Able to Return Home

Seems to be dying down. The Fire Dept. allowed everyone to go back home.

As I've called regularly to check in, my family has told me about the help they have received. There were great neighbors and complete strangers that stepped in and assisted during these past few hours. Because my family does not blog I wish to say thank you from all of the Stark family. To those that helped water down the yard and deck, to the firefighters on land and in the air, and to God for watching over everyone. (And yes God does read my blog)

It was a few weeks ago that we were discussing the topic of control in church. We talked about how we plan from a very young age to direct our lives in a positive direction and feel we are in control of so many things. But control is really an illusion. Events such as this are a subtle reminder that we really don't control much, and ultimately have to rely on others including those with eternal powers.

Realizing the devastation this fire could have caused I am grateful my family is safe and still has a home. (Wish we could have been there to help) Dannielle and I have come to rely heavily on friendships here in San Antonio and are so grateful to those of you that make us feel like family:)
With Love,
Tyler, Dannielle, Isabella, and Chesterfield
And of course we miss all of you back in SLC!

Pray for my Family and Others

We're glued to the internet as the fire grows and approaches my parents house. They have been evacuated and were able to get out most of their pictures, documents, pets...
To follow the story visit http://www.ksl.com
Thanks for your prayers:)
Tyler

Summer Is Over!

She is getting so big. . .

It seems as though each week ends even faster than the previous week. Summer is already over and I can't figure out where the past four months have gone. We have been in San Antonio for almost four months? Time is really flying!! Before we know it Christmas will be here and then Bella's first birthday.

We haven't had a very exciting week. Tyler might disagree, he has been running back and forth between college campuses trying to register for a lab. He is required to have two semesters of Biology lab but none of his Bio classes at the U included one with the lecture. It has been quite a mess. The counselors at the local college don't seem to deal with many pre-professional students and were void of the ability to help. So after a hectic few days Tyler has finally been able to register for a class.

Bella is still teething. Seriously I don't know how much more I can take! They are so close. . .
Hope you all had an awesome summer! We miss you all - love Dannielle

$3.56

I just have to say I'm glad gas prices are coming down again. For those of you that live in Utah and are still suffering the high prices... well I guess you're not living in a chosen land!

Work has been so busy these last few weeks of summer. So many parents wait til now to schedule appointments and our schedule is actually overflowing. We've extended the hours of the office for three weeks in a row and still have to turn people away. I hope those of you that have kids going to school didn't wait.

So after some long hard hours we finally made it out of the house today. Dannielle and Isabella have been going to the zoo twice a month since we moved here. Dannielle bought a season pass and has gone with some friends that have kids of their own. Today was the first time I got to tag along and we had a great time. Here are a few pictures of what we saw!

This is the petting zoo where you can feed and brush the goats.

Are we related?

And of course the sexual education class shown Saturdays at Noon and Two for Season Pass holders.

Holy Cow, SIX MONTHS!

Today was Bella's six month check up! Wow! Where does the time go? I had to take her to a new pediatrician, he was really nice, but it's hard going somewhere new. Bella is still getting taller. Now she is 27 1/2 inches and 13 pounds 3 ounces. So, really high on the charts for length, but almost not on the charts at all for her weight. She also had to endure more shots today. As soon as she laid on the table she started screaming. I hate watching her get shots. She was fine almost immediately and wanted to play with her Garfield band aids once she noticed them.

Tyler and I are completing some minor details on his application and hope to see the acceptances rolling on in! Oh, don't we wish!! Love you all!
Bella writing an Evaluation Letter for Ty's application

Catching Up

It's already been over a week since the last post? Sorry guys. We are hoping that any day Bella's teeth will finally break through. Although she's been pretty good throughout this process, the last three to four days have been the worst! Tyler brought home some topical anesthetic from his office to try and relieve the pain. Yesterday I was trying to get Bella to take her afternoon nap. Usually she goes to sleep easily and sleeps for at least an hour. But not this time. She was fussy and irritated. I figured she was experiencing discomfort so I grabbed the topical and applied a very small amount to her gums. SHE HATED IT! Her sobs became screams as the topical kicked in and numbed her gums. She screamed until the anesthetic wore off and was so tired from screaming she fell asleep. Any day now teeth; I am ready for you to break through!

