Comedy of Errors

WARNING: Extremely lengthy but somewhat funny post to follow.

Despite the title... the 24th of July weekend was really fun. Mike's family has their annual camp out so on Thursday we headed to Flaming Gorge. I love the camp outs! It's fun to all be together, go boating, eat great food, make fires, cook in a dutch oven, play games... the whole bit. It's something my family really never did growing up (the closest we got to camping was the motor home at Lake Powell) so I figure that's why I love it now. The initial downer was that my throat started to hurt a little Thursday morning when I woke up. Nonetheless, we made it. We were at a new camp site this year and it was a lot bigger and more shady. That night was kind of funny because all 13 of us ended up eating in the gas station because in the small town of Manilla, everything closes at 9:00 p.m. And by everything, we mean the 2 restaurants. All the same, it was a pretty good hoagie for a gas station. I was a little sick to my stomach that night so I just wanted to go to sleep. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, my allergies got bad as soon as we got out of the car. Being outdoors is probably enough but camping in all that wilderness and under all those trees... I was doomed to have a chapped nose by the end of the weekend (which was very attractive on Sunday!). So whatever, I'm used to having allergies. They're a pain but you live with them. Mike's parents were so sweet to lend us their tent and Mike's sister and husband lent us these AMAZING cots. Woohoo for not sleeping on the ground! We went to bed and all was well... Until I woke up around midnight as things started pelting my face. Raindrops. We hadn't put the rain fly up because we wanted to see the stars and yes, it rained. So I woke Mike up and he ran out to put that up in the middle of the night before we were soaked. Trying to be romantic and ending up being rained on at 12:00 a.m. = Comedic Error #1. That was fine and we fell back to sleep. Around 2:00 I woke up to some noise. Okay, so I'm not tough-- big surprise. I'm not much for hanging out with animals. Last year some animal was scratching at our tent and growling. When I woke Mike up he said it wasn't a big deal. What he didn't tell me was that he stayed up because he knew that wasn't just some skunk. The next day Kevin said he found bear tracks behind our tent going into the bushes. Who knows? Either way, I wake up to noises. So I wake up Mike and ask him what that noise is. He flashes his light out there and JOY--- some animal is in the food tent. Also unfortunate for us... our food was the only food in there. Whatever it was it went through three bags shredding and eating our Texas Toast bread for our orange french toast. Grrr.... so annoying. So at 2:00 Mike and I are making noises to scare the animal away and Mike goes out to clean up all the shredded bread, separating ruined food from salvaged food. Stupid animal eating $10 worth of bread and having to buy it again at Manilla's only market for $15 = Comedic Error #2.

Despite the night, the next day was great! We headed to the lake and even tho it was crowded we had some good sun and played on the beach a bit. I still didn't feel very well but really wanted to go boating. We went out and Mike wake skated for the first time. I tried. Although I got up, I probably only stayed up for 4.5 seconds. I decided to switch to what I could do better and wake-boarded. I'm no pro but I can get up and stay up (no tricks, mind you). The weather started to turn so the water got really choppy by the time I got to wake-boarding. I wasn't staying up as long so I told Mike's brother "one more time". Famous last words, right? I got up and was bumping around on the choppy water. I decided to go out of the wake so I maneuver right and get a little too much speed going out of the wake. Not being smart... I gave forward and flew face first into the water. The wake board comes off my feet, flips up and the side edge hits me square in the chin. Ouch. I never understood the expression "cleaned my clock" quite as well. So I get out and the board gave me a 2 inch cut on my chin. Wonderful. It was more of scratch so it didn't bleed long but looked lovely on my face. More than that... my jaw killed. I could barely open my mouth to chew the delicious cobb salad Mel brought for lunch. Bummer. Feeling like I'd been punched in the face by a 300 lb man = Comedic Error #3. On top of that, while trying to recover me from the water and with windy weather, the rope got caught in the prop. Mike and Wyatt spent 15 minutes trying to get that untangled and ended up with a cut rope. Stranded on a boat in the cold watching boys take turns over and over-- one goes under, next comes up... resulting in a cut rope = Comedic Error #3 and 1/2. The rest of the day was good. We had delicious food (spaghetti and cobbler-- yum!) and hung around the fire pit talking-- which I love. Mike's family is fantastic and always make me laugh. There are a lot of kids, which I also love and they're all adorable. They always keep it interesting!

However, that night I was still feeling it. My chin and jaw I could live with but my nose had continued to run none stop and I was quickly going through my 3 bags of tissues and 1 box. The problem with that was that the combination of being a little sick and the compounding allergies resulted in my asthma increasingly becoming aggravated. For those of you who don't know, I've had asthma since I was a kid but it typically isn't a problem except when I get sick. I brought my inhaler so I was using that every 5 hours or so.

