This post is in part of a #JOHNSONS® sponsored series for Socialstars™ I will be sharing each month.

 

These are photos from last year’s 4th of July. Looking at these photos makes me so happy, they are both doing something they love so much and with the person they love so much! As soon as Jay walks in the door and is home with us, our son doesn’t want anything to do with me. It made me really sad and I actually cried one time thinking, “What? After all that I do for you all day long, you forget all about my sacrifice as soon as daddy walks in the door?” It was probably that time of the month and I was extra emotional haha. But I realized that instead of feeling sad, I should be grateful for all the time I do get to spend with him in the day and how much he adores and shows his affection towards me all day long, it just disappears when daddy’s home! But it doesn’t mean the love and the time I spend with him during the day isn’t real or precious. None of the time or affection I show to my kids ever go wasted. So I will take all the love and time I can get with him! I am also so grateful that my son and my husband have a very special, tight bond and am so glad they have each other. I hope they are this close for the rest of their lives.

I was just telling Jay on our anniversary last week that I honestly couldn’t have married a better guy who would’ve been a better father to our 3 kids. He is such an attentive, fun, hands on, active dad with our kids. He dedicates all his time and attention to them the moment he walks in the door and I am beyond grateful for that. He loves the kids so much that spending time with them is his down time and his relaxation time. When we go on dates, he wishes the kids were with us, which is the total opposite of my wish, ha! But that’s how much he loves spending time with them.

One thing that he’s really good at doing, that I try to follow, is to be in the moment. He lives in the moment and doesn’t worry or think about taking photos or videotaping it. He soaks up the moment as it happens and is all there. He’s actually maybe a little to the extreme and never ever takes photos like ever, but I probably made him that way because I love taking photos and he knows there will be enough photos for him to look at when the kids are older. He hates taking photos but every time we look at old photos he tells me how even though he hates taking photos, he’s glad I take them. Even though he’s usually fake smiling in them. 😉

Another thing I admire in him is his patience. On the rare occasion that he does lose his patience with the kids, I kind of sigh a sigh of relief and think, ‘I am not the only one that loses it with my kids! If Jay who is so patient loses it too, maybe I am not so impatient after all.” He has a way of keeping his voice calm and not losing his temper. This was actually one trait I was a little worried about when we got married, because I knew from hearing his stories of road rage and fist fights and underground fight clubs that he started while in College, that he was very scary when he’s angry but thankfully, he is way more patient and doesn’t ever get angry! Maybe that’s a change in him since he became a father but he honestly doesn’t get angry. I wish I was more like him.

I look forward to watching my kids grow up with their amazing father and build many more memories with him. I love knowing that no matter what happens, Jay and I are a team and we will always be strong together. And you bet I’ll be there on the side cheering them on and even snapping a photo or two.

 

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This post is sponsored by Kidbox.

 

Do you believe in birth orders? I talked about it on this post here, about the differences between me, the youngest and my husband, the oldest. Having 3 kids now, and knowing the personalities of my oldest, middle and youngest child, I believe more in birth orders now than I have before! My oldest is responsible, mature, caring, disciplined, self-controlled, a good listener, a care taker of my other two kids and just an awesome, awesome child. She is Heaven-sent! And it seems after talking to many of my friends that their oldest child has all the same qualities as my oldest as well. I was trying to decide if it was more nurture or nature on why the oldests are the way they are, and I think it’s very much both, I believe they are born as the oldest because of certain characteristics they already had before coming to a family, and also because parents raise them different than their other kids. I for one am more harsh with her and more strict and we expect a lot from her. I remember one day when she cried in my arms saying how if she does something, she gets scolded but if her other siblings did the same thing, they wouldn’t get as bad scoldings as her. She said to me, “I know you and dad are harder on me because I am the oldest, but I am still just a kid!” It broke my heart and Jay and I continually try and be mindful of how we discipline her and not be quick to fault her when the kids get in a fight and we naturally tend to our youngest who is crying first, before making sure our oldest is okay.

