tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89671633788773689142024-02-18T21:58:09.479-05:00Mark and Tara Settle Family BlogLife may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-62357969145839216242010-03-11T13:38:00.006-05:002010-03-11T14:33:09.414-05:00Birthday Lunch<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxAbcr2COHmOwf_Y3ScAvCfM4V6Wr2UDll4WivHquG3to0zq44aKEb6XZ1aIroaclIbGXVSz_U_KU9xEaRlUumN_gKSDBV7a0D7hBDN_AvEeurIttnbtUI0JfHh0a7T3IZPEGhgO70XQ/s1600-h/photo+4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxAbcr2COHmOwf_Y3ScAvCfM4V6Wr2UDll4WivHquG3to0zq44aKEb6XZ1aIroaclIbGXVSz_U_KU9xEaRlUumN_gKSDBV7a0D7hBDN_AvEeurIttnbtUI0JfHh0a7T3IZPEGhgO70XQ/s320/photo+4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447450082256757762" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxAbcr2COHmOwf_Y3ScAvCfM4V6Wr2UDll4WivHquG3to0zq44aKEb6XZ1aIroaclIbGXVSz_U_KU9xEaRlUumN_gKSDBV7a0D7hBDN_AvEeurIttnbtUI0JfHh0a7T3IZPEGhgO70XQ/s1600-h/photo+4.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxAbcr2COHmOwf_Y3ScAvCfM4V6Wr2UDll4WivHquG3to0zq44aKEb6XZ1aIroaclIbGXVSz_U_KU9xEaRlUumN_gKSDBV7a0D7hBDN_AvEeurIttnbtUI0JfHh0a7T3IZPEGhgO70XQ/s1600-h/photo+4.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Today Grace and I went out for a birthday lunch with some of my friends. We went to a Mexican Restaurant called La Parilla. It was really good. I ordered the Taco Loco. It was the biggest taco I have ever seen! I love how Grace's little hands are clasp as she tries to take a bite of it</span></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxAbcr2COHmOwf_Y3ScAvCfM4V6Wr2UDll4WivHquG3to0zq44aKEb6XZ1aIroaclIbGXVSz_U_KU9xEaRlUumN_gKSDBV7a0D7hBDN_AvEeurIttnbtUI0JfHh0a7T3IZPEGhgO70XQ/s1600-h/photo+4.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">.</span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><br /></span></span></div></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-36yJ9zH8K1rk7GKGIE1c1LzDxXW1CZsxXFpk6yEzLF5wGuYTXsJkFeFQzynJJndpJjktmknDfapZfyw8SPQTrCobVVweRwev1FSCi4g5yYWFQbn3mDQ77HF4B9PkziUvdsVPvmwQytM/s1600-h/photo+5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-36yJ9zH8K1rk7GKGIE1c1LzDxXW1CZsxXFpk6yEzLF5wGuYTXsJkFeFQzynJJndpJjktmknDfapZfyw8SPQTrCobVVweRwev1FSCi4g5yYWFQbn3mDQ77HF4B9PkziUvdsVPvmwQytM/s320/photo+5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447448488762808706" /></a>Then the restaurant sang "Happy Birthday" and brought us some yummy desserts. They also had me wear a sombrero. Then Grace wanted to wear it. She loved it. She did not want to take it off, but it was so heavy she couldn't keep her head up straight.<div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi94k124Gb112GYiLWsvYk3Bn8MBQqpu_vCk3QNAaOUHLqNOz5RbcASmKcWBePr-xIbcq5PUMDxjWaT1IPQXb3bwLF8qq9tNQ3ZPAFdHPRcZGGHx6I-e8088EdvvY55DYsXb8UdtTO0dyI/s320/photo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447450080297209938" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-69072481848469661192010-02-25T15:13:00.006-05:002010-02-28T21:18:27.167-05:00Grace gets ear tubes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlMMt3hf8eWEEE9hCMAgGY_uHydQ-KLvyZl-pI88pvhcuzN6xGRzfVonOzI5IbQRtKYO1Zi1mQT5tEPaFY-WqiicJHPorP5ZsU9YVCIFrmCfifRUkq4D5nkVnLTKp3m_4sjbi6dGqMso/s1600-h/vacation+131.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlMMt3hf8eWEEE9hCMAgGY_uHydQ-KLvyZl-pI88pvhcuzN6xGRzfVonOzI5IbQRtKYO1Zi1mQT5tEPaFY-WqiicJHPorP5ZsU9YVCIFrmCfifRUkq4D5nkVnLTKp3m_4sjbi6dGqMso/s320/vacation+131.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442279457500362546" /></a>We got tubes put in Grace's ears on January 20th. She has had quite a few ear infections in her short little life, and had 2 back to back in the weeks before we had this done. Her first one was at 7 weeks old. We saw 2 different ENT doctors in the summer that suggested that we put them in if she didn't make it through the winter without getting any more. And then she got at least 3 this winter, so we decided it was time to stop giving her so many antibiotics and get the tubes.<br /><div><br />She was so cute when we took her in. It was before 7am when we got there, but she was as happy as could be and was making friends with all of the hospital staff. She was still in her pajamas, but she wanted to go and explore the hospital while we waited.</div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUneN4gGifNJOMiE1f9tEONtT9_jgcgwJVRijJNCFU_XBb1JITQP139OnZkPF4SL0j-xxvjnFfyv8-r6Yo_pNS-YdaosCvCOVFkVOywC9GsVJy_lvHVle68uUAqWW_LUtqR8UN1ncUDU/s1600-h/vacation+130.JPG"><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUneN4gGifNJOMiE1f9tEONtT9_jgcgwJVRijJNCFU_XBb1JITQP139OnZkPF4SL0j-xxvjnFfyv8-r6Yo_pNS-YdaosCvCOVFkVOywC9GsVJy_lvHVle68uUAqWW_LUtqR8UN1ncUDU/s320/vacation+130.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442279450217701698" /></a>She did really well. She did not even cry when I walked her up to the operating room door and handed her over to the nurse. She just went with her like she had know her forever. Then Mark went down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast and made it back to the room seconds before they brought her back to us. I think that the whole process was less than 15 minutes. So everything had been smooth and easy up to that point. But as they were bringing her back to us that all changed. I could hear her screaming as she came down to hall to the room. And she was not just crying; she was MAD! Mad like I have never seen her. The nurse said that is how they all wake up. Either extremely mad or throwing up. But mostly MAD. The nurse said that it is the anesthesia and it would wear off in about 3 hours. What? I have to listen to her scream like that for 3 hours? So we put her clothes back on and gave her her puppy and she still screamed. We put her in the car and she still screamed. We drove home and I told Mark that maybe we should stop and get her some M&M's (her favorite candy in the world). We stopped and got her some. I gave them to her. And she threw them on the FLOOR! Ok, we get it. She was mad and nothing was going to make her happy.<br /><div><div><br /></div><div>After one hour she finally stopped screaming and wanted her nany (candy). Thank goodness it did not take 3 hours.</div></div></div>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-18492093052769619592009-09-21T17:05:00.008-04:002009-09-21T23:16:06.259-04:00Has anyone seen the ark?<div>I am thinking that the Ark will float by any minute and I will wave and hopefully it will stop and let us on. Georgia is under water. Well at least my part of Georgia. I have had 13 inches in the last 18 hours at my house. That is from my rain gage. And it has been raining for the past week, so there is really no where for the rain to go. On the news it says we have had 17 inches. My backyard looks like a pond, and I know that I am lucky. A lot of people I know have a backyard that looks like a lake. And the not very exciting thing is that it is not finished raining. We are suppose to have a lot more tonight. They have already canceled school for tomorrow, but I am not telling the kids yet. Hee, hee!!!! I am kinda sly like that. Hopefully they will get to bed early. Here are some pictures of the rain and puddles. This one is Grace wearing a duck costume, thinking that it will help her swim if the water keeps rising.