Have you heard?

Of  Melaleuca??

Let me start off my telling you how I was introduced. When we were planning our road trip, my cousin told me, I have to tell you about something when you come visit Idaho! So, once we made it there, I was able to sit down for a while and talk with him. I first noticed after washing my hands in the bathroom their soap smelled so good and felt so good on my hands, then I read the label and it was Melaleuca (Mel-a-lou-ca) he then began telling me about the company. Based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Melaleuca is aiming to give families the chance to buy Green, eco friendly, natural products.

For example, you can get the Laundry soap, does 96 loads and its $16. I spent $11 on my Tide that did 45 loads..uhh..hello? And the part that I love, is everything is made in the US. How often can we find stuff, especially for our homes that are made right next door in Idaho, have no harmful chemicals, and are good for our family? The cleaning products are so safe, they dont have childproof lids! And IF your child managed to swallow some, you flush with water. Now that's safe. That was a pretty big selling point for me. I do keep all my cleaners locked up(and still will even though these are safe), but I just read on my Lysol that I have to wash any surfaces that may come in contact with food?! Yikes!! No formaldehyde, ammonia, chlorine, there are no abrasives and they are ph-balanced. Their product called Sol-U-Mel does everything from removing laundry stains(like my husband gets those armpit stains on his white t-shirts..haha, best example) to getting permanent marker off the wall, cleans your kitchen cabinets or cleans your carpet, deoderize your garbage can or remove the grease(even tar!) from your husbands jeans. I like the fact that I can use one product to do so many different things.

They have everything from food, house hold cleaners, make-up that compares to bare minerals(My cousins wife was a big MAC Makeup fan and has switched, Make up isnt too high on my priority list, but glad to know there is an option!), vitamins, medicines(Their Counter Act Allergy is compared to Claritin, except instead of spending $20 you spend $10!) bath and body care(I love the Affinia shampoo..makes my hair super soft..and for curly hair, that is a necessity!), dental care, deodorants(no harmful chemicals that they are linking to Breast Cancer in women!), perfumes so much!

So in a nutshell, I partnered with my cousin in deciding to try a different shopping approach. Im taking the money I spend at Target/Walmart/Fred Meyer, and spending it here. On better products! There is no shows to host or anything, it is shipped directly to you and you enjoy safe, natural products for your home that are made right next door in Idaho Falls, Idaho(There is also a plant in Salt Lake City, Utah and Kentucky)
If you arent satisfied (highly doubt it, haha) you have 90 days, and you can stop your orders at anytime. I like that, since I dont like to 'HAVE' to do anything for a certain amount of time, I like to feel in control. ;) These are products that are sold all over the world, so they offer their shopping in a points system. Each month you order 35 points worth of items, about $50 (I spend more than that at Target/Walmart on who knows where its coming from or whats in it) There is an annual $29 membership fee (like Costco) but for the month of October, its just $1! Let me know if you are interested in any more information, I'd be happy to share! :)

I have been looking for something like this for a while, a more healthy alternative to all the chemicals that we are exposed to, and Im so glad my cousin showed me so I thought I would spread the word, especially to my friends with little ones at home! :)

Re-Cap

Well, I have been one busy bee since I last blogged!
And, I have turned on the TV for my children and it will probably remain on, almost all day. I have a lot of little things to do today and Little Einsteins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Super Why, Bubble Guppies, Octonauts..they are going to assist me in getting my little things done today. :) That, and I told the kids we were going to have a lazy PJ day since we have been so busy the last few weeks. So, think what you want..but hey..atleast I didnt turn on SpongeBob!

Let's see, Ill start back with the wedding. Shayna and I were able to take pictures at a wedding for an old friend from Elementary/Jr/High school friend, and it was sooooo much fun!! Lucky for us another couple we knew from school was there, and it was just such a fun night!  Was a nice break for me before the big road trip to have some Mommy Free time! :D I believe the married couple got 1200+ pictures, and I hope they loved every single one as much as we loved taking them! I could use another night like that! (Jesica, we are going to plan our night out..we're gonna show ya how to git r done Eatonville style! hehe)
On Sunday, Shayna and I spent 8+ hours editing and going thru all the pictures, I didnt want to make them wait until I returned from my road trip for their pictures, so we dedicated ALL day Sunday to it. Man, staring at a computer for that long could be a hard job..but when you are looking over pictures and thinking about a fun day..it wasnt much work at all! The bride looked stunning, the bridal party was gorgous in their purple and the groomsmen looked sharp in their tuxes! It was perfect! :) You can see pictures on our facebook page! www.facebook.com/rusticimagesphotography

