Summer at Last

We have been enjoying the heat that has finally arrived here after our month of rain. Unfortunately I have been a slacker about taking pictures so I don't have much to document. Here are some pictures of our little outing to Rigby Lake. They have cleaned it up a lot and they let Biscuit join in the family fun.

The Gang

Tasty Rocks

Fun with Dad

Enjoying the Beach

After this adventure my camera is on the fritz and won't turn on. I will work on that and post more later.

My Old Kentucky Home

You may not know that Ryan was born in Kentucky. We recently took a trip to see his birthplace and let him reconnect with his roots. His mom had a high school reunion, so she was heading out anyhow and it worked out great for us to meet her there and have her show us around. After going back and forth we decided not to take Luke with us. Grandma Benson was kind enough to watch him for us while we took off for a couple of days. I like to call our trip a baby-moon... I think we need to make it a tradition. While my mom was dealing with a Pukey Lukey (literally, sorry mom!) we were having a great time in the green state of Kentucky!

We had a lot to see. After dropping Rhonda off at her friends house, Ryan and I headed straight for the races! No kidding. We wanted to see Churchill Downs. We were lucky enough to get a beautiful day and there were actually races going on that day. We decided to try our hand at playing the ponies. We allotted ourselves $20. It took us a couple of races to get the hang of placing the $2 bet on the right horse. My first couple came in DEAD last.

It wasn't crowded and so we got to go down right by the track and watch the horses come across the line. I have to admit it was really cool. We got to see where they saddle up the horses before the race and watch them ride out to the track.


We actually got to see Calvin Borel race on a couple of horses. Warming up for the Belmont Stakes is what we assume. In the end we won back most of our money when realized you could bet on a horse to win, show, or place (come in the top three). I think we left with $15 of the $20 we allotted. Pretty successful for a couple of rookies.

The next day we got the history tour of Rhonda's childhood homes. First stop in Elizabethtown was the cannon ball.

If you can see the black dot way up on the wall (where the arrow is pointing), it is a cannonball that stuck in the building during the civil war. Still there however many years later it is a must see! It was fun to get the tour of Radcliffe and see the house where the famous BBQ sauce was created and made by Grandpa Hammers. Next we went to Bowling Green to visit Uncle Dan. It was good to see him, we haven't seen him in a while. We went from there to Morgantown. This is where Grandma Ernie was buried. We got to go to the cemetary and see her headstone.

It looks really good. We were reminded how much we love her and miss her. We saw where she and Grandpa Hammers were married. There is a house called the Hammers House that is a historic site maintained by Great Aunt Nyla.

We had a good visit with her and she showed us a lot of history in that house. This is where Rhonda was born. It was really fun to learn all that family history.

Back in Louisville we saw the house Ryan lived in as a child and visited some family friends, the Montegues. We also saw the hospital where he was born. We couldn't leave without hitting the Louisville slugger factory. (No pun intended!)

That was pretty cool. I never knew so much went into the making of a bat. We got to hold and swing Micky Mantle's bat among other baseball greats. The mini-bat give away at the end of the tour was just the icing on the cake.

On our way back to Bowling Green we stopped by Mammoth Caves and took a tour. I wish I could say that we took the 6 hour crawling tour to the underground rivers but my belly is starting to poke out. Jr. and I were not up for tight spaces. The cave is HUGE and the tour was cool. Pictures kind of all look the same and don't do the cave justice.

It is one of those... you had to be there things.

We got a taste of southern foods: Fried Okra, Fried Green tomatoes, Derby Pie, Hot Browns, Hush Puppies, White Castle burgers and Waffle House waffles to name a few. We are pleased to report the mullet trend is alive and well.

(I had always assumed it was a dying art... not so!)

We enjoyed Kentucky so much Ryan is thinking about getting his MBA from University of Louisville.

After a couple of days we were both getting anxious to back to Luke. On the last day I couldn't think about him too much without tearing up. Can you blame me?

We were glad to be home and finally starting to catch up on everything we missed. Big thanks goes out to Pete and Heidi for taking care of our recently Hydro-seeded lawn and house, Mom, Micheal, Matthew & Tamy for watching Luke and Biscuit for us and last but definitely not least Rhonda for being a great tour guide and great traveling companion. Hope our next baby-moon is just as fun.

One Year Old

It has been a great week. At the beginning of the week Luke and I went to Utah to see Angie, Ryan and Madison. It was our first time meeting Madison in person. She is just as cute as we expected. It was nice to hang out with them and our other Idaho expatriates siblings.

For family night we helped Josh and Roxanne put in a garden. It felt just like the good ole' days back at home. Planting the garden was always my favorite day at the garden. Luke was on hose duty. As you can see he did a great job of it.

It was Luke's birthday this weekend. We decided to take him to the zoo for the big day. We got lucky and the weather was perfect. The trip to the zoo was a lot of fun. Pete, Heidi & Olivia came along, although Olivia slept the whole time.

Luke was so impressed he was speechless most of the time. It was really fun to watch him find the animals and then just stare and stare. The zoo was small and just right for him. We are probably going to get a season pass.

(They are EXTREMELY affordable... $65 for 6 people and 4 guest passes) After going to the zoo we took him to get some presents. Being the slacker parents that we are there was no advance planning. I don't think he'll ever know. After shopping we came home for cake.

He enjoyed the cake almost as much as the zoo. Opening presents was serious business. He just looked annoyed that I was interrupting him to ask for a smile.

