More Cold-process Soap

The most interesting thing to me about cold-process soap is probably the name, since the ingredients are either heated (the oils) or naturally heat themselves (the lye mixed with the water). Then, after the oils and lye water are mixed, they get even hotter.

I couldn't resist the urge and I made more soap. It's so fun to play and add different things and make different scented soaps. There are seriously over 100 scents that you can use with soap.  I can see how this could be a very addicting hobby.

I was a little better about taking pictures this time, so very quickly, this is how it's done.

First, you measure out all the oils and heat them until they are all liquid. The basic recipe I used for all the soaps has Avacado oil, Coconut oil, Canola oil and Lard.

After the oils are all melted, you get your pre-measured lye and add it to distilled water. Careful! Lye is poisonous, so get gloves, goggles, a face mask, long sleeved shirt, pants and closed toed shoes. As they lye gets added to the water, it dissolves, turns cloudy and heats the water up.

Then comes the fun part. Waiting for the oils and the lye to cool down to about the same temperature. Not too cool, but about 120 degrees or so. I never want to leave anything out for an unsuspecting child to accidentally touch or knock over, so I find this is a great time to clean something nearby. Like the kitchen.

After a while, the oils and lye finally get to be cool enough. The next step is to mix them together. You can do it by hand, but really....where is the fun in that? They make these really cool things called stick blenders. And, you can use them for more than just making soap. They're a great kitchen tool. Anyway, you mix and stir and  mix and stir for a little while.

The stirring starts the saponification process, which converts the lye and oils into soap. So, in the end there is no lye...don't worry. You keep stirring until the soap starts to get thicker, but not too thick. It's called trace. At a thin trace, you can add the fragrance and in this case, I added poppy seeds to act as an exfoliant.

There is so much you can do with soap. You can mix fragrances, add exfoliates, use colorants. They list goes on and on and the combinations are really endless. On this batch, I got a little bit brave and swirled in some colorant. I mixed red and yellow thinking I would get an orange. When I poured it into the mold, it looked pretty orange.

After pouring it into a mold, you have to put it into a cold oven with the light on for 24 hours. As the soap set up and the saponification process finished, my orange turned into more of a red. It's really pretty, though. When the soap is done resting for at least a day, you can cut it into bars (I cut 18 bars from this batch).

Now I just have to wait 3 weeks for it to cure to try it out. But, didn't it turn out pretty?

I used a fragrance in these called "Energy". It's a combination of orange and grapefruit. Bath and Body Works has a very similar scent that I love.

Here are the other kinds I made:

This one is scented with "Apple Jack" and has cinnamon and oatmeal mixed in.

I had a lot of fun playing with colors on this one. The scent is a knock off of one of my favorite colognes called "Cool Water". Since it's a men's fragrance, I hope Dave loves it as much as I do.

If you're wondering if we are going on soap overload after making four batches at roughly 18 bars per batch, let's just say that we definitely have our year's supply. We may go hungry, but gosh darn it, we will be clean, have perfectly moisturized skin and smell very nice. ;)

Thanks again, Brittany for teaching me how to do this! I've been having a blast!

Can it really be?

Nah...

Well, maybe.

Couldn't be.

I didn't think it actually existed.

I must be imagining the whole thing.

But....Bria brought me some evidence today, so it must be true.

Yep. I think so. Spring has finally arrived in Idaho. (Knock on wood and cross your fingers til the cows come home because when it rains in pours and I'm going out on a limb, but spring could be gone in a new york minute. Last but not least, Elvis has left the building!!!)(Like all the cleverly place idioms? I found a cool website today.)

8 months

I know I say this every month....but can Logan really be getting this old? Time is just flying by! Logan has had a very busy month. But, probably the biggest event is that he finally got his Social Security card!!! We are now the proud parents to an legal eight-month-old tax deduction baby boy. Yahoo!!

Back to what really matters.....Logan. He has learned things in leaps and bounds this month. It helps that his favorite game is copying what other people do. So, if I stick out my tongue, he stick out his. We play this game quite a bit. His newest thing to copy is waving. He always wave's bye-bye to dad as he's leaving for work in the morning. Logan also loves to make random noises. One of his favorite toys is definitely his voice. He not only makes different noises, but likes to make them loud and soft.

