Thursday, February 9, 2012

Family Photo



Latest Family Photo...not everyone was co-operating but we made the best of it! The backdrop is the Mesa Arizona Temple grounds. Picture taken by our good friend Laney...she is a patient soul!!

Awesome Laundry Soap Recipe!! 1 Penny per load or less

Laundry Soap Recipe (1 penny per load!!)
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap (Zote soap or any other laundry bar soap will work)
1/2 C. Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (Not baking soda!!)
1/2 C. Borax Powder
2 Gallon bucket with lid to store it in....you could use icecream buckets or old laundry soap containers
or the food storage buckets with the Gamma lids.

~Grate the soap (like cheese) and put it in a pan and add 6 Cups of water. Heat until the soap melts, then
add washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 Cups of HOT tap water
into your bucket. Now add your soap mixture from the pan into the bucket and stir. Then add 1 Gal. + 6 Cups of water
and stir. Let the soap sit 12-24 hrs. and it will make a soft runny gel. Use 1/2 C. per load for a regular washer. If you have
a HE (high efficiancy) washer use 1/4-1/3 C.

That's it!!
Notes:
^If you want your finished soap to be a thicker gel add more Fels Naptha Soap. Some people use a whole bar per recipe.
^If you want a stronger cleaning boost double the amount of soda and borax per recipe or just add a scoop of Oxyclean powder to that particular load. I use it as is and love it.
^This is a low sudsing soap.
^If you want to add more of a scent to your soap you can scent it with 1/2-1oz. of essential oil or fragrance oil. I personally like
the smell of it already.
^3 boxes of Washing Soda, 2 Boxes of Borax and 14 bars of Fels Naptha soap works out to about 2500 loads.
If you go to Walmart you can find all three of these ingredients right next to each other near the laundry detergent. At their prices it turns out to be about a penny per load for regular machines or 1/2 penny for HE machines.
^All ingredients will store indefinately as long as they stay dry and the bar soap doesn't get excessively hot or it may melt.
I got this recipe from my mother-in-law who got it from a church activity.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

We have moved!

Well we are now in Colorado!!! It is great to be here!! I actually am really enjoying the cold! And the people here are so incredibly nice!!! It's beautiful!!! It's so fun to see fall leaves again! I even got to scape my windshield with a credit card yesterday because I don't own a window scraper...YET!! It was awesome!!! I think I would rather be cold and bundle up then be hot and not be able to escape it without a pool. Anyways, we are all beginning to adjust and are really looking forward to living much closer to family. Got a wonderful visit from my in-laws who helped me finish up on the house!!! It was so awesome that they could just drive over and do that!!!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Crew





improve the way you communicate

I have been listening to alot of CD's lately on Communication between spouses, with my children and
with everyone else. They have really helped me alot to realize how unhealthy I have been in the way that
I deal with people especially the ones I love the most.
They are all by Dr. John L. Lund: "For All Eternity" "Without Offense" and "How to Hug a Teenage Porcupine"
He is LDS. He has been a bishop and he has worked as a marraige and family counselor for 40yrs. especially
with troubled youth. He is currently the marriage and family teacher in his ward. He uses D&C 121:41-46
as his base. He uses scriptures and words of living prophets as well. I have grown so much. Often times I feel like
I know what not to do but I don't know how to incorporate into my life what I should do. He uses a lot of stories
to help illustrate his point so that you can see how to apply it into your life. He is funny as well which is nice.
He is the voice on two of them. "Without Offense" is the CD version of his book and he is not the voice for that.
But it is still something very worth listening to.
Another CD I found very helpful on parenting is "Teaching your Children to Fly" by Merrilee Boyack I got it for like $2.99 on clearance. It is wonderful too!!!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

