Bountiful Basket

A few of you wanted me to report how my first Bountiful Basket experience went. If you dont know, in Twin Falls, and many other Idaho and Utah cities, a group of volunteers get together and buy fresh produce at deep discounts and sell it at certain pick up spots for $15 a basket! For more info go to bountifulbaskets.org (not .com). You do have to pre pay with a credit card and there is a $3 fee for your first time, but never again. There are no obligations to buy again and you can just order when you want. If you want a basket for Saturday (the next pick up day), you have to order and pay by Tuesday.

So anyways, I was VERY suprised with how much stuff i got! I was really unsure if it was going to be a better deal than just buying it at Winco, but 1) its fresher and 2) YES it is cheaper!

This is what i got:
1 head of leaf lettuce
1 lb. of strawberries
1 little box of blackberries
1 coconut
9ish bananas
1 bag of baby carrots
3 large cucumbers
4 avacados
3 large oranges
9 tomatoes (roma)
2 yellow squash
9 peaches

Now can you get ALL of that for $15 at a store? Just the berries by themselves are atleast $6! The process was so easy and smooth, there was no waiting lines or big problems...(although the credit card orders didnt go through the 1st time and i had to go back and check out twice, but i didnt get charged twice). And as far as i can tell the produce is fresh and yummy. We did have 1 bad orange, and the peaches are hard, but they will ripen up soon i hope! If you have any more questions, let me know! I'd love to answer them!

Dirt, Dirt, Dirt

Well the time has arrived for us to start our yard...ugh. I love that Chad is so handy and can do these projects by himself to save us money, but sometimes I wish he would just PAY someone to do a few of these things! But it is something he enjoys doing and I am very greatful he can do it. I always wanted to marry a handyman and thats exactly what I got.
Due to all the wonderful weather we have had, it has taken way longer than it should have. We had one nice day last week so Chad came home from work at 10AM and it was me and him digging and filling trenches until 10PM! We really needed to get it done, so we just let Carter have a hay day in the dirt. He loved running in the trenches (which created more work for me beacause I had to go re-dig them out when the dirt would fall in!) Its not something I reccomend when you are 18 weeks pregnant. But Carter had a ball and now wants to play in the dirt every day. Who needs grass right?!

By the end of that night I couldnt even sit down I was so sore. I have a few hip problems now and then and I was miserable! And I thought I had strong hands from doing massage, but after hanging on to a shovel for a few hours proved that I am a true wimp. My arms felt like they were going to fall off. Luckily it didnt last long.

But enough complaning....we finally finished our sprinklers! YAY! Now the next steps are a flower garden, food garden, landscaping and grass! The next 6 weekends are packed with summer things already so who knows when we will actually be able to say we have a landscaped yard! Wish us luck on the next few weeks! We are learning a lot! I'll post a few pictures of our progress here and there.

PS We find out what we are having on MAY 27th! Be sure to cast your vote for girl or boy!

Week with Chet's Family

This is the last post, I promise! So much has happened this month and i have to keep up with my blog book, so bear with me! We had so much fun having Chet and his family stay with us! We watched their girls while they took off to Boise for a few days. It was fun getting to be a kid again and just play all day. We took them to Hop2It here in Twin. It was a fun little place.

Maycie and Emma.

Painted fingers and toes

Made little pizzas and ate them

And flew kites! I was very selective in which pictures to put up since i have already blogged so much, but these are just a few fun things we were able to do. We will miss you guys for 1 more year and can't wait to have you back in Idaho!

Evelyn's Birthday Suprise

Chad's mom turned 60 this April and the family threw a huge suprise party in her honor. It was held at Pocatello Power Sports and Clyde brought her through the upstairs door to this....

ALL 7 OF HER KIDS! It was the first time they all had been together in 8 YEARS! They are in order of age from L to R: Clark, Cami, Chris, Ann, Chet, Chelsey, and Chad. And TONS of other family attended also.

She was so suprised she cried and laughed for the first 2 hours of the party. It brought tears to everyones eyes. The biggest suprise was Chet and his family who came clear from GERMANY for the party. We havent seen them in 3 years and there was even a grandaughter she hadn't met yet. Other siblings traveled from Portland, OR; Prosser, WA; and Logan, UT.

Yes we lit 60 candles on her cake with a blow torch. And she blew all but 2 out in 1 breath! Cami made the cake and it took 6 cake mixes! Great job Cam!

Happy Birthday Evelyn! Hope it was one to remember!

Eastery-Easter

Baby Ryker loved his first easter!

We had a great Easter this year. Carter enjoyed hunting for eggs although he knew there were treats in each egg so he wanted to open and eat the treats everytime he found an egg! He was so much fun. We had a huge family Easter Party the weekend after Easter and did an egg hunt, pinata, and fish pond for the kids. It was so much fun!

Quarter of a Century Brithday

25! I can't believe it is here already! I think I have pictures of my MOM's 25th birthday growing up! I remember it seemed so old....yet i still feel so young. It was a very special day for me. Chad's parents came down for Easter weekend so we celebrated with them. We watched General Conference in the morning, then ran and did some shopping and even found a rummage sale (wahoo!) then came back for the afternoon session of conference. After that I spoiled myself and scheduled a pedicure and manicure! It was wonderful. When I returned home, I was told to go to my room!

I came out to find presents, balloons and CUPCAKES! YUM!

Then it was off to Outback Steakhouse for some yummy steak! The best gift of all was it was the first day in quite a while that i wasn't sick from being pregnant. It didnt last long, but it was an entire day i could actually enjoy! Thanks dear for treating me so special on my special day!

Our Little Blessing

Tuesday I turned 12 weeks in my pregnancy! 1st trimester almost done! So i have to give a little back ground to this post....Don't get me wrong we are SO EXCITED to be bringing another baby into this world! I think both of us though have questioned if it is the right time and have worried alot what life with 2 kids would be like! 1 is hard enough some days! And i definantly dont have the challenge like many do of getting pregnant...We had talked about maybe having a baby once, and i was pregnant right away. So it must have been time. I think it just happened so fast it suprised us both alot!
On Tuesday i went to my 12 week checkup where i was supposed to get to hear the heartbeat for the first time. As the doctor spent atleast 5 minutes probing my abdomen and searching for the heartbeat, and saying over and over "it should be right here!" he said "Well dont worry........(long pause)...YET." And he had a worried look on his face. Which is the LAST thing a doctor should say to an expectant mom, because of course, they are just going to worry. They hurried and took me to the ultrasound room and after a few more minutes of holding my breath, the technician finally said "oh yes, there it is!" PHEW!!! The little heart was just beating away! I was SO glad i wanted to cry. I guess thanks to my anatomy, it was a little more difficult to hear and find.
So anyways i told Chad what was going on as soon as they couldnt find the heartbeat. He told me later that he also had been wondering if this was the right time to have a baby but for those few seconds that they were searching for a little heartbeat, he said it confirmed in his mind that YES he definantly wanted this baby. And that he already loved it and wanted it. Funny how we can love something so small that we havent even met yet!
So in conclusion, this slight little scare has made us want this baby here more than anything. We are up for the challenge! We are so excited for October to come so we can meet our new baby!