sunday morning science

i confess. 

i have a strong affinity towards bugs.

surprised?

 not me.

sure, they can be nasty.

there are times past when i wish my kids would NOT have touched them.

but then there are are the other times when i get all excited because i have found one.

a dang cool bug.

{isn't he "cute!"}

i get excited because i know how much my kids love them....

and i get excited for what they can learn from observing one of God's amazing creatures for a brief amount of time.

he was one huge grasshopper that looked as if he was a warrior plated with desert armor equipped with the coolest velcro feet ever!

what a fortunate thing to be able to watch my children wonder and learn and then set the marvelous creature free to once again ravage my tiny tomato crop.

i know.

not the smartest thing to free the predator of vegetables,

but it's the least we could do for all he did for us. ;)

what an amazing creature.

just one thing still perplexes me. what on earth is that large spine thing protruding from his abdomen??? the cool thing is that he can bend it and bring it all the way to his mouth and he uses it when climing. it's quite a site to see.
 

Sweet Fruity Fun

I had driven past them half a dozen times on the way to the park. Two trees, heavy and full of goodness were calling my name.

Then finally, one day I did it. 

I wrote the note and it went something like this.

I was noticing that you had a large amount of fruit on you tree. If you are not going to use it, I was wondering if I could pay you for any you might not use. Just call me and let me know. 

Thanks for your consideration,

Julie

Two days went by until I got the message.

He said I could have them.

FOR FREE!

The next Saturday morning, I gathered my buckets, a ladder and a large jug of water and headed off for my adventure.

I found the "perfect" place to park.

Then I got to work.

First task: Sampling of the goods. 

We discovered that even warm grapes and nectarines are absolutely divine!!! 

Next, the fun started. This is how it went.

Pick, sweat, sample.

Pick, sweat, sample.

Pick, sweat, sample.

REPEAT

The fun lasted for over an hour and a half.

All the while I sang the song...

"Millions of Nectarines, Nectarines for Me. Millions of Nectarines, Nectarines for Free."

And I was happy.

I only had to escape from the 105* temps once in the air conditioned car.

It was a hot, sweaty, exciting, YUMMY morning.

I got lots of long looks from curious drivers.

Hmmm....Roadside fruit picking isn't all that common in these parts I suppose!

Then, as if there wasn't enough excitement for one morning, the cops showed up just as I had full buckets of sweet deliciousness in my hot little hands on the way to the van. One of those curious drivers had even called the cops for me.

There were lectures and threats of the confiscation of the fruits of my labors.

It's pretty sad when the most exciting thing for a couple of arrogant cops to do on a Saturday morning is to protect produce and be rude to the pregnant fruit crazy mom. They treated me as if I had just robbed a bank and was loading up buckets of gold coins instead of over ripe golden fruit.

Silly cops. 

I'm just thankful the nectarine tree owner was home to verify my story....

AND that I wasn't ticketed for parking on the curb.

AND that I didn't speak my mind and tell them how ridiculous they were behaving.

It was a fun fruit filled morning for sure!!!

It was all worth it to enjoy that real, yummy, drippy ripe fruit for days on end. 

And the dried stuff is pretty dang wonderful too!

do the math.

Start with a little cabin an hour away

ADD

  

 + rocks to throw. lots of them

 

 

+ a cute big sister OR brother

  

+ hands for holding
+ lots of room to roam and GORGEOUS weather for an early morning walk. 

 + Grandpa and Grandma Julie
+ blocks 
+ a tiny barn  
+lots of little piggies.

+ the soon to be weds.

 + a bunch of trees to climb  

+ a carefree daddy  

+ his buddy 

 

+ oil pastels 

+ 1970's stationary  

 + the perfect amount of sunlight

 + 1 deliciously juicy, drippy watermelon  

+ 3 VERY sticky children

+ plenty of time to relax

+ lots of laughter

+ some very comfy retro chairs.

TAKE AWAY

-

daily chores

-
computers

- 

the usual fighting and teasing

-

110* heat

it equals

=

tHe mOsT pErfeCtesT DaY eVeR!

  i'm just aching to go up again. 

you would make the perfect addition.

wanna come next time?

today's "great" harvest

quality....not quantity. right????

yum. 

quantity does sound attractive, but this will do for now. 

i did it too!

I know that this is all over the internet, but I'm going to add my 7 cents since someone asked me about it. 

My sister is getting married and is going domestic on us so it was a nice treat when she invited herself and my mom over to make laundry soap. I bought the ingredients several months ago and was glad for the company to complete the task.

I found recipes in several places but decided to go with the one that Tina shared on her blog because it had less Fells Naptha. When I first bought ingredients at Smiths I just bought random amounts of the ingredients and hadn't bought enough Fels Naptha for my other ingredients. 

This picture is of the ingredients in a large batch.
(6 cups Washing Soda, 6 cups Borax, 4 bars Fels Naptha)

BUT I doubled it and made and EXTRA Large batch because if I'm going to make the effort, I'm going to go BIG! 

