Eclipse Premier!

Crazy Auntie/Mom here!! Months ago, I bought tickets for Monique and I to attend the 12:02am showing of the movie Eclipse...Part of the Twighlight Saga. I have never done this before, but since it was summer and Mo and I could stay up late, I thought I would do it. So, we have been patiently waiting for the movie.
Then we found out that my neice Lexus would be coming down from Oregon to stay with us for her summer break, so we were now in search of an extra ticket......thank goodness I have great friends. We found one.
The day before the movie, I was off to pick up Lexus, when we found out my other neice Megan from Texas would be coming too. Now, we couldn't leave Megan out of the party...so again, we were frantically looking for another ticket. Low and behold, my BFFE came through. We scored!
So, Tuesday us crazy girls were off to Wal-Mart to get stuff to make shirts, headbands, and braclets. We had the battle of the teams going on all day! Edward...No Jacob, he's hot!! That's all I heard all day!
So, here's a picture of me and Monique.

Next is us standing in line that wrapped AROUND the back side of the movie theatre. We were there at least 2 1/2 hours early. We even made a Carl's Jr. run to feed our werewolve/vampire bellies.

Notice how Megan and I (the vampire lovers) sparkle...I loved this added touch.

We had a GREAT time watching it with a ton of our friends.

Mark loves to sing as most of you are aware. Well, he started singing in a new Barbershop Chorus that recently started up in January of this year. Upon start up, Mark was able to get his newphew Spencer and brother in law, Russ to come and join him in this. It's been a great experience to spend such a great time with family. Last weekend, they had there first ever show, so we as a family went out and supported them in full force.Here's the guys looking all Dapper in their matching suits...aren't we a bunch of lucky gals in this family...they make great eye candy huh?

Darrigan got some fun loves from his Aunt Angela while there.

When I say the family came out in full force I mean it. Here's a picture of Mark with all but one of his siblings. Starting from left to right...Lisa, Angela, Trent, Mark, Judy,Wendy, Char and Mary. We missed Melia. It was sooo fun to have them all there and to get this rare photo of most of the family.

Birthday

Happy 34th Birthday Jenny!!

So, last week was Jenny's 34th birthday. We had Young Women's the night of Jenny's birthday. So, we did what all fun loving girls would do....we headed to Baskin Robbin's to celebrate!! It was fun....we are cherishing the few moments we get to spend with Jenny before she moves back to Colorado.

This is just a cute picture of Monique with her friends Nicole and Melissa.

Laundry Soap

Ok, so for 18 years now I have been using only one kind of laundry soap, Tide Free. I found out at my high school graduation that I am allergic to other laundry detergents. I have tried all the other "free" soaps, and they all make me break out in hives. So, it is....Tide Free (expensive as can be) has been my one and only soap since then. Well, then my friend Sarah was telling me that she makes her own soap. WHAT?!?!?

I was skeptical at first, then she told me the savings she and her family have been enjoying and I couldn't resist the chance to at least try it. So, I got the ingredients, simple, there's only four. I spent about an hour in my kitchen with these ingredients and made my family soap.

You grate the bar of Zote Soap and add the Borax and Washing Soda... mix together with warm tap water and stir until it's all dissolved and mixed well. When you are done, it is enough to fill one 5 gallon bucket (and that's concentrated!!) You then have to dillute with 50% soap and 50% warm tap water.

So, I can pay over $10 a bottle for Tide Free a month, or just over $3 for 10 gallons of soap that will last easily 6 months or more. I still haven't broken out yet...hopefully I don't. If I do, then at least this soap can be used by the rest of the household and I can savor the Tide for me.

Here's a picture of the bucket o' soap!

We had a great trip to Oregon for Spring Break. This picture was taken at Waterloo Park( about 10 minutes from where I grew up in Sweet Home). This was taken just moments after Marcus took Darrigan down the slide for his very first slide ride. It was a beautiful day, we enjoyed our afternoon at the park.

Ok, here we go again

Ok, here we go again. Monique and I were looking at our friends and family who were blogging and I remembered I once had set one up, just couldn't really get into it.
So, we are going to try this again.
So...a lot has happpened since the last post. We have gotten the three kiddos living with us and are on the long road to adoption. Hopefully this will be taken care of soon. Also, during the last 15 months, we were blessed with a baby as well. Darrigan was born on November 10, 2009. So, we took the fast track to parenthood, 4 kids in 14 months. WHAT in the world were we thinkin?