Random Tips

I have a mental collection of random tips for anything and everything that I thought I would share with everyone. I will add new ones as I have time and think of them or others give them to me.

Cutting corn off the cob (I warned you they were random!)
I use a one piece angel food cake pan or bundt pan. Husk the corn and stick the small end into the hole in the center of the pan. You can then hold the corn with one hand very steady with no slipping. Then I hold onto the top of the cob (which I guess is really the bottom) and cut the kernals off with a knife. As you cut you can either turn the cob or the whole pan and the pan catches corn on all sides!

Witches at Gardner Village

My sister and I took our daughters to see the witches at Gardner Village. My daughter is 3 and loved finding all of the witches and pointing them out to us! My niece is only 3 weeks old but we had fun posing her for pictures with the witches! The shops are really cute even from the outside and it is a nice place to get outside with a lot of shady areas and fun thing for kids and adults to see. Plus, the Naborhood Bakery has delicious frozen orange rolls to take and bake - just be sure to ask for 2 orange icings for a bag of rolls. Mmmmm!

Basketball Bedroom

My son LOVES basketball and wants to be in the NBA. We redecorated his room in basketball for his birthday gift. We wanted this to be a surprise so I worked on all of the elements of the room while he was at school and waited for an opportunity to do the painting and decorating. My sister and brother-in-law asked my son what he wanted for his birthday and he requested to sleep at their house and play the wii as their gift to him. That turned out really well because we were able to redo the room while he was at their house.

I painted an accent wall in his room orange and used round sponges dipped in a darker orange-brown paint to add a basketball-type texture. I then taped off the lines and painted them black. It turned out really well! I looked for pennants to use as his curtain but was shocked to find that they were $25 or more EACH! I needed 5 so I ended up making them using felt. I made a scoreboard out of a magnetic whiteboard we already had and I glued numbers to magnets so that he could really use it as a scoreboard if he wanted. I was also shocked to find that a sports ball rack was so expensive so I used a toy storage rack with the plastic tubs that we had. I sewed Utah Jazz fabric into pillowcases. For the accent pillows, I used one of his old Jr Jazz jerseys, a basketball net and an extra pennant. The accessories are a coaches whiteboard clipboard, a basketball trophie and another old Jr Jazz jersey I hung on the wall. I found a metal dresser with a locker look at IKEA.

My son was so surprised to see his new room and he absolutely LOVES it! This was a fun project and I think it turned out really good!

Minnetonka Cave

Every few years we visit Minnetonka Cave near Bear Lake in Idaho. It is really beautiful and educational for the kids. It is a pretty long hike for some and has A LOT of stairs so may not be appropriate for some families. Speaking from experience - there is NO BATHROOM at the bottom of the cave and it is A LOT of stairs to try to RUN up when you are in a hurry because your 5 year old NEEDS to pee and just CAN'T wait. Ha ha ha ha. Been there, done that ~ wouldn't recommend it!

The view of the mountains and trees from the entrance is gorgeous as well. It still amazes me that all of that is tucked in the mountan behind that ordinary looking entrance hole.

Silly String War

Our family goes on vacation to Bear Lake each year. My mom and dad always sneak several cans of silly string into the kids hands while we are there and we have a silly string war! It is SO fun and one of the things we always remember about our vacation! As you can see from the pictures, the adults have as much (or more) fun as the kids!! This is one of the things that makes them the most hip-happening grandparents!

Cinco de Mayo

On Cinco de Mayo, I made tacos for dinner and bought a chili pepper pinata that I filled with plastic maracas, balloons, noise makers and candy. My kids and neice had so much fun breaking the pinata!

Treasure Hunt

While vacationing in San Diego in April 2009, I organized a treasure hunt for my 3 children and my 2 year old niece. I put a note in an old bottle an labeled it 'Ye Olde Pirate Punch'. I dropped in the sand at the edge of the water by our hotel room. The kids read this message: "ARG! I have stowed me old treasure on the shores at the point of paradise! {we stayed at paradise point} If you have found this here scroll, I have long since gone the way of the sea and you are now destined to claim the treasure! Travel to the inland pool to the circle of fire...." {The fire pit at the pool}. They were then sent to the crows nest {a high viewing tower on the property} and to a descendant of Blackbeard {the concierge} before going back to the beach in front of our room and dug in the sand to find ye olde treasure me Hardy's!

I had filled the treasure box with a few trinkets for each child and a pirate loot bag of quarters to use at the arcade in Las Vegas on the return trip home. The kids and adults both had a lot of fun on this treasure hunt and we created memories that pirates could never steal!!