Isn't it ironic?

...that my last post was all about how much I love the SUN and HEAT? Well, let me tell you a little story. Last Friday night and all day Saturday it SNOWED. I got up early and went running with my friend Pam IN THE SNOW. It was actually quite fun! Well, the day went on and later that day Gary and I went up to Salt Lake to attend a BYU basketball game where they played play Michigan State and play in the Delta Center (or whatever it's called now). It was fun and the drive wasn't too bad considering all the snow we got. On the way home Gary and I talked about going sledding. He was SO excited, I was sort of like, YEAH, if it wasn't already 8:30pm! With (I hate to admit) some fake enthusiasm that I don't think Gary picked up on.

After we got home Gary decided he was going to "shovel the walks" - That's a real term right? I went inside and did some laundry, the dishes and then made some hot chocolate for Gary.

A good 30 minutes later, I remembered I had a husband who was STILL shoveling the walks!! So, I put on some shoes and prepared to brave the snow as I left our little apartment...only to find, the driveway completely cleared...and NO Gary. WHAT?!? So, I looked up and down the street to see if he was playing with some of the kids that were out and then I realized that his car was gone too!

Of course I did what any of you would have done and went back inside and called Gary. He answers the phone singing Jingle Bells and proceeds to tell me that he decided to go to Wal-Mart to buy a sled! And then tells me to get my stuff ready because he's coming home and we're going sledding TONIGHT!

We get ready and hop in the car...at 10:30PM...all our snow stuff is actually at my parent's house and I didn't want to go all the way to their house and then find a hill, so we did the best that we could with what we had. We ended up being plenty warm and had tons of fun!

We decided to go to Rock Canyon park in Provo. First of all there was NO WHERE to park! We get there and there are kids EVERYWHERE...sledding down whatever piece of hill they can find on both sides! There had to be at LEAST 500 kids there...I think that number might even be a low number too!

Gary and I hop on this little sled of ours and start making our way down the hill. We did this quite a few times until we decided to make the LAST one before we left. We picked a different part of the hill and started down the hill. Well, three fourths of the way down, we hit a jump. A big jump. A jump that neither of us saw or noticed until we were way up in the air! Fun? Yeah, not really. You see, when we landed, I landed on my tail bone and couldn't move. It hurt SO SO bad! So bad that I couldn't stop the tears from coming! We also hit heads pretty hard when we landed and Gary thought that was why I was crying and even though immediately got a really bad head ache, nothing compared to my poor little bottom!

All I can think about at this point is getting home to take some pain killers and what does my sweet hubbie say to me? "Tara, you stay down here cause your bumb hurts and I'm going to go take a few more runs down the hill and then we'll go home." You heard it folks! My husband wanted to sled rather than take care of his wife who was in an enormous amount of pain! :) it was kind of funny actually. That was Gary's first time sledding (or so he says) and he was loving it too much to think about anything else!

ALL day the next day, I couldn't sit...at all. I had to lay on my stomach...and two weeks later (yeah, I started this blog a week ago) I'm still sitting kind of funny. I can't sit for long periods of time and if i sit a certain way, it really hurts. I don't think I broke it but I'm pretty sure that I bruised it pretty bad. Have any of you done this? Any advice? Does the pain go away? Please make me feel better!

It's 1:15 am and Gary and I leave for Kentucky in less than 10 hours and I'm blogging and haven't even packed! I think I'm hoping that it will just get done by itself while I'm on the computer. We're really excited for this trip but I'm really tired so I better go so I can finish packing and get some sleep!!!

Tropical-ness

Put me in the sun, sand, and water...and I could stay forever! It's 175% true!...well, I might need a few bottles of sunscreen and my fabulous NuSkin Lotion/Aloe mixture! I think I would have to say that I'm a fish of some sort. I LOVE water...can't get enough of it. When we go swimming, I'm the one begging Gary to just leave me there and come pick me up after dinner! :)I love the sun...when we go to Arizona to visit Gary's brother and sister, NO complaining here about that 115 degree weather. Honest! Ask Gary, he'll vouch for me! I can't figuure how how I can be so much of a fish but yet dispise them so much at the same time. I do not like Fish...I don't eat them, I don't 'fish' them, I don't touch them, and if I happen to be somewhere like Lake Powell, where there ARE (so I've been told) fish, I don't like to see them so that I can tell myself that if I don't see them, they don't exist. Kind of strange, I know. If I don't see them, then they are NOT there! :) I think this love for water came long ago when I was born to a family with the name of Salmon...

