Puck that!

'Tis the season of disgusting snot and loogies and coughing and everything else that gets clogged up in your head and refuses to come out.  

Solution? Awesome shower pucks that smell like heaven and soothe. . . your soul. :)

Just pop one of these bad boys in the shower and BAM.  You can breathe!  Best part?! They are SO friggin' easy to make!!

Ingredients:

Baking Soda

Water

Eucalyptus, Lavender & Rosemary Essential Oils

To Make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Add 2 cups of baking soda to a bowl.  Slowly add 2/3 C of water until you have a semi-thick paste.  

Line a muffin tin with some pretty paper liners and spoon in the baking soda/water mixture until about half-full.  Bake for 20 minutes. 

Remove pucks from muffin tin before completely cooled.  

(I used a knife to gently pry them out.)  

Add 15 drops of each essential oil to each puck.

Allow pucks to dry overnight.  

Remove from liners and store in a plastic bag or tub or anything.

You can use each puck for a couple of showers, which is dandy (so long as you don't take hour long showers like a certain brother-in-law. . . ).  

Also, essential oils can be found almost anywhere.  I got mine at HyVee in the Health Market. 

The end and enjoy!!

Sweet Summertime - Part 5: Colorado

 It has become a tradition with Ben and his brothers to go to Steamboat Springs, CO each year for a soccer tournament/good time. We planned with Jon earlier in the year to go and so after MN, it was off to CO!

This was my driving buddy:

I made the 'Grrr' face on the drawing, but really I thought it was kind of hilarious.  Sometimes people ask how I refrain from reaching across and smacking him.  Honestly, I think people underestimate my level of annoyingness.  We both do things that normal people probably wouldn't be able to tolerate.  Be glad you don't live in our home.  :)

Our drive out to Colorado was long.  I forgot my knitting so by hour four I was bored.  Once we arrived, though, it was all worth it! Jon was at soccer practice, so we walked with Bri over to the fields to say hello.  None of us had eaten and it was getting to be fairly late, so we hopped on over to Chili's for a quick bite.  The next day Ben showed me his old stomping grounds and then we did a day date to Boulder.  I had never been and he knew I would love it, so we went for lunch!  It was beautiful!  We went down to the Pearl Street ped-mall and enjoyed the gorgeous day.

Holy bajeezes! Look at that handsome man! :)

Pearl Street!

Later that night we had supper with his Uncle Keith and Aunt Paula.  Since most of Ben's family lives in CO and he was in Dubai for most of the time we were dating and because we had such a small wedding, I have yet to meet much of his side of the family. It was nice to finally be able to put faces with the names.

Lovely Denver sunset.  Didn't Instagram this at all!

Andy and his gf, Tescia, arrived in Denver after us, and in the morning we were off to Steamboat.  We voted to take the long route to Steamboat so we could go through the mountains.  We were able to stop and get some pretty baller shots:

Meet Ginger Snap. (Name courtesy of Jon Jackson)

Here is Ginger Snap again.  

<3

Andy & Tescia

We are incognito.  (Because we're in tree pose.  Get it?)

This one is named Ginger Pop. (My idea)

Naturally, we had to stop and take a picture with the sign.
And Ginger Pop was like 20 yards away. . . 

The Jackson Clan
Me, Ben, Bri, Jon, Andy

A photo w/Rabbit Ears Pass in the background.

Tescia, Andy & Ginger Snap

Me, Ben, Ginger Snap

Is Ginger Snap a manly enough name?

We had a very chill weekend in Steamboat.  We attended Jon's girls' soccer games which were fun to watch. (Not only were they good and won their games, but they won the whole shebang!)  We also had relaxing mornings where we sipped coffee and read on the porch (an activity Tescia and I were especially fond of), we did a bit of hiking, we rode bikes around for a couple of hours, we grilled and enjoyed some company, we indulged in a bit of wine (or a lot bit of wine), and we ended the weekend with some delicious, authentic Mexican food.

View from the porch of the condo. AMAZING.

Hiking:

This waterfall was the inspiration of the Coors mountains.
Fun tid bit of information, for ya.

They are on the lookout for. . . bears? 

'Berry nice' 

Looky what Ben found!

Biking:

Kicking:

Awesome action photo by Tescia.

Eating:

BEAUTIFUL sunset!

Bri & Jon

Ben & me

Tescia & Andy

It was an amazing trip and I am already excited for our next trip out! I wish we lived closer so we could enjoy the company of Jon and Bri more often, as well as enjoying the outdoorsyness.  Sigh. . .