Good O'l Chuck E Cheese Birthday Party

This is Noah, my brother's younger stepson. Last week he turned 7 so we got together Saturday afternoon to celebrate the occasion.

Got to play a couple games while there.

Graduation Night!

My brother graduated from Apollo College last Friday night in the lab technician program. He has been completing his externship the past couple months at St. Joseph's Hospital. This was a proud moment for my family.

Afterward we had a little luau at my sister's house celebrating the graduation of Steven and his wife Jessica who walked a month earlier finishing the dental assistant program.

Self Reliance...Here I Come!

So, I have always wanted to start a garden but didn't know exactly how to do that. With the help of Kelley and people in the ward who have given me lots of good information, I have finally taken the leap and decided to give it a try. Helping with the ward garden last fall certainly boosted my confidence as well. With just a little area to work with at the side of my house I got started by moving rocks into a bucket and relocating them somewhere else in the back yard. That took me days to complete. Then I had to uproot five large bushes.

Once the land was clear I exposed the existing irrigation tubing that runs along the garden plot and provides water for many of the plants in the back yard. I needed them exposed so that I could make sure not to cut into them when tilling or installing the gate, etc.

First I turned the dirt using the shovel. You can see by this point my gloves were shot.

Kelley let me borrow her tiller so I laid down compost and mixed it all in. Thanks Kelley!

Next, the gate. Got to keep those dogs out.

Then it was time to lay down the soaker hose and plant the seeds.

More Garden

I finally forked out a big $1.98 for a new pair of gloves! Ahhh, so nice to touch the dirt without it going under my nails.

The soaker hose is down and the tomato plants and seeds are planted on Thursday, April 9th. At this point I was very nervous because I kill almost every plant that comes in my possession. Gonna do my best to try and grow stuff we can actually eat.

Got a good start here on a tomato!

Look here! I see green!!! These are zucchini squash.

Here are yellow squash.

And broccoli.

Above, Cauliflower and below is Cantaloupe.

Here I have a whole row green onion!

My lone pumpkin. I had pre-planted a couple of these but only one survived. Hopefully a couple others will pop up soon.

I will keep you posted on the garden as it grows (or dies).

Homework

Thriving Ivory

Last night I went to see the band Thriving Ivory with my sister and my two friends. I had such a blast because my friend Kelley (above) came with me kinda last minute. It was a great show!

Yep, we were right along the stage, best seats in the house. The highlight of the show...when they broke out into the Beatles song, Let It Be!!! Melt my heart!

Not only did we get pics with the lead singer Clayton and the drummer Paul but we were able to get Misty a drumstick to add to her collection.

Poor Shelby :-(

This is so sad...I was shaving Shelby like I do every other month and somehow the shaver nicked her ear. It was so weird because blood just started dripping down her neck. I was so upset over it because she is just my little fragile girl and it made me feel so bad.

After cleaning the blood up I could see that a little chunk was missing so I put some ointment on it with gauze and then wrapped the bandage around her head to get it to stay. She hated it but it helped. We kept it on for a couple hours and she was so happy when we removed it. She was so cute and always extra cuddly when she's not feeling well. Here she is snuggling with Mark on the couch which she hardly ever does.

The Renaissance Festival!

Mark decided not to go this year so I went with my mom, my sister and her friend Jen. All our dresses were made by Misty (she is so talented!). Here we are with our favorite performers at the festival, The London Broil.

This is one of the guys from Three Guys and a Bunch of Drums. Great show.

Yep, this is the prince.

The day was a success, we had a blast!!!

Don't Have to Wait Til Summer to Sunbathe

Skipper loves to lounge around...
But his favorite is to find any bit of sun and enjoy it.

He's so cute!

These are our nephews who just moved to Santiago, Chile a couple weeks ago. We miss them already!

Marjorie and the boys are starting a new life in her home town and we wish them the best there. Scott remains in Mesa for another couple of months until he too will head down South. The one good thing about it is that now we have a great excuse to visit South America!

Long Overdue Family Photo

The family has grown quite a bit since the last time all Mark's brothers and sisters came together for a picture. With 10 grandkids the task is getting more difficult but we pulled through without any casualties :-).

We took advantage of the beautiful scenery and took some personal shots.

The Fab Faux

This show was so much fun! Putting all emphasis on their sound and not trying to look like them at all, these Beatles impersonators were fantastic! This was one of my Christmas presents and I loved it!!!

Video on Purpose of Mormon Temples

Lex Luthor asking the U.S. Government for a bailout

On the lighter side of things....

Bulking up on debt

Happy Birthday to Abraham Lincoln, father of the U.S. income tax

The first few months of the year are slow events for us. Mark is crazy busy with work, so not much time to do fun things. To keep the two people that view this blog something new, I decided to post this interesting article about Lincoln and how he overpaid his taxes.

Until next week.....

from Don't Mess With Taxes by skbell1

February 12 is a pretty big birthday day.

Most of the attention today is on Charles Darwin. It's the bicentennial of Darwin's birth. Google has an artsy icon in honor of the man who gave us one of the greatest, and most controversial, scientific breakthroughs. And tons of stories are out there discussing the British naturalist's findings.

As we reflect on Darwin today through a tax lens (that is what all y'all are doing today, right?), we can definitely say that the U.S. tax code has evolved over time. But Feb. 12 has a more direct tax connection.

Thanks, Abe: On Feb. 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Ky. His actual birthday isn't such a big deal any more, since we celebrate it, along with George Washington's birth, as a Monday federal holiday. That annual commemoration, and call to shopping, is coming up in a few days.

And while our 16th president achieved many noteworthy things during his time in the White House, his contribution to our tax system is usually overlooked.

OK, he didn't actually write the tax code. But he saw the need for an income tax and signed the legislation into law to help finance the Civil War.

Below, thanks to the research of the Library of Congress Business Reference Services, the Civil War Preservation Trust and Tax Analysts Tax History Project and Tax Museum, is a brief history of the United State's first income tax.

Our early tax history: The first federal income tax in American history was passed in August 1861. It was created so that the government would have a reliable source of income to pay the interest on war bonds.

Initially, lawmakers wanted to implement an emergency property tax similar to the one adopted during the War of 1812. But the Constitution required the federal government to apportion the burden among states on the basis of population rather than property values.That created another set of problems.

Residents of lower-density western states, border states and poor northeastern states stood to bear a greater burden than those of highly-populated urban states, despite the latter’s valued real estate. So lawmakers followed the British example of income taxation, which that country used to finance the Crimean War.

Because it did not tax property directly, Congressional leaders viewed the income tax as indirect, and thus immune from Constitutional strictures.

The first income tax was moderately progressive: a 3 percent tax on annual incomes of more than $800. Back then, that amount exempted most wage earners. That levy applied to income up to $10,000, with a 5 percent tax imposed on earnings in excess of 10 grand.

The taxes were finally collected in 1862, when Lincoln signed the bill creating the income tax into law.

Tax trouble from the get-go: While the first U.S. income tax looks appealing simple, according to one report, Lincoln himself had trouble with it. He is said to have misunderstood the law and overpaid his taxes by $1,279.15.

We know exactly what you went through, Mr. President.

Sure, our tax system today is much more elaborate than the one you signed off on, but some things, such as filing mistakes, never change.

And we do sort of think of you at tax time, sir, since most of us need a whole lot of pennies bearing your image to cover our modern income tax bills!