Bella is getting faster with her army crawl. While she is crawling she will abruptly stop and look around. When she does this, she puts her leg out as far to the side as possible for support. Tyler calls it her kickstand. I have tried to get a good picture of her 'kickstand' but this is all I could come up with.


Ty and I are doing great. We are getting excited to have his family visit us in October.(I know it seems so far away, but we are always excited to see familiar faces!)

DCFS is coming!

Poor Bella has to fight Chesterfield for water. Will the Division of Child and Family Services allow her to stay? She is now trying to crawl and made her way to his dish and decided to go for a drink. I thought it was funny and grabbed the camera, Dannielle didn't think it was funny and got mad at me:( I think Dannielle is jealous that Bella is taking after me more and more. When I was a little older than Bella I would sneak handfuls of dog food out of our dogs dish.

You might think Dannielle and I are the only ones actively keeping this blog up to date. You would be wrong. Bella is growing up fast and has taken part in this family page of ours. She loves to work on the computer, and might have an e-mail address soon.

Setting aside the silly antics, I want to say thanks to everyone that has encouraged me to accomplish the desires of my heart. I truly have been blessed with great friends and amazing family. You may be thinking to yourself that I'm talking to someone other than you. If you're close enough that you're reading this blog I am saying THANKS to You. I am so grateful for Dannielle's patience and encouragement. It is a great blessing to have her by my side. We haven't even been accepted to the next step and are not even half way, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer and brighter!

And to those of you that question the existence of God, I attest that He has helped this dental school hopeful make it this far.

TYLER DID IT!

It's not very often that I am able to publicly boast about my husband. But today I am so PROUD of my hubby!! Tyler took the DAT today, and did awesome! He scored a 17 which is slightly above average (depending on the source). I know he is glad it's over, but I am SO thrilled that he did well! (He went in with low expectations, but I always knew he would do well) You did it honey! Tyler is completely dedicated to his goals, and this score is a testament of that. I'M SO PROUD OF YOU TYLER! With all the love in the universe, Dannielle and your princess Bella.

Latest and Greatest

This week has gone by too fast! Our weekend was great, and we look forward to next weekend being over with. (Next Saturday is when Tyler takes the DAT) We went out to dinner on Friday night; a rare treat. The hamburger place we went to was Big's Burgers, there are burger places everywhere down here. But so far Bigs is my favorite! On Saturday we went shopping at the mall; also a rare occurrence. The saddest part is that all the clothes purchased were for Bella. Pumpkin Patch and JC Pennys were having sales, and Bella's seemingly endless supply of clothing gifted to us, is almost entirely depleted. So we stocked up on some basics... We are having the hardest time with PJ's. She grows out of them faster than we can buy them! She is only 5 months old, but we are buying 9 month size p'jamas.
We also spent all weekend at the pool. Bella loves swimming with her daddy. He throws her up, puts her under the waterfall, splashes with her, she loves it!!




Bella's newest venture is gagging. At first it was funny. We'd put ground turkey (nasty) in her mouth and watch her freak out, stick out her tongue and make funny grossed-out noises. Then it graduated to another level. Now she can make herself throw up. If she doesn't like what she is having for dinner, she gags until she throws up. If she is put down for a nap but doesn't want to sleep, she screams until she throws up. Oh, what a funny girl! Hopefully this is a phase and she won't learn to use her vomit as a weapon.

