It's Cheap, It's easy...

and most important IT WORKS. I'm talking about homemade laundry soap. Seriously. It really works. I got this recipe from a friend who got it form a TV Family that has 19 kids, the logic being if it works for them it should probably work for our much smaller loads=) those are the cast of characters (missing the bar soap, becasue I USED it to make the powder) Here's the recipe and instuctions:
1 cup Washing Soda (NOT Baking Soda, totally different thing)
1/2 cup Borax
1 bar Laundry Soap (sunlight, found in the detergent isle at Walmart for $2.00/2bars)
**1/4 cup  Oxyclean** this is optional
first, use your food processor or a very fine grater to grate up the bar of soap as fine as you can get it. Then add all the other ingredient and mix them all up (pulse a few times if using a food processor or you could use a blender) Store in an airtight container.
Thats it.
This can be used in HE washers because it doesn't suds up and also in top loading washers. All you need for a load is 1TBSP if it is a regular load, but lets be real I never do "regular" loads. I shove as many clothes in each load as I can, so for large or heavy soiled loads use 2 TBPS....THATS ALL TWO TABLESPOONS! So cool. I use a coffee scoop I found at the dollar store, it is 1/8cup..thats T-W-O  T-A-B-L-E-S-P-O-O-N-S. I wash everything with this and it gets the clothes clean AND it doesn't aggrivate Alainas eczema. If you do all the math it costs about 30-40 dollars a YEAR to make this for your family. Well worth the time it takes to grate a bar of soap=)

Scrimmage

Okay how do you scrimmage with 16 6-8 year olds who are all wearing RED shirts and who are all COMETS? With alot of humor and chaos.

FOOTBALL!!!!

This year the Comets put on a skills camp for the grade 1-3 kids. Rhys has LOVED this, every Saturday morning he gets to go to the High School and play football. It is SO fun to watch I get quite a kick out of these kids and I think the Coaches are great with them and they all ahve so much FUN with it. It had been a wonderful experience for Rhys. Be prepared for alot of picutres=)

Happy Birthday Mom!!

For Moms birthsday we had Michael and Jenie and gang over for a Bar-B-Q. It was fun (as usual) to have everyone together and happy and playing. I made Mom a Texas cake so she could have a little slice opf TX even though she is up here in the snow and rain, lol.

Activity Days

The Activity Days girls in our ward threw a (belated) Mother Day dinner for thier Moms. Everything went very smoothly, we dined on Pasta casserole and salad and buns and we had ice cream and Peakfreens for dessert=) The girls sang "Mother I Love You" and even cleaned up afterward (mostly). Terina LOVES Activity Days and her leaders.

Off and flying...

Alaina , thanks to mom and Terina running up and down the block with her, has learned to ride a two wheeler!! Yay!! It was rough going for a coupl eof days but it got MUCH easier after we pumped up the flat tires, lol. Good job Baby!!

Mothers Day

I tried REALLY hard to have this ready for Mom for Mothers Day...it didn't happen though=( Sorry Mom, she got it about a week later....better late than never?? She was in Texas for Mothers Day anyway..so really it wasn't THAT late...=) and notice that it is HUGE so that's why it took me a little longer than I had planned. That's my story.

Womens Conference

In a strange set a coincidences I FINALLY  got to go to Womens Conference this year. I have always wanted to go but it has never worked out for us. This year our friends Chris and Jessica Orr called me about 2 weeks before conference and told me that Jess had planned a trip down with 3 friends but one had to cancell and would I like to go . I figured it was to quick and that we would never be able to pull it all together in time. But I underestimated my wonderful and supportive husband=)

Utah was beautiful, as usual , and COLD, not usual for April. The conference was an amazing experience and I would really love to go back next year.

The "Y"

Tree is bloom and snow falling, must be spring=)

Monida Pass on the way home.

Trevors Judo

Trevor has really enjoyed Judo this year and he wants to do it again next year. I am so proud of him for keeping at it even though he got hurt a couple of times and when he goes to tournaments he is always against boys who are a degree or two above his belt (they do the matches by wieght and age). He has been able to hold his own and learn some valuable lessons. He has also gone from a White Belt to a Yellow belt in his first year (2 up)!

Katsuta Kup- Raymonds Tournament

"on deck"  for the next match

                                                              Bronze! Good Job!!

SPRING!!!

Snow finally gone (for the moment) and temperatures in the high teens made for a couple of wonderful weeks this spring for outdoor play. I always find chalk outlines a little disturbing (to many Law and Order episodes) but the kids love to outline themselves and then clothe themselves in chalk outfits (both on the ground and all over their clothes)

Crocheting Madness

I warned everyone when I started crocheting that they would be getting handmade gifts from me this year. I followed through on that threat and here is Jenies Birthday Afgan...not to be confused with Jenies Christmas Afgan, lol. I love the colors on this one and only having 4 sides on every piece made it alot easier to sew together afterwards=)

Birthday Cakes

One day I was decorating a cake at the store and one of the girls who works there was saying how cute it was and how she wanted a cool cake for her birthday=)  So a few weeks ago when she turned 18 I made this cake for her (never let it be said I can't take a hint). She is going to BYU in the fall and her name is Lacey, I figured I could create soemthing fun and unique:

I had fun making it and they had fun eating it and having their mouths turn blue=)

Catch up

I have a memory card full of pictures and it has been a crazy couple of months so I figure I'll start at the top and work my way through and , hopefully , get caught up inthe next couple of days=)
The middle of April had us hip deep (literally) in snow. A huge storm blew through and we were powerless (no pun intended) and stranded for a couple of days. Gary was away in Vancouver and Dad and Sandy were in Arizona so it was up to me to get down to the store and try and salvage the food in the fridges and freezer. While I was shlepping the entire contents of the fridge into the snow and then into the shed and then back into the fridge Mom (who also couldn't get to work) stayed at home and watched my kids...

Thanks for your help Mom!