It took me until I found myself living in Washington D.C. as an adult to realize just how many beautiful National Parks we have in this great country of ours!  Growing up in Utah, I was obviously familiar with a handful of incredible local National Parks, but I am AMAZED at how many there are throughout the country that I've never even heard of!  Did you know that the National Park System Encompases 417 national parks in the United States? Am I the only one who has been completely in the dark?

Within the system of parks there are 59 sites that include "National Park" in their name (places like Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon, etc), but there are also 20 other types of parks that are protected and maintained by the National Park Service!  Here is a breakdown of said parks:

National Battlefields (11)
National Battlefield Parks (4)
National Battlefield Site (1)
National Military Parks (9)
National Historical Parks (51)
National Historic Sites (78)
International Historic Sites (1)
National Lakeshores (4)
National Memorials (30)
National Monuments (87)
National Parks (59)
National Parkways (4)
National Preserves (19)
National Reserves (2)
National Recreation Areas (18)
National Rivers (5)
National Scenic Trails (3)
National Seashores (10)
National Wild and Scenic Rivers and Riverways (10)
Other Designations (11)

There really is so much to do and see in our country!  If you're looking for a fun way to help you explore America's National Parks this summer (guaranteed your summer travels will take you near at least one!) , you HAVE to pick up a Passport to Your National Parks book!  Heck, it's worth getting one just to have a comprehensive list of all the parks alone!  

It's a little blue book that is divided into geographic regions of the country, with spaces in each section designated for you to collect rubber stamp cancellations (similar to those received in an international passport) that record the name of the park and the date you visited.  It also provides color coded regional maps, and need to know information about the parks.  Nearly every one of the 400+ National Parks offers cancellation stamps, making it a really fun way to track and log your travels as a family, and a great resource for planning summer vacations!  I just picked one up for my family to use this past week, and I'm so excited to track our travels! 

There is also a Kids' Passport to your National Parks Companion that contains checklists of the many National parks in the country, a place to list Junior Ranger programs your child completes, a field journal, and much more!  It's a great way to help get kids excited about our nation's rich history.  

I have what seems like a billion wedding invitations on my fridge right now. It’s so exciting! I’ve been wracking my brain to think of thoughtful gifts, things I wish we had gotten when we were married so that I don’t end up just giving something they’ll end up giving back. I’ve made a list of some things I wish I had registered for when I got married. 

via Williams-Sonoma

Utensils - We ended up using a gift card to buy some utensils, but save yourself the hassle and register for some from the get go!

Knives - There is nothing like a good knife to make cooking a lot more enjoyable.

via RC Willey

Hand Blender - This isn't exactly a need, but I love my hand blender! Especially in the winter when I make soups a lot. 

Basic 9x13 - You may end up with a million of these, but I didn’t get one. I think everyone assumed everyone else would get one for us, and we ended up with lots of cute, fun shaped pans, but there’s nothing like a solid 9x13.

Towels - You may already have your own towels, but having new, soft towels to start off your life together is something you don’t want to miss out on.

via Toys R Us

Game for Two People - Someone gave us a game for our wedding and my husband and I ended up playing it on a weekly basis the first winter we were married. What a fun way to spend time together!

For more ideas of wedding gifts, check out all the small appliances available at RC Willey.

What do you wish you had registered for when you got married? What was the best wedding gift you received?

As part of our continuing Extra Mile campaign, we took the awesome opportunity to work with a show called Random Acts. If you haven't heard of it, Random Acts is a show on BYUtv that hooks up deserving people with products or experiences that will give them a boost in life. We were lucky enough to be able to help a woman named Janet McClellan who lives with chronic pain and cares for her special needs sons. She was nominated by her friends and family to have her decades-old mattress replaced. Janet ended up with a new bedroom set, mattress, sheets, and some home decorations. It was so much fun to help surprise Janet! See the whole episode below and thanks so much Random Acts for giving us this opportunity! 

The color you paint your bedroom makes a huge difference in the mood of your room.  We’ve talked before about how to pick a paint color and the psychology of different colors, but I thought I’d give you some suggestions of my favorite bedroom paint colors right now. 

FOR A RELAXING ESCAPE: 

via Fifi McGee

Get the look! Ammonite by Farrow and Ball

via Apartment Therapy

Get the look! Sleepy Blue by Sherwin-Williams

FOR A BOLD STATEMENT: 

via Better Homes and Gardens

Get the look! Stunning from Benjamin Moore

via Evaru

Get the look! Inkwell by Sherwin-Williams

 FOR A FUN, PLAYFUL SPACE: 

via HGTV

Get the look! Emerald Isle by Benjamin Moore

via Sherwin-Williams

Get the look! Solaria by Sherwin-Williams

What color is your bedroom? 

