Celebrating 3 years of blogging!

Three years have come and gone here at luntfamily.blogspot.com. What a fun three years this has been! I first started to blog because all my Georgia girlfriends were doing it and I needed a better way of keeping my family in Utah up to date. Blogging has now become my journal and scrapbook too! (Well, I do actually journal more private things occasionally.) This is also my 148th post! I think;)

We've been busy this past week. Our home hasn't seen any guests since last August and so it was fun to have a few different visitors this week. Here's all the pictures to catch you up!

Carter got this shirt and tie for his birthday last month and he LOVES to wear his tie and look just like Daddy. He has to point it out to Aaron several times every time he wears it! Funny though that after he got his tie on, he wanted a belt like Daddy's too...thank goodness I found one today (he needs it to hold up his new pants anyway :).

Our first visitors last week - Robyn Hutchison and fam'! Robyn is one of my best girlfriends that I know from Georgia. Her family was moving to Chicago and so they made a stop at our house. When they arrived last Sunday night, our power was out, but it didn't seem to bother anyone. Jacob and Nicholas (her two boys) are so much fun and very well behaved!

Our first guests of the year - Robyn, Nicholas, Jacob and Jan (Robyn's MIL).

After Robyn left, I was getting ready to go out of town and Olivia was really needing to burn some energy off. Luckily she loves doing workout videos. Ahh, Tae'bo...so reminds me of college.

Our second guests were Kirk and Vicki (Aaron's parents). Olivia and Carter were so excited.

The day after Kirk and Vicki arrived, we packed the van up for a trip to see a few church historical sights. Aaron got a few new toys for the trip...a GPS (awesome! I recommend one of these to anyone and everyone) and a luggage topper for the van.

Olivia having her first continental breakfast of the trip. Good thing they are very similar to breakfast at home!

Kirtland, Ohio
(the weather was sooo great the whole trip)

Inside the School of the Prophets above the Newel K. Whitney store.

We also went to see the Kirtland Temple, but Carter was already spent. So, I left the tour and hung outside with Carter. We threw rocks and jumped off steps...fun, fun!

Oh, Carter also rolled around on the bricks. Talk about over-tired (nap-time)!

The next day we visited church historical sights in Palmyra, New York. Here's inside the Smith Cabin.

A favorite spot...the Sacred Grove.

Ha! I had to slip this picture in...Aaron and I first visited the Grove over five years ago.

Carter and Olivia loved the Sacred Grove too (the "Secret Grove" according to Olivia).

After coming out of the Sacred Grove and washing all the mud off of us, Olivia found a frog and was, once again, smitten!

She promised to take good care of it if she could bring it in the van with her. Sorry! Not happening.

Oh I came so close to buying this bonnet for Olivia!

Olivia in the Visitor's Center at Hill Cumorah.

Olivia snapped this picture of Aaron and myself on top of the Hill Cumorah.

Carter and Olivia watched a lot of movies on that long drive.

Carter wouldn't keep the head phones on for more than ten minutes, so would then watch the movies in silence...crazy kid.

I'm so glad that Olivia is such a good traveler!

Carter did pretty good, but by Saturday, he could have used a few more of these....zzzzz's!

Carter was so happy to get back to his big boy bed!

Thank you to our visitors...you made for a fun week! Come back soon!

Penny Pinchin'

With rising costs of EVERYTHING, we've been trying to look at different ways of we can save money. Who knew that there were so many stay-at-home mommies trying to do that very same thing...that BLOG about it?!

Here are a few things that I've done (with some helpers):

Our garden was fun this year and since it won't be much longer until fall arrives, we are already thinking about how much bigger to make our garden next year!

I've learned what freezes good and what isn't good after it's been frozen. I may need a deep freeze if we get a bigger garden though ;) (btw, squash does NOT taste good at all after it's been frozen.)

A few posts back, you may have noticed that I've started clipping coupons. Who knew that those things could save you so much money?! I've also started shopping at CVS and Walgreens. If you want to know how to shop there and save big, there are tutorials on some of these blogs that I track:

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

Cincinnati shoppers:

http://www.thriftyinthecincy.blogspot.com/

http://www.tipsfromamomof3.blogspot.com/

Oh, and would you believe that I only paid $0.25 out of pocket at CVS for all that stuff in the picture? Easy Care Bucks rock!

Aaron's Final Birthday (for now)

Aaron had his final birthday on Sunday. He told us several times throughout the day that he wasn't going to have any more. Maybe he'll just now have anniversary's of this birthday? Who knows?

Aaron didn't get any presents on his actual birthday. He pretty much got them the week before.

Aaron has been wanting a miter saw for awhile now. He couldn't pass it up when we were out shopping the week before his birthday and he found one clearance for a decent price.

After we got home, he'd taken his new toy out of the box, got it set up and powered it up, Aaron hopped in his truck and headed back to Home Depot for some wood. Because he needed to make something.

Happy Birthday to...Aaron? Aaron made me a shelf above my washer and dryer! And now he's working on a shelf where I can easily rotate my canned food storage. I'll show pics of that when it's a finished product!

So, Aaron got a birthday present and I'm the real beneficiary! (I did clean up all the saw dust though ;)

My kids love glitter and so Daddy got some of that for his birthday too!

We love you bunches Aaron!!! And next year we'll have a Mexican themed fiesta since it'll be the first anniversary of your 29th birthday!

**In case you aren't following, here is the memorable dialog:

Carla: Fine, you can't live with Elliot, but you're not living with us so get your crap out by Friday.

