What a difference!

Before:


After:

...much better :)

Remember Independence Day

If you don't have plans for tomorrow why not celebrate our independence by putting our efforts towards trying to preserve our independence. Attend a tea party. There are over 1300 of them around the country. We will be attending the one in Orem. Click here to find the one near you: http://www.teapartyday.com/

All of us need to be involved to make a big enough difference to actually change things.

What's new

Meagan and Mark update:

Here is what is new in our family. I went back to work coaching gymnastics at All-American. Then, only a few weeks into it another opportunity presented itself at another gym as the director of the girls team program. After much debate and in spite of not wanting to be a traitor, I decided to take the new job. I hope there are no hard feelings. It has been awesome so far. I love developing my own team. It is a growing gym w/out high levels (the highest being 7), so it is a wonderful opportunity for me to grow and develop the program and myself. It is a blessing that I am able to get 30 hours a week coaching, especially since Mark is starting grad school soon. He is going back to school to become a..........Librarian:). He actually wants to be on the computer systems side of librarianship, digitizing and organizing information. His program is at the University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaign. It is mostly an online program but will go to campus once a semester for a few days. He starts in a couple of weeks with a 10 day class at the University. The rest of us are not going so please pray for Mark to not get lost and especially pray for me to make it through with out him. (He helps a lot around here) It will be tough for both of us but we will be rewarded immedietly after with a trip to Mexico with my side of the family to forget all our cares. I can't wait.

Tai update:

I think she might be over her outragous moodiness. She has calmed down a lot in the last month or so. She is now a "good girl" more than not. She is still very independent. She loves to play outside in the sprinklers, garden (oh yah, we attempted our first garden), and with her friend Valeria from downstairs. She finally learned how to ride a bike with training wheels. She is an angel (behavior) at church and with the babysitter no doubt because she is shy. She can read and more impressively write. (small words, phonics style)

Tag update:

I am not liking his hair lately so tomorrow I will cut it like a normal boy cut. He just got over Roseola (something like that) and his rash is almost gone. He sure looked miserable a few days ago poor guy. He is an expert roller, a less experienced eater and a no experience bottle drinker. It has been a struggle with me working and having to rush home to nurse him. He has crawled a few times and frequently gets up on all fours. He still gets along well with Tai and prefers her over anyone. He gets the most excited when he sees the catepiller at the begining of Baby Einstein. It is so cute to see him kick his thunderous legs so hard. Mark said he rewound that part 20 times and Tag got excited every time.

In other news: I lost 25 pounds in 2 months AND found my first gray hair!

So now you know too much information.

Hyperinflation

The last few months I have been doing some research on hyperinflation, the causes and effects. It is a scary subject but one in which we need to be aware because we are headed right for it. We don't know when it will hit but when it does it is too late to prepare for it. I will summarize my findings as simply as possible. The printing of money by a government without it being backed by gold is what causes hyperinflation. That is exactly what our government has been doing in the last decade or two, but there has been a dramatic spike in recent months where they have been printing trillions and trillions of dollars (as you probably are aware) with nothing to back it up. (If you want to know more on this problem and all about the history of the FED and even what lay in store for us in the future read: The Creature from Jekyl Island. It will blow you away.) Anyway, the effects of hyperinflation are devastating- money becomes nearly worthless. It can take thousands of dollars to pay for groceries. This has happened in many countries around the world. Brazil, Ecuador, The Weimar Republic and most recently Zimbabwe. In the Weimar Republic it was cheaper to burn money rather than wood because the price of wood was so high. True. It can happen to us too, don't think that the US is somehow immune. The best way to prepare? Stock up on food and supplies (enough for a long period of time) hmm, where else have we heard this? Also buy Gold and silver. There is a convenient store in LA who already accepts silver instead of dollars. If you have a lot of money and don't know what to do with it, I would suggest investing in gold and silver mining stocks, and agricultural stocks. That is what I would do if I had money, but we don't so we are trying to build up our food storage. I don't think we have much time. It could happen as soon as the fall. Good Luck.
There is no harm in preparing for the worst, but much harm in not preparing at all.