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The Incredible Nature of Motherhood

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Kristin

More than 30 of you entered the contest sponsored by Massage Envy and The Flower Patch leaving me dozens of reasons why a mother you knew deserved a special prize on Mother’s Day.

I learned a big lesson by announcing that I would be selecting my own winner instead of using a random name selector. This was WAY too hard to pick! I’ll NEVER do this again. Everyone should win a prize because every mother deserves it. I really dislike over-using the word AMAZING, but I do have to say, mothers in general are AMAZING!

Although I prefer to focus on the joys of Motherhood, you don’t understand the relentless nature of motherhood until you become one. It’s amazing to me that so many of us continue to be willing and are capable of being great mothers.

Happy Mothers Day to all the incredible women out there who are making life as great as they can for their families and the rest of the world. You all deserve the best.

The winner of the Massage Envy gift card is Natalie Clements. Natalie lives across the street from me and is doing a stand-up job raising her four children, three of which are triplets who three-years-old. They are darling, but I know having triplets is a challenge every single day. I laugh when I hear the crazy stories of all the shenanigans they get themselves into, but being their mom dealing with all of it on a daily basis is overwhelming. I admire her for doing what I consider and amazing job. Her kids always look so cute and their house is always tidy despite the triplets best efforts. If anyone needs a massage, it’s her.

The Flower Patch gift card goes to Laura Wardle. Laura is my sister-in-law. As she explained in her comment, her mother is an exceptional person. Here’s what Laura had to say about her Mother: My mother Valerie has given birth to 3 kids, and adopted 5 girls! The two oldest of of the adopted babies were from the foster care system in Utah.

Both of the babies were born addicted to drugs. After raising them for a few years, she and my Dad made 3 separate trips to Chinese orphanages to adopt 3 Chinese babies with medical needs! They especially sought out the children who had medical problems just so that they could bring them back to the states to help them.

These babies would never have recieved the extraordinary medical care they received at Primary Children’s Hospital and been raised in a loving home if it hadn’t been for my mom who carried out her dream of adopting children. The girls are all growing and living a wonderful life with my loving parents in Riverton. Those are some blessed children!

I’ve always admired Laura’s parents for the impact they’ve made for good in the world. I’ve never known a more willing family to reach out and care for children who without them didn’t stand a chance in this life.

Posted in INSPIRING PEOPLE | Tagged Flower Patch, Massage Envy, Mother's Day | Comments Off

Look At My Pretty Nails

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Kristin

I have two things to say. First, look at my pretty nails. They are my own nails which I have grown myself.

My friend and neighbor Kristen May painted them for me with Shellac. It’s amazing and it never comes off and it doesn’t chip. It basically stays on until you soak it off in Acetone. This is my second paint job. Here’s the first.

It’s so pretty too!

I’m posting this here not only to show-off, but to tell you that Kristen has a special deal for Herriman gals. She offers Shellac manicures for only $10 at her home. She works at a salon in Sandy and does the same thing for twice the price.

If you’re interested in having them done, give her a call or text. 347-6221

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS | 3 Comments

Flowers and Massage–A Mother’s Day Giveaway

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Kristin

It’s a week before Mother’s Day, do you have a plan? I do, mainly because I was lucky enough to be a guest at TWO really fun events this week.

First, I attended a blogger event at The Flower Patch flower shop. They invited a handful of mothers and daughters into their shop to create beautiful Mother’s Day corsages.

Don’t you remember in the 80’s and 90’s how almost every mother wore a corsage on Mother’s Day? What happened? When did this stop?

Sunny and Alyssa and I all made beautiful corsages at the event. It was very fun, especially for cute five-year-old girls. I especially loved this as I was able to check #8 off my list.

I wore the corsage I made to church as did my girls. It was really fun and I think it’s such a great tradition. So…after attending this event I’ve decided that I’m going to work to bring sexy back to Mother’s Day. It’s going to be Mother’s Day corsages for everyone. Okay, maybe not everyone, but at least me and my mom. And maybe for you too.

The Flower Patch also gave me a gift card to share with a lucky blog reader. It should be more than enough to buy at least one Mother’s Day corsage or any other flower arrangement should you choose the less fun route.

Part two of my week of fun included attending an event sponsored by Massage Envy. It may have been my favorite EVER blog meeting. It was certainly the most relaxing!

The event involved me trying several of the services offered by Massage Envy. I had a sugar foot-scrub, a 15-minute chair massage and a 15-minute table massage.

