Carl and Marilyns Blog Corner

2009-04-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hello people:

Bet you've never seen a more well organized post have you? Yeah, eat your heart out Heidi! As you can see I have literally ripped these pictures from off the desktop and plopped then down right where I wanted them to be. Why spread them out throughout the blog, anyone can do that but what talent to just glob them all together at the front of the blog. It is an attention grabber so you'll read on and learn all the fascinating things that have happened and are happening at Chez Carl/Marilyn.

These pictures that have been so masterfully done are of girls retreat. Outside of the Cheesecake factory. We asked Linzi to please "suck it up" but she just was stubborn. You can see a distinct lack of sons wives. We were sorry none could make it but we are hopeful that another year will bring another opportunity to see you.

The other two are of our pre easter visit with Heather, Trent and family. The boys told Marilyn when she left them in Feb. that they would see her around Easter. Heather had no idea what they were planning but it shows the power of positive thinking. We had fun. I was working most of the time but the rest played at redrock, around the house, did some swimming and we played Careers at night. Quinn was a good sport even when her went 10 turns trapped in one of the corner traps.

Today is Saturday and Marilyn went back to Provo with Courts and John who came down Wed. for a seminar. They left today and took your mother with them as Linzi is threatening to go into labor and your mother wants to help them as they both have finals to take next week. I suppose it might be hard for Linzi if she is delivering but "c'est la vie"!

I am at home with nothing to do but Laundry and the last batch of that is in the dryer. The weather is marvelous. Not a breath of wind and 80 degrees. My garden is growing and I have Corn coming up, Peas, Beans, carrots, chard, tomatoes with some already having set, cucumbers, cantelope, squash, and artichokes. Anyway, I think I've finally figured out how to get water to everything. WE shall see.

The fruit trees all have fruit on them. Grapes are starting to set as well. WE might have a bounteous harvest. I can't believe that my garden that was all sand ten years ago is rock hard now. I put some compost in it last year and still it is hard. So much for long carrots!

We are looking forward to a vacation to Florida in the next two weeks. It will be nice to get away. I have been seeing lots of patients and doing lots of work so I feel a need for a break.

Hope this finds all well. LOve to all, Dad

Hello, once

2009-01-18T18:19:00.001-08:00

Hello, I'm just trying you out! Love, DAd

Christmas with Norwegians of a very special nature!

2009-01-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

We had a great time with our ex exchange student and her family from Norway. They came to spend Christmas with us and we had a wonderful time. She has two girls and her husband Alex came as well. It was hard for the younger ones to get aclimated to the time warp but after a couple of days they did just great. Towards the end of the week we were so proud of the girls they were starting to express themselves in English!

This is Victoria(11 yrs old) with Heidi's Ivy and Spencer. The Christmas tree in the background. It was Xmas eve as noted by the new Prison issue pj's on the Hadley kids. I almost forgot about the 4th in the picture, Punka. Victoria bought a build yourself dog and named it after Punka, our dog.

Katarina and Victoria on Chistmas morning. We had a wonderful time with them. They were the cutest visitors anyone could ask for. They were very good "troopers" for the traveling they had been doing.

Alex and Kristine on Xmas morning. THey were looking good. They both speak fluent English, German, Norwegian and understand and speak some Swedish and Danish. Alex's mother is Russian and so he understands alot of that language as well. Very accomplished people. Kristine is an attorney and Alex is a day trader! He just gave up a job with a computer firm and is starting to invest on his own.

Our Organ Geek

2008-07-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I've mentioned Josh in a couple of my posts but haven't really given the world a picture, well this is Josh in front of his piano at the Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown that he uses to teach up and coming Padarevsky's(sp). He is standing with the prettiest girl in the whole wide world, his mother! Note how they color coordinated before leaving home that day! Someone forgot to tell miz Marilyn that red is not a pastel color! or is it? Anyway, they make a wonderful couple even if they have a generation gap, in age only!

