What a great day!

My fibro has been acting up again this week and I actually took yesterday off work because of it, I was fighting fatigue and full body aches really bad.  Andy hadn't been feeling well for a few days and stayed home too.  I slept half the day away but felt a little better when I did finally wake up, but still hurting.  I think Andy felt a bit better too.  Late in the evening we decided to get out of the house for a bit and went to our new favorite sushi place, Simply Sushi.  It's an all you can eat sushi bar that's really, really good.  I highly recommend it.  We then decided to go to a movie and saw Dinner for Shmucks.  It was so funny, I don't think I spent more than 5 given minutes not at least giggling if not outright laughing through the whole movie.  We then got frozen yogurt at Yogurt Land after.  Love that place.  It was a good evening despite not feeling the greatest.

I had made plans for us to go fishing with my brother in law Saturday morning, but when I woke up this morning I was hurting pretty bad again so I tried to call Kenton and tell him we weren't going but he didn't answer.  I called Stacie and she picked up all happy and excited and I started to say we weren't coming but she was bummed and said we were all going to make a day and picnic out of it which I wasn't planning and didn't know Stacie and Becca were coming.  I decided we really should go so I got Andy up and got us a lunch put together and we headed over to their house.  We picked up our chairs from them and put their cartop carrier on our escape for next weekend and we headed out to a lake none of us had been to but they had heard it was a good place to go.  All they knew is it was a man made lake somewhere in Herriman.  We found out later it was called Blackridge Reservoir.  It took us a bit to find it as you would never know it was there at all until you get to it.  We get there and it's nothing more than a large pond really, but there were tons of people there and it had a really nice beach so we decided to stay and have fun.  Its not stocked so there were no fish to be had but we were all okay with that.  Andy and I had not come prepared to get wet only to fish, but decided we could wade and get our feet wet anyway.

Well, after getting in the water, which was the most perfect temperature ever, we just couldn't resist.  We got out and emptied our pockets, had a sandwich and then went swimming in our clothes.  It was so much fun!  Becca loved it and we all had fun playing in the shallows.  Andy and I swam out to where we couldn't touch and just hung out for a while.  He ended up swimming way out to the middle at one point when I had swam back in to chat with Stacie for a bit.  Thunder boomed and it rained for a bit so we all got out, but then the sun came back out and we laid out on the beach to dry, thanks Stacie for bringing towels!  It was so much fun and so relaxing!  I so want to go back.  I put sunscreen on my face and and Stacie sprayed my legs when I laid out, but my neck and arms got burned, oh well LOL. 

We went down to my mom's once we talked ourselves into leaving, got Cafe Rio and visited for a while before heading home.  It was such an awesome day!  We both so needed a day like today, it was great!  My back is killing me and my burns hurt, but I don't even care right now.  :)

Oh and I cannot forget to thank Dan and Denise for being willing to go over and let our dogs out for us once we realized we were going to be too long to get back to them to do so.  Thank you guys, you are wonderful!

Sooo.....

I just realized it's been like 3 weeks since I've updated my blog!  Crazy I know.  Been a stressful, depressing, fun 3 weeks and I guess I haven't felt like saying much.  I'm worried about my uncle Wayne.  He was given just a few months to live about a month or so ago and I just hope he can go easy without a lot of pain.  I will miss him and constantly wish I knew him better.  I've always loved him and enjoyed talking with him.  We've had a cancer scare with my brother-in-law. He has a large tumor on the left side of his head and that has us all really worried and scared and I've been depressed over it.  I wish I could comfort him somehow but we haven't had the best relationship.  I just hope they can get rid of it without him having to go thru chemo, that's hard stuff.  I've been missing old friends and being worried about current and new friends.  Had a great 24th with family, with good food and fun times, and watching the kids play and be really silly and got to chat well into the night out in front of my mom's house with an old friend just like old times, it was great!  Love ya Shar!

It's been way too hot and our stupid central air refuses to get our house any cooler than 80.  The cat is shedding like crazy and we got the dogs shaved.  They're super cute and feel a lot better.  We got a Pledge pet hair sweeper and it works wonders!  My couches are hair free for the first time since we got the cat!  Love it and am so glad the dogs don't shed! We just got a carpet cleaner which I am super excited about, now I can get the old dog smell with piss overtones out of the living room.  Poor Chewy, he's so old and now he's gotten leaky.  We've had to start leaving potty pads in the bathroom for him as he can't hold it all day anymore and he's started dripping a bit here and there as he walks around.  I think we're going to have to get him a doggy diaper.  Oh Joy.  I can also use the cleaner to get the rest of the mildewy smell out of the basement carpet and get the remnants cleaned and put back in place.

