Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Oakwood Homes Blogger Event

~ Etc.

Any blogger event where I get to take Jay with me is always a bonus for me since sometimes I feel bad going to all these fun parties without him! Jay on the other hand, could care less haha. But I knew he’d really enjoy going to see the Oakwood Homes in South Jordan, and I was right, he actually enjoyed it a lot! Jay loves to build and he built 3 houses with his dad while growing up so he loves seeing other homes and the layouts and such. We are in the process of getting ready to renovate so it’s always fun going to see other homes to get design ideas and inspirations. These homes were gorgeous and surprisingly more affordable than Jay and I had thought. 
Here are some beautiful details of the homes we visited:

This headboard would be so easy to make and it’s adorable isn’t it? You just need 24 frames of these and assemble them together to make a headboard!

I really want to do this for my son’s room. He loves airplanes and he would be ecstatic! And it might just help him to enjoy his time-outs in his room a little more! haha.

I bought this dress over 2 years ago while I was pregnant as a “when I’m no longer pregnant, I’ll wear this” dress & it was hidden until I found it today while rummaging through my closet! I feel like I just bought a new dress without spending any money, it’s the best feeling! 😀

While we toured the homes, we got pampered by Cosset Bath & Body & Williams-Sonoma at Trolley, ate appetizers by South Jordan Costco, and finished the evening with dinner by Rodizio Grill which was so delicious(and the chef was from Hawaii so Jay enjoyed talking to him). Maybe Jay will be more open to coming to events with me more from now on! 😉
Thank you Jay for being my date and to Oakwood Homes for a great event!

No one else could look so adorable when they're driving me crazy

~ Etc.

Thanks to Pledge for sponsoring this post. Try Pledge Multi Surface and Pledge Lemon Clean to breathe life into seemingly ordinary surfaces to uncover their unexpected yet inherent beauty.

So I taught and spoke at Confetti Night yesterday and while I was in Ogden for the event, my husband and the kids got in a car accident. They’re not seriously hurt, but as they were driving home from swimming, they were rear ended while they were at a complete stop. The back of the car is dented pretty bad and everyone got a pretty bad whip lash. The paramedics arrived and they went to the ER. When I got the phone call, my heart dropped as the first thing my husband said to me was, “We got rear ended.” I am just so grateful they are okay. So this post will take a little turn from what I had normally intended to write, my normal post that I had saved to be published a few days ago will be in black, and what I am adding on after the accident and with a different perspective will be in purple. Purple because that’s my husband’s favorite color.:)

If you have read my blog since 2011, you might remember this post with these pictures.

Oh my gosh, they drove me crazy sometimes with their endless messes! But you can’t really get that mad at them because they don’t know any better and for them, it’s just a form of play. And look at their little faces with their round cheeks! Oh  my. They’re still so adorable even when they are driving me crazy! 
I would take them making crazy, insane messes every single day over ever losing them or never getting to clean up after them. What a privilege it is that my kids are healthy and happy and creative to make messes around the house! That they’re safe in their home and they feel safe enough to think they can make messes and they have a mommy who won’t get too mad at them and will still love them no matter what.
Well, 4 years has passed and my girls are old enough where they don’t make ridiculous messes like they used to(which I kind of miss, surprisingly! Which reminds me to be easier on my boy when he makes messes…), and they’re at the age where they could actually help me clean! I am a big fan of making my kids work and help around the house without any form of reward except for my praise and thank you. They shouldn’t get rewarded with money or special privileges for chores that they should do anyway such as cleaning their room or helping me clean around the house, that’s just the price they pay for living in my house, for being a part of this family. If they do extra chores outside of their designated chores, then I reward them with special privileges or give them allowances.
As they’ve gotten older, I have been giving them more responsibilities and one chore I’ve added to their list is wiping our refrigerator! They kids actually like wiping and spraying, they think it’s fun. Only if I was like them, and oh, how I wish my husband wished I liked cleaning more. 😀 I handed my oldest the Pledge Lemon Clean and they went to work. Even my boy wanted to join in because he wants to do EVERYTHING his older sisters do.

