Yummy Pay-up

While my family was visiting, we got to talking movies. Basically, my brother-in-law who is a HUGE movie nut, brought us some of his DVD's for Doreen and I to watch. In return we usually get him a new DVD to add to his collection.

Well, he told me that he wanted the new James Bond flick, Casino Royale. So one morning I picked it up for him and brought it home. He was saying, "Sweet - payment in advance!"

That got us to talking movies, specifically James Bond movies. That lead to a small disagreement over who was the 1st actor to play James Bond in a movie. My mom and I said it was Sean Connery. My bro-in-law claimed it was another actor.

This lead to a bet. The winner gets a Hot Fudge Sundae.

We happened to be out around town at that point in time with no access to the internet for verification. (What did people do eons ago with no internet. Oy vay!)

So when we got home, Scott jumped on line. This is what he found...

Sir Sean Connery (1962–1967; 1971)
George Lazenby (1969)
Sir Roger Moore (1973–1985)
Timothy Dalton (1987–1989)
Pierce Brosnan (1995–2002)
Daniel Craig (2006–present)

Oh yes, number 1 on that list... Sir Sean Connery.

So last night, I had my Hot Fudge Sundae. Boy was it yummy. Then I chased it down with some McD's french fries. Man, I don't think there is anything better in than to chase some ice cream down with fries. Yummy!

Thanks Bond, James Bond!

Thanks Bro! :)

Mocha Torture

It's a good thing our doggie seems to have a good sense of humor.

At the birthday party, one of the first thing my father-in-law did was to tie a balloon to her collar. She didn't seem to mind too much - although she eventually got stuck under the table when the balloon got caught on a chair.

Then Doreen and Kristine had to get in on the deal and tie another balloon to her tail.

She didn't like that very much and that one came off pretty quickly!

After the kids busted open the pinata and got the goodies out of it - this set of glasses was one of the gifts. Staci, my sister, and Doreen put a set of these on Mocha. She didn't like it too much, but as you see - they've got her pinned pretty good!

Cute thought.

I think our dog may need therapy soon! :) :) :)

Wii'ing

During vacation, one of the things we did was play video games. My brother-in-law brought his Wii, at my behest of course. I wanted to try one out, and just so happened he had one.

They just had the generic sports Wii games, but doggone, they're fun!!. We bowled, my sister and I boxed, (of course neither of us had any idea of what we were doing.) my dad and I golfed, I tried baseball and my sister and mom played tennis.

It was cool. So I thought I'd dedicate a post to all the Wii'ing we did! Yeee haw.

Niece Emily making her toss.

Sister Cindy throwing the virtual bowling ball down the virtual bowling alley for a spare!

Mom with her double pump roll. She'd never do that with a 12 lb ball. Of course Wii'ing she got a strike! :)

If I remember right my daughter Joelle did get a strike with this toss.

Sister-in-law Shelly giving the Wii a try.

Brother-in-law Randy with a wicked, wicked spin. Left an open frame though. :) Yeah - of course, it was his first time! :)

Wife Doreen doing her best. Pretty good posture! :)

Family Faces

Niece Bekah wearing some funky stuff on her feet.

Nephew Brian with his Orange/Cheesy grin.

Nephew Calvin wrestling the world's strongest man! :)

Niece Carlie in all her cowgirl regalia.

Nephew Colby doing the splits on the fat man's squeeze at rock city.

Niece Emily wearing something funky on her head! :)

Daughter Joelle wearing a Cheeseball grin holding a HUGE container of cheeseballs! :)

Daughter Natalie chillin out on a trolly car ride.

Niece Sarah driving a video game for all she's worth at Chuck E Cheese.

More Faces

Here's our puppy Mocha

Sister Cindy holding a butterfly at the TN Aquarium

Dad's trying out our treadmill. (He lasted 30 sec - he, he, he!)

Bro-in-law Scott wearin' his Hair and Beard net required with a tour through the plant where I work.

