I'll never forget this one time when we were cleaning out a closet and we stumbled across an old VHS tape rewinder. My oldest asked what it was and of course I explained. He simply could not grasp the concept that you had to have a totally separate device to rewind a movie and could not just go to a menu screen. Another time I was trying to explain dial-up internet. Again, the concept that the internet wasn't just immediately available in the palm of his hand seemed completely foreign. I don't share those examples to make us feel old, I share those examples to illustrate that whether we like it or not, technology is so engrained in our children's lives these days.

Have you seen that post that says something along the lines of, "before you get married find out if your husband's family is the type to have movie marathons during the holidays or the type to run actual marathons"? It's a fair warning. I can totally see how the two categories of families might not be compatible. Funny enough, my husband's family plays a football game every Thanksgiving and my family has a few movies we just HAVE to watch every Christmas. It seems to work for us!

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If you are a girl in your early 30s like me, then you likely were at just the right age to watch "Laguna Beach" on MTV, which morphed into following Lauren Conrad on her coming of age journey to Los Angeles on "The Hills." I used to watch the show on cable religiously. One time my sister heard me yelling at one of the main characters Heidi on screen and later asked me who this Heidi person was I hated so much. It was that real to me! Also, it's no secret that Lauren Conrad is still a major inspiration to me. I recently re-watched "The Hills" on Hulu and wrote down all the life lessons that stuck with me and even some I didn't pick up on when I was younger. I hope you enjoy reminiscing on this sweet time in T.V. history with me or that you pick up a few helpful tips to be successful in life!

I was just chatting with another mom the other night about how there is a point in time where you simply miss out on movies. Your kids are a certain age or your life is in a certain stage where having the time to grab dinner and movie is all of a sudden complicated. You have to arrange child care and practically double your date night budget because of it. On the off chance that you do get to go to a movie, it absolutely sucks when the movie turns out to be bad.

I am mama to two boys who have each gone through extensive dinosaur phases. It's safe to say I have seen the Jurassic Park movies roughly 65 million times... each. There are a handful of lessons I derived from the movies that have become part of our daily jargon. I am finally ready to share those lessons with you so, read on if you dare!

As you read last month, my family is on a mission for a simpler life. This past year we let things get so incredibly hectic that we had major breakdowns in communication. As I am sure you're aware, it's very hard for any relationship to function without communication. For the past few months we have been working hard, both together as a family and with professionals, on effective ways to communicate. It may sound totally counterintuitive, but we have utilized some great technology to help keep our family running smoothly.