Hyundai Santa Fe’s Epic Playdate Weekend

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What do you get when you combine some of the biggest and best mommy (and daddy) bloggers, the ocean, and camping? Hyundai's Epic Playdate Weekend in Santa Barbara, CA.

Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of camping. I prefer a soft bed over hard ground and toilets that flush, (I also must admit, most of my camping experiences were far from the ocean. They were in the very chilly, bug-filled mountains with babies and toddlers that chose not to sleep through the night. I'm sure these days our camping experiences would be much, much different.) but for this, I would make an exception. I am a fan of the ocean, I'm a fan of playdates, and I'm a HUGE fan of hanging out with awesome bloggers.

Bloggers (Dooce, Mighty Girl, Oh Happy Day, Oh Joy, Say Yes To Hoboken, Girls Gone Child, BoingBoing, and How To Be A Dad) are camping on the beach and hosting epic workshops for kids like an ice cream sundae bar, paint fight, kids’ photography class, hula-hooping workshop, and more.

How much fun does that sound? I would love to spend time with some of my favorite bloggers, let alone have time for our kids to hang out and play together. Hyundai's Epic Playdate Weekend will be April 27 from 9am-5pm in Santa Barbara, CA. Now, don't you want to be there? Now, don't you want to be there? I do and you know what? I think I'm ready to try camping again this year! Sign me up!

You have the opportunity to enter to win a trip for four, so your family can be a part of all of the fun! To enter, you must have a pinterest account and pin a photo from Hyundai's Ultimate Playdate Weekend onto one your boards. When filling out the entry form, you also must choose Clever Girls Collective when selecting how you heard of the contest. (See complete contest details.) Ok, go enter!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Goodbye, Google Reader

Most of you probably know that Google Reader will be non-existant as of July 1st. Be sure to find an alternative feed reader by that time to continue to follow all of your favorite blogs.

Bloglovin is a great option and you can find Mama Loves Papa there and follow me!

I recently discovered Feedly and have already transitioned all of my blogs there. You don't have to tediously enter each one. With a push of the button they should all seamlessly move into your Feedly feed. I love it!

Oh Yeah, find me on SheKnows!!

I'm a new beauty contributor over at SheKnows! I'm so excited to share my outfits and where you can find the looks a few times a month over at SheKnows. I've been a huge fan of SheKnows ever since two of my favorite blogger friends, Summer and Stephanie, started doing the Mommalogues. I looove the Mommalogues. You need to check them out!

You can find my recent posts here:
Pleated and Pretty for Spring
Dressed Up Just Enough
Blouse and Booties
Morgan's Mom Uniform

Marriage Series: Conflict Resolution is Really About Me

This is our second year doing the marriage series and I adore it. I feel like there's so much I need to learn about marriage and, in so many respects it's true, but after being married for almost a decade I've picked up a little wisdom along the way, too. I don't feel feel capable of sharing advice, but I love sharing my story. I love this space because it allows me to share my heart. For everyone who knows me well knows that for everything I'm not, one thing I am is real. I don't have it all together, I make mistakes, I struggle, and I don't want to pretend otherwise. My best friends are people who, like me, aren't perfect but share their struggles and their victories and we can connect on a deep level as real people. Beautiful, imperfect people. Thank you so much for allowing me to share my story and for sharing yours. I admire and appreciate each one of you so much. ______________________

A few weeks ago I was upset about something. I can't remember what, but I was frustrated with Eric, saying something to him, and he just reached over and held my hand. It took me by surprise and I started laughing and it diffused whatever was going on between us. It was a beautiful moment, one I hope I remember. Small gestures of love really aren't small.

If only every conflict was so easy and, by no means, has it been for us. In our pre-marriage counseling we learned about conflict resolution. Our therapist had a lot of great advice, advice that most of us have already heard- don't interrupt, don't use words like "never" or "always," say how you're feeling instead of accusing, you know that stuff, but so oftentimes conflict in marriage is so much more complicated than that. I wish that if I just stopped saying "never" and "always" we'd never have difficulty in our communication or relationship again.

Maybe this is just me, but I think the biggest lesson for me is that most of the time the conflict isn't about Eric and I, but about me. I know it may sound silly, because you can't really have conflict without two people, but there's always something in it that's just for me. As a Christian, I believe that marriage isn't to make me happy or to fulfill my needs or to give me a partner in life. Those things are all good and true, but I truly believe that marriage is ultimately to strengthen me, as an individual, and to draw me closer to God.

I don't think I'm alone in this, but I don't like to be the first one to apologize. After Eric's already said he's sorry to me, then it's really easy for me to say it and admit that I was wrong. To do it first is incredibly vulnerable and uncomfortable. I'm putting myself in the position for him to accept my "wrongness", but not admit his own. If I was apologizing for Eric's sake, then I probably would never say it first. But, I'm not. I'm saying I'm sorry for me. I'm humbling myself, I'm admitting I'm wrong, and I'm growing from it despite what Eric does.

Despite what my husband does. My attitude towards him, how much love I show him, how much I serve him shouldn't be dependent on what he does for me or how he serves. I do these things as an act of worship to God.

Ultimately, I believe that conflict resolution, just like everything else in my life is about me. For me, everything is about me. I forgive the people that have hurt me because I don't want to be a bitter, angry person. I show love and compassion to people that don't deserve it because I want to be a loving and compassionate person. I humble myself before my husband, I confess when I am wrong, and I ask for forgiveness, no matter what Eric does, because I want to be a humble person who grows despite my mistakes. I try to speak kindly, with love and gentleness, because that's the person I want to be no matter who or what someone else is.

