We just spent 10 days in Japan! We went to Tokyo and Okinawa. We earned a trip with Young Living to visit their brand new farm in Okinawa, where they harvest shell ginger, so we added on a visit to Tokyo first! Our entire family came, kid's were very excited to see Japan and my good friend Miko Bowen earned the trip too, and she brought her family as well, one of our favorite families to travel with. I took A LOT of photos, and decided to include them all in this post. This is a journal entry for me and hopefully helps you if you are planning a trip to Japan. First off, we only took ... Read More
S’mores Kit- Mouthwatering S’more Recipes with Free Printable and S’mores Kit Idea
S'mores have always been a fun past time for me. For vacations, as a child, we would go camping! We would end every night around the camp fire roasting s'mores, laughing, talking, playing games, singing, basically just having a good time! As I've gotten older I still love sitting around a fire with those I love, just not the camping part, ha! We've also really upped our s'mores game and can't wait to share our favorite recipes with you, along with a s'more checklist! Both have a darling printable! There are lots of ways to enjoy a s'more. Cook in the oven, small portable marshmallow ... Read More
Our Travel Favorite Things- Our Luggage and More
We have been on a few international flights lately, and have put together our favorite travel essentials! We learned a lot after traveling to Italy last summer, on what not to do (we brought too big of luggage). We have now been to Dominican Republic and Japan with just carry-on luggage and the same travel essentials, and they worked great! Sharing our favorites below... Good luggage can make all the difference when traveling! You really want your luggage to improve your travel experience, fitting in everything you need without becoming too heavy or difficult to move around. And of ... Read More
Create a Comfy Sleepover Space and Top Chick Flicks
When we lived in Connecticut we had visitors a couple times a month and often there would be way more people than our pull-out sofa could hold. We didn't have a guest room, but made it work with a few blow up mattresses. I recently found affordable cot's that allow you to create a guest room anywhere and a really fun sleepover space! My girls have hosted a couple sleepovers since living in our Utah home, one of the guest rooms has 3 twin beds, but there never seems to be enough beds to fit all their friends. I'll share what I found to make it work! Thank you The Company Store for sponsoring ... Read More
Custom Curtains in Family and Bedroom with Curtain Panel Measurement Guide
We have lots of windows and open spaces on our main level living space. We also have lots of colors and patterns! One way I was thinking I would like to connect all our different spaces is by having the same curtain and curtain color throughout. I found some that I love, can't wait to share them with you! Also sharing how I measure for curtain panels, a Curtain Panel Measurement Guide. I used to work in a high-end design store and we did a lot of custom curtain panels, but they are a time consuming process, sharing an easy online option below. Thank you Homerilla for sponsoring this ... Read More
Peanut Butter Bar Recipe
I have been making this recipe since I was a teen. I got it from our neighbor, Susan Davis. It is actually in our church recipe book, which I hang onto for this recipe only! I decided to put it on a blog post, so we can always have it. Plus, the church recipe book was missing ingredients in the instructions, so I was always having to remember to add the flour and oatmeal, now there is no confusion (ha!). This will be your go-to peanut butter bar recipe!!! We took it to our New Years Eve party and two of my friends already text for the recipe, so here you go. Look at these yummy bars! The ... Read More
Our New Home Gym (separate building in backyard)
If you missed it, we sadly had to remove 7 of our Spruce Trees because beetles attacked them (if you have Spruce Trees, make sure to have them sprayed!) There were three trees removed behind our little shed in our backyard. We decided since we now had the space, we would want a building for our home gym, and move it out of the garage, to free up garage space. We had plans drawn up, and submitted them to the city, so we could start building a gym! Keep reading the see the LVP we used, the cost to build the gym and more... This is the area we had the gym built. Where the shed, trees ... Read More
Favorite Porch Plant and Planters- Our Gym Front Porch
Our new gym is basically done! Just need to finish a few more things, then I will share it all in a couple days. We did plant my FAVORITE PORCH PLANT on either side of our new doors. I bet you can guess my favorite porch plant is?? If you guessed Boxwoods, you are right! We live in Utah, zone 5 and we lived in Connecticut, zone 7 and boxwoods did well potted in both those locations. This is the front of our new gym (sources on gym HERE)! On either side of our door we potted Ornamental Boxwoods, found them at Cactus & Tropicals. I potted them in a pot I bought on clearance at the end ... Read More
How we Painted Dining Chairs and Any Wood Furniture
We recently painted dining chairs that I got second hand. They look so good, I thought I would share the process! This is exactly what we do when we have painted banquette seating, and anywhere we need the paint to hold up and not scratch or chip! The key is the primer and the sealer. If you missed it, you can check out all the details on the changes in our dining room, including a new dining table, HERE. And keep reading for how we painted the dining chairs.... Step #1 Sand and or Prime- Sanding does not always need to be done. In fact we rarely sand furniture before painting. ... Read More
Spring Entertaining with Target and Punch Recipe
We've had a couple warm and sunny days, so we started bringing out the patio furniture and cleaning things up in the yard. I'm sure we haven't seen the end of winter. But here's to hoping for more sunny days than snowy! We always host my family for Easter, thought I'd share my favorite items to have on hand when hosting and a fun spring table setting! Target Easter Setting- Blue Acrylic Beverage Pitcher // Green Striped Umbrella // Medium Paddle Serving Board // Rattan Utensil Caddy // Banded Planter // Green Striped Cushion // Ceramic Wave Bowl // 4 pc mixed pattern melamine salad ... Read More