Wanna Know More About ER?

I know that you've heard me talk about Young Living Essential Oils & how much I LOVE them!!  Well, today I'm going to tell you about a program that YL offers to their members.  It is called Essential Rewards. 

Essential Rewards is the monthly autoship for Young Living Essential Oils.  It requires a 50PV minimum order each month.  When you order through ER you earn a percentage back in points to be used later for free stuff. PLUS you also get a cheaper shipping rate!!!  Totally an amazingly generous program by YL.  
If you are like me & you love & use your YLEOs daily, then you're going to be running out & needing to replace these precious oils.  Why not be rewarded for ordering.  There is no fee to sign up for ER & you can cancel at any time.  I would recommend if you are going to cancel that you cash your points out first.....otherwise you lose them.  That would make me sad!!!  Also, you're allowed 1 "grace" month per 12 months.  This means that 1 month during a 12 month period, you do not have to order.  I'm tellin' ya....Young Living really takes care of their members.  I'm going to share a video with you by the amazing Monique McLean.  She is my upline's upline.  :) She just has a way with words.  You can check out her Essential Rewards video HERE

Hopefully after the video you are understanding the workings of Essential Rewards.  In case you're not, here are a couple more graphics to help explain it further.  If you're not on Essential Rewards & would like to be, I'll be happy to help you.

So, what are you waiting for??  Let's get you signed up for Essential Rewards!!

Fall Family FUN

 I know that all parents must feel this way......but I feel like time is absolutely flying & I can't keep up.  I remember being a child & thinking Christmas would never get here.  Now, as an adult, it seems we don't get over all the Christmas busy-ness before it is time to do it all again.  When I first started noticing how quickly time seems to move I didn't have children yet.  People would always tell me, "Just wait.  It'll really fly when you have kids."  And I always thought, "No way it can fly any faster."  Well, guess what.......fast forward & I now have 2 precious girls & yes, time is flying faster than I ever imagined.  I feel like I was just in the hospital having my Ava.......she turned 9 this summer!!  And there is no way our baby Aub  can really be 6! Why am I telling you all this?  Well, because, I also hit a milestone birthday this year.....40!!  Sure don't feel like I've existed for that long, but I have.  Anyway, between time flying & my girls growing & my 40th birthday, I have a renewed appreciation for really enjoying my family & my time with them while my girls are little.  
Jim & I both want to create a home full of happy memories that our girls will always look forward to coming back to.  I want them to remember their childhood with happiness.  We take a lot of time together as a family.....we play together, we have family game night & family movie night, etc.  We also really enjoy taking trips with our girls.  One of our favorite places to visit is Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  Last month we were able to visit Gatlinburg & enjoy some family time.  Here are a few pictures from our visit.....

We always enjoy walking thru the downtown Gatlinburg strip.  So many shops, good food, & a variety of activities.  Our girls have both always loved rocks.  So, this time we let them mine for gemstones.  This is something we've always seen but never checked into.  They loved it & both got some really cool stones.

 There are some things that are just a "must" for our family when we visit Gatlinburg.  One thing for me is to have a caramel apple.  YUM!!  There's just really nothing better.  The other thing that our family does every time we go is to visit Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.  You'd think the girls would get tired of it, but they don't.  They change certain areas of the aquarium periodically so we see a lot of the same stuff but get to see some new stuff as well. 

We tried a couple of new things this trip.  We took the girls on an Alpine Slide.  WOW!!  It was really exciting & scary at the same time.  You're basically driving your own coaster car on a track down the mountain.  Lots of excitement!!

We spent one day at Dollywood.  We enjoyed a bird show, roller coasters, rides, food, & perfect weather.  Of course, like any tourist stop, they want to take your picture when you get there.  I'm a sucker for these.  These pictures are usually my souvenirs from our trips.  This is my favorite that they took.....they told us to group hug!! 

Fun times riding the ferris wheel......I noticed Jim taking a selfie of him & Ava & Aub & I were in the background.  So when we got in front, I did the same thing! 

On our last night in Gatlinburg we took in a new (to us) show.  We visited the Hatfields & McCoys Dinner Show.  What a ball we had!! Just good family fun!!!

Now that we've been back home a few weeks, it is back to the school routine.  We did enjoy some Halloween dressing up.  Dr. Lovell dressed as Old McDonald to go to work.  Ava & Aubrey both wore costumes to school......we have Minnie Mouse & a ballerina. 

After school we had to get Trixie's & Saban's tutus on so they could go visit Old McDonald.  We got to see all of the staff dressed up too.  They were all dressed as Old McDonald's farm animals.  Such a fun day!! 
















Now we're gearing up to wait on Thanksgiving & Christmas.  Oh how I love this time of year.  I sure hope you & your family are having a fabulous fall too!! 

WHY..........What is your WHY??

Decisions.........life is full of them.  I mean our days are filled with decisions......from the mundane to the sometimes life changing.  The older I get the harder the decisions seem to be.  But at the heart of every decision I make (& I'm sure I'm no different than anyone else out there) is to determine what is best for MY FAMILY.

This is a picture of my family from our recent vacation in the Smokies.  These are my people.  My husband & I talk all the time about decisions & choices to be made & what is the best option for our girls & their future.

In January 2013 we decided to try to clean up our family's diet.  I found myself worrying about all the junk that we consume on a daily basis.  So, we decided to try to get rid of all high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, & other chemicals that are in our foods.  We started with baby steps & we started making our own bread.  Then we moved on to making other things from scratch.  It was really overwhelming but I felt like it was the best thing for us. Well, time marched on & it all got easier. Then after a year of doing this our diet was mostly "clean". (I say mostly clean because we still splurge & we eat yummy things that are not good for us.)  After getting our diet in better shape I started thinking about what else I could "clean up."  To me the next logical step was to tackle my home remedy supply.  We have never been a very sickly family & we've always used medication (OTC or prescription) sparingly & as a last resort.  I had been researching essential oils for months & months & the idea was very intriguing to me.  I loved the idea of having a natural way to take care of my family's occasional minor ailments.  And just like my food, I wanted  oils that were completely natural.  So after I had been researching for a while, I noticed a friend of mine, Elizabeth Bailey was posting about Young Living Essential Oils on facebook.  Young Living was the company I was already leaning toward after my own research.  Elizabeth was a person that I felt would be making informed decisions & I trusted her judgement.  So I messaged her one day after seeing her facebook post.  I asked all kinds of questions & she answered them confirming my thoughts about Young Living. That afternoon I took the plunge (in February 2014) & bought an essential oil starter kit for myself.  I can't tell you how excited I was that day!! When my kit arrived I was like a kid at Christmas.  I dove right in & starting using the oils on my family & diffusing & making creams. I. LOVE. IT!!!! Best decision I've ever made. Since February we've been using essential oils daily...............lavender, peppermint, Valor, etc.  We're always reaching for our oils!!  I've also been known to apply them to friends & family.  If I hear them talking about something they're dealing with, I come running with my oil bag!!  There are no words to describe how I feel when someone asks me about something & I share an essential oil with them, then they come back telling me what that oil did for them!!  It completely makes my day!!  My girls know the oils & know what to ask for when they need something.  
So, when I'm asked WHY I started using Young Living for my family, ^^^that's what I tell people.  My WHY is my people........I want what is best for them.  We all have a story to tell & a WHY for our story.  I hope you've found my why helpful & I hope you'll revisit your why.  

I'd love to hear from you.  Please share your WHY with me.  Or if you have questions about Young Living I'd love to talk with you about that.  You can email me or find me on Facebook.