The Bellingham Rollos Blog

On The Move Again!

2008-09-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

Now that we have physically moved our family from Bellingham, WA to Park City, UT it was time to change things up in our blogging world. So from now on you will find us here. Hope you will visit us soon and often both on-line and at our new home!

Stuart Falls

2008-08-29T07:40:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

We drove an hour south to Sundance (owned by Robert Redford) where we rode the lift up and hiked over to Stuart Falls. It was beautiful! It was really hot so we enjoyed playing in the water and feeling the spray of the waterfall. Sundance Resort is absolutely a gorgeous resort if any of you ever get a chance to visit there. It is built to be low-profile and have minimal impact on the environment and scenery! Everyone here says "its what Park City used to be." Very quaint and quiet. You can click on picture to see more at our flickr account.

A Free School Bus

2008-08-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

I won my first battle with the school district. This morning all 16 kids from our neighborhood who attend Parley's Park Elementary got a free bus ride to school. The great part is the school bus will be free to everyone in our neighborhood from now until forever! And we will be guaranteed spots for all our kids! Check out all those happy kids and parents. Many of the kids had never ridden the school bus before this morning because the parents had refused to pay and opted to drive them instead. One mom said "My girls were up, dressed, and ready to go before the alarm had gone off. They were standing at the door at 7:20am asking if it was time to go to the bus yet!"

Basketball Hoop

2008-08-25T09:40:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Lydia received an early birthday present from her Grandma and Grandpa Rollo! This weekend we got a chance to put it together. We have a nice long driveway for playing hoops. I think its going to be a lot of 2-on-2. Maille is turning out to be quite the scrappy little player! Its a great outlet for Lydia's energy. Thanks Anne and Scott! We are ALL enjoying the new hoop!

School starts Monday

2008-08-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

Today we went to pick up a few things for school. With the exception of Lydia's binder, Park City School District provides everything you need. Some of the teachers have a wish list for donations or you can chose to provide your own things as well.

We were also able to visit the classrooms and meet the teacher's of both girls today. Lydia will be in the 5th grade with Mrs. Hopkins who just moved here with her family from Northern California. Maille will be in 2nd grade with Mrs. Lee. She is very young and doesn't have any kids yet.

Everyone we meet who finds out Maille has Mrs. Lee exclaims "Oh we LOVED Mrs. Lee!" Apparently everyone LOVES Mrs. Lee and she did seem very nice.

Maille's classroom was decked out with 5 of the nicest Apple Computers I have seen and Lydia's class will be starting the district's new "Computers Across the Curriculum" in January. I'm not sure what that means exactly yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Apparently the program will eventually put a laptop in the hands of every student in the district starting in 6th grade, but this year the implementation of the whole program starts with the 5th graders. I don't think they will be getting laptops, but I do think it is intended to help the teacher let the kids learn at their own pace. This will be great for Lydia and other independent, bright students. We will see how it goes for the others. Like anything else, I think it has stirred up some controversy with people on both sides of the spectrum.

Speaking of controversy, I have been stirring up some of that myself. According to a neighbor, I was on the local radio today. I guess my appeal to the School Board on Tuesday evening was local newsworthy. You see, I have a bit of a bone to pick with the School Board about the busing situation in our neighborhood.

Getting on a school bus here is not something you take for granted. I could bore you with all the gory details, but I'll just say this...our neighborhood is considered a "walking" neighborhood. Even though the only way for the kids to actually walk is a mile down the highway. A highway that is traveled at 45+ mph by THOUSANDS of vehicles a day, most of which are transient (vacationers) to this town. There are NO sidewalks and it is 2 lanes in each direction with a center turn lane. Not to mention the 10 foot wall of snow that builds up along the edge of the road in the winter. Basically NO ONE makes their kid walk to school from our neighborhood. My kids make numbers 21, 22, and 23 for kids in a few short blocks. Sixteen of those kids are elementary school aged.

All of the parents have been paying $200 a year per student to have their kids bussed to school or driving them. The problem for me is that the bus is full. Basically they told me I was tough out of luck and my kids either walk or I drive them. The other half of the story is that I am supposed to be going to work, which makes driving them nearly impossible.

For the most part the district has A LOT of walkers. WAY more than where we moved from. But from talking to other parents in neighborhoods who have already fought this fight, its a HUGE battle to get them to approve the funding. To me its absolutely flabbergasting. But I refuse to back down and my neighbors are all just laughing. But I'll bet they won't be laughing when I save them $200 per student, per year!

Constant Interuptions

2008-08-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

I finally said to my girls today...
"If I stopped what I was doing every time you asked me to come look at something or help you with something, I would NEVER GET ANYTHING DONE!!!"

Then I felt guilty, but it was SO true! I guess its just one of those days. Am I alone here, or does anyone else ever feel that way!?!? And honestly is vacuuming such an important thing to do anyway!?!? When I woke up this morning I said to myself "Today I need to do laundry, vacuuming, and send out at least 3 more resumes"...is that really too much to ask!?!? Maybe I shouldn't ask the question, as I may not like the response I get back. But what the heck. Sometimes you just gotta stick your neck out there and see what happens. I either need a nanny, house keeper, and personal secretary or I need someone to ease my guilt here for me!

USPS vs. UPS

2008-08-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Really there is a bigger difference than just that one letter in the acronym. And other than to put a letter in my mailbox (does anyone really do that anymore???) the US Postal "Service" doesn't provide me any "service" worth my time to utilize. Before we left Bellingham I stopped at the downtown post office to mail a box to Brian in Utah. Let me just say that I absolutely DREAD going into the post office. And this visit only solidified that I will NEVER set foot in a United States Postal Service Office again. Mostly because there is truly no "service" in what they do. In fact if they were not a government entity, they would be bankrupt and out of business. But I digress...