Parenting is so hard, isn’t it? It’s so hard to discipline 100% fairly and also discipline the kids differently in a way that adheres to their personalities and needs. My oldest is sporty, outgoing, funny and silly. My second is an introvert, artsy and determined. Since they have different personalities, they dress different too and it’s hard shopping for their clothes when they have very different personalities! I thought I would save a lot of money since they’re pretty much the same size and would share the clothes, but most clothes they don’t share with each other. Maybe when they’re older they’ll have a similar taste and style in fashion but right now they’re different.

Kidbox is a style delivery service based on your child’s style and personalities. Every month they curate and send 6-7 items to your home and you can keep as little or as much as you want, if you keep all of the items, the cost is $98, which they charge only after you made your decision. If you keep only certain items, they charge according to how much each item cost. If you decide to only keep let’s say 5 times, might as well just keep it all since you might be paying $98 anyway for the 5 items. So it’s definitely the best deal if you keep all the items. Using Kidbox Style Profile, I should have checked off the “SPORTY” one but I have to be honest and say I checked off “PREPPY” to suit more of my style. Hehehe. Guilty! But ironically, when I opened the box, my daughter was impressed with the items while I was not. I didn’t like most of the selections( I will be posting every item I received below), and would have returned most of them back, which is no problem since you only keep the clothes you love and they don’t charge you until you pick what you’re going to keep. I did like the brands it was offered and also the quality was high-quality clothing, however. And my daughter liked every one of them except the tank tops because she said, “This reminds me of bras so I don’t like this.” She has a phobia of bras, it’s hilarious. When we pass the bra section, she covers her eyes and says, “Oh my eyes, my poor eyes!” Haha. So if she’s not aware of the fact that we are about to pass a bra/panties section, I point to it and say something like, “Oh my, look at those!” which gets her screaming and running away.

So here was what was in the box.

I did check off “short hems” on things to avoid so I was surprised I got these shorts. I wouldn’t let my girls wear these, they are too short. But my daughter really liked it.

This is the “brap top” she was talking about. It came in black, gray and white which only counted as 1 item.

the white shorts on the left and the 3 tank tops were the only items I would have kept. But my daughter liked all of them.

She liked these lace joggers.

 

Would I recommend the Kidbox? I would say try it, why not? You  have nothing to lose, you can return all of them(free returns) and you won’t be charged at all. Another reason I want to support Kidbox is because for every box that a customer keeps, they donate an outfit to a child in need and you’d get to pick out the outfit! Kidbox Cares is a partnership between Kidbox and K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers – the largest nonprofit in fashion – dedicated to collecting and distributing new clothing to children in needy families. I think it’s great to talk to our kids about giving and helping others whom are in need and Kidbox will be a great way to start that discussion and have them be involved in picking an outfit! I also like the concept of having it delivered to your door, and cutting out the trying to shop with 3 little kids in two dilemma. I am all about online shopping, which is so convenient and saves a lot of time.

 

 

 

To share the joy unpacking happiness together, Kidbox is giving away a year of clothes to one winner each month, plus each month we’ll also award outfits to an additional 5 children in need.

To Enter: Take a photo or video of your unique kid unpacking happiness—opening their Kidbox, a special gift they received, or sharing a special gift with a friend—and share it on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag

#UnpackHappy, #Kidbox and @Kidbox (Instagram) or @KidboxFamily(Facebook).

 

Each month Kidbox will select one (1) winner to receive an entire year of Kidbox free (5 seasonal boxes of $98 each), and donate an additional 5 outfits to children in need. We’ll invite the winner to help us select which cause to send the donations to as part of our Kidbox Cares initiative. You can enter once per day each month for extra chances to win!

