Grandma J home, Grandparents Strong here, I'm at work

Well, my mom went home on Saturday. We had a great time visiting. She even went down to Mesquite to visit Dad's sister.

Taylor and Shaylie made quite a hall. A foldup house, lots of little people, a hand puppet theatre, toys and clothes. Taylor got a digital camera from me, and Shaylie got a T-Ball set. You can never start to young, I feel. ;-)

I got Tonya the knives she asked for and the Special Edition of The Lord of the Rings. It takes a day to watch the whole thing.

Mom got me the hardback edition of Goblet of Fire, now my collection is complete. Tonya got me a beard trimmer and a great mp3 player.

We saw most everyone in Tonya's family over the weekend, except for Mike.

Roger and Pam came last night, Taylor showed them how well that she can read and write.

Grandma's Here

My mom traveled here yesterday. The girls were very excited to see her. The girls are very excited for Christmas tomorrow.

I'm Back!!!

The server upgrade was a lot easier than anticipated! All done and it works great!

In Cedar City

I get to spend the weekend in Cedar City. I am upgrading their server and I have a feeling it will take a day or two. Hoepfully things will go well.

New Phone Number

We finally are fed up with 95% of all calls to our house being hangups or telemarketers. We are removing our phone service and getting a cell phone. Our new number is.....hah, like I would write it on a web page where a computer could find it. It you need our number, either email or talk to us in person!

Upgraded servers at work

I went into my office and upgraded three servers tonight. Fortunately, I had no problems and now I only have two more servers to go before the new year!

Heading to Salt Lake...again...maybe

On Tuesday, DWS is having the annual awards luncheon. If you are wondering, yes that was supposed to be this past Tuesday. So I get to travel up to Salt Lake for a two-hour meeting. Hopefully this time they will not cancel it right before I walk out the door to go to it.

Give to charity....

and help me find out what is going to be in the next Harry Potter Book!

Cancel That...

Got all packed up and was about to take my stuff to the car when I looked at my screen and saw the email "Tomorrow's meeting canceled." Nothing like advance notice, huh?

Travel to Salt Lake

Today I am driving to Salt Lake. I am hoping the weather is ok. I will probably leave around 11:00 this morning.

In Cedar City Today

I am working in Cedar City today. They are using the training room so I am stuck in the conference room, I think I fixed the video conference equipment, although all I had to do was plug it into the right port. I cleaned up the computer closet. I also fixed a form that was broke. In other words, I have had a very busy day so far.

Travel to Salt Lake next Monday

Tuesday of next week is the Service Award Luncheon, I get my five-year award, for working for the state for eight years. At least my retirement has it right, although I do not believe that I will be able to retire at 53, but I guess I can always hope.

Harry Potter Review

What do you think I am going to say?!

It was great! I loved it. It didn't feel like a two and a half hour movie. In fact, I wish it would have been longer! Taylor really enjoyed seeing the movie. She just wishes that we could buy it on DVD right now.

BTW, make sure that you stay for the whole credits, there is a scene afterwards.

Holiday Update

After several calls, we are going to have Grandma J visit us for Christmas. Thanksgiving and New Years are still up for grabs.

Start of Another Week

MonTues, I hate MonTues! Hopefully things will go okay today. Taylor has been sick for the past couple of days, She tried to go to school, but she had to come home. Tonya is starting to have the same illness.

We are starting to potty-train Shaylie, so far, it has not been successful, although we now know that she has pretty good control as she doesn't go potty until there are no adults in the room.

Tonya is almost done knitting my scarf. It is Gryffindor colors and will look really nice when we go to see Harry Potter this week!

Almost forgot, I now have saddlebags for my bike, so I no longer carry a heavy backpack to work anymore. It is really nice and has great reflective striping.

Going to try and get holiday plans finalized this week.

Best week of the year

I always love the week after daylight savings. It feels like I am sleeping in even though I am getting up at 5:40. I am pretty happy this week.

Taylor got all her spelling words right this past week. She is now at level 7 reading and only needs to be to 10 by the end of the quarter, she is doin great.

Shaylie is doing well. Tonya bought her a bunch of pizza's, as that is the only food she seems to eat, other than cereal.

Tonya's spider has bit the dust, rain and morning frost have made the legs shrival up.

What a start to the week!

I drove to Salt Lake City for a one hour meeting that was held on Monday. The governor's chief-of-staff brought along several people to try and explain to us why the things that the State CIO that were wrong weren't so bad, in fact, we should be thankful that he was able to get the people that he did. As per typical politcs, it was a load of crap. Then the CIO got up and apologized for us being mad at him, I loved that, must of been a slip, but right after he apologized, he stuck his tongue in his cheek. In the end, people asked questions and did not get good answers. All I can say is, at least I get travel reimbursement for it.

In better news, Taylor and I went to a fair at the Mall parking lot on Saturday, we stayed for about seven hours. She rode everything at least 5 times. One nice ride operator let me ride with Taylor on the Ferris Wheel. Then we ate at a chinese place, which is our favorite food.

Just for information, Taylor's spelling words this week are: be, red, ride, night, friend.

Salt Lake here I come....again

Governor Leavitt has decided that all LAN administrators need to go to Salt Lake for a meetng on Monday, so I will be driving up to Salt Lake on Sunday.Have to be back to work on Tuesday, so this is going to be a very quick trip.

Taylor got her report card, she had very good grades.

Tonya made a huge spider for the front yard.

Back to regular work

Yesterday was a state holiday. I however worked because that would allow me the time to update the public access computers. I changed out 21 computers yesterday. Tonya and Taylor scrubbed the kitchen floor to clean out the lines. They did a good job.

We all went to the Renaissance Fair in Las Vegas on Sunday. Mike and Erin were up there, so it was nice to see relatives.

Taylor has had a five-day weekend. Friday was the end of the quarter, so she didn't have school. Monday and Tuesday are the UEA convention, so she has had a lot of free time.

Hello

I am working in Cedar City today, as I normally do on Wednesday's. Taylor last night did a great job reading, she brings home books every night that are of advancing difficulty. Last night she got through a level six book and did a great job. We also studied spelling words and she was able to handle them well.

Shaylie is getting more and more understandable. It is really fun to watch her play with Taylor.

Tonya's back is still hurting. She had been getting better, but she unfortunately one night wasn't thinking and lifted up Taylor. Her back has hurt since.

Hockey season starts tonight. With the Diamondbacks out in baseball, it is back to cheering for the Avs and Coyotes (and of course the Grizzlies)

D-Backs gone

The Diamondsbacks were elinimated tonight. There is great sadness in my life.

Yankees Dead!

So far this year the baseball playoffs have not been fun to watch. Randy Johnson getting shelled, Curt Shilling getting no run support. But the best thing that can happen other than the D-Backs winning everything has occurred, the New York Yankees are elinimated in the first round!!!!!!!!!!! This makes anything that happens with the D-Backs ok.

I'm Back

I am in St. George again. Had a pretty good trip up and back. Brought some more computers for Cedar City with me.

Going to Salt Lake

I am going to Salt Lake Thursday and Friday for the semi-annual LAN Conference, which I guess will be renamed the TECH Support Conference since they are changing our job titles. Oh well, LAN Administrator sounded so much more important than Tech Support Specialist, but as long as they don't cut my pay, I guess I don't care.

I calculated today that I maintain 211 computers at work. That is more than anyone else in the state.

Harry Potter news

I just heard that the lawsuit against J.K. Rowling by another author saying that she copied names from her book has been decided. Not only did the court find that they suspect the author was lying, they made her pay court expenses to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. This is great news.

A new Week

Back at the old office. I'm not feeling too good today, but I have to be in since I am setting up a computer for a person that complains constantly to upper management whenever she sees an opportunity, plus I am secretly hoping that I will cough on her and get her sick. She brought her computer in last week and put it down on my nice desk on the glass and put a serious scratch in it. Since my monitor is behind that glass, I get to look at the screen through a wonderful scratch.

In home news, Shaylie got the new Rolie Polie Olie DVD, I think she really likes it. Taylor is doing well in school. Both Taylor and Shaylie had pictures last week. Will pass them out when we get them.