Soooo, I stepped inside the door and immediately counted the 12 people in line in front of me. I then evaluated the 2 employees working behind a counter built with 8 stations (and I have never seen more than 2 people working behind that counter in all 10 years I lived there). At that point I contemplated walking out knowing that it would be AT LEAST 15 minutes before I got to the counter. But also knowing from experience that there was never a "better time" to go to the post office, I decided to stick it out. Promptly after making this decision I see one of the employees finish with a customer and rather than taking the next person in line, she puts up her closed sign and walks away. At this point there are at least 5 more people in line behind me! Floored, I think there MUST be someone else coming to take her place. But to no avail. The only other person who came to the front counter to help was a male who announced he could only help people who were there to pick up packages. Not kidding you, 25 minutes later, I am the next one to be helped and this employee returns from what I assume to be a break. She removes her closed sign and calls me up. Without so much as a smile or how can I help you, I hand her the package I am attempting to mail. Our conversation went something like this...

me: How are you today?
employee: Fine (with a funny smirk on her face)
me: How was your break?
employee: Fine (with a quizacle look)
me: That's good. I spent your entire break standing in this line.
employee: Oh, really. (notice not even so much as a hint of care or apology)
me: See this is the only place on earth that can stay in business and have this kind of customer service. If you worked anywhere else and provided this type of service, the company would be out of business and you'd be out a job.
employee: (no reply so I continue)
me: Not to mention that my time is worth money too, so I will be sure to send the Postal SERVICE a bill for MY time spent in their line. Oh and by the way I do have other options for mailing things and I WILL NEVER send another package through you guys and you will continue to have cuts in staff and eventually you won't have a job anymore, because people are starting to figure it out.

At this point I am done and leave.

But today I am going to mail a box to my brother in San Diego and I will be sending it UPS! Because when they ask "What can Brown do for you?" I know the answer will NOT be standing in line for 25 minutes to mail a package! And when I need to pay a bill...I will use on-line bill pay! And when I need to send a letter or thank you...I will send it via email. And so at this point in my life the US Postal "Service" could quit their "service" altogether and then I wouldn't have to keep recycling all the CRAP they leave in my mailbox! But that's a rant for another day.

Bad Hair

2008-08-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

Only a good dad will put up with little girls who make your hair look like this...

Have you ever mattress surfed?

2008-08-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

As a kid I remember going to my neighbor's cabin on Mt. Hood where we would spend our indoor hours (which were few really unless we were sleeping) mattress surfing. At the top of stairs was a large room containing 12 twin sized mattress which provided endless hours of entertainment (we also designed some of the coolest obstacle courses and forts)! So if you haven't tried it you should. My kids discovered it today all on their own. While I had nothing to do with them discovering it, I did discover that I am not nearly as graceful of a mattress surfer today as when I was a kid. There are more pics here.

The Jordanelle Reservoir

2008-08-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

We went here last Sunday. Lydia and Gretchen had a good time. Maille was cold and Brian was tired. I just liked the opportunity to be out of the house and taking pictures.

Coincidence in Church???

2008-08-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

I do not believe in coincidence, but here is where we've gone to church the last two Sundays. The first Sunday was a little awkard as the people who were supposed to run Sunday School and the nursery didn't show up. It it being a fairly small congregation, people jumped in and it all worked out. I could tell they were not TOO used to it, but very willing to help when needed. This week started a 4 week series on Finding God's Will for your life. It gave me some confirmation that we are where we're supposed to be here in Park City!

The second week upon entering the nursery to drop off Gretchen I met an amazing home schooling mom of 8 children. Through our conversation (or rather me prodding her for information on local pediatricians, where to buy soccer cleats, and what kind of gear we will need for a very snowy winter) we discovered that we live in their old neighborhood and just around the corner from their old house! Then upon going upstairs to find Brian in the sanctuary, I see our neighbors just down the row. This young couple happens to be heavily involved in Young Life and he is a pastor at the church. We also came to find out, through further conversation with them, that the area Young Life Director also lives in our neighborhood. (For those of you haven't known Brian and I long enough to know that Young Life is the reason we are married today!) It felt like further confirmation that things are as they are supposed to be according to God's will...not coincidence.

Writer's Block

2008-08-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

This is Cambria by the way, not Lydia as it says at the bottom of the post. I am working on my resume and cover letter and its been a long time since I have had to do this. I am hoping you all can help. Since SO many of you leave me comments regularly (or not) here is another chance. Give me insight into ME. What should I include? Not include? Strengths? Personality? I don't know, that's why I am asking you! So leave me a note in the comments.

Park City House

2008-08-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

In case any of you are wondering what our new digs look like, here's some pics. Most of them are pretty boring, but maybe it will give you an idea. My favorite room is the front room with big windows, big rock fire place, and exposed wood beams. Makes me feel like we are living in a cabin on a mountain...which in a lot of ways we are. My favorite thing is our location. 3 miles to either Kimball Junction (TJ Maxx, Outlet Mall, Pier 1, Bed Bath and Beyond, Whole Foods, Walmart, etc.) or to main street Park City (Brian's work, Sports Authority, Frontier Bank, Albertson's, and a TON of cool shops and restaurants). We are literally right across the street from The Canyons Resort where there is a Farmer's Market all day every Wednesday and a free outdoor concert every Thursday evening. We just walk across the street. We might ski there this winter and I am looking into getting a job there where Gretchen can go to their on-site childcare. Everything is so close by and convenient, with the exception of a Costco. One is opening here in a year, but in the meantime we will be a taking a once-a-month trip to Salt Lake. It takes all of 25 minutes to get there! Really only about 5 minutes more than it took from our house in Sudden Valley to the Costco on Meridian! Oh yeah and that is a pair of skis holding the mail box and an old ski lift chair on the porch. This house is owned by one of the former Olympic Ski Coaches.

On The Move

2008-08-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

We are here in Park City, Utah and slowly getting out of the sea of boxes. Amidst all that we have spent some time at a very fun swimming pool and rode our bikes to town and back stopping at the Farmer's Market! I have been getting things like trash, recycle (its FREE!), banking, and insurance accounts taken care of. Tomorrow the schools open so we will be registering the girls for school. The girls have made fast friends with the neighbor girls two doors away who happen to be exactly the same ages! Unfortunately shortly after our arrival they left for a 10 day vacation much to all the girls' dismay! They were asking for sleep overs after the first day playing together! Its been very hot here and yesterday the clouds rolled in...we were actually glad to see them. But no rain to speak of. We miss our "home" in Bellingham and sometimes I feel like I am just here on vacation! I promise to post some pics soon, but first I want to let you know that this blog will be on the move too. We are heading to wordpress and will be changing our name to something a little more appropriate. Stay tuned for the link to the new blog!

