that you would make it out, and to remember the feeling when you ultimately did. Jacob does this in Genesis 28, he receives several promises from God in a dream and when he wakes, he stacks the stone he was using as a pillow and calls the place “Bethel”. It becomes a landmark, a reminder of God’s promises. For our living room, we chose to do the same. I chose these two photos for specific reasons. Last november, Allison and I were able to send OJ & MJ off to my parents house for a sleep over and we snuck away to South Lake Tahoe. I had never been and it had been awhile for Allison as well. I booked us a nice hotel and we spent Saturday exploring (This was right before the “Regional Stay at Home” order had been issued). In Heavenly Village there is this Gondola, it’s a half hour ride to the top of the mountain with a vista spot halfway up. It was pretty pricey at $60 per person, in years past, we would have just skipped it (We also wouldn’t have been able to afford the trip in general but that’s besides the point). However, this year, we had been blessed with some extra money that made the trip and the gondola ride possible. Let me tell you something, it was worth it! The view was stunning and the lake looked incredible. I snapped several pictures, but this was one of my favorites. The second photo is of the Sacramento Tower Bridge. It’s an iconic landmark in Sacramento. It’s also one of my favorite spots to photograph. I think years down the road I’ll put together a series of photos I’ve taken there as a timeline of my progress as a photographer. Sacramento is an important city to me. My earliest memories are here, and until 2010 it was the longest I’d lived in one place. When we moved from Sacramento in December 1998, I wanted nothing more than to move back. I was 9 years old and missed my friends, and didn’t understand why we had to move. Years later when I met Allison, we connected over the fact that she was from Sacramento. A few more years down the road, my parents ended up back in the area as well. This made holidays a lot easier because we could drive to one place and see both sides of our family. I loved living in Los Angeles, but my heart was still secretly wishing we could raise our kids in Sacramento. In 2018, my heart got its wish, and I finally returned. You’ll notice a blue letter “C” for Clements. Even this simple wall decoration has importance to me. See, I got this from my mom in my stocking on Christmas Morning the year Allison and I got married. If you know me, my love language is Gifts and I also don’t usually appreciate “cheesy gifts”. I pulled the letter from my stocking, looked at the Raiders beanie Taylor had gotten, and the scarf my wife had gotten, looked at the wooden letter C and said, “Oh, it’s a C…like for Clements”. My mom immediately busted out laughing, saying “I knew you wouldn’t like it, its more for Allison anyways.” To which I replied, “Then give it to her, not me!” I don’t know why, but I kept that letter C, at the time we lived in a small studio apartment, and then later that year we moved into the apartment we would live in for 5 1/2 years. At some point, I decided to put together a little collage of photos in the dinning room area. As a joke, I put the letter C in the middle. The next time my parents came to visit, we all laughed at my funny joke. My mom said “See! (Pun intended) I knew you’d eventually like it!” Now it lives in on our reminder wall, you might be thinking, “He’s dangerously committed to this bit!” And you’d be partially right. As I was thinking about it, it too is a reminder. Let me explain, overshadowing that Christmas, (Our first as a married couple) was the beginning of an extremely difficult season for my parents. You can read about that on my Mom’s blog. I won’t go too far into it because it’s not my story to tell, but it was a very hard, very long season for them. Throughout they remained faithful and held on to hope that God would be faithful to them. They are currently thriving in their work and their life, and it is so encouraging to see. A few times Allison and I have done this thing, where we play video games, (Me on my Xbox, her on her phone) and we listen to sermons. We were listening to one by Stephen Furtick called Borrowed Confidence. In the sermon, he talks about how Paul “borrowed” the confidence of the Phillipian Church and how we can do the same. When we’re in a time where we can’t see through the challenge in front of us, we can borrow the faith that God will see us through from others who have gone through similar things. Hanging the letter C started as a joke, but now it’s become an even more potent reminder of God’s faithfulness, and is there in case we need to borrow some confidence. I really hope you enjoyed this short film. Please don’t forget to like and subscribe to our channel for more stuff like it. Thank you!

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Allison’s Photo Editing Challenge!

Myke — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 18:06:28 +0000

I have been interested in photography since we got married in 2011. I always loved the idea of capturing a place or a moment and having that to hold. If you have read our blog at all you can see that Myke has blossomed into a good photographer and continues to better himself. I know how to post and shoot, but when it comes to the editing process, I’m so lost. One afternoon, my parents offered to watch the girls for the afternoon while we have a date day. Myke decided that we needed to go take some pictures at a river. However everyone else and their mothers decided to go to this place, so we found a small little place off a stream and it was a perfect place for me to practice. Then, you guys, he let me fly the drone. I don’t think anyone who doesn’t know us personally will understand how big of a deal this is. He does not let me fly the drone. I usually don’t like flying the drone, I’m too scared to. But today was the day he was going to let me fly the drone. It was a short little outing, but so much fun! I flew the drone a little bit and a few shots I took made it into the video! Check back next week for another video! Allison’s Photos Myke’s Photos If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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OJ Goes to Pre-School!

Allison — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 16:20:10 +0000

Our little one is off to pre-school. To be honest, it wasn’t a hard decision to make. This girl has been cooped up in a house for the better part of a year due to the pandemic and we were hoping to put her into school for the 2020-2021 school year, pandemic or not. With COVID, we were a little concerned about which school to send her to. It obviously needed to be a place where we were comfortable and where we knew she could thrive. Every school we looked at had great plans in place for sanitizing and staying clean and would have been fine to send her to, but we decided to send her to the nursery school at my childhood church. It is also the place where Myke and I got married and the nursery school where I attended at Olivia’s age. To say I’m emotional is an understatement. So many things coming full circle on this day. It’s an overwhelming day for me. Olivia is loving it! For the last few weeks, she has been walking around the house, wearing her backpack saying “ok, see you later, I’m going to school.” When I dropped her off I could tell she was excited and nervous. She won’t know how to express that, but she’s like me. Excited for the next step but nervous about something new. She’s like most of us. She walked in, looked around and the teacher had to tell her to turn around and blow me a kiss. She did and waved goodbye. I held it together but started to lose it when I got to the car. She’s growing up.

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Two Little Capes

Myke — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Those that have known me for a while, know the twist-filled turns my life took from 2006-2007. I was a senior in high school and had decided that I wanted to attend Azusa Pacific University in the fall of 2007. I also wanted to play football, and study music. For reasons that would be too great a diversion from the main narrative of this blog, those two desires were mutually exclusive. So in the heat of the moment, wanting to still play football, I switched majors during the class registration process. I landed on the other thing I was interested in doing with my life. Film. I had done some little short movies with our Church’s Mini DV camera (Perks of being a pastor’s kid!) that were TERRIBLE, but nothing of any real narrative value. Still, I thought it would be fun to make that my major. The fall semester started, and I had dropped out of football and was attending the film major orientation class they had for freshmen the first week. I sat there with my new friend Rik who lived across the hall in my dorm. We sat there a little awkwardly as many of the incoming freshmen asked questions that made us feel that we were way behind. As we walked back to the dorm, we both kinda talked ourselves out of the film major. Rik wasn’t going to be taking a film class, but I was. I decided to give the class a shot. I soon realized I was out of my depth for even the intro class. Immediately following that class, I had the fateful first day of Public Communication. It was a life-changing class that I’ve written about before on other forums. I decided I would devote 4 years and $100,000 to pursuing a communication degree. Rik picked Graphic Design and now runs his own print shop, Kinetic Print Co. (If you need some shirts or stickers hit them up!) Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. Allison and I had the same major so we were able to take most of the main classes together and those were some amazing days! However, there was still a little ember inside that wanted to eventually make films. It laid dormant for a lot of years. Then, when Allison started getting into blogging, I started picking up a camera and we did some video stuff, then I started doing video editing and filming for my Church, and that kept the ember hot as I learned how to use a camera. When we moved to Sac and started making more of an effort to vlog and I started Focus Video, the ember was finally allowed to burn. I poured myself into learning more about cameras, lighting, composition, and started teaching Allison some of those same things. Our vlogs got a little better, and when we went to Pismo last October, I made what I would call my first short film “The Salt and Foam”. I was so happy with it, and with the reception it got! So I wanted to do it again. But, I had no idea what to do. I like for art to “say something”, and sometimes, I don’t have anything to “say”. So I just lived my life for a while hoping the next idea would hit me. It wasn’t until I had made the capes for OJ & MJ that I had the idea to actually make it into a little short film. The girls were so excited about the capes and wanted to run around in the backyard, I quickly grabbed my camera just to shoot some b-roll stuff to maybe use in a vlog down the road. Or just cut the footage to some music and post on Instagram and call it a day. But, then like a day later, I had “something to say.” I started working on a script and found a good track to use and cut the second sequence to it and then needed something for the first part. That night, after we put the kids to bed, I reset all the sewing stuff, rigged up lights, and taught Allison how to use our Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini 4k (A 10-pound monstrosity of a camera) and we filmed the sequence you see in the film. It’s crazy sometimes, you have to work for an idea, other times it’s like a switch just turns and there you have the whole thing laid out. I hope you enjoyed this little film, we really like it and we’re proud of it! If you want to see more like this, let us know, we’ll start banging our heads together and see what we can come up with!

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A Quick Trip to Pismo Beach

Myke — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 13:55:00 +0000

Pismo to us is a time to refresh and escape. So we were thrilled when Monday came and we packed up the car and headed to the central coast. We hit some traffic on the way there, so I'm super thankful Myke found this for the girls so they could watch veggie tales on an iPad after their naps in the car. Olivia did not nap, but she was silent and reading while Meghan napped for a bit. Our first stop is always in San Luis Obispo at Firestone Grill. The girls gobbled up their grilled cheese and we all enjoyed our tri-tip sandwiches. SLO Sweets is another must. They have an amazing selection of candy and other knick-knacks for kids so the girls were literally like kids in a candy store.

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Fastest Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever!!

Allison — Fri, 01 May 2020 18:55:00 +0000

Let’s Bake: EP 5 – Puddle Cake! What on earth is a puddle cake? Myke was looking through the recipe book and this one stood out to us. The recipe card looked old and a little worn. Also in the upper right, it said it was from the 1960s! Where did this recipe come from? I asked my mom about it and this is a fascinating piece of her history. Which makes this the perfect recipe to make our season finale! My mom used to make this recipe with her friend when she was little. Looking at the recipe, it makes sense, there’s no knives, mixers, or even complex techniques! This is a perfect recipe to teach your kids (once they’re old enough to use the oven!), it’s fast, easy and is actually a lot of fun to make! The recipe gets its name from the fact that you sift all of your dry ingredients into the cake pan, and then make three puddles with the wet ingredients before you mix everything up! We weren’t particularly successful with the “Puddle” part of the puddle cake, as you can tell by the photos, but it did look really cool! If you’re still under some shelter at home orders, and you have the ingredients in the house, trust us and try this recipe this weekend! This cake is light, fluffy, and downright delicious! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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What’s a Pea Picking Cake (NO PEAS INVOLVED!!)

