Bountiful Baskets

Bruce and I have been doing Bountiful Baskets for a couple of months now. It is such a great deal, that I just had to share with everyone!  Bountiful Baskets is a non-profit co-op that allows you to get wholesale produce. Right now they are only in they western states such as UT, AZ, CO, ID, MT, WA, OR, NV, TX, and WY (as far as I know).  

Every week from Monday @ 12pm - Tuesday @ 10pm you can place your order for a basket at http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/, then on Saturday morning you go to pick up your produce. You will need to bring your own basket/bags to carry the produce home.  When you get there, you just stand in your designated line(alphabetical), they will check your name of the list and tell you which basket to go to, then you unload the produce from their baskets into your own. That's it! (Unless you ordered specialty items, which require you to stand in another line and sign again). 

There is a first time basket fee  of $3 but after that your basket is only $15!  You are getting about $50 worth of produce for $15 dollars! Amazing! Each basket is 50% vegetables and 50% fruit. Every now and then there is something that I've never cooked with before, so it's fun to try new things. They also have specialty items you can get like a Italian or Mexican pack, raw honey, tortillas, and bread.  We have only gotten the bread so far, which is $10 for 5 loaves! Another great deal!

Here is what we have gotten:

Vegetables:

• 1 head Romaine Lettuce
• 1 head Savoy
• 2 bunches Asparagus
• 2 heads Broccoli
• 9 Red Potatoes
• 6 Roma Tomatoes

Fruit:

• 4 Grapefruit
• 1 bunch Bananas
• 6 Fuji Apples
• 8 Lemons
• 7 Pears
• 1 Pineapple

All for $16.50!!

Vegetables:

• 2 large Cucumbers
• 2 Yellow Squash
• 6 Tomatoes
• 3 heads Broccoli
• 1 head Romaine Lettuce
• 1 bag of Brussels Sprouts

Fruit

• 8 Oranges
• 7 Kiwi
• 7 Granny Smith Apples
• 60z Blackberries
• 1 bunch Bananas
• 1 Pineapple

Specialty Item

• 5 loaves of 9 grain bread

Total: $26.50

Do it! You know you want to!!

Green Smoothie Girls Class

The Green Smoothie Girl has been having a few free classes here in Utah and I finally signed up to go to one. It was so much fun! I felt like I was meeting a celebrity.  I got there early to make sure I got a good seat and I heard her say something as she was coming down the hall.  My heart immediately skipped a beat, I was so excited to meet her.  I'm a dork. Her class was really fun and it made me like her even more. She is really funny and personable.  Bruce also got to come with me which was fun too.  It's nice to have a husband that is onboard with good nutrition too.

Bruce also let me buy her book, 12 Steps to Whole Foods, which I have been wanting for a couple of months now. I was SO excited. This book is broken down into twelve steps that eventually helps you to achieve a diet that is 60%-80% raw, whole foods. You take on one step a month and I'm excited to get started. Wahoo!!! 

Christmas

This year we spent Christmas with Bruce's family at a cabin in Idaho. Bruce's sister's husband's family (make sense? haha) owns a cabin and we were privileged enough to spend a few days there! It was so much fun playing at the cabin and having the whole family together. We played games, watched movies, went snowmobiling, had a fun Christmas Eve program, opened presents, yada yada. 

Here are some photos of the cabin. I wanted to get a picture of the outside of the cabin but that didn't happen.  It is such a sweet cabin. It's right by the lake for lots of summer fun, in the mountains for a good time in the winter, 4 story, with lots of fun toys like jet skis, a boat, and snowmobiles, just to name a few. Oh and there are these cute bears all over the inside. 

I took this picture not only for the beautiful scenery but because it has some sentimental meaning. Two and a half years ago in the summer when Bruce and I were still dating we spent a few days at the cabin with some of his family. Right here at this spot, at sunset, I told Bruce that I loved him. *tear* ;) (He had said it to me the week before). I was excited to go to the cabin again because I knew memories and feelings would come back from the last time we were there, and they did. 

