Bob 'n Ronda Hunsaker - Our Family

2011-04-08T21:37:00.001-07:00

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.

It's a New Year!!!

2011-01-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here is Duncan in his cute new sweater from Grammy.

Christmas was very busy, but fun! We loved having time with friends and family. We also enjoyed spending time with Jenny and Matt since they stayed with us for a whole week this time. Christmas was good to us once again since we both got spoiled. We have finished all our classes for foster-care, but have put the rest of our papers on hold for now since Ronda had to have foot surgery and was/is laid up. Once she has recovered we will have our house inspection and then hopefully be able to start helping children have better lives.

Ronda has been trapped in the house for 11 days now since her surgery. She was celebrating this morning because she was finally able to leave the house to go to the doctor's and to the elementary. She has missed her class and they loved seeing her today for a few minutes as much as she loved seeing them. They all wanted to know when she could come back. Unfortunately for her and them she is still off for another week and a half. She will get her stitches out in two more weeks and she can't walk on it for five more weeks. She does have a cool knee scooter to get around on though (seen here).

Thank goodness, she would hate being on crutches for that long.
We are looking forward to a quick recovery hopefully! Ronda loved having some time to spend with her mom and Bob for one-on-one days this last week and a half since she couldn't be alone. Everything else 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!

Time for an update!

2010-11-08T17:28:00.001-08:00

Just for those of you that want an update on the adoption stuff--we are currently being aproved through the state to do foster-care to adopt. If all goes well, we will be eligible for a little one to enter our home come January 1, 2011. In the mean time, we are just praying that all runs smoothly and that we don't have to have to many, if any heart breaks by doing so. We will try to post updates as they come along. (We are still approved through the church too so if anything comes that way.)
We thought that we would share a video with you that we have put on our adoption blog for birth moms to see, but have struggled to get it to post. So if you would like to see it you will have to visit our adoption blog. Also, if you know anyone who is thinking of placing a baby for adoption, please share with them our adoption site address which is bobandronda.blogspot.com. The video is to a song by Michael McLean called "A Gift We Couldn't Give Each Other." It tells how we feel about adoption and a birth moms love and gift to us. We hope you enjoy this!

What fun we've been having!

2010-09-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Things around here have been rather crazy lately. Duncan is finally feeling completely better, but Ronda has went down now. Ronda's life has been rather crazy since she started teaching second grade. Bob's has been hectic since he has been working the state fair. Duncan's has been quite lonely as we have both been gone for long hours each day.

Before all this got too crazy though we were able to do some fun things together as a couple. We attended a winning game for the Bee's baseball team, the Boyz 2 Men concert at the fair, and the rodeo at the fair as well.

The Bee's game was quite eventful! Ronda caught one of the stress ball baseballs that the cheerleaders were throwing out and our section won free chips and salsa from Chilli's restuarant because the Bee's earned a triple play. We also enjoyed eating hotdogs, nachos, and ice cream in a mini baseball helmet. What a night! We can't wait for next season. We love going to the games.

The rodeo was rather uneventful since many of the athletes were having off nights and the animals failed to cooperate in many cases.

The concert was a blast since we attended it with the other two second grade teachers and their significant others. We screamed, laughed, sang, and danced all night long!

We can't wait to see how things play out for the next few weeks. Hopefully not as busy or crazy, but still fun!

Back to School!

2010-08-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well I have survived my first week of second grade! I was stressed out about teaching such little ones, but I am quickly finding out that they are the same as my fourth graders were just smaller. I have five kids that try my patients every day and that will challenge me all year, I'm afraid. They are so cute, but very troublesome at the same time.
This week has been a crazy one for us. Sunday I had to teach Relief Society as usual. Monday was the first day of school and ended up being a long one. Tuesday we had to go to Nephi for my half-sister's wedding that we found out about on Saturday. Wednesday, Duncan had surgery to be fixed, and to have cancer testing on his parts because they thought that he had a tumor that could be cancerous. We are still waiting to hear the results, but they think it looked okay on Wednesday. He is finally feeling better and up running around, which he isn't supposted to be doing yet. It is like talking to a baby when we tell him he has to sit still and not play. Ya-right! Hopefully things will start looking up for him from here on out. The poor little guy has had a rough few months!
Today I had to get up and make a dessert for our family party this evening! We are so excited to go to it, because there is never a dull moment at these parties. My mom's family knows how to have fun and how to party.
Thank goodness for Bob this week, the house is still in one piece and everyone is alive and well. I have been such a basketcase that he has had to cook, clean, take care of Duncan, and keep me from being an emotional mess. He is definitely a keeper!

