On to the next...

Well, we had a very Merry Christmas at our house, though we were disappointed by the early departure of Grandma Rose...She left early yesterday, instead of today as planned. We were sad to see her go, but we are glad she made it home safely without much bad weather. I probably got more upset than I should have because of PMS or something, but we always hate to see her go, especially early. We love you, Rose!

The girls every wish came true...and if it didn't, they got some Christmas money from Grandma Deschamp and Grandma Dawn so they can go get it. I got my backyard firepit, which I love, and Scott's best gift was a video game controller for his pc. He has been busy defeating the StarWars Lego Empire. I also received a surprise gift from a friend of mine: I was delivering her Christmas treat and she offered to let us have her old fridge...which is a side-by-side with drink and ice in the door....nice...for free!! I offered to pay her but she just said, "Take me out to lunch sometime!" Thank you, Julie! You are a sweetie!

We are now preparing for the next big bash...Dad's due to arrive tomorrow, the rest of the fam on Friday or Saturday. I can't wait to see everyone and have fun.

My girls night out tonight got canceled because one of my friends is sick today. H0pe she feels better soon, she's had it for about a month....she probably could have used a night out...We'll go soon...

That's about all that's happening around here! Happy New Year to everyone and talk to you in 2006!

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's finally here! It's such a relief to be able to tell Shaylie she can open her presents...I've given in a bit early and already let her open three or so. She's been so patient. But, a big surprise...Taylor wants to wait until morning...who knew?

Grandma J is here and we've had visits from Grandma Dawn and Aunt Anissa too. We are so excited about having everyone down for New Year's...

Merry Christmas To Everyone...we hope that your holiday is filled with love, laughter and lots of gifts... :-)

Time's flying...

Last Saturday before Christmas...we have been busy all day baking and making treats for Neighbors Treat Boxes. We are planning to deliver them sometime soon, maybe tonight, but my back is hurting so...maybe Monday. Even though they've been helping me bake, the girls have been bored as can be all day. I can't even put them to work because our house is pretty clean. You'd think baking cookies, making fudge and mints would occupy them but they still feel like they haven't done anything today. Growl.

Anyway, I still have much shopping to do. I'm almost done, but there are some of you that are very hard to shop for...We'll get by though, just remember that we love you no matter how much the gifts might bomb.

So, I just realized that I am sounding pretty grouchy...but I'm really not...I've been feeling pretty Christmasy all day. I'm even looking forward to going out to the stores and fighting crowds. I just might need a nap first. :)

I'm looking forward to having Grandma Rose come on Wednesday...Scott was supposed to go up to a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in SLC, but I think I talked him out of it...He would miss the girls chorus concert and his mom would be here before he gets back, and I would miss him... all not good.

I also got the New Years' Invite out to all the fam. I haven't heard anything back from anyone though...maybe it's best to just get Christmas out of the way first. Y'all let me know when you know what you are doing...I can't wait...It should be tons of fun!

Love to all...be good. Santa's watching.

Another Christmas Update

Here are a couple other things I've heard the girls pine for...Heelies ? (those roller skates in the shoes that pop out), Sparkle Cinderella, Game Boy Advance Game Nick Toons Unite (?) (It has all the cartoons that they like spongebob, timmy turner, danny phantom, etc. all together in one game)...Grandma J and Taylor are going shopping for bedding so...thanks for that! She'll love it.

If any of you have clues for me about the 'rents...I'd love some hints.

Been sick for three days now...just can't seem to kick my cold. I hope it ends in time for visits. I have tons to do and no energy and less time to do it. All I can think about is taking naps.

Got my December stories to Club Mom...I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with my effort though. We'll see if they fire me. I haven't seen any of my application stories online yet either. So, I'm not feeling very confident and it hasn't even started yet...it's probably just the cold talking.

Anyway, Shaylie keeps telling me (hourly) that she "cannot wait until Christmas, really, I CAN'T!" She is going to drop dead any minute from the waiting. Today, she said to me, "Christmas really is the best time of year, huh, mom?" I was feeling so proud, then she said, " Cause you get lots of presents!" But, I guess she is right, although I really enjoy giving presents too. I always wish I had unlimited money at Christmas so I could get exactly the right thing that everybody wants/needs. Oh well, you all love yarn too, right? Right?!

So, I'm tired out now...I'm going to rest/nap before the kids get home...Love to all!

Step 1 of Server Fix

Yesterday I spent a wonder 15 hour day moving to an older file server. I have to do that because the last upgrade we did to our good file server destroyed most of the software and it was decided that the easiest way to fix everything was to back everything off the server, wipe it out completely, and start over. Since I got the old server running about 8:30 last night, I am now free to wipe out the server. It will be nice to start with a clean operating system, the server had been developing little problems for the past several months now. And the best thing is, I got to practice setting up a server before having to do the main one ;-) I just wish it didn't take so long to copy 60 Gigs of file information. Well, at least most of that time was sit and wait time, so I finished my BoM reading last night.

Christmas Dance

Last night was Taylor and Shaylie's Christmas Dance Concert. Both of the girls danced very well. Shaylie has a realy cute shake move that she has developed. I will try and put the video's on the web page, although if I do, dial-up will not be the best way to download them.

Taylor was sick on Sunday, mom is now sick (Shaylie coming soon ;-) )

Updated my avatar

No, this post is not about the last air bender, but at avatar.yahoo.com, you can create your own avatar and put it on a web page. It allows you to change moods clothing, scenery. I like it. Plus I was able to find clothing that matches exactly what I am wearing every morning! Sweats, Black leather jacket and my santa hat!

Ward Christmas Party

We had our ward christmas party tonight. I was in charge of taking pictures, so you know that we had to have ours taken. I wanted to wear my Pioneerzz jersey, as you can see it was authentic pioneer apparell, but Tonya told me to take it off for the picture.

It was a fun party, although I basically watched it from the corner. ;-)

Train Set

Here is a picture of my train set:

Unfortunately, one of the power supplies died right after this picture was taken, so it hasn't been used much. It sure would be nice if we had room for it :-)

What's up?

I just want you all to know that I check into your blogs everyday and nothing changes....you all must be busy since you don't have even a minute to write a quick note. Maybe you are like me, once you start you just go on and on...:)

Scott is not feeling too well today. He has a headache and is tingly all over, he says. I am hoping he'll be fine by tomorrow as we have our ward Christmas Party tomorrow night and he is the official photographer. I went to the temple by myself tonight, and then tagged along with a couple of my friends to dinner afterwards.

I posted my first official story to Club Mom today. I still have one more to go. I will post the links as soon as I know what they are. I hope I will get more confident as I go...it was all I could do to hit the send button.

About Christmas Lists: There are a couple things on the girls lists that are still up for grabs: bedding for the new bed (which Taylor wants to pick out herself--I heard that Grandma J may want to take care of this and if this is true, maybe you two could go shopping for it together); She also mentioned a scooter, which Scott and I are not getting her because she told us too late. I would love to have a backyard firepit, and Scott has mentioned the new Harry Potter Goblet of Fire PC game, and Shaylie hasn't mentioned anything in particular, but she is into puppies, princesses, and any girlie thing. Scott and I could also use anything at all to do with home repair or improvement.

Also: Will someone please tell me if I am right in thinking that I buy for Mike and Erin this year? I'm not sure if anyone remembers. I gave Anissa and Anje scarves last Christmas, I think. I am sure that Bryan and Dena bought me a very cute picture frame last year....I'm just not sure what that means.

Okay, it's getting late. I think I took care of everything I needed to....yelled at bloggers, x-mas list, club mom....yep. Love to everyone...hope to talk to or see everybody very soon. This month is flying by...

More Running

Yesterday I ran 10 laps without stopping. I felt pretty good about it until the last lap when a high school age kid came running and looked great running and ran 5 laps very fast. Taylor said, yea, but you ran twice as many laps, which made me feel better, until we were driving home, and we saw him running on the street. I have got to get in better shape.

Yesterday morning when I was riding in to work, I have to turn off the boulevard (road construction) at the street next to McDonald's. I guy in a huge white pickup was just starting to drive out of the drive through when I came riding by. He was about to make a left hand turn from the parking lot but had to wait for me as I had the right of way. He lays into his horn and starts yelling at me! I am still trying to figure out what possible reason I could have made him that angry to have to wait maybe two seconds.

Then later I was walking to my building with my Santa hat on and some other jerk in a white truck (I am really getting sick of people with white trucks) rolls down his window and yells "Hey Loser, hey dumb#@%! with the hat." I really am starting to think we need a lot of chlorine in the gene pool.

But other than that, it was a good day ;-) The company that puts out our video conference equipment put out a version of software for their camera's that I feel is really buggy (it crashes a lot, while the old version ran weeks without problems), so I have been testing it for then and it crashed right on cue, so I was happy, they weren't. So I sent them the test results, and put the old version back on my camera.

Family Fun...

Despite some of the recent strife in our family (tween-age hormones to blame), we had a really great and fun family night tonight. Usually the first Monday of the month is our daughter/parent date night, but we only had one car tonight (Anissa has borrowed the Totaled until the big dent she put in the Mazda is fixed) so we decided to do something together. We went to eat at Tacos del Mar (good) and then to the St. George Rec Center. We played Foos Ball and air hockey, then played racquetball for about an hour, then pool. We had a bunch of fun. Then we went for ice cream. I'm sure we'll all be sore (well, the parents will) but we had a good time.

December is getting pretty busy these days...I will try to keep you all up to date. For anyone interested, the girls have a dance recital on Monday the 12th and Taylor has a Christmas Chorus concert on Thursday the 15th at 6:30 at the school. All friends and family have an open invitation to attend and/or just visit anytime.

Well, time to go tuck in the girls....We love you all and I will post again soon...

Did my running

Ran 9 laps today. It was hard because it was windy, but I made it. Taylor is having a much harder time. She is going to go back a couple of weeks and see if she can build back up. Next week I have to run 10 laps on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In other words, 30 laps next week.