I have to tease Josh about his master organ, 270,000 rank Bernucci pipe and totally tubular organ. This is in the overflow room at his church and is used for a few masses each weekend, and yes Josh can even play this beauty!! I didn't dress to match Josh but I do look nice in the room decor...don't you think? This room was one of the original rooms of the original church and is a very special place for the congregation.

This is the major organ in the loft at his church. His back is to the larger chapel which was pictured in a previous blog. This organ can blast it out with all of them. When Josh was doing his final organ recital upon graduating from BYU, he did it in the cathedral of the Madeleine in SLC. Reason, has the best organ for playing Bach and other music of the time in the city of SLC. Yes, I know the mormon organ purists among you will argue that nothing is better than the tabernacle organ for music, well, that is an opinion not shared by Josh or Dr. Bush. The reason I bring this up is that while talking with Dr. Bush about the recital afterwards, I suggested to him that one of the pieces seemed to bring a great deal of "confusion" into the room. I was meaning the numerous notes created and then the echoing of the notes for seconds after having been played. Now most of you will be gasping that such a nonorganophile like myself has no right to suggest that to Dr. Bush. Well, I call him a good friend and a wonderful example of a christian human being, I can quote reasons and give examples but that isn't what I was getting at. Anyway, Dr. Bush in all of his kindness and patience with my ramblings, paused a moment and relieved the tension you are all feeling as I write this by saying, "I know what you mean, the organ can be right at home in confusion."
That enlightened me in a way to not deflate my organophilic ego. So here we are in The Holy Trinity Church listening to Josh create confusion...I mean music! One note on his poor skills in matching his leather this day(brown belt and black shoes) a definite "no-no" among the fashinistas like my daughter Ginnie. Those are his organ shoes and I don't think he was thinking he would be playing that day or I'm sure he would have run right out and bought a brown pair of organ shoes or at least wore a black belt.
In closing, have you ever wondered why they call those black pullerbobs with the white caps "stops"? Well, I'm not going to tell you. But the word seems silly when one thinks that pulling one actually starts something rather than stops it! So, I'm going to bring to your attention all the lovely "starts" that this particular organ has. It has another bank of starts on Josh's left side as well. So in conclusion , have a good day and may all your stops be starts!

Graduation time.

2008-05-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

The pictures aren't the best but I at least got them to the blog. Daniel looks like Leonardo Da Vinci incognito with the interesting hat/cap/head protector. Chris is wearing the old version of the graduation gowns that he had and the blue one dan is wearing is the revised edition. Most of the faculty haven't changed over because they cost 800.00 dollars.
We did enjoy the opportunities and it was good to get together with our sons and family members . Life is very good to us. It seems to have so much for us to learn and try to find application. Perhaps that is a one line explanation of why we are sojourning on the earth.

Washington DC/Cleveland/

2008-05-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we went to Wash. DC to see Josh. He is organist for the Holy Trinity Catholic church in Georgetown, Maryland and they have a very active catholic presence in the area. He has to play for masses on Sunday and Saturday. About 5 on Sunday and 2or3 on Saturday. These are the two chapels that they use. The larger is the main chapel and the smaller is the over flow. The larger chapel is the one with the major organ. He played it for us and it sounds wonderful. The smaller one has a smaller type organ that is just to the left of my picture. It is good to see religion is still a part of our social structure.