Then Monday my Dad, my kids and I headed out! We didnt leave until around Noon so we only made it to Pendleton, Oregon that day. The following day we went into Boise to see my Grandparents, they took us to dinner and I had Lamb meatballs..omg..so yummy. From there we went to spend the night at my cousins house, and the next day we were aiming for Salt Lake City, Utah. Well, we got up at 6am, loaded the kids and hit the road. Arrived in Salt Lake City, which is the craziest freeway system I've ever seen, plus they were doing construction, after seeing the Mormon Temple from the freeway, we said screw it, lets drive on. I will go back, I want to explore that city when my Husband, who isnt scared of crowds when driving is there to drive me around ;-) We then drove a bit passed Salt Lake and my dad said, lets just drive straight thru to Vegas. Didnt sound like too bad of an idea..until we didnt get there until 9:30 that night!! 630-930 on the road..PUKE. haha. Thankful my kids are such experts at traveling, it went very well.
We drove 769 miles that day.

So, as I was saying Wednesday night we pulled into Vegas late, I passed out and woke up Thursday morning to the heat of Vegas! We explored Vegas for the next few days, Sean flew in very early Saturday morning, and we had lunch with my friend that lives there. It went by very quickly, as vacation always does. Sunday we left early to head for Lancaster, CA to visit Sean's Aunt and Cousin. That was fun, we had dinner, the kids played and we enjoyed the CA heat! After dinner we left for Anaheim where my grandparents and parents were with the RV. We all hit the hay early, since the following day, it was Disneyland!!
In a nutshell, the kids had the time of their lives, we had a wonderful time and I cant wait to go back. I really love Disneyland. Not many places an adult can go and feel like a child ;-) Plus we got to see the new Cars Land..which felt like you were walking right in the movie, it was awesome!!
On Thursday morning we left Anaheim for San Fransisco! I wont forget that leg of the trip..it was amazing. :) I want to go back and visit that city as well. The houses, everything is just awesome!
Friday we spent the morning in San Fran, and then around 2pm left for home. We made it to Central Point Oregon and stayed there for the night. Got home Saturday evening..and I have been exhausted since. haha!

My computer is being annoying and wont let me add pictures to this, so Im going to end it here, I added pictures to my facebook page, so you can always see them there :)

The Graduate and New Beginnings!

Stacy May Photography --> Rustic Images Photography

Partnered up with my dear friend Shayna in this endeavor. :) We are doing a wedding next weekend, and got to thinking what fun it could be if we started working together all the time! It will be nice when we have a big family to have someone standing behind me(or vice versa) snapping pictures from a different angle, or making those goofy noises to get the kids to look at us. :) It will be great for the both of us and our friends/family that would like pictures taken! I will probably stick to the editing, although would love to teach her if she was curious :) I ordered some new business cards, as you can see from above! Taking pictures is something Shayna and I have done since we first became friends many (about 15) years ago. Old film cameras to 2 mega pixel cell phones, to now our nice cameras and our nice cell phones! That's just us! She was a perfect fit for a partner and Im excited! We spent Monday night shopping for new outfits for the wedding too..Im so excited for that..and to be honest, a tad nervous. :) Speaking of weddings, I saw this video on pinterest...Omg. How beautiful. 

Have a kleenex handy.. :)

Baby Thor, not so baby, 5 month 58lb baby Thor, graduated from Beginner education last night! Woo Hoo!  I signed him up for Intermediate classes, firstly because it was $30 off, haha, but mostly because I've seen such a big improvement, I'd like to continue that. This dog is really costing us a small fortune, but he is worth it :) I spent $107 on him at Mud Bay between his food and digestive supplements to try to calm down his sometimes nervous stomach..haha. Lordy. 

Well, I better get motivated, I mailed a check a week ago and the recipient still hasnt recieved it and I must find out why! :) Tomorrow is Friday..So thankful for that!