We went and got Taylor's new bed today. I think that she likes it.

Was also Taylor and Shaylie's Dance today at the Dicken's Festival. Got one of each of their dances and then ran out of tape. That happened last year too. :-( Have to get more tapes.

Running again

Today is running day. Taylor and I will walk 1 lap, run 4, walk 1, run 4, walk 1. I warned her last night, so that she will come home ready and excited to run ;-) Like that will ever happen. It is starting to get pretty cold running now, but the race is in February, so we need to be ready for cold running.

BTW, my laptop recorded Avatar correctly while we were in Holden, so Taylor has been very happy watching the shows.

Busy Today

Today is Tuesday and one of the busiest ones in a while. I am not feeling at all well, my usual crampy blues....it taps my energy for just about anything but staring into space. (Come on, girls, you know what I'm talking about)...but life must go on.

I have to get the girls to their dance dress rehearsal today after school. Shaylie's costume, which they supposedly measured her for, is way too big so I have to find a way to take it in. I also had to go and buy her some new shoes since they wanted black for the costume. Taylor's costume also needs work since she didn't take very good care of it last year and I also think it is getting a little small. Then later tonight I am teaching my Beehive girls how to crochet. They all wanted to learn how to make a scarf or something. I hope it goes well for them. I've never tried to teach anyone to crochet before, so it should be interesting.

I was sorry I didn't get to talk to anyone on Thankgiving. I read all the blogs and heard the messages and it sounds like everyone had fun. We are looking forward to having New Years here this year. We should have an extra bed and a blow up mattress and there is room at Anissa's place so we should have plenty of room (I hope).

I had my conference call on Monday and I have to get my first two articles to the website by Dec. 15th. They will likely "go live" at the beginning of January. I am very nervous about this...I hope my mind doesn't fail me anytime soon. When I get the URL, I will post it here and you can link right to the page....if you are interested.

Grandpa seems to be doing better. When we left, he was just finishing a 24 hour lie-down. He is supposed to lie down if he feels even the tingiest headache come on. They said they would have the results in about a week...so we'll know more then. They think it is some sort of fluid in his brain and it is upsetting is equilibrium. Scary. He'll be in our prayers and Scott is going to the temple tomorrow so we're putting his name in the rolls. ...You know, one of the things I love the best about Grandpa is that he never has a bad attitude about anything. He is always smiling and laughing and making the rest of us laugh and feel better. I hate to think that he is getting old but what a terrific person he is no matter his age. I may be biased but I feel that he has lived a life that he can be proud of and that's not saying a little. I love you Papa! You are the best.

Well, unlike my grandfather, I am full of complaints. I am staying home from work today because of my affliction. I wish it was a weekend, because I hate to lose the mon-a hon-a. It's really not fair that the one in the family who never gets sick has about 16 years worth of sick leave built up and the one (me) who is sick constantly (according to my hubby) has none. Maybe I need a better job. It seems I can still write even when I am sick though, hmmm...something to think about.

Okay. I expect to hear from everyone on our blog in the next day or so. I don't think having your own blog is an excuse for not commenting on ours. I feel very sad when I see people posting on other blogs and not on ours. I know you don't want to make me cry. I love you all and I hope to see you all soon.

PS...Grandma J--I hope you saw Scott's message about staying with us for all of your 7 vacation days. Wouldn't you feel better knowing they aren't going to waste? Think about it...we would love it if you could stay a little longer this year.

Technical Difficulties

Our web site is experiencing some difficulties, so I have put the default theme on so that pages will come up, will look into what has happened to my template when I get a chance.

UPDATE: As you can see, I have fixed it. Now continue with your everyday business :-)

Let it snow, let it snow

Today was work day here in Holden, We raked up all the leaves and as I was starting the Heath's backyard, it started snowing. The pull rake stopped working in the snow, so I guess it is too late. Then Anissa set up the Christmas tree at Dawn's.
They took Grandpa Heath up to Provo for tests this morning, yesterday he wasn't able to walk so they took him to the emergency room. They ran tests, couldn't find what is wrong so they scheduled him to get tests in Provo. They are up there now, and we haven't heard anything more other than Dawn called about 11:00 that they were waiting for his spinal tap.
As of 2:42 we have about 4 inches of snow on the lawn. Bella, Taylor, Shaylie, and Anje are out building snowmen.

We did it!

At 2:00, Tonya drove Taylor and I over to the Millard High School track (very nice track by the way) to run our two miles. After much fear (and a bunch of fake cramps on Taylor) we walked one lap to warm up, then stretched out, and ran EIGHT LAPS :-D At about 6 1/2 laps, I knew I could make it. It was great feeling to come around the last turn and see the finish line.
Shaylie and Anje were with sitting with Tonya and they cheered on Taylor as she finished up. She was very tired but she was happy to have it done.
Afterwards, she took the girls to get ice cream, and I hadn't ate lunch yet, so I got a sandwich. I am so glad to have that finished.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are in Holden. I am writing this on dial-up, so you may have to read it more slowly ;-) The girls are burying each other in the leaves, and everyone else is cooking. My job is to clean up computers whenever I come here, so as I am writing this, I am downloading several megs of updates.
I hope you are all well wherever you are! Happy Thanksgiving!
P.S. Tomorrow, Taylor and I go and run 2 miles, I hope we make it.

Taylor did well

I just got back from the District Storytelling Festival. Bias involved, but I think Taylor did GREAT! :-D Taylor followed after a girl who I think was too young to be in the competition and I couldn't understand a word she was saying. Taylor was very clear and acted out parts of her story.

We are going to the Hobby Hut after work and spending her door prize money from the train show.

Something shocking happened

Today was supposed to be the hardest day of running so far. 3 800 Meter runs. I was dreading it and so was Taylor. However, when we started running, we both had a very easy time at it. We got through the runs and it was very easy. We in fact ran an extra lap and we raced the last 100 meters.
We are now sure that we can handle the two mile run on Friday, I just hope it is not too cold running on the Millard High School track.
For family night, we went a little off course and went to a movie. We went and saw Chicken Little. It was very good. Shaylie was scared of the aliens, until she actually saw them. They she loved them. We had fun.
Tomorrow, Taylor is performing in the District Storytelling Festival. We know she will do well.

Made it through the weekend

Our tree is up and the 3 nativity scenes are up. We will decorate the house tomorrow. We pulled our train set out and played with it for a while until I got fed up with it not working perfectly. (yes, I know, some of it is 2 plus decades old) Maybe I will work on it later since Taylor won $30 at hobby hut. The most important things, new track and new engine :-D
Oh mom, by the way, this web page is a blog. A blog is basically an online journal, or at least that is how they started.
I am so proud of myself, I didn't make fun of any of the rabid BYU fans at church today. I did mention to one person and reading the Book of Utah, chapter 41 verse 34, but he was a Ute fan also, so we had a good laugh about it. (And mom, no mentioning that I liked BYU as a kid, I don't know what I was thinking. And it was because of Jim McMahon, so that doesn't count) In my history, it is written that I was always a Utes fan, that's my story and I am sticking to it.
Taylor and I run tomorrow. This is a hard week. Monday, we run 2 laps, walk a lap, run 2 laps, walk another, and run 2 more laps. Wednesday, we run 3 laps, walk 2, run 3. Then on Friday, we run 8 laps straight. So if you need to tell me anything, get it done before Wednesday, I may not make it any longer through the week. Plus I should go over 1400 miles on my bike this week. Why am I not getting skinny?

Busy Days

Last night, Taylor and I went running. Like Darth Vadar, we have found out that Taylor's hate make her powerful. She was mad at us for not letting her play and made her go run, so I was not able to keep up with her the whole time. If she runs like that in the race, not only will she beat ALL the kids, she may beat all the adults. When we got back, I went to help my neighbor go set up for a hobby train show. It was pretty fun to play with trains.

Today we are going to the train show, then coming home and setting up Christmas stuff, the Shaylie is going to a birthday party and I am going to help a ward member with the internet. Taylor already went for a big bike ride this morning and I will probably go later. Tonya has to prepare her lesson for young women's tomorrow.

We will sleep well tonight.

Movie Night

Last night we went as a family to see Zathura. Shaylie was scared through a lot of the movie, but ended up enjoying it a lot. Taylor really liked it, in fact she and Tonya were laughing a lot at the end of the movie. Inside joke, you will have to see it, then we will tell you. I thought it was very good.

Believe it or not, we do not yet have tickets to see Harry Potter yet. I know this comes as a shock that we haven't seen it yet, but sitting outside on the concrete just isn't appealing to me anymore.

Blog Standards & Current Events

Hey now, Chad is giving us a hard time because suddenly everyone has a blog when we have had one for years, but I would like to remind him that we are the standard bearer....I've checked in a couple or few times in the last day and there are no updates.... plus I've only seen one or two photos and the proof is in the pudding so to speak...We are glad everyone is joining the craze: let's see who can keep up!

We are having a pretty good week around here, but it is always hard to get through a full week before a holiday...it seems like it drags and drags. We have been talking about putting up our Christmas decorations this weekend, which hardly seems possible, but 'tis the season.

Taylor had her annual storytelling festival at school and she won! There were two girls in her category and they send two kids to District. So without even preparing she gets to go on. This is her first time to district though, and she is practicing hard for that competition.

Shaylie rode her bike to a friends house for the first time yesterday, which prompted me to talk to the kids about Stranger Danger. I worry a lot more about Shaylie than I ever did about Taylor for some reason...I don't understand why. Shaylie just seems a lot littler and more vulnerable than Taylor did at that age. She is very good at calling me and letting me know if she leaves or is heading home so that allays my worries a little bit.

I have begun my Christmas shopping (Scott says I've finished it but little does he know). I still have to decide what kinds of gifts to get for neighbors and friends...and this would be a lot more fun if we had unlimited budget. As it is, I have to figure out how to get the most for the least. We always think of something though....thank goodness for dollar stores.

