Time to go home....

Well all good things must come to an end.....who came up with that.  Why can't all good things continue forever and ever?  Well we have had a wonderful vacation...busy but wonderful.  We have driven up and down this hill so many times I am almost sick of the hill. 

Tonight is our last night here in Idaho for this vacation.  We leave in the morning and will be heading home.  We will miss Idaho dearly.  We love being here.  It is a good thing that I have good friends in Oklahoma or I would want to throw a fit about staying here. 

I wont be posting tomorrow but I'll try to get back in the swing of things by Wednesday.  I'll tell you all about my vacation and the things that I learned.

Quick update...

Hey everyone.  I hope you are all having a good time.  We are loving our vacation.  It has been very busy so far.  We have had so much stuff to do.  Our flights were delayed a lot Wednesday and we didn't get in to Idaho Falls until about 6 pm.  So we met up with my sister in law who gave us a ride and let us borrow her car.  Late that night my in laws got into town.

Thursday we headed down to the valley for my sister in laws pinning graduation.  Friday we went down again for the rest of her graduation.  There was moving of boxes into the new apartment, the storage unit and some to take to the cabin.  Then Saturday we had a family reunion at Lava Hot Springs.  When we got home we went swimming and it was awesome.  It was good to visit.

Sunday my brother's baby was blessed and then we had a family get together afterwards and we didn't get home til late.  This morning started early with weed eating and raking.  Then a guy got here with a back hoe to help us do some digging.

I have pictures which I will share but I just wanted to give a quick update.  My daughter is anxious to go play.  Have a great day.

Loads of stuff to do!

Ok We have less than a day before we catch a plane out of this heat.  We are so excited.  Josh didn't want to go to work...of course...and I have loads of stuff to do.  No, seriously,  I have loads of laundry to do.  We ran of our Tide two days ago.  I thought it would last until we left but it didn't.  So it is time to make our own laundry detergent.

Earlier this year I went to a Relief Society get together where we learned a few things that will help us save money.  One of which was how to make our own laundry detergent.  The lady sharing this information with us had just made some herself and told us if we wanted to take some home and try it we could.  So I did.  I liked it.  It worked just as good as the Tide I usually buy. 

So I got the recipe and started buying the ingredients.  Very simple:

1 Whole bar of soap

1 C washing soda

1/2 C Borax

3gallons/4 C warm water.

1.  Begin by pouring 4 cups of water into medium size pot to boil.

2.  While boiling grate the bar of soap (however much you want to use)

3.  Add grated soap to pot and stir until dissolved fully.

4.  Add 3 gallons of warm/hot water to a 5 gallon bucket.

5.  Add your pot of soapy brew to the 5 gallon bucket.

6.  Add 1 Cup washing soda and stir for 2 minutes with a large long handled strong spoon.

7.  Once dissolved add the 1/2 cup borax and stir for 2-3 minutes until dissolved.

8.  If you are adding fragrance do so now.

9.  Pop the lid on tight and let it sit overnight.

In the morning you will have 3 gallons of gelled glop.

1/2 C per load 1/4 C for the high efficiency machines.

Ok so we did just that.  We didn't add fragrance because I don't know where to buy it yet.  Josh bought a paint mixer that attaches to his drill and used that to mix it with.  We also used the entire bar of Ivory soap that I had bought.

It didn't take long.  This morning we opened it up.  It was like Christmas morning.  We were a little disappointed to see it had separated in our bucks and was still watery.  So we got the paint mixer back out and mixed it again and put the lid on it.  When I opened it up 2 hours later it had gelled.  AWESOME!!!  I was so excited.  This is so cool.  It isn't like we can't afford Tide but if I can make something that works just as good for cheaper then I will.  It should last several months and it cost very little to make.

The washing soda and borax cost like 5 bucks combined and then add a bar of soap and the bucket.  I used a cup of one and half a cup of the other leaving oodles left.  I can make so many bucket fulls of this stuff off that 5 bucks.  A great deal in my book.  I did take a couple pictures but I don't have time today to load them.  I'll do that later.

I have some shopping to do and stuff to drop off and then I need to clean my house, pack and finish a couple of cute dresses for my girls.  Then we are off on vacation.  Have a good week.  I'll try to keep in touch.

VACATION!!!!!

We are going on vacation shout HURRAY!!!  Ok so we are leaving Wednesday morning for Idaho.  We are so excited.  We will be gone until the 1st of August.  My sister n law and I will be going on our 32+ mile bike ride in the mountains and our Biggest Loser contest will come to an end.

A lot will happen.  We a graduation, 2 family reunions, family pictures, bike rides, fishing and lots of fun planned out.  I will try to blog periodically but I plan a lot of time away from the computer having fun playing in the lake and visiting with family.

Have a good couple of weeks.

Catch up on some pictures.

