Bob and Ronda - Our Family

Where did the time go?

2011-04-08T22:17:00.004-06:00

Well since we posted last time, Ronda has returned to work and is doing well. Duncan got his cast off and is running around like nothing ever happened. Bob is trying to adjust to his new yucky shift at work. We now only see each other on Wednesday and Thurdsay nights since Bob is working nights. It is sucky, but we will just have to enjoy every minute we do have together. This is the first time since we got married 11 1/2 years ago that we have worked opposite shifts. It has been quite an adjustment for both of us. Poor Duncan is trying to adjust too!
We are looking forward to the summer so that we can spend more time together in the mornings and go vacationing/camping. We are also looking forward to hopefully starting to do foster care in the near future. We have completed our papers and are just waiting to finish the house inspection and any little detailing that they request. Hopefully soon we will be a mommy and daddy to little ones and that Duncan will have a little sister or brother to play with daily. We can't wait!!! We will try to keep things updated as they happen.

A new year!

2011-01-25T21:58:00.007-07:00

Here is Duncan in his cute new sweater from Grammy.

Christmas was very busy, but fun! We loved having time with friends and family. Christmas was good to us once again since we both got spoiled. We have finished all our classes for foster-care.

Everything is going great for us! We still love every minute we have with family members and friends. We can't wait for the day that we can have little ones in our home though!

Some photos of the past

2010-11-06T11:46:00.005-06:00

We have decided to make a music video to a song we found by Michael McLean called the "The Gift We Couldn't Give Each Other." This song shows how we feel about the adoption process and the birth mother that gives us a chance. We hope that this will also help you to know us better. We hope you enjoy it.

Fall Time Fun!

2010-09-21T17:41:00.006-06:00

Well, things have been rather crazy for us the last few weeks. Ronda has been adjusting to teaching in the second grade and Bob has been busy at the state fair. Before the fair we were able to spend a night at the Bee's baseball game together. We had a lot of fun eating nachos and hotdogs, cheering for our winning team, and eating ice cream from a mini baseball helmet. During the game our section won coupons for free chips and salsa at Chilli's restuarant and Ronda was able to catch one of the stress ball baseballs that the cheerleaders were throwing out. Overall we had a great time and were able to destress for a few hours. Since then we have attended the rodeo and the Boys 2 Men concert at the state fair. Things have been busy, but fun as we have been able to do a lot of activities in the evenings. We can't wait to see what the next few weeks has in store for us!

Back to Work!

2010-08-28T13:50:00.002-06:00

Well Ronda has finished her first week of the school year in second grade. She loves teaching, so she was able to survive the challenges that came this week. The kids are so little compared to her fourth graders she usually teaches. They are a lot cuter too since most of them don't have attitudes yet!
As for Duncan (our dog), he survived his surgery this week and is up and running around again. We are so glad to have him feeling better now days. He really scared us there for a while. We hope that all the tests come back okay finally and that he will be with us for a long time. We love to watch him with little kids and babies because he is so loving and cuddly with them. We can't wait to see how he cares for and loves a baby of our own one day. Hopefully soon!
Bob has been being Mr. Mom for Duncan this week since he had his days off right after Duncan's surgery. He is so cute with Duncan and will do great with a baby too! He has also been a great help with getting Ronda through this week. Thank goodness he is very patient, because she has been quite stressed out!

2010-08-20T16:13:00.005-06:00

Here are a few of Ronda's Seattle pictures. The first is of her and the other two second grade teachers. The second is of her and her friend that teaches third grade next door to her. The last on is of the latest style of transportation in Seattle!

Now things are back to normal at home again. Ronda is back to work and has her classroom set up for another year. She will start teaching second grade on Monday and is a little nervous to have such little students. She met them last night at conferences and they all seem so quiet compared to the attitude-filled fourth graders she usually teaches. We both think this will be a new challenge for her, but a fun one!
During conferences last night Ronda had two very fun experiences--the first one was that the student we went to see dance in Las Vegas came and gave her a shirt from her nationals competition. Ronda thought that was so sweet, she will miss teaching her! Ronda says she is the ideal student and that she would love to have a class full of her. The second thing that happened is that she had one of her students from 4 years ago come back to visit and ask if she could come in and help Ronda after her school gets out 4 days a week. Ronda was so excited first to see her, but second that she wanted to come back to help her. The girl could hardly read when Ronda had her in fourth grade, and now she is in straight honors classes. She said that Ronda made her like school and also made her want to learn. That was the best pay off Ronda could ever have as a teacher.

