Johnson & Johnson

A New Blog!!

2011-05-16T19:24:00.000-06:00

We're moving! At least, our online blog home is moving! After almost two years of marriage, we decided it was time to start a blog together. This doesn't mean that Bryan will be posting very often, if ever, but at least he's also in the title now! Our new blog address is:

www.bryanandcandice.blogspot.com

Come and follow us at this new spot! If you've been wondering what we've been up to during the last seven months of cyber-space silence, you'll find lots of updated info and pictures at our new online home, too! We'll also keep this blog up, since there's just way too much fun stuff and history to take it down.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-30T11:10:00.001-06:00

Later that evening Bryan and I went to Rick & Missy's ward Halloween party. This time, we dressed up, too. We had a lot of fun spending time with everybody.

All the girlies at the Trunk-or-Treat

Rick & Missy as Cinderella & Prince Charming, in costumes I made for friends about 12 years ago!

Bryan & I broke out the old favorites, too...dressing up as Belle & the Beast, in more 12-year-old costumes!

Michaela, Savannah & Madison

Madi made her own Athena costume...GREAT JOB!! The sewing bug must run in the family!

My Nephew Aaron's Baptism

2010-10-30T10:09:00.038-06:00

We had such a great time being able to attend Aaron's baptism. Aaron is the oldest child of my youngest brother, Matt and his wife Dawna. It meant so much to us that we were able to be there for such an important occasion! Here are a few of the pictures that we took after the baptism.

The whole family after the baptism, just missing Grant, Erika & kids.

Savannah & Dakota with Papa Ken.


With Aaron after his baptism. He suggested taking the picture in front of the colorful bushes, to remind us it was fall outside. Good thinking Aaron!

Tailor & Quincy were happy to see Madi & Michaela in the parking lot.

My oldest nieces, Madison & Michaela.

Dad & Helen in front of their Coeur d'Alene home.

Tailor & Quincy chill on their quilt that we brought from Salt Lake.

Dad gets a little nap in after the baptism in his recliner.

A Weekend in Coeur d'Alene

2010-10-29T10:03:00.002-06:00

We had planned to visit Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for my nephew Aaron's baptism, which also just happened to fall over Halloween weekend. We were excited to visit the family and spend Halloween there. We decided to bring Tailor and Quincy and see how they would do on the weekend trip. Tailor has made many roadtrips with me in her almost 10 years of life; Quincy, however has not. I got Quincy in early 2008, just before I got really sick, so unfortunately he has not had the opportunity of much travel. We tried to make up for that a bit this last summer by bringing the pups on several camping trips and short road trips in the state. This would be the longest trip (10 hours each way) that he would have ever been on. I'm happy to report that both Tailor and Quincy did great, and they had fun visiting everyone, too!

The dogs get a potty break somewhere along I-15 in Montana

We left Salt Lake bright and early (actually before dawn) Friday morning. This allows us to get into Coeur d'Alene in the early afternoon. Just in time to take a short nap before spending the evening with family. It makes the long drive for a short weekend seem more worth it! After getting all gussied up, we started our weekend off by going to dinner with my dad and Helen, at one of their favorite steak houses in Hayden, Idaho. We had fun visiting and catching up, and the ribs were GREAT! For some reason, we didn't get a picture of all of us together.

After dinner, we met up with my brother Matt, his wife Dawna, and their kids at their ward Halloween party. We watched an awesome "Thriller" dance routine put on by the youth of their ward, and had fun hanging out with the kiddos, who were all dressed up in their Halloween best.

Aaron was a ninja, and happy to show off some of his ninja moves.

Isaac was a ninja too, but a little more shy about it.

Ellie was a darling lady bug.

And Olivia made the cutest cow girl ever.

Fun in the car on the way home!

It was a great way to start a great weekend with family!

A Lyme Disease Update

2010-09-30T20:44:00.003-06:00

Since I have been on treatment for nearly two years, we've been evaluating my current status and options for the future. Obviously, my health, treating this disease and the way it has impacted us financially have all been the subject of many, many prayers over the last year and ten months.

Thankfully, I've made great strides since starting treatment, especially if you're looking at the bigger picture. It's been difficult at times, and sometimes for me personally it's been almost unbearable. Still, it was and has been the necessary thing to do. This summer was a particularly rough time for me. I was on a course of meds that made me so sick! For almost two months I was vomiting several times a day, with such bad "heart burn" anytime I would lie down that my throat felt constantly raw. All this was in addition to the aches, pains & problems of Lyme disease, and while trying to down a fistful of prescribed pills every two hours -- most of which require food, and most of which I knew would make me sick again. The massive doses of antibiotics have plenty of other not-so-fun side effects, too...but I'll spare you from the gory details. It was really frustrating to me, because it felt like such a set back to be a year and a half into treatment and to still be so sick.

I felt myself slipping into a serious depression, something I've battled the entire time I've been sick, but I always felt I had done a good job of avoiding it. This is mostly due to my wonderful husband and a couple wonderful friends, who stuck with me through the worst of my treatment -- particularly the weeks and months just before I was diagnosed with Lyme and then the first six months of my treatment. I was too sick at times to sit up in bed. But these wonderful people went out of their way to adjust normal things so that I could still get out of the house and do them. Bryan and I have been visiting National Parks almost since our first date. No matter how weak, fatigued or sick I was, we would go. Needless to say, he's spent a lot of time in the car with me driving from viewpoint to viewpoint in these amazing parks, then getting out and patiently helping me to slowly get to where we wanted to get a picture. I know he would much rather be backpacking, or at least hiking in these amazing parks. But he's never once complained or made me feel responsible for keeping him from that.

Once at the Grand Canyon, determined to see the place, but almost too weak to stand up, I paid for the exertion by collapsing on the stairs of one of the main viewpoints. I sat as close to the side railing as I could, since I knew that I didn't have the strength to get up, but I was blocking half of the narrow path. I was silently crying from fatigue and frustration. It's been so hard for me over the last couple of years to feel like my life is passing me by, especially when I've been in such amazing and beautiful places. That's where the limitations that Lyme Disease has imposed on my life burst brazenly out into the full light of day. I try to swallow them back when I have those feelings and force myself to move on and think about positive things. But once in awhile, especially when I'm very tired, all of the frustration, disappointment, sadness and loss come gushing out in the form of tears. When this happened at one of the most amazing places on Earth, Bryan didn't say anything. He just stood in front of me with his hand rubbing my shoulder, apologizing to other tourists as they moved around me. This moment has been repeated over and over again over the last year and ten months, and writing about it now makes me even more grateful for his love, patience, support and strength.

Other friends have supported me by being willing to take time out of their busy lives to come to my home and spend time with me, sometimes sitting on my bed and talking with me, cleaning my house, walking my dogs, bringing dinner or even helping me do my hair & makeup before taking me out to do things. For a long time, this meant wherever we were going had to be planned out, and my limitations - mainly fatigue, weakness and severe joint pain, had to be accommodated. This meant trouble walking almost anywhere. I'm amazed at how patient my friends were. Back in those days I was soooo slow! I have bad days now, where I'm still a bit slow -- but not like that, thank goodness! Anyway, all these wonderful acts of kindness are really what kept me from becoming severely depressed, and I think they have helped me work more speedily through the healing process. I've got so many fun pictures and memories from this time in my life. Someone else looking through the pictures might not have a clue as to the pain & difficulty I was experiencing in life right then. But I'm actually grateful for that. I've come through it all with wonderful memories and pictures to look back on. As life goes on, the difficulty of the moment fades and you remember only the highlights. I'm grateful for that, too.

Well, towards the end of this past summer I recognized that I was having a really difficult time staying positive about anything, and I began to wonder if we were still on the right path as far as treatment. I felt as though I had plateaued as far as the abatement of my lyme symptoms, and I was so tired of dealing with all the side effects of the medications while getting only mediocre results. But it's a huge question with even bigger implications for the future. This gave us reason to step back and really look at everything, and try to do it objectively. So for the last couple of months, we've been praying about what we should do moving forward. There are so many big questions in life -- the answers to which have enormous impact or implications for many people. But I don't know if I've had to make any bigger decisions thus far in my life than the ones I've had to make during the course of this illness and the subsequent treatment of it. It's downright scary at times. But we've tried to avoid paralysis from analysis. I guess that's the beauty of faith & prayer. You make an educated decision, take it to the Lord and then through the wonderful process of personal revelation, (most often feelings of peace on the matter) you move forward with faith.

So that's what we've done. About nine weeks ago, a friend of mine approached us with a suggestion. A nutritional approach and products that had greatly helped his wife with a serious, chronic illness. I felt ecstatic at the possibility of having a glimmer of hope, and after researching the results that others suffering with Lyme had gotten on these products, Bryan was still really skeptical, but willing to let me try. It seemed a little crazy to begin with, so we didn't tell many people. But I felt good about it, and my husband supported me. It's been seven weeks today since I began this new path -- a nutritional approach -- and I've had nothing but great results and continual improvement. It's hard to believe, but I am so happy! I am stronger, have much more energy and stamina, my head is clearer and I've got less pain than I've had in years. I'm so excited about the future and continuing to get even better! For the first time since all of this began, I REALLY feel like I'm getting my life back!

The Random Cabins

2010-09-19T09:35:00.003-06:00

When we made reservations for our anniversary trip, we could only book for one night because they were completely full the following night. We were disappointed at first, but then thought we would just bring our camping stuff and camp in the park on the second night. Then, because I had been so sick before we left, we thought it was better to only stay Friday night at the lodge and then just head home.