My boy smelling the fridge after his sister said, “Ooh, it smells nice!”

Shake, spray and wipe!

Didn’t they do a great job? I am very, very picky with scents and don’t find many scents appealing but the Pledge Lemon Clean passes the test! I liked how it didn’t smell super strong and it contains no harsh chemical smells that need to be neutralized or masked. I felt it cleaned my refrigerator gently, leaving our stainless steel surface shiny and smooth. 
Now, I need to think of other things to add to their chores… 😉 What chores do you give to your kids? I am trying to think of things they can help that is age appropriate for 6 and 7 year olds.

P.S. Now, I am getting off the computer and spending the whole day with my kids and making endless messes with them. I hope you all have a great weekend and remember that life is short and the childhood years go by so fast. They’ll be too old to make innocent messes and depend on you to clean up after them. They’ll stop depending on you less and less until they need you no more. And how I will miss the day when I have no one’s mess to clean up after.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Old man shoes

~ Etc.

So Jay has these Nike slip-ons that I call “old man shoes”. He even wears it with socks sometimes! Gah! So when I got a pair of sandals in the mail today and showed it to him, he said to me, “And you call my Nike’s old man shoes? Those are like the epitome of grandma shoes.” I said to him as I walked out the door to go grocery shopping, “I don’t care what you say, I like them.”
But after I finished grocery shopping and came home, I found my new sandals like this:

……………………………………………………………so yeah, there’s my new Nike “old woman shoes” I guess.

I’ll be teaching at Confetti Night!

~ Etc.

I will be speaking and teaching at Confetti Night tomorrow! Ahhh, wish me luck! I should have posted this earlier so you guys could have joined me! I don’t think it’s too late to buy tickets though. 😉 If you are coming, bring outdated clothes with you and you’ll get to pick my brain on how to update it.
p.s. they’ll have awesome giveaways like a trip to Hawaii, it’s going to be so much fun! 

Tessel Supply Bag Systems Giveaway

~ Etc.

We plan on going camping soon and these backpacks would be perfect for camping! The pictures of my girls and my husband kayaking was taken 2 years ago two weeks before we had our little boy. It’s crazy how fast time has passed but do you know what’s more crazy? Me going camping when I could have been due any day!

I haven’t posted a giveaway in awhile and thought this would be perfect, especially with Father’s Day approaching! I know Father’s Day is in a few days so it’s probably too late to order anything online ,  but if you’re like me and procrastinated and purchased something online but it’s not going to come before Father’s Day, you can print out the product you’re getting for your man and say surprise! This is coming in the mail for you and will arrive shortly! Haha, that’s what I plan on doing anyway. 😉 Or you can just not procrastinate and give them the actual present, but whatever, those over-achievers always make me look bad…

Anyway, so you know how you carry a backpack and you have to go to the bathroom or if you go camping, you’re about to go on a hike so you rummage through the backpack to get the stuff you want and either put it in your pocket or in another smaller bag to carry with you? Well, Tessel Supply is a backpack company that sells cool, simple designed backpacks that have detachable compartments so you can just take the smaller compartments to go! Or take them off if you don’t need them. Smart and versatile, that is just my style! We are going camping soon and this backpack would be perfect to take.

Tessel comes from the word “tessellation” which means the repetition of a shape into a pattern. I love that this backpack system features magnetic hardware that allows you to customize your bag to fit your day-to-day lifestyle—or spontaneous adventure. It can adapt to any activity—from a weekend trip, to a day hike, to your commute to the office. With color options of Deep Space Black and Lunar Gray, the colors are neutral and versatile to any outfit.
  

3 lucky winners will win the Anti-Gravity System(pictured below), valued at $130. 

To enter the giveaway, simply fill out the rafflecopter below! By signing up for Tessel’s email list , your information will not be sold or shared. Best luck everyone!

You can also save 20% off your purchase during Tessel’s Father’s Day sale, June 14-21, by using the promo code “dad jokes” at checkout.

a Rafflecopter giveaway