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An LDS Book Recommendation That Changed My Viewpoint On The Atonement.

A book that I recommend to truly anyone, and especially members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the book entitled “The Infinite Atonement,” By Tad R. Callister.

This book about the atonement was truly a blessing for me to read for so many reasons.

Overall, this book helped me understand how the atonement of Jesus Christ works and how the atonement impacts our lives every single day.

The author, Tad R. Callister, has such a vast religious knowledge and he writes in detail so beautifully on every aspect of the atonement.

The Infinite Atonement helps us understand why and how we must forgive others, as well as forgive ourselves.

The Infinite Atonement helped me to view the atonement of Jesus Christ at a different level.

This is a book that I feel like I personally could read every year and learn something new and inspiring from the book every single time.

If you haven’t yet read this book, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of “The Infinite Atonement.”

To purchase this book, click here.

xoxo,

Christy Lee

Family, Lifestyle

Why Should We Budget ?

It’s a great question …”Why should we budget ?”

And it’s actually a simple answer:

To enjoy your money and finances to their fullest!

Does this seem weird?

We budget so we can enjoy our money ?

Just think about it…

When we frivolously spend and live paycheck to paycheck , we have an added stress in our lives.

When we budget and save money, we have a slush fund.

That slush fund comes in handy for good and bad times in life.

When we budget, we can save for a fun vacation.

When we budget, we aren’t stressed when we get into a fender bender and have to use a chunk of money for car repairs.

Budgeting makes us have a better relationship with money, budgeting helps our long-term goals become a reality.

Budgeting hasn’t been something I’ve always done, but I enjoy budgeting now because I have seen the long term benefits of budgeting.

Remember, if you haven’t been following along with our 20 days budgeting, you can try it for another month, just click here!

We would love to hear your thoughts on budgeting!

Xoxo,

Christy Lee

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The Perfect Easter Baskets for Kids that Aren’t Candy!

When it comes to holidays, sometime I feel like my kids and even us parents, could use a break from candy.

Sooooo…I came up with 8 Amazon finds that you can put in your kids Easter basket, and NONE of these items are candy and treats…you heard me, None!

I am always about finding great deals so all items listed are under twenty dollars!

Enjoy a healthier, candy-free Easter Basket!

  1. Easter Bubble Bath Bomb with Surprise Squishy Toy

I love that this gift makes bath time more fun and exciting! Kids of a variety of ages will love this gift!

The price for this cute bath bomb is only $8.99

To purchase, click here

Easter Bubble Bath Bomb

2. Easter Kids Art & Crafts Set

This adorable craft set has a variety of Easter craft options with over 275 craft ideas!

The kids can enjoy the day with coloring and crafting with this cute craft set.

The price for this craft kit is only $16.99

To purchase, click here.

This Easter Craft Kit has hours of craft options!

3. 48 Piece Glow-in-the-dark Easter Eggs

How fun are these glow in the dark easter eggs? Kids will enjoy charging these eggs in the light for a few minutes, and then watch them glow in the dark

And at the price of only $7.50, you’ll love this Easter gift!

To purchase, click here.

4. Scento Graphite Smencils

These scented pencils are the perfect gift for kids of all ages.

Kids will enjoy that these pencils are pre-sharpened, and their scents last for up to two years!

This set of pencils comes in a variety of scents: Bubble Gum, Blue Slushie, Pineapple Swirl, Strawberry Cheesecake, Jelly Donut, Jolly Watermelon, Rainbow Sherbet, Orange Soda, Black Cherry, and Chocolate Milkshake

The pencils come in a 10-pack, with the price of only $14.99

To purchase these fun pencils, click here.

These pencils come in a variety of scents.

5. Easter Stamp Assortment (24 piece)

This cute stamp assortment comes with a variety of Easter stamps.

Kids can enjoy stamping with this bright and colorful Easter stamp set.

The price is only $8.99

To purchase, click here.

Easter Stamp Set

6. Would You Rather Book–Kids Laugh Challenge

This “Would You Rather” Book is a fun game to play with kids of all ages!

At the price of only $9.99, your kids will enjoy this fun game.

To purchase, click here

The Kids Laugh Challenge

7. Marble Journal Gold Letter Notebook

This cute journal comes at a great price, and can be personalized with the letter of their first name.

The price of this journal is only $5.99

To purchase this journal, click here.

8. Hoyle’s Kids 6-in1 Fun Pack of Card Games

Card games are always a fun idea for kids of all ages!

This cute card set has 6 different game ideas that kids will enjoy!

The price for these card games is only $4.99

To purchase, click here.

What else would you add to this list? I would love to hear in the comments below!

xoxo,

Christy Lee

Family, Food, Gluten-Free, Lifestyle, Recipes

Tasty Asian Chicken Marinade/ Gluten-free

This delicious chicken marinade is not only gluten-free, it’s also simple and easy to make!

The key ingredient to help make sure this recipe is gluten-free is to make sure you use gluten-free soy sauce or braggs liquid aminos.

Hopefully you enjoy this recipe, let me know in the comments below !

