nursery.

Today was Truman's first full day of nursery at church {even though he is not quit old enough}.  He did great.  I have to give all the credit to our awesome nursery leaders.  Its a bunch of grandparents and they have a very structured nursery which I think is so important for the kids.

Here he is folding his arms for prayers.  He learned how to do this a few months ago - we had been talking about folding our arms in family night and then one Sunday out of the blue he folded his arms during the sacrament.  I am not going to lie - I had a very proud parent moment!!!

Truman and dad with matching ties.

{Truman is eating his cereal necklace from nursery - they had to hide it under his tie so he didn't eat it at nursery}.

book club.

Today we had book club at Ali's house.  We decided to finish the Hunger Games series so we read "Mockingjay".  Most people {myself included} didn't like the series.  We talked a little bit about what we think made it so popular.  

 I am giving the book  two stars out of five.

{I liked the second book "Catching Fire" the best}

We also read "The Tao of Pooh"  by Benjamin Hoff.  I liked this book; it makes you think.  It is about how Taoism and Winnie the Pooh are similar.  There are alot of good 'one liners' in the book.  

 I am giving this book four stars out of five.

Thanks Ali for the yummy fruit and pastries!

Next month we are reading, Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino.

It is my month to select the book and host.

{this book was recommended to me by my Aunt Ilene}

friday flashbacks.

Me
First day of third grade
1990

mighty minis.

I know summer is nearly over but I wanted to share these great popsicles my sister and mom introduced to me.

They are miniature popsicles made with some gelatin so they melt really slow.  Truman can eat an entire one with out making a mess.  They are great!  Find them in your grocers freezer section!

buzz cut.

Gregg decided to buzz Truman's hair after I gave his a pretty bad hair cut.  How do you cut a 17 month-olds hair?  He will not sit still - I was worried about buzzing it because I didn't want it to look 'buzzed'.  I must say Gregg did a great job - he might have to be in charge of hair cuts now.

I am following in my mother's footsteps.  I cut Gregg's hair, Gregg cuts Truman hair and all the saved money goes toward my haircuts! {my mom always said she cut my dad, sister and four brother's hair so she could afford for her and I to get our difficult hair cut}!

friday flashbacks.

Tara and Gregg Simons

1979 {?}

I love this picture because it is so typical of Truman with a ball in his hand!

Laundry Soap.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Tara Maxfield

1 bar Ivory soap - no scent, no coloring

1/4 bar Fels Naptha 
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder 

Essential Oil

Grate the soaps and put them in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Finally, add your favorite essential oil, I use about 45 drops of tea tree oil but I used lemon and grapefruit too and they work really well. You can obviously use whatever scent you want. The EO will make the soap a more effective cleanser, make the soap more effective at getting rid of bacteria and microbes (not sure about all oils but tea tree has anti bacterial agents in it), and will of course make your laundry smell incredible.

Pour mixture into old detergent bottles and let sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. The finished soap will not be a solid gel. It will be more of a watery gel, with a pearly white color to it. The recipe says you only need about 1/2 cup per load, but I use a little more. I don't think it really matters since this is a VERY low sudsing soap, I just feel like it is extra clean with a bit more.  

Suds are not what does the cleaning, it is the ingredients in the soap. From all the research my friends and I did, it appears to be safe and effective in energy efficient machines too because it hardly makes any suds.

Because this recipe includes far less chemical than other laundry soaps, ie, cleaners, dyes, fragrance, you will find it to be great for allergies and sensitive skin, and I feel better about it not being carcinogenic.

We figured it is about $0.01 per load!




I wanted to add that this is my favorite stain removed {thanks to Tara McGown for introducing me to it}.  I used to be a 'Shout' fan but this gets out all the nasty baby/toddler/kid stains!

lake powell.

Gregg and I were invited on a week long, couples only Lake Powell trip.

What a blast and what a great week to go - the lake was practically empty because everyone is back in school.  

left to right: Bruce & Nikki Sue, Rosemary & Charly, Scott & Kristi, Cameren & Emily, Gregg & Camille.

Me and Kristi showing off our High School diving skills.

Cameren was an awesome wake boarder. 

Hole in the Rock.

This is the crack where the pioneers came down and hit the Colorado River {back in the day when there was no 'Lake Powell'}  We hiked up it one afternoon and I kept thinking the pioneers were crazy to try and come down it, but when you think about it there were huge rock cliffs everywhere else so when they saw the "hole in the rock" it was there only way down.  At the top you can still see the wagon wheel marks in the rocks.

The cool think is that today at Regional Conference Elder Holland told the story of the pioneers coming down hole in the rock and we had just hiked it three days prior.

This is the view from the top looking down on the lake.

Everyone at the top of an arch we hiked to...can't remember the name. 

Scott skiing after major knee surgery earlier this year.

The poop dock which we named the quacker.  Gregg and I getting ready to go use the toilets at the poop dock.

Me just as I was getting up on the water ski's.  I can't do any crazy tricks like everyone else...I played it pretty safe.

Gregg showing off his wake boarding skills after not being out in several years.

The house boat - we all slept on top one night {and laughed so hard our abs were sore - thanks Scott}.

Kristi showing off her skills after having her knee scoped one month ago!  

A hot shower...ahhh... {even though the water was 80 degrees}.

Emily the real pro.

Bruce with his wicked knee boarding tricks.

Everyone relaxing on the relaxinator! 

Opps...we ran out of gas in the speed boat and had to be towed to the gas dock.

We did several small hikes to look at ruins and arches.  So many cool places to explore at Lake Powell.

Scott showed us this awesome crack you can hike threw {I think its called Krisiti's crack}.  The picture on the left shows everyone hiking up the crack - then they hiked threw the crack about 200 yards.  The picture on the right shows them coming out {right at the old water line}.  They hiked down and then jumped into the lake {pictures below}.

Loading up the speed boat with all are empty gas cans after a fun week of playing!

PS- I finally finished Breaking Dawn, phew!

friday flashbacks.

Paul, Dallin, Valine Quinn.  Alvin and Ida Arave. Anthony, TIffany, Camille, Nathan Quinn. Marie, Jerry, Josh Thun.

Lake Powell

April 1991