The Rollins Family

Beautiful sunset & 2 new members of our household

2012-02-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

There was a beautiful sunset a few nights ago. Here is the view from my front door. I loved all the snow and the pretty blue, pink, and purple sky. The house across the street is my brother and sister-in-laws!

We got a couple of fun presents for Christmas this year (more posts to follow of the rest of Christmas). We got this fantastic chandelier. The picture is not the best but it gives you an idea. Its now over our dining room table replacing a super cheap, super old ceiling light with a cracked shade!

I also got a piano for Christmas. I have been wanting a piano for a while now that we are settled and not planning on moving (ever). We have been saving up and just about a week or two ago I found this baby on craigslist and it was fantastic. Such a great piano and a great price. It is about 15 years old (we think), the lady we bought it from thought it was about 20 years old but the serial number makes us think its a little newer than that. The size and color are great for our house. It sounds pretty good but needs to get tuned up and have a couple of sticky keys fixed. I have to wait a couple months to get it tuned so it can acclimate to my house but that's ok. It has been great having a piano-Belle is thrilled of course and thinks its for her (we are working on her not climbing on it)

Thanksgiving

2012-01-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year with all of Jarod's family and my parents and my aunt and uncle. It was so fun to have everyone at our place. The turkey was so yummy and moist (thanks Niki & John). Here are the pictures of our tables. I love how they turned out. You can see Jessica quickly working on finishing my napkin rings I didn't get done (thanks!). Of course I only got pictures of our tables not of everyone there (priorities right?)

Halloween & shoes

2012-01-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the cutest little Tinkerbell I ever saw. Belle was TinkerBelle for Halloween this year. Her outfit turned out so cute. I made the hair bow with ribbon, tulle, and feathers. I also made her little poms poms on her feet. I added several layers of tulle under her outfit so that it was fuller. She loved Trick or Treating! She called it Treat-Treat and would say thank you to everyone. It was pretty cold and windy this year but we got in all the festivities we wanted. We Trick or Treated downtown where all the roads were blocked off and we went from business to business. There were a lot of people that participated in this. Then we went to our ward Trick or Treat. Then we went to 2-3 neighbors and called it good for the night. The weekend before Halloween, Bart & Kellie had a party at their house with a hayride, games, and fun treats. It was a great Halloween!

Lately, Belle loves putting on shoes. We will often find her trying on whatever shoes she can find-including daddy's huge snowboots, and papa's tall cowboy boots.

Todd & Shae's Wedding

2012-01-23T08:29:00.000-08:00

My brother Todd got married at the end of October at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in Utah. I need to work on getting a few more pictures of the wedding day but here we are outside the temple. Belle was getting so tired-it was a long day, but it was so good. We had a lot of fun getting everything ready and enjoying the festivities. We had a reception that night and one a couple weeks later back in Washington.

Bear Lake & Yellowstone

2012-01-23T07:55:00.000-08:00

This summer we were able to take a big trip to Logan, Utah, Bear Lake, and Yellowstone. We visited a bunch of cousins and had fun getting to know Logan. We went to the Logan Temple while we were there-it was beautiful. We also got to to spent a couple days at Bear Lake. It was so fun! Here is the view coming into Bear Lake from Logan.

One our way to Yellowstone we went through Jackson. They had these amazing antler arches (there were about 3 or 4 that we passed).

The view going through Grand Teton National Park.

There was still snow on the ground in several places even though it was July. It was absolutely freezing at night too. Good thing we had tons of blankets and we slept pretty good. We all squished into tent-we fit Belle's portable crib and a queen air bed in there. During the night our bed deflated so by morning we were on the ground. Jarod tried to patched the bed for the second night and it was a little better-but not by much. I think this was Yellowstone Lake. It was huge and the views all around the lake were gorgeous.

Waiting in front of Old Faithful.

Here it goes!

We saw a ton of buffalo and elk. We didn't see any bears, but I felt ok about that cause just a couple days after we left a man got killed by a grizzly bear-ack!

Family photo session

2012-01-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Here ware some of the great pictures we got taken a couple weeks ago. Some turned out so great! love them! Kellie (my sister-in-law) is a semi-professional photographer now although she will probably debate that, as seen by the evidence below she has no case. Thanks Kell!

Christmas Letter 2011

2012-01-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

to all our friends and family.

We have been enjoying living in Quincy this past year. We have yet to do any substantial projects around our house but this next year promises to bring a lot of remodeling (we hope anyway). Belle will be turning 2 in just a few more days and is quite the whirlwind at our house carving paths of destruction all along her way. She also brings lots of hugs and kisses, bedtime snuggles, and sweet words of “I love you” or “thank you.” She sings and dances throughout the day and is enjoying her new play kitchen Santa brought her. Jarod and Tanya are thrilled to be staying in Quincy permanently. It has been another year of ups and downs with employment but Jarod loves working on the farm and is excited about the opportunities here. Tanya is the Enrichment leader for Relief Society (church women’s group) and has loved planning all the parties and crafts this last year. We are always grateful for this time of year and the peace and joy that we feel in celebrating the birth of Christ. We relish the truth of the gospel and know we will be a family forever. May this next year bring much happiness and joy to your family!

With Love,

The Rollins Family

YARD SALE SATURDAY SEPT. 3RD

2011-09-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

I know I need to update this pictures and such but I just wanted to get the word out about a Yard Sale we are having this Saturday, September 3rd at 9 am at my parents house. It is a three family yard sale with a lot of stuff: Furniture, Player Piano with rolls, Clothes, dishes, holiday decor, craft stuff, sporting goods, and a ton of misc. items. If you are in the Quincy area-come check it out!

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-06-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

Belle had her first Easter egg hung on the day before Easter. There is a community egg hunt at one of the parks in town (its the same egg hunt I grew up going to). It took Belle a little bit to figure out what to do and she couldn't hold on to her basket and walk at the same time so I was the official basket carrier.

Easter Bunny

2011-06-14T16:44:00.002-07:00

The Easter Bunny visited our house on Easter morning and brought some fun Easter goodies for us. Belle got a bunch of cute things in her basket. Some playdough, books (including an ABC book I made for her), some new jammies with a bunny on them, and a Mickey Mouse. Belle loves Mickey Mouse-she pronouces his name like Mow Mow.

Of course she picked Mickey up and gave him a kiss right away.

More Mickey lovin'. She got a Minnie Mouse similar to this Mickey for her birthday and she loves it. She even slept with them for a few days tuck right under her.

Family Easter Egg Hunt

2011-06-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

We did a family Easter egg hunt before Easter Dinner at my parents house.

All the kids lined up ready to go. We were trying to get some pictures and of course they were too excited to stand still.

Since this was now Belle's second egg hunt she was totally excited about finding the eggs and putting them in her basket.

Jackson's birthday

2011-06-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

We went to my nephew Jackson's 6th birthday party. It was a John Deere themed party and the decorations turned out so cute. They had tractors rides and lawn tubing, it was great.

I helped make the cupcake wrappers and toppers.

Belle sure enjoyed herself!

Apple Blossom Parade

2011-06-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

Every year my family goes to the Apple Blossom festival in Wenatchee. There is a big parade and than we have a picnic afterwards. Here we are ready for the parade.

Belle really liked the floats and the bands.

The rest of the crew.

And where we all hung out while waiting for the torrential downpour to pass by us. I have never seen so much rain on Apple Blossom.

Our New Swimming Pool & Other Happenings

2011-06-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

The girls on my mom's side have a fun get together we all call the "Sister Trip." This year we went to Spirit Lake in North Idaho and stayed at one of my relatives cabins (thanks Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Holland!!!). We had so much fun. We went shopping, played games, and made fun crafts. We can't wait until next year! Here we are at Lake Coeur d'Alene walking out on the boardwalk.

