Fun Party

Both of us (Chelton and Melanie) were recently picked to host a Cottenelle party.  We both received a box full of Cottenelle stuff (a lot of toilet paper and flushable wipes).  We had some friends over for a BBQ and they each got to go home with a package of toilet paper and some wipes.  We had such a fun time talking and eating and sharing Cottonelle.  Thanks Crowdtap and Cottonelle!!!

Gotta love Old Navy (and Crowdtap)

I was so excited to be picked in another Old Navy share sample on Crowdtap.  Who doesn't love free clothes right?  I love Old Navy.  They have the biggest selection of clothes and this time I got to go pick out some activewear.  This is a great time to get activewear.  Right around New Years because right on the top of my New Year's resolution is to get out and get active.  Now thanks to Old Navy and Crowdtap I have the perfect workout clothes to help with my New Year's resolution. 

If you aren't familiar with Crowdtap they are a company that rewards you points by logging into their system and answering fun questions by their sponsors (such as Old Navy, Verizon, AT&T, Healthy Choice, etc.).  You also get points by doing fun activities they ask such as sharing photos such as your favorite holiday food photo or making a video for Zicam.  But my favorite is getting points for share samples such as this one for Old Navy.  You in turn take your points and can use them for gift cards and such (such as at amazon.com).  LOVE LOVE LOVE Crowdtap.

So this was an opportunity to get activewear for me and a friend at Old Navy.  My mind immediately went to my sister-in-law Alyssa to share my coupon with.  She actually joined Crowdtap to try to get in this share sample but didn't get in.  She is really big into running and runs in races all the time (my kudos to her).  I would so love to be at that point right now.  I figured someone who exercises and runs that much definitely deserves to get some new activewear clothes to help her out so I let her go get some new clothes at Old Navy.  This is what she ended up with and might I say she looks darling:

We couldn't go together as we live three hours away from each other so after she got her clothes she texted me and her exact words she texted me was "just got my Old Navy activewear.  I got a compression jacket and compression leggings.  You are so the coolest person ever.  Thanks so much.  I owe you big."  Well you all heard it.  I am the coolest person ever!!!  Sweet!!

When I went shopping I tried on some compression capri pants I knew they were the ones I wanted instantly.  I was torn between two tops however.  I had a bright orange tank or a long sleeved one. 

 

I ended up going with the long sleeved fleece top though. I have already worn it three or four times. I have actually worn it with jeans as a shirt out on the town. 

Need to get out and actually use my activewear as activewear and get exercising.  Once again the cashier was so excited when I handed her the coupon and she rang it up and the balance came to zero.  She thought that was pretty awesome to have a coupon like that (and so did I).  Thanks again Old Navy and Crowdtap.

If you are interested in Crowdtap this link will take you there.  http://bit.ly/My2TEK

My next sample share...Durex...now that ought to be interesting :)

My free Old Navy dress experience

As some of you might know I am a part of the site Crowdtap.  It is an awesome site where you can earn points by answering questions from their sponsors such as AT&T, Verizon, Healthy Choice and Old Navy.  You also can earn points by completing certain tasks such as taking a picture of your favorite holiday moment.  These points can be reedemed for gift cards.  Last month alone I earned $35 in gift cards from them.  I have earned $85 since being on Crowdtap and I have only been on the site less than four or five months.  It has helped a lot with Christmas. 

Another part of Crowdtap is sometimes you get to be a part of share samples.  I was lucky enough to be picked for an Old Navy dress share sample.  I got to go to Old Navy and pick out any dress I wanted and get it for free.  How cool is that?  I also got a coupon for a free dress to give away to a friend.  I gave the coupon to my friend Brittany.  She is also a member of crowdtap and we talk about the fun we have on it all the time.  She applied for it too and said she wanted it because she didn't even have a dress (just some skirts) and really needed a new one.  She didn't get into the sample so I was more than happy to give it to her as she was definitely deserving.  Here is a picture of her in her dress she chose.

We sadly couldn't go shopping together because the nearest Old Navy store is more than an hour away from where we live and it was too hard to get that done so we took our trips separately.  I got to go with my favorite shopping buddy, my 4 year old daughter Kylie.  She LOVES to go shopping with me, which after having two boys first, was so glad to get a girl who likes to do this kind of stuff.  She was also great at taking all the pictures for me.

We went into Old Navy in Riverdale, Utah on a trip to see my mom and dad.  We searched for all the dresses we could find and got to trying them on.  I couldn't believe the cute selection of dresses they had.  So many fun styles. 