Since we got our phones I have taken several pictures and I have shared a few of them on here but I finally loaded them all onto our computer.  So I thought I'd share them with you.

 Sarah got a ball that she plays in.  I believe I have posted about this but I don't remember if I had shared pictures of her in it with you.  I like these pictures a lot so here it is.  Her hair gets so static.

 Sarah has always loved to swim.  We bought her that life jacket when we were living in the hotel last year and she just goes swimming all over the place.  We finally took Yana swimming a month or so ago and these pictures are from then.

 Yana's first time in a swing.  She loved it.  She gave us some really cute smiles.

Sarah and Yana had fun looking at each other swing.  It was a lot of fun.  I love taking pictures of my kids.

Testing, testing!!!

Ok I have had a couple people tell me that the haven't been able to comment on my blog.  All I'm asking is for a few people to try commenting.  I have checked all my settings and I can't see anything different from before.  If there are no comments on my blog over the next couple of days I'll assume it is a problem on my end.  Thanks for your help.

Wednesday - sorry no recipe today

Ok as you might have noticed I have been slacking a little (ok maybe a lot) with my blogging.  I have been so tired all the time lately and I don't know why.  I get up with my husband at 6 and then when he leaves for work I right back to bed until 8.  I was getting up at 5:20 to go for a jog or bike ride but it is all I can do to get out of bed.  It doesn't help that when my alarm goes off and I look at the window it is dark outside.  I don't like to run in the dark.

Well I had set a goal Monday to take my kids to the park every morning this week.  Ya so far I'm failing.  Yesterday I was so tired that I didn't want to walk to the park.  I just wanted to sit on my rear and do nothing....so that is what we did.  I read books, had sword fights with my daughter, taunted Yana into crawling to me, and that was about it.

I told my husband last night that I had to go to bed so I could get up this morning and go for a jog.  So, my alarm went off, I hit snooze, it went off and then I just turned it off and rolled over because it was dark outside.  Thankfully my husband saved me because he had to get up anyways and told me to get out of bed.  I love him so much.  I didn't get a very long run in but I did get a mile in and it felt great.  It was dark and I kept seeing lightning flashes to the west and then it started to sprinkle so I headed home.  Thankfully I made it home because it started raining harder and harder until we had an all out downpour around 7. 

As far as the Biggest Loser goals we have going on.  I have lost 10 pounds.  I am down to 190.8 and just have to get past that wall.

I am still planning on the 32+ mile ride in Idaho and am so excited for it.  I'm really enjoying the cross training variety that I am doing.

Things are good.  I am hoping the rain stops so we ca go out today.  We need to get out of the house.  I hope that you all have a good day.  I will continue the recipes in August after we get back from our vacation.

Late to bed does not make an early riser!

Last night my husband stayed up late getting some work done that needed to be done for today.  I stayed up to keep him company.  We didn't get to bed until almost midnight.  I had plans to get up for my exercising and ride to Walgreen's to get the Sunday paper (on a Monday).  It is roughly 4 miles from my home so it would have been 8 miles total.  I figured that would be a good ride.  However, last night my husband decided that he should get up at 4 so he could go to work early to get the rest of his stuff finished.

So needless to say I was very tired and he wanted to get up early (which he didn't because he was so tired).  So I haven't exercised yet today.  I did decide this morning to take to the girls to the park right after breakfast.  We did and it was great but it was so hot already. 

I am from Idaho where it is dry heat and here it is humid.  Yesterday it got to 107 degrees.  We just stayed in our house after church.  I decided while we were on our walk home from the park that I would start getting my girls up at 7 so we could eat breakfast and then go to the park every morning before it gets too hot.  It will also allow us to still go do the rest of our daily activities without cutting out the park.  So that is my new goal for this week. 

Tonight for Family Home Evening we are going to make our own laundry detergent.  It should be fun.  It will also depend on when my husband gets home from work.  He will be working late this week in order to get as much done before we go on our vacation next week.  We are so excited.

I forgot to share this project

In June I had mentioned that I had finished another project.  I had to wait to share it with you and then I got busy and forgot to share it with you.  I made a purse for my step mother and this is it.

 These are all the panels laid out and ready to assemble.

 Here is the purse.  I really like this design.  I will probably end up making myself one of these purses.

Here is the inside of her purse.  The original design just had 4 pockets on the inside.  I added a pen spot right in the center on both sides of the bags.

With all the bags I've been sewing lately my daughter really wants me to sew her her very own purse.  I just happened to buy a pattern for a cute dress that has a bag pattern on it.  I told her I would make her one.  It wont be right now but I will get her one made.  Hopefully next month.  She really likes bags.  She is always getting hand me down bags so it will be fun to make her her very own.

My husband keeps telling me that I need to make more purses for my store and I plan on it.  I just have several projects standing in the way.

