For about a year or so now, I've toyed with the idea of trying Stitch Fix.  I've seen other people talk about their own experience with Stitch Fix, but I hesitated.  I am not one to commit to subscription boxes.  They usually seem too pricey for me.  Also, I hate having to go mail a return package.  But then, someone sent me a $25 credit and since I really need some wardrobe help, I decided to give it a try! You can get $25 to spend at Stitch Fix, too and I will get another $25 if you sign up by clicking my link! 

    Since the pandemic with all of its lock-downs started, I have gone to the mall exactly ONCE!  I purchased a few things, spent too much and I still needed a few more things! My shoes are all looking bad, my shirts always get holes in the stomach area for some mysterious reason and I need more pants! So, when I received the $25 to spend at Stitch Fix, I investigated further and here are the answers that I found to my concerns:

    When my box came, I was surprised at how small the box was.  Upon opening it, I was amazed that 5 pieces of clothing were in it, plus a note from my stylist, (Danny), and cards showing me ways to style the clothing. I loved that feature.  Plus, there was the return envelope and the list of prices. I must say, I got pretty excited when I saw what was in the box, it all looked really cute and the fabrics were nice, Nothing seemed cheap or poorly made.  Here is what I received:

3 shirts, all super cute! 
1 pair of jeans, I loved them, they were soft and comfy, but unfortunately too big on me!  (That was actually nice in a way! I'm hoping to try them in a smaller size.) 
​1 dress, I liked the print, but not the hemline.

​I'm not showing you the dress, but here are the jeans and shirts.  It was really nice to be able to try everything on in the comfort of my own bedroom rather than a now almost non-existent department store dressing room. You can click on the photos to find out which pieces I kept. 

    After the $25 discount, the 2 tops I purchased came to $41, or around $20 per shirt.  In today's market, that is pretty good for a good quality top!  

    My husband, who was photographing me, asked me if it wouldn't be easier to just go to the store and shop and buy the clothes by myself.  I gave him an emphatic "NO!" Here were my reasons:

1. The Stitch Fix stylist was able to find me items from many sources that I would have had to put a lot of leg work into.
2. My choices were narrowed down to a few items, so the decision of what was staying and what was going was easier to make. 
3. Trying on at home is so nice! 

    I want to give a shout-out to my stylist Danny who really listened to me when I filled out my info about what I like and don't like.  You have the option of getting a different stylist if they really miss the mark, but I kept mine! 
​     If you would like to get $25 and give Stitch Fix a try for yourself, just click one of the many links I've shared in this post.  You'll be doing me a favor, too! 

Okay guys, I promised you last week I would give you this recipe. Now you know how to make the delicious sauce that goes with this, you are reading to make the butternut squash lasagna itself!

You guys, this butternut squash lasagna is SO GOOD! I won't pretend that it is really Italian at all. And not just because my sister in law would beat me up for trying to lie to you like that. I am pretty sure if you go to Italy you are not going to find this butternut squash lasagna anywhere.

However, there is plenty of cheese, so I think I'll be forgiven.

I've been trying hard to swap out meat in our recipes for more vegetable based proteins. We aren't going totally vegetarian or vegan like Maddy, but we are trying to be more plant based. I spruced up the protein in this lasagna with some tofu. Don't worry guys, tofu does not have a strong flavor so if you haven't really had tofu before it is not going to be the signature part of this dish.

So lets review everything in this recipe: butternut squash, tofu, pumpkin, and cheese. This butternut squash lasagna is fall on a plate. 

Also, as you can see from my photo, I used zucchini as lasagna noodles. That really wasn't my plan originally. However, PH is gluten free and we did not have enough gluten free lasagna noodles for this, so I pulled out my mandolin and sliced up some zucchini to use for the rest of the layers.

They are really interchangeable here and if you want to bulk up the veggie content then go ahead and use all zucchini! You can check out my post here on how to make zucchini lasagna noodles.

I know you are going to love this butternut squash lasagna with pumpkin pasta sauce. It is a warm, comforting fall hit!

    Sunday is Grandparents Day and because my husband and I are the proud grandparents of 11 grandchildren, I decided that this is the perfect time to introduce a project that Alicia and I have been working on together.  Well, I did a lot of the imagining and Alicia did all of the fabulous artwork and design.  

