We recently went on an adventure to visit Idaho Falls! I used to live in Idaho for a little bit of college, so it was fun to go back and visit some of my old stomping grounds! We got there right as the leaves were starting to turn colors and it made is so lovely! It would be a blast being in downtown Idaho Falls at the peak of Autumn!
Downtown Idaho Falls is the perfect place to walk around and spend some time outside. There are so many trees, cool buildings, fun signs, and waterfalls around that makes it such a lovely place to explore. Our favorite place we walked around was the Japanese Gardens right next to the water tower. It was the perfect place to sit and watch the falls, sit in the shade and hang out. Here is a little vlog below from our time there. Thank you for stopping by today! Hope you have a great one :)
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, MARS. All opinions are mine alone. #BOOItForward #CollectiveBias
With Halloween being our favorite holiday, we decided it would be fun to have a little Halloween get together before the holidays started getting to busy! We wanted to have party favors for our guests, but thought it would be fun to do something that our guests could give to their neighbors and share the Halloween spirt. We have heard about BOO Kits before, and thought that would to give a try!
I set up a BOO station for guests to add fun goodies to a basket. I wanted to make sure there was not only tasty treats but also items that were not edible. We found some super fun Halloween cards and stickers from American Greetings® that went perfect in the baskets! They were great because they also added some height to the baskets and created a great backdrop to add the rest of the items. It ended up being a hit with our family and they really enjoyed putting together the baskets!
We have found when we throw parties it's helpful to have everything ready and set up for a party a day in advance, so then the day of the party you can pick up catered food, or do any last minute details. I have also found by setting up for a party earlier, if I am missing anything, I can still have time to run to the store.
If you want to make your own BOO Basket to share with someone, here is everything you need to make one. You can add more or less to your BOO Kit, but this is everything we had in ours. We got all the supplies for this BOO'ing Kit from Walmart! They are a great one-stop shop to grab all the essentials to assemble a BOO'ing bundle at home!
-Basket or bucket
-Tissue Paper. This cute candy corn and pumpkin one is from American Greetings®
-Tasty Treats! We got a MARS and WRIGLEY candy bag mix with M&M'S®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, Skittles®, Starburst®, Life Savers®
-Stickers and Halloween Cards
-Pencils
-Pumpkin Light
-Spider Rings
-Pumpkin Bubbles
-Fangs
-Sticky Eyeballs
-BOO Printable card. You can print out your own at BOOItForward.com.
Directions:
Start by adding tissue paper to the inside of the basket. Then add the cards, stickers and pencils to the back of the basket. Use candy to fill up the bottom of the basket to desired height. Then layer in your in pumpkin light since it is the biggest item and then start adding the smaller items scattered around. Next add some treats in the areas that need a special touch. If you want to make your BOO Kit super awesome though, add the new Ghostbusters® Blu-ray and DVD that is available on October 11th! The movie can also be preordered here and here. After you're done with your BOO Kit, secretly deliver it to a co-worker, friend, or neighbor.
A party is not complete without a cute food spread! Jake and I wanted to get crafty in the kitchen so we decided we would make some treats! My favorite thing that we made were the SNICKERS® Bats, so I thought we would share how we made those with you all! If you want to see them coming together in action, make sure to see our party vlog below!
-Start of by melting the chocolate. Read the directions on the chocolate packaging for the best melting instructions. I have found it helpful to add a spoonful of Crisco to the chocolate so it makes the chocolate thinner. Also make sure to not stir your chocolate with metal and only use plastic (not a plastic spoon that will melt but like a spatula). The metal with mess with the constancy of the chocolate. I like to use a chocolate melter that makes melting chocolate super simple!
-While your chocolate is melting, unwrap the SNICKERS®. Lay the Silplat (or wax paper) on the cookie sheet and lay out the SNICKERS® so there is space in between them for wings and ears.
-Add eyes and a mouth/fangs to the SNICKERS® to create your bat face with Black Writing Gel. Use your Black Writing Gel and also add a small dot on the back of the Eyes to make them stick to the bar. Then add a mouth. You may want to practice on some wax paper first.
-When the chocolate has finished melting, add it to a candy bag. If you only have a small sandwich bag make sure the chocolate is cooled off a little bit before you put it in the bag so it doesn't melt any holes.
-Cut a small corner on the bag so there is an opening for the chocolate to come out. Draw on your bat wings and ears. Make sure to add chocolate directly onto the SNICKERS® edges so the bat wings and ears will stick after they cool off.
-Put your finished bats in the fridge to cool off.
-After the bats have been cooled, peel the off the Silplat. Be careful to pull them off slowly so your bats do not break. If you happen to have a wing snap, use any left over chocolate to reconnect the bat.
-Put your SNICKERS® Bats on a cute plate and add them to your Halloween spread!
Here are some pictures of our finished treat table! We sure had so much fun having everyone over and making BOO Baskets! I think our guests really enjoyed thinking about who they could surprise and drop off the basket they made! We got all our supplies for the party at Walmart.
Here is a Vlog from our adventures from setting up the Halloween Decor, making treats in the kitchen and putting together BOO Baskets! Thanks for stopping today! Have a great week :)
Jake and I love to travel. We love exploring new places and re-visiting familiar ones too! One thing we have learned when we are out of town is that there is a "perfect bag" for the trip! You can always have a go-to suitcase or a bag you love to travel with, but sometimes you need a suitcase for a certain need! Depending on if we are staying in a home, or a hotel, or how long a trip is, decides all these things for us! Here are a few examples of some bags we have found that we really like and why!