Anniversary Note

2008-07-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Every year it seems that we have something major going on over our anniversary. Last year, we were at a family reunion with a 3 week old baby. This year, our anniversary happened to fall on the weekend of our move to Utah. So we've decided to pretend that our anniversary is still a few days away and will celebrate it after we get to Park City.

But that doesn't change the fact that Cambria and I have now been married for 11 years. It's been an eventful time with 3 children born, 1 business started and closed, 2 houses bought and sold, a few vacations, and a wide variety of difficult and wonderful times.

I just wanted to say that I'm very thankful for having Cambria as my wife. Despite our having completely opposite personalities (I'm an INFP and she's an ESTJ), I can't think of a better person to be my wife and the mother of my children. She works harder than anyone I've ever known and is a wonderful mother. She also really helps to keep me from disappearing into my own head too much. Without her, I'd probably be a major mess (rather than just the minor mess that I am now).

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I love you, Cambria. Thank you for being such a wonderful wife to me. I'm excited about our new life and adventures in Park City and I'm certain that you'll love it there.

1 Year Old

2008-07-15T14:32:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Saturday was Gretchen's First Birthday. Thank you to the Watters, Esias, Kallins, Chasteens, Tipps, and Jamie and Shannon for celebrating with us. It was a good time. Click the picture to see more.

about my kiddos...

2008-07-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Joanna tagged me so here's how it works...

1. Link your tagger and list the rules on the blog.
2. Share 7 facts about your kiddos on your blog…random, weird, funny…whatever you want!
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post

Lydia Cassie

1. loves to read, play webkinz, mountain bike and play soccer
2. didn't have her first hair cut until she was almost 3 years old
3. always wants to fit "one more thing" into each day
4. won the award for "Most Intense" on her last soccer team
5. has had the same best friends since she was 3 months old
6. chews her nails since she was 2 to avoid fingernail clippers
7. is my CTO (Chief Technical Officer) while her dad is gone

Maille Renee

1. is very proud of her recent reading accomplishments
2. loves to ride her bike around "the loop" at our house
3. is friends with everyone, but really wants a "best friend"
4. loves arts and crafts
5. is NOT a morning person
6. has feet almost as big as her older sister's
7. was not a very cute baby, but is a very beautiful little girl (now her dad has to worry!)

Gretchen Sophia

1. has a bit of a temper already
2. is taller and has more hair than both her older sisters did at one year old
3. LOVES her bottle (i'm a little worried about how we're going to get her off of it!)
4. climbs everything, but especially likes stairs
5. her favorite book is "Pat the Bunny"
6. has 9 teeth and is working on 3 more!
7. all 4 legged animals bark

So I tag Lisa, Betsy, Tami, Amy, and Sara

Flaming Gorge: Green River Fishing Report

2008-07-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

The Green River just below the Flaming Gorge Dam is well worth a visit. I fished it for two days this weekend. I was going to fish for 3 days, but I developed some blisters on my feet that cut things short.

The Green River flows through a steep canyon of red rocks. The water is amazingly clear which makes it fairly easy to see the trout. A number of times I was able to watch a trout for several minutes as it would rise for bugs or cruise a hole.

There were a lot more people there than I would have liked. Every 10 minutes or so a boat of fishermen or rafters would come by. The "A" stretch of the river is about 8 miles long. I hiked in from Little Hole which is at the bottom of the "A" stretch. After about a mile and a half, I was by myself on the shore. The first mile or so seems to get a lot of traffic as there were fishermen everywhere. I have heard that going downriver from Little Hole into the "B" stretch or even further into the "C" stretch, will reduce both the numbers of fishermen and fish (though the fish are supposed to be much larger).

I actually saw a fish swim up to my fly (size 10 cicada), pause, and then finally go for it! That was my first catch and it was an awesome way to catch a fish. That fish ended up being a 14 or 15 inch brown trout. Since that fish was being fairly stubborn about coming to shore, I was able to turn on my camera and get it ready. I ended up with these pictures:

I also took a few pictures of the river and the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, the area is much browner than it used to be because of forest fires a few years ago. You can really see this in the 2nd picture down.

This last picture shows the Flaming Gorge just above the dam. The dam is just to the left of the picture.

More Utah Scenery

2008-06-29T20:49:00.001-07:00

The other day I decided to take an alternate route home. I wanted to see some new areas. I ended up driving back to Layton via East Canyon which runs just on the east side of the Wasatch mountains. The Wasatch range is the series of mountains that runs immediately to the east of Salt Lake City. Anyways, I took some pictures of the drive. As always with these pictures, the sheer size is not well reflected. These mountains and rock formations are enormous.

Boulevard Park and Colophone Cafe

2008-06-25T21:59:00.001-07:00

Scooter girls on the bay...

Dessert at Colophone Cafe...

Almost a one-year old

2008-06-25T21:51:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

She's almost one. Which means...

tantrums
-opinions to have tantrums about!
-climbing
-words (like "ee-a" for Lydia and "ay-yee" for Maille)
-bops up and down with her whole body and her head to say yes
-picking up the phone and saying "ya, ya, ya, ya"
-emptying EVERYTHING
-knocking over towers is HILARIOUS
-cutting 4 molars all at once (she was sleeping through the night!)
-busy body syndrome (even when she's sleeping her body is moving)
-understands the word "no", but doesn't have the maturity to override the desire
-friendly and shy at the same time
-"to be in mom's arms or down exploring...just can't make up my mind!?!?"
-knows that socks and shoes go on the feet, but can't figure out how to get them on and they come off SO EASY!!!
-everything in hand is to be smelled, felt, AND TASTED!
-stairs are like magnets
-if all else fails just scream really loud in a high pitched squeal...it gets everyone's attention

The New Job

2008-06-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

I've now got two days under my belt at my new job. So far, I'm pretty happy at how the job is working out. The two other programmers I work with are both smart and very easy to work with. I think we'll get along great.

