Made It!

Well, it took me riding 30 miles a day, everyday that wasn't raining or snowing, but I made it!


I am sick of riding my bike, I am not riding it for the rest of the year.

Zen and the Art of Fridge Repair

If I were a pessimist, which I'm not and I know this because I live with one and I definitely recognize the difference, I would have titled this post The Universe Strikes Back!  Instead, I've decided to take a more philsophical approach which leads me to say that the Universe is seeking balance after the amazing amount of goodness and fun we have been having over the Christmas Break.  I suppose having a Refrigerator-sized doorstop is a small price to pay for our good fortune, but we'll have to be more careful in the future about throwing the Karmic Balance out of whack.  And meditation...lots of mediatation.

Joking aside, I really don't think the world keeps a score card.  I just think bad things happen sometimes.  I was just reading a bit of wisdom on a friends blog that said, "Sometimes life isn't about lessons, it's about experiences."  This might have been an ordinary run-of-the-mill Christmas, but now we can always say, "Remember the year our fridge broke...and we lived off our food storage & Hershey kisses for a couple days...and wasn't it fun to keep our milk and eggs outside in the cold, cold temperatures....and we had our food spread around the neighborhood and at the church...Remember?"  Sure, we have to foot the bill for repairs, but maybe that just makes me more appreciative of the things that do work...like the heat, my car, my kids occasionally.  Anyway. 

I'm looking forward to a new beginning with the start of the 2009! I'm working on resolutions which I'm sure I'll post soon!  May the Universe bring us all peace and prosperity for the New Year! Ohm!

A Wonderful Christmas!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thank you to everyone who helped to make our Christmas so special! We feel very blessed. We hope you had as wonderful a time as we did!  Now, on to the New Year's celebration!

Our Christmas Greetings!

[caption id="attachment_1199" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Merry Christmas from the Jesienouski Family"][/caption]

Snow Day

Snow!?! Yep, snow

We had a snow storm ALL DAY today here, although it never really stuck.  The snow fell all day.  I now understand why I was the only living thing on the bike trail today, I didn't even see a rabbit.  Have 163 miles to go before the end of the year, so it is starting to get close.  More tomorrow.

My Man

Scott is having a really hard time at work lately...and it's rubbing off on other areas too!  His workload is increasing daily, the inefficiency of his department is astounding, and his bike just broke this morning. I just wanted to make my feelings known on the subject of my husband and let him know how much I love him.

1) Scott is an amazingly hard worker.  He will do everything expected of him and then some.  He always does what he can to do it right the first time and if given the proper tools, knowledge and opportunity will completely blow everyone away with his skills.

2) Scott is a great dad! There is nothing that Scott wouldn't do for his girls.  He attends every school meeting, every game, every performance.  He shares many of his interests with the girls and they love to spend time with their dad.  His favorite place is home...even though a house full of girls isn't the easiest thing to put up with.

3) Scott is fun! He always makes us laugh with his wit and corny sense of humor.  He has a childlike joy about things like trains, sports, and cartoons which further endears him to his children and makes everyone around him feel young again.  He loves spending time with his Train Buddies...many of whom depend on Scott and the other Train Club guys for their only companionship.  He has made lasting life-long friends through his passions. 

4) Scott is a wonderful husband.  Scott and I have always been a perfect fit.  He is always patient with me, slow to anger, forgiving, helpful, and loving.  He puts up with my ever changing moods, my broken body, my many projects and activities.  He is supportive and encouraging.  He provides me and the girls with everything that we could ever need and most everything we want.  He does dishes, takes out the trash, does his own laundry, and occasionally cooks!!!

5) Scott is a good, honorable, righteous man.  He wants to be the best that he can.  He recognizes his weaknesses and really works on making them strengths. He honors his priesthood.  He expects the best from his family and others and himself.  He chooses to live to a higher standard and I admire him for that.

These are just a few of the reasons why I love Scott! He is the best part of my life and my best friend!  I am sad that he is having a hard time lately, but I hope that this will be a reminder of some of the good things he has going for him.  If you have others, please post them here.  He could use the boost!

Christmas Recital

Here is the girls' Christmas Recital for 2008. Hope you enjoy it!

Part 1 Taylor's Duet with teacher Melanie Hancock:


Part 2 Shaylie and Taylor's duet:


Part 3 Taylor's Solo:


Part 4 Shaylie's Solo:

Shaylie's Haircut

My baby got her hair cut today! And it is super cute, but she looks so grown-up! She has been begging me to let her get it cut short and I held out as long as I could, but she always wins in a battle of wills!  Thanks Mom for doing a great job as usual!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I rise on this Thanksgiving morning, I am grateful for the smell of pies baking, the sounds of kids getting excited over the Macy's parade, the comfortable feel of stretchy pants, the chill of the autumn air, and the feeling of love from family and friends. 

I hope your Thankgiving days are filled with all your favorite things! We love and miss you! Have a wonderful holiday!

Drama in the 'Hood

It's actually very sad.  I had to call 911 today about a girl living across the street from us.  The kids and my next door neighbor actually saw her being abused by her older sister. I guess she came out of the house and her sister came out and started hitting her and dragging her back into the house, screaming all the time.  Taylor has told me that Olivia, the girl, has talked to her about how her family treats her.  I felt like I had to do something, even though there wasn't much to be done.  I called 911 and they took the details and my name and number.  A police truck came a bit later and they went in and came out, but I don't know how it ended up.  I'm definitely going to be watching out for Olivia from now on though.  I feel for her.

On a lighter note, you may have noticed that I am really into the new Twilight movie.  I saw it for the third time today with Taylor.  She really liked it too.  I haven't loved a movie so much since, "Dances."  So if you can't find me in the coming days, check the movie theater. 

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!

Just a Reminder!

Just in case any of you can make it, I wanted to remind you of the girls' Piano Recital on Thursday, Dec. 4th.  Taylor is playing two songs and a duet with her teacher.  Shaylie has a solo and a duet with Taylor.  I had a preview today and they are going to be AWESOME!!!!  The girls would love to have you all there!  Let us know!

Holidays are Coming!

I've said it before, but I can't believe it's already this time of year again! We have been a bit sick around here, but I hope that means we'll all be better just in time for big fun. We plan to start our decorating this week, which means I really have to get all the Halloween stuff put away.  Just when I think I have it all, something else pops up.

For Thanksgiving this year, we are heading to Mom's for our traditional get together with Mom, Papa and Great and the Cousins.  It might just be a couple cousins this year, though.  I'm looking forward to a big Turkey dinner.  After that trip, we will stay in St. George for the rest of the Holidays.  I believe Mom and Anissa and maybe Chad are planning on Christmas at our place.  I'm not sure for sure (you know how you are Mom!).  But that's the plan for now.  We're hoping Rose can come down to stay with us for a while too, but we need to talk to her to find out. 

Finally, our traditional New Years Eve bash at Dad's is no more! Alas, it was too difficult for everyone to get together.  We had a big party at our house last year and it was a lot of fun.  I think we'll probably do it again, but I'm still recovering from the Halloween Party....so maybe something smaller. 

We want all our family and friends to know that you are always welcome at the Jesienouski house!  Especially during the Holidays, we would love to see you or hear from you!  Let us know what's happening with you!

BYU Fans?

Scott and I had fun at the BYU game. It was the first time that either of us had been to a BIG college game. It's a very fun experience. I almost didn't accept the tickets because Scott has always been such a big Utah fan and very NOT interested in BYU. But my coworker talked me into taking the tickets and having a fun adventure. I didn't tell Scott about my doubts until after the game, and he was shocked! He said he is a BYU fan unless they are playing the U. I guess it's never too late to learn something new about your spouse. 

We both enjoyed the band...at half time, they did a medley of video game theme songs and marched in Tetris shapes and the color guard was locked in Mortal Kombat. It was a perfect day for football, just a little chilly in the shade, but a beautiful day!

While we were at the game, Taylor went to another tryout in Layton. It was a much bigger tryout (about 800 girls she said) and she got to show off some of her Goalkeeper skills. She was the only girl from Southern Utah so she was recognized for that. She felt much better about this tryout so I was glad she decided to go.

We had a good visit with my Dad and Pam. Shaylie had a good time hanging out and playing the Wii.  As usual, I forgot to take pictures, so I'm posting an older one just for fun. . .It's hard to believe how much the kids have grown. This is from 2001!

