Our spring and early summer was so cool this year, that we didn’t ‘officially’ open the pool until Memorial Day…and even then it was a little touch and go.  We are typically well into 100 degrees by that point and this year, well the high was a cool 78.  We proceeded with our typical Memorial Day plans, grilling poolside.

I tend to be a creature of habit and pull from my tried and true favorites, but this year, instead of the same ol’ same ol’ I made all new recipes.  Four of them to be exact and they were all off the charts and immediately added to my stack of tried and true.  I snapped pics of most of them, and thought I’d link them up for you here today.

Spinach Cucumber Strawberry Salad -- This salad was so good and so easy!  Not a ton of chopping which made prep so easy!

Monkey Bread -- Scot found this recipe and it's a great weekend breakfast in the summer.  We love it on lazy mornings and the best part is my older kids can make it on their own.  #winning

Ranch Grilled Chicken -- With the weather so warm, I really try to avoid turning on my oven.  I hunted around a bit for some easy marinades...really it was mostly in an effort to not got to the store, and I found some gems.  We made the ranch one and I've got plans for the others as well.

​Creamed Corn -- I love a good side dish but love an EASY good side dish even more.  This was incredible on it's own, or to dip tortilla chips in. YUM.

Rolo Cookie Bar -- I've made the executive decision to make cookie bars more often, mostly because they are equally delicious but much less time consuming.  This Rolo Cookie Bar whipped up in a snap and was devoured just as quick.  This photo was before I added the cookie dough to the top.  

Try them and let me know if you love them as much as me, just tag @amygregory.

With the weekend upon us, it's time for Open Houses!  Do you guys love walking houses as much as me?  Good.  These links are for those of you that love walking houses as much as I do or are in the beginning stages of looking for a home.  Use the links below to see the list of weekend open houses going on across the Valley.  If you haven't used these links before, I break each list into different cities, then they are sorted by price, so you can find what you're looking for fairly quickly. Once you find a property you want to walk, click on the 'open house' tab at the top right to see the date & time of the open house...and be sure to let me know if you find a gem!

MESA  ||  GILBERT

Secret's out.  I'm a nerd and cannot ever have enough books.  I span a lot of genres and have found reading to be the best way I learn.  It allows me the opportunity to really think on things, go back to things and re-assess like nothing else.  It also is one of my favorite ways to relax!  Whether it's historical fiction, memoir, self-help or yes, even a good romance novel...I'm a book worm.  Here's 5 I'm reading this summer.

Free to Focus.  This is Michael Hyatt's newest book and it's timing couldn't be better.  The goal in my pursuits is not to do more, in fact, it's just the opposite.  I'm not a fan of the word hustle and I don't subscribe to busyness for the sake of busyness.  Free to Focus is all about managing what you spend your time on, so that you're spending time on the things that are actually moving the needle in your life and business.  It's a good one for any self-starting business owner.

Where the Crawdads Sing.  My sister-in-law got this for me for my birthday and I keep seeing it pop up in different spots.  Can't wait to read this on the plane next week.

Turtles All the Way Down.  My sister got this for me for my birthday, yes you read that right.  Proof that I am in fact a nerd.  This is by the same author that wrote Fault in our Stars, I'm just a few pages in and can't wait to watch this mystery unfold. 

Open.  This is the biography of tennis great Andre Agassi.  I got this for my dad a few years ago and before I gave it to him, I took the liberty of reading the first 50 pages...and now I really want to finish it.  My dad loved watching tennis growing up, so Andre Agassi was a staple in our house.  When the book came out, I heard about it on a couple of podcasts and knew I needed to get it for my dad.  He said it was really good and given that I read the first 50 pages, I'm sure it is.  I love reading biographies of people that the world has identified as 'successful.'  I've found that most of the times behind that 'success' is a normal person who has overcome incredible failures, struggles and defeats. 

