Beach or Branson? In the end, it was neither. We spent two days in St. Louis, and then we all went home to Mom and Dad’s where we really wanted to be anyway. It was a super fun family reunion, and it was extra-exciting because it was the first time since 2014 that our entire family […]
Our 2018 family reunion was a blast! It was the first time in 4 years that we have all been together. We filled the week with lots of family-friendly activities, that were all cheap and fun! St. Louis, Missouri is the perfect city for families looking for an affordable activity or vacation. Day 2 of […]
I don’t know if I would say I expected an owl-delivered letter from Hogwarts on my 11th birthday, but I was certainly disappointed when it didn’t come! I’ve always dreamed of running through the corridors and practicing magic spells with my wand. If you doubt that we actually dressed up to play Harry Potter in […]
This Blue Dress got together with the Crouch family for a reunion in July–our first time with the whole family since 2014! When you have seven kids in your family, every gathering becomes a big party! This time we were a party of 22. Some of us have also been part of reunions with 100+ […]
My two little daughters are super into Shimmer and Shine, a show about twin genies-in-training. Imagine a Lisa Frank-ish world, and then add glitter. And more glitter. The girls often pretend to be the main characters from the show. It’s the cutest thing to watch them play together, sporting high ponytails and necklaces on their […]
Note: Song of the Week is a simple music program I developed for my family to use in our homeschool. It incorporates Latter-day Saint children’s songs and hymns. Families can easily adapt this program for other music or to use with a public school schedule. You can learn more about the benefits of this program […]
I recently tried out Exciting Romantic, a new app designed to bring some spark back into a relationship. The app is easy to use. It has one page with 9 Category buttons on it: Crazy Plans, Presents, Movies, Recipe ideas to make together (note: the actual recipes are not included), Questions, Discounts, Bedroom Ideas, and then […]
A few months ago, I was driving over to Cafe Rio to grab some lunch and a new sign in the Traverse Mountain parking lot caught my eye: “Coming Soon: Just Add Chocolate.” The banner noted that the shop would have chocolate classes and parties. How cool is that? As a lifelong chocolaholic, this idea […]
Last week, I got to cross “Visit Somewhere Out of the Country” and “Go On a Cruise” off of my bucket list. Back in October, my husband and I booked a 4-night cruise to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean’s ship Enchantment of the Seas. At the time of booking, we weren’t sure when my dad […]
I have the best boyfriend in the world (fight me), and I am constantly looking for new ideas of what to do for him! My roommate was telling me about what she did for her friend’s half-birthday, and I laughed so hard. She organized “half” activities (such as eating half a sandwich, watching half a movie, […]
Throwing a birthday party during a move isn’t the easiest thing to do. On the day of my husband’s birthday, we had one foot in the old house and one in the new. I was frustrated! The original birthday plans for Jake went out the window, and any hope of making his day feel special […]
You might have heard the marriage advice about having a weekly (or at least regular) date night. My husband Joey and I rocked at this our first few years of marriage and said we’d always make it happen. Well, life happened. And there have been several seasons where it has felt like we don’t really […]
“What?! Valentine’s Day is this week?! I haven’t done anything!” Unfortunately, I am no planner like my wonderful sisters! Holidays always seem to sneak up on me, leaving me scrambling last minute. (Is it fair that my boyfriend is a hopeless romantic and way better at all this than me?) But Valentine’s Day does not […]
Long-distance straight up stinks. Being away from your significant other is hard enough, but Valentine’s Day makes it 100 times worse. Not only are you missing your partner, you also have to watch everyone else be happy with theirs. Your friends in relationships pity you. Your single friends tell you that you’re lucky to have […]
My daughter, Claire, is going to be four this week. Four! We are moving in just a few short weeks, so we decided to have her birthday party a little early to alleviate some stress. Because even fun, birthday party stress is still stress. My mom was able to come visit for a few days, […]
