IND to SLC - 2008

We had a great time and little Olivia shed a lot of tears when it was time to return to Ohio. She keeps reminding me that "it can't be a lot of days until we go back."
I was in Utah with the kids for two weeks and Aaron was there for the first week of that. My dad had knee surgery the day we flew into town. Wasn't planned, but very necessary (sad triad). My parents are also remodeling their home and so Aaron was able to help move furniture around. It's kind of nice to help since we always feel like we are waited on hand and foot when we go there ;) We seemed to keep busy from the moment we landed...

The first morning we woke up could be compared to Christmas with all the new toys to play with!

Olivia doesn't need new toys (thank goodness). Just let her imagination run wild in a kitchen with Grandma there to help her bake what she wants and this is what she's come up with: a frosted cake (made with bread and melted chocolate chips).

Oh what fun a trampoline would be at our house!

Olivia Lunt, Max Carter, Carter Lunt. Olivia couldn't believe that Max's last name was Carter!

One great thing about being from Utah is that most of Aaron's extended family lives in Utah too. So, we always get to visit Grandma Lunt and other Aunt's and Uncles. Olivia loved baby Ryker.

Chad entertaining the kids. And boy, do I mean entertaining! They had SO much fun playing with all the "adults." hehe

Such a fun fam'!

Before we left for Utah, we went to a parade here in Ohio. It's take awhile for that parade impression to ware off of Carter and Olivia. So, at Grandma's they had to have a parade! Marching up and down (and up and down and up and down) the hallway.

This parade even threw candy at me (the spectator).

Olivia bakes some more in Grandma's kitchen...she loved this...

She baked a cake for Sam's first birthday and Amy (Sam's mommy) was so kind to let him eat it before his actual birthday party.

Aren't big brother's the best?

Shellee and Carter watching the cake get eaten.

Ah heck, everybody - let's eat cake!

The remains of Olivia's cake for Sam.

Olivia was thrilled that Sam liked it.

Sunday morning! Amy, Shad (my bro), me and Aaron...outside the Conference Center.

Spiritually Fed people! Conference was so good!

The kids had so much fun in some of Shellee's shoes! We had our own little cat walk.

Ky really enjoyed it ;)

Unlike his little bro.

Olivia loves silly cousins to play with!

It's not often that we get to be around for a cousin's birthday. How fun to be there for Sam's first birthday! Isn't chocolate cake great?

For FHE we went to Gardner Village in SLC. My smart self forgot the camera and so I had to snap a few poor shots with my cell phone. It was such a fun place (thanks for the recommendation JG.)

Gardner Village was full of really fun shops.

I know you can't see Timpanogos mountain in the background because of the clouds, but the view is amazing! Especially when they are snow capped.

Before taking Aaron to the airport so he could return to work and school in Ohio, we stopped by the Mt. Timpanogos temple to show Olivia where we were married.

After dropping Aaron off at the airport, I continued north to visit my favorite college roommates. Jennie freakin' Wilder and Sarah Fordney Hunsaker! Good times!

My mom treated all the grandkids to Kangaroo Zoo! Carter and Olivia loved it. I got a great workout trying to keep track of where they both were.

My last Saturday there, we went to Shonte's house and played. The kids made little Halloween crafts. We got this pumpkin idea from Family Fun magazine.

Kendra

Max did his own thing.

Kelton

Kylan

My mom got some new reading glasses and so we all had to try them ;) (ha)

I love getting to visit all my family when I go to Utah, but I also love the good eats there. Taco Amigo, Los Hermanos, and Panda Express, (we don't have one close enough here) and pink sauce...ahhh...yummy! I also LOVE pinenuts. I found out that Carter and Olivia love them too. My fingers were starting to hurt from cracking so many of them to keep up with their demands. One other things I love about Utah is that it always seems easier to find CUTE, modest clothing there. Especially in my little sisters closet.

Olivia was on top of the world when (my SIL) Amy let her feed little Sam.

Olivia was quite the entertainer. She put on several shows per night filled with lots of bows for the cheering crowd:

Luckily I got some entertainment I hadn't seen before...Max impersonating Stever Erkel. I'm actually surprised that a few of the younger generation know who that guy is!

Thanks to everyone for the good time in Utah. Such great memories. Now it's back to the grind and normal life. Lots to do after being gone for two weeks....

Lucky 7

Aaron and I will celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary next Saturday. Since we plan to be out of town, I wanted to post before we leave. Our celebration this year will be something that I've wanted to do for a long time...attend General Conference at the Conference Center. I am really excited to have the experience of being in the same room as the Prophet!

My sister-in-law tagged me on her post awhile back for this:
Husband Tag--

1. Where did you meet? At FHE for Young Single Adult's in Atlanta. (Church activity)
2. How long did you date before you were married? Eight Months
3. How long have you been married for? 7 years
4. What does he do that surprises you? Uhm...comes home from work early without calling? I think he's scared of surprising me.
5. What's your favorite feature about him? blue eyes and nice teeth
6. Whats your favorite quality about him? He's such a kind person with a good sense of humor
7. Does he have a nickname for you? not that I can think of
8. What is his favorite color? Navy blue (for clothes), black (for home decor)
9. Whats his favorite food? MEAT & potatoes
10. What is his favorite sport? football and wrestling (not WWE)
11. Who said I love you first? Hehe...me.
12. When and Where was your first kiss? Valentine's Day 2001. The end of our 2nd date. Backyard of Edye's home (the lady I nannied for).
13. Whats your favorite thing to do as a couple? Uhm...when we actually get to go on dates, we enjoy going to the batting cages (we've only been twice ;). We also like going to Home Depot & Best Buy and dreaming of all the neat things we could do to our house.
14. Do you have kids? How many? 2
15. What is a hidden talent that he has? He's a fix-it man! Check out the shelf he made me for all my canned goods.

