Carnival!

We went to the washington county fair and had a great time. The kids loved it. The got to see animals, eat cotton candy and sno cones and go on some rides. Tyler did cry on the caterpillar roller coaster, but well give him a break because jack cried on the same one last year.

sulfate free results

ok so my hair wasn't this bad and isn't this good, but just an idea!







Just wanted to write a little about the results i've had from going sulfate free. I will never go back to regular shampoo. This is the best thing ive ever done for my hair. I have my old hair back. silky, shiny, soft, and never dry or brittle and my hair doesn't fall out anymore. The change was instant and gets better everyday. I don't have to straight iron my hair anymore, and it just lays sleek and shiny as if i had ironed it. I cant believe that this is not more publicized and popular. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking better hair.

mountain woman

We went to Joes Valley this weekend. For those who don’t know, Joes Valley is our annual 24^th of July camping family reunion, with my extended “extended” Dale Jewkes (my grandpa) family. Last year We took our boys and even though I was % ½ months pregnant we had a fantastic time. So I decided to go ahead and try again this year with a baby. I have never camped with a little baby, so I wasn’t sure what I was in for. We roughed it this year and did not take a motor home and just did tents. Well….. It was actually a good trip, but I will not call it the BEST trip.

First of all the kids and I got a really bad head cold the day we went up, so none of us felt very well. We set up camp the first day and despite stuffy noses and pressure in our heads we had a nice time. Then night came….and everyone awoke to Audreys hysterical crys. She had awoken and did not know where she was or who she was with. Anyone who heard her could tell you that they had no idea a 7 month old baby could scream with such volume and hysteria. (think 1970s teenage horror flick) She was sooo scared. After about 15 minutes she calmed down and went back to sleep. Brandon and I however, did not. We were kept awake by a combination of things. Dads snoring, lightning, not daring to budge for fear of waking Audrey again, the boys waking every hour crying because they couldn’t breathe through their stuffy noses, oh yah and my own raging sore throat and inability to breathe. Needless to say, I prayed for the night to end as quickly as possible.

The next morning I woke to the most swollen eyes I have ever had but some of the best blueberry pancakes I’ve ever had. We began another day in the woods, and the kids were having a great time riding 4 wheelers and playing with their cousins. The whole trip got turned upside down with the annual 4 wheeler ride up to skyline drive. Uncle John, his kids, K.C. and dad drove up and when they were at the top, Uncle John had an accident with his 4 wheeler. No one saw for sure what happened, but somehow the 4 wheeler rolled. There were some tense moments and my dad raced down the mountain to call for a helicopter to come rescue John. He ended up breaking his collarbone, 5 ribs, and puncturing a lung. He is resting at the hospital, but I’m sure there is gonna be a painful road to recovery, and we are all praying for it to be speedy and without complication. Our prayers are with John and his family.

As all the 4 wheelers returned to camp, they were greeted with a hailstorm. We quickly moved as much as we could into the covered 4 wheeler trailer, and proceeded to make lunch in there. The sun soon returned, and the days events continued. There were races, balloon tosses and the night ended with a slideshow of all the years of joes valley attendance. We saw some great pics of all the families. That night turned out to be a great night as the kids were much better sleepers, and we all got a pretty good nights sleep. Audrey went right to sleep in her own little sleeping bag and they boys zonked out too. Morning came and it was time to pack up and head home. My ears almost exploded as we headed down the mountain, but we made it back and MAYBE I’ll go for it again next year.






Audrey in her sleeping bag. Soooo Cute!The boys rolling up their tent. What good helpers!

Going Free

I'm taking a break from posting yet another bunch of pictures of my darling kids. Instead, I thought i'd tell some of you out there, about something I am changing in my own little world. Before i tell you what i'm going without, let me start with why. After each of my babies are born, I have the typical hair falling out phase. My phase does not return to normal very quickly, in fact it lasts the entire time i nurse. Considering I've nursed all my babies for a year, you can imagine how awful my hair gets during that year. It gets so brittle and dry and fuzzy. I cannot deal with the fuzzy. I also suffer from ecxema and psoriasis on my skin. These are miserable to deal with, and while i only suffer with it a little, it is enough for me to want to find a solution. So in a vain attempt to find how i could help my hair and skin, i started researching hair products and info about them. There is the typical eat healthier, take vitamins approach, but i already do that (mostly). Then there is the use unbelievable amounts of expensive products approach, I am way to poor to do that. And then there is the sulfate free approach. This is the approach i chose. Now before you all go thinking ive gone hippie, and tree hugger on you, (i will not show up in dreads next time you see me) just hear me out.
Most soaps have sodium lauryl or laureth sulfates in them. This ingredient is what causes that rich lather that makes us feel so clean. We use it because it is in almost every product that is a form of soap. Its very difficult to find products that don't have it in it. But in short, it harshly strips the hair of all natural oils, and then we have to use conditioners and product with water insoluble emollients in them to smooth the dry brittle hair shafts. When you use a sulfate free shampoo, it does not strip the hair of oils, it just cleans dirt out and protects the hair. Then you can use a light conditioner, with water soluble emollients ( so you dont get build up) and your hair looks and feels so much better. And some of you may know how hair styles better when you washed it yesterday, right? well this makes your hair so it styles well all the time, because it is never full of static, frizzy dryness, and brittle fly aways. The same goes for not stripping the skin of natural oils with sulfates. I know a lot of people are blessed to not ever suffer with dry skin and hair, but if you do i highly recommend trying out sulfate free shampoos and soap.
These are a little more expensive, but you can find reasonably priced ones like burts bees shampoo, and you can go cheaper on your conditioners and product for you hair. If I was rich, I would use Wen sulfate free cleansing conditioner, I hear it is great but expensive.
I've just started this change, and so far I am loving the change in my hair, so I will keep you posted on the long term results.

You've Got A Friend In Me

trying to get away from mom at bathtime (this is under our trailer in the backyard)This is what ended up in our bed in the morning


I just thought these pictures illustrated my boys being the best of friends (on most days)

SSSSSSNAKE!

The other night Uncle Paul, called and said he had a surprise for the boys, so i hauled them outside to wait for uncle Paul to show up. When Paul arrived he opened his trunk and i knew it had to be some kind of living thing, and behold it was a huge snake. So Brandon carefully grabbed the things head, and let each of the boys wrap it around their necks. They were so excited, I was a little afraid. It wasn't a poisoness snake, but i still didn't want the boys or I to get bit. OUCH! Well thanks uncle Paul, for a fun late night adventure.

summer training

We've been worried about our girl being a little to chubby so we've started a strict exercise regime, heres a picture of her warming up.