Summer Bucket List 2013!

Guess what I have been doing this week??

Planning our  

2013 Summer Bucket List! 

Last year I took on this Challenge from the HAPPY FAMILY MOVEMENT crew,
which was to create a
"Summer Bucket List"
of items you want to do during the fun summer months with your family.

And it was a blast! We took some amazing adventures and had some wonderful fun times together
and I truly love this idea.  

After all, planning and preparing = success and fun right?!?

Before I jump right to the Bucket List's I thought it would be fun to give a quick introduction, on my favorite four people in the whole world.

First:  Cory (my hubbie)

We have been married for almost 14 years and every year is an adventure!

Next up is Asher who is 10.

His name means happy and he is truly is a joy to be around!

Then we have Bensen or "B"

Seriously the funniest, cutest, curly haired guy you'd ever see!

 

And then we have Miss Lily

 She is my best friend and doesn't mind doing a little yoga with me.

And as for me, I am a happy mom and wife who is love with life.

I have a company called Tree Fitness where I Coach, Consult and Personal Train people and families in-home and online, to accomplish their health, fitness, and lifestyle goals.

For more information on my services and if you would like any direction or help regarding your family and health, you can find me here:

jill@treefitness.com

Facebook - Tree Fitness & Jill Bronson Griffiths

Instagram/Twitter - stayfitjill

Take a picture of you or your family doing something healthy and hashtag it with #inspiringdailysweat for your chance to be featured on my @inspiringdailysweat Instagram site.

Here is our last year's  

Summer Bucket List:

This year our Summer Bucket List looks like this!

 I am so excited for this list, especially number 1 and 7. 

What does, "3-Point to map destinations" means?

Well, I will put a map of Utah up on the wall, and allow each kid to have the opportunity of pointing to somewhere on the map, and wherever they point, we will drive to that destination and explore where they pointed.

The other one I am super excited about is the 2013 Summer Video that we will create as we check off each item on the list. 

Head over to:   http://thehappyfamilymovement.com/summer-fun

to learn more and create your very own Summer Bucket List! 

Loves,
Jill

Chicken Pizza Recipe!

Have you seen my tabs UP at the top? (Healthy Breakfast, Healthy Lunch, Healthy Dinners etc)

I like to put some of my go to dinner recipes up there.
I have some qualifications when it comes to my dinner recipes.

1- Simple, healthy ingredients: I do not have all the time in the world to make dinner.  Between Karate, Art class, Piano lessons, Dance lessons, basketball and my own training schedule, 5 course dinners do not happen around here!

2- Must taste good:  bottom line. Healthy food must taste good to me. It must be moist, have flavor, and can not feel or taste like cardboard.

3- Quick and easy: Quick to assemble. Easy to throw together! (advanced prep work is always necessary for healthy meals however. Bottom line...you must prepare or shop with a purpose, in advance, or your meals will not be beneficial for your health)

4- Protein packed, and vegetabley filled: (I made up that word if you couldn't tell)
Protein = satiation people! It also equals muscle.  So if you are looking to improve your figure, eat your protein!  And I hope none of you rolled your eyes when I said vegetabley filled...veggies are an awesome carb source and really who can't find at least one, hopefully two vegetables to like? (And no corn is NOT a vegetable...)

On a side note, I went to a seminar a couple weeks ago and Dr. Tracy Gibb was one of the speakers. He was absolutely hilarious and entertaining, which was great, but he also knew his stuff.  He said if every mommy would feed their kids 1 little piece of broccoli at dinner, EVERY DAY, their immune systems would bump up drastically.  Broccoli is nutrient packed and is also an immune system defender.  He said the broccoli with the biggest bang for your buck, are the florets that still have a blue tint to them.

I just added one of my favorite recipes "Chicken Pizza" to the Healthy Dinner section. It's fast and easy and my kids love it, cause they get to create their own pizza.  Go check it out and let me know what you think.

I love this picture. 

My bootcamp ladies might not however.

This is is at 6:30am in the morning.

