:) I feel the need to pause life and say that this nice weather outside is wonderful! Has it not been beautiful? Summer is coming... I can almost taste it... just.... so..far.. out.. there... I know it will come someday and even though when it does I will still be sitting in my office from 8 to 5 then in class til 8 or 9 at least when we finally escape there will still be bea-Utiful glorious sunshine outside! I'm so excited for weekends of picnics, floating the river and going on hikes and eating shakes OUTSIDE instead of cuddled in a blanket with the car heater going full blast. :) (I appreciate Matthew's understanding that shakes are an all year necessity for me.) Thank you Mr. Sun for showing us your handsome face these last few days! I adore you!

I have been working on cutting down our grocery bill while trying making sure that we are eating healthy.  One day while blog surfing I ran onto someone talking about the produce co-op she was part of – “We get TONS of fresh fruits and vegetables for so cheap!” she said. BINGO! I thought – whatever this is – I want in!

So I started asking around and searching online and I found impressive things! A produce co-op is a group of people who put a set amount of money into a “pool”. They then take that pool of money and go to the same stores that supply places like Macey’s and Smith’s with their produce and buy bulk quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables – at grocery store quality and super cheap prices (because foods are bought in bulk). They buy the most they possibly can with the pooled money – and the produce is divided equally between the contributing members!

This week I ordered from a Co-Op called Bountiful Baskets. For $16.50 this is what we got:

1 Pineapple
1 head of califlower
1 head of green leaf lettuce
1 giant Jicima
6 ears corn
1 bunch asparagus
9 bananas
6 garlics
7 Murcott tangerines
5 Asian Pears
4 Mexican Squash
7 Pink Lady Apples

I was really impressed that everything was in good shape and so far really delicious. What you get varies by what is available, so you will always be getting a good variety. I looked at a lot of different Co-Ops, but chose Bountiful Baskets because you only order when you need to. There are not fees or contacts to force you to contribute every week or month. I just wanted to try it before being tied into something! I was also really impressed to find out that all of the people to work with Bountiful Baskets are volunteers - so that every cent of the money you contribute goes straight to getting more food.

If you are looking for a better way to buy fruits and veggies I totally suggest ordering with Bountiful Baskets! You can read more about them at www.bountifulbaskets.org. You can order Monday mornings through Tuesday nights and then you pick it up on the following Saturday. They have a huge list of pick up spots so I'm sure that there will be one near you! We are thinking about splitting an order with someone as it is almost too much food for us! (So if you are interested in splitting with us let me know!)

Well! Shame on me for feeling so sorry for myself that I’m wasting you precious time by blogging about it! Dang it all though sometimes its good to pout!

So if you would Just imagine us sitting indian style on your bed with a bowl of ice cream and whiny faces I will tell you about it then we can both move on with our lives. I have had an eye infection (of some sorts) in both eyes for three weeks now and there's not sign of them getting better.

I’ve been to two different doctors who have both told me that “it aint no thang” and that its nothing contagious (something about over active glads?) and that the condition will clear up within a few days with a simple prescription. Well… lucky me and my strangely aging body, I’ve had severe allergic reactions to every med they’ve offered me. ARG!  Each medicine has made my eyes swell up HUGE – I mean mucho grando! Remember that crazy eyed gerbil from the movie Bedtime Stories? Yes. Huge swollen marshmallows on my face. Ugh. They have gotten so irritated that I had to stop wearing eye makeup and that BITES.

Secretly I've always thought that life would be so much easier if we didn't have to deal with putting on makeup every morning, checking on it in every passing reflection, and touching it up a few times a day, just to take it all off at night. And for the first day or so it was nice to just put on foundation and bum around the house (a weekend) But now after two weeks of having to live normal life with out it my little shoulder diva (aka pride) is taking a hit! It’s been so frustrating to walk into the restroom at work and not recognize myself or be super embarrassed when I run into people.  (Its kind of strange how attached we are to wearing makeup.) Now maybe you think I'm being wussy - so it stings a little to wear it - big deal. No, it doesn't sting a little - it burns like death! Sunday Matthew and I were speaking in our new ward so I broke down and masked up. That night and the full next day I TOTALLY regretted it. PAIN! Lets just say I cried - mucho. Grr.

Oh well. We all get sick once and a while right? Right. and we just buck up and deal, right? RIGHT! And so we will! (er, I will!)  Thanks ladies for letting me whine a lil’ bit. : )

Yuck. Sickness has hit. Poor hubby has a sinus infection, an ear infection and the flu. I'm having allergic reactions in both eyes to either my contacts or makeup.Can you say marshmallow eyes? Fish head? either one will do.  We're beautiful people this week let me tell ya! :) But in the mean time we have so much to be happy about! Here are some things I promise to get around to writing about!

• Thanksgiving (I know it was a long time ago but it was just so great!)
  
• Our new wonderful house!
• Moving
• Matthews brother getting to go to the temple in preparation for his mission
  
• Dad coming for the weekend 
  
• A GREAT Christmas with both Matthew's family and mine AND
• Our One Year Anniversary! :)

 This holiday season has been SO SO wonderful for us. We are so grateful for the many blessing we have had especially those that have come in the form of family and friends. I hope this year has been wonderful for you to. I apologize that I didnt send out Christmas cards this year, but know we love you and hope that you have been able to take some time to relax, be with your families and enjoy the holiday spirit!

lots of love!
                   Tiff

Aaaah! Matthew and I are officially real home owners - we have a mouse! The little rascal lives in an opening in the wall behind our oven. The home was build for a gas stove but we chose an electric so there is an open hole in the wall where the pipe comes out. I was looking in our pantry the other night when I saw something dart across the kitchen floor and looked over just in time to see him run out from under our stove. He sat there and looked at me for a second before scurrying back to his hiding place. Bah! I ran outside where my hottie honey was shoveling snow and made him pull out the pan drawer. (do those have an official name?) Sure enough he is chilling in the gas line hole. 