Everyone else at the company has been very nice as well. It seems that everyone is good at what they do, excited about the company, and very happy to be in Park City. Nearly everyone there is from some other part of the country. So far I know of North Carolina, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, and Washington being represented.

Currently, I'm staying with my aunt, uncle, and cousin in Layton, Utah. They've been nice enough to let me have a room in their home while we try to sell the house back in Bellingham. They're a pretty easy-going family which is very nice.

The only downside to staying in Layton is that it means I'm commuting 1 hour each way. Fortunately, there is some tremendous scenery along my driving route. The picture is a little crooked, but that's what you get when you are taking pictures while driving.

Finally, I wanted to share a couple pictures I took today from the deck that is literally 5 feet from my desk. Today we had a bbq lunch out there. It was about 80 degrees and I was told that is just slightly warmer than usual. I like it here.

Look who's walking!

2008-06-15T13:29:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Its Father's Day and we are missing Daddy as he is already in Utah. I wish he could have been here to see Gretchen take off walking across the living room today. Fortunately the camera was right next to me. Happy Father's Day Brian. Thanks for being such a great daddy to your girls.

The Drive to Park City Part 2

2008-06-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

So I didn't end up taking any interesting detours today. Because I got into the hotel so late last night, I just slept in and left a bit later.

Today's drive was fairly uneventful and actually quite dull. Once you leave Boise, it's mostly just flat ground with mountains off in the distance. Other than the occasional canyon, there's not too much to see.

Once you get past the 86/84 split and start heading south, it becomes pretty desolate. This stretch is easily the most forgettable part of the drive.

I kept waiting for a "Welcome to Utah" sign so I could take a picture but I never saw one. I did end up taking a few random pictures while driving to help pass the time.

The first picture is of the Rockies in southern Idaho probably about a half hour before going into Utah. Please notice the lack of clouds in the sky.

The second picture is what the back of the Subaru looked like with 2 bikes, a suitcase, and a bunch of other random stuff.

The final picture shows the temperature as reported by the Subaru. I took that picture because I'm coming from low 50's and dumping rain on Tuesday to 89 and sunny on Saturday. This is a big reason why we're moving to Utah.

The Drive to Park City Part 1

2008-06-14T02:45:00.001-07:00

So the first half of my drive turned out to be much longer thanks to the Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally. I was planning to stay the night in Baker City, OR, but it turns out every motel, hotel, and inn is full because of the motorcycle rally. This is learned at midnight.

It also turns out that every motel, hotel, and inn located in the next town of Ontario (1 hour away) was full because of the rally and a local community college graduation event this weekend. This is learned at around 1:15am (actually 2:15 because I'm now in Mountain time).

So another 30 minutes down the road and I'm in Caldwell, Idaho where I get apparently the last room in a La Quinta. So it's almost 3am and I just got into my room.

I'm only about 5 hours away right now. I'll probably use the extra available time on Saturday to see something interesting between Caldwell and Salt Lake City.

Starting our good-bye

2008-06-12T16:04:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Skylarks Hidden Cafe in Fairhaven has been a family favorite. Mostly for their fabulous Clam Chowder. Sunday we had our last bowl, for a while anyway. We are trying to make a point of, not only seeing all the people we will miss, but the places as well. Our family has been true "Bellinghamites" for almost 11 years, not only owning and operating our own small business here, but being a part of the livelihood of MANY others. The depth and breadth of which my children will only appreciate after we have moved, I am sure. We have tried to impress upon them the idea that "you can eat at Red Robyn's in any mid-sized town in America, but you won't have a Boundary Bay once you leave Whatcom County." While sometimes the mainstream predictability of an Applebee's is nice, we have come to live by "Cheers" motto "go where everybody knows your name!" Goodbye Skylarks, thank you for the many tasty bowls of Clam Chowder! Click the picture to see more photos!

JR Ski To Sea Race

2008-06-07T23:10:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Lydia did GREAT!!! It was just as much fun for us to watch. We will miss this next year when we are in Park City!

Park City here we come!

2008-05-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

One week ago, Brian accepted a position with a promising startup software company located in Park City, Utah. So it's time for an exciting new chapter in our lives!

There are so many reasons that we're sure we'll love living in Park City. Like the lack of rain and the abundance of sun and snow! Or the schools being ranked in the top 12 in the nation. 3 world renowned ski resorts in town and many more within an hour. A half-day's drive to either Grand Canyon, West Yellow Stone, Grand Tetons, or Denver Colorado... none of which I have been to. The endless mountain biking trails and awesome fly fishing rivers. An international air port within 40 minutes. Oh yeah and did I mention the weather!?!? And because of the nature of resort towns, everyone there is from somewhere else! That might sound strange, but it means that people understand what it's like to live away from extended family.

More on our move soon to come! For now check out these:

14 great reasons to live in Park City.

Pictures of Park City in Winter

Pictures of Park City in Summer

Colors

2008-04-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

I started giving Gretchen multiple food options on her tray at once. The funny part is that she only eats one color at a time. And its always the same order. White, green, then orange last. Its the funniest thing. It doesn't even matter if the white is chicken or bananas or pears, they are always first. The second could be peas, beans, or avocado. Last is always orange...carrots, yams, peaches, mango.

Anybody Care For Baby in a Bowl?

2008-04-19T18:31:00.001-07:00

Baby in a bowl
Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Bargain Curtains

2008-04-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

Today I made curtains. Yes two sets. One for my room and one for Gretchen's room. To replace to broken and awful blinds that were removed long ago. There were two great things about this venture. #1 was price. I went to the fabric store to buy fabric with which to make curtains and quickly realized it would be about $50. Then I found a set of sheets at TJ Max that would work perfectly for about $10! Wow, how else do you buy fabric that cheap. #2 was how simple they were to make. Each set took a total of about 30 minutes each. It was simple, it was cheap, and it was done quickly. Thats about how much time and patience I have for these types of projects. I love actually finishing something...it feels good!

