FIT MAMA EMILY

Hi all! I'm Emily and I blog over at Nap-Time Creations. While my blog is mostly about sewing and food, I am also very passionate about fitness and health. I was really excited to join this series, because I don't share this side of my life through my blog.

FIT MAMA AMANDA

Hello! First of all, thanks Carisa for asking me to write about my personal fitness life and for creating this blog series! It’s a great way for all of us women to get inspired with staying fit and active. 

To start off, you have to know I was born a “gym rat”. Both parents played college sports and sports were a HUGE part of my growing up years. Sports have really helped instill a passion and dedication to live a healthy and active lifestyle. I was also blessed to play for a top 25 Division 1 Volleyball program and play internationally as well. Those experiences introduced me to a lot of talented people with a lot of helpful fitness and nutrition tips. A few years after college, I became a personal trainer too and loved helping others achieve their goals! I am married now and a stay at home mom with two young kids.

LOOKIN' PRETTY WITH JAMBERRY plus a GIVEAWAY

There are so many great products out there to help us feel pretty! I'll be honest, there are plenty of days where I don't even get out of my PJs. My go to hairstyle right now is a bun or pony tail with a headband. The majority of the time I don't even put on make-up any more. Sooo... it's nice to get dolled up from time to time. Today I'm sharing about Jamberry nails... a quick, easy and pretty nail fix!

FIT MAMA DEE

Hi! This is Carisa’s mom, Dee. I am a mother of 6 children ranging from 13-25, and a grandmother of 2 beautiful grand-children. You may have seen them on Carisa’s blog a time or two. I am excited that I could share with you a little bit about my fitness ups and downs over the last 46 years.

HOW TO BE THE BEST MOM YOU CAN BE

This summer has been very eye-opening to me. We have faced a lot of challenges--emotional, physical and financial. Honestly, I've had some bad days this summer, where I haven't been the best mom. That is hard for me to admit. But, I have two beautiful, smart, adorable children who love me as their mother... no matter what!

FIT MAMA ROBYN

I feel honored Carisa asked me to be included in her Fit Mama series! I am a mom of two boys with a baby girl on the way. Our first son, Collin, was born premature and passed away 3 days after he was born. Ethan is an active, energetic, and sweet 2 ½ year old who constantly keeps me on my toes. Our baby girl is coming in November and we are so excited! Chris, my husband, works for Sorenson Capital, a private equity firm in Lehi, Utah. 

FIT MAMA SHARLENE

Hi! This is Carisa’s cousin, Sharlene. I am a mother of 3 rambunctious boys. In the last year I have learned so much and have become very passionate about fitness and nutrition. I have reaped wonderful results from living a healthy, active life. I made the decision and commitment to consistently exercise throughout the rest of my life! I hope to inspire at least one person to do the same.  Allow me to share a little how I reached this point.

FIT MAMA SERIES KICKOFF

It is getting harder and harder to be motivated to be healthy and fit. I mean, a lot of us want to be healthy. And we want to be fit! But as moms, we have a lot to do! It's hard to find the time, and sometimes motivation, to make healthy meals and it's even harder to find the time to workout. You really have to make the time to do these things.

TIPS FOR CRAFTING WITH KIDS

Crafting with kids can be hard. And stressful. Sometimes it's not even fun at all. So why do it? I'm sharing with you the real benefits that I've seen and some tips to make crafting a little bit easier.

Benefits

Increase in patience. For both the mom (or dad) and the child. I know, you probably have more than enough opportunities to increase your patience. So this benefit is mostly for the children. Kids want things fast and they want to touch whatever they see, the second they see it. When working on a project, they can't always touch everything and that teaches them that if they want to help... they have to wait. Waiting is good for kids (delayed gratification).

Think about yourself for a minute. Don't you love that feeling right after you've created something new all by yourself? You feel like a million bucks, right? Crafting and creating allows children to feel that same feeling of accomplishment and teaches them that they are capable of making something. Sometimes on their own and sometimes with a bit of help!

I'm gonna get a little 'teacher-y' on you right now. Exposing children to different art forms helps them to develop artistic talents as well as the right side of their brain. So basically I'm telling you that creating art (crafting with kids) is important for development. As an educator, I've seen many schools pull away from the arts despite the fact that studies have shown that experiences with art help increase a child's learning in all other areas. But it does take time, effort and a decent amount of preparation and as we said before... patience!

7 TIPS FOR KEEPING A CLEAN HOME (WITH KIDS)

One thing I’ve learned about cleaning is that it is important to have the right perspective. There are days when I feel like I will never be able to keep up with the mess. It seems as though it is going to consume me… I feel overwhelmed and the last thing I want to do is clean up everyone else’s mess. Can anyone relate?

WELCOME to MESSES TO MEMORIES

I'm so excited to be starting this new blog. My husband, Scott and I have spent a lot of time together designing it. I'm really lucky he loves learning about html and all that 'design stuff.' It has been a really fun (and exhausting) learning process.

Anyway... I'm so glad you are here and hope that you will join me on this journey as I continue to learn how to make messes into beautiful and exciting memories! You can read a little more about what inspired me to start this blog here. You can also learn a little bit more about me here.

As my first post, I wanted to just highlight the types of posts that you will be seeing so that you will be hooked and want to come back for more!