2010-08-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

Well the long awaited photos of Ronda's trip to Seattle are here. Here is the latest style of travel in the streets of Pike's Place.

This is the crazy team of second grade teachers waiting for a bite to eat at the Crab Pot!

Here is the whole Seattle Crew from Oquirrh Hills Elementary! We all had a blast!

Ronda and Becky decided to try out the Root Beer at the local bar.

Ronda and Sherri decided to adventure to the top of the Space Needle. Don't worry we are only standing 570 feet above the ground!

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

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!

2010-08-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

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 both got a good chuckle while Ronda was away though, because she ate two fortune cookies with funny thoughts in them. One said, "A romantic evening awaits you tonight" and the other one said, "The one you love is closer than you think." We laughed because Ronda was on the trip with 12 other female teachers and her boss' husband. Bob was 3 states away at home.
We look forward to having some time together for the next week though before Ronda goes back to work. We will post some pictures soon!

2010-07-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

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! Luckily he hasn't had any more seizures since the first one. Hopefully it stays that way. He does get tired very easily now though and he gets nervous easier too.

Poor Duncan!

2010-06-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

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. The good news is that he doesn't have liver failure, cancer, or disease like they thought he might. The bad news is that they don't quite know what it is yet, other than a few different infections. We still have to watch him very closely, stay with him 24 hours a day, and coax him to take his 4 medications. That is the real trial right now! They will run some more tests on him in two weeks to see if things are clearing up and settling down.

2010-06-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

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 a lot of fun so far!

2010-06-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

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! We also attended the National dance competition of Ronda's former student, who did great of course! 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 going now?

2010-06-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Are we there yet?

Stopping for a drink!

Ronda and Duncan on the hiking trail.

Looking down on Moon Lake from the trail.

Bob and Duncan on the hiking trail.

Moon Lake
Duncan playing in Moon Lake.

Frog Ponds

Duncan in his pillow case sleeping bag.
Ronda at the entrance to the London Bridge City.
Bob by the London Bridge.
This week has been fun and adventurous. We have helped out and attended 3 viewings/funerals for members of our ward. Then 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 and to place 3 Geocaches for those of you that know what they are, to find while visiting over the 4th of July weekend. 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! When we were ready to head for home we stopped to even get a shot of the famous fishing hole--Frog Ponds. Duncan was so tired by the time we got home that he curled up inside our pillow case on the couch and went to sleep. We have decided that that was his new sleeping bag. We enjoyed being able to go up and enjoy nature there again.
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 possibly the animal museum at the Mandalay Bay. We will also be attending one of Ronda's 4th graders' National Dance Competitions. 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 in Cedar City and St. George.
We usually only do one trip a year, but this year seems to be quite different. We are having a blast though!

It's Vacation time BABY!!!

2010-06-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

We are both finally back to normal and doing things like we were before the baby let down.
We have finally made it to the summer time. Ronda has survived another year of school and is done for the summer this year. She will not be teaching this summer like she normally does, so we will be traveling and keeping busy in other ways instead. We will be going to Moon Lake, Las Vegas, Cedar City/St. George, and Ronda will be going with the school teachers to Seattle, Washington. We will be golfing, four-wheeling, and playing, too! Oh and then there is the yard work and house work if we have time, ha ha ha!!! We are so excited to finally have some days off together and to be able to play and relax.
We were both a little lost today, because Ronda didn't have school stuff to work on and we didn't have a lot of other things going on. We also enjoyed the day though, because we were able to eat lunch together and then take a nap! Yes, Ronda actually laid down and took a nap, too!
We will try to get new pictures up from our trips. We can't wait to leave and get away for a little while. We will both be exhausted by the time we are done traveling though! Then we will just have to kick back and relax here in town.

Thanks to all of you!

