SEATTLE!

We decided when we got our tax return this year we were going to take a trip together....KIDLESS! Our sister in law, Christy, grew up in Seattle and her parents still live there. We couldn't pass up the free lodging and both of us have never been there so we purchased the plane tickets as soon as we got our money from the IRS and decided to go Memorial Day weekend. It was hard to still go after Dayv was laid off but I'm so glad we did. We got the royal treatment from Christy's Dad while we were there. I couldn't belive how much we were able to do in the few days we were there with his careful planning. He drove us everywhere, told us everything we would ever want/or need to know and even cooked us some fabulous meals. The first picture I have posted is the view from the bedroom window we were staying in. Washington state is BEAUTIFUL! Christy's parents live in Bellevue, a very urban area and they still are able to enjoy this: (sorry about the flash)


Next we visited a beach off of Puget Sound. We saw crabs, star fish, clam necks, and so much more. It was so much fun to explore! Dave (Christy's Dad) told us that each beach is very different. You could go exploring every week and never get bored.






Rhododendron is a flower that grows wild in Washington. It is so beautiful!



Next we visted The Locks. Think of it as a boat elevator. Very cool!



Next we have pictures from the Seattle Aquarium.





We then visited Pike Place Market. They had several fish markets and yes, they did throw the fish! It was crazy to see all the different kinds of fish they had sitting right out there. Another fun thing to see at Pike Place was the flower markets. There were thousands of different kinds of flowers that they would put together in bouquets and set out for people to buy. The most expensive bouquet was only $15!!!





Next we saw Snoqualmie Falls. This was one of my favorite places we visited. It was absolutely gorgeous!




The next day, as soon as we ate breakfast, we left for the ocean. They live about 3 hours away from the ocean. Both Dayv and I had never seen the ocean before then. Dave had waders that came up to your chest that we both put on and got to go out into the ocean. It was awesome! You could feel the sand underneath you move away as you were standing there. The waves were also pretty powerful.

A big thing to do by the ocean in fly kites so I included pictures of some pretty nifty kites we saw there too.




We then ate at Alec's. A really nice diner by the ocean. Dayv and I (who are not seafood people) decided to try some fish while we were there. I had cod and Dayv had salmon. We didn't get too adventurous but we did enjoy our meals! On the way back home we visited a rain forest that had some of the largest trees in the world in their species. The first picture you see is us sitting on the world's largest Sitka Spruce (55'7" circumference/17.68'diameter/191'tall). The second tree is the world's largest Western Red Cedar (63.5' circumference/19.5' diameter/174'tall). The Cedar was hallow so we got to explore the inside too!






The next day we were going to see Mt. Rainier but the weather was not good (I think we saw the sun for about an hour the whole time we were there). So Dave took us across Deception Pass and over to an island (I don't remember what the island was called). Deception Pass was amazing! The bridge is HUGE! It is also very beautiful there. On the island we checked out a lighthouse. And then we took a ferry back over the water. I couldn't believe how many cars they could fit onto the ferry. It was a lot of fun going on the top of the ferry and looking out over the water.






So, as you can probably tell, we had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back!

Deals to Meals

A company that has helped our family save a lot of money is Deals to Meals. I discovered Deals to Meals a little over a year ago when it was featured on KSL.com. For only 4.95 a month they go through the current grocery ads and find the "RED DEALS" (cheaper than Costco, Sam's Club or Wal-mart)for you. It's all about building up your food storage a little at a time so they also give you the shelf life of each red deal item and how much you will need for a year supply. Not only do they do that, but they also make a MEAL PLANNER for the week with meals that use the items that are on sale! I have YET to find a recipe our family has tried that we didn't like. And many of the recipes are now in our regular dinner rotation! The recipes are homemade, healthy and DELICIOUS! They always include a couple of food storage recipes that can be made with only your food storage. Along with the meal planner they is also a GROCERY LIST that lists the ingredients for each recipe and where the cheapest place to buy that ingredient is. And for those of you who are not coupon clippers, they don't use coupons! Occasionally, there will be a link to one but the red deal price does not include the coupon. I used this before my coupon clipping days, started coupon clipping, got burned out and then came right back to Deals to Meals. It's so easy! (I also missed the recipes...lol)

I owe most of my food storage supply to this company! I LOVE IT!!! If it sounds like something you'd like to try you can for FREE for two weeks and let me know how you like it! And for you "out of staters" they have expanded to 12 states (Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and of course, Utah)

Money Saving Recipes

I've already had requests for some of my "recipes" so here they are.

