Father’s Day Gift Ideas

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Guys can be so hard to shop for! Any time we notice that our guys are into something, we make mental notes for future gifts. Also, if there is something that makes our lives easier as well, it’s a win win! Here are some ideas that we have come up with for this Father’s Day.

PANTS- Something we have to share for this father’s day are the Traveler pants!!! We cannot express enough how much these pants are a game changer in any guy’s wardrobe. These pants are like men’s jeggings! They feel like sweats when they are worn, but are very versatile. They can be worn casual, business casual or with a jacket and tie. They wash and dry super well in the laundry and can handle the roughest of wearers!

TILE- Other Father’s Day goodies include the tile. These are so handy for the guy who can never find his keys. You can program the tile app on your phone and your keys will beep for you. We have come to use our tile multiple times and saved a lot of stress.

RING- If you have a dad in your life who is active and especially works with weights, you might consider getting him a silicone wedding ring. They come in all sorts of colors and are easy on the budget!

PILLOW- We have a family member who just bought this as a birthday gift for her husband. This is great for the guy who is always folding up his pillow to sleep. Side sleepers and back sleepers benefit from the support of these awesome pillows.

SOCKS- These Stance socks are always a big hit in our homes. They are top quality and come in so many styles and colors.

TIES- We really stocked up on ties at the last Beehive Bazaar. There was a great vendor selling some unique and eye catching patterns too good to pass up!

LAPEL PINS- You know how mothers get beautiful corsages on Mother’s Day? Why not do the same for your guy on Father’s Day? We love these wodden flower lapel pins by  Two Guys Bowtie. And these babies won’t die like real flowers so he can wear it over and over again!

Traveler pants, Tile, Silicone Wedding Ring, Purple Pillow, Stance Socks, Floral Necktie, Lapel Pin

Do you have any go to gift ideas for the guys in your life? Let us know!

XO,

Pete & Repeat

Teacher Gift Ideas & Tags

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We said it before and we’ll say it again: WE LOVE OUR TEACHERS!!! If making the Personalized Tote in our last post isn’t your “bag”, we have a few more ideas up our sleeve!

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{All of these items can be found at Target}

  • “I am brighter because of you” — Yummy smelling candle
  • “Thanks for helping me grow” — Cute plant
  • “Thank you for adding color to my life” — Fun Sharpie or Expo markers
  • “Thanks for teaching me this year” — Anything you think of that your teacher might like! Pictured above is a Target gift card.
  • “Thanks for helping me to shine” — Nail polish, car wash gift cards
  • “You’ve got teaching in the bag” — An adorable tote bag

We have created some fun printable gift tags for you! Simply click on the link below, print the tags on cardstock, cut them out, and attach them to your gift with ribbon or twine. Your teacher will love it!

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Click here to download: teacher tags

Yay for the final days of school and yay for wonderful teachers!

xo.

Pete & Repeat

DIY Teacher Tote

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Can you believe we are already at the end of the school year? Our kids are done on May 26th. Teacher gifts have been on our radar this week because next week is going to be crazy! We are always so appreciative of our teachers. It seems like they spend more time with our kids than we do! It’s always fun to do something special to say thank you. This doesn’t mean you have to break the bank, though. Having multiple kids in school does add up when you are buying teacher gifts. Here is a DIY for a fun gift we came up with.

Teacher Tote! Have you noticed that totes are all the rage? Reminds me of this cartoon my kids like. Tote Life!Screen Shot 2017-05-19 at 11.34.57 AM.png

Really, though, we love having a tote to take to the library, on a day trip, or to church. IMG_0351

Here is what you need to make a teacher tote (I got this stuff at Walmart):

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You can download the image right HERE:

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Load your printer with the iron on paper

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Then you need to trim the paper. The white of the paper irons on with the text so use a paper cutter to make sure your lines are straighter than ours!IMG_0345

Then you peel off the back of the paper and place the parchment that comes in the pack on top of your image.

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We used the cotton setting on my iron. The instructions say to use medium heat. This just takes a few seconds and you have an awesome finished product!

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XO,

Repeat

Anora’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Alright moms, it’s time for you to sit back and let your baker-in-training do all the work! Anora, my 12-year-old daughter, is happy to share with you and your kidlets her go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s easy and always a crowd pleaser!

