Hey, everyone! I wanted to post just to let you know that our plumbing was finally fixed. They dug up some of our pipe and it was crushed. After it was replaced, everything worked. So if you ever come visit, you can flush with confidence. Here are some pictures of the kids on the 4th. I could not get Conrad to smile. Then he ran off and got into the pet carrier...and what do you know? Big Smiles!

Hey everybody! Greetings from Robert and Wendy and Genevieve. We sure enjoyed the reunion at Monica and Bryon's house and we hope that it's a yearly tradition! We also learned that traveling with a baby is a new experience...

So, here's what we are doing now. Robert is an engineer at Amarillo Gear Company, and he's been there for 4 1/2 years now. He works with right-angle gear drives mostly for cooling tower applications. Wendy was teaching at Amarillo College full time until this May, when she went to part time to stay home with Genevieve. For the foreseeable future, her classes will be online, which just offers a little more flexibility.

We will be married for 9 years next January. And this October, Genevieve will be 1 year old! Can't believe she is growing so fast.

Right now we are doing some work on our house. We had siding put on, and we are painting the doors and stuff. I put in 2 new flower beds in the back yard, which is just one of my favorite things to do!

We are also trying desperately (still) to get Genevieve to crawl. She wants to walk--big people walk, why shouldn't she??--but not crawl. Any ideas out there?

Using the Poling Family Blog

Meredith has figured out that from this blog, anyone can contribute without using the "poling family blog" username so that we can all tell who has written an entry. If you are already set up on blogger (or is it blogspot??) and want to use your current account, just shoot me an email at monicathedove@yahoo.com and let me know your username. I can then add you to the members of this blog. Good luck!

It's a busy weekend around here. We had our 16th annual neighborhool parade one the Fourth. You don't know this kid in the wagon, but he rode the whole parade with the dog's tail wagging in his face, which was too much fun. The parade photo is from last year, as it was not so sunny this week. Our fifer grew up in the fife and drum corps in Williamsburg, and Gary is our official storyteller/historian. We usually have about 60 neighbors, and it is a good tradition. Andrew and Landon are shown with a group of the younger Bluebonnet boys who have all grown up shooting each other with paintball guns, etc.

Carson and Julianne are here this weekend. I drew her picture on the board in honor of her birthday, but it has undergone various changes back and forth over the weekend...fat legs, skinny legs, buck teeth, BIG boobs, even a sex change with the artistic additon of extra unmentionable anatomy. Brother in laws... So far, there has been skeet shooting, kayaking, and presently fly fishing going on. I have done a lot of laundry and some cooking, but I definitely notice extra help when Julianne is here. She made the decadent ice cream sandwich desert for tonight! Justy even dropped by for a few hours off from camp and just woke up from a 3 hour nap before he heads back. What a week they have had at camp on the Frio River. They've had 3 floods...4foot, 15 foot, and 3 foot rises. One thing Justy is responsible for is the waterfront, which has been destroyed each time...losing docks, slides, the blob. How would you like to be in charge of 8-12 year olds with daily rain all summer?

We do have sunshine today and it looks like the weather patterns are changing. I wish I could send some rain to those who want it, even though I am not tired of it yet! One photo is my back yard with constant rain since about March!

That's just news as I see it for now! I loved Molly's ongoing narrative...You write so well, and could publish as the new Erma Bombeck! Meredith, I didn't know you were such an artistic designer! You've done a great job! Monica, thanks again to you and Bryon for hosting us in June and for teaching me how to shutterfly and blog!!! Much love to you all, Wendy

Morris Update

Well, what can I say. If you haven't already heard, I have been experiencing a string of bad luck. We have our health, so who can complain.

Well, I can complain! We recently moved to Big Spring. It feels great to be back in dry air country...you know, less frizz in the hair and the laundry doesn't mildew quite so badly if it sits for a little while in the washer (mommy needs a little time for herself on myspace.) Oh, and the people are really friendly. Everyone has a tatoo, so I'm feeling a little left out, but I'm thinking of putting "Marc" or "Marc's chick" on my left shoulder pretty soon so that I can fit in. Kidding. But here's the kicker, our house flooded a few days after we moved in. We went to visit some friends for the evening and we'd been having some problems with the ole potty. That little floater deal that tells the water when to stop seemed to have a malfunction. So, everytime you "went" you had to remember to turn the water on (fill the tank) then off (when the tank was full.) Well, being the blonde that I am, I didn't remember step 2. You can't expect me to remember these kind of things. No really, in my defense, I made sure that the water had quit running, but I didn't turn it off. Yadda, yadda, yadda, we got home and our house was flooded. We attempted to pull up the carpet and suck out the water ourselves, at which point I stepped barefooted onto the nail tack strip, but eventually realized that our efforts were useless. In fact, it seems that the water we were sucking up and dumping in the shower was beginning to back up and out of the other toilet. Meanwhile, I had developed tetenus. Not really. But we did have to call in the experts. I don't have photos, but I did make a video, of the 17 blowers and 3 dehumidifiers we had going. This kind of thing costs about $3000 in case you are curious or happen to even still be reading this. I couldn't even turn on the coffee maker without blowing a circuit. So, we tiptoed around our dark and extremely loud house for 4 days. I felt like I was on an airplane. I slept on the floor, which isn't so easy at this age I have discovered. But eventually we were declared dry! And yes, we have an insurance claim that will hopefully go through. And we're good friends with the plumber. And if you ever need a good blow dry, I can hook you up.