This collapsible bag is the perfect size for a long cruise, small hotel room or a small trunk space in a car! I got this piece of luggage specifically for a cruise. I loved how it is collapsable. It collapses pretty flat which is great if you are somewhere for a long stay and want to unpack your clothes and need to hide your suitcase in a corner or under a bed after your clothing is out of it. This is a large duffle so you can fit a lot of clothing and shoes in it (as well as souvenirs to bring home)! Jake and I went on a week trip and were both able to fit all our clothes in.
This particular suitcase stays true to duffle bag form with a flexible exterior but has a hard bottom, side pockets, and the best part...it has wheels and a handle! One thing I love about Lipault Paris is that all the luggage came with cute color-matching hardware and luggage-tag, and when stowed away, the handle that you use to roll your bag is zipped out of sight! Not to mention, they come in super cute colors, so I'm a fan! You can also get the luggage in traditional black, brown or navy, but I was all about the fun colors! There is no way I'm going to get this piece confused with someone else's!
To be honest, I have never had a luggage bag that spins around on all 4 wheels so effortlessly! Somehow this suitcase balances really well and does a great job spinning on the 4 wheels at a time. You can also use the bag on 2 wheels if you prefer to pull it that way. I want to take this suitcase out on some cobble street roads and see how it does :) I bet it would do awesome!
This suitcase comes in a variety of sizes from carry-on and up, but I went with the large size so Jake and I could both use the bag. Sometimes we like to share a suitcase on a trip so we don't have our hands so full with all our camera gear and hanging garment bags.
THE WEEKEND BAG- I got this weekend bag a few weeks ago and have already used it several times! We took it with us recently on a quick trip to Idaho Falls, and it was great to carry all the goods. This bag is so wide on the bottom one pair of shoes fit flat without overlapping/stacking. The top opens wide so you can keep your clothes folded while they go in. There are exterior pockets perfect for toiletries and electronic cables as well as interior pockets if you want to keep papers or trinkets separate from your clothing.
The bag comes with a shoulder strap that is removable if you don't like to keep it on all the time. The strap is light and foldable so it fits perfect in the interior pocket.
If you're looking for the perfect gym bag, this would also be a great option! I decided to keep this bag in our closet since it doesn't take up a lot of space and is a great go-to bag.
Do you have a type of luggage you find you travel with often that you love? Thank you for stopping by today! Hope you have a good one!
On Saturday we attended a super rad 5k race called The Dirty Dash! This was our first time ever doing something like this before! We were covered in mud, and it was awesome!
ABOUT:
The Dirty Dash is a fun run through mud! There is a 5k, 10k option and a cute kids piglet plunge. You will get dirty, but you sure will have fun! There is no shortage of fun obstacles to go through. Every mile marker there is a water station with cups of water.
At the event there is water stations with spouts that you can rinse off after your dash. For $6 they have a place where you can get power washed off with hot water or take a hot water wash off. They also have a bag check and changing area if you want to bring a change of clothes. I think it might cost to check your bag, but it could be a great option if you have somewhere to be after the event, or you don't want to drive home in wet clothes.
COST:
The earlier you buy tickets for the event, the better. Not only are ticket prices better, but you get to pick what wave time you want before the slots get full. Sadly there is only one more run left this year in Boise Idaho, but if you go use code "BANG20" at check out for 20% off your purchase! Early registration is $35. The later you book, the more expensive it gets, up until $70 for purchase of day of tickets. The piglet plunge is $20.
LOCATION:
This event travels to cities, so make sure to check out the website to see when its coming to a city near you! I am not sure when they post the event calendar for 2017 but when I see that updated, I will make sure to update this section.
WHAT TO WEAR:
This is always a personal choice! There were many people dressed up in costumes, many groups wearing matching tshirts, we just went went work out clothes. We wore Converse Sneakers and they worked out great. A running shoe probably would of been better but we were worried about the perforated holes in the fabric getting mud stuck in them. I wore pant leggings and was glad because I almost ended up wearing shorts. There were lots of gals in shorts and they did great, but I was glad I didn't have to worry about pulling my shorts down, or jumping over things, so I felt I was able to just run in the mud and have a good time!
WHAT TO BRING:
-Towels: Bring towels to keep in the car so when you get back to it you can lay them on the seats to keep them clean. You most likely will have rinsed off at the event, but you will be wet if you didn't change. -Waterproof Phone Case- You will be having lots of fun, so you will want to have your phone handy to take photos. There are photographers on site that are capturing all the action so if you want to be hands free you can look up your pictures after the race and purchase them there too! -Plastic bag to put your car keys and money in. We shared a fanny pack to put our phones in, keys and money in. -Sunglasses: For Jake he doesn't mind not having them, but I love having sunglasses on a sunny day. Its also nice to have them so when mud splashes it doesn't go directly into your eye!
TIPS: -Keep your jewelry in safe keeping while doing the Dirty Dash. Things can get loose you don't want to loose a ring or watch in the mud! -Have fun! Don't be scared to get some mud on your face and get dirty!
WHEN YOU GET HOME:
-Hose off again if you didn't change on site! You will find mud all over :)
-Take a shower, then a hot bath. Make sure to add essential oils or something that smells good to your bath so you can get rid of the dirt smell!
-Make sure to rinse your clothes and shoes, and throw them in the wash! We washed all our clothes/shoes right when we got home and they all came out good as new!
If you want to see the obstacles, some fun in the mud or our favorite parts about the race, make sure to check out our vlog here!
Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful week!
