::Timing::

Recently, the Hubs and I have decided that I need to renew and reactivate my real estate license. It's something we've contemplated for a really long time, and now feel like its a good time to do it. This feels like the best step for our family at this time. In light of this decision, it requires a lot more of my personal time, time that I usually spend blogging, and trying out new crafts, projects or recipes. Therefore, with this exciting time in our lives, I have to cut back on my time spent dedicated to this blog. I know I don't have that many followers, so I won't be disappointing many people, but I did want to thank all of you who follow my blog and read my craziness! I will still be posting projects that I get to when I can, so still come back and check in. Thanks for following!

::Helpful Tip Tuesday::

~Cleaning your Produce~

The Hubs and I have been into picking up Bountiful Baskets recently, and since there is so much produce in the basket, I wanted to find a good way to clean it all right when I got it.

I found this pin on how to wash all your produce at once, and was very excited! It comes from A Pretty Life, all you have to do is fill up your sink with lukewarm water and 1 cup of vinegar. Let them soak for about 10 minutes and then rinse them. They will be good to go!

Here is my fruit soaking:

I did my veggies separate because I had too much for all of it to fit in there at once!

::Makeover Monday::

~5 Healthy Fat Busting Smoothies~

Ever since the Hubs and I got on our healthy lifestyle, we have really been into making smoothies! OK, so more so him than me, but I won't turn one down when he makes them! ;) 

I found this link to 5 delicious detox smoothies that will help you shed the belly weight and keep you healthy! I was super pumped when I saw this pin, so I thought the Hubs and I should try some of them. Gonna have to make one up tonight after his basketball game!

This pin comes from Life With Nature, and the 5 awesome smoothies are:

Silky Mango

Brain Healthy Blueberry Dream

Strong Bones Green Almonds Smoothie

Heart Healthy Choco-Raspberry Smoothie

and

Healthy Dessert in a Glass Smoothie

They all sound great, but some require almond milk, or almond butter or hazelnut butter, which I don't have, so I'll have to either improvise or go buy some! Check out these recipes and enjoy being healthy! 

::Family Time Friday::

~Conversation Starters with your Kids~

I'm big on improving relationships and getting to know my 5 year better. You think you know your own kids, and then they say something that leaves you either speechless or laughing! That is how my little Iz is! She cracks me up sometimes with the stuff that she says or does and I just wonder what will happen next! Today's Family Time Friday comes from iMom, and its a post titled 20 Pillow Talk Questions for You and Your Child. I was excited about this article, and it made me realize I rush through bedtime way too much and just want to get the girls in bed so I can have some ME time, but I also need to realize that those moments when they are laying in their bed are the perfect opportunity to talk and reflect on the day.

Here are some of the questions that really struck me as something I will definitely be asking my 5 year old:

*What are you most proud of yourself for?

*If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be and why?

*Who is the kindest person you know?

*What do you like most about your best friend, and why?

*If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

*If you could only keep one thing, out of everything you have, what would it be?

*What's something that really makes you angry?

I love that these questions can open up some good discussion, and it gives you that one on one time with them that kids so need! I'd like to think I would know how she would answer some of these questions, but after asking her the birthday questions I asked (see that post here) I'm not so sure!

And just for fun, here is a random pic of my cutie! Love you baby!

::Tasty Thursday::

~Zucchini Cups~

What to do with all those garden zucchini you have? We don't have a garden (bad idea for me:) but we have very generous friends and family. I've already made a super fattening zucchini bread that is super yummy so I thought I'd better find something a bit more healthy. I found this pin when I did an actual search for zucchini recipes. This recipe comes from the blog Kalyn's Kitchen. 

All you do is cook up some meat with green peppers, onion and garlic. Then add some tomato sauce, hollow out your zucchini, add your meat and top with cheese. This was so delicious, and the family loved it!

Here is a picture of Kalyn's zucchini cups, I forgot to take a picture of ours before they got gobbled up! My 5 year old LOVED them!

Thanks Kalyn for the great recipe, can't wait to try out some more recipes from her blog too!