And here is our new swimming pool! My dad is putting in some new fields of orhard and in order to help with the irrigation, they built a frost pond. Its so more sprinklers can all be run at the same time and also helps with frost control in the Spring. It is huge-as you can see with my little brother on his dirt bike in the hole. We have talked my dad into making it the family pool with all kinds of amenities. There is a shallow end and soon to be dock. There have been talks of rope swings and zip lines. The plan is also to make it an ice skating rink in the winter.

Turning the water to begin filling the pond!

The posts with the beam is where the dock is going to be. We need to take some pictures of it completely full.

Pigtails-at last

2011-04-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Belle's hair is finally long enough to do pigtails. The ends are really wispy and so I think she looks cuter with little piggy buns.

Belle loves to take baths. If you say its time for a bath, she will take off running to the bathroom. She just discovered that she loves to splash-even if her face gets soaked. She gets crazy hair from her piggys. (Don't you love the green/blue bath tub-its our favorite feature in our home)

Belle walks and runs all over. She loves to unroll the toilet paper. She also is obsessed with dogs and she frequently runs to the window and woofs at everything. The second she sees a dog she is woofing non-stop. She also knows the animal sounds for cow, chicken, sheep, bear, and sometimes kitty. She can say bananas too, which are her absolute favorite food.

Crafts!

2011-04-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have been crafting a lot lately. My mom, sister-in-law, and I have been doing a craft night once a week and its a blast. Its so fun to actually get some projects done and spend time with them too. The first night I decided to make a St. Patty's day decoration since I don't have anything for March 17.

Here is what I came up with. I love all the Subway Tile writing that is really popular right now. I got the writing from HERE and it comes in all different colors. I just painted a plain board white, distressed it, than Mod Podge on some cute paper and than the signage, drilled 2 holes and tied a cute ribbon it-DONE! I hung it on my key rack and it was so cute.

We just had Super Saturday in our ward (which I was in charge of as the new Enrichment Leader) and we made some really cute Temple Picture Blocks. I got the idea from HERE. I thought they turned out so cute. The ribbon was found by my friend Jessica from Hobby Lobby!

I saw this super cute button egg and just had to make one for Easter. So last craft night I whipped one up. I got the idea from HERE. I just used whatever buttons my mom and I had. I painted my burlap with some watered down brown paint to get the look of my inspiration egg. Now I just need to make some cute felt bunnies to match!

A few forgotten holiday pictures

2011-04-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Belle met Christopher Ewert during Christmas. He was half her age but just as big. He is my good friend Janneke's son.

I made Belle a turkey shirt for Thanksgiving. I got the idea from my sister-in-law, Jess, she made some for her kids and I thought they were so cute. She got the idea from HERE. I even had to put a long sleeved shirt under cause I am a mega copy-cat.

Here is the finished product on Belle.

At our ward Christmas party Belle got to sit on Santa's lap. She didn't cry and even was laughing a little at him.

Couponing!

2011-04-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

I have gotten into the coupon craze. There are quite a few ladies at church that coupon and they did a little class on it a while ago. I had started couponing a little bit before that but I really understood so much more after the class and really got into it after that. Its amazing how much money you can save if you really work hard at it. I spend just a couple hours a week (only on the weeks I actually go to the store to coupon-other weeks I don't even spend time on it at all) and I save hundreds of dollars. I took some pictures of a few of my more successful shopping trips.

This is a purchase at Rite Aid I made about a month ago. I did 3-4 transactions (which means I had to got through the line a couple of times-some of the transactions I did one right after the other). So just guess how much you think I would have spent on all this:

3 bags of chex mix
1 gillete powered razor
9 packages of paper plates/bowls \
2 packages of dishwasher soap
2 bottles of Tums
2 bottles of Bayer low does aspirin
3 packages of feminine pads
1 box of tampons
4 packages of diapers

I only paid $6.25! WOOHOO! I was so proud of this purchase.

These 2 pictures are from a great shopping trip to Albertson's. They do doubler coupons and it makes the deals so amazing. I got all the things in the 2 pictures for under $25. There were

40 cans of veggies
2 boxes Ritz
13 boxes cake mixes
13 cans of frosting
3 boxes of popcorn
3 bottles of vegetable oil
9 cans of Pam cooking spray
several cans of soup (I don't remember how many)
10 bags of flour
10 cookie mixes
4 graham cracker crusts
8 yogurts
13 boxes of Swiss Miss
2 gravy packets
3 boxes ziploc bags
big can of oatmeal
2 jugs of juice

If you want to learn more about couponing I use the websites: happymoneysaver.com and athriftymom.com.

HAPPY SHOPPING!!!

Belle is 1!

2011-01-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that my baby is now a 1 year old. We went to the doctors yesterday and she got 4 shots (really sad) but we also found out she has grown a lot, YAY! She is now 21 pounds (20 lbs, 15.5 oz to be exact - the scale kept flipping between the two so I say 21 pounds). She is almost 29 incles tall (28 3/4 inches). That puts her in the 40th percentile for both height and weight, which is great since she has pretty much been in the 10th percentile since birth. For Belle's birthday we had a Minnie Mouse party. We had mostly family and a friend or two there.

We had some cute cupcakes that were red frosting with white polka dots, a white fondant bow, and black fondant ears.

Dont mind my closed eyes (Jarod and Belle look great). I think its funny how it looks like Jarod has mouse ears from the "E" that is behind his head.

She got some cute little baby crocs from Aunt Carol. She also got a little ride on car (from Grandma and Grandpa Yeates), a toy that pops balls into the air (from Uncle Bart, Aunt Kellie, and the boys), and a singing mailbox (from Jake, Marlys, and the twins). She got some more books, a puzzle, Candyland, and a Mickey Mouse movie from Jarod and I. She loved all of her presents and we are so glad the party was fun for everyone!

Belle loved that we gave her a whole cupcake to eat by herself.

Christmas

2011-01-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas with Jarod's family in Chewelah. It was fun to spend time with everyone and watch everyone open gifts. We also got to be part of our nephew, Ewan's blessing.

Grandpa Crisp with some of the kiddos.

Opening presents.

Jarod got what he has always wanted. A huge knife! Thanks Jim!

More Christmas

2011-01-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

Belle got a cute stuffed polar bear from Grandma and Grandpa Crisp and she loved to snuggle it.

The 2 babies checking each other out.

Jarod found one of his favorite toys when he was little, a xylophone.

Belle just wanted to eat the mallets.

And more Christmas

2011-01-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

Belle really started to understand about opening presents. She was so cute-she would rip a chunk of paper off and throw it to the side, than rip another chunk and so on.

She got some cute little wheel pals of farm animals.

You can tell she liked them.

She also got a little piano that she loved playing. Belle also got some books, a couple of Singamajigs (they are hilarious toys that sing when you push their tummys and they can sing together), a stuffed polar bear (from Grandma and Grandpa Crisp), a baby dolly (from Grandma and Grandpa Yeates) and a toy with blocks that are different shapes that you fit in the right hole (from Grandma and Grandpa Yeates). Jarod got a shop-vac and I got a new wireless copier, scanner, printer. We got a bunch of new DVDs, new pocket knifes, some clay pigeons and a rifle target, and a quilting template and chalking marker. We also got a GPS and a spa treatment from his office party!

Christmas Card photo shoot

2010-12-29T13:12:00.001-08:00

Pictures from times past

2010-12-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

For my sister's for graduation I made her a quilt. It turned out so cute. Here is the finished product. Since I bought my sewing machine I have wanted to try to the stippling settings it has. It took a long time to get it all quilted but I love how it turned out.

