Whenever you hear the phrase “Meal Planning” do you cringe a little bit inside? There was once a time in my life that I hated meal planning and then I realized how easy and budget friendly it can be.

When I am really on top of organizing my meals I find I am less stressed and dinnertime is actually an enjoyable experience rather than a chaotic time during the day. It’s nice to know what I am preparing for dinner early in the day rather than scrambling in the evening to come up with something last minute!

THINGS THAT WORK FOR ME & MY FAMILY

1. Find a day during the week that works for you to organize your week, what meals you want to prepare, and what food you have leftover from the previous week that you can use in the meals for this week. I have found that Sunday is the best day for me to do this. It’s the start of a new week and it makes it easier for me to plan that way.
2. Ask your children what meals they like best and try to incorporate one or two of those in your weekly meal plan. I find that if I am making meals my kids really enjoy, they eat more and are happier during meal time.
3. My biggest tip of all is grocery pick up! If you haven’t heard of the Rosie App or any other grocery pick up program, you definitely need to look into it! Having five kids with a million different schedules, grocery pick up has absolutely saved my life! I have the app on my phone and it makes it easy to order my groceries from anywhere!
4. Do your best to stick to the meals you have planned. Sometimes our schedules and plans change, but I do my very best to prepare the meals I have planned and budgeted for. If something comes up, I try and rearrange our meals to make it work moving forward in the week. For instance- sometimes we get invited over to a friends house for dinner, baseball schedules change, or sometimes my day doesn’t go as planned and we end up ordering out one night. If things like this occur during the week, I usually just bump that meal back a night or reorganize my meal schedule.
5. Plan with a budget. I have a weekly budget that I try to stay within. However- if an item is on sale that I use all the time, often times I will buy more of that one item even if it means I go over my weekly budget. At the end of the month, my budget usually evens out if I’ve spent more one week and less another week. I try and plan my meals around items that are on sale in general. I also try and plan meals that use some of the same ingredients that I can use throughout the week.

APPLIANCES AND TRICKS

1. I love using my Crock Pot or Instant Pot when I need to. I have a large family and so I have the 8 quart Instant Pot. The smaller one would be fine if you have a smaller family. If I am in a time crunch, the Instant Pot helps me prepare meals fast. If I am using a freezer meal or don’t have a lot of prep time during the day, I will use my Crock Pot in the morning so I have a meal ready that evening.
2. A food processor is something I use constantly to prepare meals faster! This is a huge life saver for me!
3. My friend recently introduced me to the Alligator 2-in-1 Vegetable Chopper Set and I love this appliance too! I had one a long time ago when I was first married but I never used it so I sold it at a garage sale. I bought a new one and now I use it all the time! It chops your produce evenly and a lot faster than hand chopping!

Also- If you love freezer meals, I highly suggest taking a class from Citrus Pear. My friends and I took a class last weekend and it was so much fun! We made 70 meals in under two hours!

Meal prep takes a little while to get used to, but once you get a routine, I promise it makes life so much easier and less stressful! I hope some of these tips help get you motivated to meal plan if you don’t already. Try the Rosie App if you haven’t ever used it before! If you have any tips or tricks that work for you, I’d love to hear them too!

One of our favorite things to make is Rolo Pretzels. I’m not sure who introduced us to this amazingness, but we love to make these. They are simple, sweet, savory, and something little kids love to help make!

Things you’ll need:

• Square Pretzels
• Rolos
• Peanut Butter M&M’s

Preheat your oven to 150-175 degrees. Simply lay your pretzels on a cookie sheet. It doesn’t need to be greased or anything special. Unwrap the Rolos and set them in the middle of the pretzels.

Once your oven is heated, heat your pretzels and Rolos in the oven for about 5 minutes. You don’t want them to completely melt. The Rolo should be soft enough that the chocolate is just starting to look shiny and melted.

Take them out of the oven and place a peanut butter M&M in the center of the Rolo. Gently press the M&M down into the Rolo so it combines the pretzel, Rolo, and M&M together.

Freeze them for around 20 minutes. Once frozen you can take them off the cookie sheet and place them in a ziplock bag or other container. We love to put them in mason jars with a little note on them for friends and neighbors.

Enjoy!

