Thank you Thompson Dental for giving me a discount for me and for my readers! As always, I am very honest in everything I post(life + motherhood + reviews + sponsored posts) and only recommend brands I truly love.

 

Back in March I asked my Facebook friends if anyone knew of a good orthodontist that wasn’t so expensive. I got many good recommendations but this comment by my friend Autumn stood out to me the most. Can you see why?

 

 

Intrigued, I asked her for more information and she gave a review that completely sold me.

 

 

I mean, wouldn’t you be completely sold? I don’t think you could give an orthodontist any better review! I still took my daughter to a consultation at two other places that my other friends have recommended that was closer to me, and they seemed great but the prices were pretty high. Then for our third consultation, we went to meet Dr. Thompson from Thompson Dental. And once I met up with him and his sweet staff(seriously, they are the sweetest people, ever!) and learned that he uses special wires that take the time you need to wear the braces in almost half, AND he was much cheaper than the other two quotes I got, plus my friend’s raving reviews, I was sold once again. Our quote for my daughter wasn’t exactly half the time and half the money but it was very close to half the time and half the cost than the other two quotes I got. Since it is still a lot of money, I asked them if they’d be interested in giving me a discount in exchange for a blog post about our experience and they told me to email them more details. I came home that day and told Jay that even if they said no, I would still go to them 100%, because they’re much cheaper and in half the time. Then they got back to me and said let’s do it! Hence, this blog post to share the discount code with you all!

 

My daughter right after she got her braces on! She is the cutest thing, when they asked her what color she wanted for her braces, she said “magenta” thinking the color was purple. At her second appointment, she was sure to ask for purple, not magenta.

My boy being his usual cute poser while the little sister is imitating big sister’s cotton-filled mouth. 😀

We expected the braces to cause quiet a bit of pain for her since that’s what all her friends have told her, so we gave her some ibuprofen when she got home but then we never had to give her anymore after that! It didn’t hurt much for her, which I am so glad. I am not sure if it’s due to where she got them, or because we have high pain tolerance in our mouths? Because braces didn’t hurt for me either when I got them at the age of 25. I wish I knew of Dr. Thompson back then!

We have loved our experience at Thompson Dental so much and our other daughter will get her braces there next year. Dr. Thompson said she isn’t ready quiet yet. I also asked them if they’d be willing to give you guys a code for a discount and they kindly agreed! Just mention my name “Sarah Tyau” and they’ll give you 10% off! 

 

Their info:

1756 Park Avenue, Riverton, UT 84065

[email protected]

Tel: 801-254-0835

Open Monday – Thursday  9:00AM – 5:00PM

 

Did you/your kids have braces or are your kids in braces right now? How long did you/your kid have them for? I wore mine for almost 2 years.

 

 

Friends! Me along with some of my favorite online friends are throwing a fun event to help those affected by the hurricane and I need your help!

We’ve partnered up with @classicfuncentersandy and on Thursday Sept 21 from 5-9pm in Sandy, UTah, we are throwing the ultimate Family FUNd Night! For only $10 per person ($20 value!) you get unlimited skating, bounce houses, laser tag, blast zone, enter to win thousands of dollars in raffle prizes from your favorite brands such as Freshly Picked, Gathre, Maskcara, Fawn Design, Lily Jade, Rad Swim, Brickyard Buffalo, aaaaaaaannd you can come hang out with some of your favorite influencers (including yours truly😉) while making a difference. 100% of the entrance fee goes straight to hurricane relief. Please save the images to post on your FB, Instagram, wherever and tell your family and friends to come, it would mean the world!

If you can’t make it, please donate, any amount will help! PayPal: [email protected], Venmo: jordanfpage. If you’re a brand and would like to donate for the raffle, email [email protected]. Thank you so much for your support!❤️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My son graduated from Preschool, hooray! He worked so hard and studied wee hours into the night memorizing his colors, shapes and the ABC’s. 😀  He really did great in Preschool and loved it. I took all 3 kids to the Orthodontist a little ways away which took longer than expected so I had to drive straight to the graduation, thus forgetting my nice camera and the video camera! I was so bummed. But IPhone portrait mode came to the rescue and also I’ve realized that if by me stressing and worrying and fussing changed the circumstance, then stress, worry and fuss all I want. But if doing that doesn’t change the circumstance, why exert unnecessary energy and be unhappy? It’s better to change my attitude instead since that’s the only thing I can change in that circumstance.

 

After the graduation, we went to Loveland Living Plant Aquarium and out to dinner to celebrate.

My kids love Tuki’s Island Play playground, did you know that they throw parties right inside the playground? They have 4 party rooms and they do all the set up, feed the guests pizza and drinks and do all the clean-up. Talk about hosting an easy, stress-free party! The package also comes with an admission to the aquarium, 90 mins. in the party room, and access to the playground(you usually have to pay extra to play there). You can check out more info on their parties here.

