Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives

Ron and I enjoy watching this Food Network show. Most of the places Guy Fieri visits are too far away for us, but it is fun to see some of the really odd food sometimes shown!

We have been excited to see him visit the SLC area a couple of times, and have had to go to a couple of the places after hearing about their menus. The first place was Lone Star Taqueria, found in the Fort Union area. Very good, very worth it, awesome yummy authentic Mexican food. Tamales and fish tacos.....that's all you need to know.

We took our second adventure out to Ruth's Diner. The famous Diner in Emigration Canyon that's been around since the 30's. It started out located in an old train dining car, which is still there, but has had quite a bit of square footage added to it. We were lucky enough to be seated in the old train car. This place has the BEST biscuits I have ever eaten...ever. Ron got an order of the biscuits and gravy for us to share...I could've died happy right then. We went after Ron's first post-op eye appointment, so almost lunch time. I got soup and a half sandwich, both were good....I'm always a sucker for a turkey sandwich that has cranberry sauce on it! Ron got a fabulous omelet with crab, avocado, and smothered in hollandaise sauce. My, oh my....not a thing to complain about with that! I'd recommend this place anytime. I might have to get a season pass to the Zoo so I have a reason to visit Ruth's a few more times. ;)

A little shot Ron took with his phone of Ellie and I in our dining car booth.


**Since I mentioned Ron's eye, I figured I should give a little update....that last appointment went well, everything is looking good. After reviewing his ultrasound again and taking another look at his eye, they are thinking that what they thought was a macular hemorrhage is actually an old solar burn. At some point Ron looked too long at the sun and burned the back of his eye. Another reason to always listen to your mother. When she tells you not to stare at the sun because you'll go blind, she isn't kidding! But no, Ron isn't going blind....the doctor was quite pleased with how everything is healing. :)**

Now go eat!

Cap'n Ron the Pirate, Part deux

Back in July, I blogged here about Ron having a vitrectomy. I mentioned there that his left eye had the same problem that he would most likely have fixed. So last Tuesday, that's what we did. Since there were some small retinal tears that required some laser repair in the first one, it took a bit longer before he experienced a full recovery and a return to good eyesight, and we wanted to wait until that eye was seeing well before the other one went out of commission for a while!

So last Tuesday came with excitement on his part to not have anymore visual impairments in either of his eyes. Surgery went well, no retinal tears were found in this eye, so it was just a straight forward vitrectomy. Cap'n Ron came back from surgery, recovered quickly, and we were off to pick up the kids from school!



The next day took us back to the doctor for his patch removal and a check out of the eye, which went well. Ron was happy to have the floaters gone and now just waiting for a return to full vision and, for anyone who has seen him up close, waiting for the white of his eye to clear up as well....it isn't white after surgery, it's all red and traumatized. It freaks people out, as well it should, it isn't pretty!

Unfortunately, we hit a little glitch Sunday when he noticed that he could see a "floater" in there again....which should be gone! So Monday he called and spoke with the nurse who kind-of freaked him out a little. She didn't come out and tell him he should be seen, but when he mentioned he was going to CA the next day, she told him if he saw any changes in his vision while there, he needed to get on a plane and come home to be seen....so when he told me that, I asked why he didn't get an appointment for the next day BEFORE he went to CA? So he called the nurse back, and she was happy and relieved to get him an appointment that morning. (I'm still not sure why she didn't just do that to begin with!)

So yesterday, Ron saw an associate of the Dr. that did his surgery, and sure enough, there is a floater in there again...They aren't sure if it got left behind from the surgery and then moved into his line of vision or developed after. But a little more concerning is the macular hemmorhage that the Dr. found. It is small, but not a good thing. They took some pictures of it, and even did an ultrasound of his eye...didn't even know that was something they ever did! They are just waiting right now to see if it resolves on it's own, which is what we are hoping for. He has another appointment Monday with the Dr. that did the surgery, so we'll get more answers then hopefully. I'll keep you updated!

Round-up Part 3, or, Celebrating our 10th

As noted in an earlier post, Ron and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in August. We'd been talking for a while about going away somewhere to mark the occasion....places like Hawaii, Cancun, Bahamas, and even Peru were mentioned. Alas, because we have the responsibility of young children that need to be cared for, those locales will be saved for a later time. :) So instead, we decided to take a quick weekend trip to California. We made our final destination San Diego when we found out that one of the touring companies of "Wicked" was playing there. I have been wanting to see "Wicked" for years, but it just hadn't happened, and when it was in SLC earlier this year, there were no tickets to be had.

