Where did I come from???

I never did get around to giving an background info on me when I started this blog so here goes.

Where did I come from?

I come from a Grandfather born in Oklahoma territory who was the son of a very strong women. She must have been....the only pictures of her husband, he is cleaning his gun and has jug of "something" beside him! She also helped to raise my dad as his mother passed away when he was very young.

My mother was born and raised in Arkansas (we always teased her about wearing shoes). She had 2 sisters and 2 brothers and amazingly enough all of the girls ended up in Texas.

My Dad was in the army when he was "assigned" to my mother by the general. She kind of requested him. The first night they went out, she wasn't really sure what his name was but knew he was nice and good-looking. They never looked back. They were married and Dad was transferred to Pennsylvania where my sister was born.....Skookelhaven (that is not spelled right) is where she was born. Soon after dad was transferred to New York for six months and the on to Taiwan. (this is where the story gets good!)

My parents spent 2+ years in Taipei, Taiwan. Mom and dad lived next door to the same neighbors they had in New York. I was born on the U.S. Army base in Taiwan. We stayed there until I was about one. We have all kinds of cool stuff from being over there. Just imagine the plane trip back to the states.....17 hours with a 1yo and a 2.5 yo!

As I grew older I realized that not only was I born in Taiwan.....I was "Made in Taiwan"..... My husband used to tell me he wanted a tattoo. I always said fine as long as you don't mind me having "made in Taiwan" tattoo'd on my...... Needless to say, he does not have a tattoo! LOL!

From there we moved to Virginia while dad worked in Washington D.C.. We were there probably 3 years. I do remember things from Virginia....like the time I climbed all the way to the top of the apple tree in the back yard and Mom had to call the firemen to come get me.....something about little limbs.....I was having fun!

From Virginia we moved to Alaska. Wow! Is it ever beautiful there! We got to see the Northern Lights. Dad got his pilot's license and would fly to the Kenai Peninsula fro lunch..... If you have ever wondered, moose do run across the tundra! We lived on base and there was empty land behind our house. During the spring we had to watch out for moose and we could only go in the little woods as there were bears in the big woods. Sometimes we had to stay on the school bus due to a bear alert or a moose alert. That just meant one or the other was wandering around the neighborhood.

After 20 years and 8 months in the army, Dad retired and we moved to Texas. His dad lived here and he wanted us to have the opportunity to get to know him. My dad made an awesome choice!

I will add more of my adventures in Alaska (there are many) and I really like to think about it especially when it is 100 degrees here. Always helps to think about snow.......

Tag! You're it!

Okay, I was tagged and I don't know how to add a link but here goes....




1. What was I doing 10 years ago: I was pregnant (well, with six kids, that's a given) I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, experiencing the hottest summer I can ever remember with 30 days of temps over 100 and no rain from Feb to Oct. We would sit in the living room under the fan (running full blast - did I mention I was pregnant?) playing cards and board games with my oldest who was 9 and my 2nd oldest who was 4 (made his own rules). And, we did a lot of coloring with my 3rd who was 1.5. Okay so I was actually the one coloring.... We also put up a swing set that took nine hours and believe it or not, it is still in our backyard.


2. Five things on my "to do" list:
Clean out the attached, enclosed, air conditioned garage so we can make it into two bedrooms.
Actually write our summer schedule down.
Actually write the youth summer schedule on my calendar.
Get my appraisal license (yes the market is slow right now but it will come back, it always does)
Enjoy my kids.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Brownies
Cheese
Snickers
Popcorn (the sweet kind)
Dove chocolate with caramel



4. Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
Build a youth center for my church
Take all my youth on a mission trip
Build a slightly bigger house (5 kids still at home, husband, me....two bathrooms...)

5. Places I have lived:
Taiwan
Virginia
Alaska
Texas

Now, I am tagging you!