About

Hey!  I’m Bonnie and I live in the sweltering desert of Arizona, where I raise my 8 kids alongside my ridiculously patient husband, Luke.

They include (left to right): Kira, Alice (in my arms), Vivian, Juliet, Marilyn (in Luke’s arms), Finn (in a wrestling hold), Toby and Liam.  Phew!

I’m glad you’re here!

I’m really passionate about inspiring women to find beauty and joy in life, especially in motherhood.   That’s why this little space is called “bonnie & blithe” – bonnie is another word for beautiful (thanks, Ma!) and blithe means joyous, two words that I really hope describe our lives, in one way or another!  (Coincidentally, blithe also means “showing a casual and cheerful indifference” which often describes my personal brand of motherhood :). I’m slowly working on responding joyously to all the crazy chaos in my life and on choosing happiness.

I also believe that as women, we are inherently creators and that we are the happiest when we’re making something!  I purposely make room in my poopy-diaper-filled life to create things that fill me with joy.  Some days it’s just putting together a cute outfit or writing a post about how to stay sane when your kids are flinging food in your hair…and other days it’s a fun sewing project or tutorial.

This blog is chock full of my favorite passions, namely motherhood, style and my sewing obsession.   I hope you find some inspiration here for living your life purposefully, creatively and with JOY!

If you’re looking for a place to start, check out some of my posts on parenting or inspiration for a wearable, budget-friendly wardrobe.  And for all my sewing peeps: check out my pattern shop here!  I’ve also got lots of simple sewing tutorials to get your creative juices flowing.

And don’t forget to get your FREE copy of the super simple Alcoy dress pattern by clicking here! Or just opt in to get my weekly newsletter below so you don’t miss a thing. 🙂

Some other fun tidbits about me and our family:

1.  We homeschool all our kids and have since our oldest was little.  It simultaneously brings me so much joy and so much insanity every.  single.  day.

2.  I’ve experienced a variety of adventurous birth experiences, including an emergency c-section, vaginal twin birth, home waterbirth, induced medicated birth, placental abruption, you name it!  You can read some of my tips and experiences in this series on birth.

3.  We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or Mormons).  My faith is the basis of how I live my life, so thanks for letting me sometimes blog about inspiring things.  My beliefs help me be a better mom, wife and friend….as well as try REALLY hard to avoid using bad words.  The struggle is real, folks. (Read my post on what you need to know about Mormons here!)

4.  When I’m not blogging, sewing or nagging kids to clean up, I also really like to run and have competed in a few triathlons.  It’s one of those crazy things I swear I’ll never do again, and then I sign right back up for another one! (Kinda like having babies…)

P.S.  Thanks for allowing me to occasionally post sponsored content.  It allows me to justify spending time away from my kids and husband while I create great stuff to share with you.  I never post about anything I don’t fully love and use, and the opinions and advice here are always my own.  I also often use affiliate links which means that I get a small payment if you choose to purchase something I link to (but it never costs you anything extra).

Thanks for reading!

XOXO
Bonnie

I’d love to hear from you!  Email me at hello {at} bonnieandblithe {dot} com anytime.