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!

Lazy Doggy

Recently we had some friends over for a Friday evening worship. After it was over and the girls went to bed, we stayed talking with our friends for quite a while. Mocha must have found it pretty boring because she sacked out in Doreen's lap! :) Course we couldn't help but pose her a bit for a photo! Cute! :)

Stuff...

I've been extremely busy lately - if not working then doing stuff around home and I've been neglectful of this web-page. Sorry! I know how I like to read regular updates from the rest of you who have a page and it bugs when nothing has been updated and I've gone and done the same thing! :(

So here are a few random thoughts, happenings and pics to enjoy! Hopefully! :)
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DIPSTICK

Mocha is growing like my girls - weeds! :) I come home from a 2 day trip and she looks so much bigger. She's doing great and learning every day. We're still working on the 'potty-training' thing. Can't wait until she goes regularly outside!!! A friend saw her recently and told us we gave her the wrong name. We should have named her dipstick. Look at her 'black' tail and it does look like an oil dipstick! Funny! She's still Mocha though! :)
_______

SCOIOLOGY

Doreen's school is going great, although I will be EXTREMELY glad when she is finished with Sociology. This class is driving us BOTH insane. Doreen dislikes it because the unorganized mannor of the teacher and some of his 'theory's' and just the whole pseudo-science of sociology. The teacher has asked the students in the class to each write a paper, and has so many strict perimeters that it is making it extremely difficult. Poor Doreen is having struggles with it. Unfortunatly I can do little to help her but listen. She's getting a very good grade, "A" in the class, but it is extremely frustrating the way the teacher presents things and stuff. Of course she tells me about it and I get annoyed because of some of the stances and statements the teacher makes and - oh!!! I'll just be glad when she is done with this and gets on to 'real' science classes! :)

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PARENT/CHILD CURSE

Well, my parents have successfully done it. They have passed along the 'curse' that a grandchild will exhibit some of the same characteristics of the child that drove the parent crazy. Understand? Basically it boils down to that my parents put a curse on me that one of my children will do some of the same things to drive me crazy that I did to drive them crazy.

For instance - when I was 'younger' living at home, when I'd get in trouble I would never give my parents a straight answer. I'd delay (I don't know!) Deflect (It was my sisters fault) Sidestep (Answer only part of the question) Ignore or just completely make sure not to answer the question and implicate myself in any possible wrong doing.

It's come back to haunt me. My youngest, Natalie, is beginning to exhibit those tendencies, 2 or 3 times last week she got into trouble and I felt as we were 'talking' with here, that I was having an out of body experience seeing myself sitting in front of my parents answering their questions the same way she was answering ours. Ayi yai yai! We've got to take care of that now. It only gets worse as they reach the teen years, believe me - I know! :( :)

_______

Crazy Hair

Doreen's been growing her hair out for the last little while, trying to get it long. Funny thing is she complains about it not being how she wants it yet, it's too short for this and not long enough for that, etc! We'll it's long enough she can do and imitation of 'Thing' on the Adams Famliy.



Duh, da da duh, snap, snap...





Oh hello! :)
















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WORK

Work has been going great lately. In the last 4 weeks, I've run 3rd trips the last 3 of the 4. In fact, we calculated it, last year, I ran 26 third trips. That's a nice chunk of change to fill in some 'holes' we had financially. Those trips enabled us to do some things we otherwise would have not been able to do. I'm extremely thankful to be able to work that extra to help occassionally.

While it is nice to have the option of a third trip, only running the standard 2 it awesome. Last week I ran out Sat night, got back Sunday evening. Then ran out Monday morning and got back early, early, EARLY Wed morning. So I had 4 days at home before working again, All day , Wed, Thur Fri and Sat! Sweet.

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MEMORIES

One of the things I was able to do during that stretch off...

...finish a hanging of some stuff from my Great Uncle Russell. He traded me a .38 revolver for this German Luger he brought back from WWII. So I got some authentic patches off of Ebay from the Army (Bottom L) Unit (Top C) and Division (Bottom R). Then with a couple of pictures he gave me and a couple of Army Medals, put this together.

I think it's really nice and adds a nice decorative feel to our Office, Entertainment, Excersize basement.

Well that's all for now.

Blessings!!!

1 word survey

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
Not as easy as you might think.
1. Where is your cell phone? BANNIESTER
2.your boyfriend/girlfriend? WIFE
3. Your hair? BROWN
4. Your mother? MONTROSE
5. Your father? TRUCKER
6. Your favorite thing? GEOCACHING
7. Your dream last night? NO
8. Your favorite drink? POP
9. Your dream car? NEW
10. The room you're in? BASEMENT
11. Your ex? NONE
12. Your fears? FEW
13. Where do you want to be in 10 years? PEACEFUL
14. Who did you hang out with last night? KEN
15. What you're not? CRAZY
16. Muffins? BLUEBERRY
17. One of your wish list items? DEBTLESS
18. Where you grew up? COLORADO
19. The last thing you did? TV
20. What are you wearing? COMFY
21. Your TV? REALITY
22. Your pet? MOCHA
23. Your computer? SONY
24. Your life? BUSY
25. Your mood? TIRED
26. Missing? PAWPAW
27. What are you thinking about right now? SURVEY
28. Your car? PONTIAC
29. Your work? TRAVELING
30. Last summer? HOT
31. Like someone? ABSOLUTELY
32. Your favorite color? BLUE
33. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY
34. Last time you cried? UNKNOWN
35. Your school? CAMPION

Quick "Hi!"

Hey, been busy, busy, busy, BUSY lately!

No time to post or do much else. So I just wanted to say...

"HI!"

Have a great day!

--Me

80's Test

Haven't done one of these in a while - so here goes.

So you think you know the 80's. ;)

sspester7, you're now logged in!

Below you'll find your test result. After, continue on to your homescreen to discover what we're about.

continue to OkCupid homescreen >

Thank the great god Balki! You're finished! You scored 24 out of a possible 30 Accuracy Points, and you earned an extra 5 Bonus Points!

I hope you enjoyed the test. If there were any questions that really stumped you, feel free to write me for the answer key.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 22% on Accuracy You scored higher than 5% on Bonus

Link: The Think you remember the 80's? Test written by jahazarak on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

We're Cookin Now

For Christmas the girls were each given a baking set to help mommy in the kitchen. A few weeks ago, they made some 'mini-muffins.' We just forgot to take a pic.








Well for the Superbowl, we brought cookies and brownies. Yummy. So the girls got all geared up and started cookin'.










And a super job of baking they did. They made some yummy bar cookies, and some brownies, one set had some mint chips in it. Super yummy!

Of course being related to 'Doreen' the girls had to ham it up a little. Each of them is so very "super" cute!!!

Superbowl Sunday

I love the NFL. I love football. I love the Superbowl. Tonight was a GREAT game as well! Doreen and I are really glad the Colts won. We like Peyton Manning. He is a class type of guy. Tony Dungy is a top notch coach who is the definition of class! We watched the game over at some friends and we all had a blast. Good food, good game, good fun!

The superbowl was great, but getting there just about wore me out. Had to leave for a trip to Ohio for work Saturday night. So my partner and I both wanted to be back for the superbowl, so we decided to leave as soon as the gate at work opened and run it straight through, no stopping. That's exactly what we did. We ran 850+ miles, unloaded 42,000 lbs of product all in just over 20 hours and got home with a bit of time to spare. Awesome. I was sure tired though.

Glad I made it - the food, company and game were perfect!

Maybe next year the Broncos will win the superbowl again. Maybe??!! :)