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384117035656667826" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VfqJJW3K6tnzAlhpZ8zJLqWJLhDna-e9jn4DnFk8sST5y90LLlYvB4nsjBAO5YL0H70B0lx0DKKiNmSo07R6E2KLCtkFAsmCNMBnX2Z0CuXCHASmqLOJ_JgPTx7CqdbPEz_9ge3XxDw/s400/017.JPG" /><br /><div>I got this off of a friends Facebook (Stephanie Kjar). It is a neighborhood that a lot of our friends live in. It was so flooded that a lot of them could not drive in and they had to hike home.<br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384117066264623762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi87Ep6jI4CttCVexHDuwh6czRVxuWIkw2SWcO9-TwYTOThvRzzsD4KNqN5pI41QYHodvQkhSEBogF1Ba3pp8QQoVedgba5t2FKpL1C2HRvtKKzClYtRonXZE44gsY87G3vRzN65GCmHjQ/s400/kjar+neighborhood+flood.jpg" /></div><br /><p>This is a picture me standing of the little deck in the back yard. The french drain cannot keep up with the rain and so the water is running under the house into the crawl space. Notice we have lined part of the house with bags of sand. I am crossing my fingers that it slowed down some of the water that was going under the house.<br /><br /></p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384117044496382594" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr_LcWpRN9uJvomGYFAlHeOEsR4G1KAVDJ9VJuOqU4xL8K2n37XZ4vqKyqAkKXtfJkTjpw16zjoN8Nj82IuFCj2pxtK0_3lOX2-mmK8S1zD5pZYSEtVZrVWwNwASakNLYLz4Mj0Ucic9Y/s400/031.JPG" /><br />This is off of another friends Facebook. This is Towne Lake Parkway. Up where I take Hallie to the orthodontist. It is the onramp to get onto I-575.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384123357048502818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8hOp74knnNamvjpm8sG6Jnmde1y_Yev8vCgV-tAQDPmH-oV5ZaIuoLEMMBkceyRKStebRIG25ZIxn-JAnisVDifPuA55I_-sWBGSbdjNku3rupZdOkAAN5ttvq1b5P55F8735VjiBj-g/s400/town+lake.jpg" /></p></div><br /><p></p>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-17046373635741295202009-09-01T16:45:00.003-04:002009-09-01T16:47:54.310-04:00Little Monkey part 2Ok I just found a picture of Grace climbing before the age of 1. If you dont understand what I am talking about, see the previous post. Here she is at 9 months on the kitchen table.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376603329078621442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67sbsYyc9riDLZ5eT1GRL5tALkXzBupPlagI_8ORpxJupIid3WiOgr7TOTL5UGuTfsuBPtL7Va8LQP3xh3OabMKaov0mYH4DBbXKOgf2ARtt5lzT-vk5M7WZTsDOPbOLQcA1-wDfZt8A/s400/P1020652.JPG" border="0" />Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-28437981454825306362009-09-01T09:06:00.006-04:002009-09-01T12:39:09.747-04:00Monkey For SaleNone of my kids have every been climbers; until Grace. I dont know why such a sweet little laidback girl would want to climb like she does! This all started the day that she turned 1. After her birthday party she must have decided that she had been such a good baby for 1 year that now she needed to shock her parents. Here she is after her birthday party.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376485951331288578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yRTQd0UAaMvJd9jEYMuIMgkX1NScOml_Jx9yQFWce0En1JY4t6hRTLeRDkohyMf77Ecp5i2m6LkRhfyLfDcS0nYJiGArajwaeMi4B8THpL3bnXr5KRdgLoHff-v_AmNcPkPsoGU_eOs/s400/P1020937.JPG" border="0" /><br />We did not help her get up there at all. I am now getting use to her climbing up on everything and it does not shock my too much anymore. Maybe it should. This morning as I am cleaning the kitchen this is what she is doing. (Notice that she is standing on my laptop! Mark would be thrilled.)<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376485959750953154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1f8Vc7eiduc_icQhZAi3e0qfEnF25TeNWh29GcPpSpLGa5ruCE3NeTq-3XqBGd0ubhpEWrkvPY-8h6gJ0CmORmR4dkQTOwa-WHryZOtlUI6FxsBwGb0MGrIDFvevDTgOdYgkFTdVq1I/s400/015.JPG" border="0" />You can see in one hand she has a note pad and in the other hand she has just taken a pencil out of the little basket. She knew exactly what she was going up there to get. So, I take the pencil and paper and put her at the table. I even go and get her a coloring book and the crayons and this is what she does.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376485966413748370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-04rwa8HLO2NzALYAibnlV5-di5b9jeqbi1Hcf_0mNsPBUA3LrBjeL0ULilcM4N6WMJnt-C0Pg0D97tffFfim6_Jzzk-YPjs9XP8e4W9Z8RJ2QS5y3w2gTdnNKQIsfXqIVd8EA6Lc8Qc/s400/017.JPG" border="0" />I am sure that some day I will walk in the kitchen and she will be on top of the fridge getting the play dough or something. Oh well, at least she is a good little girl. She has to do something bad or she would be perfect. (I case you were wondering she is not for sale.)Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-16520875011657109022009-08-25T11:25:00.003-04:002009-08-25T11:42:04.516-04:00Playing the WiiWe got a new Wii game last week that I think is pretty fun. That is saying a lot coming from me. I dont find the Wii as entertaining as the rest of my family, but this one has some really fun games. It is Sports Resort. It has frisby, archery, wakeboarding, sword fighting (my favorite, because it is like chopping up vegetables with a very sharp knife) and other games. Today Mark was taking a little break from work and we were playing wii. Grace is sitting on the couch thinking that she is playing too. She has a remote that is unplugged. She is pretty funny. Here is a video of her. But you have to watch it with your head turned because I cant figure out how to rotate something on here.<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='333' height='270' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzB2zgDUOZ5kAeWxN4XWsmfIPI_XT6pzEQBKnPwYMaSwSSrvYpELkZqAx_QB84WI10MgMi7udWV60_V3ma4Dw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-4612623468235849692009-08-11T08:22:00.004-04:002009-08-11T08:35:38.343-04:00School Days<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_adFGoCp3z88h4MkyEnDioNTcrNjoozzzfncp3-EVbrEEVgks4yAbNQT-3b_kMocu257wFwXmjZw2IUQ6bGSelDuxIuJR3JEKx1cmvfhudQQvfHVi2PfCdn54PlkbwSxMV22NGk1dDmo/s1600-h/015.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368683105926631570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_adFGoCp3z88h4MkyEnDioNTcrNjoozzzfncp3-EVbrEEVgks4yAbNQT-3b_kMocu257wFwXmjZw2IUQ6bGSelDuxIuJR3JEKx1cmvfhudQQvfHVi2PfCdn54PlkbwSxMV22NGk1dDmo/s400/015.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2znPpXkNsAxD0ld-X1gd5ZKFUWRXT66zaYaPxA3uPQ7unGXeh1STU-Kj9vjADyh0y0FxZj70SunMG8XxC1W9Liiqgy5-U_IEOZROPufevKZhpNU5ApA2xqTzUWJuTPkfAXDHiXmHNpVA/s1600-h/013.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368683097411275698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2znPpXkNsAxD0ld-X1gd5ZKFUWRXT66zaYaPxA3uPQ7unGXeh1STU-Kj9vjADyh0y0FxZj70SunMG8XxC1W9Liiqgy5-U_IEOZROPufevKZhpNU5ApA2xqTzUWJuTPkfAXDHiXmHNpVA/s400/013.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStLOHjcs4IBWhynRoXi1WufffePuUC2GeHyicnI5VnnCJwwWxTBfR7Psud7SSAk2EWDdVfAm_RK0tFn5t9MHb5r12FXMKxxVvZ5BHpn30zVoVJOXssbhxHm0fSuh2835WUIwHakWsjaE/s1600-h/012.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368683096064248178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStLOHjcs4IBWhynRoXi1WufffePuUC2GeHyicnI5VnnCJwwWxTBfR7Psud7SSAk2EWDdVfAm_RK0tFn5t9MHb5r12FXMKxxVvZ5BHpn30zVoVJOXssbhxHm0fSuh2835WUIwHakWsjaE/s400/012.