Fire

Last night was as normal as could be expected. Bella was down for the night, I started working on YW stuff, and Tyler was doing dental application stuff. All of the sudden someone threw something at our window. We live behind the basketball courts and there are always teenagers hanging out. I disregarded the noise and continued with what I was doing. Two seconds later someone started pounding on our window. Tyler quickly opened the back sliding door to investigate. Our next door neighbor yelled, "the car parked directly in front of your house is on fire, get out!" I ran into our bedroom and grabbed Bella, then ran into the second bedroom to grab a leash for Chester. My heart was pounding. I beat Tyler to the door, but was unable to unlock the door; I was definitely panicking. We rushed outside, and sure enough, the car in front of our bedroom was on fire. Tyler ran to the neighbors in our building and pounded on their doors. They all gathered their children and rushed outside. Not knowing how much of the car was on fire, I ran as far down the street as possible. I felt certain that the gas tank was going to catch, and blow up the car. I watched as neighbors frantically moved their cars; wondering if they were making a good decision. Amazingly Bella was still sleeping in my arms amidst all the noise and confusion. Tyler ran out to the road, and flagged down any cars that were trying to enter the parking lot. It seemed like an hour before the Fire Department arrived, but it was only minutes. The fire was becoming large. As soon as the Fire Department rounded the corner, my fear began to subside. I watched as they smothered the fire with water. As I looked next to me, I noticed my next door neighbor praying with her rosary. She had been praying the entire time, so had I. The fire was out. Our home and ALL our belongings were safe.

Instant gratitude filled my entire being. I was so thankful for the neighbors that alerted us, so grateful that we live in a country that has Fire Fighters, so grateful we got out safe, grateful for all our friends and family. I don't wish to say it was a near-death experience. But the feelings that overwhelmed me afterwards, brought tears to my eyes.

We love you all. We miss you even more since this event has occurred. Love always, the Stark Family.

Past Due

I think Bella might grow up to be a good eater just like me!

What would the bubble caption say now?

Sometimes Bella and I play too much just after eating and this happens!

She can't wait to get her hands on a wii wand. She loves tanks and so do I :)
It has been a while since I (Tyler) have posted anything. I found some good pictures and thought I'd let everyone take a look.

First I have to offer an apology. I hate blogs that are strictly used as a platform to show off children, and don't allow readers a view into the lives of the parents or other happenings that might be of interest...So I apologize that our blog focuses so much attention on our child, but I'm not attractive enough to tickle your eyes and Dannielle is always behind the camera so Bella is all you get.

The latest in my life is Dental School applications. As soon as I get home from work Dannielle has me busy with studying or writing. (Unless I refuse because I'm too busy blogging!) Church is also a big part of our lives here. On a weekly basis I teach the 15 year old boys and girls in Sunday School, and once a month I teach Elders Quorum. Dannielle is working with the young women, specifically personal progress with the 12 and 13 year old girls. We had our first speaking assignment two weeks ago. It went well, but by the time we got to church they had already prayed the opening prayer. Yeah we were at least seven minutes late! I think the bishop was a little more nervous than he let on to. When we got home there was a message on my cell phone and another on our home phone, both from the executive secretary, "Hi Starks this is the bishop's secretary. Just calling to see if you guys are coming to church today...?" Dannielle spoke first and explained that it's genetic and Starks are always late, but we're definitely worth the wait! Dannielle did a fantastic job and took 20 minutes so I only had to talk for 10:)

I hope this was as exciting for you as it was for me!

Water, water everywhere. But not a drop to drink!

What a week it has been! Last weekend Tyler had Friday off. It was so nice having him home! We relaxed all day, and Tyler went and bought himself a birthday present at Best Buy (a new game for his Wii). We had already decided that taking Bella to see fireworks wouldn't be very fun. Bella is on a bedtime schedule. That process begins at 7:00. She does so well with it, that it is extremely hard to deviate from her schedule. She immediately becomes cranky, and unpleasant, when her schedule is not started on time. Any of you that were around up during our stay in SLC can attest to this! So instead of fireworks, crowded parks, and large masses of people, we decided to get some fantastic BBQ from Ruddy's. It was amazing!! We spent the night watching movies and enjoying each others company.

