For proponents of small government, the $787 billion economic stimulus bill recently passed by Congress isn't a life saver. It's the last straw.
State lawmakers across the country are sponsoring resolutions (most of them only symbolic) demanding state sovereignty, in effect the right to ignore any federal law or policies they deem unconstitutional. And that includes the U.S. stimulus package.
Lawmakers in at least 15 states are sponsoring similar resolutions. They say they're fighting a trend that has reached a fever pitch - decades of federal overreach.
The resolution, which needed 11 votes to pass, failed on an 8-10 vote.
Source: here
My son, Dylan, celebrated his 16th birthday last Friday (the 16th).
Dylan's birthday wish was for the entire family to get together and go on a camping trip. He was hoping everyone would pitch tents but it was way too cold for that! So the family went in together and rented a log cabin in Jasper, Arkansas, which is a two-hour trip from our house.
Unfortunately, the entire family couldn't make the trip but we ended up with a nice size crowd anyway.
The cabin was nice (click here for the slideshow: photos change every 10 seconds)! The cabin had one bedroom, one full bath, and a loft. Sounds cozy until you realize there were fourteen of us!!! :) Believe it or not, everything worked out great. The bedroom had a double bed and the loft had a double bed, a twin bed and a double futon couch. The open living area also had a couch, three love seats, two of which were twin sleepers.
On Friday night, thirteen of us slept on beds or couches (birthday boy-Dylan-slept on the floor in his sleeping bag). And then on Saturday night, six family members went back home, so that left lots more room for us to spread out.
Should you ever want to vacation in the Ozarks, I highly recommend Deer Lodge Cabins.
The original plan was to do some hiking, some geocaching, and some fishing. There were three ponds on the property filled with bass, bream, catfish and sunperch. Unfortunately, the pond closest to the cabin was frozen solid and it was too cold to go check out the other two ponds. The kids had a blast walking on the ice and birthday boy, Dylan, eventually pressed his luck one too many times and fell through (see the pic to the right). He weighs 245 pounds so it didn't surprise me to see him fall through the ice. Teenagers are sooooo schmaaart!!!
After breakfast, everyone headed out to go on a hike and do some geocaching. I stayed behind at the cabin with Brady and a couple of my nieces. Like a bone head, I didn't pack Brady's hat and mittens, and it was bitterly cold. I took him outside after breakfast and he was miserable, so I knew it wouldn't be a wise idea to take him on a long hike.
The family came back a couple hours later and had many great pictures to show me (that's a waterfall of ice behind the boys!).
Later on that evening, my brothers started a fire in the fire pit and we all sat around roasting marshmallows and making S'mores.
Everybody had so much fun spending time together, that we've decided to plan a fishing trip next!
Thanks for reading!
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Dylan: Doing Shakespeare In The Park
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Thursday, December 18, 2008
The ever-growing Arkansas family has added a holiday bundle-of-joy to their brood.
That's right folks, Michelle Duggar, has given birth to her 18th child.
The Arkansas supermom delivered the baby girl by Caesarean section Thursday at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers. The baby, named Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar, weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.
"The ultimate Christmas gift from God," said Jim Bob Duggar, the father of the 18 children. "She's just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters."
The Duggars now have 10 sons and eight daughters.
Jim Bob Duggar said Michelle started having contractions Wednesday night. She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways. Jim Bob said both baby and mother were doing well Thursday night.
"We both would love to have more," he said. Jim Bob Duggar is 43, a year older than his wife. Their oldest child, Joshua, is 20.
The cable network TLC broadcasts a weekly show about the Duggars, called "Seventeen and Counting." Chris Finnegan of TLC — which handles public relations for the Duggar family — said the show's name would be updated to account for the latest addition to the family. He said TLC also will air a show Monday on the baby's delivery.
"Our whole family is excited about Jordyn's addition to our family," Jim Bob Duggar said. "She's just perfect in every way."
With the latest addition, the Duggars’ 18 natural children range in age from 20 years to one day old. Included in the mix are 10 boys and now eight girls — Joshua, twins Jana and John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, and Jordyn-Grace.
With two sets of twins, Michelle, has gone through 15 pregnancies that ended in 13 natural deliveries and two Caesarean sections.
Both Michelle and Jim Bob — a former state legislator who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives — are real estate agents. They claim their family is debt-free, with the entire bunch helping to build their 7,000-square-foot home in Tontitown. And they are enriched by a devout faith in their religion.
The Duggars are followers of the evangelical Christian movement called Quiverful, which teaches that children are God’s blessing and that husbands and wives should happily welcome every child they are given. In fact, the Duggars' website quotes, “Children are a heritage of the Lord” from verse 3 of the 123rd Psalm.
Source: here
Last night, my husband and I went to my company's Christmas party in Conway.
Carol, one of my coworkers, is so very gracious and every year, without fail, she offers to host the party. And even though her house is large, by the time everyone arrives, there is standing room only.
We all look forward to the Christmas party because it's a time when everyone can relax and enjoy each other's company outside the work environment. It's also neat to meet coworker's spouses or dates.
But the main reason I look forward to our Christmas party is the infamous "White Elephant Gift Exchange".
I cannot possibly convey in a post how much fun we have playing this silly little game. First of all, I work with a fun, great group of people. That's the first necessary ingredient. Add in some gag gifts, gifts of an alcoholic nature, girly gifts, tools, toys, etc. and you're gonna have some laughs!
The game starts out pretty boring: people opening gifts - everybody saying, "Ooh", "Aah" etc. It starts getting interesting, however, when the first gag gift is opened.
Last night's first gag gift was a Snoop Dogg doll! What made it even funnier is the guy who opened it is a white computer techie who was wearing Wrangler jeans, a cowboy shirt and boots! It's painfully obvious, rap music is not his thing. Anyway, everybody starts hootin' and hollerin' and saying "Ooh!!!!, Alright Michael! WOO HOO!!!" He smiles, takes a bow, and goes back to his seat. Then about ten minutes later, somebody steals it from him! I sure didn't see that coming. I elbowed my husband and said, "Honey, you ought to steal it and give it to your brother for Christmas!" Paul's brother, David, likes rap music and they always give each other gag gifts at Christmas. Well, Paul never got the chance because someone stole Snoop Dogg again and after that, the rap doll was frozen and couldn't be stolen again.
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