A few others I haven't committed to, but that are on my list. Can't Hurt Me.  The Road Less Stupid.  Anxious for Nothing.  The Hideaway.  Code Girls.  It's Not Supposed to be This Way.

Obviously need to narrow this list down a bit, but probably won't.

With the weekend upon us, it's time for Open Houses!  Do you guys love walking houses as much as me?  Good.  These links are for those of you that love walking houses as much as I do or are in the beginning stages of looking for a home.  Use the links below to see the list of weekend open houses going on across the Valley.  If you haven't used these links before, I break each list into different cities, then they are sorted by price, so you can find what you're looking for fairly quickly. Once you find a property you want to walk, click on the 'open house' tab at the top right to see the date & time of the open house...and be sure to let me know if you find a gem!

MESA  ||  GILBERT

If there is anything for sure it is this: I am a creature of habit.  I thrive on a routine and my heart skips a bit over organized structure.  Sure, I like to be spontaneous every once in a while...so long as I've planned for it. For better or worse, my household is run on routine and when summer comes around, structure isn't too far behind.

Structured summer is a bit of an oxymoron and I don't want to give the impression that every moment is accounted for and planned because it most certainly is not, BUT there is an overall routine we run on a daily basis that helps to keep us all sane.  Before we get to the routine, I must tell you a few ground rules that might make me a bit unpopular.  They are this:

1. I don't feel the obligation to entertain my kids all summer long.  
2. I am a-okay if they find themselves bored and I do not take that boredom on as my problem to solve.

With that out of the way, let's get started.  Part of the exhaustion of summer comes from constantly being asked what the rules are: can I stay up late tonight?  Do I have chores today? Can friends come over to play?  I've found if I set up some clear guidelines on the front end, it eliminates a lot of back and forth along with the ensuing frustration, throughout the summer.  We tend to start with the very most important thing first:

1. Bedtimes.  Before summer hit, I sat my kids down and had a quick heart-to-heart with them that was to serve as a clear reminder to them.  We discuss what summer looks like for them: no school.  And what summer looks like for mom & dad: everything still the same.  Then we remind them that bedtimes will continue throughout the week as normal, while they may extend on the weekends depending on plans.  They always moan and groan and while I sometimes feel like a party pooper, I remind myself I'm not a party pooper, I'm a mom.  A mom who knows that well-rested kids are happier, more reasonable kids.

2. Morning Routines.  Each morning we have the same routine.  Some are early risers, so they get it done early, while others prefer to sleep late.  I don't concern myself too much with a consistent wake up call, just the routine that follows.  It involves a list of about 5-7 things they each need to accomplish before any screens can be used or friends can be called.  Some days the lists are more intense, others fairly relaxed, but a typical list for my oldest might include the following:

Unload dishwasher
Clean Bathroom
Practice guitar, 20 minutes (Olivia practices piano instead)
100 free throws (Olivia works on her gymnastics instead, 10 round offs, 10 back bends, etc)
Swim 20 laps
Read scriptures, 20 minutes
Make bed + clean room
Play with Luke, 30 minutes

3. Lunch Time.  In the past, with the ease of summer days, I've actually forgotten to feed my kids lunch.  Time has passed unaccounted for and suddenly it is 2pm and we've either snacked our way right past lunch or each person has made their own lunch...creating 5 different messes to clean up in the process.  I'm not perfect at this, but I try to gather us all for lunch.  It's a good mid-point in the day to re-group and allows for us all to make lunch together and then clean it up together.

4. Quiet Time.  Yes, I still try to create a form of quiet time each day even though all my kids are 'older' and I'm pretty sure they love it.  This usually happens in the afternoons.  Where we live it actually gets too hot in the afternoon to do much of anything, swimming included.  This has naturally become our 'quiet time.'  If they want to watch a movie or play video games, this is when that happens.  It's an hour where we can all tuck ourselves away and do our own quiet thing.  I've found it helpful to every single one of us.

