Kaianah needs a little nudge...

Come on Kaianah, start walking...
We found a tool on Craigslist that might help Kaianah become more confident in learning how to walk. The "tool" is the Stride-to-Ride Learning Walker, hopefully it works. Here's some pics.
Still sitting...

And she's up!! Yeah!!

Everyone wants to play with Kaianah's new toy.

hummm, what's this button do?

Tortilla de maíz

The kids and I made corn tortillas this week.
3 Ingredients needed: Masa Flour, Salt & Water

We made 16 tortillas but lost 2. (Josiah & Kaianah were eating as we were making them)

The kids really liked the tortilla press, everyone wanted to help.

I told Siah to put some muscle into the job, look at his face! :) I think I have a permanent helper with Josiah around...

Grandpa Fitz 53rd Birthday

Grandpa Fitzpatrick's birthday was on the 19th and we celebrated at their house with family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Grandpa forgot that he had his reading glasses on. :)

Card reading and present opening...

Aunt Alice and Alanah

Dusty and Uncle Rob

Grandpa, Aunt Babs & Uncle Mike

Funny little Noah

Noah got some new crayons a few weeks ago and has been "protecting" them from his brothers and sisters ever since. (Hoarding might be a better word.) He loves the newness of them and doesn't want the crayons to start looking like his old crayons. Well, it turns out that he has a better use for them than coloring...

I told Noah that at some point he's going to have to actually use them for coloring and not building! In the words of Dusty, "He's a funny little kid".

The Golden State...

I was able to take a quick trip to California this last weekend. My Grandpa isn't doing well and the timing was working out that a number of family members were going to be in the "Bay Area" all at the same time. With the big Hawaii trip this year we couldn't have Dusty use anymore vacation time, so I went from Saturday night until Tuesday & Dusty stayed home with all the kids. (Isn't he great?!)
The time with everyone was wonderful and I thank God that I was able to go.


Here are some pictures from the trip. It turns out that I didn't take very many pictures, I was caught up in visiting with everyone and didn't pay much attention to the camera. More people were here and I missed the chance to get more pics! :( Sorry...


Here's Grandpa...he will be 84 years old in March.

Starting from the left is my sister, Trisha, then Grandpa, then Cousin Jonathan. On the top row is me then my brother Brandon.

Here is Grandma & Grandpa with the beloved Annie dog. If I'm not mistaken, Grandpa & Grandma have been married for 61 years!

This picture adds me...

Here's Grandpa and I...I should mention that I was having a pretty good allergy going on the whole time I was in Ca. my eyes are open, they are just swollen, red and runny.

My nose and eyes are VERY happy to be back in Idaho. :)

Here's Aunt Crae and her doggy.

There is a story behind this picture. A picture just like this was taken 14 years ago (or so, we are still trying to figure out the exact year) We wanted to re-create the picture but we were missing Cousin Jimmy. In the original picture Jimmy was sitting on his brother Jonathan so we put his framed picture where he would have been.

Here's Grandpa & Grandma with 4 of the grandkids...still missing some of the grandkids but getting 4 together is pretty cool! Brandon came from Flordia, Jonathan from Kansas City, Trisha from California me from Idaho.

This is Cousin Jonathan with his wife, Pam.

All the "kids" were playing a board game together.

Homemade Deodorant

Okay, so I've wanted to try this and today I stumbled across a recipe online. I happen to have the 3 ingredients needed...these ingredients aren't organic or high quality they are just what I had on hand. If I like the deodorant then I'll update my products. :)

My reasons for wanting to try it: Health benefits (no aluminum), Cost savings & lastly being less reliant on Big Business to make everything for me.

Here's what you need:
Coconut Oil, Cornstarch OR Arrowroot powder & Baking Soda.

Here's what it looks like all mixed up.

I happen to have an old deodorant container that was almost empty. (My back up for when I run out of my Earth Science liken plant deodorant.) So, I emptied out the rest of the Secret and filled it with my new homemade version. This is a picture of what it looked like after I filled it.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it:

Ingre­di­ents:
Coconut oil

baking soda

arrow­root powder or cornstarch

"Com­bine equal por­tions of baking soda & arrow­root powder (or Cornstarch). I use about 1/4 cup each. Then slowly add coconut oil and work it in with a spoon until it main­tains the sub­stance you desire (I use approx 5-6 Tbls). It should be about the same tex­ture as the store bought kind. You can either scoop this into your old dis­pensers or place in a small con­tainer with lid and apply with fin­gers with each use. After apply­ing the prod­uct, you can just rub the remains into your hands as a lotion!" ~Online Blog

Tea Time

My friend "K" and I hosted a ladies tea party at her house last Sunday. Here are some pictures.

The trays were all filled right before the ladies started arriving.

1 of the 2 tables...

This was after we were done and I remembered the camera! :)

Some details for those that want to know...

We had 10 ladies. "K" and I served 2 kinds of tea, quiche, 2 kinds of scones (with all the toppings Devoncream, Lemon Curd, and Marion Berry Jam.) Then we had cream puffs, shortbread cookies with frosting, chocolate cupcakes, & homemade candy mints. All of the food was homemade except for the cream puffs.