The next day it was rainy. Bummer. But the high point was that we got to play lots of games-- which Mike and I LOVE! While we were there we played some of our favs: Acquire, Tripoly and Scrabble. That night was the worst for me. Cold + allergies + sickness = bad coughing and no breathing. The interval for me taking my inhaler kept getting smaller. That night I found it hard to eat because I couldn't stop breathing long enough to chew my food. Probably should have realized that was a problem. When I woke up I was taking my inhaler every 1-2 hours. I know I shouldn't do that because it's bad for my heart but it was that or breathe. =) I made a command decision.

The next morning we packed up and headed home. I was very excited to shower and take a breathing treatment. Right before the treatment, I knew it was bad. I could barely walk up the stairs and gathering my materials I was really forcing the air in and out. But I know my treatments always fix it. I finished it and felt good... for about 10 minutes. After that I was back to heaving and wheezing. I've never not had relief from a treatment so that was weird for me. After I couldn't fall asleep, I called my dad to ask how often I could take a breathing treatment and long story short (or at least shorter)... Mike and I were at Logan's InstaCare. InstaCare on a Sunday night = Comedic Error #4.

A nurse at my dad's health care advise line said they would likely give me an oral steroid. I was ready for that. They brought me in and while getting information they said I had a fever. The nurse gave me a mask to wear that covered my nose and mouth. (side note: Isn't it funny that my problem is that I can't breathe and as I'm forcing air in and out, not being able to finish a sentence without having to stop and take breaths in between... she gives me something to wear that covers both my mouth and nose. As far as I know, those are pretty much the only two ports for air. Basically, comprising the necessities of breathing, right? Hmmm... think about that). After the doctor comes in and hears the problem it's a whirlwind of "fun". After listening to my lungs, he tells me he's going to give me another treatment again and that I need to take a steroid immediately. Okay, nothing surprising there. But unfortunately, I had progressed too far for an oral steroid. Which left me with a shot. Joy. In my butt. Bigger Joy. A shot in my butt... that was a first. The doctor told me it would be painful (nice) and started me on a treatment. As soon as I started that a nurse comes in and says she needs to give me my shot. During my treatment. So I'm standing at the edge of the table with a tube in my mouth, pants down, holding Mike's hand, both of us trying not to laugh but me partially wanting to cry as this nurse gives me a shot smack in the buttock. She said she didn't know what the doctor was talking about and that it wouldn't hurt more than any other shot. One, two, three... all was good. It didn't hurt and so after giving me a Taz band-aid (probably TMI) on the rump and as I'm priding myself that I must have one tough butt since that didn't hurt hardly at all after the doctor said it would.... ouch. That thing started to throb! Apparently, injected steroids like that make your butt ache for a couple days. Butt shot = Comedic Error #5. So now I'm sitting there, having received my violating shot, squirming on the table trying to find relief, still doing the treatment and a nurse comes in and says since I have a fever she's going to swab my nose for influenza. Also never had that happen before. So still breathing through a tube, the nurse takes a cotton swab and "goes where the boogies go" (her words, not mine). Uhh... there are no boogies that far up. Insert coughing and extreme eye watering. Boogie swab = Comedic Error #6. After the treatment, the doctor ordered a chest X-ray. (Those are going to be fun medical bills!) We finished at 8:30 p.m. when the doctor said I didn't have swine flu and the fever was probably cause my body was working so hard to breathe. Good. There was no fluid in my lungs. Also good. But there was inflammation. Not so good. So now I'm popping 3 prednisone (steroids) a day for the next 2 weeks, taking an inhaled steroid twice a day and breathing treatments every 4 hours. (I HATE taking medications!) The side effects being irritability, mood swings and increased weight gain. My reaction: "Weight gain??" Mike's reaction: "Mood swings?!" =) Megan the roid popper = Comedic Error #7. Whew... it was quite the Sunday evening. All in all, I hate going to the doctor and really debated going in. In retrospect, I guess I'm grateful I did. The doctor said I was going downhill fast and would have been in the E.R. soon because I had progressed so far. Thank goodness for Mike who encouraged me to go in, held my hand through the unexpected and took care of me all night.

