Beautiful Kids on Canvas

Canvas Factory reached out and offered to send me a canvas with my two beautiful kids printed on it in exchange for a review and a giveaway. So be sure to stay tuned for the Canvas Factory giveaway, USA and Canada residents only.

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The canvas I received from Canvas Factory is very high quality and looks amazing on our wall. The kids don’t look too bad either. What I really liked about this canvas print is how easy it was to get. You just go to the website, upload your photo, make some adjustments if you want. They even have different filters for your pictures so you can make something color into a black and white photo or sepia, or whatever!

Having photos of our family up on the walls reminds us about the important things that bring us all together. In the photo we had printed, we chose our children. They are the world to us and seeing their love for each other is exactly what we need on our walls to see everyday. Being able to take a simple photo and then uploading it to the internet so I can get a beautiful canvas print in just a few days is amazing. I remember when it would take weeks or months to have something like this done. Now in just a few clicks it can happen almost instantly.

I love our new canvas print. The quality is perfect and it just makes me smile every time I see. I can imagine that I will be picking up a few more of these canvas prints from Canvas Factory once that refund check comes in.

WIN YOUR OWN CANVAS FACTORY PRINT!

To win your own 16×20” / 40x50cm canvas print from Canvas Factory you have to like St. Louis Dad on Facebook and comment on this blog post below and tell me what kind of photo you would print at Canvas Factory. I will randomly select a winner on Friday, February 23rd. So be sure to use a valid email address so I can contact you! If the winner does not contact me in 24 hours I will select a new winner. Giveaway only available to U.S. and Canadian residents. No purchase necessary, like and comment to win!

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This post and giveaway is sponsored by Canvas Factory.

#ISleepTo Be Amazing

 

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Sleep. It is probably my favorite thing to do. Yeah, kids, wife, family, etc. They are all amazing and awesome to be around but sleep, oh sleep, it is quiet. It is relaxing. It is dreamy, literally.

Sleeping is how I reset and recharge my body as well as my mind. It’s important for everyone to get rest. Unfortunately for some it’s easier than others. My wife and I have had plenty of conversations about how “easy” it is for me to fall asleep, while she may lay restless for hours before finally getting just a fraction of sleep she feels like she could have gotten. Enter sleep monitoring.

SleeptrackerWe could wear a special bracelet or some other wearable device but for us, that just doesn’t work. Personally, I don’t think they are fashionable. I’m happy with my nice beautiful watch and don’t need another gadget that I have to charge on my wrist. Beautyrest to the rescue. Their Sleeptracker monitor was a great solution to a specific need. The Beautyrest Sleeptracker monitor is super simple to setup. Just place the sensors under your mattress where you sleep (in-line with your pillows), plug the wires into the processor, sync up to the app, and you are ready to go. I was very curious how my data would come back. For forever I have always told my wife that it probably takes me about seven minutes to fall asleep. I never measured this so I was excited to learn that after the first night my “Time To Sleep” was six minutes. Six minutes! That’s awesome! After a few more days my “Time To Sleep” has averaged out to 18 minutes. I think I can get that average back down after using the product more.

The other data provided was incredible. Avg heart rate, breathing rate, efficiency, deep, light and REM sleep times, and more. Since I was already confident in how well I sleep I wasn’t surprised to see good percentages with just about everything. What I was surprised to see is that I don’t sleep as much I as I think I should. On a day when my wife let me “sleep-in,” my data was awesome. I need more days like that.

IMG_8494Because I already feel like I sleep pretty good I wasn’t sure how I could use Beautyrest’s Sleeptracker monitor to improve my sleep but then it happened. So when the unit came in the mail and I got it setup it was a work week, so I wasn’t sure about using the Sleep Cycle Alarm feature. I didn’t want to be late. Typically, I have my alarm clock set for 5:30A.M. and 5:50A.M. (just in case). Most of the time I am hitting snooze from 5:30 all the way to 5:50. This has two repercussions; 1) doesn’t make my wife happy and 2) I sometimes wake up groggy, even though I knew I got plenty of sleep I wasn’t sure why. So I started looking at the graphs in the app. I noticed that a lot of times I am in REM sleep right before I wake up. I read that it is best to wake up when you are in light sleep, so I decided to try out the Sleep Cycle Alarm. Instead of setting an alarm to go off at specifically 5:30, you give it a range of say 5:30-6:00, the Sleep Cycle Alarm will work with the senors and determine when you are at your lightest sleep and sound the alarm at that time. If you are not in a light sleep stage by the end of the range then the alarm will sound regardless.