Guns and Jeeps

Sean didnt come home last night. :(
He didnt get off work until 10:15pm. So, why make him drive an hour home just to go to sleep, so he went to my parents and spent the night there. I hate when he isnt home, but it isnt as bad now that I have my protector Thor and Sean bought a hand gun. Someone comes in my house..they're gonna wish they didnt! That's for sure! Im not afraid to protect my family if I needed too..but I also dont find the situation too likely out here where we live. I get more nervous in Federal Way at my parents house..man has that area went waaayy down hill from when I lived there during school. I cant wait until my parents move out this way.

In fact, this is the gun Sean and I picked out for myself to purchase once I get my concealed weapons permit. Cause let me tell you, if Im in a situation where I need to protect my children, I would not be afraid for one minute to bust this little sucker out..it's kind of cute huh? Its a Ruger LCR .38 Special..they also come in pink ;-) Plus it would be nice to pack while Im bow hunting..cause I wont survive trying to stab a bear or cougar to death with an arrow if I ran into one..lol

Anyway, on Sunday Sean and I bought a brand new Jeep Liberty. We traded in the Suburban, which had 100k miles on it and we still owed 3 years on our loan. Our new Jeep payments are less than the suburban, Larson is having a great deal on these Jeep liberties because they arent making them anymore. So they are offering huge rebates. I love the Jeep..if anyone is looking into a new 4x4 ..go see Kevin Wagner at Larson in Puyallup :) Anyway, this Jeep has a full warranty for the life of the loan, which is 5 years, so not much more than we were going to be paying on the Burban anyway(plus, hello..pay less for a brand new car each month or keep paying for a car that is going to start needing expensive repairs..). And it only had like 80 miles on it. It is a big downsize, but, in reality, I never used most of the Suburban to its full potential. It was a huge Rig to be driving around as a ''daily' driver. This Jeep will save us money in many ways..plus Im partial to Jeeps. My Wrangler was my favorite vehicle I've ever owned..now I feel back at home. :) I was looking into Vans with the TV and things, but Sean made a good point..I cant drive a van over East of the mountains in the snow to go hunting up a back road...so, there went that idea :)

Well, I better go enjoy my 2nd up of coffee before it gets too cold :) If Sean has a super late night again, Im headed to my parents..have a great weekend!

Quick Takes

Im going to try out this quick takes for today..since it is Friday, and that's when 'Quick Takes' are set to happen per this site here :)

1

I am already on my second cup of coffee for today. Why? Well, my poor Husband did not get home until 10:30 last night. He didnt even get off work until 20 til 10. Grrr UPS, get your stuff together!!!! By the way, as long as I am keeping this blog, just be forewarned I may complain about his job a lot, but please know that I am very grateful for it. He makes extremely good money, overtime is even better and our benefits are top notch. Im just complaining because I myself am tired, my two children and myself missed seeing their Daddy last night and I had to put them to bed without their story and 'blowing out the light' routine Daddy usually does. I did my best, made them popcorn AND let them have cookies and milk (spoiled!) but of course, Im boring ole Mom who they have been with ALL day. :D
In a nutshell, I look forward to Sean coming home from the moment he kisses me goodbye in the morning, so yesterday was a long day. :)

2

In a few hours an old friend from Junior High and High School is coming over and allowing me to photograph her sweet little baby boy!! Im so excited! Last weekend I was able to take pictures of Blake's little brother Luke! What a cute little man! Im loving seeing old friends and their little babe's!

3 

Hatfields and McCoys..was a TV series, I bought Sean the DVD, and I loved it!! I may even have blogged a bit about it before, but I finished it. Love it. Watch it. Do it. I am team Hatfield by the way ;-)

4

We had a couple visitors in our yard, how cool :) The kids enjoyed watching them eat all our dandelions, since our grass is dead. Wish they would have kept eating them..haha.

5

So, obviously this isnt the best picture, since not everyone is looking, haha, but these are my Dad's parents. They live in Idaho, and my Grampa is a Representative. You can see Here a little bit of info about him. We had a short and sweet visit the other weekend. I made him a scrap book of all his political stuff and my Grama brought more stuff for me to add. We are going there in October on our way to Las Vegas to meet up with the family.