I sent my first ever headshot to my publisher in New York. (Tee Hee!--It's probably not very professional to have a whoopdee-doo sound right here but it's still so exciting!) It sounds like we are going to have a page with our picture and articles on it, eventually places to put family photos etc. I'm still not entirely sure what to expect....time will tell. I do know I have to submit 2 articles each month. By December 15th? I don't know yet.

Well, better go. Scott and Taylor just left to go running. Wish I could join them, my back's been giving me fits lately. I have been trying to walk more though, but I can never tell if it works or not. I suppose I don't stick with it long enough. So, enough already....dinner awaits. Love to everyone!

Another Family blog

Anissa now has a blog. It is at http://olivasgirls.blogspot.com/. She says that she will not update it often, however as she is the one that says we don't update ours enough, we will keep on her. Taylor and Shaylie's rooms look pretty good and it is nice to have cut down greatly on the clutter. We'll see how long the rooms stay clean ;-)
Now I only need to convince my mom and Roger to get blogs and then everyone will have joined the blogoshere.

Re-arranging, cleaning

Friday night was ward temple night. Only five families came for the session, but that was ok, because the Las Vegas temple is closed for the rest of the year and everyone is coming here. In other words, it was packed! Taylor and Shaylie stayed home with Deborah Hutchins. They get excited to have a babysitter.
We have been dejunking the house, Tonya has been packing up all the old toys and clothes for D.I., or the nursery room. We put the bunkbeds back together in Shaylie's room, although I don't know if Taylor is going to sleep in there. Shaylie came out and asked to not make Taylor sleep in there because Taylor snores way too loud ;-) That led to a be discussion of who snores the loudest. I unfortunately won the contest.
This weekend is stake conference. I had a meeting from 4-6 on Saturday. Then the adult session was 7-9, although Tonya's back was really hurting so I am the only one that went. This morning from 10-12 is the broadcast from Salt Lake. The stake is kindof excited, as this is the first time conference has been done this way. Oh, by the way, Taylor and Shaylie are over at Anissa's, that is why we are able to go to all these things without them.
The house is still a mess, but I am sure it will be all cleaned up today, as long as I stop writing on the computer and get to work, bye! ;-)

Security Upgrade

Well I have done it now. I have been studying Wireless Security a lot lately and I finally got around to using real security on our home network. I used to disable SSID (almost worthless), MAC filter (almost worthless) and WEP (very hackable). Well, I have now upgraded to WPA-PSK with TKIP data encryption. Also, my passphrase is 63 random CHARACTERS LONG! I feel really secure now :-D The nice thing is, with that much security, I am able to turn SSID on so that I can find my access point and I can turn MAC filtering off. If any of you understood anything I just said, you can tell that you have been related to me for a very long time. ;-)

She's Alive! Thanks for a New Job! And Merry Christmas already!

(How's that for wrapping up all the Holidays in one...)

Well, I'm back to the land of the living...I hope. I came home from work yesterday with a raging headache and woke up in the middle of the night with some kind of eye infection. It all seems better today, so I am up and about. I think my headache was brought on by sitting at the computers for about 4 hours straight yesterday...Today, I'm going to have to set a timer to remind myself that I need to get up and move every so often. I have been trying to update the computers and install software while the kids are off for SEP's and it has been a real challenge. I am not sure that I will be done for Monday, especially since I have two different meetings scheduled for today and tomorrow. Scott is right...they aren't paying me enough.

I can't remember if I posted about my new job though. I was just hired by the ClubMom website to become a Go-To Mom. This means that I will be writing two articles each month to be published on their website. Mostly advice, how-to, stories from the heart, etc. in the category of Friends. I applied about two months ago, mostly just to get the 2,000 club mom points. But they told me about a week ago, that they liked my submission & I just got the contract today. This is pretty great because I guess they had quite a few people apply. Anyway, it is another baby step toward my ultimate goal of becoming an author. I guess it is reaching my goal of being published...even though I have a hard time believing that this counts. But, hey, I'm getting paid to write....so what's not to count. It's only $100.00 a month plus 2,000 club mom points, but I'm going to save up my points so I can take a trip with them (in about 10 years). I'm just excited because it's a national forum and I'll be working with real editors and learning a lot! I just hope all my friends and family don't mind being my subjects. I promise to try not to embarrass anybody, and if I do, I'll change your names to protect the innocent.

The family is doing great! We are shocked to see so much of Christmas before Thanksgiving these days but it is really getting us into the Christmas Spirit. Marketing works! I have already started some Christmas shopping. In fact, you guys can all really help us....Taylor wants a new full size bed this year and I am looking for good (cheap) deals. If anybody sees anything, please let us know. She is getting old enough and big enough to have one and I am anxious to put the bunk beds back together. She also wants an electric guitar & lessons for Christmas. I think now that she knows about Santa, she is being extra extravagant...funny that. As for Shaylie, dear Santa Claus, she wants anything and everything....Topping her list is a Barbie Jam with Me Guitar, Skydancer Castle, and Care Bear Cub Love-a-Lot Bear, Furby, and Pound Puppies. She won't even get a fraction of what she asked for, but she's easy to please. Scott and I got a new transmission for Christmas so all we want is our Credit Card paid off...we are currently in negotiations with Santa for terms.

We love you and miss all of you wherever you may be. My favorite thing about the holidays is being able to see everybody I love. Which reminds me, does anybody know where New Year's is this year? I had a feeling it is at my house, which would be awesome, but I didn't know for sure...

Post again soon...

Tonya Sick, Computers Patched and other stuff

Tonya came home really sick yesterday and slept all the rest of the day until when I went to bed, then she got up. I have no idea how late she stayed up as I was really tired.
Tuesday is the day Microsoft releases patches so Wednesday is the day that the WSUS server of mine sends out patches to all the computers. Had to run around and help people reboot their computers and make sure all the machines get turned on so that they patch. Finished that this morning with my public access computers; they have a software lock on them, so I have to unlock them to patch them. Tonya got to do it at her school; they don't pay her enough.
Taylor had Girl Scouts last night. They meet at the Tonaquint Nature Preserve on the other side of town. It used to be really nice and surrounded by trees, but it is right next to the Santa Clara trickle of water that for some reason last winter became a raging river so all of the trees are gone. I hadn't been to the park since the flood and it was quite a shock to see.
Due to SEP's Anje has been with us most of the time in the afternoons. Shaylie has been very happy about that.
Tomorrow is a holiday for work, so I am probably going to go help Tonya at her school.

1300 Miles

I passed the 1300 mile mark on my bike this morning. With the new rim and stainless steel spokes, I am hoping that I won't have to take it to the shop every couple of weeks like I have been. I am sure that 2000 miles for the year is now out of the question, but I am pretty sure that next year it will be easy to achieve. With the new road next to the bike trail, I can easily get my long rides in all of the time.

Daddy-Daughter / Mommy-Daughter Night

3 months ago, Taylor came up with an idea on the first Monday of the month to have a daddy-daughter night and moomy daughter night and each month we trade off. Tonight Shaylie and I had our night again. We went to her absolute favorite restraurant in the world, McDonald's :-D She played in the playplace for quite a while.
We then went to see "March of the Penquins" at the dollar theater and got a small popcorn. Shaylie got a little bored with the movie, until the babies started walking around, then she couldn't stop laughing. To end the night, we went to Arctic Circle to get ice cream cones. It was a very fun night.
Tonya and Taylor went out to dinner at Applebee's and then went to see Dreamer. Then Taylor took them to Arctic Circle to get shakes. They had fun also.
P.S. Bonus points to guess who had the cheaper dates ;-) Extra points to guess exact amounts ;-)

Interesting Day!

It has been a busy day. Last night, Tonya hit something in the road that popped our tire, so we took the tire off to take it to the Tire Pro's so that it could be fixed. However, the battery in our Toyota has been dead for a month, so we had to jump the car to get it to the shop. We replaced the battery and got the tire patched. We put the tire back on the van, so now we have two cars again. We also cleaned the house today.
As we were eating lunch, Tonya heard a loud noise but just ignored it (you know, lots of kids on the streets). A minute later, a lady comes knocking on our door saying that there is a car in our front yard. The neighbor's car that had been on their driveway jumped the blocks and rolled down the driveway, across the road and into our yard! Thankfully, none of the kids were out there went it happened. It had to have been going pretty fast to get as far as it did. Here are the pictures:

Halloween Picture

Here are the costumes for the night:

New Page

I have always been bored with the default template that we were using with our web page, so I tweaked it a little. I realize that it doesn't change any of the format, but I like the look of it a little better. Now that I know what I am doing with the template, I may change it a little more often.

P.S. and yes, I will work on the halloween pictures soon. ;-)

Finally Upgraded

I have upgraded our Blog software to 1.5.2. I also got rid of the polls, as they were not as secure as my older poll program and someone was spamming (plus I could never think up a decent poll that anyone in the family would care about) Work is starting to calm down again, so I may have time to actually do things that I need to get done.

Busy Week Past...

We have had a fun and busy week. It seems like there is always something going on at the Jesienouski House. Scott posted about the big Halloween surprise party for Taylor. That was a hoot! I have Taylor on video as she is coming in the door, I could watch that everyday!

On Tuesday, we had our Young Women Halloween Party and I dressed up like a witch. We had fun with the 12 & 13 year old girls in my class.

On Friday night, Taylor went with her Girl Scout troop to Kanab for a Halloween sleepover party. They had a great time decorating pumpkins, going on a goblin walk and basically just having fun! Shaylie slept over at Aunt Anissa's house, since Scott and I had a "grown-up" party to go to that night.

My friend, Stephanie Sabaitis and her husband Shayne, invited us and two other couples over to play a Murder Mystery game. Scott and I played brother and sister and I was certain that HE DONE IT. But in the end it was the Banker. Oh well. It was a blast.