(My doubled list of ingredients) 

1 4lb. 12 oz. box of Borax  (that has 12 cups)

2 3lb. 7oz. boxes of Super Washing Soda (that has 6 cups).

8 bars Fels Naptha.

Measured out, the recipe is

12 cups Borax

12 cups Super Washing Soda

8 bars Fels Naptha

 (I found all of the ingredients at Smiths on Nellis/Stewart)

"Making" the soap is dang simple. The term making is used loosely because all you are actually doing is combining 3 ingredients. There are only 2 steps.

STEP 1: Grate the soap

This is the most time consuming step by far. 

You can do it BY HAND or WITH A STRONG FOOD PROCESSOR

We did both ways.

My sister and mom got the most exercise and grated their 6 bars (since they were splitting a large batch following a recipe that used 6 bars) by hand.

It's kind of tedious.

See?

 BUT:

If you add a bit of singing, it makes the time pass quicker....even if the 3 year old thinks it a bit strange.

Since I was grating 8 bars,  I used the food processor and 3 very "helpful" children. I had to empty the processor 3 times.

Yes, I we made a BIG mess.

The soap worked my machine hard and made an awful racket at the end of every bar, but it saved me lots of elbow grease. Washing it was a pain so If I was doing a 1 or 2 bar batch I would grate by hand!

My processor doesn't grate on a fine setting so after the initial grating I ran the processor with the "S" blade to grind it up a bit more.

Then it was perfect.

STEP 2: Mix

I used a massive bucket because I made an extra large batch. It needs to be mixed well to distribute the soap as evenly as possible.

It made A BUNCH which will last just about forever, especially since you just use 2 tbs. per load.

I just use a heaping coffee scoop.

Here it is in my soap jar:

I enjoy the light yellow color...

AND the swirly look from the side. 

Here's my review after doing 5 loads:

So far, so good. 

 *****I give it  5 STARS *****

I LOVE that it is dang cheep. I don't remember how much I spent since I'm not so good at keeping receipts, but Tina did a cost analysis and said it came out to only 7 cents per load.

I enjoy the light smell especially since I usually use scent free detergent.

I have a front loading washer and it is working perfectly! It all washes out of the little tray even.

I like that my clothes came out clean for a fraction of the cost.

I will definitely be making this again when I run out. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while though!

I like that I know exactly what's in it and am using less harmful ingredients next to my families skin.

For my next batch I am considering using Dr. Bronners Castille Soap like my friend Ashley and Soul Mama did since Fels Naptha isn't all that natural (I had already bought it and it's way better than your average detergent goes.)


Has anyone else tried this yet? 
What did you think?

Phew!

For the past couple of months, my brain has been much like my planner:

EMPTY.

The first trimester of this pregnancy sucked all of the life out of me. 

I don't remember having been so zapped before.

Maybe it's because after taking care of 3 other children, there is not much life left in me at times.
Maybe it's because the onset of summer coincided with the 1st trimester.
Maybe I'm just getting OLD!

Well, whatever the reason is, I'm just glad to be back and feeling alive and full of energy once again!


AND

My TO DO list overfloweth as I try to make up for lost time and recoup the damages caused by my 10 week hiatus from a normal functioning life.
 

Energy and motivation started seeping into me last Friday at my 13 week mark and I couldn't be happier about it.

This week so far....

I've scrubbed down nearly every door and jam in my house, washed the kitchen cabinets down, FINALLY put away the Easter decorations (an amazing feet, I know), washed the sliding glass door, actually made homemade laundry soap from the stuff I've been storing for months, made dinner every night (except for on my birthday) AND folded the laundry all by myself (believe me, Patrick was in a state of shock.)

Phew.

All I can say is, bring it on!!!

NOT barefoot

i wake up after 9 hours,

just to feel like getting back in bed,

so i simply become one with the couch.

the miracle of baby building is in progress,

and it's draining all of my energy,
i don't ever remember being this exhausted before.

my 3 children just continue swirling around me in circles.

 {the current chaos: our attempt at a family pic at justin's k12 kindergarten graduation!}

narcolepsy sets in, eyelids get heavy:
mandatory nap time at 3:00!the whole house goes to sleep for 2 hours,

and it even happens in the middle of sacrament meeting at church each Sunday.

the kids are as excited as can be to help change some diapers,

a larger family and more messes will be worth it in the end,

i just hope that the house doesn't implode.

laundry piling and dishes mounting,

can barely see through the sliding glass door,
i don't dare walk barefoot in this house.

i desperately need to hire a regular housekeeper and throw away all of the toys.

pants feeling tighter and scale going up,
hopefully not too fast especially after loosing 50lbs,
but the toll on the body is worth it. yes, it is. 

hormones fluctuating wildly and patience waning,

i'm oversensitive and need a good cry,

when will the crankiness end??? (for my families sake)

constantly forgetting: 3 kids and not one has worn shoes on at our visit to interview a midwife??? seriously!?!?

not sure where my brain has gone: why did i come in this room? 

tell me, how could i leave my full cart of bought groceries in the parking lot at Trader Joe's???

at least i didn't leave a kid...but i still feel like a lunatic.

i'm excited. a fourth child to welcome to kiss and to nurse,

feeling up to the challenge done 3 times before,

and looking forward to a brand new one to love.

thanking my lucky stars i'm not vomiting,

just trying to stay awake,

can't wait for the 2nd "honeymoon" trimester.

a shout out to the world:  please bear with me,

this is a work in progress to be unveiled early January of 2011,

i'm just trying to enjoy the ride. 

i'm pregnant. 

