Rodarte Family Reunion

Grandchildren

Great Grandchildren

Everyone

That's right.... My family had the annual Rodarte Family reunion this last weekend. All that joined in sure did have some fun. It all started on Friday and lasted until Sunday night. You would not believe how much food we went through. It is amazing to me how long you had to cook for to feed so many people. I was on the grill a couple times and I was cooking for hours to get the food ready. I didn't mind cooking but it sure was a lot of work. All in all I had a great time and can't wait until next year.

P.S. I have a confession... On Friday there was a chili cook off and I didn't have time to run home a make chili so I went to Albertson's by my office and bought some Stagg original chili. I luckily didn't win but I guess I was a close to winning. I would have felt bad if would have won. I did put some extra ingredients so that helped. It was funny though because people were saying how good it was and asked what I put in it. I told my brother Jed that it was Stagg chili and he said that he thought it looked like it and that he was going to ask me. Oh I also beat 5 other chilies. So if you are in a bind you know what to do now if you need to enter a chili cook off. It is funny how if people knew that is was from a can I would not have received one vote.

Fun in the Sun

Aaron and I went to Sand Lakes, Oregon to ride in the sand dunes. It is always fun to go hang out with family and friends. The weather was perfect for riding. We all got are TAN ON! The last day we were there we found a Scout Camp I never knew was there. There also was a lake at the camp that had huge salamandors in it. Here are a few pics of our weekend.

I have been Tagged!
Please copy and paste this list, obviously changing the answers to your own, and post a new blog.

A. --Attached or Single? Married

B--Best friend/s? My wife Aaron other than that all my brothers and siste

C--Cake or Pie? Pie? Cake for sure I am just not into to pie.

D--Day of Choice? Saturday is my special day!

E--Essential Item? My wallet

F--Favorite Color? Red

G--Gummy bears or worms? Gummy bears but, I like them both. I love Gummies

H--Hometown? Auburn, WA born in raised

I--Indulgence(s)? Energy Drinks Red Bull Baby

J--January or July? July, who in their right mind say January at least go with December because you have Christmas.

K--Kids? None but we are practicing for one!=)

L--Life is incomplete without? Heavenly father, my wife, family, and friends.

M--Marriage date? January 27, 2007

N--Number of siblings? 8 Shiela, Frankie, Crystal, Eric, Jed, Jared, Cim and Dan.

O--Oranges or apples? Oranges for sure gotta get my vitamin C.

P--Phobias or fears? Heights or is it falling.

Q--Quotes? Laughter is the best medicine.

R--Reason to Smile? Summer

S--Season? Summer , what is better than a good tan?

T--Tag 5 people? Angel, Lanette, Missy, Mandy, and Mike.

U--Unknown Fact? ???

V--Very Favorite Store? Cabelas

W--Worst Habit? Making fun of people.

X--X-ray or ultrasound? Xrays I have had so many I think radioactive

Y--Your favorite food?Meat and Potatoes.

Z--Zodiac? Virgo

110 Pounds & Counting !!!

Before Surgery

This was 2 weeks after suregery and 40 pounds down This was 1 month after surgery about 70 pounds down

Well here is my first post about my weight loss surgery. First of all it is the best thing that I could have done for myself. That being said it is one of the hardest thing too. That first week after surgery was total hell for me. I could not drink water without it hurting and the doctor wanted me to drink 80 ounces a day which doesn't sound that hard but when you can only take a couple sips and feel full that is very hard. After that first week I have been doing a lot better. I still can't eat much but I don't feel hungry so that is good. I still crave the same things but, if I don't smell them or see them I am fine. I feel so much better it is unbelieveable, I have so much more energy and I don't have the aches and pains like before. I can't wait to see how much better I feel when I get down to my lowest weight. I don't know what that weight is but I want to get down to about 230 - 250lbs. But until next time here are some pics of before and after.

Two Years and she still likes me.

Well it is our two year anniversary. Time sure does fly. It just seems like yesterday when I was
getting butterflys when I was around her. I remeber after just knowing her for a little bit that she would be the one for me. I had never felt like that toward anyone. Now two years later I love her even more. I am so proud to be able to say that she is my wife. I love to be able to share my life with Aaron. She is such a joy in my life.

Aaron left me for a new man. =(

Ever since Christmas Aaron has been acting really different. I am starting to really feel neglected. No this man isn't really real, but he still has taken her from me. Who is this new man. Many of you might know him. He has some cool coveralls, red shirt and hat. You guessed it. It is Mario. You know the video game from nintendo. My Mom got her a Nintendo DS handheld video game for Christmas and I haven't seen my wife since. When we are watching TV I will hear her yelling something like "Dang it" or her new phrase (because she is on the later levels) " This screen is so unfair." I can't lie though I kind of like it, because all my family know that I am kind of a video game nerd. I remind her all the time now when she gets frustrated with the game that she always tells me that "It is just a game". Now she knows my pain when something goes wrong when the game cheats you. I know that I have only lost Aaron for a little bit of time to that little plumber but until then I will have to enjoy her frustrations when she loses firepower or misses a jump.

Finding a place to do her duty...good luck!!!

My poor baby! The snow is deeper than her tiny body!

College football fix!!!