2010-03-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and understanding as we have went through this hard trial. We are both handling thing much better as the days go by. We will hopefully be updating things on our adoption page soon and then maybe we will have some more luck with finding our little one! We are just trying to get back into the swing of regular life again at this point. Bob is trying to get back out golfing again and Ronda is working on figuring out things for parent conferences at school. We have to admit, things are never boring or dull in our lives! We will hopefully get some more pictures on this page soon too! Thanks again to all of you though for your love and support! We really appreciate all of you.

2010-03-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since we last posted, but things have been busy and crazy. As many of you know we have been in contact with a birthmom since the beginning of November and were supposed to be adopting the baby when she was born in April, well things have changed. She will probably be born in the next two weeks instead, but we will not be getting her since the mom has decided to keep her now. Things are going better as we take things one day at a time. This has been really hard on Ronda especially. We are hoping to see things look up soon.

Playing Around Again!

2010-01-09T14:00:00.001-08:00

We have been having lots of fun lately! We attended a Jazz game last week and loved every minute of it. They even won!!! Ronda was being goofy as you can tell by the one picture! She even caught one of the Jazz balls that they shot into the stands. We both bought Jazz shirts to wear to the game. Then while we were there, we decided to spend our Fanzz gift cards, but couldn't find anything we wanted for us, so we bought some onesies instead. They are all cute, but Ronda likes the white one's design the best. We hope to one day use them! (Onesies and Jazz ball shown in picture)

We have decided that if and when we have kids, that our children will be spoiled and will love sports, because we attend all sorts of sporting events. We purchased Bee's tickets again this year, so we will be attending baseball games. We also hope to attend at least one more Jazz game this season. One day we hope to attend a NFL football game too! We don't quite know when that will be yet though. We have decided that we love to play and enjoy life no matter what time of year it is. We plan on playing for many more years to come!!!

(the other picture is of Ronda's huge frog she won at her work Christmas party)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

We hope this holiday season is as good for you as it has been for us! We have played, partied, and spent a lot of money! But what else should we be doing? We had fun this year buying every family member their own gift and then doing family gifts as well. We also spoiled each other. We bought our annual BEE'S baseball ticket package, Bob a new recliner, Ronda a rocking chair and foot stool for the baby's room, tickets to see the Bill Cosby show, and many individual gifts. We loved spending time with the whole Beebe family as we hosted the annual Christmas Eve party. We missed the Dave Beebe clan though. We have partied and played as much as possible this year, I think! We look forward to going up town tonight to see the lights at Temple Square! It should be a lot of fun. We miss Grandma and Uncle Dave this holiday season, but know that they were at the party and have been with us the whole time. We hope that all of you have had a great Christmas and that this holiday season will find you healthy and happy! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year's! We love you all a lot!

What happened to Summertime?

2009-08-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

We have had so much fun the last few months. We have played more than ever before. Besides going on our vacation in July we have went on 2 four-wheeling trips and many geocaching adventures. Bob has been golfing a few times and is still loving every minute of it. He even got Ronda to try hitting a few balls the last time that he hit a bucket of balls. She was actually able to hit the ball!!! We have had a lot of BBQ's and family parties this summer too. We even married off Bob's last sister this summer. We have one last adventure over Labor Day weekend planned. We will be attending a Bee's game one night, four-wheeling one day, and taking it easy the rest of the time. We can't wait to go four-wheeling again. This time we plan on taking the camera and getting pictures.
The only thing that's sad about having all this fun, is that it had to come to an end. Ronda has returned to work and is very busy with a student teacher and a 3rd/4th split class and Bob is gearing up for the state fair again. Life is busy with work stuff, but at least we had a great summer this year before the work began again!

Our Wonderful Vacation

2009-07-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

We almost forgot about Max and Ronda having breakfast together without Bob. Bob left to get more food and so Max pulled up a chair and sat down to eat with Ronda.

2009-07-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

We have just returned from a fantastic 10th anniversary trip. While we were gone we visited Zion's National Park for some hiking, St. George Temple for a session, Disneyland, California Adventure, Medieval Times dinner show, Excalibur dinner show, and Donny and Marie Osmond concert in Las Vegas.
We both needed a break and a vacation so badly and this was a great one for us. We played for 10 whole days and enjoyed every minute of it. It was so nice to have some time for just us and to be 1-on-1 with each other. As you can see in the following pictures, we had a blast! Now we are trying to figure out how to get back soon.