Of course once we were actually there, we were having so much fun that we wanted to stay longer. We hadn't brought our camping gear so we began to look around town. Because of some sort of biker event, all the local hotels and motels were completely booked up, so we decided to stick with our plan and head home.

Once we got out on the highway, we ended up driving a ways and then seeing these random little cabins in the middle of nowhere. It was late afternoon on a Saturday, and the place looked completely deserted, but Bryan called the number that was advertised on the "office" cabin. A guy answered and said he would be right over. We ended up staying the night there, and Bryan was happy because there was satellite and he got to watch some college football. The Oregon State game was on a channel that we didn't have, so he was a little sad about that, but in spite of that fact, the weekend had been great! We had so much fun together, and it was nice to get away for just a bit. We've had a wonderful first year of marriage, and we're looking forward to so many more!

Our First Anniversary Trip

2010-09-18T20:09:00.000-06:00

To celebrate our first anniversary, Bryan and I took a long weekend trip down to Southern Utah. We left Salt Lake early Friday morning to head south for our little vacation. The mid-September weather was gorgeous, and we were excited to go. I had actually been fighting a flu and pretty severe fatigue, but we had made our reservation almost three months before and if we cancelled the day before, they would keep 100% of our deposit. So of course we decided to go. Besides, you only have a first anniversary once, so I was determined to have a great weekend in spite of not feeling great.

We stayed at an amazing place called the Lodge at Red River Ranch. It's a working ranch with a wonderful lodge right among the cattle, buffalo, orchards and beautiful red rock. We made our reservations on the internet, having never been there. It can be scary doing that, because you don't ever really know what you're going to get. We were very pleasantly surprised. Cattle met us at the front gate, and Buffalo were not much further away in the pasture.

Arriving at the Lodge

The lodge was set back in that little grove of trees

Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...

Yay for our 1st Anniversary!!

The lodge was gorgeous and even though the pictures were beautiful, it was still even better than we expected. Set in a small grove of trees, it was secluded and quiet. We were met at the front desk by a friendly woman who checked us in and explained the dining room hours and that we should let the front desk know if we would like to have a fire in the fireplace of our bedroom. They actually had us sign a form agreeing that if we tried to start a fire on our own, we would be charged $400. I assume this is obviously for liability, and so that they can make sure that the damper is open and everything is being done properly. We were amused by it.

Beautiful, rustic & luxurious all at the same time!

The Lodge's inviting front porch & door

The Lodge was amazing inside, with beautiful things all over the place- all with a distinctly western flair. There were several other guests there, all with European accents. I recognized German, but we weren't sure on a couple others. Staff told us that German and French tourists have loved southern Utah for years.

The hallway & staircase just to the left of our door

The railing overlooking the lodge's great room

Bryan checks out the artwork in the hall to the right of our door

Our bedroom, the "Cornflower" after it's cornflower blue color scheme, was comfortable and in keeping with the theme of the rest of the place. It was on the second floor, with a private balcony. One unique thing about it was that the bed is actually made out of two antique twin canopy beds. They had to have the mattress custom made, and as a result, have to order the custom-made linens from France.

Our stone fireplace which made it really cozy

The gorgeous view from our balcony

Bryan is afraid of the wasps nest

Friday night, we had dinner in the lodge's dining room. There were a few other guests there at the same time, and we noticed that the server was the same girl who checked us in. When we commented that they must keep her really busy around here, she told us that her husband was the chef and that it was a family affair. Later that night when we called down to the front desk to ask for a fire, she was the one that came up to our room to build it! Dinner was good old-fashioned meat & potatoes. A little fancier, of course. We had steak & ribs with really yummy golden yukon potatoes. What else would you expect for a western lodge? As we ate, we over-heard the owner (a retired plastic surgeon) and his wife talking to their grandson, who was the little boy of the couple that run the lodge year-round.

We had a dinner of steak & ribs, appropriate western fare

The lodge had an orchard outback and after sleeping late Saturday morning, we took a short but tranquil walk with the beautiful red rock backdrop. I was having a little trouble being out in the sun due to my sun sensitivity, but I was trying to stay covered up and enjoy things. I quickly realized that my cute long-sleeve sweatshirt was not going to work in the September heat, so we actually had to cut our walk a bit short so I could change into a lighter cover-up. Still, we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery and we got some fun pictures.

We had an amazing time at the lodge, but our main purpose for the trip was a visit to Capitol Reef National Park. Given our history of visiting National Parks during our courtship, honeymoon and first year of marriage, we felt like this was a fitting activity for our first anniversary. But that part of our trip will be for another post!

Capitol Reef National Park

2010-09-18T19:37:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun at Capitol Reef for our first anniversary. We took so many pictures, but I'm only going to share these since my posts tend to get really long. It was amazing, and just like I always say, if you ever get the chance to go, you totally should!

To All Our Friends & Family, One Year Later!

2010-09-18T07:45:00.008-06:00

As we celebrate our first anniversary, we can't believe it's been a year. But it's been the most wonderful year of our lives...with so much more to look forward to in the future! Thanks again to each of you who helped so much with our wedding, and who have loved and supported us over our first year of marriage! We love you!!
Bryan & Candy

Tasha & Ben's Engagement Pictures

2010-09-03T12:44:00.002-06:00

Bryan's sister Tasha asked me to take her engagement pictures here in Salt Lake. We got up really early and went to take the pictures right when the sun came up. There is a really cool park here in Salt Lake City called Memory Grove that has all kinds of cool stuff in it. We had so much fun and took over 200 pics. Tasha & Ben have really fun personalities, so we took a lot of traditional photos, but we also took some fun, quirky ones. I was really happy with how they turned out. Here are a few of my favorites:

Bryce Canyon National Park

2010-08-28T14:57:00.000-06:00

We visited Bryce Canyon National Park this last weekend and it was AMAZING. We took so many pictures, most of which are on facebook, but I'm only going to post a few select ones on here. It was a really funny experience, since before we left, it looked like everything was stacking up against us having a fun/exciting/successful/dry camping trip.

First, the forecast was calling for rain and thunderstorms along with flash floods. Ok, we weren't so worried about the flash floods, since we knew we wouldn't be hiking down in the canyon. We were much more concerned about the rain and the thunderstorms, since both our dogs are horribly afraid of thunder and well, it's just not a ton of fun to camp in the rain.

Second problem was that we couldn't reserve a campsite, (it's all first come, first served at Bryce Canyon.) Knowing that we were going to be arriving late, probably after dark, on a Friday night in August meant that we were not that hopeful at finding an open campsite. We had checked around and were open to roughing it in the National Forest, (dispersed camping) which Bryan and I have done on other occasions...the worry with that was that it would be extremely difficult to find a great place to put up a tent in the wilderness in the dark.

The third concern that came up was that we were all running behind schedule, and after a full day of work on Friday we didn't get on the road towards the park until almost 7pm. It's a three and a half hour drive to Bryce, so we knew we would be pulling in pretty late at night. Setting up a tent in the dark is NOT my favorite thing, and combined with the possibility of rain, thundershowers, potentially nervous/anxious dogs, AND possibly not having a campsite...not a fun combination. All of this added up to a bit of stress, and even my wonderfully even-keeled and always positive hubby was positively (although quietly) grumpy about it as we drove south on the interstate. I really wondered if we had made a mistake in going.

We were so pleasantly surprised when we arrived. The weather was perfectly calm, and aside from the occasional cloud, you could see amazingly bright stars. Apparently because of the weather forecast, most people had chosen to stay home and there were several empty campsites for us to choose from. Amanda and Kristen got to work setting up the tent as Bryan started a campfire and I watched the dogs. We tried to whisper and be quiet as we set up camp at 10:30pm. Once we got settled in we made S'mores and hot chocolate to enjoy around the campfire. The dogs were excited to be there with us, and seemed happy to be along for the adventure. Lucky for them, the forecasted thunderstorms never happened and we had a blissfully uneventful night.

The next morning we were up and ready to go early...about 10:30am. Hey, there's no reason to rush when you're supposed to be out relaxing, right? Bryan was wonderful and built a fire and made us all breakfast. He got up before any of us girls and had everything ready to go before we were up. The doggies loved getting the leftover eggs and bacon, and also enjoyed their walk around the campground with Bryan and I before we packed everything up to tour the park.

Obviously, our first stop was to the Visitor's Center to stamp our atlas. We also got our requisite magnet and patch. Outside the VC a volunteer ranger had a special telescope that you could look through to see a sunspot. It was really cool, since I've never looked at the sun before. Because of the filter on the telescope, the sun appeared red, and the little black pencil dot was the sunspot. He explained that the tiny dot was actually larger than Earth!

We didn't do any hiking on this trip, but we did the auto route along the rim of the spectacular canyon. We had so much fun, but unfortunately I was having a rough day on Saturday, (fatigue and sun sickness) so I was not able to see all the viewpoints. Still, it was great to be able to go, and we were able to visit some amazing places with our friends Kristen and Amanda. At the park's general store, we were able to order a whole pizza for lunch, and we had fun sitting on the covered porch while we ate. Coincidentally, it rained for about five minutes while we ate...the only rain that we had on the trip! All in all, it ended up being a wonderful trip and we were all so glad to have gone!

I feel so lucky that Bryan and my wonderful friends have been so patient with my limitations right now. Bryan and I work three full time jobs between us, (Bryan has the brunt of it, working 80 hours a week) so the opportunity to do these little trips really helps us to feel like we are still taking full advantage of life. We were all exhausted on the way home, probably the combination of the 9,000 ft. elevation and the heat. In spite of that, we had such a great time, and the trip was a complete success!

