10 Years Ago!!

Ten years ago I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Since life takes us on many adventures and roads, as we say sometimes, I have lost contact with many of those people who influenced me. With this blog I would like to extend my love and appreciation for all those who have influenced me to make the decisions I have made. My parents woulde be the first. Throughout my life they have supported me in every aspect of my life whether they agreed or not. I am only the man I am today because that's who they raised me to be. In high school I had many friends who were LDS, and more importantly, one even brave enough to invite me to church. Thank you. I dated a girl who helped on the raod to baptism, which I never really thanked. Along that path, friends helped me grow in the gospel through their example. When it came time to serve a mission, a counselor and patriarch sent me home to pray about it. Six months later I was on a mission.

Then I met my first companion in the MTC. He has been an example to me since the day we met and I don't think my mission would have been the same.without him. His family showed nothing but love. Two years in Australia brought 20 something companions, 11 areas and a greater appreciation for Jesus Chrtist and His priesthood.

With a bumpy road and a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father, I met my beautiful wife. Through that experience, I know that it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we are sealed. We grow each day and year with our little family.

Now as I enter this new chapter in life, I am grateful to all those that have crossed and been on this path with me. I love each of you and keep you in my heart each time I reflect on the past. Don't ever forget the scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants 18:16 "And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me." I am that one soul that all of you have brought unto Him.

I am greatful for the friends who have come into my life through each ward that I have been in.

Thank you, to all those I have lost contact. If you have been around throughout these past ten years, thank you, and please send those who I no longer see here, so I can share my gratitude.

With Love and Thanks,

Zach Romeo

How does your garden grow?

Sydney and her sunflower.

In March, my dad and brothers, Trav and Stirl, helped till the soil and turn in some organic material that was piled up on a small slope in our back yard. That was the start of our very first attempts to have our own garden. Zach guffawed at the whole of the experiment, but he did help with hoeing the rows. But to our delight and his surprise, we have been pretty successful. Early in the season we had a huge success with spinach. It was fun to say at dinner, "Hey honey can you go and pick some spinach? I feel like having a salad tonight." But then I let it go to seed. So I don't know if I could have made it last through the summer. Right now I am harvesting about four summer squash a week and using fresh herbs with meals. What a difference that makes! Zach got all masterpiece chef one night and battered and fried the squash, which was pretty dang tasty. I have yet to make bread, but that may happen this weekend. So I will let you know how it turns out. But my favorite right now, which just started ripening, is the tomatoes. Nothing beats a home grown tomato. Delicious. I just eat them all on their own. ( Maybe that will be my substitute for the cookies and dough that helped me add ten pounds to this months weight gain.)

These pictures were taken the beginning of July and the tomato plants in the back have about doubled in size. The little wire supports are doing a pretty poor job right now. And there was one squash that was almost as big as Eleanor. But did I get a picture? No, the camera battery was dead. So we've had success with spinach, red and butter leaf lettuce (but not as much as the spinach), summer squash, tomatoes, oregano, parsley, basil and chives. We have harvested a couple zucchini and there are some green peppers growing, though I thought I only bought red. Do they start out like tomatoes and ripen to a red later? There is a cantaloupe plant growing, but I think it is too late for it to start growing fruit now. It only has blossoms. That is the only plant from seed that transplanted successfully, though. We failed at growing cucumbers, carrots, radishes and peas. We hope to be more experienced farmers next season. So that is how our garden grows. (This blog is dedicated to the boys who started it all.)

Pictures of Camping at Donner

We tried to keep Eleanor kind of clean, but if you look in between her fingers and at our pants, I am sure you can imagine how dirty she was for the majority of the time camping.

Sydney roasting her very own schmarshmallows for the first time.

The satisfaction that comes from a toasty warm mallow.

Seeing what can be dug up at Donner.

The only time Eleanor was clean.

Snoozing after swimming for three hours. Only to wake up and want to go again.

Camping at Donner

While Zach was working in Tahoe, we took the opportunity to go camping in his neck of the woods. We stayed at the Donner Memorial State Park camping grounds. The girls loved it. Really we should be taking full advantage of this beautiful area we live in, but life gets busy. Eleanor had only been walking a week or so and she got absolutely filthy. She is fairly stable, but add a little bump and came a little tumble. Then she would come straight to mom. So I was probably just as dirty as she, though I guess it is still better than if she were crawling. Sydney could not wait to roast her first marshmallow. Really, she would repeat over and over how she wanted cook "schmarshmallows." So after a bite or two of hot dog, she put her mallow in the fire. And it maybe stayed in there for about ten seconds. I don't think she cared that her schmarshmallow was in the exact same condition as before it went into the fire. I'm not even sure how many she ate that night, but she wasn't complaining of an upset stomach or of being hungry still so I didn't care. ( I know great parenting- everyone should take notes.) Interestingly enough though, she didn't want to make s'mores. She just ate the barely cooked mallows. Eleanor didn't care for dinner ( she ate avocado instead) or dessert, which was fine with me because that was one less sticky situation I would have to clean up. Zach and I, of course, roasted our marshmallows to perfection and while I had the Reese's variation, Zach enjoyed the classic. Going to bed wasn't too bad. Eleanor just loved that we were all together. So it was hardest just getting her to lie down in one spot. I would say we were all asleep by ten, which was good because Zach still had to go to work in the morning. He was able to get ready without a peep from the girls. So we slept in until it started getting warm. And while Zach was working, the girls and I went swimming in Donner. (It is actually not as cold as you might think. I wasn't tempted at all to eat either of the girls.) So we swam most of the morning. Then I pushed them in the stroller to go on a little hike. They fell asleep pretty fast. So I turned around and went back to camp. After their nap, we had lunch and went swimming again. It was great because Eleanor would be at camp just long enough to be covered in dirt and then we would go wash off in the lake. Zach was able to join us for our afternoon swim and when were done it was schmarshmallow time again! Well almost, we had to have our hot dogs first. I converted Zach to eating hot dogs my way, while camping anyway, by just roasting and then piling a bunch of BBQ chips in the bun with the dog and viola, a masterpiece. Sydney and Eleanor liked the chip idea. And then, of course, dessert. It was great fun. And Sydney keeps asking when we get to go camping again. So we hope to try again before the season ends. Maybe by then Eleanor will be a little more stable and little less dirty. ( I'll try to get the pictures up later. We are experiencing technical difficulties.)