Maggie and Aubrey welcome their first ever guest to the Decades Deep Podcast, Rachel Simson owner of Buffalo Dietitian and they are so excited! Rachel has been a dietician since 2011, starting her career as an oncology dietician. She was in this role for 12 years and recently transitioned to a new position working with the developmental disabled. In 2017, she started her private practice, Buffalo Dietician, where her main goal is to help people find a realistic approach to a healthy lifestyle through nutrition counseling. In addition to nutrition, fitness is a huge part of her life. Rachel has completed 26 1/2 marathons, 4 full marathons, two half Ironmans and one full Ironman. Doing this all while raising a young family!!

This episode covers it all while also keeping it simple and attainable. It's one you're going to want to come back and listen to again and again. We hope you love it!

Rachel has a ton of resources on her website, instagram, and Facebook which are all linked below. If interested in scheduling a consultation with her you can do so through her website.

Website: https://www.buffalodietitian.com

Instagram: buffalodietitian

Facebook: Buffalo Dietitian

The girls are back and better than ever in 2026! They are finally recording in two separate locations and have some great things planned for the podcast in 2026 with their first podcast guest coming soon.

During the Decades Diary segment the girls discuss if friendships need to cost a lot of money and how this can change over the decades? During their current decade where their friendships revolve around their children many of the activities they do are with their whole family. They discuss some free activities you can do with friends like going to the playground or for a walk, inviting a family over to your house for a play date, or utilizing your memberships to your local YMCA or the zoo. It is alright to spend money with your friends, but it doesn't always have to be this way especially if you don't have the means to do so. Sometimes you just need to sit in a parked car with your best friend late at night and have raw, vulnerable conversations, no money spent, but your cup is so full!

They introduce another occasional segment during this episode, Marriage Minute - proof that marriage is a work in progress. This segment focuses on how to have intentional time with your partner. It is easy to become disconnected from your partner especially when you have young kids. A lot of time when you do have time to spend with you spouse, you are exhausted, overstimulated, touched out, etc and therefore the quality time doesn't happen. Something Maggie has implemented a date night schedule with her husband. They do date night twice a week and no rescheduling! All of their date nights have been at home after the kids are in bed. Ideas for at home date nights can include watching a show, online shopping, puzzling, and playing a board game.

Another new segment made its way onto the podcast this week, The Deep Connection. A listen wrote in about a special friendship of 60 plus years. This listener left us with some very wise advice that many of us may find applicable - "we've lived miles apart, but have been together when it's most important. A true bond of friendship".

They finish up the episode with joy jar of course and how hosting this holiday season filled their cups.

What's your New Years Resolution? Maggie and Aubrey are hoping to have less guilty around taking the time to exercise and laugh more! Follow along in the New Year to see if they are successful.

We Survived That: Christmas cookie edition with children. They discuss tips and tricks on how to accomplish Christmas cookie making successfully with lots of children involved.

1.) Make the same cookies every year. These are the four cookies Maggie and Aubrey have made over the years: cut outs, Mexican wedding, ginger molasses drizzled with white chocolate, and peanut butter blossoms.

2.) Prepare cookie dough's before you get together with your family/friend to make the cookies. This makes the day a little more efficient and allows you to have that quality time with your kiddos.

3.) Get the husbands involved! This year Maggie and Aubrey finally decided to let the husbands help.

4.) Know when to include the kids

5.) Don't forget the baby carrier and/or an activity center to set the baby somewhere safe.

6.) Just bring the ingredients that you have just in case someone has forgotten something.

7.) Take the photo!!!

Faith in the Everyday: Are you a special occasions / holiday church goer or do you go to church regularly? Over the decades the girls have fallen into both categories. Maggie and Aubrey discuss their journey of finding a church now that they have families of their own. You aren't always going to find the "perfect" church. Sometimes you have to just make the best decision for your family and then commit and get involved!

Joy Jar: In the jar this week - homemade brown sugar oatmilk shaken hot coffee and thrifting.

Merry Christmas!

On this episode, Maggie and Aubrey recap how for the first time, they took both of their families to the Christmas Tree Farm to pick out their trees together. They both found what they think is going to be the perfect tree. There were snowballs thrown, snowmen built, and hot cocoa drank. It was a fun time had by all!

How do you get your kids involved with giving during the Christmas season? This can be tricky especially when it involves taking your kids into a store, but it seems like Maggie has tried all kinds of strategies with her kids and she has some advice for you. What has worked well for her and what does she recommend avoiding?

During Decades Diary, Maggie and Aubrey reminisce about how Santa showed at their homes as a child and what old and new traditions they are carrying forward for their children. But also, Jesus is the reason for the season, so how are they incorporating this aspect into their Christmas season?