Anyhow, I came across this web site that has some SWEET looking pools. As I drive around in cold snow for the next few months during this winter season, I need to have something really good to think about...it will be these!

I'm pretty sure I'll be printing this one out and putting it on my dash board! And yes, I'll also be pretending that Gary and I are the ones in the picture! :)

Please, TAKE ME HERE!

Does it get any better than this?!? Lake, Pool, AND Hot Tub?

...pretty cool looking, except that it's not OUTSIDE. Remember that thing about water, sun AND sand? well, I can go without the sand...occasionally. But never the water or sun together.

We love BYU!

It's been an awesome week filled with BYU sports. We saw the mens basketball team stomp on #6 ranked Louisville and then play an AWESOME game against #1 ranked North Carolina where they were neck and neck the whole game until the last two minutes where they got behind and just couldn't pull it out. We also watched a great women's volleyball game against UNLV.

I have to say that the BEST game we saw this week was the BYU vs. Utah Football Game. As many of you know, this is a very serious rivalry that goes way back to ancient days! Every meeting of these two teams is a BIG BIG deal!


Earlier this year Gary went and stood in line for about three hours to get our season tickets...assuming that the earlier you get there, the better seats you get. Well, we figured out that this was not neccessarily true (yes, Gary still wants his three hours of wasted life back) BUT we did randomly score tickets for this blessed event located on the THIRD row! While there were still not the best, seats in the house (they were in the south end zone) they turned out to be AWESOME for the last minute of the game when they scored the winning touchdown right in front of us!!!! Some guys on the front row even jumped down out of stands to run celebrate with the players, but that ended quick when the FIVE police officers standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM told them to jump back up in the stands. Of course BYU won and even though there were many security, police, and staff...they could not stop the MANY students from rushing the field after the game! Gary and I ran around getting pictures with players...

Here is Gary with Austin Collie

Gary with Chris Bolden

Gary with Harvey Unga, a MPV of the game and MWC Player of the week. It really was an awesome game! We even watched the game all over again on TV last night!

Now, let me give you an update on Thanksigiving! It was really fun to actually do a dinner and even though I think I can do better next year...it actually turned out pretty good. I think I need a little help on the gravy part...wasn't too thrilled on that one. I'm still working on perfecting my buns (both kinds actually) but other than those few things...it was a fabulous, delicious meal! Thanks for coming Aaron, Stacey, Dahl, Ty, Jessica, Ryan, Mady, and Dallin! I'm glad you let me try this out on ya! The menu? Turkey, Mashed Potatoes (recipe given to me by Heather...they were FABULOUS!), Dressing (thanks to Colleen for this one), Corn, Sweet Potatoes (brought by Stacey and were delicious!), Jell-O and a yummy slush drink. I'll have to start looking for some new fun recipes for next year. Now that I think I can handle the basics.

Alrighty...

I've been tagged again...but this time it's about my husband.

What is his name? Gary Spencer Fears, Garbo, Gara, Tary, or any other combination of our names you can come up with.
How long have you been married? Fifteen Months
How long did you date? We dated five months before we got engaged and then got married seven weeks after our engagement.
How old is he? 27
Who eats more? Gary probably does but I eat WAY faster than he does...so it probably LOOKS like I eat more.
Who said I love you first? He did...do you think he'd be mad at me if I added that he CRIED?!? Yes, I cried too and it was all mushy cute!
Who sings better? Pretty sure HE does.
Who is smarter? Hmmm, I would have to say that we're about even on this one. I think we're smarter about different things, which evens us out.
Whose temper is worse? Him?
Who does the laundry? I do the laundry but he's so great about helping me fold it. My LEAST favorite part about laundry.
Who does the dishes? We're about even on this one. Gary is always helping me do whatever I'm doing.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I'm on the right.
Who pays the bills? I do, but I'm no good at it.
Who mows the lawn? No lawn! But I'm pretty sure that if we did...Gary wouldn't let me touch the lawn mower!
Who cooks dinner? I do
Who drives when you are together? Usually he does.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Probably Gary. Pretty sure Gary would say I can be pretty stubborn.
Whose parents do you see the most? Mine. Gary's parents live in Kentucky! We WISH we saw them more!
Who proposed? Gary
Who has more friends? All of Gary's friends don't live around here, so I'd say I do...But I'm pretty sure he's got a whole bunch of friends that he's sort of lost close contact with because he's so far away from them.
Who has more siblings? Gary comes from a famly of TEN kids and I come from a family of EIGHT.
Who wears the pants in the family? Gary saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "The key to a good marriage is that NOBODY wears the pants" I'm pretty sure that's what he'd want me to say for this one. :)

I tag: Shannon, Andrea, Jamie, Ciara

Let the feasting begin!