Here comes the rain

And the rain, rain, rain, came down, down, down. The rain is pooring down here. Our street is a river again. Taylor is out playing in it. Shaylie wasn't too interested in it. Will put pictures on soon.

Fair at the Mall....Again

They had another fair at the Mall parking lot today. Taylor and I went from 3 till 8:15. She rode everything about five times. She had a great time. Pictures coming soon.

People are funny

I love some of the people I work with. I just got a call about a computer problem, I asked her to find her ip address, this is something that I have shown everyone how to do. She says "How do I do that?" I told her that there is a white square next to her clock the screen. She asks me "what does the clock look like?" I tell her it is in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. She can't see it. So I ask her to find the start button, she does, I tell her to look straight across from the start button to the right side of the screen for the clock. Still can't find it. In a last ditch effort, I ask her if there is anywhere on the screen that is telling her the time. She says the time is in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Next we move over and find the white icon. Once she got me her ip address, I fixed her problem in about 5 seconds. I love my job!

Everyone's sick, except for me

Cough's and sniffels abound. Tonya's sick, Taylor's really sick, Shaylie is the one that got them sick. I brought back gifts from grandma J. Taylor really like her new clothes, and she really liked the box that the toybox came in. Shaylie wore her new pajamas and liked them a lot. She loves her toy box, she put all of her toys in first thing and learned how to shut it. Shaylie is speaking very well, it is nice to know what she wants.

I have the day off tomorrow, going to get caught up on chores.

I'm Back

I have made the trip back from Salt Lake and I am back in St. George. It was a safe trip, although it took two hours to get from Salt Lake to Santaquin, it should have only taken an hour. Traffic was terrible. It was good to get away and visit my mom.

Hi There!

Hello. It's been a long time since I posted so I thought I should get on and update you all. Taylor as you know is back in school. She loves it! She is having a great time learning math and reading. She is going to be a very good student, I can tell already.

Shaylie is doing very well. She is missing her sister, but she is finding lots of things to do to keep busy. She is speaking more and more clearly every day. I can understand her almost 3/4 of the time. Then I translate to those not used to her babble language. She is such a sweetie.

Yesterday, my grandparents, Clyde and Bertha Heath, came down for a visit. They had some Dr. Appt.'s in Cedar City, so they stopped at my sister's and picked up Anje and brought her down for a visit. It was good to talk to them.

We are missing Scott! I never seem to appreciate how much he does for me until he goes away for a while. He takes care of us so well, it is like missing one of my arms when he is gone. Especially since I woke up sick this morning. I know he would let me take a nap and try to feel better while he watches the girls. I'll just have to save it for when he gets home. Or else, just feel better by then. Hopefully.

Anyway, we are enjoying the cooler weather. We have spent more time out on our new patio lately. It is fun to spend the evenings on the swing and watch the sky get dark.

We hope all of you are well. We think of you often and miss you more. Keep in touch and take care of yourselves.

In Salt Lake

I am in Salt Lake for Novell Training. It is nice to be going to a training that I can actually use. I was worried that I was going to be late this morning, but I ended up being the first one here. Because of that, I got a computer with the internet, whoever sits next to me, has to be the file server and gets no internet. I hope that I learn a lot in this class.

Even More Pictures

We are now all caught up on pictures again! I have added pictures from Taylor's First day of School and from Shaylie's 2nd Birthday! Everyone is doing fine and I am preparing for my week-long trip to Salt Lake to learn Novell 6.

New Photos!!!!

We have finally added some new photos to our pages. You can go to the photo section of the web site and see them. They are July 4th pictures, swimming pictures, lagoon trip and time in Holden. More photos coming very soon!

Shaylie's Birthday

She has made her second complete trip around the sun. Tonya decorated and made her a quidditch cake (The Golden Snitch is Shaylie's favorite thing) She love her cake and she got a fisher-price school bus and a sleeping baby doll. We all had a good time. Pictures to come soon.

We're back

We are back from our trip. On the 7th, we drove to Mesquite and went swimming there and went to the casio. I gave Tonya her anniversary present. She really liked her ring. We then went to the movie "Signs." It was VERY good. On the 8th, We went to Hoover Dam and Lake Meade. We spent quite a bit of time there. Then we went to the Star Trek experience. It was overpriced, but I guess I needed to see it once, probably won't go again. We ordered pizza to our room and rested.

Today is the day

Today my Department starts using a program that has not been fully debugged. I have all of my fixer programs running on all of my computers so that when the calls start coming, I won't have to wait for it to come up. Today, I fear, is going to be one of the busiest days ever at my job.

New Trick from an old toy

I downloaded a new driver for the video card on my laptop. With it, I am able to display two totally different screens from the laptop when I am at work! It is like having two computers instead of one. Well, I guess in my case it is more like having 7 computers instead of 6.

At the Dentist

Taylor and I had our dental appointments yesterday. Taylor had to have some teeth sealed and I had two cavities and a broken tooth. Fortunately, Taylor did not have to have any shots, but I had three. I closed my eyes and everything went ok. My mouth hurts this morning, but it is not too bad.

Taylor is back home

Taylor finally came home today! She was really excited to see the new awning! Then we showed her the new movie, Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.

Taylor has a gap between her teeth that she didn't have when she left. She lost her first tooth while she was gone.

School starts on August 12th, so we all only have a couple of weeks to prepare for 1st grade.

Change in plans...

Taylor stayed with grandma as Great Grandpa is going to take them boating. She had very mixed emotions about staying. She is happy to go boating but said to see mommy leave.

Shaylie came back with Tonya last night and was very excited to see the swimming pool up, it was the first thing that she did when she got into the house. She got her swimsuit on and went swimming.

After that she went into Taylor's room and said, "Want Potter." Another one is hooked on that movie. It is surprising she likes that movie, the only other movies she likes are computer animation movies.

Tonya has a back appointment and a dentist appointment today. She is dropping off Shaylie at my office. Have the Harry Potter and Silly Songs movies already for her to watch; am I prepared or what? :-)

Pioneer Day

Tonya went to Holden last night to pick up the girls. Taylor is in the youth parade in Holden this morning, pictures coming soon....

The girls will get to see the awning for the first time today and will be happy to see their pool underneath it.

We got a new movie for Taylor and Shaylie. Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. Taylor will like it because she has already seen it and said it is funny. Shaylie will like it because it is computer animation, and that seems to be her requirement for liking a movie.

It will be good to have the whole family back together again. It is about three weeks until school starts again, so we get to spend a little time together.

My laptop desk came!

I just got my laptop desk. It is nice and small and and light and fits easily into my backpack. (just what I needed more stuff to carry around) It will be nice to not get hot leg anymore when sitting with my computer on my lap.

End of the quiet

Tonya is going to Holden tonight to bring back the girls. I was good for them to get away, but we are missing them and want them back! :-) The awning company is setting up the awning this morning, they might be there right now, it will be so nice to have shade.

Tonya relaxed a bit with the girls gone and is feeling better.

Once again, I straightened up my office and can see the carpet again. I am glad to report that I only have 22 computers in my office right now.

Pretty good time

Had some fun travels the past week. Went up to Salt Lake for a one day meeting. I had fun, although we lost the company softball game 9-8. I got three people out, and drove in a couple of runs, so I did ok. On the way home, I stopped and visited my daughters in Holden (they are spending time with Grandma) Taylor was sleeping, so I don't know if she remembers me being there. Had fun in St. George, Tonya and I went to see Men In Black II.

Taylor lost her first tooth! The tooth fairy came and gave her some money.

We get our new awning this week. The concrete is poured and makes for a nice big patio, can't wait for it to be covered.

P.S. Secretly planning for our anniversary, don't tell Tonya! ;-)

It was a great birthday!

I'm sorry I gave everyone the wrong impression! I was just trying to tease Scott about all his partying this week. I did have a good birthday, complete with cake, flowers, balloons, and lots of birthday wishes from family and friends. What more could I ask for?

The men were here today to work on the awning/patio. The took out the grass, moved the sprinklers, and framed for the concrete which is being poured tomorrow. I can't wait!