Christmas decorating with kids, did you survive?! Maggie and Aubrey are minimalists when it comes to decorating for Christmas these days and haven't really bought new Christmas decorations in years. What they have is working and they just don't have the mental capacity to prioritize buying new decorations. As moms we are already have so much to do around the holidays and buying new Christmas decorations just isn't a priority in this phase of life! If including the kids, just remember it takes more time, more patience, and items may break.

Of course they end the episode with Joy Jar. Maggie filled her cup by pitching a Christmas Play idea to her pastor. She is so excited to work on this project with her dad and see her own kids in the play. Aubrey filled her cup by selling some gentle used items on Facebook market place and discusses how this journey has been rewarding for her, but not in the financial sense.

Was Aubrey able to finish the Turkey Trot? Did Maggie make it to the Turkey Trot with all the kids to cheer on Aubrey and Marc? Tune into hear the recap of Thanksgiving Day with Maggie and Aubrey.

Next up, the girls introduce the Influencer Effect, an occasional segment, where they discuss how the influencers on social media are impacting their lives for the good and the bad. Maggie and Aubrey discuss how they have done gift exchanges with each other over the years and it revolves around social media influencers. Listen in to find out how Maggie and Aubrey make their gift exchange fun over the years and hear who are some of their favorite influencers. Here are a few that have made the list in previous years @sarah_lit, @darylanndenner, @krista.horton, @thesisterstudioig

Need some Christmas gift ideas for the kids? Maggie and Aubrey go over some of their favorite gifts they've given their own kids over the years. Are you pro-kinetic sane or pro-playdough. There is quite the divide between what they prefer in their households.

Lastly, joy jar. It was a joy filled week with Thanksgiving, but there were two specific moments that filled the girls cups. For Maggie, it was the Bandits Game with her whole family and for Aubrey, it was the Holiday Parade.

Come join Maggie and Aubrey for some really random thoughts and a few belly laughs. Hey, we could all use some more belly laughs in our lives these days!

First up, Maggie is glowing with her new skincare routine. She discusses how she TRIPLE cleanses now. Aubrey is still using her tried and true JAFRA skincare after trying out a few new expensive products, nothing really compares. Keeping it simple and inexpensive is usually the way to go.

Traffic circles - do we love them or hate them?! Some are designed poorly and some people just don't know how to drive in them. We recommended no more traffic circles especially in areas where it can snow more than 6 months per year.

Plungers and toilet bowl cleaners. We don't know where to keep them. Does the plunger need to be accessible to guests in case of an emergency or do you store them away? How are we keeping these things clean?

Aubrey gets her foot stuck in a mouse trap and lives to tell the story. More importantly how the heck did this happen? Listen in to find out all the details of how a mouse intruded into Aubrey's home and is still on the loose.

After the first snow fall Maggie and Aubrey discuss how hand-me-downs really filled their joy jar.

"Aubrey is going to be "Turkey Trotting" on Thanksgiving and she's a little concerned that she might not be able to complete the race due to a recent injury on the trampoline, but it sounds like Maggie and her family are going to be there to support her.

How can you turn a party into an activity everyone will love? Try making apple cider! Maggie talks about her apple cider party and they discuss what makes it a cider verses a juice -there's still some confused about this one.

Did someone say vacation?! Lets be honest, going anywhere with kids is far from relaxing and not much of a vacation, but when you plan a trip with your extended family there are ways to make it feel like more of a "vacation". Splitting meals, free cousin entertainment, and much more helped Aubrey find a few moments of relaxation on her recent trip to Gatlinburg, TN. Also, listen in to hear what fun activities Maggie and her family did at Hersey Park in Pennsylvania.

The trampoline experience sure has changed over the decades. Maggie and Aubrey share stories about injuries on the trampoline and discuss if they will have trampolines for their own kids.

Lastly, they end with their joy jar for the week. Maggie sits down and does her devotional on contentment and Aubrey gets to drive her kids to school and pick them up. Lets all try and be content with what we have right here, right now.

Emergency underwear, after dinner zoomies, and a trip to Walmart gone bad. During this episode of Decades Deep with Maggie and Aubrey they talk about how they've learned to let their husbands make some of the plans and start new traditions. They'll be adding a new tradition to their Decades Diary this year as Marc begins his hunting journey with Eric.

With daylight saving time and winter weather arriving, Maggie and Aubrey, give some tips and tricks about how to survive the after dinner running, wrestling, and screaming. Would quiet time activities work for your family? Make sure your switching up the activities to keep it effective.

Lastly, introducing "The Deep Connection" segment where your special friendships will be highlighted on the podcast. If you would like to share your story about a friendship, old or new, please write in to decades.deep.podcast.1990@gmail.com. We will be reading your stories on the pod during the month of December!

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