 

 

 

 

 

*At my girls’ dance festival today, a mom came up to me and told me how she loves following me on everywhere. And then she asked if she could give me a hug and she gave me such a sweet and sincere hug, it touched me so deeply! We talked just for a brief bit, much shorter than I had wanted to because my daughter was about to perform her dance any second, but I can’t stop thinking about this young mom, I want to find out more about her! And I asked her name but then totally forgot(I cannot rely on my mom brain at all lately), so if you are reading this, you know who you are, could you please email me at sarahtyau at gmail? I would love to go out to lunch with you sometime and get to know you!

 

 

 

“It will be a blue Summer without you. The sun can’t shine without you too. I’ll miss you more than if I hadn’t saw a rainbow for the rest of my life!” ❤️, Adi

Adi’s card to her teacher. Isn’t that the sweetest, saddest note? It breaks my heart. She gets very attached to people and she cried in my arms last night telling me how she didn’t want to say goodbye to her teachers. She said she cried again when she was saying bye to them today. Love my little girl who is so tender hearted and has so much love in her.

And today was the last day of school, hooray!

As tradition, we went to McDonald’s to celebrate the last day of school. Today also happens to be our anniversary but because it’s last day of school filled with dance festival, last day of school traditions, end of year block party, 2 birthday parties and Jay has Cub Scouts, it gets pushed aside to tomorrow, #parentslife!
So now that Summer has officially begun, we are busy planning their schedules for the Summer. The girls will attend an art camp, a coding camp, soccer camp, take gymnastics and continue their piano and
ukulele lessons and also take swimming lessons.

I had a huge scare last Summer, it was the most scariest moment of my life when we went to Seven Peaks. We were at the wave pool and Jay and my son went to go ride the rides and I pushed my girls in the double tube to the end of the wave pool, the deepest part. As the waves were going, one of my girls stood up and stood on one corner of the tube because she wanted to get out of the tube to be near me, and it flipped the tube upside down and me under the water. When I got above the water, I couldn’t see my girls and panicking, I searched around and saw my youngest girl about 10 ft. away, trying to keep her head above the water but having a hard time. She’s been taking swim lessons every year but wasn’t a strong swimmer yet. I swam as fast as I could and grabbed her and while holding her and keeping ourselves afloat, fighting the big waves, I looked for my other daughter, yelling frantically her name. I spotted her little head floating inside one of the holes of the upside down tube, screaming my name and crying, not having anything to hold unto since the tube was upside down and the handles were upside down as well. She luckily was a stronger swimmer but only enough to swim for a short amount of time and here I was realizing I was barely keeping me and my daughter afloat and getting really tired. I yelled, “Help! Help!” but the lifeguards were not even looking in the same vicinity, and I started panicking even more. Right then, as I was sure I couldn’t swim any longer and I was just about to go under in less than a minute, these two guys on a double tube passed right by and one guy said, “Do you need help?” and reached for my arm. I quickly grabbed his arm and while holding unto the handle on the tube, I yelled, “Do you see my daughter? She is 7, she has black hair, she was inside the hold of an upside down tube.” I don’t even know what I said and I probably didn’t even make sense because I was panting and out of breathe and panicking and scared to death. Right when I spotted her, I pointed to her and asked the guys to go get her but right then, another guy saw our ordeal and swam to her, grabbed her and flipped the tube, and with her holding unto the handle, handed her and the tube to me. I was still panting and out of breathe, and I just kept saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” and then another guy handed me my hat and my sunglasses that I guess fell off me, which I wasn’t even aware of. With the girls gripping tight on the handle of the tube, I swam to the shore pulling the tube with me and I just sat by the shore dazed. I kept hugging my girls tight and we were just trying to all calm down. 

Whew, my goodness, talking about this has brought out the fear and the anxiety all over again, my heart is literally pounding so fast right now and I feel sick to my stomach! This is my first time writing it down.

When Jay came, I told him what happened and this was our conversation:

Jay: “No, you weren’t going to die. You would’ve been fine.”

Me: “Uh, NO, I am telling you, we almost died.”

Jay: “No, you wouldn’t have. You are exaggerating.”

Me: (wanting to get pissy but still in shock mode and out of breathe) “I am serious. I have never been so scared in my life.”