Great faces! :)

Vacation Activities

A Good vacation activitiy is Geocaching. We found 4 here! Awesome.


Sabbath a group, who could, got around made beautiful music. Those who couldn't, sat around and enjoyed the beautiful music! :)


Staci, Brian & Scott playing Nintendo DS. Oh yeah!

The Family that Plays Together, Stays Together! :)

Here's More Photos from our 'families' vacations! :)


Calvin got to run Papa's riding mower around pulling the other kids in the trailer, who were all chanting, "Faster, Faster, Faster!" :) Cute!


Here's my mom, Wii ing, bowling virtually! :)



Joelle climbing the rock wall in Rock City. All the 'older' kids got to do it. Calvin, Brian and Sarah made it to the top.



The 'gang' at Chuck E Cheese. Notice it's all older folks. The kids sat down barely long enough to eat, then they're off playing games.



Balloon heads at Carlie's B-day party.



I'm trying on Carlie's Pinata! Texas sized boot - a little too big! :)



Getting some energy out at the Imagination Station Park.


More game playing at Chuck E Cheese.

All Good Things Must Come to an End :(

What an enjoyable week! Having family here visiting and having the time off was just absolutely AWESOME!!! They've pretty much all left now. (My family took off this afternoon, Doreen's leave right after breakfast in the morning.) It feels so empty and quiet around here. Oh but it was definetly worth it. We had some excellent visiting time! We had tons of fun sightseeing some of the stuff around chattanooga! We just had a ball.

After we got done with the Old Time Picture, some adults took the kids out to the Chattanooga Choo Choo train they can climb onto the Locomotive (Non functioning of course, we wouldn't allow 9 crazed children on a an operational one - he, he, he) and see it all. Then after we finished buying the pics, the rest of us joined them for ome fun. (See more pics to follow later!) Here's everyone in a gazebo just up the way from the Choo Choo.

Here's my family, my folks, my sisters and ALL our kid'os. Not at a bad looking group of I don't mind saying so myself! :) Another plus to this whole thing, the days we had outside things planned it was absolutely 'gorgeous' weather out. The one day we got rain, we had an indoor event planned!

My parents, twin sisters and I at the Tennessee Aquarium. All the kids just had a ball checking out all the critters they have in those buildings. If I had to guess, most of the adults had quite the enjoyable time too! :)


The next day was Ruby Falls and Rock City. Both were just absolutely breath-taking.



It was awesome and unique being 260 feet underground to see the unique beauty and then turn right around and go up to the Top of Lookout Mountain at 1800 Ft and check out the view from up there! Awesome!!!



The following day we just hung out at the Collegedale Memorial park together for a while. Dad and Jim, both a Vet and Reserve really enjoyed the memorials they had up all over the place. Of course our kids enjoyed it in their own way! :)

Then we toured the place where I work. We actually went through the place where they make the Honey Buns. OH, MY, GOODNESS!!! THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! Wish I could tell ya about it, but I can't cuz I can't track each of you down and kill ya after I let the 'secret' out of the bag! :) As and employee, I signed a security notice. Gotta keep my trap shut! (In a whispering voice...) ask one of the others about the details! :) Then as a 'gift' we each got a brand new fresh box of honey buns right off the line! Oh my goodness was that yummy!!!


And of course, don't you see the family resemblance! (Even with the two kids that aren't family! He, he, he!) We chilled out in the morning, then in the afternoon we swarmed on Chuck E Cheese's place out there. I tell ya what, those kids would have gone ALL day if we had the money to have the tokens to keep 'em! Whoooo weeee - the energy in that building from ALL the kids, not just our own. If there were only some way to harness that! It would end world hunger! :)

After CEC's we headed back to the Rec room for cake, ice cream, a couple of party's and just visiting/horsing around - depending on your age group!!!

The ONLY really bad thing about this weekend, the time change Sat night had us all in a tither this week. Oh well!

Watch for more pics to follow!!

