The Wheels on the Bus

in case you missed it on facebook...


don't you just love how the frame they picked makes her look like her finger is up her nose?

Thursday Food & Take Your Child to Work Day

So today was take your child to work day, and I let Doug take the camera for awhile (cute pics of Sariah > food). So I'm missing the ice cream I had at cold stone & half my subway sandwich, chips & soda. Sariah had tons of fun at Epic, all the pics are posted on Facebook, so I just posted a few here.

I hear there was face painting, lots of crafts, a magician & lots of food at work today. So not things that are normally around when Doug's at work (well, maybe the food.) It looks like Sariah had tons of fun though. After Daddy took her to Wendy's for dinner, what a lucky girl!

Wednesday Food

See that bowl of salsa & cream cheese? Pretend there are two of those, because there was...

Oh, and Sariah found the big puddle of water in the sand at the playground today... yay laundry time!

I know it seems like I didn't eat much today, but I'm actually really full...

Tuesday Food

Just in case your wondering, if there's some one in the photo, its because I shared whatever I was eating with them. We had lunch at Epic today, and I had Curry Crusted Temph w/ Pomegranate Sauce & Brown Basmati Rice (its apparently vegan & for the calorie conscious.) Doug and I split a Pink Lemonade Pie slice, which was perfection! The top picture is for my mom, who doesn't care what I'm eating, just what Sariah is.

Food: Monday 4/20

I know, no Easter photos yet, soon! Well, Saturday, actually. This week I'm doing the mini-challenge on my 10 in 6 blog. So bear with me while I post everything I eat for 5 days...

TEA Party Videos

Local Radio Host Vicki McKenna at the Tea Party Rally



Our "March" to the Capitol



Other videos:

US Rep Paul Ryan 1
US Rep Paul Ryan 2

TEA Anyone?

It was a beautiful day to let the government know that we're not happy. We headed downtown to the capitol along with 8,000 of our closest friends. That's right. 8,000. It was awesome & we're fired up to make a difference!

Here's Doug and Sariah waiting for the busses to take us to the capitol.

Then we gave up and walked it. Here's a view of where we were headed. There was a large group of us, it was awesome!

We made it! And we followed "Uncle Sam" all the way.

Our first view of the rally.

Sariah enjoying the pre-rally music. Just so you know, the front of her shirt reads "I want you to stop spending my future!" and the back "Don't put me in debt... I can't even vote yet!"

Sariah and I before the rally.

Doug and I at the rally

The whole family during the rally.

We saw this guy after the rally, pretty awesome, right?

Waiting in line in the capitol to drop off our letter of discontent & our tea bag to the Governor (who wasn't even in town, I hear he was watching golf.)

Doug & Sariah in the Capitol building.

Me and Sariah in the Capitol.It was a perfect experience, and I'm so glad we went. We took the bus back to our car & then enjoyed "linner" at Red Robin. I think we were all tired, but happy.

Sariah in the car before "linner."

We're so thankful that Doug was able to take a half day off of work & come to the rally. Now that the tea party is over, it doesn't end here. We're going to take charge & take our government back!

Fighting Back

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I have a lot of pictures to post soon, but I'm putting them on the back burner for now because I feel this is a more important topic.

As a disclaimer: This is a post on politics. I appreciate that everyone has their own feelings/beliefs/political associations. I'm not looking to change your views, so I ask politely that you be respectful of mine in the comments. I withhold the right to delete any comment. Its my right, its my blog. That said, I welcome anything (nice) you have to say.

Did anybody realize that when Obama campaigned on the slogan "A Change We Can Believe In" he actually meant, I see the change in your pocket and I believe its mine? I see what politicians are doing today and I don't like it. How about that stimulus bill that was longer than the bible, probably harder to read, that was passed without practically anybody reading it? And the budget full of earmarks? The ones we were promised wouldn't be in any Obama budgets? Who knew that he actually meant all the ones after this one?

I'm a small government kind of gal. I don't believe we're victims of our situations. We all made choices and we should all take responsibility. I don't need government to "save" me. It bothers me when the government wants to take over businesses and health care and everything else. One only has to look at what they've already done with social security, Fanny Mae or Freddie Mac, to know that this is a disaster in the making. Basically, I don't like what I'm hearing in Washington.

I don't like what I'm hearing from the state capital either. My Governor says "look! I've cut the budget!" And yet his budget is 10% higher than last year. Its just not as high as he'd like it. He says my property taxes will go up $90 this year and $130 the year after, but don't worry, its not as much as it could of been because your property is depreciating. They want to raise taxes on everything from businesses to gas to cigerettes (where there was barely just a tax hike), yet the unemployment rate is rising and will continue if more taxes are levyed. Nevermind what's happening at the city & county level. News Flash! This city isn't big enough for a train!!!!