I'm so happy and excited (ok, a little nervous) to announce that Gary and I are hosting Thanksgiving Dinner at OUR little house this year! The reason? Well, Lincoln and Chandra both have a soccer tournament DURING Thanksgiving in California. That's right, the parents are leaving us stranded to watch their two favorite and youngest kids! MY closest in-law, Gary's sister, Susan, who lives in Spanish Fork, is actually spending Thanksgiving with HER in-laws (not ME, the other side or her family). Each of my married brothers (4) have in-laws that are also local and so Gary and I both assumed that due to the circumstanses, they would be spending the holiday with them, which three of them are. And then the other night we found out that my cousin, Aaron and his wife, Stacey are not going anywhere either! So that leaves us with Gary and Tara, Ryan and Jessica, Aaron and Stacey, and Dallin...Total grounds for having our OWN Turkey dinner, eh?

I've NEVER cooked a turkey before, EVER. So, this is where you ALL send me your most favorite recipes (I'm not just suggesting, I'm BEGGING). Seriously!

It can't be that hard right? I actually really am up for the challenge, but am ALWAYS open (and quite enjoy) trying new recipes, or maybe some directions on what I'm supposed to do with this large bird?!?

Christmas...

THIS is the view from my front door every Tuesday morning. What's so special about this mostly cement view you ask? Allow me to share with you a closer look.

Every Tuesday morning. REALLY early, like before we wake up. A delivery man comes and fills our Winder Farms cooler up with food. It's the coolest thing ever and I hate to admit it but Gary and I go to bed on Monday night just like we did when we were kids waiting for Santa to come. And the first thing we do Tuesday morning when we wake up is race to the door to bring the food filled cooler in! The first week our delivery came (two weeks ago) Gary woke me up at 5:00am to tell me that the Winder man had come! Yeah, he'd already gone and checked and was SO excited! Why do we have food delivered to us? I'm glad you asked...allow me to explain.

There are many reasons we enjoy having a portion of our groceries delivered to us. First of all, Gary recently obtained a part time job with Winder Farms and as he has learned more about this company and the quality products they offer (I'll get to that), we both have been very impressed. We also wanted to try it out for the sake of Gary's job. First hand experience is always the best, right?

As I wouldn't call myself a 'tree hugger' YET (I'm well on my way though) I am very aware of all the waste we create on a daily basis. I don't even like to purchase or use paper towels or sandwich bags (although, I have yet to find another option as convenient as these) for that very reason. One thing I really appreciate about Winder is that they recycle their milk containers. The half gallon milk containers are made of a harder more durable plastic and when the milk is gone, you simply rinse out the container and leave them in the cooler out on the porch where the mystery Santa-like delivery man will pick them up and replace them with milk filled ones! Another great thing about the food at Winder is that the milk is hormone free and all the food they offer is organic! Yeah! No toxic unnecessary chemicals! Hooray for Health! In addition to all of those wonderful reasons, I have to say...the food and primarily the milk...is so YUMMY. Not just like any other milk. When I drink Skim milk, it tastes like I'm drinking 2%! And the Chocolate milk? Oh, don't even get me started on that one. Yes, I broke down and got myself a half gallon of chocolate milk a treat I seldom allow myself to indulge in. It is DIVINE! Pretty much I've almost drank the whole thing and it's been four days and Gary has not helped me one sip! (Now we know why I rarely let myself buy chocolate milk)

Sorry you out of staters! Winder is only available in Utah, Nevada, and California...am I right Gary? But it's growing pretty quick, so maybe someday soon, you'll be able to have delicious milk delivered to your door every week!

Calling all Moms!!!

Don't ask how, but I just came across this hilarious ebay posting. You mothers will appreciate this good read...it's worth taking a peak! I've got some pictures and an update but I've been working on setting up a new computer at work and it's taken just about every minute of my day! So, I'll be up and running better tomorrow.

Comings and Goings

How can someone be 82% addicted to blogging and NOT blog? Well, I SO love reading all of your blogs much more than I love reading or writing mine. Everyone else seems to be having so much more going on in their lives that is WAY more blogworthy than what's going on in MY life...so there it is, my excuse.

