Huckleberry Heaven

For FHE tonight we went and picked Huckleberries.  Tony's boss told us of a good place to go.  Tony and I hadn't picked huckleberries since we were kids so we couldn't quite remember what they looked like.  But then we found them. After the first half an hour the picking was like how I remembered it as skid.  If you got 3 berries off a bush you were doing good.  But then we found the mother load!  I had never seen so many berry on a bush before!  And they were big too!  Charlie especially enjoyed himself.  Promptly eating every berry that was put into his bucket.  Announcing, "Found One!" Each time he picked from a bush and every so often taking an entire handful of berries from my bucket and putting them all in his mouth!  Carson, Alaina, and I began making up songs about picking huckleberries.  Our favorite was to the "air mattress" tune.  ( to include non Elton family members.  It's a song my mom sang while pumping up the air mattress.). By the end we managed to only have a couple mosquito bites, very purple hands, and yummy berries.  We sure had fun!                  

                                

Alaina, Carson, Tony, and Charlie showing their dirty hands and our loot.

                                

  Me and Charlie

                            

 6 1/2 cups of berries.  We're having huckleberry pancakes for breakfast.  Yes, you can be jealous!

Charlie Turns 2

Yesterday was Charlie's 2nd Birthday.  After Church we had a BBQ and a yummy cake that I spent all day Saturday on and the result was a train cake and a very messy kitchen.  The BBQ was yummy although I was a bit nervous we'd be cooking inside because of the afternoon thunderstorm that came through.  But the sky cleared up and all was well.  As of late Charlie has only been interested in trains, cars, and more trains.  Thus our Train themed birthday came to be.  

 Charlie's cake  looked good and tasted good too...which is the most important part.  

 Getting ready.  Unfortunately I didn't think about taking pictures of all the presents after they were opened.  But he got his own train set (which can hook up to Carson's), Thomas the Train books, a new swimsuit from G & G Foster, and a toy gun and sword that light up and make sounds from G & G Elton.  Charlie was pretty excited about all of them.  

Here is Charlie playing with his train set.  I kept trying to get him to look at me for a picture, but he kept just saying "Nope, Choo Choo Train."

Disclaimer...I stripped Charlies cloths off because he was covered in soda and chocolate cake,  and that tattoo on his arm is a temporary one.  So, no I do not normally let my children run around half naked and tattoo their beautiful skin.  

More Flashbacks

 One of our Engagement Pictures

 Alice, Jana, and Rachel at our Wedding.  Yes, Rachel you still look this beautiful.  ;)

 Our first date

 Best friends Jeff and Tony

Photo Booth pictures taken when we were dating.

Project Dress from Womens Polo

This afternoon I dove into my stash of "Stuff to make something out of", and found this shirt of Alice's that she gave me.  After loosing all her weight its too big for her and thus became a new dress for Alaina.  I used the same tutorial as far the mens polo dress.  I serious that Alaina my end up with a lot of dresses for school.  It's a good thing she's such a girly girl!    

Before...I remembered to take a picture of the shirt before I cut into it.  

 After...as always Alaina's poses make the dress.  I think I'll have to buy an undershirt for this one...but I still think it turned out really cute!  

Project Super Cute Dress from Super Ugly Mens Polo

A few months ago Maegen gave me some cloths to re-purpose and in the pile was a mens polo shirt which quite frankly I thought was repulsively ugly.  Well, yesterday I got the creative bug and thought what the heck I'll try and make something cute out of this shirt.  I used a tutorial Maegen found for me online which was pretty easy to use.  The best part was no hemming or anything.  Just use existing edges!  It came together super easy and pretty quickly too.  I did add another button and hole so it wouldn't gap so much on Alaina. Anyway it's super cute and Alaina loves it!  I will say that I was a bit nervous about sewing on jersey knit, but my new machine did a beautiful job!  I'm sure I've mentioned how much I LOVE my new sewing machine!  Anyway here is the finished product modeled as always by my lovely Alaina.  Sorry I didn't think to take a picture of the shirt before hand.  But just think this shirt was a size XXL.  Can you imagine this pattern on a man that size.  Now you know what I mean by super ugly mens polo.  So lesson learned, ugly mens polo means cute girls dress!  I may have to take a trip to DI and see if I can find more super ugly shirts to make some more of these dresses before school starts.    