He liked all his presents and is still playing with all of them. As he was playing with them I went into his room to straighten up so I didn't trip over anything later. (One of my pet peeves is stepping on little toys) We have a Mr. Potato Head set and as I was throwing the potato head family into the toy basket I had the strange sensation that I was part of Toy Story the movie. Boy w/ new toys and old toys being stuffed in the closet. I swear I saw a look of panic in Mrs. Potato Head's eyes!

We tried out his little pool today as we took a break from yard work. He loved it and I am sure will love it in the days to come.

You might find the both of us in there before too long trying to escape the heat. It hasn't even been that hot yet and I am questioning this whole August due date thing!

Monday is Memorial Day. I always like Memorial Day because the cemetery always looks so beautiful. I wish they looked that good all year. It is a nice time to remember those who have gone before us and celebrate the lives they led.

Happy Ryan-niversary!

For most of my life this is about what I have looked like.


After looking at our recent family pictures, and my new Idaho license picture, I decided I needed a new do. I scheduled the appointment planning on a cut and revival of color. Ryan called and asked me to do him a favor. He wanted me to dye my hair dark. He has been asking me to do this since we started dating. (He always said it would be like dating my evil twin.) I have been searching for the perfect anniversary gift for him. I figured after 5 years maybe it was time to humor him....


Yes, Jacob, I really did it. (Keep working on Deidre maybe she'll give in after another 4 years or so!) I actually don't mind it. I was SO ready for a change. I needed a picture to post and asked Ryan to help me out. Of course just a normal picture wasn't good enough. Here is the "glamour shot"


Unfortunately I couldn't find my feather boa but I thought wind blown hair was a nice touch. He is taking appointments if you would like your own glamour shot.

May Day!! May Day!!

the MAYflower

So, It's May, which is the "make Annalyn feel special month". May 2nd is her birthday, May 7th is our Annalynaversary (I made that word up...it's our anniversary) May 10th is Mothers day, May 15th is bring Annalyn to work day, and May 25th is tell your wife she looks good in Croc shoes day. Sorry ladies Crocs never look good. and dudes if you are wearing Crocs I hope you are either a male nurse or live in a camper year round.

We did have an eventful month. We sold one of our facilities in Idaho Falls and it has been like breaking up with a hot girl/guy who has all the looks but is crazy as a loon.

It has been a major relief and stress release but we miss the good times together, like talking about Herbie fully loaded and employees that sleep during the night shift. We will miss you Gables of Ammon but its better if we just stay friends.

Lastly we were able to go to Utah for Annalyns birthday. We got to see Callie and more importantly Luke got to see his best cousin Carter. Callie, Thanks for letting us crash at your pad. By the way, I left a bologna sandwich under the bed.

Annalyn has been wanting some family pictures before baby Bartholomew (name pending approval) makes his way here and our good family friend

Jen Eliason Turcsanski

http://jennifereliason.com/blog/

takes amazing pictures and lives in the beehive state. She took some fantastic pictures for us. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for great pictures. I will post some pictures from her blog on here but I don't know if it is kosher to do that without her permission. She did a great job of catching Luke as we see him every day.

If you get a chance, check out her blog and book her quick, she is great! And she smells nice too. Like potpourri and sunshine.

P.S. I am just learning how awesome the link feature is on blogging. Enjoy.

Spring Fever

With the weather threatening to hit the 70s spring fever is in full bloom here. I was able to get out and get started on some much needed yard work yesterday. I was so excited about getting everything done that I lay awake half the night trying to figure out ways to get things done and fit it into my schedule. Silly, I know. I planted some bulbs last fall and am proud to say that I am seeing the sprouts coming up. I noticed other peoples bulbs coming up and was sure that I planted 40 duds but lo and behold when I went to check it out they are coming up. When the flowers get some blooms I will take pictures. I am hoping this will be the summer of finishing our yard...

We had a great Easter weekend. My little sister Emily and her husband Levi graduated from BYU-I. Congratulations again you two!


We had a lot of family here for the weekend. It was fun as always to see everyone. Grandma and Grandpa Roundy even made it up.


After the festivities died out Emily and Levi took off to move to Utah for the summer and then off to Virginia in the fall. At one point I had four other brothers and sisters living in the Rexburg area. We are dwindling down to two. Thank goodness for Pete & Heidi!

My mom and little sister Tamy stayed for a couple of days after the graduation to hang out and help me with a project. My quiet book. I have been slowly accumulating ideas, fabric scraps and buttons but never quite made the leap to starting this book. Maybe I just need my mom to get me started. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them. These are the pages that we got done.



There are still more to come and it is my intention to get it done soon. (Luke is getting down right unruly during church!) Tamy stayed busy making flower clips for Heidi's baby's hair... and lets be honest the majority were for her hair.

After they left, it took me a couple of days to get back into the swing of things. Isn't that how it is? Between getting taxes done, teaching CPR classes, and getting payroll out the rest of the week flew by. Here it is Sunday night and I am not quite sure I am ready for the whirlwind of the week to start again. I keep thinking there are two tactics to deal with this... ONE: get a jump on "to do" lists and projects or TWO: do nothing productive so that maybe tomorrow you will be ready to get moving. More often than not option two wins out. So here's to hoping that was the way to go!

We're having a...

This is how people informed family and friends of what they were having before the INTERNETS.




And if you cant tell from the video, its a boy.

P.S. With my bracket victory the boy will be named Buckbeak.