Thank's everyone! The girls, Scott and I love you all!

Not Fair!

Well, today is my birthday and I don't even get a party! What is up with that?

Big Week coming

On Wednesday of next week, DWS is having a party in Cedar City and I am invited. Thursday, St. George is having a party. Friday, in Salt Lake, DWS WIT is having its annual party. Three straight days of parties and free food! Free food always makes me happy.

We're back

After a week of traveling, we are back home and ready (gulp!) for work tomorrow. Pictures from the trip coming soon.

Taylor Baseball Card

Be the first to get the Taylor Lynn Jesienouski rookie card! Can you imagine how much this card will be worth when she is pitching in the major leagues! How often is a baseball card available of a future star when that star is only six years old! Download the card now by clicking below.

Season over

Taylor played her last game last night. The parents said we won, but I was so busy coaching that I wasn't to worried about it. No kids hit me with the ball last night, so that was good. Taylor again got two hits and did a pretty good job.
I don't know about Taylor, but I am sure going to miss Baseball.

Game 7

Last night's game was an old fashioned blow-out. The other team had only 7 players and only one of them could hit it over the infield (And Dakota caught those) One of our players, after the first inning, came up to me and said he was keeping score and said that the score was 13-4 (which I believe).

That was nice because I was the pitcher! I was very nervous about it because I was scared that I wouldn't get the ball in a good position for the kids to hit. Everyone seemed to hit well, even a couple of kids that don't normally hit so I was very happy. The one thing that didn't make me happy was at the top of the second, I kid hit the ball right where it counts and I was down for a minute. Fortunately, I got better at moving after that.

We played three innings since the game went so fast. Taylor went 3-3 and had a pretty good game.

Coach Bair cannot be at the next game, which is the last game of the season, so I am coaching that night. Even Dakota will not be there. Great, first game as a coach and I do not have the star player. Oh well, it will be fun.

Summer Fun!

Well, we have been having a fun summer down here. Taylor just finished up two weeks worth of swimming lessons. By the end, she was jumping off the diving board into 8 ft. deep water. And swimming the entire length of the pool. She has been swimming almost every day for two weeks. If not at lessons, then at the gym where Scott and I work out.

Shaylie has really wanted to get in as well, so on Friday we took the whole family to the Big Swimming Pool. Shaylie had a blast, but she is far too fearless of the water. She doesn't ever want anybody to hold on to her, but whenever she struggles free from us, she goes under, of course. I think she is a water baby, just like her sister.

We'd like to have a swimming pool in the backyard, but I have been hesitant to get one this year because of Shaylie. I am afraid that she would not be safe with that around. But it is getting quite hot and the only way to cool off is to get wet. With the drought, we are trying not to run the sprinklers so much, so we'll have to come up with a plan.

Scott and I are still working out at the gym, although, I took most of last week off, because of the shot they gave me on Monday. I don't think it helped much, and in fact, it hurt worse for about 5 days, but they say that is normal. I don't know what is normal anymore. I am just so tired of it. I think the workout is helping the most of all the treatments I've had. So I'm going to keep it up! If nothing else, I'll be in great shape with a lame back.

Happy Father's Day to Scott! You are a terrific dad to our girls and we love you so much!

Happy Father's Day to the Grandpa's as well! We love you too!

Well, I'm sorry we haven't kept up on the pictures lately. We have oodles to put on, but they take so much editing to get them ready for the internet that it is hard to find time to do it. But I will get some on for sure, in the next little while. We have some great ones of the trip we took to the zoo, while visiting GrMama J's house. Keep checking.

Love you all! Thanks for reading our pages, and write to us when you can!

Game 6

Today was the last Saturday game, and fortunately, we had the shade field for the game, which was great. Taylor again got two good hits and could of had a double except for the fact that she hit it straight up the middle and the center fielder was running straight towards that base. As usual, we did not take advantage of throwing errors as they are little kids.

Once again, the other team had an idiot as a coach. When Dakota got up in the first inning to hit, the coach blocked his hit so that it stayed in the infield, we still had him run all the way around. Kids get thrown off by that stuff. What really made me mad was that when the other team hit the ball in the outfield, our kids would throw it to the pitcher (who is the other teams coach), and the play should be dead. Should is the key word. Their coach would refuse to catch the ball (in fact he would get out of the way of it), then would tell his kids to take extra bases, he once had a kid take two bases. Our coach was pretty upset, because on top of that, whoever they put in as catcher could not throw, so our coach has to run every time to get the pitch.

So in the second inning, we turned off the niceness. We would tag kids out and have them sit down, we would throw people out. When we came up to bat, if they had a throwing error, we took an extra bases. One of our players, who never listens to us anyway, took three bases on a throwing error. The only outs they got on us were the four strikeouts that we gave up. We got them out about 8 times. It was nice to be able to say after that game that "Yes kids, we won that game."

Game 5

Well, it had to happen eventually. We played a much better team and they pretty much destroyed us. We only got them out three times the whole game. The cool thing was, Taylor was playing first base and got someone out! She also got two hits to keep her perfect batting going. Unfortunately, they got us out about 10 times (which was more that the rest of the season combined). Dakota got two more grand slam home runs.

Well, 4-1 is a very good record and I doubt that there are any other teams as good as that one.

Game 4

Taylor hit a double tonight! She hit the ball really hard in to the outfield! I was first base coach, as usual, and I told her to keep running to second. It kind of shocked her for a second but she kept running. The kids had a little bit of trouble hitting tonight, but they still did well. After the game was team pictures. Coack Bair asked me to be in the team picture, since I am always helping out. I felt pretty honored. Coach gave me a team hat too, it doesn't fit, but who cares. I just hope that I don't look too silly in the picture. Taylor went 2-2 on the night.

New Layout

As you can see, we have changed our front page! I will be changing the rest of the pages to match as soon as I have time! Hope you like it!

Game 3

Once again, our team proved that they are great hitters. Everyone got hits again today, and we only had two outs the whole game. Dakota, our first baseman, got 6-7 kids out on his own, so if we were keeping score, we won by a pretty large margin. Taylor again got two good hits and is batting 1.000 on the year. She has scored 4 out of 6 times on the year and has 6 RBI's. Dakota, has hit 4 home runs and has 15 RBI's, he is the coach's son and he is ready for the next league.

Game 2

Taylor had her second game of the year tonight. The first inning was great, all thirteen kids on her team got a hit and ended the inning with a grand slam home run. The only thing that I did not like was that the kid playing pitcher for their team would try and knock over the kids running to first base. I didn't think much about it at the time, but that was a sign of things to come.

This league is for the fun of playing, (and I know, everyone that knows me cannot believe I can go for that, but it is true), but their coach and base coaches thought differently than that. At the kids' age, very few kids can catch and we play so that the kids don't take advantage of that. Sure, we could have kids just tag everyone out and steal and take extra bases on errors, but we are trying to teach the kids to play. The other team's coach, however must believe winning is everything as they had their kids take bases on errors (which technically you can do, but why?), then in the second inning, their coach put a player about ten feet from home plate so that he could get to each ball quickly and run and tag out the kid either running to first or home. I want to see that strategy used in a couple of years when the kids are older (sheeessh). I couldn't believe their coaches. Fortunately, again we had more kids and scored more runs, so hopefully we put those coaches in their place. (Just to let everyone know, I kept my cool and didn't say anything at the field)

Taylor again did great, she got her two good hits, fielded a couple of balls in the outfield, and had fun. We have another game Saturday morning at 9:00.

1st Baseball Game

Taylor had her first game tonight. Although they really don't keep score, our kids said that they scored more runs than they other team (which is true, but we are just there to have fun) I got to be the outfield coach and the first base coach. I had a lot of fun tonight, Taylor had A LOT of fun tonight. She got a hit both times at bat and the team played great. It was really fun.

Now I've gone and done it...

