I finally got to talk to Leah! I spend so much time thinking and saying, “I wish Leah were here” or “Leah would SO get a kick out of this” that I almost feel like I talk to her often. Almost. Tonight I really got to talk to her.

I love Skype.

Those of you who know Leah know that she gets less and less eloquent the later she stays up. By the time we “hung up” at 3am her time, she was really starting to sound silly. A few gems:

• “and they have shapely lower halves”
  – Telling us about how much she likes to watch rugby, a new sport to her. She was trying to explain that the guys are really strong on the bottom halves because anything above the waist is considered a foul. Ended up sounding more like she watched the sports for … all the wrong reasons.  =)
• “muscular women – it makes me happy”
  – Telling us how women play rugby, too, but that they have to be very strong.
• “here is the amazingness of my life today.” [long pause]  ”I forgot what I was going to say.”
  – Getting ready to tell us about something exciting that happened today.
• “I can always remember everything ever about all the rooms of my life I stay in.”
  – The response to my suggestion that she take pictures of the house she’s living in so that later she’ll be able to remember all the details.
• “roll out, do some makeups and go to the food”
  – Her plan for tomorrow morning. =)
• “probably some days in the night”
  – The next time we get to talk to her online.

She’s so much fun!

Now, my life will be complete if I get to talk to Melissa. (Hear that, sister? When can we talk?!)

happy birthday melissa!

(Sorry Mac folks, it’s a wmv.  Because I don’t have a Mac.  And because I had 10 minutes.)

Here’s Melissa, enjoying her birthday soda:

Here’s the cake, up close and personal:

… and here’s a bracelet they gave out.  What does it say, Shmel?

Weekend #1: Dave’s dad’s dad’s family (Aukermans)
Weekend #2: Dave’s mom’s mom’s family (Schraders) <- this weekend
Weekend #3: Dave’s mom’s dad’s family (Funks) which we’re missing for…
Weekend #3: Dave’s 10-yr high school friends reunion

David has a lot of people to reunite with… =) I enjoy these reunions, though. This is something my fam doesn’t do.

I’ll take some pics this weekend and post ‘em so you can join in the reunion festivities (now that I’ve figured out why my photos weren’t transferring from my camera and fixed the issue).

I’ve discovered something:  of all the people I know in the world, I have the most in common with my sister Leah.  We like the same movies.  We like the same music.  We like the same shoes.  We drool over the same necklaces.  We have the same hobbies.  In fact, the biggest difference I could find between us while she was here was that she likes video games a little bit more than I do, and that I like playing the piano a little bit more than she does.

A couple of pictures from our family reunion, recently uploaded by Dave’s brother and his wife:

Tara, David, Randy, originally uploaded by rauke1.

Jake and Tara, originally uploaded by rauke1.

I just enjoy the first picture – I love having a big brother!  And the second photo…  Imagine that dog trembling – he was TERRIFIED of the water.  See how taut his muscles are?  He was very, very tense, and leaping about from rock to rock so he wouldn’t have to touch the water.  =)  We had a large audience up on the bank.

One of the funniest moments of the reunion occurred while we were waiting at the lodge for the last set of us to arrive.  The kids had just finished a day full of swimming and running around outside, so they were tired and starting to get grouchy.  One of the cousins grabbed Chutes and Ladders and all 5 itty-bitties ran over to play.  After a while, they started fighting about the rules, so a mom brought out another game hoping to split them up.  Of course, when the kids saw Candyland, they all wanted to play the new game and the other was abandoned as boring.  The exasperated mom told them that half could play each game, and then they’d switch, but the kids weren’t having it.  They all sat down and grabbed pieces.  Mom looks at the oldest 2 kids and says, “One of you is going to have to go play Chutes and Ladders.”  When neither volunteered, she gave the oldest a meaningful look – whereupon the girl gets up, stomps about 5 feet away, then turns around and seethes.  She looks at the mom and says (amid breath-catches, as if she’d been sobbing), “If this is the manner in which I’m going to be treated, I’m never going to play again!”  This kid is 7.  It was hilarious!  The mom gave in and let the girl come back – immediately, the drama queen settled down and happily resumed bossing around the other kids.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my family (I only pulled out the camera at the very end because my sister-in-law was snapping so many pictures).

Anyway, we’re back safe and sound for those of you who were waiting to hear. 

Dave, uploaded by tara.aukerman.

I’ve been trying to get in a last hour of work today, but work right now is some graphic manipulation, trying to squeeze an image and find an extra 24 pixel rows – then trying to use that image as the base of a 20-image series.  It’s just too detailed for me to really focus on right now.  So I’m posting a funny video.

We ate at the Hickam AFB officers’ club tonight – at a mongolian barbeque.  It’s a building with only 2 walls, opening out over Pearl Harbor.  While we ate, submarines and motor boats floated by.  I got some fun pictures of my family, but can’t put them online or they’d cry…  my favorite is one of my dad’s face right after a baby puked all over the table in front of him and in his coffee.  =)  Use your imagination.

