5th Anniversary - Part One

Aaron and I took a cruise for our 5th Anniversary. We went with Norwegian Cruise Line (which we loved) and it left out of New Orleans on May 1st. Our really good friends Cori & Jaxon were able to come on the same cruise which was AMAZING. We had a blast.

This is at the port in New Orleans. We had just gotten on the boat.

This is our room. Teeny little thing.

The following are some pictures of the pool and food area on the top deck...

The formal night was the second day of our cruise. We got all dressed up. :)

FIRST STOP - COSTA MAYA, MEXICO May 3, 2011

In Costa Maya, we just walked around this little town, purchased some souveniers, and swam in this amazing pool they had overlooking the ocean. It was pretty sweet.

NEXT STOP - ROATAN HONDURAS May 4, 2011

In Roatan we walked around the little shopping centers right on the pier, and then we took a bus tour with Cori and Jaxon. The driving made me a LITTLE nervous because the roads are tiny and they all go so fast! But our tour guide took us to a little shopping center outside of town, and then we stopped at a lighthouse - where they happen to have a little monkey that we paid three dollars to hold! So worth it. After that, he dropped us off at this beautiful beach. I'm not much of a beach person, but it was really pretty!

Okay - Finally Updating...

I am so bad at this, but now that I stay home - I'm going to try harder. I have a lot of updating to do, so here we go.

I'm going to start with an update of what we are all doing now. I got laid off in April from OneWest Bank (where I was working as a Loan Officer). I was already planning on trying to stay home soon, so when I got laid off, we took that as a sign that the time was now to just stay home with the boys. I love staying home with them, they are so fun and full of energy. We have a really good time together.

Aaron is still working as a Credit Analyst at IBC Bank. He will be done with his "training program" in July of 2012. So we are getting there... He still enjoys it and is looking forward to whatever comes next.

Ben will be turning four years old on Friday, and we will be having a party for him and his friends on Saturday. I'm sure we will have some fun pictures from that - so we will post them after the party. He has requested a Cars 2 party - with a Cars 1 cake. :) He is so funny. Ben finished his Preschool Speech Therapy class in June, and it was AMAZING. He went from not talking at all - to talking very clearly. I can't believe how much good that class did for him, and very much loved his teachers, Miss Stacy & Miss Becky.

Tyson is about 2 1/2 and is just the sweetest kid you will ever meet. He is full of energy and loves nothing more than playing catch with anybody in the room. He is very into sports - including jumping off anything and everything. He is speaking in complete sentences which is very strange to me because Ben wasn't quite there at this age. It's very fun to see them both grow into two VERY different little boys.

There is a small update - more to come!

Stay Tuned...

Okay seriously - I should be able to keep up with a blog. We have had a couple people ask for updated pictures of the boys. So - stay tuned because another blog post is coming soon. I will take some pictures tonight and will post tomorrow. :)

I'm so proud...

As many of you already know... Aaron recently got promoted to be a Commerical Credit Analyst for IBC Bank. This means he has moved from the Residential side which is located in North Austin, to the Commercial branch in downtown Austin. He is no longer working in the same office as me, which is kindof sad because we used to do lunches together. But he is really enjoying the people the works with now, and is doing something he enjoys. The position seems to require a lot of learning and reading, but it will give him the experience he has been looking for in order to be a Commerical Banker. He has been looking forward to this move for quite some time. I want him to know how proud I am of him and the progress he is making with IBC Bank. I love you Aaron!

Thanksgiving is coming!

Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I am particularly excited about Thanksgiving this year. I have been in a "baking phase" over the last few weeks. I bought a cook book from Costco that has just about any dessert you could ever think of in it. I am excited to give a new recipe a try for Thanksgiving this year. It is a hersey kisses pumpkin mousse dessert. In addition to this new dessert, I will also be making Aaron's favorite - Stove Top Stuffing (hilarious), Key Lime Pie, and the Haroldsen's Ice Box Rolls. Needless to say, this is more than I typically contribute to Thanksgiving dinner, so I'm pretty excited to see how it all turns out.

We have been pretty crazy here lately. We just got done with our Church co-ed volleyball league. We play with the Cedar Park ward because our stake doesn't have volleyball. We have been undefeated for the past two years, and on Friday we again came out with the championship! Although, I have to admit, Nikki's team would have dominated if they had all their players. We barely won and they only had four players. It was a fun season!