By the time my services were over I was literally massage-intoxicated. I stumbled through the hallway trying to think about where I was supposed to be. I had several people ask me if I was okay. I even had one person ask me for my car keys. They could tell I was in no condition to drive.

I’ve had a handful of massages before, but this one for some reason left me SO relaxed. The back pain that I had experienced for several weeks before was eliminated. It was the perfect way to end a hectic day.

Massage should be for everyone, not just the rich or famous. If you’ve never had a massage before, you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s just worth every single penny. And it’s worth feeling fairly awkward for a few minutes. Nothing makes me feel as good as an incredible massage from a skilled therapist. And as long as were talking about skilled therapists…check out this guy’s shoulders. He’s a personal trainer AND a very skilled massage therapist!

Lucky for you, Massage Envy has given me a gift card to give away! This could be your chance to finally get the relaxation you’ve been wanting. Continue reading to see how to enter.

Enter by liking my Facebook page (if you haven’t already). Then like both the Flower Patch and Massage Envy Utah Facebook pages.

After you have done both of those things, leave me a comment about why you or a mother you know deserve either or both of these fabulous gifts. I usually use an app called Rafflecopter to randomly select winners. This time I’ll do it based on your comments. If I can’t decide on my own, I may assemble a quasi advisory board to help me make the decision. I’ll draw the winner Tuesday night.

Best of luck and I hope all you Mothers have a very special day, even if you have to make it special for yourself. There’s no shame in planning your own party.

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS, VOCAL SOKOL LOCAL | Tagged Flower Patch, Great Mothers Day Gifts, Massage Envy | 35 Comments

We Were on the TODAY Show (seriously)

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Kristin

I thought I’d share this photo even though it has nothing to do with how I was on TODAY, today. I met Matt Lauer in the summer of 2010 while hanging out on the TODAY plaza.

We really were. It was for like 3 seconds, but we were on there.

How did this happen?

If you know me well you know I’ve had a small obsession with current events for mostly my whole life. I started watching TODAY as a nursing new mom. One morning Matt and Katie were on my TV and TODAY’s been on ever since.

A few weeks ago they announced a contest called “Wake Up With Al” where you have AL Roker come to your home and broadcast TODAY from your house. To enter you needed a word 250 essay and you had the option to submit a video.

Naturally, I thought we’d be a good fit for this. Why wouldn’t Al Roker want to come to our home? So, I wrote up the essay in about 10 minutes and we made a goofy little video that evening.

I didn’t REALLY expect to hear back from the TODAY show. I enter most every essay contest I see and I’ve never won a prize, but…a few days later I got an e-mail from a TODAY show producer saying they liked our entry and wanted more info about our home and family.

If you go to TODAY, you must take a cute poster.

I quickly assembled what they asked for and e-mailed it off. I assumed THAT would be the end of it, but it wasn’t. I heard from them the next day asking for a phone number so we could talk.

At this point I stared to get fairly terrified that the TODAY show might actually come to my house.

Think about the reality of that. Who just has TODAY broadcasting from their house? I was overwhelmed with the thought. Luckily for me, my always reasonable husband calmed me down and told me that if anyone could accommodate the TODAY show at their house, it would be me. Then I started to get excited about the possibility. Really excited!

The next morning I got a phone call from a TODAY producer. We talked for more than a half hour about our family and community. To my complete surprise, I wasn’t at all nervous while we talked. They asked me, hypothetically, if were were selected as a semifinalist would we be willing come to New York and be on the TODAY Plaza when they announced the winner. I assured them that our kids were capable of travel and that we would be willing to clear our calendar. It was really very fun and exciting.

After it was over I thought to myself, “that went well,”and “they really might come here,” and “we really might go there.” Needless to say, my mind was racing all weekend. On Monday I was waiting for the phone to ring all day. I was watching my e-mail inbox every minute. Nothing came.

I figured that if we didn’t hear Monday, they selected some other family. But I still had some hope it COULD happen on Tuesday. But then, nothing happened Tuesday or Wednesday for that matter. Late last night I gave up any reasonable hope that this might happen. For the first time in more than a week, I slept great.

This morning I got a text from my friend and former college roommate Robyn that she’d seen me on the TODAY Show. She wondered if I was a finalist. So I raced to the TV and fast forwarded through until I saw the “Wake Up With Al Segment.”

With eagerness me and my two girls were glued to the TV. They were showing some of the audition tapes and a very small portion of ours was the second of 8 videos they showed!

It wasn’t quite the thrill I was hoping for, but hey, who gets to say they were on the TODAY Show?