Leah and I asked Kelly (mom’s friend) to take a picture of us goofing off.  I handed the camera to her in video mode instead of picture mode.  =)  Here’s us posing for her, then waiting, then posing for a second shot just in case the second didn’t come out (pushing the capture button started then stopped the movie):

[coolplayer] http://tara.elmadera.com/images/hickamposes.AVI [/coolplayer]

Other pictures from tonight are posted on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/taukerman/.

With David teaching at Taylor and staying up north this week, I’ve been on my own.  It was nice to have some time alone after vacation and being surrounded by people, but now I’m just missing my husband.  Good thing he’s coming home tomorrow.  =)

I’ve gotten a lot of extra hours of work in – enough to make up for the holiday this week.  I’ve also done a lot of catch-up work for a client.  It feels good to not be buried under a backlog of work.

Oooh… and me and Jake have been getting along well.  That means he’s not running all over me anymore.  At least while it’s just me and him, he’s pretty obedient.  I haven’t had to wrestle him once.  =)  He gets in his crate in the morning and at bedtime.  He sits without being bribed (well, he did once).  He even stayed for a few seconds (with a heavy bribe).  He’s a fun dog - I’d be crazy here completely alone, and he’s good company.

Look at the color of this water…  It was crystal clear, even while we were boogie-boarding!

 
Dave, doing what mathematicians do at the beach.  Solving mathy puzzles.

Leah.  =)  (Mom in the background.)

We arrived Wednesday afternoon here in O’ahu after flying all day.  Went straight from the airport to Debbie, Bianca and Kyle’s house.  It was fun, getting to see them right off.  The last time I was here, we spent a lot of time together and I made friends with Kyle.  This time, he was a bit shy – it’s been six months since we’ve seen each other, and he has two other Woodrum girls to take my place.  We’ve seen him again since and things are returning to normal.  =)  I love that kid.  This time, I’ve gotten to see a little more of Bianca one-on-one…  not much, but more than before.  I’m glad.

So.  We flew off to the Big Island for the weekend.  Pictures are here.  While there, we stayed in a military camp within the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.  We visited volcanic craters, areas devastated by past lava flows, rifts in the earth made my volcanic earthquakes, and the highlight: took a rainy night hike out to see the current lava flow.  We saw red lava flowing into the ocean, making new land.  It was phenomenal.

Not such a highlight of our Big Island trip:  I spilled an entire cup of coffee into my laptop keyboard.  The computer shut itself off and never came back on.  I had gotten my leg stuck under a desk – really stuck – and, panicking, tried to stand up.  I knocked the coffee right into the computer.  That was Monday. 

I spent all of Tuesday looking at current models of laptops after I found out it was cheaper to buy a new one than to repair the Vaio.  Went to BestBuy and found a replacement.  The most important thing I did, though, was to pay for a whatever-the-heck-happens-to-your-computer-we’ll-fix-or-replace-it warranty.  Forget this manufacturer’s warranty crap – I paid for one of those last time and came out with nothing.  Waste of money.  I figure that I’m clumsy enough I’ll make this policy worth what I paid.

I haven’t been able to get hardly any work done, and I can’t show you any other pictures – everything was on my old laptop.  When I get home, I’ll borrow some equipment from a friend and copy everything onto this machine, but for now, it’s locked away on an inaccessible hard drive.

After we got back from the Big Island, we had a day at home, then we spent 4 days at Bellows AFB.  My folks rented a cabin right on the beach and David, my sister Leah and I stayed there for 3 nights.  Mom and Dad joined us for night #2 and my sister Melissa was there night #3.  I got a sunburn that I hope will turn into what my pastor refers to as a “glorious tan.”  We’ll see.  At least I won’t come back without any color.  And at least David spent some time outside without his t-shirt on.  =)

We just got back this afternoon.  I spent the afternoon going through a thousand emails from a client and getting things squared away with that account.  Since then, I’ve spend most of the night in the kitchen making various types of cookies.  My folks are semi-hosting a Christmas dinner tomorrow for their group at church and we’re doing desserts and mashed potatoes.  They went to buy a paring knife, to develop some film for me, and to get my mom some flour for “fudgy bon-bons.”  David and Leah are busy sweating and jumping to DDR (a video game that has them dancing on mats).  Melissa is playing World of Warcraft.  I’m doing my civic duty here.  =)

That’s it – we’ve been busy, but now you know what we’ve been up to.

Wednesday, I went out to lunch with Bethany – it was great to see her one on one.  Since she’s been engaged and then married, she’s been too busy to spend any time with any one person – when she gets to socialize, it’s always in big groups.  We had a long lunch and talked – it’s good having my friend back.  =)  When I got back, so many people from my office had taken off early that my boss emailed and said to go home.  We met her at a hole in the wall pub and spent a couple hours laughing and chatting, then she and I went to an Aveda salon on Mass Ave.  I picked up this matter root shampoo and conditioner that add red tones to dark hair – and smell really nice – and then Dave and I drove to church.  When we got home, we played through the first third of Lego Star Wars (he brought the game home for me as a surprise).