Allison — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 18:30:00 +0000

At first when we read this recipe we were a little apprehensive. This cake wasn't a cake from scratch and it uses mostly packaged ingredients. I personally don't mind, but there was a part of me that worried that this wasn't like other cake recipes. However, this adventure is about baking family recipes and this used to be my mom's family's go to cake for birthdays. I have little memory of having this cake when I was younger. Once I saw the cake complete, I did remember having it at some point.

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Are these the World’s Best Cookies?

Allison — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 14:00:00 +0000

This recipe comes from a former coworker of my mom's and she had never made them before. She couldn't remember when exactly she received them, but she did have a little bit of a memory of the cookies. They are a bit different, but they were good.

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Buttermilk Brownies Lighter Than Air!

Allison — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 14:00:00 +0000

I love a good brownie. My favorite ones are the thick gooey ones. If there are chocolate chips, even better, but no nuts. Never nuts. So I was excited to try a new recipe from our family cookbook, but as we always do, with a little modification.

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Let’s Run: Actually Running

Allison — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 19:00:00 +0000

It takes a little while to build your running legs. I knew this going into my running journey, but last week I wanted to just run. I get bursts like that-when I just want to take off an start running. I wouldn’t call it a runner high just yet-at least it doesn’t feel like that for me. I know I’m not officially into half marathon training, but this is what I’ve been doing for those of you who are interested: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I run via the Couch to 10K app. Tuesdays I go for a long walk with the girls. Before the gym shut down, Thursdays were my spin class, since then I’ve been trying to get in some pilates or some weight work at home. It’s important to do some strength training when you are training to help boost your leg strength and overall strength. So last week’s training went really well and now we are going into the tougher weeks. Wednesdays run was 8 minutes of running, 5 minutes walk and then another 8 minutes of running. Something I learned recently was that walking periods between runs are important. If you were like me, you would think well duh, you can rest, but it’s not just about catching your breath. It’s about letting your muscles get a break too. It has something to do with the tissues in your muscles and how they will become stronger with the walks. Another interesting fact is many marathon runners walk for about a minute in their runs. Now we don’t see this most of the time because we obviously see them running, but it isn’t uncommon for them to walk in the middle of it all. My uncle ran a marathon and he said that he ran for 20 minutes and then walked for a minute, and then repeated throughout the 26.2 miles. He wasn’t the top finishers, but like me, that wasn’t his goal. He met his goal and that’s what matters. I don’t know how exactly my half marathon training will go just yet, I’m still looking into what is the best program, but for right now I’m focusing on my current running and loving every minute of it so far. Can’t wait for the next run: 20 minutes without stopping. Let’s do this.

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Homemade Caramel Popcorn!

Allison — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0000

The joke in our house is my Aunt Christy has never steered anyone wrong. She is my dad's oldest brother's wife, meaning she has been in the family the longest of any of the spouses. My aunt is one of the people I look up to. She is a former teacher and reading specialist, so she always bought us the best books (I thank her for my and now Olivia's love for If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. When it was time for my sister and me to fly across the country together alone at 14 and 15 years old, she made sure we had tricks up our sleeve and we were safe at our gates. Yes, in the pre 9/11 days, my aunt convinced a TSA agent to let her walk us to our gate and make sure we were okay. She is one of my all-time favorite people. So when I saw that this recipe was from her, I knew it was going to be good.

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Let’s Bake Series Coming Friday!

Allison — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 19:40:00 +0000

We were considering the idea of doing a kind of dessert focused "Julie and Julia" with one of our many cookbooks at home, but Myke had an even better idea! My mom has two recipe books, one for dinners and lunches, and the other strictly for desserts. They are a collection of old school recipe cards that she's collected over the years. Most of them haven't been made in a long time, or ever. So we thought, "Hey let's do a series of videos where we bake through the dessert book!" and Let's Bake was born.

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Let’s Stay Home: Things That are Bringing Me Joy

Allison — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 18:43:05 +0000

How's everyone doing? If I'm being truthful, life has been somewhat normal for us in our house. Now don't get me wrong, it's been difficult to be in the house and not going pretty much anywhere except for walks. We have been able to sneak out to Jamba Juice a couple of times, don't worry we kept up our social distancing. Myke's job has been deemed essential so he still goes into work. My dad is home with me and the girls, so that's really the only thing that has changed. However, it is wonderful to have some help while we are cooped up in the house.

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Let’s Run: Two Weeks In

Allison — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 15:00:00 +0000

I’ve been running consistently for a couple of weeks now and I have to say, I feel good. I’m tired, but I do feel good. As I’ve mentioned before, I used to run pretty regularly in college and before I had kids. I truly did miss it, but it was hard for me to balance it with the life I had created when I was living in LA. Now that I’m in this new season, it feels so good to get back to it. As I mentioned, instead of jumping into full-blown half marathon training, I’m doing Couch to 10k training to build my running legs back up. Luckily the RISE RUN isn’t until December so there is a little bit of time to do this. Hopefully, it won’t get canceled like so many events have lately. This past week, I ran two times with the girls in the double stroller and one time on my own at night. I hope to run in different ways (with the stroller, in the rain, etc) to help my running. However, after running without the stroller I will say, it is 10 times easier to run without it! Oh, man! Pushing two kids in a stroller is hard work anyway and to add in a run really helps you feel the burn! I’m glad that I have opportunities to run in the rain. It’s not my favorite activity, but I feel like I need to do it just in case it rains in Texas in December. We are still in the very early stages of training and I know it’s going to get harder, but that’s where you find your strength and courage. As someone with a question for what the future looks like sometimes, it’s nice to be in charge of a schedule and something that is benefiting me and ultimately my family.

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Let’s Stay Home: We are All in this Together

Allison — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 21:40:00 +0000

It’s no secret what’s been going on in the world. It’s easy to be nervous about the coming week and what’s to come. I want to encourage you to not be afraid and take this as an opportunity to love on your family more. I posted some suggestions on what to do when it’s raining outside, while those are still good ideas to do every so often when it’s raining, I thought it would be fun to share some things I’m doing with the girls during this “stay at home” order when now have on our state. FaceTime. Obviously. My sister lives on the East Coast, so we FaceTime already, however, now that she’s been home she has been able to talk to the girls a bit more which they love. Long Walks. I already take the girls on walks and I take them out when I do my training runs, however I have started to take them on longer walks. If I am doing a training run, I will go an extra 15 minutes or so, but if I’m not, I take them on a hour walk at least. Now that Olivia is a little older, I take her out for the last little stretch of the walk for her to walk, run, and play in the dirt. Find a hiking trail, most are still open. Just make sure you follow any rules they put in place like staying 6 feet apart. I tend to just walk on the other side of the street when I see someone, but always smile as I go past. Sending drawings to family/friends. We are blessed to have family close by, but we do have some family and friends that are far away. So I decided it would be fun to send some snail mail to these folks that live far away. So I set Olivia up with pencils and paper and she went to town. Meghan got in on it too, but doesn’t quite understand how to hold a pencil yet, but she will get there. Introduced a new movie. The original Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music (also called Maria by Olivia) have officially entered our house and I cannot be more excited about it. Sorry Myke… Stay healthy, get outside for a walk, and wash your hands. Above all else, be kind to one another, we are all in this together.

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Rainy Day Activities at Home

Allison — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 16:55:00 +0000

After living in Los Angeles for 6 years, I’m so happy that we get to write one of these posts. Having grown up in Sacramento, I know that rainy days are frequent, especially in January. I knew I was going to need some things lined up for rain and for extremely cold mornings. We have had some super cold mornings (below 40 degrees) the past few weeks and I didn’t think the girls would be comfortable. They are little troopers, but I don’t like feeling their cold little hands when we get inside. Olivia will wear mittens and have her hot chocolate, but Meghan doesn’t like keeping her hands under the blanket let alone keeping the blanket on her legs. We’ve tried to wait to do walks in the afternoon when it’s a little warmer, plus we have Daddy home which they love. \ Here are some things I do with the girls in the morning and/or when it’s raining. Coloring! Olivia has fallen in love with coloring and I’m here for it. I used to love coloring has a little girl and to see her get so excited to scribble on paper makes my heart so happy. We also include stickers from the Target dollar spot. I also found some activity books during the holiday that she loves to do. She doesn’t do the actual activities, but she scribbles her little heart out. Mega Blocks. These were handed down to us from my cousin and his family (thanks again Caitlin and Kev!). They love them! Olivia loves to build different things and Meghan loves taking them out of the box and putting them back in the box. The best thing is I don’t have to worry about them swallowing them since they are on the bigger side. We have Myke’s old Legos waiting for them at his parent’s house when they are a bit older so this is a good little preview for them. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie on Amazon. Before I continue, I’m not a big fan of sticking kids in front of the TV “just because”. Olivia really didn’t start watching TV until she was 2. Myke and I are extremely picky about what we watch, not only for the girls but for us as well. We watched a few different kids shows together to see what we would let the girls watch. Olivia has become obsessed with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. We’ve mentioned it before but it’s quiet, teaches manners, and Olivia has really expanded her vocabulary after watching it. We only watch TV in the morning. If we watch anything in the afternoon, we limit it to one movie. Dance Party. Olivia has become quite the little dancer. She loves listening to music and then dancing her little heart out. Meghan gets into the groove too, her go-to move is “squat and clap.” Lastly, we put on our jackets and rain boots and go play in the rain! It’s messy, they get muddy and wet, but that’s what Spray ‘n Wash is for. Then when the girls come in, we change into sweatshirts and comfy pants and eat a snack while we warm up. What are some of your favorite rainy day activities? Let us know down in the comments!

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Let’s Run in 2020!

