Hi, friends! It's me-Carrie.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you already know me, but I'm SO EXCITED that the rest of our sisters are joining us! I have some amazingly talented sisters. Even if THEY don't think so (Kjirst ; )). And I guess I'm also kind of tired of hearing my own voice around here. (I'm sure some of you are, too. wink wink)

I'm a mother of three (Colson-6, Griffin-5, and Penelope-1) and the wife to my handsome firefighter, Brad.

I started homeschooling my oldest boy this year. It's not something I ever thought I'd do, but somehow life has gone in that direction and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's a blast and I've loved getting to extend my time with my sweet boy. My husband's job has been so wonderful and conducive to homeschooling. Although he's gone for longer periods, which can be difficult, he's also home for days at a time, so we can do family field trips, or he can watch the younger two, while I work with Colse.

I'm learning to knit right now, but there's so much more I want to learn. . . .how to play an instrument (any instrument will do), take voice lessons, embroider. . . I met one of my goals last year, of taking a self-defense class. It was very much out of my comfort zone, and I'm glad I did it. I felt EMPOWERED. And sore.

Things you might not know about me (even if you HAVE been reading the blog): I love, love, LOVE fashion and beauty (if only I had more money and time)/ I should look into being a party planner, not because I'm so wonderful at it, but because I really enjoy the organizing and decorating, which is what the planner would do, but I hate playing hostess (it gives me anxiety)/today is my Griffy's 5th birthday! (Happy Birthday, Griffster! party details coming soon)/ I NEED my quiet, peaceful alone time to stay sane/ I'm a Cancer/ I fulfilled my dream of being a dancer, by getting my BA in Dance, but sadly, I haven't danced since. : ( /If given the chance to hang out with girlfriends or stay home, 9 times out of ten I'd choose to put my pj's on and snuggle on the couch with my Hubba (sorry girlfriends!)

Well, if you weren't tired of hearing me talk before, you are now! And if you're new to our blog, we're happy to have you. Pull up a chair and stay awhile.

Petunia + Poppy

It's a new year! We thought it was the perfect time for a little background on the blog.

Carrie and I LOVE being stay-at-home-moms! It's the most fulfilling of jobs, but we felt like sometimes we needed an outlet. We needed to feel like there's more layers to us than just:

MOM. period.

We wanted to find time to do things that didn't necessarily revolve around our kids. We needed to be able to enrich our lives. So, we talked about all of the things we wanted to do or try or learn...knitting, crochet, dancing, singing, cooking, baking, reading, fitness, photography, geography, self defense, and the list goes on and on.

The plan was to get together once a week to learn something new. We also had a list of books to read along with each other. We live a couple hours apart, but thought we could go to her house one week, mine the next. That proved to be too tough with our kids and our different schedules. So we thought twice a month was more realistic, but it still didn't work. We finally realized we're going to have to do it on our own and talk over the phone.

...

ENTER THE BLOG. It seemed like the perfect solution. We can try things out on our own, and then blog about it and even share pictures! This way we get to take the journey together. When we started this whole thing, years ago, we called it our 'Sister Club'. Corny? Maybe a little. I guess it was a throwback to our childhood days. We did stuff like this all the time when we were little. Anyway, now that we aren't having the 'club meetings' in person, we wanted all of our sisters to be involved. Three sisters live in Texas (1 to 3 hours apart), Carrie is in Utah, and I'm in Wyoming. Now we can all stay in touch!

Over the next 5 weeks we will each be introducing ourselves and then we'll all start posting our latest ventures, whether it's something new we learned, a book we just read and want to share, a class we're taking, or wonderful mommy moments. Because, after all, we really DO love being moms. The point of this blog isn't to forget about our children, but just to bring more balance to our lives so that we CAN be the moms we want to be.

Oh yeah, you probably thought I was going to explain the name of the blog since our names are not Petunia and Poppy. Well, we were just playing around with pseudonyms and this is what we came up with. It all boils down to the fact that we liked it! I think it sounds more exciting than Sarah + Carrie...don't you!?

So we hope you're as happy with the changes as WE are. We're excited to welcome all of our sisters on here. We love all of the inspirational women in our lives and these women are the best of the best in our eyes!