5. Evening Routine.  While it might appear that our entire day is accounted for, it most certainly is not.  Each evening we re-group and do a 15 minute clean up.  My house tends to take a beating most summer days and while we do morning chores, by the time evening rolls around, you can't tell one bit.  And so before dinner, we do a 20 minute clean up.  With 4 of us, that amounts to an hour's worth of work.  We're usually still in swim suits from the day, so we turn up the music and I promise them they can head back to the pool when they're done.  We vacuum floors, load dishes, take out the trash and put away all the things. We accomplish so much in these 15 minutes which allows me to enjoy the end of the day, knowing that once bedtime hits, I don't have a tornado to clean up by myself. 

Rinse and repeat and our summer days tend to fly right on by.  Another one of my favorite ways to treat a summer day right is to get up before all the kids.  I know it sounds crazy, but I promise it's a game changer.  I'm usually home from the gym before any of them are awake and that hour at the gym and hour at home while everyone is still waking up are quite possibly my two favorite hours.  It allows me time to putter through the house uninterrupted and energized from my morning workout.

If you try these and love them, be sure to share about it and tag me @amygregory. 

We're out of school in these parts and life is happening poolside!  For this week's 5 Things (yeah, I know it's been a minute but...life!) I thought I'd keep it all summer related!  Prior to school getting out my husband and I sat our kids down for a heart-to-heart moment that was along the lines of: while it IS summer for you, it is NOT summer for us.  Meaning, we both still have jobs to do and things to accomplish.  We set some ground rules on chores, bedtime and overall daily structure.  Today is day 1 and so far so good.  Talk to me on day 39 and I'm sure my story will have shifted a bit.

We're working on getting our outdoor grilling area set up and running smoothly.  Compound Concrete recently re-did our countertop out there and we are over the moon about it.  It's even better than I thought it would be and I had high expectations.  I love that I can literally hose it off.  I've got a rug, some planters and lights I'm swapping out...hopefully in time for Memorial Day.  Tune in on IG stories for all of the behind-the-scenes, but here are 5 Things I'm loving for summer!

1. Last summer we did an overhaul on our POOL TOWELS.  It might sound silly, but if I was going to start replacing pool towels, I wanted good ones.  We really use and abuse these, as in they hang dry in the sun all summer long and get washed once a week.  I found my favorites at PBTeen.  Fun patterns, good price point and the quality I needed.  Love this one, and this one have this, and this.  One day I'll go crazy and buy this one and this one...but not until my kids stop leaving them at someone's house.  So maybe never. 

2. It was my birthday this week and Scot surprised me with a bathing suit I had mentioned liking...6 weeks ago.  Bonus points for him, major bonus points for me, because I was right, it was a dang good suit!  Here's a whole bunch of other suits I think are awesome.  I have this one in navy and love it too!

3. As part of our summer heart-to-heart we spent some serious time outlining summer goals and expectations.  If I'm not careful I can let the whole summer slip by with my kids without making any progress on anything.  We've got some summer jobs lined up so they can earn money for some of their activity which including me setting up email accounts for my two oldest so I can Venmo them!  I love the idea of Venmo for my kids, it's an easy way for me to pay them and an easy way for them to save.  I don't know about you but if their is cash in their pockets it gets spent asap.

4. Max has the cutest little nose that is constantly getting sunburned!  We're working on getting him in the habit of putting sunscreen on his face each morning.  He's had so many burns on that nose, that I'm feeling a little nervous for 25-year-old Max.  While we're getting him in the habit, I think I'll just get all my kids going.  Any face sunscreen you love?  I bought him SunBum (mostly because I thought he'd like the packaging and be more willing to use it) but wasn't all that impressed with their product specifically for faces. I've liked their other stuff in the past, so bummed about that.  haha...bummed.  Let me know if you have a product you love!