He is learning to fit right in with his crazy older sister and brother. He finds hours of entertainment from their silliness. He perks right up when one of the two of them walks in the room. I don't think anyone can make Logan laugh harder than Bria can....well, maybe Max.

Logan is also growing like a weed. And, he has the appetite to prove it. He eats at least twice what I fed Bria or Max at this age. He's a picky little stinker, though. Not with food....he'll eat pretty much anything we give him. But, he refuses to take a bottle. He acts like we are trying to poison him every time we offer one. We've tried several different brands but with no luck. Just as I thought all hope was lost, today we made a break through:

Yipee!! Skipping the bottle and going straight to the cup!

Splish, Splash! I was takin' a bath!

Can ya tell that Logan really, really loves taking baths?

Green Canyon

We had a ward activity yesterday at Green Canyon. For those of you who aren't local, Green Canyon is a swimming pool that is heated by a natural hot spring.

Our kids were very excited about being able to go and we pretty much had to drag them out of the pool when it was time to go. Even Logan - who has never been swimming before - loved every minute. He might just be a swimmer. He kicked his legs and splashed his arms the entire time he was in the water. It was so cute. I really wish we had gotten video of it.

Our ever independent Bria got right in the water and we had to keep checking to make sure she didn't travel over to the deep end. She is still pretty new at swimming, but she has the confidence of a professional!

Max was fun to watch. He would get himself going in a little doggie-paddle type swim. Suddenly he would realize that he was getting farther and farther away from Dave and I and he would panic. We had to take turns rescuing him. I'm glad he's getting more comfortable with water. Last year he wouldn't even go near the edge!

After swimming, we used the fireplace and had a big hot dog roast.  I couldn't believe how starving the kids were! We let Bria roast her own hot dog this time. She did great, too!

It turned out to be a really great ward party! There were almost 100 people who got in and swam and a big group of "spectators" there too. We even had one of the older couples in our ward come and watch all the kids. It was great! And, the best part is....our kids slept the whole 45 minute drive home.

Homemade Soap

A couple of months ago for my birthday, my good friend/neighbor Brittany brought over some of her homemade soaps. I was so excited to try them....and they were fabulous - SO much better than the store bought kind. Their scent filled our whole bathroom and they were way more moisturizing than any soap I've used before. Even Dave loved it. So, I asked her to teach me how to make some. Yesterday, I tried my first hand at it and I'm so excited to be able to use it. They turned out really great....so I'm hoping that next time I try (when I'm all by myself without the guidance of an expert) I'll get the same results.

The scent I made was 1/2 Coconut-lime-verbena and 1/2 Lime. It smells SO good!! Here are a few pictures of the process. I was a terrible picture taker, so I only got a few.

First you have to carefully measure out all of the oils. We used coconut oil, avacado oil, canola oil and lard. Each oil has to measured out by weight, so we weighed the ingredients on a scale. The picture is actually of the fragrance, which doesn't get added until later.

Once all the oils are measured out, they need to be melted and warmed - slowly on a very low temperature so they don't get too hot.. It takes a while for them to be the right temperature.

Meanwhile, you have to measure out a specific amount of distilled water. Then mix lye in the water. It sounds easy, but it's way more complicated than it sounds. Lye is very toxic, so you have to make sure your arms, legs and hands are completely covered and wear goggles (or in my case, sunglasses). I somehow got through high school and college without taking chemistry, but now there is a part of me that wishes I would have gone. It's really amazing to watch what happens with soap. First, the lye gets really hot in the water all on its own. Then, when the lye and the oils are about the same temperature, you mix them together. As you mix, the lye consumes the oils it a process called "saponification" and the mixture is converted into soap!


It takes a while to mix the lye in the oils and when it gets to just the right thickness, you can add the fragrance. When it's about as thick as conditioner, you pour it into a mold to harden. We used a box.

You then leave it in the oven for 24 hours with the light on so it can finish converting into soap. After a day or two, you can cut the soap into bars:

I still have to wait three weeks to use it so it can finish curing. But, I'm so excited to learn and experiment more with soap making.

Black Bean and Mango Salsa

I first heard of this recipe when Dave brought it home from a work party a couple of years ago. He didn't bring home the salsa....just the recipe. And he went on and on about how wonderful it was, so I thought I would give it a try. And it really is very wonderful. We like to either eat it with chips or grill chicken and make it an all out meal.

