I'm No Granola

So all my life I've made fun of people that were really naturalists.  I'm now eating crow.  No, I'm no tree hugger, but I do think there are things that we can do to help the environment.  But even more so, I'm really getting into doing things that are better for me.  I've gone to making my own laundry detergent.  I started this about 6 months ago and we really like it.  My whites are whiter and I feel like there aren't as many chemicals around.  We stopped using dryer sheets and I use dryer balls that work great and we don't have grease spots all over our clothes anymore.  (Thank heavens!! I got tired of throwing away perfectly good clothes because of the grease spots we couldn't get rid of.)

I was diagnosed with Celiac disease almost 4 years ago.  I have been trying to be healthier since then.  I am eating better.  However, I do still like my sugar, but try not to eat it as much.  I have decided that it's okay to indulge once in awhile with the family but I am trying not to have it in my diet as much.  I think that since I am trying we are all doing better with how we eat.

Lastly, I went to a doterra essential oils meeting a month ago.  I have always wanted to use essential oils as I think they have a place in helping us feel better mentally as well as their healing abilities.  No I am not selling doterra, that was just my introduction to the oils.  I think that there are many great companies out there and I will continue to do my research until I am satisfied that I have found the one I want to go with.  However, at one of the meetings that I attended,  they taught us to make a basic body cream.  I've been using it and have loved it.  However, the other day I ran out.  So on Saturday night I tried making my own batch.  I really botched it up!!  It didn't blend together and was just a runny mess.  I was determined to try it yet again.  In my first batch I had substituted shea butter in the place of beeswax.  So today I picked up some beeswax bars and tried again.  It worked!!  I was so excited.  This body cream has helped my skin look and feel so much better and it's all natural.  I can add essential oils if I want, but I don't have to if I don't feel its necessary. 

So today I made my laundry detergent and my body cream as well as getting my other goals accomplished.  I started working out today on my treadmill (the weather has been a little cold to go walk in the mornings here).  I ran 3/4 of a mile and walked 1 and 1/4 miles.  I also spent time on my weight lifting.  It has been a good day and I feel like a success!!  I like days like today!

Fall Hiking

On Friday we took a day off and went hiking together as a family.  We haven't had many days to do this, but with school out for UEA we took advantage.  Here are some of the pictures that I took while we were out.  The beauty that was in this area was fabulous!  We went to Tony Grove up Logan canyon.  Sam came here with some guys snowmobiling last winter and he was surprised to see it without everything being covered by snow.  What a beautiful area!!

 

One of the First Lasts

Hannah at warm-up's



So this last Saturday we drove to Cedar City to watch our daughter's High School soccer team play in a state play-off game.  It was a five-hour drive and we were happy to do it to support her and the team.  She has played with this team for the past 3 years.  It has been a blessing in her life.  She started playing soccer with the Bear River High girl's soccer team when we decided to move to Garland.  She hadn't even started going to school there and had already made friends.  It was so cool!  Those girls took her in and she has had them as friends ever since. 

Supporting the Team

Our team was not ranked as we were not in the top 5 in the state.  However, we had won our first game against Payson High School and the girls were doing well.  When we got there Hannah told us that the coach had decided that he wouldn't play her unless they were ahead by 2 points.  (I knew she was a little disappointed in this, but was gracious about that decision.) 



Watching Second Half and cheering them on!



Earlier in the season Hannah had received a concussion.  This after her brain injury last year.  So the coach didn't start her at all after that.  He would let her play the second half of each game.  I'm not sure of his logic as she had been his starting keeper for the past 2 years.  However, we all tried to support him in this decision.  

Well, in the game against Cedar Hills our team played beautifully!  As a parent you couldn't have asked for more.  They played their hearts out and  it showed.  We went in to the first over time.  It lasted 10 minutes, and we held them.  Then we went into the second over time and the clock was set for 10 minutes. 

(So after the second over time the game would go to a shoot-out if it went that far and Hannah would then get to play.  Coach had told her she was his go-to gal because he knew she would defend our goal against one-on-one shots because of her experience.) 

We were into the second OT by 5 minutes when one of the girls on our team was called on a hand-ball (the ball bounced up and hit her hand.)  Cedar Hill's got a kick at our goal from where the call was made and ....  Yep, it skipped around our goalie and that was the end of the game.  The crowd hushed!  Hannah had been warming up and as I looked at her, her face fell and it was hard as a mom not to cry.  She realized it was over.  No more soccer.  She didn't even get to play in her last soccer game as a senior.  I felt so bad for her, but she was a wonderful sport about it.  She cried for a minute, but then she was hugging everyone and trying to make them feel okay about how they had played.  I was proud of her, very proud of her!!

Showing Great Sportsmanship!

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Hannah thanking her coach for a great season!

She is a wonderful daughter and it has been wonderful following her for the past 12 years watching her skills grow and her mature into the beautiful youngwoman she is today.  

My First Quilt

Here in the small town where my daughter attends High School, they have a tradition.  It is for the senior girls on the Girl's Soccer team.  They have a recognition dinner at the end of the season and honor the seniors.  It is fun and Hannah has looked forward to it since the beginning of the season.  At that dinner the girls are given a quilt by their moms.  A lot of the time it is a black, red and white quilt (the colors of the school).  However when I asked my daughter what she wanted, she stated that she didn't want it the colors of the school because then it wouldn't match her room when she went to college.  (She's so logical!)  So knowing my daughter I began gathering bright materials.  Here is the start of it.  I will put borders on it and a bright back and show those pictures later.  But today I finished sewing the last block of squares on it and I'm so excited I had to post.  I can't wait to see her face when she sees it.  I really hope she loves it!!

It really hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be.  I used the technique of the disappearing 9 that I learned here.  It has gone pretty fast.  I have really only had to sew about 4 days on it to get it to this point.

Simple Pleasures

So this is how I love spending some of my Fall days.  Today was a wonderful day.  I felt like I accomplished alot.  At the time of this post my last batch of peaches was in the water bath.  I canned a bushel and a half, that makes a total of 42 quarts and 5 pints (I ran out of quart bottles).  They looked so beautiful and colorful sitting on my cupboard cooling.   I will give some of them to my children and keep the rest.  I like eating peaches and toast on Sunday evenings.  It is one of my favorite things.  It's simple, but that's how I like things.  There's also a cricket somewhere behind those bottles.  He snuck in with the peaches, but that didn't even seem to throw me.  He's nice and cozy warm amongst those bottles tonight.  I hope he enjoys his Fall day, because tomorrow I'll have to vacuum him up.   I love these simple pleasures.