Although I've put this "Comedy of Errors" spin on the weekend, it was actually very nice to get away. I love the Mansfield's and I have so much fun with them. As for the not being able to breathe part... I've learned my lesson and I'm left with a story that makes me laugh. The summer has been laid back and I haven't been sick for 3 months. That's pretty good for me! I guess I was due. When it rains... it pours, right? =)

Packin' in the Fun

This weekend we got to go home to South Jordan! I haven't seen my family since Mike's graduation party so it was nice to go down to celebrate my dad's birthday and Father's day. In addition, we really packed in the fun. On Friday we drove straight to Orem to meet Marisa, Dustin, Jeff and Lexi. We picked up some yummy sandwiches at a place called Ernie's, took them to their house and packed up our bikes. We rode "caravan style" to one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been to. We ate on the grass and then rode our bikes around the park. We found "The Swing" as its called and had fun pushing each other. It was a giant swing that you got pushed on as well as turned as carousel. The ride back (all uphill) was interesting considering we all had full tummys. Bleh!!

On Saturday Mike got up early to go play in a grass ball tournament with his friend Josh. So of course, it rained. It rains every time he plays. I stayed in bed and came and watched him play his last 3 games. It was cold and rainy but it was fun getting some good pics of him playing.

On Saturday Jay invited us to a group date/BBQ he was having at our house. It was good food and fun to meet some new people. They went to play volleyball after the date and since we'd (as in Mike) had done that all day, we stayed at the house. Instead we played games with mom and dad (one of our favorite things to do). We played our new board game "Pandemic"... which is pretty cool and had a great time. Game time turned to talk time... till 1:00 a.m.

On Sunday we had an AMAZING day in church at my dad's Legacy House branch. I cried, again. As I do every time I attend that branch. The family came over after and we had a delicious meal for Father's Day and to celebrate my dad's b-day!! It was such a nice weekend. Happy Father's Day to all you fabulous Dad's out there!

A Check On My Bucket List

So I had no idea yesterday I would do something that would make me oh so satisfied with myself (I haven't felt this good since I won the "good behavior" placemat in second grade!). Yet it happened... I, Megan Mansfield, have learned to make bread! Although it may seem like a small accomplishment to a majority of you (I know, some of you have been making your grandmother's famous recipe since you were like 36 months old... ya, ya), it is something I've always wanted to do. I don't know why I think making homemade bread will somehow make me a better wife, housekeeper and future mom- but hey, I do.
So here is my first breadmaking adventure. I found a recipe for light wheat bread on Annie's Eats (which I love!). Did you know bread only has like 5 ingredients? Almost all of which I already had in my cupboard. I always had the impression that bread was difficult and lengthy. Besides the raising parts (which are lengthy) this was actually very simple. That's a major appeal. I did have to buy yeast though, which I will admit was the most difficult part of the bread making process.

*Here is my yeast soapbox, if you're not interested, skip to the next paragraph.*

Active dry yeast? Bread machine yeast? Fast rising yeast? Instanst yeast? Three words for you.... WHAT THE HECK?! Did the pioneers have 4 different kinds of yeast?? Well after remembering that I only had bread machine yeast, buying active dry yeast, not knowing you had to put active dry yeast in water first (ya ya, I know), researching yeast online, deciding people that know nothing at all can post anything online about yeast, going to the grocery store again, stopping some poor woman in the aisle to ask her about yeast who had children who looked seriously annoyed I was delaying their mom, buying the only "instant" yeast I could find in a package I probably wouldn't be able to use in a year... I came home and had two different doughs rising-- one with active dry yeast (not dilluted in water first-- just thrown in) and one with instant yeast (just thrown in). Why am I telling you all this useless information? Well because at the end of the day and after that sweet lady in the grocery store giving me a sad, pitying look that I was pathetic enough to put yeast in my bread without allowing it to bubble in water first... both loaves worked out great! Given, the instant yeast rose much quicker and ended up being bigger (which was my doing since I waited for both to be done so they could go in the oven at the same time). So if no one knows, at least for this recipe, yeast was yeast.

This is the instant yeast batch just before it's second rise
(Notice the cute green Kitchen Aid my sweet Aunts gave me for my wedding-- I love it!!)

This is the instant yeast batch after it came out. It's bigger than the one below and bigger than I'd normally want. Hey, it's not perfect but I'm not going to be picky my first time.

I was pleasantly surprised, if not shocked, at how well my first bread-making adventure went (maybe the Lord was just having mercy on a wanna-be homemaker). I have decided that I am going to attempt (very noncommittal) to make this bread every Sunday for Mike and I to eat throughout the week. Mike and I are trying to save money and every week we buy some local Spelt bread that costs $5. We'll see how it goes when school starts up again but I like the idea of saving money, being domestic and knowing what's going into my bread!

This is the active dry yeast batch. I don't know if you can tell but it's smaller and looks more like what I envision it should look like.

Mike cutting up the bread. We ate it with freezer jam or my favorite, just butter and a little honey. Mmmm!

And the winner is...

A tie?!

