Meet the Shaneyfelts

Archives for July 2025

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday! It’s been a good but HOT week around here. We’ve spent a majority of the day inside and we’ve either gone outside in the morning or in the evening to avoid the hottest part of the day.

We’ve also got a really fun weekend ahead, so let’s get to my FAVORITES!

one

I ordered this regenerative gardening book in hopes that I can have a garden in my raised beds and this time, I can make it better than ever. If you haven’t watched either of the documentaries Kiss the Ground or Common Ground, you need to! They both opened my eyes to regenerative farming. After I first watched those, I talked about them so much and my mom even incorporates some of those practices with her chickens!

two

I decided to lay out during nap time one day this week using the splash pad to keep myself cool, and this is what Banks looked like when he found me out back. He was not happy that I was using his splash pad and he wasn’t ha!

three

I know I’ve talked a lot about our public library, but that’s because I love it so much!! Behind our library are the train tracks. The boys are OBSESSED with the trains that come through town. This day in particular, a train went through while we were in the library and they both ran to the door to watch it pass by. Harrison wants me to park facing the train tracks each time we’re there, too. It’s a whole thing haha, but it’s their favorite!

four

I shared this tank top last night on IG stories, but I own three of them and I have lived in them all summer! They are so comfortable and flowy but also fitted in a way. They wash and dry really well and are perfect for either working out or just wearing during the day. They also hit longer on my torso (I’m 5’7″) so don’t judge the picture on the model because she must be over 6′ haha!

Okay I’m off to hop on the treadmill before the kids wake up! I hope y’all have a great weekend!

Our Stay at The Grand Hotel in Point Clear

Dustin and I have not been on a vacation just the two of us since 2018. Harrison was born in 2019. We took him to Rosemary Beach in 2020, Disney World in 2021, and then did not vacation in 2022 because we were saving for our next adoption. Banks was born in 2023, so we did not vacation that summer. Then we booked a 10 year anniversary trip to the Dominican Republic in 2024….and then found out I was pregnant so we cancelled that trip ha. No vacation for us last year either.

Needless to say, it was time for us to get away together. I had always wanted to stay at The Grand, so I found two nights that worked for my mom to watch the kids (her first time watching all 3 overnight!!!) and booked those! (Special shoutout to my mom for making this possible for us!). I felt like two nights was a good first time away from the kids.

We left on a Sunday morning and dropped the kids off at my mom’s house before driving south. As soon as we pulled out of our driveway, I started crying haha. I cried all the way to my mom’s house, held it together inside, and then cried as we drove away haha! I knew they were in excellent care, but I was just so sad to leave them! I finally got it together and Dustin and I listened to a true crime podcast on the drive down.

If you’ve never heard of The Grand or never been, the property is HUGE! You don’t have super tall buildings (ours had a parking garage on the bottom and then 4 stories above), but it’s just really spread out. It’s a gorgeous property with all of the oak trees and Spanish moss.

We staying in the spa building which is the L shaped building on the right that borders the water. They had a beautiful brick path that borders the water that we loved walking on and a beautiful garden around the lagoon that on the other side of our building that we also enjoyed walking through.

This was dinner our first night. We ate every meal on property at their restauratnts.

To the left of this picture, they have a putting green and then areas for corn hole, ladder ball, croquet, pingpong, and another lawn game I wasn’t familiar with.

We stayed at the adult pool the whole time, but we both agreed that we would love to bring the kids back because the family pool had a slide, rock waterfall, and was huge! This resort is very family friendly with all of the activities they had going on all the time!

We walked on this path to get from our building to the main building.

Overall we had a really great time together! I was able to sit down and just start eating my own food, and I read an entire book at the pool. I missed my kids a lot, but I was thankful for the time away with just Dustin!

Life Lately

Good morning and Happy Monday! It’s been a while since I’ve done a life lately post, so I thought I’d update you on a little bit of our summer.

If I need about 15 minutes to get something done or to get things ready for us to get out the door, I can put on Toy Story and both babies are engrossed (Banks especially loves it!). I was trying to get everything together for us to get out the door and loaded in the car, and I had to snap this picture because Banks is so protective of Merritt. I’ve said this before, but when I found out I was pregnant with Merritt and that they were going to be so close together, I grieved the fact that Banks wouldn’t get to be the baby for very long. BUT a year later, I jokingly say Banks and Merritt are like having twins right now because they are best friends :). Their short age gap has been a gift I didn’t know we needed.

We had a great 4th! We hung out at home that day and the kids played in the splash pad and water table. Then we napped and all headed over to my sister’s for dinner and fireworks! She lives outside the city limits, so she can shoot fireworks at her house lol

I know I’ve talked about this before, but our local public library is fantastic! We’re currently in the process of getting a new library built since the current building is an old bank, so our librarians do a fantastic job with the space they have. Every Thursday is the Summer Reading Program day, and this year the theme has been Color Your World. This past Thursday was an art day. All of the kids received a clipboard, paper, and pencil, and a former Disney imagineer taught the kids how to draw Mickey Mouse! Harrison had a great time and for a 6 year old, his drawing was pretty impressive.

Merritt loves to have her picture taken, and this time I turned my camera around and let her see herself…

She’s so funny 🙂

This diaper box has been a fun toy for all 3 kids haha!

So that’s a little bit about what we’ve been up to. I hope you have a great day!