My Testimony of the Atonement

I am by nature an observer. I have always been a person that watches people. If I see something that I think will help me I incorporate it into my life if I see something that doesn't work I try not to do that. I think this stems from my childhood. I like most people came from a bit of a rough background. I saw alot of what not to do. And I was desperate to learn what to do. Pres. Uchtdorf shared this story in his talk You are My Hands "One woman who had been through years of trial and sorrow said through her tears, “I have come to realize that I am like an old 20-dollar bill—crumpled, torn, dirty, abused, and scarred. But I am still a 20-dollar bill. I am worth something. Even though I may not look like much and even though I have been battered and used, I am still worth the full 20 dollars.”
I have at times felt like this woman. I feel like I can relate to some of those who are struggling. I also feel like I can bring you hope. Because I have been on the receiving end of great pain...I offer the hope for you in my knowledge and testimony of the receiving end of healing through our Savior, Jesus Christ. When I talk about the the two Great Commandments...
Love God and Love your Neighbor...I know from experience that some of you will question in your minds the Love God has for you, because you too have been battered and used, scarred and abused. No matter where you are coming from the answer to your struggles and trials is the same. It is only in and through Jesus Christ that you can be saved!!! Not only from your sins and weaknesness but also saved or in other words Healed from the wounds you have incured while in this life. I have suffered from depression, low-self esteem, feelings of worthlessness, anger, jelousy, not feeling able to forgive others of certain things, not being able to forgive myself for certain things, I have suffered from pride and all it's attendant side effects. I have been paralized by fears. I spent so much of my life afraid of people...not be able to trust...afraid to love…They say that you have to know the way to show the way. I testify to you that I now know the way. And I want to spend the rest of my life showing the way to others. I want to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to help each one of you that need help. And what is the help that I have to offer? The wisdom and testimony I have gleaned from my experiences! So here goes. There are two truths that I am coming to know with absolute surety to be true:

1-"God is love"-----Everything the Lord does is because of love. Everything!!! We may not be able to see that right now but I know that this is true.
He loves you and He wants you back. When you have been abused it is difficult to grasp this concept of love. It is nevertheless still true!
2-God respects Agency....everything that has to do with the Lord is a choice that you make. You always have to choose Him. He will never force you
to choose His path...He will allow consequences to follow your bad choices but that is not to beat you up...it's to encourage you to understand that "wickedness
never was happiness". He loves us so much that He will let us choose to be miserable. He loves us so much that He will allow others to hurt us and exercise their
agency as well. Our Heavenly Father has no fear of the bad things that could happen to us in this life because He personally prepared and trained our Master physician.
The Savior can fix any problem, save any soul and heal any wound but that is on the condition that we come to Him!
The Savior not only pays the full price of all the sins of all the world...He pays back, in full, the person that has been sinned against!!!!
He can heal you so completely, so fully that you will not be able to hold anything over the head of the person that injured you no matter how horrible the offense. Not only that
you will actually feel sorry for them and be filled with compassion for them and the welfare of their soul...most people who abuse others have been abused themselves. In so many ways we are all like little children...if we get hit or hurt we tend to hit or hurt back...sometimes we are more tender and we just take it without returning the injury but we remain damaged by the offense. I promise that healing will come...it may take some time...it may come in steps and stages but it will come...because He has promised it!!
I bet that none of you who know me could have guessed that I have struggled as I have. That is because you only see what I have become and am becoming because of the Savior's Atonement. That is the Power of HIs Love! It truly is a miracle that the Lord will work on us, if we'll let Him. I am here to testify to you that He is the Way, the only way. There is no other way!!!!
He has healed me!!! In the place of anger, frustration, doubt, despair, depression, fear, insecurities, hate, sin, pride...etc...I am now filled with Love (even pure love or Charity) Faith in the Savior and knowledge that He can truly do what He promises in the scriptures
for me. I know that He will do the same for all who come unto Him with full purpose of heart. I am now filled with Hope, Joy, Peace that surpasseth all understanding!!!
I feel to sing the song of redeeming love!!! I am coming to know that all that He has promised can be mine and yours if we just exercise a partical of faith in Him and His
ability to fix us. Even if you can no more than just hope that what I am saying is true. Plant that seed of hope in your heart and let it work within you...test it and prove it.
I testify to you that He can help you no matter what it is you are dealing with.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
With Great Love-
Aimee

B-Team