I do have a little bit of news...we've moved! We finally found a place and moved about two weeks ago. We are renting the basement of a cute house up in NORTH NORTH Orem. Our landlady is SO cute! On the night we moved, I happened to be the first to walk in our place and when I walked in, first of all...the place was SO clean and perfectly tidy and then on the kitchen counter was this cute welcome note and a bucket full of cleaning supplies as a little 'house warming gift'. We went to church for the first time on Sunday and turns out, as fate would have it, we moved right into my cousin's ward! Fun for us! We already KNOW someone!

Another fun and exciting event among the Fears Family is Football Season...well, this year it's a bit of a bitter sweet feeling as home games approach. Gary is involved in a club that cleans up after the games to earn money to support the club. And you think it's a yucky job to be a garbage man? At least they get to ride in a truck. Try being the one that PICKS up the garbage! First they use these brooms to sweep all the trash to the isles...then they pick it all up with their HANDS...and then they have this mondo huge powerful hose that they use to spray everything off all off nice and clean...but think about what is coming...WINTER! Yes, even in the winter they need to hose it off. I think that I might need to bail once the white stuff falls. Below is a picture from the last game. See that yellow poncho Gary is wearing? That's because it RAINED through the whole game and during the clean up! It was cold, wet, stinky, dirty, and MUCH more difficult to sweep. I think I like the job of taking the pictures much more than I enjoy cleaning up! But really, don't think I complain about it that much. I'm just trying to portray to you just how big and dirty of a job it really is!

With graduation in sight, Gary has started the job hunting process. It's an exciting time for us. We have NO clue where we will be living a year from now, but Gary is hopeful that it is NOT in the Beehive State. He recently applied for a job with a division of Johnson and Johnson a few weeks ago and this job would require relocation to Jacksonville, Florida. When he told me about this, the first thing that came out of my mouth was "Gary! HELLO! They have Hurricanes in Florida, we can't move there!" to which is response was, "Tara, I already did the research, Jacksonville hasn't had one hit for over 50 years!" - Duh! "Gary, then they are WAY WAY WAY past due for a big one!" a fews days later I had started to actually get over the hurricane fear and enjoy the thought of living near the beach in florida...until we went to Gary's mission reunion where we had a very long and detailed conversation with an Elder that Gary served with who has LIVED in Florida (same area) and said, not knowing my previous reservations on the Florida issue, "Jocksonville is great except that they have the BIGGEST crocodile situation there! They are EVERYWHERE, including people's swimming pools! You see dead crocodiles on the side of the high ways like you see dead dear here. They are like stray dogs and you can't kill them because they are protected and they're moving more and more inland!!" - Yeah, we're not moving to Florida anymore...it's NOT an option. Beach or not, I just can't do it. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the OTHER job options that come our way!

I've had quite a few of you express a desire to order some candles for Christmas gifts, which is a FABULOUS idea and I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the same thing! Scentsy hasn't given us a FOR SURE deadline yet as far as how late into December I can order and still get it before Christmas, so I'm playing it safe until I hear from them and will be placing orders through December 5th to ensure that you will have your fabulous candle supplies in time to wrap up and give away (or put under the tree and keep for yourself) for Christmas gifts. They just came out with 18 new Fall/Winter/Christmas scents so if you have any desire to smell them, call me, come over...ANYTIME!

One last thing, thanks to my FABULOUS bread making skills...pictures posted a few posts down. Many of you have asked me to post my bread recipe...so here it goes. If you're not interested, then you're done and you can move onto your next blog!

Y'all know it's not really MY recipe right? It was just given to me by Shar...the Bosch store lady in Arizona...but she's fabulous and the bread is fabulous and totally healthy too!

Shar's Basic Whole Wheat Bread perfect every time makde from 100% Fresh Ground Whole Wheat

(Yes, that's the name of the recipe)

In Bosch Universal Mixer Bowl with Dough Hook:
6 Cups Warm Water, Approx 15 Degrees
2 Tbs. Sea Salt
2/3 Cup Canola Oil - (Cold Pressed Oil is preferred here)
2/3 Cup Honey - ( Orange Blossom Honey is the BEST)
3 Tbs. Dough Enhancer
2 C. High Gluten Bread Flour OR 1/3 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten (This is what I used)
3 Tbs. SAF Instant Yeast
6-8 Cups of FRESH GROUND Flour (to begin with) (10-11 Cups of Un-Ground grain will make enough flour for this recipe) - I used hard white wheat

Measure your water (I usually have it at 120 degrees because as I add stuff (before adding the yeast) it will cool it down a bit making it the perfect temperature). Then add the ingredients as they are in order. When you get to the part about adding the flour, be 100% ready to add it because you need to add it all within a 60 second time frame so that you can develop the gluten all at the same time and to the same point. Continue to add flour until you start to see the sides pull clean as well as the dough coming clean from the bottom of the bowl. The dough should still be very sticky and does not come together at this point, but the bowl is clean. (Do not add too much flour)

