This year, they expect about $20,000 in sales over the holidays.

Last February, they travelled to Denver for a Whole Foods seminar for local growers and producers, passing up an opportunity to show their products at an Academy Awards gifting suite in Los Angeles. During the first day of the Whole Foods seminar, they learned about the Austin, Texas-based grocery chain. The second day, they displayed their products on a table among 150 other vendors.

"We were very nervous about the packaging," said Thomas. "We worked really hard to make this fun. One of our slogans is 'We make organic fun.' And we wanted to be more accessible and not so — pretentious, maybe is the word — and we kind of had a feeling our designs wouldn't fly on the shelves."

Their products didn't receive much attention from Whole Foods buyers and regional representatives. At the end of the seminar, the couple was packing up to leave when they were approached by company officials, who commented on how much they loved the packaging. The Whole Foods representatives said they were interested in placing the products in some stores.

"They took the entire line," Thomas said. "That's pretty unusual, we were told. Normally, they'll bring in a couple products and test it."

Greenwood and Thomas quit their day jobs this past January and hired Greenwood's aunt as their first employee in April to prepare for the Whole Foods orders. They purchased a Hobart mixer, which shaved hours off the production. But they still package by hand.

They would like to move into a facility outside of their home, but that would require outside investment and loans. The potential investors are waiting for Thomas to provide data on expenses and profits.

Greenwood and Thomas have poured the money they make back into the business. Venture capitalists have approached them about investment, but Greenwood and Thomas declined. "Their idea of helping out is, 'We want to take 80 percent of the company,"' Thomas said.

On their Web site, Greenwood and Thomas average about 15 sales a day. "What we're noticing is people aren't testing us as much, ordering just a lip balm or just a deodorant," Thomas said. "They're ordering $100 worth of product."

In addition to selling to Whole Foods through wholesale, Bubble and Bee is stocked in handful of boutiques throughout the United States. Whole Foods may spend as much as $2,000 to stock up shelves with various products. Smaller boutiques will spend $500 on lip balms and lotions. Whole Foods reorders products every week to 10 days. "But it's staggered because each store will do it differently," Thomas said.

Dr. Bronner's liquid soaps and Pangea Organics compete with Bubble & Bee. Greenwood doesn't consider Burt's Bees a competitor because while that company's products have natural ingredients, they're not organic. Greenwood is in the process of getting her products certified as organic by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com