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNs3qJ4LBpao-KLPfxurTzCIF5K_MhD-3fWON2rqv3TP-0tgOLVQdiQ8SlLu0aJjHY3uj8D7DtIKxgaL144mQfUzB0bi78pR__Xn9xA0JL5e51_x4QwNbvs4dlB2CTshFMLzf8AFVEw3E/s1600-h/011.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368683085886154146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNs3qJ4LBpao-KLPfxurTzCIF5K_MhD-3fWON2rqv3TP-0tgOLVQdiQ8SlLu0aJjHY3uj8D7DtIKxgaL144mQfUzB0bi78pR__Xn9xA0JL5e51_x4QwNbvs4dlB2CTshFMLzf8AFVEw3E/s400/011.JPG" border="0" /></a> The kids started school yesterday, so maybe I will have time to blog again. Hallie started 4th grade, Carter 2nd, and Jackson Kindergarten. They were all very excited and got up so easily and got dressed and ready in about 10 minutes. I wish it would be that easy every day. Hallie's teacher is a man named Mr. Bell and she thinks he is the coolest teacher in school. Carter's teacher is Mrs. Baker and Jackson has Mrs. Madrid; who was the teacher that Carter had when he was in Kindergarten.<br /><br /><div>After getting all the kids off to school; Mark, Grace and I went to breakfast. It was very quiet with just Grace at home. She would wander around the house and every once in a while I would hear her laugh. I think that she was having so much fun having free reign of the whole house and no one to bother her. She may find it boring in a couple of weeks.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-56268170198673179402009-04-13T21:29:00.006-04:002009-04-13T21:57:22.885-04:00EasterFor the past few years on Easter morning before we go to church we take a picture of the kids on the front porch. I take the picture in the same place each year so that I can see how they have grown. This year I probably took 20 pictures and not one of them turned out that great. Somebody was always look away or making a crazy face or something. And it was pretty cool outside at the time I was taking the picture and they were cold. So was I. So her is the best one and the pictures from the 2 years before that so you can see how they have grown. <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324356242846102562" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZbckgpWRY3abSv9NS2NC4gakH-Sq4sVypDQ4qbGum39YB-YaA20f6-klEUCXiP3BZ0F8tj1HcTe2VY6VAz8HQSbIrAkHDt283Y1iLennf8Tkx5fRHlweLAHzAp5VhfLCJHlFFMj8wqU4/s400/100_1312.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324355407219543842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEievm2BJFwcta-2wHT7DFkdYybaDXk7Pxab3Aks8jW7vPxGzHZSbxq_92b6dDiFEUzXJWg0k4NNiyvrFL6r_qRJIls3zqpXsBF_CUVOAM921SSCJjkR1naiyAZk3fDpJh-IWuWgrQ1Ot74/s400/100_2040.JPG" /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324354224211002370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7jjeiOCS4Gv9Owk3D8pt0fyCYJ_Hk4UFOak2tH1R99TL0-vuJBBEoPlFkhKzBMoRM7VtLFZZZnyNl6XdpxaoN-w95qwJu7-O3y4QgQgLvszemCRbGb1cfyyJH3lHJ5EUotv-Sr-Z1ZC4/s320/055.JPG" />Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-79730148258399367762009-03-10T20:12:00.003-04:002009-03-10T20:24:50.786-04:00It's been a while, so long spring is almost here.Well, it's been quite a while since we've posted anything. Life has been busy, or tiring, but it moves right along. I can't believe we're into March already. I'm another year older and Tara will be on Saturday. And it got so warm today that we actually (well, I did) turned the air conditioner on upstairs. It was 78 degrees inside, even with the fans on, that's just too hot for me after all the cooler weather. It's supposed to cool down a bit this weekend, but only into the 50s, so that's not bad at all. <br /><br />Things have been going well. Grace is getting so big. She's a great eater and we hope that lasts after having 3 picky eaters. She will eat just about anything and everything, fruit, vegetable, meat, bread and whatever she might find on the floor before we can get to it. Tonight she was eating ravioli that we had for dinner and Tara had given it to her on a little plastic plate and she was picking up the plate and licking it. It was too cute. We took some pictures and will maybe post some soon. She's starting to make more noises than just 'da-da' now, and maybe she'll actually say a real first word soon (Although I think that 'da-da' should count because she will say it when she sees me, but she also says it babbling all the time). <br /><br />She's crawling everywhere, but mostly away from her siblings that think that she's their toy. Hallie gets a little playful with her and isn't careful sometimes. She loves Carter because he's pretty good with her except that he feels the need to always bring her to us, even if we just put her down to play. Jackson is just too rough with her so she doesn't like him too much right now and he tortures her a little bit. Soon he's going to pay for that.<br /><br />Jackson will be 5 soon and just has a few months of pre-school left. Hard to believe, he was younger than Grace when we moved down to GA. He's so funny, polite and fun to be around when he's in a good mood, but can be a terror if he's not. When he's in a good mood though, and you have him alone, he will talk your ear off. The other day Tara came up stairs while I was working and Grace was napping, and just crossed her eyes at me and whispered that he'd been talking to her non-stop for an hour straight. Just as she's finishing here he comes mid-sentence and just keeps on going. He's quite the talker.<br /><br />Carter and Hallie are doing well. Hallie had a little piano performance for another teacher recently and she did really well. I think she's starting to get much better. Soon I think she'll be able to move on to more difficult music if she'll try. I think she'd be surprised what she could play already if she gave it a shot. Carter is doing well in school and is just getting so big. If only we could get him to gain weight. He's growing up, but not gaining any weight, just getting skinnier. :-) He's as cute as ever and is getting more helpful and grown up. <br /><br />Anyways, just thought I'd post a little something, but I've got to getting going now so that I can play volleyball tonight. I'll try to post a little more often, it's refreshing to just aimlessly write sometimes :-)Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743688830441381534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-33806496120974344592009-02-08T08:05:00.000-05:002009-02-08T08:07:13.881-05:00December 2008Well December came and went with not much being posted; but a lot going on. Here are a few of the things that we did. At the beginning of the month (or maybe the end of November) we went to Publix to watch our niece singing Christmas carols with her chorus group. While we were there we saw Santa and ate lots of samples. Jackson was a little afraid of him and Grace wanted to pull his beard off. Carter was a little afraid too, but I think that was because he was not a very real looking Santa and Carter told me that sometimes Santa's helpers that played Santa in the store did not do it very well. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289019507702174834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfEfUUF4kTV4oyD0pfG-ItrhWtPTtXfRlKA3iKbAN00s_DBkX1HOVfy-2ERxqRJ60IqdrIrM8CP_-15OOHA-4PrVZdKHMpp6IpIApq97m-abBKvnO3dHqkgGl_hkYs0ZV9bipVmVSdtQ/s320/1118081625.jpg" border="0" />Later in the month we went to the Ice Forum and went ice skating with Hallie's primary class. She had gone ice skating for the first time a few weeks before that at a friend's birthday party and loved it so she suggested that they do that for their class activity and everyone agreed. For someone that had only skated once before Hallie did really well. She went off and left Carter, Jackson and Mark to hug the wall for a while. Mark then picked it up pretty quickly and went to skate with her. Carter made it around the rink once and Jackson made it about half way around and then they were done. I then swapped Grace with Mark and went out. I was scarred to death of falling and breaking my tailbone again so I hugged the wall the whole time. It also did not help that a grown man went by me and said "if you are ever going to learn to skate you have to get off the wall!" Yikes, he was friendly. These pictures are not very good because of the glass enclosure that surrounds the rink.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289022949676343490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLe4eUngXatNNMv2tsg7QtzYZ3KKoMkAISlkU6SIGGV54q3p0RkQGO9p8qIyA6XT6YslDPmk9Z3T7bxftYTWq_65cDWO8jjRnULPMtaIOCxOnhDC6aFsc20WTB2nbcix4ZeSxlytraebc/s320/P1020321.JPG" border="0" />We then went to Grandma Connie and Grandaddy Tom's house with all their grandkids and decorated their Christmas tree. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289120061765872418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TluaN2TNcAk76bRBOtsO8I2IKxQgO8seWGCeh47BQQ6YKJtVFSAqJ3KyLPO-mQT_J_ez9ARtbmPnLmrRQ0hpo8c5XL-EJrVJAeGi-6qM9eW7pm8FEzXZu5iTu-uvp5SvJejZ8d_y-SA/s320/P1020172.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289120051955812274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-hGPMfBJiVKiyWnxgZRGYpXwZaod_y4fCe9nFYl79mlt1Y5QRyRHi9e3FheslRUZyOpFEU-mXvVaH74ojIKXmY7GBW4qhvlydgaK5u5AZfFjlVy5l6zs8UsmsBf4gYEiuhOZnDR-UQg/s320/P1020137.JPG" border="0" />A few days later we made Christmas mice cookies. The kids had a lot of fun making these and they were very easy. Hallie and Carter made a lot of mice and Jackson ate a lot of mice.<br /><div><div><div><div><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289124036843503106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYNDq-EFy_2VzRysaxy9ZznGHi6ZQ6JmQUWF-NZ7QljxBpw_eH_Yd-Hq5yecDDc3-DlStPuUVvV9jKR3P1KoR7ZprVG7cUekr2aqCd3BdaZPzY6cGSY_fMGuhikg_GwJk1Y-4s-YcTVs/s320/P1020349.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289124018078597890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7LD30GX4CbARiNmGCgEQgsJJInqrZiS2DWHDfhrN4oNyZk3edulK7boZffYnL9AxATBT3AqeZXp_VmEEe8uB34OLZbHaJjQUxntVCiAfFHLHQu27A7rit66s-g_D5aPUO3Swkk6NZqc/s320/P1020356.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289124007957452882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgys_Jx-eROhWoqAL94np6uzqo5t3X761Pv3nDhGfk6kjWrwrjvcEBJ4whz7K7PMKwMLwGRWwn9OBW0Pu-Yy8uZ7a4iMIxyMiQ2CrNEXDjh3q8pn7gNSmUYFGw7knEJw_T0iUmOIFR1U/s320/P1020364.JPG" border="0" />The kids then opened their Christmas Eve jammies.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289127753542774114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNN4NHvVDOKtq1t6wJ9mXxvuB5QbgsEl5RqZUohRsKOMx26wZT9pvm4BkkiMzOCfDhoIKZhlYQS6XfR22zWfssuqfDrYYrDNDX-t2bOwQx-jYnJq6dlVJOXNSjoG9rBfZ6sFk1cC7hAVw/s320/P1020400.JPG" border="0" /></p></div></div></div></div><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289127744414631858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaT75QLZPj5uzCJEQNgld2n7M1VgntY8UJhDJK-tVCVaqQHGOX3wHqA6qwHG0CQ57fR-IzFBPzesHZtS8wf03ns22Nf-9CFxm-1-Rqw9DSTBXCKkDR1cfcxubUKWShI58BtqzrbZzyclQ/s320/P1020403.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289127738724580786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjyhrPEAO3eriHL1mi94Nlf_X-hL9DfxqqoqqI9lbrDI3wPAted-IHfjXNVycOJRvsqlxJIa2SNm9Kq2iVpd6C_X2bMLbaf7NGqqkZk_iC-dDzaF5y85V1cGHxjm86j8DZtcS5NJR9T4/s320/P1020405.JPG" border="0" /></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289127730812229250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYmP3ipr4E_Cf7t-JmR3WVVfU33j25nzr123LcoPTPjUs_ho9fg4nM3s4CWaFxrwEWmS1Fj8fXGFIKFmVQ8dbDRuBhpIucSyHWULNErvw7DGBUYEQS_3samJUH-x9La0aa2kDA4u1QgU/s320/P1020413.JPG" border="0" /></p><p>Here are the kids on Christmas morning, and each one with one of their favorite presents.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300407530184189522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq20hZhRfpq9ogGPMRu3-ICwprSgFYXTVhW2Er3rgn-QA6r7JevD9VUgN8Pm_N4XXqmV8GRGz7wTTFeIGgp0d7e8DMt0gWc9PfPzaP6z-jBO1qVoLAyInPhtZH41dUz5sh0IsUJRsULeU/s320/P1020540.JPG" border="0" /></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300407523743421906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUS65IL7oB1UQZ78AGf6tr1_fgpgfROFJfrm0oEcKRvbzw9q2Bl1xE55usJuX_uyXLhW3KXbBL31xX8IEiRJMtW0EvF3EPFheRtzl5wXf3AYoA-gwzjCb68dSyXCjGdF5LeUk68vp_pzk/s320/P1020515.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300407517717915986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-r228YgQJBgLiwbBAl_ngAOciF8n70BvVOOZc0B1NPB1xWJlpaWsZFKb1MKTxIe23dmFxMZooSGmGfWq_PqxVLrZsc2Pjak9DqByjM7w-xGvdZpQCkAEzzPO7LFiDJwVIrezLsHK3uuw/s320/P1020490.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300407512379573890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5uyP27hIzQpiSNN7Le1_zHBg-0YtiNfNGpJhkiae1nX2td7SUR2ZNnoNjvcA9bhYinOGrap489HHLsUHFStoV5wP9qwWqRp7pCpEr1q9PsXBTew4SoomEn5wPH4AS1fb81kTD0sEP42o/s320/P1020458.JPG" border="0" /></p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300409951060177970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTayS66B-v84TCy0iGUy_x-E1OhJ9KSsS71D_bprWIvAQwKjO4q8IOwFp61TSqL9sPCWcx7HBleFAnUvTilybrxhDfxG5g67xpTE_v5nvqgd4j0k4xQBfWuj1mnECuRFcO5_fPvmKMRI/s320/P1020504.JPG" border="0" /><br />(I started this post on 1/8/09 and finally on 2/8/09 I finished it. Better late than never.)Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-36463417572637229452009-02-05T13:43:00.004-05:002009-02-05T20:29:25.108-05:00Settle Family NewscastI was out of town on business last week, and while Tara was busy elsewhere and it was kind of quiet she went to check on the kids and found that they had my older work laptop down on a table we have in the garage (they are lucky that I wasn't home). Anyways, she reprimanded them and sent them to put it away. Yesterday we discovered what they were doing. On our digital camera, we found this video. It's a little long, but stick it out, there's some parts that had us cracking up all the way through.<br /><OBJECT class=BLOG_video_class id=BLOG_video-c788eec87c7d9685 height=266 width=320 contentId="c788eec87c7d9685"></OBJECT>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743688830441381534noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-3734078806172596932009-02-02T20:19:00.001-05:002009-02-02T20:20:35.007-05:0025 Random Things about MeI posted this on Facebook after getting tagged. I hardly ever do these things, but I figured since I took the time to do it and post it on Facebook, I'll go ahead and post it here too, so if you don't know me through Facebook, but read the blog...