Following our visit with Josh we went to Cleveland to help Dan and Janene move from Cleveland to Gainesville Florida where Dan will be doing his residency in pediatric dentistry. It was a fun trip as Dan, Chris, Brayden and I went in Dan's car and a Penske truck that did have a governor at 70 mph. It made for interesting races down the freeway with Semi's. Most of the time we lost but it wasn't because the petal wasn't to the metal. We accidently got in 96 holes of golf along the way. The weather was semi cooperative in that it wasn't too cold to keep us from golfing but it wasn't exactly perfect the first two days, the last two was exceptional weather and lovely golf courses. We all had fun and Brayden seemed to catch the golfing fanatacism that reigns supreme witht he Smith brothers.
The graduation exercises took up an entire Sunday. It was good to get it out of the way and brings special meaning because Chris was able to give Daniel his diploma. I have tried to get a picture from my folders but haven't been able too. So much for my technical abilities or lack thereof. Needless to say it seemed like a very significant time.
So much for our last weeks activities. Life is very constant and consistent while we are in Las Vegas but it seems to be drawing us out of town more and more frequently. Our travels are appreciated especially when one is 38,000 feet in the air and taking all of 5 hours to get across the country. What wonders this must be to early settlers and pioneers. While we were in Jacksonville, we went to a movie,
Indiana Jones and the crystal skull... whatever. Very much like the original three and fun to watch. It was interesting enough that the fear of an exploding bladder hardly even surfaced until the credits started rolling. Then watch out, Katy bar the door, I've gotta get outta there fast!!! Whoa, made it just in time. My bladder will live to get bloated another day.

hawaii cont.

2008-03-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

2008-03-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hawaii....Aloha

2008-03-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Jackson in his tent with his sun hat on. This was on the beach at Hanama bay. He has a rash on his cheeks that waxed and waned during the whole trip. Not even the suns of Hawaii seemed to be able to make it better. He was quite miserable at times.
Chris and Brayden at Hanama Bay. We enjoyed the Sun and the snorkeling though the water was a bit cold. We all felt need to get out after a bit of time.
Coolness personified! This group definitely thought more of themselves than the rest of us did! Again at Hanama Bay.
Ms. Cami doing what she loved to do the best, play in the sand. She really enjoyed the ocean and the sand.

2008-02-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

Last but not least, our grandchildren that were there on this evening. Chase, Ciera, Cael, Parker, Austin, Jack and Luke. We were having fun with this little group. Getting them all to quit wiggling was the greatest challenge.

Nativity Costumes...really?

2008-02-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

He are Ginnie and Linzi modeling the latest fashions from downtown Bethlehem circa 0 a.d. They had to look long and hard for this combo but after having found it, they knew they were onto something. Below you can see that the hubbies also had a way with the fashionistas! We have a smoking jacketed attired king and a golden sequenined king/kinglet. Janene and Dan also got into the festivities but they chose a more traditional garb. Grandma Barbara, Marilyn were doing their best to look the part and trying to do very little movement. To say that our Nativities are somewhat avante garde would not be far from the truth. Maybe a better term would be neo-retro! Anyway, hope you all enjoy these. All three of you that visit here.

Xmas items and grandchildrenalia

2008-02-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

Just bringing you up to date on our looks!. See Marilyn and Grandma, how pretty they are!
See Heather and Josh, how pretty they are?
See Linzi and Chase, Cael and Quinton, how pretty they are.
Josh, Janene, Austin and Ciera. how pretty are they?

Potty Training

2008-02-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

I noted that when Heidi wrote about potty training, her blog received 20 comments. So, I'm thinking that my blog will have to be "hit" a great deal if I at least title my blog "Potty Training". I cannot imagine that the amount of hits were associated with the content but I am sure that there are tons of diaper changing mammas out there looking for something to reach out to in the form of potty training tips and techniques. So as not to disappoint, I will give them all one tip: Give your children Reese's pieces, not M&M's! The anecdotal evidence suggests that if one is given M&M's for prolonged periods of time(and we all know how long potty training can drag on) the possibility of getting chocolate induced diarrhea increases greatly. Now all people know what problems diarrhea can be in potty training!
OK, got your attention, now to the boring stuff. Sex! oops, that may take me off of the MBOA(moral blogs of america) list.
The family is doing well. Going to Sacratamata for Chase's baptism. Of course we have so much to take that we have broken out the large suit case for a 3 day visit. I'm hoping most of it is bulk rather than density. Anyway, Grandma Barbara is going with us and she has two sisters in the area that she will rendezvous with while there.
Next week we are going to Hawaii with Chris and family. We are looking forward to swimming with turtles, fish and octopi! We are hoping that the surfing lessons don't disable the group before we can at least have some fun. Elice is getting a lot better and we are all grateful for that. Camille is also doing very well and their efforts in the dietary arena seem to be paying off. So for the week in Hawaii, I'm sugar free(at least when others are awake). I've been known to do a bit of midnight rendezvousing with the old frigidaire! Maybe they'll be a 7-11 in the neighborhood and I can just make runs over there.
Well, I'm writing this at work and work is calling. Love to all. I'll be waiting for the 2o comments. DAD