Black Bean and Mango Salsa

1 envelope Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1 can black beans (not drained)
1 10 oz package frozen corn, thawed (we like to use sweet corn)
1 cup chopped ripe mango (to learn how to chop the mango, go here)
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice

Mix all  ingredients together until well blended.  Cover. Refrigerate at least one hour (or best overnight). Serve with grilled chicken, chips or rice.

Happy Easter!!

Easter was really wonderful this year. They should really co-inside General Conference on Easter Sunday every year. It was so nice to not be in a hurry and to listen to such wonderful messages about our Savior.

We really dropped the ball when it came to pictures this year. We were both so tired Easter morning so we only got a few. Then, at the Easter egg hunt and get-together with Dave's family, we missed all pictures because our camera was at home sitting next to the back door (so we wouldn't forget it.). Yeah. But, we really had a wonderful time.

On a completely unrelated note. It snowed and snowed and snowed last night. So, on the first day back at school after spring break, school was canceled for snow. So, Bria got her first snow day of the school year. Yes....you heard right. A snow day in April. Dave's school district was also closed for the day, so we all got to be home together. But......the power was out ALL DAY! Literally. And, I don't think it was snow related because they were working right outside our subdivision. But, really. No power from first thing in the morning until just before dinner time. We escaped our lack of all things electronic by heading to Walmart. Doesn't Logan look cute in his new high chair? I cut up a banana and he had his first experience feeding himself. I think it mostly ended up all over his clothes and tray more than in his tummy. But, he had a wonderful time.

Destination: New York City

Last Fall, we did a trade for a gift certificate to the Destinations Inn in Idaho Falls. So, just for fun, we went last night. (Dave's brother and his wife very generously watched Bria and Max for us.) All the rooms are destination themed, so there are rooms from all over the world. We stayed in the New York City room. It was neat. The room was amazing!!! And, we've stayed at themed suites lots of times, so we have a pretty good point of reference to compare to. The rooms at Destinations Inn had a lot of really cool extras that we haven't seen in other theme hotels. The shower doubled as an aromatherapy steam room, the room had all kinds of pre-programmed lighting effects and the TV was a huge projector movie screen. Very cool. Our favorite part of this particular room was the New York skyline all lit up. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it is multidimensional.

It was so nice to have a night off and out together for a change!

April Foolery

In some ways I'm glad our kids are getting older. Of course I always tell them to stop growing up and that I want them to stay little. It's not that I don't mean that, but April Fool's Day is much more fun with kids who actually get the pranks you are pulling.

We really let them have it today.

First....We started by moving Bria to Max's bed and Max to Bria's bed in the middle of the night last night. That way when they woke up in the morning, they would be confused from the beginning. The trouble is, Bria is a very light sleeper. She had her eyes open the entire time Dave was carrying her. She seemed to go right back to sleep once in Max's bed and we thought we had pulled it off. Just in case, we came up with a back-up plan to include Bria in on the prank to at least surprise Max. About an hour after we moved them, Bria woke up saying she had a nightmare. Dave took her back downstairs and tucked a wide awake Bria into Max's bed. She didn't say a thing! It must be hard for her to pay attention to her surroundings when she is so tired. (Hmmm. Wonder where she gets that from.) She was very surprised this morning to wake up in Max's bed. She remembered having the nightmare, but was still confused as to how she ended up in a different bed than she started in. She talked and talked and talked about it. Max also thought it was very funny. Ad so it began.

Our next big prank is one I've wanted to do in years past, but always forgot. It takes a little bit of forethought. I poured their breakfast cereal before I went to bed - milk and all - and stuck it in the freezer. When they weren't watching this morning, I hurried and got it out and poured a little bit of fresh milk on top - it looks way more real that way.  Both of them were very confused and delighted to have a frozen breakfast. The rest of they day I got pranked several times from both Bria and Max giving me a cup of frozen water to drink (which they later learned is also called ICE - hmmmmm thought they knew that one before).

We ended the day with a fun dinner. They were both anticipating it all day because Dave told them we were having cupcakes for dinner. We did have cupcakes alright. Meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting. And, to drink....a tall glass of raspberry jello.

And, the biggest prank of all: Mother nature telling us it is SPRING in IDAHO!!!! I can't believe I fell for it! I can hear her laughing as I type (Hehehehehe!!!).