Since 2006 when Colby and I were married and had our own place, I have loved gardening. It’s something that has been instilled in my blood since the time I was a little girl watching my Grandpa Hitchcock grow an amazing garden and also my own Dad. I’ve not always had the space for a huge garden, but I’ve always worked with what I had to grow anything and everything I could.

My older boys (and I’ll admit I have too) have been wanting chickens. We’ve had chickens before and loved getting the eggs every morning. Since our dog Miley passed away last year, her fenced kennel has been vacant. After trying to find a chicken coop for a few weeks, our friend Karson decided randomly that he wanted to help us build one. We will put the chicken coop inside the kennel and allow the chickens to roam inside the fenced area.

However- if you know me at all, you know I like to make things look “cute” if you will. A boring kennel isn’t going to work for our chickens. I spent a few days designing the landscaping for it and realized I needed something to provide shade, but also be functional as well.

I inherited a really cool water trough that I decided would look really cool with pole beans planted in it next to the kennel so they could creep up the fencing and also provide shade for the chickens. About three weeks ago I planted two different colors of pole beans- green and white. I knew they would freeze outside if I planted them too early and so I started them indoors in some cups. I posted this picture a few days after I planted them.

During the day I would water them and let the plants get some sunshine outside on our deck. Exactly one week ago, I walked outside to find Aaron had dumped every single cup out! Needless to say- I was fuming mad. I almost started crying. Seriously. I called Colby and told him I was frustrated with Aaron.

I almost almost gave up and threw everything away out of anger and then I decided to try and save my sprouted beans. I sorted all the bean sprouts from the dirt and set them aside. Then I filled the cups back up with the dirt and set 2-3 bean sprouts on top of each cup. I gently planted the seeds back into the dirt and hoped for the best. Some of the seeds had broken in half and were ruined but most of them I was able to save. The only bad news is-I didn’t know which were green and which were white.

Thankfully they are surviving and hopefully my vision of the bean pole trellis will work after all! I still have a few more weeks before I will transplant them into the water trough, but so far they are looking good!

After I get them transplanted into the trough and growing I will share an updated picture with you (hopefully with the chickens included)!

Moral of the story- don’t give up even when you’re feeling defeated! I’m glad I took the time to save them! Hopefully my vision will still be able to come to life! And as a bonus- I’ll get to enjoy these beans for eating as well!

If you love to bottle in the fall, here is my favorite Dilly Bean recipe that I have used for many years. I got this awesome recipe from my friend Vanessa. I love to bottle tons of things each year. I’ll try and share more recipes if that’s something you guys want to see!

Dilly Beans

• 1 1/2 teaspoons non-iodized salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed
• 1/8 teaspoon Alum
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• Full clove of Garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper (you can use less of this if you don’t like things too spicy)

Place all above ingredients in the bottom of a sterilized pint jar. Snap the ends of your washed beans. Pack the jars with your beans. Fill the jar 1/3 of the way full with apple cider vinegar. Fill the rest of the jar with boiling water leaving headspace room at the top. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

*Note- Based on where you live and your elevation, processing time might be different. I am not responsible for any problems, food poisoning, or any other issues that might occur due to improper handling of food or processing time. Please research proper processing time based on where you live.*

I am excited for my first #WWNPD post! If you have no clue what I am talking about, see my last blog post for all the details.

After last week, I’ve had tons of people message me with questions about designing rooms in their homes, how I manage my time, my favorite things, but one of my most requested question was Mother’s Day ideas. Mother’s Day is coming up quick and so I thought it would be the perfect post for this week.

A few years ago, I decided to do something special for our neighbors who didn’t have children living in their home. My boys loved the two older ladies who lived next door. This idea was a gift that brought out a lot of emotion for our neighbors and it was so special for my boys to see their reactions to the gift. I recreated this idea today but used my generalized tag for the photos (you’ll see the printable files towards the end of this post).

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A clay pot
• Craft Paint
• Potting Soil
• Small Sponge Brush
• Flowers of your choice
• Watercolors
• Paper
• A small wooden dowel or straw

It’s pretty simple really. You just use the sponge brush to lightly brush craft paint on your child’s hand. Have them gently press their hand on the pot making sure all their fingers get pressed against it. Lift straight up and you’ll have a cute little handprint. You can choose to do just one handprint per pot or paint all of your kids hands on one pot (depending on how many kids you have). When I did this project the first time, I had all my boys paint their hand on the pot and then they wrote their name in permanent marker beside their handprint.