Saturday night we had our annual Trunk or Treat at the church. I am always gung-ho for this activity and as we won last year for best trunk, the girls were hounding me to do something good again this year. I decided to do a "Un-Fortune Teller" Booth. I dressed up as Madame Yasmina and gave the kids bad fortunes as they came into my booth. "Your armpits will soon be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels." "Your nose will grow great long hairs that refuse to be cut." I spoke with a thick accent and many of the kids (and parents) didn't recognize me. It was so much fun! But, alas, I didn't win. I think they didn't want to give it to me two years in a row. (That's my story anyway.) But, I was having so much fun in my booth, that I didn't even go around and see what anyone else had! Dang! So I didn't see what the winning car had on me.

Yesterday, it was the Jesienouski show at church. Scott taught the fifth sunday combined EQ/RS lesson on Internet Safety and the new Ward Web Site. I had my lesson in Young Women. Taylor had a talk in primary. And both the girls performed in the annual Primary Sacrament Meeting. Then Scott had interviews with his home teaching guys. So it was a crazy day...especially for a Sunday.

Today we got the girls all costumed up for the Halloween Parade at school. Shaylie is the cutest ladybug ever and Taylor was a spider witch complete with pet spider. In Taylor's class, they played Fear Factor and the kids had to face such gross challenges as digging through worms to find a spider ring, eating baby food (green peas), eating mustard flavored kipper snacks and putting their feet in Ice Cold Water for 30 seconds. It was a riot watching the kids try to down the fish and the baby food, in fact...I was surprised to see that the baby food was the hardest for them to eat.

Tonight, we are having Anje and Anissa, and possibly Bella & Chad, come over to trick or treat. We still have to rig up the Spider outside to attack the innocent children as they come to the door. I'm sure that I will have more to post after the goings-on tonight. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween.

(PS- Happy Birthday to Rose Jesienouski and Ashton Strong. We love you!)

Boy, am I glad that is over!

The St. George DWS video conference equipment is now working correctly! All the equipment changes, testing, phone calls, getting yelled at, and the problem was...............a loose wire at the Dixie College Library. Now that I am done spending my life working on the video conference, I am having a hard time remembering what it was I did before this :-D
Now back to working on computers.

2 Weeks down, 7 to go

Taylor and I are now beginning our third week of training for the Einstein 5k race in February. The first week, we ran 60 seconds and then walked for 90 seconds for a total of twenty minutes. Last week we ran for 90 seconds and then walked for 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes. This week we will run 200 meters, walk 200 meters, run 400 meters, walk 400 meters, and do that all again twice. By the end of nine weeks, we should be able to run 3.5 miles. We are following the couch-potato to 5K running plan. Hope we survive :-)

We had a surprise Halloween party for Taylor on Friday. Tonya invited all the girls in the immediate area that were her age so that hopefully she can make some new friends. I took Taylor and Shaylie to the park while the last minute setup occurred and kids arrived. Taylor thought she was going over to Shaylie's house that night, so when she got home, it was a big surprise! They painted pumpkins, then watched a scary movie outdoors (We hung a bed sheet off the trampoline for the screen. After that they played games till midnight. It was a very fun evening.

New Blog

Grandma Dawn has a blog! This was an extreme surprise. It reminds me of the time when my parents bought a computer. Good to see other people coming into the technology realm. Her address is: http://mommessages.blogspot.com/

GRRRRRRRRR....

After three months of working on the video conference system at work. I have now replaced the CSU, the PRI (three times), and now the codec. I have learned how program the system and how to wipe it. I now know the acryonms. I feel I have spent my life in the video conference room. Well, after that, it is still doing the same exact thing. But we now are absolutely sure of one thing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with anything in my building on the video conference. Which is what I could have told you three months ago. The only difference is now I have physical proof of that. What a total waste of time.

So Busy...

...and sometimes, I really hate my job. I have spent the last three weeks on the phone with tech support and State ITS and out of my office trying to get the video conference fixed. It has been so frustrating because I have been doing so much without getting anything accomplished (Everyone seemed to think it was someone else's problem). Then the worst thing happened yesterday. My boss, who barely even knows who I am (he has said "hello" to me last christmas and that is the only time he has talked to me in the last two years) writes an email to my supervisor telling him to tell me to get off my *** and work on the video conference equipment. Even my supervisor blew up about that. Oh well, I guess this is going to happen, as he never stays in touch, but I wish he would have talked to someone in the know, before he flew off the handle. I am going to start collecting letters of recommendation from a lot of the people I work with and send them up to my boss as an introduction to me.

In other news, on Monday there was a massive denial of service attack directed at the state. The shocking thing was, it was directed at the Novell Servers (these attacks usually go after microsoft) It was causing most of the servers in the state to reboot every few minutes. Once I got that problem solved, it was back to the video conference problems.

We had a printer that would stop printing after about an hour. After pulling it ompletely apart, including the motherboard and hard drive and NIC card, it still didn't work, but at least it gave a error message as to what was wrong. I eventually fixed that, but it needs a new nic card (I took one out of an older printer). The cool thing is, I got HP to replace the broken NIC card free even though it is out of warrently. I can be so cool :-p

I am at work today, even though it is Saturday, becuase I need to put server pack 4a on all the file servers.

I was right

I had my meeting with the Stake Presidency last night. I had guessed what was happening is that I was being released as 2nd Counselor in the Elder's Quorum to be called as the 1st Counselor in the Elder's Quorum. The meeting took all of five minutes. No wonder President Russell wouldn't tell me who was the new first counselor. I continue my slow upward rise. First, secretary, then 2nd counselor, now first. It is scary to think about what could be next.

New School Pics

We received the new pictures for the school year. Here is Taylor's:

Cute as ever!!! Now for Shaylie:

Once again, not centered. Vote in the poll if she should get retakes. And lastly, as she is now at the school as an employee, she has a picture:

Use or Lose

I just got an email saying to check your vacation time because anything over 320 hours at the end of the year is lost. I checked, and I need to take two weeks off! :-D We are taking bids to see where we should go. ;-)

Busy Week

We have a busy week ahead of us and many things to fix. Either we need a new battery for the Toyota, or we need to drive it around a lot to get it charged back up (We didn't use the car for 3 weeks, why do we need two cars? ;-) ) My bike is in the shop AGAIN for broken spokes (this is 61 miles since the last broken ones) and we really need to check our shower fixed. Also, there are some broken boards in the fence. Good thing Tonya got her first paycheck. :-D
Wednesday, Tonya has enrichment night and they are making 72 hour kits. We are getting 4 for us and I think Anissa and Dawn are getting some, so she will be busy that night. Also, I have a meeting with the Stake President, which normally could be scary, but I think I know what it is about, will let you know Thursday if I was right.
Thursday night is Ward Volleyball, we'll see....
Friday is the Ward Luau, but we are probably traveling to Salt Lake for Tonya's cousin's Wedding.

I'm back

I'm back from Salt Lake. I now can say that I understand Linux. Most importantly, I was able to learn how to get XPlanet to work on it, so I am more likely to stick with it and try to use it. It was fun to come home and get big hugs from my daughters. I am sure glad to be back home. Unfortunately, now back to work.

Sad Day.

I'm feeling very sad today because I just found out that my brother and his wife are likely separating. It is such a shock and a sad twist. They have been married for just about 4 years and they have a 2 year old little daughter Bella. I guess Krissy is moving out today and Chad is taking it pretty hard. Just from talking to him, I'm pretty sure it is not what Chad wants but he feels he has no choice. I just want to put my arms around him and give him a big hug.

I know how hard it is to be married (very hard) and how much it takes to keep a family together ( a lot). I also know there is not much I can personally do to help everything be all right. But, my sisterly advice would be to get into counseling, to try to fix the things that are making them unhappy, because destroying this family is not going to make anything better. Chad and Krissy, we love you. We want you to be happy. You have to work to keep your family together. It is hard, but it is the right thing to do.

I'm pretty sure that neither one of them will be reading this blog, and it doesn't matter what I say anyway. I just hope they know that I love them, that I want everything good for them. I am praying for them and especially for Bella. If you need me, you just have to call. I love you.

Halfway through...

We are halfway through our week without Scott! I can honestly say that it is much easier to keep our family going when Scott is here. We miss you. We have had a busy few days. We had Girl Scout activities, birthday parties and church lessons. Mom, Grandma and Papa Great came down on Saturday for Grandma Great's birthday--We had a happy 82nd birthday party--and today is one of Shaylie's friend's party. School is going well, and today the front office secretary asked if I would like to sub for her once in a while in the mornings. I wouldn't mind the extra money...but it already feels like I am missing out on a lot of time with Shay now anyway...I guess I need to get used to it...so far I haven't had to get a babysitter except for on Fridays...so this would be another time that I would need to farm Shay out to someone else. I told her I would let her know by tomorrow. The week ahead is looking busy too. Dance and Mutual, School Carnival is on Friday. (Thank Goodness I am not in charge this year!) And Scott comes home on Saturday! Hallelujah! I think I will take a vacation when he gets back! or whatever. Talk to you soon!

1005

That is the number of miles that I have put on my bike this year. I went over a thousand as I was rounding Foremaster Hill this morning. I was hoping to have a lot more, but with the bike trails washed out still and the fact that I only got to ride my bike about ten days in January due to all the rain, I feel it is still a great accomplishment. I love having an odomenter on my bike. Next year I will have to try to get over 2000 miles.

I am traveling up to Salt Lake today for our last annual WIT picnic. September 30th is the last day that I work for DWS and then I transfer to DTS. I hope all goes well (I know it won't, I just hope that I get to keep a job that pays around the same level as I am currently making) Next week, I have Linux training, so I am going to be gone for almost a week and a half. Hopefully the rest of the family can get along without me ;-) (they probably won't even notice)

Just checking in

We are all doing well. It is actually a bit cooler here today…only 90 so we were out doing some yardwork. We discovered that half our back yard was dead because the sprinklers were out, but the girls didn’t think to tell us the lawn was yellow. Scott replaced a few and now they are working okay. The girls are both doing well in school. I think they will both be super busy before long. Dance is underway, and they both joined girl scouts this year, so there won’t be a lack of activities. As soon as chorus starts, we’ll probably be swamped. I will keep you posted when I find out how to post on the front page. Talk to you soon. Bye.

