Trip to Utah

This past weekend we went on a road trip to Utah. We drove part of the way on Thursday and then arrived in Utah on Friday. That afternoon we met our friend Emma and her son Jake at the Joseph Smith Building for lunch. It was nice to see them and we were amazed at how much Jake had grown (it has been a year since we saw them).

Emma helping Jake eat tomato soup.

On Saturday we visited Provo and memory lane. We went to our old apartments, including the one where we met. Our second married basement apartment was no longer there. It was turned into a driveway for some new apartments. We also drove around BYU and went to one of our favorite restaurants.

We first met at the Glenwood apts. We called them the GlenHood apts.

We ate at La Dolce Vita which was our favorite place for pizza.

College Park was our first married apt. We lived in the bottom apt. in the picture. The driveway (below) is where our second married apt. was located. We lived in the basement of a house. It has since been torn down and made into a driveway for the new apartment complex in the back.

Saturday evening we drove to Layton for Rich's mission reunion. One of his mission presidents and wife hosted the reunion at their farm. There were a lot of former missionaries, spouses, and children. Rich did not know most of them, but he was able to reconnect with about 5-6 mission buddies. We had a nice time and stayed a little too long because I was attacked by mosquitoes.

One of Rich's mission Presidents...President Dibble.

Missionary Buddies

On Sunday we started the long and boring journey home. We use to do this drive a lot when we were in college and we sure don't miss it. The salt flats and Nevada desert are boring and hot. Overall, it was a fun trip and we are glad we went. Maybe in another 8 years we will do the drive again.

These are pictures of the boring salt flats. The weird tree sculpture is still there in the middle of nowhere. We could never figure out why it was there.

Happy Birthday Dad & Grandpa!

On Sunday some of our family gathered in Gridley to celebrate our dad's and grandpa's birthdays. We had steak, shrimp, scallops, and potatoes (dad's favorites). We also enjoyed a chocolate cake and ice cream. After eating we enjoyed talking and playing with the kids. It was a nice evening and is always fun to spend time with family.

Recipe of the Week Update

As some of you know I try to make at least one new recipe a week and then post a picture of it in the right side column (under the blog archive). Some of you have requested the recipes, but I have not been posting them because I thought it would take up too much room on the blog. I have now decided to start another blog just for these recipes. The new blog is: http://foodinspirations.blogspot.com/

Over the next week I plan to add the ingredients/directions for a couple previous recipes of the week. Then I will try to add the ingredients/directions for the future recipes of the week. I plan to keep the recipe of the week photo on this blog and you will be able to click on it to go to the other blog and get the recipe.

I enjoy cooking and I hope the new blog will inspire you to create new dishes of your own.

Homemade Tomato Soup

On Saturday we picked up some Roma tomatoes at the farmer's market to use for a homemade soup. I have been wanting to make fresh tomato soup for a while and my good friend gave me a delicious and super easy recipe. The hardest thing about the recipe was peeling the tomatoes and the recipe actually calls for canned tomatoes which are already peeled. To make the soup extra special I added some Parmesan cheese and basil from our garden. The soup smelled so good and was delicious.

Let's Bowl

On Tuesday we went bowling with our friends the Bratton's. We haven't been bowling in at least 5-6 years, so we were definitely rusty. We had a lot of fun even though we were pretty terrible...well at least I was pretty terrible. Rich did okay, but he use to average 160 when he took a class at BYU. Last night my high score was 87 and Rich's was 104.

Scoreboard: Rich, Me, Jeremy, & Krista

Boys Night Out

On Saturday night Rich went to see the new Batman movie with a couple of friends. He was excited to see the movie and I was excited that I didn't have to see the movie. One of Rich's friends has a daughter that works at the movie theater, so they got to see the movie and have some snacks for free. Rich enjoyed the movie, but thought it was a little too long. He gives it 3 out of 5 stars and says it would be better to watch it in the theaters on the big screen because of all the action.

New Tempur-pedic Bed

Today our new Tempur-pedic bed was delivered...YEAH!! For the past week we have been sleeping on a full size bed in one of our exercise/nintendo room. It was better than sleeping in a bed with bed bugs, but not that comfortable. The past week we haven't slept well and have been having bad dreams about being attacked by bugs. Tonight we will be sleeping on our new comfy bed in the nursery. We are not putting our new bed or any clothes in our bedroom until we deeply clean it and make sure it is completely pest free.