I'm sick of the teenage girl attitudes from some people at work and I'm sick of the stupid "swear words" that a coworker has chosen to use at work every ten minutes and I'm sick of waiting for changes that I've been hearing about since November that still haven't happened at work.

I wish I had more money and more free time.  I'm sick of my split entry house with the sticker weeds out front and the voles out back neither of which seem to be able to be gotten rid of.  I wish we had trees and money for sprinklers and sod.  I wish I could find someone willing to come out and till up our back yard, and, and, and, I wish, I wish, I wish...I need patience.

I got a new game for my ds that is super fun, Desktop Tower Defense!  I have to protect my desktop with towers and keep the creeps from getting thru!  It's fun, you should play it.  Andy got the newest game from Blizzard, Starcraft II, and I have become a temporary gamer widow LOL.   I may start playing WoW again, I've been missing it, but I also would like to sign up for gamefly and try out a bunch of the new games that are out right now like Red Dead Redemption and Alan Wake, but I don't think I can justify both at the same time.

I'm looking forward to going fishing with Andy and my brother-in-law Kenton this weekend and super excited to go camping next weekend with my family.  I love camping.

We 're going to be very busy over the next month or so, something is going on almost every weekend until mid September.  I'll keep ya'll posted.

Camping Conundrums and Fun

As we were getting ready to go camping everything, was getting done at the last minute.  We didn't get any cleaning done until Thursday night, we didn't get the dogs washed until Friday after work and we didn't get them to my sister's until late and before that Lilly decided she likes chasing kids across the street and about got hit by a huge truck and freaked us both out.  I ended up forgetting their bowls and toys, but at least I remembered Chewy's meds and their food. lol.  We didn't go grocery shopping until late and got home so late we decided to just wait until morning to load.  We ended up leaving our house late, meeting Mom and Mitch at their house, going to the store for some last minute things, going back to their house for forgotten things and getting out of there late too.  We got on the freeway and quickly had to get back off because what I had packed on the roof started sliding.  While we were getting that stuff re-situated between our two cars, I realized I had forgotten some drinks and the orange juice.  Instead of going all the way home we just stopped at another store. we ended up not getting out of Salt Lake until one in the afternoon LOL

The drive down took us thru Thistle and up thru Fairview canyon to our chosen camp at Old Folks Flat.  It was a beautiful drive and wasn't very long at all.  Thistle is starting to reclaim it's relics and people are starting to rebuild in the area, all above the water line of course.  The flood that plowed thru there was devastating.  when we got to camp we had some trouble finding our campsite but once we did we weren't too happy.  It was small, only had a small fire pit, not a lot of room for tents, way too far away from the bathrooms for Mom and to top it all off it was right next to the road.  We decided to ask the camp host if there was anything else available but he said the only other single site available didn't have a fire pit, but he then turned around and offered us a group site for what we paid for our single plus the cost of each extra car since it wasn't being used.  Awesome!  We lucked out and got a wonderful site that was absolutely huge that we all were very happy with.

It was a wonderful weekend, we got to try out our new canvas tent and sleeping pads for the first time and both worked out great. Ours is on the left and Mom's 30+ year old tent is on the right.  Proof that these tents really can last a lifetime.  There's is still in really great shape.

Over the course of the weekend we discovered that I forgot a lot of things.  I forgot our inverter resulting in me asking the camp host to use his power to blow up Lewetta's air mattress.  I forgot the butter, the red peppers, the coke and orange juice I mentioned earlier, and my mind apparently. haha. Luckily we ended up not needing the peppers and Mom had butter and we made up for the rest.  We also learned that we should add a good hunting/pocket knife to our kit and hot pads.  Mom and Mikey both wished we had had a coffee pot or something to heat water in other than skillets, so we might add that too.

We had all kinds of critters visit our camp.  Pot guts, chipmunks and these funny little birds, that I think are mountain sparrows of some sort, that were brave little buggers.  They mostly just hopped around on the ground and one kept getting really close to Andy and we thought it would end up on his foot at one point.