The bad luck continues. So, last night we went to see some friends for the fourth, and my friend notices that there is no longer a diamond in my wedding band. It's all pathetic and prongy looking. NO I DID NOT INSURE MY DIAMOND. Like, who insures there wedding ring? I don't want someone to replace it; I want MY diamond. The one that all the vowes were said over, the one that went to me on our honeymoon. The one that I managed to wear through both pregnacies despite measureable water retention and potential loss of finger. Let me move on here.

Did I mention that the septic system backed up again? Could I just use the restroom in peace?

So, I decide today (Marc's and my 9th anniversary, yay us!) that I need a makeover. You see, we are headed to Marc's 15th reunion tomorrow in Andrews and I want to look hot. You know, 30 year-old hot, if that's such a thing. Perhaps I should have realized that my luck being as such, it's not really the best time to roll the dice on a new hairdresser and/or style. Long story short, I have a West Texas hairdo. She even ratted it out for me and put on some extra hairspray. Just in time for the Andrews Class of '92 reunion.

I have some other funny things I could share...like the fact that Marc and I tried to have an anniversary meal out this evening with two kids (disaster...Conrad screaming, "Chicken French Fries," for the entire time until the seemingly very slow meal was delivered. Margarita take me away.)

Really, things are fine. The kids are a blast. It's going so quickly.

I so enjoyed the Poling reunion and hope we make it a tradition. Maybe Conradical will eventually be declared disciplined enough to attend (and Marc, too.)

I love summer...Carly made this on Paint:

Molly

McDaris Family Update

Hmm...where do I start the official McDaris update? This will largely be based on the photos that are available on my computer, because our hardrive was recently wiped out, so our photo choices are limited. Parrish and I are getting ready to celebrate the big 0-4 on August 9th, and I can't believe we've already been married for 4 years. For those of you who weren't able to attend, here is one of my very favorite wedding pics. You just can't beat those Amarillo sunsets!




During our first year of being married, Parrish was finishing his degree at Ozark in Joplin, and I was working at Christ in Youth organizing overseas trips for high school kids. I don't miss the job, but I DO miss all those stamps in my Passport! After we both graduated, we moved to Tulsa for me to start my MBA and for Parrish to take a job at a church in Jenks, right outside of Tulsa. Parrish resigned from that job last year and started seminary at Phillips here in Tulsa. So, we are now both in grad school and looking forward to finishing! (Me especially...only 2 more classes).

In September I took a job at a local non-profit (The Bridges Foundation) doing fundraising/special events/grant writing/etc. I just love it! We find jobs for people with developmental disabilities, and they are just some of the most amazing people I have ever met - they overcome more struggles in a single day than I can possibly imagine. We recently had a black tie boxing night to benefit Bridges and Joe Frazier was there as a special guest. Now, although I didn't previously know who exactly Joe Frazier was, I now know that he famously knocked out Mohammad Ali back when they both could talk without a slur. I'm sure you all already knew that. So shocking that I wasn't up on the sports trivia! So, it was a great event which raised over $120,000. Here we are with Smokin' Joe:

In April we stumbled upon a loft apartment on Main street of a town called Sand Springs. It has cut our drive time in half, and we think that it is just soo cool! The first picture below is of our kitchen area - we used our bookshelves to make a wall and covered the ugly backs of the shelves with scrapbook paper...so far, my favorite project :) The second picture is of our living area. Get the full loft tour here

So, other than that, we are not too exciting. We are constantly on the lookout for the next greatest Mexican restaurant, a good place to study, and/or good day trips to take around Tulsa. We're looking towards a possible move in 2009 (Northeast, maybe?), but until then we are takin' it easy in T-town...

Monica and Bryon's Babies

Since Bryon and I do not have children, we are one of those obnoxious couples that is obsessed with their dogs. I just wanted to post a picture of them both. Here is Lilly, our OCD pointer:



She loves to stay on point at birds for hours and run laps around the hot tub in search of frogs that might be living there.

Not to be outdone, here is Winsor, our overactive Weimaraner:

This picture was taken at Walt's in May. The yellow flowers covered the ranch and were beautiful. Walt says they are a weed, but I personally think he planted them just for my visit!

One of these days, Bryon and I MIGHT have kids of our own and will quit bugging everyone with pictures of our dogs. In the meantime, just act like we are normal!

Monica

Monica and Bryon's State of the House Address

Monica and Bryon Pfaff

Who are Monica and Bryon, and what have we been doing lately? I, Monica, am a pharmacist with Target in Irving, Texas, and have been with the company for about 7 years now. Bryon works for McCarthy Building Companies as an engineer. He is currently working on a new performance arts theater in downtown Dallas.

We live in Valley Ranch, near the Dallas Cowboys' Headquarters. We enjoy going out on our boat on Lake Grapevine. Bryon's favorite thing is to fish, while I just try to keep from getting seasick! For the cousins that were our tubing with us in June, take a look at the marina now:

We can't even park in the lower parking lot, as it is 5 feet under water! We really enjoyed taking everyone out and have an open invitation to anyone that wants to go again.

We also enjoy traveling when we get the time. In the past year, we have spent a lot of time with Bryon's parents in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As you probably all know, Bryon's sister passed away in February, so we have stayed busy sorting out all the details. His father has created a website for those of you interested--www.ashleepfaff.com. Please shoot him an email if you like the site! Anyway, we have also been to our favorite get-away, Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in May. In a perfect world, Bryon and I would be traveling food critics, and Playa del Carmen would be our first stop. We tried 6 types of ceviche this time in search of our favorite. YUM!

In the past year, we have definitely learned the value of family and can't say enough about what a great time we had having all the Walt Poling grandkids at our house. Thanks to all of you for making the trek our way!