Bob has been busy golfing once a week lately and loving every minute of it. His famous words when he gets home everytime is that he lost ___ balls in the water. I always just laugh. Now he has me going out to hit a bucket of balls with him every once in awhile. I enjoy that, but now he wants me to go play golf with him on the course. I told him not yet!

As for Duncan, he is stuck to his mom's (Ronda's) hip since she has been home. She can't go anywhere in the house without him tagging along. Thank goodness she doesn't mind!

2010-08-04T11:47:00.002-06:00

Ronda is finally home for the summer. She went to Cedar City, Utah for 4 days of July to attend a teacher training. Now she just returned from another 3 day teacher training in Seattle, Washington. Bob and Duncan have been home during both of Ronda's trips. Bob has been enjoying many rounds of golf with the relatives in the past few weeks though. All this traveling has been hard on all of us because we haven't been apart from each other, for more than a day, since we got married. We love spending time together and with Duncan. Duncan is a momma's boy and missed his mommy an awful lot when she was gone. Now he won't leave her side since she got home late last night.
We will post pictures soon!

Fishing with Duncan

2010-07-06T12:16:00.002-06:00

We were unable to go camping at Moon Lake this year due to scheduling for Ronda's work and Duncan's health, so we decided to just go up for the day. While we were there, we decided to go fishing with Bob's parents and family. Ronda caught a fish and after we got it off the line and on the stringer out in the water, Duncan decided to go get it and put it back on the shore. Everytime we would throw it out he would go in and retrieve it and bring it back to the shore. The video shows this. The last time it had sunk in the water and so he put his whole head under water and pulled it out to bring it back to shore. He was not going to let his mom's fish get back away no matter what. It was nice to see him playing and having so much fun though after the crazy and scary week we had had with him. Hopefully he will make a full recovery. He has to go back in today for more tests and rechecks on his status. We are hoping for the very best!

Poor Duncan!

2010-06-27T21:15:00.002-06:00

This week has been a hard one for us. Duncan, our dog, had a major seizure this last Tuesday and so he had to spend two days in the pet hospital having tests ran. Ronda was luckily there when he had it and was able to rush him to the pet hospital for testing and treatment. We really were afraid we would lose him and that would not be good. He is our life for now and the only baby we have to love and spoil. Due to us having to be with him 24 hours a day for the next week or two, Bob will not be going with Ronda to Cedar City and St. George for her training. He will stay home to care for Duncan and Ronda will only stay down there for as long as necessary to attend her training. We hope all goes well for the three of us, Ronda is really having a hard time leaving.

Oh, no! The trip is over.

2010-06-20T12:04:00.014-06:00

On Friday we got up early and headed for the Hoover Dam. We got there before the tours began, so we didn't have to wait at all. We went in the first group. This is the view of Ronda going over to peek out the view hole in the dam wall. Here is what she saw--the new bridge.

When we finished the tour, we wandered around and took more pictures.

Then we headed back to the Excaliber. We decided to play some games there and to wander around some more on the strip. We saw the jelly bean sculpture of the Statue of Liberty.

Then we took a walk over to the Luxor and took some pictures from the outside.

Once we were done strolling around, we headed back in for another trip to the Tournament of the Kings dinner show. Last time we were cheering for the King of Norway, tonight we cheered on the King of Ireland. He was a lot more fun to watch. Ronda kept booing the other kings and they would pull faces at her to tease her. We had front row seats both times. Come to find out, that day marked the 20th Anniversary of the Excaliber Hotel and Casino as well as of the show itself, so they did a special presentation after the show. This is the whole cast, cooks, and crew of the show at the presentation. The kings you cheer for are on their horses in the back. The King of Norway is in orange and black (fourth from the right). The King of Ireland is in green (third from left).

