Here are a couple.

I have been really bad about taking pictures lately. Today was NO exception though my intentions were real. After picking up Kennedy from school in 65 degree weather, we thought...a great day for a trip just us girls to the park. Fantastic! We got all dressed, we packed a bag of snacks and camera and phone and blankets and water bottles and went on our way. As we made the 1/9th of a mile uphill sojourn, we noticed something crazy going on. Oh yes, thats right, TUMBLEWEED EVERYWHERE! There was a mild level 16 tornado happening in our neighborhood at around 3pm. As we went around the bend and the park was in view- it was so windy all 3 girls started weeping and decided it was time to turn around and go home. Kennedy said to me, "mom, you should have checked if it was windy outside". I carried Rebecca in my arms and Macey and Kennedy were walking- shielding their eyes in my skirt when all of a sudden we were attacked by Tumbleweed. Kennedy panicked and kept grabbing it and got splinteries all over her hands- Rebecca was screaming at the top of her lungs (not sure if she was excited or upset), and Macey (who is getting over the flu) was yelling- HOLD ME MOM HOLD ME MOM!! As we got untangled from the tumbleweed, I picked up all my kids and ran home. I'm sure we were a sight- 7 months pregnant carrying three kids through a tornado. Nice. So, since my hands were a bit occupied, I will post a couple photos unrelated to todays event and hopefully we can get some more up here this weekend.

Oh blast, my computer is taking forever to download photos right now so I will sign off with a goodbye from Macey who has influenza. I am the meanest mom ever!

Health food

So, I have been trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies into our family diet but have found it to be a bit of a struggle to get 6 servings of veggies in per day. In fact, I don't think I have ever eaten 6 servings of veggies in a day in my entire life (unless you count potatoes). So, we decided to make berry smoothies. The girls had a lot of fun throwing their favorite berries into the 8-cup Pyrex measuring cup that I don't know how I lived without before I got one last month. We used 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt, 1/2 cup each- blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries, 1 tablespoon Miller's creamy honey, 1/4 cup wheat germ, and milk to get to our desired consistency. We blended it all up with our immersion blender and it made 5 1-cup servings. They LOVED it! Macey said it was better than cookies! For fun just to try, we added spinach to the leftover serving of smoothie and I thought it was better than the smoothie without spinach. I added a handful of spinach and probably 1/2 tsp cinnamon (since it was only a cup of smoothie) and blended it up again. It is one of those recipes that would probably taste better with lots more sugar and yoplait strawberry yogurt but because this one was so healthy, we'll stick with it. We used frozen berries too- they were on sale for $1.29/bag at our local grocery store.

Homemade Detergent Conclusions...

Okay- I know I have only used it for a few days but I love it! I haven't been witness to any major transformations but knowing that it is so cheap and so much better for us- I will take it! I washed a white onesie of Rebecca's that had Carnation Instant Breakfast spilled down the front of it. It was still wet so I rubbed some of the washing soda on it and put it in the wash with my homemade laundry detergent and the stain came out. I don't know how it would be if I didn't pretreat but I didn't use bleach. So, that is my first result. I made the laundry detergent and put it in a 5 gallon bucket and then just refill a quart size Rubbermaid container with a lid that seals well and the top has a pour spout. That has worked great!

I made a granite cleaner- FYI-use 1 cup Isopropyl Alcohol to 3 parts Water and a few drops of PH neutral dish detergent- it works great! The granite looks brand new. I put it in a spray bottle and spray at the end of the day. There are water bottles in the cleaning section of the grocery store that about a dollar cheaper than the ones in haircare and are better quality. (Opaque is better for cleaning products)

The glass cleaner is fantastic (and safe to eat off of) I have been using that in place of Windex and I think it even works better than Windex- chemical free!

I think that is all I have to report so far. I will continue with updates. I just keep telling myself- a penny per load of laundry! INSANE! All these items are septic and sewer system safe. Don't worry, I am not going to start my own MLM- I just want you to know that there are options out there for the two of you who read this!;-)

A paddle short of a canoe trip?

I wanted to share a couple of "recipes" with you- not because I am (see post title) but because it is super cheap, better for your health, and so much better for the environment. I just made a container that contains one gallon of laundry detergent and when the math is said and done- each load of laundry will cost about 1 and a half cents.
So, in case you are interested in chemical free laundry detergent here is the recipe:

---1 bar of mild smelling or unscented soap (do not use Fels Naptha- even though some websites recommend it- there are a bunch of unnamed chemicals in it)
---1 cup of Borax
---1 cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
---4 cups of water
---a few drops of essential oil (optional)
---and a 1.5 gallon pail or bucket with tight fitting lid.

Finely grate 1 bar of soap.
Bring to boil 4 cups of water and add the soap. Let the soap sit on the stove for about 10 minutes covered until the soap melts and remove from heat.
Put the soap mixture into pail or bucket and add borax and washing soda. Combine until well combined. Add 1 gallon of water and continue to mix well- about 5 minutes- with large spoon.

Cover and let sit for 24 hours and then add essential oil if you choose- mix in well. Use 1/4 cup per load of laundry (this should be enough for about 64-72 loads). If you choose to double or triple- use a 5 or ten gallon bucket to store and then transfer to smaller containers as needed. Shake or stir your smaller container before each use.

I also made a chemical free- all natural multi purpose cleaner. It contains equal parts of vinegar, water and essential oil to your taste. I cannot stand the smell of vinegar so the essential oil was a must for me. Put into a spray bottle and shake well. I cleaned my floors this morning, my counter, my cabinet fronts and my refrigerator handles with this solution using a half cup of water and half cup of vinegar and two or three drops of mandarin oil. It worked great!

I read that laundry detergents, dryer sheets and fabric softeners are among the worst offenders for the environment and personal health. After I try a few homemade chemical-free replacements of those products, I will post those recipes here and my conclusions about them. Or, do your own research and see what you can come up with. I would love to hear about it if you try these or something different.

It's a BOY!

I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. We are having a BOY! YIKES! How does one do that after three perfectly amazing and gorgeous and sweet little girls?! Advice is appreciated and so are name ideas. My love, Kim

Happy 2009!

Our Christmas holiday was spent with family and friends up in Redmond, WA. Those of you who know me well- know that I crave a good, dark, cloudy, rainy, windy day. You know that I was longing to get away from the Utah Snow/Sun/Snow/Sun/Snow for a while and enjoy some good Seattle winter weather. Unfortunately, the weather elves wanted to play a trick on me- and indeed they did. 2 feet of white, wintry snow fell for 8 days straight in Redmond. I grew up there and have never seen anything like it. We were snowed in. It made for some great pictures though and probably the most picturesque Christmas ever experienced by humankind. The smiles on the faces of our daughters also made my great sacrifice worth it! Thank you weather elves and Allgoods for hosting our little clan for 2 weeks!

So, you couldn't really tell from these pictures that it actually snowed while we were there. That is because this is our new camera and we didn't get it until Christmas Day and didn't take pictures with it until we got a lesson from Jon. Unfortunately, the snow was near melted by then. So, I will plead for some pictures from the family and post asap. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and continue with your merriness throughout the New Year.

Halloween where we at...