5.  Speaking of protecting against the sun.  Stocked Luke up on full body swimsuits because he of all my kids has THE most sensitive skin.  He was outside without a shirt for 30 minutes the other morning and that night he was pink.  oops.  We had him in this this morning and we all about died at the cuteness.  Picked up this and this too.

With the weekend upon us, you know what that means, Open Houses!

These links are for those of you that love walking houses as much as I do or are in the beginning stages of looking for a home.  Use the links below to see the list of weekend open houses going on across the Valley.  If you haven't used these links before, I break each list into different cities, then they are sorted by price, so you can find what you're looking for fairly quickly. Once you find a property you want to walk, click on the 'open house' tab at the top right to see the date & time of the open house...and be sure to let me know if you find a gem!

MESA  ||  GILBERT

I've long loved a good bruschetta, preferably over a table surrounded by girlfriends with a side of Diet Coke, but more often than not these days, it is consumed in my barefoot on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  My favorite bruschetta of all time was from a restaurant called Sauce.  It's a fast casual place that we frequent often and I always have to order their Caprese Bruschetta...sometimes I'll share it, most often times I won't.

I loved it so much that one day I determined to make a copy cat.  They serve theirs on a big slice of french bread, which they slice for easy consumption, naturally I fashioned mine the same way.  It became a staple lunch for me and my friends as we visited while our then-toddlers played.  When one of those friends was asked to cater a wedding, we determined that we must make a mini version of this bruschetta and our favorite party trick was born...because anything mini is extra delicious!

These are hands-down my biggest crowd pleaser and the best part is, they are SO easy!  

Here's what you'll need:

MINI BRUSCHETTA

baguette, sliced & lightly toasted
basil pesto, my favorite is from Costco
sliced cherry tomatos, I like to use kitchen shears for a quick slice
mozzarella balls
balsamic glaze - my favorite is from Trader Joe's

Once you toast your baguettes, spread each piece with a smear of basil pesto, then place on your serving tray.  Top with the tomatoes & mozzarella, then drizzle with balsamic glaze.  

Make more than you think, everyone always loves them!

Buying a house has got to simultaneously be one of the most exciting things annnd one of the most stressful!  I can still vividly remember when we closed on our first house.  We'd been married about a year and I was all in and what I thought fully versed in the process.  Scot meanwhile, was overly practical.  Is that a surprise to anyone?  In my defense, I was fully immersed in the industry so I thought I knew all the ins and outs.  In hindsight, I'm incredibly grateful for Scot's pragmatism.  We bought in the hay day of 2005...when all you had to do to qualify for a loan was be alive and breathing.  Truly.  

Thankfully, Scot ensured we didn't get in over our heads, which required some considerable restraint when a bank is wanting to give you more money than you need.  While we were both working full-time at the time, we knew kids would be on the horizon and little did we know at the time, that I'd continue working throughout all our child-bearing years.  Back then, we both thought I'd hang up my work wardrobe and exclusively stay home with the kids.  So when we went to talk to the lender, we ran numbers solely on Scot's income and based our purchase on that.  In all honesty, we still operate our finances this way and it's probably one of the better decisions we've ever made.

So before YOU get to buying, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. If your employment were to change, would you be able to cover the cost of your mortgage for 6 months? If the answer is no, you might want to hold tight.  I say might because there are conditions where this doesn't apply.  If you're a physician just finishing residency for example. you probably won't have a lot of reserves, but once you get working, you can probably accumulate them quickly.  In that case, I'd recommend you purchase at a price that will allow you to accumulate those reserves.  I realize that in addition to saving up for a down payment, adding this cushion might feel overwhelming, but the peace of mind it brings you is immeasurable.  If you're under 30, you didn't adult through the Great Recession of 2008 and let me tell you, you'd be shocked how quickly it can all turn and that cushy job can be gone in an instant.  If both Scot and I were out of work tomorrow, we could feasibly pay our mortgage for over a year.  That probably didn't matter when it was just me and him, but when you've got 4 kids in the mix, it's a game changer.