They had just finished doing as many push-ups as they could, in 1 minute.

They are awesome.

Because they are conquering fear.

Because they are forcing themselves to make their health a priority in their life.

That is not easy for us momma's to do.

Doing push-ups is not easy.

Waking up at 5:30am is not easy.

Being uncomfortable is not easy.

There is no growth, in being comfortable.

Loves,

Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 8)

We had such a wonderful Christmas.  It FLEW by this year, which every year seems to go by faster and faster, but it was such a fabulous Christmas season for my little family.  I enjoyed more then ever, seeing family, spending time together, and really just watching my children enjoy the season.

We got the mantel done just in-time for Christmas!

I was able to clean up the room, roll the carpet back out, clean everything really well, and invite family over to enjoy the new addition to our home.

I want to get right to it so here is the before and after.

If you want to click back to where we started and scroll through the process

click HERE

And here is the same room with the mantel, new window, and opening into the sitting room.

Much brighter and I think the smartest thing we did, was open up the two rooms.  

It now seems like a spacious, open room.

And, to be honest...I LOVE IT!

Now obviously, we still have work to do and I have more in-store for this room.

This next weekend we are going to get working on it again.

Planked walls and Coffered ceiling are in the plans.

Until then, here are some more pictures of our work :)

Side view...I looove that I have a place for our favorite books and blankets.

And on the other side of the mantel is our reading and game nook.

I had a great time decorating my new mantel for Christmas. Bensen had to help and insisted that I put the Santa hat on top of the little fake pine tree that I found at IKEA.

If you like the sweater Christmas stockings I made, click HERE for the tutorial on how I made them.

And I don't want to forget my other favorite part.

I bought a fan kit for our fireplace, and Cory installed it.

Installation wasn't as easy as we thought it was going to be. Only because it was hard to get the 4 fans installed into that squishy, dark place.

But never fear, Cory is here!

That really is how I think, cause he figures out everything!

Look close and you can see the first installed fan.

There is a sensor that sticks to the bottom of the fireplace and once it hits a certain temperature the fans automatically turn on.  Then the hot air gets blown out by the 4 fans.

it's totally rad.

I really do hope your Holiday season was amazing and you made many lasting memories with those who are special to you.

Happy New Year!

Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 7)

Week 7...

and I'm ready for this project to be wrapped up.  

Let's be honest. 

My front room has been a wreck since before Thanksgiving and I'm kinda ready for our family gathering place to be a place that we can gather again!

We are sooooo close.

We got the mantel on this week.

And it was no easy task.

We had to special order the molding, because Lowe's and Home Depot didn't have the look that I wanted. So we ordered it and when it came we tried it out.

Unfortunetly, it wasn't good.  I needed a bigger, thicker molding piece.

It just about took all the talking I had to convince Cory to wait and buy more molding (that would take 3 days to be delivered from Salt Lake) just to try out and see if it was a better fit.

Patience is not Cory's middle name.

But he agree'd and we stopped building and waited hoping it was what I, I mean we wanted.

We got the piece (delivered a day early!) and it ended up working out perfect.

(The brown molding piece is the piece we were waiting on)

 

Once we installed the mantel and agree'd on the way it looked ;) we leveled her out and installed it.

Next came the part that I definetly had been dreading and the part I know Cory wasn't so excited about.  

The Puttying and Sanding part.

Every nail hole, gap, and joint got a whole bunch of the putty on it.

Putty always leads to sanding.  Which means very dirty house and very sore arms.

 Still Sanding.

Once the sanding part was finally over.

PRIMER!

I knew once we got our first coat of Primer on, I would be able to see the vision come to life.

This vision.

This is after 2 coats of primer, and I couldn't be happier!

What do you think?

Yes I took all these pictures in the dark, so better pictures are to come.

But that will be next week when I do the big reveal.

Two coats of real paint this week and we are done with the mantel.

Can't wait to decorate this sucker.

Loves,

Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 6)

We are starting to see the light at the end of the mantel, I mean tunnel around here.

