Homemade cleaners

I love Pinterest! I justify using it because it is helping me be a better homemaker :) I've been making my own laundry soap for a while, which we use a lot of! It works as well, or better than store bought stuff. Plus I can whip up a two gallon batch in my old Tide bottle in 10 minutes. I've used the same recipe for a while now, just tweaked it a little.
1/2 c 20 mule team borax
1/2 c washing soda
2 T dawn dish soap
1/2 c oxiclean
1/2 c or more of Purex fabric softening crystals

This makes a gallon, I always double it. Just add hot water and shake it up. Then you're good to go!

Today I made some homemade all purpose cleaner. I hope it works great! A friend of mine uses it and shared with me.

All Purpose Disinfecting Spray:
What You Need:
16 oz. glass spray bottle (you can purchase one here)
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 3/4 cups water
30 drops dōTERRA essential oil
1 teaspoon borax

Just mix together in a spray bottle. My bottle is plastic, so we'll see how it holds up. (The oils can break down the plastic). You can check out the doTerra site for suggestions of which oils work best together. http://doterrablog.com/spring-cleaning-all-purpose-spray

And I also tried out making our own detangler spray. We use a lot at our house! I searched for recipes and kind of mixed some together. We'll see how it performs :)
Favorite conditioner
Distilled water
Vinegar
Coconut oil in liquid form

Just mix in a spray bottle and use!

These are going to save us a lot of money, so maybe you can try it in your home! I like saving money!

Our latest adventure....

We are in the midst of one of our hardest challenges yet.  Back in June, Nate's company announced that they were moving to Fort Worth.  So we had a big decision to make.  With lots of thought and prayer and fasting, we decided the move wasn't for us.  We had a really great feeling of peace about the decision.  Now months later and with Nate being done with work, we are having some issues with our decision.  We never thought it would be this hard or take this long for Nate to find a replacement job.  Lucky for us, we have money in savings to back us up, but it's still hard.  We have to trust in Heavenly Father and have faith.  This is a real eye opening experience for all of us.  I know we will make it through, and that Heavenly Father will provide, but in the words of Tom Petty, "the waiting, is the hardest part!"  At least Nate is getting some quality time with the kids and had endless honey do projects to work on!  But keep him in your prayers, because I don't know how much longer he can make it before he goes stir crazy! :)

Hiking in the Tetons

The beautiful view

At the start of the trail, Livy was asleep.

She woke up when I put her in the sling.

Stopping by the river

Handsome boy with the long locks

I love the timer on cameras :)

This might be our Christmas card pic this year! LOL

We played in Taggart Lake to cool off.

Nice and wet from our playing. It was nice for the hike out :)

It was great to enjoy the outdoors!  We wish we had some of this around where we live.  This was our kids' first official hike and Livy was a trooper, she made it most the way by herself! It was almost 5 miles.

Our outings

Kylan got to go on an over night camp out with his Dad, Grandpa, and cousins.  They went up to Grey's river and rode the horses in to camp.  He had a good time, and his favorite part was the rope swing into the lake.  I wish there were enough time for all of us to go! I was jealous! :)  Except I got to go play with the girls in Jackson Hole, WY.  We got to shop and check out the sites.

Both Grandma's and some cousins were able to come hang with us and do some shopping.  We had a fun time!

Kylan is 9

Kylan may have had the best birthday ever :) He got to spend it in Etna, Wyoming, surrounded by mountains.  He also got to ride horses and four wheelers.  It was great!

He got some BYU shirts

A new air soft gun

A karate gi

His birthday cake was really tasty too! He wanted a cookies and cream cake.

He also got to have his Grandparents, and some cousins help him celebrate.  He's pretty spoiled, since he's got to celebrate his birthday in Wyoming two years in a row :)

Hannah is 5!

Modeling her birthday shirt, isn't she adorable?!

Showing off her birthday tiara

Thanks Grandma for the ponies!

She wanted a Rapunzel cake, then informed me that she didn't like frosting. Next year will be easy then, no cake! :)
We had a fun time celebrating Hannah's 5th birthday. She got to have a princess pool party with friends, and then the family celebrated at home.

End of school party

We wanted to celebrate school being done. So I made a game and we had water balloons, pizza, and other outside games. The kids had fun, but the biggest hit was the javelins turned into light sabers :) I just can't escape the Star Wars stuff!