2. Is the mortgage amount more than 1/3 of your take home pay?  If the answer is yes, you're over buying.  We personally have always shot for this number to be about 1/4 of our take home pay.  Again, there are some exceptions to this, so you've got to crunch the numbers in relation to the trajectory of your career.  If you're 30 and still have a ton of growth in your employment and you've found what could be your 'forever home,' you might stretch this number a bit, but I wouldn't suggest much.  We've always run this number solely on Scot's career so that I can hang up my work wardrobe at any time without consequences on our mortgage.

3. Do you like the location, lot and layout of the home? You can change out floors, countertops and even cabinets if you want, but if you've got a wonky floor plan, a lot that backs up to a busy road, or a location that requires a far commute, consider carefully.  If the location, lot and layout are questionable to you, they will also be questionable on resale.  Do not compromise on these unchangeable aspects of a home, instead, be patient and save a little more in the meantime.  Something that works will come soon enough and if you've planned accordingly, you'll be in the perfect position to snatch it up when it hits the market.

If you're actively looking for properties, you can search them on my personal website here, this is updated in real time with the MLS, giving you the most accurate info there is!

If you've got more questions about buying or selling a home, schedule a call and I'd love to talk through them with you.  

In March I focused on creating a habit of meditation.  You can read all about my intention for March back here.  When I first started this idea of creating a new habit each month this year, I had the ridiculous notion, that I’d decide on the habit I wanted to create, map it out and then each month, just switch it on like a light switch.

Three months in and I’ve learned it doesn’t work quite like that.  Well, I suppose it only took me into February to realize that because I crashed and burned fairly hard in February.  Naturally I was hard on myself for falling short, but upon deeper introspection, I learned how to better approach it, which I’ll call a success because that really is the whole point of this exercise.  The goal isn’t to be perfect, it is to be better.

Heading into March, I was much more measured in my approach.  Instead of setting that standard of meditating 5 days a week, I gradually eased myself into it.  I allowed myself some space to feel through what would work best in this phase of my life.  I tried a few different approaches, a few different times of day and a few different locations.  If something didn’t work well, instead of beating myself up about it, I just crossed it off the imaginary list I had in my head and moved on.

It felt so good to allow myself the opportunity to make some mistakes.

The first thing I figured out was where and when.  I’m typically at the gym about 5 days a week, so it made sense to link my meditation with my time at the gym.  Whether I’m there early, or mid-morning, I’m at least by myself, which felt like step one: Not being interrupted.  The next question was regarding where.  While I’ve always listened to podcasts at the gym, I didn’t really want to be meditating while I was lifting.  Nor did I want to cram myself in a corner.  I was really looking for a space where I could lean into the quiet and I’m so grateful to have found it.

Each day, post work out, I head back into the locker room, remove my sneakers in favor of some flip flops and head into the sauna.  It is typically empty, but even if there are people there, it generally still feels like a private space.  While there I’ll often times set a timer on my phone and then tuck it away before beginning my breathing exercises (I outlined the format I love here) and allowing myself to relax into my meditation.

In the first weeks, I did a few varied approaches, but at the very end of this month, I found exactly what I never knew I always needed.  Simply Sadie’s Meditation Guides.  You guys.  They are total game changers.  They popped up in my Instagram feed and since this is where my focus has been all month I, of course, had to learn more.  I bought both the adult and kids/teen guides and we’ve been using them every single day.  They are the perfect balance of guided meditation, along with allowing enough space for myself.  I honestly, just truly love them!  They aren’t too ‘woo woo’ and really speak well to my heart and within my personal framework.  Check them out if you’re wanting t get started and aren’t sure where.  They’re the best ones I’ve found.