<br /><br />1. I was born in Columbia (South Carolina that is)<br />2. I have the best wife in the world. I know, I know, you probably think you have the best spouse in the world, but that's your opinion. Mine's fact :-)<br />3. I have 4 children, two daughters and two sons. They keep us busy, make us laugh, and sometimes cry too. I wouldn't have it any different. They teach me as much or more as I teach them.<br />4. I love my DVR! I hate it when I travel or watch TV somewhere where I have to endure commercials, or can't pause it when I get occupied.<br />5. Current items on my DVR to do list: The Office, My Name is Earl, 24, The Unit, Dirty Jobs, American Idol, Heroes, Jeopardy, Ace of Cakes.<br />6. I also enjoy a really good book. I read mostly fiction lately and I've taken to reading a ton in the last few years, probably averaging about a book every week or two. My favorite current authors: Robert Parker, Chris Stewart and James Patterson (but nothing he 'co-writes').<br />7. We have a TON of trees in our yard, which is beautiful, except for the abundance of leaves to take care of in the fall/winter. I still have a huge pile of leaves in the back year that I blew behind the trampoline one Saturday (there's no grass there) and it's rained pretty much everyday I planned on doing yard work for the last 2 months. <br />8. I don't know if I'm happy or sad about #7 above, but if we're on water restrictions this summer after the amount of moisture we've had this winter, somebody in the local government is going to hear from me.<br />9. I drink way too much Dr. Pepper. I need to cut back.<br />10. I could eat pizza every day of the week. Luckily I don't, or I'd be 200 pounds, which for me would be too much.<br />11. I love doing puzzles. I don't do them very often, but I love to put them together, especially when I get in a groove on a 1000 piece puzzle and can just look at a piece, pick it up and put it where it goes.<br />12. Likewise, I like solving puzzles in general. I like that kind of challenge, and maybe that's why I love software engineering. I love solving the challenges that I face in programming, it's very frustrating and satisfying at the same time.<br />13. When I was a kid, I hated taking showers, and it was all my parents could do to get me to take one once a week. Then at about 13 or so, I'd take one or two a day, or even three depending on what I'd done. That hasn't changed. I don't feel right until I've taken a shower, and if I work up a good sweat, I'll take another one.<br />14. I love just about all sports. I love playing golf, basketball, volleyball, tennis, racquetball, baseball and soccer. I've player other sports I enjoy as well, but these are the primary ones that I've played most of my life. <br />15. I'm not particularly great at any sport, although I might achieve the higher end of mediocrity at a few.<br />16. I'm clumsy. Just in the last four years, I've severely cut my left thumb, jammed countless fingers playing basketball, sprained my wrist very badly, tweaked a knee and recently rolled my ankle and I'm pretty sure I tore some ligaments in that, took me 2 months of no sports and 2 more months before I'm finally starting to feel right on it again. If was I a professional athlete, I'd be Penny Hardaway or Grant Hill (but not Mike Hampton, there's something SERIOUSLY wrong about him).<br />17. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke. Really, really hate it. Thank goodness for the laws in most or all states now to not have it in public buildings.<br />18. I served a two-year LDS mission in Guatemala and fluently speak Spanish.<br />19. I regret not being as patriotic as I could have been in my past, but am trying to be more so now. I'm trying to be more informed on political issues and voicing my opinion, which sometimes is difficult for me.<br />20. I'm republican and am conservative on moral issues, but actually cross parties on some other issues and quite admire the reserved, educated and well-spoken manner of our new president.<br />21. I hate the no child left behind law. It is killing the education of our next generation of Americans. It's bad for the advanced students AND the students who are behind, and it makes our schools gear everything they do towards passing standardized tests, rather than actually being able to educate and causing us to loose great teachers.<br />22. I love to do handy work around the house. I'm not the best, but competent. I've tiled, replaced subfloor in a bathroom, completely gutted and refinished a bathroom, replaced kitchen counters, replaced sinks and faucets, hung fans and even done a little bit of plumbing. Most of these things are not hard if you just do a little reading and take your time.<br />23. I'm terrible mechanically. I have an uncle that could fix anything mechanical, but not me. I can check the oil and change a tire, but that's about it. I have changed a fuse in a car and a spark plug in small engines, but otherwise I'm pretty intimidated by engines.<br />24. I play the piano and sing (but not at the same time ;-). I sang bass in the BYU Men's Chorus my freshman year there and got the opportunity to sing in their first recorded CD and sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during their Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. Mack Wilberg was the director of the BYU Men's Chorus then, and is now the director of the MoTab. He's EXTREMELY talented.<br />25. I almost never respond to these things. Not usually my favorite thing, but have enjoyed trying to think about some of these things about myself. I've probably tagged a few people who have already done this, so sorry!Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743688830441381534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-41050968496812171442009-01-28T13:15:00.004-05:002009-01-28T14:11:04.695-05:00She's crawlingI think Grace has officially decided to crawl. The real crawl; not the "drag your body" crawling that she has been doing for a few months. And of course Mark is out of town when she does it. So here she is.<br /><OBJECT class=BLOG_video_class id=BLOG_video-4bafbce7068ea1b5 height=266 width=320 contentId="4bafbce7068ea1b5"></OBJECT>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-57936952624244281352009-01-25T17:26:00.004-05:002009-01-25T17:55:46.378-05:00Timmmbbbbberrrrrr!!!!Back in September we had a tree at the side of our house taken down. It was very interesting to watch them because the tree was between our house and our neighbors house and they had to avoid hitting both houses and all the other trees. Here are some pictures of it coming down. Luckily they had pretty good aim and did not squash our house. They told us that the tree was between 80 and 100 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter. <div><embed src="http://widget-d6.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=3098476543635335126&site=widget-d6.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:400px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed><div style="width:400px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=3098476543635335126&map=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-d6.slide.com/p1/3098476543635335126/bb_t028_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide1.