Now to get them hung!

Happy 7th birthday Maille

2008-04-09T10:40:00.001-07:00

Maille's 7th birthday - 113.jpg
Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Yes, thats a doughnut! Your eyes are not deceiving you! At Maille's request we took her for doughnuts instead of having cake on her birthday. She also got to go swimming with friends and spend a day in Seattle with her cousins and Aunts and Uncles. She's a very loved little girl! And I just can't believe she's SEVEN!

Eating Yams

2008-04-02T22:04:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Gretchen loves to feed herself. Recent favorites include bananas, pears, O's, yams, mangos, peaches, carrots, avocado, rice pasta, and peas. Now that she likes to do it herself we are lucky to get a spoon in her mouth for a few bites a day. She will spend a lot of time laboriously trying to get all those little bites into her mouth. She is already a determined independent little girl.

Snow in late March!?!?

2008-03-31T00:42:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Gretchen got to experience the snow for the first time on March 29th as we woke up to SNOW! Which continued to fall accumulating close to 4 inches! Its all gone today thank goodness. We are ready for spring and warmer weather! Gretchen liked it for about 5 minutes and then I think she realized how cold she was! Click the picture to go to our flickr account and see the rest of the photos.

Tag! I'm It, But Not For Long!

2008-03-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

So Joanna from metamorphisis tagged me so here we go!

5 things you can't live without under $5:
1. Chocolate (especially with Trader Joes in town!)
2. Coffee (thank you Edwin Martinez for the best coffee in town!)
3. naps
4. Good conversations with friends (or my husband works too!)
5. Catching up on friends blogs

5 Favorite Movies
1. Life is Beautiful
2. Finding Nemo
3. Drop Dead Gorgeous
4. Lord of The Rings
5. Harry Potter

5 Baby Names you LOVE but won't use

Girls:
1. Lucy
2. Lauren
3. Abigail
4. Sophia
5. Anna

Boys: ( I would have used them if we had had boys!!!)
1. Liam
2. Duncan
3. Noah
4. Seth
5. Collin

5 songs you could hear over and over again:
1. Beautiful by James Blunt
2. Sweet Carolina by Ryan Adams
3. With Or Without You by U2
4. Forever by Frank Sinatra
5. Vanleer Rose by Loretta Lynn

5 People who influenced your life in a positive way:
1. Jesus
2. My mother
3. My husband
4. Amy Varin
5. Betsy Watters

5 Things that stay in your purse (diaper bag in my case) at all times:
1.Wallet
2. bottles/formual
3. diapers/wipes
4. spare baby clothes
5. cell phone

5 Moments that you knew changed you forever:
1. when I became Christian
2. Meeting my now husband (we were only 17)
3. Giving birth (all 3 times)
4. Both times Brian got laid-off (twice in 18 months)
5. Closing Kendrick's

5 Obsessions you have right now:
1. Closing Kendrick's
2. Getting ready to have a garage sale (i.e. getting rid of "STUFF")
3. finishing house projects so we can put our house up for sale
4. Learning about potential new places to live...for that "someday" if it ever comes
5. Simplifying my life...I really need it right now

5 Places you would really like to go
1. East Coast of USA
2. Ireland
3. The coast of France
4. New Zealand
5. Anywhere on a trip, just Brian and I, without kids

5 People you would love to see their top 5
1. Betsy Watters
2. Ashley Rodriguez
3. Sara Kallin
4. Tami Simpson
5. Shannon Rollo

Shoes

2008-03-28T10:28:00.001-07:00

IMG_5043_1.jpg
Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Gretchen is pulling herself up to stand and letting go! She is going to be walking before we know it. Grandma got her the cutest pair of shoes for Easter. Thank you Grandma.

Funny Maille

2008-03-16T21:17:00.001-07:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

I am not sure what got into her, other than she is about funniest person in our household! Look closely at those eyebrows and make-up. She did this entirely on her own. She is always making us laugh!

Congratulations Shannon and Dave

2008-03-16T21:14:00.001-07:00

Shannon_0109
Originally uploaded by gaber

Shannon and Dave we love you guys and we are so happy for both of you! May you have a long and happy life together. Thank you for including all of us on your special day! We hope it was all you hoped for.

Dimples

2008-02-21T22:55:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

When I found out I was going to have my third girl, I wanted her to have something all her own. I knew everyone would be comparing her to her big sisters all of her life. Sure enough she was born with DIMPLES! I love those dimples, but I have had the hardest time catching them on camera. Not because she doesn't smile a lot, but because of my lack of photography skills. So here is a pic with one...its the best I can do for now. Someday I hope to catch both of them!

Almost Crawling

2008-01-24T23:16:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

She's on the move and into everything! Not quite a crawl, but give her another week and we'll be chasing her down!

The Black Cast

2008-01-13T00:58:00.001-08:00

IMG_3951.jpg
Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Lydia got a full leg cast last Wednesday after 3 weeks of being mostly immobile! She chose black so it would be the least offending in her upcoming aunt's wedding. She will be wearing a black dress. We are all glad to have her moving around again! She is really fast on crutches!

The Ducky Bath

2008-01-13T00:51:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

For Christmas, Gretchen got a Ducky tub (complete with quacking beak)! She LOVES it... as you can tell. You put her in it and give her her new bath toys and she jabbers up a storm like those plastic fish and ducky tub are going to talk right back to her. Its so cute!

I took a good one!

2008-01-09T12:26:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Ok, so a year ago we spent a lot of money (for us anyway) on a nice digital camera. I have been trying to learn how to successfully use it. So with every photo session and uploading of pictures I HOPE for a couple of decent pictures. To-date I think this one is the best so far! Click on the picture to see more!