So, tell me friends, does is your attitude and personality dependent on the person/people you're around? I'm working hard on being the person that I am, all the time, despite who I'm around or what other people may be doing or saying. (And, I mean this is general terms, no necessarily just in marriage. I'm not sure why this side of "conflict resolution" came out while I was typing...but, it did. I guess it's on my mind and heart.) Are you successful at this? Have you ever even thought about this?

What I'm Doing and Where I've Been

Hello again! You've probably noticed that I haven't been around these parts much. I've been super busy with homeschooling, homemaking, and photography. I've also been re-thinking what I want my relationship with this blog to look like. I have been feeling like I need to step back from blogging. I need to do what I can do and, as much as I'd like to, I can't do everything. I love blogging. I'll probably never stop blogging. I cherish the memories have been documented here, so they won't be forgotten. Instead of blogging five or so times a week like I've been doing I'm going to cut it down to 2-3 times a week. Or, whatever I feel like at the time. I'll no longer be accepting sidebar ads, but I will continue to do reviews, outfit posts, and some sponsored posts (that fit with my values and the aesthetic of the blog). I have a few more projects in the works in other spaces, so I'll keep you updated on those.

You can also find me a blogging a few times a week on my photography blog. Here are a few of my recent posts:
From the Beginning (how we started our wedding photography journey)
Eric's Trip to Arcata
Spring is Coming!
My February Wishlist

I'm still using instagram, but I changed my username to @themorganfairchild (just morganfairchild was already taken and people always ask, "are you the morgan fairchild?").

As always, you can also find me on facebook (blog and business) and twitter (business twitter account...coming soon!).

I'll be back tomorrow or Thursday with the next and last post from the Marriage Series! I'm thinking of doing a series each month. For next month- parenting/motherhood, homemaking, or Spring style?

Marriage Series: Life Changes

Judah looking on at my last midwife appointment before Samuel was born.

When I think of life changes in my marriage the first thing that comes to mind are the births of my four babies. Sure, my husband has changed careers three times, runs a business, helps me run my business, and is in the middle of buying a business, we've lived in eight homes in nine years, and bought a house, and, of course, had many changes in our extended family, but the most monumental changes in our marriage were having our children.

The transition when Judah was born was natural and easy. He slipped into our family and our tiny apartment seamlessly. I was 21 when he was born, I turned 22 a month later, and was definitely young and naive. I was, by far, the first of my close friends to have a baby, so I didn't have any expectations of what life as a mom would look like. Eric had quit his job and gone into full-time ministry a few months before Judah was born, so while money was extremely tight (we were definitely poor) Eric had a lot of time to be home and help out. I would do all of the night feedings (I exclusively breastfed all of my babies, so Eric couldn't do much, anyway) and Eric would wake up early with Judah so I could sleep in.

It was eight years ago, so maybe I'm romanticizing it, but having our first baby wasn't hard. Don't get me wrong, everything wasn't easy and perfect, but overall it was good.

When Judah was about six months old we decided we wanted to have our babies close together. When he was just nine months old I got pregnant with Samuel and he was born when Judah was eighteen months. Samuel, thankfully, was an easy-going, mellow little guy. Just an all-over easy baby. Nonetheless, having two babies at once was crazy. I struggled with the baby blues and figuring out how to be present and meet the needs of my toddler and newborn. By this time Eric had started his tile business back up. He was in the middle of a job when Samuel was born, so he was back to work just a few days after his birth. That whole time is kind of a fog in my mind.

During Silas' birth we were very heavily involved in our church (remember, we went to the crazy cult church, so we were pretty much required to be doing church activities several times a week) and then after Finley was born we had just left the church and were struggling with that. A week after she was born an acquaintance was very traumatically killed and I pretty much had an emotional breakdown. During all of these changes, during all of these beautiful things and difficult things, there was a huge strain on our marriage.

There are a lot of things I wish I could go back and do differently. I have been emotional and hormonal for most of our marriage (I was pregnant and/or breastfeeding for almost nine years straight...no breaks). Eric...had a lot to learn being married to an emotional and hormonal mess. There's times that we sailed through and times that were hard and the times that we're easier were when we were intentional.

The times that we gave each other grace, that we understood where the other person was coming from before demanding to be understood, the times that we loved instead of giving criticism, and the times that we were selfless instead of being selfless were the times that strengthened our relationship and our love for one another. I know that we're at the very beginning of our marriage. We have lots of big and small changes coming over the years and I want to look back on the other side of those things and see a stronger marriage. I don't want to look back and see the toll they took on our relationship, but to use the changes, the challenges, the difficulties, and the triumphs to draw closer to my husband. To love him better.

Marriage Series Posts: Friendship and Romance Working Together As Partners

Technology + Photography

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As a photographer and a mom of four small children life can get busy. Or, life is always busy. I relish the creative freedom I have as a wedding photographer and the joys of taking care of my family and raising my children, but I’ll take any help I can get as far as organizing my life and streamlining my work flow.

I can’t imagine the days when photographers organized their calendars on paper, dreamed up their shoots using magazines and books (thank goodness for Pinterest!) and, as beautiful as film photos are, I’m thankful to be able to photoshop my images.

The next few months are my, “booking months.” Many couples have gotten engaged over the holidays, so I’ll be meeting with them to discuss details and book their weddings. I love meeting in coffee shops, over a cup of tea or coffee, to listen to their story and answer their questions.

You can read the rest of the article, and see of photo of me taking a photo, by visiting Life Scoop.