LIQUID LAUNDRY SOAP

I got this one from a friend of mine. I love it! It works great and is so cheap!!

4 cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 cup Washing soda
1/2 cup Borax

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with sap and then fill rest of the way with water. Shake before each use (will gel) or you can leave as concentrate (which is what I do).

Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil (lavender, rosemary, tea tree, etc.) per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled.

Yield: makes 10 gallons

Top load machine: use 5/8 c. per load or 1/2 cup if in concentrate.
Front load machine: use 1/4 c. per load

For those in Utah you can find the Fels-Naptha bars at Harmons. I can't remember the exact cost for the soap now but it was around TWO BUCKS! I made this back in December and I still have about a 1/4 of a bucket left FIVE months later!!

HOMEMADE LIQUID FABRIC SOFTENER

1 cup baking soda
6 cups distilled white vinegar
8 cups water
10-15 drops of your favorite essential oil scent.

You will need a one gallon container. First add the baking soda to the container. Next add 1 cup of water. Slowly add the vinegar to the bottle as the vinegar and baking soda will start to fizz. Don't be worried. Then add the rest of the water swirling around & cover venting the top a few times. Last add the essential oil.
Add 1/2 cup in your final rinse cycle for each load but give the bottle a good shake to stir up the essential oil if using.

"DRYER SHEETS"

Ok, so this is not actually a dryer sheet but a very inexpensive way to reduce static like a dryer sheet. Take aluminum foil, ball it up and throw it in the dryer with the wet clothes. You can use the same ball of foil for a very long time!

BABY WIPES

I tried this recipe first:

2 c. hot water
2 Tbsp. baby wash
2 Tbsp. baby oil/olive oil
roll of Bounty paper towels

cut roll of paper towels in half. Put in a plastic storage container. Mix water, baby wash and oil together. Pour over paper towels, place the lid on and allow to absorb 4 hours - overnight. Gently pull the wet cardboard tube from the center and discard. Carefully pull the end of the paper towels from the inside. I guess some people also use flannel scraps, soak in the solution and then just wash like you would cloth diapers.

When I used homemade baby wipes that a friend of mine made they felt softer to me and and not so watery so here is her recipe too:

cut a roll of bounty paper towels in half and put 2 cups of water in a microwave safe bowl. I put about 2 tablespoons of baby lotion in it, I don't use any baby soap but you can if you want, use about 1 tablespoon if you do. Then heat the water in the microwave until its boiling. Then pour it over the paper towels in the container and put the lid on. After about 10 minutes I take the core out.

I'm trying that one next!

CLEANING WIPES

1 1/2 C. white vinegar
1 1/2 c. water

Again, cut a roll of Bounty paper towels in half. Put in a plastic container, pour solution over the top. Let sit with the lid on for 4 hours - overnight. Pull out the center and you have cheap cleaning wipes! Vinegar is great for cleaning and disinfecting! My husband DESPISES the smell of vinegar. I just tell him he can use whatever he wants when he starts doing the cleaning ;) I don't mind it but if you do I promise it goes away after it dries (two minutes at the most!).


HAIR GEL

This is my favorite hair gel! I like it even better than what I have bought in the store.

Boil 1 c. water, stir in 2 Tbsp. whole flax seeds and reduce heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened (it will thicken a bit as it cools, so do not simmer for much longer than 10 min, as it will be impossible to strain). Strain and then add a few drops of essential oil for scent or add pure vanilla/almond extract (which is what I do). Store it in the fridge. When the texture or color starts to change or it's not working well, throw it out and make a new batch (should be good for about 2 weeks).

Some tweaking suggestions: during simmering add...1-3 tsp salt (she used epsom salt) for hold, 1-3 tsp glycerine for shine, 1-2 tsp jojoba oil to shine and smooth (you'll have to remix each time you use the gel), or aloe gel for moisture (she could not find a form that didn't clump up)
**The only thing I've tried is the epsom salt. It worked great!