Here is a close up of the stippling.

This fall we had a combined Relief Society and Young Women's acitivity with a fairy tale theme. We all dressed up as princesses-even Belle. She was a fairy princess. Tiffany made a onesie with some bling on it. We took some old necklaces from my grandma's junk jewelry and glued them on the onesie. Than we added a cute lace flower. Of course the outfit was not complete without a tutu and wand.

What we have been up to

2010-11-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

The moment everyone has been waiting for is here-a blog update.
I put this on Belle's head once and she thought it was funny and kept doing it.

Belle is crawling all over the place and standing up on everything she can get her hands on.

Her hair is finally getting long enough for a ponytail! Here is her first ever ponytail. She looks so big in this picture! At her 9 month checkup she was 18 lbs 11 oz. She is still in the 10% for height (don't remember the measurement) and she has moved up to the 40% for weight (she is a great eater!). She has 2 teeth on the bottom and we are thinking another tooth is going to poke through soon.

We have also been spending a bunch of time with family lately. My dad's younger sister and all her family came from Arizona for Halloween weekend. It was so fun to see all of them and show them life in the country. We also got to participate in the famous Ford Halloween/Cider extravaganza (my father's older sister and her family). They all come to Quincy and have a big cider pressing party followed by a Halloween party-complete with games and a spook alley. Belle didn't even cry in the spook alley-such a brave girl. Just this last weekend all of Jarod's family came to Quincy do enjoy the farm life as well: shooting, apples, pressing cider, and four wheelers of course. We loved having everyone here and hope it becomes an annual thing!

Cute pics

2010-11-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Belle loves her daddy. She can't get enough of Jarod and cries when he puts her down and leaves for work.

She can be so smiley and giggly.

The bunny slippers crack me up.

Halloween!

2010-11-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

For Halloween we were a bear family (Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and baby bear). Here is Belle modeling a pair of bear ears I made for Jarod and me.

She did not like the hood of her costume when I first put it on.

She eventually warmed up. She was so cute and cuddly in this little costume.

Hope's 2nd Birthday

2010-11-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that my little baby would have been 2 years old. I still think about her every second of every day and miss her more and more. She would have been so different now than the baby in our pictures.

The little half green half orange gourd was our favorite.

Grandma sharing cupcakes with Belle (she kind of liked it)

Tiffy this is for you!

2010-09-21T09:49:00.001-07:00

Moving and Hunting

2010-09-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

So we have moved across the street from my parents into my grandparents old house. It's a 3 bedroom 3 bath house with about 2000 square feet on the main floor and a full unfinished basement. We are loving all the space. Belle finally has her own room which is nice and I have a sewing room. Jarod has a garage for all his tools and motorcycle parts. Its still really crazy with boxes everywhere but it is slowly getting there. There are a good number of things that need to be fixed up and redone but that will take time. One of the first projects to be done is working on the landscaping. Jarod has been working on the sprinklers for several weekends trying to get them in working order-he is almost done. Almost all of the shrubs and plants around the house are going to be ripped out. They have just gotten so over grown and huge that you can't even see the house and we can hardly see out the windows.

A couple of mornings ago Jarod woke up at 6 am to answer the door. He came back to bed and I asked him what he was doing and he said he heard someone knocking. Well about an hour or so later we hear the knocking on the back of the house and come to the conclusion that it must be a woodpecker. Jarod puts on a bathrobe and grabs his shotgun. A few minutes go by and I hear a gunshot followed by a yell of delight. He got the woodpecker on the first shot. (We think it was a pair though so more hunting may be in order). The woodpecker was really colorful and big (we think it was a male and his mate is still hanging around-I heard knocking early yesterday morning...)

Saturday was Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day in Quincy (that is our town festival). Here is Jarod and Belle at the parade. We say a lot of great tractors and farm equipment and there was even a group of Latin Horse riders that make their horses dance to music-they were very entertaining. Belle was so tired for a lot of the parade that she didn't know quite what to think. At the very end were the fire trucks blowing their horns and sirens and Belle got the saddest face. I had to walk away with her to get her to calm down. After the parade we enjoyed the booths, the quilt show, and some yummy BBQ-compliments of my father's Rotary Club. It was perfect weather for the day and we sure had fun.

Cannin' & Jammin'

2010-09-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

My parents have 3 peach trees in their backyard and so we have been canning and making jam like crazy.

We made 8 quarts of freezer jam. We froze three gallon bags of peaches.

And canned 27 quarts of peaches. Nothing like a big project to break in your new kitchen.

Little swimmin' Belle

2010-09-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

This was taken a while ago but Belle was so cute. Tiffany was in a play and had bright red lipstick on and gave Belle a good smooch on the cheek.

Here are a couple of pictures of Belle at Moses Lake. We went boating as a family a couple of times and Belle was so cute in her little swimsuit. She hated being in her floaty the first time but she warmed up to it pretty quick-maybe because we played on the ground with her in it and not in the water. At our ward pioneer day picnic she loved being in the floaty in the water so it was finally a success.

Baby Shower

2010-09-13T15:29:00.001-07:00

A while ago I threw a baby shower for my friend Marlys Downs, she was having twins (Hesston and Iris) and it was such a fun time. She has since had the babies and they are so cute!

Here is everyone gathered around and eating. She got some really fun and cute things.

The theme was "Two Peas in a Pod" and we had cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. (The peas and pods were made out of laffy taffys)

We had some yummy things-California Citrus Salad (thanks for my sister-in-law Kellie!), rolls, meats, cheese, spinach dip, crackers, veggies and dip, fruit, and yummy punch.

We made a ton of invitations (I enlisted the help of my family to help put them together-Thanks everyone!) We made them shaped like baby onesies.

Jarod Got A Job!!!

2010-06-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Jarod started his new job today. We are excited for it. He will be the marketing coordinator at Northland Communications in Moses Lake (so that means we are staying in Quincy!). This is what Jarod has been looking for. He will help direct their marketing efforts, work on market research, and also train and supervise their sales team. He is so excited to finally have a job doing what he wants to do and what his degree is in. He worked so hard and for so long to find a job like this and we can hardly contain our excitement. Jarod has also decided to pursue his MBA. He is working on applying to WSU and studying for his GMAT exam that he is taking next month.

Here is Belle with Jarod on her first 4-wheeler ride. As you can see she isn't that impressed.

More pictures

2010-06-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

Belle is getting so big lately. At her 4 month appt. she was 12 lbs 2.5 oz and 23 in long. She is now in the 25 percentile for weight so she is getting bigger! She rolls all over to find toys or whatever else may be nearby. She can laugh and giggle like crazy-she thinks her parents are the funniest people ever. Here she is with Grandpa Carl. They had matching outfits for church so we took some pictures. I made her the little purple dress and flower a couple weeks ago (its really a tank top for summer but it was a little long so she wore it as a dress first). I made a matching flower for me too that I wore on my purple sweater.

Tiffany was the Valedictorian for Quincy this year (there were actually 3 kids that all were Co-Valedictorian). She gave a great speech at graduation. She is off to BYU in Utah this fall and we are so sad she is leaving :(

Belle's Blessing Day

2010-06-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

Belle was blessed on May 2. We had a lot of family come for that day. All of my sibling were able to be there. Bart's family (my brother) came since we found an incredible deal on airfare for the weekend. Janet (Jarod's mom), Aaron (Jarod'sbrother), and Jim's family (Jarod's brother) were able to come too. We are so grateful to everyone for making this a special day and travelling far just to be with us. She was so sweet and cute on that day (during church anyway). I am so glad we were able to get some pictures because she really wasn't too happy.

