Happy four day weekend 4th of July!!! I hope you have plans to BBQ, lay by the pool, eat watermelon, stay up way to late watching fireworks and dress in red white and blue.
Have you guys seen the #giveextragetextra commercial running on television lately? Every time it comes on I have to pause whatever i'm doing and watch it. eeeeeeeeverytime!
Let's watch it again shall we?
You better believe I totally went out and bough a pack of Extra Gum after I saw this commercial. And no, this is not a sponsored post. Agh, I love it!
I think one reason I love this commercial so much is because it reminds me of "young love." Words that come to mind when I watch this commercial are: innocence, love, time, laughter, dating, effort, respect, and space. After you get married you become more comfortable with each other, which is good in a lot of aspects, but what happens to the "young love" you had for one another? When you thought each other could do no wrong.
My husband and I have been married for almost 5 years, which makes sense in some ways (we've gone to Graduate School, moved 8 times, bought a house and are pregnant with our 2nd child) but in other ways it has flown by. The further into marriage we get (we've got eternity baby!) the more I realize how much effort it takes to make thing work, because you know, reality sets in. When was the last time the two of us packed a picnic or went on a date and laid back to watch the clouds float by? Sure we go on dates frequently, but we always end up talking about our daughter or work or the pregnancy... lets get back to "young love" where we talk about our goals and aspirations. Where we encourage each other's dreams and growth. Because we are worth the effort.
"I can't help falling in love with you."
Falling in love isn't something that happens once, when you are courting your spouse. It is something that can continue to happen for years and years after you say "I do."
I love the idea of this printable hanging in our home. Up until now, I had always picture this song to be about the dating years, but really, my husband and I are still falling more and more in love every day. In the aforementioned commercial, it shows how Sarah & Juan (yes I know their names) originally fell in love, but then the commercial stops right as they get engaged. I am here to tell ya it only gets better after you say "I do," if you put in the effort.
I love this quote on marriage:
“Our Father knew exactly what He was doing when He created
us. He made us enough alike to love each other but enough different that we
would need to unite our strengths and stewardships to create a whole. Neither
man nor woman is perfect or complete without the other. Thus, no marriage … is
likely to reach its full potential until husbands and wives … work together in
unity of purpose, respecting and relying upon each other’s strengths.” Sheri Dew
I may not draw pictures on gum wrappers, save them for years and then frame them (although that is totally something my husband would do, he is so creative like that) but I can print out this quote, stick it in a frame and hang it on my wall to remind me that we are worth the effort.
Cheers to defending our marriages and choosing each other!
Last Sunday in Fast and Testimony Meeting a lady that I deeply respect and look up to, stood up and shared a few words with the congregation. Her family is going through something truly tragic few people will ever have to go through in this life; therefore, I was interested to hear what was on her mind. To my surprise, she never once mentioned the trial they are enduring. Instead, through tears streaming down her cheeks, bore testimony on the power of gratitude.
She talked about being grateful in our circumstances, whatever they may be. She talked about trusting God and His timing. She bore testimony to the peace she felts in her heart when she remembers to be grateful and trust in the Lord.
This testimony really struck me to the core. So much so that I sat down at my computer and wanted to put into words how I was feeling after this experience. I created the following printable that happens to be appropriate for the "Thanksgiving Season" as well:
"It is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy."
This Thanksgiving let's try to be a little more grateful than we have been in the past. Let's promise to not let our gratitude be dictated from our circumstances, rather let our gratitude be present no.matter.what. After all, does the Lord give us gratitude or does he give us the opportunities to be grateful? Does the Lord give us patience or the opportunity to be patient? Does the Lord give us understanding or the opportunities to understand?
Happy Gratitude Season, friends. I am grateful for you! For giving me the opportunity to express my inspiration and thoughts with you in the form of this blog.
Hello, friends! Can you believe it's already November?? I ordered a peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks yesterday and got really excited that the holidays are just around the corner. What a great time of year! Yeah it's busy, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are always worth the hustle and bustle leading up.
November is a time to reflect on the things you are grateful for. Last year, my family made a "Grateful Tree" to remember all the things we were thankful for.
Today, I'm sharing a gift you can give to your friends to show them how thankful you are for their friendship. I made this FREE PRINTABLE that fits perfectly on top of a mini loaf of banana bread, or would be perfect for a plate of pumpkin cookies or chocolate brownies (can you tell I'm craving sweets right now?). Don't miss the perfect opportunity to show your friends how much you love them!