There is digging going on in the small field in front of our house to build some more homes, so somewhere in the back of my mind I expected to have a few of these little visitors, but I was still altra suprised to see him sitting there on our newly cleaned wood floor staring at me.

We have tried to lure him out for several nights now - we know he loves peanut butter. Somehow he manages to get it off the trap without setting it off - night after night. What a stinker. Tomorrow we're off to find a new kind of trap. :/ Sorry mousey but you've got to go!

Finally! A second to sit down and update! phew - its been a super busy few weeks!

Thanks to Matthew's parent letting us use a week of their time share - in mid-November Matthew and I got to take an early One Year Anniversary/ Honeymoon trip to gorgeous Cancun! We stayed at the Westin Lagunamar Resort. It was the perfect location and had beautiful pools and beaches. This was the view from our studio.

Priceless!
Matthew had been to Cancun when he was younger and already knew some things he wanted us to be able to do. He made sure that we had amazing adventures! We were there for a week and every other day he planned all day tours for us!

Day one: Selvatica Expedition!
Zip Lining through the jungle!

A van picked us up first thing in the morning and drove us for nearly two hours into the jungle. When we arrived workers strapped us in to repelling gear and we headed out! We climbs up into little platforms right at the top of a big tree and they hooked us up to a wire strung to another tree a good 40 yards away and push! I was flying through the trees! There were 12 of these zip lines - way better compared to the 4 that other tours offered us. (If you're heading to Cancun I HIGHLY recommend Selvatica) It was SO fun! Matthew was brave enough to go upside down - but we didn't get a picture of it! :(

Next they brought us back down to the jungle floor to race dune buggies! We wore goggles and masks to keep the dirt and rocks out of our faces but it couldn't hide what an awesome time we were having! Matthew was such a peach - I was too short to reach the pedals when it was my turn to drive so he propped me up with his arm the whole time! Aw.. Thanks babe!

Next was swimming at a near by cenote - BEAUTIFUL! After a short walk into the trees the branches parted to unveil what I thought was paradise! Pictures can't do this place justice.

Again Matthew proved how adventurous he was by doing tricks off the zip line into the water! We have a video of it.. I'll try to post it later!

What a beautiful day!

Day three: Scuba Diving! :)

Here's Matthew getting all geared up!


and he's gone!

I have to admit that I yelped and ran to the side of the boat when he first went in. I was so scared I wasn't going to get him back! (I love him ya know!)

Matthew was such a great scuba partner! I'm always getting lost when we go shopping because I stop to look at things and this was no different. :) Several times he swam back to get me because I was busy sitting on the ocean floor looking at fish or coral. :)

We had an amazing guide - I totally recommend booking with him if you are going (we can give you his name) . He took us out on two dives that were almost an hour each in two different locations. Each dive was between 30 and 35 feet down - not a bad for beginners! It was mind boggling beautiful!

This is probably my favorite picture out of the whole trip. It shows my true goober side.
(I'm a scuba hottie - I know)

I didn't know diving gear was so heavy! To get into the water you have to sit on the side and fall in backwards! I could barely lift myself up onto the side of the boat to get in the water. It was scary the first time - purposely falling out of a perfectly good boat strapped to 50 pounds of gear. It was so heavy that instead of landing on my back in the water - when I opened my eyes I was upside down!
I wish we had had an underwater camera. The reefs were so beautiful and spilling over with marine life. We made two fish friends while we were there. They seemed as curious about us as we were about them.

Day five: Chitzen-Itza!

The ruins were so much more beautiful than I ever expected!

Next it was swimming again! This time in a cenote twice the size and even more stunning than the size the first!

This is the view from ground level looking down into the hole. Its waay down there. There were fish swimming in the water with us - Mexico has the largest natural underground river system in the world. We look so tiny down there!

This is a shot from the platform. Those are tree roots coming down from the surface.



Here are a few more pics for your viewing pleasure:

Matthew and the rusty Pepsi


The dancers with the beer on their heads


Look how tall I am!


Dinner and dessert at the Chocolate Factory


mmm...


My hottie honey


My hottie hat


Our last night having dinner at the Oceano


and the most gorgeous sunset

In my previous post I mentioned that we were waiting to hear back from a short sale that we made an offer on - That home didn't work out, but we loved the community so much that after a lot of praying we decided to pursue a new town home in the same community, just one street over from the original we were looking at. And finally, after what feels like forever and a lot of stress filled nights later, we did our final walk through tonight and we are about to close on our first home! Wow - I struggle to believe that in less than 24 hours we will be home owners! :)
Tonight, walking though for one final time before it officially becomes ours brought everything together for me. I'm super excited to move in our beautiful town home, to meet our neighbors, our new ward and get to know Spanish Fork. Its going to be an exciting time. Most of all though I'm exited to move on to this next stage of Matthew and my life together. Woot! We'll post pictures as soon as we can! :)