INSPIRING!

So thankfully, I was referred to a wonderful message by Elder F. Enzio Busche, that he gave at a BYU devotional several years ago. The message gave a series of quotes that he tries to live by--a philosophy of life that can't help but improve his life and give it more meaning. I was REALLY touched by all of them and decided I want to try to make them more a part of my life and my family's lives. So I spent the morning printing off the quotes on nice paper and then framed them. There is one framed on the table where we enter the house and one in the kitchen. Hopefully this will help us all memorize them and get them engrained in our lives.

Each week I'll switch them out for a new one. Hopefully everyone will feel inspired by them and they'll help us focus on eternal things.

Thanks to those of you who brought this amazing talk to my attention!

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS--AROUND THE HOUSE

So this morning I was working on laundry and was once again reminded of a couple of laundry products I love. That got me thinking of what other household products I use regularly and am thankful for, so I thought I'd share. Maybe you already love them or will want to give them a try. Let me know what you think! SHOUT Color Catcher

When I get behind on laundry, it is easy to come up with a full load of whites or a full load of darks or towels. The trick is when I'm a laundry hero and I don't have a full load of darks or whites. That is where these come in handy. They let me do a combination load that keeps me caught up and doesn't ruin anyone's clothes. FYI--I always do towels/rags separately. They tend to make clothes look worn faster and sometimes shed towel fibers onto clothes that are a nuisance at best, disastrous at worst. I actually ruined a sweater drying it with towels. These are found in the laundry aisle.

BOUNCE Dryer Bar

I've tried Bounce sheets, Downy Balls, and every other dryer sheet I could find, all trying to find something that would help with pesky static cling. For awhile my static cling was so bad that my pajamas would actually spark in the dark. This has been my solution! The dryer bar lasts for a long time (I got the four month bar) and has cut down our static cling to almost nothing.

Just a note: The little tape things on the back to attach it to the dryer didn't work. Since I often dry clothes at night, it was quite irritating to hear the whole bar and base flopping loudly around in my dryer. My solution was was to adhere the base to the dryer with adhesive velcro--one side on the dryer and one side on the base. Haven't had a problem since.

DAWN Direct Foam

I've never had good luck with dishwashers completely cleaning dishes unless I practically wash them first. This stuff is great. A sponge (that can then go through the dishwasher), one squirt of Dawn Direct and the whole load of dishes are cleaned and ready to be sanitized. Easy and it lasts a long time.

EASY-OFF Glass Cooktop Cleaner

My glass cooktop is pretty and high-tech looking, but I actually cook on it--a lot--so I was having problems keeping it looking clean and well, high-tech. This product is great. I spray it on. Let it sit a few minutes and then clean it up. Much better than soft scrub and tedious scrubbing!

SWIFFER Dust & Shine

I purchased this product to clean the leather furniture that we bought from the classifieds. It was desperately in need of a good scrubbing and this said it cleaned and conditioned leather. It worked great for that but then I noticed on the back that it says it works for granite as well. I tried it and I LOVE IT. It makes my granite countertops so shiny and beautiful, they're almost like mirrors.

DIRT DEVIL Hand Vacuum

I have a lot of carpeted stairs in my house--sixteen plus a landing going down and eighteen plus a landing going up. I use this on the stairs and it is so much easier than hauling around a big vacuum. (Even better is sending a 10 year old with the hand vacuum down the sixteen stairs and a twelve year old up the eighteen stairs. It makes for a perfect little chore for the kids.)

EUREKA BOSS Pet Fresh Vacuum

We like our dog (some more than others), but I don't think I could live without this vacuum. When we needed to get a new vacuum, we looked at consumer reports to find out which one handled pet hair the best and the best one in our price range was this (we could have gotten a better one for around $1000.00. Can't do that!) It works great, is easy to dump out the dust and the filter can actually be sprayed off in the sink and dried making it cheap to operate.

So these are a few of my favorite household products. If you have any great suggestions, let me know! Happy cleaning!

BUILDING, BAKING & FLOWERS

So my window looks pretty and springy, even if there is snow on the ground outside.

Joe and some of his friends enjoy birthday cake.

Veronica and Savannah making strawberry freezer jam. They enjoyed an afternoon of baking, making two kinds of muffins, fudge filled squares and freezer jam. It was kinda nice to stay home over spring break. We planted a garden, visited grandparents and cousins, baked, and relaxed.

Joe built a roller coaster and another amusement park ride with his Knex that he got for his birthday. He does a great job of building and really focuses.

Bruce and Travis worked during the spring break. Bruce was happy to get lots of hours in. We're glad he likes his job.

I got really sick the last couple of days of spring break. Travis and I were supposed to speak in church on Sunday and by Friday night I had NO voice. I got a blessing and was able to speak, but went home miserable after sacrament meeting and yesterday found out I have a sinus infection and ear infection--and again, very little voice.

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. unable to swallow or sleep, so I went downstairs, planned May's Webelos, filled out the 2010 census for our family and got pictures ready to blog. I'm really tired.

The kids weren't very excited to go back to school, but thankfully its almost over. We're really looking forward to summer.

Miscellaneous July

We worked on the house a lot during July, in preparation for probably selling it and then Leslie, who was visiting took picutres of the whole house for us. Here's the house we enjoyed for nearly four years and that now we desperately want to sell.

I hesitate to even put this in my blog, but here are Leslie, Veronica, Savannah and me at the midnight release of the fourth book in the Twilight series. I ended up hating it with all my heart and didn't finish it. A piece of crap book as far as I'm concerned.

Here are Joe and Anna watching the actual airshow featuring the Blue Angels. Lori and Scott's family, Leslie's family and our family were in chairs by the side of the road. We had sandwiches, chips and cookies. It was fun.

Here is the main reason for their visit (and everyone else's that came). The Twin Falls temple is absolutely beautiful and we so enjoyed going through the tour with everyone. What a blessing for the people in Twin Falls.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

I LOVE flowers. Two and a half years ago, we planted dozens of bulbs that we have enjoyed for three springs now. They are so beautiful. The sad thing about tulips is that they only last a few weeks. I wanted to post some pictures to help me remember how beautiful they are.


Here are some of our beautiful flowers that will last a little longer!