After the paint on the pot dries, plant whatever flowers you choose in your pot. I let my boys pick out the flowers themselves to make it a little more personal.

You can print your own card/tag or use one of the designs below. Just simply right click on the image and save it to your computer. I had my boys sign the card and also decorate it however they wanted to. For this project, my son was dying to use watercolors and so that’s what we used. He was so excited to get to paint!

These can be used for Mother’s, neighbors, or even a gift for your child’s teacher. Cohen and Owen made these today for their preschool teacher. I designed the general tag below.

As a side note, the clay pots will go dark from watering the flowers. Once the water dries, the pot will go back to its original color. You could also choose to paint your pot first and then do the handprints if that bothers you at all.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer it. Thanks for stopping by and I hope this post inspires you to create one of these with your kids! It’s something my boys still remember doing!

Happy Wednesday everyone! See you next week for another #WWNPD

About a year ago I was at a doctors appointment for my son Easton. After visiting with Dr. Rosenbeck about Easton’s condition, he asked, “Did you know my family has a hashtag about you?”

I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a compliment or if they had made this hashtag as an insult towards me. You never know right? I was a little surprised for a second and then Dr. Rosenbeck explained it was everything good. Dr. Rosenbeck and his family had previously bought our home and had been living there for maybe 2 or 3 years. Along with purchasing our home, the Rosenbeck family bought several furniture items and decorations that were already in our home.

I had always loved to decorate and design, but didn’t understand my love for these things would reach further than my own home. The entire Rosenbeck family including Dr. Rosenbeck and his siblings had started a hashtag #WWNPD. This hashtag is: What would Natalie Park do.

I didn’t realize how much this hashtag had been used until one day I was taking my friend’s family pictures up north and she asked if I knew about this hashtag the Rosenbeck family had been using. People up north even knew about this before I did! I was sort of embarrassed, but humbled to know that other people really did in fact like my ideas.

Dr. Rosenbeck and his family have since told me I needed to start a blog. This idea had been burning through my mind for over a year and is one of the reasons I decided to start my blog. After a little peer pressure, I decided to try it out. I would love to create more, help people design their homes, and also give any advice I can (keeping in mind I have a degree in nursing, not interior design) to help others make their house a home. I also want to inspire people to be creative and have fun. Crafting and design are my way of relieving stress. I hope I can inspire you to do the same.

If you have any questions about a project you’re working on in your home, a crafting idea, or anything you want to ask me about, please do! I will try and post my #WWNPD posts on Wednesdays. You can email me at sonkissedmomma@gmail.com with any photos or questions you have. I’d love to help you in any way I can. You can also use the hashtag #WWNPD and I will be able to see your questions or posts that way too. Ask Away!

Next week you’ll get to hear the full story from the Rosenbeck family and hear exactly how this whole thing came about. I really, really hope you guys will stick with me and let me help you in any way I can. It truly is something I love and something that was instilled in my heart from the time I was a little girl making flower arrangements with my Grandma Colene.

Sometimes I have it all together, but let’s be honest, most of the time I don’t. Yesterday Trevin & Easton both had baseball games up north at the same time, but in different cities. I had organized carpool schedules earlier in the day and got things ready to go.

Trevin & Easton have ONE job and that one job is getting their baseball gear together including their uniforms. Well, about five minutes before we got to the field Easton was playing on, he yells, “Dang it Mom! I forgot my cleats!” I was SO mad. We had one of Easton’s friends in the car and I knew if I turned around they both would be late to the game. I was trying to keep my composure, but honestly didn’t know how he was going to play without his cleats. He was wearing his slip on sandals (not even his regular gym shoes) and there was NO way he was going to be able to even run in those. Barefoot would have been a better option.

I called another parent on Easton’s team to see if they had left town yet. Thankfully they were just getting ready to leave and were willing to stop by our house and get his cleats. My house was a disaster which made me even more mad. I knew his cleats weren’t going to be here before the game started and so I was frantically trying to decide what to do. The game starts and we are first at bat. Crap.