My mom made her blessing dress. It was beautiful with layers and layers of sheer fabric and lace. She stayed up until 4 am the night before to finish it up-what a great grandma!

Belle was somewhat content if we let her chew on the ribbons and lace.

Sweet baby and daddy. Jarod gave Belle a beautiful blessing. I am so glad I have an amazing husband who is able to do that for his children.

Scott and Kylie's Wedding

2010-06-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

We are so happy for Scott and Kylie (don't they look so cute with all the kids).

Belle eventually went to sleep (after much fussing, eating, spitting up all over her and me-thank goodness you couldn't tell)

Belle is frowning a little bit but I great family picture.

2010-06-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

She looks a little bit less upset in this photo.

All the Yeates kids.

And the whole Yeates fam!

I definitely have the cutest, sweetest baby girl!

So much to catch up on!

2010-06-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Jarod has become a farm boy! Here is the group of guys that took on the task of making the young bulls we had into steers (hopefully everyone knows what that entails so i don't have to explain it). We even invited the missionaries over to help so they could tell their families all about life on the farm.

My adorable sister, Tiffany, all ready for prom. Her dress was gorgeous and so was she!

Emotions

2010-04-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

This month has been a good month but an emotional month too. Jarod and I were able to go to Utah and attend my brother Scott's wedding. He married a wonderful girl, Kylie, that we are happy to now call our sister. The wedding was beautiful and the weather cooperated wonderfully on their day. It was so good to be in the temple with all of my family and hear the great message from the temple sealer-he said such amazing things. The temple is such a special place to be and I also feel such a strong re-conviction of my testimony. Sealings are especially wonderful to go to because it really reiterates that the entire gospel is about families being eternal-which is what I constantly think about. Jarod and I also decided we wanted to move Hope home to Quincy the weekend we were down there. The funeral home we have worked with for everything has been fantastic (Serenicare), their fees are extremely low but their services are above and beyond. They helped us set everything up and we brought Hope home with us. I really didn't like having her down in Utah and not being able to visit her grave, and we know that no matter where we go in the future we will always be coming back to Quincy to visit so we decided this was the best place to bring her. We purchased a plot next to my grandparents (and eventually parents) graves and dedicated her grave on Tuesday. It was so emotional to see her little casket again and know this she is not here to be with us. It was a bittersweet moment at the cemetery with Jarod dedicating her new grave. We still miss her so much and think about her every second of every day. In addition to all of this, Hope would have been 18 months old next Monday. I keep thinking about how she would be old enough to start nursery this month-wow. I still wonder what her personality would have been like and what she would have looked like by now. We are so happy we have Belle with us but it makes us realize even more what we missed with Hope. I am so glad for the gospel in our lives and for this Easter season that we get to reflect upon our Savior and what he did for us so we can return to our Heavenly Father and be families forever.

Easter!

2010-04-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

Here is Belle on Easter morning with her basket from the Easter Bunny. She was very excited if you can't tell.

She got a lot of cute board books-including Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and a Little Mermaid bathtub book. She also got a cute huge chick!

She thought the chick was great and even grabbed it for the picture.

These are the candy Easter Eggs that my family makes every year. My Grandma Winder (Maxine, for who Hope is named after) made these every year and they have continued to be a tradition in our family. My mom said the family has been making them for about 40 years! We made four kinds this year: coconut, chocolate, chocolate with pecans, and peanut butter. Tiffany and Jarod worked hard at making the flowers and carrots, each one represents a certain flavor so you can tell them apart. They are so yummy and it always makes me think of my grandmother when we make them.

Belle

2010-04-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

This was in the hospital

I had such a hard time taking her picture like this because she would try to roll over as soon as I put her on her stomach. I wish my camera took pictures faster and better (don't know why its focused on the background in this picture?)

Isn't she the cutest thing. For some reason my camera also makes whatever is closest to the camera look huge-so her legs look big (and blurry-boooo) but they really aren't that big compared to her head.

This was right after we gave her a bath-she loves taking a bath, and after we rub lotion all over her and she loves that too.

We wanted to take some family pictures with Belle and so we took some after church a couple weeks ago (the ones with all of us aren't the greatest-but oh well). This was the best picture in the bunch. Thanks to Tiffany (my sis) who took them for me. Hopefully we will get some good pictures of us all dressed up at the wedding next week.
Belle is getting cuter all the time. She smiles like crazy and has started to really be chatty. She will talk and coo to you for several minutes. She has started to be able to hang on to toys just a little bit and she stares at her hands too. She is starting to get a lot chunkier too. She fits into her 3 month clothes really well and has almost outgrown her 0-3 month sleepers and will be wearing 3-6 month sizes soon.

Much anticipated pictures!

2010-03-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

The picture above is my favorite so far.

Here is her cute crib. She loves to stare at the ladybugs-pardon the crying baby.

2010-03-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

She has such a round head.

She is getting really good at holding her head up so she can sit in her bumbo chair a little bit.

Such great funny faces! She has the Yeates chin-which you can see sticking out pretty good.

Jarod caught this picture of Belle when she was only about 2 weeks old. She has smiled from the very beginning. She smiled at my aunt Linda when she was only 2 days old (she was wide awake and looking right at her).

Belle is doing great. She weighs 9 pounds 11 ounces as of today (she is now in the 15th percentile). She is really starting to gain weight. Last week on Thursday she weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces (10th percentile) so she gained 13 ounces in one week. She is super smiley most of the times when she firsts wakes up in the morning and right after naps. She sleeps so great. Most nights she sleeps at least 6 hours and she will often sleep even 7 or 8 hours. She loves to be swaddled and fights going to sleep until we wrap her up tight. She hates tummy time but she will usually be ok for a couple of minutes than she starts to yell like crazy. She can really get upset fast-there is not a lot of in between with her. She is either happy or instantly upset and she can scream really good! We are loving being in Washington and staying with my family. Its fun to be able to be home and see everyone.

I Apologize

2010-02-02T14:49:00.001-08:00

I want to apologize up front to all of our friends and family in Utah-Jarod and I have moved. We don't want to seem as if we just picked up and left in the night but that is kind of what happened. Jarod and I have been thinking about moving back to Washington for some time and Jarod's job situation was just not panning out well so we decided we needed to rent out our condo and move in with my parents while Jarod looks for another job. We wanted to have a party and invite everyone over to say goodbye and let everyone see the baby but unfortunately things didn't go according to plan. I ended up with Strep Throat last week (don't worry the baby didn't get it) and I have never felt sicker. I started on anti-biotics but things just did not get better. My throat was eventually so sore and swollen I couldn't eat or drink anymore and we finally took me to the ER to get an IV with fluids, anti-biotics, and a steriod for the swelling. Jarod had been working so hard to take care of me and the baby that he wasn't able to get things done around he house he needed to in order for us to rent the condo. So we decided to leave and bring me to Washington where I could stay with my family and recover while Jarod went back to Utah and took care of the condo and moving all our stuff up. I wanted to say goodbye to everyone so much but being so sick did not allow that and I apologize that many people haven't even seen the baby. We will be back in April for my brother Scott's wedding so we will definitely make plans to see everyone than!

Belle is doing good other than she isn't gaining weight as fast as we all would like. She still isn't back to her birth weight so we are taking her in for weekly weight checks. She gained a couple ounces between last week and this week but not as much as she should have. I am sure that all the stress over the last couple weeks has not helped her-me being so sick and dehydrated, moving to a new house, new people around, her dad not here, etc. The doctors haven't been too concerned since she is gaining weight-its just slow.