{julie}

The translation: 

I'm pregnant and happily await the coming of a new baby early January....
....and for the 1st trimester to be OVER so life can get back to "normal"..... 

 {whatever that means since with each new child, my definition of normal changes drastically anyways.}

*not sure why i wrote this in poetry style since the last poem i wrote was in the 8th grade and each line started with the letters in my name, but it was fun to try something new. i especially enjoyed not capitalizing. i'm pretty sure it was inspired by terresa. i love her work.

what does pregnancy mean to you?

eNjoYiNg......

This afternoon I decided the post I wrote 3 weeks ago was getting very stale.
I sat down to write, but nothing made it onto my screen.

At the time I could not think of anything else to write about. I was experiencing a bloggers block of sorts. Luckily as I thought, what in the world is worth sharing???? (aside from just more pictures of DISASTERS BY DALLIN) I remembered that there is really A LOT more to my life then DESTRUCTION!

Don't get me wrong, there IS much destruction. BUT there are still many, many things that we are eNjOyiNg right now.

 

We are eNjOyiNg my dad and mum's desire to take the kids to his house for slumber parties...once a month.

What a treat!!!!

....for them and for us.

Patrick and I get to spend some much needed time together.
The kids get to watch movies into the wee hours of the morning and  gorge themselves on CocoaCrackCrispies and other treats I don't care to know about that only grandpa gives them!

We do pay for the sugar overdose the rest of the Satruday, but it's worth it. :0)

f

This is a very simple enjoyment, but right now I totally this salsa. I've run out of it and need to go to Costco to get more. I LOVE El Sol Salsa. There are only a few ingredients, it's fairly salty, but is the perfect addition to many, many things I make. It adds just a little kick and adds spice to my life....Just like Dallin (who actually eNjOyS it straight.)

I eNjOy it when something is organized. It may not STAY organized, but right now I am  eNjOyiNg my clean jUnK drAwEr!

This was a few weeks ago, but it still resembles it's organized state. 

I'm even enjoying a (mostly) clean computer nook which is a rarity here. 

I can even move my mouse around with ease! 

(You can catch a glimpse of it in the background of Dallin's salsa painting picture.)

Lately we have been  eNjOyiNg many, many, many hours at the park. I can't think of anything Anna  eNjOys more than swinging. She squeels with delight and is on cloud nine whenever she can bribe me or another park attendee to push her. ;) Laundry parties and a messy house are a small price to pay for childhood bliss.

 

I am really eNjOyiNg serving in the nursery at church.
No, REALLY! And I think Patrick even likes it too.
I find it a bit surprising that I feel so excited and look forward to being in there all week long.
I just can't help it. The kids are adorable, it's fun to see my husband playing with them, I get to plan fun activities there is an awesome manual, I love doing singing time AND I get a snack during church. Is it isolating????......uh....yeah, but it's so worth it. It feels so satisfying to see a kid change from being a nursery hater to a nursery lover. I enjoy that. :)



You proably have realized it by now, but we are eNjOyiNg our little garden. I never realized what satisfaction growing things would bring. It's so fun to have the kids run out to grab an onion for dinner or snack on peas while playing in the back yard. Justin really considers himself a knowledgeable gardener it's so cute! 

 

Don't for a second think that we have a clue what we are doing. A few things actually grow to the point where we can actually eat them and we get a bit of help from our awesome neighbor, Laura.

The other things we grow...... They are for entertainment. 

I recently decided to "harvest" our carrots. What a joke that was. 

The carrot stem that was nearly as tall as Justin ended up having two heads and had a root  only as long as his little finger. The other was quickly named MEDUSA for obvious reasons. The kids  eNjOyEd their little friend until she withered away.

 We are also really  eNjOyiNg the backyard. AKA the outdoor classroom for Justin, a place to send the kids to run free, get dirty AND give mom some space (and another area to clean. :)



Last but not least, I am REALLY, REALLY  eNjOyiNg Mormon messages. What a special treat it is to be taught meaningful lessons in little bits throughout the day. Here is my alltime favorite story. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. I want to put silver dollars in someone's shoes. Maybe not literally, but you get the point.




This one is new, but if you haven't heard the Nielsen's story yet (which would be hard for me to believe), you must see this! I've been inspired by them over and over, but this video was the icing on the cake!!! I thoroughly  eNjOyEd it!

What are YOU eNjOyiNg right now???