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce

1-3 pounds of chicken

-1/2 cup brown sugar

-1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic

-1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

-dash of crushed red

-sesame seeds to your liking

-dash of pepper

We grilled the chicken and it tasted delicious !

Directions:

1. In a zip-lock bag combine all ingredients.

2. Zip lock the bag securely. Refrigerate the marinade for 1-24 hrs.

3. Cook the chicken. You can grill it, bake it, or fry it.

4. Enjoy!

Xoxo,

Christy Lee

Uncategorized

5 Stylish Shoes and Sandals for Under $30.00!

When spring in the air, it’s a great time to re-stock your shoes and sandals.

However, who wants to spend all their cash on stylish shoes?

Especially, when you can find some adorable shoes and sandals at a great price!

I hope you enjoy looking at these shoes below and go enjoy some great deals!

And…yay for spring weather to add in some new styles to your feet!

Disclosure: this blog contains affiliate links. This means that I get commission from any link you click on…but of course it’s at no cost to you!

QUILTED SLIDE SANDALS

These cute and simple quilted slide sandals are sure to be a necessity this season.

Price: $18.00

Click here to purchase.

These sandals come in 3 different colors, which ones are your favorite?

SLIP ON KNIT SNEAKERS

These cute shoes from Shein.com look comfortable and are stylish!

These sneakers come in three different colors: pink, gray and black.

I love that there are NO laces on these shows! These are such simple and easy shoes to slip into .

With the unbeatable price of $14.00, these sneakers are a great purchase!

To purchase these shoes, click here.

These sneakers come in 3 different color options.

CRISS CROSS SANDALS

These cute and stylish sandals from Jane.com would look perfect with any outfit!

These sandals come in a variety of colors: leopard print, brown and black.

To purchase these stylish sandals, click here.

Price: $24.99

Such stylish sandals!

METALLIC MOCCASINS

These adorable metallic moccasins are stylish and fun for springtime!

With the price of only $24.99, you can’t not grab these shoes!

To purchase these stylish moccasins, click here.

Metallic Moccasins

SLIDE STRETCH SNEAKERS

These stylish and cute sneakers are fashionable and a great deal!

At only $26.99, you can’t beat this stylish look.

These shoes come in the color gray or black.

To purchase these fashionable shoes, click here.

Now the question..which ones to buy, they are all so cute!

Would love to hear your favorite shoes in the comments below.

xoxo,

Christy Lee

Baby, Family, kids, Lifestyle, Parenting, Relationships

Motherhood unfiltered – a moment that was priceless

For everyone in those years of motherhood where all the children are cute and young, adorable but very dependent … today was a day!

Fatigue settles in and I had high hopes of taking a nap while my two little ones napped hoping my older son would play with some toys or draw a picture…. something, anything.

Just as I was getting my son situated to not need me for a bit… my baby woke up, her nap was over and now my chance to rest was gone.

This is not the first time this has happened so I’ve told myself to never get my “heart -set” on taking a nap… and yet it’s hard to keep going when energy levels are low.

But we do keep going because we are moms and we know that’s what our family needs us to do right?

Baby girl with her fancy sunglasses

Well we had some errands to run and I promised the kids a vanilla ice cream come from McDonalds after errands.

Baby girl who is 16 months had her first ice cream cone and she was messier than ever but loved it so much!

I took baby girl out of the car seat and sat down by her, eye level, to clean her face.

I meant to say “give mommy a lick,” because the ice cream looked tasty and it was dripping everywhere… but instead I said “give mommy kiss.”

Well that little cutie puckered up her ice cream face and went in for the biggest kiss and love.

And then when I asked for another kiss she walked away and was too busy.

It literally melted my heart because the kiss came unexpectedly and so quick, but it was so genuine and sweet.

That little kiss from baby girl reminded me that these little ones may be precious to us, but we are so precious to them.

My 2 sweet girls

Our kids love us and show us small acts of endearment throughout the day, if we can just focus on seeing the love.

That little surprise kiss today was the best “pick me up,” and I forgot about how tired I had felt.

When my oldest climbs in for cuddles … my heart melts

I’ve heard it said a million times, but right when we think we as parents are teaching our kids all the important things in life… it’s truly the children that have been teaching us all along.

Xoxo,

Christy Lee

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My Top 4 Favorite Instagramers for Budgeting/Frugal Living

If you are following, this months challenge is to: Budget and Save Money.

20 days of Budgeting…grab this free printable and follow along with us!

It is not easy to change financial/money habits over night, we all know this.

Learning by example is very helpful, and I love learning from others that have seen success with budgeting their lives.

counting dollar bills
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Hence, I wanted to share my top 4 favorite instagram accounts on budgeting/saving money!

If you have any other budgeting instagram accounts that you love, please share!

Enjoy saving money today, I know you can do it!

Top 4 Favorite Budgeting Instagram Accounts:

@jordanpage and her company is @funcheaporfree -Jordan Page has been incredibly success with budgeting and frugal living and she has constant resources and insight that can help anyone save money and budget!