Introducing Belle Marie Rollins

2010-01-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

Belle Marie Rollins was born on January 11, 2010 at 8:12 pm. She was 7 pounds 7 ounces and 20 inches long. Things didn't go according to plan on January 6th so we were sent home to try again another day (my body was just not ready for labor). On Monday morning we checked in and hooked me up to Pitocin a little after 12 pm and Belle came that evening. Everything went well with the delivery and the baby and Tanya are doing great. We are home now and loving our little girl!

Checking In!

2010-01-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

Jarod and I will be checking in to the hospital tonight in only a couple more hours. I am so ready to have this baby and I can hardly believe that it is here. The last few days have been really hard, emotionally and physically. It will be great to be in the hospital getting monitored and know that our girl is ok. They will give me some prostaglandin gel tonight that will help to soften and dilate me more and than tomorrow morning they will start pitocin. The doctors told me that sometimes the gel is all that is needed to kick start a women into labor so we will see what happens-maybe I won't need pitocin (but I am not betting on that yet). If things go well and I progress well with the pitocin than hopefully it won't be too far into the day before we have a screaming and wiggling little girl in our arms. We are so appreciative of everyone's thoughts and prayers, we are reminded daily how many people think about us and our little family-thank you. We will post soon with some pictures and let everyone see our beautiful new girl!

Christmas

2010-01-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

Jarod and I had a great Christmas. We have been able to spend a lot of time together since Jarod is waiting to hear when the project his company is working on with start back up again. I got a cute bench to put by my front door and store shoes and misc things in (mostly Jarod's construction stuff). Jarod got me some dance classes for us to attend together (I have been trying to convince him for a while that we should take some classes together) and he also framed a canvas picture we bought on our cruise in Jamaica (it turned out great and we will probably put it above our bed). My parents and I went in on a present together for Jarod and got him a shotgun. He has been wanting one for a while to go shooting with (he isn't a big hunter but he loves shooting clay pigeons and such). He is so excited about it and can't wait to take a group of friends out and see how it works. We got a few other things here and there that are great (gift card to Cheesecake Factory thanks to Jarod's parents-yum!!!). We got some games too and spent a good portion of the week just having fun together. Hope everyone else had a great Christmas like we did.

Grandma Thoris French

2010-01-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Jarod's grandmother, Thoris French, passed away last week. She was 88 years old and lived a great life. She was diagnosed with cancer throughout her body and she decided it was time to go and barely a week went by before she was gone. We are all grateful that she did not have to stay and suffer long with her diagnosis because of how painful it could have been, but we are sad to have her gone. Grandma was alone for a long time (over 15 years without grandpa) and we know they are so happy to be together again. I am a little jealous that she gets to be with my baby Hope so much sooner than me but I am happy she is there with her. Grandma was a great example to all of her family. She talked often of her mission that Grandpa and her served in Washington DC at the temple and how wonderful that service was. We will miss her but are so glad that she is reunited with grandpa and all her family that has passed on.

Getting ready for baby

2009-12-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

Everything is going well with me and the baby (and Jarod too!). We have weekly appointments and lots of monitoring. I am starting to get ready. I have effaced a little bit more each appointment and I am just starting to dilate (60% effaced and 1 cm dilated). The baby has gotten lower at each appt. too. We are planning to induce on January 6th unless I go into labor before than. So that is only 1 week away! I can do anything for a week-so I keep telling myself! I am done working and just trying to finish organize everything at home and finish up all the last minute things I haven't had time to do that I have wanted to do such, make cute burp clothes!

I found this really great idea online a while ago-its to make really cute burp clothes. You sew a panel of fabric down the middle of a cloth diaper and add some ribbon to the side and you have a cute burp cloth that is super absorbant! The first stack is a sample of ones I made for friends (I have made boyish ones and girlish ones) and the ones at the bottom are ones I have been working on for me! I have a bunch more colors and ribbon that I need to work on and add to my stack.

Baby Shower

2009-12-30T17:30:00.000-08:00

A few of the girls at work (Janeene, Kristi, and Jenny) threw a baby shower for me! It was so fun but so snowy out that a lot of people couldn't make it, but we had fun with the few that were there. We had yummy soup and played a couple of fun games. I got a bunch of cute things! Thanks everyone for making the night fun for me and the baby!

New Haircut

2009-12-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

A little bit before Thanksgiving I decided I was so tired of my hair and everything about it. I went and got it cut a lot and also got it professionally colored for the first time (my color was looking so bad and pregnancy kept making it darker and darker that I just didn't know what to do with it anymore). So here is what my new style looks like:

Not the best smile (I look so tired-I guess being great with child does that).

Zions and Bryce Canyon National Parks

2009-12-30T16:49:00.000-08:00

At the end of September/early October Jarod and I went on a trip to Southern Utah. We wanted to see some of the National Parks and have one last weekend getaway while I wasn't too pregnant to travel. We stayed in St. George and went to Zions National Park first. There were so many beautiful scences and so many pictures but here are a couple of our favorites.

Love the ginormous arch-this was one of many we saw but definately the biggest. We also went through a tunnel that was over a mile long. It was built in the 1920's so it was really small and they only let traffic through one way at a time. It was really neat-they had holes in the tunnel looking out and you could see amazing cliffs and rocks. We had to drive up hundreds of feet of switchbacks to even get to the tunnel (it was little nerve racking). The arch in the picture above was taken on our way up the switchbacks. Zions is very well maintained and they have a shuttle system through part of the park. We parked our car and took the shuttle up the main canyon and got off at all the spots and walked around and looked at all the amazing cliffs-truly a beautiful place.

We also went to the St. George temple and the visitors center they have there. They had just finished painting the temple and it was so bright white! The St. George temple has so much history as the first temple finished in Utah. Something new I learned was that Brigham Young never like the original steeple that was on the temple (it was a lot smaller and looked a little strange on such a big building). Only a few days after he died a lightening storm hit the temple and burned just the steeple down so they had to rebuild it. Everyone says Brigham eventually got his way even after he died.

2009-12-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

Bryce Canyon is really an incredible place. The formations of the rocks are breathe taking. There are all of these little peaks and spires for the freezing and thawing of water through the ages and there are just views for miles of all this peaks. Everything is so red from all the iron so things just glow in the sun. Its really amazing that all of this is so high up-we were at 10,000 ft above sea level looking down into the canyon. The park has on main long road with several vantage points along the way. Here are a couple of the amazing views we shared at Bryce Canyon National Park.

This rock has a complete hole through it-so cool!

WICKED!

2009-12-30T16:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long time between posts-life gets crazy as everyone knows. Jarod and I were lucky enough to see Wicked a few months ago and loved it! Jarod had never been to a Broadway play before and was really impressed with the music and sets and everything. I felt like I just sat there with a smile on my face the whole time-enjoying every minute. Jarod has definately been converted to the thrill and excitement of Broadway so I am excited about that-now if only we could afford the tickets more often.

Thoughts...

2009-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

This was written by a friend who lost her baby only a few days after we lost Hope for her daughter's first birthday. I feel that it expresses a lot of how I feel but haven't been able to explain. I thought this was a great way to follow up my previous post about Hope's Birthday.