 

We're glad we got the chance to visit! Thanks for letting us stay and for taking the girls in hand while we went to the game. 

Our Next President

It's a historic day for America! Barack Obama was elected president last night, by a landslide. He will be the first ever Black president! You know, I think it's kind of neat that our country has finally breached this barrier even though I won't be able to say that I voted for him.  I couldn't justfy it, personally...I just don't know how someone can be a really great president when he's only been a Senator for two years and for most of that time, he's been campaigning.  I think our country could have benefitted from McCain's experience. But...

It's done and he has to be better than the last democratic president we had.  I have decided to have a wait and see attitude.  He is very inspiring to people, at least the ones who aren't scared of him.  (I posted Shaylie's Scary Obama Story on my Random Bits page--That totally made me laugh, but I'm sure the kids must have been getting some of that stuff from parents and others who were buying into the Scary Obama rumors.) He seems to be able to lift people's hope and I really hope that he lives up to the expectations and proves the Anti-Obama people wrong!

I'm sure there is no way to tell, now, what kind of impact this election will have on the future. But it will be very interesting to see how things all come together!

Catching Up!

What a busy few weeks we've had! I've been slacking on posting because I've wanted to post photos and I don't have a camera and the pictures on my phone are a pain to get off, but all that aside...I figured I should get on and let you know what we've been up to.  If I get the pictures, I'll add them later.  (Pics added now!)

 





We had a terrific Halloween Season...class parties, trunk-or-treats, costumes all went well.  It is always a lot of work, but it is so much fun!  We hosted a party with fam and friends here at the house too! I'm all about excuses to get together and have fun!

 

 

Shaylie and I took a field trip with her class to the Southwest Symphony.  We had such a great time! Shaylie loves classical music. 

I may have told this story before, but I often listen to BYU radio in my car and they often play classical or instrumental music, soft religious ballads, hymns, etc.  From the time Shaylie was little, I either listened to that or to the Sunny 106 Today's Music, Pop music style radio.  Well, one day I was listening to Sunny to a top-40 upbeat rock & roll hit and Shaylie calls to me from the way-back of the van.  "Mom, can we listen to the GOOD music?"  I said, "This is good music. I like this song."  She said, "No, the Good music." I was sincerely confused, but I started hitting stations and asking, "Is this a good song?" "No, the good kind." Okay, I tried a kids tape, country, whatever.  Finally, hit BYU with a classical song playing and she literally sighed, "Aaahhhh, that's better!"  This was when she was about 5 or 6...so you can imagine that a trip to the symphony was very exciting. 

They did a terrific job of playing to the 2500 3rd graders that came that day. They explained how music can make you imagine and feel emotions. They played "Night on Bald Mountain" (appropriate for the day before Halloween) and the first movement from Beethoven's 5th (Dum, Dum, Dum, Bum).  Then Phantom of the Opera, which elicited much excitement when the emcee announced it. He explained about the Phantom living in the Opera House and causing trouble. The piece started out pretty intense and then in the middle it switched to a softer lighter tune, and Shaylie leaned over to me and said, "Why would they put that music in a song about a Phantom?" And, I explained to her that there is a girl in the story who the Phantom falls in love with and this music is her song.  She totally got it and loved it!  Then they closed with a medley of American Music: O Susannah, Shennandoah, My Country Tis of Thee.  I was so impressed with the way they presented everything and with the kids interest.  I guess my Shaylie is not the only child who appreciates GOOD music. 

On Saturday, Taylor played her last soccer game with the AYSO team.  They won 7-0, were undefeated for the season, and are the undisputed champions of their league.  Well, maybe undisputed is the wrong word. They have a BYE next week so the season is not quite over yet, but they are the Champions. 

After the game, she went on to a tryout for the Olympic Development Program (ODP) which is not a team perse, but it is the organization from which they choose any athletes that represent teams at the state, regional or national level, including the Olympics US National Team.  She spent 3 hours going through drills, exercises and scrimmaging.  If she is selected to be part of the program, she has the opportunity to travel, train with professional coaches and trainers, and maybe be part of teams that compete at a region or national level.  (Oh wait, I already said that.) 

She was quite discouraged after the tryout, she wanted to do so well, but they didn't really do anything that showcased her skill as a goalie!  She is sure that she didn't "make it."  But in reality, there's no way to know that at this point.  They encourage girls to come to more than one tryout so the staff can get to know the kids better, but this was the only Southern Utah session.  The others are up north (Layton, Sandy and Orem) and I would like to take her to one more, but we'll have to see.  We won't find out if she "made it" until the week before Thanksgiving.  But it's been a good experience for her at any rate.  

Part of the reason she felt so sad about it was that she was up super late the night before with our Halloween Party, Trick-or-Treating, then she went to the "Corpse Nightmare" with her friends, then she had a sleepover, then she woke up and played a 90-minute game and then 3 hours of intense soccer workout....she was pooped and melancholy.  It was a very intense 24-hours. 

Scott's super excited because he found some module kits for train layouts that are 12 X 12 inch squares (or something like that) and they fit together to make any size configuration.  He is dreaming up ways to teach classes, get the kids involved and make train modeling accessible to people who can't necessarily invest the time, space or money on a bigger layout.  He'll be able to tell you more about it...

I am also doing okay.  I can't believe that November is here and in 3 short weeks we'll be putting up Christmas decorations and getting ready for the Holidays.  I am not really enjoying my job, but I enjoy the money especially with the holidays coming, so I'll probably put up with it for a while longer, until I can figure out how to get the money without the job!  I figured out my problem with it...I'm so used to being in charge of my life, big projects, and organizations (PTA, Primary) that I am not thrilled to be the low-man on the totum with someone else making the rules and looking over my shoulder every second.  I think I need to have my hands in creating, inventing, making it happen.  Whatever IT is.  I'm pretty fed up with it all so I'm finding motivation for finding out what IT is. 

My next project is making appointments.  I'm using this coming week to make appointments with the Eye Doctor for Scott, the orthodontist for Shaylie and Taylor, the Dermatologist for all three of us girls, and for a doctor for me.  I'm 80 percent committed to following through with it too, so that's good.  Plus, I already have  a dentist appointment this week and it's elections.  So that's enough to go forward with, I'm sure.

Thanks for reading our blog!  I guess I need to post sooner so I'm not writing a book when I get around to it.  Remember to check out our individual blogs too!  Sometimes they're updated a bit sooner than this one! Love to all!

Christmas Gift Rotation

Correct me if I'm wrong...but I think for this year, the rotation goes as follows:

Jesienouski's buy for Olivas's

Olivas's buy for M. Strong

M.Strongs buy for C. Strongs

C. Strongs buy for B. Strongs

B. Strongs buy for Jesienouski's

I'm all for tradition, but if anyone has any better, new, different ideas (i.e. mix up rotations, add in cousins, grandparents, etc., buy individual gifts instead of family, whatever) please post them here and we'll go with the consensus decision.  Personally, I cant' believe we're already getting so close to the Holidays!

Love to all!!

Not a Bug Bite!

Okay...I may be the worst mom ever, but Shaylie had been complaining about this bug bite for a couple weeks and I didn't really pay much attention.  Then, last night, she came out of bed and said she couldn't sleep because her "bug bite" was itching.  I said (finally), "Let me see your bug bite." And this is what she showed me!!!!  YIKES! (The dots around are marks the doctor made so we could see if the welt gets bigger.)



I wanted to take her to the doctor right then, especially after I googled and got mostly Spider Bite for my results, but she said she was too tired and was worried about missing school the next day so I didn't think it was bothering her that much.  I put some cortisone cream on it and first thing this morning, Scott took her to the doctor! (I was in Cedar City at a meeting.)

 Well it turns out that she has warts and one got infected! Scott didn't catch the official name of the "disease" but I googled "childhood warts" and got Molluscum or something like that...the doctor said they could be frozen off which might leave scars or they (she has about 4 on the back of her leg) will go away in 7-9 months although some of the website I was looking at said it would be more like two years. 

So yuck and dang!  Poor Shaylie! She seems to go through more stuff than most of us.  The doctor gave her an antibiotic for her infection but other than freezing them, there's not much.  The website said that Vinegar baths help and soaking a cotton ball with vinegar and sticking it on with a bandaid overnight will help too! So I'll have to try that. 

Anyway, she's okay, no thanks to my awesome parenting skills and I highly recommend against getting warts!

Our Own Mini-me's

My friend posted this gadget on her blog and I had to see the result for myself...



MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph



MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Family photos

Taylor's Pic Again

It occurred to me that I only posted Taylor's school pic on my Random Bits blog, so here it is:

Shaylie's Turn

Shaylie brought home her school pictures today! Here is my cute sweetheart:

BYU...yay!

I went to a BYU conference for high school counselors today and came away with enough SWAG to make me a fan...I got three t-shirts, a tote bag and, best of all, I won two tickets to a BYU football game! 

I called Scott to tell him and he was only excited if the game day didn't interfere with Taylor's soccer schedule.  He's such a good dad!  Luckily, I don't think it does, so maybe we'll have a fun football trip in a few weeks. 

I actually would love it if one or both of the girls wanted to go to one of the BYUs, but it seems a bit difficult to get in...although surprisingly cheaper than you would think.   Taylor talks about going to SUU all the time, and if I ever get on at Dixie full-time, the kids could go there tuition free.  So we might have some options and none too soon...after all, it's only 5.5 years until Taylor goes to college!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shaylie has no opinion on the subject...yet...but I'm sure she will before long. 

Sorry, I have to go.  It just hit me that Taylor is graduating in 5 years and I feel sick...I'm going to lie down.

Balls-1, Pooch-0

Scott picks up a tennis ball whenever he sees a stray one...I think it's getting to be too much for Blackberry. Poor Bubba!

Click for pic...

Since I can't post pictures on this blog, I posted a fun picture of Blackberry on my blog. Visit tonyajez.blogspot.com to see it...

Mark Your Calendars!

For all Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, and Neighbors:

Thursday December 4th at 6pm is the date for Shaylie and Taylor's piano recital. They will each be performing one-two songs. We would love to have you come.

I guess it had to happen

A car hit me on my bike. The rear end of my bike is toast, so I wouldn't be surprised if the whole bike is. I am ok. I will take my bike to the shop tomorrow and see what can be done.

Coupon Class

I will be hosting a Coupon Class taught by Jodi Gardner this Friday at 7pm. If you are interested in attending, you can contact me or post a comment for more info.

I have already saved quite a bit in just a couple of weeks. The system and website are free...all you need is the coupons you get in the Sunday paper. If you don't get the paper, you will have the chance to subscribe at the class! Hope to see you there!

Is anybody out there?

Just for fun, post your name if you read this...

Second Times the Charm!

Shaylie is starting piano lessons for the second time today! She was watching Taylor practice and she started begging me to let her take lessons again...."If I had stayed in lessons, I would be as good as Taylor is now! Why, oh why, did I quit?' ...Can't you just hear her saying that? Well, she did, and she talked me into signing her up again. I talked to Melanie, Taylor's teacher, and she is willing to give her a trial period (this is mostly to keep Shaylie motivated) so we'll see how it goes. I love hearing my children make lovely music. If anyone sees or hears of a piano for sale cheap (under $500), I'm in the market!

Intrinsic Value vs. Monetary Worth

When I started my new job, last October, I was told that I would start at $12.00/hour but that after a 6-month probationary period, I would be raised up to $14.00. When I inquired in April about the adjustment, I was told that the most they could raise me was .50/hour to $12.50. Needless to say, I was not very happy! But what can you do??? There seemed to be no arguing with them, so I accepted this and pretty much forgot about it until I got my first paycheck in August and noticed that I was still making only $12.00.!!?!!

Grrr! I asked my boss and she didn't know what was going on. I told her that I had just been looking at the School District job openings and found a job there that only required an Associate's and was starting at $13.56/hour. (My subtle way of saying I am looking around.) Well, I guess she took the hint, because she started fighting with HR for me and told them that I needed $13.00/hr to make up for the mistake and because I was such a great employee, of course. So as of yesterday, my pay rate went up. It's still not the $14.00 we agreed to in the beginning, but it's closer to what I think I deserve. And I was glad that my boss stuck up for me. Every little bit helps!

Pictures of Shaylie's Baptism

Here are the pictures Shaylie Baptism

If this link doesn't work, go to Tonya's Blog

Shaylie's Baptism Day

Shaylie's big day finally arrived! Yay...we are so proud of her...she was so excited to be baptized and join the church for real! She has been looking forward to it for weeks. It's been interesting to see her learn about the ordinances of baptism and confirmation in Primary and Family Home Evening and ask all the best questions and really figure out for herself that she wanted to do this! She looked beautiful in her white dress...thanks Grandma J!...I will post pictures as soon as I get them from Scott!

Thanks to all of our family for sending your best wishes and beautiful gifts. She loved her necklace, bracelet, pillow case, scrapbook and everything else. Scott and I gave her her own set of Scriptures and case, which she promptly began reading from page 1 of the Quadruple combination...for those of you who don't know what that is, it is the entire cannon of LDS scriptures in one book (Old & New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price)...and the first page is a declaration from King James regarding the translation. She read the whole thing and then asked me who this James guy is...she makes me laugh! She is so dang smart!

Scott did a great job with the priesthood ordinances. He gave Shaylie a beautiful blessing and we are so grateful for the wonderful husband and father that he is. Way to go, hon! Both of you...you are amazing!

Happy Labor Day!

It was nice to have a day off and a nice long weekend. I wish I wouldn't let myself be fooled by the weatherman though. I had thought about taking a trip out to Zion today, but then I watched the news and they said how today was supposed to be a stormy, awful day..even for us down south and so I put all thoughts of outdoor activities out of my head. It wasn't until about 3pm today when I realized that it had been a gorgeous day all day that I remembered my original plan. It would have been the perfect day to go...oh well, we had fun anyway.

The girls both got to play with friends, and I took Scott to see Kung Fu Panda at the dollar theater. I enjoyed that movie so much, I wanted to take him to see it. He liked it too even with the distraction of broken chairs and a jam-packed theater! We'll have to buy it, I think, when it comes out on DVD.

We are very excited for Shaylie's baptism this weekend! And Taylor is beginning piano lessons this Wednesday. Soccer games start Saturday and we signed BB (Scott and me) up for a Doggy Obedience class. So things are about to pick up around here! As if we weren't busy enough already! Plus, Taylor will also start Volleyball with her Church group too, when she has time.

I really can't believe how quickly this year has flown by...I know I've said this many times...but either I'm having big lapses in my memory or the days are just passing so quickly that they don't have time to make an impression! It is Sept. 1st already and before I can blink it will be Christmas...I've already started shopping for it, at any rate...just in case it sneaks up on me sooner rather than later.

And speaking of later...I'll see you then! TTFN...T:)

A Quick Trip

So, Shaylie has been bummed that we didn't get around to giving her a Birthday Party...and who can blame her?...it's just been such a crazy month with Puerto Rico, and School, and new schedules, etc. I just couldn't find the time...and when I finally broke the news to her...she cried and said, "We didn't even get to have birthday cake!" She had everything else...presents, decorations, dinner...but no cake!

So we woke up Saturday morning and decided to head to Holden to have Birthday cake with Grandma Dawn since it was also her birthday on the 16th and we didn't get to celebrate with her either. We made cake and took it down to Papa and Greats house. She got to blow out candles (after we turned off Papa's oxygen) and we sang to her. So now her birthday experience is complete! I promised her a big birthday bash next year...so I'll have to get it on my calendar now!

We had planned to come back last night, but after haircuts and visiting, it got to be too late, so we stayed over and came home today. It was a quick trip but fun! Now she's looking forward to her baptism (and party) on Sept. 6th...can't wait!

Puerto Rico Pictures

I've gotten organized and uploaded our pictures from Puerto Rico...some of them are kind of grainy since we had to use our phones, but all in all we got some good pics!

More Free Time?

Today I was released as the Primary President for the WF5th Ward.  Check out my personal blog for more info!  I do think I will have more free time, or maybe just less guilt about not spending more time with Primary.  I will miss working with the other ladies and the kids....but I'm happy for the new President.  I hope she loves it as much as I did.  I'm sure it won't be long before I'm back in another calling...I'm going to enjoy the moment while it lasts.

Everyone's Invited

Saturday, Sept. 6th at 5pm is Shaylie's baptism.  She is super excited and would love to have as many of her friends and family as possible to come and support her.  We are probably going to have a picnic/party earlier in the day too.  We'll let you know more details as the days get closer...let us know if you think you might make it.  Love to everyone...more later.

Here's that cartoon...