J.D.: Friday? Friday's my birthday. I've already e-vited everyone to a party at our place.

Carla: Whose place?

J.D.: Your place. Look I can't just un-e-vite everyone. I've got two e-yeses and 24 e-maybes. That's a lot of e-sponses.

Carla: Bambi, I'm gonna put my e-foot up your....

J.D.: It's a Mexican themed fiesta on the first anniversary of my 29th birthday. That means I'm turning thirty. Donde? 56 Walnut Drive. Cuando? Thank you for asking, ocho-thirty until upside down question mark. Sombreros at the door. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooh!

Turk: I'll be there.

J.D.: Gracias, amigo.

[to Carla] J.D.: I borrowed one of your dictionaries.

Aspiring Olympians

The Olympics are making my kids do crazy things. They are definitely aspiring Olympians!

Synchronized diving (on the edge of the couch).

Gymnastics - floor routine. Yes, there was injury.

Carter's couch routine.

Look at that form!

Wow. That's all. Wow! (What is that?)

Does anyone have a good idea on how to get crafty with making our own gold medals?

My birthday boy & his checks

Carter turned TWO yesterday! Hooray! It was a low-key, fun-filled day for my little guy.

Lots of pics to prove it...are you seated comfortably?

I got brave last Saturday and had Aaron turn Carter's crib into a toddler bed. No more crib for my big boy! I was so scared I would deeply regret this decision, but it's been okay so far. Carter absolutely loves his big boy bed!

Carter got some seriously big ($$) checks this year! Spoiled! I had fun spending them though ;)

He totally understood that whatever was in that envelope was his!

Hooray! He liked his card so much that he took it to the store with him later that day. Side note: Grammy Lunt gets nervous sending checks because she's afraid her grandchildren will have the same reaction that Aaron had when he was young...Aaron once got a check as a gift from someone and got pretty sad/upset because he thoughy it was a bill! No worries here though.

We've been practicing holding up two fingers for weeks now but it's still a difficult task for Carter to conquer on his own. He's concentrating quite hard to hold the right fingers up.

Carter started off his birthday right. I pretty much let him eat what he wanted. So, for breakfast: chex mix, raisins, fruit snacks, fudge covered chocolate chip granola bar and then filled in the gaps with milk.

So happy to be eating fruit snacks for breakfast!

For lunch: a few french fries, a little ketchup, some sprite, a dum dum sucker and then once again, topped it off with milk.

Olivia tried hard to convince Carter that it was okay to sit in Ronald's lap, but he wanted nothing to do with the clown!

He was just happy to keep his distance from the crazy dude.

My new desk top background :)

During Carter's nap time, Olivia and I were busy making his baseball birthday cupcakes.

Please tell me that you can see which two Olivia finished by herself!

Olivia then finished up all the wrapping.

Olivia is a pro at taping up every place where you might start to rip a present open. Carter somehow figured it out though.

When Carter woke up from his nap, he was ready to unwrap presents. Luckily I was able to hold him off until Aaron got home from work. Once Aaron walked through the door though, instead of running to Daddy for hugs (his normal routine), he ran straight to the presents and started to rip. It was a dash to get the camera ready because there was no holding him back!

Figuring out Olivia's tape jobs.

Enjoying more presents~

I know most of you are thinking, "an umbrella and sunglasses for a two year-old?" Well, he loves anything his older sister has and to pull him away from all things pink, he gets his own...sunglasses and umbrella.

Nothing pink about these bad boys...boxer brief's! He's supposed to be showing his muscles, but instead all I see is a Buddha belly!

Where's your bum Carter?

This is Olivia's card that she made for him... so cute!

Oh and don't forget dinner: only cold icecream and a cupcake! And milk! We all sat down to eat dinner and he would have nothing to do with it...just kept pointing to the cupcakes on the counter. Oh well.

He finished off his birthday by doing cannon balls with Daddy in the neighbors pool.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

A few more "dings"

Tuesday was a big day. I got my van back! Three and a half weeks after the incident...who knew it would take so long? Not me! I'm new to the whole car accident/working with insurance company thing. And actually now it's going to be even longer because if I'm paying 500 buckaroos (our deductible) for someone else's unwanted goods lying on I75, I want every ding it caused repaired! Yep, I'm being nit-picky! Imagine that ;) So, my van is likely to head to the shop again next week for (fingers crossed) around four days.
I actually had to meet the insurance adjuster today to point out all the "dings" because telling them (at least three times) didn't do the trick. He assured me that I wasn't crazy...
I needed the assurance because two days prior to that, the other insurance guy told me (over the phone) that he didn't see how all those "dings" could be from the accident. How can I make someone understand that I am one of the most honest people around? (except when it comes to telling my 4-year-old about Santa Clause and how babies come out of bellies)
Anyhow, you've never seen the grill and hood of an eight year-old mini van look so shiny! It's a beautiful thing. (The license plate on the other hand...at least it somewhat survived the accident.)




Some things I missed about my van while it was in the repair shop:
*SLIDING DOORS
*keyless entry
*POWER SLIDING DOOR
*gas tank on the drivers side
*programmed radio stations
*cruise control
*my kiddies being able to see out their windows
*having room to pick up friends for playdates
*leather seats (don't want to sound too vain)

There are definitely some things I'll miss about the (base model) Nissan we rented:
*a working CD player
*AWESOME gas mileage
*snazzy orange dash lights with an ODO reading 30,000 miles
*quick braking power (don't ask!)
*that's about it...I'm really a mini van mom

ps Thanks for letting me vent