Jay: “Your will to survive was stronger than dying. So you would have been fine.”

Me: “So…. You are saying all those people that drown and die, their will to survive was lesser than their will to die? So that’s why they all died?”

Jay: “Yep.”

 

And this is why we are in marriage therapy, guys! HAHAHAHA

 

 

ANYWAY, so ever since then, I’ve been wanting to take a swim lesson for myself and decided I’ll also be taking an adult swim class this Summer! Anybody want to take it with me? Haha. I’m totally serious. I know how to swim but I am not a strong swimmer, and definitely not a strong enough swimmer to swim while holding one of my daughters longer than a few minutes. And I want to be able to, just in case something like this happens again. So when Sunsational Swim School emailed me and asked if I’d like a few free swim lessons for my kids, I asked them if I could take the lesson instead! But unfortunately, they haven’t opened in Utah yet, I am so bummed! But I feel so passionately about every single person learning how to swim that I wanted to share this awesome company with you! A swim instructor comes to YOUR home or your community pool to teach your own private lessons. If you were not satisfied with your first swim lesson in any way, they will give you a full refund. What? Sold. I will be the first to sign up as soon as they serve in my proximate city! I am a little embarrassed and hesitant for my adult swim lesson, I hope I find a friend to take it with me so that we can make fun of ourselves together. This is one of the reasons, okay the main reason why I’d love to have a private lesson in a pool where there would be no one.

Go to the very bottom of http://www.sunsationalswimschool.com/ and type in your zip code to see if you’re one of the 1500+ cities served.

 

 

And use code: LIFEBEAUTIFUL for a free lesson with purchase of a 12+ pack , which expires 6/15. This code can be used for kids and adults!

 

 

 

Here are some facts to scare you, I mean educate you and hopefully motivate you to have your kids and/or yourself take swim lessons. I can’t say this enough, but I really believe every single human being should learn how to be a strong swimmer.

 

DROWNING FACTS

 

• Most drownings happen in residential pools
• Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1 – 4
• Every day in the United States: Two children under the age of 14 die from accidental drowning
• Ten children are hospitalized for non-fatal submersion injuries
• Six of the ten non-fatal submersion injuries are likely to result in permanent brain
  damage causing: memory loss, learning disabilities, or even a life-long state of
  vegetation
• 9 out of 10 drowning deaths occur while a caregiver is present.
• Drownings can occur in any body of water including lakes, ponds, puddles, bathtubs, toilets, or even a bucket of water. It only takes 2 inches of water.

 

 

Did you miss me? 😉 I am back from Disney Social Media Moms Celebration! Pictures are to come within a couple of weeks, I left my diaper bag at security in Orlando airport and it’ll take a week for them to send it to me! Mom brain is SO real!

 

 

Remember when I posted about the coolest invention ever made for parents and their kids here and here? The bike that turns into a stroller in less than 30 seconds?

The original Taga bike has options of a basket, second child seat, the wooden double seat as pictured above, and more.

Well, today, they launched their Kickstarter for their Taga 2.0. I am not getting paid to promote their campaign, I want to support a company I’ve worked with before because I truly love and this new bike is awesome, guys! Check it out below.

 

 

It’s a family bike that has many, many options as you can see, even a water gun! My son would LOVE that!

They launched their Kickstarter campaign today and within several hours, they were funded $870,000+ from their goal of $100,000. Wow. Right now at 8 p.m MST, they have reached $942,029! Amazing! I am blown away! If I ever do a Kickstarter, I hope to be as successful as they are! The owner Hagai’s birthday is also today, what a great birthday present, right?

I wanted to tell you about it since they’re offering a very good deal for the campaign right now, you can get the bike for $649 instead of $999. AND after you purchase a bike and send them an email saying I recommended the bike, you’ll get a free universal adapter- – a cool gadget that snaps on the bike’s handlebar or on the child seat bar and can hold a drinking cup, a bottle or a smart phone. View their campaign here and to check out all the options to pledge!