Allison — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 19:15:00 +0000

Well the half marathon is happening. The first weekend in December I will be traveling to Texas to run my second ever half marathon. I will be participating in RISE RUN hosted by Rachel Hollis and her team. To say I’m nervous would be a bit of an understatement. My last half marathon was in 2016, the year before I had Olivia. Many people asked me why I wanted to run a half marathon and my answer was and still is simple: to do it. I enjoy setting a goal and then completing that goal. I’ve done it once before, so I can do it again. While I haven’t started officially training yet, I am starting to run consistently and I consider this my pre-training. Since I haven’t run in so long, I’m doing a scheduled run for a few weeks and planning to start officially training in May or June. Right now, I’m doing runs through Couch to 10k. If you are hoping to start running, I would highly recommend this app, it guides you through the interval training, which is what I was looking for. Myke is currently working through the Couch to 5k version, there’s also a half marathon one, which I plan on using-unless someone has another recommendation. Before I started running, there were a few things I did that helped me get going and help me stay motivated. I thought I would share with you in hopes that it would inspire you to do your own running journey. 1. Find a race you REALLY want to do! My first half marathon was here in Sacramento. That race was picked out of convenience. This time I wanted to pick one where I would want to run, no matter what. A race that I would be willing to pay the money for. As mentioned in other posts, I admire Rachel Hollis. There are many reasons to like her, but the main reason is I read her book, Girl, Wash Your Face, while I was in the cloud of postpartum with Meghan. It was a hard period of my life and the book helped me crawl out of the hole I was in. So when it was time to find a race and she announced her intention to do a race in Texas, I alerted Myke immediately and told him we needed to keep an eye out. 2. Get fitted for new shoes! Running can take a toll on your body so it is very important to find shoes that will support you while running. Fleet Feet is an amazing store and I’ve been fitted there before and I’ve never been disappointed with the shoes. Over the past year, they implemented a whole foot scan to help them find the perfect shoe for your feett. They helped me find the right shoe and insole (I have a higher arch). 3. Buy a New Outfit Ok-yes I know work out clothes can be expensive, but there really is something about finding an outfit that you just love. Target has a brand new work outline I’ve been wanting to try. Myke got a few from the men’s line and they are pretty good quality for a fair price. 4. Fuel Your Body! Outfits are great and they can get your butt out of the seat. However, what’s really going to help you stay motivated and strong is what you put in your body. If there is anything that has been reinforced to me in my weight loss journey, it has been that what you put in your body fuels what you do. After eating whatever during and after pregnancy, you lose sight of that and it’s been a journey to bring that back to the forefront of my mind. Myke and I have made a huge effort to eat better not only for running/training, but for our girls. We want them to have good habits and we have intentionally made healthier choices so they can watch and learn. This includes not only fueling with food, but with water. Being hydrated is key in every day life. As Rachel Hollis says, drink the stupid water! 5. Get Accountable Myke is my big supporter and accountability person and I’m so thankful that he is doing all of what he is doing for me. He’s a keeper for sure. However, he is not the only one keeping me accountable. The biggest accountability buddy I have is Olivia. We go for a walk pretty much every day, so when I ran my first run, I told Olivia we are going for a run. I explained to her that I will be running a long race at the end of the year and I had to practice running. She smiled at me and got excited that I was telling her so when we were out she shouted wee as I ran. The next day, I wasn’t sore but I wasn’t feeling super motivated to get out there and she came up to me and said, “Mama, run?” I said sure and we got on the road. My “runs” now are mostly walking with a bit of running, but when I do run, Olivia yells go mama and she even threw in a faster mama! If that’s not motivation I don’t know what is! I’m going to be posting here about my runs about once a week in hopes to keep me even more accountable and hopefully to inspire anyone else that is starting a new journey like my own.

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Let’s Get Spinning!

Allison — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 19:40:00 +0000

Now that I’ve dropped the baby weight, it’s time to drop the remaining pounds by working out. This is the part of losing weight I actually like. Learning how to eat is one thing, once you get that down and you combine it with working out consistently, you got a deadly good combination. Now that I’m done having babies, I can really focus on getting back into a work out routine. I’ve been dreaming of what routines and classes I would like to do. One class I have always been drawn to is a cycle class. I’ve enjoyed cycling in the past, but I’ve always felt that if I had someone pushing me I could get the full use of the bike and more. A few weeks ago, I took the plunge and joined a gym up the road from my house. The day I joined the gym I went to my first cycle class and I LOVED it. It was so much fun! There were only 3 other people in the class with me, so super low key, and I was in the back so I didn’t feel like people were watching me. I wasn’t as sore as I thought I was going to be. Instead, I felt stronger and better than I have in a long time. I’m easing into the whole thing and just doing it two times a week for a few weeks. I’m already looking forward to my next class. I ran a half marathon about 5 years ago, mostly because I had always wanted to run one. Myke and I drove up to Sacramento, ran the race on Sunday and then drove back to LA for work the next day. Obviously before kids. My time wasn’t what I wanted and I wasn’t completely satisfied and I have always felt like I wanted to run another one to rectify the situation. I have a few on my list to run eventually, but the one at the top of my list Rise Run, Rachel Hollis’ half marathon (and 5K) in Texas in December. Not only do I admire the woman herself, but the run is in December so that gives me a really really long time to get ready-which I do need since I haven’t ran in so long. Two weeks ago, my mom took me to a running store, Fleet Feet and I got fitted with some sweet new shoes. What I love about Fleet Feet is that they measure your foot and watch you walk so they can really get the right shoe on your foot. About a year ago, they got an amazingly cool machine that takes a scan of your foot and gives them specific details like if you have high arches (like I do), if your ankles roll, measures the heels of your foot and if/how narrow your foot is. It was really cool too see the results. Since I have high arches, I also got insoles. I’m not going to start officially training for another month or so, but I do want to start running again to get ready for training. Not only do I think they are sleek looking but I love that they are practically tailored to me. I’m not big on spending big chunks of money, I would rather spend it on the experience or buy a really good quality item. However, for something like this, when an item that will help you not get injured, the money should be spent. If you are a runner and a Fleet Feet is near you, I would highly recommend going and getting sized. They also have great products like socks and work out clothes. I’m hoping to share my exercise journey here on the blog and last week I officially signed up to attend the Rise Run in December!

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Let’s Go Out for Valentine’s Day!

Allison — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 17:00:00 +0000

With Valentine’s Day being on a Friday, Myke wanted to take me out. Now I’m not big on going out for Valentine’s Day because EVERYONE does. With that being said, the last few Valentine’s I have been either pregnant or unable to go out due to finances. Myke has always done an incredible job at making me feel special on this day and he didn’t want this year to be any different. He likes to surprise me, which I like but don’t like. He tells me what would be comfortable to wear and that’s about it. I have always loved celebrating holidays, but now that I have kids it makes it even more fun to celebrate. How can you have kids and not want to dress them up on holidays?! My mother in law usually gets them something for the holidays, which I love because she loves it and the girls love getting presents from Mimi and Pops. We did the Easter baskets for the first time this past year and so I thought for Valentine’s Day we should do a little something for them again. Obviously they are still a tad young for many things, but we thought it would be super fun to do a little something for them. I didn’t want Myke to miss out on the little gifts for the girls, so we decided to do their gifts on Saturday morning. The baskets included a notebook with the magic marker to color, books, and chalk for Olivia, and both girls got Ryan and Wren clips for their hair. I even snagged one for myself-they are $5 each and absolutely adorable. Myke took me to a restaurant in Sac called Sauced in downtown. It was so much fun! The food was beyond amazing-especially the Brussel sprouts we had as a starter. They have a super cool activity in the restaurant: ax throwing. It does cost extra, but it looks like it would be way more fun with a group of people. The noise and the cheering is a bit of a bother at first, but after a few minutes, it becomes part of the atmosphere and you get excited when people hit the target. We will definitely be back for more, especially since I picked out at least three things on the menu I need to try. The menu is pretty diverse too-pulled pork (what I got), the burgers looked amazing, hot dogs, and the salads looked fantastic. If you are in the area, I would highly recommend it.

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Let's Go to Sea Quest

Myke — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 17:17:50 +0000

QUICK BLOG SCHEDULE UPDATE: Allison and I will be pausing the weekly vlogs for a little bit as we work on a new baking series for the channel. We really want to promote this and put together a trailer, and almost treat it like a little show. So unfortunately it means we need to do a bunch of filming and editing for it, so we won’t be able to keep up with a weekly vlog. But never fear, we will let you know when we’re back! What happens when things don’t go to plan? On Saturday, we woke the girls up from their nap excited for that afternoon’s activity! It was Free Museum Day in Sacramento which happens once a year. Allison and I had perused the list and of all the participating museums, we chose the Sacramento Children’s Museum. Apparently, so had every other parent in Sacramento county! When we arrived at the museum at around 3 pm there was a line out around the building and into the parking lot. The museum closes at 4. We were a little personally sad, but also worried. We had told Olivia we were going on an adventure, and she was so excited when we left. She walked around while we were getting shoes and jackets just say “venture, venture”. We had promised and adventure, so now we must deliver one, or break a 2 year old’s heart! I hopped on the freeway and headed east towards Folsom (because there’s this really cool outdoor mall called the Palladio, which we would end up at if we couldn’t find anything) while Allison started googling. She found what looked like a cool place called Sea Quest, an aquarium and petting zoo in the Palladio mall. So we headed that way! Now it’s a little pricey, but for us, Olivia’s face was so worth it! She loved feeding the fish and we even got to pet some trout! We stared at stingrays, saw a giant tortoise, and some lounging capybaras. Olivia and Meghan had a fantastic time! Tickets are $16.95 ($14.88 if you order online) for 12+ and $10.95 ($8.88 online) for 2-11. Feeding the different animals is an additional cost of $2 per token, with discounted bundles available. We got the 6 tokens for $10, they never expire so the 2 that we didn’t use we can bring the next time we go and save a little money. While we didn’t do them, you can buy some extra experiences, like a 1-on-1 interaction with a sea otter, and snorkeling with stingrays, and a few sharks. The place was packed with parents and other kids, just having a blast! After walking through and seeing the exhibit, we let the girls calm down a little bit by walking around the Palladio sidewalks and doing some people watching. Then, it was time for dinner so we loaded up and had some slow-cooked tri-tip. All in all, it was a fantastic Plan B! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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Let's Bake a Chocolate Cake!