We flew in Friday morning, picked up our car, and made our way to San Diego(we flew into Long Beach). We went to the Newport Beach Temple and walked around the grounds as it was closed for maintenance. We had a hotel in Old Town San Diego, so that evening we strolled around there. Went to where the new and improved remodeled Mormon Batallion visitors center is....now I need to plan another trip back down in January to check it out when it reopens! That night we saw Harry Potter 6......yeah, it takes us a while to see movies! The next day was our "Wicked" matinee. It was better than I ever could've dreamed! So well acted and sung by all the players. I never expected it to be so funny, and yet I (of course) cried at the end. I could have sat through another performance right then. :) Too bad they kicked us out! That night we enjoyed fabulous Old Town mexican food, and then walked along Mission Beach at sunset. Sunday was spent driving back up the coast as we had an early flight out on Monday morning. We stopped off at a couple of beaches and enjoyed the tide pools and waves. That evening was dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company...I've never eaten so many shrimp in one sitting! The weekend was fabulous, so relaxing, and a wonderful way to reconnect with each other....we haven't spent that many days with just each other since our honeymoon, and it was so refreshing to just be able to talk to each other without the constant interruption of our (wonderful) kids.

Mission Beach



Aliso Beach

Ten Years

Today marks my and Ron's 10th wedding anniversary! Wow! Congrats to us. :)



Ten years ago today, my dreams came true. I married the man I love, in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, surrounded and supported by people I love.



One home purchased and moved into. One career placed on the backburner by me for a later time. Three different career/position changes for Ron. Eight cars. Four motorcycles. Putting in a yard. Finishing a basement. Kitchen remodel. Painting. Furniture changes. Three beautiful babies welcomed into our family. Three baby blessings. One baptism. Temple blessings. One goodbye to a parent. Vacations. Disney. Colorado. Arizona. Laughter. Tears. Joy. Happiness. Best friends.

Unofficial "Pirate Day" at our house...

Ron has had a couple incidences of "Vitreal Detachment", which is when the vitreous humour(the clear jelly stuff in your eyeball) pulls away from the back of the retina. In alot of people, this doesn't cause any problems. But sometimes it can cause large "floaters" to become present in your vision. Unfortunately, Ron had this develop. His 1st detachment was about 16 mos. ago, in the right eye. He was dealing with the "floaters" okay, since his left eye was still fine. Until last Tuesday, when his left eye had the same thing happen, and it's all cloudy and has floaters now too....needless to say, impaired vision wasn't working too well with what he has to do for work! So we met with a retinal surgeon, and determined that he was a good candidate for a vitrectomy. Basically they stick a suction tube in your eye, suck out the gunk, and replace it with nice clear stuff, and viola! You have clear vision again. Ron thought about it for about 5 minutes, and scheduled surgery! Right eye was done today. The procedure went very smoothly, and we'll go tomorrow and have his patch removed. We have little doubt that his vision will be much improved. As soon as he knows how well this procedure went, and his left eye stabilizes for 3 weeks or so, he'll most likely have the same thing done to that eye.

For your viewing pleasure....a little video clip I took in post-op recovery so he could see his eye patch! :) (It was fun playing with his new iPhone to take this video....easy-peasy! Posts right to youtube with a touch of the screen. He heard youtube has been slammed with iPhone video uploads since the new ones were released.)

Will You Marry Me?

Ten years ago today, on the grounds of the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple, I heard these words. I was in shock! Especially with the diamond ring that was staring at blinding me. ;) Ron will claim that he waited 5 minutes for me to answer and had to ask me again, but he is very impatient...it was only about 20 seconds before he said, "Well...." But obviously, the answer was YES! Sheesh, I'd had so many surprises that day, gimme a chance to think!

Ron and I had been long-distance "dating" since mid-February. We met on-line *gasp*, with him in Houston and me in Utah. He had been to Utah twice, and I had been to Texas twice......with lots of email and long-distance phone calls in between!

Ron knew I was planning a visit to my sister in Arizona in April, so he secretly contacted her and planned a little surprise. So on April 23rd, 1999, my sister picked me up from the airport, we dropped my things off at her house and headed to Haji-Babba's (middle eastern food) for lunch. After we sat down, Beth's cell phone rang. She answered it, then handed it to me. It was Ron. He made a little small talk, then told me to turn around...to see him walking in! Needless to say, I was shocked.

Later that afternoon, he said he wanted to go see the Mesa Temple. You'd think I would've been smart enough to figure out something was up, but no. As we were sitting by the North side reflecting pool, he pulled the ring out and popped the question. I think he just wanted to make sure there was a really good reason for him to pick up and move back to Utah.

Even with all the surprises, I am sure glad that he planned it, and it makes it even better that I was proposed to where my parents were married. My brother-in-law Scott took the picture above of us the next day at the temple.

Hooray for us, ten years! I guess I better start planning something good for August and our wedding anniversary. :)

Happy Birthday Ron!

