Lifeway Keifr Review

I was really lucky to qualify for another Influenster program! This one I was excited about, because it was a little different than the voxbox programs. It is called the Lifeway Program. They send you a coupon for a free Lifeway keifr product, and then you go redeem it and review it and tell what you thought.

Well we were at Wal-Mart recently, but were not surprised when they didn't have it. They didn't have any kind of keifr. Influenster created a map so people could find stores that carried Lifeway keifr products. We were lucky and have a Great Earth natural food store close to our house. They carried tons of their products.

 I let Hal choose which one we got. Of course he chose the keifr ice cream. Hal love ice cream, but his stomach does not love ice cream. If you're the kind of lactose intolerant that can eat yogurt because it has cultures in it, then this is the ice cream subsitute for you.

Keifr usually refers to a fermented milk drink that uses keifr grains in any type of milk. That may sound really gross, but honestly, it is pretty similar to yogurt. It's much easier for the body to digest than normal milk, and your body is able to aborb more good nutrients from it. In fact, some people say keifr helps aid lactose digestion. You can read more about keifr here, and it's health benefits here.

If you're expecing it to be like ice cream, don't. It's not as creamy as ice cream, as it doesn't have cream in it, but that doesn't mean it's not good. It's a lot lighter than ice cream or frozen yogurt, so if you're looking for something kinda creamy and cold, but don't want the heaviness, this is perfect.

As I was getting ready to write this post I was thinking, oh we didn't finish the entire container the other night, I'll eat some more. Oh except when I got to the freezer, I realized someone had eaten it all. I guess it's a good sign that he really liked it.

Sleep Overs

Guess who I got to spend another weekend with?

My sister had to go in for a D&C this weekend :( and with some other complications, I got to take her kids for our last sleepover before we head out to DC.

They are such funny sweet kids, and all have really different personalities.

They are so much fun to hang out with, and they always go to bed really well for me. Two of them were sharing the couch, and the other was falling asleep on our bedroom floor until he was asleep, and then we moved him onto the chaise lounge in the living room.

Well, I walked into the bedroom after getting the two on the couch settled and Hal was reading the youngest a little mermaid book when all of the sudden it took a strange turn. I had to write down the story because it was making me laugh so hard.

"So Scuttle said, Ariel you have nice hair, so I'm sorry.

So Ariel said, Scuttle you smell bad, so I'm sorry.

So Ariel built him a runway and they found all the gold.

The end"

All of the So's kind of gave Hal away, but my nephew didn't bat an eye....

But then when they wake up the next morning at a ridiculous hour with endless amounts of renewed energy you feel like this, and remember another reason why you don't have kids yet, and will stick to babysitting. 

Funny Friday : Makeup giveaway?

Today we're talking about makeup. But it's Friday, so before I get to my big makeup thing, lets have some funny e cards.

I thew out this question a bit ago on Twitter, and didn't hear anything about it. But really, it's twitter and I didn't really expect to...so I thought if I want to get anything done around here I might as well use a form of social media that I actually use regularly.

So I have quite a bit of makeup. A family member works for MAC, and sometimes they sends home samples that aren't being used anymore so I have quite the stock pile.

Well I feel bad having all of this makeup that I'm never really going to use, so I thought, hey why not give it away?

So my question, if I did a giveaway on my blog, would you want the makeup, even though some of it was used as samples?

Not one of those giveaways where you have to sign up for a bajillion people's blogs just to have a chance to win. Just me, and just you. There would be three winners, and each would receive 2 lipsticks, 2 lipglosses, 1 eyeshadow, and one extra thing on the side.

If you guys are against using used makeup, that's fine, I'll find someone to give it away to, I just thought it would be fun to give it away to you guys.

What do you think?

In a Week

We've been home less than a year from the Peace Corps, and in a week from today we'll already be on the road to DC.

I'm feeling a little bit better about the trip now that we're finally making some progress on getting everything ready to go. I was seriously procrastinating doing some stuff, and it was stressing me out. It felt like finals week and my to do list was a mile long. I finally buckled down and just did some of the things I was procrastinating, and I feel a lot better about life.

These are partially to thank, you don't need a vacuum, you roll the air out. These babies also saved us getting to and from Cambodia.

Less than $10 for a 4 pack.

So we're planning our trip across the country. It will take us three days of doing about 10 hours a day to reach our apartment in Maryland.

Since we've done the drive across boring Wyoming before, I'm hoping to drive some extra hours on day 1, so we can have time to stop perhaps in Chicago or Pittsburgh.

Any tips on what to do in either city with just an hour or two?

What's your favorite item to take on a long road trip?