Knead on speed 1 for 8-10 minutes or until the gluten has been developed. If you feel your dough is too dry, simply add a few tablesppons of water to moisten. If the dough starts sticking, simply add a few tablespoons of WHITE flour. (After the 60 seconds of adding your 8-10 cups of fresh ground whole wheat flour, you can not add anymore! If you need to add flour after that point, you need to use basic white flour because the gulten is already developing and white flour does not need to do this)

Oil your hands and remove dough from mixer onto a slightly oiled counter, divide your dough with a dough divider into 4-5 large loaves depending on your pan size.

Shape loaves, and place ina well greased or sprayed (vegelean) pan, never use oil. Cover with a dry towel and let rise until dough has risen double or approx. 2 inches above the rim of the pan. This will take 30-60 minutes depending on the room temperature.

Bake in preheaded oven at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until the inside temp is 200 degrees. An instant read thermometer is very usedful in telling whether your bread is done. Test after baking time is complete by taking bread out of it's pan and pushing the thermomteter into side or bottom of loaf. If not 200 degrees, place back in pan and bake another few minutes.

Bread can be frozen up to 30 days without freezer burn.

Can you say PATHETIC?!

82%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

I want this...

Does anyone else just LOVE the edges of brownies like me? I'm dying to get my hands on one of these pans! Brownie edges for EVERYONE!!!

I really am here!

Oh my goodness! Where did August go? Can we back up to that month for a minute? I have lots to tell you about.

August 11th marked the ONE year anniversary for Gary and I. Do you remember that he had a seven week internship in another state and I didn't go with him? I have to admit, the first three weeks he was away were REALLY hard, but then I started to get used to it and then it started to get easier. Not easier to have him gone, but easier to deal with having him gone, if that makes any sense. Of course a plane tickeet was purchased so I could go see my hunnie and we could be together to celebrate our anniverary. When I got off that plane and walked through the airport past security to pick up my bags, I'm pretty sure I had the biggest smile on my face (in antcipation of seeing Gary) I didn't realize it at first, but once I realized it (thanks to a few strange looks), I remember trying to tone it down a little bit but it just wouldn't go away...

Gary picked me up in Phoenix. Of course he looked so good as he jumped out of the car and gave me one of his AWESOME hugs I'd missed so much! We then hopped back in the car and drove two and a half hours to Sedona, AZ. If you haven't been there (or like me, even HEARD of it) I totally suggest you go visit sometime in your life! It is this cute little town that has over 22 bed and breakfasts, 200 plus hikes and a super cute little main street to walk up and down that reminds me of Banff, Alberta for some reason. When we got to our awesome Bed and Breakfast we asked the owner about the 'must do' things in Sedona. He told us that we couldn't leave Sedona without visiting the airport to watch the sunset and went on to tell us about how beautiful it is.
We took his word for it and quickly unloaded the car and headed up the airport road to where he told us the perfect look out location was to view this amazing sunset. When we reached the top of this road where the parking lot was for this look out point, Gary and I could NOT believe our eyes. We couldn't believe what we were actually seeing. What was it you might ask? Well, in addition to a sunset deep in the red rock of Sedona, AZ, we saw HUNDREDS of other people standing in the very same place to look at the very same sunset! I don't know why we had in our minds that we would be the only people up there. A few others wouldn't have been abnormal, but we certainly didn't know that it was a meeting place for EVERY visiting tourist in Sedona! Did we get a picture of the sunset? Nope. Did we get a picture of all the people getting pictures of the sunset? You betcha!


The HIGHLIGHT of our Sedona trip was Slide Rock. THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE TO GO TO SEDONA! So, if I understand right, there is this river running down the mountain and the rock has smoothed out along the river and has grown a thin layer of algea. Enought to become quite slick and this place is basically a natural made water slide! It was SO much fun! I was out there playing with all the little kids. Gary was like all the other parents out there telling their kids (or wife, if our case) that it was time to go. All those poopy germy kids didn't bother me one bit, I was all over this fun rocky slide formation!