Scott and I joined a Health Club today. I am really excited about it. I took the doctor's advice seriously and, once Scott said okay, I hightailed it down to the place and signed up. They've got every imaginable piece of workout and weight machinery ever made, I think. Plus, swimming, racquetball and tennis, if we should want that. I meet with a personal trainer on Monday so he can show me the ropes and help me figure out which machines are best for my back. They have a terrific day care center there as well, so I can even take the girls with me. There are certain days and hours when we can take the girls swimming or to play basketball too. So...it will be fun. I am excited to start whipping myself into shape! I think Scott and I may be able to go workout together once in a while too! I'm looking forward to it.

In other news, Taylor started Pee Wee Baseball practice on Thursday night. She is going to have about 2-3 games per week through June. She had a blast at practice and even took Dad to the park today to practice some more. She is going to have a lot of fun I think. She is also signed up for swimming lessons this summer at a neighborhood pool. She wanted to do that over dance or piano lessons because it's her favorite thing. (P.S. Thanks Rose for reassuring me about Taylor! I needed it!)

Shaylie is talking pretty well these days. My favorite is whenever I say "love you!" to her she says it right back with a kiss. She is awesome! She loved Anje's dance recital tonight. She was dancing in the aisles with the girls on the stage. She is such a cutie!

Love you all! Talk to you again soon!

Latest Doctor News...

I went to see the Neurosurgeon today. He looked at my MRI's and told me I have neither a bulging disc nor a herniated disc, but a collapsed disc. Since it is not causing any nerve damage or leg pain, he does not think that he should remove the disc. If I did have surgery, it would be a fusion. However, he does not recommend this option. He told me that most of the pain I have is mechanical, which I took to mean that it only hurts when I move. He says the best way to get rid of the pain is to lose weight and exercise. I am working on the losing weight part (in fact, I have lost 34 pounds to date), but I need to get going on the exercise.

I told him I was concerned about getting moving, since it hurts to do this. But he assures me that, although it will hurt, exercise is the best thing for me. He suggests 30 minutes of exercise (at 140-150 heart rate) 5-6 days per week. He told me I should join a gym, since they have everything there plus heart rate monitoring stuff. He also said not to get discouraged since it takes about two months before I will see any real results. He told me he has won many $500 bets with people about whether or not this will work. I didn't bet him, and he didn't ask me to.

He did schedule me for another injection though. It's a different kind than the others I've had. He told me that those epidural shots I've had were not the right kind for me. This one should block the pain for up to a year, so he says. The doctor I've an appointment with is not on my insurance, so I have to find out how much this will cost me and then decide if I need to change doctors.

I was very relieved to find out that he is not leaning toward the surgery for me. I was also glad to know that I have some options that are totally within my control, since I am extremely tired of relying on doctors to help me. Especially since they don't know what they are talking about most of the time.

Anyway, other than all that, we seem to be doing fine. I am still concerned about Taylor's hair pulling habit, but I don't think it is all that it seems to be. I know that there are some pretty scary things out there, but I really think this is just a bad habit. We'll see. If she doesn't stop, rest assured that we will get her some help.

We love you all. Take care and keep in touch!

Now we have seen it all!

We found out an interesting thing tonight. Grape Kool-aid consumed in large amounts, like the two girls that live in our house have done, makes for an interesting green color in the stuff that comes out. Tonya called me in to see Shaylie's diaper and it was green! And not the icky green, it was very bright green. Then Taylor called, she was having the same dilemma in the bathroom. I, being the computer junkie, looked up green poop on the internet, and found that it is caused by too much iron or sickness. That didn't seem right for the color of green my kids were achieving. Then I looked up kool-aid and green poop and found, "Grape kool-aid makes your kids poop green." What fun!

Pomp and Circumstance

The month of May is here and with it comes a litany of graduations. Congratulations to my youngest brother, Chad Strong, who graduated from Southern Utah University on May 4. He has a degree in Business and Information Technology (I think). Yea, Chad!

Next weekend, my sister-in-law Erin Strong, also graduates down in Phoenix. She actually finished her teaching degree a while ago, but she is now participating in a much deserved commencement ceremony. My mom and sister are going down to celebrate with them. I wish we could go too, but Taylor is still in school and with my back (and a hundred other little reasons why) we won't be able to make it. We will be celebrating vicariously and we really are happy for Mike and Erin both!

My mom's sister, my Aunt Pam, just sent me an email announcing her candidacy for a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration which she will receive on May 11th as well. She has been working on this for a very long time. So congratulations to you too!

And finally... I just received my diploma from the Institute for Children's Literature. I have been recommended by my instructor for the advanced course but I don't know if that will be in my future. I have submitted a piece I wrote during the class to Highlights for Children and I got a note from them saying that they are considering it. I won't get my hopes up but at least something of mine is out there. I am excited to pursue this new avenue, and finally feel like I know what I am doing. Now, if anybody out there has any blockbuster ideas just send them my way....

Congratulations everybody!

Internet is back online!

Our cable internet has been out for the past four days, so it has been withdrawl at our house. Now that we are back online, we will be getting Taylor's birthday pictures online soon. There are going to be many changes to the web site coming soon, as we are quickly running out of space on our web server.

Taylor's 6th Birthday

We had a terrific Birthday Party for Taylor Lyn! She invited all of her friends to Cinderella's Ball. As the girls arrived, they were each handed a feather duster and told to get to work "cleaning" the house. We had hidden stickers that each girl found and turned in for prizes. After the house was spic and span, each girl got to decorate her own birthday cake. They had lots of fun pouring sprinkles and making frosting flowers.

When the cakes were finished, everybody went in to get dressed for the ball. They all brought beautiful ball gowns to wear complete with crowns, slippers and gloves. Even Shaylie got into the party mood. We watched Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True, we ate cake, and played Pin the Crown on the Princess. Everyone had a great time!

Thanks to Grandma J and Grandma Dawn for coming to the party and bringing lots of fun presents. Aunt Anissa and Anje spoiled Taylor too! Thanks to all Taylor's friends for making this a special day for her. Please check out the pictures of the party by clicking on this link.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Fixed up!

Jones Paint and Glass came and fixed our window. We also had them make us a screen door, so now we can have our door open and bug not fly in! We are very happy. Taylor is cleaning up the backyard, in anticipation of her party. Grandma J should be here around noon today, we always like it when she comes to visit.

An Unlucky Break!

Yesterday, Scott was out edging the lawn. Shaylie and I were in the house. I was working on the computer and heard a loud popping noise. I turned toward the window and it was completely shattered from bottom to top! (See pictures.) Scott and I couldn't believe it. We are assuming that a rock hit it, but since neither of us saw it, we don't know. It is very freaky. The guy came today to look at it and it is going to cost about $200 to fix. The deductible on our insurance in $250, so we are SOL with that. Oh well... we may also have to fix some shingles on the roof, since some of them are loose after the big wind storm we had last week. The joys of home ownership! I still wouldn't go back for anything.

New pictures added

There was another fair in the Mall Parking lot. It was on Friday night. Taylor and I went. Here are the pictures. Taylor made a new friend at the fair named Madison and spent most of the night riding rides with her.

On Saturday, Taylor, Shaylie and I went to the Kite Festival at Sun River. There was lots of rides and stuff to do. Here are the pictures.

Freaky!!

A couple of freaky things happened this weekend....

First, I invited about 10 people to a Mary Kay party for Krissy and only one person came. It must have been a busy night or something, but Krissy did make some sales so I guess that's all right. I'm not used to throwing parties where nobody comes....Granted, I did tell everyone that I don't have any friends down here, but I was just joking. I hope it's not really true....Freaky.

Next, tonight, I made a pan full of Enchiladas for dinner, like I've done a thousand times before...and when I went to take them out of the oven, the glass Pyrex pan they were in just shattered into a million bits. It was really freaky!

Last, I finished my Children's Writing Course. Freaky!

What a long week!

People are moving into the Cedar Building. Tonight I got the server updated so that it could handle the larger number of computers. Hopefully everyone will be patient with me tomorrow since I will have everything done by the middle of the day.

I have to meet my family again. I feel like I am visiting my house.

There is another fair at the Mall. This time it is all rides that I am known to get sick on, so I hope Taylor is tall enough to ride by herself.