I want to get the children's hats sewn and I was asked to finished a couple small quilts for a friend before she moves in August.  I've started on them.  But between everything going on and our upcoming vacation there will not be any additions to my store until August some time.

I'll keep you all posted on all the projects.

Car Wash!!!

 This is the car wash that we built Monday.  We got the idea from the Internet but built ours a little different.  Sarah didn't want anything to do with it at first.  She has this thing against water in her face.

 We had to put a hat on her head and work her through it.  She had a blast when it was all said and done.  It is tall enough that my husband can walk under with just a little tilt of his head.

If I could figure out how to put videos on here then I would share a video of her riding through the car wash.  It was cute.  She had tons of fun.  It was really easy to build and lots of fun to play with.

4th of July

Yesterday was a wonderful day.  We didn't really do a whole lot.  :)  I ran a 5k in the morning which was a lot of fun.  I ran this 5k 10 seconds faster than my 5k on Memorial Day.  It is so much more fun to run with friends.

After the 5k we took a breakfast casserole over to a friends house and had breakfast with most of our ward here.  It was a lot of fun.  People played volleyball, others just visited and kids swam.  We even had the youth do their swing and line dance for the upcoming youth conference dance.  (I'll give more info on that later).

Then we came home.  Josh bought a power washer Saturday to power wash our fence so he spent a couple hours working on the yard and the fence.  The yard and fence look great.  Later we went shoe shopping and ended up in the end of our shopping spree at Home Depot.

We bought lots of PVC pipe and attachments and we made a Car (trike/bike) wash.  I had seen one on the Internet one time and showed Josh.  We made our own and it is awesome.

Then we got to listen to fireworks all night long.  It kept waking our daughters up.  It was a great day.  I will share photos but right now we have to run...We are taking a tour of a preschool to see if I want to sign Sarah up or not.

Independance Day

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!  I hope that you have all had a wonderful day.  We have had a great day.  I just wanted to stop by and tell you all that.  I'll share pictures and info about my day tomorrow morning.  (My husband is using the computer with the pictures.)

Whoa.....what day is it today?

Ok I apologize for no keeping everyone posted on this week.  This week has been so busy that I have only had enough computer time to check my email.  I think that the last day I posted was Monday or Tuesday.  I don't even remember half of what we did this week.  I will just fill you in on what I do remember. 

Wednesday:  I ran this morning and it felt great. We went to the library in the morning with our friends and their three little girls.  Then we went to Hobby Lobby to get some thread.  I ran out of thread while sewing my mom's birthday present.  While there my friend showed me how to pick out the fake flowers that you can take apart and turn into really cute hair clips.  She makes them for her girls and they are adorable.  I'll show you how they turn out.  Then my husband had to work late at work so I put the girls to bed and sewed until he got home.

Thursday:  Ok so I have been pushing so hard with the running and the biking that my body is screaming at me to get more sleep.  So I obliged this morning.  I didn't get up at 5:20 to ride my bike.  I also went right back to bed after my husband went to work.  Normally my daughter Sarah comes in when she wakes up and pesters me until I get up...which is normally around 8.  Well I vaguely remember her coming in the room but then she left.  I woke  up around 8 and I could hear little voices and I just kept telling myself that Sarah can't get Yana out of the crib? Right?  Well I walk into the room and this is what I see.

Sarah had stacked her polar bear, her pillow, and then her stool  next t the crib and climbed in to play with Yana while I slept.  It was so cute.  She also couldn't get back out.  It was awesome.  Well I had been telling Sarah that we would go swimming all week and we hadn't made it yet so I told her that as soon as the pool opened we would go swimming.  It opens at 10 and we were the first ones in the door and we had the pool to ourselves for at least 15 minutes.  It was fun.

After swimming we went to our friends house to make 4th of July cookies.  She had a lot of fun.  It was fun to see them playing and excited to frost the cookies.  I had never let Sarah frost the cookies.

Josh worked late again.  I sewed a lot.  I had birthday presents to get finished and in the mail.

Friday:  I mailed birthday presents.  I made a purse for mom.  She loves purses so I hope that she will like this one.

Sadly I finally got it in the mail on her birthday....but I did call and tell her a couple days before her birthday that her present would be late. So we went to the post office and then to Walmart to do our weekly grocery shopping.  Then we went home and quickly unloaded, made some lunches, got in our swim suits, and loaded into the car.  Some of our friends invited us to go to a place called Blue Hole here in Oklahoma.  It was awesome.  We spend several hours there just swimming, visiting and having fun.

There were a lot of people there.

Today (Saturday):  I went for an hour bike ride making it 13 miles.  It was a good ride.  Then we had breakfast and went out on the town.  We went and wondered around Bass Pro Shop and it was so much fun.  Tonight we are going to a movie and I need to get going.

I hope that you have a good weekend.