Ronda and her new found love at the Rainforest Cafe!

Ronda is so anxious to get in and play at Disneyland!

Bob isn't quite as excited, but is still happy.

Now it is time for some California Adventure.

Ronda and Tigger at Breakfast in Disneyland.

Bob and Tigger at Breakfast.

Ronda and a penguin at Breakfast.

Bob and the same penguin.

Ronda and Rafiki at breakfast.

Bob and Rafiki.

Ronda and Minnie at Breakfast.

Bob got a passionate kiss from Minnie at breakfast.

Ronda and Eyeore.

Bob got tackled by Eyeore.

Dale planted a kiss on Ronda and embarrassed them both.

Bob and Dale.

Chip is taking Ronda out to breakfast alone!

Chip snuck up behind Bob and scared him at Breakfast.

Weekend Fun

2009-06-07T10:41:00.001-07:00

Well, we had an exciting weekend. Bob spent most of his days off preparing for the Saturday trip to Moon Lake. Ronda focused on getting through the last week of school. She is very excited to be done with another year, since it means our summer trip is inching ever closer!

Bob's family has been going up to Moon Lake his whole life, so his brother Dave decided to have his wedding there on Saturday. Everything went well, the wedding was fabulous, the weather held out, the setting was beautiful. Everyone had fun. Dave and Shannon wanted everyone to be casual, so we were all comfortable, and there was a hot dog roast over a fire afterwards. There was a really good turn-out too. We want to say congrats to Dave and Shannon and their kids!

Three weeks of summer school for Ronda, five weeks of work for Bob, then the big summer trip! We are very excited. We will be going to Cedar City, Anaheim and Las Vegas. It should be loads of fun!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

2009-05-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

With the end of the school year coming for Ronda, she is feeling quite stressed and busy. We have also been very busy outside in the yard on the weekends. We have now dug up a bunch more weeds and have planted a strawberry patch and three new flower beds. We figure by this time next year the yard should look great! We are also so excited that the grass we planted has come in so well.
We are keeping ourselves busy having fun too! We have attended 3 Bees games, went mini golfing, and are have planned our summer vacation. Not to mention Bob's new found love of golf. He has hit a bucket of balls and played his first official golf course (9 hole--par 3). He is having the time of his life. Bob also went fishing and had a few good catches. He is having a great time. It is so nice to finally have him off on weekends, so that we can go play.

Crazy Lives We Live

2009-05-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well the year is almost out for Ronda and she can't wait to have a new group of kids. Since testing is over, the kids have shut down and just want to play around now. Ronda is very glad to have the testing over though. We have been busy lately working on yard projects, our new adoption website, as well as hosting two game nights. We look forward to hosting a movie night this weekend for Bob's work buddies and spouses. Recently we had a new addition to our family--a little female parakeet named Angel. Duncan found her in our back yard this weekend and none of the neighbors claimed her, so we took her in. She is sweet and pretty!

Poor Bob probably wishes he was still working on Saturdays now. This last weekend, we spent all day outside digging up the weed patch and planting grass seed. Next weekend we look forward to putting in the new flower beds around the yard. So much is going on, but at least we are not sitting around bored! Thank goodness we have a vacation coming up this summer. Maybe we will actually relax for a few days. Ha, Ha, Ha!!!

Catching Up

2009-04-29T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! We have been pretty busy lately, as you may have known, since our blog hasn't been updated in the last 2 months. We apologize. Everything is running smoothly as always. Ronda is ready for the school year to be over. End of year testing is no fun, even for the teacher. Bob is still working away at the airport, although they were both surprised that this time around, he was able to get 1 weekend day off! Now we can do things together on Saturday!!!

We had a fun Easter, going over to Bob's parents' house. There was an Easter egg hunt for the grandkids, which they had a lot of fun with. Here are some pictures:

This is a cute picture of nephew Jack patting new nephew Iverson's head. They were so cute to watch!

Grandma is being so helpful, making sure the kids get all the eggs.