My poor Bikes

I went to fix Taylor's bike, but I don't have the parts to do it. I went to fix mine, and it turns out that the rim is bent. I just had a feeling those idiots bent it at the old building. They put all those dental chairs in the room while I was traveling for training and they leaned stuff on my bike. I wish there was a way to get them to pay to fix it.

I hate it when I get in a fix it mode and it turns out that all the work I did was for nothing.

All by myself

Tonya took the kids to Holden last night, so I am all alone down here. That is ok since I get to do all sorts of work here. Hopefully I will get some stuff done.

Yea! I did it!

Yes, I have reached my goal. I started Weight Watchers on October 30, 2001 and as of the weigh-in tonight, I have lost 31 pounds (10% of my total weight when I started)!

I am very pleased with myself, as I never expected to be able to do so well, all on my own. At the meeting tonight, I received a keychain that is given to all who meet that first 10% goal. Now, I will try to go down another 10%, or 25 pounds. I am pretty pumped up so hopefully this excitement will carry me through the next few pounds and meetings!

Thanks for all the supportive words of encouragement from all of you! I appreciate and love you. Talk to you soon. T:)

Cedar move part 1 done

The first half of the Cedar City move is complete. Unfortunately, part 2 starts next week. Oh well, part 2 will be easier. Then I can safely say that I will not have to deal with any more moves for quite a while, due to the fact that everyone I support will be moved into new buildings!

I installed Windows XP onto my laptop today. I really like it so far. My laptop has gone through several changes in the past few days, first I updated the wireless settings at my house, then I updated the memory, then the OS. So far, everything has been good.

Tried to talk to mom on the webcams, but could not get her to see mine, we will practice that when she comes down to visit for Taylor's birthday.

Cedar move almost done

Now all that is left is the mess. I have to clean up the training room and put away all the computers, but other than that the move went well. It may take me a couple of days to get the room clean, but that is ok. Lance and Ryan came down to help, which made it easy to get done. I really appreciate their help.

I think by the middle of next week, I should be done with this move, unfortunately, the next move starts middle of next week. Thrill.

Same old story

Here we go again. I got all the LAN administrators to come to Cedar City so that we could set everyone up for the move to the new section of the building, but there was a slight little problem. State ITS didn't set up the network wires in the cubes! It is so wonderful to see that State ITS is so consistent in that they have screwed up every move that the departments have made! It was so wonderful to see all the people that were scheduled to do work moving today just sit around since we couldn't do anything. I'm still trying to figure out how making State ITS in charge of everything will save money. THE ONLY WAY THE STATE CAN SAVE MONEY WITH STATE ITS IS TO DISBAND THE AGENCY. Customer service will improve, things will be done cheaper, faster and better. Hopefully Leavitt will see the light and get rid of that agency.

Meanwhile, I guess I have to go through another day of the computers being set up poorly. I am never going to get Cedar working right.

We join the 21st Century!

We got high speed-cable internet installed today. It is so fun to just turn on the computer and have internet on. No more busy signals on our phone because we are on the internet! Also I downloaded a program that used to take about two hours on our phone modem and it now only took 3 minutes! I love the speed! I took over computers at work and they moved at a very good speed. I am going to convince my boss that I should be able to telecommute at least once a week!

I am trying to convince Tonya that we should set a webcam at home so that I can check in every so often and see what is going on, Tonya is not too thrilled about the idea, however. ;-)

Spring Break Update!

Today was the first official day of Spring Break (no School!)...We had lots of neighborhood kids over! Taylor was in seventh heaven, I was not. I don't think we can do this everyday!

Shaylie is looking much better today. Her face is still pretty bruised up, and I do think she might have broken her nose, but I wasn't saying it to make Scott feel bad!! I'm sure there won't be any lasting damage.

We spent some time out in the beautiful sunshine today! You can see from the pictures that the girls found some little garden friends. Shaylie was having fun with the little bugs, I think it's the first time she's seen any. Taylor was chasing the poor little ladybug all over the yard, as it kept flying away.
I even got some color in my legs....and the best of it all is that it is only going to get warmer and more spring like this week!

Taylor is going to go to Cedar City on Wednesday and spend a couple nights with Aunt Anissa and cousin Anje. She is very excited because she gets to go to Anje's dance class while she is there. They will come back on Friday with my mom for the whole Easter weekend. We're hoping Chad and Krissy will come down for a bit too. So that we can make a party of it!

We got Grandma J's Easter cards in the mail today! Thanks Grmama! Shaylie carried hers around for a while until I took it away and put it in her Easter basket. We love you and we will be thinking of you often this week.

This is also my Dad's last weekend in Arizona, as he starts his new job in Pocatello on April 1st. I will miss visiting them down south, but it will be fun to visit up north too. After all, it's not the place, but the face, right?

Well, this is turning into quite a monologue. I will go and hope to hear from some of you this weekend. We love you! Take care! Tonya....under Scott's login...

Shaylie went Bonk!

Yesterday at the park, Shaylie decided to try to run and found that her feet sometimes get in the way. She smacked head first into the sidewalk. She skinned her forehead up pretty good and did a number on her nose. There is a huge (concerned daddie talking) bump on her nose. Tonya didn't help me feel any better by saying that she may have broken it. Just a little more stress to add to my life.

Spring Break!

Today was Taylor's last day of school this month. She has tomorrow off and all of next week for Spring Break. We wanted to do something fun, but Scott says he has to work, so maybe the girls and I will have to think of something fun to do by ourselves.

Taylor had a fun week at school. It was Reading Week. Each day they had a different activity about reading. Wednesday was Dress-Up day. Everyone dressed up as their favorite storybook character. Taylor went as Cinderella. She was cute. That same day she received an award for Responsibility at an assembly at school. Shaylie and I went and while I was taking pictures, Shaylie disappeared into a supply closet for a while. Luckily I didn't notice her until she was coming out and no harm was done (to her or the closet) so I didn't freak too badly.

Well, my physical therapy is going well. It seems to help sometimes; so does the new bed. I am tired of being achey all the time. Oh well. What can I do?

Love to everyone. Talk to you all again soon! Bye. T:)

Rearranged

I got the cleaning bug when the new bed arrived. So I started cleaning the living room yesterday. It was a shock to see what was under our couch. I filled up an entire garbage bag with stuff I found in and under the couch. Boy, it feels good to be clean!

Another problem solved

Had another computer problem that kept me up all weekend. Fortunately, I figured it out this morning and now all is well. I love it when problems are not that hard to solve, just wish that I could figure them out without all the days of research!

Snow?!

This morning we had a shock. It was snowing! Called around and found that we were the only place getting snow. We must have been in bizarro world for a while.

Shaylie is talking more and more. It is great hearing what she wants, instead of her crying and pointing.

Our new bed arrived this morning. It is very comfortable and Tonya's back didn't hurt when she got on it. No more sleeping in the Recliner!

New Pictures...

Scott showed me how to add pictures to the site! So I hope to be adding pictures almost daily. It is so fun to take pictures with my new digital camera. I hope you will enjoy seeing us in our natural habitat.

I had my first physical therapy session today. I think if they would have sent me for PT when I first went in, I might not be in the pain I am today. He massaged and electrified my back, then put me on a bike machine and showed me some exercises to do at home. The only drawback is the cost...at least my insurance covers most of it.

Well, love you all. Take care! T:)

Latest Doctor News...

Well, this Tuesday I had appointments with my primary physician Dr. Chamberlain, a new physical therapist, and I dropped my MRI films off at a neurosurgeon who was going to look at them and consider seeing me or not.

Dr. Chamberlain gave me more medicine, an anti-inflammatory, which is actually helping a lot more than the others. But all together they make me sort of loopy. The physical therapist wants to see me again on Friday, but wanted to wait to hear what Dr. Reichman (the neurosurgeon) has to say. Dr. Reichman can't see me until May 16, due to a full schedule while he is down here this month, and the next opportunity is May....

So that's it in a nutshell. I considered going to see someone else, but the downside of that is all the travel since no other doctors come down to St. George. I would rather stay close to home and my regular doctor.

