It Matters

Happy Herd.

We have a happy little herd of deer that visit about twice a week. The herd consists of 10 deer that roam the neighborhood, and often graze in our yard then nestle under the decrepit swing set out my kitchen window.

We think the deer are pretty great, but have started hearing rumblings that we might be the only ones in the neighborhood who are enamored by their over-all coolness. 

Apparently they'll eat everything we eventually plant. They have a reputation for wiping out hundreds of dollars in new landscaping and flowers in a single afternoon. 

But for now they're more of a novelty than a nuisance, and we love looking out our windows at these beautiful animals. 

We'll see how we feel next summer when we landscape, we may have to remove the "rose colored glasses" when they start eating all our fruit trees. I guess all good things must come to an end.....for now we love our family little herd:)

Happy President's Day,

Darci 

5K Friday. 80/20 rule

I've been thinking about the 80/20 rule in regards to personal health and fitness. I've heard it said, and read in books that....80% of your heath and fitness is what you eat, while only 20% is how much you exercise. I've always known this but to think of it in those percentages has been eye opening. What it means is....

                                                                                                                        image found here.

You can't eat junk and think, "I'll exercise it off tomorrow..or I ran this morning so it's O.K.." They're not created equal. Exercise is essential to helping us feel good, it gives off endorphins, builds strength and endurance but it doesn't compensate for eating poorly. It's more important to eat good than to exercise hard. 

Therefore the 80/20 rule also becomes a guilde to help us make good food choices as well. If you eat a clean healthy diet 80% of the time you can treat yourself 20% of the time.  Isn't that great? There's a time and place for treats if you eat good 80% of the time. 

It's weird that I think about this stuff huh? Oh well, I love little rules or visuals like 80/20 that help me make better choices and ultimately keep me on track feeling good. 

I do however hope you have a great weekend 100% of the time!

Darci

 

a SWEET treat.

The last few years in february our family's set up a little mail system and left each other love notes throughout the month. For whatever reason I didn't pull our mailboxes out of storage this year. I've missed receiving thoughtful notes, and watching the kids compose them for one another.  So I decided to implement another little treat for this weekend leading up to Valentines Day. 

I purchased a few bags of cheap gummy hearts and a pack of stick pins to attach acts of LOVE onto each one. My plan is to leave them on the counter all weekend long and let the kids eat as many as they desire....but they get to carry out the act of love that comes with each sweet treat. 

The acts of love are small, simple really. Give your sister a compliment, look someone in the eye and say, "i love you." Be sneaky & do something nice, draw a picture, write a note, say 3 nice things about your mom, tell your brother something you like about him....give a HUG, a KISS, Simple little things to get us thinking about showing our love for one another. Grandma and Grandpa will arrive this weekend and we're excited to have them join us as well.

I left a bowl for the "arrows" and will attach new notes each evening or morning. The kids are excited, and it's easily maintained since it's just a few days. It would be a great activity for a family night or even a Valentines dinners??? You could attach notes with arrows onto rolls:)

How is your family feeling the love this year? I'd love to hear...

Happy Day,

Darci

 

Official.

I feel so official. I'm 34 yrs. old and just recieved my first Passport in the mail. 

It sounds cheesy, but it was exciting to open it up and see my picture. You see, I'm not much for traveling. It's not that I'm a "home body" I just have 4 young children that I have a hard time leaving for any extended period of time. Therefore we've vacationed as a family within the state and taken an occassional outdoor adventure into Idaho. However next month I'll be putting my new passport to use on a trip out of the country with just Kevin. I'm excited, nervous and anxious all at the same time. Either way it's happening and this little Navy book makes it seem all the more official!

Happy Day,

Darci

Weekend Wrap.

 The kids had their last ski lessons....

Brooklyn waiting for the BIg end of session race. 

Worked on a few projects around the house...

Painting an old dresser and workig on putting together a new fancy bed ensemble in the guestroom. I'm anticipating some special guests this week!!!

Watched the BIG GAME with some of my favorite people. It was my first & last NFL game of the year, but I sure did get "into it" in the last few minutes. Gotta love the Super bowl.

Right now I'm snacking on this left over "football" cheese ball for breakfast, 

and watching these two play games around the kitchen...

You gotta love a great weekend, and the Monday morning that follows.... 

have a great day!

Darci

Valentines.