Trip to the dentist

I had my semi-annual trip to the dentist today. The dentist used a phrase that I never thought that I would hear. "Your teeth are looking GREAT (emphasis mine, but still he used the word) and you appear to be taking good care of the them. You have had a few good appointments in a row. Keep up the good work."

I was in a state of shock. Oh, if only my old dentist could hear that. She would be absolutely shocked! Mom, if you see her, let her know.

Labor Day Weekend

I can't believe it is already Labor Day! This summer went by so quickly. We now have two weeks of school under our belts. I am enjoying my new job...the kids are all really great and it is fun and challenging to come up with computer schedules and lesson plans. Starting next week, I will be teaching the kids keyboarding. I don't know exactly what but it will be nice to have a structured plan once I get going. I have my lab decorated in a Jungle theme. I have had many good comments about how cute it looks, including from the old computer teacher. I will have to post pictures when I can take the camera to school. I am looking very forward to this long weekend. As a working woman now, I am finding days off very valuable. I can't believe how tired I have been, since I've started. I find it mentally very stimulating and physically exhausting....I LOVE IT!

We had a very good SEP conference with Taylors teacher on Wednesday. He was very supportive and encouraging to Taylor. I think that she will do very well there this year. Now if only Scott and I could figure out how to get things under control at our house...she is definitely in her tweens, and I don't think Scott and I are handling it very well sometimes. We are learning as we go...

We also went a little crazy last week and went on a big shopping spree. Of course we don't have any money....hence the CRAZY part. But we were in need of a new living room arrangement (and my sister is in need of our old sofa) so we went to the Boulevard and bought a new sofa, loveseat, and big comfy chair for me...It comes on Tuesday and I'm very excited.

Everyone who hasn't been to visit in a while...now you can have a new excuse....soft comfy new furniture. We'll expect you very soon...

Well, I will try to post a little more often. I know it is no fun when there are no new posts to read...the beginning of the school year is always very hectic and crazy, but it should start to smooth out from here on in...talk to you soon!

New Pictures

I have finally added the pictures for Taylor and Tonya's Girls Scout trip. You can check them out here:

Girl Scout Trip

The Computers are gone!

The surplus truck came today and took away all my old computer stuff! :-D I now have empty closets and lots of free space. It is a very happy time at work. Maybe next time I will not wait until I have over 100 things to get rid of.

My new calling

After what seems like years of begging, I am the new Ward Web Administrator. I get to maintain our Ward's new website. I never thought that it would happen with our current Stake Presidency, as the President is not much on technology and his first counselor says that the internet is "of the devil." I guess people can change :-D

Shaylie has her first official day of school today. She is very excited. Tonya has her first day in front of children today. She is a little nervous, as she doesn't exactly know what she is going to do. I think that she will be fine.

What should we countdown to?

Well, what do you think our countdown clock should count to? Please put in the comments. Suggestions should be for things before Christmas or New Years.

More Picture sets

I have added new pictures to the web site:

Shaylie's 5th birthday party.

1st Day of School 2005

First Day of School

We got the girls off to school today....well, Taylor anyway...Shaylie has her pre-assessment with her teacher today at 3:45 but we got her ready and walked to school with Taylor for a practice run. We took a peek at the classroom and saw her teacher in the hall to say HI!

Taylor seemed kind of shy on her first day! Hard to believe....but I think it will take her all of two minutes to find her comfort zone. There were quite a few kids in her class that she has known from other grades, but several new ones too. Mr. Judd was very nice, complimented Taylor on her hair. I could tell he was excited for the first day too.

Grandma J. left this morning before school started. She wanted to get on her way before the storms, and school starts a bit later this year, so she didn't get to come with us to the first day. But, we sure enjoyed having her here for a visit. It was a fun birthday weekend! We got to see Bella, Grandma Dawn, and Anje and Anissa, as well. Thanks to everyone for helping to make Shaylie's birthday so much fun!

I start my New Job sometime this week. I will find out exactly what and when tomorrow at a meeting with the principal, and a couple other coworkers. I found some cool websites that we may be able to use and a few posters and decorating things that I hope I will have a budget for...if not I may have to wait to decorate until after my first paycheck comes (or just use my wonderfully creative mind.) I also need to find a babysitter for Friday mornings. I need to find out exactly what my schedule will be before I can make any definitive plans.

So there is a lot on the table right now. ... Thank Heaven! I was so worried I wouldn't have anything to keep me busy once school started....(Hah!)

No TGIF for me...

I'm getting ready for Shaylie's Birthday party, and helping Anissa with her classroom and I need to get everything ready for a house full of visitiors and I could certainly use another Thursday or two to get it all done. But, alas, Friday is here....which means I don't have much time for it all. Something will have to suffer I'm sure, but do I get to choose? Hmmmm.

Anyhow, we haven't heard from Rose in a while, so I'm not sure when to expect her. She usually gets here about 12:30 or 1:00 so I'm sure that will be what we can expect today. I hope and pray she will get here safely.

I got the job, by the way. I think I actually had it before the whole process began. I showed up to interview and they asked me if I wanted Panorama. I said Yes! and they passed me on to the paperwork patrol. She said they would send my contract to the school. So I guess that's it...I hope I know what I'm getting myself into....

Love to everyone! I got to quit a-wasting time!!!! Buh-bye.

Even more pictures and other stuff

I am caught up with the pictures that I can find :-) As soon as we get my camera back I will add the rest. You can check them out here

Tonya has been helping Anissa setup her classroom. I'm sure Anissa is excited, a few more days and she is in charge of shaping little kids' lives. No pressure :-p

Tonya is interviewing today for the computer teaching job at Panorama. I hope she gets it.

My mom is coming down tomorrow, so the family is in clean the house mode :-)

Some new pictures....sort of

After a really long time of not updating our picture page, I have put up the pictures from Shaylie's pre-school graduation. You can view them here. I promise I will be adding more pictures very soon. You can view all of our pictures by going to http://Jesienouski.hopto.org/photos/

Working Woman?

Well, I may be getting a part-time job! Mrs. Turner, the principal of the girls' elementary school, called me yesterday to offer me the job of Computer Lab Teacher at the school. It is a half day job (3.5 hours) and she thinks I could do it afternoons only when Shaylie is in Kindergarten.

I am pretty excited but I have mixed emotions about going back to work. As long as I can do it when the girls are in school then I think it will be great. Heaven knows we can use the extra paycheck. I'm convinced that this is an answer to my prayers. (I'm starting to get pretty regular answers these days...maybe that means we're doing something right.) :)

I'm just waiting to hear back from Mrs. Turner to hear about application processes with the district. I should know for sure in a day or two, since school starts on Monday. Shaylie doesn't start school until the following Monday (22nd), so I may have to get someone to watch her for a week or so, but after that Scott and I should be able to work out a schedule that is doable. I will probably have to buy some decent clothes to work in too. (This I'm not looking forward to.) I can't go in my grubbies! But I may be able to make do for a month or so...

Anyway, Taylor was thrilled with the idea and that makes me feel good. I was worried that they may not like having a working mother, but with PTA and whatnot, they are used to me being busy with "work" anyway. The only difference (hopefully) is that this time I will be getting paid! Yea!

I'll keep you posted...wish me luck!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary! On this date 13 years ago, people were suffering in the heat holding up paper plates for shade. Pete Maynard was my best man, I wonder what ever happened to him? We had no car, we walked to the grocery store for food, and we were renting a two-room basement apartment where the walls leaked when the sprinklers ran. We must have been in love!
We have had a great life together, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

P.S. Tonya, next year when you are going through the archives to see if I remember holidays and special events, smile when you read this.

What a day...

Today is Sunday and it could have been the end of a fun weekend spent camping at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. We did have a great time with my Dad and Pam, brother Bryan and Dena, & their kids, cousins Ashton and Chance. However, today about 2:00 I got a phone call from Dena saying that my dad and Pam had rolled their new truck and trailer coming out of the mountains from Panguitch toward I-15. The ambulance was taking them to the hospital in Cedar City. Taylor and I headed up there just as soon as I called all my brothers and sisters. (I didn't let Shaylie come so Scott stayed home to tend.)

It turned out that my dad was fine, they took x-rays of his back and neck but all was well, though he'll be stiff and sore for a good while. Pam they kept longer with tests, CT scans and so forth. But it turns out that she'll be fine as well. She broke the pointer finger on her left hand and the pinkie finger on her right and her first rib under her collar bone on the left side. She banged up her head and arm pretty good...but nothing permanent.

The truck and the RV are a total loss. Bryan and Dena and her mom Tina were in front of them and saw the accident in the rear view. From what they say, the wind just caught hold of the trailer and started them fishtailing down the road and Dad couldn't get control of it. The police told him after that if he would have gunned the engine it might have straightened it all out, but I say there is no way of knowing what might have happened. All I know is that when the wind decides to dump you on your head, there isn't much you can do about it.

They've decided to stay in a hotel tonight and rent a car tomorrow to head up north. Dad is going to take off a week of work and they'll probably stay with Bryan and Dena in Orem until they are feeling up to traveling home. I am just so grateful that all is well. Everything could have been so much worse. I pray that there will be no more trouble for them or anyone else I love anytime soon.

I decided (and I told them this) that they win the Bad Car Karma award, which I was previously claiming, but they have totally blown me out of the water with this stunt. As of this point forward, I am hereby discontinuing any kind of competition or contest, so if anyone was thinking of taking this award in future.....too bad.

I was also walking home from church with my 75 year old neighbor when she fell and hit her head on the sidewalk. Luckily, she was all right....but it's not been my day for safe commutes.