Amy's family inspecting their treasure.

Reading time with Grandpa.

Well, that's about all for now, we will make a better effort in the future to keep everyone updated. Thank you all for keeping in touch!

Catching Up

2009-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hey there all. We hope that you were all able to make it to our new blog, not that we've really changed much. I kinda feel bad that we don't update very often, since most of you update almost daily. To catch you all up, we are still trudging through the adoption process, and recently had to have a new home visit. Our new caseworker has been great with us, and seems really cool. We will be working on a new profile for the adoption website, so when we get done with it, we will let you all know so that you can see it.

Other than that, life goes on. Ronda is still pushing forward with her challenging 4th grade students, and Bob is still doing security at the airport. We went to the RV show at the South Towne Expo Center this last weekend, which is always fun for us. We like to see the latest outdoor gear and trailers, as well as checking out some of the ultra luxury RV's. We went with my parents, and had a great time there and at dinner after. It also really makes Bob get impatient for Spring to hit. We are both looking forward to spending more quality time outoors.

That's about it for now. We just got a new digital camera, so hopefully we will post some new pictures soon. Thank you all for your support through the adoption process, and everything else you all do for us! We love you all!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

Hectic Holidays

2008-12-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hey all. Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We have had a lot going on since Thanksgiving. Let's see, where do we begin?

We got our Christmas shopping done (for the most part) early this year, braving the crowds on the day after Thanksgiving. Still, we have more shopping to do, with Christmas only 3 days away!

We had the privilege to attend the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. This was a great experience, and was very uplifting to listen to the first preseidency speak. We love their gentle sense of humor, and the way they get their message through in a loving and kind way. It was a good start to our Christmas.

Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, Ronda's uncle passed away. He was a wonderful, loving man, and will be greatly missed. He was followed by 2 more close friends from our ward; it's been a rough couple of weeks. Our hearts go out to all the families. We love you all.

Ronda had knee surgery on the 17th. She is doing great, recovering well (at least when she doesn't get up and try to do all the housework!), but there is a lot of hard work ahead. We will keep everyone posted on her progress.

On a side note, we have noticed that some of you have made your blogs private, and we respect this decision. We love keeping up with you all, so if you don't mind, we'd appreciate having permission to view your blogs. ;-)

That just about rounds out our month, it's amazing to think that so much could happen in such a short time. I guess you just don't realize how fast it goes by. Since we probably won't post again beforehand, we wish everyone a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Arizona was Fabulous

2008-11-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well to say the least this last month has been quite eventful. We moved, received a new niece as seen below, and traveled to Arizona. We had a great time in Arizona visiting Ronda's brother and sister-in-law. We saw and did a lot in Arizona. The first day we were able to go see Tortilla Flats, an old ghost town with a gold mine, and Rockin-R-Ranch. At Rockin-R-Ranch we saw a shoot-out, watched Paul and Ranee and then Mom Shepherd ride a real stuffed bull, saw a great music show and rode in a horse-drawn wagon. Then on the next day we went to Sunset Crater (a volcano) and to the ancient Pueblo ruins of the Wapatki Indians. Then on the third day, Bob relaxed and watched some football while Mom Shepherd, Ranee, and Ronda went to a scrapbooking expo. We had a great time and loved spending time with Paul and Ranee, but were ready to come home and rest. Now we are glad to have Halloween over with and look forward to hosting some fun game nights in the new house where we have much more room.

Danielle Ivy is here!

2008-10-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to be proud uncle and aunt to a new nephew and now a new niece too! As you can see we love to hold and show off Danielle. We love holding Iverson too, but don't have a picture to show off at this time. Thank goodness we have these little ones to enjoy, since we haven't got one of our own yet. Hopefully soon!!! Congrats to Karen and James and Amy and Doug for their cute new additions.

Tagged

2008-10-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we were tagged by my good friend Liz. So I guess we'd better list some things about us. Here are our Seven Random Facts About Us!

#1 - We have been married now for almost 10 years. We dated for 3 years before the wedding, so we have been together for almost 13 years! Wow! Time flies when you have fun.

#2 - We are huge fans of "Friends". We have watched all the seasons on DVD at least once and are going through it again. We never get tired of "Friends".

