Christmas BUcket List!

Sun Scholars: Giggle Junction Giveaway

Sun Scholars: Giggle Junction Giveaway: "**GIVEAWAY** I am SO excited to share this giveaway with you! A couple months ago I came across these AMAZING Spy Bags sold on Etsy.com mad..."

Memorial Day

Our family loves to attend the annual Memorial Day Parade in downtown Sarasota. Usually Michael takes part in the parade as an honor to his brother Kyle who served in the Marines and then the Army as a Kiowa helicopter pilot. We lost Kyle on January 13, 2006 in Iraq. This year Michael opted to spend the day watching the parade with us rather than walking and we really enjoyed the time together. Here are a few pictures from the day and also a picture of Kyle with his helicopter that he sent to us shortly after arriving in Iraq. We are so lucky to have known and loved someone so brave and willing to fight for our freedoms.

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter! Made cookies, decorated Easter buckets, went to 3 Easter egg hunts plus our house and spent an awesome day with friends and family! We are so blessed~

I won a stylish blog award! YAY! This is my very first blogging award and I'm honored to display this award on my blog! I was chosen to receive this award by Paula Parrish; check out her blog at http://paulaparrish.blogspot.com/. Her business is called Natural Garden Soaps and she makes the most wonderful smelling all natural and handmade soap. Check out her webiste at www.naturalgardensoaps.com.


Thanks so much to Paula for choosing me!

Here are the award obligations. As a recipient, I am required to thank the blogger that gave the award to me in this post and link back to her blog. In this case that would be http://paulaparrish.blogspot.com/. I then share seven facts about myself and then present the award to six or seven of my favorite stylish bloggers.


And now the drum roll please…..I award the following six blogs with their very own Stylish Blogger Award and suggest that you check them out at the links provided! They all rock!

http://mhmsarasota.blogspot.com/
http://krystlekphotography.blogspot.com/
http://thelongenecker6.blogspot.com/
http://valeriejoyphotography.blogspot.com/
http://alyssashrockphoto.blogspot.com/
http://thenolts.blogspot.com/

Okay, so here are seven facts about Tara
1. I planned to have 1 daughter and I got 4 sons.
2. I got married when I was 19 and just celebrated our 10th Anniversary
3. I actually enjoying doing laundry but thats about it as far as chores go.
4. I am just starting to run and hoping to run a 5k later this year.
5. I am an only child.
6. I love to read and usually once I start a book, I don't put it down until I am done.
7. I secretly hate scrapbooking, but I force myself so thta kids have something to look back on when they are older!

So, that about all. Please check out the above blogs and thanks so much for taking the time to read what I have to say!

Bike/walk/run

I call it that because the kids bike, Michael runs, and mom does a little walking and as much running as she can handle. It's more that when I first started, but not much yet. My 5k that I wanted to do by my 30th in August seems very far off. But, I am pressing onward and hopefully I will get there. We have been trying to go every evening, and it's so nice to see the kids having fun riding bikes (minus the wrecks of course), and getting to walk/run along and chat with my hubby. It's the ONLY time of the day where Reece is just sits, sucks his thumb, and enjoys being still. If u have any running advice or positive thoughts please comment for me! I could use all of that I can get =)

Migraine Free

Okay, so this one is going to be about me. It does affect my kiddos though, so I think I'll get away with it. I gave up soda in September and other than a few falls off the wagon, I have been soda free for 7 months. I did it partially because I know how bad they are for you and because I was hoping I would lose a few pounds because of it. But, mostly I wanted to see if it cut down on my migraines. I have suffered with migraines since i was about 5 year old and with the exception of my pregnancies with Trace, Austin, and Ethan, I have had at least 1 a week my whole life. I won't even get into how many and how bad they were while I was preggo with Reece, but lets just say IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SIGN OF WHAT HE WOULD BE LIKE! So, back to the reason for this lovely little post......it took a while (4-5 months) to notice a real difference but over the last 4 weeks, my Migraines have all but disappeared! I have had a few minor ones, but nothing like what I have suffered with my whole life! I can't believe it took all this time to figure this out and for it to be something as simple and easy to give up as soda!