On the morning of the fifth, our ward had a pancake breakfast at the church, It was tons of fun; I love our ward.

But the craziest part of the week was yet to come. . . Somehow a pipe burst in our apartment complex and the water had to be shut off. It was only off for two hours, the complex had warned us, so it wasn't that bad. Two days later they shut the water off without any warning. It was off for a good chunk of the afternoon. And another day later they shut it off at 10:00 pm and it wasn't back on until the next afternoon at 1:00pm. I was so grateful when it came back on! We have so many luxuries in America. We can turn on a faucet and get a drink anytime we want! I love this country, I am so grateful for our independence!

Bella. . what the? Bella was being very quiet in her car seat. We thought she had fallen asleep until we went to get her out. She was sitting very patiently with her headband over her eyes, waiting for someone to rescue her. What a silly girl!

Memory Lane. . .

I got this game from Nicole's blog. . . It's really fun and will be quick and painless.

this is how you play...
1. comment on my blog including one memory that you and i had together. it doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot
2. next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. it's actually pretty funny to see the responses. if you leave a memory about me, i'll assume you're playing the game and dance down memory lane with you in your comments on your blog. if you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, i'll leave my memory of you in my comments.
3. C'mon. Play. Dont be a Debbie Downer. It only takes a minute.

Hangin' Out

Bella loves her new bed! I think it gives her more space to roll around. We put her in bed at 8:30 every night, and spend the rest of the night enjoying the peace and quiet. A few nights ago we decided it was finally time for Tyler and I to go to bed. As I walked into the bedroom I glanced over at the crib. I quickly did a double take as I noticed that Bella was half out of the crib! We were dying of laughter, and had to take a picture. It was SO cute! I didn't have the bumpers on due to the posts on her crib. I couldn't tie the bumper on to the corners. Anyway after that night I found a way to make and work, and Bella doesn't have to worry about hanging out.

Tyler is going through the application process right now! HIP HIP HOORAY! Well, I should say both of us; I am helping in any way that I can. The application consists of numerous steps and seems to be taking more time than we initially thought. Tyler is focusing on the DAT, and is going over the material that will be on it. Wish us luck!

A Princess Bed

Testing out the best matress the store had to offer. . .

This Saturday was Tyler's birthday. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying our day together. Tyler's birthday wish was to have an early dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We headed out at 1:00 only to find that Outback didn't open until 3:30. We decided to do some grocery shopping to take up some time until dinner. Before long it was 6:30 and we were getting ready to head out. We were not headed to dinner though. Earlier that day Tyler had agreed to go to an investigator's home with the missionaries. I was reluctant to go, Bella started teething and isn't handling it with much grace, but minutes after we arrived I was grateful. This was my first encounter with the missionary discussion process. I was amazed at how young these missionaries are. I tried to picture "young" Tyler on his mission, and wondered what kind of trials he faced. As we left the home I was overcome with the spirit. It's amazing how much my testimony on missionary work grew within that short time frame. I love the young men in this church that dedicate two years to the Lord. Thank you for all your hard work Elders!

Anyway. . .we ended the night with good food in our bellies, and a comforting feeling from the spirit.

On Sunday we continued our spiritual high at Church. When we returned home Tyler and I began the long process of assembling a crib. It took over two hours! But now Bella isn't trapped in her tiny bassinet. (she was continuing to wake herself up by bumping into the sides) And now, thanks to her dad, she is sleeping on a very comfortable bed. While we were shopping for a crib mattress, on Saturday, I reached for the cheapest $40 mattress. Tyler quickly returned my item to the shelf and convinced me she needed the mattress that was twice as much. Even though I wanted the cheapest one, I didn't win. Tyler insisted she have "a princess bed." I couldn't contain my laughter. He was completely serious. I can't believe the way she affects Tyler. She is his little princess. I love my husband and daughter with all my heart, but it is even more rewarding to see Tyler love his little girl.