Stolen (borrowed) pictures

Since I still don't have my laptop, so I still am pictureless, but thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, I "borrowed" some of her pics.

The end of June we went to a Aspen Grove, a family camp that is sponsored by the BYU Alumni Association. It was so much fun! The kids each had their own groups to go to. Brady was a Bobcat, Leilani was a Tromper and Carter was a Romper. They went to their groups all day, except to break for lunch. One day they were with their groups all day, which was so nice! I have never been on a family vacation where I was able to have time to myself and with my husband!

In a previous post, I mentioned that Brady had a crush on his counselor. The counselors live there all summer and they are BYU students, so she was probably a sophomore in college. I guess he likes older girls! He still talks about her and gets this sweet expression on his face when I mention her name! He says it is "his secret"! Wow, he is only 5, can't wait for 16!

There was so much to do for the kids, swimming, hiking, crafts, rock climbing. . . Each day there was a theme and the groups activites surrounded that theme. If I remember right there was Safari Day, Cowboy day, Pirate day, I can't remember all of them. They also had family activites to do, we unfortunately spent a lot of time playing shuffleboard, getting ready for our cruising days when we are retired! I wish there was more to do for us, but the kids had a blast, which made it all worth it!

Here are my "borrowed" pictures!

Family pic on the last day

Carter and his backpack, had to have it everyday!

Going on a train ride with Uncle Rob and Auntie Risa.

Brady in the potato sack race.

Bryce with his 2 brothers: Richard and Robert ready to climb the ropes course.

Book giveaway!

My friend Myrna is offering an amazing book giveaway on her blog. You must enter by July 15th. She has some great interviews with the authors on her blog as well. What a great offer, 3 books, nutella and some pink/sparkles??? What more would you want, and it is free! Go check it out!

Complete randomness!

I am currently using Brady's PC, since our battery pack was recalled for our laptop, which means:
No email
No pictures
No music
No preschool stuff to fill in the hot summer days.

I am not complaining, other then I have a ton of pictures to upload and nowhere to put them. I recently bought some new cloth diapers, which I bidded heavily for on ebay!

I have 3 of them already and use them at night because they are awesome. I finally talked myself into getting more, becuase they are honestly the best. I have used cloth diapers more for economic reasons then anything, until I found these. They are expensive, but I got them with shipping for $16.25 a diaper, which I think is a steal, because they are truly the best. They have this cool adjustable band around the legs and the back of the diaper. Carter is a stalky little guy, but he has the skinniest legs and this diaper I can customize for his little body and they aren't bulky like the prefolds. I now love cloth diapers, because I found a diaper that is functional for my babies and when you feel them they are so fuzzi, hence the name! Who would want some plastic wrapped around you anyway??? They are like a cloud of softness, I am serious! Okay, okay I am a little nuts, sorry!

Anyway, I am needing to sell my prefolds in order to make up for the expense and I can't until I can upload my pictures, oh well, next week!

Next week Brady starts swim lessons, which is good for him to give him the confidence in his abilities that he already has. Unfortunately in this hot weather we barely have a bucket to swim in, okay, bigger then that, but not much when you put 3 little kids in it!
Leilani will start her lessons 2 weeks after him.

I have no idea what this post is about, other then I feel like I need a new one. I am tired of looking at this spray bottle below, although I am loving the cleaner. I added more lemon to it and it smells better and it works great!

Pictures to come from our wonderful adventures to Aspen Grove, the greatest place on earth, pretty close anyway. What can you say about a place that keeps the kidlets happy as clams while they get to experience the great outdoors with cute counselors (Brady fell in love with his, Auri, he still talks about her, pictures to come!) and time to spend with my hubby? Yeah, pretty much the greatest place on earth, I would go there every year if we could afford it. Forget Disneyland, okay I would trade every other year!

Homemade Multi-purpose cleaner

1/4 cup dish soap

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 tsp. Borax

3 1/2 cups hot water

Lemon or citrus essential oil (5-6 drops)

I found this recipe at Fabulessly Frugal

I had everything except the essential oil, that I (Bryce) bought at our local health food store. I have done the water and vinegar before, but I really don't like the smell of vinegar that much. You can smell a slight vinegar smell but the lovely soap and essential oil balance it and smells more like lemons, yum!

I bought my spray bottle at the dollar store and it doesn't fit the full 3 1/2 cups of water, so I filled it as much as I could.

Some bumps in the road

Warning to all, venting to follow. . . won't be offended if you close window now!

Okay, I know that most of you know that I was recently released as the YW's President in our ward, yes, it has been about a month and a half. It happened right before I left for Washington.

This is the first time where a release hurt, bad. I felt like I was fired. The hardest part, besides missing the girls is not going to girls camp. They leave tomorrow and I have to stay here :(
Yes, yes, get over it! Move on, I keep telling myself! I am trying!

I have a new calling in Primary (2nd Counselor) and it is fun to be with Brady. It is an easy calling comparatively, but it still is hard. Crazy, because when I was called into YW's I was so scared and here I am missing them so much! I just need to embrace that Heavenly Father has a plan for me, that I may or may not understand at this moment.

Some other things in life is we recently got a minivan, which has been so nice. This was a much needed change in our life and also needed if there would be a possibility of another baby in the future (I am not announcing anything!).

We were supposed to get on new insurance from the company, because it is costs an arm a leg and everything else you have in order to have it. I was so excited for the new insurance to kick in at the beginning of June, but as soon as I felt comfortable, they decided not to change and there goes that arm and leg again! So, no insurance for me, which means no baby, at least not for awhile.

This was pretty much the straw that broke the camels back and I have been in a horrible rut ever since. I hate the fact that someone else is in control of my life! I don't do well with anyone except myself in control!

As all of these dominoes are falling I feel like I need to get myself back to normal. I need to be happy in my life and find peace!

I have started, once again, to start running. It has only been 2 days, but I feel so much better knowing that I am taking control of my life in my own way.
Thank you for listening. Sometimes I just need to write things down and start the healing process.

Exciting upgrade

This isn't exactly what our van looks like, but pretty close. We have a newer car parked in our carport this evening. A friend of ours buys and sells wholesale cars and he found this car last weekend. It was a pretty good deal and we are in need of a bigger car.

I have been driving a truck very similar to this:


Imagine the backseat with door to door carseats! No room to breathe, yet alone move! It is insane to think that I could even fit 3 carseats in the back.

Now, I have more room and better gas mileage! What a way to upgrade and no car payments, yeah!

Bountiful Baskets

We finally have a co-op coming into the valley, well one that I actually know of, let's put it that way. It is: http://bountifulbaskets.org Each basket is $15 and for the first basket you pay a one fee of $3. There is also $1.50 handling fee.
I ordered one basket and I also added on a 25 lb. bag of carrots for $10, which we are chopping up and putting in our freezer. A couple of months ago we found a freezer at a garage sale for $50, very exciting!

They had extra add-on's and I believe they change them so they aren't the same. They offered for an extra $10 5 loaves of bread and them some kind of cake and of course the carrots too.

For my basket of $19.50 (first time basket) I got:
8 peaches, 8 apples, 7 bananas, 4 avocados, a coconut, head of cabbage, head of romaine lettuce, small bag of baby carrots, 2 cucumbers, small container of blackberries, container of strawberries, and 6 tomatoes.

All of the produce is in great condition and not overly ripe, so I will have time to use it all! I can get this every 2 weeks, so I am thinking of ordering 2 baskets every 2 weeks and volunteering sometime, then you get more! Great way to get good produce. To get organic, there is an extra fee.

I know that this is available in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada and Eastern Washington (sorry family).