Firsts

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Today was the first day of school for Shaylie and Taylor.  Shaylie met her teacher for the first time...Mrs. Seville.  This is her first year teaching at Riverside...she seems very nice and Shaylie did have a few friends in her class.  We walked to school together this morning (as per our tradition) and she tried to come home on her own but ended up on the wrong street so I had to go pick her up...doesn't bode well for future excursions, I'm afraid...she had her cell phone so it was no big!

Taylor almost missed the bus as we were posing for this picture right when the bus was supposed to be coming...for some reason we were too busy vamping it up to pay attention to the time...she ran down the street with a few minutes to spare before the bus came.  She had a very good day at school as well.   She sat with her friend Aubrey on the bus and was a little bummed when her friend Conner wasn't in her Band class...but he is in her other class so that's okay.  There is a Foxtrot cartoon that reminded me of Taylor today.  If I can find it again, I'll post it here.  It's funny, yet at the same time, it scares the goobers out of me that she's getting to be THAT age.  Yikes....we'll see how it goes. 

Both the girls looked cute...it's hard to tell from my fuzzy pics, but since my camera went on the fritz...it's all there is.

Scott gave both the girls blessings last night and it really helped them to put aside their first day jitters.  I think it's going to be a really good year for both of them. 

Scott also had a first day today...his first 10-hour workday.  I hope he adjusts all right.  It could be good for him.  At any rate, a 3-day weekend is never a bad thing...

Well, more to come later, I'm sure.  Thanks for checking in on us and leave us a message.  I found out that it is proper blog etiquette to leave a post WHENEVER you read someone's blog...so don't be rude!!!!

Good To Be Home!

It's hard to believe that just yesterday morning we were taking one last swim in the beautiful blue Puerto Rican waves...but like all good things, it had to come to an end.  Our flights were uneventful and we drove up to our house about 2:30 am this morning.  I had to go wake up the girls to tell them we were home...Shaylie opened her eyes and said, "Mom, why aren't you home?" I kissed her then she promptly went back to sleep. She didn't even remember waking up in the morning.   Taylor did though...she was glad we were home too.

We had the best time and our vacation (even with the training) was restful and fun.  It sure hasn't taken long, though, before we are getting back into our chaotic routine.  I had a meeting this morning with ETS and we've been getting ready for tomorrow (FIRST DAY of SCHOOL) and I've had several calls about Primary and I went shopping with the rest of the world at Wal-Mart and everything else that needs to be done after a vacation. 

I have to give a big THANK YOU to my mom!!!!  Thanks so much for staying with the girls this week.  I know they loved spending time with you and it was good knowing they were being well looked after.  I am so grateful for your sacrifice!  You're the best!

More Big First Day news tomorrow...see you soon!

Bio-bay-eautiful!!!

Wow...I'm almost speechless...tonight we went to the Laguna Grande in Fajardo, Puerto Rico with Kayaking Puerto Rico.  It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen...It is one of five places in the world where glowing microscopic plankton live in the water.  They light up as a defense mechanism whenever they are disturbed.  It literally makes the water glow when you put the oar or your hand in the water or when fish swim through it. 

The lagoon was about a half mile wide and completely surrounded by Mangrove trees.  We navigated through a narrow passage to get into the lagoon.  It was tricky to get the hand of our two-man kayak, especially with other kayaks coming at us on the return trip, but we caught on after a while.

This photo is a picture of the picture they took as we started our trip.  I'm glad we have it too, since it will liikely be the only picture we have that turned out. 

The lagoon itself was gorgeous in the moonlight.  The stars were bright and the reflection of the moon on the water sparkled almost as bright as the water.  The clouds were billowing up all around the palm tree silhouettes in the distance.  We could hear night animals in the mangroves and the splash of water against the canoes, but other than that it was still and peaceful. 

The most amazing thing of course was the glowing water.  It was really indescribeably beautiful.  I'm glad I got to see it with my own eyes.  The pictures on the internet are nice, but it was another experience all together to see my own hand glowing in the water.   I am so glad we went!!!!

I will probably post more about it later, but I wanted to post before I get to bed.  Check out the company website KayakingPuertoRico.com for pics and info.  Good Night!

Sleep-in day!

Today was the only day that Tonya didn't have classes in the morning.  So we stayed in bed till 7:30!  It was really different to have to wait in line at breakfast, so we will definately be back to doing it in the early mornings.



After breakfast, we headed to the beach because Tonya wanted to see the sun and play in the waves.  It was windier this time, so the waves were a little harder to fload on.  I decided to swim out to the bouye (about a quarter mile out)  Tonya was nervous as I go about half way there as I would disappear with the waves.  I made it ok and swam back, although I have achieved my daily intake of salt for the next year or so (I do not like salt water in my face)  After that we sat on the beach for a while and Tonya wanted to say hi to the girls so she made this sign.  After going back in the ocean for a while, we headed back to the hotel.

They were working on our door so we went to the pool and swam for an hour.  It is much easier to swim in a pool than in an ocean.  The pool is great.  Since we ate breakfast latem we decided to skip lunch.  We will go to Outback for dinner.  Tonya had her new class start at 2 so when that is over we'll go out.  As I am a little sun burned, I bet Tonya is hurting right now.  Hope she is ok.  More later....

Half-way

We are half-way through our Puerto Rico vacation!  It has been so much fun so far...my first workshop ended today and we had a whole half-day of free time.  Tomorrow will be the same since my next workshop doesn't begin until 2:30 in the afternoon. 

Today, we hit the pool and then walked up the street to a fun local restaurant called Metropol.  It was recommended to me by the great Puerto Rican friends we met here at the training.  It was about a 15 minute walk (dripping in the high humidity) but well worth it.  I had fresh Salmon with lime, rice and beans and sweet plantains.  Scott had pepper steak prepared Cuban style with rice and beans and salad.  Everything was SO GOOD!  I think my new favorite food is Plantains.  I've had a variation for two nights in a row and loved it both times.  After dinner, we hit a  little mall for souvenir shopping and headed back to the hotel and SWIMMING POOL again!!!

Tomorrow we are planning on being beach bums and maybe visiting Old San Juan again.  I wanted to go into the fort and explore a bit more.  We ARE going to the BioBay on Friday night.  I booked it today...I'm so excited.  I so wish my camera was working.  It has a night setting that would probably get some good shots, but it died yesterday with an E18 error which is the kiss of death, I guess.  Oh well...I might go get a disposable waterproof camera that might work.  At least we'll have our memories of the experience. 

We love and miss you all!  Thanks for checking our blog to see what we're up to.  More posts to come!

Old San Juan

[caption id="attachment_1052" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Old San Juan"][/caption]

Tonight we visited Old San Juan.  (Click here to see some pics and info from Wikipedia.)  We took a taxi that dropped us off at the Castillo, but unfortunately it was closed so we took some pics and started walking down the famous cobblestone streets.  The buildings were so colorful and tonight there were vendors and booths and concert venues set up all along the roads. 

We did a little shopping and found a great Puerto Rican restaurant called Mojito's.  I had Mofongo Relleno con Pollo which was a cooked mashed plantain stuffed with chicken and covered in a tomato sauce.  Scott had Bifstec Encebolladas which was a steak smothered in sauted onions with rice and beans.  It was very good!!!  I was nervous for the first bite, but no worries.  It was tasty!  I was the only one adventurous enough to try it...and I was glad I did. 

The taxi ride home was very adventurous too....the drivers are super major crazy here!  It was like a roller coaster/bumper cars combo ride at Disneyland.  Luckily, we made it back to the hotel safely and soundly. 

Scott spent some time walking around the area again and swimming in the pool today.  My conference ends at noon tomorrow so I'll have a whole afternoon to play and explore.  I still want to go to the BioBay but it is proving to be somewhat problematic...we can't go to Vieques to see it there because we would have to stay overnight due to lack of ferrys after dark and we can't do that...but there is another one in Fajardo (that I'm going to try to book.  And, we may visit the Bacardi Rum Factory which would be interesting.  Lots more to do and the week is still young!!  Post more soon...love to all!

Swimming in the Atlantic

Scott's been doing a good job of keeping you updated, but I wanted to post on this momentous occasion...tonight, we swam in the Atlantic Ocean!!!  The beach was so soft and sandy, hardly any people, and the waves were warm.  We went in and floated and swam for about an hour.  It was heaven!  I wished Taylor and Shaylie could have been here with us...you guys would love it!  I took some good pics but they are on the camera so you'll have to wait to see them. 

