Happy Friday! I haven’t done a Friday Chit Chat in quite some time, so I figured I would do one today! I want to share my new favorite fall hat (it’s SO good), our trip to Vala’s Pumpkin Patch in Gretna, NE, my why for taking the rest of the year off Instagram and reality.

Favorite Fall Hat

Put on a fall hat and it instantly elevates your look! Last year I bought this hat in black and tan. It’s under $20 and overall a pretty good hat for the price. But I was wanting something a little different this year and ended up purchasing the Zephyr Rancher hat in the color sage from GIGI PIP. They have a ton of cute hat options. As I’ve gotten older, I’m more willing to shell out a little more money for something I absolutely love rather than having a handful of items I kind of like. And this hat…. I LOVE! Very flattering and I’m someone who in the past never really thought hats looked that good on me. If you are looking to invest in a great hat; go to their site!

Vala’s Pumpkin Patch

My family has raved and raved about Vala’s Pumpkin Patch in Gretna, NE for the last few years now. Last year Matt and I wanted to take the girls there but it never worked out to go. Last weekend we made a trip to Omaha and spent 4 fun, busy days at a Husker football game (they won!), Vala’s Pumpkin Patch, the Henry Doorly Zoo and spent time with family and ate a lot of good food. Definitely trying to detox this week from everything we ate! As well as catch up on sleep!

I was expecting a great experience at Vala’s but even with all of the hype, was shocked with how big it was! And how much there was to do! We were there from 10 am to 4:30 and still did not see/do everything. We went on a Monday which was super nice, not too big of a crowd. The weather was great and the girls all had so much fun.

If you are ever in the area during October, I highly suggest to go! Matt and I also talked about how it would be fun for a date night, they are open til’ 9 or 10 pm and I feel like the crowds would be even smaller during those hours.

My Why For An Instagram Break

If you follow me on Instagram you probably already know I am taking the rest of the year off of the app. For a while now I have felt the nudge from God to take a step back from it. Over the last few months I have tried to do things my own way and attempted to create rules and regulations for myself to stop myself from at times, mindlessly scrolling, worrying about the number of likes and comments on my posts, among other things. And I always did good for a while but eventually would always get sucked back into doing all of those things that don’t create joy in my life; they actually do the opposite.

I use Instagram as a tool to help grow my blog and I was always worried that not using the app would hurt my blog. But at the end of the day, He is in control and if He wants my blog to grow, He doesn’t need to use an app that is robbing me of joy at times. I also want to add, that I don’t think Instagram is this terrible thing. I do find a lot of joy and inspiration using the app; there are people who inspire me in my faith, interior design, blogging, etc. A lot of those people have blogs that I can still go and read and see their projects and what they are up to. But at the end of the day, if I can’t use the app in a way that is bringing me joy almost all of the time and use it in a healthy way, then I don’t need to be on it until it does.

Reality

I wanted to include this last little paragraph about our reality on our trip to Omaha. Sometimes (for me anyways) I can see pictures of families or see them in real life and think their life is much more together than my own and that creates shame and discontentment in myself. And maybe I’m only 5 seconds in their presence but don’t we all kind of judge by outward appearances at times? Our trip was far from perfect. (Not saying this for any sympathy; more so to share reality.) Kids got to bed very late every night which made for tired, cranky-ish kids for a lot of the trip. Matt and I got into multiple disagreements. Emersyn caught a cold and was sick for the last few days of our trip. Brielle’s stomach hurt, lots of tears at the pumpkin patch and had to be carried for a large part of it. Emersyn wanted carried as well. We brought our crappy stroller, Matt talked me out of bringing the nice one, and we both regretted it for the pumpkin patch and zoo. Aubree got mad at me because I bought her a root beer for lunch instead of a lemonade. Matt and I got bad sleep pretty much every night. My back and neck still hurt from sleeping on the couch. The girls fought at various times. Emersyn never got a nap. Car was trashed. Car is still trashed as I type because I have yet to clean it out.

I say all this to say, nothing is perfect. No family, no trip, no marriage, no nothing. If anything thus far, 4 kids has taught me to not put my worth in feeling like I have everything together. I used to put my worth in that. Not anymore. As much as I try, so many things are out of my control and I make mistakes no matter how hard I try not to.

Lessons Learned: do not jam pack everything together (only zoo OR pumpkin patch during a weekend), bring the nice stroller, and don’t assume Aubree wants root beer.

But for real, regardless of those things, we still did have a great time!

🙂 Have a great weekend!