Razzzzzzed

Most of you know my last name, and most of you know that I live up to that name. Well, my brother-in-law gets the Razzie Award for 'harazzin' me the most this trip.

As Doreen can attest, it's my nature, that once I find something to pester someone about I do it pretty regularly and thoroughly. I try to find that thin line between a joke and irritating and try to stay Juuuust this side of irritating. Don't know why, I just do. Maybe I ought to go get some therapy! :)

Anyway, before this vacation, I sent out an itenerary to everyone, then a couple of weeks later I sent out a revized itenerary - as some things had changed.

My brother in law, Scott found this a source to 'razz' me about almost the entire time. He did let up the last couple of days. Everytime a question about a schedule came up, he'd have to say something about the itinerary. Then he had the gall to add unapproved activities to the itenerary like going to the potty, taking a shower, sleeping, etc.

Then my sister-in-law had to jump in with him, because she's always giving us a 'hard time' about all the 'plans' we make.

Boy, I took it, and took it very admirably I think.

The best part was, the itinerary worked flawlessly!

Oh yeah - it was definetly worth it!!!! :)

Times Remembered

About 3 years ago we were all together in CO in Silverton, CO and got a old tim photo taken of the kids/cousins. Well, when we found out that both sides of our family were gonna be here this spring, we made plans to get another old time photo taken.

We found a place, and yesterday was the day.

I tell you what, the guy that orchestrated this was magic. He had all 9 kids eating out of his hands. It was perfect!

Enjoy these cute little kiddos in this pic from yester-year! :)

UNBELIEVABLE MATH PROBLEM

I JUST DID THIS AND IT TOTALLY FREAKED ME OUT! HOW DOES THIS WORK, CAN ANYONE TELL ME?

WOAH!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a math trick so unbelievable that it will stump you. Personally I would like to know who came up with this and why that person is not running the country.

1. Grab a calculator. (you won't be able to do this one in your head)
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NO T the area code)
3. Multiply by 80
4. Add 1
5. Multiply by 250
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
8. Subtract 250
9. Divide number by 2

Do you recognize the answer?

Vacation is Here...

Family is pouring in from all over the country to visit with us for this week. Doreen's sister and kids from Minnesota are here, via Florida. (They spent a week down there with family.)

My family left Colorado yesterday and as of 8:30 this morning they're in Wilson, KS. They had a lot of snow in the mountains between Grand Junction, CO and Denver, CO. Thankfully they made it through. They'll get here tonight.

The worst part of this whole thing, yesterday morning when I woke up in the truck at 1:30a to head home, I had a sore throat. Now I feel really bad. What an awful time to get sick!

Anyway, glad to be off though. So watch for blog updates on what is going on here at our house during vacation!!!

Should be good!

Have a great weekend!

Together Again

The last time this bunch of kids were together was in Colorado was in September of 2003. These are our kids and all our nieces and nephews. The good news is that at the end of next week, they're going to be all together again. Yeee hawwww. My family from Colorado is driving out during Spring Break for a vacation visit! Doreen's family has been in Florida and will be driving up to spend the same week with us. So we'll be ALL together - and I'm really, REALLY looking forward to it.

The last time that our kids were together with (all) of Doreen's sisters kids was at a vacation we took with them at a Townhouse in Gatlinburg, TN in November of 2004.

The last time that our kids were together with (all) of my Sister's kids was on our last vacation to Colorado in August of 2005.

We've got some fun things planned for while we're all together. One is to to update the pic at the beginning of this post with one more current. That should be fun! :) We'll spend an afternoon at Chuck E Cheese and another day visiting Ruby Falls and Rock City here in Chattanooga. We'll spend one day at the local aquarium and a number of other fun things. When we don't have things planned, we'll be hanging out, goofin off, playing video games, board games, watching some movies - whatever comes to mind!

Man 'o man, this is going to be cool!

I can't wait - one more week! Yeee haw!

It is GOOD for family to be together!

Have a great week!