#3 - Ronda is a teacher. She loves to teach the kids and was meant to be a teacher from her earliest years. Bob does Airport Security with TSA. He does this because it pays well.

#4 - We love to play games. Doesn't matter what kind, card games, board games, DVD games (Scene It!), computer games (but only Bob, Ronda doesn't care for them so much.)

#5 - Our baby, Duncan, just had his fourth birthday. He was such a cute puppy and has such a fun personality. We just love our little guy!

#6 - We love to ride ATV's. We have been all over the place, and love to go to Hardware Ranch in particular. There is so much beautiful scenery up there.

#7 - We love to go to Disneyland. Our honeymoon was to Disneyland, and we've been back twice since. We are planning another trip in 2009, for our 10th Anniversary, hoping to make it a trip to remember, if we have the money! ;)

Alright, now that you know a bit more about us, we would like to tag: Jeff and Trynda, Stephanie and Brian, Dave and Laura, Harvey and Darci, Dave and Emmy, Jake and Jodi, Jennifer and Dayne. Tag, you are all it!

Tired!

2008-09-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it been busy! We are trying to get moved in to our new place, and boy is it exhausting. I realize once again why you don't move very often. It is definitely not the funnest thing to do. It's like someone was telling us recently, and I agree completely, we are moving from a 2 bedroom duplex to a 4 bedroom house, and as we unpack things, all I can think is, "where was all this stuff at our old house?" We seem to have no more room than we did before! Oh well, that's life. Anyway, thought we'd update, since it's been a few weeks. Not only that, but Ronda was telling people recently how she is the only blogger in our family since I got her started on it. Won't she be surprised? Hey, if any of you out there would like to exchange emails, if we don't have yours yet, feel free to leave us a comment. I can't believe how many people from Cyprus are on here! Drop us a line, leave a comment, let us know how to get in touch.

Is the Fair over yet?

2008-09-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Bob has been working so hard at the airport and the state fair both every day for the last 10 days. Ronda has been home alone sick most of those days. Hopefully we can get busy packing to move now this next two weeks. We are so excited to have more space and a better quality home. We hope Duncan will adjust to the move okay. Well, hi-ho, hi-ho, off to packing we go!!!

Our Big Week

2008-08-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow is Ronda's big day. She starts a new school year of teaching tomorrow. She is so excited to have a student teacher this year. Ronda will still be teaching 4th grade and hopes to have a decent year!

Also this week she turns the big 3-0 and is terrified to do so! Bob told her it is no different than any other birthday! She wants to stay 29 for the rest of her life, because she says she will really fall apart in her 30's! Hopefully that is Not True!!!

In the mean time, Bob has been asked by the school principal to make a new school website. He is working frantically on it. It will be so awesome when it is done! He also going to be working his full time job and the state fair for 10 days in September. Ronda hopes she sees him once in awhile.

We are also moving this month into the house that Ronda's mom has been living in for the last few years. That will be an exciting event, we are both looking forward to. Duncan is in for a real treat too! Hopefully he handles things okay!

We hope all goes well for the next few weeks!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

2008-08-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

We have been busy lately trying to get things ready for Ronda's school year. We went to Logan the end of July, beginning of August for a week so that Ronda could attend her Science Academy classes. She had classes all day and then we would go play at night. While we were there we went to Lava Hot Springs and played one night The next night we went to Bear Lake and walked along the beach and played in the water. We also went up to the Logan temple and took pictures one night. We wanted to do a session, but it was closed for cleaning so we took pictures instead.
After that week, it has been pretty much business ever since. We have set up her classroom, went shopping for her supplies, and stuffed her subject folders. We have also put all (10) of her science totes back together for a new year. Now she can just focus on her trainings this next week and not have to stress out about anything else. YEAH!!!
Bob has been busy learning how to golf for the last few weeks on the weekends. He has been hitting practice balls at Grandma and Bonnie's a couple nights a week. Last night he went for his very first time to the golf course and hit a bucket of balls. He is really enjoying his new hobby. Ronda is glad he found something new to do in his spare time that he really enjoys.