Anniversary blues...or why no one cares!

2008-01-31T10:18:00.000-08:00

I am not really a romantic nor do I need to have people recognize accomplishments, in fact it really bugs me when people use talks in church as the one and only time they tell their spouses that they love them.(Why should I be in on something so wonderful and special and private?) I'm starting to sound like my daughter, sorry! Anyway, we just had our 38th anniversary and had a wonderful night out the evening before so that we would be ready for all of the phone calls from our children the evening of our anniversary. Well, our expectations didn't really get fulfilled but...Daniel called to tell us about his receiving acceptance to the Univ. of Florida residency program for pedodontics....Somewhere in the conversation I congratulated him on being the only child to "remember our anniversary" though he never eluded to it one time. So maybe I do want some recognition and forced recognition is better than none at all.
Other than that I am back to being with my wife again. Feels nice to have her around and she works at the office with me which makes it even better. Most of the time we really enjoy being with each other and we've even had a couple of days that the bed didn't get made! I'm really starting to influence her for the good!
Our exchange student from Norway has consented to come to Las Vegas next year for christmas with husband and two children. We were in Norway this past summer with them and they were so kind and wonderful. We are looking forward to being with them and hopefully returning the wonderful treatment they gave us.
Our social agenda continues to be dominated by visits with children usually outside of LV. Our next four months with see us in Hawaii, Dallas, Cleveland, Florida, Wash. DC and Sacratomato. Frequent flier miles should be adding up!. The best is that each will be with family members.
I have said enough but before I end this testimonial let me say how much I love my wife. Carl

O Sole o Mio or Home Alone 135!!!

2008-01-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

OK. So I find myself back in the old, "I know I have a wife mode but where is she"? Well, another semi-emergency baby crisis issue arises and off she goes. Plus she is going to be with Grandma Barbara for awhile. I wish I could convince my partners that I should go with her while they see all my patients and I still get paid. Now that is what I call a "PERK" with a capital PERK.
It does have some pluses that come with the loneliness. I don't have to make my bed for 6 days! Just before she comes back, I change the sheets, spruce up the pillows on the bed and no one knows the difference. Grandpa Dan once told his Older Sisters who always ironed their sheets and pillow cases, that they would "never know how nice it is to snuggle up into an unmade bed"! Now lets see, where did I get this trait from?
We made it through the holidays relatively unscathed but I started with a scratchy throat just before Josh left on New Years Day. It went on to a full blown cold with cold sores, stuffy nose and yuckiness. Marilyn came down with flu like symptoms for one day with chills and fever and then it settled in her throat with sore throat and cold symptoms for another week.
I'm outa here!

At Last My Gas is in the Past....or life is normal...almost...kinda...well what is normal?

2007-12-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

Our lives had taken on a regular beat for about 2 days and then Christmas started encroaching(sorry about the negative context), I should say, enlivening our lives. So much so, that I found myself sitting in choir practice this past sunday starting to have a migraine headache. I can't recall any consumption of the dreaded "C", (chocolate for those unfamiliar with my medical hx.) so I have concluded it came from just an inordinate amount of back to back scheduling items that left little time to relax. We had been watching Dan's children for 4 days thru Saturday and come Sunday I was back to back meetings and choir practice right after church. I didn't have a great deal of fear as I would just go home, take my medicine and be back to singing in the stake choir festival that evening. I did go home, but that is the end of the following of that plan. After having thrown my drawers, shelves, medicine cabinet and all my secret stashes into various states of disarray, I realized I had no medicine to take. Marilyn went to my office and an hour later medicine in hand I figured things would get better quickly. Wasn't to be. I took the medicine, went to bed and 12 hours later arose to go to work. For the next two days suffered from the after migraine cobwebbiness in the brainicus syndromicus. Just now starting to feel like I am in control of the neurons again.
It was noted as well that Marilyn also went to bed about 6pm that evening and didn't get up for 12 hours. I believe that we were a bit worn out. We are getting old and less pliable!
Having seen the lack of medications that are effective, I called my physician the next day and he called in a prescription to Wal Mart Pharmacy.(A Big Box Pharmacy with big problems) When we went to pick it up the next day, it had been put on hold. They didn't have 10 pills but only had 3. When I told them I would take the partial fill and get the rest later, she said ok it will be ready in 45 minutes. I have to say that I was a bit irked at having waited 24 hrs to give them time to fill it, only to be told that I'd get to wait another better part of an hour for the right to get 3/10 of my prescription. So Ms Marilyn and I walked around Wal Mart looking for something that we might need. After realizing that we were already blessed with enough and beyond, we went back to pick up the meds. You probably guessed it(at least Heidi who is somewhat of a regular reader of this blog will have) the meds were not ready and Zelda(not a real name) forgot to tell Betty(another fictitious chick) and so nothing was done. Trying to summon up all my charm that one can ooze out when one is also oozing out rage, we came to an agreement that my rx. would be the next to be handled. As we were waiting, Ms. Marilyn commented on how sweet Betty was and what a wonderful smile she had. Here comes the guilt! So by the time I got the medications, I was reduced to telling the lady she had a wonderful smile and I was sorry she had to work in a place that was so hectic.(Cost of the 3 pills...$70.00) What price not having a migraine brings. I figure $25 for not having the cobwebiness is worth it. Now if I can only hide it in a findable place!
So now we are enjoying the company of Grandma Barbara, Linzi and baby Jack. Tonight Chris, Elice, Brayden, Jared, Cami and Jackson come. We are going to have a weigh in to see who claims chunk of the mountain award. Tomorrow Ginnie and company will come to bring Parker into the fray! Sunday, Chris and elice will be going home but not before we go to see the football game at UNLV. BYU vs UCLA on ESPN @5:00 pm. I don't know for sure about ESPN but the other letters are correct. Christmas next Tuesday. Oh, I forgot that Jordan will be coming on Friday as well.
Grandma is doing well but has an infection in her ear caused by her hearing aid that doesn't fit well. Marilyn took her to quick care and she has drops. Hopefully, she will be able to improve and follow up in SLC. Well, enough for another blog post. Ciao

After the big C....what?

2007-12-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm now 4 days post op and feeling like maybe my insides might be coming back online.(I know that is a computer term but I'm morphing it into the realm of colorectal jargon..OK?) When the procedure is done they inflate the colon with gas to make it easier to see...whatever they see. Well, I do believe that the gas stays in cognito for a couple of days and then makes one final rush for the old outdoors. Marilyn has been very patient as she was in the same mode 2 weeks ago and went through the same moving experience. So now I am cleared for another 5 years. No polyps, no pockets and some small hemorrhoids(spelling check). Tis the plight of the 60 year old male. Next up, prostate exam.....

Roto and Rooter....take it like a man!

2007-11-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

I awoke this morning with some fear and trepidation knowing that today was the "P" Day. Prep day for my colonoscopy. It didn't calm my fears any that Marilyn told me how kind it was that I had let her go first so that she didn't have to go through it knowing what was going to happen! Thanks but no thanks! I am really not a wimp and this is my third time around, and this time I only have to drink 1/2 gallon instead of 1 gallon of thick, heavy, lays in your stomach, lime flavored goo, which is another reason I feel somewhat better than the last time. Hey, I started having colonoscopies because of diarrhea anyway, so what is another round of self induced diarrhea going to hurt! So I am now finishing my 1/2 day of work, looking forward to going home and taking a couple of pills to prime the pump, then using the flood the system technique for the coup de gras! Will try to update you as the process flows....oops a play on words. Think of me and keep your daubers up and your trolleys on the wire. Until next blurb on my blog. CARL

2007-11-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't been exactly thrilled with my efforts to get pictures to my blog. The last entry gave wonderful description to the pictures that were not there. If you haven't noticed, the blog has "photo" highlighted instead of a picture. I'm trying again in hopes that it will work.
This is Ben and Quinn. They are not new borns but they are cute and this picture shows them at their best. I have never gotten into car seats myself but realize that I would be in big trouble with the powers of my daughters were I to ever undo the shoulder straps on one of these little guys!

This is proud father Jordan with Jack Jordan Ohlson. He is now over 12 lbs and a month old. They are safely back in Provo after a one week stay with us. Jordan is grateful for the return of his family. We miss the little guy and Linzi but don't want to be stingy about sharing them with others. So Jordan, you can have them, at least until xmas!

Drew isn't showing his golden locks of curls in this picture but I can attest that he has them. This is taken in Bountiful while we were waiting to eat. Lots of people think he looks like Grandpa Dan, and I guess he does, at least he has the long narrow face. Hopefully, he'll be a happy camper like grandpa!
Speaking of not so happy campers! This is Jack Jordan in his blessing outfit, the same one Jordan used a few years back. He is quite the chunk and we have had a good time with him. Well, now to see if the pictures publish or not! Cross your fingers! Voila!

New Babies on revue....

2007-11-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

Getting the newest members of the family out befor...

Getting the newest members of the family out before the world.
First to be shown would be Jack Jordan Ohlson.[Photo] He is a biggen and will continue to be as he has surpassed the 10 lb mark already. We think he is pretty neat. He is staying with Mother, Grandpa and grandma this week to the chagrin of Papa Ohlson. He is doing well and having a bit of cholic at night but other than that, seems to enjoy life and has already tried to say Punka and Jenga!!!
[Photo] This guy is Jackson Robert Smith. Chris and Elice's newest little guy. Again not so little but definitely cute. He is doing well and the family thinks he is the best thing that has come into their family, at least since Camille came. We enjoyed seeing him 2 sundays ago when he was blessed. The Patterson grandparents were there as well and we enjoyed a wonderful visit. Jackson seems to have plenty of little fingers to tweek and pinch his cheeks and any other protruding flesh they can get fingers on.
[Photo] Voila, Parker Smith Kimball.
Note the straight hair but plenty of it. Hopefully, it will follow the Cael pattern and get nice and curly sometime in the future. The family is enjoying this new arrival and Marilyn spent time with them after the birth. He is a cute guy. Speaking of guys, how about trying for some girls next time?
[Photo] This is Jack Jordan in his blessing outfit, the same one his father used when he was blessed.
Like father like son. IT was amazing that it fit. I don't think Jordan came into the world with 4 wrinkles from elbows to wrists like this guy did. Anyway, we love our new arrivals. I suppose I should add "wristy" to the mix but didn't have any pictures to bring into the blog. Anyway, any that I could identify as the one and only.

draft

by carl

Blogging to avoid halloween duties

2007-10-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here I am writing a blog on Halloween night because 1) I can't hear people knock on my door from here, saves on Halloween candy 2) We live on a cul-de-sac that doesn't attract any trick or treeters anyway and 3) I don't have a wife to occupy my time(she is in SLC with sister and mother). I walked into the office today and found the fashion for Halloween costumes for the year are Bee antennae and green faces. I can see the green faces(Feona, Incredible Hulk, Green Lantern, etc.) and I can see bee antennae(Killer bees, honey bees, Bee Gee bees) but I can't put the two together. Would it be a Feona bee, The incredible hulk beemeister, or I'm green with envy Bee Gee bees. Well, it goes way above my abilities.
My partner saw one of our employees who had a princess costume on and blurted out, "you look just like Princess Feona". I tried to help the situation by adding, before the change of course. I think the hurt had been done. I wonder why they say men are insensitive?
We will be in Provo this weekend for Linzi's baby blessing. I will fly up after working Saturday morning. Your mother is already there, doing her thing with family. She was getting antsy because she had been home for 2 weeks in a row.
My desire to blog has just left me. Blogging is boring, except for those creative few who find outlets for talents. Besides, my blog has attracted 2 comments, both from Heidi, Oh I forgot Celia dropped by once. Celia, you have made my blogging career worthwhile.

2007-10-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

So, I have now gone way back into the archives to pull out this picture. I'm still trying to remember if Josh was being punished for not clearing the table or if he had just finished the old pull the table cloth out from under the dishes and it got away from him? The background would make me believe neither. This was his dress for playing the organ at the episcopal church in Cleveland. The organ is to his left and will not go down in the annals of great classical organs but one must start somewhere. He now is playing the organ in the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, Wash. DC area. You may remember this one, it was John F. Kennedy's church of choice while habitating the white house.

What is Linzi doing? One would think that the entire enjoyment of the car ride rested with her abilities to hold this pose for 3 hours while we traveled to Utah with Ciera and Ivy. Fortunately for Linzi, we were just traveling acrossed town when the two sleeping beauty's did their thing. We knew right then that she would be a good mom or at least a good support group for her children.

Whose little waif is this one? Those of you who are following Heidi's blog would recognize this to be one of those "She wanted to do her own hair" days. Unfortunately, this does not excuse Heidi from her motherly responsibilities of at least washing her face! I would have red eyes too if my mother didn't wash my face! Let the guilt feelings begin!

Heather, what is your excuse? How about, "boys will be boys" or "Hey dude you look totally boyish" or "chocolate frosting goes good with yellow" or "I don't have time to wash my face mom, I'm to busy finding the square root of 2,304,432!". Come to think of it, this is probably one of Grandma Smiths charges. Where was Granny Smith for this one? Probably out picking apples!

Well, enough of the pictures. For those who may not know the last one, its Quinn, heathers oldest son. He is our resident Mathematics guru. We love him and have such a wonderful time with him. He is very photogenic, even without the frosting! Well, I can't compete with the voluminous materials that Heidi puts out and since I don't really care to; I will end my blog.

2007-10-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

Ms. Marilyn said I didn't have any pictures of "moi". Voila, moi! This one shows that you can take the podiatrist out of the country but you can't take the podiatrist out of the podiatrist! I'm sure that makes sense. This fellow had the gold toe syndrome that comes with showing your brass toe off too much in public and having foot fettishers come and play with your toe.
This is yours truly and two of yours truly's children standing somewhere in Paris. I believe it to be at the Louvre but can't be certain. My memory seems to be about as good as my picture is. The day was one that just brought out the horizontal stripes in all who are thin and not pregnant. One would not want to advertise to brazenly ones pregnant condition. With todays choice of wear for maternity outfits, the not only show off your bulging belly but work in your everted naval type dress wear, it has gone just a tad to far on the old maternity wear! Anyway, that would be the opinion of one.
Showing that the eiffel tower really isn't that big. Why it's just a bit taller than josh. Perspective really is a fun thing.
Here I am wearing my one and only brown wedding suit. It worked for two weddings and now is retired waiting for me to dye my hair brown again so the gray doesn't clash. Your mother is in her blue suit she bought specially for Courtneys wedding. Question then arises, why am I wearing my suit for a second time when she gets new outfits for each wedding? I guess I owe myself 6 suits! Oh, flowers by Spelts!

