What to Do - Real Fitness Guest Blogger
This week's guest blogger is Mollie Keitges of Real Fitness Group Exercise and Personal Training Studio. She is a great encourager and motivates everyone around her to embrace a more active lifestyle. With three small kids of her own, I asked her to share ideas for turning family time into fun, exercise time. I love to photograph families at play and am always looking for new ideas! Check out Mollie's tips below, and we'll play at your next session, too!
The family that plays together... stays together.
I’m sure you’ve thought about how regular exercise benefits you; like keeping your weight in check, keeping your heart healthy or simply looking good in a tank top. But have you thought about how you being fit and healthy through regular exercise benefits your family? Taking the time to make your health and fitness a priority is one of the best examples you can set for your children. Regular exercise generates self-confidence and energy. Regular exercise helps your body to function at it’s peak and is an excellent form a stress management. When your body is working at its best you have the energy to be the best possible parent. Exercise makes you feel good and when you feel good it is better for everyone around you!
One of the best ways to get exercise into your life is to turn family time into exercise time. Not only will your family be healthier, but what is more memorable: watching the Disney channel or turning your backyard or basement into a crazy obstacle course? Will your kids remember another McDonald’s happy meal or the picnic after the amazing nature hike? When they are grown up will they remember another day of grumpy or the joy of your family crossing the finish line at your local 5K together? Let the kids choose and instead of standing by and watching, channel your inner kid, jump in and have fun with them. Being active together will create memories that last a lifetime while establishing a healthy life for you and your children! The family that plays together... stays together.
Ready to get started? First turn off the TV, then play! Whiffle ball, Frisbee, dodge ball, soccer, or tag; nature hikes, obstacle courses, scavenger hunts, or sledding; bike rides, run/walk a 5K, or even a yoga video - the possibilities are endless!
1. Play Ball
2. Swing
3. Walk
4. Walk on the Beach
5. Walk Down the Train Tracks
6. Walk through the Fields
7. Run
8. Jump
9. Climb a Tree
10. Climb on Anything!
12. Wrestle
13. Tickle
14. Fly in the Air
15. Explore on a Nature Hike
16. Ride a Horse
June is a busy month here in Prairie City! Get outside, enjoy the warmer weather and meet some new faces at any of these great community events. Make sure you check out the weekly 
Last summer was a scorcher. This winter was bitter. This spring we've had snow and 90 degree weather in the same week. Tiernan had never really met grass before. So here is boy meets grass! He really, really likes it!
Today is Memorial Day and I am about to take my children to our community memorial service to honor those who have died while protecting our freedoms. In an effort to make my little ones better understand just how much we have to be thankful to them for, I started talking about farming. We know lots of farmers in our town and we have a sizable garden ourselves. Leighton and Lorien have even ridden along in a friend's combine during harvest the last two years so they have a good idea of the work that goes into farming itself.
The kids know the farmers prep the fields, buy the seed, plant the seed, take care of the fields, pray for rain, or pray for less rain, and then harvest it all. But had they ever really thought about the circumstances that allow us to farm? Had I?
Peace allows us to farm. Our land is our own. We are not being forced to flee for safety and no one is taking our land by force. We can work to raise money to buy the seed. The stores are still open to buy seed from. We are not in danger of gunfire or landmines while out working the fields. No one is waiting until the crops are ripe to come and steal the harvest, or to burn our fields to starve us out. These are precisely the circumstances our armed forces protect us from. 
I want to thank all those serving and fallen in our armed forces today. Because really, without your sacrifice, we might not be able to work the ground and nourish our families with its harvest. Our families might not even be together. Peace allows us to farm and I am so thankful for that peace.
I am also thankful for dear friends that allow me to photograph and share their beautiful, farming lives. My life is deeply enriched by them and they assure me a little dirt never hurt anyone!
