Laundry Detergent

I have found a laundry detergent recipe that I like, that I think works just as well as the Tide I normally use. I got it from OneGoodThingbyJillee.com, only I tweaked it a little. Here is my version:

• 1 Gallon Jug (I used a milk jug)
• 6 T Borax
• 6 T Washing Soda
• 8 T Dawn Dish Soap (I used 2 different kinds. Original and Green Apple. You cannot mix the original with bleach. Don't ask me why. It just says on the bottle)

First I boiled some water, oh about half a tea kettle full. Then, I poured all my ingredients in the jug. Once the water was piping hot, I added it to the milk jug and stirred it all up. I let it sit to cool down a bit and every few minutes stirred it again. After maybe 30 minutes I took it to the sink and filled the rest of the jug with lukewarm tap water. I filled it until most of the soap bubbles had overflowed out and the liquid was nearly to the top. I then poured it into an old Tide container. I use a full cap full of the homemade with every load.

A Much Needed Vacation

Zach and I have been feeling very burnt out lately. Between picking up extra hours at work and having to deal with a baby who has entered the "terrible two's" phase, we needed a break. So, we went and visited Leah, Adam, and Miss Chloe in California. I am so grateful to Leah for letting us stay at her house. I'm sure having so many guests at her house for almost a whole week must have been a lot to bear. Thank You Leah! We had a lot of fun. We got to play with Chloe, go to the beach, see some sea lions, and eat some nummy food.

Rodeo Beach

Can you tell we were freezing?

Golden Gate Bridge

Poor Micah was so cold

Driving on the bridge

San Francisco

Micah on Treasure Island

"Mommy! Take one of me like this!"

Alcatraz 

Alyssa decided she didn't want to go with us into the city, so she stayed behind. Again, thank you Leah for watching Alyssa and Lily!

Easter

The Easter Bunny made his annual visit to the Bailey house. For the past 2 years the Easter Bunny has stopped by leaving a poop trail of jelly beans around the house that the girls like to find and eat, ugh gross! Us girls got a new dress and Zach got a new tie. Then, after church we went over to Nana and Papa's for an Easter Egg Hunt. The kids had to wear bunny ears, and the older girls had to use a spoon to carry their egg from the ground to the bucket while hopping (just to make it harder for the older girls so that the babies could have a chance to get some eggs too).

Lily looking outside at her sisters hopping around

Emma likes broccoli. What's that on her forehead?

"M" is for eMMa

My sweet Micah bunny

A Very Micah Birthday

My Micah Boo turned 5! We celebrated by going to Trafalga

Homemade

I've been trying out some homemade detergents and cleaners lately. Some have worked out nicely and others have not.
1st: Homemade Shampoo - Some days I feel better about this than others. All the blogs I've read praise the baking soda + water shampoo. They say that the first week you're hair is really oily because the hair folicles are in shock because they are used to being stripped of the natural oils. Also, after using it for a while you won't have to wash your hair everyday. People usually pair the homemade shampoo with the apple cider vinegar conditioner (apple cider vinegar + water). The vinegar is supposed to detangle the hair and seal the hair ends to protect from split ends. Here are the pros and cons I have with the shampoo. I have to wash my hair everyday or else it looks like it's been at least a week since I've washed it. My hair never really feels clean. It feels like there's dirt or powder coating my hair. It could be that I just don't wash the baking soda out completely, but I try. It leaves my hair dry and dull looking. I've also noticed that it collects a lot more lint. The good thing about it is that it costs less than $0.25 to make a big container of and my hair seems to fall out less. Now for the conditioner. I hate it. I hate the smell of apple cider vinegar. Every time I used it I would nearly throw up in the shower. Blah! It didn't make my hair smooth and silky. I would have to constantly be brushing the tangles out. So, I still use the baking soda shampoo most days, but every once in a while I will use store bought shampoo, and now I always use store bought conditioner.
2nd: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent - I have only made one batch of this (lemonade flavored Kool-Aid, washing soda, and borax), and I'm not impressed. My dishes are spotty. I even use white vinegar as a rinse agent, which works with the store bought detergent. I figure that it costs about $1-$2 less than what I normally buy at the store. So, I'm not going to make any more dish detergent.
3rd: Liquid Fabric Softener - This is one that I actually like. You mix cheap hair conditioner with white vinegar and water. That's it. It works so well and is so much cheaper than buying it at the store.
4th: Homemade Baby Wipes - I have been making these for a while. Zach and my sister don't like using them because they require a little more work to get out of the tub than the Pampers or Huggies wipes do, but I'm saving a bunch of money by making them, so too bad. I don't have a real recipe for this, I just go by how much of something I feel they need. So, sometimes they end up being too wet or not wet enough.
5th: Homemade Stain Remover - I have tried 2 different recipes for this. One was mixing dawn dish soap + vinegar + water. The other is ammonia + dawn dish soap + baking soda + water. The latter seems to work better than the former, but still not as well as I would like.
There are a few more things that I'm wanting to try out. I'm all for saving money by making my own things.

Bad Blogger

I'm such a bad blogger. I never feel like updating, because who on earth really reads this blog? So, I'm kind of updating this as a little journal entry. There are big changes coming up in our lives. Zach is going active duty. He's been assigned to Ft. Bragg, NC.

He is supposed to report at the end of June. As of right now we aren't sure if the whole family will be able to go at that time. We have some things that need to be taken care of before we can go with him. This is a huge thing for us. We're going to have to leave the friends that we've made, and find new ones. I don't want to find new ones. I just want to stay with the great ones I already have, but leaving is going to be good for my family. I know it, I can feel it. It's just so hard to say goodbye.
Annie Cooper, if you're reading this, I just want to let you know how thankful I am to have you in my life and what a wonderful friend you've been to me. I feel that you were put into my life by our Heavenly Father to help me fulfill my patriarchal blessing. I'm going to miss instant messaging you crazy work stuff that happens every day. Thank you Annie, for introducing me to the most wonderful thing in the world, "The Greatest Love". I don't know where I would be without Doko Jin. kekeke
FIGHTING!!!

Museum of Ancient Life

Yesterday was the last day for 2 buck Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point. So, we went to the Museum of Ancient Life. We haven't been there in a long time. I think the last time we went was when Micah was Lily's age.






We had a good time.