Teaser...

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!

Lilac - the Color of Dentistry

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!!

Harpers Ferry & The Duffins Together 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! :)

Paintballing

Here are a few pics from our paintballing adventure a few weeks ago. I have to say I was a little nervous going for the first time, but I psyched myself out so much that there was no way it could be as bad as I had imagined. It turned out really fun! I left with only one bruise, but Aaron wasn't so lucky. He had all sorts of welts... he must have been a little more daring than me...

CSA's

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a flyer in an elevator at work that featured a few pictures of vegetables, a website and the words "Community Support Agriculture." I was instantly intrigued and jotted down the website. I am now completely enthralled by this idea.

To begin let me explain a little bit more of what community supported agriculture (CSA) is. CSA is basically a bringing together of the farmer and the consumer. A consumer (for example, you) is basically given an opportunity to invest in the farm. You purchase a share of the crops up front (around March-April) and then pick up a lovely share of the harvest each week for several weeks once crops are ready.

For example, Aaron and I recently purchased a share from Tagge's Famous Fruit. After I had researched many CSA farms in Utah, specifically ones that have pick-up points in the Salt Lake Valley we decided on Tagge's. I contacted Thayne who was very helpful and excited to inform me that they were still accepting CSA customers for a couple more weeks. I then went online and paid our $275 up front. Now I am anxiously awaiting our first pick-up on July 8th and the subsequent 14 weeks when I will go to the pick-up spot conveniently located at 10600 So and 1300 East in Sandy and pick up my fresh produce at no additional cost! YUM!

I think it is such a fun idea with so many benefits for both the farmer and the consumer. Many of the farms I looked into had a desire and excitement to create relationships with their CSA customers. Some even offer canning classes and other suggestions on how to use or store extra produce. One CSA I saw had a pumpkin patch and as part of your share you can bring your family down to the farm and pick your pumpkins in October. I was also assured by some of the people I talked with that they treat their CSA's as their best customers! They want to you to invest again next year. :)

I love that this is a way to support local farmers! It helps the farmers especially during the pre-harvest period when they are pouring in a lot of money into the farm to prepare the crops for harvest, but not receiving any income. It also helps them a little bit in planning how much to plant, etc. as they have a guaranteed market.

I could just go on and on, but if you are interested a really great website I found for Utah CSAs is csautah.org. If you live elsewhere I'm sure you can google it. If you'd like my notes for a variety of farms I looked into feel free to shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment and I'd be happy to send them to you! Also, here is a link to a post about CSA's on the Hopkins CLF blog. Enjoy!

PS - We have been quite busy the last few weeks and have lots to blog about... paintballing, Harpers Ferry, Preston & Emily's wedding, family visits, Aaron's graduation (this Friday!), etc. So stay posted, one day I'll get to it all! And yes, it will be me. Aaron still refuses to actually contribute to the blog. :(

Graduation!

Two weeks ago Aaron and I made a quick trip back to Utah so we could attend my graduation festivities. It was so fun to see our family and to reunite with the cohort. We had a blast! We ate way too much, played a lot of games and pretty much got way too excited to move back to Utah. For all of you we weren't able to see (and who live in Utah) we're excited to be back to play in t-minus two months and counting.

Don't get me wrong we are loving our time together here in Baltimore, but there's just so much we're excited for back in Utah we're getting a little anxious. The time is sure to go quickly though. Aaron graduates in 2 weeks and we'll have lots of family in town to celebrate. This Saturday we're going paint balling - thank you Marilyn and Michael for planning that adventure. Tomorrow we're going to the dental school picnic. We're still planning a few more "East Coast Adventures," and we're counting down to Jamaica! So pretty much the next couple of months are going to be crazy, but so much fun!

Here are a few pictures from graduation. I stole some from Lauren (thanks!). Enjoy!

Down on the floor before the college convocation with Dr. Cole!
And YES, that is SALMON! You know you're jealous.

It IS a hood! Go Hogwarts! I miss you guys!

MPH Cohort 7! The best cohort ever!!
My support crew! Thank you for everything!

My parents.

That's my man!

The Book of Mormon

To see the video on YouTube and to "like" it click this link. Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to make it small enough to fit the video in the window, but the testimony of Elder Holland is powerful and worth 4 minutes and 40 seconds to watch. I know The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I am so thankful to Joseph and Hyrum and all those who were willing to sacrifice even their lives for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.