They also brought out a 300 pound cake in the shape of the casino. Here it is! Unfortunately we didn't get any!

Here is a picture of the castle/stage from our seats. We had a great time!

Unfortunately, Saturday we had to head home. We got to see our little man, Duncan that night though, so it was worth coming home for. Here he is waiting to see us.

Here he is all worn out from helping us unload and unpack.

Our trip has been so cool!

2010-06-17T18:38:00.006-06:00

Here is a picture of our home for the next few days--the Excalibur!

We attended the Excalibur Tournament of the Kings Dinner show last night and had a blast even though our knight was killed off early in the battles. Dinner was great and the crowd was a lot of fun to be a part of. Merlin even came and sat behind us for the start of the show.

After the show we walked around and visited the Bug Village in the Bellagio hotel. It makes you feel very small, like you are a bug. Then we visited Caesar's Palace to watch the dancing statues presentation. We were in the front row and could feel the flames and feel the water splash when it was dancing. We love attending the small, free, family-oriented stuff.

Today, we attended the Shark's Reef exhibit at the Mandalay Bay hotel. It was so cool to stand in the tunnel of the shark tanks and to see the stingrays and other animals.

They really make it feel like you are part of the ocean! Tonight we plan on walking over to the M & M factory and the ABC store from Hawaii. Those will be fun to see!

Where are we headed next?

2010-06-16T16:47:00.002-06:00

This week has been fun and adventurous. Ronda finished cleaning out her classroom and left the school for the summer, so we headed off to some fun travel spots.

First of all, we went to our favorite camping spot at Moon Lake in the Uintah Mountains for a little hike. Duncan couldn't wait to get there and get out of the car. Once we arrived we got out and headed up the trail. Duncan had to stop and get a drink from the small runoff stream. Then we all continued up the trail taking turns taking pictures of the views and scenery. When we finally arrived back down at the beach after the hike, we let Duncan cool off by playing in the lake. He loved it! He was so tired though by the time we got home that he curled up inside our pillow case and went to sleep. We have decided that that was his new sleeping bag.

Next, we headed off to Las Vegas to go sight seeing for our anniversary. We love to go to Vegas and see the the Tournament of the Kings Dinner show. They do a horse show while you are eating dinner. It is a lot of fun! We also went to Lake Havasu to see the London Bridge and the Candle Shop that makes candles right in front of you. That was a lot of fun too! Tomorrow we plan on visiting the local sights and the animal museum at the Mandalay Bay. Then on Friday we will head down the the Hoover Dam to see the new bridge/highway they have built and to visit the gift shops there. On Saturday we plan on coming home to rest and then in another week we will be off to adventure again.

Yeah, we made it to summertime!

2010-06-06T16:44:00.002-06:00

Well, Ronda finished the school year Friday and now just has to finish cleaning her classroom for next year, then it will be time to play. She always cries at this time of year when she tells her class good-bye. She loves to teach, but does need a break every summer just like the kids do! We can't wait to finally have some days off together, since Bob has two of the week days off. We have some fun plans and vacations for this summer, but nothing that couldn't involve a little one if we received one. In fact they may be even more fun if we had a little one with us.

Summer is coming!

2010-05-29T10:31:00.003-06:00

Things have been very busy and crazy since our last post. Bob has been off golfing, Ronda has been busy with her school activities, and we have been both trying to get some new photos for our adoption website profile. We hope that our caseworker can get it all updated soon and then they will be able to be seen on the page.

We are still looking forward to one day starting our family with a little one. We can't wait to have a little one join us on our vacations, camping trips, and all other activities. We have been attending a lot of Ronda's students' dance competitions and recitals and can't wait to be able to one day attend our own children's activities. For now we enjoy watching other children in her class and our nieces and nephews events.

Next month we will be going on vacation and out of town for Ronda's work training, so we will hopefully get some fun pictures to attach to our blog. For now here is one of Ronda and Duncan having a little snuggle time.

What are we up to now?