We left off with the fireplace and surround looking like this.

Cory got to work and installed all the major pieces, or the shell, and in no time it was done.

We ended that day with this big, boxy, wooden enclosure. 

I didn't like it so much because it wasn't doing my vision any justice.

But in no time we started transforming it...

 

And finally ending up with the personality of the surround installed.

Have I mentioned Cory is AMAZING yet? My friend asked me the other day if he is "for hire".  When I brought it up with him, thinking he might want to make a little extra cash, he said...             "are you kidding?? no way."

I see lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, of puttying, and sanding and priming and painting, and then more puttying, sanding and priming in our very, near future.

Wish us luck.

Loves,

Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 5)

Once again we have been quite busy and trying to get as much done on this makeover!
Here's the update:

We ended off with the window being installed.

Now that the window is installed, we needed to get the stucco repaired.

The stucco guys came over and did a pretty good job.

I have learned that stucco is pretty darn hard to match 100% perfectly.

We don't have a 100% perfect match, but I'll take what I can get and keep it positive ;)
(The gray color is not the final color...it is pre-color)

Asher took all these shots for me.  I think he did great job.

Once that part was over we could focus on the part I have been waiting for this whole makeover process.

THE MANTEL AND SURROUND!

When designing the room there were a few things that were really important to me:

1-storage

2-family friendly layout and usage

3- and of course attractability

I wanted lots of storage but didn't really want built-ins along the side of the Mantel for fear that it would look to busy.  I figured I would just find furniture that will double as storage for blankets, books, and games and all the other things that we will enjoy doing together as a family in this room.

Then I had a LIGHT BULB moment.

Why not add storage into the mantel surround?

Cory and I discussed the possibilities and if it was feasible and he was on board and we went for it.
On the right and left side of the surround there was plenty of room to build shelves inside the unit from the floor to the ceiling, without interfering with the fireplace and the requirements of         spacial safety.

So this is what we did.

When installed they will not stick out.
The shelves are deep enough to hold games, blankets, and books.

Cory decided to construct each box and then glue and nail them all together once we knew they fit.
Here they are with 2 coats of primer and a coat of high gloss paint on them.

This took a ton of work and patience on Cory's part and he did such an awesome job.
I can't say it enough about how lucky I am to have him be as amazing as he is.
He is a man with many talents!

 Front view of how they tucked in nicely.

He built shelves that go all the way up on the other side.
Lots of storage and an awesome addition to this space for sure.

We also were able to get the trim up around the windows.
(Yay for Thanksgiving holiday's and days off work!)

I am so happy it is December, aren't you?
I can't wait for my kiddos to be out of school so we can spend time together and play and visit family and friends and enjoy this amazing giving season!
Sending a little Christmas spirit your way :)

Loves,
Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 4)

The window is in!

Let's back up...

This is where it all began...Part 1

This is where we left off last week.

Let's start with the window

If you look closely you will see the holes around the framed in window that Cory drilled.  That was to give us reference marks so we could go on the outside to draw the lines of where we were going to cut the stucco.

We left a two inch border around the hole, so the stucco guy could come and replace the stucco and put the same trim around the windows that our other windows have. That is why there is two lines drawn.

We got rid of the fireplace piece, and then it was time to saw. 

Cory bought a new saw blade to do this but it wasn't enough.  We had to call our neighbor to come over with his saws-all to help us get through all the layers of the house.

I left to do carpool and some errands and came home to success! A big hole in my house!

Here you can see Cory installing the fireplace flu thingy.

 

A couple of screws and some caulking and it was ready for stucco.

 I thought this was a fun view of the outside and inside of my house all in one shot.

Here is the view with hole cut. So much light! I love it.

Before the window:

 

View from the hall by my front door pre-window

 

View after.

My goal of an open flowing space is coming together.

One step at a time.

Stay tuned for the outside stucco repair and more sheetrock pictures coming soon. (maybe this week if I can get to it)

Loves,

Jill