Two weeks of checking back and forth and this is what we end up with. 11 to 11. Kind of anticlimactic huh? I would just like to say that earlier today the polls were considered done when picture B was ahead by two votes. Picture B--- MY picture! Woohoo, right? So we took our victory and not-so-victorious photos this afternoon and then I logged on to post the results... and what happened? Two people voted tonight to make it an even tie!! I can't believe it. Mike is next to me laughing (Mmwuahaha!) and saying I can't take the earlier results. Which I find ironic considering today when I told him I pulled ahead in the polls by 2 votes he said (I quote), "Well, I wasn't in it for the competition. Just for the fun..." Uhhh... yea right. Spoken like a classic man who was about to get his pride publicly handed to him by his wife. =)
So here's the lesson here, making a gift into a contest only ends up in one thing... a lousy tie! What's the fun in that?! Just kidding! Well, I guess we were an even match and both get to have one hand on the "I-was-right-trophy" at least for now... ;)
Thanks all for playing along with us!

(Just for fun... here are the victory photos)

Picture A taker /Picture B taker

(This just proves that pride cometh before the fall...)

2 days left...

So in retrospect, I gave WAY too long to do this poll. This is probably the most fun we've had with our blog so far but we want to end this poll and move onward and upward. (As in continuous checking of the blog-- Mike has never looked at this blog as much as he does now!). So over the last week when discussing to end this poll there's been a question that if I end early I might do it when I'm ahead on the polls. So Mike and I decided the arbitrary day is Sunday. Sunday the poll ends and the winner is announced. I think I'm going to have to make a prize of some sort since this has been more fun than I originally thought. Thanks everyone voting-- it's been so much fun to see your votes and comments! So hurry and vote if you haven't!! It's all going down on Sunday! =)

Sweet Surprise Turned Photo Contest

When I came home from Costa Rica, Mike told me he had a surprise for me. I came home and found this beautiful pot full of gorgeous flowers on the front porch. I had wanted to plant flowers but could never bring myself to buy them. Mike went home to Vernal, where his mom and sisters picked out and helped him plant these adorable flowers. I especially love the Gerbers... which they included because they know they're one of my favs and were in my wedding bouquet. He's the sweetest!

So here's the competitive part. Mike and I took some pictures the other day of the flowers while they're still so beautiful (or before they fry on our front porch)! In looking through our pictures we jokingly debated about how we each enjoyed the picture we took better. Just to make it fun (and cause I secretly love polls!), I've decided to let the blogging world decide! So cast your vote on this totally inconsequential question to resolve a fun-loving debate (and allow the "I was right" card to be handed off) Thanks for participating in our crazy fun.....here they are! =)

Picture A

Picture B

A picture is worth 2 months words

Because writing about the last 2 months would take longer than any of you have or would care to read... I'm catching everyone up on our life through pictures (which are more fun anyway!) and adding blurbs. Enjoy the whirlwind we call life...

For the last 3 months Mike has done an internship at Deloitte. He interviewed and finally got his dream of one with a "Big Four" accounting firm. He lived in Salt Lake for 3 months while I lived in Logan... nothing was as great as him coming home! He loved Deloitte and they loved him. He hopes to work for them in the future!

While working for Deloitte, Mike worked in Indiana for 2 weeks. Deloitte flew me from a conference to meet Mike for a weekend. We went to Nashville and saw a little of Indiana.

Easter came and went in a flash. We spent it at my family's house having a great Easter egg hunt with the kids. There were strategically placed eggs with 10 dollar bills as well for the adults. I won't lie and say there weren't some scratched up arms and legs (of the adults of course!) in fighting for those eggs. There were so many, my mom had to make a map!

School ended-- thankfully! It was the hardest semester of graduate school so far and never would have survived if Mike wasn't home to help me. With the end of the school year came Mike's graduation! Yay!! He graduate Summa Cum Laude from USU and got in to the Master's of Accounting program here. As if he's not amazing enough... he also received the highest scholarship offered to MAcc students and the only assistanship. He's my hero! Both our fantastic families came to Logan-- which is a lot of people-- and we had a great celebration with them. They are incredible and we couldn't do it without their support!

Two days after Mike graduated, I left for Costa Rica on USU's annual audiology humanitarian trip. Short of boring you with all the stories... here's the summary: I fit hearing aids on children, screened children for hearing loss, used my auditory-verbal training, used ASL to communicate with kids that spoke a totally different language, saw a child with a Med-El cochlear implant, held a crocodile, went canopying and hung out with some really great people! The picture below are the student in my year of the AuD program-- now 3rd years! Wahoo!

And now I'm home again with Mike! It was great to come home and finally stay home. Things have calmed down for me but Mike has started up school again. Today we went on a date... during the day. Gasp! Yes, we are looking forward to a slower summer together which hopefully involves staying in Logan for awhile.

Thanks for the catch up with the Mansfields!!