February Fun

For one of the most dreary months, we've been trying to find some fun things to do. With Brigham usually busy with homework, the kids and I have been going a bit nuts - especially when we've been trapped at home with sniffles, to avoid sniffles, or to escape the cold.

One Friday night, rather than wallow in self-pity that we were on our own while Brigham did homework, I decided to change my attitude and situation into a positive one. Result: movie night with the kids.

We rented the latest Ice Age movie, made a comfy bed on the floor for us to relax, and enjoyed a couple treats.

Ammon lasted until his treats ran out...about five minutes...but then we cuddled on the couch with books together. It was really nice quality time and turned what could have been a depressing evening, into a fun one. I foresee more Mommy movie nights in the future.

Despite Brigham being so busy, I was able to snag him away for a BYU basketball game. We met up with my brother and sister-in-law for dinner and then went our way for some cheers, dribbling, and hoops.

It was supposed to be a close game, but we ended up kickin' butt in true BYU style and won by quite a margin.

After the game we were trailed by a murder through the business building and all the way to our car, but we managed to outmaneuver him with our wily ways. We have quite exciting adventures!  Man did I love getting out with my husband and enjoying a good night!

We ended up with tickets to another BYU game, but sadly Brigham was trapped by my arch-nemesis, Homework, and so I went with my siblings instead.

Unfortunately, Ammon got to my camera and left spit trails on the lens, thus Sadie's glowing head, but otherwise I love this picture. And despite that blur, we had a fantastic time! While the first 3/4 of the game was all foul shots and pretty boring, the last part got really exciting - including a tie-breaking, game-winning shot in the last two seconds of the game. Celebration ice cream afterwards always turns a good night into a great one! There's nothing like a night off being a mom and wife that helps reboost my engines so I am ready to go again.

Those are a few of my fun February happenings. I've also had sister-in-law temple trips, a jewelry party, birthday dinners, President Day Ikea shopping and lunch, and Valentine's Day to help keep those winter doldrums away. It's been nice to be a bit more busy. What do you do to entertain yourself when you can't enjoy the outdoors and you're on your own? Suggestions are welcome!

Dress Up Days

I love to dress up for special occasions, put some glamour on, and strut my stuff. I always have. Even as a child, my favorite game was dress up and I would go to certain friends houses because I knew they had the best dress up stuff. In my opinion, there's not near enough reasons to do so as an adult, so I'm glad my kids can enjoy it now.

Princess tutus, silky slippers, and Superman capes (with bonus necklace).

And a playmate with an imagination.

These are the best parts of dressing up.

Even if trying on different outfits to get there makes quite a mess.

Yep, the days of dress up are the best ones.

Since I don't have a good reason these days to dress up as a princess or fly off as Superman, maybe I'll just have to join them. After all, I never needed a reason as kid anyway.

Fun Dips, Hot Date, and Warm Bodies

Yesterday was one of the best holidays of the year: Valentine's Day! Oh how I love this holiday, and always have. Something about the pink, red, handing out treats, flowers, chocolate, and just a general expression of love for others makes me giddy with excitement. And the thought of secret admirers and secret trysts of romance always pull at my heart strings...even though that's never happened to me. I like to pretend or imagine it for others. I'm just a romantic at heart.

I always give out valentines, because that's half the fun! This year my kids were excited to hand out Wonka Fun Dip valentines

I can't help but get these for my kids to give out because they bring back such good memories. We LOVED the fun dips as kids. Dip a candy stick into colored sugar and lick it off, and then you get to EAT the stick!? Oh man, the best. Can't pass those up.

I dressed the kids up in Valentine colors that morning and we went and exercised, went to the bank (handing out Valentines everywhere we went), and then came home to normal routine for the afternoon. I told my kids to smile for a Valentine's Day picture and this is what they gave me:

And this is the best I got:

They were all too happy to display their Valentine's Day gifts:

Just a couple new plates and a box of sweethearts candy (how can you have Valentine's day without those?) for each of them. We go simple and sweet around here.

That night Brigham and I were able to go on a nice date together.

If you know the show, this is one of the cutest Valentines ever.  Which  is why I sent it to Brigham for our hot date :)

We wanted to eat at Pei Wei, but it was a two hour wait (for a fast food Chinese place?! What the heck?!) so we went to Iceberg instead and used our gift certificate from Christmas and a BOGO coupon for a shake. After dinner we went and saw the movie Warm Bodies.

Brigham really wanted to see it, but I was highly skeptical. However, due to the lack of other preferable options and high recommendations from family, I said ok and I'm glad. I really liked it! It was funny and creepy and cute. A little language, but that's it. And I was able to enjoy it even though the theater smelled like someone had just puked and then someone else came along and dumped a bottle of cleaner on top of it. It was bad. I watched the movie while breathing through my coat the whole time.

Despite our troubles, it was good to get away with my handsome Valentine. I wish I had taken a picture of the two of us - I brought my camera and everything - but unfortunately I'm only good for capturing the kids. Here's an old one from our first Valentine's Day together:

Oh how young we were. And I'm liking my hair! So Happy Valentine's Day to you and your loved ones. I hope you got a smooch, whether it was from your spouse, parent, friend, or baby - love is good from anyone!

Jewelry Organized

I love jewelry. Lots and lots of jewelry. Actually I love any accessory. I think it's because it's one size fits all and can spruce up the drabbest of outfits. Needless to say, I have accumulated plenty of jewelry throughout the years and due to the volume, I have felt overwhelmed with what to do with all. Especially unpacking after Christmas vacation and facing the daunting task of putting it all away.

So instead, I practiced the good old avoidance method and my dresser looked like this:

For the past month. It's been driving me crazy!! Jewelry was everywhere. I knew I needed to do something about it and I hated how all my necklaces kept getting all tangled together in their drawer.

Not to mention they didn't fit anymore so I had stopped putting them in there anyway. Well after going crazy for so long, I decided to finally undertake a project I had pinned on Pinterest over a year ago found here.

If you look on Pinterest there are SO many different ways to make jewelry organizers but I knew I had this beauty:

I found it ages ago at DI for twenty-five cents, so I went ahead and made my own version of the above project.

I went and picked out some scrapbook paper, cut it to shape, and mod-podged it to the wood.

I kept the pink border because I liked it :)

After everything dried, I took some metal hooks out of our tool set and screwed them in the middle.

Next, I hung it on the wall and did one of the funnest things in the entire world: organized my jewelry! It's amazing what you rediscover when you go through your jewelry box - lots of memories, and hidden treasures. The end result turned out like this:

Ah, so nice and clean! I actually enjoy going into my room now and I don't feel stressed when it's time to get ready. I love how it turned out! I think Brigham was tired of the mess too because he keeps commenting on how nice it is.

It was seriously easy and fast! And now I have a perfect excuse to get MORE jewelry (as if I need one). Now I just need a solution for my numerous pairs of earrings. All the organizers that include earrings make you have to hang them up with a back, and knowing how lazy I am, that just won't happen. When I'm in a trying on several pairs at a time trying to find what looks best with an outfit, it's too much work for me to hang them up and put the back on over and over again. Realistically, I know I would throw them on my dresser in a rush rather than take the time to hang them up. And yet, I hate throwing them all in a drawer together because they don't keep as well. Maybe I shouldn't be so lazy because something like this would be really cool:

But alas, I know I would end up throwing all my earrings on my dresser in a big pile all the time until I made myself hang them back up on clean house day...and then they would start piling up again until the next clean house day. Maybe a big magnetic board that they can just stick to? Do they have those? Hmmm, I will have to research.

But there you have it folks, I finally got my craftiness back on!