Payson Lakes Camp Out

2010-08-21T11:49:00.000-06:00

We did a little camping trip with our friend Kristen, her kids, and a couple other friends this past weekend at a place here in Utah called Payson Lakes. It was only about an hour and a half from our house in Salt Lake, and since it was close we decided to bring the dogs along to see how they would do camping.

We were so pleasantly surprised that they LOVED it and were almost perfectly behaved! Since it went so well, we plan to bring them along on most of our camping trips in the future. We made foil dinners and cooked most of them in the coals, but a couple made it onto the Coleman stove. We also roasted marshmallows for S'mores and popped up some JiffyPop!! On Saturday, we took advantage of the little lakes! Kristen brought her kayaks and we had some fun playing on the water and enjoying the great outdoors.

I was so proud of myself because I was able to hike around the lake with Bryan and the dogs. It was a small lake, so it couldn't have been much more than a mile, but it wasn't even difficult for me! I've been working out with my TurboJam DVD's the last few weeks and I'm really noticing a difference, which is so exciting for me. After such a long period of inactivity, I feel like all my muscles have atrophied and I've put on some excess pounds, (boohoo!) I've noticed in the last few days that I'm getting some of my muscle tone back and my stamina has improved substantially. My fatigue has also improved greatly, (except for the occasional bad day) and I feel so blessed to be able to slowly get back into the activities that I love.

I still have to stay out of the sun because of the high doses of antibiotics that I'm taking, but I did take a few minutes to get out in a kayak with Bryan. We've been ordering UV protective clothing online so that I can still take advantage of some outdoor activities. We're really hoping that by next month we might be able to try a backpacking trip...I found a place in the Uintas that we can drive to, then hike in only a half mile or so to the lake...it will be a good way to get my feet wet. Bryan and I haven't ever been backpacking together since I've been dealing with this illness the whole time we've been together. It's really exciting to see improvement, and while I have small set backs almost weekly, my good days are getting better and better!! Thanks to Kristen for being so adventurous and willing to let us tag along! I do believe the puppies had the best weekend of their doggy lives, and it wasn't bad for us, either!!

Plum-tuckered Out!!

2010-08-14T10:54:00.000-06:00

We have a plum tree in our front yard that Bryan has made his special project. We fertilized it and have been focused on trying to give it some TLC. When it blossomed at the beginning of the summer, we could tell that it's a happy tree, since there were hundreds of blossoms. Well, all the blossoms have now become plums and we are determined to make good use of our little "crop." Bryan borrowed a ladder from our sweet neighbor, and two Saturdays in a row now we have spent most of the day picking plums and trimming the tree...(the tree was not well maintained and looks as though it's never been trimmed...so we had some broken branches.) The plan is to trim the tree more aggressively this fall, so that next year we get even better quality fruit. We always enjoy being able to hang out around the house, and the dogs love love it, too! They were also able to hang out in their little pool, since we're in the middle of the summer heat.

Bryan was happy to use his chain saw again, and Mary helped Bryan out with some of the trimming that took more strength than I have right now. (Thanks!) All in all, we came away with a minimum of 12 paper grocery bags of plums, some of which we've given away, but most of which are in the freezer waiting to become pflammenmuss once we get the chance to make it! YUM, YUM!! :)

Breakfast with Aunt Shannon

2010-08-07T11:47:00.000-06:00

My Aunt Shannon was in town for her high school reunion, and we took the opportunity to get together for breakfast. Bryan made German pancakes, a favorite dish, (he's really good at it, too!) We had so much fun visiting, laughing and reminiscing about our travels and adventures over the last few years. I was able to stay at my Aunt Shannon & Uncle Bob's house for almost a week when I was in Portland last year getting ready for our wedding. We had so much fun and Shannon was such a huge help with preparation...and she my Uncle Bob helped a TON with our reception, handling all of the food. THANK YOU!!

Shannon was Camp Director in the Portland Oregon East Stake for several years while I was attending girl's camp, and we also went on a few Summiteer Hike backpacking trips together. I have so many fun memories with her and I'm so glad that she is a part of my life. It's also fun for me to be able to have Bryan visit with extended family that can tell him about my mom, since he hasn't had the opportunity to meet her. It means a lot to me that my Aunt calls at least once a month to see how we're doing and find out what's going on in our lives. She also makes an effort to let me know whenever she's coming into town so that we can get together...and no matter how busy she is, she makes time to get together. Thanks so much, Shannon for your love, friendship and support over the years! We love you!!

Home Sweet Home

2010-08-02T20:50:00.000-06:00

Bryan unloads all our vacation gear from the car into the front room!

Now we need some time off to settle back in and recover from our vacation! We had an amazingly wonderful time visiting with family, (on both sides!) soaking up the sun, camping, water skiing,wake boarding, golfing, and seeing new sights. We feel so blessed and grateful for the wonderful opportunities that we have, especially being able to take such a fun trip. As fabulous as it was, we're ready to be home and happy to get back into our regular schedule!

Historic Fort Missoula

2010-08-02T12:15:00.000-06:00

We decided that we would stop and visit the Historic Fort Museum in Missoula, Montana on our way back to Salt Lake at the end of our summer vacation. This was entirely in keeping with Bryan's love of visiting road-side monuments...I love it, too, so it works well. :) We had fun learning more about the history of the fort and logging in the area.

Leaving CdA

2010-08-01T11:06:00.000-06:00

A Stop in German Town

2010-07-30T19:48:00.000-06:00

We left Seattle just after 1pm when my appointment was over. We got on I-90 heading east and were looking forward to our next stop, Leavenworth, Washington.

When I was 10 or 11, my step-mom Pam and her parents, Grandma & Grandpa Sanders, introduced me to a really fun Bavarian-style village in the mountains of central Washington. Grandma & Grandpa Sanders were living in Wenatchee, WA at the time, and Leavenworth is about 20-30 minutes away. Even back then, I thought it was an amazing place. I've been back to visit seven or eight times since then, and I really do love it. Bryan had never been there, so we decided that we would stop there on our way back to Coeur d'Alene from my doctor's appointment in Seattle.

Our main goal with the trip, besides introducing Bryan to one of my favorite places, was to get a really good German meal. I love German food, and Leavenworth's got plenty of it. We had tons of fun window shopping at several of the shops, and of course, we got a magnet for our fridge.

I had schnitzel with pan fried potatoes, red cabbage and spaetzle...YUM!

Bryan had weisswurst with pan fried potatoes and sauerkraut. YUM!

Another Doctor's Appointment

2010-07-30T14:02:00.000-06:00

We drove straight from Mt. Rainier to my doctor's office, and on the way there I suggested to Bryan that perhaps we shouldn't mention that we had been camping. This was the point when Bryan reminded me that we were grungy and smelled like campfire. I had to laugh, since I hadn't even considered that. My doctor is not a fan of camping, since it is considered a higher-risk activity for contracting lyme disease. In my case, since I already have it, being re-exposed or possibly exposed to other infections that could come from a tick bite could pose serious problems or complications to my treatment. This is why on my very first visit, she told me "no more camping." Well, I figure there's no sense in spending all this time, energy and money trying to get better if, for the rest of my life, I can't do something that I love. So I have continued to camp, while being careful and taking plenty of precautions. I just usually don't parade the fact that I have continued to camp in front of my doctor. When we did tell her, she said while shaking her head and laughing, "You guys are killing me!!" At least she was a good sport about it.

Anyway, since Bryan was coming with me to see my doctor for the first time, I was excited for them to be able to meet. It was pretty funny as I introduced them, and she immediately explained to him that she hoped he understood the MAJOR role she had played in us meeting. She really did play a major role. She was referring to how Bryan and I met, at the airport while I was returning from my first visit to see her back in January 2009.

I got a good report this time, and things are going well. Luckily, I am off the meds that were making me soooo sick, and I am looking forward to getting back to some degree of normalcy in daily life.

Mt. Rainier National Park

2010-07-29T12:06:00.000-06:00

We have been wanting to visit Mt. Rainier National Park for almost a year now, so we decided to camp there "on our way" to my doctor's appointment in Seattle. We left on Thursday, and made good time, leaving Twin Lakes after 1pm and arriving inside the park just before 6pm. We went straight to the visitor's center and got a magnet and patch, something we do at every park. We also stamped our National Parks Atlas with a Mt. Rainier NP stamp.Yay...another one down! We were very happy to get a campsite, since we didn't have a reservation, and we hurried to set things up so that we could start to work on dinner. We camped at Ohanapecosh Campground, in the southeast corner of the park. Our campsite was absolutely gorgeous, in the middle of a stand of tall fir trees. The air was so fresh, and sweet with the scent of pine trees and mountain air. Ahhh...I LOVE IT!!

I'm so glad that we both LOVE camping so much. I have loved it my whole life. A lot of people think it's strange that even at my sickest over the last two years, I have still enjoyed camping trips. To me it's simple...it just makes me happy to be out in nature. I sleep better on the ground with a tent over my head than I ever do at home. If I have to be sick and feel terrible most of the time, I may as well be doing it in a beautiful place, especially if Bryan's there with me, and willing to help me get there and get stuff set up. Being there, doing this makes me feel like I'm still going on with my life. Camping has always been something that has brought me joy, and I'm glad that I married a guy who also loves it. LUCKY ME!!
On the way there, we had stopped at a fruit stand where we got corn, cherries, peaches and walla walla sweet onions to enjoy later that night. We roasted the corn on the fire and had fun also roasting marshmallows.

After spending the night snug in our tent (again...after camping for almost two weeks straight) we got up and drove north through the park, taking in the sights along the way. These pictures don't do the mountain justice, since our camera was having a hard time getting the lighting right that time of morning. It was beautiful!