@thebudgetmom– Kumiko Love is a money expert and if you are a mom you can relate to her and her lifestyle. She can guide you on the path of being smart with your money!

@daveramsey– If you don’t follow Dave Ramsey on instagram, you should! He is the MASTER of how to save and build money, I highly recommend following him for budgeting tips and tricks.

@the.budget.blonde-I love all the graphics that this budgeting instagrammed provides! Her posts can get someone to think for a minute about needs versus wants. I appreciate her insight on saving money and I believe you will too!

xoxo,

Christy Lee

Uncategorized

What Helped Me Through the Grieving Process…

In November of 2018, I lost one of my dear friends.

I had been friends with my friend, I will call him, Roy, since the 8th grade.

There was never a romantic relationship, Roy was just always there for me in so many ways.

Roy knew me so well. He knew if I was happy or if he needed to cheer me up, and he always did!

Roy was such a loyal friend. Roy had his own challenges that he talked with me about, and that he was constantly working on. I appreciated that he trusted me as a friend to listen to him and to be there for him as much as I could.

When I got married and had my first two children, he was my biggest cheerleader, always telling me how “proud,” he was of me.

I looked forward to our monthly chats and loved that we could always “pick up where we left off.”

And then,

I got a phone call.

I’ll never forget, I was at a Christmas craft fair, (which Christmas was Roy’s favorite holiday by the way),

And my other friend called to tell me, that Roy had died from some health issues.

woman looking at sunset
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The health issues came quite unexpectedly, I knew Roy had health issues but in no way thought it would take his life.

My heart sunk.

I had two little kids at this craft fair with me and I remember looking around the room feeling like the world was spinning.

I got my kids and I to the car, and drove home, in tears and in shock and so confused.

Is anyone prepared for death of a loved one?

Never.

And this news was quite unbearable for me.

Naturally, I went through all the stages of the grieving process: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance.

When I was in the “anger” stage I remember being so mad at myself for not calling him one more time. I wanted just one more conversation with him and that was it.

grayscale photography of crying woman
Photo by Kat Jayne on Pexels.com

Well- we all have something we turn to when it comes to grieving, mine has always been writing.

So I wrote this poem one night when I couldn’t sleep, when I was still so sad and upset about the loss of my dear friend Roy.

Perhaps it will bring you peace in your grieving struggles.

I will add, just last night while listening to a song, I randomly burst into tears because it reminded me of my sweet friend Roy.

Grieving never quite stops with our loved ones.

I am grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it has helped me find peace with knowing I will see my dear friend again one day.

I hope all that struggle with grief will find peace. Even more, I hope you find something that can help you through your grieving. Perhaps it’s writing, or running, or organizing, the list goes on but I hope you can find that something that can help you to work through the emotional pain of grief.

And with that, I will leave you with this poem:

When the light Came

When the light came, I was not scared

When the light came, I moved forward.

I saw the beauty, peace, and happiness that

awaited me there, and when the light came I went.

When the light came, I knew my time was finished here on this earth. 

My past family and loved ones surrounded me, and joy encompassed my soul. 

When the light came I knew that I would now be the guardian angel. 

To protect my loved ones and family, and to be with them in their hearts. 

When the light came I was fulfilled and I knew my life was complete.

For now, you see, the light set me free, and I know that is what was meant for me.

So do not mourn or feel heartache and sorrow, for my spirit lives on and on.

My light will now shine for you, and one day too, the light will set you free,

and when the light comes you’ll find me!

Written by: Christy Nielson Austin

November 10th, 2018

In memory of my dearest friend

Uncategorized

20 Days of Budgeting/Free Printable

This month my personal focus is to budget and save money. And I want YOU to join me!

pen business money research
Photo by Anna Nekrashevich on Pexels.com

Do you keep a budget?

There are many great budget apps available, but the one that we have found has worked best for our family is from Dave Ramsey called “Everydollar.”

So what is the goal this month?

To keep a budget for at least 20 days. Use whatever budget app you’d like, just make sure to budget!

Besides tracking the budget, I have provided a FREE printable of financial goals to help save money for the month.

One of the BIG focuses with this budget challenge, is thinking about the small things that tend to add up!

This quote:

Doesn’t this quote speak volumes! It’s not always that we are spending money on a HUGE shopping spree to the mall, perhaps it’s those weekly Amazon boxes that come.

Or maybe it’s going out to eat more than once a week?

Bottom line, this challenge for 20 days can be a great “eye-opening” experience for all of us.

Will you join me?!

I provide the free printable at the bottom of this post. I just wanted to address something called shelf-cooking. Shelf cooking is something I learned from Fun Cheap or Free. Shelf cooking is where you look in your pantry or refridgerator shelves, and cook up something with ingredients you already have. Shelf cooking costs ZERO money and takes care of the excuse of going to a restaurant or picking up fast food for dinner.

So click here for the FREE PRINTABLE and lets SAVE some money this month!

20-days-of-budgeting-2021

Comment Below with what you do to SAVE money each month!

xoxo,

Christy Lee