 

The decision came down to these last two dresses.  I loved the black one but I really have a ton of black in my closet.  I had to send the pictures to my husband (who was back at home) so he could help me make a decision.  His choice was the orange one because he reminded me that I need more color in my wardrobe.  So that is the one I chose and was so excited to have a new dress that I could wear.  I can wear it in the spring and summer with maybe a pair of dress sandals and in the winter I can throw a black cardigan and black boots and it will fit then too.  I was happy with the decision and decided to wear it out.  I went to my daughter's school for an assembly that she was getting an award at and figured I would try the new dress out. 

 What a fun share sample to be a part of and fun time to bond with my daughter.  If you are interested in crowdtap you should take a look.  You really get to be a part of some cool stuff. 

http://bit.ly/My2TEK  just click on that link and it will take you there.

Thanks Old Navy and Crowdtap.  I will wear my dress a lot and am going on a cruise in two months and am so excited to take it with me.

 

October

Lots of stuff happened in the last month or so..crazy crazy.  We got to do some fun stuff by me winning some fun things these last two months.  I won tickets to the Clark Planetarium 3D movie. 

We went down to SLC and got down to the planetarium and my kids are OBSESSED with space stuff and they were like kids in a candy store.  They were running around looking at everything and were SO happy.  We had an hour until our 3D movie started so we went and walked around the Gateway.  While we were walking around we ran into Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter.  We told the boys to go get his autograph but they didn't dare.  We walked back to see our movie and he then came into the Planetarium.  I asked him for his autograph and then he sat and talked to us.  He was so super nice and then Connor decided he was his best friend and he had him sign Chelton's Jazz hat he was wearing.  We all thought it was so cool to have met and talked with Kanter.  It is not every day you meet someone famous just walking around Salt Lake and they LOVED the planetarium.

Also I won tickets to Lagoon from Big-O tires.  We took Garrett for his birthday this year and they kept asking me when we were going to go again and I told them we weren't going to go unless I won free tickets and then I won some so they were so excited we got to go one more time this year.  We had a good time but only stayed half a day this time.  Connor's best friend Aden was there so he was excited to find him and ride one of the rides with him. 

 

 I won tickets to an American Idol concert of Casey Abrams from the radio station 99.5.  I was able to go with me and the kids.  We were really excited because we really like Casey Abrams and have been listening to his CD nonstop.  Kylie and Connor made a little sign to hold up at his concert based on the lyric of his songs and at the end of his playing he saw Kylie's sign and called them up to the stage and asked if he could sign them.  He took a picture of them with their signs with his camera phone and posted it on his twitter account and instagram.  Connor was excited because he says he is best friends with two famous people now (Kanter and him).  If you go to this link http://www.my995fm.com/slc-common/livevideo/past/caseyabrams.html and wait until the very end of the clip you will see him call up my kids and see us in the video.

 

 

Also in October Garrett and Chelton went to a BYU game.  They had a lot of fun and came home with a bunch of stuff.  Garrett is really getting into football and sports this year.  He is playing fantasy football with us for the first time this year and is having a lot of fun with that.  He went to the game also with his Grandpa Spendlove and his uncle Cameron. 

 

I won tickets from America First to the X96 Show and went with my childhood friend Keysha.  It was a lot of fun to spend a day with her since I don't get to see her hardly ever.  I was mainly excited to see Neon Trees and mostly Imagine Dragons (whom I LOVE).  There were other bands and A LOT of people but we got a great spot for Neon Trees and were able to see okay during Imagine Dragons.  I was lucky enough also to get there just in time for the meet and greet for them to snap a great picture (but didn't want to wait in line to meet them).  It was mostly just a great day to catch up with my great friend and spend the day laughing and having a great time and hanging out with a bunch of young kids and feeling like one of them.

 

 

 

We took the kids to the fire station for an open house they had and they got to ride on a real fire truck.  They LOVED that.  We took their photo by an old fire truck they had and they had dinner for the family also.  We know a lot of guys who work with the fire deparment.  The kids loved it.

 

 

 

And lastly we had Halloween.  We started Halloween by going to the Library's spooky story hour.  Then we went to the ward's trunk or treat.  It was combined with another ward so there were tons of people there and they got a lot of candy just by going to that.  The bishopric provided chili and scones.  Garrett and Connor found their friends and took off.  Chelton was at work and there was a dog so Kylie wouldn't go.  I had to give out candy so I was kind of in a pickle with her.  Some older primary girls took her for a few minutes but she was just scared of that dog.  Finally after 30 minutes or so I just asked my friend to hand out my candy too and I just took her around.  She is just scared of everything.  Silly girl.  I knew it would be the only candy she would get.  Then Connor and Garrett both went trick or treating with their friends and me and Kylie went home to pass out candy.  We get TONS of trick or treaters on our road.  She loved handing out candy with me.  It was super warm this year and that made it fun.  Her BFF friend across the street did come and take her around on our road so Kylie got to go a little more.  I was so worried how to make this year work with Chelton not being home but this year worked just great.  It is so hard having Halloween on a school night but it went smoothly.

