Angler's Lodge

The view from the balcony.

Benjamin got mauled by a bear. He tripped and hit his head on the bear bedpost. He had a big goose egg for a while.

Benjamin and I celebrated our first anniversary. He suprised me with reservations at a fishing lodge in Island Park. It was so much fun! There was a jacuzi in the bedroom and a balcony overlooking the river. Thanks love!

Lost Keys

Last week my inlaws were out of town. Benjamin and I went over to their house to feed the animals and get the mail. We also got some tree cuttings to plant later. We decided to watch a movie before we left. It got really late and we fell asleep there. The next day we took our time get up and ready. I was trying to clean up and I mindlessly threw away a little dixie cup away. It was holding my last pair of contacts. We were going to leave, but we couldn't find our keys. I wasn't much help because I couldn't see very well. We looked everywhere for the keys. I scheduled an appointement with the eye doctor the next morning because I am pretty much blind with out my contacts and school starts in just a few days. We searched for an hour inside. Then we searched outside for an hour. We retraced our steps because we had walked all over the grounds to get the tree cuttings. We finally gave in and stayed another night. During the night we caught two mice in the mouse trap. They were being very noisey and we din't sleep well at all. We both woke up with headaches from unfamiliar pillows. We hadn't brushed our teeth or changed clothes for two days.We took Mamma Kaye's car to the eye doctors the next morning. As soon as we can afford it we are both going to get some glasses. We spent the morning cleaning out our van in search of the keys. Anthony came over and helped us search and clean. What a nice brother! Thanks Anth! We finally decided to take out the lock in the hatch to take in to the key place on mainstreet. Our apartment keys were on the same key chain. We only had one set of both keys because I lost mine long ago. We went to the manager and took the master key and we got duplicates of our house keys and our car keys. It cost about 30 dollars for the all the duplicates. But when we went to pick up our keys there we realized that we left our money at home. By this time we were both going insane. We went back to put the hatch door back together after taking the key slot out to take to the key maker. We accidntly put the door back together locked. We couldn't get it open. This was the cherry on the sundae. My parents gave us a mini freezer sot that I can store frozen meals in. I cooked bunch of meals ahead of time for when school starts. The freezer was in the back through thte hatch door that we had accidently put back together locked. We finally got it unlocked from the inside. It was quite difficult. We went and picked up Benjamin's suit from the dry cleaners after he spilled a huge thing of chicken noodle soup all down his legs. So after 11 dollars at the drycleaners, 33 dollars at the lock smith, 30 dollars at the eye docter and contacts to pay for, and two and a half days in the same clothes we had about had it. I kept asking Benjamin, "did you look under the car...did you look in the couch coushins...did you look by the cat food...?" and so on. He asked me to please stop asking him to look in places that he has already looked. And this morning we got a phone call. Pappa Ben found our keys in the couch coushin. We already decided that when the keys turn up to laugh about our mistake. Its not as easy as it might seem. But these are the things we learned:

• We are very grateful for our family living near by. We had a place to stay, food to eat, a car to borrow, and a nice brother who helped us out. It would have been frustrating if we were on our own.
  
• We really appreciate our clean clothes, tooth brush, and a car full of gas.
  
• After a day without my contacts I realized how grateful I am for them.
  
• We also got our car cleaned out in the process! It is like we got a brand new car!
  

Happy Anniversary!

One Year Down...Infinity more to go.

Food Blogs

I love to cook and I love experimenting with recipes and making up my own recipes. Someday I want to make a small cook book. For now I will practice on my food blog. You can see pictures of all the meals I attempt and posted recipes. Here is the link: www.ediblexperiments.blogspot.com

Benjamin's favorites:

• Carmel Apple Cake
• Sweet Yumminess (chicken or pork) and Lime Cilantro Slaw with Cafe Rio Rice
• Sweet Mango Sticky Rice Dessert
• Cheesey Garlic Drop Bisquits
• Curry
• Stuffed Zuchinni
• Anything with veggies
  
• Any Fish Recipe

Also, I highly recommend my sister's food and recipe blogs, too! Lydia and Chelsea. Lydia has a lot of really yummy recipes and I check it everyday for new ideas. Chelsea is an amazing cook. She actually has taken a lot of culinary classes. I think she is taking some in California right now and she had a culinary minor from BYU-I. Her blog has lots of recipes for people with food allergies. I used to have a very limited diet, so she made the blog for me. I love it. I highly recommend her Summer Chicken Recipe.

Biopsy Results

I just got a call from Dr. Wingerson's Office. the testing on the biopsies is back. Here are the results.
Drumroll.......................................

First of all I don't have chrons. That means the immflamation in my colon due to Ulcerative Colitis is not just Chrons in disguise. Chrons and Colitis are very similar but colitis is limited to the colon and chrons can spread through out the digestive system. Ulcerative colitits can be treated with surgery but chrons cannot. I still probably will only get the surgery if there is no other way to recover. The surgery is only done is if all other options are exhausted or if the colon perferates or develops cancer.

Also, The bacteria tests all came back negative. the pain and immflamation is not due to an over growth of Clostridium Dificile, H. Pylori, or any other kind of bacteria.

Also, I do not have Celiac disease. This means that I can eat wheat and gluten foods without them making me sick.

I do have GERD, but that is treatable and isn't related to the trouble in my colon. However, it has made me have pain in my ears, trouble swallowing food and pills, loss of appetite, and nausea. The symptoms are adding to the overall health of my body, which could be contributing to the really long flare up. Especially since it has made me not sleep well or eat well.

My Guts!

I am feeling pretty good today. The sedation has worn off and there is very little pain. I have a sore throat from the scope, but am otherwise mostly recovered. Our home teacher and his wife brought us an amazing meal last night and my mom is bringing chicken noodle soup over today. Thanks everyone!

Seth Douglas Stewart

This is my new little nephew. Isn't he so cute! I had some other pictures of him, but they wouldn't load. If you want to see more of his cuteness, look on his momma's blog. The link is on the right. He has had a rough start. He gave us all quite a scare. It looks like he is doing better, though. I think he looks like my handsome husband Benjamin, don't you?