This year I decided to be creative for Valentines day. The last few holidays were kinda overlooked due to the move, so I wanted to do Valentines up right!  We usually go to Target and pick out pre-packaged Valentines. This year I have a little extra energy so I loaded the kids up in the mini-van and headed to a specialty candy store on main street in Lehi. I let the kids pick out any candy to pass out to their friends. It was hilarious to watch them agonize over the decision with so many to choose from and fun to discuss creative sayings that could go along with each. In the end I wasn't surprised with their decisions; candy necklaces for Brooklyn- she loves those....long laffy taffy for Ty- always one of his favorites and staight up sugar for Cache- no suprise there!

I think the final results are pretty fun, and the kids are excited to finish them for classmates.....  

Ty loves Arrows so this seemed a perfect fit. I was thinking, "I've got my bulls-eye on you" or "I've only got aim for you".....NO WAY! Ty said NO love, NO valentines, NO I've got my eye..or anything that would make a girl think he liked them. In the end we decided on, "I aim for the best" and he was happy.  

I had purchased some embrodiry thread a month or so ago for Brooklyn to make friendship braclets I saw here and fell in love, but it was proving to be a few years ahead of her ability level. We talked about it and decided to put the thread to use on necklaces instead, she's a much happier girl! 

"You've got my heart on a string" seemed to fit perfectly. 

 For Mr. Cache it's always about efficiency. The fastest way sugar can hit his mouth on any given holiday. Pixy sticks were a perfect fit for him....he sure knows how to "Pix" 'em.

I didn't grab a picture of him before pre-school this morning. It doesn't matter, he would have just cried and begged to eat pixy sticks for breakfast if I had. Nevertheless he's darling and so EXCITED to take 13 treats to his friends in a few weeks. 

Valentines is in full swing at our house, and I LOVE it!

Darci

Inspired.

Lately I'm feeling inspired. I'm not sure if it's my new surroundings or just a phase but everything I see or hear seems to be oozing with inspiration....Just to name a few....

The statuesque deer resting beneath the swing set in my back yard this morning.

My third grade son who spends hours on school work that doesn't come easy.

Bright workout clothes for spring...

The "Enduring it well" & "conversations" series on the Mormom Channel.

The Power of Moms group my friend Heather recently started and I joined.

Cool Quotes...and the possibilities they conjure up...

Nature, the moutains and my desire to get the family outside hiking and biking.

Parents and Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

Martha stewart paint colors. 

Following Dr. Oz on twitter.

8 Turbos in a row during Turbo kick classes at the Legacy Center this month.

A trip to the bahamas.. .I'm joining my husband on a business trip in March.

T.J.Max and Home Goods. 

Watching Cache go skiing for the first time...doing HARD things.

Getting to know new neighbors and learning from dear friends.

Lately I've thougth a lot about living inspired, what it means and looks like. How grateful I am for all that's good, beautiful, uplifting and encouraging about my little family and life in general. There's much to be inspired by.....and always much to do:)

Happy Monday,

Darci

images via pinterest. 

 

 

 

Family Room.

I love Mondays. I think it's because I make so many mistakes and missed oppurtunities each week that I'm always up for a do-over, and each new Mondays like a do-over to me. This morning I'm filled with so much anticipation and excitement to have a great week. I wanted to start by sharing a few pictures of our family room and getting a little advice!

This is the fireplace and mantel, the mantel I love but have no idea what to do with. I ordered a picture to go above it last week, but am having second thoughts if it will look good. 

I saw this on Pinterest last week and followed it to what seems to be a great blog titled Honey & Fitz. It was full of advice for decorating a mantel, some I hope to implement this week. However if you have any additional suggestions as to what should go on the mantel I'd love to hear:)

The rest of the room is coming along. I'm in search of bright eclectic pillows for this little couch.

Waiting for another vinyl quote to hang above these matching frames.. 

and I'm thinking not just one but a collection of globes would be cool on top of this computer desk.

 

This room has already met my expectation of being bright and welcoming where the kids love to draw, do puzzles, flip through books and play with their animlas.  It's meant to be cozy and kid friendly which I love. 

It's hard for me, a challenged photographer, to take a good picture with that big window but you get the idea. We still have work to do and pictues to hang but we're getting there slowly. It was cool to have a fire burning in the fireplace all weekend...we all hung out together and it was so toasty warm... which is good because this girl won't keep clothes on.....

 however she did put on a hat when it started to snow.