If you want to assemble a treat like mine, you'll need:
After your bread cools completely, place it inside the cellophane bag, tie it shut with a bow, and tape the printable on top. Easy peasy!
To download a high quality file of the printable, click here. (As a reference, the size of the printable is perfect for a small loaf of bread. I recommend importing the pic to Word, and filling up a sheet of paper with how many prints you need to save paper).
"You've been boo-ed!"One of my favorite Halloween traditions growing up was to "boo" our neighbors and friends. A few weeks before Halloween, my family would make two yummy treats, print out cute boo signs and instructions, and secretly deliver them to our neighbors. We usually dropped them off after dark and dressed in black sweatshirts because we thought it was a helpful disguise.
As kids we loved quietly placing the plate of cookies on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell, and then running away as quickly as we could back to the car. It's a fun way to get in the Halloween mood, and deliver a little goodie to your neighbor.
Front door sign | Instructions
It's been years since I've participated in this tradition, but this year I'm bringing it back. You could start this tradition in your neighborhood too! Here's what you need to do:
2. Make two plates of yummy treats, or buy two pre-packaged goodies (I opted for store-bought treats this year. If you do plan to make a treat, there's a good chance that it ends up in the trash since people might be skeptical as to "where it came from").
3. Assemble one copy of each print and the goodies together.
4. Secretly deliver to two neighbors!
Download "We've been boo-ed" front door sign here.
Halloween is a big deal around our house. Carving pumpkins is my husband's absolute favorite; he starts talking about it when he sees the pumpkins start to roll-out at our grocery store in September.
There are a lot of other things we like to do around the Halloween/ Fall season, but never seem to get to them. I think it's because we keep pushing them off till later in the month and then run out of time. Well, not this year! Insert "Elephant and Chick's Countdown to Halloween Printable"!!!! My one sure way of guaranteeing nothing will be forgotten this year.
Below I have listed all the different things we want to do this season. I decided to tape this printable on my fridge so I can be sure to do something "October-ish" every day.
"A teacher affects eternity and one can never tell where their influence stops. -Henry Adams"
A couple months ago I was called into the Primary Presidency in my ward. With this call, I was asked to host a quarterly teacher inservice. Our Presidency decided to turn this into a "teacher appreciation" breakfast. And let me tell you, it went over so well.
Our teachers loved the extra attention and praise they were given at the breakfast as well as the time they had to socialize with the other teachers. On Sunday our teachers are so busy corralling, entertaining, and disciplining their classes that they rarely have time to build relationships with the other teachers. In my mind, this is a real shame - all these teachers are in the same boat. It could be really helpful to bounce ideas and discuss problems with the other teachers and gain valuable feedback.
This breakfast will be the first of many to bring our teachers together, give them some camaraderie with their "coworkers", and give the Presidency the opportunity to express how truly grateful we are for their service.
For the breakfast we kept it simple.
We ate:
Baked French Toast
Breakfast Quiche
Strawberries & Blueberries
We drank:
Water
Orange Juice
Apple Juice
Decorations were hanging stars from the ceiling (see how I hung theme here) and a printable you can download {for free} here.
If you are looking for another application for this printable beside a "Teacher Appreciation Party" you could print this printable out, roll it up and tie it with a ribbon and give it to your children's school teachers. A little appreciation here and there can go a long way.
I know a lot of parents like to give their children's teachers a gift on the first and last day of school, but what about a random Monday in the school year? Monday's deserve a little gift and appreciation every once in a while. Right?!
Are your social media feeds as full of first-day-of-school photos, sack lunch jokes, and teacher appreciation gifts as mine are? Second question: is it just me, or when you were a kid, was September the "back-to-school" month for you too (not August)? That, plus the fact that my child is only one year old and years away from starting school, meant that I was totally blindsided by all of this "end of summer" talk. Summer for us in Tokyo is just now starting to be enjoyable! With the heat and humidity finally lowering to bearable levels, we are looking forward to another while yet of hikes, trips to the beach, and plenty more popsicles.
That said, as you send your kiddos off to school this week, I want to share some inspiring words. I came across this quote and fell in love with how succinct and on-par it is. Whether you share it with your grade schoolers still living under your roof or young adult going off to college I think it is profound.