::Want it Wednesday::

~Headband Holders~

We have A LOT of headbands at Casa de Nuttall, and they always tend to end up in the weirdest places! I did try to have them somewhat organized in my 5 year old's room, but come on when they are somewhere she can reach, and she likes to dress up a lot, then they get played with and not put back in the right place all the time. Enter, a super fun, cheap and easy headband holder! I found this project from The Gaines Gang. Kate took an old oatmeal can and covered it in fabric, ribbons and bows to make this super cute headband holder:

So, since I have empty baby formula containers, every other week I've been saving them for this purpose! Iz was so excited to make it match her "brown blanky" and her bow holder which you can see here. We also cut some length off a feather boa we had to put on the top with a nice dark pink jewel. I let her have free reign on how she wanted this thing decorated and she picked lots of different colored ribbons. Look how happy she is with the result:

(Please excuse the messy room!!)

This project was so easy, and I made one for my baby too! I am also going to throw one together for me since I've got more than a few headbands myself! Thanks Kate for the super fun and easy project!

::Helpful Tip Tuesday::

~Tangled's Messy Hair~

When I saw this post from Cookie and Claire I was super excited. We only own 2 barbie dolls in our house and of course one of them is Rapunzel and all that hair! She doesn't get played with a whole lot, but when she does, watch out! She looks like she's been in a cat fight! Luckily for all of us, Cookie has found the solution, and its easy and free (if you have fabric softener!) 

Check out her before and after pics:

 

Seriously, awesome! Who knew if could be so simple!?? I can't wait to try this out on my little ones barbie and who knows, maybe all those My Little Ponies will need to stop by Salon de Sarah as well! Thanks Cookie for your brilliant idea! Go stop by Cookie's site, she has some great ideas on there, this girl does it all, sews, crafts, AND cooks! 

Makeover Monday

~Hair cut time~

I had my glorious hair appointment last week and I needed a change! I knew I wanted to do something a little different but what to do? Thank goodness for pinterest and all those fun hairstyles I've posted! Here are some of the ones I liked the best:

This last one was a lot more short than I was daring to go, even though I've had my hair shorter than that before! I loved the top pic the best, but knew my hair wouldn't turn out anything similar cause mine is super fine and thin! Well, this is what I ended up with and I really like it, all the layers are really fun and a lot more than I've done, probably ever.

(Please excuse the crappy pic, I HATE taking pics of myself!)

Go follow me on Pinterst, I've posted quite a few different hairstyles!

::Family Time Friday::

~Be a Better Wife~

This is constantly on my mind, how can I be a better wife to my husband? How can I show him how much I love him? What little things can I do to show him this love? I have found a few things on pinterest that can help me in my quest to be the "perfect" wife or close to it at least! :)

I recently found this article through pinterest, it comes from HubPages, it is titled, 101 Ways to Tell your Husband "I Love You". I was really excited to read this, and while I was reading it, I realized that I already do some of the things listed, like:

*Offer to give massages

*Spontaneously send a text or an email

*Show appreciation for all he does for your family

*Pray for him

But, there are some things on there that I KNOW I need to work on, and some things that would be fun to do. Here are a few of those things: (Warning, I'm showing how imperfect I am here :) )

*Laugh at his antics-those little things he does that make him, him! I need to remember this one!

*Don't expect him to read your mind-seriously need to work on my convo skills!

*Brag on him in front of HIS friends- I hate to admit this, but I mostly say sarcastic remarks about him, so I need to work on this one!!!

*Don't criticize him in front of others- another one I'm not so good at, I sound so mean, but really I'm not! :)

*Keep yourself attractive-I need to remember this on my days off I don't always get ready by the time he gets home!

These are just a few I need to work on, but I know there are a lot more on that list that I need to try harder at or try period! I think that keeping these things in mind will strengthen your relationship and help to get you to a better level of trust and love! Its easy to fall into a habit of parenting, work, house work, etc and not work on your marriage. I feel like it is so important to keep the FIRE strong and the SPARK there so that our marriages can last! So check out the list and see if there are any ways you can improve and show your husband just how much you love him! Good luck!

And just for kicks, here is a photo of the Hubs and me enjoying a night of watching fireworks! Well, I was enjoying, he was tolerating. Not his favorite thing to do, but he knows how much I love it. That's another thing I'm trying to work on, finding and doing things HE loves, that I may not so much! ;)

::Tasty Thursday::

I don't know about you, but summer time makes me want to make a bunch of s'more treats, all summer long! There has been an abundance of s'mores treats posted on pinterest and I seriously want to try every single one of them! A few weeks ago, we went camping with my family and we were told we couldn't have a fire! No fire!? For camping! That's absurd! But I understand why, all the fires and what not. So, we had to find a s'mores treat that we could all enjoy so we felt like it was true camping.

