Laundry time...

As I mentioned before we've been experimenting with making our own laundry detergent. We tried the wet soap method, but that's a lot more work than it's worth if you ask me. So we experimented with the dry soap recipes out there. I think we've finally come up with the perfect concoction for us.
Here it is...

Laundry Soap
1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)
1 bar Ivory soap (finely grated)
*optional Oxy Clean booster

For every bar of soap you grate into the container you need 1 cup each of Borax & Washing soda. As for the Oxy Clean Booster we added 2 scoops per bar of soap. When I say scoop I mean the small scoop that comes with the container. It's maybe 1 or 2 Tablespoons in size. This time I grated 6 bars, added 6 cups each of Borax & Washing soda, and then boosted it with 12 small scoops of Oxy Clean (or the knock off brand). Combine all the ingredients in a medium size Tupperware container and mix thoroughly. We bought a small 1 cup measuring cup to use as our scoop. Small loads get 1/4 cup, regular loads get 1/3 - 1/2 cup depending, and large loads get 3/4 cup.

Here are our ingredients.

The finished product.

It may not look like much, but this soap will end up washing all our laundry for the next couple months at least. Making our own soap takes a little work, but in the end we save money and avoid the perfumes and dyes that I'm allergic too. Store bought detergent costs you an average of 30 cents per load where as the homemade stuff is more like 2 to 3 cents per load. Plus, our clothes come out cleaner and fresher smelling than ever before. We also hang our clothes to dry to not only save some more cash, but also to help out the environment. I'm really going to miss the dryness here when we move. I'm sure I've said it a million times before, but clothes that are hung out to dry here do so in no time. It's amazing! The work going into making this detergent is minimal really just a little measuring and maybe some grating with a traditional cheese grater if you don't have a food processor you're willing to get soapy. I am definitely in the market for a small food processor that will be my soap making processor, but for now I'm working out my shoulder and arm muscles making soap every few months. 

*As a side note we also use perfume free liquid softener in our wash. I've heard of recipes for making your own softener, but I have yet to try them out.  We're currently using unscented Ultra Downy Free & Sensitive. Our clothes always come out soft and fresh. 

Fancy Dinner...

On the final night of our vacation my family and I went into Strawberry Point to their old hotel for a nice dinner. I think I speak for both Jesse and I when I say we had a great time on our vacation. It was definitely a much needed break. We enjoyed our time relaxing, fishing, site seeing, and cozying up in the cabin with you mom, dad, Dave, and Chels. Thanks for inviting us. Hope to do it again sometime.
Love you!

Just the Wilsons...

Hill Billy Golfing...

A trip to Iowa is not complete without a game of good old Hill Billy Golf. If you aren't sure what it is follow the link or maybe you've heard it as one of it's many other names Ladder Golf being the most popular. Jesse loves this game and always asks about playing it. Maybe someday when we have a yard of our own we'll make our own Hill Billy Golf set and invite you all over for a game.

Hiking the Backbone...

Our Cabin...

The cabin we called home for a week Hawk's Roost.

You might have noticed that Chelsey is absent from these photos. She had to go home early on Tuesday afternoon due to a special training at work on Wednesday. Jesse had to leave early as well, but he didn't leave until Wednesday around noon. We were glad that Jesse and Chelsey got to come, but it was nice having a few days just the 4 of us again too.

More fishing...

Blue Heron

We were certainly not alone in our fishing efforts. We saw quite a few large blue heron out and about. They love to eat trout as much as the rest of us do. They're really beautiful to watch & their very skilled at fishing.

Balance Beam.

Jesse and I were walking along one side of the water when suddenly the terrain became impossible. We had a decision to make. Find away across or hike backwards and cross where we originally did. Jesse decided we could make it across by balancing on this fallen tree. Yikes! Well he did and I followed and I'm proud to say neither of us fell in.

Cave exploration.

Along the path I saw a sign for a cave and no one else seemed interested so I went off and explored it myself. I didn't go too deep inside as I was alone and not to interested in getting hurt or lost in the dark.

 

 

 The fisherman.

Jesse had crazy good luck on his final day of fishing. He caught more than anyone else and even exceeded the legal limit by 1 fish, but we said we would cover for him since the rest of us were slacking in our efforts. If you can't tell he was totally giddy, like through the moon excited. I'm glad the fishing license as part of his birthday gift really paid off. 

Cleaning up.

 

After catching all those fish Jesse was so excited that he even learned how to and helped clean them.  He and mom enjoyed trout for lunch that day too. Which is all Jesse said he wanted. If he caught it he wanted to eat it. I think he had a good vacation and a great birthday.