We did have a great time at the sand dunes. Chance turned one and we had a fun celebration. Scott even got to ride a 4-wheeler on the dunes and caught some air. It was fun to spend time with family. We are looking forward now to Shaylie's birthday party on Saturday and our 13th wedding anniversary tomorrow. School starts on the 15th....so summer is ending and I am ready for it. Let's everyone please stay safe and sound! Our love to you all.....T:)

System Administrator's Day

Today was the 6th annual Internation System Administrator's Day. That is the day I can tell everyone all the computer stories about how bad they are to me and they get to tell me how valuable I am to them. I didn't get a message from my boss (how typical) but the Regional Director bought me a veggie tray and crackers and we had a little party in the break room. That was nice.

Holding our Breath....

We got the Toyota back. This time, there was no charge for the towing or the fixing. The found a burned out wire in the "loom" and replaced it. They also did a front end alignment so now the steering wheel is straight. It didn't seem to have any quirks on the way home and it appears to be running better. We will see how long it lasts. I'm glad that this time it was free.

AAAAAAAGUGUGUGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

Is that how you spell a scream? I can't remember......We thought our Toyota (or Totaled, as I am now affectionately calling it) was fixed, but last week we took it in to fix the quirky headlights and this morning it is back to not running. It starts up okay and then dies. GRRRRR! WE just picked it up yesterday, paid the bill, and now it is back to being a piece of junk! I called Toyota and they are going to send a tow truck to pick it up....in fact, they just came to get it. I hope they can actually make some progress this time. If not, I suppose we can do what Taylor suggested....push it off a cliff and be done with it. We were a one car family for quite a while, a little longer won't kill us. And watching this car drop would be extremely satisfying...oh well, a girl can dream.

More Kid stuff in the backyard

We now have a 14 foot trampoline in our backyard! Dawn decided that since all the grandkids are in Southern Utah, the trampoline should be there as well. As we are the only family with a big enough backyard (yea right!) It is now at our house. Now the kids run from the swimming pool to the trampoline. I think we are going to need to charge admission to all the kids that are going to be coming over.

Well...more bad news...

I can't believe it but we are experiencing even more car problems! This time with our "new" van...the service engine light came on yesterday and the car felt very jerky so I took it in to the dealer to have them run a check on it. She just called me to tell me that the entire transmission needs to be replaced and it is going to cost

a lot!

I guess it's a good thing that we didn't have to spend as much as we thought on the Toyota, but I sure wish we could be done with this business. We still have a few things to tweak on that car too, so I won't be surprised if we wear out our credit card in the next few days.

I am trying hard to keep a positive attitude about all this but right now I think I'm going to have a good cry. And I am DONE buying cars....

Toyota is back

Last night I got a message on my phone the the Toyota is finally finished and I could pick it up. From all the doom and gloom, I was very nervous how much it was going to cost. So I called them this morning to ask them how much it was (I had found my Platinum credit card and was ready to have to use it) the guy started reading the numbers. 3..6..7..2..6 I was expecting 3,672.6 but then he didn't read any more numbers. So I said 367 dollars, he said uh-huh, and I quickly said thank you very much and I will be there shortly to pick it up. I then called Anissa, had her pick me up, went and paid in full for the repairs, drove it home on the freeway, came back to work, and am a very happy camper. :-D

I may just have to go to Tunex and show them how much our "unfixable" car cost to fix. I, of course, will drive the Toyota over there. :-P

Happy Birthday

Today is Tonya's Birthday. Unfortunately, however, she is at Girl Scout camp, so there won't be any parties today. I hope she and Taylorare having fun up there. Shaylie is in Holden with Anje and Bella. We will probably do something for Tonya on Sunday.

In other news, our Toyota is ready. I wonder how much it is going to cost.

Night Out

I took Tonya to her favorite restaraunt, Red Lobster, last night. It was kind of her Birthday Dinner, as she will be at Girl Scout camp on her birthday. We then went and bought some DVD's. We got: I, Robot, National Treasure, and Baptists at our BBQ. We watched Baptists and then freeze framed it to find Anissa, Dawn and Anje in the extra's scenes. I will get a screen cap of that soon.

Lagoon Trip

We went to Lagoon on Saturday. We took our traditional pictures in front of the height posts, however, Taylor is now taller than the posts, so it is not of much use, but it is nice to be able to see the growth through the years. Another problem, Taylor is now to tall to ride the kid rides! That is ok, she consideres The Fire Dragon as a kids' ride. She is a little daredevil. She likes the scary rides.
We will have pictures later.

Red Cliffs

After work yesterday, we drove up to Red Cliffs recreational area. It is about 20 miles north of St. George and west of the town of Harrisburg. It is a nice park and it only costs $2.00 to go out for the day ($8.00 to camp over night) Once you are there, there is a short natural water slide into a decent sized pond inside on a little rock canyon. The hike there was a little nervous however, as it was hot, all the girls (except Taylor) where complaining (or on the verge of death), and the half mile seemed to go on forever. When we got there Taylor was the first down the slide and did it a lot. Anje also went down it, however Shaylie was to little to climb up the rock so she only played in the pond. The hike back out seemed a lot easier for everyone.

Independance Day

We had a great, though very long day yesterday. We all got up early and Tonya had to help the young women put up the American Flags along 450 East. When she came home, we went to Worthen Park for breakfast. It was really good, ham eggs and pancakes and it is just fun to go out and have a good start to the day. We went back home for a while and cleaned up and then went back to the park for all the activities. Taylor did the rock climb, although she didn't make it to the top, and then Taylor and Shaylie played on the air-filled equipment for a while. The city also has some free games around the park, the girls played those, and they had long slip and slides set up and a water sponge war area. Needless to say, the girls kept nice and wet. Lastly, they rode a train around the park (it was a lawn mower tractor pulling 50 gallon drums :-) ) We also bought Taylor a two-legged walking puppet.
Later, Shaylee and Sydney came over to swim, and then Anje, Anissa, and Dawn came down. We ate dinner at home and headed to our usual place at the park.
The fireworks started promptly and ten o'clock and the hillside was prompty on fire by 10:05. The fires were out by the end of the fireworks, but it was a pretty good fire. The fireworks were good also :-D
We came home afterwards and did our own fireworks, and I was so tried that I went to sleep about five seconds after that. It was a pretty good day.

New Trims

Forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago, but here are the girls' summer hair cuts.

Every five years whether it needs it or not...

I cleaned out my pantry today. I found baby food and items that I had in there almost five years ago. I also took out about 1500 WalMart bags. I don't know why I was storing these...probably thinking they would come in handy for some project or something. It is really amazing how much stuff could fit in that tiny closet. I am taking a big load to DI (in the "new" van)!

Speaking of which...I took it in yesterday to get the transmission serviced. The guy said it looks pretty good and there wasn't anything there or in the engine that looked worrisome. So that was a good thing. I've been in for an oil change and I may want to go get a tune up before we head up to Salt Lake. The only thing that has bothered me at all is that I went out to drive yesterday and it took me three times to start it up. Yikes. But we hadn't driven it at all the day before so maybe it's tempermental that way. I hope that is all. The WalMart invoice says they checked the battery and it was good....

I'm looking forward to getting away from St. George for a while. The smoke is crazy from the fires. I am getting a little stir crazy too, with all of Shaylie's friends over all the time. I'm beginning to feel like the neighborhood babysitter. It's good for Shaylie to have friends though, I guess. Taylor's friend Shaylee is in California this week so she has been playing with some of her other friends. She only has about 3 girls that she really enjoys. Our Shaylie was invited out to dinner by the family of one of her friends--Garrett--and last night they went to the Pizza Factory. That was fun for her. She said she only ate one....I took that to mean "one pizza" since she loves it so much. This weekend she has a birthday party at the house of the same friend.

Shaylie has decided on a party theme for her birthday. Puppies. "The Dog" specifically...except for I might mix and match a bit. I found some fun party games and activities. She is inviting both boys and girls so it is a good theme. It was funny though, she asked me how old she would be if she had a puppy birthday. I think since we talk about her Ladybug birthday and her Unicorn birthday, she thinks that you have to have a specific kind of party to turn that age. Does that make sense?

Anyway, the summer is going by quickly. I am excited for school to start already...

School's New Sign

Tonya's sign was put up today. Her last act as PTA President. What do you think?

We Did It...

We are now the owners of a '98 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE. It is a very pretty shade of purple.

Unbelievable!

I am happy to say that our Tunex saga has come to an end...and what an end it has been. Scott posted that we were having our car towed, but it is the rest of the story that is almost unbelievable.

After I had called and talked to Mike to arrange for the pickup (and been reassured for the umpteenth time that there was nothing they could do), I thought it would be good if I could get the notes on the work from Tunex for the dealer to have so I called to ask Mike to just put them in the car. Mike, however, was not there; his wife answered the phone and passed me off to their son Jeff. Jeff took a look at the notes and I asked him to print them out and put them in the car. He told me that when I came in to pay that they would print out on the invoice.

Well, Mike had already told me that I wouldn't have to pay for anything. He said he "just doesn't do business this way." So, I explained this to Jeff and I could tell he wasn't very happy about it or that I was planning to take it to the dealer. He told me that they would overcharge and insist on using new parts and asked why I was doing this when he could fix it with used parts. (Imagine a look of pure shock and dismay on my face at this point!)

I couldn't believe that after 4 WEEKS and 5 minutes before the tow truck was coming that he would be telling me that my car could be repaired. I hung up the phone and went straight back to Tunex. I spend an hour and a half (approximately) telling them what I thought about the way they did business, listening to Jeff tell me how he doesn't think any car is "unfixable" and that Mike "in the office" doesn't always know what needs to be done on the cars. I was so ANGRY and FRUSTRATED that Mike had been telling me a completely different story that the Mom and Jeff offered to work on my car as a special project. Even offering to have it towed back to Tunex at their expense. "Mom" said she wanted to make it right with me. I could tell that she was very upset with the way that her husband had handled the whole thing. But it turned out that the son couldn't find a part in town either and so we would have had to try a nationwide search and I told them to forget it, we would just take it to the dealer. Which I should have been able to do after five days!!!!