On the day you were born; not a sound was heard; not a word was spoken
I held you in my arms and my heart was forever broken
I looked into your beautiful face and begged you to cry, open your eyes, and look at me
It just had to be a lie. There must be some mistake; babies aren't supposed to die
We had so many plans for you,
My little girl you would be, and Daddy's little princess
Oh, the things for you to see;
the lullaby's for you to hear; hugs and kisses to be given
How today and every day, I wish that you were living.
Your life was meant to be; no matter what they say
and though tragically your life was not; in my heart you will always stay.
Our arms can't hold you now, since you have left this world
but you will always be Daddy's princess and my sweet little girl.
So today I sing "Happy birthday" as tears fill my eyes and I weep
Please know my tears are not because of you, but because no matter how much I wanted to
"You" I could not keep.
Sleep well my angel until we meet again.

by Jennifer for Kayleigh on her birthday

One year ago...

2009-10-19T20:22:00.001-07:00

One year ago we welcomed Hope Maxine Rollins into our family and we had to say good bye too soon.

We finally got a headstone to mark her grave. We did it in bronze and its beautiful. There are scrolling vines and flowers and even a little ladybug.

We brought her a cupcake and also some balloons with messages and released them into the sky.

We miss Hope everyday and think about her always. Its hard to not feel like a complete family with a piece of us missing but we think about the promise that families can be together forever and wish for forever to be here soon.

New Scam to Watch Out For...

2009-10-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

On the news this morning they talked about a new internet scam the FBI is warning about and everyone needs to watch out for. The scammers send you an email that's titled "Really Funny Picture" or something similar and once you open it they can see everything you type. They than can access your email accounts, facebook, etc. because they can get see your username and password that you use. They than start to contact all of your friends and family through your accounts and tell them that you are in trouble, got mugged, lost your wallet, etc. and that you need to wire them money. The scary thing about this scam is that your friends and family really think that it is you because its coming from your email or facebook. Please pass on this information to everyone and just remember never open email from someone you don't know even if the title of the email sounds legitimate.

20 Week Ultrasound

2009-08-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

So we are offically halfway there-phew! Today we had our 20 week ultrasound with the Perinatologist at Timpanogos Regional Hospital. I really liked the doctor we met with. He was really easy to talk with and seemed to understand how stressful and anxious this pregnancy is. He said everything on the ultrasound looked great, he spent a lot of time looking at her heart and all her body parts and organs and such and didn't find anything that seemed concerning. We talked about one of my blood tests that had come back positive. Its called MTHFR (is short for some super long word that I can't say-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase). Anyway, this is a chromosomal mutation that apparently is really common (like 40% of the population has this) and there are varying degrees of severity. One can have one copy or two copies of the mutation and there is an A mutation and a C mutation that those copies can be (this is all my understanding and may be very primitive but hopefully its fairly accurate). I have only one copy of the mutation and its the A mutation. The C mutation is the one that makes doctors more concerned as well as having 2 copies (so that is good I guess that I don't have those). Basically MTHFR can affect the way your body absorbs folic acid and uses it in your blood. It can lead to clotting problems, low birth weight, possible issues with the placenta not function well because of the clotting (which then leads to low birth weight). Anyway, I never showed signs of blood clots and there were none in the placenta or umbilical cord with Hope. She was a normal weight and length for a newborn so all in all they really don't think MTHFR had anything to do with this but of course we don't know what happened so everything is on the table. The treatment for MTHFR is super simple, 4 mg of folic acid + a baby aspirin daily, so the doctor said I could take that if I wanted since it wouldn't hurt but who knows if it really will help either since that may not be a problem at all. I have already been taking extra folic acid since my regular doctor said it wouldn't hurt while we were waiting to find out what the high risk doctor thought. I will go back to see the Perinatologst in 2 months and than I will see them once a month until we have the baby. Just having extra eyes and ears watching (especially when they are a specialist) is really nice and reassuring.

I was getting kind of nervous about this appointment since its always nerve racking to see a new doctor plus my neighbor recently lost her 4th child (this was her 3rd lose, she lost twin girls at birth and has one living son) and she found out about losing this last baby at her 20 week ultrasound. Everyday there is a reminder that I need to be grateful for what I have and for the children that I have (no matter how long it is I get to keep them-at least in this life). Jarod and I use our doppler almost everyday and that is such a precious time to just let the anxiety fall away for a few minutes. I struggle everyday to remind myself to just deal with this moment, this day. When I think about the future I start to panic and the anxiety can get out of control (luckily I feel that I have done much better handling my anxiety than I did earlier this year-which has surprised me).

Jarod is doing great with his landscaping job. His stamina has improved and they have been working on some different jobsites that have been a little easier than the one he started on. Some days they work more than 12 hours to get a job done so sometimes we hardly see each other but we are so glad he has a job for now. He is still continuing to look for a different job that can be more permanent and is more pertinent to his education so we are crossing our fingers.

Children's Books!

2009-08-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

I would like to invite everyone to take a look at my new website. I have signed up to be part of Usborne Books & More and have an eShow going on right now. These are really high quality books with a lot of great features. There are a lot of touchy-feely books, puzzle books, sticker books, gorgeous picture books, and books with flaps that open and close. They make great gifts and kids love them. Just follow the link below to the eShow I have going on right now. You can order anytime but right now I have a special eShow going on with the home show I am doing tonight. I have always loved books and I have been really impressed with the books available through Usborne books.

www.ubah.com/HOS149119

Everyone is welcome, so please pass this on to your family and friends that you think would love to buy some great books.

Below I have listed just a few of my favorites so far:

This is one of the really cute touchy-feely books. Each page has a different monster with something to touch and feel. There is a whole series of books called "That's not my..."

This is the story of a little penguin who goes on a quest to discover just how big is a million. Along the way he finds all kinds of groups and numbers and in the end he finds a million stars. There is a huge poster in the back that opens up to reveal a million stars (they acutally made sure there were one million stars on it).

This is such a great book for children. It has flaps that open and reveal all kinds of things going on in the human body-one of my absolute favorites!

This book has a cute mouse that detaches and you use to travel through the book. There are all kinds of holes and slits that the mouse travels through on his journey through the house.

This is just one of their many reference books. They have amazing encyclopedia and reference books that are great for school-aged kids and the many reports they have to do. Also one of the great features is their reference books are internet-linked/referenced which means they have additional information on the topics in the book if the child would like to learn more about something specific. Usborne monitors and updates their internet information and you can be assured your child is on a safe website and not just googling random topics if they need to do a report.

Like I mentioned above I am simply doing this because I love books and I want people to give their children fun books to read. If anyone has any questions please let me know.

It's a...

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

It's a girl! Jarod and I were able to see our fabulous Uncle Kent today (thanks Kent!) and found out we are having a baby girl. It was a little sketchy at first with Kent guessing a boy and the baby not wanting to spread its legs too much, but after further examination from many angles-girl was the consensus. We are very excited (we were secretly hoping it was a girl)! We have so many sweet baby girl things that would be great to use for one of our children and maybe we will get a little bit of a glimpse of what Hope would have been like through her little sister. Our next doctors appointment is next Wednesday and they said they can give us an ultrasound so we will wait and see if they agree (we won't say anything first just to make double sure). We will keep everyone posted and will get some pictures up next week when I can scan them at work.

Hard Worker!

2009-07-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

So Jarod got a job! YEA! Its only a temporary job but its a job so we are happy about that. He is working for a commercial landscaping company being a laborer. It pays pretty good so that is a nice perk, but they start at 6 am and work 9-10 hours a day. Being out in the heat and working his tail off has pooped my poor husband out. He comes home covered in dirt, sunscreen, sweat, and can hardly stand up. So far his foreman has been impressed with how hard of a worker he is compared to a lot of the other guys. Hopefully he will adjust to the heat and get used to the hard labor, or I may have a crippled husband in a few days. I love that I have a fantastic husband who is willing to work so hard for his family. Love you Jarod!