If you’ve been stuck inside on a rainy day and have been going crazy trying to distract your kids, we’re here for you! Admittedly, my daughter is too young to really need distracting (a pan and a spoon is her favorite toy), but I worked at a middle school so I know how wound up kids can get when they can’t go outside. It’s been raining so much in Salt Lake lately that I thought I’d share some rainy day activities to help pass the time while you wait for the sun to come out. 

Lego bath from Busy Toddler

Tape car track from What Mom's Love

Catapult from Little Bins for Little Hands

Homemade play dough from Surviving a Teacher's Salary

And if you want to have something in your back pocket always, print off this list of activities for kids from My Kid's Time!

What do you do with your kids on rainy days? 

I really love the idea of painting with my children.  I'll be honest though; execution is not always as dreamy as it sounds.  It seems like every single time I pull out the paints for my 4 year old and 2 year old, two things always end up happening:

1. Both of my children decide that painting their bodies is more fun than painting the paper sitting in front of them. 
2. Painting holds their interest for about 10 minutes, and then it takes me an hour to get them all showered and clean up the mess!

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

If the answer is yes, read on!  I took a color theory class in college, and one of my favorite days of the whole semester was when we got to paint our own color wheels with frosting! You start with red, yellow and blue frosting, and it's amazing how it acts just like paint!  I decided this past weekend that I'd give it a whirl with my kids! I showed them a picture of the color wheel, and explained primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.  Everytime we started mixing I'd have them guess what color we were going to make.  It was so fun!  All in all, it was a great time.  We ended up eating a lot of frosting, and it was a lot less messy than using actual paints!  I might have enjoyed it even more than my kids!

 Here's what you'll need to make your own frosting color wheel:

- A bowl of white frosting.  (I made my own vanilla buttercream because I knew I'd be snitching as we went, and I love the taste of it!  One of those store-bought cans works great too.)
- Red, Yellow & Blue food coloring (I think the drops work the best)
- Paper plates
- Utensils to mix with

Here's how to get started:

1. Scoop three big spoonfulls of frosting onto a paper plate.
2. Color your three piles of frosting red, yellow and blue.  
3. Get a paper plate to act as your "Color Wheel", and space out three little dots of your colored frosting to show the PRIMARY COLORS: red, yellow and blue.



4. Next, get another paper plate, and start mixing your colors!
 Ex) Mix blue + yellow, to make green.  Mix yellow and red to make orange, etc. Place a small dot of green evenly between blue and yellow on your master "Color Wheel" plate, and then keep mixing! Does this make sense?  Here are some photos that show the mixing process.  

5. Eventually you'll make all of the SECONDARY COLORS: green, orange and purple.  Add them to the master "Color Wheel" according to where they go.

 6. Keep mixing, and you'll make all of the TERTIARY COLORS: yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet, yellow-orange.  Add them to the Primary colors and Secondary colors on your master color wheel!  

And there you have it! A complete color wheel!  Keep it for a few days to admire, or get some graham crackers and dig in!  

Have you heard of Project Scorpio? Microsoft has been working on a new Xbox console that will be coming out this holiday season. They’re calling it “the world’s most powerful console” and will feature 4K gaming. It has 6 teraflops GPU, a vapor chamber and centrifugal fan that will keep the console cool, and is still compatible with Xbox One games and accessories. Check out the video below for more information. 

Check back in with RC Willey this holiday season so you can be the first to experience Project Scorpio!

Did you know that you need to clean your dishwasher? Being completely honest, I had never really thought about it, but here is why you should be cleaning your dishwasher on a regular basis: 

You are putting dishes with scraps of food, grease, and oil on them in your dishwasher and some of those scraps end up getting stuck in the filter. The food scraps will build up bacteria and can create a funny smell in your dishwasher, which is the last thing you want to smell when pulling out plates you’re about to eat on!

The inside of your dishwasher can start to be discolored from hard water over time. It can also start to smell funky, so it’s important to clean the inside, as well as the filter.

Good to know, huh? You can see instructions on how to clean a dishwasher here. If your dishwasher is beyond saving with a good clean, or you’re looking to swap it out for something more energy efficient check out all of RC Willey’s dishwasher options.

How often do you clean your dishwasher? I read somewhere you're supposed to do it every three months. If that's true, I'm really due for a cleaning!