I found this super yummy s'mores bar treat and my Mom made them to share with everyone! They turned out super yummy and so good. They would have been better right out of the oven, so they were all gooey, but still good served hard right from the fridge! Everyone loved them and they were gone so fast! Something we may have to whip up in the middle of winter to remember our fun summer days and nights!

This recipe comes from Endless Simmer, and from the looks of there awesome blog they post a LOT of comfort food. I can't wait to try some of their other recipes, like their cast iron snuggle food, and their smackaroons! They both look delicious! Here is a pic from their website of their bars (since, I again did not get a pic) 

::Want it Wednesday::

~Seriously~

If I had a million dollars...The one thing I love and hate about pinterest is all the fun outfits I see on there. I totally want all of them, but know I can't afford to buy any of them! So I pin them, hoping one day I might be able to buy this shirt here, or that bracelet there, or those great boots! This is one of my favorite summer outfits that I've seen on pinterest lately:

I LOVE everything about it, I mean check out that skirt! If you know me at all, you'd know that my favorite pattern right now is chevron. The Hubs has learned pretty quickly what chevron is and how much I love it! And those bracelets! To die for! Seriously!!! 

Then I have to think, well if I can't afford to buy these outfits, maybe I can use what I have in my closet to put together something really close to these outfits! That is how I have to think about these pins. But look at this cute outfit that would be perfect for work:

So not a gold girl, but I am diggin this outfit! That shirt is so girly and those shoes look awesome! (even though I could totally see myself falling flat on my face if I wore those, not to mention I'd be like 6" taller than the Hubs!) So, for now I'll look, and covet and wish really hard to be able to afford some of these pieces, if not all of them! Happy pinning! ;)

::Helpful Tip Tuesday::

~Making your Towels like New~

I don't know about you, but I feel like my towels get so hard and crusty after a while and they start to smell funky. I don't have a really big budget to go out and BUY all new towels, so I was really excited when I saw this pin from lifehacker. Kevin Purdy wrote this article on the Top 10 MacGyver time saving cleaning tips. A lot of these sound awesome, and I was so excited about the "baking soda and vinegar to clean funky towels". 

I took all my towels, lucky today was a towel washing day :) and threw them in the washer with 1 cup of vinegar and hot water. Run it through that cycle first:

Then you need to run it through another cycle of hot water and 1/2 cup of baking soda. This process will break down all the detergents and softeners that have built up on the towels over time.

 They look so much better and smell better too. I just threw them in the dryer after the second cycle, no dryer sheet and they came out great! I'll have to do this more often, maybe every six months or so!

::Makeover Monday::

~Spaghetti Squash~

I'm on a new "try new things" kick! We recently decided to get a Bountiful Basket and see how we like it. I have NEVER liked cherries in all my life and I tried to get my 5 year old to try one, so I ate one to show her they could be good, and guess what?? They really are! Ha ha. We also got a cabbage, which I have never liked and don't even know what to make with a cabbage (besides coleslaw, which the Hubs does not like!) So I went online and found a Cabbage Stew recipe, didn't turn out so good, but it was really healthy! 

That takes me to Spaghetti Squash. We did not get one in our basket, but I've been seeing a lot of pins on Pinterest for recipes that use spaghetti squash. I am excited to try it out, since it is a healthy alternative to pasta (which I LOVE!) I found this pin with 7 different ways to cook up your spaghetti squash, and I'm so excited to get one and try these out! This pin comes from none other than Martha Stewart, and the first recipe on there sounds amazing, Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Herbs. Look at how yummy this looks:

Go check out the rest of the recipes, they all look so good. I think I might have to pick up a spaghetti squash at the store today! Yum!

::Simply Sarah Saturday::

~Hello Kitty Sleep Masks~

My sweet little Izzie LOVES Hello Kitty! All she wanted for her birthday was Hello Kitty stuff, and of course a Hello Kitty birthday party. When we started planning the party, we weren't quite sure what we wanted. She has been to 2 birthday parties this year that were pajama parties, and so she really wanted to do that. I got to work finding ideas on pinterest, and sadly didn't find very many. I saw a lot of re-posting the same thing over and over. That is when I decided to come up with these. (Sorry, I couldn't get it to turn)

I remember reading somewhere about how this lady had made some Hello Kitty Sleep Masks, but don't remember where I read it, and she never posted pictures. I had to come up with these on my own.

