Douglas Hybrid Mattress Review (2026): Foam vs. Hybrid Comparison

We've been excited to review the new Douglas Hybrid mattress (with springs) after our Douglas Mattress Review, back in 2017, when the original Canadian foam bed-in-a-box was released. 

If you've been wondering whether to go foam or hybrid, keep reading!

Recharging Mind, Body, and Spirit at Ste. Anne's Spa

I invite you to visit Ste. Anne's Spa with me through the photographs and descriptions in this post. My hope is that it will be an opportunity for recharging mind, body, and spirit- virtually!

As mothers, we all have times when we just become overwhelmed with the responsibilities in our lives and we need to give ourselves some time to relax, to nurture ourselves, to take a break and to recharge. Sometimes I am able to accomplish this by going out on a girls' night with a friend and taking a few hours to sit and sip hot chocolate while talking about life as a mother and the different challenges we are each facing and things we are learning along the way. Sometimes I can get the break I need by just taking some time to read a book by myself or paint my nails or take a bubble bath!

Note: This post was originally published several years ago, but I wanted to share it again because it's still relevant and it was a wonderful experience worth revisiting! The spa has undergone some additions and improvements since our visit, but my overall thoughts remain the same! 

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I found a bigger way to escape together from the pressures of our daily lives, to a spa resort in Ontario, and it was amazing! We took a long drive to a beautiful destination called Ste. Anne's Spa in Haldimand Hills, Ontario. It was a dream experience!

Soft Sour Cream Cookies

Soft Sour Cream Cookies... yep, the secret to those soft sugar cookies you can get in store bakeries is sour cream!  Did you know this?  

Well I'm about to share the recipe, so you can give it a try yourself! ;)  Aren't these snowflake cookies adorable?

I originally shared this post on the blog a few years ago, but I thought it was time to bring these sour cream sugar cookies to the forefront again. Just yesterday, the girls were requesting that we make some for Christmas. :)


I'm using Gay Lea's Premium Sour Cream (which is their thickest, richest sour cream made with 3 simple ingredients.  It's amazing with chips (if you're like me ;) or to use to make a flavoured dip, and it's awesome in baking!  This sour cream is only available in Ontario and only in the 425ml size.

Now, let me share this recipe with you!

Family Experience Gift Ideas & Giveaway

This year I wanted to share some family experience gift ideas with you. I've always loved memory making gift ideas but sometimes it can be challenging to come up with those! It can be especially tricky to come up with fun things to do as a family with teenagers but the ideas I'm sharing today are great gift ideas for families with teens, tweens, and kids alike!

I have an "under the tree" idea (with variations) and some stocking stuffer ideas. Stay tuned to the end of the post for some giveaways!

Christmas Experience Gifts

Each year I try to include some sort of experience Christmas gifts under the tree that the whole family can experience together. This year I'm excited to give the gift of an epic family Nerf battle!

Each member of the family will find their own Nerf blaster under the tree.

Michael McLean Forgotten Carols DVD

We were so excited to get to see Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols DVD, new this year!

In this post I'll share our thoughts about the new theatrical version and where you can get your hands on a copy of the DVD, the music, and the ornaments.

What is The Forgotten Carols?

Kids & Stocking Stuffers

I'm excited to announce part 2 of my 4th annual Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway! This year's gift guide is split into two posts. Today I'll be featuring gift ideas for kids & stockings.  You can visit the other half (for parents & families), too!

I'll share a bit about each gift idea and at the end of the post you'll have the chance to enter a giveaway for ALL the gift ideas in that day's post!   Between the 2 gift guide giveaways, I've partnered with each of the brands and will be giving away over $1800 CAD in prizes and I can't wait to see who the winners are!

2020 Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway for Parents & Families!

I'm excited to announce my 4th annual Holiday Gift Guide Giveaway! This year's gift guide is split into two posts.  Today I'll be featuring gift ideas for parents & families.  Soon I'll share gift ideas for kids & stocking stuffers.

I'll share a bit about each gift idea and at the end of the post you'll have the chance to enter a giveaway for ALL the gift ideas in that day's post!  Between the 2 gift guide giveaways, I've partnered with each of the brands and will be giving away over $1800 CAD in prizes and I can't wait to see who the winners are!

Dragonwatch: Champion of the Titan Games

The fourth book in Brandon Mull's Dragonwatch series (a stand-alone sequel series to Fablehaven) was recently released and Talia has just finished reading it. Stay tuned to the end of the post for a giveaway!

She's put together a summary of the book, her thoughts and rating of the book, and at the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win the book!

How to Find the Best Mattress for You! (Comparison Review: Endy, Douglas & Apollo Mattress from GoodMorning.com)

These days there are a lot of bed-in-a-box brands competing for our attention! What sets one apart from another and how can you possibly make a decision about which bed will be best for you?

I've had 5 different beds over the last four years (due to various unique circumstances) and learned a lot along the way about how to find the best mattress for you. I'm excited to share that with you and tell you how you can find the right mattress for yourself!

I have partnered with GoodMorning.com and was provided with a mattress and pillows in exchange for my thoughts. All opinions shared are my own. Affiliate links are provided should you decide to purchase GoodMorning.com products from my review. 

After too many uncomfortable nights on a mattress that wasn't a good fit for me but seemed to be fine for my husband, I finally logged onto GoodMorning.com and found The Mattress Matchmaker Quiz.

As I selected answers to questions about my current mattress, the position I sleep in, my budget, and more, I got excited about GoodMorning.com's focus on finding the right mattress for me personally- a contrast to the one-size-fits-all approach I had seen with many other mattress companies!