16. How old is he? 29 forever
17. What's his favorite type of music? country
18. What do you admire most about him? He's really good at playing with Carter and Olivia. He's very loving with them.

19. Whats his favorite past time? eating, sleeping, sports and home improvement.
20. Do you think he is going to read this? yup


Whoa - Did I just make Aaron seem boring? He's NOT! I'm going to try this again:

1. Where did you meet? Backing packing through Eastern Europe
2. How long did you date before you were married? 3 weeks
3. How long have you been married for? 7 years
4. What does he do that surprises you? Buys me these gigantic diamonds occasionally.
5. What's your favorite feature about him? His large bank account.
6. Whats your favorite quality about him? His large bank account.
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Muffin top (I still don't know where he came up with that)
8. What is his favorite color? Jungle green
9. Whats his favorite food? Iguana
10. What is his favorite sport? Cricket
11. Who said I love you first? We both said it at the SAME TIME. What an amazing moment it was.
12. When and Where was your first kiss? The Amazon Rain forest
13. Whats your favorite thing to do as a couple? wrestle alligators
14. Do you have kids? How many? 2
15. What is a hidden talent that he has? He doesn't need a car jack when he's changing a car tire
16. How old is he? Physically it's 18. Mentally it's 35.

17. What's his favorite type of music? Polka
18. What do you admire most about him? His large bank account
19. Whats his favorite past time? solving multiple rubix cubes simultaneously
20. Do you think he is going to read this? yup

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY! I LOVE YOU!

Four days...

...with no power! As most of you know by now, we were hit by Ike on Sunday afternoon. The wind gusts were 80+ mph (Category 1 hurricane) and the sustained winds were 40+ mph (categorized as a tropical storm). The power went out on Sunday afternoon and we just got it turned back on a few hours ago. Over 1 million had no power in our service area on Sunday. It was a good "trial" run for us. We added a few items to our "getting prepared" list. Included on that list is a hat and other things to cover my hair! Because if I can't blow dry and flat iron my hair...it's not pretty. It's also too short for my old favorite...Mr. Ponytail. Luckily our neighbors got power on Monday and they were so kind to lend me an outlet so that my hair wouldn't look so scary.

We also had a slight water emergency. Our water had to be boiled for a few days if it was to be drank. So...those water barrells really could come in handy someday (we had enough bottled water to get us through a few days though).

We really lucked out with the weather the last four days though. We were able to get our house a little chilly in the mornings so that it wouldn't heat up too much during the day.

I don't have many pictures to share because well...we didn't do anything too exciting while the power was out. Olivia played with the camera and got plenty pictures of an afternoon nap I took...but who wants to see those? (certainly not me...they were quickly erased)

The last four days weren't too bad and will be remembered! Hopefully not to be relived anytime soon though. I have too much laundry to catch up on!

Oh, and one more thing on our list of things to get: some new "underwear"...didn't realize the "less-than-acceptable" condition of mine until I had to take them to someone else's house to be washed and dryed!

Swinging in the neighbors swing to pass some time.

I guess we can all still be friends even with no TV or internet!

I like the high and low lights that a friend put on her blog and so I'm doing the same. This is more for me than for you...

*hand washing dishes in cold water to save the warm water for showers.

*Aaron taking the last "luke warm" shower this morning.

*Telling Carter that the TV was broken.

*Remembering that I have a five hour life on our portable DVD player!

*Caving in and running an extension cord from the neighbor's through our kitchen window so that I could have a cold fridge on Wednesday.

*Going grocery shopping on Wednesday and seeing no yogurt, cheese, lunchmeat, etc! Also pretty bare shelves where the mayo and ranch dressing usually are.

*Having family scripture study by flashlight.

*Getting a lot more personal scripture study time in. (Maybe no power isn't such a bad thing!)

*trying to be very quick when opening the refrigerater door, freezer door and even the front door.

*My neighbor informing me that McDonald's was open and serving everything on Monday in case we ran out of food...hahaha!

*Wondering what I could make with all my flour if it had been necessary to do that.

*going for 2-3 walks per day

*Seeing my power turn on for 30 seconds on Monday. Only to turn off for three more days.

*Eating like queens and kings on Monday night as food started to thaw. Salmon and Steak...yum!

*Turning on my computer this afternoon and seeing 80 new emails and just as many blog updates.

*Aaron's office never lost power...lucky him (not really).

*The best way to end a 91 hour streak with no power is: The Office!

*I get to take a hot shower long enough to shave my legs!

*that was fun...I could be adding more to this!

Blue is Beautiful

This past Saturday, Aaron and I got something that we've been wanting for quite some time...55-gallon water drums! Wahoo! I think they are so exciting to me because they give me some peace of mind.

Now can anyone tell me how often we need to change the water in them?

Before filling up the barrels to make another half ton of goods stored in our basement, Aaron made several of these pallets to store things on. (Man, that miter saw is coming in so handy ;)

On a heavier note...

I still haven't finished potty training Carter.

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!