Myke — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 17:15:33 +0000

On Sunday Allison’s family celebrated her Grandmother’s 92nd birthday! It was a really fun afternoon with lasagna, salad, and of course…Chocolate Cake! Allison’s grandmother requested a chocolate cake, and Allison offered to bake it for her! Now the question was, of the thousands of chocolate cake recipes, which should we do? Well when talking with my mom, she said that you can never go wrong with a Martha Stewart recipe. Allison grabbed her copy of Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook, (Pick up your own copy here!) and found her One Bowl Cupcake / Cake recipe. This cake was super easy to make and turned out exactly as expected. Plus, it was delicious! It will definitely become a staple in our house for years to come! Now that we had the sponge sorted, it was time for a frosting. Sadly, to our personal taste buds, we choose poorly. We made the Dark Chocolate Frosting from the same book, and we thought it was a little too dark. We probably should have made the frosting designed for the one-bowl chocolate cake, but we didn’t know it existed. In the end, the frosting paired with the cake, ended up working. And our family loved it! What is your favorite chocolate cake recipe? Tell us down in the comments! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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Let's Bake! Cinnamon Muffins

Myke — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:27:21 +0000

As you know, Allison loves to bake, and I love to eat what she bakes! Well, those two activities came together this weekend. On Friday Allison text me that she was going to make muffins! Obviously she asked me what kind of muffins I wanted her to make, obviously, I requested chocolate chip. Allison said no. Specifically, she said, “you can’t just have everything be chocolate”. Which is true I guess, but I really only like muffins with chocolate of some form in them. So I had to quickly offer a solution or we’d be getting blueberry or lemon muffins. I thought about one of the other muffins I like, Cinnamon! After offering that as an alternative, it was Allison approved! So let’s get to baking! First ad your dry ingredients to a mixing bowl: Shake the bowl to evenly distribute all the powders, then add your wet ingredients! Then mix until the batter is nice an smooth! Scoop the batter into a muffin tin with the little paper things, or whatever they’re called. About 3/4 full. Sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on top of the muffin batter. Bake at 375° F for about 10 minutes. Then enjoy the delicious muffins!

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What's in Our Diaper Bag

Allison — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 18:04:00 +0000

I’ll start out by saying we love our physical diaper bag (here’s a similar one). We initially got it because Myke wanted a neutral looking one so it wouldn’t look too weird with him carrying it. I didn’t mind what the diaper bag looked like, as long as it had all the components I needed. Currently, Olivia doesn’t require much when we go out, but Meghan still needs a few extra things. So what do we actually carry in our bag? First things first-diapers. Obviously. We have plastic bags with the girl’s names on it with their respective diapers. Eventually, I will transition the plastic bags out for reusable bags, but we just haven’t gotten around to doing that. We use Target brand diapers because we’ve found they have the best cost-to-quality ratio, and they don’t leak. Wipes are obviously on the side of the bag. Whenever the wipes feel about halfway full or lower, I switch out the pack for a full one. One of my biggest fears is to run out of wipes so I do everything in my power to not have that happen. Huggies brand are my favorite. Snack bag. I plan on doing a whole post on what I keep in there at all times, but it is a bag that came with the backpack. I think it was supposed to be a wet bag and I did put dirty bibs in there when they were drinking bottles, but now its the snack bag. This is also the bag I take out and take with me wherever I go. I have my eye on this brand. So many cute designs to choose from! Plastic placemats. After a year of getting them at Chick-fil-a I decided I wanted to have some for any restaurant Especially because I was sick of wiping down tables before they ate and dealing with the paper ones. These are the ones we bought at Target and I love the cute designs on them. You can also find a bunch on Amazon. Books. I always keep a couple of board books in my bag because you never know when we are going to get stuck somewhere and need a distraction. I also keep their little toys they get in their happy meals in the bag for extra distractions. I keep the tiny Minnie mouse books we gave them for Christmas and a couple touch and feel books. Extra shirt, pants for Olivia and onesie for Meghan. Meghan is almost ready to not be in a onesie anymore, but I keep a back up just in case something happens. After about 18 months I will switch it out for pants and shirt like I have for Olivia. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have needed to use a outfit for the girls, but it still makes me feel better to have them. Diaper trash bags. We were gifted this helpful little holder for diaper trash bags. They are a perfect place to store those stinky diapers when you’re not near a trashcan. They’re scented and have some oder blocking powder in them that helps then not smell if you have to cary them. The sad news is, after two years of amazing support, our diaper bag is starting to rip and fall apart. So we are going to need another bag of some kind. Olivia has her own little backpack, so I think Meghan needs her own backpack. I have my own backpack, but I’m thinking I might need one I can throw on when I’m with the girls. Here is one I’m looking at-so I can also use it when we travel.

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Mini Adventure: California State Railroad Museum

Myke — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

“We’re going on an adventure!” Allison said as she opened the door to the girl’s room on a Saturday morning. Still a little sleepy from their nap the girls looked at us and smiled. Olivia started bouncing in her bed and Meghan pointed at us repeating her current favorite phrase “Dada dada dada”. After getting the girls dressed and shoes, we gave them a quick snack/lunch and had Olivia get the jackets. It was time to “Go inna car!” as Olivia says. We loaded up and headed downtown to Old Sacramento, found a place to park and walked over to our destination, the California State Railroad Museum. This was Olivia and Meghan’s first time at the museum and the first in probably about 20 years for me. I had vague memories of my mom taking my brother Taylor and me there, especially during the summers. I know that I hadn’t been back since we moved away from Sacramento, so I was also excited. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for ages 6-17. We waited in line got our tickets and prepared to see some old trains! Olivia could not contain her excitement the first time we saw one of the huge locomotives. We peeked into some dining cars the museum had staged and OJ shouted, “It’s a tea party!” As we walked through the museum we started hearing some music, as we followed the sounds, we discovered a band playing some old-timey music. Obviously Olivia had to have a dance party while Meghan took in the sights from the comfort of the stroller. We learned about the different types of trains, including a giant snowplow! Next to the snowplow train, there was this cool little area for kids. They had all of these little foam squares meant to represent snow, and what seemed like a large scale erector set. The idea of the play area was for the kids to design a solution for clearing snow off of train tracks. It was mostly kids stacking the blocks and then just knocking them over. Olivia had a blast! We let her run around and interact with the other kids. I pulled Meghan out of the stroller and she liked playing with the blocks but preferred to just run around the big open space. After a grand total of an hour and a half in the museum, it was time for ice cream! We walked down to the main block of Old Sacramento and sat on a little bench and people watched and ate our delicious ice cream. Then it was time to go. Little mini adventure over! I know that this might just seem like a little “Slice of Life” vlog/blog and doesn’t really fit a niche of stellar content, but I wanted to share this with you for a specific reason. We have a phrase in our family, “Experiences over things”. What this means is that it’s always better to spend your money on experiences with your kids, rather than buying them things. This trip perfectly illustrates how simple that can be. It wasn’t a grand adventure like our Pismo trip was, but it was still an adventure. Whenever my parents come pick the girls up, or we are going to a new place, we always call it an adventure. It doesn’t need to be expensive, or grand to be an Adventure. Living in Sacramento has been a bit of an adjustment for us, for most of my life I’ve lived in areas where the winters are mild, I’m pretty sure we had a few 80° Christmas days. In Sacramento a week of rain isn’t unheard of, so the girls end up staying inside most days. We try to break up the monotony by going on little adventures whenever we can. Sometimes its just a walk to get some frozen yogurt, or going to the store for some normal groceries. The important thing is to let them experience the world, and interact with it. What things do you do to give your children a sense of adventure? Let us know down in the comments! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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Five Books I'm Hoping to Read in 2020

Allison — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago, my mom treated me to the movie Little Women and I LOVED it. I loved the cast, the writing was so with the book and other writings by Louisa May Alcott and it was beautifully done. As we were driving home I realized that I hadn’t read the book since senior year of high school. I couldn’t believe it! My sister has read it multiple times and wrote her high school thesis was inspired by it. The movie definitely inspired me to read the book again and since I asked and received so many books for Christmas, I decided to make it a goal of mine to read at least five books this year. If I didn’t have two little ones taking up most of my time, I would try to read a book a month, but I’m about making goals I could actually complete. So I encourage you to make your own goal this year-1 book, 12, or 50. Here’s my list to help you get inspired: 1. Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis I mentioned that I wanted to read this book this year especially since I started a Start Today journal. I bought it right when it came out earlier last year, but hadn’t started it. Looking forward to being inspired in the new year. 2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott As mentioned before, the movie inspired me to read it again I do remember loving it when I read it, so that’s a plus. 3. Home Work by Julie Andrews I love biographies. I will pretty much read about anyone because people’s lives fascinate me. Julie Andrews played such a big role in my childhood with Mary Poppins and Sound of Music, that it seemed only natural to read her latest book. My sister got her first memoir and we are hoping to switch when we see each other later this year or next Christmas. 4. Becoming by Michelle Obama Again-lover of biographies. I admire any first lady’s strength and support of her spouse, no matter what party they represent. I have another book that I started a month ago about first ladies (Roosevelt to Regan) and their lives both in and out of the White House is so intriguing. 5. Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush My mom gifted this to my sister and I this past Christmas. To make this book even extra special, my daughters each received the Sisters First children’s book and they insist on reading it EVERY night for bedtime. It warms my heart when I hear their daddy read it to them. Not going to lie, when I read it to them for the first time, I teared up. It’s such a sweet book and I’m super excited to read the “adult” version. What are some books, you’re looking forward to reading in 2020? Let us know down in the comments!

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What I Do on January 1st

Allison — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

The last two New Years have been consumed by newborn babies, and this year was the first year I wasn’t needing to be attached to a baby and I have to admit, I was a little lost. I had a moment to think about myself and do you want to know the first thing I did? I took a hot shower. That got me thinking. The last couple of new years, I have been so consumed with my new babies, that I didn’t really think about what I needed to do for the new year for myself. In order to be a better mom, I need to take care of myself. You can’t pour anything out of an empty pitcher. Before we had the girls, I would take the first of January as many people do and start fresh. Here are some things I normally do on 1/1: Take a shower Do all the laundry Wash sheets/towels Go for a walk I know these things are not groundbreaking, but it always helped me feel better walking into a new year. Even if they had been done the previous day, I still do them. Then, throughout January, we do a few things to prepare for the year ahead: Throw away old products (shampoo/make up/lotions) and update any products. Take a picture of current products so I can be reminded of them when I shop, like the shade of certain creams. Switch out razor blades (if haven’t been done recently) We used to get new toothbrushes, but now we are using the Quip toothbrush and we have new heads come every three months, it’s amazing to not have to worry. Go through our clothes and the girls clothes and give away anything we haven’t worn in a while (minimum 6 months), or doesn’t fit. Pick five books that I would like to read for the year. In 2019 I read Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis and I fell in love with her enthusiasm and humor. I’m planning on reading Girl Stop Apologizing this year and to go along with that, I also purchased her Start Today journal at Target. If you don’t know what it is, essentially it is a journal that helps you set intentional goals and also helps with daily gratitude. I found especially over the last year that I’ve been struggling with gratitude and I’m looking forward to adding this to my morning/nap time devotions. On a personal note, the journal is a part of her “Los Angeles” collection and I think that that will fit me just fine. Come back on Friday to see what five books I have picked to get through this year.