Broken

2007-12-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

December 12th was a day to remember and the reason there haven't been any fun holiday posts. Lydia broke her leg ice skating. So we visited the emergency room for a second time with our oldest daughter. When I called my best friend, who has two boys, she said "God didn't really spare you anything by NOT giving you boys!" No kidding. We absolutely love Lydia for all her strong will, independence, determination, intelligence, and agility. But the last 2 and a half weeks have been A LOT of sitting for her and its been hard. Hard on the rest of us as well, as we do our best to take care of an 80 lb baby (so to speak)! This week she will go in for a full cast and then the doctor says she can try using some crutches. We are ALL counting the days! As for me, I didn't realize how much I had come to count on her for help each day and I will be glad when things are back to normal. Maille has made her best attempt to step up to the plate and help out more than usual. Today she even cleaned Lydia's room! What a great sister! Brian has been trying his best to keep up with work during this already busy time of year. Christmas pics coming soon!

Try taking a picture of these three!

2007-12-12T22:51:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

I wanted a Christmas picture of the girls. Thats all...seems like not too much to ask right? Ok, so how on earth do you get all three looking at the camera and smiling at once??? Out of several hundred taken, these were the best we could do! Click the picture to see more. If you see a picture you like, flickr allows you to download it or order prints. This way everyone can pick thier own favorite!

Sit Gretchen, Sit!

2007-12-11T12:13:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

She is officially a big girl now. Solid food AND sitting up! She has been working hard and her big sisters are so proud of her. They have been cheering her on every time we set her upright..."sit Gretchen, sit!" It keeps Brian and I laughing.

First Cereal

2007-12-10T16:12:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Gretchen has been fascinated by food for a while now. When the doctor said we could start solids I felt kind of sad, but I figured she would LOVE it! Boy was I wrong. The first time we offered it she kept gagging and she hated it. I waited about a week and tried again. Now she loves it. Especially if we are all sitting at the table eating together! She REALLY wants what we are eating of course. Click the picture to see more photos.

Reaching and grabbing

2007-12-03T22:05:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Gretchen has started to reach for things, pick them up, and get them in her mouth!!! This is a very satisfying feat for her as she is also teething!

Making Cookies

2007-12-03T21:58:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Lydia got caught licking the bowl...

Maille and Gretchen Pajama Party

2007-12-03T21:53:00.001-08:00

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Originally uploaded by bcrollo

Girls just wanna have fun!

Home School Is...

2007-11-15T01:20:00.000-08:00

Ice Skating!!! Ok not really, but on Wednesday mornings the Bellingham Sportplex opens up for a special "home schoolers ice skating" time. We love it. There is usually about 20-30 people is all and we get a chance to meet other home schoolers. The girls are getting better and better. Both of them are asking for ice skates for Christmas.

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY LYDIA!!!

2007-11-06T21:25:00.001-08:00

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer...

2007-11-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

The girls really enjoy playing soccer, but I am really glad last weekend marked the end of fall outdoor soccer. It was cold. It was WET! It was miserable...to be a spectator at least. The girls seemed to have fun anyway. Hope you like to pictures. Its really hard for me to get good pics of Lydia now that she plays on the big field. I don't have a big enough zoom to really catch her in the action. Maille's I can still manage to get some good ones though. And now we're on to Indoor Soccer season...at least it will be dry!

Gretchen's New Coat

2007-11-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

With the help of my mother and grandmother, I made Gretchen a fleece jacket to match the fleece pants I found for her! I think it turned out really cute!

Halloween

2007-10-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

Our friend and photographer Gabe Rodriguez took these! Hope you enjoy them! It was a fun Halloween. Both the girls picked costumes they were very well suited for! Maille made the most adorable Dorothy and Lydia was perfect as a Griffindor student (not Hermione because she has brown hair!).

Gretchen Picture

2007-07-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's a Girl!

2007-07-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

Gretchen Sophia Rollo
Born July 12, 2007 at 12:19pm
7 pounds, 11 ounces
20 inches long

Maille Can Run!

2007-07-03T01:55:00.000-07:00

Maille has always been a pretty easy-going girl. She's never shown too much interest in sports. We had to talk her into a second season of soccer despite the fact that she's actually pretty good. Anyways, tonight we took her and Lydia to the Bellingham All-Comers Track Meet. We went a few times last year and generally had a fun time. This time however, Maille wowed us with her running.

She had told us before that she was the fastest runner in her class, but we had never really seen her in a race with her peers. She started the evening by winning the 50 meter hurdles. She also won the 100 meter dash. Her most amazing performance was in the 800 meters (2 full laps).

I told her before the race started that she needed to not run too fast or she would get tired. She completely ignored my advice and had a 15 foot lead after about 200 meters. At that point, a much taller boy caught up with her. Cambria and I were certain that she'd end up walking because of her fast start. We were completely wrong.

The taller boy quit after 1 lap and Maille kept going. She didn't stop to walk once. At the very end, she was passed by one boy who just barely beat her. She was exhausted, but very happy to get that first place ribbon (technically she's only racing the other girls her age). We were shocked that she actually ran the whole way without stopping let alone winning the race! We were very impressed!

She then followed that up with a 3rd place finish in the mile (10:47)! I think she was a little bit tired for that one as she ended up walking a couple times. She followed that with a win in the 200 meter dash.

I guess Maille can really run.

Joining the Ranks

2007-05-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

So any of you who know Brian and I pretty well, are fully aware of our severe personality differences. So when it came to car shopping the last SIX MONTHS, we approached it very differently. Brian needed to make sure he had researched ALL the options before coming to a conclusion. By research I mean reading stuff on the interet, stopping people and asking them about the cars they drive and why, reading consumer reports, talking to used car repair people, scanning car lots on a regular basis, and test driving anything that seemed somewhat interesting, etc. For me it was much simpler, did it make sense for our growing family, is it a reputable car make in terms of reliability, and does it get decent gas mileage? So today we officially joined the ranks of "A MINIVAN DRIVING FAMILY!" So watch out soccer moms, here I come!

Before and After

2007-04-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

As part of the recovery from the trees falling on the house last fall, a painter came to fix our bedroom walls and ceiling. It makes our bedroom so much more inviting to have color on the walls! Now I'm anxious to have the kitchen painted. Its the only room in the whole house left to paint since we moved in!