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ANORA’S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

You will need:

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

2 1/4 cups flour (we like unbleached)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 oz. bag of Ghirardelli premium baking chips

METHOD:

  1. Set butter out to get it to room temperature. If you’re ready to start baking right away, 15 seconds in the microwave usually does the trick!
  2. Preheat the oven to 375°.
  3. Beat sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Stop mixer and add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low to medium low–dough will be stiff! Remove from mixer and stir in entire bag of delicious chips!
  4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about two inches apart onto a cookie sheet prepared with baking parchment (if you have it). We always make our balls almost golf ball size to accommodate the large chips.
  5. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges get a light brown tint. Cool 3 to 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

makes approximately 2 dozen cookies

SIDE NOTE: We love these cookies even better the second day! Store in a sealed container once completely cooled.

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Yum! Grab some milk and go to town!

Happy baking!

xo.

Pete & Anora

FREE PRINTABLE MOTHER’S DAY CARD

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Mother’s Day is this Sunday and we have a special treat for you: a free printable card! Perfect for any procrastinator or someone who just loves fun, quirky cards! Simply click on the link below, print, trim, and fold! I designed it so two can fit on a page–one for your mom and one for your mother-in-law!

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click here to download: mothersday card

We hope all you moms get the royal treatment this weekend! You deserve it!

Happy Mother’s Day!

XO.

Pete & Repeat

Freshen Up Your Entry

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This time of year, a lot of people are adding gorgeous annual (or perennial) flowers to the front of their homes. This is our first spring in our home with landscaping so I’ve been watching all the colors in our yard blossom for the first time. We definitely have mainly purple flowers of various shades. In our last home, we grew lavender in a flower bed and it did extremely well–apparently they thrive in Utah. For our pots, I wanted something non traditional and a little wild. Lavender immediately came to mind. I have been shopping around for some time for just the right pots that went with my home. Here is what we began with:IMG_0196

  • I found great concrete looking pots at Target! I had already checked nurseries and hardware stores and once again, Target was the store that had a great fit for me. Plus they were on sale!
  • The pots aren’t super heavy and we live in a pretty windy area so I added some rocks I found at a vacant lot to the bottom of the pots.

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  • Those rocks also served as a booster for the smaller pot I added.
  • I should’ve measured, but by some miracle, I eyeballed the size of these green pots perfect! I then unloaded my lavender into these pots with some fresh soil. And Ta-dah!!!:

Instant curb appeal!!! Also, the lavender smells fabulous!10000

If your momma is in need, this could be a great project to do for her for Mother’s Day!

XO,

Repeat

 

5 Things I learned About Throwing a 40th Birthday Party

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IMG_0087I had so much fun working on a friend’s 40th birthday recently. When I started planning things, my first step was of course to scour the internet for ideas. I found that there is not much out there if you are NOT wanting to go the “all black, over the hill” theme. So after researching and diving in, here is what I learned:

  1. KEEP THE HUMOR FOR GUYS AND THE GLAMOR FOR THE GALS – Some women might appreciate a few funny jabs about this age, but not all. I found it super fitting to go the “forty and fabulous” route with my friend. I didn’t come out and use that catch phrase, instead, I just showed it. I used glitter and gold and bright fuchsia. I created a FABULOUS environment to reflect a fabulous person. Also, not too much emphasis on the number 40.FullSizeRender (14)

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  2. YOU JUST NEED ONE UNIQUE EVENT TO MAKE THIS PARTY EXTRA SPECIAL – My friend has been on a major street taco kick. She is always on the lookout for good street tacos. In fact I’ve gone to three different restaurants with her to get street tacos! For her birthday we had a street taco vendor cater tacos for the evening. It was so fun! It got people talking about the food and trying new things which broke the ice a bit as not all the guests knew each other very well. 1
  3. ENTERTAINMENT CAN BE KEPT SIMPLE, IF IT IS FOCUSED ON THE BIRTHDAY GUY/GIRL – The internet wasn’t providing me with many ideas on making the party entertaining. I knew that my diverse group wouldn’t be extremely comfortable playing games. Luckily, the husband of the birthday girl was a great public speaker. We collected a few fun memories people had of the birthday girl prior to the party and her husband read them or recounted the stories. Some were hilarious, some sentimental and the last one was just downright tugging at your heart strings. It helped us to get to know the birthday girl better and the crowd was captivated hearing these stories.