"Perhaps the most memorable college football game of the last few years was Boise State vs Oklahoma, in part because Boise was the unbeaten underdog that wasn’t supposed to win. When it did, in dramatic fashion, it became the talk of the country. There would’ve been historic interest in seeing if the Broncos could do it again the following week." (Dan Wetzel Yahoo sports.) I agree with this statment so much. I would have loved to see Boise State the next week playing for the national championship. I think that the way college football is now the one true team does not win the national championship every year. The polls and ranking are so biased by people opinions that the same teams every year are near the top regardless of how many losses they have. It is frustrating to me that when a team wins all of there games that the get punished for not being in a BCS conference. I found this mock playoff for this year and thought it would be cool if it did ever happen. I know that for me that it would make it so more exciting to watch a playoff. I would love to see if a lower conference team could win a higher conference team. And with the playoff the best team would win every year. Not just by how they landed at number won in the standing. Sorry for boring any women that read this I had to put some manly stuff on here to let everyone know that I am a manly man.

Zero to Seven Kids!!!

Sam Riding Oreo

Olivia getting to ride by herself. Aaron was nervous at first.

Abigail look where you are going!!!


Aaron and I this last weekend had the great pleasure of watching Frank and Missy's kids. (And before I tell you how it went I want to say that I have a great respect for Frank and Missy for being able to raise seven kids.) Well from the start the kids tested me. They wanted to see if I was going to be the joking uncle or be the acting parent. I got to say it was not the easiest thing to do. I think that parents go through this... Should I try to be the kids friends and try to be the so called "Cool person" or should I be the parent to them and make them do things that they do not want to do. Like clean up or behave. I got to say that this was hard for me. I think for anyone they want be the their kids friend but I think that when this happens if is detrimental to the kids growth. Children need to have someone that teaches them what is right or wrong not let them grow up making any decision for themselves. That is what they do when they become adults. Now back to the kids. Those twins are so cute but do not let that fool you, they are a handful. Olivia and Abby little Princesses as I call them Kayla is a little mom and Sam and Trey quintessential Rodartes. Meaning joking sassing and being loud. I love each and everyone of them though. I loved be able to spend time with all of them. (And I can not believe I am saying this.) I would watch them again. I also saw my wife Aaron being a MOM. I truly can not wait until we can have kids for ourselves. I saw how much she loves kids and being a Mom. She was so much better than me at watching the kids.

Watching Timmy

Aaron and I have been watching this little guy for last couple days. Crystal got surgery on her knee on Tuesday so we have had Timmy for a couple days now. We were only going to have him for the one day but Aaron said that when she brought him home to see his Mom he did not understand that his mom was hurt. He just ran and jumped on her when he saw his mommy. Aaron thought that we should take until Friday when his dad could help more being home from work. Aaron and I love having Timmy over it gives us something to do other that watching TV. He is a busy little guy. I feel sorry for Mercede though Timmy loves to chase her around and play around with her. He such a sweet little kid. He loves to give hugs and kisses. He loves chocolate milk (he keeps running out if milk because Aaron loves it too) and he loves to be loud. We love having him. Crystal better be careful Aaron and I might not bring him back. Now more about Crystal. She is doing alright. The first day she was getting around good. The only thing she didn't not realize is that the good pain medicine was still in her from the surgery. Kevin told me that she was walking around... You know how us Rodartes are always pushing it to hard. She paid the price though, yesterday her knee was extremely swollen. Her pain medicine is not working at all. And she is bed ridden. She is in good spirits though. One funny thing though. On Halloween we had some birthdays and for dinner we had enchiladas. The Sunday before we had enchilads. You can see where on I am going with this. On Monday they had leftovers of enchiladas from Halloween. On Tuesday her friend brought enchiladas over for the family. And on Wednesday another friend brought over dinner. Can you guess what it was? YES ENCHILADAS. Funny huh? Well that has been our week hope everyone has a good weekend.

Andy

Horse Back Riding

Jed alway posing for the cameraDad

I have never been here but I know it is above My Gradmas house.

The Cowboy

Aaron and Shiela




Aaron has been horseback riding with my Dad and Family. She has been working with these horses because they do not get ridden so they need to be trained again to get used to people and everything. She has so much fun because she get to spend One on One time with my Dad. She loves being able to share her love of riding with him. And everytime she sees a smile on his face it makes her happy too.

Aaron Flying

Aaron went flying with Nichole and Randy. She said that she had a blast. When Randy let Aaron fly she said that she was so nervous. My guess is because she couldn't see over the controls. Aaron when up there to take some pictures of the jobs for the Chritmas party. It worked out for both of us because she had a great time.

Our Day!

My cancelation finally came through! It was the most special day. Andy and I were sealed last Friday, October 24th. I have never felt this close to the Spirit or my husband as I did on this day.

Aaron

What a wonderful experience to share this with Aaron. I love her so much and when this day finally came I could not believe it. We had been waiting for her cancellation for almost 2 years and when we got the letter telling us that we finally could be sealed together there was not anything that would make me more happy. Aaron truly is the one person that can make me happy and to be able to be sealed for time and all eternity makes feel so blessed. She brighten my everyday that I get to wake up next her. (If I don't fall asleep on the couch that is... SORRY AARON). My wife looked so beautiful that day being in the Temple.

Andy

Summers Activities

Macey Kate and Aaron

Macey Kate and Angel

Aaron and I on a Ferry

Me Flexing

Aaron Posing

Adam

Porter House and I

Aaron and I in front of The Cindrella Castle

Rodarte Brothers

Aaron and I were really busy this summer. From Disneyland/California to four wheelers trips, to picinics we have did a lot. We had something to do every weekend it seemed. I can't believe the summer is already over. But, one thing about the Summer leaving it is that the Holidays are around the Corner.