We are also considering getting a new bed. I can't sleep in our waterbed much because it hurts me and the PT said waterbeds are one of the worst for backs, so....we are thinking about it.

Well, I will keep you updated on the latest. I just wanted you all to know what I know. Love you, talk to you soon. T:)

Our backyard is coming along...

Here are the pictures of the backyard improvements we promised....looks good, eh?

Feeling a bit better....

Thanks to the loving care of my family, my back is feeling a lot better today. I want to thank my sister and my mom for helping me over the last week. I couldn't have managed without them. You guys are terrific to come to my aid at such short notice. It means a lot to me!

Thanks also to Scott, I know he is going to be a big help to me as well. I am going to try to talk to my doctor again today. I have to take Shaylie in for immunizations so maybe that will be the best way to get after him. I want to find out about my surgery option, and if there is anything else that can be done. I also want to see a specialist. I can't keep just covering up the pain, I need to have it fixed!

In other news, we finally joined the 21st century and bought a DVD player. It also has a VCR though so we don't have to replace our video collection, extensive as it is. :) And thanks to Scott and our home teachers we have finally finished our back yard project. There is still a little bit to do but it looks really nice. We have a little leftover rock, so Scott is planning on embellishing the rose beds with the gravel. That should look nice as well.

Well, I love you all. I'm so glad to be able to sit at the computer for a little bit again. I will let everyone know how things go with my doctor. Keep your fingers crossed.

Monday, Monday

Boy it is great to be back in St. George! :-P So far this morning, I had to deal with problems at Dixie College, Cedar City, and my building. What joy. And then, phone problems. Oh well, I am hoping that things will get more back to normal soon. I brought 13 computers back from Salt Lake, many of which are going to end up in Cedar City. Cedar DWS has been neglected for too long, I hope I can make them feel better there.

Shaylie has been a little under the weather. Tonya's back is still causing her major pain. Finished the sandbox and rock area on Saturday (will have a picture on the site later). We also bought a lounge swing, so Tonya should be able to comfortably sit outside and watch the kids.

I'm home

I got home to Saint George at about 7:30 tonight. It is good to be home. Taylor was very happy to see me, and Shaylie kept saying "dad, dad, dad." It is good to be home.

Coming home today!

I am leaving Salt Lake tonight. We typically get out of class at 3:30, I hope that holds true today (maybe earlier would be even better). I am bringing back with me 13 computers and a lot of RAM chips. (Making a lot of work for me).
I hope Tonya feels better soon. It has been a long week and I am glad to get home and be with my family.

Another picture of the piles....

Here are the girls playing in the piles of sand and rock that were delivered today...

Piles to go before I sleep....

Here is a picture of the sand and rocks that were delivered today.

Olympic stuff on sale

The Olympics has only been over for one day and all the merchandise is 50% off!! Mom and I bought something for everyone in the Tech Family. I got Taylor the Bobsled bobblehead dolls, and I got Shaylie the Powder bobblehead. Mom got me the Coal bobblehead (I can truly say that my mom bought me coal) and she got Tonya a Snowglobe with all the Mascots in the hot tub. We made out like bandits with everything.

While the cat's away...

We girls are having fun while Dad's away. We have to keep our minds off missing him. Last night, we watched the closing ceremonies on t.v. which was really neat. We are sad to see them go.

Today, we have been shopping (thus the fun) at Wal-Mart and Target. This is really a big week and a bad one for Scott to be gone. But I didn't have any choice in the matter. Tomorrow is my babysitting day and Taylor has a birthday party to go to. I also have to cook Scones and cakes for the Blue and Gold Banquet on Wednesday. This is the annual Cub Scouts fund raiser, so I am one of the ones helping to feed the ward. I might have to get a babysitter, because I don't think I can help get set up and cook and everything while the girls are running around underfoot. I also need to go visiting teaching but that is unlikely. Thursday is my volunteer day and that about does the week.

From now till then I will be very busy. But I guess I should be grateful to be contributing and to be keeping myself busy. I'm not though, I just wish it was over.

Well, enough from me. We are doing really well. I have finally decided to get back on the Weight Watchers bandwagon, before I gain everything back, so check the forums....bye.

In Salt Lake

Once again, I am up in Salt Lake for Microsoft Server training. Since I only have one Microsoft server and it is so highly configured that we don't touch it, I have a hard time justifying why we are taking two weeks of training for servers. Why not do Novell server training? Oh well, I get paid so I shouldn't complain.

Saw the incredible fireworks last night for the closing ceremonies. We heard the fireworks and ran over to the church playground were we had a completely open view of the show. It was AWESOME!!!!!!!! The whole city appeared to be goingup in fireworks! Wow, it was great.

What a weekend!

Wow! In addition to the toilets Scott mentioned (which I love, by the way....Goodbye clogged toilets!), we also did some major spring cleaning this weekend. Mom brought Grandpa Heath's truck down and we were able to clear out about two truckloads of rose bush cuttings, boxes, and other CRAP from around our house and garage. We then took another big load to D.I. And this was just the beginning...

After cleaning out the weeds and junk from the side of our house, I talked mom into helping me with another project I have been wanting to do. We are moving Taylor and Shaylie's sandbox to the south side of the house and turning their little corner sandbox into a garden spot. I am only making about half of the southside area a sandbox and then graveling the rest for a little storage area. I am not finished yet, because we didn't make it to the sand and gravel place until after they closed. But we got a good start on it.

Now Scott and I are dreaming about all the other stuff we can do to keep our house in good repair. We have to paint the fence, and the house exterior trim. We also want to repaint the inside of the house and eventually put in new carpet. We really want to expand the patio in the back yard and build an awning over it. But, unfortunately, and as usual, our dreams are bigger than our checkbook....so we will have to keep on trying one project at a time.

We hope all of you had a productive and fun holiday weekend! We hope to hear from you soon!

In Cedar City

I am in the Cedar City DWS building; what a mess. And I am not even talking about the fact that it is half under construction. The wiring is poor, the computers are disorganized. and everything seems to be held together by duct-tape. I have my work cut out for me!

Home Improvements!

Since we have moved into our house, the one thing that we didn't like about it were our toilets. But in the spirit of Tim Taylor, our Toilets now have "more power." We went to Home Depot and bought two new toilets, each with a pressurized water tank that shoots the water out when we flush. We have no fears of clogged toilets anymore.

Tonya and I are getting decent at home improvements.

So I do have carpet!?!!

For the first time in forever it seems (actually since September) I have no computers in my waiting to be setup area!!!!!!! I know it will not last, but it is such a great feeling of accomplishment that I just had to share it with everyone.

Valentine's Day Treat

Scott and I had the best Valentine's treat yesterday. My wonderful sister came down to bring us some valentine cookies and offered to babysit while Scott and I went out to the movies. As you may know, I have been trying to take Scott out to Lord of the Rings for about a month now. Our attempts have been doomed by sold out shows, babysitter bailouts, and work schedules....but finally we have triumphed. Thanks to Anissa! You are the best...

We had quite a fun day overall yesterday. Taylor had a Valentine Party at her school and as Thursday is my day to volunteer I got to help. It was a lot of fun! Taylor brought home tons of treats and cards from her classmates in a little heart shaped enveloped sewn up with yarn. (That brought back so many memories for me!) After school, we went and kidnapped Scott for lunch. We went to Pasta Factory because we hadn't been there in quite a while. When we got there, Taylor and Shaylie enjoyed the birds on the outdoor patio while we ate. We dropped Scott back at work, then I took the girls up to the city park to play for a while. It was the first time Shaylie really enjoyed the swings and slides. She even went down the slide by herself once or twice, with Taylor catching her at the bottom. After playing for a while, Taylor took out her valentines and took inventory. We had a fun day!

We hope you all had a terrific day too! We love you all!

Thanks Everybody!

Thanks for all your cheers on my new look. It's been very nice!

We've been keeping up on the Olympics, though we are a little fed up with all the controversy. I can't believe the figure skating judges have admitted to cheating and they are not doing anything to fix it. It's beyond reality. I would think that the world would be outraged at such unfairness, but everyone seems to just shrug and say that is how it's been for years and there's nothing to be done now. What a bunch of baloney!