   The inspiration for this project came from the ideas for experience gifts that I see many grandparents doing for their grandchildren. I thought that it would be great to have a way to record and keep memories of those grandparent/grandchild times together.  I also wanted to suggest ideas for experience gifts that grandparents on fixed incomes and small budgets could afford and yet still be something that children would look back on with fondness as well as be excited about in the moment.        Alicia and I brainstormed and came up with a long list of ideas and put them into categories and then Alicia set to work drawing and designing. I sent the finished design to Staples to get it printed as a huge, interactive poster.  That is easy and inexpensive to do. Then, because I had 2 grandchildren staying with me for the summer, I used them as my guinea pigs to see how they liked the poster.  They really liked it and it was so endearing and fun to hear from them the things that they wanted to include on the poster that meant something to them.   They would think of ways to make the activities we did fit into the poster categories.  They also would look at the ideas and come up with activities for us to do together on their own.  It was a lot of fun! 

     My main focus for  this project has been the idea of giving the chart as a gift along with a date set in stone to do a certain activity with your grandchild.  With the holidays right around the corner, this is a good start to your holiday shopping list. You can give the poster along with an item that goes along with your planned activity!   Here is a list of ideas and some links to get your juices flowing.

Here is a gallery of pics showing some of the things we did with our grandkids this summer.  I can't wait to make memories with the rest of my grandchildren! 

     There are so many other activities that you could fit into this chart that I didn't list.  Since I was going for inexpensive, I didn't include horseback riding or water skiing.  But those could totally go under "new skill" or "swimming".   If you have any great ideas for experience gifts for our grandchildren, I know that I would love to hear them.  Please share in the comment section below. 
     We have also made this poster into a booklet form if you think that would be a better way for your grandchild to keep their memories.  There is the option to print a full sheet booklet or to get two half sheet booklets.  We included some blank pages in it where you can add more experiences that we didn't include on our list.  And, there is room for pictures!  (We glued pictures on the poster sometimes, too.) I have sent the booklet to be printed at Staples.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten it back in time to share pictures with you today.  There is always the option of printing the booklet yourself on your home computer, but that can be a little tricky when you figure out how to print them back to back.  It can be done though! If you send it to a place like Staples be sure to give the instruction to print the book "head to head."  

     We are making these posters and booklets available in our Etsy Shop!  They are available with the words "Adventures with Grandparents", "With Grandma" or "With Grandpa", whichever fits your situation.  For this Grandparents Weekend, we're running a special on them, so don't miss out! 

     While you are checking out the Etsy Shop, don't forget to check out the Pie Book and the Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea Book, (which is soon going to have an addition)!  Fall is the time to start making pie and hot chocolate!  Our Favorite! Aren't you just so excited for Fall and the holidays that go with it?  If you use these experience ideas, you have a good start on your holiday gift giving!  Be sure to give us some love in the comments! 

I hope everyone had a good long weekend! We are all still at home here as I am still on my FMLA and my husband has gone back to work, but he is still working from home full time. I've been trying to do projects around the house to keep myself busy. I'm trying to still be slow and careful and not exercise too much since I haven't hit six weeks since my C-section yet. It is hard to just be at home all the time. The struggle of COVID was compounded by the heat of the valley, and has now been compounded by a grieving family. We just really needed a nice day that would be a change of pace for us.

So Saturday morning my husband suggested we take a day trip somewhere cooler. Even though Phoenix is called "The Valley of the Sun," there are plenty of much cooler places in Arizona to go to. So we loaded up in the car and drove up north to go to Bearizona!

We hit a lot of heavy traffic (long holiday weekend means everyone wants to get out of the heat). When we finally got up to Bearizona however, we had a lot of fun!

"What is Bearizona?" You ask? Well, it is a wildlife preserve in Williams, Arizona where you can see a lot of great wildlife.
There are two parts to the park. First is the driving section. You stay in your car and drive through the preserve. You can see deer, mountain goats, sheep, wolves, burros, bison, and of course, bears. You can drive through that section of the preserve as many times as you'd like. We went through twice. The animals can get very close to your car! It's pretty cool to see them all. When you drive through the sections with the bears and wolves you have to keep your windows rolled up and the car locked. 

Here is a fun video of some bison crossing the road ahead of us. We all patiently waited for them to move along to the other side.

There is also a part of the preserve where you can walk around and see more animals. We saw porcupine, beavers, baby grizzly bears, foxes, cute little otters, and big beautiful jaguars (and a lot more!) Normally they also have a few cool shows for you to enjoy, but the shows are nixed right now because of COVID. Even without the shows Bearizona was a neat place to enjoy. It got us out of the house, and it was fun to see our daughter so excited by all the different animals. It made my husband's bear jokes almost "bearable" (you see what I did there?)

We like to go on a lot of fun trips in this family. If you go to our travel category you can see other posts we've done on places we've gone either for longer trips, or just short, fun day trips.
What trips have you taken with your family? What do you like to do when you just have a day to get out of your house for a bit? What is your most favorite trip you've ever taken?