Mike and Anne didn't show up until Sunday morning so we only got one night with them. 

 Mikey and Mitch hammed it up after setting up the tent.

Mike and Anne are so funny, they decided to wear matching shirts for the night.

 Mikey and Mitch went on a hike Sunday afternoon and we got a 10-15 minute downpour before they got back and they came back soaked, but they had fun.

Mom made a really delicious meal for dinner Sunday, she melted butter in the bottom of the dutch then put in diced chicken and onions then a layer of swiss cheese and a layer of sour cream mixed with cream of chicken soup and sprinkled stove top on it all, we buried it in the fire and let it cook and it was one of the best dutch over meals I've ever had.  If that doesn't make your mouth water then there is something wrong with you!

Did I mention how pretty the camp ground is?

 

We all really liked how big our fire pit was and enjoyed it fully.

Monday morning, since we were the only one's in camp except the hosts, a moose felt brave enough to wonder thru.  She came thru really close to me but I didn't get my camera until she had gone on a bit.

I just love when things like that happen.

For breakfast Monday morning Mikey made a really yummy garbage breakfast by frying up diced potatoes and onions and cooking in eggs, cheese, and prosciutto all in the dutch.  It was awesome.  

We took our time packing and cleaning up camp and didn't head out until almost one.  Andy and I stopped in American Fork and visited with my mom for a bit and then we headed up to get the dogs from my sister's.  We got to their house just as Stacie was finishing up dinner and invited us to stay.  That was so incredibly wonderful of her.  We were so tired by then and had no idea what we going to do for dinner and it was really yummy.  We got home late, got a shower, a load of laundry done, the sheets changed and got to relax a bit before bed.  Oh how wonderful a good shower, clean sheets, and your own bed feels after a good camp out.

There were a few hickups, but overall it was a really great weekend and it was fun finally camping with the other side of the family.  I think/hope they all enjoyed it as well.

Stef's Camp Gear Guide

I have heard many people ask and say, "What should I put together for gear, what should I take?  What does everyone else take camping with them?  I don't know what to have on hand."  So, here is my list of our gear, what we have on hand, at all times, ready to go camping.  It technically can also double as partial 72 hour gear as I restock everything every time we get back from camping so it's sitting there waiting for the next campout.  I didn't after the last campout of the season last year, so I took the opportunity to get everything out, take stock, and take pictures since we are finally going camping this weekend (our first for the year).  Anyway, here is our gear list in no particular order:

 Tent, tarp, tent stakes, hammer/mallet, bedding

Camp chairs

Jackets and head beanies (incredibly aids in keeping you warm before bed and during sleep (they stay on your head) and has become a must have for us.

Charcoal, firewood

 Games (board games, cards, horseshoes, etc), books

and of course, food stuffs, coolers and ice, drinks, snacks, cameras, and binoculars

Duffel bags, clothes, and personal items

Portable grill, lantern and extra mantles, portable stove and propane and butane for both (although we don't always take the stove)

 A set of knives, bbq utensils, grill brush, tongs, ladle, whisk, wooden spoon, spatula, basting brush, cutting board, can opener, and a canvas bag to put all the loose items in (pictured elsewhere)

 A flat griddle, cast iron pans, cast iron dutch (we only have one, but I want one more slightly bigger), a lid lifter, and a charcoal chimney (if you don't have one, get one, they are awesome)

Excuse the slight mess in the background LOL

 The canvas bag I mentioned earlier, is in the upper left corner.  We also have: Dish rags and wash cloths, paper towels, and tinfoil.

 Baggies of different sizes (taken out of the boxes and put in a big baggy to save space), duct tape, ziplock containers, napkins, a mixing bowl, scrubbies and sponges, a table cloth and table cloth clips, a butane stick lighter, tooth picks, plastic wear, various spices, syrup, and a plastic egg carrier (usually kept in the cooler).  Not pictured, we usually keep a small thing of cooking oil and cooking spray in here as well. You could also add various, not too perishable, things such as flour and sugar, etc.

 Dish soap, bug spray, hand sanitizer, liquid hand soap, sunscreen, a mirror, portable tooth brushes (ours have a chamber in them for toothpaste), matches, pens/markers (you'd be surprised how often those come in handy), and hand warmers. (we try to by green, environmentally friendly items)

(Not pictured are paper plates and bowls), plastic cups, a hand saw (get a better one, this one is dumb), a car adapter power supply (we usually take a power cord as well for our air mattress), and trash bags.

