America and all of her freedoms! The last year and a half I have been able to spend a lot of time back East immersed in American History. It was so fun to be able to experience so much of our history, and it has really made me more grateful for the miracle of freedom. While Aaron's family was visiting us in Baltimore his brother shared this YouTube video with us and I still love it. The men who stood up for our rights at the risk of their own lives and livelihoods are such an inspiration. Thank you to all who have made our freedom secure - from the past, present and future!
Does anyone else ever feel like they don't have anything to blog about that anyone would want to read? Today is such an occasion for me, so I decided to pass along something I ran across on a blog the other day. This is particularly for all of you pregnant friends out there, but if anyone else sees another use for this no one is stopping you! :)
I found a "free offer" promotion code for nursing covers on a health blog the other day and it looks like a great deal. All you have to pay for is shipping and you get one of these:
Although I'm still not sure how I feel about the name of the brand, Udder Covers you can click for the website: http://www.uddercovers.com/
The promo code is "Thanksgiving" and will take $32 (the cost of the cover) off at checkout. You can also use this to get the 3-piece gift set - it will just cost you$5 plus shipping.
It didn't say when the promotion would end, so it could stop at anytime. I just thought I'd pass this along to those of you who may be interested. Enjoy!
As background let me explain that the building I work in has a gym that is open to employees really inexpensively. When I started working there in August I thought it would be a great way to break up the day, and as a bonus we were allowed 30 minutes of work time 3 times a week to. Awesome, right? Those were my thoughts exactly.
A couple weeks after I started I brought a bag of gym clothes and meant daily to sign up for the gym. I kept forgetting and putting if off until one day my friend and next door cubicle neighbor invited me to go try out the boot camp-type workout class. I hesitated a little as I hadn't been feeling the best and I had only eaten a little breakfast pretty early that morning (and it was now noon). I rebuked myself for procrastinating once again and decided to go...
It seemed to be going well for a while. The class was pretty intense (even the people who go multiple times a week said it was intense), but I was impressed with myself for how well I was doing. I was only going to stay for 30 or 40 minutes, but as I got into it I just decided to stay... and that my friend was the beginning of the end. About 45 minutes into the class I started to feel a little light headed. I figured I was just over doing it a little on my first day back to the gym, so I went and got a drink. I came back to the floor and starting again but the light headedness got worse, so I sat down. The teacher immediately rebuked me and told me not to sit down - that all of my blood would go to my butt. So I stood up and got another drink. The next thing I know my other friend was telling me I don't look so good and I'm slowly making my way to the floor once again as I tell her I'm not feeling that well. The teacher freaks out as I tell her I'm fine I just feel like I'm going to pass out so I'm going to lie down. I think I almost gave the poor woman a heart attack. I told her I was fine that I probably just hadn't eaten enough today since I had a small breakfast so early this morning, but she was worried. I almost died of embarrassment, but I recovered, changed and made it make to my cubicle.
The teacher came up to check on me and I had to reassure her that I was fine. She said that she wanted me to come back to the class, but she made me promise to get a physical first just to make sure everthing was ok. I agreed to both and although I have been to the doctor for my not-so-yearly physical I have yet to make it back to the gym. Maybe one day... maybe.
So after more than 2 months I hope that people will still read our blog. I can't believe I've let it slide for so long. I'd like to say my neglect has been because I've been so crazy busy I just haven't had time, but I can't even think of a great excuse. So I'll just jump into what's been going on.
We did make it to the State Fair and it was a blast! Complete with pig racing, deep fried oreos and the big yellow slide! :) It lived up to all my expectations as usual.
For Labor Day the Madsen clan (sans Melissa & Chris) migrated south. We landed in St. George Friday night to see Tarzan at Tuacahn, and it was awesome. It was such a great venue to showcase the gorillas and all of the trapezee-ing, etc. We even stayed around after the show and got pictures with the cast. I'll have to track them down because some of them are pretty awesome. From St. George we continued south to Las Vegas to play with the Newson family and celebrate with our good friends Liz & her new husband Dave. They are so cute together and we're glad we could come down to join in the festivities.
Aaron's grandpa, Aaron Bruce Mendenhall, Jr passed away on October 1st. It was sad to see him leave us, but it was amazing how everyone could feel it was his time. His whole family gave a beautiful funeral service and it was a great experience to learn of his influence in so many people's lives. Aaron's sisters came in from England and Detroit for everything and it was good to be able to spend some time all together. We also got to meet baby Aspen for the first time and she is a doll!
We made it to our first BYU Football game of the season (and probably only live game this year). It was the rainy Wyoming game, but it was a win so we'll take it! :) It wasn't bad once we got there and we sat it the awesome Madsen seats! So no complaining here! Go Cougs!
