I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite friends for a fantastic giveaway today! I promise to do a life update soon… I took a completely unintentional, but wonderful, break from blogging this month. But I do have some fun family memories to share!

I absolutely love Lisa Leonard and her jewelry. She makes the most beautiful pieces, she has a beautiful heart, and she has the sweetest family. And I’m obsessed with this bracelet that she sent to us!

Each piece is a hand-made work of art and would make a great gift for anyone on your list.

We’re giving away 5 $75 gift certificates to Lisa Leonard’s shop! Enter below!

http://www.skimbacolifestyle.com

http://www.thetinytwig.com

www.themomcreative.com

http://ladyandtheblog.com

http://www.prettyconnected.com

http://MomSpark.net

http://dearcrissy.com

http://momgenerations.com

http://www.thestylishhousewife.com

http://accordingtonina.com

http://blueeyedbride.com/

$75 Lisa Leonard Gift Card

*This post is sponsored by Aladdin, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

It’s no secret that I love to entertain. One of my resolutions for the year was to show hospitality and I have a recurring monthly goal to invite friends and family over to our house for supper.

I love summer entertaining because we can spend time dining outside, I can leave the doors open while I fix supper and let the sunshine in. I love the fruity drinks and being able to cook something on the grill and have low fuss meals.

We have plans to have a few people over to our house over the next couple of months, and I had some fun ideas to make a little more exciting with different drinks and desserts. I was invited to pin to the Aladdin Entertaining board on Pinterest, and I have found some fantastic ideas for summer entertaining.

I love using the Aladdin Mason Jar tumblers as party favors that double as a drinking cup for a party. And these are so cute, they almost triple as decor!  via MomSpark

This is one of my favorite summer entertaining ideas of all time! This is just so cute and so smart. My kids would absolutely love eating their watermelon like this. via Bells and Boards

I am such a sucker for a caprese salad. Just ask Todd… if it’s on the menu, I’m ordering it. And it’s really so easy to make and is the perfect appetizer for a small gathering of friends! via Laylita’s Recipes

One of the best things about entertaining in the summer is the ease of preparing meat on the grill. It smells amazing and it’s just so much faster and easier to use the grill. These shrimp skewers are absolutely perfect for those nights when you want to impress with a great meal, but you really want a low fuss meal. via Gimme Some Oven

Now that we’re settled in at our house, I’m looking forward to getting to know the neighbors better and hosting some of their families at our house. I adore this wagon full of movie snacks. It would be so much fun to do an easy “drive-in” movie theater for the neighborhood. Or just for our kids! via Your Home Based Mom

Are you planning to do any summer entertaining? For more inspiration, follow Aladdin on Pinterest!

I’m super excited about today’s post because I’m giving away some of my favorite things with some of my favorite people… and one lucky winner will receive $500 cash in addition to all these fantastic items!

We’ve all teamed up to bring some of our favorite things for summer. One super lucky winner will receive the following items:

$500 CASH!

2015 Day Designer by Whitney English

Mommy and Me beach towels (The Bishop Towel and The Bonnie Towel) from The Beaufort Bonnet Company

Prayer Journal from Val Marie Paper

Accessory Beach Bags from Hayden Reis

Ice Ice Baby tumbler from Ashley Brooke Designs

Double Layer Necklace from Caroline G

Be sure to check out the following blogs and shops….

Erin from Blue-Eyed Bride, Ashley Brooke Designs, Whitney English, Kelly from Kelly’s Korner, Ashley from Fancy Ashley, Carrie from Chasing Big Dreams, Nina from According to Nina, Courtney from Pizzazzerie, Jenny Collier, Julia Ryan, Chrissi Shields, Sheaffer from Pinterest Told Me To, Sarah from Life Is Beauty Full, and Valerie Woerner from Val Marie Paper

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oh my goodness! I hardly picked up my computer in over a week… and it was fantastic! I missed updating the blog, but it was also nice to just take some time off.

If you follow me on Instagram, you haven’t missed much. If you’re not following me over there, what are you waiting for? Instagram is so much fun! And I tried to upload pictures to my computer for this post, but that wasn’t working out so well today, so here’s a picture-less post for you! I missed y’all!

1. Today is officially our first day of summer. Hudson and Hayes had their last day of school last week and both of their classes celebrated with end-of-the-year parties. They both had such great years with amazing teachers. I saw enormous growth and change in both of them, and Todd and I are just in awe of how much they are changing and growing up. We’re looking forward to an easy-going summer, but I’m also about to implement some structure this week. (At the very least just to keep them from raiding the refrigerator 18 times per day! Holy hungry boys, Batman!)

2. I hosted a Kayce Hughes trunk show at my house this weekend with my fabulous friend, Mary Kent Hearon, the Heart Knot creator. Oh my word. All of the Kayce Hughes clothes were just beautiful and so easy to wear. My wish list grew every day while we stared at the clothes. I tried on almost everything and loved it all. It was so much fun having so many friends stop by, too. When we took the clothes racks down and packed the clothes away, Hudson said, “We won’t have anymore friends coming by?” He was surprisingly bummed! (If you want to order from our Kayce Hughes trunk show, you can! Just enter Trunk Show ID 95240)

3. We had Hayes’s birthday party here a week ago. It was such a fun  celebration of our boy. A lot more low-key than our typical parties, but just so much fun to celebrate with our closest friends. And Hayes just had the very best time.

4. I registered for a great Bible study for this summer. It meets on Monday nights at our church and I’m thrilled that so many friends are going to do it, too. Have any of you done the Jennie Allen study called Stuck?

5. I’m still eating clean. I’m done with the Advocare 24 Day Challenge and I am down about 9 pounds. I did splurge on way too many chocolate chip cookies this weekend- oops!- but I’m back on track today. I just take it one day at a time and make sure that I am as prepared as possible with healthy snacks, a meal plan, and meals that aren’t overly complicated or fussy. I’m going to do a meal plan post later this week.

6. We’re looking for a new show to start this summer. We’ve seen The Newsroom, House of Cards, Scandal, Friday Night Lights, Lost, The Good Wife, Orange is the New Black, Pretty Little Liars, Homeland, and True Detective. So…. any suggestions?

7. I bought the Abide journal from Naptime Diaries and I am so excited about it! I love that you can start it at any time. You can miss days, but just do it at your own pace. And it’s so beautiful!