After we got all cleaned up from the fabulous 'water park' we decided to take a stroll down main street. Many of the shops were closed but all dining establishments were open. Gary and I just wanted some ice cream. So, we went into this one little store to check out the flavors. Just as Gary asked for a sample of this certain flavor I looked down to notice quite a few small flies chillin in the freezer flying around. I didn't blame them one bit, this place was a HOT one! If I was small enough to fit in a freezer, I would have climbed in too. However, it doesn't make for some delicious ice cream when you see a few dead ones laying on top of the very flavor you JUST heard your husband ask for a sample of!!! I linked my arm in his and quickly guided his cute body out of the ice cream/bug cooler establishment leaving the sample in the hand of the employee. After a quick explanation of my actions, Gary thanked me for SAVING HIS LIFE and we continued on our little walk.

Further down and across the street, we came to a place called Black Cow Cafe. Yet another ice cream establishment. This time we noticed a sign on the front door that said "No Bugs Allowed" so we figured it safe to enter. As you see in the picture below, we got ice cream and as always fought over the very bottom of the cone...you know, the yummy crunchy pointy end part with a few drops of melted ice cream inside? The LAST of the delicious treat. OK we didn't really fight over it, but it turns out that Gary and I actually BOTH enjoy that part of the cone very much, so it doesn't make for a 'perfect match' in the ice cream eating department. We have to take turns eating that part or rock off to see who gets it each time. But it's worth it to share an ice cream cone with that cute boy!



As mentioned above, Sedona has over 200 different hikes. The second night in Sedona, we actually stayed in a different bed and breakfast hotel. We asked these owners which hike was the best hike. They pointed us in the right direction. It was the coolest hike! In all actuality, it is a 12 mile hike (ONE WAY), but most people only do the first 3.2 (or 6.4 round trip) because the hike crosses over the river about 13 times and once you hit that 3.2 mile, you then have to walk IN the water to continue on the trail. Gary is standing at the end of our 3.2 mile hike in. Each time we had to cross the river, there were rocks to jump across on, unless you slip and fall like I did, getting my shoe and foot completely wet inside. Yucky feeling if you're NOT going for it. But it was a beautiful hike and really fun! I only wish we would have had more time to do a few more hikes in that area.



It was SO amazing, I HAD to show you...Have I ever mentioned that both of my Grandmas make FABULOUS bread and that I've ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make bread. Both of them have shown me more than once and yet, I've never really actually tried to make it on my own. Until recently. Below is a picture of my very first attempt at making bread. I ground the wheat into 100% whole wheat flour and did everything on my own from scratch! Are you as proud of me as I am of me?!? One thing I really do need to work on is remembering to turn on the oven BEFORE it's time to put them in. I went to put these in the oven and realized I had forgotten to turn it on so they had to sit there and wait (meanwhile getting even BIGGER!) for the oven to pre-heat. I need to practice more and get better...



Not bad for a first attempt eh? Oh, did I mention that this past summer I also made a whole bunch of home made Strawberry and Raspberry Jam as well for the first time? You guessed it! We ate warm home made bread with home made jam! It was so fun to actually eat a little treat that I totally made from scratch!



I flew down to Arizona again to drive back with Gary. But before we left, we made sure to hang out with his brother Brad, and his wife, Sarah. (You can call her Sarah OR Tara, Gary's family call us either name and we've just learned to answer to both!)





Although, I'm not a fish eater...this was cool! Brad ordered crab legs and while we were waiting for our food, our waitress brought out this super sweet little thing. That silver thing in the picture below is the butter! A tea light candle is lit below heating and melting the butter in the tray up top! And then the other thing is for Gary's meal. He ordered ribs and she brought out this piping hot dish of water with a lemon in it and a cloth on top (to keep the steam in?) and a lemon to hold the cloth from blowing away...or something like that! We thought it was classy though! But don't ask me what the name of the restaurant is...I forget.



I couldn't post a new blog without posting these pictures. Let's hope Gary doesn't mind! Gary has needed his wisdom teeth out for quite some time now and just has not been able to fit it into his schedule. School is a big concern for him and he refuses to miss classes. So, I scheduled an appointment for him to have his wisdom teeth removed two days after we returned from Arizona which would give him a week to 'recover' before he returned back to school for the year! I volunteered to be the designated driver and waited in the lobby until he was done. and the nurse told me I could go back to sit with him while he 'woke up.' Now that was a precious moment EVERY wife needs to have with their husband! Gary was HILARIOUS. First of all, this was a Tuesday and on the Saturday after this minor surgury, there was the first BYU football game. Gary's biggest worry before his surgury was whether or not he'd be 100% for the game and be able to #1) attend the game and #2) cheer loud. I now know that it was actually and truthfully his #1 concern because the very first thing he said to me when he was (barely) alert enough to converse was (this took about 5 minutes for me to figure out what he was trying to say, by the way) "Am I going to be able to go to the Football game? Ask him K? Ask him K? Ask him K?" He was serious about this because AS SOON as the Doctor came in this room, he hit my foot and pointed to the doctor to remind me to ask him about the football game.