Thankfully one of my best friend’s little boys was there watching his cousin play and I begged him to let Easton borrow his gym shoes for just a few minutes. He was so nice about it and switched Easton shoes willingly. Easton shoved his foot into shoes that were a little too small for him, but small is better than nothing right.

While Easton was batting, his entire team yelled, “Go Shoes!” It was hilarious. I am pretty sure the other team wasn’t sure what was going on, but it made for a good laugh. Easton got a hit and ran to first base and then rounded to second. After that first inning his cleats arrived and life was good.

Being a Mom is definitely hard work! Just when I think I have it all together, something else happens and it totally throws me off. I am so thankful for good friends who stepped in to help us out. I’m pretty sure Easton will never forget his shoes again, and if he does, he will be running bases in his sandals instead.

Today I have already cleaned my entire house and done three loads of laundry because I was so embarrassed someone had to see my house the way it was yesterday. I can laugh about it today, but yesterday was stressful! Now I need an appointment to get my hair colored to cover all the grey hairs I am sure I grew!

Monday’s are the days that I get a ton of stuff accomplished! It’s my day to try and start off the week on a good foot even though Monday’s are sometimes the worst for my children. People always ask me how I accomplish so much with my two little kids and I will tell you…

In regards to Meal Prep-I have a secret.

Every two weeks on Sunday night I go through my fridge and pantry and see what meals I can make with what I have leftover from the previous shopping trip. After figuring out what I can make with what I have, I plan the rest of my meals based on our schedule. For instance- If we are home that night, then I will make a homemade meal. If we are away for games or if my kids have practices that evening, then we make something simple or order out if we are out of town. I try my best to stick with the meals I have planned for. Sometimes it works out that way and sometimes it doesn’t. Life happens.

My secret to meal prepping and also staying on a budget is the Rosie App! If you haven’t heard of the Rosie App then you need to get it right this second! Living in a small town so far away from larger stores can be challenging. I have found I save a TON of money by shopping up north and meal prepping. I also save a ton of money by NOT bringing my children into the store with me. The Rosie App allows me to order my groceries on my phone, set up a pick up time, and have them delivered to my car without stepping into the store. I get the groceries I need without all the “extra” stuff I find or my kids find when you walk up and down the aisles of the store.

Yesterday I managed to drop Cohen off at school at 10:30, drive 30 minutes to Spanish Fork, go to Costco, talk to my brother in law while we were in Costco, go to Macy’s to pick up my Rosie order, buy a salad and smoothie at Kneaders, go to Crumbl, drive 30 minutes back home, and arrived at my house at 12:20 before Cohen got home from school. I also had my two youngest children with me. Call it a miracle? It’s all because it only took me literally ten minutes to get my groceries from Macy’s.

After we got home, we organized the groceries, cleaned out the pantry, mowed the lawn (yes I mowed the lawn in March because there are so many leaves on my grass), cleaned out the garden, cleaned out the flower beds, and took Trevin to baseball practice. I somehow got all the kids fed and bathed before 7:00 and that was my day.

I was ready to relax on the couch and watch the Bachelor in peace.

Or so I thought…

Aaron woke up three more times and Cohen came upstairs complaining of his feet hurting. After off and on snuggles with those two kids, I finally got in bed around 2 am.

I can’t wait for Colby to get home tonight. It’s been a long week.

This morning I took Korbin from his crib. He snuggled his head unto my shoulder just like he does every morning. We opened the shutters and it was snowing! The snowflakes were maybe the biggest snow flakes I’ve ever seen! We looked out the window for a few minutes and enjoyed watching each snowflake hit the ground.

It snowed for several hours and the ground was a white blanket everywhere you looked. As I walked out to the car to take Cohen to preschool, it was nice and sunny.

After school the boys had a friend over to play basketball. These four played outside for almost two hours straight. Zero complaining and lots of laughing. It was so wonderful to have them be playing outside and enjoying the sunshine.

Now it’s snowing again. Possibly worse than it was this morning. I just don’t understand Utah’s weather. It either needs to stay winter or be spring.

One aspect of my photography business that I cherish the most is being able to document those special moments in people’s lives that otherwise wouldn’t have been documented. I have been doing photography for over ten years now and it’s been such an honor to be a part of some amazing experiences that have taken place because of photos captured through my lens.

