Beautiful Bountiful Basket!

Isn't it beautiful?

We picked it up just this morning. We heard about these Bountiful Baskets and really wanted to try them out! So I searched the Bountiful Baskets website and ordered my own basket (a "contribution" of only $15)! I chose the site I wanted to pick my produce up at and we picked it up on the designated day and time, 9:45 AM today.

We are so excited to use this produce in as simple a form as possible. Most may not know, but I need to lose quite a bit of weight before it is safe for us to get pregnant, so eating healthy fruits and veggies will hopefully get us set on that track more firmly. Drew and I are both enthusiastic about our new discovery!

1 head Romaine lettuce
7 cobs sweet corn
7 pickling cucumbers
2 bags carrots
1 eggplant
4 Roma tomatoes

8 pears
1 package strawberries
1 cantaloupe
1 LARGE bag seedless red grapes
9 bananas
7 "pluots" (plum/apricot hybrid)

YUM! Now maybe you can help us think of what to do with a lot of this...

We also went to the farmers' market last Friday and still have a half-full bag of fresh green beans, 1/4 lb cherries, 2 large zucchini, and our bishop needed to get rid of lots of cabbage, so we have a very VERY large head of cabbage too. We will have some of this gone due to Dello going in on this basket with us... so technically, half of this is hers. But we'll still be left with a lot! Help! We need ideas and I have yet to figure out how to use the new RecipeZaar website, which is now Food.com...

Wish us luck! :)

Work, Callings, and New Friends!

We love our jobs!!

Excellence In Everyone is one of the best places we have ever worked. Though the pay is not ideal, the work is more fantastic than we could ever have hoped for! The hours are good, our co-workers are great, and our clients (a handful of the sweetest disabled people you will ever meet) make every bit of it worth our while! Unfortunately, once the middle school starts up again, I don't think I'll be able to continue on at Excellence. The center is only open until 6pm weekdays and I will already be working at the school until 3:30pm. It takes us 15 minutes to drive to Excellence on the highway and we would be paying more money in gas than I would be making. Drew, on the other hand, will be able to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays (while taking 14 credits of classes)! My hero. : )

Drew has just been called as the 67th Ward Clerk and will be spending more time at church on Sundays and Tuesdays than he used to as an Assistant Clerk. It will be very busy, but very rewarding. We are already seeing the blessings of serving in church callings in our ward. I will continue serving as the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency. I love it! Being a student (married) ward, every semester brings new families and new Primary children. We are looking forward to making new little friends!

Lately we have been spending more time with the Kumfermans. The Kumfermans are my cousin's fiancee's family (my cousin, Tyler Ackley, is marrying Krista Kumferman). The first time we spent time with them was Independence Day weekend, and again last weekend for their youngest daughter's birthday (both times were when Ty and Krista came up from Utah to visit). Karen and Ed are so welcoming that we feel as though we have found some long-lost family members. We are so happy to say that we have made new friends!

Speaking of friends... I have some dear family friends who are moving to the Rexburg area soon! Jason and Lynette Williams and their family will be moving here so Jason can teach Nursing at BYU-Idaho! I am so excited for the Williams' to come here! "Aunt Lynette" and "Uncle Jay" were such a huge help to my parents when Scott and Nathan were born in 1998. They treated us like family and would stay the night with us when my dad was out of town and my mom had to work night shift. They now have a family of their own, and I am excited that their oldest, Megan, will be coming to the middle school where I work! We look forward to the Williams' arrival!

Lots of changes! We welcome change with open arms. (Wow, I really sound like a prepared-for-anything Air Force wife!)

Love you all! Don't hesitate to leave comments (a.k.a. "love notes"). ; )