He is Risen - Easter 2014

Springtime in Natchez is gorgeous, even if the pleasant temps only last a few weeks.  We had a great Easter with our family. The church Easter Egg hunt at the Calloway’s is always fun and I love how they have seperate hunts based on age so the littles can take their time hunting around.  This year we had an extra special day since one of Austin good friends Molly had her birthday party the same day…none other than an Easter Egg hunt.  Needless to say we were swimming in candy that weekend.  It’s so special having Mom and Dad here on Easter (and every other day).  We always take a picture in the same spot at church each year and I can’t wait to look back on these on day and see how the kids change over the years. We ended the big weekend with another Easter Egg hunt at Grammy and Papa’s house and Papa had a special scavenger hunt prepared for Austin with clues and prizes, he had a blast.  No wonder Papa is in such high demand with Austin.

Making special memories on a very special day.

Church Easter Egg Hunt

Molly's Egg Hunt Birthday Party

Easter Morning

Waiting our turn to ring the Church Bell!  Our favorite part of Sundays!

 Egg Hunt at Grammy and Papa's

Atlas Snacks

{Zach's facebook post, making it official}

As some of you may know we launched a new business in March called Atlas Snacks.  We are doing a lot of R&D as we create new products and we are constantly using customer feedback to perfect the products.

Atlas Snacks is a small company founded in Natchez, Mississippi, the oldest settlement on the Mississippi river. In November we began a Paleo lifestyle. Anyone who eats Paleo knows that it can sometimes be a lot of work prepping the food you need to make it through the week.  Most importantly, for those moments between lunch and dinner when you just need a snack, you need something quick and healthy you can pick up so you aren't tempted to eat poorly. No-Grain Granola was the perfect solution - it's calorie and protein dense, a little sweet, and easy to take wherever you're going.  After a while, we couldn't go a day without it.

We thought if we were in need of a product like this, other people might be too.  The rest is history.

All of our food is handmade with natural, healthy, wholesome ingredients. Although some of our dried fruit has added sugar (most dried fruits do), we strive to use all-natural, fresh, preservative-free ingredients whenever possible. We care about what we put in our bodies and now we care what you put in yours. :)

Here is a quick timeline of events:

• March 3: Atlas Snacks is born 
• First 100 bags sell in 48 hours
• March 21: Licensed our first commercial kitchen and hired first cook
• March 21: Launched WEBSITE and social media-- including FACEBOOK, Twitter, and Instagram 
• March 21: Started selling Original and Cinnamon Granola across state lines
• April 7: Stock our first grocery store (they have sold out every single week since)

• April 27:  Featured in Natchez Democrat (facts are a little inaccurate but still great publicity)
• June 1: Featured in Bluffs and Bayous Magazine 

• June 5-6: Went to our Mississippi Market as a vendor

Toasting Aimee Guido {Natchez Inc} with our Fat Mamas Margarita to kick off Mississippi Market

• June 7: Move out of first licensed kitchen into large commercial kitchen on Main Street
• June 10: 8 new retail stores are carry Atlas retail stores
• June 11: Hire 2nd employee
• June 17: Launch Power Mix in retail stores
• June 23: Reveal new product and packaging-  "ALPHA", the first product in our Atlas Nutrition Line
• June 24: We are 3 1/2 months YOUNG and we are now in 14 retail spaces. We have 2 wonderfully dedicated employees and a fabulous commercial kitchen. 

To all of those that have order online or purchased in stores, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!! There is no way we could have dreamed this flourishing the way it has.  We welcome information on potential wholesalers in your area.  We currently sell our products in CrossFit boxes, gift stores, grocery stores, florists, hardware stores, country stores, and variety stores.  If you want to carry Atlas products or know someone that should, please email us at info@atlassnacks.com.

Total Blog Neglect

This has been me lately......

I have a lot of blogs saved awaiting picture uploads and I have committed to doing that this week.  The busy doesn't seem to be going anywhere and life doesn't seem to be slowing down to the usual pace so I am now just embracing the crazy.  My friend Shauna inspired me and coming soon you will get pictures of the madness....the wrecked house, the disheveled kids, and maybe even a glimpse of me without makeup (since I rarely have time to indulge these days).

Stay tuned, I promise to be back soon!

The Queens Bees

This year marked the inaugural year for the Queen Bees.  A group of twenty-two 20/30-something year old moms (all but 2) from Natchez.  We are all in a supper club together and we decided it would be fun to have a float in the Mardi Gras parade.....and it snowballed from there.  Now we have a board of directors, a kickball team in a tournament in April, t-shirts being printed, and we plan to dedicate our organization to good causes throughout the community especially ones that concern children, families, and moms.  How cool would it be to host a family friendly fundraising event on the bluff and then turn around and use the money to buy a struggling single mom a new wardrobe and a makeover, or contribute new playground equipment to a park. Each of us is very involved in clubs, organizations, boards, jobs, etc and we wanted one club where all of us could come together and make a difference in our community but also have a dang good time doing it.

These pics can speak for themselves.  It was a total blast.  We danced and sang so hard I felt like I had the flu the next day, I was so sore.  I was nominated to Design Chair so I got the awesome job of designing our first float, our Logo, and tshirts.

Here is the progression for the massive float (complete with a bathroom on board! Thanks again Jordan Carriers!)

The Krewe Of Indians Parade...TOTAL BLAST
Brandi, Lynn, Kayce, Mary Margaret, Ashley, Amber, Stacey, Shannon, Kristin, Lauren, Katherine, Lee, and Shay

 

One of our BEES didn't feel well and couldn't ride on the float so during the parade we stopped under her balcony where she was watching us and sang "Happy Birthday".  I am sure it sounded beautiful ;)

 

Love these girls, the three of us spent many hours together over the past month.
Kristin (President) and Lynn (Float Chair)

Top: Krewe of Indians Parade
Bottom: Krewe of Phoenix Parade