Halloween was quite exciting as well. We were quite the party animals as we made it 2 parties and were too late for the 3rd we wanted to go to. It was a lot of fun. My friend Jessica lent me an awesome pirate wench costume and then Aaron found all the makings of a pirate costume as well, so we were quite the fearsome couple. :) The pics of the two of us must be on Aaron's camera, but here are Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf (aka my parents) and two of my sisters Carly, Erika and me.
We've also had some fun playing with our nieces and nephews lately. We've had a lot of fun building forts in the living room. One day we'll build a really good one, but this will work for now as our hiding place from the evil skeksis (see The Dark Crystal if you don't know what that is :)).
More will follow and in better time than before (although that won't be hard to do). May you all have a happy feasting season! Bring on the holidays!
First off I have to announce that we are the proud aunt & uncle of a beautiful baby girl, Aspen Riley Pruett! We are so excited for Aaron's sister Megan & her husband Ben as they embark on the wonderful adventure that is parenthood! We can't wait to meet her! She is just so precious!
Now after that precious introduction and a much longer than anticipated hiatus I am finally writing again. We have been back in Utah for just about 2 months and it has been quite crazy, but great. I thought we would get home and have tons of time to just play with everyone we haven't seen forever, but that's not really how it has worked out. We haven't even been grocery shopping since we've been home if that tells you anything...well beside the occasional quick trip to grab a needed item for a party or something. July was brimming with fabulous family events that included a trip to Colorado for cousin Preston's wedding, the Madsen Family Campout at Bear Lake, family BBQ's, moving into Aaron's parents' house, Aaron joining his dad's practice and a trip to Fish Lake (not quite in that order). We played right up until the time that I started my new job at the Utah Department of Health.
I feel so blessed to have found such a great job so quickly! I'm working as an epidemiologist and data manager for the Utah Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. Basically I work with data to track health outcomes and environmental hazards. If you want to know more you can ask me about it. :) I was pretty lucky to take over the job from my friend John who just moved to North Carolina to pursue a PhD - the luckiest part was the 2 week overlap we had for John to impart as much of his wisdom as I could absorb. I still feel like I'm really slow, but I'm starting to get more and more comfortable with what I'm doing. And I really like everyone I work with so that's always a huge bonus!
Aaron is also settling into his role as a dentist. So if any of you are in need of a new dentist search no more! :) My sister Erika was his first official patient of his own; I'll have to get a testimonial from her before she comes in again to get her cavity filled! If you're interested you can check out the practice's website at www.drroundy.com. It should be updated soon with Aaron's information as well, but the phone numbers are the same! He's also looking for somewhere else to work for a day or two a week, so I'll keep you all posted on how that goes!
There's so much to write about and pictures to post that I can't do it all in one sitting, so the anticipation continues. I'll write again soon though. Until then...
To say I'm a little behind would be quite the understatement. I hope I can capture adequately everything that has been going on. Just a warning - that will probably involve way too many pictures because I love them so much!
Way back for Memorial Day we went to visit some of my close friends from my mission who now live in Norfolk, VA. We stopped at Colonial Williamsburg on our way and had a blast traveling back in time.
I can't find my other pictures with Chris & Lori right now, but they took us down to Virginia Beach and around the naval base and then we enjoyed some time at the beach!
This is out of order, but just a couple of days before we left Baltimore we went to our last O's game with our good friends the Michael & Marilyn. My sisters, Erika & Carly came for a visit and we had a great time taking them around DC & Baltimore seeing all the sites. The SmithsoniansThe monuments Baltimore - the Inner Harbor The National Cathedral My friend Betsy from work and I organized an IGTC O's Game Outing for our office. I still need to get the picture of all of us from Lisa, but it was really fun to get out of the office and have some fun together. I already miss everyone at IGTC. The weekend before we went to Jamaica we took one last trip up to PA to visit my aunt & uncle and their family up there. We drove up to a pay pond near the Poconos and had some adventures fishing with the kids!
It was so cute to see them cast their lines and then get so excited when the fish would bite (on pretty much every cast) and then real them in and get a little freaked out! We loved it!
JAMAICA! We finally made it to our belated honeymoon trip just a few days before we drove home at the end of June. It was pretty much blissful!
We snorkeled and swam in the warm Caribbean Sea! Ate a ton of delicious food! Took many romantic strolls on the beachDid some more snorkeling and snuck some paparazzi pictures in between our hours of laying out and reading on the beach!
Experienced 6 gorgeous Jamaican sunsets on the beach and pretty much wished we never had to come home! It was a great trip!THE DRIVE HOME!! In the 3 days we had in Baltimore after we got back from Jamaica we sold/gave away all of our furniture and packed up the rest of our possessions in our little red Corolla and set out for our 7 day journey across the country.