Sooo, heading into to April.  I debated on a couple of habits I wanted to form this month — for the record, thus far, I’ve been able to carry every habit on into the next month.  In January, I created weekly capsule wardrobes to make getting dressed easier and I'm still doing that.  In February, I went on a spending fast and while I’m not on a spending fast every month, I’m still feeling the benefits of that reset in February.  I'm loving the mindfulness so much, I'm sure that will keep carrying over as well.  Coming in to April, I’m hitting my busy season in both work and home.  You know all the end of year recitals and responsibilities, paired with increased real estate activity.  It’s important I stay organized so I can always approach things from a space of clarity.

For April, my goal is to ditch my ‘to-do’ list, an idea I got from my favorite podcast, The Life Coach School with Brooke Castillo.  I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but really, I think I can ditch all those silly scraps of paper with tidbits from here and there that I’m trying to remember. Here’s how I’m going to do it.

Each Sunday night, I’m setting aside 1 hour to sit down and write out every single thing I need to do for the week.  Cook dinner, phone calls to make, closings to coordinate, carpools to drive. EVERYTHING. Word vomit on a piece of paper.  Once It’s all on the paper, I’m going to begin putting it in my calendar.  One by one, I’m going to create space for each thing that needs to get done and if there isn’t enough space, well then my list is getting edited.  I tried it this week for the first time and I’m happy to report, I got Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday fairly mapped out.  I’m writing this on Monday and I can already tell you 2 things: More is getting done and there has already been a lot of movement in my calendar as I adjust for things that are popping up.  I’m hoping I can get better at anticipating the things that pop up, as well as, creating a schedule that allows for those things.

I’m hopeful working on this in April will save my bacon in May.  Major bonus: I’ll be out of town one of the weeks, so that one shouldn’t be too hard to map out.

12 years in to motherhood and last night I told one of my kids to fail the project.  Just flat out, I told my child to fail the project.

I'm not sure I recommend this to everyone as I certainly have other children where I would never tell them to fail the project, but this one, this one could stand to lighten up every now and again.  So I said, fail it.  In fact, I tripled dog dared him to. 

I have kids that naturally excel in school AND find great satisfaction in doing well.  I also have the other variety that take a bit longer to connect the dots and don't get too flustered over an average grade.  Both are fine in my opinion.  Where I begin to get concerned is when the pressure starts mounting and they become inpatient with themselves.  In the first scenario the anxiety kicks in when they aren't quite sure how to get from point A to point B.  They normally naturally excel.  So to struggle, even a little is completely and totally uncomfortable.  They aren't used to having to pause and now that they are having to pause to figure it out, well then the panic starts to mount.  The panic begins a discourse in the their mind that goes something like this, "I can't figure this out," and because this is unchartered territory, it then goes, "Since I can't figure this out, right away, I'm going to run out of time and not finish, which means I'm going to get a bad grade. If I get a bad grade, it means I'm stupid and I don't want to be stupid. I don't get bad grades, only good grades are acceptable."

It continues to spiral from there, which makes actually figuring it out 100x more difficult. 

We were in this space last night and as it circled and circled, despite my efforts to course correct, I finally just said, "Great, fail it.  What's actually going to happen if you fail it?"

I realize this seems counter-intuitive, but it's a worthwhile exercise and one I use on a regular basis with my kids, my spouse and myself.  There is great power in getting yourself comfortable with the worst case scenario.

For this child, failing the project is worst case scenario.  "Okay," I said, "So let's explore what could happen in that situation."

All of my kids are in elementary school, and this particular child has straight A's.  So really, what could possibly happen if the project is failed?

We talked through the actual consequences of a failed project, not any made up panic in our head, but real and factual consequences of failing.  Often times, I'll have them remove themselves from the situation and instead imagine it's their very best friend in the situation.  They'll answer these next questions more honest. If (insert best friend here) failed the project would you still be friends with them? Yes.  Would you think they were still smart? Yes.  Would their mom and dad still love them? Yes.  Would it effect them moving on to the next grade level? No.  Will they have to put it on a resume and tell everyone until the end of time that they failed a project in elementary school? No.  The more ridiculous the questions become they more they tend to realize worst case scenario actually isn't the end of the world. 