Taylor loves to see the "girls" compete. She was really excited to see the women's snowboarding event. She has been watching the Olympics over Powerpuff girls and Aladdin, so you know she's really involved. Shaylie has been watching too, but she likes the music and the celebrating more than anything.

Well, we will keep watching, I'm sure. But I hope they get their acts together. The way this is going, the Salt Lake City Olympics are only going to be remembered for the scandal and controversy. It's just not right.

Thanks Everybody!

Thanks for all your cheers on my new look. It's been very nice!

We've been keeping up on the Olympics, though we are a little fed up with all the controversy. I can't believe the figure skating judges have admitted to cheating and they are not doing anything to fix it. It's beyond reality. I would think that the world would be outraged at such unfairness, but everyone seems to just shrug and say that is how it's been for years and there's nothing to be done now. What a bunch of baloney!

Taylor loves to see the "girls" compete. She was really excited to see the women's snowboarding event. She has been watching the Olympics over Powerpuff girls and Aladdin, so you know she's really involved. Shaylie has been watching too, but she likes the music and the celebrating more than anything.

Well, we will keep watching, I'm sure. But I hope they get their acts together. The way this is going, the Salt Lake City Olympics are only going to be remembered for the scandal and controversy. It's just not right.

Baby News!

I got so excited over my new hairdo that I almost forgot to report the most exciting news. We are now bottle free! Shaylie is no longer a baby, at least not according to the experts. She is now a full-fledged toddler.

It wasn't such an ordeal either. I was dreading it, but one night I put Shaylie to bed without her bottle and...miracle of miracles....she actually went to sleep. Then the next morning, I woke up and made her breakfast instead of giving her a bottle and that was it.

When we went to mom's house, I left all the bottles home so that I wouldn't be tempted to give in. So, we are over that hurdle and it feels good. She is still my baby though...I don't care what the experts say.

Baby News!

I got so excited over my new hairdo that I almost forgot to report the most exciting news. We are now bottle free! Shaylie is no longer a baby, at least not according to the experts. She is now a full-fledged toddler.

It wasn't such an ordeal either. I was dreading it, but one night I put Shaylie to bed without her bottle and...miracle of miracles....she actually went to sleep. Then the next morning, I woke up and made her breakfast instead of giving her a bottle and that was it.

When we went to mom's house, I left all the bottles home so that I wouldn't be tempted to give in. So, we are over that hurdle and it feels good. She is still my baby though...I don't care what the experts say.

My New Hair!

This is my new hair! I really like it...thanks, Mom! If you want to vote on whether you like my new hair or my old hair better...go to the forums. I will have a poll there.

We just got back from a fun weekend at Mom's house. We were all in desperate need of new hairdo's. Scott and Taylor got new do's too. Since mom won't come and visit us, we have to invent reasons to go see her...

Hope everyone is doing well on this Monday! Have a good week!

Stresssssss

I have a really fun person at work. She has been complaining that she needs a new computer. I got her one set up and instead of thanking me, she said, "That's not the computer you're giving me," After I had of course put it in her office. Said said it was so loud that it would give her migrane headaches. So I let her go pick out a computer from the training room (I am too nice) and I set that one up for her (keep in mind in takes about two hours to set up the machines) I put it in her office, turn it on (it seemed just as loud to me) and went to work at the other building. I came in this morning, and I have a BIG post-it note on my computer. "Scott, please help, I have screwed up my computer and can't do anything on it, please fix it." So I spent a half-hour this morning getting it to work. I have spent about a day on her computer. I just hope that the font is big enough so that she doesn't screw it up anymore!!!

Just venting. Sorry.

Here we are!

Sorry about the lack of news! Scott has been working on the computer for the last couple days...we upgraded to Windows XP! It is pretty neat...Scott has been able to play a lot of his games that wouldn't work on Windows 2000, so needless to say, it's been hard to find time to post...

Anyway, we were very excited to see the Olympic torch as it came through Saint George last night. It was running quite late (due to a flat tire, I heard) so Taylor and I went out to the party at the mall for a little while and then came home and put the girls to bed. Scott wasn't feeling well yesterday so he stayed home with Shaylie. About 9:30, I woke Taylor up and she and I went out to the mall again to await the arrival of the Torch. We waited for about an hour, I'd say, in an amazing crush of people. When it finally came, I had to lift Taylor up so she could see it. I was trying to snap pictures (with my new digital camera!) at the same time so I'm sorry to say the pictures aren't that great, but at least Taylor got to see it and will hopefully remember it as a special event in her life. I'm glad that we had the chance and I only wish that Scott and Shaylie could have come too!

We just cannot get over our sicknesses. I am about at the end of my rope. It doesn't seem as though going to the doctor helps....he just prescribes antibiotics that don't seem to help. Oh well, it can't last forever, can it?

I am still hanging in there with Weight Watchers. At last total, I have lost 27 pounds! I
am not doing very well this week however, since it was SuperBowl weekend and we ate a lot of party foods. But I am still trying to do my best... The good thing is that I can take a break from it and still get back on track...

Taylor and Shaylie are doing very well (despite having the sniffles forever). Taylor is learning how to read in school and this Wednesday I am going to a "training" at the school to learn how to help her. She is definitely ready to read and has already learned some words by sight. It is very fun to see her progress. Shaylie is growing everyday. She is speaking more clearly all the time. Sometimes I can't tell if it is her or Taylor calling me. They sound so much alike.

Anyway, I will try to be better. I love you all and hope to see or talk to you soon.

I'm back

I made it back from my whirlwind trip to Salt Lake. Unfortunately, I have used up my forty hours for the week, so I have to take the rest of the week off! ;-) Some fun stuff happened while I was gone. The wide area network went down for a while just as I arrived in Salt Lake, and a person's computer that I was working on locked up (and she couldn't figure out that she needed to turn it off and then it would be fine (she left me several messages saying it was still locked up) even Taylor at five years old nows that if the computer is not working, reboot it) Oh well.

Next week, I am going to fix the Health Department computers, set up the file server to do tape backups, and get ready to go to Cedar City and take over that mess.

Scott's Birthday...

It was Scott's birthday yesterday! He turned 31, (and finally caught up with me, again!) We all had a fun weekend....only I feel like I was the one who got the present since Scott generously volunteered to watch not only our two girls but Anje as well, while Anissa and I went to Mesquite on Saturday night for a little getaway.

We got back on Sunday morning and decorated the house. When Scott came home from Church with the girls, we all shouted Happy Birthday! We opened presents and then Anissa watched the girls while I stole Scott away for lunch. Anissa and Anje took off for home and then Scott had to head to work for a little while. While he was gone, our friends Tiff and Dean stopped by for a little visit and our home teachers brought Scott a birthday treat (which the girls and I ate since Scott can't have sweets!) But it's the thought that counts, right? Anyway, other than having to work I think he had a pretty good birthday! I hope so anyway!

Scott will be heading up to his mom's tomorrow for a training. He isn't too happy about this but it will be good to see Mom again! (We are proud of you, Rose. I'm glad you are making it out to the pool again. Keep it up, soon you'll be in great shape once more...)

Well, it's turning out to be a pretty gloomy day here in St. George, but I'm grateful since it is snowing everywhere else in Utah! If it is raining when it's time for Taylor to come home...I will have to go pick her up so I better go get ready! Love to all!!! Talk to you soon...

It's been a while...

It's been about a week since I've posted anything. I guess we've been pretty busy around here. I've had my second shot in my back and it seems to be kicking in at last. Shaylie and Taylor are still struggliing with their illnesses...so I guess that means I am too. I may have to take them to the doctor once again. I'll let you know how it goes...

Scott and I tried to go to the movies last week as well. We tried all day to get a local girl to come and babysit for us Saturday night...but no one could. So we bribed Chad and Krissy with our kitchen chairs. They were very sweet to come and watch the girls, but when we got to the movie theater, the movie: Lord of the Rings, was sold out. And since it starts at off times there were no other shows playing, so we had to come home. It was a big bummer. But at least we got to visit Uncle Chad and Aunt Krissy for a bit, and they were able to fit two chairs in their car to take home.

