July 2012

French Braids & Giveaways

Today I'm posting about how to french braid and a bunch of different hairstyles you can do with them.

Visit HowDoesShe to see more pictures and a video tutorial.

Don't miss this week's giveaways!

Last Day to Enter:
Made By LinLin Jewellery Giveaway

John Bytheway CD Giveaway

Summer 2012 Sharing Time

Hope You're having a GREAT summer!

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaways!

John Bytheway CD Giveaway

Made By LinLin Jewellery Giveaway

Feature Friday (Crazy Little Projects)

1. I have all sons (4 of them), all brothers and all nephews. Not a girl in my life anywhere.

2. If it's not chocolate, I don't bother. I only like chocolate desserts.

3. My mom tried to teach me to sew when I was younger but I didn't really get interested until after I left home. Now I love it!

4. My mother in law calls me a "motor butt" because I have a ton of energy and don't sit still very often.

5. I am addicted to aprons and have a ton of them!

My blog is all about all my Crazy Little Projects from baking and sewing to fun with my kids and attempting to decorate my brand new house.

Car Seat Cover Tutorial : Recover your infant or toddler car seat using the existing cover.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes : Amazing cupcakes with a Reese's baked right inside!

Frog Hooded Towel : One of my monthly baby hooded towel tutorials-this one's my favorite. A cute little froggy!

Lego Birthday Party Ideas : Ideas to throw your own Lego birthday bash!

Diaper and Wipes Holder : Holds a pack of Costco size wipes and several diapers.

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How/Why did you start blogging?

I just barely started in March. I have wanted to do a creative blog for a long time and finally decided to take the plunge. I like having a creative outlet for all of my Crazy Little Projects.

Has your reason for blogging changed? If so, why??

I haven't had a chance to change much yet, but it has sparked new creativity in me which I am loving!

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Would you like to see your blog featured here? I'll be doing a "Feature Friday" post, featuring one blogger & their blog on Fridays throughout 2012. If you have a blog that you'd like to see featured, please send me an email to raisingmemories at gmail dot com to submit your blog.

5 Scriptures That Will Motivate You to Action (Review & Giveaway)

This summer we've had several long road trips and Ken & I have been taking advantage of these opportunities to listen to books on CD.

On the way to Girls' Camp (a camp for the teenaged girls in our church, where I was a leader this year), I listened to the Sherry Dew Collection.

On the way to Palmyra for the Palmyra Pageant, Ken & I listened to John Bytheway's new 5 Scriptures That Will Motivate You to Action.

John Bytheway is a favourite speaker of ours- we always know we can count on enjoying something that's done by him! While we were in Palmyra, we picked up his 5 Things You Can Do Today to Bless Your Marriage, to listen to on the way home! :)

John's 5 Scriptures That Will Motivate You to Action is a new CD that has come out recently. As expected, we really liked it! I love the story he shares about how he took 2 of his least productive hours (in the evening, watching TV) in his typical day and transformed them into productive hours (early morning), and managed to write a book during them!

Just like all of the other talks I've heard by John, this one was funny, full of stories, and clearly explained principles. If you haven't heard of John before, you need to look him up! :)

I wanted to share this CD with you, and the publisher (Deseret Book) is going to let me give a CD away to one of you! If you'd like to enter the giveaway, just fill out the rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received this CD through Deseret Book, free of charge for review purposes. I was not compensated in any other way for this post and the thoughts I'm sharing are my own.

Cleaning the Car with Your Kids

We don't have a lot of extra outside jobs around our house in the summertime. We don't have a garage, we don't have to cut our own grass, and any upkeep is done by the people we rent from. One thing we do a lot more of in the summertime though, is clean our car.

This is a job that I love including the kids for. They love it, too!

We get buckets, fill them with warm, soapy water, grap the sponges, and get to work! (See that thing Katrina has on her hand in the photo above? Ken found it at the dollar store & it looks hilarious, and the kids love using them :)

There's a lot of scrubbing and it's all followed by hosing the whole thing down (another favourite part)... and sometimes a little people-spraying mixed in for extra fun ;)

Next, we clean the interior- grab a grocery bag and fill it with any garbage that's been left on the floor or in any compartments. Then get the vacuum and go to town on the inside.

After vacuuming & tidying up the interior of the car, I've been using Lysol's Fabric Mist to feshen up the scent of the car! And Lysol's wipes are great for the hard surfaces on the inside of the car.

Do you have a summer job that you love to include your kids for?

Disclosure: I am part of the Lysol® Healthy Families Ambassador Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Fun Ways to Keep Cool this Summer!

Is it hot where you are?
We're kinda cooking over here ;)

Here are some of my favourite fun & delicious ideas for staying cool that have been added to the
Summer Sharing Time linky:

Homemade Water Slide by We Made That

Alphabet Water Tracing by Crafts N Things for Children
(and when you get tired of doing that.. use the water to cool off! ;)

Blackberry Breeze Smoothie by Cookin' Up Good Times

Healthy Ice Cream by We Made That

Ice Tunnels by 10 Kids & a Dog

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie by French Press

Have you added your fun summer posts to the Summer Sharing Time Linky?
Can't wait to see what you do in the summer to keep cool- we could use more ideas! ;)

Summer Sharing Time 2012

Hope You're having a GREAT summer!