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Let's Make Some Blackberry Preserves!

Myke — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Every Saturday morning I (Myke) get up with the girls so Allison can get a little more sleep, and I can spend some time with them. Over the last 6 months, we’ve gotten into a little pattern. I wake them up, and we put on our slippers and I start making breakfast. It’s always the same breakfast, every Saturday. Bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast with my personal favorite, blackberry jam. Now let me tell you about blackberry Jam, I am practically addicted to it. It’s currently the only Jam/Jelly/Preserve I will eat. If we are at a restaurant, and they have a blackberry flavored drink, that’s what I’m ordering. blackberry pie? Yes, please! blackberry flavored sparkle water? I will drink all of them. However, the interesting thing is, I don’t really like to eat just plain blackberries. Just things made with blackberries. We always keep a jar of jam/jelly/preserve, whatever’s on sale in the fridge at all times. And Olivia and Meghan have taken a liking to it. What really sparked the idea to make some homemade blackberry preserve, was that we ran out of the olallieberry preserve we picked up on our Pismo Beach trip. I thought that a homemade jam would be better than something storebought. The process is pretty simple, and despite what the many articles I read online said, you don’t need a ton of special equipment. You just need: New Mason Jars Lot’s of blackberries Pectin 2 large pots Potato masher Oodles of sugar Tongs (so you don’t burn yourself) It’s simple, I just followed the directions that came with the pectin, but I’ll lay them out here. Mash the berries to a nice pulp with the potato masher, while you’re doing it get a large pot of water boiling so you can sterilize the jars. Once the water is boiling, submerge the empty mason jars, without the lids for a few minutes. Get the berry mash and the pectin boiling in a saucepan, it needs to be a roiling boil. Basically, if it still boils while you’re stirring, you’re good. Add the sugar and then boil for whatever time the package says, pull the mason jars out of the boiling water, fill them with the tasty preserve, and tighten the lids. Place the jars in the boiling water for like 10 minutes, then pull them out and set them on a towel on the counter. Let them slowly cool down over 12 hours, or just wait till the next day. Once the jars have cooled and sealed, toast some bread pop the seal on a jar and enjoy! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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Almost a Decade of Blogging

Myke — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 20:10:00 +0000

Wow, 2019 went by in quite a blur! As we close out the year, and the decade, Allison and I were looking back at the road this blog has taken, we’ve been blogging since 2011 and have currently published 638 posts (including this one). It’s gone from a simple blog that Allison wrote to one we run together, we’ve had times of consistency and times where we didn’t publish for months, but we’d always come back eventually. We make videos and take a ton of photos now, and we have even baked or cooked things, specifically for the blog. This year has really changed our perspective on being creative, using it as an outlet for expression. With the end of the decade upon us, we wanted to bring up 10 of our favorite blog posts from the almost 10 years we’ve been doing this. And give a brief history of the blog. #10 – First Post. Ever (June 7, 2011) Allison’s first post, using a free blogger blog she set up. It’s a short post but what I like about it was that Allison just DID it. No planning meeting, or talking about it for 6 weeks while coming up with a domain name, she just made an account and started writing. Which if you want to start something, follow her example. JUST DO IT, or start doing it. Now that I’m thinking about it, she started this before we got married! This blog is older than our marriage! #9 – Way Way Way WAY Behind… (February 21, 2012) So this one might feel like a rand stream of conscious blog, with some mundane details of our lives from back in 2012. I agree, but here’s why I love it. In the first paragraph, Allison mentions the leadership retreat we went to, that weekend would be the starting point for us to start serving at Nations Church Los Angeles. It’s crazy to think that there was a time in our lives where we could sleep till 10 am and then just not go to church. Serving has just become part of our lives, that weekend with the leadership team changed our lives infinitely for the better. Thanks, Pastor Phil and Mel for making that happen! #8 – Stuff my Husband Cooks (May 16 , 2012) This is it, our first of many cooking/baking themed posts. I think I may need to revisit this recipe in the future, I think Olivia and Meghan would love the pizza muffins! Around this time, we moved the blog from being a blogger site to a WordPress site and added our own domain name fridgegrowngarlic.com. The name came from an incident where I left a head of garlic in the fridge for too long and it started sprouting. It’s a little gross, but we thought it was a funny story. #7 – It’s A New Season (April 3, 2013) This is the post where Allison announced that she had been accepted into the page program at Paramount Pictures. It represents the start of the journey of hard work and networking that would lead her to be a valued member of the recruitment team at Paramount, and finally a full-time job! I was so proud of her because she worked so hard and excelled in her time there! #6 – Hey Myke? Cook Me Something (Guest Post) – Spinach Rigatoni with Magic Bacon (January 23, 2014) I’m pretty sure this was my first blog post on our blog, as you can tell, I was very fond of section headings and witty (to me at least) titles and rambling sentences. Around this time we landed on a new name and URL that we would keep until 2018. Allisons-eye.com. #5 – Myke and Allison Adventures: Granada Hills Grubfest (June 3, 2014) Guys, this was our first attempt at a Vlog. We had just gotten a new camera a Samsung NX300, which I didn’t really know how to use to its full potential. This was so fun to make, we spent an evening down at this little food truck festival that happens every week in Granada Hills by our apartment in LA. Enjoy our first attempt at vlogging. #4 – New Name – New Look (June 19, 2018) A bit of a milestone for the blog, we landed on what we think will be our final name, Clements Chronicles. It’s also the first post after we uprooted from Los Angeles and make the trek up to Sacramento. It’s important because we started to see this as not just Allison’s blog, but our blog with both of us sharing the writing/filming/editing duties. It moved from being an Allison side project to something we are working on together. In a season where we are juggling a job, and two kids, it’s important to have things that you work on together. #3 – 5 Tips for Surviving Unemployment (September 9, 2019) Quite possibly our most-read article is this guide that I wrote more for myself than anyone else. It was a pep talk to get me out of my funk of being jobless for 11 months. If you happen to be going through something similar, I highly recommend watching and reading it! #2 – Return to Apple Hill (September 30, 2019) A marathon of a post, but I received some wonderful feedback on both my writing and the content of the post. It’s one of the posts, I’m most proud of. #1 – One Year Postpartum (December 13, 2019) This is one of my favorite articles Allison has ever written, her willingness to be so open and vulnerable were amazing to see. It’s also great to see how she has progressed as a writer and as a person over the years. She is strong, loves deeply, and is the perfect companion for this wildlife we live. Some thoughts If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past decade of blogging. It’s this, with any creative endeavor, it probably won’t make money. Those that start a creative thing and have that thing turn into something that provides for their family and allows them to do it full time are very rare. If you were to start an Instagram, youtube, blog, website, Etsy store, whatever, I can tell you, the statistical likelihood of it turning into something sustainable is very small. But. THAT’S OK! Creating for the sake of creating is worth it. It’s worth publishing something that only 5 people read, it’s worth spending several hours filming and editing a video no one watches. I know that there will always be a part of you that’s disappointed because you wanted people to like what you make. But in the end, at least for us, if one person liked something we made, that’s good enough, because we enjoy the process of creating, more than the result of creating. If you’re wanting to start something creative, here’s some advice from some that have been doing it for a while. Don’t worry about finding your niche. When we started, we had no clue what our niche was. We just wrote and made what we wanted, if you look back at our posts, they are all over the place, and that’s ok. It took us 8 years to settle on family vlog / cooking / inspirational marathon posts. Just make what you want and eventually you will find an audience. Make terrible content. When you start, you’re going to be bad at it. Really bad. The internet will absolutely tell you how bad you are. Find the constructive criticism there and learn from it. It will also help you practice, you don’t get good at something unless you do it badly for a very long time. Keep doing it. Even if you get off schedule or fall behind on posting, (I think there are at least 30-40 posts in our archive that essentially just say “sorry for not posting”) just keep doing it. You never know, where it might take you, and what opportunities might come along. Have fun with it. Don’t take it to seriously, and remember, you started this thing because you enjoy it.

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Christmas Stockings for the Girls

Allison — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 19:36:00 +0000

Christmas is so different when you have kids. Even though the girls are only 2 and 1, it’s so fun to share with the little things like baking cookies (Olivia helps and Meghan watches) and movies-yes I have a complete list already. We have talked a lot about how we are going to approach Christmas with the girls. How many presents should we get them? Do we give them practical gifts or fun gifts? Do we do Santa? What do we put in stockings? While we are still discussing what we can do with the girls at different stages of their childhood, this year we are focusing on stockings. We figured this is the last year we can get away with not getting “big presents” and they will be getting a fair amount of presents from family, so stockings it is. We went on a little adventure to scan the aisles of Target to see what “Santa” could bring for the stockings on Christmas morning. It’s hard shopping for a two-year-old. There are so many cool things, that she’s just a little too young for, and many things perfect for her age are just lame. After an hour’s worth of searching, we settled on a few fun things for the girls and picked up a Christmas present for our nephew. On a scale of 1-to-success, it was a successful trip! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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OJ & MJ's Favorite Things (Toddler Holiday Gift Guide)

Allison — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 20:05:00 +0000

Has anyone else noticed that Christmas is exactly ONE WEEK AWAY? How insane is that? I feel like it creeps up quicker every year. In the spirit of the holidays, I thought it would share some of the girl’s favorite things lately. Hopefully, this will spur up some last-minute gift ideas. Most of the things are available through Amazon. Obviously this is mostly toys, but I can also share some food favorites of theirs as well. Melissa & Doug Wooden Cutting Food Set. My mother in law gifted these to Olivia for her birthday and she is obsessed with them. She loves “cooking” with them and eating them. She has practiced cutting with the knife and I’m impressed that she is getting the technique down. While Daddy handles the big silver knives, Olivia can handle the wood knives. B. Toys Wooden Play Kitchen and Accessories. The kitchen that we have includes plastic plates, bowls, cups, silverware, and some cookware. They play with these all over the house, especially when we cook in the kitchen. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Amazon TV show. This is our go-to in the morning lately. Olivia has been putting tougher sentences so well since watching this consistently. She even tells me stories of what the animals did throughout the day. Meghan dances to the music and it’s so adorable. Wooden Puzzles. They absolutely love puzzles. I don’t know what it is, but they love them. Meghan takes them off and usually throws the pieces off to the side. I love them because it’s an easy way to help them learn animals and letters. Meghan is already able to point to cow and tell me that it says “mmm” (in case you needed to know). This one is the most recent one they received.