Our goal as a couple of visiting all of America's National Parks has been so much fun so far, and has provided us with an opportunity of always looking for chances to get to a park in the midst of our other travels. Mt. Rainier National Park is the second park we've been able to visit in 2010, and we have set plans to visit at least two more this year, perhaps three. Last year we visited nine of America's 56 National Parks.

Bryan's 27th Birthday!

2010-07-28T11:15:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Bryan's 27th Birthday at Twin Lakes the year. He started out the day doing one of his favorite things--taking an early morning ski. All was going well until he took a hard fall and hurt his ear (we later learned that he actually ruptured his ear drum) coming back to the tent and reporting that it hurt really bad, and he needed to lie down. He's not really one to complain about aches and pains, so I was relatively concerned. In addition, I felt like a horrible wife, since in the craziness leading up to the trip I had forgotten to pack anything special for his birthday. Trying to get creative, I remembered that our collection of National Parks patches were tucked in a pocket in our little hiking backpack and decided that I could hurry and sew those on (something I've been meaning to do since Christmas) as a little makeshift birthday present...while Bryan rested in the tent, I went up to the little store at the lake and bought a small sewing kit, birthday candles and a box of nerds (one of Bryan's favorite candies.) I was hoping that someone may have packed a cake mix, but more about that later...

As the morning wore on and the pain continued to get worse, we decided to go to the doctor. As luck would have it, Amber had also been really sick for several days and had been wanting to try to get in to see a doctor that day, so we decided to tag along. The problem is that Twin Lakes is pretty remote. It's on an Indian Reservation in northeastern Washington State, and the nearest clinic is in a tiny town called Inchelium. The first order of business was to try to find a place with cell reception so that we could try to contact our insurance company to see where the nearest "approved provider" might be. So we piled into Amber's van and the quest began...once we found a place with cell reception, Amber pulled over and they proceeded with the phone calls.

We drove to the little clinic in Inchelium after both our insurance companies told us the nearest covered providers would be hours away. After a little haggling with the office manager at the clinic to get estimates of what we might be looking at, we stood there weighing our options. Ultimately, we ended up NOT actually getting in to see anyone. Bryan said that the doctor wouldn't have been able to do anything, anyway and would have simply told him to stay out of the water. So I told him to stay out of the water and we saved ourselves a few hundred bucks. :) It ended up being a great opportunity for me to sew some patches onto the backpack...

Later that evening, we were finally able to celebrate the birthdays (there were actually four to celebrate) with brownies and rice krispies treats, complete with candles! Happy Birthday, honey, I love you so much!!

Lovin' the Lake!!

2010-07-27T19:44:00.000-06:00

Twin Lakes is one of our only opportunities all year long to water ski or wake board, which on top of everything else, makes it even more of a treat to be up there. Bryan loves to water ski, and he's very good. He got to ski only three times when, (on his birthday...which, being in the last week in July is almost always celebrated at the Lakes) he took a hard fall and blew out his ear drum...effectively ending his water skiing season. Luckily, the audiologist said there is no permanent damage and he'll be able to hear things again in about a month.

I only wake boarded once this year, but I was proud of myself because we both felt like my stamina and arm strength has improved over last year. I love how I'm smiling in all of these pictures. I really have fun doing this. I can't wait until I'm better and I can actually start to get strong again, not to mention be out in the sun for longer periods of time. Ahhhh, things to look forward to!!

The Dock of Doom

2010-07-27T11:53:00.000-06:00

This year at Twin Lakes, Amber implemented a new tradition, (at least...I think there are many people that hope it will be a tradition...I'm one of them) for the new inductees into the family. You could consider it a friendly form of mild hazing...I guess it's arguable. Anyway, it was a perfect activity for the newbies at the lake, combining equal parts of all-in-good-fun-teasing, a generous helping of family folklore, and a chance for the newly married, engaged or almost there "significant others" to prove themselves proficient in Romrell family trivia, jokes and traditions. The basic game-show outline was that the newbies lined up on the dock while most of the family gathered in camp chairs along the shoreline. Amber asked trivia questions of the contestants through her state-of-the-art paper-plate megaphone. As each contestant missed a question, he had to take a step backwards towards the end of the dock, and ultimately, the lake. It was great fun and Bryan and I got lots of pictures and video. I had a hard time picking the best ones, but here are a few of the highlights:

Dock of Doom Contestant #1: Ben Major, Tasha's Fiance

Dock of Doom Contestant #2: Alex Casqueiro, Lacey's Boyfriend

Dock of Doom Contestant #3: Sam Sutherland, (cousin) Laura's husband

Amber looks completely in her element as she outlines the rules for DoD.

The younger cousins took advantage of the beach.

Lacey, Tasha & Nikki conspire about the answer to one of the questions.

Lacey & Tasha

The boys demonstrate their interpretations of the "handsome man" dance

Jim demonstrates how to really do the handsome man

The paper-plate megaphone

Getting close to the end of the dock...

Write down those answers, boys!

Bryan works on the docu-drama

Miss Lily Stay

Laura runs to the aid of her man, as he uses a life-line.

What is the name of the ferry to Twin Lakes??? It's the Columbian Princess

Towards the end, everyone started moving on to the dock to see the show

Sam ended up going in the water first

Alex & Lacey

Sam & Laura


Ben & Tasha

Once the guys were all in the water, their girls quickly joined them.

Twin Lakes 2010

2010-07-26T15:44:00.000-06:00

After spending a couple days in Coeur d'Alene, it was time to head over to meet up with Bryan's family at Twin Lakes for the annual reunion/cabin/camping/boating/ski trip. We loaded up the car in Coeur d'Alene and Bryan showed off his well-honed car-top-carrier-packing-skills.

On the way there, we picked up Emily & Jenaye at the Spokane airport. Bryan drove and provided us with lots of exciting moments. We arrived there around 1am, and luckily, we got to spend the first night in Grandma & Grandpa's cabin. The next morning, we got our tent all set up and comfortable.

This year, there were three potential candidates for the Twin Lakes Challenge. Some of you may remember Bryan's challenges that he completed last year after inviting me to come with him to Twin Lakes. We had so much fun with it, and made life-long memories, so we were really excited to be able to help "pass the torch" this year. One of our first items of business at the lake was to issue the new challenges to Sam, Ben & Alex.

Once the Challenges had been given, we wasted no time getting out on the water...

Church in CdA, Idaho

2010-07-25T14:21:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning we went to church with my dad, who is in the Coeur d'Alene 1st ward. When we were ready to head to church, Bryan and I couldn't find the car keys. After a few minutes of searching around the house, I thought I would go outside and check in the car.

Here's what I saw...look closely.

And in case you didn't catch it in the last picture, here's a close-up...Oops!

On our way to church...after finding the car keys.

In front of the CdA Stake Center...lots of memories here when I was in the Coeur d'Alene 3rd Branch for two years...I made so many life-long friends. Those were good times!

I love this lady! Sister Linda Davis, my former institute teacher and wonderful friend. We ran into each other in the parking lot and I was so happy to be able to introduce her to Bryan and catch up for a few minutes!

Matt & Dawna's House

2010-07-24T19:58:00.000-06:00

This is a fairy tale castle that Matt is constructing to be displayed at the lodge during girls camp. To give perspective on the size, my brother is about 6' tall.

His sis-in-law is Stake Camp Director, the theme is something like "Finding Your Happily Ever After." We were impressed with his skill and effort. :)

While we were there, we also got to meet Oliver, Isaac's pet rabbit.

Matt & Dawna actually have four kids, Isaac is their youngest. The rest of the kiddos had the flu that night. :(

Old Mission State Park

2010-07-24T15:14:00.000-06:00

In front of the Old Mission in Cataldo, Idaho

Bryan signs the Mission guest book.

The mud and straw mixture used in constructing the church.

In the vestry

The Parlor of the Parish House

Parish House Kitchen

Parish House Chapel, used instead of the church during inclement weather

Dad makes a joke...and Bryan listens intently thinking he's serious.

This is the priest that built the church and did all it's artwork!

Bryan checks out the confessional.

Summer Vacation 2010

2010-07-23T19:05:00.000-06:00

We decided that we would wrap our family reunions, my doctor's appointment and our summer vacation all into one crazy 2,300 mile, 8-day trip this year! The trip began as soon as we got back from Camp Hanna, at 3:30pm on Friday, the 23rd of July. We already had everything packed, so we grabbed last minute items and jumped in the car. We began the trip by driving from Salt Lake City, UT to Coeur d'Alene, ID where we spent a couple days visiting my dad & his wife, Helen, and my youngest brother, Matt & his family. While we were there we took a sight-seeing trip to Cataldo to visit Idaho's oldest building, the original Sacred Heart Mission built in the mid-nineteenth century in the wilderness.We were also able to spend an evening at Matt & Dawna's house and attend church with my dad. We had a great time.

On Sunday night, we picked up two of Bryan's sisters, Jenaye and Emily, from the Spokane airport and headed for Twin Lakes, WA, and the annual family reunion. We had a wonderful time there relaxing, water skiing, wake boarding, visiting with friends & family, camping, swimming and generally having a great time. We celebrated Bryan's 27th birthday at Twin Lakes, too.

We left Twin Lakes a little early this year (on Thursday) to head south, towards Mt. Rainier National Park, where we planned to camp for the night. The park was beautiful and we were sad that we didn't have more time to spend there. Still, we got our passport stamp, magnet & patch...so we're set. We also figured of all the National Parks, this is one that we're most likely to be able to visit more than just once. From the park, we headed towards Seattle, and my July doctors appointment. I was really happy that Bryan was able to come with me and also to meet my doctor for the first time.