Makes Me Think

I haven't been feeling like blogging lately. My normal love and excitement and endless post ideas just aren't there. I wasn't sure I was going to post today, but I found this website through this blog, and I knew I had to share.

Have you ever heard of the website called Makes Me Think? It restores faith in humanity.

I have to stop reading every so often because it always makes me tear up.

I'll share some recent favorites, but you should definitely check out the website.

Today, my best friend postponed his wedding with his fiance's blessing so he could make an emergency bone marrow donation to my son who is battling late stage cancer. MMT

Today, I am 16-years-old. I learned CPR yesterday in health class. I had no idea I would have to perform CPR on someone this afternoon. And when the paramedics arrived, they told me I undoubtedly saved my mom’s life. MMT

Today, we reminisced about our beginnings when both sets of parents scolded us for marrying outside our religion. I vividly remember my mother telling me, "It'll never work between you two. You aren’t meant to be." But here we are 35 years later, married, and still fulfilling our dreams together. MMT

Today, like every school day, during our physical education class, regardless of the sport being played, the fastest runner at our school (a state champion sprinter) ran beside and assisted his disabled cousin who suffers from a spinal dysfunction that reduces the mobility of his body. MMT

Today, when a confused elderly man got onto our school bus this afternoon, our bus driver spoke with him, realized he was lost and meant to get on the city bus, but drove him five blocks down the road to where he needed to go anyway. MMT

Today, our retired next-door neighbor has been paying our rent for the last three months since my single mom lost her suddenly in a layoff. He has pretty much singlehandedly kept a roof over our heads and food on our table. MMT

Today, I saw a heavily tattooed man resting both forearms on a table at a shopping centre food court while his two little daughters colored in his tattoos with felt pens. MMT

Today, the homeless man that I always give leftover food to as I’m closing up my food cart for the night gave me a birthday card. I only told him my birthday once – last year on my birthday when I had a birthday balloon tied to the cart that one of my regular patrons had given me. MMT

Today, my little sister who has been deaf since he was born underwent a special surgery which partially restored his hearing. And as he stared at our mom, listening to her voice for the first time with his new sense of hearing, he said, “Your voice is just as beautiful as I have dreamed it was since I was born.” MMT

Today, I am widely accepted and respected at school. I have a mild case of autism, and I used to get teased constantly. But then the captain of our football team, Jason, started eating lunch with me out of the blue about two years ago. My entire social life changed. This is our senior year, and he’s even invited me to every graduation party/function the popular kids attend. I know I’m not one of them, but what he did for me still MMT.

There are still wonderful beautiful things that happen in the world daily.  I see it all the time. I see it in a Cambodian family who took Hal and I in, and didn't care about the rent anymore and accepted us as family members. I see it in a man who gives you his flip flops because the road is rocky and you didn't bring your shoes. I see it in someone who gives you their seat, even for a moment on a train when you didn't have one. I see it when you go to visit someone to check up on them, but they end up really checking up on you.

I literally have seen it all around the world; and it's beautiful.

What is the last thing that Made You Think?

I Finally Stepped Into The World of Connectivity

Sorry I didn't post on Friday. It was a pretty horrid day at work. I lost access to log into my computer and my badge lost all access, all on accident, but I literally just sat at my desk not being able to do anything but answer the phone.

But Saturday made up for it because I finally got a new phone. Hal talked me into it. My old phone was over 3 years old and was very frustrating to use. Hal used his accounting logic on me that we were paying every month for something that was very limited in it's use.

So we made a trip to the t-mobile store. When I pulled out my old phone the guy literally laughed at it.

I'm so glad we went in. They have this amazing no contract thing going on, and instead of paying $100 a month on our phones; with their new no contract plans, we can pay $80 total for the same unlimited plan we had before. Oh, and my with my work I got a 15% discount, so even with the additional $20 a month to pay for my phone, our cell phone bill is still less than before.

We were shocked.

via

And I'm finally connected to the world. My old phone was too old to have the Play Store on it, so I couldn't download any apps.

But now I can.

Huzzah!

Since I'm a little out of touch in the app world....

What are your favorite apps?

So far you can find me on:

Snapchat - samnhal

Instagram - samnhalblog

Pinterest - samnhal

Twitter - samnhal

I'm still getting the hang of this fancy phone stuff.

How do you use your phone to stay connected?

This post was not sponsored by t-mobile in any way shape or form

What Would You Recommend?

Guys I need your help. I've never been to the East Coast besides a two day stop in New York...almost 5 years ago for our hooneymoon. For those of you who missed the annoucement, Hal got an internship in DC this fall so we're moving out there for almost 5 months starting in August.

I need your East Coast living tips and tricks.