 

 

 

The boys just wanted to be something scary and Kylie HAD to be her princess again.  It was still huge on her...I think she can use this same costume for 3 more years.  She is such a girly girl.  Well as you can see we have been super busy and it just keeps getting busier and busier.  I will try to post about each month.

Hotel Transylvania Party

Hotel Transylvania Party

I am a member of a site called Crowdtap (to get more info go here http://bit.ly/My2TEK).  It is a site where you log on to collaborate with your favorite brands and earn giftcards, discounts and charitable donations by answering polls, participating in discussions, sampling products and throwing sponsered brand parties.  I was lucky enough to be chosen to host a Hotel Transylvania Party. 

 

I invited my brother and sisters and their kids to our Hotel Transylvania Party.  I had a lot of fun activities planned for all of the kids and family.

 

We started off the night with some yummy dinner and then the festivities started.  This was a perfect time to host a party to kick off the beginning of the Halloween season.

 

We started off by coloring some Hotel Transylvania coloring pages that we would use for some games for later.

 

After the kids were done coloring their pages we had them decorate some pumpkins.  They each got to color with marker some scary (or not so scary) pumpkins.  The best pumpkin was my niece Brenna's pumpkin.  She drew a pumpkin that had a witch, a vampire and a mummy all on a small pumpkin.  She was very talented.

 



 

 

 After the pumpkin decorating we were ready for some dessert.  Sticking with our Hotel Transylvania theme we wanted to make some monster cupcakes.  The kids really got into this.  Even my 1 year old nephew Sam had a good time (well he really liked the eating of the cupcake part).  They came up with some pretty good monsters.

 

 

My son had to show me his before and after photo as well.

 

After we ate our cupcakes we decided to start playing some Hotel Transylvania Games.  The first game we played was "Last Man Standing."  We hung up the pictures the kids had colored.  They had a picture of all the characters on Hotel Transylvania such as Mavis, Dracula, etc. and I had the names of the pictures in a bowl.  The kids would stand by any picture they would want to.  I would pull a name out of the bowl.  If they were standing by that picture they were out.  Then they could go stand by a different picture if they want or stay at the same one and I would draw another name.  We would keep going and going until the last man was standing and they were the winner.

 



 

When we got to the last man standing they got a prize.  I was happy to find the perfect prize to give away.  I found a little prize pack that had a little mini coloring book with crayons and stickers that was Hotel Transylvania.  Once one kid had won the game we started over until everyone got a chance to win.

 

 

The last game that we played was like musical chairs.  We found the PERFECT Hotel Transylvania song that we played.  It was the song of Carly Rae Jeppsen's "Call Me Maybe" only it was a play on the song and it was "Call Me Mavy" (based on the character Mavis).  I would play the song and when I stopped the music the kids had to stand by the picture when the music stopped.  When I called out the picture if they were standing by it they got a prize (a ghost sucker).  We kept going and going until everyone got quite a stash of ghost suckers.  It was so fun because the kids just kept going on and on dancing and singing "Call me Mavy."  Even two weeks later after the party we still sing the song "Call me Mavy."  We love the character Mavis.

 

 

It turned out to be a great party and the kids (and adults) had a ton of fun.  Coloring, painting, eating, decorating, playing games, dancing, singing, winning prizes, learning all the names of the characters of the movie. 

 

One of our highlights for Hotel Transylvania was when I was out and about with just my husband and kids and we were at the movie theater for Hotel Transylanvia and we ran into a professional basketball for the Utah Jazz, Center Enes Kanton.  It is not every day when you are out and about and get a photo opportunity like that.  It was amazing.

 

 

Getting to host a party like Hotel Transylvania was such a fun opportunity.  My kids and nieces and nephews had such a fun time.  We had a ball.  We got to see an awesome movie and meet a real celebrity because of it. 

 

If your interested in joining crowdtap check it out...I have loved it.  Can't wait for the next party I get to host.

 

Again if you are interested in Crowdtap..you should check it out.  Below is the link.

 

http://bit.ly/My2TEK