Once we were done at my doctor's, we hopped back in the car and headed towards Leavenworth, a fun little bavarian-type village in central Washington State. It's about 20-minutes from Wenatchee, WA. I was first introduced to Leavenworth when I was about 12, by my stepmom Pam and her parents, the Sanders, who took us there as part of our summer vacation visit to Wenatchee. I was instantly hooked, and have visited about 7 or 8 times since. Bryan had never been there, so I was excited to show him around and get some good German food!

We spent a few hours in Leavenworth and got back on the road for Coeur d'Alene, then heading north to Athol, Idaho, where my brother Rick & his family live. We stayed the next two days at their house, spending time with their kids and doing fun things with my whole family. We had a bar-b-que and had fun visiting. We were only missing my brother Grant and his family, who still live in Portland. We're hoping to perhaps get everybody together next summer!

When it was finally time to head back to Salt Lake City, we decided to liven up the 10-hour drive by stopping to do some sight-seeing. This trip, we picked Ft. Missoula Historic Museum, where we took pictures, and learned a little more about the logging industry. We also had another unexpected break in our drive when we locked our keys in our car at a gas station in Dillon, MT. If you have ever been to Dillon, you know it's in the middle of nowhere...luckily, the locksmith we called happened to be pumping gas at the same station we were at when we called him. Because of the convenience, he gave us a bit of a discount. All's well that ends well.

We rolled into Salt Lake City around 2:30am on Monday, August 2nd, dead tired and ready to be home. We took so many pictures, made so many memories, and had so much fun on our trip!! We also actually ended up putting over 2,500 miles on our car!! It was a great way to spend our summer vacation!

Camp Hanna

2010-07-23T14:34:00.000-06:00

Bryan and I went to Camp Hanna for five days with West Ridge Academy. We had so much fun! It was great to get out into nature and get to know the boys in a different, more relaxed setting. Camp Hanna is in Utah's Uinta mountains, about 2 1/2 hours from Salt Lake City.

We drove a company Suburban with gear up to the camp.

The "tires of death." The river looks beautiful, but it's COLD.

The zip line was connected to a Suburban bumper...can you see it up there?

Bry gets creative with the pancakes on the camp griddle.

Supervising the boys at the Lake...

The boys enjoyed inner tubing down the river...

How YOU doin?

The "staff" tent Bryan & I had at Hanna.


On the balcony of the lodge, in front of Hanna's "Pride Rock."

The boys had their own personal tents, in a u-shape facing our tent.

Our campsite was right by the lake, a bit distracting for our boys.

By the end of the week, Bryan needed a shave!

Spending time with Grandma

2010-07-16T14:09:00.000-06:00

Grandma was our first sit-down dinner guest as a married couple.

My Grandma Lucille was recently in town and was able to come and spend a day with us in Salt Lake. We had so much fun reminiscing, and laughing about funny family stories. We had also just gotten our dining room organized and put together, so we were excited to make grandma dinner. We had so much fun talking over dinner that it was nearing 10pm by the time we took her home to my Uncle Ron & Aunt Jan's house where she was staying. The lateness of the hour still didn't prevent us from sitting around and swapping more funny family stories from back in the day, (remember the rotten-deer camp fire at the beach??) We were laughing until we were in tears. It was really, really, fun. WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA!!

Painting the town...er...the room...RED!!

2010-07-07T13:54:00.000-06:00

We recently decided to paint our bedroom, and after looking at paint colors, we picked out this color together...When Bryan got home and saw the finished product, he said it made him feel like the 17-year-old girl he never was. It was a lot brighter on the wall than what we had expected. I really didn't mind the way it looked, but not wanting Bryan to feel like a girl of any age in his bedroom (after all, it's his bedroom, too) I decided to try to tone it down a bit. We had some brown paint on hand here at home so I mixed it in to make more of a barn red...which was what we were going for in the first place. We both like it a lot more, and we're really happy with the finished product!


One wall of our newly painted room...

Our 4th of July Celebration!

2010-07-03T10:32:00.000-06:00

We did the traditional BBQ on our grill...

What is there to say about a guy and his grill?

We shared a few sparklers...

I love the shooty sparkly things...

And Bryan played with snap-its...

Bryan did the fireworks shopping this year.

I like how Bryan's facial features are perfectly visible through the red smoke...

Bryan, the fire-dancer-guy!

I don't know what it is about guys and firecrackers... ;)

Bryan gives two thumbs up for the grand finale of our fireworks display.

The leftovers of our celebration...all good things must come to an end.

Bryan had a little fun with the fireworks. We had a great day and more important, we are GRATEFUL for this day...a day to celebrate our precious freedom. Thank You to all those amazing men & women, (past & present) that have served and sacrificed so that we can continue to celebrate Independence Day!!

Jenaye's Job

2010-06-26T20:47:00.000-06:00

After the wedding, we stopped to visit Bryan's youngest sister at her fabulous FIRST job. At least, I think it's her first job...I'm still somewhat of a newbie, so I may be wrong about that...anyway. So fun to see you, Jenaye!! :)

Gretchen & Tom's Wedding

2010-06-26T15:32:00.000-06:00

We were really happy to be in Oregon for the wedding with the whole family, except for Tasha...we missed you!

Bryan, Lacey, Jenaye, Amber, Emily & Candy...missing you, Tasha!!

The happy Bride

You may now kiss the Bride!

Mama & Papa Johnson (Bryan's wonderful parents)

The Bride's Siblings

What a gorgeous cake!

Tom's Groom's Cake

Rachel & Sterling and their beautiful family

Bryan and Sterling check out the cakes...

The Johnson's Table!

Gretchen did all the pages for her guest book herself...they were beautiful

The Wedding Quilt by Grandma Grahyl...Bryan & I have one, too...her quilts are amazing and we are lucky to have several of them!

Cutting the Cake

Alex & Lacey

Tiffani & Victoria

Candy & Bryan

Mom & Emily

Playing around with Mateo

A family shot...but I just realized we're missing Gretchen & Tom!

Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil!

Lacey's cute baby bump!!

The beautiful Bride and her bouquet

Beautiful Rural Oregon

2010-06-26T14:39:00.000-06:00

We took this picture of a family farm in Corvallis. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was totally picturesque.

Bryan & Tyler

2010-06-26T14:15:00.000-06:00

Whenever we visit Oregon, we always stop to see Bryan's great friend Tyler. Bryan and Tyler first met when both were in elementary school. Over the years they lost contact, until after Bryan's mission when they were both in the Young Adult ward together. After several months of hanging out with Tyler, Bryan ended up being able to officially work with him as his aide for a couple of years. They became great friends as they attended church, dances and lots of other activities together. Bryan even tagged along to summer camp with Tyler twice.

Last May, when Bryan first brought me "home to meet his family" he took me over to Tyler's house to introduce me to his friend. It was so fun to hear about all their adventures and funny stories. Tyler was a groomsman in our wedding and we always look forward to our visits. We were excited that we got some pictures this time. Aren't these a couple of great-looking guys??

Mt. Washington, Oregon

2010-06-25T13:54:00.000-06:00

We've been planning all year that we would travel to Corvallis, Oregon in June for Bryan's cousin's wedding, and as the date approached, we decided that we would drive. It was to be a whirl-wind trip, leaving Salt Lake City on Friday morning to drive to Philomath, Oregon, (just outside of Corvallis) attending the wedding on Saturday afternoon, then leaving Sunday morning to drive back to Salt Lake City. In case you're not aware, it's a 13-14 hour drive each way. But we were really looking forward to being able to go and be part of an important family event...so despite the fact that I was throwing up and not feeling very well, (because of my meds) we decided to hit the road and make the trek.This is where I mention that Bryan drove the whole way!

Since we love road trips, and we love seeing lots of new places, we decided to take the scenic route. As we drove out Hwy. 20, we enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery and small, rural Oregon towns. The most scenic stop was probably at Mt. Washington, a composite volcano in the Cascade range. We took these pictures at a viewpoint.

An Oil Spill Close to Home

2010-06-18T19:41:00.000-06:00

Amidst all the news of the mess in the Gulf, you may have missed the news about the smaller-scale but same kind of mess in Salt Lake. An oil pipeline from the local Chevron refinery somehow leaked (they think it was caused by an electrical arch) from a small hole...it leaked enough to cause a pretty good mess in several local waterways around here, and even end up with sheen visible on the Great Salt Lake.

The tragedy for us was at Liberty Park, the local neighborhood park we have come to love. It's about 4 blocks away from us, and both humans and puppies alike LOVE to visit and play there. Liberty is a beautiful, welcoming park with lots of huge, mature shade trees, a large duck pond with a cool island, picnic areas, playgrounds, tennis courts, public pool, free WiFi and a breakfast and lunch cafe. It's also home to Tracy Aviary, which boasts year-round visits from all sorts of migratory birds. A lot of people who live in the "burbs" here in Utah confuse Liberty Park with Pioneer Park...a downtown park where they're trying to deal with the homeless and drug problems...Liberty is not like that at all...It's a safe place where you always see plenty of runners, kids with parents, and of course people with pooches. I have been taking Tailor for walks on Liberty Park's mile-long walking trail since we moved to Salt Lake. When Quincy joined our family, he loved the park just as much as Tailor and I. When Bryan is home on Saturdays, he always takes the dogs for a good run around Liberty Park, and even lets Tailor swim in the duck pond. I'm not a big fan of that, since she smells DISGUSTING afterward, but she sure does love it.