During the remainder of the program they showed the three semi-finalists. The first was a Dairy farming family. I can’t compete with that. The second was a Firehouse full of firemen. I can’t compete with that. The last was a school teacher. I can’t really compete with that either. In the end, they selected ALL THREE. Al will be visiting each of them next week.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I won’t pretend that I’m not disappointed, I am. But I at least we tried and at least I can check number 307 off my list.

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS | Tagged TODAY Show, Wake Up With Al | 3 Comments

Eat a Cupcake, Save a Life

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Kristin

You never have to say too much to get me to want to eat a Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcake.

This Friday April 26, is the day of all days to do just that. Sweet Tooth Fairy is teaming up with the Shot@Life campaign offering a FREE cupcake when you visit the in-store display. Your visit might just save or improve the quality of life for a child in a developing country.

For more details see the KSL.com article I wrote about this event.

Posted in INSPIRING PEOPLE, PLEASANT EVENTS, VOCAL SOKOL LOCAL | Comments Off

I went to SNAP! Creativity 2013 Conference

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Kristin

Me and my new friend Julie de Azevedo Hanks met at the SNAP! Creativity Conference this weekend at Thanksgiving Point. She gave the most inspiring words as the Keynote speaker. We need more people like her on this earth

I spent the entire last weekend at a blogging conference at Thanksgiving Point. Those of you out there who like to craft or DYI projects are probably familiar with the SNAP! Creativity site. It’s a place where creative types gather together to collaborate and come up with the next big thing.

I went last year and was super excited to get go again this year.

I am not a crafter, but I am lucky enough to have known Tauni Everett when we worked together as writers for a newspaper. Tauni went on to not only establish this site, but to also begin an annual conference to gather crafters by the hundreds.

I was lucky enough to “volunteer” for her to help put on this conference. And when I say I “volunteered” I really mean that I did next to nothing to be useful while I was there. Tauni is super efficient and knows how to get things done. So, in my spare time while I was NOT performing any volunteer work I wrote this article for the Deseret News. I thought that some of you might follow a lot of these DIY bloggers and would like to have known that they were in Utah this last weekend.

I know I loved being there. I love being around other bloggers. They are just so much fun and bring out the best in me. I made some lasting friendships. Here’s me and my new BFF Jill Greenlaw. She works for MomItForward.com which is a very useful organization for moms and bloggers. We spent a lot of time together eating, learning and laughing.

I also established a fun friendship with Sarah Kimmel who does really useful things for bloggers like fixing them when they get hacked. I knew her before, but never realized we had so much in common. And when I say we have so much in common I mean we both hate the same things. And yes, I do believe you can establish an enduring friendship based on that alone.

Plus I got to dance my face off at the after party, so I’m totally counting this for #248 on my list. I loved it and I hardly ever get to dance.

Anyway…Thanks for reading this silly blog. I’m pretty sure I’m mainly talking to my mom here and prolly my aunt Tammy. Thanks for being my biggest fans and reading all my posts. It means a lot. Blogging is a lot of work, but someone has to do it.

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS | Tagged Momitforward, SNAP!, Tech4moms | 3 Comments

How to Increase Self Esteem-A message for young girls

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Kristin

A friend of mine shared this video with me the other day. As a mother of young girls I thought it was especially poignant. I want my daughters to be brave enough to take the opportunities life offers without being too fearful to try.

I am always worried about my girls having the self-confidence to get the things they want out of life. I want them to feel like that CAN do whatever they choose. I’ve never attributed the word “Brave” as being an important part of the equation when it comes to self confidence and self esteem. But now I see that BRAVE = HAPPY.

It reminds me of something I used to hear Dr. Laura say on a regular basis when a female caller would ask about how to increase self esteem. She would always reply by saying that self esteem is something you are NOT born with, it’s something that is earned. Self esteem comes from DOING things that make you proud of yourself. Even if you fail at them, at least you tried and that’s something to be proud of. Most people don’t even bother to try.

I feel like I spent most of my life up to about the age of 21 being too afraid to take opportunities when they came. I’m not sure what magically changed or if I just stopped caring what people thought then. Either way, I know now that being brave is worth the effort it takes. I also know that failure just isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. Even if you DO experience failure, at least your’re having experiences. Some people never do anything, and that’s just boring.

So…show your daughters this video. Show them these brave girls and give them permission to try new things. Teach them that it’s okay to feel scared or embarrassed, but to just keep pushing through it until they’ve done something to make themselves proud. Tell them that life will be a lot more fun if they can figure this out at an early age. Chances are if they’re having fun from an early age, they’ll lead happier more productive lives.