Suggested use: After shower, gently squeeze excess water but do not rub with towel. Ideally, you want your hair very wet. You can use a lot of flax seed gel and it won't get all gross and crunchy. After smoothing it on, scrunch with the towel, "plop" hair up in towel and allow to stay there for a bit. Then let air dry the rest of the way (which I never have time to do) or dry with hair dryer with diffuser (but no not scrunch with hands, just "cup" the hair with the diffuser.)

Money, Money, Money

So, as many of you already know, Dayv was laid off of work last Thursday. Not fun! We are very blessed to have many friends and family that care about enough about us that we aren't too worried about having to live on the streets. However, it still is not a very nice feeling. "Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." (Spike Milligan) Ha ha ha!

I was smart enough to start building up some sort of food storage last year and learned how to actually use it. I also started making a lot of my own stuff. My own laundry soap, fabric softener, cleaning wipes, baby wipes, and hair gel. I also started trying to find recipes to make my kids snacks instead of buying them. I am so glad I had already started doing these things! And to be honest, I've actually had a little fun trying out new things and seeing how little money we can live on.

So, I've decided to change the focus of my blog just a little bit. I've read and gotten many ideas on how to save money from other blogs and thought maybe I could start doing that here. I'll post recipes for homemade household items that I love and just general things that we are doing to save money. I think when times are hard it is hard to stay optimistic so I've also decided to post the things I am grateful for and things that happened that made us smile. So, here it is....Our Family, living off FAITH and LOVE!

I would also love any ideas YOU have to save a buck or two!

Getting Healthy!

On Tuesday two of my friends called me and told me, I had no choice, that I was joining them in a 5K run in July. At first I was a little worried but decided that it would be really good for me. I have been trying to fit some sort of exercise in my daily routine for quite some time now. They told me about a "couch to 5K" program that was out there along with a podcast I could download. I couldn't get that one to download onto my micro SD card so I found this one instead. It even has a "graduation" podcast....lol. I started the routine that tuesday night. You are suppose to do it 3X a week with at least one day in between your runs. The first day wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and my legs didn't even hurt yesterday. But boy do they hurt today! As I was doing my routine on tuesday I thought I really should probably start eating better, drinking more water, blah blah blah. My sister in law Christy recently joined a group that is doing a healthy challenge. I was going to join but chickened out because of everything that was going on at the time. I started regretting that decision when I came up with the idea to start my own healthy challenge group! So, I created a blog, healthychallengegroup.blogspot.com. We've got 5 contestants so far and hopefully we'll get more. I'm really excited to start forming healthy habits. I've even got Dayv to start eating healthier! He told me yesterday that he passed up all the unhealthy snacks they have at work and just had the fruit. I'm trying to get him to join me in the healthy challenge but haven't quite convinced him YET.

My Perfect Mother's Day

These are four very important moments in my life. The four times I became a mother. Today I found myself feeling a little upset that I didn't get my "perfect" mother's day. My house was a mess. My children were acting...like themselves. I didn't eat breakfast and cooked everybody dinner. I will mention that my husband did take me out last night for a fabulous dinner and a movie. However, I felt that I deserved more than just last night. And then I read a blog that described a mother's grief over the lost of not one but two of her children. One before he was born and the another at 4 months old. I DID have my perfect mother's day. I got to spend it WITH my children! I GOT to cook them dinner (that they didn't even eat). I GOT to hear them laughing (and fighting). I GOT to kiss them goodnight and tell them that I love them (and to get back in bed for the 10th million time). And I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for sending them to me. No, it's not easy. I get upset. I scream. I cry. I frequently go to the bathroom and lock the door just so I can have a couple of minutes to myself. But I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy being a mother!

Random

A random snow shower in April:



A random cute picture of Landon:



Noah's random sleeping positions:





A random hair cut? Actually, I've had this planned for a while....



Random inspiration on how to store all our food storage. I would like to build it up a lot more but I think we have a good start. This may not be the most exciting thing for most of you but I had a few people ask what I did.

First we have the buckets of flour, oats, rice and sugar, container of bags of wheat, and our 72 hour kits on the shelf:



Next we have a bookcase to store all of our canned and boxed goods nestled so nicely in between our washer and dryer (who ever planned out this laundry room had some very interesting ideas):



Then we have three shelves to house our non-food items, landry on top, bathroom in the middle and kitchen on the bottom:




And last we have our all important water storage (about 6 days worth for our family):