2010-03-12T21:29:00.003-07:00

Over the last two months many things have happened. First we have each found new hobbies. Bob is getting better at golf everyday and has now talked me into hitting a bucket of balls with him every once in a while. I on the other hand has actually sat down and been cross-stitching more often. I will have to take a picture of my latest finished product. It is called "puppy love!" It is amazing how much you relax, when you actually stay home sometimes and just do things you love.
Another thing that has happened is that I have started working on yard work. Our flowers that we planted last year are coming in great this year. I transplanted some of our irises to some bare spots in the flower bed. I hope that they make it!
Bob has been rather lonely some nights since I have been taking a college class to help renew my teaching license and we are glad that, that will finally be over this next week.
Last of all, we have purchased a Wii to get us both back into shape. It is working both of us harder than ever. We love playing it though. I dance and do some of the games while Bob does Kung Fu and some of the games. We are both losing weight and getting in shape. Hopefully we can keep it up!

Fun Times!

2010-01-09T14:28:00.003-07:00

We decided to purchase baby gifts for Christmas this year and to place them under the tree. We bought onesies, pj's, books, toys, and washclothes. Hopefully they will be used in the near future.

We recently went to a Jazz game with some relatives and had a great time. Ronda even caught a Jazz ball that was shot into the stands. While we were there we decided to buy some baby onesies since we plan on teaching our children to enjoy sports and to be Jazz fans like we are. (The onesies and Ronda's ball are shown) We also want to be more prepared than we are now with clothes, toys, and books for the baby, so we are starting to pick up some every where we go.

We have even purchased Bee's tickets for the upcoming season as well and plan on teaching them to love Bee's baseball. We hope that we can teach our children to enjoy life and to have fun in good ways like we do. We hope that they learn to love nature and family too! We have also included pictures of Ronda, pulling faces at the Jazz game, the huge frog she won for the baby's room at her work Christmas party, and the items we purchased in Disneyland this last summer on our trip. As you can tell we have been busy having fun for a while now! We plan on continuing to have fun, we just want to include a little one in the fun.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!

2009-12-26T10:22:00.002-07:00

It has been a while, but things have been busy and exciting. We have attended multiple dance recitals for our neice and for 2 of Ronda's fourth grade students. We have also attended a choir concert for our nephew last week. Then as usual, we attended the annual family Christmas party on Christmas Eve. That is probably Ronda's favorite part of the whole holiday season. -Bob also enjoys it though. We love this time of year, because we get to spend so much time with family and friends! We still can't wait to share the fun with a little one though. That will be even better! Tonight we are planning on going to see the lights up town. That will be fun and eventful too! We hope this holiday season finds all of you happy and healthy and that you are enjoying it as much as we are! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year's!

New Stuff

2009-11-10T12:13:00.005-07:00

We wanted to show off some of Ronda's handiwork for the baby. I really like cross-stitched pictures, so she decided she would do some stuff for us. Here is her first project.

I went through some pictures today and found that we have a picture of Ronda from the day we went riding ATV's. Since she got to do the last post, I get to do this one and here is the picture.

Duncan and his friends

2009-11-04T07:44:00.005-07:00

We were looking through some pictures of Duncan recently and realized how protective and playful he is with children. Here are some of our favorite pictures of Duncan and his buddies.

Duncan and Danielle

Duncan and Alyssa

Duncan and Alyssa again.

2009-10-03T08:02:00.003-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend we were fortunate enough to be able to go for a fun ride on the ATV's. We always have a good time on them. As you can see we had our drinks and lunches packed to enjoy the day on the trails.
We only wish the weather would have held out better for us, but we had fun while we were able to ride.
Now we will have to look forward to next years trails, since it is getting to cold to ride.

Yeah, the fair is finally over and Bob gets to be home again. The fair was a lot of work this year and very stressful for him, so we are glad that it is over. Aren't the baby calf and the mama so cute though.
We are glad to have times apart sometimes though, just to see how much we really miss each other. Thank goodness they don't happen very often!

Now in the mean time, we are just trying to keep busy with Ronda's work, temple visits, and family functions. We are glad to have some slower down time for a change.

