Rollins Family Reunion

It's been 15 years since I went to the Rollins Family Reunion up in Wyoming. This reunion is on my moms side of the family. Every year they meet at cabins in the Uinta Mountains. It is gorgeous and so much fun! I loved being able to take my family this year and share with them so many memories I have of this wonderful place. Aaron and Dave (Nikki's husband) had fun playing horse shoes and I must say it was a close win for them both. I think Dave ended up winning however.







This was the first year that I remember that they had horses up there. We took full advantage of riding them! Hannah surprises me all the time with her no fear of anything. She was so excited to ride the horses. Aaron was in heaven as he had a horse when he was young and would love to have horses again someday.





Grace (Hannah's cousin) and Hannah had the time of their life! It was impossible to keep them clean however. Nathan, unfortunately, was sick the whole time we were there. Hopefully next year he'll be able to enjoy this more. The last day we were there was Sunday and they had a nice church service before we packed up and went home. Be sure to click on the pictures for a bigger view of each picture.

Nathan's Birthday Party

I'm sure we won't be having such big parties every year for this kiddo, but we went all out for his #1. We took Nathan to Wheeler Farm to have a picnic dinner, feed the ducks, look at the animals, and yes, milk a cow! It was an unusually cold day for June, but it warmed up pretty nicely. The next day, (which was actually his birthday) we went to Raging Waters water park. It was absolutely freezing, but we had already bought the tickets, so we went anyway. Hannah and daddy had a ball. Mommy and Nathan wimped out and only went in for about 15 minutes. It was sooooo cold. Luckily, the park gave us tickets to come back on a warmer day. Yahoo!

After the park, we drove home, grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner and then headed off again to a carnival. All we can say, is Aaron and I nearly dropped dead when we got home that night. We had such a fun day and are so grateful for this little guy who gave us the reason to celebrate so much these two days. Nathan is such a joy to our family. He is the most cuddely, sweet natured little boy ever! We love you so much Nathan. Happy Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Nathan

Summer of Love

Aaron came home one day with this baby. Lucky for us, we will be seeing a lot of this bus this summer as Aaron will be driving it around a lot. It is the talk of the neighborhood and the envy of every child. This is one of the marketing tactics for Ivory this summer and so far it has gotten so much hype that they plan on getting another one and making it blue for a boy. At the end of the summer they will add a baby VW bug to the family. Aren't you all jealous that you don't have one!

Our New House

So, it's officially on it's way. These pictures aren't too exciting, but you can see some of the nice views we will have once it's finished. It's exciting to watch the progress each week. It'll be so fun to move in. We have so many ideas and plans we hope to do with this house. We've already met our neighbors and they were so friendly. This neighborhood is full of kids as well. Can't wait to move in!

Hard at Work

Aaron took on a little side job helping out my brother in law with his landscaping business. Although it's been nice to have some extra income, when he is working, we don't see him at all. So the kids and I decided we would join him one night after work so we could atleast see him that week. However, it was FREEZING outside and threatening rain, which it later did. The kids and I hung out in the car to keep warm. They quickly found a pocket full of things to pull out and make a mess with. Hannah was content to climb over all the place. Aaron was happy to see his family as well as us to see him. It was well worth coming out in the cold to watch him work! :o)

Dave Ramsey Fan!

I love Dave Ramsey!

For those of you who've never heard of this guy, he's a finacial advisor and he's fabulous!!! Aaron introduced me to his radio program (570 am M-F 7-10 pm) last September. After listening to his program for just one night, I was hooked and had to buy his book. His program always begins by him saying, "This is where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off mortgage has taken place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice." One of my favorite parts of his program is when he has people call in after they've become completely debt free. Although, we aren't to this place yet, we are agressively pursuing and winning! I get so emotional when I hear some of the callers tell their story and hear their sacrifice to overcome this bondage. It's sooooo inspiring! Dave preaches "7 baby steps" to get out of debt. They include:

1. Get $1000 emergency fund fast.

2. Pay off all debt except house (including: credit cards, cars, student loans, etc.)

3. Increase emergency fund to 3 - 6 months expenses.

4. Put 15% of your income into retirement.

5. Fund your kids college education.

6. Pay off your home mortgage.

7. GIVE, GIVE, GIVE!

It feels so good to be living on a budget and to be working on this together. We've never been so excited about anything. The work that goes into is motivating and humbling. Honestly, we are so grateful to Dave for sharing his wisdom and teaching us how to become debt free once and for all!

Any other Dave fans out there?

Mother's Day

This is a week late, but that is because I got my Mother's day surprise last Saturday. First and foremost, I don't mean to boast about my husband, but this was way too sweet to not write about. On Mother's day Aaron wrote me a letter telling me that he was sending me and my sister Susan on an all day pampering this last Saturday. The details were minimal. I was told that it would start at 8:30 am and end at 10:00 that night. Wow!
So, Saturday morning I woke to a most yummy breakfast, one of my favorite after which I got ready for my "escort" to pick me up at 10:00 where he would take me to Susan's house. I have to say here that I was PARANOID that Aaron may have gotten a limo, so I was literally sick to my stomach at the thought that a limo would be picking me up. Luckily at 10:00 I looked outside to see our Explorer and Aaron was my escort. He really had me believe that he'd gotten a limo and I would have been soooooo emberrassed! He knew better. Anyway, off to Susan's we went where she and I went to our scheduled appointment for a massage. Heavenly! When that was over we met up with Aaron and the kids at Cafe Rio for lunch. One of my favorite places to eat. After lunch he handed me an envelope with some money and sent us on a shopping spree! Yahoo!!! I rarely shop for myself, so this was so exciting to me. We were told to be back at our house by 5:00 for dinner that Aaron prepared for us. After dinner, Susan stayed with our kids while Aaron and I went to a movie together. Honestly, it was the best day ever! He put so much thought into this and had it all planned out perfectly. What a sweet and wonderful man I have! (Okay, now I'm boasting!) I don't feel deserving of that wonderful day, but I'm sure grateful to be married to a man that feels I deserved it! So, happy belated mother's day to all you women. Around here we like to call it "Women's Day"!