BEFORE

AFTER

Girl, Girl, aaaaaand

2007-03-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

So we ALL went to the unltra-sound. As the tech is leading us all to our tiny room she asks, "So do you want to know the sex of the baby?" We all gave her a unanimous "YES!" After about 20 minutes of her showing us and measuring all the babies parts, she finally annouces "I don't see anything here that makes me think boy. I would say its about 80% likely to be a girl."

Yet another girl! So here were the reponses...

Brian "That's great!"
Maille "YES, now I get to have a little sister!"
Lydia "Ah man, not another little sister!"
Cambria "Its not fair! We already have two daddy's girls! What do I have to do to get a mommy's boy!?!?"

Of course the important part is that the baby looks to be developing normally and things seem to be progressing fine. She did decide that my actual due date is the 17th of July (not the 7th like we thought). Now all discussions are about names. We'll keep you posted....

Chaos

2007-03-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

I'd like to give you run-down of one day in my never routine or mundane life.

7:30 up and make breakfast and lunches for the girls (mind you I was at work til 12:30 and got to bed and asleep about 1:30am the night before)
8:00 shower, get dressed, get Maille ready, say good-bye to Lydia
9:00 leave the house and drive into downtown
9:15 arrive at bank and do deposits for Kendrick's
9:30 stop at Cash-n-Carry
10:00 deliver perishable items to Kendrick's
10:15 Bed Bath and Beyond for more wine glasses for todays party
10:30 TJ Maxx for serving bowl and platers for todays party
11:00 Office Max for Kendrick's office supplies
11:15 Costco for some business and personal stuff
noon Peir 1 Imports for a specific type of picture holder to hold food tags for todays party
12:15 Drop Maille off at School (she's been with me up until now)
12:30 arrive at Kendrick's and unload my car, start setting up for the party
1:00 First employee arrives
1:30 Second employee calls me from the ER (They think she has Appendicitis!)
1:35 I cry because I just had one employee quit and one was gone in Mexico on vacation and now one was in the ER!!! I only have 7 to begin with! I call everyone I know to see if they can help, meanwhile employee #1 and I are running around like crazy trying to get ready for 65 people to arrive at 4pm!
1:45 A former employee calls me back and says she can be at Kendrick's in 20 minutes-HUGE SIGH OF RELEIF!!!!
2:00 Brian comes over from work and starts to help, but now I am on the phone trying to get a hold of anyone who can meet the girls off the bus at home since Brian won't be there. Then a current employee who is supposed to be working later that night calls and says he can be at Kendrick's in 10 minutes...I say great and we'll deal with his other shift howevere we have to LATER!!!! We continue to set-up and prep food. Employee number 2 arrives.
2:10 Eployee number 3 arrives. They all have jobs to do and I am at my computer making food tags and finalizing the invoice for the father of the bride. I get a call back from the babysitter and she is available to watch the girls. Phew!!!
3:00 Employee number 4 arrives as originally scheduled and Brian leaves to go to a meeting. Starving and about to pass-out I stop to eat something. Meanwhile the cake and flowers are delivered.
4:00 Not quite ready, but guests start to arrive so we start serving drinks.
4:10 Last of the food is ready and the bride a groom arrive
The next three hours all the guests have a great time and things are a hit. Bride, Groom, Mom, and Dad are happy. After a huge clean-up effort and re-opening Kendrick's to the public I finally leave about 8:30pm.
9:00 Only stopping to kiss the girls and go to the bathroom, I crawl into bed and PASS-OUT!!!!

Its no wonder I HAVE To wear make-up to hide the constant dark cricles under my eyes. All my hair is falling our, my feet and back ache constantly, and I have started to get migraine headaches! Plus now I wake-up at 3am every night and can't get back to sleep (and I have ALWAYS been the queen of sleep-anytime anywhere!).

I'd like to tell you this is a rare day, but since we opened Kendrick's 2 1/2 years ago, it is all too often the case. I am an extremely organized person and I try to hire people I can delegate responsibilities too, but to no avail. If you asked me right now if its worth it (one hell-of-a-week later) I'd tell you NO!!!! But I have no choice but to perservere. I am doing my best! So if you are someone who has felt neglected by me and my family, please know that its not personal. Our lives really are just that crazy!

The 3 Faces of Lydia

2007-01-18T22:45:00.000-08:00

Sassy

Studious

Silly

Maille Up Close & Mad!

2007-01-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

She's just faking it this time, but this is what she looks like when she's mad. We think they're pretty funny.

A Month To Top All Months: Part 2

2007-01-07T04:25:00.000-08:00

Trees
On November 15th Bellingham was hit with an unforgetable wind storm...and our house was hit by two unforgetable trees! I won't say much more than we had a fun slumber party at a hotel for one night and we still have blue tarps for a roof. The joys of dealing with insurance companies and thier "preferred contractors!" I look forward to having this upcoming work on our house done and the whole thing behind us. But check out these pics...

The Furnace and The Snow
All month the furnace was acting up, but with everthing else going on, Brian and I were avoiding the issue (and the expense)! So everytime the temperature would drop in the house and we'd realize the furnace wasn't going to come on we'd head for the garage to flip the breaker switch. It worked like a charm at first, but as the month wore on we were having to do it more and more frequently. So one particulary cold Sunday morning we woke-up in a house at about 58 degrees and a furnace that refused to start-up. We decided to pack the girls up and head to town for breakfast at Diamond Jim's. We took the Subaru noticing the slight sprinkle of snow flakes coming down outside. Even though the tires were bald at least we'd have 4-wheel drive. The closer to town we got the more snow there was and pretty soon it was clear that this was going to be snow storm, not just a light dusting. Knowing the house was going to be cold we decided to find electric blankets and hit Costco for tires and a fake Christmas tree. After our shopping (except the tires because they were booked solid all day!) we headed for home. It was 3:00 and it looked dark out the colds were so low and dark. The snow had added up to close to a foot. It took us an hour to get home having to detour for downed power lines and such. We even stopped to see if we "happened" to have chains in the car and spent a good bit of time trying to put them on for the first time in our lives. We managed to get home with one still on (they were clearly too big for the tires)!

The snow stuck around for 4 days and very few people left our neighborhood. I didn't return to work until Thursday and Brian on Friday. Schools were closed all week. A lot of businesses, including ours, closed early. I wrote this in an email to my mom while in the first part of the week...