First Time Beard Care - Urban Beard Review

I've got a thorough Urban Beard review for you of several different beard care products today! As a first time beard grower, Ken wanted to try a bunch of things to figure out what worked, what didn't, and even do a bit of a scientific experiment.

First Time Beard Grower

A few weeks ago I found myself typing "first time beard care" into a search engine. Our family had been in self isolation for several weeks because of the pandemic and Ken had a pretty healthy "isolation beard" growing. He was happy with its growth but finding it itchy and scratchy! The time had come to learn more about how experienced beard owners take care of their hair!

Urban Beard Products

Testing New Beard Products & Companies

Ken ordered a boar bristle brush and some beard balm online and when they arrived, we were both disappointed. The brush worked well but the balm didn't seem to do much for his beard except to make it smell terrible! It was so bad that he sent it back and I started doing research into beard brands. I came upon Urban Beard, a Canadian company based in Toronto that makes their own original, handcrafted products in-house.

We knew Ken wasn't the only dad growing his first time beard in isolation, so we got our hands on some Urban Beard products so Ken could try them and we could report back to you on his experience. This post has the details, his recommendations on products and product use, a video, and a giveaway where you could win some Urban Beard products for your own partner, as a belated Father's Day gift!

Board Games that Work Virtually

Whenever you want to visit with someone but can't get together in person, we suggest playing board games that work virtually! With a global pandemic, stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and limited social gatherings, we've been forced to find new ways to visit with friends and this is one of the best ways we've found to do it!

Today we're sharing a list of games that have worked well, and how we've tweaked them to work well over a video call.

We started by brainstorming some games we thought would work well across a video conferencing call, as long as both families had the game at home. Some of these would still work, even if only one household owns the game!

Wizard for Hire Trilogy (& Giveaway)

The third book in Obert Skye's Wizard for Hire series was recently published and Talia has just finished reading the trilogy.  She has a little teaser for you about each of the books, her thoughts on each one, and on the series overall. Then we have a giveaway- one of you will win the set!

She's put together a summary of each book, her thoughts on their pros & cons, and at the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win the triology!

2020 Powersheets Goal Planner - Review & Giveaway

To round out the recent focus on goal setting, today I want to share a product with you that really helps to put goal setting & achievement into action! I just started using the 2020 PowerSheets Goal Planner and I'm excited to share it with you!

Aside from how beautiful it is, and the quality of the book itself, I want to show you what makes this book incredibly useful and effective! Here's a flip-through of the book:

Willa and the Whale (& Giveaway)

It's time for another book review by Katrina! She recently read Willa and the Whale by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown and once again, we'll share the book with you from her perspective!

In this post, she'll share a brief summary of the story, what she liked about it, and where you can get the book if you (or your child) would like to read it, and a chance for one of you to win a copy!

Potion Masters Trilogy (& Giveaway)

Last month I published a tween book review by Katrina and now it's time for Talia to get in on the book reviewing fun on the blog! She recently read the Potion Masters trilogy (including the newly released third book, The Seeking Serum), by Frank L. Cole and she did a school project on the books and has gathered all of her thoughts into this blog post to share with you!

She's put together a summary of each book, her thoughts on their pros & cons, and at the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win the triology!

The Wish and the Peacock (& Giveaway)

It's time for a book review by Katrina! She recently read The Wish and the Peacock by Wendy S. Swore and I thought the best way to share the book with you would be from her perspective!

In this post, she'll share a brief summary of the story, what she liked about it, and where you can get the book if you (or your child) would like to read it, and a chance for one of you to win a copy!

Thoughts on Christmas, Love, and Stress

This post about Christmastime, expectations, boundaries, love, and service was written in 2017 but I'm feeling and thinking about many of the same topics lately and wanted to re-post it this week as we are now less than 10 days away from Christmas!

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You know that magical feeling that seems to be in the air around Christmastime? We often talk about the excitement around Christmas with gift giving and Santa coming and the extra kindness and generosity that comes with the season. I think that magic that we're feeling this time of year all comes from love.

We want to create and participate in that magical experience of Christmas (that tangible sense of being surrounded by love) and that's what motivates us to do all that we do this time of year: we shop for gifts, bake cookies, plan special meals, fill our calendars with parties and gatherings with the people we love, sing in choirs, attend performances, go to church, do service for others, and the list goes on and on! Some of you even coordinate the antics of an elf on the shelf in the midst of it all!

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Decorating with Personal Photos (& Canvas Prints Giveaway!)

I have always loved using family photos in our decor so I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that this ended up being the solution to an empty wall in our new bedroom. I'm so happy with the way that it turned out- I can't wait to show you!

I also have a discount code and a giveaway for you, to be able to order your own personalized Canvas prints, so be sure to stay tuned to the end of this post if you'd like to enter!

2019 Holiday Gift Guide Giveaways

I'm giving away EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. in this year's gift guide!!

All gift guide ideas are right here in this post, from Kids to Parents and even Stocking Stuffers.

Here are all of the items from this year's guide along with links to the Instagram posts where you can enter to win them!!

We'll go in order by the categories, starting with kids, moving on to parents, and then stocking stuffers:

Instantly Print Photos from Your Phone | Polaroid Lab

Raise your hand if you take a lot of photos on your phone but rarely print them... I'm feeling pretty confident that I am not alone in this! So I'm totally on board with any product that helps to make it easy to print a photo from my phone.

I've been trying out the new Polaroid Lab from Best Buy and it is a game changer!

Here's how the Polaroid Lab takes your digital images and transforms them into a printed photo: