Thanksgiving 2007!!

This year the Texas Links went to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. Now that J.B. and Simone have room for everyone, they won the prize and we held it at their new house. We had all of the traditional foods--but some with a twist to old recipes. All of the food tasted great. It was fun for us to be able to spend time with everyone and we missed those that weren't able to be there. Greyson, Caden, Brynna and Maggie had a great time with their cousins (as always). We are grateful for everything that we have and for all of our family and friends. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!

"COUNT DORCULA"

A short story by Caden Link
Caden and Gatlin went trick-or-treating. Caden was a polite, helping boy. He told the truth, too. Gatlin was just the same. Caden was good at math, and Gatlin was good at science. They thought they were done, until.........Creeeeek, Bam, Pow, Boom! A house was wooden, lightning, and the door opened by it's self. Gatlin fainted. Caden said, "Do you think it's Santa?" "Why would you think that?!" asked Gatlin. "Oh fine! Easter Bunny?!" asked Caden. Gatlin gave Caden a disappointed face. "O.K. It's haunted" said Caden. "Ya think?!" said Gatlin.
The boys slowly creeped into the house. "Trick-or-Treat," said Caden. "Shut it," whispered Gatlin. "Do you smell something?" asked Gatlin. "I think it's a burnt part." "Oh, good! I thought that was me," said Caden. "Can I eat my--" "NO!" said Gatlin. And...Pow, Bam, Boom!!! Lightning went again. A tall, skinny vampire came. "I would love to--eat my candy," interupted Caden. "Well, I was going to say 'suck your blood', but, O.K." said the vampire. "Wait," said Gatlin. "Aren't vampires allergic to garlic?" "I blew the bathroom up today," said Caden. "Good for you. Now--why are you my friend again?" asked Gatlin. "Because I'm nice," said Caden. "Rigggghhht," said Gatlin.
"Let's give him some candy, and run up-stairs," suggested Gatlin. "No," said Caden. "I have a better idea. I love candy," said Caden. "Let's just go with my plan," said Gatlin. They went up-stairs, preparing the candy with garlic. Caden didn't get the plan, so he, ummmmmm, oh yeah. He got and apple pie, and said, "Enjoy", and stuffed the pie into the vampire's face. "Oh, I'm so sorry sir. Let me get a napkin." Caden came back with thick napkins. Caden tried to wipe it off, but the vampire's teeth sank through.
Caden went up-stairs to warn Gatlin, but all that came out was, "Yayyyauah", and a little 'poof'. "Disgusting", said Gatlin. "Let's put some garlic in. Hand me the--where's the garlic?" asked Gatlin. "I ate it," said Caden. Caden thought for a minute. "Wait," said Caden. "If you max the time with decimals, you get 10:00, which is the time we got the garlic-bread." "Where did that come from," asked Gatlin. "There never was a problem that didn't involve math," said Caden. "That explains a whole lot," said Gatlin. "Let's get the garlic bread." "Hurry up," screamed the vampire. He lost his mind. The vampire stood up, turned gray, and it's veins were popping out. It was coming up. It opened the door! They stuffed the candy into it's mouth. "Don't you dare scream," said Gatlin. "O.K." said Caden. And...they were safe!!
--THE END

Happy Halloween!!

BEL'S NEW DO!!

We didn't even get the pulling tooth drama, darn it! We were so looking forward to it! Byron went to wiggle it to see how loose it was, and Brynna tried to push his finger away with her tongue and popped her tooth right out! She was so excited she didn't know what to do. Do I laugh, do I cry? So she did both. It was so cute though. She put her tooth under her pillow in anticipation of the awaited Tooth Fairy, and.....2 Bucks!! I think the Tooth Fairy thinks she's (or he's) rich or something. Maybe it's inflation, but I only got a quarter when I was little. Bel is a lucky girl!!

Last Hoorah of the summer!!

Over Labor Day weekend we took a couple of days to "vacation" only about 1 1/2 hours from here. The first day we went to the Museum of Science in Ft. Worth where they had the Star Wars exhibit with original costumes, puppets, and models that were in used in the movies. Very Cool!! Our kids loved it! We stayed in a hotel in Ft. Worth and woke up the next morning and went to Glen Rose to Dinosaur Valley State Park where we hiked trails through woods and rivers to find dino prints left behind by our little dino friends. We've decided that we need more time and bathing suits to be able to find all the prints we would like to. It was fun though. Then, we went to Fossil Rim Safari where Maggie drove us through a 2 hour safari in our car. We fed all kinds of animals, but the favorite was the giraffe. I must speak Giraffe because he came right over to us, stuck his head in our car (freaking out kids) and ate food right out of my hand. It was cool! Then it was back to reality and we had to come home and go back to school--atleast we got a last HOORAH!!

Another year is here!!

Can you believe another school year is here? Can you believe I sent one to HIGH SCHOOL??? I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that one. So-Grey started 9th grade, Caden started 4th, and Brynna went to her very first day of big kid school and started kindergarten. Mommy and Daddy were kind-of depressed the whole day. Where is the time going? They all had great first day's, but all were very, very grumpy. Maybe bedtime should be a little earlier.....I guess we will all have to adjust. Everybody likes their teachers and are cool with the people in their classes, so looks like things are starting off good so far. We're proud of all of them!

Greyson's 14th!!! Let's party!

Redneck party!!

You know you're a redneck when.....
Daddy brings home 12 feet of bubble wrap and it's the highlight of the day. No, really, Byron thought the kids would get a kick out of dancing on it and hearing it POP-POP-POP!! They did really love it--the whole 3 minutes it lasted. What a good Daddy!

My Personality!!

O.K. I think it hit it on the nose! Fun little test--take it and let me know what it says about your personality!

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart. You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do. You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

What's Your Personality Type?

Caden's Room, Sir!!

This last weekend we redecorated Caden's bedroom and made it "Caden's Command Post". We had a good time painting, replacing knobs in the bathroom, and especially changing the ceiling fan (Byron did a great job). Caden really thinks it's cool! Just thought you'd like to see......

Our Okie Time!! Love it!!

I (Tammy) and the kids went up to visit my family in Oklahoma last week. We spent a couple of days at Sondra's house where Brynna had a great time with her cousin Alyssa. Caden also overcame his intense fear of dogs and cats (atleast Sondra's dogs and cats) while we were at her house. We then went to J.B.'s new house (The HomeTeam House) for a cook-out and we stayed there for the rest of our visit. We had a great time with my sister's and the kids cousin's. We went swimming at Mary Alice's pool twice where Caden learned how to dive off of a diving-board. Greyson is a great swimmer and dives and flipps and all that fun stuff. Brynna tried her hardest to dive and we told her she was because she was so excited when she would come out of the water-all smiles and thumbs up-but......she's the reason they named it the BELly-flop. We also got to see Kael's new house--Awesome--we're so excited for Kev and Darlyn. It's a great house. Chris and Lacey are now in Norman and we got to spend some time with cutie-pie Coleman. What a little doll. Goodman a little...Goelz a whole lot! Sheri, Mom, J.B., Greyson and I went to see Snowpatrol--Hopefully we've got a couple of converted fans. Anyway, we had a great time just hangin' out with the family--I wouldn't have it any other way......

Oklahoma Summer Fun!

From Chicago to Navoo

We left Chicago and arrived in Navoo, Illinois on Friday. Instead of staying in a hotel, we stayed in The Hart House which is across the street from the Navoo Temple. The house was so cool! The furniture was antique, all of the paintings on the walls were either of Old Navoo or LDS related, and all of the books in the library were LDS. But the best part about this house was the view. The temple was directly across the street--and what a beautiful temple it is. It is designed according to what the original temple looked like before the Saints were driven out. It was hard to take in the fact that they actually left it behind. The Trail of Hope is a path that is lined with plaques with quotes from saints as they left to cross the Mississippi River--Some joyful that they were going somewhere (although they didn't know where) free from persecution--Some recalled the misery of burying children or how sick their husbands or children were. I couldn't imagine following that path, looking back at the temple, knowing I would never return. What a spiritual experience we all had.

Old Navoo

Peek-a-boo!

Maggie playing peek-a-boo at Aunt Ali's house. Is she not the cutest?

Lincoln Park Zoo

Lincoln Park Zoo--What a great place. Not too far from Ali's house, close to the water is Lincoln Park Zoo. You've seen it in the movies many times, maybe not knowing that it was the L.P.Z. We walked around the park and let the kids chase butterflies, we ate lunch, looked at all the animals, and rode the merri-go-round. But, I think that my kids favorite part was riding the paddle-boats. Of course, Brynna had to have the Swan. It was cool to be on the water, in this great park, but still be in the middle of downtown Chicago. What a fun day!

I made my first slideshow--Check it out!

We Love Chicago!!

The Texas Links finally made it to Chicago to see Ali, Kermit, and the A girls!! We had never met Adi and Avrie--what darling little girlies. Annaliese was fun to get to spend some time with. She's the smartest 3 yr. old I've ever seen--and beautiful too. Chicago is a fantastic city with soooo much to see and do. We took a boat tour of the city and the views were great! Later that night we took in a Cubbies game at Wrigley Field (scratch one off of Byron's list of things to do before he dies). Fun was had by all. Chicago--What a Wonderful City!