On Nov. 18th we had to go to a Black Tie Event for the Junior League of Austin. IBC required that Aaron be there as part of his new position. We took some pictures before leaving the house. We should have taken our camera but didn't think about it. Nikki did my hair and so I have to show that off too... here are some pictures...

Halloween came and went so quickly, and I still haven't put up any pictures. Ben dressed up as Spiderman and Tyson dressed up as a giraffe. Nobody actually thought he was a giraffe though, they thought everything from leopard to cow, but never giraffe. Funny how that happens.

This was Benjamin's first year Trick-or-Treating. He got scared everytime we had to walk up to a house. We had a good time anyway, and he got lots of yummy candy.

We have taken some random pictures of the boys, so here we go...

These boys are so adorable when they play together. However, I wish they were not both still on the bottle... (mainly Benjamin)

This is their favorite TV Show. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When it's on, they actually will sit and pay attention - it's the only show besides Handy Manny that we can get Benjamin to watch. He is starting to like more TV, but not much.

Tyson just sitting up. He's growing up so fast, it's crazy. He's already walking along furniture and can stand up without holding onto anything for a few seconds. It's fun!

Well, that's pretty much the update from us. I hope everyone is doing well! We can't wait to head up to Utah/Idaho for Christmas!! It's been a while since we have seen everyone and we are really looking forward to it!

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!

On July 29th Benjamin James turned two!! I can't believe he's already two years old. How fast the time flies by... We had a birthday party at my house and here's who joined in the fun...

Great Aunt Teri, Great Grandpa Jones, Grandpa Chuck, and Great Grandma Jones

Great Aunt Jamie, Cousin Loni, Tyson and Grandma

Great Uncle Robin and Cousin Trace

Aunt Taylor and Cody

Daddy and Great Grandma Annie

And of course, Benjamin and Mommy

There were others that avoided pictures... Like Aunt Leah and Uncle Tim, and Great Aunt Marla. We all had a great time! He got a ton of great toys which he still can't get enough of. Aaron and I bought him a little tricycle that we still can't get him to ride outside.

Ben is totally into cars, trucks and motorcycles right now, and I would say that was majority of his toys. Here's a couple pictures of him trying out his new toys...

Tim, Leah and Loni volunteered to do the birthday cake. Not sure how I'm going to outdo them next year! They did a fantastic job!!! Here's a picture of it... It was so pretty, I didn't want to cut it up!

Thanks to everyone for coming and for all the presents!! He had a great time!

June and July-ish

Okay, I suck at updating this blog. But I'm going to take some time today to update everyone on what's been going on for us. We will start with our trip to Washington... We went to Washington in June and had a blast. We went to Seattle and hung out there for a while, and then just spent the rest of the week in Everett where I grew up. Here are some pictures from Seattle.

Somehow Tyson and Benjamin got cut out of this picture...

Ben and Aaron just had to stop for ice cream :)

Overall we had a pretty relaxing vacation. I didn't get to see as many people as I'd hoped, but maybe next time!

Since then we have been in Austin just hanging out with family and working. We go swimming at my parent's house quite often and the boys love it. Both boys like the water alot! So here are some pictures from our swimming trips...

Taylor floating with Benjamin...

Aaron and Benjamin - we just bought him this little float circle thingy... he loves it

Me and Tyson - he almost fell asleep when we were floating like this!

Leah, Tim and Josie

Okay, and I don't even remember where this picture is from - but Haroldsen family - tell me that this picture does not remind you of Luke...

RIGHT???

Anyway, more updates to come...

Update

Lindsey will be posting an update shortly. So much has gone we've been too busy and have neglected the blog.

Tyson Charles Haroldsen

Well, I am terrible at updating this but life has been crazy over the last 3 weeks. As I'm sure all of you already know, we welcome Tyson into our family on February 11th. I went into the doctor at about 2:30pm that day because of the pressure I was feeling even though my contractions were not too bad. The doctor checked me and said I was dilated to a 6 so he sent me to labor and delivery. They gave me the epidural and then broke my water at 4:30. I labored for about 2 1/2 hours and Tyson was born at 7:17pm weighing 6 lbs 1 oz, and measuring 17 1/2 inches long. It was a very smooth delivery and only took about 10 minutes to get him out. Thankfully I had no complications this time.

Tyson is a very healthy little guy and so content! He hardly ever cries and is just a joy to have around. Benjamin has been great with him, he tries to be very gentle and just loves his new little brother.

We had Tyson's 2 week check up on Wednesday and he now weighs 7.3 and measures 20 inches. What a growing boy we have. :o)

Here are a few pictures, I'll put more up a little later.