rushley & crew

This Thanksgiving, I finally succeeded in doing what I tried to do my whole college career: I got a 10-day break instead of a 5-day break. At my college, we have class the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but on Tuesday we have Friday classes. Kind of complicated. So I've tried every year to get classes on only Tuesday/Thursday so I could have Friday (Before thanksgiving) until Monday (after Thanksgiving) off, and I finally succeeded! For the first few days of the break, I was in Salt Lake at Time Out For Women with some of the girls in my family. Then, Russ picked me up and we drove from there to Boise to just hang out for a few days. We spent an afternoon with Russ's high school friends, Jake and Jenzi; we played some games with Mom & Dad Holmes, and we just relaxed a bit. On Wednesday , Russ and I made the 8-hour drive to Seattle, where Shayne's family lives (Shayne is Russ's brother). We were originally going to be driving with Mom and Dad, but due to

Wahoo! Thanksgiving is almost here! I've already had two plus a third time of leftovers, but I'm still excited :) We brought back Tomothy the Thankful Turkey this year, and he's filled out quite nicely with feathers :) Turns out Russ was right . . . smaller feathers looks better. I haven't done any thankful posts yet this November, so I'm going to do one today, about the things I'm thankful for that are coming up in the next week! Time Out For Women! I'm thankful I get to go again this year; I'm thankful for my mama for paying for it; I'm thankful I get to go with my mom, sis-in-law, grandma, aunt, and cousin/best friend!; I'm thankful that we're going to eat at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner along with the event!; I'm thankful my husband lets me go on girlie weekend trips without him, though I'll miss him :) Boise! I'm thankful that Russ and I get to go visit family in Boise; I'm thankful for all the fun we&

Want free clothes? Who doesn't, right? Well if you click the link in this post, it will take you to a website. Then you . . . 1. Sign up. Get $10 credit. 2. Sign in on up to three other iDevices (iPhones, iPads) and get $10 credit per device you add. 3. Sign in on an Android phone and get a 50% off code. You can purchase on your phone, or just plug that code into your computer. 4. Get $80 worth of clothes for free! I ended up choosing clothes that totaled more than $80, so my total cost was like $14.83 for seven items. Say whattttt?! That's $2/item folks. Be sure to click my link, because then I get even more credit for you signing up! Then spread the word so you can get credit, too :) liketwice.com/DBMO4 Happy shopping!

Budget  is a word that brings fear to some and joy to others: fear to those who don't understand it, and joy to those who do. When Russ and I got married, we had to figure out how to manage money. At first, we just tried to save as much as we could and spend money as little as possible. I think a lot of people think of a budget in this way: restrictive. But having a budget is actually incredibly  liberating . Budgeting gives you the opportunity to choose how you spend your money, and as a result, it takes away the guilt that sometimes comes from spending money. Now that I have a budget, I don't think I could ever go back. Here's how to create a budget of your own. Step 1: Figure out how much money you make per month. This is pretty self-explanatory. Look at pay stubs, or calculate how many hours you generally work and how much you get paid. For instance, I work 10-13 hours each week, and I make $9/hour. Since my work time is somewhat flexible, I go on the low e

Remember earlier in the summer when I first got started on making a family birthday board ? Well I finally got it all finished and hung up! The color is all off because the lighting of where I hung it is awful. Even after photoshopping, it's not quite right. The original post shows the colors better. Finding all the right supplies took some time, but I'm happy with how it turned out :) Russ had to help me drill holes in the tops and bottoms of all the circles because I couldn't find any that already had holes, but it worked out okay. Now I'll be able to remember everyone's birthdays! And the best part is that I can add to the board at any time because I used jump rings between the circles :) How do you remember family birthdays? :)

Does anyone else find decorating for Thanksgiving difficult? There are so many ideas and options out there for decorating for Halloween or Christmas or even St. Patrick's Day, but ideas for Thanksgiving seem to be practically nonexistent! Just try searching in Pinterest and you'll find some pumpkins, candles, and leaves, but that's pretty much it. And even those things don't scream Thanksgiving as much as they perhaps scream fall.  So this year, as I was browsing ideas, trying to find something  for my holiday decor shelf, I came across this pin . It's not even for Thanksgiving--it's for Christmas! But definitely have enough Christmas decorations until I get a bigger place, so I had to think of some other way I could use this awesome idea. And BAM! It hit me--use the idea to make a decoration for Thanksgiving. ta-da! In case you want to make one, too, here's what you'll need: 12x12 canvas Mod podge Clear sealer (I accidentally used mat

Wahoo! Russ and I did Halloween right this year: we dressed up in coordinating costumes, we both got to go to the ward party [last year, Russ worked nights, so I had to go alone :(], and we threw a successful Halloween party! Ward party pics--we're a cowboy and an indian! :) I did a quick design for our Halloween party: At our party, we did a caramel apple bar, which is an idea I found on Pinterest but finally got to try it out!  We used Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, and Gala apples. I preferred Granny Smith (which I never prefer) for the caramel apples just because the apples got so many sweet toppings that I needed a little sour to bring some balance. For toppings, we had mini m&m's, snickers, oreos, butterfingers, graham crackers, heath bits, cinnamon brown sugar, and cinnamon [white] sugar. And of course caramel, along with white chocolate and milk chocolate (though the milk chocolate burned . . . ) Fyi, the best option to keep caramel and c