Pony Express Trail

A couple of weekends ago Spencer and I (and the dog) took a drive down the old Pony Express Trail.  If I remember correctly, it starts somewhere west of Eagle Mountain and winds south around western Utah until ending near Delta.   It's a fairly well-maintained dirt road, about 4-5 hours from start to finish.  If you want to know more about the trail itself, click here.

Spencer recently had the 4Runner re-geared.  I don't know exactly what that means, but it has something to do with compensating for the bigger tires he put on so we can maintain better gas mileage and power ratio.  I think.  Anyway, they needed to be broken in a bit, so we figured this would be a fun way to do it.

We stopped at a couple of monuments and ruins of Pony Express stations along the way.

We drove through a big herd of deer and saw some wild mustangs.  I didn't get a picture of the mustangs unfortunately.

After finishing the trail, we kept going on down to Fillmore to visit my parents for a little while, and then it was back home (on the freeway this time) to Pleasant Grove.  Overall, a very nice day trip.

I figured this would be a good indicator to see if I could handle an extreme off road trip while 7 1/2 months pregnant.  The Pony Express Trail went off without a hitch, so the following weekend we packed up and hit the road for Hole in the Rock.  The Pony Express Trail may as well have been a paved interstate compared to the trail for Hole in the Rock.  But that will be its own post, so stay tuned!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I love Relief Society!  A few weeks ago my ward held a Relief Society activity where we learned how to make safe, natural cleaners for our homes.  I learned a bunch of helpful tips on keeping things clean around the house while avoiding some of the dangerous chemicals found in store-bought cleaners.

One tip that I was anxious to try right away was how to make your own laundry detergent.  Here are some great reasons to try this out:

1 - It's SO cheap!  Much cheaper than buying detergent, trust me!

2 - No extra fillers, dyes, perfumes, etc., and safe for the environment.

3 - It works!  Clothes are clean and fresh every time.

So now that I've convinced you to try it yourself, here is what you need:

2 bars of Fels Naptha
3 cups Borax
3 cups washing soda

These can all be found in the laundry detergent aisle of any grocery store.  I got mine at Winco I think.  The Borax and washing soda boxes will last for several batches of detergent.

Grate the Fels Naptha bars like you would a block of cheese.  I used the fine side of a cheese grater so the pieces would be nice and small.  I've heard that if the chunks are too big, they can clump up on your clothes and not rinse off all the way.  Once the bars are grated, mix everything up in your container and VOILA!  You're all set!

I used an empty tin can from our food storage (one of the big ones, #10 I think?) and it was just the right size for this recipe.  I also wrote the recipe on the lid so that it will be easy to make again when I run out.

If you look closely at the top of the lid you can see the amount needed for a load of laundry.  4 tablespoons is all you need for a full load in a regular washing machine, and just 2 tablespoons in a high efficiency machine.

There are a bunch of recipes for homemade laundry detergent that you can find online.  Most are pretty similar to this one with just a few minor changes.  Some add Oxi-Clean, others add regular baking soda along with washing soda.  I liked this one because it is nice and simple, and it works well.  You can also make liquid laundry detergent, but I heard that liquid detergents are harder on machines than powdered detergents.  For babies and people with sensitive skin, you can replace the Fels Naptha bars with Ivory soap.  I haven't tried this yet, but I probably will at some point.

If you end up trying out this recipe or one like it, let me know how it works for you!