Have
a blast with bloggers and their families as they share some of their
favorite ways to enjoy spending time with family and friends. We invited
these bloggers to try two new Breyers® Blasts!® flavors and to tell us
how their families enjoyed them. Click on the posts below to read their
reviews of the new flavors and enter for the chance to win a $100 gift
card from each blog!
The
BlogHer Summer Blast sweepstakes run from 6/28/12 through 7/26/12 and
are only open to individuals who, at the time of entry deadline, are
legal residents of the United States and are 18 years or older. Click
here to read the official rules. Winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries. Good luck!
Those of you who have been with me a while know about my family's
secret. Yes, it's a naughty, secret addiction...ice cream! LOTS and
lots of ice cream!Yep, it started early with my husband's first job,
which crazy-spoiled us with the ability to bring home ice cream, fresh
off the line. Our love of the dessert has never, ever abated--even after
he went on to a less exciting (read no more ice cream) career path.
Summer is officially here. We live in the desert, and that means
scorching temperatures over 110 degrees. There are many who love the
heat, and there are those who retreat to cooler locations to avoid it.
While we may not love the heat, we certainly make the best of it! Our
favorite way to have a blast in the summertime is by living in the pool!
We swim every single day from May through September. We are so lucky
to live close to many fantastic local resorts! Scottsdale is prime real
estate for upscale resorts, spas and water parks!
Summer is HERE! Well, it's here in the desert. And it's HOT!
Today it was 99 degrees! One way to cool off is to chow down on some
nice, cold ice cream, and BlogHer was kind enough to let us sample two
new Breyers Blasts! flavors:Breyers Blasts!® Chocolate REESE’S®: This
new variety features chunks of REESE’S Peanut Butter Cup pieces and
REESE’S Peanut Butter swirled in chocolate frozen dairy dessert.Breyers
Blasts!® OREO® Birthday Blast!: This new variety features OREO cookie
pieces and rainbow sprinkles in artificially flavored cake-flavored
frozen dairy dessert. Yay for free ice cream!
When I got an email asking me to review two of Breyers new ice
cream flavors, I had to check first to make sure we didn't have them
already in our fridge. Breyers is a staple in our house. Chris is a huge
ice cream fan, and when he wants a little treat, I always bring him
home a new flavor to try. We had not yet sampled the new Breyers
Blasts!® Chocolate REESE’S® or the Breyers Blasts!® OREO® Birthday
Blast!, so I couldn't wait to add two new flavors to our line-up. (For a
complete list of Breyers Blasts!
Sometime in the last two years - without realizing it - we formed
a tradition of “family night.” That’s what the girls call it, without
us prompting them. They know Friday starts the weekend. Daddy typically
rolls in a little earlier from work and they’re allowed to stay up a
little later. I don’t remember where I heard it or when, but sometime
pre-offspring I heard parenting advice that recommended having a family
night - some sort of tradition that meant your kids could look forward
to spending time with you.
We are ice cream people. Like, year-round, all-the-time,
ice-cream-in-every-way-we-can-get-it people. We have tried every brand
and in many countries. So when BlogHer and Breyers asked us to try out
their new flavors--Breyers Blasts!® Chocolate REESE’S® and Breyers
Blasts!® OREO® Birthday Blast!--we JUMPED at the chance. Want to know
why? We are ice cream people. In fact, one of our favorite family
stories revolves around Breyers. True story. Want to hear it?
When I was pregnant with both of my girls, I had...a slight ice
cream problem, you might say. I ate a lot of it. I would come up with
crazy concoctions and toppings- fruit and candies and syrups and OH YUM.
We make jokes that Maggie is 75% ice cream, because that was pretty
much 75% of my diet during the last weeks of my pregnancy. Now that
Maggie's a little older, one of our favorite things to do is bond over
sweets. We'll order dessert when we're out at a restaurant or share a
couple of cookies after dinner at home. Dan just laughs and rolls his
eyes because he's not really into dessert.
I recently tried the new Breyers Blasts!® Chocolate REESE’S®.
:)This new variety features chunks of REESE’S Peanut Butter Cup pieces
and REESE’S Peanut Butter swirled in chocolate frozen dairy dessert.
Ya'll, it is yummy! It's chocolate ice cream with chunks of REESE’S
peanut butter cup inside it! REESE’S peanut butter cups have always been
good to me, but I've tried not to eat them too often because it's
something I could eat tons of. The ice cream is sweet, but not too
sweet, although it is pretty rich! I like how it's 'blasted' with chunks
throughout.
My children inherited a few quirky qualities from me: sass,
enthusiasm, intensity, the need to be around people, and a bit of OCD,
to name a few. Lucy got my "tanable" skin, whereas Peter inherited his
father's white paste, capable of only an "Irish Tan" (sunburn). Who
knows what other traits I will pass down. Hopefully mostly good ones. I
do think Peter can carry a tune, so that's a plus. I wonder if he'll be
able to flare his nostrils like me. Unrivaled, I tell you.
Anabelle ran into the house, arms out, eyes wide, backpack still
hanging from her shoulders. "Mom! July is National Ice Cream Month! Keep
watch and stock up, Mom!" She gave me a hug. "I knew you'd want to
know." I couldn't help but laugh. Yes, we take having a blast as a
family seriously (though we're not having ice cream every single day in
July). We make a concentrated effort to have frugal family fun, and
often the inspiration for that fun is based on a theme or bizarre
holiday. During the summer months, we try to visit a different park or
outdoor location each weekend.
Do you ever stop and make a mental list of things that make you
happy? I do. Seriously. When I'm having a super-crappy day, I try to
force myself to stop wallowing for a minute and list My Happy Things.
All sorts of random things are usually on that list. There's the kid,
chocolate, the way Penny's fur flops around when she runs, peanut
butter, Max purring, cookies, sporks, sprinkles, flowers, ice cream,
frogs in my pond, food . . . hey! Did I mention that food makes me
happy? Especially dessert? You know what makes me even happier?
One of my favorite things about summer with little children is
the simplicity. It's lazy, it's relaxed, and it's simple. I love having
two little boys who are rowdy and very easy to entertain. They don't
necessarily like "quiet" fun, but they don't need toys to have fun
either. They just need an open area to run and they're good to go! One
of our favorite ways to have a blast together in the warm weather is to
set up the sprinkler in the yard, put the boys in their swimsuits (or
even just a diaper), and let them run around the yard.
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