Oatmeal with raisins, raisin bread, orange juice, and a grapefruit. Some of my favorites!



Don't mind my little farmer tan arm there. I think it accentuates my arm nicely!

Nathan & Aaron

So, Aaron is about the funnest guy I've ever known and our kids would agree ten fold!

So, yesterday we told Aaron's family that baby #3 is coming to the Aaron Lombardo family. Amazingly, they already knew, so it wasn't nearly as much fun as we'd hope it would be. The shock came to us nearly 3 months ago that we would be having another baby this November. We knew we wanted to continue expanding our family, but hadn't planned on another baby until Nathan was 2 years old and as of now, these two will be 17 months apart. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to have 3 children all 3 years old and younger. This is such a busy time of year for us as well. Aaron and I are building a house and plan to move into it sometime in September. We feel amazingly blessed and can't understand why we've been given so much. I like what one of my friends said "prayers go up......and blessings come down". That is how we feel and are excited now to welcome another child into our home. This will make 3 grandchildren on Aaron's side of the family and the 21st on my side. It is fun for our children to have so many cousins. In fact whenever we get together, we rarely even see Hannah because she is off playing with her cousins for hours at a time. We look forward to meeting him/her this November and plan on waiting to find out what this one will be when she arrives. (My hunch is a girl).

Say Say Oh Play Mate

Hannah singing her book to Nathan. Listen up!!!

Mischief

So, I should know by now that if Hannah is quiet, something is wrong. This little mishap took place just after her nap one day. I could hear her in her room, but decided not to go in as I was busy doing something. Anyway, too much time was going by for her not to be coming out so I decided to check on her and what did I find? Isn't it so pretty? She was very proud of herself that's for sure.

A rare day

Aaron spent the weekend putting in new sod in our yard only to find out that 3 sprinklers were busted after he'd laid the sod. Soooooo, that meant a day off of work to fix sprinklers. Have I mentioned before that Hannah is a daddy's girl? Um.....well she is. From the moment she woke up and every waking moment after that she was right by her daddy's side and loving every minute of it. We wish he could always be home, but since he can't it sure makes for great days when he is able to spend a rare day at home.

45 Blessings/ Week 9: The Savior

I was looking at my friends blog (thanks Heather) and watched this clip she had on it about the Savior. I thought it was inspiring and it made me reflect on just how magnificent Jesus Christ really is. I am amazed by him as I study his life and strive to live his teachings. He truly is the Prince of Peace and the only way to true joy and happiness. I'm forever grateful for Him.

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

A look into his teenage years

Oh, I hope this is not a sign of what his teenage years will be like. For now he is pretty cute in that little recliner.

Ricks College Reunion

These are some of my favorite people in the world! It's been 8 years since we were all together at Ricks. Lindy, Mandy, and Katherine were my roommates the second year I was there and we had SOOOOOO much fun together. After all these years, we've been able to keep in touch even though all of us have lived in different places, some even across the country and out of the country at times. Dave and Jeff were our FHE brothers and made our time at Ricks all that more fun. We have such great memories with them and truly the word "brother" couldn't be more fitting. It was so fun to see eachothers kids and learn about everyones going-ons. I sure hope our next reunion won't be in another 8 more years.

45 Blessings/ Week 8: My Car

I am grateful to have a good car . It's got 117K miles on it, could die any day, but still gets me from point A to point B when I need it to. I love that it has a large trunk space so I can haul all the kids stuff, groceries, and just about anything else I need it to. Although it does run pretty well, it's bound to give up on us sometime soon I figure. Then we are heading for a minivan! Hooray!!!!!

Nathan's first tooth

After much crankiness, Nathan's tooth finally came in. However, he's still cranky, so I think the other one is soon to follow. Poor guy. He's now 10 months, still not crawling and still not showing any signs of wanting to crawl. Should I be concerned yet?

Ouch!

Last week I was getting ready when I heard Hannah crying and yelling, "ouch, ouch, ouch". I ran into her room and found that she had clipped her clip onto her nose and couldn't get it off. I couldn't help but to laugh and then went to go help her. She was in the depths of despair, bawling and saying, "I need a band-aid". I got her a band-aid out and then was so hopeful that I might be able to get her to put the clip back on her nose for a picture. No way!

45 Blessings/ Week 7: Our Home

It feels so good to have a place you can call "home". Although this isn't our dream house, we do love it and feel so blessed to have so many comforts. We love where we live, love our friends and neighbors, and love the small town country feel we have here in Eagle Mountain. Part of my gratitude for my house is living in the USA. Having lived outside of America for a time, I really can appreciate first hand, just how blessed we are to live in this country. On top of this, I just finished (literally 30 minutes ago) a book called, "Children of the Promise" which is about an American family and World War II. Wow! It's just hard to imagine what a difficult time that was who lived through it. We are all sooooo blessed to live in America and I hope that I can instill in my children that the freedoms we enjoy here are truly gifts from God.