Europe with the smiths

2007-10-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Marilyn is about ready to go to see the ice statues and food creations in the dining area of the ship. She chose a relaxed Chinese silk outfit with black puffy shoes and a natural look with a pull back hair style. Very chic and she was the talk of the boat for her choice of apparel.
The trio looking down one of Venice's many back alley canals or is that just back canals? We were a quite cosmopolitan group as can be seen by the cool sun glasses, visor and white pregnancy smock. We may not have been the best dressed but we were among the happiest of visitors to Venice on this day.
Versailles, Louis the XIV home. A humble little four story flat with a view. Decorations by Louis and company, at works by everyone with a name in art. It wasn't any wonder that the poor people revolted, they did however wait for Louis the XVI in order to do it. Louis XIV had all of the nobles of his country in his court, all vying for the opportunity to come and dress him in the morning, eat with him at breakfast, lunch and dinner. His adversaries were all part of his court and he created a God like image in all of their minds. He must have been quite the personality.
Louis's garden and Josh's non plussed attitude for the same. Instead of just saying cheese, Josh said Camembert!(with an attitude). MOre to follow

Don't push the next blog tab..!!!

2007-10-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

I have just had a blogging experience from hell....anyway, depending upon your take on things. I had been reading Heidi's blog, a must for everyone to read, I then punched up my own blog thinking I would "post" one of my own. I looked up at the top of my page and couldn't remember exactly what to push and saw the "next blog" button. I clicked on it and immediately was in XXX rated materials. I panicked looking for an exit button, all the while trying to keep my eyes off the material and pictographs that were definitely in line with what the prophet suggests that we avoid. So after getting the right x pushed and with sweat dripping off my forehead, I took a break and made certain that this time the next blog button stays unpushed. I had forgotten that one "posts" a blog and doesn't write it.
Funny story: My patient came into my office with pain in his feet, heel pain and pain all over. As we were talking I asked him about the xray report stating that he had arthritis in his 2nd and 3rd toes of his right foot. He said when he was young that he was a bully type of older brother and when his brother and his friends were playing he would always kick their ball or do something else to disrupt their fun. So one day they were playing soccer and he ran onto the field to kick the ball. He hadn't really noticed but the ball they were playing with was stationary and they had painted a big rock to look like a ball. Thus twenty years later, he has arthritis in his toes where he kicked the "ball/rock". He assured me that a lesson was learned.
I guess my seeing humor in the situation may be a bit grotesque but he was laughing as hard as I did.
My days have come down to enjoying my solitude without your mother. She is with linzi and taking care of baby jack. He is quite the eater and though linzi isn't doing a lot of nursing, she is pumping and she seems to have the same problems nursing that Heidi is blessed with.(Heidi, I didn't give you those genes!). It could grow on me being a loner. I can't complain about the company I keep, I find myself quite good company and have very few arguments and very few conversations. I enjoy reading and am trying to finish, "Between a Rock and A Hard Place". It isn't too great knowing the end of the book when a story like that is being told. It does however tell of why he had the wherewithal to do what he had to do to save himself.
I am supposed to make this some kind of interesting writing rather than a "this is my life" tableau. Maybe I'll get better at it in the future.

2007-09-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging business. This is a picture of the you know who's in greece. The isle of Mikonos to be specific. We will post some more of the european pictures in the future. Hope everyone finds our blog to enjoy this. THanks again to Janene for putting us on to this. When you type in our blog address don't put www. just put CarlandMarilyn.blogspot.com No @ either.

The first is always the firstest!

2007-09-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

Just a note to start the blog, Janene thanks for the idea and thanks to gmail for making it all possible. Someday I'll learn how to do the wonderful picture downloading thing, etc. etc. I may even start some poetry blogging.

Once you were two dear birthday friend,
Inspite of purple weather.
Now your three and near the end
As we gruesome together.
How forthful thou forsooth for you
For soon you will be more,
But for one can be two, be three,
before be five, be four!