We go through these questions and while they might start to be convinced they never quite fully are.  They're convinced that it's fine for other people to fail the project, but not them.  We're making progress, but we aren't there yet.  So then I follow it up with one of my epic fails: Algebra II my junior year in high school.  I give them all the nitty gritty details of how I full on failed the class, when I was fully capable of passing it.  Algebra was, in fact, one of my stronger math areas.  Instead, I just talked too much to my friends and didn't manage my time properly and it bit me in the butt.  I tell them all about how I had to take a summer school class, which I aced, by the way, but had to miss summer vacations to attend.  It wasn't fun, but I definitely learned a couple of valuable lessons.  One of them being, it's just a high school algebra class that I've never had to report on ever again.  It hasn't effected my ability to go to college or get married or raise a family or even create my own freaking awesome career. 

I did also learn it's worthwhile to manage your time and not fail in the first place, but at the end of the day, it really wasn't that big of a deal. A failed project is just a failed project.  It doesn't determine your worth, it doesn't determine your ability, it doesn't determine your smarts.  It's just a project that didn't work out well.  

Every now and again, just fail the project if you need to.  If you can't afford to fail the project, walk through worst case scenario and remind yourself that even if you end up in worst case scenario, you're likely capable of figuring it out.  

And now...I've got to go help them on their project, hopefully we're to the point where it can be fun again, because our best is good enough. 

Guys.  If you're looking for a house in Lehi Crossing...this just might be it!  I don't like to make predictions, but if I WERE to predict, this one will go fast.  Here's the details:

3439 N. Mayfair
2,105 sq ft   ||    4 bed  ||   2.5 bath
$349,900


OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, March 23rd 
10am-12pm

​and here's the photos

For full listing details, head here.  If you're in the market to buy and want to look through current REAL TIME inventory, head here.

I often get asked the question: Who cuts your boys' hair?  Each time I sheepishly raise my hand.  I've cut their hair since forever and finally felt confident enough to share a 'how-to' after one of my hair stylist friends about fell out of her seat when she asked that very question and heard the response.  

Zack was born with a head of hair like I've never seen on a white boy and I first cut it myself when he was 4 months old.  Since then, that's just what we've done.  In the beginning it was in an effort to save money, but now, it not only saves me $80/mo, but also the headache of appointments and waiting rooms.  I can cut all 3 boys in about 30 minutes on a good day.  

I'll tell you I've come a long way since I first started, but worst case scenario, your kid ends up with a shaved head every now and again.  I suppose that was a risk I've always been willing to take...except Zack would literally lose his marbles if I messed up bad enough to require a shaved head.  He's like Sampson and his hair is his power apparently.  I still like to kid him every now and again that I've messed up and will need to shave it.  It never fails to get a rise out of him.

A few tips if you're a first-timer:

1. I am not professionally trained and am certain this isn't the 'correct' way to do it.  I just don't care enough to do anything about it and don't think you should care either.
2. Always cut a little longer than you think at first, you can always take more off.  Take your time.
3. That being said, I use a 1 guard on my boys' lower part, blending up to a 1.5.  You'll see this in the video, but not sure I gave the exact numbers I was using.  You might start with a 2 guard if it's your first time.
4. These are the clippers that I use.  The set comes with clippers, guards, comb and scissors.  Everything you need to get started. 
5. These are the blending shears I use and I can't recommend them enough, especially if your boys' have blonde or light colored hair.  The trickiest part about blondes is that every cut shows, these soften up those transitions and you'll see how I use them in the video.  

Hoping this helps you simplify your days too.  Take your time and realize your first cut won't be your best, but with practice you'll get better and better!  Be sure to tag me if you try it!