All-American weekend

After a fun-filled week of shopping for curtains, doing laundry, and visiting teaching, I was grateful to spend Thursday night at home with Thomas. We had a quiet evening here and watched the new Alice in Wonderland. It's different, huh?

Friday night, we made our way north to the Draper temple to attend an endowment session. The Draper temple is this lovely, very square building. I find it magnificent. When we came out of the temple, the weather was so nice. It had cooled down a lot. The sun was setting and the sky was beautiful! We brought the camera along and were looking forward to taking a few photos for you, only to discover that the battery needed to be charged. We hope you enjoy these photos of the temple.

Saturday, not long after we woke, we heard many loud sirens somewhere nearby. I rushed to the front window at a couple different times to see what was going on, but couldn't catch a glimpse. About 15 minutes into this ruckus, the various sounds characteristic of a marching band met our ears. This time, when we (both) looked outside, the sight of the Freedom Festival's Children's Parade graced our eyes.

In the afternoon, we went grocery shopping. Thomas' coupon-clipping really is growing on me; it's awesome to combine coupons and price-matching at Walmart and watch the final price drop drastically at the end of a shopping trip. I highly recommend it. It takes a little bit of work (and sometimes a bit of restraint - you only really save if you're saving on stuff you'd normally buy!), but it's totally worth it. Yesterday we cut over $16 off of our total (combining totals at Walmart & WinCo). 28-cent cans of tuna make it a lot easier to begin our own food storage!

Yesterday evening, we joined our friends Katey and Ashton for a Salt Lake Bees game! We had great seats, just off of 3rd base. Not long after we were seated, the sun went down enough that we were in the shade. It was a close game; the Bees won 6-5 against Reno in the final inning! We got to see the team mascot up close and because the Bees scored over 5, everyone got a Subway coupon. (We even got out of the stadium quickly enough that we were able to grab a free loaf of bread just outside).

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Independence Day!

oxox

Happy Fathers' Day! And We've Had a Busy Week.

Thomas and I have not only been blessed with wonderful Moms; we both have pretty cool Dads, too! Our fathers have worked hard to provide for our families. Along the way, they've helped us learn to love nature, prize knowledge, and appreciate the world around us. Their influence has helped to shape and mold us into independent adults! We wouldn't be who we are now without Kenneth Paulson and Jeffrey Bradshaw.

Dads, thank you for your patience, your counsel, and your encouragement! We love you both very much.

(Lisa & Ken at the beach 1997)

(Thomas & Jeff hiking 1998)

I got to visit with my former roommates last Sunday. It's fun to chat with these lovely ladies! Beth just got back from a "study abroad" trip in France. Megan is getting married at the end of the month. Dara lives just a couple blocks away. It's not often enough that we all get together!

(Dara, Beth, Megan, Lisa)

We worked hard to get our thank you cards out this week. I fashioned a stamp from linoleum (like we used for our invitations) and stamped the many cards. If you don't get one soon, please let us know. We most likely received your gift, but it could've been attributed to someone else, or it might be one of our "mystery" gifts. Some things were left without cards/labels but we did our best to try to match everything up.

(the stamp I designed & carved)

(the stamping process)

(lotsa lotsaoxen cards!)

We also made another trip to Ikea to purchase another bookcase! We have a thing for books, and have managed to nearly fill this second bookcase. Thomas mostly assembled it and we're grateful to have it in our living room, replacing the boxes of books!

(my handyman)

We planted some flower seeds and two tomato plants in our little "garden" area. Hopefully they will grow and produce :o)

Friday night, we attended the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was our second time attending that temple, but interestingly enough, the last time we went was around Mothers' Day!

To finish out our week, we enjoyed a wonderful visit with Thomas' brother Robert and his family. We took a walk, made a yummy meal together (recipes at the Bradshaw Bistro), and had fun with their twin daughters. We feel so blessed to have had so many opportunities to see family lately.

(Lydia)

(Ruby)

And finally, just for fun:

(we're big on dairy products...)

(this dandelion stands about 4 feet tall; the diameter of the puff is about 5 inches! and it's just outside our apartment.)

oxox

Saving Through Scavenging

Lisa has been tried and tested with her husband's incessant freebie-seeking and deal-hunting habits. However, we both agree that it's worth it. As an example, yesterday we went shopping at Walmart and WinCo. Through a variety of ads in the mail and coupons collected, we were able to redeem quite a haul, at just under $13 of real savings with nine (9) coupons and three (3) price matches. Below are the free things we got in one "fowl" swoop (like our neighbors the turkey vultures):

In other news, we got sick for free these last few weeks (not pictured). However, despite it all, we were able to enjoy the company of Lisa's mother and sister for several days:

And a few pictures showing one facet of Lisa's creative side:

Oh, and check out Lisa's sister's blog here. She's a talented GIMPer.

...oh, and by the way, THANK YOU!

Dear readers,

 We just wanted to let you know how big you made our month of May. We track the number of visits etc. to our websites (www.lotsaoxen.com, blog.lotsaoxen.com, www.lotsaoxen.com/wedding, and bistro.lotsaoxen.com). In the month of May, we hit some neat milestones!

 On May 10, 2010, we reached 2,000 visits.

 As of May 19, 2010, our pages have been viewed in 20 countries, including Denmark, the Philippines, and Brazil. We've reached every continent (except for Antarctica...).

 And, as of May 14, 2010, our pages have been viewed in 200 cities. Hooray for multiples of 20...?

 Today, we're up to 2,249 visits from 212 cities in 23 countries.

 Of course, not all of our visits are from people we know. We also get to look at search engine queries that brought up our page (that searchers then clicked on), like:

• whatever happened to dristan cold medicine 
• stuff for thomas and lisa to do tonight 
• sacramento car oxens
• emergency kits for temporal and spiritual preparedness 
• layered pasta dishes  
• oxens sick february 2010

  Anyway, we just thought we'd share! Feel free to drop by the Bradshaw Bistro for a new recipe. And here's a couple photos for you to enjoy:

(Thomas & Lisa at the Provo temple in May 2010)

(at Lisa's parents' house)

oxox

Entertaining photos for the masses

Holy lapse in blog posts! Sorry, loyal readers!

We've been back in Provo for a couple days, after spending the Memorial Day weekend in California. We were able to attend my sister Morgan's high school graduation.

(Morgan & Dad)

(Morgan & Lisa)

On Friday, it rained for a good part of our drive. We saw a stunning rainbow around Wendover (on the Utah/Nevada border)!

(Wendover rainbow)

We were also able to see Thomas' sister Elizabeth & her sweet family. They braved the curvy roads and came up to my parents' home on Saturday. We had a blast playing with the little ones and chatting with Liz & Saki.

(Mere)

(Glenn)

(Saki & Elizabeth)

(the whole family!)

My dear friend Lanessa made it up there too, and we sat together at the graduation.

(Ken, Lanessa, Lisa)

(Mom, Morgan, Ruth, Glenn, Liz, Lanessa, Dad, Lisa, Thomas... with Saki & Mere in the front)

My aunt Ruth was visiting the Sacramento region, too, and we got to visit with her for a bit. On Sunday, we went to my aunt Lucy's house and chatted with the two of them and my cousins Gail and Terry.

Later in the evening, we visited our old neighbors, the Kings, and saw their married daughter and her two kids.

After such a busy weekend, we are glad to be back at our quiet home!

(he makes me smile!)

Last week, we worked on a little garden patch outside our apartment. We have yet to plant anything. We've got a pretty good crop of rocks, however. We also had our neighbors, the Magnussons, over for dinner. We played Parcheesi afterward, which was fun!

(right outside our living room)

oxox