HIVES...I don't think so!

WARNING: The following post is not for the faint of heart or those that are easily grossed out. However, this post comes with a lesson and solves the mystery of Lisa's hives.

To start I need to give a little background information. About 2 months ago I started developing "hives". It started with a few welts that look like mosquito bites on my feet and arms. At first we thought it was caused by stress due to our recent adoption heartbreak and the timing made sense. I took benadryl for a while which helped, but made me feel terrible, so I stopped. I finally went to a dermatologist in July and started taking a combination of anti-histamines in the morning and night. This seemed to help with the itching but the "hives" did not go away. My doctor told me if the meds didn't work after a month then it could be an allergy and I would probably have to go through allergy testing to determine what was causing the reaction.

This past week I hit the month mark of being on my medication and I did not get any better. Last Saturday I actually had 25-30 small welts within a six inch area on my left arm. It was terrible, I was frustrated, and afraid I had some kind of allergy to food or worse to Luca. On Monday I decided I would call the doctor the next day and arrange for some testing, but Rich stopped that plan. Monday evening I came home to Rich doing some research about my "hives" on the internet. At first he would not tell me his theory, but when I looked at the screen I freaked out. He was looking at a website with a big picture of a bedbug...that's right I don't have hives I have bug bites...YUCK!!

On Monday Rich was putting away some laundry that was next to the bed when he found a small tic like bug crawling on his shorts. He also found some tiny blood marks under his pillow on the bed. With these two findings he began wondering if it could be bug bites and with some simple research the mystery was solved. That night we stripped our bed, pulled it away from the wall, and found more bugs. They were mainly hiding on the box spring especially in between the box spring and the plastic corner covers.
Looking back at the timeline of events this all makes sense. We went to Disneyland for a week and then to Texas for a couple of nights. I began having bites shortly after these hotel stays. It could of been the hotel in Anaheim because of all the world travelers that go to Disneyland, but we choose to blame the Texas hotel. The hotel in Texas was not that nice to start out with and with all the grief we had from that trip it just works. Also to had humor to this horrible experience we like to say, "We went to Texas to bring home a baby and even though that didn't work out we didn't come home alone...we came home with a family of bed bugs."

Some of you might be wondering why Rich didn't have "hives" or bites...It's because he is a freak of nature. Rich luckily does not react to bug bites and barely notices a mosquito bite. He might itch for 10 minutes and then it is over. So, during the past 2 months the bugs were biting both of us, but by the morning Rich did not have any symptoms.

The lesson from this 2 month nightmare experience is to always check your hotel for bed bugs and never assume it is clean. Also make sure to wash all of your travel clothing in hot water immediately following your trip. We know no matter where we will stay in the future we will always check the mattress and box spring extra carefully.

Even though, this has been a rough 2 months and we are completely disgusted to find the bugs, we are trying to look on the brightside:

*I do not have a life altering food allergy
*I am not allergic to my cute dog Luca

*Everything in our bedroom will get a deep cleaning

*We are buying a new tempurpedic bed (This one is the best)

So, to all of those that are completely disgusted we recommend a nice warm shower to wash the psychologically itching away. If the first shower doesn't work try again. And, remember tonight as you crawl into bed, "Sleep tight, but don't let the bed bugs bite"...HA, HA!

Chilling with the Girls

Today I spent the afternoon relaxing with my good friend Chantal and her two daughters. We started out the afternoon feeding ducks and geese at a local park. We then got some ice cream treats and headed to Chantal's house to enjoy them. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and Chantal sent me home with some homemade cookies. It was a great way to spend the day...thanks Norman ladies!

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

On Tuesday I took my niece and nephew to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. They are 10 and 7 year olds and love roller coasters. Unfortunately for me I can't go on roller coasters anymore because they make me sick. I enjoyed watching my niece and nephew having a blast on all the crazy rides. We also took some time to watch the dolphin, tiger, and whale shows. My favorite part of the day was going in the butterfly building. Before we went home I did go on one roller coaster called the cobra. It is a small kid roller coaster, so I was able to enjoy it without getting sick.