Stop 1: Detroit! We drove up to Detroit to visit Aaron's sister, Megan and her husband Ben. We had a blast crashing residents' parties and eating Middle Eastern food!
Eastern Market was seriously amazing. I wish they something like that here in Utah!
The Henry Ford Museum. This is the bus that Rosa Parks refused to move on. Aaron and I are reenacting a picture taken on the bus that's on display in the museum. Stop 2: Nauvoo!
The Joseph Smith homestead The Nauvoo Temple! We were able to go on a session while we were there and it is such an amazing place!
Stop 3: Mission Lands: Independence & Topeka I couldn't drive across the country without stopping to visit people I love and miss from my mission! We were able to go to lunch with Pat & Jerry Moore - I'll have to tell their story some time it is absolutely amazing! And it was so fun too see them!
Visiting the Craft's in Independence!
Celebrating my birthday in Topeka with the Paz & Fechter's! Thank you for making it so special!! The Ashley's in Topeka were generous enough to let us stay at their house and we loved seeing them too! It was way too quick of a drive through, but it was so fun to see everyone we were able to!
Stop 4: Colorado We somehow escaped Aaron's aunt and uncle's in Loveland, CO without taking any pictures, but we are so grateful they let us stay at the Hotel Roundy. :) It was so fun to get to know more of Aaron's family and we're excited to visit again this weekend for Preston's wedding!
We finally made it home and unloaded our car. It doesn't look like that much but imagine being crammed in a little Corolla with all that stuff for a week... :) It was definitely an adventure!
The end. For now at least... I'll give you all some time to recover from this monstrous post!
PS - For those of you who made it to the end of the post and are in Utah, we're hoping our life will calm down a little bit soon so we can play! I'll update more on what we've been up to since being in Utah soon!
Sorry I've been a total slacker on updating the blog. The last few weeks have been pretty packed and we're leaving early tomorrow morning for our cross-country drive so a full update is still going to be delayed. I wanted to leave a little teaser for our Jamaica trip though, just to get you all excited! We had a blast and more pictures and full report is to come. Yeah mon!
On Friday, May 21, 2010 Aaron Preston Roundy was bestowed the degree Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Baltimore School of Dental Surgery. To honor Dr. Roundy on this great accomplishment we had a lot of family in town to celebrate. It was so fun to spend time with everyone and to be able to share this with those we love. We are all so proud of you Aaron!
Aaron's dad got to hood him and it was so fun to watch them have that moment together! (PS - the lighting at the convocation was horrible, so sorry the pics aren't the greatest)
The Dr's Roundy! Brayden and me entertaining ourselves while we were waiting for things to get going... I was lucky enough to swoop in and catch the last few months of dental school, but Aaron's parents are really the ones who supported him all the way through! Thank you!! Rocking the Lilac!
The whole party crew! Thank you everyone for coming out! It was so fun to have you!!
We sort of missed the commencement processional, but don't worry we got this great picture and made it to the arena in plenty of time!
The LDS Academy of Dentists plus wives (I would add and husband, but Michael was MIA). Aaron giving us a tour of the state of the art facilities as the school between convocation and commencement.
The end of all the formal ceremonies... hooray for being done!It was such a great week and I am so proud of Aaron! Thank you to everyone who helped make this such a special occasion! Hooray for being done with school... FOREVER!!
To celebrate the union of Preston & Emily Duffin that took place in Boise, ID a few weeks earlier Aaron and I along with our friends Justin & Beth made our way down to Fredericksburg, VA by way of Harpers Ferry, WV. Our friend Kristen told us Harpers Ferry was a must see and it was definitely worth the detour. Its a quaint little historic town that played a role in the Civil War as the site of John Brown's Raid. Enjoy the pics!
An old-fashioned billboard!
The Catholic church on the hill - gorgeous!
Looking back toward the town and the railroad tracks.
Some geese with some cute little goslings.
Down by the river... so pretty!
Celebrating with Dr. & Mrs. Duffin at the Gauntlet Country Club in Fredericksburg. Congrats!
The lovely couple! Good luck in Ohio, Korea & Hawaii. We'll definitely be visiting! :)
Although I'm still not sure how I feel about the name of the brand, Udder Covers you can click for the 
Halloween was quite exciting as well. We were quite the party animals as we made it 2 parties and were too late for the 3rd we wanted to go to. It was a lot of fun. My friend Jessica lent me an awesome pirate wench costume and then Aaron found all the makings of a pirate costume as well, so we were quite the fearsome couple. :) The pics of the two of us must be on Aaron's camera, but here are Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf (aka my parents) and two of my sisters Carly, Erika and me.