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JoJo's Biscuits and Family Traditions

Allison — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 19:49:00 +0000

When I heard Joanna Gaines was coming out with a cookbook, the first thing I wanted to try was her biscuits. I knew they were going to be in the book after reading about how much her family loved these biscuits. I’ve always been big on family traditions and “go-to” recipes to make whenever we’re in the mood for something delicious! Saturdays have been a very special day for us. When we were in our first year of marriage I worked the night shift at a coffee shop 1.5 hours away from our apartment and Myke had a full-time job during the day. Saturday was our day to be together for the whole day without responsibilities. Myke would make me breakfast in bed, usually waffles on our new waffle maker and Stumptown coffee, our favorite. Saturdays continued to be a special time for us because it would be a day when we wouldn’t have work and most of the time wouldn’t have church activities. So we would order breakfast from this fantastic Jewish deli down the street and spend time together catching up on our favorite shows. Since I’m home with the girls all week, Myke has very kindly gotten up with the girls for breakfast to give me a break. I sleep in and get to be by myself for a little bit, and it’s awesome. Ever since Olivia was on her nursing/feeding schedule I have had a rough time “sleeping in” so I usually wake up around 8:30. They have done it enough times that Olivia knows (and will tell you) that Daddy wakes her up on Saturday and they have eggs, bacon, and toast. I have to say it’s pretty adorable. Sometimes I get up and have some food with them, but I like that they have their own traditions. What are some of your family traditions? Let us know down in the comments below! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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One Year Postpartum

Allison — Fri, 13 Dec 2019 18:30:00 +0000

I’ve struggled to write about this subject for a while now. I didn’t share much on here, but back in June, I joined a medical weight loss program. I’m on a very low-calorie diet that is monitored by doctors weekly. I wanted to go on the program because having two babies back-to-back is pretty strenuous on your body. My body and mind had been through a lot in two years. Not only two babies, but a move to my hometown and back to my parents’ house, leaving a job where I felt fulfilled, and a church where I had friendship and love. Having two kids in two years pretty much meant I had the emotions, stress, and heaviness on me for two years. After I had Meghan it came bursting out and it wasn’t pretty. I’m happy to see that postpartum depression is starting to get more of a spotlight and more people are becoming aware of just how dangerous it can be. I’m very thankful that it did not get too extreme, but there were days and nights when it was pretty bad. What it really boiled down to was I didn’t feel like myself and my weight played a big part in that. I started the program and it was really hard, I had to discipline myself and sticking to it has been difficult. While I haven’t been 100% faithful to the program, the scale doesn’t lie. Grand total I have lost 47 pounds and about 5 inches off my waist. I may rotate out of the “weight loss” part soon and enroll in the maintenance portion and get back into working out, very soon. I’ve been dying to work out and run again. Like my legs have been itching to go! Part of my goals in 2020 is to run another half marathon. I have a couple in mind already and have them marked and hopefully, I will make at least one happen. Luckily this program has an exercise therapist that helps you with a work out routine to help maintain weight. I write this not to pat myself on the back, it’s to encourage you. It is possible to find yourself again after babies. I’m still on my journey and I don’t think I’ll ever be fully done, but I’m happy that I took the first step. Not just for me, but for my girls. Ultimately it is all for them. To show them what healthy is and to give them memories of running around with their mama.

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A Christmas Music Playlist

Myke — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 18:53:29 +0000

December is upon us, and so is the Christmas Season! This means it’s time for red and green, and Mall Santas, Christmas Trees, and yes, of course, Christmas Music! I like Christmas music. Most of it. Well, except for one song, in particular. Jingle Bell Rock. I hate this song. This is the story of why. So we time travel back to December 2016. I had been laid off from Alfred for about two weeks at this point, so I was home most of the day, every day. It was a rough time when you’re job hunting, there’s only so many times you can refresh Glassdoor a day. So I would try to get out of the house at least once a day. (If you’re going through something similar check out this article on how to survive!) Usually, this meant walking to the store a little over a half-mile from our apartment. It was always a nice walk there and back, in the warm Los Angeles December, (Seriously, it was like 80 degrees on Christmas Day one year). I would normally listen to a podcast or music on my way to the store, but when I got there I would usually take my headphones out. After several days of visiting either the Ralphs or wandering through Rite Aid, I started noticing something strange. Every time I went to the store, the same song would play. Jingle Bell Rock. I would always notice it in the same part of the song. I’d be minding my own business looking for something to cook for dinner, and out of nowhere, “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet…” That line would be stuck in my head all day, I’d be walking home “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” Making dinner? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” Searching for the latest job postings? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” Writing this article? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” Seriously. Then as we got closer to Christmas, the song began to follow me all around the city. Gas station? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” Taco Bell? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” The Mall? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” McDonalds? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” Walking down the street and a random person blasting music out of their car? “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” It was following me! I couldn’t escape the Jingle horse. WHY COULDN’T HE JUST PICK UP HIS FEET! I felt like I was going insane, every place I went with music playing, the song would be there. Even when we came to Sacramento to celebrate Christmas with our family, I went to the grocery store to pick up some items we needed for Christmas dinner, “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” Until finally on December 26th, I could relax again, breathe again, go a day without hearing “Giddy-up jingle horse, pick your feet.” So in lieu of recommending that cursed song. Here is a suggested holiday playlist from us with some of the more off the beaten path Christmas songs and versions you can add to your own holiday playlist! Let us know down in the comments what are your favorite and least favorite Christmas songs!

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Travel Vlog: Allison Goes to Tea

Allison — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 19:14:00 +0000

You know when you write a whole blog post and it’s one of your favorites talking about how glorious the tea was how beautiful everything looked, how great it was to be back at our old church, and to have a night away? Then you go to publish it once your video is done and ready to be published and then it’s gone? Just me? So here we are, the girls are napping and I’m writing down my thoughts once again with my Hallmark Christmas movie playing in the background. To sum up my whole LA trip, it was restoring and productive. The theme of the tea was All Things New and it was refreshing for me to hear and to be reminded that God is not done with me and my story. When you are a stay at home mom and around young children all the time, you forget that there is more to life and you need time for yourself. It was nice to be around my old friends again, reminding myself of who I am. It was productive because I filmed this video all on my own (except for the little segment Myke shot at McKinnley park). I didn’t film as much as I was planning, but doing it by yourself when you have all your luggage can get a little overwhelming and takes some practice so I’m glad that I had the opportunity to give it a try. I’m looking forward to getting better as time goes on. Hopefully, I will have more practice while traveling, all I need is a destination! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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Views on Disney+ So Far

Allison — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 14:30:59 +0000

We did it, we signed up for Disney+. It was inevitable since we have two girls and I love a good Disney movie. Am I the only one who just feels like watching Monster’s University on a Wednesday night? I’m beyond excited to dive into this app as time goes on. Here are some movies that instantly popped into my head when I saw what was going to be available, they all have special meaning to me and I cannot wait to share these with the girls. Marry Poppins Bedknobs and Broomsticks Monsters Inc, All the Toy Story movie High School Musical Any movie inspired by a true story Fun fact. One time Myke and I went on this sports movie kick, Cinderella Man, Remember the Titans, The Greatest Game Ever Played, and on and on. I’m excited to share my love of Disney movies with my girls. However, we are choosing to rewatch any movies before we show the girls. Not only will this be a fun activity for us to do together, but we also want to be careful about what we show them. Just because it’s made by Disney, doesn’t mean it’s automatically good for the girls, we’re looking at you Little Mermaid! Olivia is already showing signs that she can follow along with a story, so we want to make sure we are able to talk about the movies with her after she has watched them. They also have the majority of the Christmas movies I’ve been missing in my life, so that alone is worth the price. Also, don’t forget about BABY YODA!

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Thanksgiving 2019

Allison — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:06:51 +0000

Even though we have lived in Sac for over a year now, it still feels weird to not travel so much the week of Thanksgiving. Last year Meghan was only a week old, and it was difficult to really go anywhere, but I’m happy I was able to make the trip to Lodi, especially because my brother and sister-in-law were in town. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to make the trip out this year, so we bundled up the girls and spent a few days with Mimi and Pops. Our original plan was to drive down Thursday morning, but we changed our mind and decided that I would drive down Wednesday afternoon and Myke would follow that evening after worship practice. Thursday we all woke up and had a super lazy morning in our jammies and watched the parade, baked, and got everything ready for Thanksgiving “Linner”. I made a blackberry pie, it was a little underdone in the crust department, but the parts that were cooked were delicious! I blame the wonky oven! Once the girls woke up we all got dressed up and took some family photos, Myke did a few test shots with just me. The meal was delicious! My mother-in-law killed it with the turkey and Olivia even helped with the green bean casserole. After we ate, we needed to get a little exercise so we ventured out to Lodi Lake to see if we could find some deer. Black Friday started early for Kim and I. We braved the lines at World Market, Old Navy, Target, Kohl’s, and Hobby Lobby. My most expensive item was $26 and it was marked down from $100, so basically a steal! Some sweet Christmas mugs and plates for the girls, cookie cutters, books and jammies for the girls, and a sweater I have had my eye on for months. We both made out like bandits, and it really wasn’t that crowded! The girls stayed home with Daddy and Pops and ate bacon and eggs and watched “If you give a mouse a cookie”. When they woke up from their nap and ate a little lunch, we bundled up in our cozy jackets and drove to the Micke Grove Zoo, it’s this tiny little zoo right by my In-Laws house. Saturday I had to get up early and go home to help prepare for a bridal shower for a family friend. I made an angel food cake and frosting from scratch and our favorite party punch. We had such a lovely time off, and I’m glad that Myke was able to have some time off work. He even got to sleep in a couple of mornings and that’s a vacation for him. I’m so thankful that I have a place at my in-laws. No matter what is going on in life, I know I always have a place there. I’m thankful we were able to spend some quality time with them because they’ll be spending Christmas in Raleigh with Taylor and Niana. As much as I love Thanksgiving, it’s time to get ready for Christmas! Bring on the movies, blankets, and more baking!

