All About Shani

**I'm so excited to introduce you to Shani Ogden! She is a good friend and a wonderful mom. She majored in Marriage and Family Studies in college, and will be staying in Utah when I move to Colorado so we can expect some wonderful and insightful guest posts from her in the near future. And you can rest assured, Utah will stay a featured state on Muddy Little Toes! -Becky

Hi!  My name is Shani and I am the mom to two beautiful kids (a girl and a boy) who I get to stay at home with.  They are both crazy, curious, happy kids and they keep me on my toes!  I am also married to the best husband in the world.  (Can a girl get any luckier?)  I love to read, craft, scrapbook, DIY, cook/bake, dance, laugh, take pictures and soak up the sunshine any chance I get.  I graduated in Marriage and Family Studies and love applying the things I learned in college to me and my family’s life. I love sharing and discussing new ideas and viewpoints and am fascinated by the way people think and their life experiences that got them to where they are now.  I am a self-proclaimed “ambivert” so while I enjoy getting out of the house and doing things with family and friends, I’m also perfectly content to read a book for hours alone (which with 2 kids pretty much never happens, but I can dream, right?).


Becky and I met when we were living in the same apartment complex in college.  We also dated the same guy, who neither of us ended up marrying, but we become good friends in the process and spent a lot of time together since we had the same group of friends.  One of my favorite things about Becky is that she cries pretty much every time she laughs!  We had some funny times in college when we would be laughing about something and Becky would be laughing and crying which caused the rest of us to laugh so hard we cried too.  She is an amazing person and one of the few people I’ve stayed in touch with through college, marriage and babies.

When Becky told me she was starting a blog, I got really excited and asked her if I could contribute. She didn’t hesitate to let me participate in her blogging journey, which I’m so grateful for.  I’ll be doing some guest posts for her here and there and hopefully I can share some fun ideas with you all as we get our toes a little muddy in this crazy thing we call life!

Welcome to Muddy Little Toes

my kids cry sometimes 

My name is Becky and I love writing, adventuring, and being a mom. For a long time, I struggled with being a stay-at-home mom because I didn't think it was for me, even though I felt strongly that the home was where I needed to be. Perhaps the term "stay-at-home" was tricking me into thinking I had to stay at home to be a good mom, but what I've come to learn over my short three years of mothering is that I don't have to stay at home at all.

I love to be outdoors, try new things, and exercise (even just walking). When I had an office job, I would long to be outside for hours at a time, wishing I could be by the pool or on a hike or even just on a road trip. What I didn't realize when I became a stay-at-home mom (if that's what we have to call it), was that I actually had the freedom to do all of those things! Yes, I would have to take my kids with me, but it turns out, they only make things better.

Don't get me wrong, being a stay-at-home parent is not easy. It doesn't mean laying out by the pool and doing whatever you want. In fact, when I go to the pool, most of my time is spent monitoring my fearless 18-month-old so that he doesn't jump in the deep end and making sure my three-year-old is being nice to the other kids. I always end up way more exhausted than when I got there. But! I'm still at the pool. I'm still outside. And that is what I love about being a "stay-at-home" mom. I don't have to stay at home (unless it's naptime--then it's lockdown--for real). Plus, bonus! When we get out of the house, the littles go to sleep faster and sleep better because they've been using up all that energy during the day.

Because I have such an itch to be out and about, I am constantly trying to find fun things for me and my kids to do. It can be tricky, especially when you move to a new place or you've done everything (or so you think) already where you live. My best resource has been other people's posts about things that they do and so I thought I could be helpful and post the things that we do.

When you're not a homebody but you are a stay-at-home parent, the struggle is real. Even if you work, time at home with the kids can drag if you don't have activities to do every once in a while. So follow along on our adventures and let me help you get your little ones a little more muddy!