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=3098476543635335126&map=2" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-d6.slide.com/p2/3098476543635335126/bb_t028_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide2.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=bb&at=un&id=3098476543635335126&map=F" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-d6.slide.com/p4/3098476543635335126/bb_t028_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide42.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a></div></div>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-49139631682302295542009-01-15T12:42:00.007-05:002009-01-15T14:01:58.932-05:00Recipe of the Week #7Hallie and Carter are at shcool, Jackson is at preschool and I laid Grace down for a nap. I have grand thoughts of all the things that I am going to get done; but what do I do? I bake. That is what you are suppose to do on a cold day. The east coast is under a winter weather advisory. Tonight is is suppose to be -5. That is unheard of in Georgia. So I better take advantage of it while I can. I put some Chicken and Cheese Enchilada Chowder in the crockpot and start thinking about what I can make with some zucchini that needs to be used. It has to be well hidden or the kids wont eat it. So I will make Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins.<br /><br /><div><div>3/4 cup whole wheat pasty flour (or all-purpose)</div><br /><br /><br /><div>3/4 cup all-purpose flour</div><br /><br /><br /><div>3/4 cup brown sugar</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1 tsp baking soda</div><br /><br /><br /><div>3/4 tsp cinnamon</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1/4 tsp nutmeg</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1/2 tsp salt</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1 egg</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1/4 cup oil</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1/4 cup milk</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1 Tbsp lemon juice</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1 tsp vanilla</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1 cup shredded zucchini</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1 shredded apple</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1/3 cup mini chocolate chips</div><br /><br /><br /><div>1/4 cup pecans or walnuts</div><br /><div>Mix all dry ingredients together. In a bowl whisk egg, oil, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients. Fold in the zucchini, apple, chocolate chips, and nuts. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.</div><br /><div>Grace woke up while I was making these. So I put her in her high chair and let her have some multi grain Cheerios. They are her new favorite. When I gave them to her so grabbed fistfulls and put them in her mouth as best she could.</div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291595192753215762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSPt7J8s4SOSEIVrRPJUAEGbNG2rxQ0oOmh5hJTJMXqmWTMICkCReZ5i1edK4sSt4CN8Cdnnq3Pe3XhwFzHv9ZD-75AKaSrz6304L1SW_c9tS9i9zfLa5yeQAEHlqOQyp6oLimLduJz08/s320/P1020628.JPG" border="0" />Later she started scooting all over and come in the kitchen to wait paitently for the muffins to be done.<br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291595183984802786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0eBRme2vX45Zp8BskimMC5OFV9hTdlSIC8NcOL3SStu9oO4RIBGSEciXO4tlpaeH5Ozr_B6mVyyGKhfrtwfbrSPt-VTGYEVPKhgY7ecV2miLLWQAWHK0RzrJPVhjXLP8CZ0kf75HD9LY/s320/P1020632.JPG" border="0" /></div></div><br />After the muffins were done I made Three Great Tastes Blond Brownies and Cornbread. (I am not going to eat all of this stuff. I am taking it to a girl in my ward that just had a baby.)<br /><br />So I did not great any of the things I needed to do checked off my list, but I did have fun baking. Maybe tomorrow I will get those things done. Or maybe I will find another recipe that is calling my name and begging to be made!Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-89700902125555249932009-01-11T19:46:00.001-05:002009-01-11T20:36:57.079-05:00Boys will be boysCarter and Jackson sometimes amaze me. I think it is because as a girl I would never think to do the things that they do. A few examples of these are the kleenex and oatmeal episodes. I think they must have been missing the snow of Utah when they did these things because they said that they were "jumping" into snow and they were making snow "fall" after they made these messes. They decided to do both of these things within a week of each other.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290204468638100306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxiOWaOX2bWIpEgyCBWSqJdsSuyu849srAq_PqIOW9xaJcdZ3Glbubu1kAMmIc5EDgpORKNCbI4wVhP9PeFhA1AM5sKULyf6GO3GIJGSimZiTJw6z_vc_Fnh4ms1nZHPpkYx-r3-2eYBE/s320/kleenex+004.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290206247275576402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdF-LqRdvQ4ez0nPC_VuBmmsu6u-qHwx0cH2sjLLhzWqc9WTZDytMedew57MZXutudm5Vo6YSVXsYUPyqAYEWyNMLWMuxT6OaZ9NF02XUsbebs7aVUOu7UV7ksz-SVLXj9Df20BxqlC8/s320/kleenex+006.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290204464311079298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8VcP8FEeuS13K48Ysh8zKAmxeH4c8-pdWLdYoob3zHn2mEI-OafuHAl6J5QI6YosXf5YAojc2dIVaqTeQcDTUVu5cgUuK4FpyVLSVypQvElITLYGx3nGc9G_6Zsro_Q9QscuE2eFra4/s320/kleenex+002.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290206256098465650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zs7ad94eVsIKPufhg3b5obKhYAW6GRdhmLrJZBEn_fE1fX2cAtnc8I9RvAaoo9w48w_LuGF2fWrfmLH7U5DH1OWwAHQSW9uIm-OUULqxDGSLSoeA4BXYuUPVlNmgV93iOgZPhCpaTho/s320/oatmeal+001.jpg" border="0" />This past week the boys decided do to get into things and make messes again. It started exactly one week ago tonight. Mark and the kids were upstairs in our room and I was downstairs in the kitchen. I heard Jackson cough and then cry out "I swallowed it". It was a steel ball that goes to Magnetix. The ball is about the size of a marble and there are little magnetic rods that they stick to and you can make cool things with them. We have told him not to put them in his mouth but he does anyway, because what do we know! Well I called the pediatrician and they said to take him down to the ER and have them take an xray to make sure it was not stuck in his throat; because his throat was hurting. Apparantly things like marbles and money can get stuck in your throat and you can still breath and everything. So I get ready to take him to the ER and Mark asks him "how many times have we told you not to put the balls in your mouth?" He replies "about 100". Exactly. About 100. </p><p>Here is a picture of his marble. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290204441868406482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjiDc-xf4CgjqqWWwI2mrDPB-A2l22aka_kWKV-ADhYst9dMddjXUCq2B20SKXayTAMwPSU7mTGC8O59-gAOK3tnI6NfzQnLMokMWbcOkiDixW5S83qjzEJcoQreqgKNpp6cp5M3HkgS8/s320/P1020606.JPG" border="0" /></p><p> It finally made its grand re-entrance tonight! Thank goodness because I am sick of checking poop for a marble. I will spare you the details. But one funny thing that he said when we were sitting in the ER until midnight was "I'm glad I swallowed this marble because now I get to stay up and watch cartoons." I am thinking about contacting the ER and telling them to get rid of the tv's because Jackson thinks if he goes to the ER that it is fun because they let him stay up and watch tv and eat popsicles while he is there.