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaways!

7 Educational Activities To Do With Your Preschooler

I'm pretty focussed on trying to find fun things I can do with my kids at home that help them to learn.
It's the whole reason this blog exists! So, when I was given the opportunity to share some ideas about early education & development at home, I thought I'd share a few fun & educational ideas that I've posted about in the past:

1. Bubbling Science Experiment

2. Mixing Colours & Melting Ice Cubes

3. Differentiate between B & D

4. Visit a Farm

5. Measuring Hands & Feet

6. Library Interest Study (pick an interest, get books on the topic, and start learning!)

7. Bake!

As a member of Clever Girls Collective, I was selected to participate in the Healthy Habits program sponsored by Kimberly-Clark and Colgate-Palmolive. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own. #healthyhabits #cgc

Made By LinLin (Review & Giveaway)

Hey everyone, it's a giveaway day! :)

I was recently sent a few pairs of earrings to try from Lindsay at Made by LinLin and I've been loving them!

In the photos below you can see the cute packaging they came in, and I took a picture of myself wearing each pair so you can see how big each is (I find that helpful when I'm choosing earrings).

The top, right photo is the Teal Rose Stud Earrings.

Underneath of that photo is the Slate Grey Pearl Kidney Wire Earrings.

The bottom, left is the Aqua Blooming Flower Earrings.

And the last photo shows how the earrings came individually wrapped.

I liked them so much (and I liked their price!) that I ordered a bunch more, in more colours!

Here are some of the colour choices:

Lindsay has a lot of other jewellery products available at her shop, too, including rose rings, bobby pins, and necklaces.

...and she's going to give one of you 2 pairs of rose earrings and a rose ring!

Just fill out the form below to enter- and it's open worldwide, so Canadians, you can get in on this one! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summer Sharing Time 2012

Hope You're having a GREAT summer!

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway!

Feature Friday (A Full Measure of Happiness)

1) I love peanut butter, and I love oatmeal...but I hate them in the same bowl. Yeeech.
2) I write exactly the way I think in my brain...and this often means I use way too many ellipses, dashes, parentheses, sentence fragments, and exclamation points (!). Alas.
3) I love my cat. Even though he is 95% evil, and much more loved on my blog than I am.
4) I love to dress up in heels and fancy outfits, yet I chose an occupation not at all suited to that (pediatric physical therapist).
5) I am super sensitive to bad smells. I am also not pregnant, I promise.

My blog is about healthy living and eating--every post (for the most part) includes a recipe that I have tried and deemed worthy of public consumption. The rest is a narrative of my life: the story of a girl, married to a dental student, learning how to love herself and still love food. It's a journey that involves a lot of cooking (and eating), tales of my escapades, photos of family and friends, and of course, the star of my blog: my very bad cat, Henry.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt : you may recognize this from my header. Here's a recipe that tastes amazing and gives you some little tips on how to make a successful frozen yogurt. Plus, it's very pretty in pink.

Father's Day Memories : I often write tributes to my loved ones on their birthdays or other special occasions. It gives me a chance to really appreciate the special people in my life. The latest one has been about my dad.

Chocolate Almond Butter : Need I say more?

Banana Bread Green Monster : Green monsters are a big part of my diet--delicious, easy, nutritious, and fun to customize. If you are wary of drinking spinach, this is a great one to try first.

Popcorn Snack Bars : another seriously delicious but (relatively) healthy snack. This one was my first feature on Glamour magazine's website, which was very exciting for me, too.

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Instagram: @laurenzietsman

How/Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging as a creative outlet a year after I started physical therapy school (here's my first post). I've always loved to cook, and with my husband working way harder than I was (at dental school), I needed something to do with my extra time. I finally got up the guts to put myself out there, and suddenly realized--I love this!

Has your reason for blogging changed? If so, why??

As I began to blog more frequently, and to read other people's blogs, I began to develop an interest in photography. I learned a lot (and have a lot more to go), but upgraded my camera a bit, and really started to enjoy a new part of blogging that I never thought I'd have an interest in. I also started to realize that I could use my blog for good--even just for myself. I started to write more openly about how my relationship with food and my own self-esteem is not always healthy, and it definitely gave me the confidence to be more honest with myself and others. "Love yourself. Love your food." became my motto, and I feel like every blog post, even if it doesn't specifically focus on this issue, tries to promote a healthy self-image and lifestyle.

I think that blogging changed me quite a bit from a very private person to an occasional over-sharer; from an emails-and-facebook-only person to a geek messing with code; from a cautious cook to a crazed recipe experimenter and tester. It's all about learning to have balance!

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Would you like to see your blog featured here? I'll be doing a "Feature Friday" post, featuring one blogger & their blog on Fridays throughout 2012. If you have a blog that you'd like to see featured, please send me an email to raisingmemories at gmail dot com to submit your blog.

Edenbrooke Giveaway

A few months ago, I told you about a book that I couldn't put down called Edenbrooke.

Thanks to Shadow Mountain, today I get to give a copy away to one of you!

Just enter the giveaway by filling out the rafflecopter form below,
and I'll announce the winner when it's over.
Good Luck! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway Prize may only be sent to a U.S. address