*I was not paid to write about Loveland Living Planet Aquarium but was given a family pass. I am also hosting a giveaway for a free party for 20 people, valued at $300 on my Instagram for you fellow Utahns(or you can enter for your friends or family living in UT as a gift)! Go enter on my Instagram!

 

 

 

 

Dear some parents at Easter egg hunts,

 

I remember a time we went on an Easter egg hunt when my son was just a year old, barely starting to walk. He didn’t get many eggs since he was still new to walking and he would walk those cute wobble walks where his butt goes all over the place(the cutest thing ever). He managed to grab 2-3 eggs and already by then, most of the eggs were gone. But when he saw an egg several feet away, he smiled as he wobbled as quick as he could to the egg and he squatted down to pick it up with his hand just 6 inches away from the egg when a dad appeared out of nowhere and snatched the egg and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Flabbergasted, I looked around to find the culprit. “Did I just see a grown man steal the egg from my baby?” I thought. “Maybe it was a kid? No…  He looked like he was in his 30’s…”

I remember another hunt we went to, I saw a dad go around and grab as many eggs as he could, as fast as he possibly could while stuffing it in a bag, for an Easter egg hunt for age group 1-3.

Just two days ago, there was an Easter egg hunt at our local mall. They only handed out 100 tickets to make sure each kid would get enough eggs. We placed ourselves between the crowd that formed before us and as I overlooked the field of eggs spotted a giant golden egg the size of my head. “Look!” I pointed to my son. Do you want to see if you can get that golden egg? My son, now 3 1/2 years old and much faster, nodded excitedly. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, GO!” The host shouted. My son ran towards the egg and as I looked around him, I saw a few other full grown woman, moms, also running towards the golden egg with fierce determination and speed. I thought to myself, “These moms wouldn’t grab the egg. They would have the decency and the common sense to know that when on the flier it said for kids ages 1-5, it didn’t mean kids ages 1-50, or kids 1-5 PLUS their accompanying 20,30,40-something year old parent. Plus, they announced before the hunt that parents are not to get involved or pick up the eggs for their kids(which should be common sense but it’s so sad that they have to even announce that).” My son was getting closer to the egg but he had nothing against these full grown adults. One mom snatched it and ran away even before any kids were within 4 feet from the golden egg. I watched her in disbelief as I saw her run to give it to her son who looked to be 2 years old.

I don’t know what was in that golden egg. A gift card to the mall? A t-shirt? A diamond ring? You’d think that was what was in that egg by the way the parents were acting!

Parents. Please. You need to calm down. An Easter egg hunt is not a war. Even though it has the word hunt in it, it’s not a hunt like medieval times where if you don’t catch the animal, you starve and die. But that’s how you act! It shouldn’t be a win-lose situation where the winner takes all or the winner takes the most. And have you looked inside the eggs of all the Easter egg hunts you’ve been to? They’re cheap candy! More eggs = more candy = more cavities = more money to spend at the Dentist!

Sadly, at every single public Easter egg hunts I’ve been to, there are parents like this every single time without fail. And every single time without fail, there are kids crying while clutching to their almost empty baskets as their caregiver looks at the child helplessly.

 

Since these hunts are crazy and I can’t change other people but I can change myself and how my kids act(for now anyway while they’re little), here is what I do to help ease the craziness.

1. My kids see me not stressing about how many eggs they get so they don’t stress. They know that this is not a race but more of a group activity where everybody should be having fun. I tell the kids that it’s not a big deal whether you get 1 or 50, it’s just a plastic egg after all.
2. When we go to these hunts and I see that there are lots of kids and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of eggs, I give my children the maximum number of eggs they can pick up. Usually 10 I say. Once they pick up 10, I scope out the situation and if there are still plenty of eggs, I give them the go.
3. Whether I’ve already given them a limit or not, I walk with them and when I see that they got enough eggs(enough as in enough to go around for all the other kids), I tell them to stop, that they got enough eggs and let’s let the other kids get them, especially the younger ones whom are slower at running.
4. After the hunt is over, we walk around and try to find the kids whom are crying. Then my kids all share their eggs with the crying kids. We let the crying kids pick out the eggs themselves from the baskets instead of just grabbing the eggs and throwing it in the crying kid’s basket, we think that makes it more fun for the crying kid. We don’t say how many they can take, they are free to grab the number that makes them happy. Every time though so far, the parents tell them just one more, or no more, and if I think it’s still too little, my kids will throw in a few more eggs in there for them.

 

These Easter egg hunts should be a fun, care-free, happy activity for all the kids and parents involved. Let’s not make it a fierce competition and cause anxiety or crying kids! It’s just an Easter egg hunt after all. If you don’t agree with me, come find me when the Easter egg hunt is over. I will give you a dollar that you can go to the dollar store and buy some candies, which will be way better and way more candy than all the candies you managed to grab from all those eggs.

 

Love,

A parent who wishes for world peace at every Easter egg hunt.

 

via SIZZLE