I feel like, and I told them this, that Mike decided early on that he wouldn't be able to fix my car or I wouldn't be able to pay for it and was just humoring me until I decided to tow it off. I almost think he was hoping I would give up and leave it there for him to have. By the time it was all over, I felt like I said everything I wished to say to them about how upset and annoyed I was and I felt like they felt bad. Which is all I could ask for. My only regret was that Mike himself wasn't there to feel my fury...but I think he is in trouble with his wife, which actually might be worse.

So, Monday the dealer is looking at it and we will deal with the cost as it comes. I am just glad to be done with Tunex FOREVERMORE!!!!

Friday - 4 weeks now

We have now been without our car for four weeks :-( However, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. We are taking the car from Tunex to the Toyota Dealership. If they can't fix it, noone will. It looks like we will be coming to Salt Lake next week so that we can purchase the state van.We have been approved for our car loan, so it looks like everything is in order.

Taylor and Shaylee (not ours) had a late night party last night. Tonight Taylor, Shaylee and Kaitlin are having a sleepover at Shaylee's house. Kaitlin is moving away, so this is their last hurrah together. Shaylie and Sydney are becoming pretty good friends, although Shaylie is almost exactly a year older.

We appear to have all the neighborhood kids living with us. Esabel, Micheal, and Gavin are always over to swim. It's funny, this is how we thought it would be for Taylor, but all the kids moved away, but now Shaylie is getting the second wave.

I finally have all the hard drives wiped and I am now putting all the serial numbers together so that I can get the state surplus truck to come down. I am going to fill it up as I have a LOT of stuff to send away.

No New Car....Yet

We were almost ready to buy a new van. It was pretty nice, it was purple with bucket seats. The girls loved the color of the van and Taylor really liked the bucket seats. They had just barely fixed the A/C and we took it for a test drive to Riverside Chevron to have them look at it. He pulled the engine cover and found that the engine was pulling oil, he said was a sign that the engine was wearing out and probably wouldn't last much longer :-( Dang, because we were even able to talk them down to the price that we wanted. Oh well. We can still get the state vehicle. We will look around some more this weekend, and if we don't find anything, I will drive up to Salt Lake and get that van. Just wish the state vans had bucket seats and were a different color than white. Oh well, can't have everything, but we are finding that we need a car. :-)

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. I woke up to all the girls (Tonya included) bringing me breakfast in bed. They then brought me presents. I got a crafty thing that said "Shut the door" as I have been saying that a lot lately. They also got me Lego Star Wars, which is a great computer game. They also got me a wet/dry shop vac, that we should be able to use to get dirt out of the pool. All-in-all it was a very good day.

P.S. you should have seen it, Shaylie was playing Reader rabbit on her computer, Taylor was playing Harry Potter on mine, I was playing Lego Star Wars on my laptop, all day long :-D

Elder's Quorum Party

Due to car issues, I had to ride with the Elder's Quorum President up to the party. We had it at the Red Cliffs recreational area. It is a state park just 17 miles from our house. It was very nice up there. There is even a little natural water slide and pond that all the kids were playing in. Tonya and the kids stayed home but Grandma and Anissa and Anje were here, so everything worked out.

Three Weeks no Car

We still don't have a car :-( Tonya is getting nervous that the car place is feeling that the car is unfixable. I can't believe this, we have had that car for six years and the first problem we have with it is UNFIXABLE? We are so frustated with this. We were thinking about buying one of the state vans that is going to surplus, but that could still be a couple of months before we can do that. I am supposed to be in charge of a party this weekend up at the Red Cliffs Recreational Area, but it is looking like we won't even be able to get to it. Boy has it been a fun time.

Imaging Server Gone and other stuff

I spent this morning cleaning up the server room to get ready for the imaging server to go up to Salt Lake. Paul came down from Salt Lake and picked up the server and the old server. It is great to have all that stuff gone. With all the boxes also gone, my two server rooms are very clean and for the first time in a year, spacious :-D

Taylor has been asking to take her bunk bed down for a while, so I finally gave in and told her that if she cleaned her room as we went, I would put it on the floor like she wanted. She cleaned, so we rearranged her room. She is very happy.

The primary swimming party that was supposed to be this morning was cancelled due to the rain and the temperature only being 61 at the start time of the party. Oh well, I bet the girls swim in our pool later today.

Our New Blogging System

I have changed our web page from using Greymatter to WordPress. As you can tell, I have not figured it all out yet, so please allow us some time to get it right :-) With the new system, I hope to keep the page a little more up to date.

"Tanya" on TV

One of the teachers at Panorama Elementary won a statewide teacher's award, so Tonya, being the PTA President, was up in Salt Lake for the award show. She was on screen for about a grand total of 10 seconds, but always nice to see people I know on TV.
Funny how they can spell the last name right and not get Tonya right. She did spell the last name for them, who knew? ;)

Shaylie Preschool Graduation

Shaylie had her graduation tonight :) She sang "How much is that Doggie in the Window". I will get video of her singing on soon.

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school! And my last day of PTA President, although I will still be working on getting the new school marquis installed when it comes. I have to work with our treasurer and new president to get a budget set up and then I am done!!!!! Taylor had a fun last day. She took a crafty gift to Mrs. Brown and Mrs Todd, our beloved crossing guard. She has been working at the corner ever since Taylor started and next year she'll have our Shaylie too. It's hard to believe. Tonight is Shaylie's preschool graduation. She is going to perform a song she has learned. I went to school today and gave all the kids an ice cream treat from the PTA to celebrate the last day of school. It was fun. Shaylie got to meet her teacher, even though we missed the Open House that was held yesterday. I guess I have been a little too busy to pick up the mail, since I missed the invitation to it. She will be in Mrs. Sewell's afternoon kindergarten class. We are both very excited. But first...the summer is here and I have several ideas on how to keep the girls occupied this summer. Reading, swimming, camping, and visiting among them. We will keep you updated from time to time...
PS...Grandpa Great, we are glad to hear you are doing better! We love you!

Training Room Done

I have now completed step 2 of my four step computer setups at work. I have finished my training room computers. Now I have to setup all the old training room computers to be job connection computers and then take the old job connections computers, erase them and put them on a surplus truck. Hopefully soon I can get this all done. It will sure be nice to have some closet space.

Weekend Plans

:party:

Tomorrow is the big Birthday Party! Taylor turned 9 on Tuesday and we are having a big Mother/Daughter Snoozapalooza tomorrow night. We've invited several of Tay's friends and their moms to sleepover. It's going to be fun, if we moms can survive. We had a family bash on Tuesday. Grandma Dawn was down and took Taylor birthday shopping. It was good to have it, because I'm kicking Scott and Shaylie out while everyone is over. Shaylie had to make sure that she got to be in on the celebration since Taylor wasn't inviting her to the sleepover. To make up for it, Scott is taking Shaylie up to Grandma J's today and they'll stay until Saturday. Everyone should be in for a good time this weekend. We'll post an update after...

Wow! Almost a whole month

Sorry, between everything we haven't been updating anything. The past couple of weekends we have been spending all day at Dance Competitions. Shaylie and Taylor danced last weekend at Dixie College and between Taylor's dances, she had a soccer game to play. She scored two goals in the game.

This week, Shaylie had a dance and Taylor had three dances. Most importantly, Shaylie finally got her all-important trophy! She has wanted one for over a year.

I have been extremely busy at work. I have so far set up 29 computers, 3 switches, a complete DWS computer inventory, and rewired the first floor of the EC. I still have a long way to go. Hopefully all this job security will lead to some job security. :P

Lots to do!

I have set up the first few of the new computers, I now only have 26 more to go. :P After that, all the computers that I just replaced will have to be moved into the training room. The computers that are in the training room have to go to the job connection room and the ones in the job connection room have to be erased, inventoried, and sent to surplus. Plus DWS would like it if I had a complete and correct inventory by the 15th. Oh what fun!

Tomorrow a person from the state is coming to talk to us about how we are being effected by House Bill 213, I wish someone would explain how I am being effected by House Bill 109, but as far as I can tell, nobody does.

I have a video conference with the rest of my team in Richfield in a few minutes, I am glad we have the ability to do this now, I hated having the conference on the phone.

Taylor started soccer practice again on Tuesday. I hope it goes better than last year. Same coach, and much of the same team, except we don't have the best player from last year's team. Taylor will have to become that. :)

Just Popping In

It is in-between classes right now so I thought that I should check in. Brainshare has been pretty fun so far, I have learned a lot of stuff. I am really excited about going back and redoing my ZEN stuff. I have also seen a lot of Linux stuff, but I don't know how I feel about that yet. Hope everyone is healthy and happy. I'm coming home tomorrow, just hope that it is not too stormy, although the weather is not looking good, oh well.

Spring Break

Taylor is out of school this week, so we are going around getting visits in. The week after this, I will be at Novell's Brainshare in Salt Lake. I am really excited to go, and have signed up for a LOT of classes that I wanted to take. Brainshare is definately my favorite convention, I am just glad that I do not have to pay for it :)

A busy day ahead

I have thirty computers waiting for me to unload at work tomorrow morning when I arrive. I have to set them up and then put them on the desk of the person who matches up with the serial number. I am not looking forward to that. I am going to be very tired.

Big Day!

Today (& Last night) is a big day for our oldest daughter Taylor. I don't think I should post particulars on this website for the whole world to see, but it has to do with a particular undergarment for girls... Tay and I went to Wal-Mart last night and as we passed the rack I asked her if any other girls were wearing them in her grade and she practically begged me to let her get one...so we did. I told her that her Dad would likely have a come-apart and she couldn't wait to tell him. He didn't totally freak but he did put his head in his hands for a reflective moment. :satisfied: She was excited to go to school today and we woke up early to do all the primping, manicuring, and pedicuring, etc. She really is turning into a lovely young lady. And it might be a little early, but we can all use a little support wherever we can get it... ;)

Talk to you all again soon! All our love...

Dora at the Boulevard

We went to the Boulevard Home Furnishings so that Taylor and Shaylie could see Dora the Explorer and Spongebob Squarepants. There was a line for each one that was over an hour long, so we choose the Dora line and this was the picture we got.