Christmas Eve morning all the adults got to take turns riding snowmobiles. Bruce had been several times but this was my first. I was really excited but also nervous. I was really loving it when we first started out. I even was the first one to fall off, no biggie, it was fun (except my bum was sore for like a week). Then we got to the powder. That was fun too. Until we had to do really sharp turns and go up really steep hills.  And you can't do these things cautiously, you have to go all out. "Whoa Nelly, I ain't ready to do that yet. I'm on a stinking 550 lb machine that I haven't gotten used to yet." So I toughed it out for a little bit, but then I had had enough. I made Bruce come back early with me. Yes, I was the pansy that made my husband come back early.  All in all I had fun and would definitely do it again. But this time was a little too much too fast for me. Give me some time to get comfortable and I think I could be a lean mean snowmobile riding machine! Maybe. ;) 

The top two pics are of me and Bruce while we were waiting to go. The bottom ones are of Bruce parents and his sister doing a sweet jump.

Now on to Christmas day. It was definitely fun playing Santa this year and watching Madi open her presents. She was so overwhelmed with everything going on that morning and all of the other kids around her that she wasn't too interested in opening her presents. Luckily, we let her open her gifts from Mema and Grandpa (my parents) before we left for the cabin, otherwise I would have been disappointed in her reaction. She was really cute to watch doing that. Here are some pics of her opening presents and playing around the cabin Christmas day.  

Madi playing with her cousin Sadie. They had cute matching PJ's.

All the cousins on Christmas day.

Papo cutting the Christmas dinner turkey. Best turkey I have EVER had thanks to Krysta!

Playing Pac Man and pinball upstairs. 

Once the kids were in bed we all played the name game. Here are some pics of round 3, charade style. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.  

And finally here are some cute pics of Madelyn that Bruce's sister Malaena took with her sweet new camera lens. 

Ah, but let's not forget a video of Madi playing with her favorite Christmas present from my parents. 

Hymas Family Pictures

Over Christmas break we were able to get a Hymas family picture taken.  It has been over 10 years since they have had one so this was definitely long over due. It was great having the whole family together!!

The whole gang.

Grammy and Papo with all 10 grandkids.

Lance and Kari with their 4 kids. From youngest to oldest (left to right), Malaena, Bruce, Leann, and Cory. 

I definitely married into the right family. :)

Our little family.

All 4 girls born within the same year. Sadie=21 months, Maliya=19 months, Madi=11 months, Lizzie=9 months. 

We tried to get a pic of all of them but 3 of the 4 were crying. Oh well. 

"Gymnastricks"

Bruce was getting Madelyn ready for bed one night and all of a sudden I heard Madi laughing. Bruce brought her in to me and showed me why.  

"Real Love Stories Never End"

Last week Bruce and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary.  It's hard to believe that we have been married for 2 years already! Time flies when you're with the ones you love. :)  And let me tell ya, I sure do love my man.

On our actual anniversary we decided to splurge and go to Carrabba's for dinner.  It was a nice treat since we never go out to eat. Then we came home and watched Charlie St. Cloud.  It was a good movie. Different than what I expected but still good.

For Christmas Bruce gave me two gift certificates to a spa! Woot woot! He actually won them at a business luncheon, so the fact that they were free made it even better. We have always wanted to get facials so I decided that as part of our anniversary I wanted to use my gift certificates to do that. Yes ladies, pick your jaws up off the floor, my man went to get facials with me. Don't hate. He is so good to me. :)  Getting facials was a pleasant experience. We were amazed at how nice our faces felt afterwards.

After our facials we went to Kneaders for dinner. So good! We had a gift card there too, so even dinner was free. Free things make good things seem so much better. (especially for Bruce since he's the frugal one of the bunch. tehe.)

Now on to things of a more spiritual matter. The title of my blog was a quote I saw on a cute decoration at Kneaders, "Real love stories never end." I love that. And I just happen to believe that it is true. I am so grateful for my eternal marriage, and that I know I will be with Bruce forever!  The quote below makes so much sense to me and I know that it is true. (sorry I don't know who said it.)

"Even as we existed as children of God before we were born into this world, so also shall we continue to live after death, and the treasured and satisfying relationships of mortality, the most beautiful and meaningful of which are found in the family, may continue in the world to come.  When a man and woman are married in house of the Lord, they are joined not only for the period of their mortal lives but for all eternity.  They are bound together under authority not only of the law of the land that joins them until death but also though the eternal priesthood of God, which binds in heaven that which is bound on earth.    The couple so married has the assurance of divine revelation that their relationship and that of their children will not end with death but will continue in eternity, provided they live worthy of that blessing. Can anyone believing in eternal life doubt that the God of heaven would grant is sons and daughters that most precious attribute of life, the love that finds its most meaningful expression in family relationships?  No, reason demands that the family relationship shall continue after death.  The human heart longs for it, and the God of heaven has revealed a  way whereby it may be secured. The sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord provide for it."