Silly Girl:)

Darci

Progress in the mud room.

I've been making progress in what's quickly becoming one of my favorite spaces in our house, the mud room. It's not perfect yet, I'm still deciding on a fun color to paint the back door, and I've ordered a vinyl quote for above my bulletin boards, but it's coming together and i'm ready to share a few pictures. 

A bit of orginization has appeared on the wall, So far it's functioning nicely. 

The bulletin board on the right is for art & school work, the one on the left is for planing. It's my calendars for now but will soon have my meal plans etc. A colorful vinyl quote will go above and read, "By Small and Simple things are great things brought to pass." I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will look good:)

 

I thought long and hard about how to get papers off the counters, make them easily accessible to who needs them and how to organize everything so it wasn't all shoved into a cute basket and forgotten about or lost. (the system at our previous house) The solution I came up with was hanging baskets and I LOVE IT. Each child had a basket where all their paper items belong. Weekly homework, take home reading books, scout schedules, handwriting notebook etc. plus their clipboards. 

On friday I check their clipboards to see that they marked of their chores and checklists each day then clip their allowance right on their baskets. Keep in mind we're only on week three, but it's been great so far. I finally wised up and requested that Kevin bring home a large envelope of one dollar bills so that I could actually be consistent. (In the past I've been notorious for not having cash when it's time to pay allowance)  All I can say is there have been no piles on the counter and the kids really love having a specific place to keep their school papers organized.  

What is now our mud room used to be a bathroom and was configured very differently. It is actually the only place in the house we moved walls, I'm so glad we did.(Thanks mom:) It's now a long skinny room that connects the kitchen and family room with a door also leading to the backyard. 

All the cabinets are a nice soft yellow, and the floor is a black and white tile. I'm now in the process of throwing in bright colors everywhere I can. 

Painting this door is my weekend project..

This is the little desk that I love, but I'm stalking Peir 1 and TJ Max for a colorful chair cushion, then I'll love it even more.

This is the actual purpose for the room...washing clothes..but the little shelf is what I love the most. The laundry soap will eventually be stored between the washer and dryer and I'm picturing a fun collection of random colorful jars with a Happy print hanging on the the wall above. It's fun to imagine what I might find in the near or distant future that will be perfect to finish off this little spot. 

Lastly the utility sink with the really cool faucet. Funny story, there was a mix up with faucets and needless to say we ended up with a very fancy faucet above a $30 utility sink. It's a little silly, but almost every room has a mix up and they're all starting to grow on me. The one thing I do love is the rod that hangs above the sink to hang dress shirts when they come out of the dryer. Seriously cutting down on the ironing around here.

So that's the mud room. We're expecting snow this week so we'll see how much actual mud I can handle in a room designed for just that:)

Happy Day.

Darci

two things.

There are two things I've been meaning to metion for a while; my Paper Cortorie weekly calander and my customized i-phone case. I'm completely in love with both items because of their coolness factor so I thought I would share. 

Paper Coterie's Weekly customized planner.

This things is perfect, at least for me. It's bright & cute, fuctional and divides the month into weeks, which is my favortie way to plan.

You can uplaod your photos quick and easy on their webstie to personalize a planner for yourself or for a gift. It's great because even though it's a planner there are no dates filled in yet so you can start using it at anytime during the year. So COOL.

It's spiral bound which I love because you can lay it flat with two weeks showing or fold it over to display one weeks schedule at a glance.

The best part is what I mentioned above, you fill in the dates. If I'm on vacation or miss a week of writting everything down I don't waste paper or pages. Each new page is a Mon-Sun just waiting to have the dates filled in and the lines filled up. I LOVE that it starts with Monday in the top left hand corner and ends with Sunday becasue that's how I approuch my planning. Really, who starts planning the week with Sunday? 

I-Phone Case.

My super cool friend gave me a heads up on this one a few months back. Cafe Press is an online store that offers customized photo printing. You can upload a picture and have a phone case made for most any phone, even old 3G's like mine:) It's been so fun to have a picture of my cute kids in the palm of my hand. I get so many comments and compliments on it that I figured I'd share a link with everyone here, so you can get one too! 

So there you have it, two things I'm loving right now. I'm not a spokesperson for either one of these companies, but they have cool products so I'm passing the word along.

Happy Day,

Darci