After swimming, we went to a little shopping mall where there was a Subway.  We still haven't eaten any local cuisine...but I did get a chance to use some Spanish while we were ordering.  And, actually (Mom, you'll be proud of me), I have been practicing my Spanish skills quite a bit.  We have a man in our group from Dixie who speaks Spanish and he talks to most everyone.  I can follow it quite easily, but not when the natives speak to each other.  We have been working with three local ETS people and I got brave enough today to get in on some of their conversations.  I was literally shaking after the first interjection, but after that, it came a lot easier.  Weird, huh?  It's been nice to use some of my knowledge.

Tomorrow, we found out from our local friends, there is a festival in Old San Juan so we will probably ride the bus and spend the evening there.  They have vendors, music, wine-tastings, entertainment, etc...every first Tuesday of the month...so we are in luck.  Wednesday, I would like to find a way out to the little island about 7 miles west of PR called Vieques.  That's where the Bio-luminescent Bay is and they are said to have good snorkeling which I'd really like to do. 

Other than that, the training has been good.  I wish we had more free time...there is so much to do but we have meeting until 5pm every day except Wednesday and Saturday...so there will be some opportunity to get out and about...We'll keep you updated!!!  All my love to everyone!  We miss you!

From our room

 Just wanted to let you know what we see when we  walk out our door.  We are on  the sixth floor.  Down on ground level, we have breakfast, which was really great!  We had omlets and fruit.  Then Tonya went to classes.  I walked around town a little and went over to the beach.  It was way humid as it had just rained so that wasn't much fun.  I then went to the gym and rode the bike for a half hour (just like home!) and then went swimming.  When Tonya comes back, we will probably go to the beach walk around.  Daylight is a little different here, it is bright at 6:00am but it was dark last night by 8:00pm.  Will write more later

We are here!

We are refreshed in Puerto Rico!  After having to sleep in the upright position on the plane, we made it to Charlotte at 5 o'clock mountain time (7:00am here) After a short layover there, we flew to Puerto Rico, it was the first time in my life that all I could ever see out the window was water.  Oh and btw, I never got sick on this flight or was even nervous about it, so that was also a first. Once we got here, we ate and then went to sleep for quite a long time.  Thankfully the NASCAR race was very long as it gave us good nap time.  Tonya is downstairs at the opening meeting.  I will take and put pictures online tomorrow. 

I love you girls, please be good and do what is right, hope you sleep better tonight.  See ya later!

PR Here We Come!!!

We leave tomorrow for our big Carribean Anniversary/ETS Training Vacation!  I'm a little nervous but I think everything will be okay.  There are so many things to worry about like taking the right shoes, and hurricanes, and spending all day inside boring meetings when you're in paradise!  But there will be plenty of time for everything and there are no hurricanes on the horizon and I'm just taking almost every pair of shoes I own.  And, call me weird, but I am looking forward to actually getting some training for the job I'm doing.  It's the first I'm getting, aside from a couple hours of brain picking with my co-workers. 

Mom is coming to watch the girls and they have to get all the final details taken care of for the beginning of school.  I've done some good shopping but there is still much to do.  Shaylie needs to find out who her teacher is and buy supplies and Taylor needs to register and go to Back-to-School Night to meet her teachers and find classrooms.  Unfortunately, I'll miss it all and we won't be back until the day before school starts. 

Hopefully, I'll find time to post some pics and updates while we're down there...adios!!!

My desktop layout

I have put some pictures here of the new layout I am building.  If you would like to see it from the very beginning, here is a link to a website where I have been chronicling my progress: http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=159574  Here is the latest picture:

Pioneer Day Sum Up

Our 24th of July Pioneer Day celebration was amazing as usual. Holden is the place to be on this Holiday. The whole town turns out for the Primary's children parade. This is followed by a free buffet breakfast with everything from fruit and breads, to fresh scones, to eggs, bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns. Puts Denny's & JB's to shame. Then, kid's games and the Great Race in the park. The Great Race is a big relay with about 10 stations that teams compete in. They saw logs, chug pop, lasso calfs, run three-legged and more. Finally, as if that weren't enough, the Bottle Rocket contest wraps up the day. My family totally got into it this year......we made about 5 rockets including one with a parachute. We even brought home two trophies this year. It was a great time!

Great Haul!

We had a rocket contest today. Taylor and I won, Shaylie's unlucky launched right as a gust of wind came up and knocked her rock about a half-mile away.

Pioneer Day Rockets

We built our rockets for Pioneer Day.  I even (with Tonya's great help!) have a parachute in my entry.  Hopefully things will work well.  Happy Pioneer day everyone!

Many Thanks!

I wanted to thank everyone who sent me Happy Birthday greetings!  I was very spoiled and had many phone calls, surprises and gifts.  I am grateful to my family and friends for making me feel so special (and less old).  Thanks for everything! 

In other news, Rose is visiting this weekend.  We had a fun time attending Sound of Music at Tuachan.  It is very good!  I would recommend it highly to anyone who can stand the heat.  It was VERY hot!  Shaylie is going to ride up to Holden tomorrow with Grandma J.  And we plan to join her on Wednesday for the 24th celebration in Holden.  And, maybe to Orem to see Dad.  I haven't heard about that yet.  Then, only about one week to get ready for PR and school and everything to follow.  Yikes...time flies but at least we're having fun!

Layout Update

I have added some grass to the layout, but unfortunately, I ran out and went to the hobby store to get more, but of course they don't have any either. I wish a hobby shop like the one in Orem was here. Here is the latest picture, it was taken with my cellphone, so sorry about the quality:

2000 Miles

Well, today I hit 2000 miles for the year on my bike.  I am thinking about buying a new back tire, the tread is almost gone in the middle of the tire. I probably have seen at least that many bunnies on the trail.  Just wish I was getting thinner with all these miles.  In other news, I still haven't driven the new car yet.

The Summer's Moving Right Along

Summer's about half over and so are most of our activities.  Shaylie's camps are done.  She had a great time, but I think she really enjoyed her troop camp.  She got to ride horses and she was with girls she knew.  She made it back in plenty of time for 4th of July fun at the park in Fillmore and fireworks.  We enjoyed the 4th, although Fillmore's parade was too long and spaced out...there's nothing like a small town parade :)

Saturday was my 20-year High School Reunion.  It was really fun!  We had a picnic at the park with our families...it was fun to catch up with people I hadn't seen in forever.  Scott and Taylor said I was a social butterfly, which is probably surprising to everyone who knew me back then.  Later that night, we had a class dinner.  I won two of the big prizes from the 80's trivia quiz and the class gave me a very nice thank you gift for doing the website...that was very nice.  I really enjoyed doing it and will keep it up as long as we need to so we can all keep in touch. 

I dropped Taylor off at the church today for her first Young Women's camp up on Cedar Mountain this week.  I think she was excited to go.  It's fun to head off to the unknown....compared to GS camp, where she knows every nook and cranny of the camp....I think she'll have tons of fun.

As for the rest of the summer, I have a couple of friends coming this week to visit.  Polly and her daughter are coming and we'll visit the Shakespearean Festival for Amanda's birthday on the 12th and I'm having lunch with Kelli sometime.  Next week, Rose is coming to visit and it's my Birthday!!  Then it's the 24th in Holden and then school shopping and packing for Puerto Rico.  We have a flight out of Vegas on 8-2 and we'll be back 8-10...then school starts the 12th.  Sheesh...where did the time go?

So much fun, so little time....hope you're having a great summer too!!!

My Early Birthday Present...Yay Me!

We finally bought a much needed new (used) car today!  Yippee! It is so nice to have a newer, more reliable car (even though we probably won't be driving it too much because of the high gas prices).  At least I won't be spending any more money on repairs! Yay!!!!

Layout coming along

Last night I painted the groundcover and rocks on the layout. I think it is turning out really great!

The Girls are Back in Town

Check out these fun adventures!

Culturefied

Tonight, Scott and I went to see Les Miserables at Tuachan...It was amazing.  I have always loved that story.  Tuachan always does a great job with their productions, very professional.  I would recommend it to anyone heading this way.  They are also doing Sound of Music and Big River later this summer.  I want to see both.  And Cyrano and Taming of the Shrew at the Shakespearean Festival.  So much culture so little time.