Scott is still working hard but we are getting to see him a little bit more at home. He actually spent the entire three day weekend with us....I mean it, all of it. He even got the roses pruned, and that is a big job. Hopefully, this is a new trend.

Love to everybody! We'll try to keep up a little more with the daily goings-on. Take care~

Taylor is a big baseball fan

I installed Backyard Baseball on Taylor's computer at lunch time and she has been playing it ever since. She really like T-Ball, but she wants to get good at hitting so that she can play a season and go to the World Series. One funny thing was that when she got tired, she wanted me to come and click the buttons so that she could win. I told her that if her hand was tired, she could play again tomorrow.

Shaylie really likes watching me play on the computer; every time I sit down at it, she comes and sits on my lap. She also really likes our Shelby's, but she has to play with both of them or she cries about the one sitting alone.

Taylor's first SEP...

Or Parent/Teacher Conference, that is. They are called Student Education Planning meetings now, I guess. Scott, Taylor and I went in and met with Mrs. Stewart this afternoon. Taylor is doing very well. We found out that she is a very good student from her teacher. (Of course, we already new that, but it is nice to hear.) She is getting along well with other kids (except for Kitauna sometimes) and she set some goals for the rest of the school year...They are to make her teacher proud by listening and following the rules, to learn to read, and to do good work at school.

We are very proud of her! She is the best!

we're okay...

I don't know what is the matter with all of us lately...It seems like we can't get over our various sicknesses. Taylor had a fever and was throwing up all weekend, but she was feeling better in time for school. Then yesterday Shaylie started running a fever, then I started feeling sick. I think we just keep sharing our germs one with another....We all need to be separated for a while so we can get better.

Scott has been spared mostly, I think, because he is at work so much. He doesn't get much of a chance to breathe in the air around here. I've been trying to talk him into a little weekend sabbatical, but he says being away from work and thinking about the money we spend just stresses him out. If any of you see him, tell him he needs a vacation....I know I do.

We're glad to hear you're doing well, Rose. Taylor was glad to hear about your soap dish. She wondered what it looks like. I'm glad everyone is excited for the Olympics....Scott and I saw an editiorial on KSL that told everyone to quit complaining and welcome the world. It said,"traffic will suck but get over it!" It made us laugh. I think everyone will be glad for it in the end...

Anyway, I guess I'll go. I just wanted to update everyone. We are okay, except for being sick. I guess that means we could be better, but we could be a lot worse too. :P

Health Department is basically done

I finally finished the Health Department move. Now I just have to fix the little things that come up after a major move, so I should be done today. Imaging starts in two weeks so i will soon be updating about 30 computers for that, so I will see how that goes. Oh the joy.

Shaylie is sick, so Tonya is dealing with that today. Hopefully she will feel better soon. Later.

Day three of sitting around

This Health Department move so far has been a joke. Here it is Monday and nothing got done. Electricity is not done, let alone the cubicles. Phone system is not in, the server room gets very warm, and the computers are still packed into the very back of the conference room with no hope of getting to them. With the other moves, there was some organization. With this move, the only way they could be less organized is if they tried to. What a joke.

WW Meeting today...

I went to the Saturday meeting this week...and went down another .4 pounds. At least down isn't up! If you want to see my top ten reasons for losing weight (it's not like a Letterman list or anything, we really had to list ten reasons in class today), they are posted in the FORUMS.

Scott is at work today! The Health Department move is turning out to be extremely disorganized so it is probably going to take him a few days before they're even ready for him to do his thing...but at least this is the last move...Yea!!!

The girls are good! We are all doing well! Love you all! Talk to you soon!

I'm now a big Lord of the Rings fan....

I don't know what took me so long....that was one of my favorite reads ever! It took me a few days to get through it all (I think it took me a little while to get through all the elven languages and such) but it was so good! I didn't want it to end...I guess my only consolation is that now I have the movies to look forward to...and I get to take Scott to see it for the first time.

I still have the Appendices to read, but I will get to that sooner or later. I think I better get my nose out of a book for a while, since that is all my whole family seems to think I ever do. It was just really good.

Anyway, we are all doing really well. We are all over our sicknesses I think. No more sniffling at least. I was glad to get back to our normal healthy selves. I still need to get back with the doctor about my back though, it is getting a little worse every day. I am calling them tomorrow I hope, maybe Friday. Thursdays are always very busy at my house.

Well, that is all! I want to thank Scott for the beautiful flowers he sent to me today! I love you...

Server Migration tonight

In one of my last acts in the old building, I am migrating the servers tonight. That is, putting the old server info on a new server. Usually a scary task, but I have done it two times in the past two weeks so now it is old hat. I got ITS on the ball yesterday, they told me the building was wired when it quite clearly wasn't and they hadn't told me anything, so I sent them an email with a copy going to the director of the Health Department. Suddenly, things started happeing, it is good to know people in high places. Now we will see if they actually do what they promise. Busy weekend again coming up with the move, will probably be there all weekend. But that is the last of the moves! Yea!!!

Still working hard

Almost finished moving people into my new building, just little things to do here now. Buttttt, I now have to prepare for the health department move. I have to migrate a server, set up new computers, move everyone to the new building, re-setup the server for the new addresses. Then next week I have to set up DWS for imaging, which is a HUGE project. Then it will slow down, as long as Cedar isn't a problem.

The New Year is underway....

Glad to be back home! Our thanks to Dad and Pam for the great visit! We had a good time! It was good to see everyone again. We stayed a day longer than anyone expected and it threw off some plans....it's just so hard to leave once we actually get down there! It's too fun visiting I suppose.

I attended Saturday Weight Watchers meeting and was amazed and glad to find I had actually dropped a couple pounds over the holidays...21 pounds total...I'm back on track now and hoping to start walking every day for 2002!

I am reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy that I got from Bobbie for Christmas...I saw the movie in Mesa and I loved it....so now I am reading the books to find out what happens next! Thanks, Bobbie!

We are heading out today to the stores to spend the generous Christmas money we got from Great Grandma Deschamp and from Chad and Krissy and from Mom! Can't wait! Thanks everyone!

Taylor loved showing off her new stuffed cat at school. We enjoyed all our holiday gifts from everyone! I'm going to have to invest in some organizational stuff to keep it all!

Happy New Year All! Talk to you soon...

Busy, busy, busy

Here it is Friday and the cubicles are still not done. I am trying to get the file server here finished and start setting up a new server for the Health Department. Howard just left and gave me a big list of things to make sure that get done today (great, just what I need, more stuff to do), so I made copies of the list and gave them to everyone else.

Tonya got home Thursday morning really early safe and sound. Taylor had school the next morning and got to show off her new stuffed cat.

Later.

I'm all moved in

Howard came in today and he helped me move a better desk into my office. It is a lot nicer than the other one and I am so glad to be finished with my move. I have everything unpacked and all of my computers are now running. I even have my netcam up and running (You can go to my homepage and see it) I have everyone's account moved over here, the only problem is that the cubicles and power and phones and network wires aren't done yet! :-) Oh well, at least I am done with me and I'm almost done with the server for this building!

In other news, I still can't get a hold of the garage man. His voice mail on his phone is full. This is not a good sign.

Happy New Year!

2002 is here! I hope this year is better than the last!

For the first time in a decade, Tonya and I were not together for new years. Work made it impossible so as you can tell, I am not happy with my job right now.

I was going to live with the desk they brought me, but I found out tonight that it doesn't hook together right with the return, so now I have to pack up everything again and move it out. Grrrrr.

In other bad news, the spring on our garage door broke and now I can't get the door open, even on the emergency latch, so our car is stuck in the house. I couldn't get a hold of the garage door man today, I hope I can tomorrow, but considering it is a holiday, I might be out of luck. Fortunately, I have transportation.

I am praying that these bad things happened on the last day of 2001, so that 2002 can be a better year. I have my figures crossed.

I love you, Tonya, Taylor, and Shaylie. I miss you all.