Posted in INSPIRING PEOPLE, THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS | Tagged Dr. Laura, How to be brave, How to be happy, how to increase self confidence, Sara Bareilles | Comments Off

Where to Find Unique Party Presents

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Kristin

This post is about buying presents for kid birthday parties or baby showers.

I don’t know if this happens at your house, but it seems like ALL the parties we get invited to happen in April or October and this time of year I’m always looking for cute party present ideas.

I hate showing up for a party where the kids gets three of the same thing. I like to come up with something you don’t see everyday at every store.

I found a great solution I thought I’d share. I’ve talked about Oopsie Daisy before, but I found a new reason to stop by my favorite children’s boutique.

They have FANTASTIC and very unique birthday party gifts which are very affordable especially if you’re part of Oopsie Daisy’s new Mom’s Club.

If you haven’t heard about the Mom’s Club, let me be the first to tell you. It’s an annual paid membership that basically gives you unbelievable discounts on 99 percent of the store’s merchandise.

There are two levels, Gold and Platinum. I know what you’re thinking…Why would you pay to shop at a store. But once I learned that a membership gets you a 30 or 40 percent discount on every purchase (including their amazing bedroom sets), it sounded pretty good. ( I wish Costco would do that)

I was invited by my friend Rob, who owns the store, to come shop with a complimentary Platinum membership. He is also giving away a Platinum membership to one of my readers. See the end of the post for details on how to enter.

I took my daughters and two of my nieces with me to pick out some presents for up coming parties. I had my eye on unique baby shower gifts. I was as delighted as they were with the treasures we found. I know any of these things would be the “IT” present of the party.

I have loved Oopsie Daisy since the day it opened. I love the light-airy feel of the store. I like shopping local and I love the specialty and hand-made products they carry.

If I had one complaint it would be that like most specialty boutiques, the price-point is sometimes more than I want to pay. But…with a Mom’s Club membership their unique items don’t cost any more than they do at a big-box store.

We had a magical time exploring and testing things in the store. I loved watching the girls browse the books. They spent a long time looking at and reading them to each other. You might notice if you read the last post I wrote that we LOVE Usborne books. They’re already a family treasure. We’ve read and re-read the classic stories dozens of times.

The other favorite item we love is the Calico Critters. Sunny got several sets of these cute little characters for Christmas, along with one of the cute cottages. She spends hours playing with them. Now I can add to her collection at a bargain price.

Where can I buy Calico Critters in Salt Lake

They have the BEST selection of these dolls anywhere in Salt Lake. With the Mom’s Club discount, they’re an incredible discount! You can’t find them cheaper anywhere else.

Now for the good part. This is your chance to get your own membership compliments of Oopsie Daisy. See the giveaway below. Entering is SUPER EASY.

The winner will be notified via e-mail after next Wednesday. If you can’t wait until then, feel free to stop by Oopsie Daisy on-line or in person to see their super cute things. While you’re there stop by Cafe Bella Rue next door and get something YUMMY to eat! You wont be sorry.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS, VOCAL SOKOL LOCAL | Tagged cute girls hand made clothing, Great kids birthday present ideas, hand made baby gifts, Oopsie Daisy Children's Boutique, Where to buy Jellycat stuffed animals in Salt Lake, Where to buy Petunia Pickle bottom in Salt Lake | 13 Comments

Amy’s Butterfly Wedding in Downtown Salt Lake

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Kristin

One of my last single girlfriends is about 5 seconds away from being engaged. All the excitement has me thinking about weddings!

And…when I think about weddings I think about May 2009 when my friend Amy and I planned her wedding. It was the most beautiful Butterfly Themed wedding anyone ever saw. Since #91 on my list is related to attending a wedding I thought I’d reminisce and share some photos from her wedding, including the most unique center piece I’ve ever seen. It was the creative high-point of my life.

Amy has always loved butterflies and wanted her wedding centered around them. I thought up what I believed would be an amazing center piece for each table. It involved butterflies, jars, ribbon, and Gerber daisies.

See for yourself, these jars were amazing. They weren’t easy, and they weren’t cheap, but they were very beautiful.

When we first decided on this idea we searched the internet for live butterflies and found that they cost around $100 for a dozen. Amy wanted as many as she could get so we decided to buy butterfly larvae and attempt to grow our own. We thought it would be cheaper. We were wrong. By the time we assembled all our supplies we spent nearly $300 (or more). A week before the wedding it was clear that we WEREN’T going to get ANY butterflies in time for the wedding.