One more hoop to jump through

2009-07-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

I hate getting poked (who doesn't really). I had to get some blood drawn yesterday for a couple more tests that my doctors would like to run. They are mostly precautionary and such but one of the tests I really wanted them to do and the others were tests my doctor recommended once I brought up the first test. They are testing for obsure clotting disorders. When I was in the hospital after having Hope they did a ton of blood work but these other few tests were not really standard procedure and they were not checked with all the other clotting tests. There really is no reason to suspect a clotting disorder since no clots were found in the placenta, umbilical cord, and I never developed any clots but its good to rule out all possibilities so I am all for it (other than the poking and blood-sucking part; that part is not too fun). I have to wait a few days for the results, so I am trying to be patient and just trust myself that we are doing all we can to ensure the health of our child. On a happier note, my morning sickness has lessened a little in intensity. I still get sick and nausous and throw-up occasionally but thankfully its getting fewer and farther between. Also thanks to our wonderful Uncle Kent (its about who you know) we get to go see him next week sometime and find out what the little one is! My next appointment isn't until August 5th but they told me they would take me into the ultrasound than too, so we will see what Kent says and than see if the follow-up ultrasound says the same thing (two heads are better than one in making these judgements). We will keep everyone posted with results of all kinds!

New Calling-Scouts

2009-07-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Jarod has received a new calling in our ward. He will be the Varsity Coach in the scouting program. The Varsity Program is the scouting program for the teacher's quorum (age 14-15 young men). Jarod will be their scoutmaster and help them with all the Wednesday activities and merit badges and such. He is very excited and is working hard at getting organized. He has had some great examples of good scoutleaders in his life so he has a lot of ideas to plan fun things and keep the boys motivated at working towards their Eagles.

Great News!

2009-07-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Here is the newest addition to our family! It may not look like much but its a new little baby that Jarod and I will be adding to our family. This was taken at 8 weeks so its super small and they were measuring the length so you they are looking down on it but you can kind of see some little limbs if you look close. I am now 12 weeks along (and still sick so don't ask-hopefully we won't have a repeat of last time, my children just love me so much they can't leave me alone for one minute of peace-oh well). Our due date is January 15, 2010. We are going to the same clinic we went to before and love them. They are so nice and accomodating and try to make me feel better as much as I need. I will also be going to see a perinatologist (a doctor who specializes in babies in the womb). I will go to them for my 20 week ultrasound since they have a higher quality machine and are more apt at looking at babies in the womb. We may see them on and off after that in addition to our regular doctors appointments. I will have more frequent doctors visits as well, right now I am going every 3 weeks (mostly for my sanity) and we will increase the frequency as I get farther along. Once I am 32 weeks I will also start doing Non-Stress Tests (NST). This is where they hook me up to a fetal monitor and record the babies heart rate for a half hour or so at a time. It helps them see what is going on with the baby and make sure they are staying healthy. They will also check the fluid levels frequently with an ultrasound as I get farther along. Its reassuring to have so many things that we can monitor and make sure are ok, but its a little stressful too. We will probably induce me so that I can be monitored the whole time I am in labor. We haven't set a date or anything for that but will see how things progress and how I am doing as time goes on before we set anything in stone. I am trying to keep my anxiety in check and its been difficult sometimes. Since I can't feel the baby move yet I start to freak myself out and worry that something is wrong. One great thing is I received a fetal heart monitor in the mail yesterday. There is a great foundation called Tiny Heartbeats (their website is http://www.tinyheartbeats.org/) and they give heart monitors to mothers who have lost babies free of charge. These are doctor grade monitors, which usually cost several hundred dollars, but they let me borrow it during my pregnancy and I just send it back after I have the baby. They take donations-if you need a good charity to give some $$$ to- and also doctors offices can donate monitors so ladies, please pass this on to your doctors. Jarod and I were able to find the heartbeat last night and it was so reassuring (now I don't have to call my doctor's office everyday freaking out). We will make sure we keep everyone posted on our happenings. They are going to let us find out the sex of the baby early (because they love us so much at our clinic and they have an ultrasound tech in their clinic) so in a few more weeks we will know. I have an appointment next Wednesday and than the next one will be 3 weeks after that and that is the appointment we should be able to find out so only about 4 more weeks!

4 Years and Counting!!!

2009-04-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Jarod, I love you more everyday. Even though life is tough and unpredictable, having you as my best friend to share it with has meant everything to me. I love being with you and talking with you more than anyone else! I am so happy we are a family together forever!

Jamaica & Grand Cayman Cruise - Celebrity Century

2009-04-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

Tanya and I decided that we needed to get away for a while. Our sanity was wearing thin and the feeling of being in the same old place doing the same old stuff was getting to be too much. Being the master planner that Tanya is she had already been looking at cruises and had found a five night carribean cruise at a great price. The more we talked about it the better it sounded. Neither of us had ever been on a cruise, we considered it an adventure. We decided we would set sail on Valentine's Day. We purchased the cruise tickets without travel insurance and then booked our flights, we were committed.
I won't get into travel details other than to say we took the red eye from SLC to Miami and set sail the next morning. As with many things, Tanya had to convince me of something I already wanted, but didn't know I wanted.

There were a couple of other ships leaving at the same time and we got to see them off. We also say a lot of amazing sites as we were leaving Miami-one being of course the famous Miami Beach.

Our ship was smaller than most of the others we saw, which was great! Less people and more room to breath. Our little state room was tiny and without a window. I thought we might feel clausterphobic but it was great. If you sat on the toilet you could wash your hands in the sink at the same time.

The food was magnificent. I have never eaten so well in all my life. During the day we would stop by the buffets and graze on our favorite foods. Or we might drop by one of the cafes or the pool side grill for a burger and fries. We had the late dinning which was convenient because we usually weren't hungry until later anyway. Our head waiter Martins was from India and our support waiter was from Honduras, his name was Santos and they treated us like royalty. Every night was a five course meal. Sometimes they would bring us multiple entrees if we couldn't decide which one we wanted more.

We had the time of our lives! We loved being able to relax and forget about things for a few days. We also went to Stingray City in Grand Cayman and we will post pictures when we get our underwater camera developed.

Hope Maxine Rollins

2008-10-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

On October 19, 2008 Hope Maxine Rollins was born into our family. I was 40 weeks and 5 days into my pregnancy and about Midnight on Saturday night I went into labor and everything was progressing well. At 10 am we went to the hospital and once we were checked in and in our room the nurses brought out the fetal monitor. From the moment they put it on my belly they couldn't find a heartbeat. The ultrasound machine was brought in and the dr. found that her heart was no longer beating. At 10 pm that evening I gave birth to Hope Maxine. There were no signs of trauma, infection, or anything. About 50% of the time there is no reason found for why a baby is stillborn. She was 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and 20.5 inches long. She has long legs and big feet just like her daddy and she has the Yeates chin. We feel blessed to have Hope be part of our eternal family. We know that the Lord must have great plans for her and us. We are so blessed to have the support of our families-we couldn't ask for more from everyone. Thank you to all who have helped us these past weeks and for all of your love. We know Hope will be well taken care of with all of our loved ones who have passed on, but we still miss her and want her back, but we need to be patient for now.

No Baby Yet

2008-10-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing much happening with the baby lately. I had my weekly appointment on Tuesday and I was about the same as the week before (50% effaced). The baby's head was a little bit lower than last week so we are making some progress-even if small. My doctor's office is pretty conservative on interventions so I won't be electively induced until Oct. 27th if she doesn't come before than-I am sure, however, she will make her debut before than. Jarod and I have been working on her bedroom trying to get as much done as we can so its nice to have a little extra time-if she likes where she is at we are ok with it for now!