Today is Ron's birthday!!!! Happy birthday to my husband, father of my kiddos, and best friend! :)

I hope he had a good day...hard to beat last year as we spent the day renting a speed boat and playing around on Lake Powell, but we can't do that every year!

He got his "big" gift a day early since I picked it up yesterday afternoon and needed help unloading it. A new BBQ grill. Our old one was, well, pathetic. :) So we fired up the new one tonight and grilled a yummy dinner of a chipotle marinated tri-tip roast. It was GREAT! Ron also got some new clothes, a book, DVD, and treats from the kids. We ended the evening with a cake, and letting the little kids blow out the candles 10-20 times on their own pieces of cake. Their daddy's birthday will be memorable for the kids at least. But I do know that we will enjoy his gift every time we fire it up this summer. :)

Coming Clean

Okay, okay. The picture below was photoshopped. :) Hard to tell though, huh? ;)

We went up the the kids favorite park in the foothills last week, and they were up playing around, and Ron was taking still pictures with his new toy video camera. When we got home, we saw that picture and laughed because both of the kids were looking over at the same spot with an odd look. I mentioned it looked like they were seeing something scary like a a bear or something so he photoshopped one in! I thought for fun I'd just put the picture up to see what the reactions were! :)

I bet you all thought this was another spring cleaning post, didn't you?! I wish. But not much of that is going on with it being spring break for the kids. Lot's of messing up of the house, with toys and junk everywhere, but very little picking up, as usual. I'll get back in the cleaning groove when I'm down a few kids on a daily basis.

On slate for today, celebrating Ron's birthday. We'll make it fun for him, as he's still feeling a bit shell shocked at how old it is this year....anyone care to guess?!

Sharing:

I just wanted to share this post that my husband just posted over on his blog....amazing what a little fast action and some advertising dollars can do to turn something offensive(and quite lame of HBO to do) into something positive. :)

And here's the message they prepared:

**Motorcycle Disclaimer**

I'm noticing a little theme in the motorcycle comments, so....

Just as a disclaimer.....I really have no choice in the matter. My husband has had motorcycles since he was 7.....yes, I said seven.

He had one when we were married, and has sold and bought since then for different styles and bikes. He did sell his latest dual sport (dirt bike, but street legal) with the aim of getting one to ride to work in order to save gas.

I let him know my feelings on that.....the whole idea of him riding a murdercycle on the freeway is beyond what I can emotionally handle. I let him know about the absolutely sick and nauseas feeling that I would be experiencing TWICE on a daily basis until I knew he arrived at his destination safely...and that he didn't want to be around a wife that was that mentally distraught. Daily.

He does know what he is doing when he rides....he is cautious, and doesn't do crazy things. But it's all those other idiots out there that worry me....the ones who change lanes without checking first, put makeup on while driving, have cell phone conversations that are more important than what they are supposed to be doing, typing emails on their blackberry's....you know them!

Besides....a suit and tie staying clean riding a motorcycle? Not happening. Not to mention the sudden monsoonal rainstorms that we get in the summer...occasionally.

Then I also brought up the fact that I want him to stay alive for quite a few more years, to which he responded that he does have a good life insurance policy...as if money would make being a widow with 4 children driving me insane okay.

I also know that a monthly bus pass is only $8 for Church employees, so I'm pretty sure that's a bigger saving on gas. ;)

Oh, and to his credit, the first motorcycle that he brought around, that I hated the second I got on it and had an absolutely sick feeling about, he didn't buy.

But then he found this, and since I didn't feel horrible about it, he got it. Now he feels complete. He has his motorcycle that he'll tool around the neighborhood on, take the kids on rides around the block, and possibly ride on errands a few times. And then it will get put away and not ridden much. Just like the others. ;)

Happy (belated) BIRTHDAY!!!

Last Monday, April 14th, was my sweet hubby's BDay. We won't talk about the actual age....since I think even he has a hard time grasping the numbers. He should just pick an age and stick with it, like I have! (29 is great!)

As read in the previous post, we spent it together as a family doing something new and different. When I asked him that evening if he'd had a good birthday, he replied that he had, because he spent it with his family, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

My husband is fantastic. He is so kind and loving, and never ceases in giving of himself. He takes such good care of me, and his children. He wants to be a good dad, and wants to give our children fun memories. He has been through more than most people his age, and he has taken those experiences and used them to shape himself into a better man. He honors his priesthood, and works very hard in his calling, and his job....and since he works for the Church, the line between work and calling is kinda hazy sometimes...

Most of all, he puts up with me....my moods, my impatience, my emotional instability, my occasional immaturity....I could go on, but this is about him! He is much more grounded than I, and despite my flaws, he loves me through it all!

Thank you honey, and I hope you had a great birthday and have a fantabulous year! LOVE YOU!