How to Have a Great Staycation

Last summer, I was on FOX 13’s lifestyle T.V. show, The PLACE, discussing tips for a great Staycation!

As we're down to about a month of summer, I thought I'd share those tips here again, along with a few links to resources on the blog that will give you some more specific or detailed ideas and inspiration for planning your own Staycation!

Happy Staycation planning!

Here's the video first, and then I'll outline all of my tips (not all of them were in the video)

Shared Girls' Bedroom with Loft Beds

Our girls shared a room in our home in Utah where we only lived for 10 months- it was quite a whirlwind with moving to a new country and getting settled there! I took some photos of their bedroom while we were there and am finally now getting the chance to share them here.

There were three bedrooms in our townhouse and we used the smallest one as an office. Ken & I used the largest room and the 2nd largest room (which was technically the master, with an en suite bathroom) went to the girls.

Disney's Epcot - Our Top 10

After our last Disney trip, I promised that I would write a post about each of the parks at Disney World in Florida, and our favourite things to do at each. Today it's Epcot's turn.

Epcot is like a mini trip around the world, under the sea, and into outer space. While it includes many attractions and experiences tailored to children, I often think of it as the park I'd be most interested in attending as a couple or with just a group of adults. That being said, we visited as a family, so these top 10 will be keeping a family trip in mind.

Road Trip Stops (between Las Vegas & Dallas)

After a couple of nights in Las Vegas, we got back in the car and started driving toward Texas. It was a lot of driving but we found a couple of places to stop along the way!

Our first stop along the way was the Hoover Dam.

Baby Mollie Rose (Newborn Photography)

If you go way back to the earliest posts of this blog, you'll see that it started as a photography blog- even before I had the idea to create "Raising Memories". I don't regularly work as a photographer now, but every now & then something special happens in my family and I get the chance to practice photography again by doing a little session. That opportunity came up when sweet little Mollie Rose was born and I was happy to be able to take some photos of her, when she was just 17 days day old.

We weren't able to get together any sooner than that because her mom & dad live several hours' drive from where we live now, but when we had the opportunity to meet in the middle, at Ken's parents' house, we jumped on it!

Las Vegas, Nevada (Moving Road Trip)

Back in Utah when we booked our hotel for two nights in Las Vegas, we chose Circus Circus because we found a great deal and because it included a water park! We didn't tell the girls where we were staying for this stop because we wanted to surprise them. Although we stayed in an older room that didn't have anything special about it, we were positioned just across the street from the waterpark which served our purposes just fine!

Here are a few of our must-see stops in Vegas when you're traveling with kids...

8 Ideas for Summer Fun At Home With Kids

It's summer, school's out and suddenly all of your kids are home way more than usual and you find yourself looking for ways to keep them happy without setting them in front of a screen!

Today I'm sharing 8 fun activities you can do with your kids. Some of these are my own, and some are links that have been shared in my link party that I would love to try with my kids! I hope they give you some inspiration or items to add to your family's summer activity bucket list!

St. George, Utah (Moving Road Trip)

Halfway through March, with snow in the mountains and cold in the air, we said one last goodbye to my sister and her kids, we walked out of their house, got into our car and started driving away from our home in Herriman, Utah.

I was relieved because we were finally finished packing and emptying our townhouse. I was excited for our road trip and the adventures ahead of us.

Those feelings of anticipation were mixed up with the sudden pushing through of the feelings of sadness, loss, and uncertainty that came with leaving our new home in Utah that I was finally beginning to feel settled in. I had struggled to plant roots in this new place and it seemed that just as they were beginning to take hold, I found myself pulling them up without a clear vision of where I would soon be attempting to plant them once again.