A Dobbins' Day

International Falls, MN is where my Mom grew up. Its where my parents met. Its where many of my Mom's side of the family still lives. We went up there after being at the lake for a week. We went to pick up my Grandma and bring her back down to my parents house. While there we saw almost all of my aunts and uncles and a lot of my cousins.

Sara saw a post about someone who was going to make their own laundry soap and thought that we should try it. Being the couponing woman that she is, she called the company that manufactures the ingredients that we would need. They were happy to send her some coupons and 6 to 8 weeks later we were ready! Unfortunatley at this point in my post the pictures that we took are lost forever . I can tell you that it was easy to make. The reciepe made a TON of soap. I love it! It smells good, works great and saves me a bundle! I've also used 2 of the main ingredients, Borax and Super Washing Soda, to clean my house with great results. These two ingredients are now used for my dishwasher soap , (combined with jet dry, I didn't like the effects of the vinegar that you were supposed to use) and for cleaning the floor of my shower. It is starting to get sparkly white! So maybe I'm not quite like a pioneer woman but a lot can be said about these woman that used everything they...

The Bellagio Hotel has a fabulous atrium that has flowers that are changed several times a year. We went when it was Chinese New Year. It was beautiful!

This isn't ordinary marshmallow fluff fudge. This is the real deal. The yummiest stuff ever slaved over a hot stove stuff. My Grandma has been making it since the Depression when she was a girl and wanted a little something chocolaty. It is super yummy, and although I've been trying, nobody makes it the way my Grandma does. On her recent trip out here she taught me some of the secrets and gave me the recipe. I'm not sure if I'm going to share the recipe (except with sisters of course) BUT I would like the opportunity to practice. So if you live near by and would like to taste the best fudge ever, then just give me a 8X8 or pie pan and I'll fill it up for you. That way I'll get to perfect my fudge skills AND not gain any weight!

For some it is a necessity and others, just for fun. Race ya!

Chocolate & Cactus On Monday we went to Ethel M.'s Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden. This is a free tour of the chocolate factory and then you can walk around the cactus garden that has more than 300 different species of cacti. My Mom and my Grandma really liked looking at the different cactus. The kids liked running around the different paths. The Chocolate Factory wasn't in production at the time we were there, so we got to see big empty pots, but we still got the free chcolate sample at the end. YUM!