"But today we are all snowed in. The girls played outside all morning and came in for grilled cheese, tomato soup, and hot chocolate. We are working on a Gingerbread House, decorating the tree, and making Christmas gifts. We are all home in this quiet and peaceful winter wonderland! I love it and wish I never had to go back to work! Oh well, real life will resume soon I'm sure."

It did and boy was I glad. By the fourth day we were all sick of each other and sick of being at home! Funny how that works!

As far as the furnace...we did get it fixed too. Someone had to come out twice to get all its issues resloved and it cost us about $500, but we're all warm and greatful for it now!

Babies
They are fun...as an aunt, grandma, or friend! I like them! We all do! But at 30 I have an eight and five year-old and my baby days, as well as my baby stuff, are long gone! Or at least I thought. The last day of November I dreadingly took a home pregnancy test. I already new the answer, but I just couldn't believe it. I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that our family is growing from 4 to 5 in July. AND SO ENDED THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER!!!!!!!

A Month To Top All Months: Part 1

2007-01-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

Ahhh November...how we will never forget the November of 2006!!! So memorable that two months later I (Cambria) still feel the need to record its full events. So I am sure to never forget all the details. And so when I say to myself "Remember that crazy November!" I can truly recall all of the craziness. Here it goes...

The Car
Brian and the girls are left stranded by the Subaru on a dark, cold, rainy Thursday night at the Market 3 miles from our house. I am at work on a typical busy night, so busy that its nearly impossible to leave. Fortunately I have one neighbor's phone number programed into my cell phone and they are home...so $350 and two days later we have our second car back and running!

Rain
Its Saturday night, or should I say early Sunday morning. I return home from working my 8 hour shift without so much as a 5 minute break to relieve my feet, back, and stomach. Its 1:30am and I can't believe how tired I feel. After-all I do this every Saturday night and have been for as long as I can remember! I crawl into bed and am out like a light. One hour later in a delirious state my 5 year-old comes to my bed-side and states "It's raining in my room!" I can hear the rain coming down hard on the skylights so thinking she is just hearing it outside her window I take her to put her back to bed. Upon entering her bedroom I realize that neither one of us is deliriously hallucinating. There is water pouring into her room. At this point I yell for Brian and we are frantically grabbing towels and buckets the soak up all the water. She goes to sleep in you big sister's room for the rest of the night. $360 and two weeks later a roofer finds parts of the flashing two floors above is damaged around the hood vent of the stove. We file our fist home-owners claim to find out that the whole thing cost less than our $1000 deductible per incident, so we have another big bill to pay.

The Oven
Thursday afternoon one hour before I have to leave for work, I mix up the batch of cupcake batter for the girls end of soccer season treats. Being a working mom means I am often too busy to volunteer for such things and most of the other moms involved seem to have a lot of time on their hands so I let them take care of it (Maille's soccer coach, also coaches her older daughter's team, plays adult league herself, and is PTA president for the the girl's elementary school...Oh to have so much TIME!). Before I started mixing I had turned my oven on knowing that in its 15 year old state it would take a full 15 minutes to warm-up (I really miss my gas stove/oven from my old house!). I scoop the batter into the muffin tins and turn around to put them into to the oven...no heat comes out as I open the door. Upon closer investigation I realize the heating element has disengrated into about 25 peices and powder in some places. So I turn the oven off and run out my front door praying a neighbor is home and not already cooking dinner in thier oven. Catastrophy diverted, the neighbor baked my cupcakes in exchange for a couple for thier dessert and the soccer teams had their treats on game day! We were also able to replace the heating element for about $35, but it was a long week without use of the oven...you don't realize what you've got til its gone!

Birthdays
November has one week of Birthdays in our family...Shannon's is the 1st, Lydia's in the 6th, and Chris and Jamie's is the 7th! This year Lydia talked us into her first sleep-over party...yep we agreed to letting her invite 4 seven and eight year-old girls over for a sleep-over. It was fun...Really! It went very smooth and everyone got along and we had no real drama to speak of. We might consider it again in the future. Maille is readily waiting her turn. We keep telling her she has to wait til her eighth birthday too!

Standby for Part II, that's when it gets really good!

To Buy or Not To Buy

2007-01-03T20:30:00.000-08:00

So last summer we lost our digital camera. It wasn't a paticularly nice camera, but it took pictures (about the time your subjects had turned away and given up on it-damn delay!). The last time we knew we had it was Disneyland in May. We kept talking about a new camera and digging in all the places we could think of around the house. We just knew that as soon as we purchased a new one the old one would show-up. In the meantime we were back to our old 35mm camera which is a much nicer camera and takes wonderful pictures, but $8 later you get a roll of developed pictures to find that 4 of the 24 are worth a darn! I didn't like throwing all that money away. So as Christmas approached we had given-up hope that the old camera would appear, even if we bought a new one, and did our research on which camera would be our Christmas present to each other. We settled on the Canon Rebel XTi. Much more like our old 35mm this a supreme camera for a novice. If this camera takes a bad picture it is purely operator error.

New Year's Eve rolls around and we are hanging out with some long-time friends we hardly ever see. We've been enjoying and learning a lot about our new camera for a solid two weeks now. Its been a long evening with 4 cranky, over-tired children in the house. At 11:45 we start getting ready to head outside to blow our party horns and light some left-over fire works from the 4th of July. Brian goes to the garage and finds the bag of fireworks and tucked inside is THE CAMERA!!! No kidding....we just knew it would show-up as soon as we bought a new one.

Now, however, we are hooked on the new much nicer camera...so I guess we'll just have two! Stay tuned as we learn how to use it, hopefully we'll have some fun pictures to share.

Christmas Picture

2007-01-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Hello World

2007-01-02T20:21:00.000-08:00

This is the blog for the Bellingham Rollos.

We are very busy with two businesses and thus we're really bad about calling and sending letters to people. So we decided to try a blog as a way to communicate with our extended families and friends. We'll be putting up pictures and writing about our lives up here in Bellingham.