 Flash lights, tent lights, extra batteries, and a small first aid kit.

 We also have a five gallon jug for water and then we put all the basics in two plastic totes and this is what our gear looks like ready to go.

We add a couple of rolls of toilet paper (just in case), a thing of Wet Ones, a small portable broom and dustpan to clean out the tent when packing up, and rope.  We need to add a fold up shovel.  We also take fishing gear on occasion.

And of course, if we take the dogs we add bowls, food, leashes, kennels, poop bags, and tie outs.

Other things you could add are, depending on where you want to camp and what your specific needs/wants are, marshmellow sticks (we usually cut our own), a canopy, a fold-up table, portable kitchen, a portable shower, and hiking gear.

On a side note, a great first meal while you're setting up camp is tinfoil dinners prepared before hand at home.  You can build a fire first and throw them on (remember to turn them a time or two) and they cook while you set up.  I cube steak, potatoes and carrots, dice onions and peppers, add a pat or two of butter and seasonings.  Wrap it up in a double layer of tinfoil making it a packet.  Throw it in a baggy and then the cooler when you head out and there you go.

Every year we buy a few more things to add that we may have missed or found we wanted.  If anyone else has anything else to add/suggest, or notices something I forgot, please feel free to comment and let me know.  I hope this is helpful and informative to those that need it, and maybe to those that thought they didn't :)

Wet carpet does not make for easy breathing

Saturday morning I finally talked myself into mowing the lawns.  I got the front lawn done really quick as usual but the back took some time due to size difference and one little annoyance.  Rodent holes.  I tripped in a few and got the wheels in a few.  Soon after we moved in we started noticing dirt mounds popping up all over the yard and decided we had gophers.  I let them be all winter, but last spring we bought some electronic gopher chasers and buried them in the yard and they seamed to work.  I leveled out all the mounds and they never came back, but by the end of the season something was eating my tomatoes.  This tear there are holes everywhere!  I know we have rodents, and I suspect mice, but I'm not sure.  We have rodent chasers in the house and none of the holes are near the house thank goodness, no worries there.  I was so fed up that once I got done mowing i shoved the hose down a hole, turned it on and walked away.

Everyone stated this would flood the basement, but I was very confident that it wouldn't.  I went back outside and found all the holes int he middle of the yard to be filled to the brim with water.  I moved the hose to a hole by the garden and I spotted a little rodent dart in another hole.  I moved the hose to that one and stood there for a bit.  Pretty soon the little guy came stumbling out another nearby hole gasping.  It wasn't a mouse, it's tail was too short and too hairy and overall, it was too small.  After doing some quick google research, I found that we have a vole infestation.  Nice.  Guess what?  All the normal methods of rodent control don't work, they even ignored my peanut butter laced snap traps and flooding.  The only way to even try to keep them from destroying your yard is to till, and till everything.  Well, I have been wanting to do that anyway.

In the process of flooding, i managed to step on a bee, and since I was wearing flip flops, it swung its butt around and got me.  I'm allergic and my foot instantly started swelling, and damn bee stings just hurt like nothing else.  Andy shoved two benedril down my throat and I soon got really groggy.  Andy headed downstairs to get a shower in and yelled for me to come downstairs.  Guess what?  remember how I was confident the basement wouldn't flood?  I was wrong.  The hose had been on for several hours.  The bathroom was flooded, the furnace closet was flooded and a good portion of the family room was flooded. great.  Andy got mad and told me to never ever do that again, but we got investigating it and it was not from my flooding the tunnels out back.  The faucet to the back hose is broken.  When we turned the faucet back on, it immediately started gushing inside again.  But, thank goodness, when the hose is shut off, it stops gushing.  Well, at least we have a shop vac, but before I could do anything about it, the benedril took its toll and I was out for the count for the next several hours.  At least my foot was fine by the time I woke up.  Then I went to work cleaning up.

This is the pipe that's broken

It flooded this entire area and half the bathroom on the other side of the wall.