Tomorrow, I am heading up north AGAIN...to get my girls...I miss them lots.  I probably missed them much more than they missed me.  Which is as it should be.  Scott is not coming with me, so I'll be on my own. ...pretending he's beside me...oh, wait...musical flashback.  I'm staying with Bob tomorrow night then heading back to SG on Saturday...it will be a quick trip.

Scott is still trying to figure out how to handle the news from Governor Huntsman today.  His department will likely be postponing the transition, but it will be interesting to see how it all comes out.  He already goes into work early enough, but now he'll have to stay until 5 or 6 instead of coming home at 3 or 4.  But he'll have Fridays off.  We'll have to see how it will be...hopefully, it will be good since there is nothing to be done about it.

Well, toodles for now.  I'm sure I'll have a full report on camp for you when we get back...

Half Past Camp

The girls have been at camp for three days today.  For Shaylie, this means she will leave today to spend the night with Papa Strong.  For Tay, it means the week is half over.  I can't believe it went so fast.  Shaylie is supposed to call me the very first thing!!! I am excited to hear all about the fun she had! 

I came back to St. George after dropping off the girls and visiting my friends Bobbie and Tiffany.  It was good to see them again...I hadn't seen Tiff since before her 2 year old boy Tanner was born.  Sheesh!  I'm heading back up on Friday and will likely stay with Bobbie again before heading up the canyon to get Taylor and back down to get Shaylie from Grandma Js house.  I'm trying to streamline the trip as much as possible so that I can save GAS MONEY!!! Ouch...just typing it hurts my stomach.

Next week is another camp for Shaylie, this time at Trefoil camp and my 20th high school reunion.  Ouch..that kind of hurt my stomach too.  Then week after, Taylor has another Young Women camp with our ward.  Then, the next weekend Grandma J visits, we have the 24th celebration and Puerto Rico.  Wow, the summer has been (will be) busy!  School will be back in before we know it.  Okay...what is up with my stomach?

Mom is heading to Denver today to help my brother Mike and Erin and baby Myka to move back to Phoenix.  They just can't stay away from the heat and sun.  I don't know why they don't just come to St. George...it's the best of all worlds. 

Hopefully, we'll have pics soon...I'm still figuring out how to get them from my phone to the computer.  I mean, I know how but it's a matter of technical difficulties.  Hopefully soon...check back.  Love to all...

Home alone

Tonya left with the girls today to make the trip up to Holden.  Tomorrow the Girl Scout camps for both Taylor and Shaylie start, so it is boy's time (Blackberry and I) at the house.  Just so everyone knows, we like Blackberry now, he mainly does what we want him to, he knows when to go to his room for bedtime and when we go to church and he is fairly fun to play fetch with.

We had our huge stake conference do redo our ward boundaries, and it turns out that they are not splitting up our ward, in fact they are adding to it, I leaned over to Tonya and whispered, "Another Nursery :-)" Unfortunately the sound was terrible in the Arena so we heard almost nothing of the talks.  Taylor sang in the choir for the conference, so that was very nice.  Church will now start at 9:00, so I'm happy again, I wonder if I will ever be able to convince them to start at 7:45; that would be great!

Working on my layout. It seems to be turning out ok!  More later!

Edit: Actually more right now, one of the Families that I home teach brought a pool over for us!!!!! It is 15' round by 3' deep.  Can't wait to get our backyard cleaned up so that we can set it up!

Camp Time

I'm leaving today to take my children to Girl Scout Camp...we've been looking forward to this for so long.  It's strange that it is finally here!  They'll both be gone all week, Shaylie will spend half the week at camp and half the week with grandparents, until I can come get them next Saturday. 

I know they'll be fine, but I can't help be a little worried.  I always do even though they always have fun.  I need to just chill.  I'm grateful that they can have this experience. ttfn

Around the town

Well, I have been slacking in my weekend bike rides so I decided I better ride around town, plus I wanted to checkout some things. There is a new park over in Green Valley that opened yesterday and I wanted to see that, it is a really nice park, but it looks like a morning and evening park, little shade no covering over the playground. As I biked past Tonaquint Park, I saw that the city has hung an awning over the playground equipment, that will be nice. Neither park is as good as Hidden Valley Park, but I think that might be the nicest park ever. Also, as I biked back into town, I biked to J.C. Snow Park and the Dog Park is now completed!!!! Nobody was there, so I don't think anyone knows about it. Can't wait to let Blackberry run around at it. Was a great bike ride, it was just over 30 miles today! I need to do that more often, feels great!

Edit: Almost forgot.  there was a fairly major car accident up by Dixie College that I biked to.  Appears that one car was making a left turn and the other can coming straight didn't stop for the light (That never happens in St. George (how do I show sarcasm on a blog) In fact, there is a color called St. George Green, that is very often confused for red)  I asked if it had been called in and a few seconds later a policeman pulled up.  The two vehicles are both done, their front ends were a LOT smaller that they were supposed to be.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The new computers for the year arrived yesterday. I have unboxed all of them as I needed the room to store them. Obviously, I am going to be busy for a while.

My Poor Little Girl!

Last night, both Scott and I were at different meetings--he was at train club and I was with my Primary Presidency--when I got a phone call from Tay saying that Shaylie was hurt and bleeding and "Do you want to talk to the man who brought her home?" YIKES...

It turned out that Shaylie had been out playing with one of her friends' when the friend's little brother suddenly hauled off and threw his toy cell phone at her head.  She started bleeding and crying and scared her friend off...luckily, one of the couples in our ward was out for a walk and saw Shaylie's troubles and brought her home.  She split her eyebrow and was bleeding pretty badly, but when I talked to "the man" on the phone, he told me it wasn't too bad and I thanked him for taking care of her and told him I'd be right home.  She was all right, but scared and mad that her friend bailed on her and a little bit sick..in fact, she threw up later that night, but she had done that last night too. 



She has a black eye this morning and it is swollen up but I think she is going to be okay.  It wasn't deep enough for stitches...I just put a butterfly bandage on it.  She is not feeling too perky today either.  I feel bad for her.  She is such a sweetie and it seems like she is always getting beat up.  She's had more bumps cuts and bruises in her short life than I would wish on anyone.   My poor girl...I love her so much!!!

Family Home(out and about) evening

Last night as a family we went to the Temple Visitor's Center where they had a display of a bunch of statues of biblical and historical scenes.  There was a really nice lifesize statue of Jesus called "Come unto me" that had Jesus reaching out his hand to us and the really neat thing about it was that Jesus had stepped forward to reach out to you, you didn't have to come all the way to meet him.  Very nice thought.  Was a very nice scene of Jesus walking on the water, the way she designed the sea to be wild and violent everywhere except where Jesus was walking was very beautiful.  There was also a very nice statue of a person learning the steps of repentance and finally coming to Christ. Lastly, the scene in the Sacred Groove was, in my opinion, the best.  It had trees surrounding the whole thing, and Jesus and Heavenly Father appear to be floating in the middle of it. Very nicely done.

Afterwards we went out to dinner at Olive Garden's, where once again, Shaylie barely ate anything.  Today we will probably go to the REC Center, we love to swim, plus we need to get our money's worth out of having a membership for this month.

Tonight is train club meeting, we are having it at Jim's house and we will be finishing the track.  Tonya has possibly her last Primary Presidency Meeting.  It is likely that this weekend we will redrawing ward and stake boundaries, So it would make geographic sense to split our ward down the middle, but we will see.  Have to go setup the training room so that people can learn the new eREP program that they are using.

See ya

I guess I better write more

Now that everyone is jumping ship from the mothership blog, I guess I better write more. UDOT has torn apart the bike trail at the intersection of Bluff Street and Main, so I had to find a new route to work.  Funny thing is, the new route is about two and a half miles shorter.  However, it is causing me to lose mileage, so I guess I will have to bike more on weekends. I will pass 1700 miles for the year this week.  The city built a new bike trailon the south side of the virgin river over by Bloomington Hills.  It is really nice, it is right next to the river, so I could hop off the bike and jump into the river easily.

I am working on a new layout for my office.  I have an ongoing discussion thread about it on the Zealot hobby forum.  Here is a link: http://forum.zealot.com/t159574/ if you would like to see pictures of it and watch my progress.  So far it is turning out pretty nicely.

We bought a month membership at the new community center, so we have been trying to go swimming there almost everyday.  I need to find a way to work in a workout while I am there.

Train club meeting tomorrow night.  We are putting in the final piece of Jim's layout so now he will be able to run trains all the way around.  His layout is incredible and I can't wait to see trains going around.  It has taken two years to get to this point, so it will be really fun.