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  4. MAKING IT A SURPRISE IS THE ICING ON THE CAKE – this party was my second 40th birthday party that was a surprise. When you give them something they aren’t expecting, it becomes a treasured memory, they reflect on for years to come. FullSizeRender (8)FullSizeRender (9)
  5. PHOTOS AND CHATBOOKS ARE A MUST!! – First of all, if you wind up making it a surprise party, behind the scenes photos of people setting up or party prep are always fun for the birthday girl to see later on. Make sure you take at least 30 great photos of the event. IMG_0049IMG_0048 (1)IMG_0047 (1) IMG_0052Capture all the family and friends and the important moments like the big surprise or the blowing out of the candles. I have been a customer of Chatbooks for a few years now, and am so pleased with the quality of books they produce with such little effort and cost. I got my 30 favorite photos from the brithday and loaded them into a new chatbook, using the app on my phone. Chatbooks has so many great cover choices, I just chose one that reminded me of the birthday girl and made an awesome photo book in seconds….actually I did the whole thing on the car ride home from the party! Bam! I chose this design by Oh Joy!~ I just love Joy Cho.

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After this party, I don’t think Forty will be so bad…silly numbers!

 

XO,

Repeat

 

Party Planning For a “No Frills” Guy

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What do you do for your husband when he isn’t a big birthday celebrator? This is tough because I. LOVE. BIRTHDAYS!!!! I use it as a day to spoil the people that I care about. It’s just totally fun to me. Plus it is yet one more excuse to get creative. So… my husband doesn’t want much fuss for his birthday. I was wracking my brain and luck came upon me! Here are some ideas if you’re in the birthday planning rut:

  1. CENTER THE PARTY AROUND A SPORT OR SHOW- My husband’s brother has a birthday super close, so he just wanted to watch the Utah Jazz game! What an easy request. If your guy likes a certain show, you can Tivo the Season Finale or Premier for guests to watch together. You can do the same with renting a fun movie.
  2. KEEP DECOR SIMPLE WITH BALLOONS- Going to the party store to get balloons really got my toddler into the spirit of the party. Plus, the balloons made my whole house festive on very little effort. Also, those confetti balloons are all the rage and look fabulous! NOTE: If you get balloons with high float added, they are meant to last 24-32 hours. If not, balloons will last about 8 hours on average.

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3. USE OLD PHOTOS- I have a bunch of cute old photos of Josh and his brother together. It was a no brainer to put those puppies to use. Once I decided on going in that direction, the rest of the party fell into place.

I took these old photos and turned them black and white:

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I also added thought bubbles using a free font called Talkies that you can download here.

Once I got going, the sky was the limit. These birthday boys have great senses of humors, so I went for funny on these; Adding signs for the bathroom mirror:

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…A 16×20 poster, printed in just an hour at my nearest Walmart…

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…and cake and cupcake toppers!

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That amazing cake was made by Denise. It tasted so good. Just the right touch to make the birthday guys feel special.

Here’s to having great parties big or small!

XO,

Repeat

3 Creative Ways to Make Your Easter Hunt Memorable

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1. SCAVENGER HUNT

This is a fun activity to do when you have at least one child who can read! The scavenger hunt will lead the kiddos to their baskets or if you have a special Easter gift you want them to hunt for, this is PERFECT. This can be done on it’s own or in addition to a traditional egg hunt. I have done this when I start to worry that the kids get too competitive with hunting eggs. This way, they work as a team! I made up a little list that you can download and print just to make your Easter prep a bit easier.

click here to download: easter scavenger hunt

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After you print, cut out each riddle.

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Then, ONE AT A TIME, fill the eggs and hide them in order so you don’t loose track of where you need to hide each egg. Believe me, if you’re doing this at 1 am, this can all of a sudden seem super complicated!!

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2. STRING GUIDE TO YOUR BASKET

This is a fun idea that I’ve tried a couple of times. I have also used the same idea for other games or family night lessons with my kids. I got the idea from the blog, 71 Toes (one of my faves).

For Easter Morning you tie a different string to each of your kids’ beds.

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…the string needs to be long! Yarn works great. Have the yarn zig zag throughout your house:

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Eventually the string will guide kids to their baskets, each in a different hiding spot. The kids have so much fun just at the sight of all the string. Then following the string all over the place is a blast. Your kids will never forget it!

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3. A LITTLE CASH WILL GET THOSE BIG KIDS BACK IN THE GAME

A few of our kids are starting to outgrow our dear Easter Bunny! To increase their enthusiasm we made the egg hunt a bit more (ahem) lucrative for them! Adding money to our plastic eggs is a real game changer for the big kids. Occasionally we will throw in a few “golden eggs” with larger bills inside. When one is found the kids work together to find the next until each kid has one. We try to hide the golden eggs in extra tricky spots!

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Let us know if you try any of these or if you have other fun Easter hunt traditions!

xo.

Pete & Repeat