Anyone want a faulty water softener? LOL

This is the third time we have flooded since we moved in.  The first time was when the water softener went bad, the second is when the old water heater decided it would rather be a fountain, and now this.  The carpet and padding was so bad it filled the entire basement with a heavy mildewy moldy smell.  It was effecting both of us but Andy has been getting more and more sick as each day passes, he's allergic to both mold and mildew.  I decided today it had to come out, but I should have done it the day it happened.  I felt out the wettest spots and cut around them, anything that's left is only slightly damp at the edges.  Now my family room looks like this.

I'm hoping that once the carpet pieces dry outside, that I can at least drag them back in to cover the spots.  The padding is toast.  Its gross and slimy and very smelly.  Within a half hour the basement had breathable air again.  And, at least, if it happens again we can get the carpet out of the way really fast.

Staycation

Six years ago my best friend and I said, "I do".  I spent the morning running around in my veil and jeans after getting my hair done and Andy spent the morning panicking and searching for what he thought were lost rings (I had them all along).  We had a wonderful ceremony with tons of family and friends.  We shoved cake in each others faces getting it everywhere, and only managed to each get one bite of our beautiful cake.  We opened gifts (which we wished we had saved for later after we got out of there, we were both very eager to be on our way for, well, obvious reasons hehe) and headed out for fun filled Vegas.

For our anniversaries, some years we have been able to only get away for a night, others a bit longer.  Last year we went on a random 1000 mile round about trip, just going where we felt like it, not really planning anything out, and it was an absolute blast. This year, we took two days for our anniversary and realized too late that if we had planned better we could have had five days off, but that's okay going back for one day before a three day weekend wasn't all bad.  We couldn't afford to go anywhere fancy and decided to just stay home and enjoy ourselves.  Wednesday morning we went to one of our favorite dives, Jim's Diner (not to be confused with Jim's family Restaurant) for breakfast.  It's a little hole-in-the-wall place across from Jordan Commons in Sandy run by a cute Greek couple with really good food.  If you've never been, I do recommend going, they have awesome Souvlaki, but they serve American too.  We then headed over to Jordan Landing and saw Eclipse.  The wolves were awesome, the fight scenes very cool, but the acting still sucked.  We went home for a while after that.  For dinner, we headed back to Midvale for one of our favorite Thai places, Mekong Cafe, they have wonderful thai basil pork and thai iced tea, but to our surprise, they were closed, for a week!  What restaurant closes for a week for vacation?!  How can they afford that?  In our frustration we went next door to B&D burgers and ended up with mediocre food.  They aren't near as good as they used to be.  We decided on going to another movie and went over to Cinemark 16 in Fort Union and saw Prince of Persia.  We have both played the game and really enjoyed it, so we were looking forward to the movie.  It was actually pretty good, but I don't know if it would be for anyone who hasn't played the game.

The next day for lunch, we decided to go somewhere we've never been and headed back to Sandy once again (boy we should have never left there LOL).  We went to an Indian restaurant called, Ganesh that was recommended to us.  Their lunch buffet was delicious!  If you like eastern Indian food, go there.  I'll go again.  We then went to yet another movie and this time saw Toy Story 3.  Wow, just as good as the other two, loved it! and then later went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.  Again, we were disappointed.  They have raised their prices and nothing was quite as fresh as I remember.  I think I'll stick to Soup or Salad from now on.  Over all, it was a wonderful two days.

Now prepare yourselves for some sappiness.

Over the past six years we have learned from each other and grown from the experience.  It has been fun, crazy, hectic, wonderful, and sometimes difficult, but we wouldn't trade any of it.  It's been a great six years.  I love you Andrew Poen, forever and always.  Thank you for putting up with my silly dances and random thoughts.  My constantly forgetting names and forgetting lyrics but trying to sing it anyway, even if I am always off key.  Thank you for putting up with my moodiness and my craziness and always being there for me.  Thank you for laughing with me, even though you don't always get my weird sense of humor.  Thank you for being you and letting me be me.  Thank you for teaching me about food, expanding my pallet, and encouraging me to try new things.  Thank you for putting up with me constantly accidentally shooting you or a gas tank near you in Left 4 Dead 2, and my constant wandering around and getting side tracked in World of Warcraft.  Thank you for making me laugh. Happy anniversary Hun, I have decided to renew my subscription for one more year even if it is full of political discussions and in depth phone and electronic reviews.  The food critic section and movie reviews are wonderful though hehe, I love you.