My Trip

Last month, Will let me go see Heidi and Maddox for 8 days. Heidi and I met eachother in highschool and have kept in touch for a long time. We have traveled to Spain and Costa Rica together, and I have enjoyed visiting her throughout the years. My most recent trip was the best because I got to meet her new addition, Maddox. I never understood how important it was to have an assistant after you had a baby until I had my own. So when I found out this little miracle was on his way, I bought a plane ticket and went to help. We laughed a lot, organized a lot, shopped, went to the doctor, and even visited the ocean. I miss the baby a lot, but I miss Heidi and Brandon even more. It is so nice to have friends that you can share so much with. I love you Heidi and thank you for letting me be a part of your wonderful expericence of being a first time MOM. That's right, Mom and you are good one. PS Brandon thanks for taking me to Pinkberry. :)

Will, thanks for letting me go. I know the kids missed me, but they had a lot of fun with their dad.

Cora's Pictures

Uncle.

And not the relative kind. Really. Help.

I have learned some things from Tara's absence:

1-I stll love mommies and I'll be a momma's boy 'til the day I die and longer.
2-I will never be a single parent and will never wish that on anyone either-no matter how bad it might get. Call me stupid but either I can listen to her scream at me all day, or I can never have me time.
3-If I post #2 you're all wondering--does she really scream at me all day long?
4-I still really enjoy my 2 days/48 hours straight at work
5-You are now wondering-Are #2 and #4 directly or inversely related?
6-Gag reflex sensitivity is present at birth and continues until about 6 months. Somewhere between 18 months and 2 years it comes back for those who suffer from it.
7-Ila has also figured out #6 and continues to prove it. Sometimes in the car. Sometimes at the table. Sometimes all over Daddy's lap at the table. No wonder why she does not want to eat. Most of it comes back up.
8-I don't need Tara present to procrastinate.
9-I don't need Tara present to stay up late, but I do need her here to go to bed before midnight.
10-Better get some homework done. It is piling up

The Lone W.

Two more days

Dear fellow bloggers,

I am so excited!! I get to leave all five children for 8 days with Will....Where am I going?

To visit Heidi in San Diego of course! I cannot wait to see her new baby and I am just dying to hold him. I will admit I am a little worried and maybe a little sick knowing how much I will miss my family, but I really want to do this for me and my friend. We have been friends for 12 years and still talk to each other almost weekly. What a better reason to get together then to go help her out. I have had great lessons from my personal nurse (Will) and Becky so I think I will know just how to take care of the new mom. Love you guys and blog you soon.

love,
Tara

PS Will is a great Dad and I know that he is just dying to take the reins for a while.

The Pictures of Explanation

Our crazy wind storm before the snow. Now we are practically buried.

One of my very few Christmas Pictures...I never take enough. I was so tired.

Cora with the Dora Globe.

The Basement, what can I say, its done. We will have to give it color later, but I am so glad and so are the kids.....

The kids room under the stairs.

FINISHED

Dearest Love,

Thanks for spending the entire last month working your butt off in the man cave. You stayed up so many nights until 2 am and later, so that we could have our basement finished by Christmas Eve. You bathed in paint, calked with a wierdo, and layed brick at a moments notice. I love you so much and appreciate you "sticking to it" more than you will ever know. I love you.

Love

Me

PS The new office is great and it is even better not having 3 kids in one room anymore.


Dear Blogetts,

I have been on Blog strike ever since the basement started. I hope to see you next year or maybe sooner. However, I am now the mother of 5 and this does complicate things. We took another foster placement on December 12th. I hope the adjustment will be short but I doubt it. This has been another busy year and I have so much to tell you all. Mostly, I love and miss you all and see all the fun things that have happened while I stepped out. I cannot wait to finish catching up. I also hope to get a new page this year because I think my current is over a year old.


Love

Tara

Should have called in sick both days!!!

Here is what I was doing Friday at work!!! That is a 9000 gallon propane tanker on its side with a 4000 gallon pup behind it. The tanker was going from I-80 to southbound I-215 out of Parley's Canyon. It was going too fast, tipped over, took out some jersey barriers, a light pole, and a bunch of those large cement sound wall panels where it stopped halfway in someone's backyard. This is the biggest Haz-MAt incident I have been on and may ever be on.

The cloud is propane and all 9000 gallons slowy leaked out. Thousands of residents were evacuated, freeways were shut down for 12 hours, the driver was hurt (I can tell you how it happened if you call me-you won't believe me!!) but survived, he was rescued by first arriving crews.

I was involved in a lot of research, hands-on monitoring, damming, more air monitoring, overseeing the uprighting of the tanker and much more. It was awesome and maybe the scariest, most nerve-racking thing I have ever done. I learned a lot and fortunately the thing never caught fire and everyone went home at about 1 a.m.

Some fun stuff-Propane has a boiling point of -40 F and the outside temp was 50 F. There was a large pool of propane under that cloud that was boiling-one of the coolest things I have ever seen. There was also a ring around the pool that was freezing the ground and building up frozen propane. I could write so much more but just feast on some of these pictures of first arriving units. (We are across the valley and the guy was rescued just as we were arriving). It was very surreal to say the least.

These are the guys who rescued the driver-Crews from Stations 112 and 106!!

Our (Station 109) engine and Haz-Mat Rig

This news story shows some of the stuff I did. I was one of the firefighters in gear by the tanker in the dark pictures. http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=4863887