Little Kitty

2008-09-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

I found this cute little kitty costume at Walmart the other night and had to buy it for our little one. She is going to be the cutest thing in this! Jarod and I have finally finished our bedroom (I will take some pictures of the finished product and add them on here). We moved everything into our room and have proceeded to take apart the next room. We painted the closet and its all done so we moved all kinds of things into it, thankfully! Our piles of things in the living are shrinking! We are going to be painting the walls in the baby's room next than work on all the moldings. Jarod has been so swamped trying to finish up his calculus class that ends in about a week so not much is going to be happening until that is done. We did move the cradle into our room so whenever our bundle of joy decides to arrive she has a place to sleep for now! I have been going to the Dr.'s weekly now but not much to report there-they keep telling me first time moms on average are 6 days late. So we will see when she arrives-its a guessing game! Its nice that the weather has been cooler-I love fall. HAPPY FALL!

Our baby bedding-Ladybugs!

2008-08-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot of people ask what colors the nursery is going to be so I decided to post a picture of it on our blog. It is a sage green mostly with accents of black and white gingham and of course cute little ladybugs. I wanted something not too over the top girlie but just simple and sweet. Of course as I mentioned in the last post our furniture is white. We are painting the walls kind of a creamy pale yellow (if we ever get done with our bedroom to move on to working in the baby's room). The changing table has two open shelves with baskets on it. The liners of the baskets are red and white gingham and the changing pad covers I registered for are red and white gingham too. Hopefully everything will all coordinate and look great together! I will post pictures when everything is set up (hopefully that won't be too long from now).

New Crib

2008-08-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

So here is the latest addition to our house-well technically it's still tied to the top of the car. We just bought a crib for our little one. We actually got it in white (not the color shown in the picture). We got an incredible deal. There are about 10 other girls in my office that are pregnant (that's like 15% of our workforce-amazing I know) and so we get to hear about all these great deals and events and such that are in the area. One girl got a flyer for this furniture manufacturer that had a ton of overstock (because people are buying as much from the retailers these days) and they are trying to get rid of the furniture because they have had to spend thousands of dollars on storage since their retailers aren't wanting it right now. You could only get in if you had a flyer and this gal made several copies for our office. Jarod and I went during my lunch hour today and picked out a crib-we got it more than 70% off of what it retails for! I found a website that was selling our crib and they wanted over $800! It will be beautiful in our baby's room. It is really beefy and really sturdy-we will never have to buy another crib again-this will last through every possible child and than some. I originally wanted a dropside crib but all of the ones I have seen never look as sturdy as the cribs without drobsides. I hope I don't regret that later as I am not the tallest person in the world, but I think it will work great (plus this place didn't have any cribs with dropsides).

Washington and a Baby Shower!

2008-07-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

The first week of July we went to Washington to see Scott Yeates return from his mission to South Africa. If we ever figure out how to add video to our blog we will add the video of us at the airport picking him up. Seeing Scott and all of the rest of my family and most of my extended family (on my mom's side) was so much fun. We love being home on the farm and Jarod thinks its fun to change the wheel-line, he volunteered several times to help Brett with this task. We ate, swam, ate some more, had some hayrides and boatrides, and spent many hours talking. SO FUN! Kellie was kind enough to throw a Baby Shower for me with all Quincy and Moses Lake women. She made the cutest invitations and had a whole Ladybug theme to everything. It was so cute! Since our little one's bedding is ladybug Kellie thought it would make a great theme so everything was red and black and super cute. We had wonderful food, also planned and prepared by Kellie. We had California Citrus Salad, BBQ Chicken Pizzas, 2 kinds of spinach dip, veggies, bread, and some wonderful blondie sundaes drenched in a maple sauce, YUM! We played a couple of games and opened some wonderful gifts. Everyone was so generous with their sweet baby clothes and blankets. Our child is never going to run out of things to wear! I can't thank Kellie enough for all the work she put into the party-she is such a great sister!

After visiting my family we went to Spokane and Chewelah to visit Jarod's family. We got to see our sweet little niece for the first time, Elle. She can scream and squeal louder than anything I have ever heard-I am surprised no windows have broken yet. Everyone was very excited to see us and it was great catching up with everyone. Jim and Jess are expecting to have baby #2 today so we hope all goes well with that-we are thinking about you! We also stopped by to say hi to Jarod's best friend's family, Don and Jodi Norris (we had to dodge a fire to see them but it was worth it). We love visiting family and wish we could do it more often! Hopefully we will see everyone not too long after the baby comes!!!

Terrible Painters

2008-07-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Jarod and I have been ripping our house apart to re-do some of the rooms. We are working on the Master Bedroom right now while we stay in the other bedroom. Once our room is done we will move and than work on the 2nd bedroom that will be the office/baby's room. I would post pictures of our remodeling but since we took everything out of the room, including our computer, I don't have a way to get our pictures on here (I am writing this from my work computer). We ripped off all of the mouldings (they had about 5 layers of horrible paint on them) and we are painting all of the walls than we will put up new mouldings, even some crown moulding-ooohhhhh! Well, we finally got to painting Saturday evening and thought we were doing a great job. It went pretty fast since we didn't have to tape anything off with the mouldings gone. come to find out once the paint dried we had terrible spots everywhere that we missed. As we painted we were so careful and were constantly looking for drips and spots that we missed but apparently we are not good at that. Tonight we will be re-painting our walls and hopefully a second coat will do it!

Newest Baby Pictures!!!

2008-06-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

On June 11th we had another ultrasound. This one was at our Dr.'s office and it was very lengthy! They did a lot of diagnostic observations and everything looks great. Her heart, kidneys, diaphragm, spine, lips, etc. all look perfect! And yes, they said it was a girl too so we figure it is pretty safe to assume we are having a girl. Jarod and I are busy trying to figure out where to put everything. We are busy painting and remodeling (very, very slowly). We have purchased a changing table, just waiting for it to arrive, so we have a place to put all of the things we are buying and getting as gifts. I keep telling Jarod our baby is going to have red hair but he doesn't believe it!

Graduation!

2008-06-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here is Jarod at his graduation. His mom flew down for a fast trip to come and celebrate with us. We are so excited that Jarod is almost done with school (he has a few night classes left).

First Pictures!!!

2008-04-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the first pictures of our little one, thanks to Uncle Kent! Everything looks good and our baby is right on track with everything. October 12 is our due date. In a couple more weeks we will get to tell if its a boy or girl. I think I am starting to feel a little (very little) better. I think I am keeping more things in my stomach so thats a good sign. Everyone says I am on the end of the sickness phase so lets hope everyone is right. Our child looks a little like an alien but thats ok (with Jarod and I being the parents we can't expect too much, haha).

Welcome to the Rollins Family Blog!

2008-04-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

I hope that I can keep this fairly up to date. I am terrible at journals so I don't know how well I am going to do with this but I love reading other people's blogs so I thought I would give it a shot. Jarod and I have been married for 3 years now! Time flies and we are still as much in love as ever. We are of course excited about our little bundle of joy that will be joining our family in the future. In about 2 weeks Jarod will be going to his Graduation ceremony (he isn't really graduating until August but this is his opportunity to walk in the ceremonies). We are all so proud of him and that he has accomplished so much (and the fact that he will be bringing home a good paycheck is a bonus)! We are busy buying things for our new place and working on sprucing it up (it needs some help in our pink bathroom and the not so great kitchen). We are also trying to figure out were to put this child of ours (it will be a tight squeeze in here but nice and cozy). I will try to post pictures of our place before and after as we do stuff.