Girl Scout camps start next week.  The busy season begins.

Branching Out

We all have new blogs....I don't know how long it will last, but for now the girls and I have written new blogs on blogspot.com.  Taylor has been keeping hers up faithfully and Shaylie is determined to make hers into a Web Show.  She and her sister have already filmed the first episode, we are just trying to figure out how to get it online.  It's a work in progress.  Of course, this is the place to come for family news and to check out the others.  We'll expect to see lots of comments and support!  Love to all!

HEY, New Web Site

I have a new web site: http://tayjayrocks.blogspot.com. Go there when it is done which will be today.

Future Soccer Star

A couple months ago, I overheard one of the teachers at my school talking to her husband about a Competitive soccer league that was in need of players.  Being the awesome mom that I am (and having the awesome soccer player daughter that I do) I stepped in and asked for details.  I told them how wonderful Taylor is and they said they would call when they put it together....so today they called and invited Taylor to tryouts.  We are both very excited!  If I understand it right, one of the coaches is also the Soccer coach at SUU, which just happens to be the school where Taylor wants to eventually go to school on a Soccer Scholarship!  Very fortuitous if you ask me...hope she makes it!  Like she wouldn't...Hah!  We'll keep you posted.

Bienvenido a Puerto Rico

If you've been reading our blog at all over the past few months, you know I've been wanting to go on a trip either to celebrate our 8-8-8 (16 year) anniversary or just to get away.  Well, Scott had been researching cruises and other getaways...but now, thanks to a training for my job, Scott and I get to go to Puerto Rico at the end of the summer.   The training is kind of a splurge because our program has a bunch of money that needs to be spent before next school year.  Unfortunately, it is the week before school starts so the timing is kind of hard, but I couldn't pass a chance to visit such an exotic locale.  And when I found out that I could take Scott with me and mom can watch kids....Yippee!!!  It is very much a blessing because I've been worried about $$$ and this way my work covers everything except Scott's airline ticket.  Talk about a bargain.  Now I can maybe spend some bucks on clothes to wear there1?!  We'll see.  Anyway, it's going to be a blast!  More to come...

Animal morning

I went into my train room this morning and saw a big blob on my carpet, that was moving, I turned on the light and it was a fairly big frog! I got a tupperware container, scooped it up and put it in my lawn.  While in the container, it kept trying to jump out, but was hitting his head on the side.  Obviously no vertical leap.  Then biking on the new street saw three dear bounding along side of me. Saw 6 rabbits, the rabbit count lately has been under ten a day, the high this year was 28.  Then over by main street a bird decided to fly along side of me for a couple hundred yards.  It was just toying with me as it would flap its wings twice and then coast for a few feet then flap again, then it took off and left me in its wake.  Obviously, the animals are checking me out in preparation for the animal revolution.

In other news, Ralph came to visit last night and showed me his new Utah Railway F45 and some Bachmann engines that I can afford.  It was great to see him.  He took his corner module, which greatly shrunk the club layout, but it makes the room much bigger so it actually is kinda nice.

The track arrived for my layout, so i will put that together tonight so that I can figure out where I need to glue the inclines and cork down, I hope that maybe by the end of the weekend a train could be running around the layout.

Summer Time Blogging

Wow! There are so many people blogging these days...it seems to have caught on fire lately...so much, in fact that I'm kind of jealous of all my friends cute blogs. They always seem to have fun backgrounds and pictures and other widgety things on theirs. I still can't figure out how to post pics since we upgraded and the Slide.com thing is a bit of a hassle. I've always enjoyed what Scott does with our site...he works hard at it and it is very TechFamily but I'm hoping to up the fun factor sometime soon.

Speaking of fun...the girls finally made it out of St. George! They hadn't been out of town since Thanksgiving, so they were glad to have the chance to head to Grandma Dawn's for the Memorial Day weekend. They left their poor parents all alone and...who am I kidding?!!...we had a blast too! We caught a couple movies and enjoyed some peaceful hours while the kids were away.

Now we're facing a busy summer ahead...the girls are getting ready for swim lessons, camps, reunions, and visits. I'm done with work on June 6th and I can't wait to get the lazy days of summer started! Hopefully, we'll have some time for relaxing too!

Love to all and Happy Summer!

Last Week of School

Wow...summer is here! The school year always goes by so quickly. Shaylie brought her report card home yesterday and she got great marks! Tomorrow is her class party. She will walk with her class to one of the girls' home for a swimming party. She is also wearing her pajamas to school for self-expression day. They get to wear whatever they want for the last full day. It's kind of weird, I know, but fun and that's the thing.

Taylor is getting some kind of cold or allergies...but she felt better when she found out that she was one of two kids who were chosen to play the piccolo next year in Intermediate Band. She tried out last week and found the results today. She is very excited.

I am sending off the girls' camp registration papers tomorrow. Both Tay and Shay have two summer camps this year. I'm going to have to find something to keep busy while they're gone since Scott will be at work. I've been dreaming of taking some kind of trip, but I don't see that happening. We'll see...but for now I'm thinking I'll paint while the house is quiet.

I also heard from my dentist today about my TMJ workup, but it's too much to go into. Not that it's complicated, it's just too much (money that is) I can't afford the treatment unless he qualifies as a participating provider with my medical insurance which is doubtful since he is a dentist. I'll post more updates about this later.

Scott had a successful night last night with his train club BBQ. He and James were in charge and they did a great job planning. They had about 20 people there and the gentleman who hosted has a G-scale layout in his backyard. The kids loved it (and so did the grown-ups). I hope Scott will post some pics.

Love to everyone....post again soon.

Taylor's Dance Concert

Taylor had her dance concert last night.  We may put videos up, but more about that later.  As you remember, Taylor danced her routine at school about a month ago.  Well, she did it last night, however it was only a minute long?! Practice every week for a minute routine? Interesting.  Then, she had her other routine, that was really great until the music cut completely out, they stood there for a minute and then Taylor got the rest of the group to start dancing from that point, however they were all told to go back to starting position which they did. They put in the backup cd and the girls again did their performance, however, the music cut out again at the exact same place and this time Taylor remembered the most important saying from finding nemo, "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and did the whole rest of the dance without music. They got the loudest applause of everyone of the night, and they did a great job considering what they were dealt. Very proud of Taylor.

Happy Mother's Day

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but I got my present early. The girls were so excited for me to open it that I was able to leverage it into almost a full day of chores. When they were finished cleaning up, I opened the package that came earlier in the week and it was....ta da....a Wii!!! Yay!

When we had Chad's here a couple weeks ago, it really helped my shoulder to loosen up and I enjoyed the fact that it got me up and moving, plus it's so fun. So, Scott won me a Wii on ebay. I never expected it, but I am enjoying it...almost as much as the kids. :)

I want to wish Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my life. The older my children get, the more I realize how much love and heartache and joy and tears go into every day I have with my children. I have appreciated you more than you know and I'm grateful for the many ways that you have loved, supported, encouraged, and guided me in my life. I hope you enjoy this day!

Photo Test

This is a test to see if I can figure out how to post a slide show to our blog. 

 

Back from Colorado

Mom and I are back from our week in CO.  We loved spending time with Mike, Erin and baby Mykaela.  She was so tiny and sweet. (I have a few pics, but I can't figure out how to post them...Scott says he'll work on it for me.)  The dogs didn't eat her and only whacked her in the head once with a wagging tail. They were actually pretty funny. Every time she would squeak (it can't actually be called crying yet), they would run over to check on her and lick her little head.  She didn't seem to mind too much.

There was lots of train stuff in Castle Rock. I spent about 3 hours one day trying to get pics of the train that runs by Mike's house, but it never came.  I did go to the World's Largest Train Store, Caboose Hobbies.  I bought Scott a bunch of stuff. 

We did a little sight seeing on our way back. We stopped at Buffalo Bill's Memorial Museum and had lunch at a little Mexican place in Grand Junction.  No troubles and the whole trip took about 10 hours to Holden.  I came all the way back today.  I missed my family and I will be happy to stay home for another while.  I will post pics when I can...

Greetings from Castle Rock, CO

We made it and Myka is beautiful.  Erin is doing amazingly well and Mike is as happy as I've ever seen him.  They make an incredible family!  We're glad to be here to help and get to know my new little niece.

7:16, 5 lbs 4 oz., 18 in

Myka is here! She was born today via C-section.  Erin is doing fine...Mike is excited.

