Back to Basics...

I first off just want to say thank you to all of those that left heart felt comments on my blog post "I Surrender" it truly means so much to me to have you take time out of your day to share those words of encouragement with me.  Having people leave comments makes trials and challenges a little easier to go through.  So, thank you so much again!

Now, I have been struggling lately with blogging.  I have had a hard time finding inspiration and encouragement to continue.  I have found myself focusing more on the page views and the followers than and competing with the big wigs of blogging and trying to be as successful as them overnight instead of focusing on why I started blogging in the first place.  I mainly started blogging so that I could have a place to talk about life issues as well as finding myself. You can read more about why I started blogging here.

Since my post is about going back to the basics I thought I would share 5 fun facts about myself so that you all might get to know me, and then tomorrow we can continue to dive into the serious topics of life.

1. I was married to my sweetheart, Derek Schouten, 4 years ago on Valentine's day 2009.  He is my everything, my support, and my rock.  He comforts me when I am sad or stressed and helps me know that everything will be alright.  We have two little dogs that are our children.  Patches (on the left) and Little Miss (on the right).

2.  My husband and I love to travel! My travel obsession started before I got married.  I have traveled to Europe twice seeing Paris, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and London.  I loved traveling there but my favorite places have been with my husband.  We have been to California, Albuquerque New Mexico, Hawaii and Mexico.

 



3. I have really small feet.  I realized this weekend that I can fit into my niece's shoes.  We were over at my sister-in-law's house on Friday, they live on a farm and I forgot to wear boots and wore slippers.  So I borrowed my niece's shoes.  Oh I forgot to mention one part, she is 8 years old.

This is my husband Derek kissing my sister-in-law's pig, Petunia.

4. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I love this gospel and I am so grateful for it in my life.  It helps me get through the tough times in my life as well as gives me knowledge about life.  If you have any questions about my religion you can ask me or click here.

5.  I am a perfectionist but I am in no way perfect.  I am working on myself and my confidence and self esteem.  I have struggled with depression and negative thoughts about myself for a long time and am working on changing those thoughts..  I even struggle with trying to be perfect with blogging and being one of the great bloggers that I lose focus on what is really important.  I strive every day to do everything to the best of my abilities.  

I hope this has helped you get to know me.  I hope that you will continue with me in the journal to find self esteem and who we all are as people.  Thanks for stopping by!

Confessions

Today my post is brought to you by two lovely ladies that I am following: Lisette with Northern Belle Diares, and Catalyn with Confessions of a Northern Belle, they are having an "I confess... Wednesday Link-Up Party" and I am kind of nervous to confess things but I hope you enjoy it.

I confess..... that I am loving blogging but I am kind of overwhelmed.  I look at all of these talented bloggers and think I will never get there but really hope I can.

I confess.... that I secretly love watching the Bachelor even though some of the girls are really bother me sometimes but I just love all the drama!.  I don't ever miss an episode.

I confess.... that I LOVE spending money, even when we don't have a lot of money to spend.  For some reason I just have to spend money.  This year we are trying to be really good about saving money and paying some things off but it is so hard for me to do so. Here's to hoping I can control myself!

I confess... that I was so excited that my husband suggested we went out to eat dinner last night, I was trying to drop hints that I didn't want to cook dinner.  Either he caught on to my hints or he just really wanted to eat out, either way I was so excited that I didn't have to cook dinner!

I confess... that I have been having a hard time getting pregnant for a couple of years and really wish I had a baby of my own so for now I love everyone else's babies like they were my own!

I think that is all of the confessing I have in me for today.   What do you confess? And remember to visit Lisette and Catalyn's blogs to link up!  Thanks for reading!