Do I have something in my teeth?

So last night my sis (above on left) and I went to our real estate class (by the way I'm going to get my real estate license in case you hadn't heard yet). She and I haven't really been in a class together since high school; we were in the same Biology class together almost 20 years ago! Boy I sound so old!

Anyway...the teacher kept staring at me! Why???? Not sure! I even leaned over and asked her why he was doing that...neither one of us could figure it out. The material was a bit over my head and I didn't fully understand it so perhaps I was staring at him with a blank look on my face.

Who knows how to read a map let alone break it down by sections and townships? Who knew what all of the lines are on a...hmmm can't remember what it's called....see how much it stuck. I do remember that north and south are the meridian and the east and west are a baseline but can't remember what it's called as a whole. Anyway its the directional thing on a map that shows where North is. I've never taken a geography class so let me just say in my defense, because I'm sounding very stupid at this moment, that I really am a sharp cookie! So the last part of the class was all about that and how to break things down and I realized...wow this IS kind of interesting! On the east coast they have townships and now I know why!

My sis and I sat in the back of the room trying not to get distracted! Let me just say that it was tough because the instructor kept making all these funny faces! I HATE doing things by myself sometimes so it's nice that Cass and I can take these classes together. This is more of a refresher to her but for me all the material is new! Now if I could just get the instructor to stop staring at me! Maybe I had something in my teeth!

~Tamara~

Seasons of life....

Every so often I get kind of reflective of where my life is. Now...is one of those moments! I have friends in different stages of life...1 the hint of getting engaged; 1 engaged; 2 having babies; 1 newly married; many celebrating multiple years of marriage and then there's me. Where you ask? Right where God wants me aparently! Am I happy here? Sometimes! I know that His timing is perfect but my waiting for His timing is anything but perfect.

Wedding Day

Larissa this is for you!

I can't believe that I have known you long enough to have watched you grow since you were 7 or 8, learn to drive a car, graduate high school, and now get married. You have been such a wonderful part of my life that I wouldn't have wanted to miss for anything and I am praying for you in this new chapter of yours! You are going to be such a great wife and someday a great mom. Remember to keep God first even before your adorable hubby. Always stay true to who you are. Never lose touch of your gal pals and always keep your eyes fixed on where God is leading you. I have enjoyed your spirit and the times we have laughed together and cryed together and I'm looking forward to enjoying many more to come. I love you so much and a huge CONGRATULATIONS to you both once again!

Jered and Larissa Coats

Married November 8, 2008

4 pm at Lake Bible Church in Lake Oswego

Proud Parents of the Groom

Damon and Tami Coats

Proud Parents of the Bride

David and Sally Ransdell

Always,

Tamara

You want WHAT in WHERE?

There is a ton going on here at mine and Taylor's house! Some of which requires moving things from one room to another. The guys here working have been so sweet to me in helping me move things from place to place to get it out of their way and how/where I want it....that was until yesterday!!!!

Let's just say a picture is worth a thousand words!

SUCCESS! 5 guys and one huge entertainment center later! My question after all was said and done was....how come there was only 1 guy on the inside of the room!?!? ;)

Wanna FIGHT???

So I've learned this blog thing can be addicting for some reason! Not quite sure why!

I came across this picture of my little Hybrid today and thought that is was pretty true to who she is!

Taylor this is for you! Don't quit, don't give up! Keep on fighting for what you know is right! Keep fighting through the things life throws your way good and bad! You are a conquer and victorious! I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there are those from up above smiling at your every move and how proud they must be of you! You are a special young lady in my life and I just wanted to let you know that! Galatians 6:9 "let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we DO NOT GIVE UP"!

Love you honey! oxox Tamara xoxo

What a slacker! More from the trip to visit my little Hybrid

Alright - I decided that I should probably finish up the blog about our trip to Cincinnati, Ohio.

I last left you at dinner....after dinner of course we headed back to the hotel to hop on our computers and see what/who we had missed. The next morning we packed our things and decided to head to breakfast.

There was this adorable restaurant called First Watch - best pancakes in the world! Taylor and I decided this was a trip to do things we haven't really ever done before so we ordered a TON of food just so we could try it....after all how often are we really going to be in Cincinnati? As you can see from the picture above we really had a lot of food. Our favorite was a pancake with bananas and granola baked right in! Yum Yum! We asked our waiter what we should do that day since it was a home game and we didn't have tickets. He said not to miss Newport on the Levey. So....where's that you ask????

That's right Kentucky! How in the world did we end up here!?!? Another state neither one of us had been to! Whoa...my sis in law has kinfolk that live here! How funny! We didn't realize we were in Kentucky until the picture of the sign above! We had so much fun there! It reminded Taylor and I a lot of home. In the Portland area we can cross a bridge and then be in Vancouver Washington! Here you go from Kentucky to Ohio, hopefully you already figured that out! ;)

Yep, all the way from Oregon we can still be "ducks"! Aren't we cute???? I think I should get my hair a little more like Taylors! So we rode these things call, "Ride the Ducks". Is it a car or a boat? You guessed it, it's both! We rode from the Kentucky side to the Ohio side and headed straight for the water quacking all the way! We went on a little tour of both cities at once with our tour guides pointing out many fascinating things about both sides! We could see the thousands of people sitting watching the Bangles game (they lost by the way) as well as all the other many beautiful things from a boats view.

We headed back to the aquarium after the duck ride to finish our tour of the water life that we don't see in Oregon...yeah right! I even got to pet a shark! They said "start from behind the eyes and go to the tail" - wonder why that is, neither one of us got bit thank heavens but it did make me a little nervous.

We headed across the street for some ice cream then drove back to Bloomington, IN. We aren't the best with directions and map reading (both of us) although I could blame it on Taylor who was supposed to be my navigator but I was the one driving! Funny how you can't seem to get your sense of direction when you don't know where the ocean is!

We had a great trip spending time together and laughing and just relaxing! We both needed it I think! She comes home this weekend for a quick visit! I can hardly wait! Tons of stuff going on at the house and I sure hope she likes it.

oxox ~Tamara~

.....still can't believe I was ever in Kentucky!

How do we keep up!!??

There are times I've said to myself...I'm very organized and then other times I realize I'm kidding myself! Tonight was one of those times! How do we keep up with everything we need/should/want to do? I'm not here to give you some amazing tip, although I wish I could I'm just here to let you know that little by little it all gets done! Tonight I was SO frustrated and I can't even explain just how frustrated I was but I will say a huge shout out and thanks to my mom who helped me through it! Sometimes you just need someone to help get you motivated. There are always those things we want to do but how about the things we have to do? Procrastination at it's best! Thanks mom!