</p><p>Then next thing the boys did is destroy their room last nightwhile they are suppose to be going to sleep. That is nothing new but this is how Mark found them.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290204452827868770" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdwqkXHBa0d3cHPCEFCXtm_s_OkA1j7uLb8JTlabS42YQ9au8-FbQK0Zk_2uuudYkF_SD2hHOyHtoHGK3jVBSAadTqOhKuyE2IJH8ThIInq8ZE6nWPvwc76T27pKMQOQNcGdibYF5OKk/s320/P1020608.JPG" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290204459636944002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUr_qkPJjSPvbMK8UkZbubsT06WBCQZx0speNtGmrZF-o7iAi5J3NTvtHgGkXLvZ_iegkuUIhRqRRMr04cVhJ36GFcxNh9oghNOT66xDrLuBpd7H2EIab_YZMMh9kFioaC7Oxn518ZWYE/s320/P1020609.JPG" border="0" /></p><p>Now would a girl ever say to herself "Oh, I think I want to take all my books off the bookshelf and sleep in it!" No, they would not. At least I wouldnt. But to Carter and Jackson it must have seemed like an interesting thing to do.</p><p>Like I said </p><p>Boys will be boys!</p>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-89215182253661877882009-01-01T10:45:00.002-05:002009-01-01T10:49:48.451-05:00Happy New YearJust wanted to wish everyone out there a Happy New Year! I hope you all have a wonderful 2009. We're planning on it. This year we'll have a child that is in double digits this year as Hallie turns 10, Carter 7, Jackson 5 and Grace 1. We'll also have 3 children in school in August. We're looking forward to that!<br /><br />Also just wanted to post that we're recanting our post saying we're going private. We've decided to not make our blog private as of yet. So keeping following us anonymously or not for now. We just decided that it's kind of a pain to have to log in to view the bloggs of friends of ours who have gone private and we've enjoyed it in the format it is now. If we run into some problems with it being a public blog, then maybe we'll change it, but we're leaving as is for now.Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743688830441381534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-54804777916818648842008-12-23T11:36:00.005-05:002008-12-23T11:40:58.018-05:00Recipe of the Week #6Here is an easy breakfast recipe that is in the crockpot. This is what we are having on Christmas morning. We eat these in tortillas with salsa like a breakfast burrito.<br /><br />Crockpot Western Omelet Casserole<br />serves 12<br /><br />32 ounces frozen hash browns<br />1 pound bacon, ham or sausage, cooked<br />1 medium onion<br />1 bell pepper<br />1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese<br />1 dozen eggs<br />1 cup milk<br />1 teaspoon salt<br />1 teaspoon pepper<br /><br /><br />1. Place a layer of frozen hash browns in bottom of slow cooker, followed by a layer of bacon then onion, bell pepper and cheese. Repeat layering process two or three more times, ending with a layer of cheese.<br />2. Beat the eggs, milk and salt and pepper together. Pour over the mixture in the crockpot, cover and turn on low. Cook for about 8 hours.Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-37872455548720503282008-12-22T21:44:00.003-05:002008-12-22T22:07:44.908-05:00Hallie's rantingsThe other day when I took Hallie and Grace shoe shopping; Hallie got a pair of boots. I did not really want to get them but she just went on and on about how she had always wanted boots and how cute they were. So finally I told her that she could get them but they would be a Christmas present. She was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ok</span> with that until we left the store and she wanted to wear them. Then when we got home she was showing them to Mark and wearing them all around the house. Finally I told her that she <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">didn't</span> have to wait till Christmas to have them. (Mostly because it was just another present that I would have to wrap, and I was tired of wrapping.)<br /><div></div><br /><div>So ever since I have bought her these boots she has changed. On Sunday on the way to church she told me that she wants to move to Texas. And when she gets there she wants to be a tour guide and take people all over the state and show them Texas. (Which I thought was really funny because she has never even been through most parts of Texas.) She ask me how much she should charge for this. While I am thinking, she says "maybe I will charge the adults $5 and the kids $3". I said "that is not very much money for a tour of the whole state, you could probably charge more than that." We discussed this a little more and she finally decided that she would charge $30 for adults and $22 for kids 11 to 3 and under 3 were free and she would give the babies free milk. She then told me that she wanted to get a horse and ride it to the store. So this boot thing has knocked cowgirl land. She also wanted to wear the boots in her pictures that we had taken today. And I have even seen her wearing them with her pyjamas. I am surprised that she hasn't tried sleeping in them. Here is a picture of her in her "cowgirl" boots.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282815883539134066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMT02xTTWNtNEUQuXFvH3tPzuahAsW0acKHM6Pm2he5UqOAeH06dxJpykQfmzfYTa270ozZ5P4Jdnm2PDeVCzB-W7CtrhBv-hhiWgSLnmS80qnDfqAoZnZGQZUXW5KD5XYMjS90fMFhs4/s320/Christmas,+Hallie,+%26+Jackson+pictures+006.jpg" border="0" /></div><br />"Somebody" in Texas needs to send her some REAL cowgirl boots.Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-16966488810707740662008-12-22T20:31:00.007-05:002008-12-22T21:35:56.248-05:00Christmas picturesWe went and got our family pictures taken today. It went pretty well. Mark usually hates doing this because it is a lot of drama trying to get everyone to smile and hold still at the same time so the last professional family picture we had taken was when Carter was a baby. But when we were done he said that is went quite well and we were happy with how they all turned out. We also got Hallie's 9 year and Jackson's 4 year old pictures taken (we had done Carter's earlier). Grace did not do as well as we had hoped that she would because she was tired and hungry. So there are not many pictures of her smiling; mostly just sucking her thumb. Here are some of our favorites.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282805489245400098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXK_BwyFskR2rDA2A9nQrfsnC81_HnQeI7dpXE1Yl0MCohIQulskRMMVIvPzYwpRWvsr8l7_4koIzDUXdA7EUKzzD1X2hYiFKk5bKTO1XczRngbwET3qIqTgpUD6_HZ0hRiytRxpqQz9s/s320/Christmas,+Hallie,+%26+Jackson+pictures+057.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282805467041603858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifURbwEc4_6JmZYODnaD2SVgst4AD-Ibu6sD_WtubYDH83nzC-BhAiIxJjT5APMthA4ZLI7pvVumgtSlKLRz-uZ_fGdhqRrSeupUiVgM_RCn7ofXnxkdlSxibr9nchsX84_N4LYmWbl4U/s320/Christmas,+Hallie,+%26+Jackson+pictures+009.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282805480355656322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-viapfqcV8DJJOROWmSZYoxC5HOeSKyeGl_VmDQ7suOauBgNmDIaQXGsFxblzN26I66g2qtIVtomnB8qyeSgTQgyY7NkZwDv3JBHUCE86Icdj0oSduomgTrOBaAw_x1Y_8G4E2hQgC0Q/s320/Christmas,+Hallie,+%26+Jackson+pictures+055.