So with this data I was able to use the Sleep Cycle Alarm to start waking me up during my lightest sleep. In turn I have actually been waking up just a little bit earlier than usual but I feel pretty good when I wake up too. Even though I know I can hit snooze, I don’t and I start my day. I feel so much better because of this change.

As I said earlier, sleeping is how I reset and recharge my body as well as my mind. It’s how I become amazing. If I am tired and groggy, I’m not amazing. Beautyrest’s Sleeptracker monitor is proving how getting a little bit of data can make a difference. When at home I can’t be in a bad mood because I didn’t sleep great or having an alarm go off at the wrong time. The same goes for work. Being as amazing as me just doesn’t happen overnight. It takes precision planning and sleep monitoring.  Oh and that photo at the top. That’s me monitoring my sleep. It’s as easy as that. Credit to my wife for taking the photo. I’m glad she highlighted my nose. Look at the size of that thing. Yikes! #ISleepTo be amazing.

I have partnered with Life of Dad and Beautyrest for this campaign, but my opinions are my own.

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Get Your Bike On with BikeBandit!

bikebanditsWith a family of bikers it’s hard to not hear about all the latest model, parts, and gear out there. Personally, I’m not a rider. I’d like to one day, but for now I’m stuck with four wheels. But that doesn’t stop me from checking out the various products out there to pick up as gifts for my family.

One of my favorite places to check out motorcycle parts online is BikeBandit.com. The website is filled with awesome stuff. It’s is so easy to navigate and find what you are looking for. Or even get sucked into a rabbit hole of things you may not have been looking for. Like these Icon Gloves. I can’t get past how cool this website is. The gear available is from some of the best brands available and ordering is super easy.

bikebandits2I have tried talking my wife into riding a nice super bike with me. Or even a dirt bike. Doesn’t matter which but trying to get her on one of these bikes is next to impossible. She will ride with her dad or her younger brother, but not me. What’s up with that? Either way I still love her. When I’m checking out different Yamaha parts on the site she may come over and tell me to “not even think about it” or that “I must be crazy if I’m getting one of those”. Well maybe one day I will be, and when I do it will be a big surprise to her but I know where I will do most of my shopping to get what I need. I’ll just have it delivered to my buddies house instead. 🙂

BikeBandit is a great website to check out. The selection is incredible and worth spending a few hours checking out. Whenever I’m looking for something for the riders in my family I know exactly where to go. It’s easy and that’s what matters to me.

BikeBandit.com sponsored this post in exchange for an honest review. Please visit BikeBandit.com for more awesome products that can help make your riding life better!

Lunch Plans for December 26th?

Kids eating rainbow breadNow that the majority of the presents have been unwrapped and you’re sitting cozy scrolling and swiping through your phone while the kids are playing with their new toys and gadgets why not think about some lunch for tomorrow. Goodcents sent me a message the other day letting me know that on December 26th they are launching a new rainbow bread for kids! And to celebrate they are offering $1 kids’ meals with all proceeds going to No Kid Hungry! This is for one day only so for a creative, fresh new meal head over to Goodcents

Rainbow Bread is a brand new recipe developed by Goodcents, which features brightly-colored blue, green, purple and pink bread in a bun that tastes like its traditional white bread.

The sandwiches come in three options: Turkey and Cheese; Ham and Cheese; and Peanut Butter and Jelly. The meals are served with a choice of apple slices, cookie, or chips and a kid’s drink including milk, juice or a small fountain drink.

“We wanted to create something unique that delivers a fun new experience for kids that makes them smile,” said Scott Ford, president of Goodcents Deli Fresh Subs. “The initial response in our taste testing has been incredible, and we can’t wait to see the response from kids and families throughout all of our restaurants.”

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Goodcents is also launching their new Sensible Subs on Monday as well. These are some very tasty subs that are under 500 calories on a new sprouted whole grain bread! There are six subs on the Sensible Subs menu and they all look mighty tasty.

To find the closest Goodcents Deli Fresh Subs near you, visit www.goodcentssubs.com.

Want to win a $40 Goodcents gift card? Enter below by doing just one option from the list, or increase your chances by doing them all! Winner must respond within 24 hours of notification. If winner does not respond another winner will be selected.

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Goodcents provided St. Louis Dad with this product as compensation in exchange for an honest review. Goodcents is also providing the gift card for the giveaway. Visit Goodcentssubs.com to learn more about Goodcents.