"Your time is valuable,
Your talents are many,
Your future is bright."
-Thomas S. Monson
I hope to teach my children to make wise choices; to be deliberate about where they spend their time. Those choices will impact their future greatly, and the beginning of school - a clean slate with a whole new set of choices and opportunity - seems like a fitting time to reflect on that point.
There's my thought for you. But, the best news is... I'm not just sharing nice words with you... I'm sharing a free printable! Click the link below to download and print a copy for yourself.
To top off our breakfasts week, we wanted to end with a yogurt bar party. Nothing says "trendy" quite like a yogurt bar. Turns out it is super simple to put together.
We started with three different kinds of yogurt: greek (from Costco), plain & strawberry (from Trader Joe's).
Then we added two different kinds of granola for options: Chocolate and Berry.
We finished off with two berries: strawberries and blueberries.
We really liked the look of the same berries in a couple different dishes, at differing heights.
The definite cherry on top was the DIY chalkboard and banner my friend, Page made. Super simple, but speaks volumes for the over all feel of the party. We added some green planters to both sides of the table and a chalkboard sign to each food item. I love knowing what I am going to eat before I dig into it, don't you?
My favorite part of the party were the two gold prints (okay, I may be a little bias).
You can download the one to the left here, and the one to the right here.
If you like this post, share the love on pinterst with the pin strip below!
The 4th of July is my most favorite holiday. I don't know what it is: the day off of work, picnic food, staying up late, parades, fireworks... the works. It has all the makings of the best day.
Growing up, my family would spent the weekend at The Cabin in the mountains of Kamas, Utah. A lot of my extended family have cabins all in the same neighborhood so we would bounce in-between the families' cabins during the weekend: a bite of pasta salad here, a cookie there, a plate of scones or Pace Bars there, all while floating down the Prover River on your way to playing "Pooh sticks" and the player piano at the Red cabin, which is brown, mind you.
My husband's family celebrates by having breakfast at the Brighton Ski Resort while listening to musician play the guitar with his hands and drums with his feet at the same time. The mountains are perfect, the weather is slightly chilly and you are surrounded by those you love.
The last three 4th of July's we have spent in Texas making new and exciting memories. We don't have mountains, chilly mornings, extended or immediate family or a river to float down, but it is still one of my favorite holidays. It is amazing how we adapt as humans, isn't it? We are use to doing something all of our life, then we get married, adapt a little more, and then move across the country and adapt even more. It is in these moments we can decided if we want to adapt to remain happy or we can try and recreate the past and be miserable. Change is hard. Growing up is hard. But trying to stay in the past makes unhappy and we miss so much of life in the present.
As I was searching for inspiration for the 4th of July printable, I was in a pink mood. Boy oh boy, I hope you are too! With this printable you have 4 city options you can download: San Francisco, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, & Pittsburgh. These locations are based off of where you, our readers, live. (Comment below if you want a heart in a different location - i'll make one just for you! So you can download it too!)
I had so much fun with the printable and want to see where you put it in our home. #elephantandchick
Happy 4th y'all!
P.S. If you are wondering where my favorite place to print this printable is, it is Costco a 5x7 is a whole whopping 59¢. So download this printable, send it into Costco and get it. You deserve it.
Who else is looking forward to Father's Day? It's later this year than I thought. Mark your calendars for June 21st! That's the day to celebrate your Dad, let him know how much you love him and care! Or, do it today. Can't hurt. Maybe I'll finally stick my Dad's birthday card in the mail... that I've been sitting on for three months... Sending mail from a foreign country is intimidating, ok? I digress.
So somehow I ended up with the responsibility of providing the Father's Day gift for all the men at church. To be honest, I didn't realize this was even a "thing." I thought only the moms got presents at church. Anyway, somehow I got the job, which I actually am quite happy about because really I love doing this sort of thing, especially when it's on someone else's budget. After a little collaboration with our in-house-graphic-designer-sister-of-mine (Robyn) we came up with something I think is adorable! In fact, we hope you love it too, so we're offering it as a free downloadable printable!
I know many of our readers are leaders of some group or another that could use a quick and easy Father's Day gift like this. Whether it's your Sunday School class, youth group, or littles of your own, this makes the perfect present for Dad. Don't forget to tag us in your pictures so we can see the smile this popping printable puts on your Pop's face!