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Prepping for a First Birthday Party

Allison — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 15:20:00 +0000

Planning for a birthday party can be a bit overwhelming, you want to make it somewhat special, but your kid isn’t going to remember it. I think the first birthday party is more for the parents. You have successfully kept a tiny human alive for one year, time to celebrate! I thought it would be helpful and fun to share with you how we came up with the theme for Meghan’s party. For those who are going to be planning one or are just curious. First things first, make a guest list and send out an invite. This is important because then you will know how many people will fill your house and how much food to get. Once the invites are sent, pick a theme. We knew our theme when making the invites, so we were able to incorporate it into the design. For Meghan’s first birthday, I always knew I wanted to do a “British” theme. If it wasn’t totally obvious, Meghan is named after Meghan Markle. Long before she was the Duchess of Sussex, I admired her heart for empowering women and a timeless sense of style. I wanted my daughters to be named after strong female role models and Meghan won the name game when she came along. All of that being said, since she is now the Duchess of Sussex, I thought a royal theme for Meghan would be perfect. But not princess, since Meghan Markle is not a princess, as Myke makes very clear, over and over again. “The girls can be anything they want to be when they grow up, except a princess, because I’m not a king :)”. Then Myke made a trip to the store, and then another trip, and finally one last one on the day, to pick up the cake. We decided to do treats and tea sandwiches. I got to live out a dream and make cookies and cake donuts for my kid’s birthday (hopefully more to come). We bought little scones and a cake. We made a smash cake but it looked like it was smashed before Meghan even got to it. Meghan liked it and that was all that mattered. We ventured to Party City to get nice plastic wear. we went for more of a royal afternoon of tea for our little duchess. We got plastic champagne flutes for our party punch (we make it for every party we throw) and some nice plates and napkins. We used my own China for most of the drinkware and serving plates/platters, which I loved. Next is my favorite part, decorations! I’m really big on using what I have and since I’m a big British fan anyway, I had a fair amount of items. I used the souvenirs that my sister bought for me and my mom when she went to London for the Duke and Duchess wedding last year. Plus a book she got the girls about London, which is so fun to flip through. My incredible mother in law came through with her teapots to help keep the tea party theme alive and they did not disappoint. My go-to decoration for my girls first birthdays (and classic tradition) is the photo a month display. It’s always fun for us to put it together and look back on when they were a month old. Now that we have both, we compared each one per month over the last couple of years. The day arrived and we had more than enough sandwiches, an overflow or party punch, and plenty of treats for everyone. The weather was great, a little chilly, but good enough to be outside for a bit. Just when it was starting to turn cold, we scrambled inside and got warm.

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Solo Parenting on a Saturday

Myke — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 17:30:50 +0000

Allison had the awesome opportunity to visit our LA friends for their annual Ladies Tea this past weekend. So that left me taking care of the girls for the weekend. What an exciting adventure! 5:15 AM Allison and I climbed into the CRV, it was dark outside and we could see our breath in the cool morning. We made our way to the Airport as Allison gave me a last-minute rundown of their typical days. All the nitty-gritty details, like how often to give them snacks, what to pack in the diaper bag when going out. I dropped her off and headed home. 6:30 AM zzzzzZZZzzzzzzZZZZzzz…..I went back to sleep :). 7:30 AM(ish) I started to hear the girls stir and talk to each other, time to get ready to hang out with them. On Saturdays, I usually wake up with the girls and we have a special breakfast, bacon, eggs, and blackberry toast. I got the oven turned on to make the bacon. PRO TIP: Cook your bacon in the oven, and put a piece of aluminum foil down and fold the edges up to catch all the grease. It simplifies clean up since all you have to do is wait for the grease to cool and then you can just wrap up the foil. 8:00 AM I went in to greet the girls and get them ready for breakfast. As we ate, I explained what we’d be doing that day. My parents had invited us to go on a little adventure to McKinnley part in Midtown Sacramento. It’s a lovely park with a pond, rose garden, and one of the coolest playgrounds in Sacramento. 10:00 AM The girls went with my Mother in Law to the park to watch the kids playing soccer. This gave me some time to get some chores done around the house and get dressed for the day. 11:00 AM – 1:50 PM NAP TIME!!!!! 2:15 PM Mimi and Pops rolled up and we greeted them at the door, dressed, fed and ready for adventure! 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM Meghan and Olivia loved walking around the rose garden! It was this nice space for Meghan to walk around and explore. Then we walked over to the little pond and watch the geese and ducks swim. The girls got a little bored after a few minutes, so it was off to the playground! This playground is fantastic! The walkways are all that nice rubber flooring, the main play structures have wood chips underneath, and there are swings for days! We pushed the girls on the swings and just talked and connected until Olivia had enough watching and wanted to go play! Then she proceeded to drag my Dad all around the playground for the next hour. They climbed rock walls, went on slides, tried just about every swing in the place and had a blast! For dinner we went to BurgerIM, a fantastic local slider chain, with 4 million different combinations of burgers, with a unique style of french fry, they’re more like puffy chips! OJ had some chicken strips, and MJ ate a whole order of fries! 6:30 PM With a herculean effort, I began the monumental task of putting the girls to bed by myself. Starting with a luxurious bubble bath, and ending with a crying Meghan that didn’t understand that she couldn’t just unroll all the toilet paper while I was dressing Olivia. 7:00 PM A short storytime and prayer later, the girls were in bed, then by about 7:30, they were asleep, and I could relax a little. We’ll be posting Allison’s vlog of her trip a little later, once I get a chance to sit and edit it.

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Happy Birthday Meghan

Allison — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 16:07:54 +0000

One Month. It was strange to have a newborn again. When they handed her to me when I was on the operating table all I could do was cry with happiness at being able to hold her. Two Months. She was such a great little newborn. She always let us know when she was hungry and slept like a champ! She developed a pretty good night time wake up schedule. She got herself on a routine and we were able to predict when she would wake up within 30 minutes of her waking up. She also started rolling over this month, but really didn’t get it down until next month. Three Months. We started doing her sleep training. We used The Happy Sleeper and it was the best thing we could have done. I’m hoping to do a more in-depth post, but it really helped us help her sleep better. Four Months. She rolled her way through this month. I love watching little babies discover simple things like rolling around from one place to the next. Five Months. Man, MJ was growing up so fast! She started sitting up in a little booster seat and puttered around the house in her walker. Six Months. She started sitting up on her own, and tried lemons for the first time! Seven Months. Getting some hair growing! We noticed that OJ had very long hair, but it wasn’t thick, MJ, on the other hand, had very short hair, but there was a ton of it! Eight Months. Crawling all over the place! Once she discovered how to move there was no stopping her! Nine Months. Finally getting some length in her hair and showing her amazing personality! She’s so serious all the time, but once you get her laughing, good luck getting her to stop! Ten Months. Standing up, eating some real food, conquering the house! Eleven Months. California traveler Meghan took her first steps at Pismo Beach! Youngest Clements to visit Pismo, and even tried bacon cause dad wasn’t fast enough! One Year. She is running around and playing with her sister, getting into all sorts of trouble and adventure, and bringing joy everywhere she goes.

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Myke’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies (Thanks Joanna Gaines)

Allison — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 17:13:00 +0000

I’ve always had a dream of baking for my family, like on a weekly basis. Cookies are my specialty right now and ever since I found out I was pregnant with Olivia, I’ve been on the hunt for a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. One to make for my girls after a long day at school. One where they would have no problem grabbing and pouring some milk to enjoy with Daddy on a Friday night. One that will be easy to include the girls once they are old enough and one that the family will enjoy having in the family cookie jar. One of my favorite things to collect is cookbooks. I like reading through them and marking good recipes to try. Unless the book is already focused on sweets, the first thing I do is flip to the very back because that’s where the dessert section is. A couple of years ago, Myke gave me Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines and I read through the whole book and then the dessert section twice. I came across the chocolate chip cookies and I just knew I had to make them! I’m on my special weight loss diet, so I can’t indulge in too many, but Myke is happy to help me out. These are hist #1 favorite cookie. After he had his first bite he officially dubbed these the only cookie I’m allowed to make. Ok, he’s not serious, but he’s made me make them at least 5 times in the last 6 months. These things are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. If you have them straight out of the oven, they are like warm hugs in your tummy. When they are cool, they are what I think heaven would taste like. So thanks Joanna Gaines for making my cookie baking dreams come true. Go pick up a copy today! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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Remember Remember the Fifth of November

Allison — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 15:43:02 +0000

November 5th is a special day in our family. We have written about this before, but this is the day that Olivia came home from the hospital, 39 days after she was admitted into the NICU. We always celebrate today because there are a few things that happened. Obviously, Olivia coming home and being free of all illnesses. God had his hand over her all 39 days and I truly do believe that she went through this journey for a reason. The second was Myke and I had completed what was one of the biggest tests of our relationship. I don’t know if anyone has ever been through the pain of almost losing a child, but it was very trying for us. We were sleep-deprived differently than the average parent, we were home together with no child, in or out of my belly. Stressed with driving the long way to CHLA and I was recovering from surgery and gripping with the fact that I wasn’t able to breastfeed my baby like I was hoping. There were emotions all over and this was the day that made all of that worth it. I’m also happy to say that Myke and I became stronger and closer than before Olivia was born. Now looking back on where she started and where she is, you wouldn’t even know that she had a rough start. She is wicked smart and copies us all the time. Sometimes in subtle ways, she’ll start doing something or saying something and it will take us a little to figure out what she is saying or doing. The most recent example is how she says her name. She shortens Olivia into something that sounds like “Dia” and for a few weeks now, she’s been saying what sounded like “O Dia”. We just thought she was still working on saying her name, but she would say it over and over again, often during times when it would be weird for her to say her name. Last night we finally figured it out. The girls were in the bath and Meghan was doing something and then Olivia started saying “O Dia” while grabbing Meghan’s hands. Then it clicked! She was saying “Oh Dear!” This is what we say in our house when something is going wrong, the girls are about to get into something they shouldn’t, and when we’re surprised. Olivia had picked it up and was using it in the correct context. It’s crazy to look at pictures from two years ago and think about where we are now.