Thursday, I got up at the crack of dawn – no, before dawn – and went to help the pastor’s wife and Bethany make some of the food for the church’s Thanksgiving dinner (which I was missing).  I came back and took a nap, then woke up and worked and lazed about.  David started writing his Aquinas paper – the last requirement from a class he took this summer.  That night, we went to his parents’ house and had Thanksgiving dinner with most of his Mom’s side of the family.  It was fun – I love that group of people.

Friday, I spent the ENTIRE DAY cooking and cleaning.  It’s been so busy around here that I haven’t had much of a chance to keep up with housework.  I would have waited until today (Saturday was the traditional cleaning day in my family growing up), but we had Dave’s parents, brother and sister-in-law, and grandmother over for a birthday dinner.  Usually on birthdays, his mother cooks whatever meal the birthday person requests and makes a cake.  Even on her own birthday, because David’s is the day after.  This year, we thought it would be nice if she didn’t have to cook – and it was a great excuse to get the family down to Indy to see our house.  =)

Today is a lazy day.  I looked around for things to do, but couldn’t find any cleaning left.  So, I’m taking it easy.  Updating things on the computer, watching a couple of episodes of a TV series, etc.  Dave’s still writing that paper, so I’m on my own.  Not that I mind – it’s been a full week of people and things to do and places to go.  Now… back to the lazing about…

These are from Randy and Carrie’s wedding (including a semi-clear shot of the YMCA-ing Aukermans), in no particular order:

Uncle Mike and Cousin Sarah.  Don’t know why they’re sad.  =)

Uncle Ron doing a “dollar dance” with Randy.  One of my favorite pictures.

The original John Aukermans.

A new Aukerman – Carrie.

Mom and Dad.

Me and David.

A very fun picture of Cousins Tim and Jen.

And last, but not least…

A heavily edited picture (it was dark) of the YMCA.
(this photo courtesy of Cousin Sarah)

Roy emailed me today, introduced himself, and asked if I were related in any way to a Leo, Ron, John or Paul Aukerman.  I said yes – in fact, they’re my uncles by marriage.  Roy is the son of Roy, the brother of Harry, the father of John, the father of my David.

I told him I’d post a picture of the brothers on this blog – and I’ve looked all in my picture files and through emails.  I can’t find it!  Bear with me though – perhaps someone else has one.  There were a lot of people around with cameras, not to mention the photographer at the wedding.  I’ll get on that.

In the meantime, imagine this:  the four brothers are sitting in chairs, all in a line.  Rather than all of them YMCA-ing (it was that part of the reception where the silly songs start getting played), each one had a letter.  Ron makes a very enthusiastic Y (and does a dance from the waist up).  Paul makes an M (on top of his head).  Leo makes a C (without moving anything but his arms – including his shoulders).  John makes an A (laughing very hard at his brothers).  It was hilarious.
You who were there – did anyone get a clear picture of this?  =)

No tsunami actually came, but the quake shook some gas pipes loose on the base.  They can’t get back in to get their stuff – and they can’t get back in to have my Dad’s birthday party with their friends.  But hey – they’re all still alive, and no loss of life has been recorded as a result of this 6.6 quake!  Since they can’t get back onto the base, they’re going over to Debbie’s – Mom said she and her kids were a little shaken by the earthquake (who wouldn’t be, on an island after the 2004 tsunami in east Asia?).

No earthquakes here in Indy – just a long, long 24 hours.  =)  Our Saturday/Sunday schedule (this isn’t even much crazier than a typical day for us!):

SATURDAY
7:30am-8am – prayer meeting at church
8:15am-9:30am – breakfast with church folks
9:30am-11am – work day at church (we raked and raked and raked leaves and acorns)
11-12 – shower and dress
12-12:45 – drive to Anderson
12:45-2 – lunch with Dave’s family
2-5 – errands
5-5:45 – free time
5:45-6:45 – meeting with contractor who’s going to do some work on our house
6:45-7:00 – dinner
7:00-1:30am – chaperone youth lock-in at church (we left when they went to sleep)

SUNDAY
8am-8:15 – prayer meeting
8:15-8:45 – serve breakfast to the kids & clean kitchen
8:45-9:30 – shower & dress
9:30-12:30 – Sunday school and church
12:30-2 – prepare, serve and clean up after youth-hosted lunch for entire church
2-4 – crash HARD (2 hour nap)
4-5 – stumble around waking up
5-6:30 – choir practice
6:30-7 – wash dishes left over from church lunch

This kind of schedule is why we’ve been so exhausted.  =)  It was a good couple of days, though – I had a great time with the Mead kids at the lock-in, and I always enjoy the folks at church.  As hard a day as today was, it’s nice actually serving.  Sometimes I feel like I just exist – I go to church meetings, but that’s it.  Today, we were USEFUL.  =)