Lunch with the Girls

On Monday I went to lunch with Marisa and Heidi, who are two friends from high school. We met in Elk Grove at Heidi's house, went to lunch, and then back to Heidi's house to hang out. It was a nice afternoon and it gave us a chance to catch up.

Visit with Grandma

On Saturday, as Rich prepared for the B.B.Q., I went to visit my grandma in Los Banos. I first met my parents and some other relatives at my grandma's mobile home in Gustine. A few months ago my grandma moved from her mobile home to an assisted living community. She took what she could with her and the family has been going through the rest of her stuff to decide what to do with it. My grandma is a great collector and has a lot of different collections...Franklin Mint coins, figurines, stamps, and even sugar packets. It took my aunt, uncle, and parents a lot of time to go through everything. We have several things from my grandma that have sentimental value and will be things we pass down to our children. On Saturday I brought home photo albums, which to me are the greatest treasure. I plan to scan most of them and save them on a disk. Having these albums also helps me with my family history work and helps me to see what my grandparents were like before I was born.

After spending a little time at the mobile home, my parents and I went to visit my grandma and take her to lunch. When she first saw me she was really surprised and happy. I was glad to see her because it had been too long. My grandma is an awesome lady and I love her very much. She is strong, kind, and generous lady. She has many talents and is very crafty. A few years ago she made Rich and I a big beautiful quilt. I still have the baby blanket my grandma crocheted for me. She is a very special person and I am glad I had the chance to visit with her.

Elder's Quorum Party

Last Saturday Rich had an Elder's Quorum B.B.Q. party. He is the E.Q. President for our ward, so he and his counselors were in charged. I was so proud of him because he along with his counselors did everything and I didn't have to worry about anything. The B.B.Q. was nice and the men had a dessert contest. There were a lot of yummy desserts and some of the wives got to be judges. After tasting all the desserts the winner was...drum roll...Rich! That's right Rich was the winner of the dessert contest with his chocolate cheesecake pie...It was really good!!

There were also fun games and activities that everyone seemed to enjoy. The only problem was it got dark too fast and we didn't get to play human fooseball.

Relaxing in the Shade

Luca loves to play in the backyard, but after a while of running around he gets tired. He loves to lay down and relax in the shade. Sometimes he lays in the shade of a tree or under one of our chairs, but recently he has started laying under our pumpkin. We thought it was funny and oh so cute.

Farmer's Market

Yesterday, Rich and I went to one of the local farmer's markets. We having been going to the one by the Sunrise Mall at least twice a month during the summer. We enjoy all the FRESH fruit and vegetables we can get. Our garden is doing good and starting to produce, so now we usually just get fruit and the most delicious corn. Rich's parents brought us tons of peaches a couple weeks ago that we made into jam and peach shortcake, so I am a little tired of looking at stone fruit and decided not to get any yesterday. We did get fresh corn on the cob 4 for a $1.50...what a deal. Today we barbecued the corn slathered in butter and wrapped in foil. We also barbecued chicken, zucchini, squash, and pepper kabobs. It was so delicious. The zucchini, squash, and peppers were from our garden, but the chicken was from the store...I'm not willing to raise, kill, and pluck a chicken just to say it is fresh. Rich enjoyed the kabobs and wants to make it a regular menu item.

Our T.V. bites the dust

For a couple weeks now our t.v. has been fading. The color just wasn't right and the images weren't crisp. We decided we would keep it until we could save money to buy another t.v. We were hoping we had a few months left in it, but that didn't happen. This past week the t.v. wouldn't even turn on and we pronounced it officially dead. Unfortunately for us we had to put a new garage door in this summer and now we can't afford a nice new t.v. to fit into our entertainment center. We decided having a big t.v. isn't really a priority, so we bought a nice cute little 19" t.v. It works great and the picture is so much better than our old one. The only problem, and it's not really a problem, is that it looks funny in the entertainment center with all of the empty space. Also, Rich will have a harder time seeing when he plays his Wii...I'm sure he will get use to it. All we know is having a t.v. isn't a necessity and going into debt for one would be silly. I think once we get a bigger t.v. (in a few months or maybe a year, who knows?) we will appreciate it and value all that went into getting it.