So…Plan B. We had two dozen rushed and they arrived the day before the wedding on ice and in individual envelopes.

They were perfect and were easy to work with. Because they were shipped in a cold packed container, they were temporarily paralyzed. We had about 45 seconds to a minute to get them where we wanted, which in our case was inside a jar, before they warmed up and wanted to fly.

Everyone LOVED the center pieces and were memorized by them.

Here’s a few other shots of my favorite things at her wedding.

She wanted cupcakes instead of a wedding cake, so we hired a cupcake maker who made dozens and dozens of custom flower-frosted cupcakes. It was a marvelous addition to the decor in the room. The only problem was that the guests felt free to grab a cupcake at anytime, especially before the bride and groom “cut the cake.” We ended up assigning a cousin to watch the cake to keep people at bay until the bride and groom had the first taste.

The wedding venue was at Gallivan Center’s downtown amphitheater stage and adjoining patio. It was ridiculously inexpensive to rent and also offered chairs and tables for an unbelievable bargain. Amy wanted an outdoor wedding, but in May you can never count on nice weather for sure.

This venue gave us both an indoor and out door space which ended up being perfect. Guests stayed a long time and lingered outside and inside since there was lots to see and do.

The other high note was the beauty of the chocolate fountain. I was counting on the fountain to be delicious, but I never thought about the elegance it would add to the room. Also, it was delicious and I’m sure I ate my weight in chocolate that night.

The real highlight of the wedding was near the end when the bride threw her bouquet and the guests released the butterflies in the centerpieces.

The butterflies were in no hurry. They seemed especially happy to meet the bride. They also landed on the noses an clothes of delighted children. You can only imagine the squeals and screams of the kids holding a butterfly for the first time in their lives. It wasn’t just the girls who liked it either. The boys loved it too. They turned out to be great little butterfly keepers.

We had ceramic pots holding butterfly nets and the kids ran around the patio and grassy area until it was dark catching butterflies and letting them go.

The butterflies especially loved the bride’s bouquet which was so thrilling to Amy and her photographer. I don’t know if I’ll ever attend another wedding as well-suited to the bride’s wishes as this one. Glad the list gave me the opportunity to remember this fun event.

It was such a magical night. Well worth the money we spent on butterflies to have them shipped. If only we hadn’t wasted the money trying to grow them on our own…oh well. Live and learn.

P.S. If you liked this post, feel free to pin it.

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS, VOCAL SOKOL LOCAL | Tagged butterfly release, Butterfly wedding center piece, Butterfly weddings, summer wedding ideas, Unique downtown Salt lake weddings, unique wedding center piece | Comments Off

The Happy Couch

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Kristin

Lots of good stories are sad in the end. This is one of those stories, but I thought the subject matter was so cute that you’d want to hear about it anyway.

Even though this has a sad ending I really did get a lot of satisfaction out of thinking about it.

I was at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and I saw this couch. It spoke to me.

It spoke to me like no other piece of furniture ever has. Look at how amazingly cute it is. I really wanted to buy the couch, but there were two problems. First, the couch cost $908. And, YES, that is the sale price. Second, I literally have no place in my home to put this couch.

I thought about building on a sun room to accommodate the happy couch. But…my accountant assures me that this isn’t a possibility at this time.

This is probably the cutest, HAPPIEST, funnest piece of furniture I have ever seen. I’ve been thinking about buying it all week. “Thinking about buying something” just happens to be number 221 on the list in case you’re keeping track. It totally counts for a Pleasant Event.

I even went back to Hobby Lobby a second time just too look at it. Don’t you think me and this couch belong together? So do I. But the reality is that we can’t always have everything we want.

On the way out of the store the second time, I noticed a similar, but much smaller sofa at a much smaller price, $350. It’s not quite as happy as the big couch, but it’s still very cute.

It would be perfect in my bedroom. I could throw my clothes on it at the end of the day instead leaving them on the floor like I do now.

If it cost half what they’re currently asking, my husband might actually buy this for me Mothers Day. He’s very neat and gets tired of seeing my clothes on the floor.

But for now, I’m just enjoying thinking about buying it. But, you never know. They say thoughts lead to actions, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

Posted in PLEASANT EVENTS, THOUGHTS ON HAPPINESS, VOCAL SOKOL LOCAL | Tagged Happy Furniture, Hobby Lobby Furniture, Pleasent Events | 4 Comments