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282805478443224658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9l5Cvy0julMn69uHmfaUXo0yNvUm0Dbe9tiOHNNXNeDsxo-uWN3BdzCN4WZgs-rJMdEa8KJc0O329R5SgHU6hbvBf2r8OuYXx-YohFYisoi0jg6jxQD0FfzHQr6wrRdL6edLMwveVZAU/s320/Christmas,+Hallie,+%26+Jackson+pictures+039.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282805473193226594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlAPz-bbNgArMLjkg9g3aO7muMR73Go3L3tgZmDtSxAJ2o9mcSlVFPTSRbtcREMFSFKbDi0wjDoPwBTxaieRfQ1r_yBKyzlrj2Vs_y_JtE8i8nfPUnYp5RQfem-aKne4oQ8QBXsJFHwM/s320/Christmas,+Hallie,+%26+Jackson+pictures+016.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282807488792940498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWrZnE_3yQ3c0JBrU2okutIy0XbNutXUktDjfAOXqQqg3fM3otrrE5LnL_mmndeiax4xj2dJX8D55yZaK2gdUdsWgX9tt7CsilCa1nrUX7j6ydqnVCfcz9WLO054zyiGOfm1VoVut04ic/s320/Christmas,+Hallie,+%26+Jackson+pictures+076.jpg" border="0" />Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-74967536179620485412008-12-20T17:51:00.006-05:002008-12-20T20:35:46.911-05:00Plum tuckered out"Plum tuckered out" is a way that my Mom descibes people when they are worn out. Apparantly that is how Jackson felt the other day when he came home from school. Mark took these pictures of him.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282010337592629634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwvahMcRUCKnOWE77HD4rzMpkJaHog15ZqmjYY_y4NON4kRRue0Xuh5ERg2askDZfNB5rYguFLKijBVd-eSQDDPy8jQZSEswctQtc5MbOcEBEbH21fJ_o-lm5thCVPTqeDBnDjhpsEQc/s320/P1020255.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282010343619423058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdLm-EOeRGdVkNP9ZZ_O37w-eFuY53JfB3JgJ5ZhrTqp-5yB-5RI7j6uyE6Q2heFqLM8x4g58O3VBudv9ldBlyZvJMt2jysmG15yb520rRFhiA38v1CeJGJq5DcfH6z7aBIXf4-n23xU/s320/P1020256.JPG" border="0" /><br /><p>This is how I feel right now. I just spent 5 hours at the mall. I must have lost my mind to decide to go to the mall 4 days before Christmas. I was not Christmas shopping, thank goodness. I was trying to find a pair of shoes for Hallie. Black dress shoes. It should not take 5 hours to find a pair of shoes. But Hallie has these long skinny feet that no store has shoes for. We finally found some, actually a couple pair. I also bought Grace some shoes; and she has the opposite problem. She has extremely small feet. She does not even wear a size 1. The lady at the shoe store told me that size 1 is usually for newborn to 3 months old. I have never had a baby that is almost 8 months old and cant even wear a size 1. Oh well, the ones that I found are cute. Here she is modeling them.<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282050108904914802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-1iwplbkYNGlE7bz3dB_pZ45VT2V4LBRQJd968kmiPFQsbk6XEJwutfNaSxyMBe3p4BnWDp0B9PkX9C22zj6Udax-o-oHKv-eEoLiLrBgfobA79iNGFhuKOBZgSDGEVHSbsnb8s2tn0/s320/P1020346_edited.JPG" border="0" /></p>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-66785617477288017012008-12-15T08:30:00.006-05:002008-12-15T08:45:57.328-05:00Blabbering or First WordGrace has started to say Da-Da. We think. Mark is always trying to get her to say it and so he is taking credit for teaching her her first word. It seems very early to me for a baby to start talking, but our kids have always talked early and very clearly. So who knows. You can watch the following videos and decide for yourself. Blabbering or first word?<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxOcZzR-CDxIszAThnXt1c745j-jdkpQJMInFaLTQolZwFaHqTokcaTYIPX_-fftL28GU49qNsLQn3BSh8U' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw9pf3_4EGKm3H658VIApZ-uiuZq6kaETzLpJuF6KNX6YaRTiuvNNSZkaS0DUnnaP90D1me2hWjH0Dnmcs34w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-20376085937773595572008-12-12T09:41:00.004-05:002008-12-12T10:23:23.730-05:00Blogs and going private<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ok</span> so we may be going private in the future. Mostly just because everyone is sending me these crazy emails about how your life might be destroyed because some psycho person took pictures of your kids off your blog and posted them all over <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">youtube</span> or something like that. Or how some ex boy/girl friend found your blog and shows up on your door step at 2 in the morning. You know how things get blown totally out of proportion in emails. Anyway. If you would like to continue to look at our blog; please send me your email at <a href="mailto:flytarafly@hotmail.com">flytarafly@hotmail.com</a>. I know, now that I put my email up here, you are all thinking that I am going to get tons of junk coming to my email. Probably so, but I can press delete really quickly.<br /><br /><br />Also, if you have a blog please send me a link to it. If you haven't noticed our Friends and Family section in missing. Somehow we lost all of the blogs that we look at when we were redoing our background.<br /><br />So please send me your emails addresses and blogs.Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-38386579512501973542008-12-12T09:27:00.002-05:002008-12-12T09:40:22.862-05:00Recipe of the Week #5Here are 2 recipes that I used for our ward Christmas Enrichment. The Beef recipe makes a lot but freezes really well. The jello also makes a lot. I don't know what else to tell you to do with all of it other than eat it. I also think it should be renamed because Fruity Gelatin Salad just sounds boring. It is really good for the holidays because of the color and the cranberries; but I have also made it in the summer for girls camp and they really liked it. (Even the ones that swore they hated cranberries or jello). So give them a try.<br /><br />Flavorful Beef in Gravy<br />serves 12<br />3 lbs beef stew meat<br />2 cans cream of mushroom soup<br />1 can golden mushroom soup<br />1 can cream of celery soup<br />1 1/3 cups milk<br />1 envelope onion soup mix<br />mashed potatoes or hot cooked noodles<br /><br />Place beef in a 5 quart crock pot. Mix together soups and milk. Pour over beef and stir. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.<br /><br /><br />Fruity Gelatin Salad<br />serves 15-18<br /><br />6 ounces cherry jello<br />1 cup boiling water<br />10 ounces frozen sweetened sliced strawberries<br />20 ounces crushed pineapple, undrained<br />16 ounces whole-berry cranberry sauce<br /><br />In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in strawberries until berries are separated. Stir in the pineapple and cranberry sauce until blended. Transfer to 9x13 pan and refrigerate until firm.Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8967163378877368914.post-25866938812344437342008-12-06T10:43:00.003-05:002008-12-06T11:23:59.494-05:00Grace swingingHere is a little video of Carter swinging Grace in her jumper. She is not laughing like she was before I got the camera (of course) but you can still tell that she likes it.<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyCUoa-r5EcoH-wnZulVjGe3B0yhC1zSbffE78m_WKc0nSSwgJ2xSNnZ1hg4o9V7IG0IKADWgqCxuPzTI4aHg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279818603401090469noreply@blogger.com1