6

Every morning the kids choose their breakfast, and this week they have been stuck with Eggo waffles because I REALLY need to go get groceries, I dont even have bread! And everyday this week I have heard, after about 15 minutes of giving them their waffles, 'Silas, are you gonna eat your waffle!?' with a 'No, you can eat it!' in reply. He never eats the whole thing and sister likes to finish..I can almost time it.

7

We are headed into town to my parents today to visit my Dad. My Mom has made it to Tennessee and is at Dolly Wood today.

I have to pack 2 kids, 2 adults and 2 dogs. Should be fun. :) We are helping my Dad re-organize and tear up some carpet. Tomorrow we have a birthday party and Im going to the night service at my Aunt and Uncle's church and Sunday on the way home I am going to get groceries...gonna be a FAST weekend! Hope its a good one :)

Lazy!

Is what I was today, and I enjoyed every minute! :) I even took a nap! Ha! I have stayed in my sweats all day, only did 1 load of laundry, unloaded my dishwasher and loaded it, baked peanut butter cookies from scratch and just threw a spaghetti casserole in the oven.
I see the little specks of dust that are starting to show on my black TV stand..but ya know what..it can wait until tomorrow! This 3 day weekend was great, it went by too fast, and Im just simply still tired from it.
So, when Sean gets home, he probably wont think anything since the kids have kept their 'toy mess' in their toy room today(not sure how I got lucky with that..because Mama just simply shuts that door and doesnt look at the mess! Kids are required to help me pick it up though when it comes to that time, or if they dont, toys go bye bye and get donated to kids that would appreciate them more).
He probably wont realize that today, I actually didnt do much at all. It was so nice, since now it is almost 5, and he will be home within 3 hours, at the most, I hope.
I have tomorrow and Thursday to get all my ''chores'' done..which wont take me that long, so it looks like I have an easy week ahead of me :D Shhh dont tell my Husband!
Friday me and the kids will head to town and go Birthday present shopping and get our weekly batch of veggies. I have been roasting whole pans of veggies, mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, shallots, garlic..soooooooo yummy. My favorite is the garlic, I really love oven roasted garlic.

And since Im going with the 'Lazy' theme, I will cut this blog post short. But, I leave you with this,
Stay At Home Mama's...
Do yourself a favor, dont take a shower while both your kids are awake. Because, your oldest just may want to pretend she is a Dr, and that her little brother needs marker surgery.
That is all.

Kitchen Remodel

When we bought our house in 2006 I dont know if we realized all the little things that we would have to fix along the way. The people before us didnt take very good care of this house, and we are getting to pay for that. Literally. haha. Well, it is also part of making it into the home we want/need for our family. The housing market is so bad right now and we are so upside down in our house, we either short sale or ride it out. So, we are riding it out(with our stupid high interest and high house payment! grr haha). So far, we have fixed the carpet, added the spare room, done some painting, but the most important thing I need to get to, is the kitchen. I spend so much time here, I might as well put money into making it work the way a kitchen should!
First, my dishwasher is in the most horrible place. I have to unload everything onto the counter, close my dishwasher and then put everything away. Now, I dont want this post to come off as me being ungrateful for what I have, because I am thankful I have a house of my own, a kitchen of my own, food, a dishwasher among other things.
Anyway, so we made a game plan. We are going to re-arrange our kitchen by moving our dishwasher where our fridge is, which is out of the way, but next to the sink, move our fridge next to our stove, and put new cabinets in. You can get cabinets at Lowes that are unfinished, all you have to do is stain them for actually pretty cheap. We did that in our Pantry. So, we are going to take that approach, stain them in a rich "Kona" color, and call it good. The picture below is not my kitchen, but is the closest to the color we are picking. And I will not be getting any new applainces, maybe when my kids are alot older..but right now the ones I have are just fine! :)

My brother tried to help me paint my current cabinets to a dark brown and ended up painting all over my wall. Grr..I was thankful for the help, but frustrated at the same time. haha. But, Im just leaving it for the time being. No point in changing/painting the whole kitchen since we are going to be ripping them all out anyway! Right?! Right. I cant wait, its going to be work, the kids will be sent to Papa and Grama's house and Sean and I will have to hammer it out. Im already dreaming of when its done!! :D

Im so glad its Friday AND its a three day weekend. My kids have been pretty fussy this week and Im stuck at home with decaf coffee!!
We will just leave it at that ;-) Enjoy the holiday weekend!