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Pismo Beach Part 3: The Salt and Foam

Myke — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 15:20:11 +0000

Good morning! For today’s Monday vlog, we have something a little different. Today’s Video is more of a short film / spoken word / inspirational video as opposed to a normal update on the rest of our trip. This spoken-word piece began to take shape in my head on the tail end of our time in Pismo, we normal spend Thursday at the beach and it’s usually the day we stay the longest and try to soak in as much as we can to get us through the year until we can return. I was out in the waves for the last time before we had to clean up and put the girls down for a nap when I started to think about what Pismo Beach means to us. Pismo is more than just a vacation spot. It’s the place in the world that feels the most like home. When you’ve moved around as much as we have (never spending more than 10 years in the same city) going to the same place every year provides a sense of consistency that is often lacking elsewhere. We’ve visited the same sand, the surf shop, the same hotel for over 20 years. At that time, we’ve seen minor changes, upgrades, new amenities, and restaurants, but the heart of the city hasn’t changed. This beach has been a place of celebration, for my parents 30th wedding anniversary, a place of refuge in troubled times, a place to escape the heat of Phoenix and wear sweatshirts in July. It means so much to our family, and I am so excited that Olivia and Meghan enjoyed it and that we get to pass it on to them. I hope you enjoy it! Here is the text of the spoken word: The Salt and Foam I have lived in many places Hung my hat in different spaces From the grassy foothills of the bay To the concrete jungles of LA Survived the dry and dusty phoenix winds And returned to bethel once again Amidst the constant random change Still one pillar always remained I have lived in many places Hung my hat in different places But one place truly feels like home On the central coast, in the salt and foam Year after year we return Like a flock of migratory birds Weary and burdened To rest and recuperate We long for the sand between our toes The smell of salt within our nose This great pacific calls to me to the sea Beckons, come get lost, find rebirth in me I enter the waves, to float and drift Peace lives here amongst the mist The salt and foam wash over me Cleansing my soul in the depths of the sea In our concrete jungles and red brick houses We hide away, cocooned in artifice. As our connection with the beauty that surrounds us begins to atrophy I will remember, and I will return to the sea I have lived in many places Laid my head in different spaces But I will return again to my home On the central coast, in the salt and foam. In our concrete jungles and red brick houses We hide away, cocooned in artifice. As our connection with the beauty that surrounds us begins to atrophy I will remember, and I will return to the sea Just as my parents taught me, I will teach my own children this legacy Gods heart is an ocean, The rhythms of waves it’s beat This place reminds us of that A constant reminder of the steadfast grace mercy and faithfulness of our creator This is why we return, to remember Remember that our roots run deep From the east coast to the west coast Our roots wind to the sea I have lived in many places Laid my head in different spaces But I will return again to my home On the central coast, in the salt and foam.

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Olivia Goes Trick or Treating for the First Time and Our First Family Costume

Allison — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 16:30:28 +0000

We knew we wanted to do a family costume this year because this year we could actually go out together. We wanted to do something cool, but to be honest, we didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money. I’m not the biggest Halloween fan and I would rather spend the money on Christmas pajamas or a new sweater for Thanksgiving. We came up with the idea to do the Avengers, but we wanted to do the actual Avenger team uniform mostly because we thought it looked cool. Only one problem, they do not make Avenger team uniforms for babies. I guess they figured babies wouldn’t need it, but we didn’t let that stop us. We found some pajamas that were perfect for her, plus she needed some new ones anyway. Myke and I found the shirts on Amazon and to be honest, they are pretty cool. They ran a tad small, so that was a little disappointing, but they worked.

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Reflections on Pismo Vacations Past

Allison — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:23:00 +0000

Both of Myke’s and my families went on beach trips when we were growing up. My family went to Pajaro Dunes, near Monterey and Myke went to Pismo Beach. I remember Myke telling me about these trips when we were dating and he always lit up when he would talk about this place. He moved around a little bit while growing up, but they always went back to Pismo and so that was the closest thing to home. So when I was invited to attend a Pismo Beach vacation, I was very excited. My first Pismo trip was in May of 2011. Myke and I were engaged and just graduated from college. This was my first trip with my future family and I have to admit, I was more nervous than anything else. This was a family that already loved me, but I still had this need to impress them. Since this trip was to celebrate Myke’s (and my) graduation, we stayed at a place that they normally don’t stay. We walked in and it was a beautiful suite that would do just fine for the five of us. I had the honor of sharing a room with Myke and his little brother Taylor. If you’re concerned, Myke and I were on opposite sides of the room with Taylor in the middle and we all had our own bed. One of the first things I noticed about this family is they knew exactly where to go for anything and everything at Pismo. You could tell they had been coming for years and they loved this place. They showed me all the traditions including Splash Cafe, renting wet suits at Ponchos, and the early bird special at McClintocks. I loved the sense of tradition and routine here. Pismo is home to them. Pismo to me always brings the memories of getting to know my family. Swimming with them in the pool and hearing stories of Pismo trips through the years. I remember getting to know my brother in law more and how much I grew to love him even more on this trip. I remember seeing my in-laws give each other loving glances and watched them love on their sons and daughter to be. I remember sitting in Splash Cafe, which is rare because it’s always crowded, and my in-laws gave me pearl earrings, which is still one of my most prized possessions to this day. Pismo holds a special place in the Clements family and it holds an extra special one for me personally. I’m excited to take my daughters to this special place in their family’s history. If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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We Took the Toddlers to the Beach!

Myke — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 15:42:00 +0000

Alright, folks we’re back for Pismo Beach Part 2! We pick up on Tuesday morning, traditionally Tuesday is a beach day. We woke up, bright and early and headed to the breakfast room. The best feature of the Oxford Suites is the free breakfast. Now, this isn’t your typical “hot breakfast” that consists of some day-old toast and a sketchy pre-cooked omelet. Nay! It is a full-on, delicious breakfast. Usually, there is meat, either sausage or bacon, a type of eggs (normal scrambled, and a special scramble), potatoes of some kind, then either French toast, waffles or pancakes. In addition to the hot breakfast is a smattering of toast, muffins, scones, and cereal. Needless to say, this was always a Godsend for the Pastor’s family with two growing teenagers, plus it was all free. Tradition is scarf down as much food as you can fit in your stomach at breakfast because it would be just snacks until dinner. This trip was no different. We ate our hearty breakfast and then headed back to our rooms to get ready for the beach. After slathering 30 layers of sunscreen on the girls and myself, loading all the beach paraphernalia we picked up some snacks at the grocery store just down the street and headed to the beach. Pismo Beach is a cold beach, so you need wetsuits! The best place to get them is Poncho’s Surf shop. They rent them for $10 a day, and you can even rent boogie boards for $5 for the full day! This is such a fun little shop, and it hasn’t changed much in 20+ years when I walk in, it just smells of home, it feels of home, it is home! Olivia looked so incredibly cute in her tiny wetsuit! Meghan took a nap on the beach and Olivia played in the water and sand all day. We didn’t think we’d be able to get her off the beach! Once we got back to the hotel we went and enjoyed the amazing heated pool at Oxford and waited for my dad to pick up some Round Table Pizza (The gold standard by which all other pizza is judged!). The next morning after breakfast we went on a new adventure. My parents discovered this little town not long ago, but this was their first time sharing it with us. We took a long walk on the beach to earn the delicious meal we would eat later. On the walk we just took in the beauty of the central pacific coast. We got to the end and walked down some stairs to this little area where seals like to sunbathe on the rocks. As we walked we were hoping for seals, and we were rewarded with some stunning views of sunbathing seals. We went back to the cars hungry and ready for lunch. My parents took us to Linn’s Easy as Pie Cafe, for some delicious food! Then for dessert, we had this amazing olallieberry pie! I even got some olallieberry preserves to take home and Olivia and I have enjoyed it on Saturday mornings on our toast! After a nap and some downtime, we got ready quick enough to have dinner at the Pismo pier during Golden Hour and watched the sunset! We picked up some clam chowder at our favorite spot Splash Cafe and ate at some little tables by the pier. It was a glorious end to a very fun day! If you haven’t yet, please go subscribe to our YouTube Channel it really helps us out, you can also support us by buying something from Amazon using our little affiliate page here. If you’re looking to get some video production or photography and you’re in the Northern California area, we would love to work with you!

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Deer Creek Farm and Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Allison — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 14:40:59 +0000

My mother in law had her eye on this cute little store in Rocklin called Deer Creek Farm, a 30-minute drive from Sacramento. There is a shop along with a pumpkin patch and she thought the girls would love it too. So we made an afternoon of it and took the girls with us. We drove up and the shop looked so cute on the outside. We parked around back and they had a whole area where young children like Olivia can play with trucks, fun games, and a tiny jump house-which was Olivia’s favorite. They had scarecrows all around decorated in cute outfits and pumpkins scattered everywhere of all shapes and sizes. Olivia picked out a little pumpkin for herself and for Meghan. We gave Meghan hers and she got very upset when we took it away. She hung onto that thing like she would never see it again if I took it away. The shop was just as cute in person as it looked online! They had some great farmhouse like pieces-which I adore. My mother in law found the sweetest teapot for herself and she treated me to some adorable wooden candy corns. While I don’t have my own space, I’m happy I can share them with my mom and plan for when I have my own space. I took some pictures of some other things I would love to have in my home. We finished the day with dinner at Burger Lounge. If you haven’t been to one of these places, you gotta go! Their cod sandwich is delicious (my mother in laws favorite) and their chicken nuggets for kids are amazing. Olivia ate all of her nuggets while Meghan helped OJ eat her fries. If you are in the Sacramento area, you should seriously make it out to this Deer Creek Farm (and store of course).

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Sacramento: Ice Blocks

Allison — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 14:00:00 +0000

When I was growing up, you only went downtown to R street to go to Ace of Spades to see a band play. Now, the area is known as the Ice Blocks and there are some fantastic restaurants, coffee shops (love some Philz), and stores that Myke and I are excited to check out. The other day, Myke and I decided to take the girls on a little afternoon date to the Ice Blocks. We went to Mendicino Farms for lunch which is one of my favorite food places in LA and I was so excited to see there was one in Sacramento. I have never had a bad dish from there so I would recommend just about everything there. After we had lunch, we went to Milk Money to try their donuts and ice cream. They are one of those places that once they sell out, they are sold out, so we didn’t get a chance to try the donuts, but we had some ice cream, which was pretty good. Since Myke wasn’t in the mood for ice cream and his sweet tooth wasn’t sated, we made our way to Creamy’s, an adorable little cart that sold mini cheesecakes. It’s run by Cayla, whom I started following on Instagram simply because I love baking and she is in Sacramento. If you come to R Street, make your way to the little cart across from the Starbucks-you will not be disappointed. They are small, sweet, and melt in your mouth delicious.

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First Family Vacation With Toddlers

Allison — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 16:52:00 +0000

This is the first big vacation for the Clements family in quite some time. When you have two kids back to back, vacations can be few and far between. So needless to say, we were extremely excited about this trip. Not only was it our first big trip in a while, it was also our first trip with both girls.

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