Summers gone and Fall is in the air

2009-08-31T17:44:00.002-06:00

The entire past month has been full of fun and adventure for us. We have, as seen before been on a vacation, we also went four-wheeling for two days. Then we went mini golfing and golfing too. We have one more four-wheeling trip planned for Labor Day weekend. Now that the summer is over though, Ronda has returned to teaching for the time being. We have arranged our schedules to better fit having a little one in our home. We hope that we can start the adventure of raising a family soon!

What a Vacation!

2009-07-21T11:43:00.004-06:00

We just returned from a great trip to Disneyland, California Adventure, Las Vegas, Zion's National Park and St. George. We had a blast, but both wished that we could have shared it with our children. We were able to be kids again the whole time. We plan on taking our children to all of these places in the future. We hope that that day will be soon!

We are getting ready to enter Disneyland.

Ronda and her friend Tigger at breakfast.

Ronda and Minnie at breakfast.

We are getting ready to enter California Adventure. "F" is for Fantastic Bob!

Bob and Tigger at breakfast.

Bob and Minnie at breakfast.

Ronda and Dale at breakfast. Dale kissed Ronda and embarrassed her.

Bob and Dale at breakfast. Dale snuck back up later and scared Bob.

Baby's Room Photos

2009-06-16T17:33:00.004-06:00

Changing Table/Crib

Crib

Crib/Bookshelf

Bookshelf/Chair

Chair/Dresser

Our wants are growing even stronger

2009-06-15T07:22:00.003-06:00

As we watch our neices and nephews grow older every day, it makes us want one of our own even more. This past few weeks we have seen, held, played with and enjoyed our neices and nephews more than usual. We just keep praying that our little one will join us soon. We love holding and loving on Duncan (0ur dog), but can't wait to have a little one to go with him. He loves children, especially babies. He cuddled up to our neice and went to sleep with her this past weekend. The joke among our family is that when we do get a baby, it will be like having twins because of Duncan. One of us will hold him and the other the baby. Duncan will gladly take naps with the baby too.

We are ready!

2009-05-30T10:03:00.002-06:00

We have been working really hard lately to make sure we are ready at a moments notice. We have the nursery all set up and the car seat ready. We also have the diaper bag as ready as it can be. We hope to receive the call soon, but we'll never know until it happens. We are so excited, but know that it has to be the right timing and child.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you that look at our page during your decision making time. Thanks for even giving us a chance by looking at our profile and blog. We love and appreciate all your thoughts and time.

A Few of Our Favorite Activities

2009-05-12T21:44:00.006-06:00

Our Mini Golfing Match

Our last trip to Disneyland

We love playing games.

A dance off has begun!

Bowling for fun!

Still Waiting...

2009-05-12T21:37:00.004-06:00

We have been working really hard this past little while with our jobs and look forward to some family time. We just can't wait to have a little one join us. Hopefully soon!!! We know that when the time is right and the right baby comes along we will be picked, but we just can't wait for that day.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who is looking to place a baby or to anyone who knows of someone who is.
We know that we will forever be indepted to the birthmom for giving us the priceless gift that we can't get any other way.
We love doing things together as a couple, but would love to share that joy and those experiences with a little one our own.

Update

2009-04-30T13:56:00.002-06:00

Hi guys! We have noticed that some people have not yet switched their blogs. This is, of course, your choice, but this blog will not be the one for family updates. It is merely to show us to prospective birth mothers. If you want to follow our family updates, please send us an email, or leave a comment on this blog, and we can email you with our new blog address. Thank you all that have changed your addresses. We really appreciate everyone's help.

All New Blog

2009-02-13T11:21:00.001-07:00

Hello all! Quite a surprise I am sure, if you haven't yet received an email about our new blog. Per the advice from our caseworker, we have moved personal information to a new blog, and this one will become solely for adoption. We decided to keep this one as the adoption blog since all the cards we recently handed out have this address on it. We will be checking this site often and keeping it updated also, so if you don't hear from us about our new blog address, please feel free to leave us a comment, and we will get back to you. Thank you all for your patience.