Understanding all of this, it will be easier to understand why a walk around Liberty Park the other morning made me well up with tears. They have been working on cleaning up our oil spill (which unfortunately emptied directly into Liberty Park's lake) for about a week now, and we're told clean up efforts are going well. Still, being there in a place I love, and seeing and smelling it in person was a little upsetting...especially in light of the Gulf disaster. The size, scope and impact of the Gulf disaster is almost incomprehensible to me, but this small example was pretty profound. I didn't get any pictures, but we felt it was a big enough deal that we wanted a few pics for posterity, so Bryan took the camera when he and the dogs went for their walk. Let's hope both spills are stopped and cleaned up as quickly as possible.

Valley Mental Health

2010-06-09T19:38:00.000-06:00

Bryan's day-time job is at a place called Valley Mental Health. He works for an adolescent drug and alcohol program there. He really enjoys working with the kids, and feeling like he's making a difference. He also enjoys his co-workers, and they have fun around the office. I visited him at work and took a few pictures of him hard at work.

More Spring Updates

2010-06-05T19:35:00.000-06:00

We've been working like crazy around our house and in the yard. Bryan has been so wonderful at tackling all sorts of projects, big and small. We love our little house and it is so satisfying to be able to take care of things. The little fruit trees (apples and pears) we planted are doing wonderfully well and have been growing like crazy. We hope to get fruit out of them (maybe) in a couple of years. We are also excited to have plums and grapes (already growing in our yard) later this year!

Happy Birthday Mary!!

2010-05-27T19:29:00.000-06:00

Our fabulous housemate, Mary, celebrated her birthday this week and we had so much fun celebrating with her. I made her a little cake and we gave her a gift card. We love having her, and the doggies especially love her. She faithfully takes them on walks and brings little treats for them. She is a wonderful friend and we love her. Happy Birthday, Mary, and thanks for all you do!

New Kitchen Appliances!

2010-05-27T11:26:00.000-06:00

When I bought the house two years ago, I requested all the appliances stay with the house. My plan was to use all of them until they quit running. Well, after two full years of faithful service to us, and probably 23 years of life altogether, the stove that came with the house finally gave up the ghost this week. As a result, we decided it was time to upgrade both of our major kitchen appliances. We were excited to be able to pick out a new stove and refrigerator, and are even more excited to start using them!
I'm a big believer in the idea of saving money by taking advantage of newer, slightly-used items, (thank you Dave Ramsey) and I have a favorite family-owned appliance place where I've shopped the entire time I've lived in Salt Lake. They buy, sell and refurbish all sorts of household appliances. Bryan was a bit skeptical, but agreed to go take a look with me. I explained to him that when I first moved to Salt Lake I bought a washer/dryer set from them for $299 for my apartment. I used the set for two years without any problems, then sold it to a friend for $250 when I moved to a smaller place. I also bought a refrigerator for my apartment, 2 refrigerators and another 2 washer/dryer sets from the same place for use at SkinScience. I've had great luck with every item I've purchased there, and have really enjoyed doing business with them. I also really like the idea of supporting a small family business.

Anyway, when we arrived we looked around and were able to pick out a refrigerator and also a stove that we liked, (we wanted white...I refuse to do stainless because every stainless appliance I've seen at friend's houses seem to show every little fingerprint...NO THANKS...besides, since stainless is more expensive, we saved even more...stainless is beautiful, just not my preference right now.) We were able to get both items, including delivery to our home and hauling off the stove for $600. We were really happy with that, since pricing bottom-of-the-line new stoves we discovered they start around that much by themselves...two for the price of one is always a great deal! We love having our new updated appliances. Because I'm such a sap, I took pictures of everything, of course, including the original owner's manual for our beloved old stove, dated from 1987. So funny!!

(NOTE: for some reason I'm having trouble all of a sudden with "flipping" my images...so please be patient with my messed up photos.) :(

Our Backyard Project

2010-05-23T18:56:00.000-06:00

We rented a rototiller this past weekend so that we could till up our weedpatch in the back and plant new grass seed. Grass seed is obviously more work, but considerably less expensive than sod, and we'd rather save the money and invest sweat equity. Bryan worked really hard on the project, barely finishing up amidst a pouring rain storm. Way to go, babe. You are such a hard worker!

Of course, Quincy was right there to help the entire time, and was obviously very proud of himself for it. Unfortunately, I could only capture half of the full toothy grin he gave me as I praised him for it. We're still working on getting an actual photo of one of his "smiles." We are very excited to see how our baby grass will grow. I can't wait until we have usable space in our backyard. :)

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-09T18:53:00.000-06:00

We were lucky enough to have Bryan's mom in town for Mother's Day, wrapping up the tail end of her visit to Utah. After spending the morning with family in Orem, she came up to Salt Lake to spend a few hours with us before we took her to the airport for her flight back to Oregon.

Bryan had gotten us both flowers for Mother's Day, mine were a sort-of Future Mother's Day gift. :) They were beautiful, and I loved them.

Congrats Tasha & Ben!!

2010-05-08T15:40:00.000-06:00

Bryan's younger sister Tasha got engaged this weekend and we are so excited for them. They will be getting married later this summer or early fall. Congratulations Tasha & Ben!!

Saturday night Tasha, Ben, Amber and my Mom-in-law came up to Salt Lake to visit me for awhile while Bryan was at work. We were very sad that he couldn't be there, too...but we still had fun and managed to enjoy our Chinese take-out, courtesy of my wonderful MIL. :) We all thought that Ben's fortune was quite appropriate for the occasion!

Bryan was able to join us for a little while at the end of the evening, which was fun and allowed us to get this group pic. Thanks so much everybody for coming up to visit!

Candy's 36th Birthday

2010-05-06T14:52:00.000-06:00

Yeah...I'm still in a little bit of shock, but it's true. On May 6th, 2010, I turned 36. GAAAAA!!! Bryan has reminded me a couple times that I'm now officially in my "late thirties." YIKES. We had planned to go to dinner at PF Chang's, and a couple other activities, but when the day rolled around I was actually really sick. So Bryan brought home Olive Garden take-out, (my favorite is soup, salad & bread sticks with Zuppa Tuscana.) We had a quiet night at home, and Bryan took good care of me. He had written a super sweet card -- he's got a way with words and is surprisingly sentimental for a guy. :) He had also gotten me a little gift, something I had mentioned wanting quite awhile ago. He did a good job of remembering it. I was a little frustrated that I wasn't up to going anywhere to celebrate, but that just comes with the territory right now, I suppose.

The occasion of my 36th birthday gives me the opportunity of reflecting on my life, especially over the last year. I feel so extremely blessed, having seen miracles in all areas of my life...BRYAN being the biggest. When I think back about how we met and how everything has unfolded over the past year, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the amazing blessings that he has brought into my life. We have also been so blessed financially and physically as well. While dealing with and healing from a chronic illness is a difficult journey, I can look back and see significant progress, and that's a blessing, too. The truth is, I am so happy to be 36! I'm so happy for all the amazing & wonderful experiences that the Lord has seen fit to bless me with, and all the wonderful people that he has brought into my life throughout my life. I can't wait for this next year to unfold, and even to turn 37! I don't want to get carried away, here...but you understand what I'm saying....I'm excited for all the opportunities and experiences that lie ahead, because life is GOOD!

Women's Conference 2010

2010-05-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

I was very excited to go to Women's Conference this year with Bryan's mom, sister Amber & Aunt Dalita. We had so much fun! Terece (my mom-in-law) and Dalita have a tradition of going to Women's Conference every year and since I had never been before I was happy to be included and loved that I could go with family.

The day started early with Dalita's husband Tim dropping us off on campus at BYU. Amber's mom-in-law was also with us. We attended classes all day, and had a wonderful time. Julie B. Beck, Relief Society General President gave the address at the opening session, and there was also an "instant chior" made up of women who arrived at 6am and practiced together until the opening of the conference. They did a wonderful job. We attended classes on family traditions, parenting, dealing with stress and selflessness & sacrifice in marriage. The lines were long and we grabbed stuff to eat while standing in line between classes, but it was worth it!

After grabbing a quick dinner, we participated in a service project that was tons of fun. We made tutu's that would go to crisis centers and hospitals to be given to children in stressful situations. Other projects included fairy wands, blankets, hygiene kits (for disaster response) and school supply kits (to go to 3rd world countries,) among others. It was amazing to watch so many women involved in a coordinated effort to provide service to make life better for others.

Amber and I were very proud of our accomplishments, so we wanted to show them off...soon, everybody got swept up in the moment and we had a lot of fun with tulle flying every which way.

When we were all finished with our projects, we got to add them to the pile, which was growing bigger by the moment. The tutu's were so simple and they were darling!

The first night ended with a fabulous concert where Alex Boye, Hillary Weeks, Mercy River, Michael McLean and many others performed. I think the blurry picture below is Michael McLean, but I don't remember and I can't be sure. :)

We got home around 10-ish, and I was dead tired, but it had been a wonderful day! The second day was just as good, with fun classes and lots of laughing. We took tons of notes, and I was excited to share it all with Bryan when I got home. I love my in-laws, and all of Bryan's family, and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. Thanks so much Terece, Dalita, Amber & Ali for including me in this fun tradition! They were all very patient with my gimpiness and never complained that I was slow...they even took turns waiting with me for the shuttle while the others went ahead to get in line or get seats in different classes. It was so great, and I'm so glad I got to go. I hope to be able to go to Women's Conference 2011, and if you ever get the chance, you should go, too! It was fabulous!!

What The....??