He then ask me: "Can you see my tounge?" (and then stuck it out as shown below). "Can you see my tounge?" (Stuck it out again). "Can you see my tounge?" (you guessed it, stuck it out again). He did this about 15 more times.



If any of you know Gary well enough you know that he does NOT like small spaces. And elevator is even too small. Well, if Gary wasn't so out of it, he would NOT have liked the room that he was in. You can't really tell by the pictures that well but this room was BARELY big enough to fit a lazy boy in it. And in order to lay it down, you had to open the door. I was sitting on a very small, narrow bench along side of the chair he is sitting in, and had to put my feet up on the arms of the chair just to fit in there. Anyhow, Gary would NOT have liked it one bit had he actually been alert. However, after he was done sticking his tounge out at me, he started scanning the very small room and looked up at me and said "This is a really nice place. I like it here! It's a really nice place." He was so cute!!!



And here he is, smiling for the camera!



Here I am with my first Scentsy order! It came in two huge boxes so of course I unloaded it and began to play by dividing it into piles before I started putting the orders together! Hmmm, the boxes smelled SO yummy!



Gary, SO happy that he was able to attend the first BYU Football game of the year! He's had some 'mouth/teeth' problems since and has been in some pretty bad pain, but he was good to go for the game though.



And finally, what do you get when you have over 10,000 people from all over the world (well, ok, MOSTLY Asia) in Salt Lake city in ONE building? Nu Skin Convention! It's been a crazy week for me and the rest of the employees at Nu Skin, but actually quite fun! The first day I worked in Japan Registration - by the end of the day I was bowing at EVERYONE and saying "Hi" the way they do like we say "OK." For the rest of the week, I was a filler in person in the order processing section taking orders and TRYING to communicate with these people who don't speak english. They had this major party (ok, the whole thing is a party) on the first night and after we had finished working a bunch of us went in to celebrate with them...here is Jeff, a co-worker who jumped in with these Japanese women (who LOVED it, of course).



Here we are with a little boy who has a skin disorder called Epidermolysis Bullosa or EB for short. Nu Skin donates a lot of money to researching cures and relief for the children with EB. Over 12,000 people in the world live with EB and most of them are children. EB causes the skin to blister and breakdown, making it very painful for children with EB to touch or be touched by anything. They are called the Butterfly Children because their skin is a fragile as butterfly wings. This little boy is the one that we see quite a bit at Nu Skin functions. Just looking at him breaks my heart.



The other day we got REALLY bored at the registration booth so we decided to dress up like distributors and have a photo shoot. Oh yeah, did I mention that I also got braces on again? Yup, there they are!



Good long update eh? Lots of pictures, good stories...and great fun!

SCENTsational News!!!

(The events of the following story are 100% true and accurate and are told in the authors own words)

So, the other day at work, I went to the building across the street to talk to a lady who works over there. She works on the second floor and I'd like to admit that I ALWAYS take the stairs because it's healthy, but the truth is that it's actually faster than the ancient elevator located in this historical building. Well, the SECOND I walked through the door from the stair well, I caught a whiff of the most FABULOUS smell-EVER!. Oh it gets even better... you see, once I had walked through that door, I was in a hallway with yet another door to walk through before entering into the large floor filled with cubicles, office spaces, computers, phones, and that mysterious and delicious smell!! I stopped for a minute before entering this large area as a part of me wondered "What if this smell ISN'T coming from this room? How will I ever find it? WHERE is it coming from if not here? I need to know what it is!" (Ok, so maybe there was a little dramatization in that one, but SERIOUSLY...you get the point, right?)

After a short 5-6 second moment of smelling enjoyment, I decided to enter the floor. Much to my surprise and complete satisfaction, the smell WAS coming from the floor. In fact, it was coming from the VERY office of the woman I was there to visit! This smell filled the ENTIRE floor! Sadly, she had left to a meeting so I was unable to chat with her, but you better believe I didn't leave empty handed. I left with the phone number and company name of where I could get my hands on some of that good smelling stuff!