She is beautiful! Can't wait to see her....

Mykaela Astrid Strong is on her way!!

My mom just called and said that Erin was admitted to the hospital today because of her high blood pressure.  They were planning to keep her about a week for treatment and observation, but I guess her pressure spiked so they decided to induce.  (I hope I'm getting this right!)

Hopefully, Erin will have a good labor and we'll have a beautiful baby Myka this weekend (maybe on Taylor's birthday?)  Mom and I are planning on going up to help a bit for a few days after the baby comes...probably this Monday or Tuesday.  I bet Mike's getting anxious and nervous, but he'll be a great dad.  This has been a long time coming. 

(I'm so excited for you guys!!!  You know you are in our prayers and we'll see you as soon as we can get there.  Give that baby kisses for me, and hugs for you both!)  Not that they'll have time to read my  blog but it had to be said.  

We're good...getting ready for Taylor's big bash tonight.  Love to everyone! See you soon.

Birthday Details

We are doing a very low key, out-to-dinner, sleepover with video games and movies on Friday Night for Tay and 3-4 of her friends.  We will probably do a Family get-together on Saturday and all are invited!

ATTENTION, All family members with a Wii

My birthday party is on Friday & I was wondering if i could borrow their Wii please it would be the bestest.

Good Experience

As you could tell from the video, Taylor did an awesome job at her Talent Show.  She went to school Monday and received many congratulations and high fives from classmates, friends, and teachers. It was a huge boost to her confidence and helped many in the school get to know her.  She was bubbling with pride and a sense of accomplishment, although I don't think she knew that...she just said it was the best day ever!!!  We are so very proud of her.

Shaylie suddenly seems all grown up to me.  She is doing great in school, of course, and she has many friends in the neighborhood.  She has also developed a keen interest in money and business.  She is always asking me if she can sell her things and she wants to earn and spend her money all the time.  I am trying not to discourage her as I am rather entrepreneurial myself, but it is hard to keep up with her sometimes.  She has some great ideas and I hope that she will always have this spirit.  We'll see where it takes her (and me!)

I've spent much of the past two weeks being sick.  The constant pain in my back makes me nauseous and gives me migraines,  combine that with other monthly ills or stress or even my jaw issues and I don't do too well.  I'm doing my best to come up with a plan for seeing a doctor/chiropractor of some kind.  My trouble is that I don't know who to see.  My family doctor is useless.   We'll see.

Scott has been great and helpful while I've been down.  He's always a great help around the house, but he's stepped up a lot and I appreciate it.  He's busy as usual but I'll let him post his news.

No school this Thursday and Friday for the girls. I'm likely heading to Grand Junction with my Mom since Anissa can't go.  The girls will want to stay home and go the the Kite Festival, I'm sure.  I'll be back Sunday or Monday.  More news to come soon...

Taylor's Dance Performance

Here is Taylor's performance, you will probably need a high-speed connection to see it.

 

A Houseful of Visitors

We'll be having many visitors this weekend...starting tonight.  My mom is coming to watch Taylor in her Talent Show tomorrow.  (The Practice went well, BTW...but she is still nervous.) But she'll leave tomorrow afternoon.  She's still working on tiling her bathroom. 

Then Saturday, my dad is coming to spend some time with us on their way to Phoenix for their niece's wedding.  It will be good to see them, as always.  Anissa, Anje and Chad will likely stop by as well.  So our house will be hopping.  It's good weather for it...love Spring in St. George!!!!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before (I didn't want to jinx anything) but, my brother Mike and his wife are expecting a baby in mid-May, and I'm so excited for my new little niece's arrival.  Her name will be Mykaela Astrid Strong.  Erin just had an appointment yesterday to check for Placenta Previa, but it turned out that she is fine.  I have a bunch of little things for the family and I am hoping to be able to go visit them in Denver when the little sweetie is born.  Yay!!!  I think she'll have red hair, but we'll have to wait and see. 

We've been doing some (a lot) of work on our yard and house lately...hmm, maybe that's why my back is out?!?!....and the yard is looking good.  Now I'm thinking of many different ways to spend our tax refund/stimulus money.  Some of our wish-list projects:  we want to put concrete curbing in the backyard, or paint the house, or I want to upgrade appliances inside, or we could pay down credit card, but that's not as much fun.  Then, of course, there's always the pool dream.  And my bathroom remodel.  So many dreams, so little cash...

Thanks for checking in....hope things are well wherever you are.  Check back again for more exciting news from the Jesienouski's...

My Aching Back

I have been having back issues over the past week...isn't it funny (not really) how I just start feeling like I make progress physically and I get some big setback that puts me back on the couch...it's very depressing.

Sunday I was having major spasms and migraine, so I stayed home from church but I went to work Monday even thought I still felt shaky.  After about 2 hours, it was so evident that I wasn't going to make it, so I went home and slept for the rest of the afternoon.  Yesterday was a little better, but I still can't do anything prolonged, so today I am going to the oncall whoever at the Doctor's office.  I just don't know who to call or I would have made an appointment on Monday.  At least they can give me something to relax my muscles and for pain, maybe.  I'm dreading it actually....I think I need therapy.

We did get Taylor's costume for the Talent Show this Friday.  She is VERY NERVOUS and excited!  She has a dress rehearsal on Thursday after school and I think that will help settle her nerves.  She is so brave and amazing! I never could have done this when I was her age.

As for Shaylie, it turns out she is going to two camps this summer.  Her GS troop decided to take the girls to Trefoil for a Troop Camp in July.  It will be over the 24th holiday though, so we'll miss her, but I think she'll have fun.  She'll go by herself (with Taylor) to camp first so she'll be an experienced camper by the time she goes with all the girls.  We'll keep you posted.

I've got the Millard 88 Reunion website up and running...and people are even visiting it! Yay!  Check it out! It's actually been kind of fun getting involved with this...I think I'm looking forward to it..who knew?

To her dismay...

They announced who would perform in the Talent Show today and Taylor made it!!!  She was smiling ear-to-ear and moaning at the same time..."Now I have to do it in front of the whole school!!!"  We are very proud of her!  More info to come...

Have I mentioned before that I somehow volunteered to help with my 20-year High School reunion?  My old classmate Kristine Dastrup (Beck) sent out an email and I responded that I'd be happy to help and now I am in charge of the Class Directory/Memory Book and I've put together a website (Check it out.) that we may or may not use...I haven't heard from Kris yet about that...but it's been kind of fun to get involved with this, even though I never thought I would be since I was never quite involved in high school when I was in high school.  Go figure.   Hope I'll be ready when the time comes...

Speaking of which, I've been trying to hit the gym consistently and yesterday I hit a record for me...30 minutes on the Eliptical CrossTrainer.  It wasn't that long ago that I could barely do 5 before I was gasping for breath.  My goal yesterday was 20 and at about 12 I was struggling, but when 20 came, I knew I could do 10 more...weird, huh?  Anyway, my ultimate goal is to be able to do 45 minutes and then I'll start upping the levels.  I'll keep you posted on progress.  I've actually lost about 10 lbs. since Jan. 1st...so yay me! 

Taylor and I also swore off sugar last week and we did pretty well...I really could feel the difference...the few times I cheated, the treats made me sick to my stomach....so I'm trying to do it again this week.  Breakfast is hard since I really don't like eggs that much....but it's a challenge to come up with things to eat.

I also went to the dentist (finally) about my jaw.  It's been stuck so that I couldn't open it for about 4 weeks, ever since I was eating pizza one night and it popped loudly and from that point on I couldn't close my teeth properly or open very wide.  I put off making the appointment because I thought for sure that the muscles would relax and everything would straighten out, but I finally got fed up and made the appointment...and, wouldn't you know...on the drive over to the dentist, I yawned and my jaw opened without a problem and my teeth lined up and everything seemed okay...so when the dentist looked at me there was nothing to see...They could tell that it had been messed up since it is still pretty swollen and the tests they gave me showed increased vibrations and clicking so I got a prescription for a steroid cream and anti-inflammatory and I have to stay off crunchy, hard food as much as possible probably forever, and continue wearing the splint I have at night and as often as I can.  Hopefully, it will all help.  If it gets worse over time, they can do shots, PT, orthodontics (been there, done that), etc....one step at a time.

Well, I've rambled on long enough.  Thanks for reading about the ups and downs of our lives.  Check in again soon for more exciting adventures.