First, I found a picture of Hello Kitty's head online and printed it out.

I gathered all my materials that I needed, they are:

~White, Dark Pink, and Black Felt

~Small and Medium sized buttons, any color

~1/4" White Elastic

~Fabric Glue

Next, I cut out the head as a template and cut out all the masks for the party.

Then I printed out a second head for the bow template:

I cut all of these out too, I used a hole punch to punch the holes in the bows, that worked better than cutting out by hand.

Next, I let my little girl pick out the buttons for the noses and the ones to put on the bows. Then I cut out small ovals for the eyes and long strips for the whiskers.

Finally, I sewed on all the elastic for the masks and they were ready to put together. The girls had so much fun doing this on their own, and my Izzie said she loved it!

Here is my Izzie making her mask

Here are some of the girls at the party with their masks on! So cute!

I Linked up to:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

I Heart Nap Time

::Family Time Friday::

~Frisbee Golf From the Dating Divas~

A few weeks ago, we went to Heber Valley Girls Camp with my family for the night. It was a lot of fun to spend time together, and let the girls be with their cousins. I knew there would be some down time, so I went on the Dating Divas website, remembering that I had seen a fun Frisbee Golf Game on there. I had to alter it to work for my family and not just for a date night.

I used the fun print outs that are found on their site here. Then I made sure to bring some big boxes up to use as the "holes". We split up into 3 teams and played! At each hole, when they got the Frisbee into the box, they had to answer a question about grandma and grandpa before moving onto the next hole. If they got it wrong, they had to do some form of exercise, like jumping jacks, toe touches, squats, etc. 

Everyone had so much fun, plus they learned some more about grandpa and grandma! Thanks to the Dating Divas for the super fun idea!

::Tasty Thursday::

~Campfire Treat Cones~

Last week, we went on a family camping trip. It was so much fun, and I was actually excited about it (which is big for me, because I don't like camping.) We were able to borrow our friends trailer, so it made it so much more enjoyable for me. In the preparation stages of getting ready to go camping, I thought I'd put some of the fun camping recipes into use that I had found on pinterest. 

When I saw this pin, I knew we had to try it, camping or not! I was so excited to get these babies in the fire and see how good they turned out. They did not disappoint, they were fabulous, and an excellent twist on plain old s'mores. This idea came from Kids Activity Blog, by the Quirky Mommas. They used waffle cones, which I couldn't find at the store I went to, so I got sugar cones and they worked great, just a little too small. Next time we'll for sure use waffle cones so we can stuff more ingredients inside. We did this the second night we were camping, and then pulled them out again the third night when The Hubs Bro and family came up. We even experimented with different fillings, I had a vanilla chex mix that I think The Hubs and his Bro tried out, my little 5 year old only wanted marshmallows and chocolate chips, and I wanted the works-strawberries, bananas, chocolate chips, and marshmallows! They were delicious and gooey and really fun! Thanks Rachel for the fun idea!

**I just realized we didn't take any pics of us making our treat cones :( I totally thought I had, go check out The Kids Activity Blog to see their pics!**

::Want it Wednesday::

~Pretty Bows~

Recently my MIL asked me to be in charge of putting together some bows for a baby shower for my SIL. We were all going to make bows for the Mom to be, so I needed to come up with a bunch of different ideas for people to put together for her. One of the bows I made came from a pin I found from The Mother Huddle. I fell in love with this fabric bow and knew I had to make one of my own and one for my SIL. 

Here is what mine turned out like:

Super cute, right?! And the bow is pretty cute too! (ha ha) I changed mine up a little bit from how Destri made hers, I didn't have the long fabric ties. Instead, I just attached a thin piece of elastic to the back. I love the cute little rose bud flowers (the white ones), they were super easy. All she did was take jersey knit material (I used an old T-Shirt) and tied knots from a thicker strip and clipped the ends off. Super cute and super easy. Thanks Destri for sharing this super cute tutorial with us! Go check out her blog here and see all the other fun stuff she has done!