What was it you ask? It was this company called Scentsy that makes WICKLESS and FLAMELESS candles! K, I know...candle warmers...old news...yeah, I've been there and tried that. NOT EVEN AS COOL AS THESE! So, let me just rave about them, so you'll know that I seriously think they are cool! They plug into your wall and heat up by a 25 watt light bulb. The wax they use is a much softer wax that will melt at a much lower temperature than other candles (just a little warmer than body temperature). No burned children or pets, just good smelling homes!! The other thing is that you can leave it on all day if you chose to and not worry about forgetting to blow our your candle because there is not flame or danger in leaving it on. The most that will happen is that the light bulb will burn out sooner (duh) and your scented wax will need to be replaced sooner (duh again). A lot of women will leave their warmers on at night without wax in them as a night light in their home. Neat? I thought you'd think so! Now, let me get to another awesome thing...the scents! There are over EIGHTY different scents! TRUST me on this one! I went over to this girls house and we got out ALL of her samples and had a smelling fest! It was AWESOME! I wanted to go home then and there with over half of them, FABULOUS! Oh and they have room sprays and car candles in most of the scents too!!!

Below are two of my favorite warmers. Aren't they super cute?

So, you want to hear more? Alright, so with your warmer you buy what are called "Candle Bars." It looks like a mini ice tray of wax (see the picture above or check them out on the website). The whole bar (all six 'ice cubes') is equivalent to a 12 oz. candle but way cheaper. However, they JAM PACK that smell gooder stuff in there! You just break off one square and put it in your warmer. If you decide that you're wanting to try a different smell but there is still scent left in the wax, you just pour it back into the little 'ice tray' container and pop in your new scent. SWEET eh? Go count right now...how many candles do you have in your cupboards just waiting for round two or three when you decide you want to pull it out again? Yeah, I have at LEAST 20 of them! Anyhow, I just love this stuff and thought you'd want to hear about it too!

I love it so much I wanted to be a part of it! So, when you all fall in love with the products as I did, make sure you talk to me and I'll be your supplier!!! If you want to earn free product by having a basket party or hosting a party (It doesn't matter if you don't live here in Utah either) let me know and I'd be happy to work that out with you as well!!! For those of you that DO live in Provo and want to come over for a 'smelling fest' my very own samples (EVERY SCENT) are coming in the mail TOMORROW! You KNOW I'm excited! Come over any time and smell em all! Seriously!

On a totally different note...does anyone know how to bring the side bar back up? If you're looking for it on my blog, it somehow got down to the VERY bottom. I've tried EVERYTHING! HELP! I don't like it down there.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE July, but...

...there is one BIG HUGE reason I'm not so much loving July this year. Reason being that I'm a single wife for the next seven weeks. That's right folks, SEVEN WEEKS! Ugh. It's been ONE day and I'm already dying. Friday night at 9:00pm, Gary and I pulled out and started on our ten hour drive down to Arizona where he will be doing an internship. We actually took turns sleeping and driving and made pretty good time, except for those couple times neither of us felt like we could drive any more so we pulled over and slept for an hour or so. No running out of gas this time!!! Saturday we went and hung out with Gary's brother, Brad, and his family...including a brand new little cute baby, Ava. We went swimming:::Ahhh:::did I mention that it was ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN DEGREES? FABULOUS! I LOVE the heat, one of the big reasons why I normally love July. After our swimming, we showered and got ready and went out to eat at this SUPER WAY FUN restaurant. I don't even know if they could call themselves a restaurant, it was THAT cool! Check this picture out...

So, this sort of gives you an idea. I guess the idea of this place is to give you the feeling of camping out without the camping out. The place is OUTDOORS (something you could only do somewhere like AZ right?) which makes it that much cooler! It sort of reminds me of wagon trains all in a circle. There is a building (the one in the picture) where you go in and order your food. A small sitting area in there if you want to 'dine in' or you can pick your food up when it's ready and take it to a table outside. And all around there are other buildings, a bar, pool hall, a stage and dance floor (the left hand side of the picture), and a few other buildings in a circle but it's all the same place. Also, scattered all over out there are a bunch of little fires so you can roast marshmallows. So cool. I tried to take some other pictures, but they have misters going all over (yet another very cool thing about this place) and every picture I took was just mist. Did I mention that the food was fabulous as well?!? Let me suggest the Flat Iron Steak for those of you who will actually try it out!

I'm with the good looking one at the end of the table!! Can you tell which two are brothers?? Check out the yummy food!!

Because this was a bit of a rough trip (being that I was going to be flying home without Gary), Gary and I went out on Sunday night and 'had a moment' - He was cute. He took me to the very spot that he first told me he loved me and told me all over again. I know!!! Isn't he cute?!?

I love you Garbo!!! Come home quick ok? I miss you too much!