Our family recently traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and had the opportunity to stay in beautiful, modern cabin perfect for big families overlooking the mountains. I loved this cabin for many reasons but wanted to point out a few in case you’re looking for the perfect space for your large family or group too. Traveling to the area This trip was in partnership with Allegiant Airlines. They are known for non-stop, low fare flights to many cities across the U.S. We flew directly from Houston, Texas (HOU) to Knoxville, Tennesse (TYS). It was a quick 1 hour 45-minute flight for u ..read more

Welcome back friends to another fun recipe blog post. I’m a Louisiana girl, born and raised, so this Cajun Shrimp & Grits is near and dear to my heart. You can give me Cajun anything, and I’m down! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does. Tag me on Instagram or leave me a comment below once you give it a try. Enjoy! Print Cajun Shrimp & Grits This delicious shrimp and grits recipe is so easy and best of all made-from-scratch. It's a classic, southern comfort food with shrimp, bacon and andouille sausage in a Cajun sauce served over creamy, cheesy grits. It's packed ..read more

We just came back from our family vacation in South Padre Island, Texas and it was really amazing. I was so pleasantly surprised at all there is to do so I had to write a blog post about it to share our experience with you. We truly made some amazing memories there and my hope is that this blog post will inspire you to do the same. Let’s start with the facts. South Padre is the only tropical island in Texas. It also has the longest stretch of white sand beach in the entire state. It’s perfect for a year-round family destination or even for a couple’s trip. There’s so many unique and fun thin ..read more

If you’re looking for the perfect party drink for the summer, this Rum Punch Party Bucket is it. Not only is it cool to drink, it’s a fun and interactive experience for your guests. I’ll be honest and tell you that we didn’t do any measurements for this rum punch. We left the amounts up to our friends. You can pour in as much or as little as you want. (* Disclaimer – Must be 21+ to consume alcohol). We set up a DIY Rum Punch bar on our kitchen counter and let everyone create their own drinks. It was a hit! Of course we had red and blue buckets to match my Memorial Day party decor, but you ca ..read more

Need a teacher gift idea? This Chick-Fil-A Teacher Appreciation gift is a hit! On Saturday afternoon, my son asked me if he can buy a gift for his teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week beginning on Monday. He’s a 6th grader in middle school and I can admit that I honestly didn’t think teacher appreciation gifts were a thing in middle school. So I posted a poll in my Instagram Stories to ask everyone what they thought. 54% said yes to have given gifts to middle school teachers, 46% said no. Immediately, I thought about the 7 teachers that he has now vs. just 2 in elementary school and went to ..read more

How does mixing cut flowers and fruit frozen into ice to hold your cold bottle of wine or champagne sound? Fancy, right? It is! This DIY floral ice bucket is all things fabulous…yet super simple to create. It’s perfect for any upcoming springtime or Mother’s Day celebrations. Or simply just because. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to make this super easy entertaining DIY and how I incorporated the floral ice bucket into a brunch setup as part of my table décor! You can purchase the ice bucket mold HERE. Floral Ice Bucket Supplies: Fruit Flowers Knife Floral Shears Cutting Board Disti ..read more

If you’ve ever visited any of the southern states during Mardi Gras season, then you’ve had King Cake before. According to NewOrleans.com, king cake is a mix between a coffee cake and cinnamon rolls. It’s traditionally iced or sprinkled in yellow, green and purple (the colors of Mardi Gras) and stuffed with a plastic king cake baby. I’ll share with you my take on a super easy Mardi Gras king cake recipe hack. There are many different versions of king cakes with all kinds of fruit fillings like strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and more. The possibilities are endless. I’m originally from Louis ..read more

I can’t wait to share this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe with you friends. Banana bread reminds me of my childhood. My great grandmother used to make us a loaf of this just about every week. If I close my eyes and think back to the good ‘ole days, I can still smell the bread while walking up to her porch after school. I would get so excited because I knew it was fresh and so good while it was warm. I miss my great grandmother so much. But I cherish the memories she gave us. Her banana bread was one of them. Over the years, I’ve experimented with a twist on the traditional banana bread t ..read more

If you want to transform your life and transform your relationship, creating a vision board with your spouse is a great start! It’s so easy to get caught up in our everyday lives and sometimes allow our marriages to be an afterthought….especially if you have busy careers and children. However, vision boards can help get you on the same page about how you view your marriage now & how you want it to look moving forward. I’ll share with you why your marriage needs a vision board, but first… Why is a vision board for your marriage important? Vision boards are important because they help you c ..read more

Photo By: Johanna Oakes Want to know the secrets to saving on your Disney family vacation? After documenting our Walt Disney World vacation via Instagram Stories, hands down one of the most popular questions that I received was how much did this vacation cost. So here it goes… A Lot! Planning and saving money for a Disney World vacation is not always easy.  Especially for a large family of 6 like us. But I will tell you this…the key is to plan ahead! With a little planning and patience, you can definitely make it work and have a fabulous time while you’re at it. Photo By: Johanna Oakes W ..read more