Good week at WW!

I lost another 2 lbs. at WW this week! It wasn't as much as I hoped but I'd rather go down than up...which is what I have been doing. Part of the challenge is that I am trying all kinds of new recipes and foods. It is kind of fun to see what is good (Sweet Potato Fries) and what is not (Asparagus). Today I am trying a soy protein burger for lunch. I was told by a friend to prepare it like a patty melt with some low cal cheese and hummus. She said it was really good...so I will try and see. I didn't know what hummus was, we had to ask at our meeting, but she said it makes a good spread in place of mayo and other sauces...I figure even if I only lose 2 lbs. each week it will only take me about a year to lose all I want to and since it took me 13 years and 2 babies to put it on that is not all bad.

I talked to my principal about Anissa graduating this spring and she told me to bring her by...I was hoping she would be coming down sometime today, but I haven't heard...(Anissa: If you read this, call me and let me know.) Mrs. Turner didn't know if there would be a Kindergarten opening for sure, but she said they are adding another teacher to all of the grade levels, except for K. There will be some re-shuffling but she didn't know specifics yet. I think it would be great to have Anissa teaching at our school. I told Mrs. Turner that she would be an awesome teacher so I think she is excited to meet her.

Girl Scout cookies should arrive sometime after Feb.28th. We will try to get them delivered as soon as we can. Dad will be coming by that week on his way to AZ so we can get those delivered but I don't know when we can get them to the rest of you...we'll have to set up some appointments. ;)

Our stake is having a Family Dance tonight. We are excited to go! Scott and I haven't been dancing since college. Plus, we get to take the girls who don't even know what a dance is...It should be fun!

Lastly, but not least, we don't know exactly what is happening with Scott's job right now. The bill passed to create a new Dept. of Technology, which means either his job will be transfered to the new department and technically nothing really will change...or they will offer him a new Non-merit job with higher pay (this would be good, except they can fire anyone at anytime and we don't know how it affects retirment and other benefits.) Right now, we are in a wait and see phase. A word of caution: if you voted for Gov. Huntsman in the last election, don't tell us or we might do something drastic. We are also in the preparation phases of Scott possibly starting up his own PC Maintenance and Service business. We've picked a name: PC Redo and I've created a Logo and Letterhead. Everyone knows those are the MOST important things to do when starting a business. We're thinking part-time/supplemental right now, possibly more depending on how the state works out its mess.

Well, that is all the news that I can think of...The girls are both doing all right. They are missing everyone. I get asked at least once a day when will someone visit, or when will we visit someone. They are my social butterflies. I don't know where they get it from...

Love to you all! Tonya

We're doing fine!

I think the rain has finally slowed down a little bit...we are anxious to see the sun! This is my favorite time of year down here! Spring comes early and leaves quickly but I love to see the trees blossoming and the flowers starting to peak out. Taylor and her Dad are wearing shorts around, so you know Spring must be coming!

Shaylie has been feeling a bit under the weather. Scott took her late Saturday night to the doctor because she was complaining about her ear...she did have an ear infection plus a fever and cough besides. She is taking some antibiotics and ear drops and I hope she'll be feeling better soon. She has fallen asleep the last couple days in the morning, which she NEVER does, so I hope it will do her some good.

PTA is going well, and I can see the end in sight. We only have a couple big projects left for the year--yearbook, Teacher Appreciation Week, Moms & Muffins; and then all the regular stuff, which has been underway from the beginning...I'm getting excited to pass it along to the next sucker...I mean volunteer. :P :P But it's been a great year so far...

I've started Weight Watchers again (Feb. 2) and so far I've lost 6 lbs. I am taking it more seriously this time, even though it worked well last time...I am trying to really figure out HOW to cook and eat more healthy foods. Last time around, I just bought those frozen dinners, which were convenient but when I got tired of them, I didn't know what to do. I've started collecting recipes and trying to make the recipes I have more healthy. I have another weigh-in tomorrow, so I'll post how it goes. I have been very good this week, so I am hoping for some good results.

I have been trying to get out walking too, even though I fell a couple weeks ago, and put some serious dents in the theory that walking is easy on the joints....not too mention the dents in my shoulder, and elbow, and knee... :rolleyes:

Well, I'm going...Scott was just telling me that people actually do visit our website, so I thought I would update a bit. You know, if you do read this, it would be great to hear from you...Just post a thought or a HI or whatever! It gives me hope. (This does not apply to Rose! We know you check in and post all the time and WE LOVE IT! Mom too!) All our love! T:)

Rainbow

Got this great picture of a rainbow. It looked as though the end was in the church parking lot, so Taylor went there to get the pot of gold, but alas, the rainbow had moved when Taylor got there :)

Servers are done!

I finished removing the last of my file servers this morning! I am all done with that. This round of server upgrades went a lot easier than the other times, just goes to show that things get easier with experience.

Tonya and I went out to lunch yesterday! I felt that we should go out on a least one date every decade and so I have that taken care of for now :)

Pixy's Pixy's everywhere

Well actually it is PXE, but for me it is really cool. It allows me to erase and redo a computer without bringing all my equipment with me. The server is now the imager and PXE allows me to boot to the server without any special equipment. It is making my job just a little easier.

Unfotunately, it looks as though they are going to try and do IT consolidation. The bill is before the house and it doesn't look good. Figures, just get my job going great and now everything may change. Hopefully it just gets tabled.

Scott's Birthday

:party:

Yesterday was Scott's birthday! We had a good time celebrating how old he is getting, and he had fun reminding me that I am older than him no matter what! Thank goodness we can all laugh about that! :plain: The girls wanted to decorate with our tradtional streamers and balloons. And Scott and I went out to lunch--Mongolian BBQ--while the girls were at school... When Taylor and Shaylie came home, we opened presents...I gave him a new Shirt, Shaylie gave him a CTR tie (because it matches her CTR ring) and Tay gave him some new tools. Dad and Pam sent Scott these cool headphones that block out noise, we both are going to use these much...We heard from all the parentals, so we had a fun Happy celebration! Thanks for helping make the day special!

Busy Working

I have been busy setting up news servers at work. I finally finished setting up the servers I have, however soon I should be receiving another for the health department anytime now. I am also going to be receiving my yearly shipment of new computers soon. We have new programs to install and a major upgrade of our imaging system is coming. No rest for us, and with Govonor Huntsman hinting about consolidation, moral is at an all-time high :P

Bike Trail update

Drive around town to look at the bike trails to see if and when would be able to use them. Virgin river trail, under A LOT of MUD, or GONE, couldn't tell. Under the river road bridge, under about a foot of mud. Trail by the Dixie Center, under mud. Bridge from the trail park to the Bloomington Trail (over the Santa Clara River ... GONE!!! Bridge over Virgin River from Bloomington Hills to Bloomington SURVIVED! I was shocked and happy. So if I can find a way to Bloomington Hills (oh I forgot that the trail to Bloomington Hills is under mud) , I can still go all the way to Bloomington, just can't get to Saint George. I guess it could make for some interesting rides.

Fixing up the house

Last night, I finally got fed up with the toilet in the kids' bathroom, so I got on the internet, found instructions on what do to, to the system apart, cleaned it up, put it back together, and now the toilet works great!

Today, Tonya and I fixed the drawers in our kitchen! It is so great to have things fixed up!

Fixing up the house

Last night, I finally got fed up with the toliet in the kids' bathroom, so I got on the internet, found instructions on what do to, to the system apart, cleaned it up, put it back together, and now the toliet works great!

Today, Tonya and I fixed the drawers in our kitchen! It is so great to have things fixed up!

I don't think that I will be using the bike trail

The Virgin River is flooding. This part of the trail is at least 10-15 feet higher than what the river normally is. I can't believe this weather down here. I took the family to see it. Most of the bridges to the other parts of the city are closed, so a lot of my co-workers right now are stuck. Hopefully they will be able to get home soon.

Just so everyone knows, we are quite high up and far from the rivers, so we are safe.

Snow, new Carpet, floods

A busy weekend :) Friday we had a SNOW storm! The storm was so bad that they closed the freeway between Cedar and St. George. That delayed the carpet layers that were coming down to install the new carpet in the employment center. They were supposed to arrive at noon, they didn't get there until 8:00. However, these guys were great. They were laying carpet by 9:00! They were completely finished Saurday night! They had to work under the cubes even, it was amazing to watch.

Back to the snow, Shaylie had a great time and Taylor walked home in it. They were both excited. The snow lasted till that night. It is really neat to look at the mountains all around us and see them covered with snow. On KSL weather, before that snow storm, Mark Eubank said that we have more snow pack right now than we normally get for the year, so we are very wet. From drought to flood in one year!

Taylor, Shaylie and I went for a drive today. We went up on top of the hill and saw that the river was up to the edge of the bike trail, so that is a little scary. Tonight they say the river is going to rise 6 feet more in Hurricane, I can't imagine what that much water will do down here. I don't think the bike trail will be usable for a while ;)

I also cleaned up my downstairs server room in the employment center. I was able to get the three servers onto one table instead of two and I put them on my KVM switch so now I only have one monitor. It looks a lot better.

Happy New Year!

We had an eventful trip up to Cedar City for new years. We were driving along, passing a semi, and our right rear passenger tire blew off. I got the car slowed down and stopped in the emergency lane on the right side. All that was left of the tire was a couple of inches of the sides, the tread was completely gone. Tonya and I put the donut on and we slowly drove the rest of the way (about thirty miles) We made it ok and got a new tire at Rolling Rubber, no more Wal-Mart tires for us!

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express that night, Roger and Pam had the room across from us and we had the New Year's Party there. We went swimming in the indoor pool and spa. Unfortunately, Tonya got really sick and had to go to bed. Also, Taylor and Shaylie fell asleep, so I was the only one in my family awake for the ball dropping.

Taylor woke up very upset that she missed it. We went downstairs and had breakfast and then watched movies and played games all day. Tonya started feeling sick again so we headed home, fortunately the trip home was uneventful.

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!