Four-Wheeling with Grandma

2008-07-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

This last week has been quite busy for us. Bob took off Monday and Tuesday, because we were supposted to be going four-wheeling. That didn't happen though because the truck isn't working right now, so we had to change our plans. Monday we chose to try out the new FrontRunner train from Salt Lake to Ogden. We had fun riding it and then eating in Odgen while we were there. Tuesday we chose to visit the Hogle Zoo since neither one of us had been there in years. Wednesday was especially busy since we took Mom Shepherd and Grandma Beebe up to Cascade Springs and then continued up and over the Alpine Loop into Provo Canyon. That night we had Mom S., Grandma B., and Bonnie come over to our house and eat, ride the quad on our street, and then lite off fireworks. As you can see we even got Grandma B. (who is 88 almost 89 years old) on the quad. She had a blast and so did the rest of us!

Baby Stuff

2008-07-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

We decided last night that we wanted to share the babies room with you. The room is ready and waiting for our little one to arrive whenever he/she does. We have done everything so far in unisex colors so that we are ready for whatever the baby turns out to be. The first picture shows a book that we found that lets the baby tell their story in accordance with the character of the book. The second picture shows some onesie outfits that we found that show a little attitude. Picture three is the outfit and blanket we plan on using to bring the baby home in. The next picture is the crib, changing table, and car seat. The crib is a little full right now with things we have purchased. The next three pictures are of the items in the crib including some clothes, toys, books, diaper bags, and bedding sets. The last picture is of a frame for the babies picture with a verse in it about how special the baby will be to us. We can't wait to get a baby to use and enjoy all this stuff. We know that a baby will bring us so much joy! We just wish it would happen soon.

Remembering Earlier Times

2008-07-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

We were scrolling through some old photos of Duncan the other day, and thought it would be cute to post some from his puppy days. We got him at about 7 weeks old and he was almost small enough to fit in the palms of your hands. What a cutie! It's amazing to see the difference in size between then and now. The red collar is the first one we had on him, so those are earlier pictures. The blue collar came later. The lake we are at is Moon Lake. Duncan had just finished his Giardia shots before we went, so we were able to let him play in the water. Ahhh...the memories!

2008-06-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Some fun photos from our Sunday birthday party in Millcreek Canyon. Happy 1st Jack! (Jack is our newest nephew.)

2008-06-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

Boy, one day, they are just a little bundle of joy curled up in your arms, the next they are driving...boy, how they grow up fast! ;) (Sitting with grammy in her car.)

Busy Week!

2008-06-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, we've been busy this week. Since I have Wednesday and Thursday off, we had Ang. and Guy's twin boys over Tuesday night for a sleepover. They had so much fun, we played XBOX and Pirates of the Caribbean Life, and made homemade pizzas! Friday night we went to Lagoon with Ronda's Mom and a friend from the ward. With Ronda doing summer school, and Bob at the airport during the day, it's amazing how time flies!

More Pictures

2008-06-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Some of our favorite hobbies!

The pond is Beaver Ponds south of Moon Lake. It's one of our favorite places to go camping and fishing.

Duncan and Friends

2008-06-13T04:07:00.000-07:00

Duncan and his girlfriend. We went to visit her family yesterday and snapped a photo of the lovely couple sitting on Ronda's lap. Duncan is on the left and Lily is the black and tan on the right. Ain't she cute?

Busy, Busy!

2008-05-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

Boy, things have been so busy around here. Anyway, here are some pictures to get things started. As you will notice, we have no children yet. Because of this, our cute little dachshund, Duncan is VERY spoiled! Dave and Emmy, you know what I'm talking about!

Our Family (currently)

Duncan taking a moment to reflect...

Done reflecting, time to rest.

Airborn doggie!!!

Playin' in the river. (Alpine Loop in the fall)

Say cheese!

Hope you enjoy the pictures! More to come later.

We're Here!

2008-05-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

This is our official welcome to our first blog. We hope you will enjoy visiting once in a while. Since we are currently cooking dinner, and since Bob fancies himself a master chef (but only in his own kitchen), we are making this one short and sweet. Thanks to all who have helped pass out our pass-along cards. We will also be posting a link to our website on here shortly and will have more information for prospective birth parents soon. Good to be here and hope to keep in contact with you all soon!