2010-04-25T13:10:00.000-06:00

No, I haven't lost my marbles. We were visiting Bryan's family (the Stay's) and they have all kinds of cool games. This is actually a game where you control a little ball with your brain waves. You concentrate on moving the ball up and down through an obstacle course. There is a sensor clipped on your ear and of course, the head gear. I'm happy to report that I did better than my hubby. :)

Bryan's mom & dad got into town while we were there, and his dad had fun with a game where you create your own crazy straw. I wasn't actually in the room, and Bryan took these pictures, so I can't really tell you exactly what's going on in them, but it looks like fun to me.

And while the grown-ups were all busy playing games, the kids had fun in the family room playing games of their own. Here are some of the pretty gals that were there, L to R: Maggie Stay, Maely Grover, Lilly Stay & Savannah Stay.

Bryan's New Toy

2010-04-23T12:11:00.000-06:00

Back when we pulled down those four trees in our yard, we weren't sure what we were going to do with them. We drug them around to our backyard, where they sat for a couple of weeks. One day, while picking out lawn fertilizer, Bryan decided that he wanted to start somehow raising our back lawn from the dead. I confess that the non-living state of the backyard lawn is 100% my fault. I've never watered it over the two summers that I've lived in the house, and the dogs have pretty much had free-reign of the area.

Anyway, as we discussed Bryan's "save-the-grass" plan, I reminded him of the four dead trees that had been temporarily laid to rest on top of the dead lawn. Oh yeah. We talked about getting an ax, since we don't own one. I mentioned that perhaps we should look at chainsaws, explaining that it may be worth the added expense when you factor in the time savings involved. Bryan works so much right now that his time is quite precious, at least to me. :) Bryan wasn't all that interested in even looking at the chain saws, so we bought our lawn fertilizer and left.

Two hours later, after doing some work in the yard, he mentioned that he was going back to the store to look at chainsaws. I don't wanna gloat, but when you're right, you're right. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to remind him of my suggestion while we had been at the store, a couple hours before. Luckily, we are really close to both Lowe's and Home Depot. I actually think Bryan is on first-name terms with most of the staff at Lowe's. So we picked out a little 14" electric chain saw. Before any of you (like my brothers) start laughing, it really is perfect for what we need. We have a mature plum tree in our front yard, and a larger oak tree on our front median, (the city actually maintains the oak, but occasionally it does become necessary to clean up branches after a wind storm.) With the addition of our new little fruit trees, we felt like it was a pretty good investment.

I think this photo gives you the best illustration of our dead lawn in the backyard, and the reason for Bryan's "save-the-grass" plan. Isn't it pretty??

After getting a good start on the first tree, Bryan wanted me to have a go at it. I had never used a chain saw before in my life, but I gave it my best effort and cut a few pieces. I didn't really trust myself to be as controlled as I should be, so I gave it back to him. I value all of my appendages. And don't worry...I'm sure that flip-flops are the footwear of choice for these types of projects, right? Notice that I'm wearing utility gloves in addition to the flip-flops. This was because I had been picking up and stacking the logs as Bryan was cutting them. :)

Bryan has acquired lots of new power tools over the last eight months that we've been married. Whenever he's got a project to do around the house, he's been able to pick up the stuff that he needs for the project. We both figure these really are a good investment, since overtime he'll have what he needs to do just about any project that comes up around the house. I'm just really happy that I married a handy-man that's not afraid of fixing things. :) By the way, we have a nice little stack of wood now, that we plan to use for camp fires this summer. Ahhh, the wonderful smell of a crackling camp fire...we can't wait!!

Planting Some Trees for Earth Week

2010-04-19T11:27:00.000-06:00

Well, Ok. To be honest we didn't plant the trees because of Earth Week, but we did plant them during Earth Week. Does that still count? We planted some dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees on the side of our house, which are small enough for the space, but will hopefully one day provide yummy fruit as well as some shade from the blazing afternoon sun on the west side of the house. The trees should only ever get to about 7'-9' tall and around 6' wide, so they work really well for the space.

Bryan's family had a small orchard in Blodgett, OR where he grew up, and it was partly his responsibility to keep them pruned and taken care of. So he's familiar with fruit trees, and that makes me feel more confident about planting them. :)

We decided on a semi-dwarf frost peach tree, two dwarf bartlett pear trees, and a semi-dwarf fuji apple tree. We are excited to have some fruit maybe by next year!?!

Bryan did almost all of the hard work, but I was involved the whole time as much as I could be, and I even threw a few shovels full of dirt, so that I could say I was a part of the process. I also soaked each of the new tree roots while Bryan dug the holes, and hauled the water from the spigot to the new trees once they were in the ground. I decided that I'm really grateful for running water! :) The dogs, of course, were also there supervising the entire affair.

In addition to planting the trees, we also purchased an earth-friendly rotary lawn mower. Yep. That's the old-fashioned kind of lawn mower that you push around on your own. It's really not hard to use, and I've even mowed the front lawn with it. We just figured our yard is small enough to make it feasible for us to use it, and we don't have to worry about getting gas for it.

We have really had fun working in our yard this year and getting things ready for summer. We have big plans for the yard and house, but you know how it goes, "brick by brick, my citizens." There is a lot of satisfaction in getting your hands dirty and maintaining your yard and home. We're having a great time!

Death of a Dog Toy

2010-04-18T21:31:00.000-06:00

Quincy loved the Easter toy that we gave him. For days afterward, he carried it around the house and had it with him even when he was sleeping. I thought that maybe he liked it so much that he wouldn't tear it up, like he has all the others. Usually he starts pulling them apart the first day he gets them, and then he goes to work on Tailor's toys. Anyway, I thought after the first week that the toy went unharmed that perhaps this would be different. And then one day, as we were out sitting on the porch, he trotted out the front door with it in his mouth. After a few minutes, this is what we saw:

I wanted to stop him from chewing the little stuffed porcupine to bits, but Bryan said he was just being a dog, and that we should allow him to tear it up. He asked me what I thought Quincy would do with a little furry animal out in nature. So I guess that's our new policy with toys. They get to tear them up whenever and however they want to. This last picture is just a picture of our flower bed in front of the house. I love our tulips!

Remember Those Trees?

2010-04-11T20:25:00.000-06:00

If you are a family member or friend that regularly reads the blog, you will remember the post about a tree blowing over. This is a follow up to it. When the tree fell during the windstorm, we knew we needed to take the other 3 down. When we saw that the weather forecast included another windstorm, we knew we needed to do it NOW. So we were out there on Sunday afternoon. We didn't have a chainsaw or an ax, but Bryan has imagination. He decided we should try to pull them down. With rope. At first I didn't like the idea, but it was obvious that he was serious, so I grabbed the camera and we got started. The trees were so dead, we were able to pull them all straight out of the ground, roots and all. CRAZY.

Our Medicine Cabinet

2010-04-09T20:18:00.000-06:00

My China Hutch...And It's Contents

2010-04-06T16:31:00.000-06:00

Some people collect baseball cards. Some people collect postage stamps. And some people are minimalists. That's definitely NOT me. I like stuff.

I collect several things, and one of them is china. I've always loved pretty dishes, and those of you that know me well, know I love to set a pretty table. I inherited this love from my mom. As we've gotten moved back in and unpacked over that last couple of months, it's been nice to be able to unpack my "pretties" and start using them. I know there are a lot of people out there that can't relate to any of this...everybody's different. One of my dear friends likes to use paper plates on Thanksgiving so they can spend more time with their family and less time doing dishes after dinner. I totally get that. But I'll never use paper plates for Thanksgiving!

For my part, well, I'm a sentimental sap. And I'm OK with it. I LOVE the stuff that reminds me of the people that I love -- the most important people in my life -- and the opportunities that I've had to spend time and build memories with them. I want to remember these things. I want my children to one day have the same appreciation and the same types of memories I do. Yes, it's a lot of work to maintain, care for and use this stuff, but I think it's worth it!

So today I'm gonna tell the story of my china hutch, or at least what's in it. If you have no interest in any of this, you may want to skip this entire post...I'll never know the difference. I have three sets of china that are complete (at least complete enough that we could have a few friends over for dinner and each person would get a plate.) I love them all, and that they are all different from each other.

I also collect Depression glass, which comes in several different colors: blue, amber, clear, pink and sometimes green. It's fancy glassware that was created during the depression era, that was purposely inexpensive, but beautiful. These days it's highly collectible. While I have some clear depression glass, my very favorite kind is pink with an etched wheat looking pattern. My first few pieces of this type of depression glass came from my great-grandma, Della Davis, who left them to my mom. I inherited them from my mom and I love them! I have since picked up a few pieces on e-bay, and received a few pieces as gifts.

The first china I ever got came from my dad and step-mom when I was a senior in high school. It's a beautiful pink rose pattern with silver around the edge, and I love it! When I moved to Utah the first time, all the dinner plates got broken! **HORRORS!** I was so sad, but tried to find something that was close to the pattern so that I could replace them. I discovered that Noritake has a pattern called Rosemarie #6044 that matched almost exactly, and over time I collected six more dinner plates and a few other pieces as I've found them. I love these dishes, and each time I pull them out, I think of my dad, who's in Heaven now. I also think of is sweet wife, and dinners at their house. Bryan and I have used these for our last two Valentines Day Dinners, (our second date was Valentine's last year) since the pink roses are perfect for that. Gaggy, I know. :)

My very favorite china set I inherited from my mom. I absolutely love it, but more than that, I LOVE the memories associated with it. This is Noritake Homage #7236, and it's a formal floral pattern on ivory china with gold trim. When I was 8, my parents divorced and my mom was a single mother to four kids. As a way to earn extra income, (and in addition to her day job) she sold Tupperware in the evening. She did really well selling the stuff, and earned all kinds of incentives doing it. One night she came home and told me that one of the incentives they were offering was a set of china. She told me she was going to earn the whole set, and she did! It's a full set of service for 10: dinner plates, bread & butter plates, saucers and tea cups; along with the completer set: a platter, vegetable bowl, covered soup tureen and salt and pepper shakers. We began using these dishes for all special occasions at our house from that time forward. These dishes bring back memories of Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday and Thanksgiving Dinner, especially. Just typing about them now, I can almost smell my mom's homemade rolls in the oven. I loved how much time my mom invested into setting a beautiful table and preparing special meals for the people she loved! In addition to the wonderful memories of all the many times we ate on these dishes, they also remind me of my mother's determination and work ethic. It sounds funny, but this set of china is among my most precious possessions.