Objects (meaning t.v.) may seem larger than they appear in the picture.

Luca goes to the vet

Today I took Luca to the vet. He was due for his annual check-up and some shots. Luca was well behaved and did not complain about the three shots he had. He is a tough dog and later in the day he was running and jumping like usual. Since he was such a good boy I gave him some peanut butter in his red kong...this is his favorite treat.

The vet said Luca's ears are a little inflamed, so we have to give him ear drops 2x daily for a week. Cocker's are known to have ear and eye trouble, so this is something we need to keep up with. The vet also said his front teeth look great, but his back ones are developing some build-up. Since we got Luca we have been trying to brush his teeth each night before bed. He is really good at first, but does not like his back teeth brushed as much...this is something we will have to work on. It probably sounds kind of funny, but we do have a bedtime routine for Luca. We brush his teeth, wipe his eyes, and then give him a greenie biscuit before bed. He is pretty use to the routine especially the treat part. After we get him cleaned up Rich and I brush our teeth and wash our face before we give him the treat. Luca usually lays down and looks at the treat on the dresser until we give it to him. We also make sure to hide his Kong toy because if we don't the next morning he will get it and drop it on our heads until we get up (especially weekends)...crazy dog!

The following are some fun pictures we took of Luca recently:

Luca loves P.B. & Rich.

Luca trying to drink chinotto (Italian root beer). He has a long tongue.

KIDFEST JULY 2008

We survived kidfest 2008...Yeah! Starting Thursday night we had at least one kid with us until Saturday night. Our nephew Nathan started off kidfest and stayed with us until Saturday. When he heard Rich was going to play Wii Mario Kart with Doug (Rich's brother) who lives in Oregon he wanted to play too. Thursday night Rich called Doug and arranged to play Mario Kart over the internet. Rich, Doug, Nathan, and our other nephew Ian played Mario Kart for about a hour together. They had fun and I enjoyed watching them race.

On Friday Nathan was still visiting and we were joined by a few more. Our two nieces, Bella and Lily, and our nephew Kobie hung out with us for a while, so their parents could go to the temple. I was alone with all four kids for a little over a hour before Rich showed up. I have to admit I was a little nervous being alone with all of them, but it was fine and everyone had a good time. Lily the youngest loved Luca and Mo. She wanted to play with both of them. Bella and Kobie had fun feeding Mo pumpkin flowers. When Dave and Jessica got back from the temple we all went out to eat at Superb Burger (one of our favorite local burger joints). We had a nice meal and the kids were able to have fun because nobody else was in the restaurant.

On Saturday Nathan was joined by his sister Rachel while their mom went to the temple. Nathan and Rachel played some Lego Star Wars and Metroid for a little while. We then went in the backyard to cool down in our swimming pool (kiddie pool). The kids had a lot of fun walking around and around to make a whirlpool with Rich. They also loved having Luca in the pool. After drying off we went back inside to play, what else, the Wii. We played Mario Party 8 until Sherrie came to pick up Rachel and Nathan.

Saturday night Rich and I relaxed!! We were pretty tired and enjoyed the peace and quiet. We treated ourselves to pizza and watched Monk season 6 on DVD. It was great to spend time with our nieces and nephews. We appreciate the great amount of energy their parents must have to keep up with them. They are all wonderful kids and we love them very much. And to the rest of our nieces and nephews that we haven't seen in a while...we love you too.

Crepes for Breakfast

I have been wanting to make crepes for a while now, so yesterday we bought a crepe pan. Last night we made the batter because it was suppose to chill over night. We also made the mascarpone-ricotta filling, so everything would be ready for this morning. I carefully read the directions for making crepes, because they seemed so difficult to make, and then we started. I found it was actually really easy. I just needed to make sure I used 2 spatulas for flipping and everything was fine. We made about 1 dozen crepes, then filled them with the mascarpone-ricotta filling and topped them with fruit. Rich put peaches and blackberries on his and I just had peaches. Rich really enjoyed his crepes...especially the Italian filling. I ate about one and had to stop. I'm not sure what it was, but with the filling, it was just too much for me. I decided I like crepes, but not stuffed. I enjoy them with just some powdered sugar sprinkled on top. I think we will make them again and Rich will eat his stuffed and I will eat mine plain.