Our Garden

I am so pleased with how our garden is doing this year and I have to say why in the heck did I never do raised beds before?  It is so much easier to care for you garden and the plants just seem to thrive!

 Little green beans beginning to grow.  I can hardly wait.  I love fresh green beans right off the plant.  Mmmm Yummy!  

 Zucchini and Pumpkin flowering like crazy.  I'm going to have lots to share!  

 Loose leaf lettuce is ready and yummy.  

 Anaheim peppers  

Poblano  peppers 

 Tomato

More Tomatoes.  I can hardly wait for homemade salsa from homegrown ingredients!  

Foster Reunion/ Masa Falls

Over the 4th of July we had the Foster Reunion at Mack's Inn at Island Park.  It was great to see everyone and full of adventure.  Each night a big rain storm came through complete with thunder, lightning, and hail.  Unfortunately during one of these storms Perry, Thomas, Rose, Caleb, Nathan, Dylan, Tony, Carson, and I got stuck on the river and had to be rescued by Davin.  Fortunately we made it through without anyone getting hypothermia.  On the way home on Sunday we stopped to visit Masa Falls.  It was beautiful as always.  Here are some shots I took.  

 Upper Masa Falls

 Upper Masa Falls

 Daddy and Charlie

 Carson

 Alaina

 Mackay, Charlie, and Faith  

 Pretty Flower

 Faith

Papa with Charlie and Mack.  

The Foster Family except for Tony who had to work that day at Big Springs...I stole this picture from Thomas.  

The Foster Family except for Davin and Karen Family at the cabin at Masa Falls...another picture I stole from Thomas.

Wannabe Domestic Goddess

Lately I've been making my own laundry and dishwasher detergent.  Love the laundry detergent...the dishwasher detergent, not so much.  In the latter case I went back to the off brand detergent packs and started using vinegar as my rinse agent.  It's been the best combination I've found to work with our absolutely wonderful dishwasher (if you can't tell I'm being sarcastic).  But I absolutely love the homemade laundry detergent.  I worked out the math today and I got 165 loads from my last batch which turns out to be about 7 cents a load!  It cleans wonderfully and smells good too.  I've used it in top and front load washers with no problem.  So here's my recipe to share the wealth of my knowledge and so I can remember it for the next time I make a batch.  :)   

 2 Cups Washing Soda

2 Cups Borax

2 Bars Fels-Naptha grated

1 small container of Oxi Clean (optional)

1 container of beaded fabric softener (optional)  

I add the oxi clean to just give the detergent that much more cleaning power and the crystal fabric softener to eliminate one more step in the tedious task of laundry.  

Find a container to use to keep your detergent in.  I use an old ice melt container.  Grate the Fels-Naptha soap with a cheese grater on the smallest grate.  I then will chop up the grated soap to keep the pieces as small as possible.  I have heard of a lady who puts the bar soap in her food processor after it's grated, which I would definitely do if mine hadn't died long ago.  Dump in all your ingredients into container and shake until well mixed. 

 This is what mine looks like when finished.

You only need a small scoop for each load.  I use the scoop that comes in the oxi clean container.  1/2 to 3/4 of a scoop is enough for each load.

I hope you all enjoy my little moment of being a Wannabe Domestic Goddess.  

Project Boys' Pea Coats

Well, now that its consistently 90+ degrees out each day I finally finished the boys' pea coats.  We'll see if they get an opportunity to wear them before they grow out of them.  I'm somewhat pleased with how they turned out.  I think I've learned that in some cases less is more.  I like Charlie's much more than Carson's.  But Carson likes his coat and in the end that's all that matters.