So we've decided to fight back. Enough is enough! We're going to have to live in this community for a long time, so we're going to make our voices heard. And we're starting on April 15th.

I hope most of you are award of the Tax Day TEA Parties happening throughout the nation. Don't expect a lot of coverage about them from the news stations, or if you do, it won't be good. But I'm here to tell you there is a silent majority of people who don't like they way the nation is going, and we're not going to be silent any more. Here's a short list of things we're unhappy about from the offical website.

Are you fed up with a Congress and a president who:

• vote for a $500 billion tax bill without even reading it?
  
• are spending trillions of borrowed dollars, leaving a debt our great-grandchildren will be paying?
• consistently give special interest groups billions of dollars in earmarks to help get themselves re-elected?
• want to take your wealth and redistribute it to others?
• punish those who practice responsible financial behavior and reward those who do not?
• admit to using the financial hurt of millions as an opportunity to push their political agenda?
• run up trillions of dollars of debt and then sell that debt to countries such as China?
• want government controlled health care?
• want to take away the right to vote with a secret ballot in union elections?
• refuse to stop the flow of millions of illegal immigrants into our country?
• appoint a defender of child pornography to the Number 2 position in the Justice Department?
• want to force doctors and other medical workers to perform abortions against their will?
• want to impose a carbon tax on your electricity, gas and home heating fuels?
• want to reduce your tax deductibility for charitable gifts?
• take money from your family budget to pay for their federal budget?

If you don't believe this is actually happening, I'm here to tell you it is. I urge you to take part in your local Tea Party. We'll be there!!

Some Important Links
www.fightbackwisconsin.com
Official Tax Day TEA Party

I encourage everyone to read Liberty & Tyranny by Mark R. Levin. Doug read it in one day. I'm still reading it, but its one of those books that I had to get out a pencil & highlight.

For Aunt Jenny (& Everyone Else, Too!)

Sariah loves to watch videos online. So I though it was especially cute when she wanted to watch this one of her cousin Henry over & over. She laughs when Aunt Jenny drops the lion, asks "uh oh, what happened here!" when he pulls up on the bookcases, & of course asks to see it again when is all done. In case you're wondering, she's wearing a towel, because we watched this right after bath time. Enjoy!



Other Sariah fun:
playing w/ daddy
biker babe
biker babe 2
watching Curious George

A Susan Tag

Healthy Pleasures – Things that I like that make me feel like a good person.

1. Working out with Sariah

2. Long walks as a Family

3. Reading good books

4. Big salads for lunch

5. Trying a new healthy recipe

6. encouraging others

7. keeping my house clean

8.talking with a good friend

9. Doing something crafty

10. sleeping enough at night

Basic Pleasures – Things that provide a simple feel-good feeling.

1. playing my wii

2. creative writing

3. playgroups

4. warm spring or fall days at the playground

5. flying a kite

6. gardening

7. family vacations

8. Kissing my husband

9. lunch with Doug at work

10. Laughing with family

Guilty Pleasures – Pleasures that may bring shame or mild self-loathing or things that aren't really good or bad.

1. ordering pizza

2. Homemade macaroni and cheese

3. eating a pint of ice cream

4. Taking naps

5. Blog or facebook stalking

6. watching episode after episode of a show instead of doing something productive

7.shopping when we don't really need anything

8. youtube

9. puzzle games like tetris

10. random hair cuts

Conference Weekend

I hope everyone is enjoy General Conference! I know I really like Elder Hales's talk on provident living and Elder Ballard's talk on receiving answers through the scriptures & prophets. Here's a little glimpse into our Conference Saturday.

Doug let me sleep in and then we enjoyed a brunch of oranges & conference rolls, a little recipe that I picked up from my ward mission leader in Wuerzburg on my mission (he was an American, btw...)
Yes, they're tasty, but not that healthy. You're looking at 2 sticks of butter in that pan. Oh, and yeah, I used the wrong sized pan, so they overflowed when they rose.
For the last 2 FHEs, we've been talking about King Benjamin & pitching our tent towards the prophet, so we pulled out Sariah's play tent to sit in and "pitched" it towards the computer where we streamed conference. No, we didn't all spent 4 hours of conference crammed into this little tent. But its suppose to be symbolic, ya know?Sariah spent part of conference in the box & Doug hung out in the tent. I sat in the rocker outside the tent & knitted. Its been a great day. Conference has really brought a good spirit into our home. We're looking forward to tomorrow!