The third set of china has a funny story. I sometimes browse e-bay (at least back when I was single and had expendable income) where you can find a snazzy Noritake plate or cup for $1.99, sometimes less. I would place the minimum bid and not check back until the end of the auction. If nobody else bids, you win the item for a bargain basement price. I've gotten some amazing deals doing that! Well one day I was looking for some extra pieces of one of the above sets, and came across this pattern by Noritake, named Candice #5509. It's got a silver leafy design, I think it's a pussy willow. It has double lines on the edge, one silver and one taupe or tan. Bryan likes it because it's the most non-feminine of the three sets. Anyway, there were three lots up for auction, each lot an entire service for six. That means dinner plates, salad plates, bread & butter plates, saucers & tea cups for six people. Each lot was listed with a minimum bid of $10.00! Being the china lover that I am, I couldn't pass it up. Amazingly, no one else bid and I won all three of them, meaning I got complete service for 18, for a grand total of $30.00. This may have been overkill, but I was not expecting to win all three sets. On e-bay, though, once you bid, if you win the auction, there's no going back. So we have 18 place settings in this particular pattern. If we ever have a house where we can serve a sit-down dinner for 18 people, we'll be all set! :) Over time I've also picked up the completer sets for this pattern, too. I'm excited to be able to use this for Sunday dinners. Since it's got no real sentimental value, and we have an abundance of it, we won't be heart broken if a plate gets dropped or a bowl gets chipped once in awhile. It's important to us to make Sunday dinner a big deal, especially once we have kids. And I think it's good for kids to learn manners and how to take care of nice things...that's why we'll be using the e-bay china for Sundays...it'll be the "training-wheel" china. :)

I love my china, and my other dishes...I have a set of "Christmas" china, too...a really inexpensive set I bought my mom for Christmas when I was like 10. We used it every year after that for Christmas dinner, and I plan to continue doing that. Bryan has helped me "inventory" everything, and while he may not always understand my reasoning behind all the dishes, he's always supportive of my need to celebrate life and make things extra special, and I appreciate that. I believe that life is as special or as ordinary as you want it to be...and I want it to be special. :)

Easter Sunday 2010

2010-04-04T14:45:00.000-06:00

We had fun with our first Easter dinner as a married couple. Last year while we were dating, we spent our first Easter together in Coeur d'Alene with my family...miss you guys!! This year, we celebrated by ourselves at home in Salt Lake, and got a little carried away with our dinner, obviously forgetting that there were only two of us. :)

We had spiral cut ham, twice baked potatoes, fruit salad, rolls, green bean casserole, deviled eggs and sparkling cider. Of course I brought out the good china. The puppies even got to have a little Easter feast after we were done eating. They also got new collars and name tags, (they are now officially Johnson's!) and they each got a new toy. In case you're thinking, "Candy's so silly." I just want you to know that it was Bryan's idea. True story. I wasn't even with him when he picked them out. TRUE STORY. The dogs loved their toys and we had a great Easter!

Our BBQ Grill!

2010-04-03T14:02:00.000-06:00

Bryan's best friends all chipped in and got us a gas grill as a wedding gift, (THANK YOU!!) and we've been talking for awhile about wanting to get it up and going since summer is fast approaching. Bryan has been working a lot of hours, so he hasn't had lots of time for projects around the house. Today I thought I would take matters into my own hands, and as a little surprise for him, I put it together myself while he was at work. I'm rather proud of myself.

Family Dinner

2010-04-02T14:43:00.000-06:00

Bryan's grandparents were in Utah this week and they took us all out to dinner. We had such a great time! There were lots of us there, and I didn't get pictures of everybody, but here's a few of us:

What a Little Wind Can Do...

2010-03-30T13:40:00.000-06:00

So, we've had these four dead trees on the side of our house. We've been neglecting or ignoring them for quite a while now, deeming other items on our household "to-do" list more important. Well, we had a really big windstorm the other night, and while I was sitting in the living room watching TV, I watched as a shadow flashed across the window. I then heard a "CRACK" and went out on the porch to investigate. Guess we can't ignore the trees anymore....

We felt really lucky that the tree fell perfectly down the center of our narrow side yard between ours and our neighbor's house. Luckily, the trees are tall & spindly, so damage would have been minimal, but we're glad we didn't need to fix a gutter or replace a window. :) We've also been working in the yard a lot, getting it ready for spring. One of our projects was to cut down the hedge around our porch. We wanted to open up the porch and the hedge was up higher than the top of the railing before we cut it back. We've also planned a lot of other improvements to the yard, and we're excited to get them done...once we get the trees taken care of, of course. :)

The Johnson's Bless a Baby

2010-03-28T13:20:00.000-06:00

Um, the Sterling & Rachel Johnson's, that is. :) Bryan's cousins had their third baby and we were lucky enough to be able to join them for the blessing. Afterward, everybody headed over for a big luncheon. We had so much fun, and I got these pics of the family that was there:

Around the House

2010-03-21T12:33:00.000-06:00

We've been busy getting settled in and having fun making the house our own. One day, we decided to hang a large painting in our hallway.

We didn't have a stud finder, so we had a minor little argument on how we should hang the rather heavy painting. In the end, Bryan caved in to my idea. Maybe he should have held out....at least our wall may have appreciated it. After patching and touching up the paint, we got the painting hung up safely. :)

The dogs hid out in the bedroom to hide from all the commotion in the hallway.

At the end of our day, we decided to make one of Bryan's favorites, German Pancakes. For some reason, they rose like crazy in the oven, and we had to take pictures to document the crazy cakes. YUM...served with some fresh-squeezed lemons and powdered sugar....soooo good!!

Evening at Home with the Family!

2010-03-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

We had Bryan's sisters Tasha & Amber, and Amber's three adorable little kids (Dan was out of town for a job interview) over for FHE this week. We had so much fun! We started out the evening by making a dinner of homemade mac-n-cheese with salad & veggies of course. After dinner we all sat down for a quick lesson on following the Savior and being good examples. We all made commitments on what we could do during the next week to be good examples. It was so cute how much the kids participated by praying, answering questions & of course making their commitments. Nice job, Dan & Amber!

The best part of the evening started after the lesson, when we brought out the edible playdough and a few of my favorite cookie cutters. For anybody that's interested, the playdough is equal parts honey, peanut butter & powdered milk, with a bit of flour for consistency if necessary.

After the fabulousness of the edible playdough, the fun continued with a kid's version of cranium that involved all sorts of dancing, matching & marching.

We are so excited to have family close enough to get together like this. Thanks so much for coming to our house, sisters! We love you all and we had so much fun!!

If You Can't Beat 'em...

2010-03-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

I came into the bedroom last night to find Bryan curled up in a ball next to the dogs on our bed. Of course, he was doing it specifically for my benefit, and I thought it was pretty funny. Hope you enjoy the picture as much as I did. :)

The Produce Co-Op

2010-02-27T10:13:00.001-07:00

So our attempts at saving money lately have involved making our grocery budget stretch as much as possible. Our friend Mary told us about a co-op her parents are involved in and asked if we wanted to try it out. We did it this morning, and I couldn't believe what it was all about! This particular co-op has been going for a while, but we were novices. You basically bring a laundry basket to collect your goodies. Since the co-op runs entirely on volunteers, we also volunteered. That just means that you help unload, sort & distribute the produce to all the baskets (around 200 of them.)

Fruits & Veggies Basket: $14.00
9 Apples, 5 Oranges, 2 lemons, 1 container of Strawberries, 9 Bananas, 2 bags mini Carrots, 5 lbs. Potatoes, 2 bunches Swiss Chard, 1 bunch Broccoli, 12 Cucumbers, 1 large Head Romaine Lettuce, 2 bunches of Asparagus.

Asian Basket: $9.00
1 head Bok Choy, 1 head Asian Cabbage, 1 Coconut, 1 large bunch Cilantro, 7 Green Onions, 1 Garlic, 1 fresh Ginger root, 1 container Mushrooms, 1 bag fresh Basil.

My biggest concern with all this beautiful produce was that we wouldn't be able to use it all before it spoiled. That's been a problem for me in the past. Well, I'm happy to report (since I'm posting this two weeks after it actually happened,) that incredibly, we've used all of this up, and we're picking up our next basket the day after tomorrow. We did go and get some of those "green bags" that are supposed to extend the life of fruits and veggies and they've worked wonderfully well. We've used them for the last two weeks, and I AM A BELIEVER!!!

Anyway, if you live in the Salt Lake area, and you're interested in info on this particular co-op, call or email me and I'll give you all the info. Wherever you live, you should look into doing something like this. We are splitting this with our friend, so the total cost (with taxes, first time fees, etc.) was $13. Our next basket will be $7 because we're only doing the fruits & veggie basket this time. But it is so worth it! I'm so excited that we stumbled on to this great little group!!