I need you to tell me about your favorite restaurant, or museum, or place to go to the beach in the DC area.

Tell me about your favorite thing that you did when you visited or lived there.

Tell me about the best cities to visit along the coast, and the best ways to get there.

And someone tell mother nature I'm expecting an amazing East Coast fall I've heard so much about. via

We'll be celebrating our 5 year anniversary while we're out there, so definitely give me some tips of the best romantic spots.

We have less than a month until we head out for DC, and we aren't nearly ready. We haven't packed a single thing.

We did have someone contact us about subletting our apartment, but we haven't heard back from her, so keep your fingers crossed we can find someone to sublet real soon!
*UPDATE* We posted it on craigslist and ksl last night and have had an immediate outpouring of people who want our apartment for 4 1/2 months. It's getting competitive ya'll.

In other fantastic news. Half of our Peace Corps buddies are officially back in the country.

WELCOME HOME! We've been waiting for you!

4th of July

We had the most fantastic 4th this year. We really did. It might have felt so fantastic because I had the day off from both jobs so I could finally get some relaxing in. 

We started off the day with sleeping in, because that's how all holidays should start. For Real.

My brother told us about a short hike that ends in a waterfall where we could take the niece and nephews and the dog, so we were sold, and headed out. 

We showed up with snacks and our camelback and all ready for a hike. It ended up being a less than 10 minute hike. But it was so much fun nonetheless.

It was a hot day and the spray of the waterfall felt wonderful. 

Scout the pup had a blast trouncing through the water.

And then I proceeded to not take a single picture of the rest of the day.

But we cooled off even more at a splash pad.

And then had a wonderful BBQ courtesy of my brother.

On the drive home as I was watching the fireworks all across the valley from the freeway I realized the 4th is a pretty cool holiday. It's amazing that we all come together to celebrate the fact that we're free, and that we were willing to fight for our freedom.

Funny Friday: July 4th

It's Friday, and the day after a holiday and it sucks to be back at work, so I thought we could use a little pick me up.

And who better to bring us holiday humor than Jim Gaffagin?



I'm pretty sure that happened in my house last night.

I thought I'd include a little non holiday video hilariousness. Seriously guys, we found this video this week and you gotta watch it. If you love Will Ferrel's Harry Caray at all, you're gonna love this.



I hope you guys all had a wonderful holiday celebrating our Independence.

Float The Great Salt Lake

It's been real hot here in Utah lately. It's been 104 the last couple of days. We're lucky to have the dry heat. Even though it's 104, it's nothing compared to Cambodia with that humidity.

But it's still real hot. What's the best thing to do when it's real hot? Go float in the Great Salt Lake. Because of the salt content in the lake you float. It's such a strange feeling. Once you can't touch your legs just float up to the surface. No treading water needed.

 Driving out to Antelope Island is the best place to go floating in the lake. There are some showers out there, but we just rocked the salt at the end of our float, it makes for a nice exfoliator. I wouldn't plan anything after floating in the lake though, your hair will be crusty hard, and you'll probably have brine shrimp in places that you want to wash off as soon as possible.

 The sunsets at the lake are seriously stunning. It was amazing to watch the colors of the sky, and the colors of the water change as the sun sunk lower and lower.

My Second Ever Outfit Post + A Blogger Meet Up

It may have taken me a couple of months, but here is my second ever outfit post. I love this outfit. This top and bottom were actually pieces that Hal brought back from London with him. So when I saw that Apricot Lane, a botique about 30 minutes from where I live was having a blogger meet up, I knew my go-to outfit.

 I love the zipper detail on the back of the shirt. Brownie points for Hal for remembering that I had really been wanting a shirt with a zipper on it. Seriously, can you believe that he picked these out? I'm kind of still amazed.

 Would this outfit look better with a pair of heels? Probably. But do you ever have those days where a pair of shoes are just calling your name? That's what these oxfords did for me.

 Apricote Lane ended up being such a cute botique! The staff there were amazingly friendly and it was so fun that they hosted this event. Plus, I bought a really cute shirt from there at the end of the night. So if you're in the Provo area, be sure to check it out.

 It was so fun to meet some of these girls. I'm not gonna lie, I was totally being shy and if some of these girls didn't approach me, I may have left without talking to anyone. But I'm really glad I was able to meet these girls, especially Jessi from A haircut and General Attitude who was my very first in real life blogger friend that I've met.

And if you're anywhere near 9th East and Center street in Provo, or even if you're not, you should probably end your outing with fries and an ice cream cone from Stans. You won't regret it.

Outfit Details:
Top: A random store in London
Undershirt: DownEast Basics
Skirt: French Connection
Shoes: Steve Madden
Necklace: A gift