I knew I wanted to photograph people for a reason. Documenting those candid moments and those special feelings between people, families, couples, and children is something that just “gets me.” It’s the whole reason I became drawn to photography, especially after having a child of my own.

Flash Back…

Many years ago when Colby and I were living in St. George, I started taking the Bell Family’s photos. I always loved taking pictures of Dezie because Josie always had her dressed in the cutest outfits! Anyway, I believe it was the second time I had photographed their family when Dezie didn’t want to cooperate very well for the family pictures. Dezie kept insisting she hold a little girl doll in most of their pictures. After trying to battle with her for a little while and doing anything I could to pull the doll out of the pictures, Josie finally gave in and let Dezie hold the doll. In the end, the photos turned out pretty cute and by the end of the session I was able to get a few family photos without the doll.

At the time of their family photos, Josie was 14 weeks pregnant with their second child. She later found out she was expecting a little girl. To make a long story short, sadly, Reggie was stillborn just a few weeks before her due date. I’ll never forget the pain I felt hearing the news of Reggie’s passing. I prayed Kyle & Josie would be comforted. To this day, Josie still loves the photos we took of Dezie holding that precious little doll. In Josie’s eyes, it symbolizes Reggie being there with them. Maybe, just maybe Dezie knew something we didn’t…

I have photographed the Bell Family several times since Reggie’s passing and have ALWAYS felt something special at their sessions. There is definitely something “different” about photographing their family. A few years after Reggie passed away, I got the wonderful opportunity to photograph them again. While editing their pictures, I came across this image of them walking. The more I looked at the image, the more I felt like Gabbie was looking at something. I contemplated making the image “complete,” but didn’t know if doing so would bring back saddened memories for Josie. I showed my husband who immediately said it was a bad idea all around. The next morning I woke up and I couldn’t stop thinking about the image. I texted Kyle and asked his honest opinion.

I waited a few minutes. No reply. I got slightly nervous and felt like maybe I should have just listened to Colby in the first place (but what wife listens to their husband all the time). Kyle finally texted me back saying, “Oh Nat. I’m in tears. That is the greatest idea…” I was beyond excited! I told Kyle I wanted to surprise Josie that afternoon with her disk. He came to my house after he got off work to grab the disk and a small note I had wrote for Josie. When he left, I felt anxious, excited, and emotional all at the same time!

That session was special for me. I believe it was special for Kyle and Josie as well. She came over a few hours later, slightly emotional, gave me a hug, and a small note herself. It was everything I needed and more. She decided to print that photo in her home along with other photos from her session.

Since that session, Kyle and Josie have added an additional member of their family. She’s the sweetest little girl. Her name is Jadie and she is almost three years old. Jadie is the fifth child to Josie and Kyle.

About a year ago, Josie and Kyle got devastating news that Jadie had been diagnosed with Vanishing White Matter Disease Leukodystrophy. As stated in an Instagram post from Josie, “VWM is progressive, untreatable, incurable, and terminal.” Our whole community was heartbroken to hear the news of Jadie’s condition and have since rallied around their family to give them as much support as we can!

Watching Josie and Kyle’s family go through so much heartache has helped me realize just how precious my own family is! As I look back on photographs I have taken for them, I am reminded and pushed to do better about documenting my own family memories. Hearing Josie say, “Thank you” for the memories I have documented for their family is an honor! This is why I love what I do. These are the moments I hope for in my client’s eyes. These are the days that make all those late nights editing worth it. And this is why I have decided TODAY to start scrapbooking again…because life should be remembered!

This winter season has been one for the books! We have had one person sick after another! Last week Little E got extremely sick. We didn’t have him tested for Influenza, but I’m pretty sure he had the flu. He laid on the couch for three days straight and after those few days he still wasn’t completely himself.

After E had the flu, everyone else in the family started dropping like flies. Trev ended up getting a bad sore throat, Aaron had a fever and laid on the couch for two days, Cohen had a low grade fever, and I don’t think Korbin was feeling the best either. I was hopeful I was going to be lucky and not get the germs, but sadly Friday night I started to feel the symptoms.

Basically we did nothing on Saturday or Sunday. We had plans to go to the BYU game and Trevin missed being able to play basketball with another team. He was pretty bummed!

We watched a lot of TV and slept all weekend long! Here’s to hoping for no more sickness! Bring on the sunshine and warm weather!